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Main > Norway folktales > Fairy tale "The Epic of Siegfried"

The Epic of Siegfried

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The charm was broken. Up rose the peerless princess in all her queen-like beauty, and up rose the courtly ladies round her. All over the castle, from cellar to belfry tower, from the stable to the banquet-hall, there was a sudden awakening - a noise of hurrying feet and mingled voices, and sounds which had long been strangers to the palace halls. The watchmen on the tower yawned and would not believe they had been asleep. The porter picked up his keys and hastened to lock the long-forgotten gates. The horses neighed in their stalls; the watchdogs barked at the sudden hubbub; the birds, ashamed at having allowed the sun to find them napping, hastened to seek their food in the meadows. The servants hurried here and there, intent upon their duties. The warriors in the banquet hall clattered their knives and plates and began again their feast, and their chief dropped his goblet and rubbed his eyes, wondering how sleep could have overtaken him in the midst of such a meal.

Siegfried, standing at an upper window, looked out over the castle walls. He saw that flames no longer raged in the moat. Instead, it was filled with clear sparkling water. The south wind blew gently from the sea and the breezes whispered among the trees. The flowers opened their petals to the sun, and birds and insects made the air melodious with their glad voices. Brynhild, radiant with smiles, stood by the hero's side, and welcomed him kindly to Isenland and to her green-towered castle.

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Question:

Compare this to the classic Sleeping Beauty story.

Part Three - Siegfried in the Land of Nibelungen

FOR SIX MONTHS Siegfried tarried in the enchanted world of Isenland in one long round of merrymaking and gay enjoyment. Then he grew tired of his life of idleness and ease and wished that he might go out again into the busy world of adventure and worthy deeds. Day by day this feeling grew stronger and filled him with unrest.

One morning, he sat along by the seashore and watched the lazy tide come creeping up the sands.

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