(German; " Song of the Nibelungs ")
Middle High German epic poem written с 1200 by an unknown poet from the Danube region in what is now Austria.
It is preserved in three main 13th-century manuscripts. Elements of great antiquity are discernible in the poem, traceable to Old Norse literature, stories in the Poetic Edda , and Scandinavian saga s. The principal characters are Prince Siegfried , Queen Brunhild , Princess Kriemhild, her brother King Gunther, and his henchman Hagen; the story focuses on deceit, revenge, and slaughter. Many variations and adaptations of the poem appeared in later centuries, including Richard Wagner 's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1853–74).