The Walkyres are the youthful maidens who have died upon their bridal eve, and who, unable to rest in their graves, return to earth and dance in the silver rays of the moon; but if a mortal chances to meet them, they surround and draw him within their magic ring, till, faint and exhausted, he falls lifeless to the earth. Not less dangerous are the river-maids, who, rising to the surface of the stream, lure the unwary traveler into the depths below. There are also the White Women, who often appear at dawn or evening, with their pale faces and shadowy forms; these are the goddesses of ancient Paganism, condemned to wander through ages to expiate the guilt of having received divine worship, and to suffer eternal punishment if not redeemed by mortal aid. Among the goddesses who, in the form of White Women, were long believed to exercise an influence for good or ill on human affairs, Hertha and Frigga play the most conspicuous parts, and figure in many wild legends; proving how strong was the hold which the creed of their ancestors had on the minds of the Germans long after its idols had been broken and its shrines destroyed. Hertha still cherished the same beneficent disposition ascribed to her in the old mythology, and continued to watch over and aid mankind until driven away by the calumnies of which she was the victim, while Frigga appears as a fearful ogress and sorceress.
These popular superstitions, which retained their power over the minds of the people during the Middle Ages, and which even now are not wholly eradicated, have furnished a rich mine from which the poets and tale- writers of Germany have derived that element of the supernatural by which they are so often characterized.
3. THE LANGUAGE.—The Teutonic languages, which belong to the Indo- European stock, consist of two branches; the Northern or Scandinavian, and the Southern or German of the continent. The latter has three subdivisions; the Eastern or Gothic, with its kindred idioms, the high German or German proper,—the literary idiom of Germany,—and the low German, which includes the Frisian, old Saxon, Anglo-Saxon, Dutch, and Flemish. The high German, or German proper, comprehends the language of three periods: the old high German, which prevailed from the seventh to the eleventh century; the middle high German, from the eleventh century to the time of the Reformation; and the new high German, which dates from the time of Luther, and is the present literary language of the country.
No modern language equals the German in its productiveness and its capacity of constant and homogeneous growth, in its aesthetical and philosophical character, and in its originality and independence. Instead of borrowing from the Greek, Latin, and other languages, to find expressions for new combinations of ideas, it develops its own resources by manifold compositions of its own roots, words, and particles. To express one idea in its various modifications, the English requires Teutonic, Greek, and Latin elements, while the German tongue unfolds all the varieties of the same idea by a series of compositive words founded upon one Gothic root. The German language, therefore, while it is far superior in originality, flexibility, richness, and universality, does not admit the varieties which distinguish the English.
PERIOD FIRST
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE REFORMATION (360-1517).
1. EARLY LITERATURE.—Previous to the introduction of Christianity the Germans had nothing worthy of the name of literature. The first monument that has come down to us is the translation of the Bible into Moeso- Gothic, by Ulphilas, bishop of the Goths (360-388), who thus anticipated the work of Luther by a thousand years.
As the art of writing was unknown to the Goths, Ulphilas formed an alphabet by combining Runic, Greek, and Roman, letters, and down to the ninth century this version was held in high esteem and seems to have been in general use. For nearly four hundred years after Ulphilas, no trace of literature is discovered among the Teutonic tribes. They, however, had their war-songs, and minstrel skill seems to have been highly prized by them. These lays were collected by Charlemagne, and are described by Eginhardt as "ancient barbarous poems, celebrating the deeds and wars of the men of old;" but they have nearly all disappeared, owing, probably, to the refusal of the monks, then the only scribes, to transmit to paper aught which tended to recall the rites and myths of Paganism. Only two relics of this age, in their primitive form, remain; they are rhymeless, but alliterated,—a kind of versification common to the German, Anglo- Saxon, and Scandinavian poetry, and which, early in the ninth century, gave place to rhyme. Of these two poems, the Hildebrand Lied Is probably a fragment of the traditions which had circulated orally for centuries, and which, with many modifications, were transcribed by the Scandinavians in their sagas, and by Charlemagne in his collection. None of the other poems which have come down to us from this period bear an earlier date than the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when they were remodeled and appeared in the form of the Heldenbuch and Nibelungen Lied. The Hildebrand Lied belongs to the cycle of Theodoric the Great, or Dietrich of Bern or Verona, as he is called in poetry, from that town being the seat of his government after he had subdued the Empire of the West. This poem, though rude and wild, is not without grandeur and dramatic effect.
2. CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.—The era of Charlemagne, in all respects so memorable, could not be without influence on the literature of Germany, then in a condition of almost primitive rudeness. The German, language was taught by his command in the schools and academies which he established in all parts of the empire; he caused the monks to preach in the vernacular tongue, and he himself composed the elements of a grammar for the use of his subjects. He recompensed with imperial munificence the learned men who resorted to his court; Alcuin, Theodophilus, Paul Winifred, and Eginhardt were honored with his peculiar confidence. Under his influence the monasteries became literary as well as ecclesiastical seminaries, which produced such men as Otfried (fl. 840), the author of the rhymed Gospel-book, and Notker Teutonicus, the translator of the Psalms.
After the death of Charlemagne the intellectual prospects of Germany darkened. The empire was threatened by the Normans from the west, and the Hungarians from the east, and there were few places where the peaceful pursuits of the monasteries and schools could be carried on without interruption.