Kriss Kringle. (See St. Nicholas, Santa Claus, etc.)
Krook, proprietor of a rag and bone warehouse, where everything seems to be bought and nothing sold. He is a grasping drunkard, who eventually dies of spontaneous combustion. Krook is always attended by a large cat, which he calls “Lady Jane,” as uncanny as her master.—C. Dickens, Bleak House (1852).
Kruitz´ner, or the “German’s Tale,” in Miss H. Lee’s Canterbury Tales. Lord Byron founded his tragedy of Werner on this tale.
The drama [of Werner] is taken entirely from the “German’s Tale” [Kruitzner], published in Lee’s Canterbury Tales, written by two sisters.... I have adopted the characters, plan, and even the language of many parts of the story.—Lord Byron, Preface to Werner (1822).
Kubla Kahn. Coleridge says that he composed the poem in a dream, immediately after reading in Purchas’s Pilgrimage a description of the Khan Kubla’s palace, and he wrote it down on awaking, in its present fragmentary state.
Kudrun, called the German Odyssey (thirteenth century); divided into three parts called Hagen, Hilde (2 syl.), and Kudrun—same as Gudrun (q. v.).
Hagen is the son of Siegebrand, king of Ireland, and is carried off by a griffin to a distant island, where three princesses take charge of him. In due time a ship touches on the island, takes all the four to Ireland, and Hagen marries Hilda, the youngest of the three sisters.
Hilda. In due time Hilda has a daughter, who is called by the same name, and at a marriageable age she becomes the wife of Hedel, king of Friesland.
Kudrun. Hilda has two children, Otwein [Ot.vine] a son, and Kudrun, a daughter. Kudrun is affianced to Herwig, but, while preparing the wedding dresses, is carried off by Hartmut, son of Ludwig, king of Normandy. Her father goes in pursuit, but is slain by Ludwig. On reaching Normandy, Gerlinde (3 syl.), the queen-mother, treats Kudrun with the greatest cruelty, and puts her to the most menial work, because she refuses to marry her son. At length, succor is at hand. Her lover and brother arrive and slay Ludwig. Gerlinde is just about to put Kudrun to death, when Watt Long-beard rushes in, slays the queen, and rescues Kudrun, who is forthwith married to Herwig, her affianced lover.—Author unknown (some of the minnesingers).
Kwa´sind, the strongest man that ever lived, the Herculês of the North America Indians. He could pull up cedars and pines by the roots, and toss huge rocks about like playthings. His wondrous strength was “seated in his crown,” and there of course lay his point of weakness, but the only weapon which could injure him was the “blue cone of the fir tree,” a secret known only to the pygmies or Little-folk. This mischievous race, out of jealousy, determined to kill the strong man, and one day, finding him asleep in a boat, pelted him with fir cones till he died; and now, whenever the tempest rages through the forests, and the branches of the trees creak and groan and split, they say “Kwasind is gathering in his firewood.”