Said Merlin, “There shall no man sit in the two void places but they that shall be of most worship. But in the Siege Perilous there shall no man sit but one, and if any other be so hardy as to do it, he shall be destroyed.”—Pt. i. 48.
Then the old man made Sir Galahad unarm; and he put on him a coat of red sandel, with a mantel upon his shoulder furred with fine ermines ... and he brought him unto the Siege Perilous, when he sat beside Sir Launcelot. And the good old man lifted up the cloth, and found there these words written: The Siege Of Sir Galahad.—Sir T. Malory, History of Prince Arthur, iii. 32 (1470).
Siege of Calais, a novel by Mde. de Tencin (1681-1749). George Colman has a drama with the same title.
Siege of Damascus. Damascus was besieged by the Arabs while Eu´menês was governor. The general of the Syrians was Pho´cyas, and of the Arabs, Caled. Phocyas asked Eumenês’s permission to marry his daughter, Eudo´cia, but was sternly refused. After gaining several victories he fell into the hands of the Arabs, and then joined them in their siege in order to revenge himself on Eumenês. Eudocia fell into his power, but she refused to marry a traitor. Caled requested Phocyas to point out to him the governor’s tent; on being refused, they fought, and Caled fell. Abudah, being now in chief command, made an honorable peace with the Syrians, Phocyas died, and Eudocia retired to a convent.—J. Hughes, Siege of Damascus (1720).
Siege of Rhodes, by Sir W. Davenant (1656).
Sieg´fried [Seeg.freed], hero of pt. i. of the Nibelungen Lied, the old German epic. Siegfried was a young warrior of peerless strength and beauty, invulnerable except in one spot between his shoulders. He vanquished the Nibelungs, and carried away their immense hoards of gold and precious stones. He wooed and won Kriemhild, the sister of Günther, king of Burgundy, but was treacherously killed by Hagan while stooping for a draught of water after a hunting expedition.
Siegfried had a cape, or cloak, which rendered him invisible, the gift of the dwarf, Alberich; and his sword, called Balmung, was forged by Wieland, blacksmith of the Teutonic gods.
This epic consists of a number of different lays by the old minnesingers, pieced together into a connected story as early as 1210. It is of Scandinavian origin, and is in the Younger Edda, amongst the “Völsunga Sagas” (compiled by Snorro, in the thirteenth century).
Siegfried’s Birthplace. He was born in Phinecastle, then called Xanton.
Siegfried’s Father and Mother. Siegfried was the youngest son of Siegmund and Sieglind, king and queen of the Netherlands.