This translation of the Nibelungenlied is published with the simple
purpose of placing one of the world's great epic poems within the reach
of English readers. Translations are at best but poor substitutes for
originals. A new translation of a poem implies also a criticism of those
that have preceded it. My apology for presenting this new English version
of the Nibelungenlied is that none of those hitherto made has reproduced
the metrical form of the original. In the hope of making the outlines of
the poem clearer for the modern reader, I have endeavored to supply in
the Introduction a historical background by summing up the results of
investigation into its origin and growth. The translation itself was
begun many years ago, when I studied the original under Zarncke in
Leipzig.