Chapter XXIII

. For example, as he first sees her who was to be to him “beide lieb und leit,” he becomes “bleich unde rôt”; and at her greeting, his spirit is lifted up: “dô wart im von dem gruoze vil wol gehoehét der muot.” And the scene is laid in May (_Nibelungenlied_, Aventiure V., stanzas 284, 285, 292, 295).

[183] A convenient edition of the _Kudrun_ is Pfeiffer’s in _Deutsche Klassiker des Mittelalters_ (Leipzig, 1880). Under the name of _Gudrun_ it is translated into modern German by Simrock, and into English by M. P. Nichols (Boston, 1899).

[184] _Kudrun_, viii. 558. Whatever may have been the facts of German life in the Middle Ages, the literature shows respect for marriage and woman’s virtue. This remark applies not only to those works of the Middle High German tongue which are occupied with themes of Teutonic origin, but also to those--Wolfram’s _Parzival_, for example--whose foreign themes do not force the poet to magnify adulterous love. When, however, that is the theme of the story, the German writer, as in Gottfried’s _Tristan_, does not fail to do it justice.

Willmans, in his _Leben und Dichtung Walthers von der Vogelweide_ (Bonn, 1882), note 1{a} on page 328, cites a number of passages from Middle High German works on the serious regard for marriage held by the Germans. Even the German minnesingers sometimes felt the contradiction between the broken marriage vow and the ennobling nature of chivalric love. See Willmans, _ibid._ p. 162 and note 7.

[185] _Kudrun_, xx. 1013.

[186] _Kudrun_, xxx. 1632 _sqq._

[187] As to the _Parzival_, and Walter’s poems, see _post_, Chapters XXIV. XXVI.

[188] _Ante_,