principal manuscripts, however, offers the poem in its earliest form;
they all point to a still earlier version. It is now generally admitted
that the St. Gall manuscript (B), according to which the present
translation has been made, contains the best and most nearly original
text.

[4] The closing strophe of MS. C calls the poem der _Nibelunge liet_, or
Nibelungenlied, i.e. the lay of the Nibelungen, and this is the title
by which it is commonly known. MSS. A and B have in the corresponding
strophe _der Nibelunge not_, i.e. the 'need', 'distress',
'downfall' of the Nibelungen. In the title of the poem 'Nibelungen'
is simply equivalent to 'Burgundians': the poem relates the downfall
of the Burgundian kings and their people. Originally the Nibelungen
were, as their name, which is connected with _nebel_, 'mist',
'gloom', signifies, the powers of darkness to whom the light-hero
Siegfried fell a prey. After Siegfried obtains possession of the
treasure the name Nibelungen is still applied to Alberich and the
dwarfs who guard it and who are now Siegfried's vassals. Then after
Siegfried's death the name is given to the Burgundians. It is a
mistake to suppose that the name was applied in each case to those
who became possessors of the hoard, for Siegfried himself is never so
designated.


2. Stages in the Evolution of the Poem

Hand in hand with the discussion of the relative authenticity of the
manuscripts went the consideration of another more important literary
question,--the evolution of the poem itself. Even if we knew nothing of
the history of the Nibelungen saga as revealed in the Edda and through