Chapter Sibyl's Books to Siegfried of S by Brewer's Readers Handbook

sir Launcelot. And the good old man lifted up the cloth, and found there these words written: “The Siege of sir Galahad.”—Malory: History of Prince Arthur, iii. 32 (1470).

Siege of Calais, a novel by Mme. de Tencin (1681–1749). George Colman has a drama with the same title.

Siege of Corintn (The), a poetical version of the siege which took place in 1715.—Byron (1816).

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 Eudocia, but was sternly refused. (For the rest of the tale, see Eudocia, p. 343.)—Hughes: Siege of Damascus (1720).

Siegfried [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.

N.B.—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.

Siegfried called Horny. He was called horny because when he slew the dragon, he bathed in its blood, and became covered with a horny hide which was invulnerable. A linden leaf happened to fall on his back between his shoulder-blades, and as the blood did not touch this spot, it remained vulnerable.—The Minnesingers: The Nibelungen Lied (1210).