Wilhelm von Kaulbach 
Heroic Life and Exploits of Siegfried the Dragon Slayer 
An Old German Story

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Dark and fearful were thofe ancient forel’rs, as tradition tells, where flood the oaks’and the blood-rained altars of the Pagan gods in the days of King Siegmund. None dared wan der there without his fword at his fide and his fpear in his hand. The hunter might purfue the beafis of prey through the lonely woods and vales for many a day and neither meet a human being nor find a path. The f’rars of heaven and the courfe of the waters were his only guides in the vaflt wildernefs. Ravenous wild beafis of enormous firength and fearful nature, fuch as are now no longer feen, the urochs. And the bear, the lion and the wolf, prowled through the woods, and filled the air with their fierce and hungry cries, making the forefis re-echo with their founds. And when the lofty oaks ruffled, and the branches cracked and fnapped afunder, and the winds moaned and whiftled in angry founds from the rocks and caves, it feemed as if the fpirit of the florm had come with horfe and hound, to chafe the wild inhabitants of the forefis.