WORLD SOUNDSCAPE PROJECT
SOUND REFERENCES IN LITERATURE


 


637.

The lovers of many ladies fell there too, never to rise again - his blows rang on their helmets so mightily that the blood came streaming from their wounds! ... They emptied saddle after saddle with blows from their shining swords that echoed loudly over the plain.

The Nibelungenlied, trans. by A.T. Hatto, Penguin Classics, Great Britain, 1965, p. 42.

PLACE: Saxony

TIME: Middle Ages (11th century?)

CIRCUMSTANCE: Siegfried's warriors from the Netherlands help the Burgundians fight against the Danes and Saxons.

 

638.

But while it was not yet full daylight, a host of knights and squires arrived before the hall, and once again the tumult was heard as young warriors jousted so spiritedly that, before early matins were sung for the King, they had earned his commendation! The crack af many trumpets rang out loud and clear, and the sound of drums and flutes grew so great that spacious Worms re-echoed with it, a sign for proud warriors everywhere to leap into their saddles.

And now far and wide and in great number the good knights began a most noble sport: ... Thus they passed the time, which did not lie heavy on their hands, till the bells pealed from the minster.

The Nibelungenlied, trans. by A.T. Hatto, Penguin Classics, Great Britain, 1965, p. 109.

PLACE: Worms, Burgundy.

TIME: Middle Ages (11th century?)

CIRCUMSTANCE: Festivities at the Rhine to which Siegfried and Kriemhild were invited.

 

639.

There now arose a great shouting of men and clamour of hounds on all sides, and the tumult grew so great that the hills and the forest re-echoed with it - the huntsmen had unleashed no fewer four and twenty packs!...

...And now the noble King had it announced to those fine hunters that he wished to take his repast, and there was one great blast of the horn to tell them that he was back in camp.

At this, one of Siegfried's huntsmen said: "Sir, I have heard a horn-blast telling us to return to our lodges. - I shall answer it." There was much blowing to summon the companions.

The Nibelungenlied, trans. by A.T. Hatto, Penguin Classics, Great Britain, 1965 p. 126-127.

PLACE: Burgundy

TIME: Middle Ages (11th century?)

CIRCUMSTANCE: A hunt.


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