Such was the favor which the legendary style of composition enjoyed with our ancestors that several of the poems analyzed in this volume were among the first books printed for general circulation in Europe.
Previous to the invention of printing, however, they were familiar to rich and poor, thanks to the scalds, bards, trouveres, troubadours, minstrels, and minnesingers, who, like the rhapsodists of Greece, spent their lives in wandering from place to place, relating or reciting these tales to all they met in castle, cottage, and inn.
A chapter on the Romance literature of the period in the different countries of Europe, and a complete index, will, it is hoped, fit this volume for handy reference in schools and libraries, where the author trusts it may soon find its own place and win a warm welcome.
CONTENTS.
I.BEOWULF II.

GUDRUN III.

REYNARD THE FOX IV.

THE NIBELUNGENLIED V.LANGODARDIAN CYCLE OF MYTHS VI.

THE AMBLINGS VII.