Note 205 — Chapter VII · MYTHICAL ELEMENTS IN THE HEROIC POEMS.

"Ein Bild des unaufhörlichen, allgemeinen, aber nie entschiedenen Kampfes entgegengesetzter Mächte, des Aufgangs und des Niedergangs, des Entstehens und Vergehens, des Seins und Nichtseins" (Müllenhoff, ZfdA. XXX 229). Prof. Sijmons (Grundriss, III 711, where this interpretation is quoted with approval) regards the story as 'tiefsinnig.' I confess the interpretation is too deep for my comprehension. A totally different view is taken in Panzer's Hilde-Gudrun, where the origin of the story is traced to a folk-tale (p. 250 ff.). It seems to me that this theory is open to somewhat the same objection as the other, namely that it is founded too much upon features peculiar to one or other version. At the same time I doubt whether Wate's original connection with the story can be properly inferred from Wids. 21 f. The influence of folk-tales is clear enough in both versions of the story, but I think it is secondary.