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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE NIBELUNGEN TREASURE by ANONYMOUS

First Line: IT WAS AN ANCIENT MONARCH
Last Line: WOULD QUAFF HIS FIERY WINE
Subject(s): SELFISHNESS;TREASURES;
IT was an ancient monarch
Ruled where the Rhine doth flow,
And nought he loved so little
As sorrow, feud, and woe;
His warriors they were striving
For a treasure in the land;
In sooth they near had perished
Each by his brother's hand.

Then spake he to the nobles:
"What boots this gold," he said,
"If with the finder's life-blood
The price thereof is paid?
The gold, to end the quarrel,
Cast to the Rhine away;
There lie the treasure hidden,
Till dawns the latest day!"

The proud ones took the treasure,
And cast it to the main;
I ween it all hath melted,
So long it there hath lain:
But, wedded to the waters
That long have o'er it rolled,
It clothes the swelling vineyards
With yellow gleam, like gold.

Oh, that each man were minded,
As thought this monarch good,
That never care might alter
His high, courageous mood!
Then deeply would we bury
Our sorrows in the Rhine,
And, glad of heart and grateful,
Would quaff his fiery wine.



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