The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-01-16

eyes, anu smile winch transported him
into the seventh heaven of felicity.
And yo= will &c. me teach you
Deutsch will not you? aud assist Yon with
your aIgebra?"
"Yes, and thank you for the trouble. /"
ut will be II source of great Happiness
to me-
i5,Was he about to forget his prudent re-
solve? Again his features were agitated
with the internal struggle-again he bit
his lips, to hold back the impatient
words. Juliet did not notice his ngite-
tlon, this time. She was turning over
the leaves of the book he had brought in
with him.
What mass of hieroglyphics it
| looks to me. / does not seem possible I
will ever bring sense out of so much ap-
parent confusion. What is this book?''
ut is tho celebrated Nidelunqen Lied,
an ancient German poem, which has de-
scended to us afar back, amidst the mist
and darkness of antiquity?'
"What is it about? and who wrote?"
she asked, her faco and voice expressive
of interest
IL can hardly give You satisfactory
answer, without being tedious, fear; for
to your practical American ears the
whole thing will sound as grotesGue
combination Of visionary events and
improbabllities, fantastic and far-fetched
IN themselves, and related in style at
once absurd and horrible. However, I
Will attempt brief outline. 1t is sup.
posed to have been written during the
nineteenth century, either by Heinrich
Won Ofterdinger or Wolfram Won Esch.
enback, The plot is founded on an
historical tragedy, which occurred some
time about A. ID. 400. Nibelunqen was
the name of ~ famous and powerful Bur-
gundlan race, and Lied signifies Law or
song. The hero called Siegfriend is
charming delineation Of character, equal
III beauty, power and richness of con
ception to anything contained in the
annals of romance or poetry. The
heorinc Ch'iemhiM becomes transformed
during the course of the story, from an
exquisite combination of feminine beauty
and grace, into an avenging fiend I
will not relate any Of the particular Incl
dents. They would impress you us
sublime emanation of paganism, wild
legendary lore and fantastic absurdity;
but Notwithstanding this, the poem is
written i'll tone of lofty chivalric gran
deur. and nbounds in fiue lyric romance
OF representation, passages OF fascnat-
ing imagery and an eloquent flow of
wildly touching sentiments Antiquaries
have called it the Northern Iliad'"
'1ow l wish 1 could read it--now this
very minute, exclaimed Juliet, enthusi
astically
And what is this, Mr. Won Open
heinz? pulling out n pamphlet enclosed
In the larger book.
That Is something which will charm
you-you must read that first of the
two. 1t is Schiller's IPiAelm Tell and be-
longs to the creme de la creme of Ger
man literature. 1t is one of the most
beautiful productions of our language,
and, IN my opinion, the sweetest emaua-
ton OF genius which ever flowed from
the authors inspired pen"
do you think l will find great diff
Guilty III the pronunciation; the words
sound so hard to me?"
81 dare say it will como easy with prac-
tice, replied Mr.. Won Oppenheim, and
then laughing, suppose L try you IL
little and then can judge. Repeat the
words after me-"
Juliet did as he babe her, laughing
gleefully ut her own absurd attempts to
initiate tho sounds which proceeded from
her preceptor. Mr.. Won Oppenheim
professed himself gratified, nay charm
ed beyond expression, Mt the success of
her undertaking, which is not in the
least surprising, when we take into con-
sideration the fact that tho treacherous
scamp had been making her sny all man
ner of sweet things to him!
! "Do you like the language, Juliet?''
questioned the tutor, in one Of the
pauses of this model recitation.
l..
truthfully. ! cannot say that I do. 1t
sounds very ugly to me-not particle
melodious or euphonic. But then, per
haps, ltwould be different if understood
it. like it, though, exceedingly, be-
cause 1t is SO intimately acquainted, in
my mind, with Rudolph-he loves it so
Will it not be nice, to be able to talk to
Rudolph and yonrself!"
Absolutely charming!" declared her
companion. 81 am as great bigot, in
this respect, rs Rudolph himself; indeed,
his grandmother protests his trespasses,
in this particular, must be laid ut nv
door. am sure you will like it better,
when you take hold of it, ms n study. and
become conversant with it's real beuuties.
After all, Juliet, you may say what YOU
please, but 1t Is n magnificent structure
to my mind far surprising your English,
and, indeed. all modern languages, in its
originality, its copiousness, innate capa.
city Tor development, and native richness
and independence. The fact that it does
not possess the remarkable hexibilty ol
the English, arises from its not being,
like English, mixture Of Norman,
French, Latin, Anglo Saxon, Greek aud
almost every other tongue under heaven.
But it is grand and complete structure,
IN itself, borrowing nothing from ar
extraneons source"
I 1t is impossible to say how long Pro.
fessor Won Oppenheim would have lee
I tured on this fascinating subject. with
such charming company, in such a
oh R..1, H..