6 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



A bit of simple child life is in the story of the three-year-old Wolf- 

 dietrich, 1 who saved himself from the sword that had slain its "hun- 

 dert man." Berhtung von Meran, who had been commanded to 

 make way with him, could not find it in his heart to kill the little lad 

 as he laughed up into his face and played with the rings of his armor. 

 So he carried the boy to the edge of a pond and left him, hoping that 

 he would be attracted by the water-lilies and would so find his death 

 in the water. From his hiding-place in the thicket the old warrior 

 watched how the child turned away from the water and played on 

 the green grass of the meadow, scarcely knowing that it was alone. 

 When the sun went down and night came on, the wild beasts of the 

 forest came down to the water's edge to drink. Far from being 

 afraid, the boy made friends with them, grasping at the bright eyes 

 of the wolves as they shone in the moonlight. 



Then Berhtung exclaimed, "The like of this I have never seen. 

 If I had the will to kill thee, I have not the courage. Since the wicked 

 wolves have made peace with thee, why should not I ? . . . . From 

 now on shalt thou be called Wolf her Dietrich." 



There are several heroes who, in their boyhood, gave no promise of 

 the great deeds they were later to perform. Of Beowulf 3 we are told 

 in the Anglo-Saxon Epic, that he was long scorned when the children 

 of the Geats could tell no good of him. Nor would the lord of the 

 men do him great honor at the mead bench. They strongly suspected 

 him of being idle and lazy, a worthless young atheling. 



Even worse was the reputation earned by Uffo, 3 the Dane, in his 

 boyhood. Of great stature and marvelous strength, Uffo neither 

 spoke nor laughed until he was thirty years of age. He was con- 

 sidered an utter fool ; and was apparently of no use in the world. 

 King Wermund, his father, grew old and blind, and, because he had 

 no one to defend his rights, the neighboring Saxon king decided that 

 he would take the Danish kingdom for his own. Accordingly he 

 sent word to Wermund that upon a certain day he must have a man 

 of his own blood ready to meet the Saxon prince and fight for the 



■ "Wolfdietrich" A. Deutsche! Bddcnbuch, B.3. « Saxo. Gram., B. IV, pp. 106 ff. 



•BcoundJ, II.2188 S. 



