As a learned man steeped in ancient lore, it's probably impossible to track down all the influences on J.R.R. Tolkien when he fashioned his stories of Middle-Earth. But editor Douglas Anderson has given it a go with the book Tales Before Tolkien -The Roots of Modern Fantasy. There are a number of delightful tales tucked away in this volume such as "The Golden Key" by MacDonald, "The Folk of the Mountain Door" by Morris, "The Far Islands" by Buchan, "The Thin Queen of Elfhame" by Cabell, "The Woman of the Wood" by Merritt, and "The Coming of Terror" by Machen. "Puss-Cat Mew" by E.H. Knatchbull-Heugessen is a story Tolkien read to his children. Fantasy existed before Middle-Earth was born and this tome gives a brief glimpse of the world into which Tolkien launched his epic tale.
The story I want to focus on today is the famous one titled "The Story of Sigurd" from Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book.
Here is an audio presentation of that famous story.
This myth is likely familiar to most folks, at least in some form in which it has passed down to us over the centuries.
While I'm on this subject I might as well mention that is a similar volume for C.S. Lewis classic fantasy yarn. Tales Before Narnia - The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction is by the same editor. I'll get around to that one sooner than later.
In The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun Tolkien produced his own poetic rendition of how a hero must overcome adversity and confront a dragon for the sake of magic rings. Sounds familiar. But the good Professor wasn't the only one interested in this epic tale.
Here's a nifty item, an ad by Neal Adams for The Metropolitan Opera's The Ring of the Nibelung, the epic Wagner opera. More on these matters tomorrow.
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