Excerpt from Peasant Life in Old German Epics: Meier Helmbrecht and Der Arme Heinrich, Translated From the Middle High German, of the Thirteenth Century Medieval writings which depict the life of humble folk are rare. The two thirteenth-century poems which are offered here in translation afford a glimpse of some of the more inti mate aspects of life during that period. The one follows the career of a peasant boy who would play the knight; the other, employing the age -old theme of vicarious sacrifice, paints a picture, somewhat idealized, of the relations existing between a noble landowner and his dependent peasantry. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.