This poem is, however, greatly inferior to the real Nibelungenlied, and was evidently not composed by the same bard.
"'Tis more than I can tell you what afterward befell, Save that there was weeping for friends belov'd so well Knights and squires, dames and damsels, were seen lamenting all.
So here I end my story.

This is the Nibelungers' Fall." FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 29: See the author's "Legends of the Middle Ages."] [Footnote 30: All the quotations in this chapter are from Lettsom's translation of "The Nibelungenlied."] [Footnote 31: See the author's "Legends of the Rhine."] STORY OF THE HOLY GRAIL The Anglo-Norman trouveres rightly considered the Story of the Holy Grail the central point of interest of the Arthurian cycle, or the grand climax in the legend.
So many versions of the tale have been written by poets of different nationalities and different ages--all of whom have added characteristic touches to the story--that, instead of following the text of any one particular version, a general outline of the two principal Holy Grail legends will be given here.

Although all the poets do not mention the origin of the Holy Grail, or sacred vessel, a few trace its history back to the very beginning.

They claim that when Lucifer stood next to the Creator, or Father, in the heavenly hierarchy, the other angels presented him with a wonderful crown, whose central jewel was a flawless emerald of unusual size.
The advent of the Son, relegating Lucifer to the third instead of the second place, occasioned his apostasy, which, as Milton explains, was followed by war in heaven and by the expulsion of the rebel angels.
During his fall from the heights of heaven to the depths of hell, the emerald, dropping out of Satan's crown, fell upon earth.

There it was fashioned into the cup or dish which Our Lord used during the Last Supper, and in which Joseph of Arimathea caught a few drops of blood which flowed from His side.