Three men in a car ...

"Uns ist in alten maeren     wunders vil geseit von helden lobebaeren     von grôzer arebeit, von freude un hôchgezîten,     von weinen un klagen, von küener recken strîten     muget ir nû wunder hoeren sagen. " Excerpt from the Nibelungenlied , Codex C (late 1200s)         Source : Badische Landesbibliothek For those of you unused to reading Middle High German, an English interpretation of the first line in the above parchment is as follows: To us, in olden stories     are many wonders told This strophe gives us the introductory words of a famous epos. It was written down for the first time in the late 1100s. The words spell it out clearly that the oeuvre in question is based on a manifold of different songs, performed by minstrels at chieftain halls, noble houses, royal residences and imperial courts throughout the ages.  I am of course referring to the Nibelungenlied , the beloved common inheritance of all the Germanic speaking peoples, all 100 million of them, which popul