German being talked in a large part of Switzerland and of Austria, these countries claim a great share in the Teutonic epics, many of whose episodes are located within their borders.  Both the Swiss and the Austrian nations are formed, however, of various peoples, so while some of the Swiss boast of German blood and traditions, others are more closely related to the French or to the Italians.  To study Swiss literature one must therefore seek its sources in German, French, and Italian books.  It is, though, considered very remarkable that there exists no great Swiss epic on the deeds of William Tell, a national hero whose literary fame rests almost exclusively upon folk-tales and upon Schiller’s great drama.[37]

No political division boasts of a greater mixture of races and languages than the Austro-Hungarian empire, whose literature is therefore like a many-faceted jewel.  Aside from many Germans, there are within the borders of the empire large numbers of Czechs or Bohemians, who in the thirteenth century delighted in translations of the Alexandreis, of Tristram, and of other epic poems and romances, and whose first printed volume in 1468 was a reproduction of the Trojan Cycle.

There are also the Hungarians, whose literary language continued to be Latin until after the Reformation, and whose earliest epics treat of such themes as the “Life of St. Catherine of Alexandria.”  It was, therefore, only in the seventeenth century that Zrinyi, Gyoengyoesi, Liszti, and other poets began to compose Magyar epics which roused their countrymen to rebel against their foes, the Turks.  In the nineteenth century patriotism was further fostered among this people by the stirring epics of Czuczor, Petoefi (whose masterpiece is Janes Vilez), and of Voeroesmarty, and then, too, were compiled the first collections of genuine Hungarian folk-tales.  Among these the adventures of the national Samson (Toldi) have served as basis for Arany’s modern national epic in twelve cantos.

Part of Poland being incorporated in the Austro-Hungarian empire, it cannot be amiss to mention here the fact that its literature is particularly rich in folk-tales, animal epics, apologues, religious legends, and hero tales, although none of the poetical versions of these works seem to be of sufficient weight or importance to require detailed treatment in this volume.

With the exception of ancient Greece,—­whose epic literature is so rich and still exerts such an influence as to demand separate treatment,—­there do not seem to be any epics of great literary value among the various races now occupying the Balkan Peninsula.  Old Rumanian literature, written in the Slavic tongue, boasts a few rhymed chronicles which are sometimes termed epics, while modern Rumanian prides itself upon Joan Delaemi’s locally famous Epic of the Gypsies.