Note:

• This version of the text of the Wunderer consists of 215 stanzas of four long (with caesura, i.e. eight small) verses each, laid out in small paragraphs.
• The text has no real title; the one above is the beginning of the introduction.

Synopsis: Seld ("Fortune"), a damsel in distress, has been chased for three years by the Wunderer ("the Wonder-Maker"), a knight of gigantic proportions, Herculean strength and ogrish tendencies, assisted by his slavering pack of hounds. Because she has refused to marry him, the Wunderer now seeks revenge and is set on eating her up. Seld finds refuge at king Etzel's court, where no one dares defend her and defy her hungry suitor, except young knight Dietrich, who will fight the monster.