Das Hildebrandslied

a masterpiece of the Old High German heroic epos; a fragment of a poem whose subject, a combat between father and son, is widespread in the literature of many peoples. In the early ninth-century fragment that has survived, Hildebrand, returning to his homeland, encounters Hadubrand, whom he recognizes as his son. Hadubrand had received news of his father’s death and does not believe Hildebrand. Accusing him of cowardice, he challenges him to combat. The manuscript breaks off with a description of the fight. The death of the son at his father’s hands is recounted in the Old Scandinavian Death Song of Hildebrand.