| |
| | The Magic Belt: Comment |
 | | As told in the Nibelungenlied, the great heroic compilation of the early thirteenth century, Queen Brunhilde remains magically indeflorable to Gunther, slack ruler of the doomed Burgundian kingdom, until Siegfried, by combining hard-core valor with magic, bests her in a triathlon to rob her of her girdle. |
 | | Protected though she be by magic, the author still instinctively prepares his audience for such an astounding inversion of natural law by sending her into the ring only after a cap-à-pie review of her outfit. |
 | | Magic belts, swords, capes, and like implements, of course, are nothing new in literature. |
| www.stavenhagen.net /stories/beltcmt.html (1033 words) |
|