Hildebrandslied, Old High German alliterative heroic poem on the fatalistic theme of a duel of honor between a father and a son. The fragment, dating from c. 800, is the sole surviving record of Old High German heroic poetry. Its hero, Hildebrand, appears in Germanic legend as an elder warrior, a magician, and an adviser and weapons master to Dietrich von Bern, the poetic incarnation of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great. In the Song of Hildebrand the hero is forced into a duel by the aggressions of a young warrior, Hadubrand, who does not know that Hildebrand is his father. Although the fragment cuts off mid-battle, it leaves no doubt that Hildebrand kills his son.
Jüngeres Hildebrandslied (“Younger Hildebrandslied”) is a sentimental ballad from the Middle High German period (after 1100) in which Hildebrand and Hadubrand reconcile in the end.