If you take it slowly, with a translation and footnotes, it’s not that difficult. You learn the cadence and pronunciations. It just takes patience. It’s not nearly the gibberish your eyes think it is at first glance. For the longer tales, I just didn’t have the time though with other work.
Pretentious? I don’t think so. Schools used to teach Ancient Greek to read the Classics in their original form. Language and culture are inextricable, and there’s always something to be gained reading a work in its original form. Going further back, Beowulf didn’t magically appear in modern English; you have brilliant men like Tolkien doing translations. Language is a passion for some. No one forced me to do it. I thought it would be a fun experience; it ended up being one of the more engaging courses I took.