The Nibelungenlied
By George Henry Needler, Translator

Preface

Siegfried and the Rhine Maidens
Albert Pinkham Ryder
Oil on canvas, 1888-91
National Gallery, Washington

This translation of the Nibelungenlied is published with the simple purpose of placing one of the world’s great epic poems within the reach of English readers. Translations are at best but poor substitutes for originals. A new translation of a poem implies also a criticism of those that have preceded it. My apology for presenting this new English version of the Nibelungenlied is that none of those hitherto made has reproduced the metrical form of the original. In the hope of making the outlines of the poem clearer for the modern reader, I have endeavored to supply in the Introduction a historical background by summing up the results of investigation into its origin and growth. The translation itself was begun many years ago, when I studied the original under Zarncke in Leipzig.

G. H. N.

University College, Toronto, September, 1904.

I. The Nibelungen Saga

1. Origin of the Saga

All the Aryan peoples have had their heroic age, the achievements of which form the basis of later saga. For the Germans this was the period of the Migrations, as it is called, in round numbers the two hundred years from 400 to 600, at the close of which we find them settled in those regions which they have, generally speaking, occupied ever since. During these two centuries kaleidoscopic changes had been taking place in the position of the various Germanic tribes. Impelled partly by a native love of wandering, partly by the pressure of hostile peoples of other race, they moved with astonishing rapidity hither and thither over the face of Europe, generally in conflict with one another or buffeted by the Romans in the west and south, and by the Huns in the east. In this stern struggle for existence and search for a permanent place of settlement some of them even perished utterly; amid the changing fortunes of all of them deeds were performed that fixed themselves in the memory of the whole people, great victories or great disasters became the subject of story and song. We need only to recall such names as those of Ermanric and Theodoric to remind ourselves what an important part was played by the Germanic peoples of that Migration Period in the history of Europe. During it a national consciousness was engendered, and in it we have the faint beginnings of a national literature. Germanic saga rests almost entirely upon the events of these two centuries, the fifth and sixth. Although we get glimpses of the Germans during the four or five preceding centuries, none of the historic characters of those earlier times have been preserved in the national sagas.

With these sagas based on history, however, have been mingled in most cases primeval Germanic myths, possessions of the people from prehistoric times. A most conspicuous example of this union of mythical and originally historical elements is the Nibelungen saga, out of which grew in course of time the great national epic, the Nibelungenlied.

The Nibelungen saga is made up of two parts, on the one hand the mythical story of Siegfried and on the other the story, founded on historic fact, of the Burgundians. When and how the Siegfried myth arose it is impossible to say; its origin takes us back into the impenetrable mists of the unrecorded life of our Germanic forefathers, and its form was moulded by the popular poetic spirit. The other part of the saga is based upon the historic incident of the overthrow of the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns in the year 437. This annihilation of a whole tribe naturally impressed itself vividly upon the imagination of contemporaries. Then the fact of history soon began to pass over into the realm of legend, and, from causes which can no longer be determined, this tradition of the vanished Burgundians became united with the mythical story of Siegfried. This composite Siegfried-Burgundian saga then became a common possession of the Germanic peoples, was borne with many of them to lands far distant from the place of its origin, and was further moulded by each according to its peculiar genius and surroundings. In the Icelandic Eddas, the oldest of which we have as they were written down in the latter part of the ninth century, are preserved the earliest records of the form it had taken among the northern Germanic peoples. Our Nibelungenlied, which is the chief source of our knowledge of the story as it developed in Germany, dates from about the year 1200. These two versions, the Northern and the German, though originating in this common source, had diverged very widely in the centuries that elapsed between their beginning and the time when the manuscripts were written in which they are preserved. Each curtailed, re-arranged, or enlarged the incidents of the story in its own way. The character of the chief actors and the motives underlying what we may call the dramatic development assumed widely dissimilar forms. The German Nibelungenlied may be read and appreciated as one of the world’s great epic poems without an acquaintance on the part of the reader with the Northern version of the saga. In order, however, to furnish the setting for a few episodes that would in that case remain either obscure or colorless, and with a view to placing the readers of this translation in a position to judge better the deeper significance of the epic as the eloquent narrative of a thousand years of the life of the people among whom it grew, the broad outlines of the saga in its Northern form will be given here.

2. The Northern Form of the Saga

Starting at the middle of the fifth century from the territory about Worms on the Rhine where the Burgundians were overthrown, the saga soon spread from the Franks to the other Germanic peoples. We have evidence of its presence in northern Germany and Denmark. Allusions to it in the Anglo-Saxon poem, the Wanderer, of the seventh century and in the great Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf of a short time later, show us that it had early become part of the national saga stock in England. Among the people of Norway and Iceland it took root and grew with particular vigor. Here, farthest away from its original home and least exposed to outward influences, it preserved on the whole most fully its heathen Germanic character, especially in its mythical part. By a fortunate turn of events, too, the written record of it here is of considerably earlier date than that which we have from Germany. The Eddas, as the extensive collection of early Icelandic poems is called, are the fullest record of Germanic mythology and saga that has been handed down to us, and in them the saga of Siegfried and the Nibelungen looms up prominently. The earliest of these poems date from about the year 850, and the most important of them were probably written down within a couple of centuries of that time. They are thus in part some three centuries older than the German Nibelungenlied, and on the whole, too, they preserve more of the original outlines of the saga. By bringing together the various episodes of the saga from the Eddas and the Volsung saga, a prose account of the mythical race of the Volsungs, we arrive at the following narrative.

On their wanderings through the world the three gods Odin, Honir, and Loki come to a waterfall where an otter is devouring a fish that it has caught. Loki kills the otter with a stone, and they take off its skin. In the evening they seek a lodging at the house of Hreidmar, to whom they show the skin. Hreidmar recognizes it as that of his son, whom Loki has killed when he had taken on the form of an otter. Assisted by his sons Fafnir and Regin, Hreidmar seizes the three gods, and spares their lives only on the promise that they will fill the skin, and also cover it outwardly, with gold. Loki is sent to procure the ransom. With a net borrowed from the sea-goddess Ran he catches at the waterfall the dwarf Andvari in form of a fish and compels him to supply the required gold. Andvari tries to keep back a ring, but this also Loki takes from him, whereupon the dwarf utters a curse upon the gold and whosoever may possess it. The ransom is now paid to Hreidmar; even the ring must, on Hreidmar’s demand, be given in order to complete the covering of the otter’s skin. Loki tells him of the curse connected with the ownership of the gold. When Hreidmar refuses Fafnir and Regin a share in the treasure, he is killed by Fafnir, who takes possession of the hoard to the exclusion of Regin. In the form of a dragon Fafnir dwells on Gnita Heath guarding the hoard, while Regin broods revenge.

From Odin is descended King Volsung, who has a family of ten sons and one daughter. The eldest son is Sigmund, twin-born with his sister Signy. King Siggeir of Gautland sues for the hand of Signy, whom her father gives to Siggeir against her will. In the midst of King Volsung’s hall stood a mighty oak-tree. As the wedding-feast is being held there enters a stranger, an old man with one eye, his hat drawn down over his face and bearing in his hand a sword. This sword he thrusts to the hilt into the tree, saying that it shall belong to him who can draw it out again; after which he disappears as he had come. All the guests try their strength in vain upon the sword, but Sigmund alone is able to draw it forth. He refuses to sell it to Siggeir for all his proffered gold. Siggeir plans vengeance. He invites Volsung and his sons to Gautland, and returns home thither with his bride Signy, who before going warns her father to be upon his guard.

At the appointed time King Volsung and his sons go as invited to Gautland. In spite of Signy’s repeated warning he will not flee from danger, and falls in combat with Siggeir; his ten sons are taken prisoners, and placed in stocks in the forest. For nine successive nights a she-wolf comes and devours each night one of them, till only Sigmund remains. By the aid of Signy he escapes. The she-wolf, it was said, was the mother of Siggeir.

To Sigmund, who has hidden in a wood, Signy sends her eldest boy of ten years that Sigmund may test his courage and see if he is fit to be a helper in seeking revenge. Neither he, however, nor his younger brother stands the test. Signy sees that only a scion of the race of Volsung will suffice, and accordingly disguises herself and lives three days with Sigmund in the wood. From their union a son Sinfiotli is born, whom also, after ten years, she sends out to Sigmund. He stands every test of courage, and is trained by Sigmund, who thinks he is Siggeir’s son.

Bent on revenge, Sigmund repairs with Sinfiotli to Siggeir’s castle. After Sinfiotli has slain the king’s two sons, he and Sigmund are overpowered and condemned to be buried alive. With Sigmund’s sword, however, which Signy has managed to place in their hands, they cut their way out, then set fire to Siggeir’s hall. Signy comes forth and reveals to Sigmund that Sinfiotli is their own son; and then, saying that her work of revenge is complete and that she can live no longer, she returns into the burning hall and perishes with Siggeir and all his race.

Sigmund now returns home and rules as a mighty king. He marries Borghild, who later kills Sinfiotli with a poisoned drink, and is cast away by Sigmund. He then marries Hjordis. Lyngvi, the son of King Hunding, was also a suitor and now invades Sigmund’s land. The latter hews down many of his enemies, until an old man with one eye, in hat and dark cloak, interposes his spear, against which Sigmund’s sword breaks in two. Sigmund falls severely wounded.

In the night Hjordis seeks the scene of the combat and finds Sigmund still alive. He refuses to allow her to heal his wounds, saying that Odin no longer wills that he swing the sword. He tells Hjordis to preserve carefully the pieces of the broken sword; the son she bears in her womb shall yet swing the sword when welded anew, and win thereby a glorious name. At dawn Sigmund dies. Hjordis is borne off by Vikings and, after the birth of her son, she becomes the wife of the Danish prince Alf.

The son of Hjordis was called Sigurd. He grew up a boy of wondrous strength and beauty, with eyes that sparkled brightly, and lived at the court of King Hjalprek, the father of Alf. Regin, the dwarfish brother of Fafnir, was his tutor. Regin welds together the pieces of the broken sword Gram, so sharp and strong that with it Sigurd cleaves Regin’s anvil in twain. With men and ships that he has received from King Hjalprek Sigurd goes against the sons of Hunding, whom he slays, thereby avenging the death of his father. Regin has urged him to kill Fafnir and take possession of the hoard. On the Gnita Heath he digs a ditch from which, as the dragon Fafnir passes over it, he plunges the sword into his heart. The dying Fafnir warns him of the curse attached to the possession of the gold; also that Regin is to be guarded against. The latter bids him roast the heart of Fafnir. While doing so he burns his finger by dipping it in the blood to see if the heart is done, and to cool his finger puts it into his mouth. Suddenly he is able to understand the language of the birds in the wood. They warn him to beware of Regin, whom he straightway slays. The birds tell him further of the beautiful valkyrie Brynhild, who sleeps on the fire-encircled mountain awaiting her deliverer. Then Sigurd places Fafnir’s hoard upon his steed Grani, takes with him also Fafnir’s helm, and rides away to Frankenland. He sees a mountain encircled by a zone of fire, makes his way into it and beholds there, as he deems it, a man in full armor asleep. When he takes off the helmet he finds that it is a woman. With his sword he cuts loose the armor. The woman wakes and asks if it be the hero Sigurd who has awakened her. In joy that it is so, Brynhild relates to him how Odin had punished her by this magic sleep for disobedience, and how that she had yet obtained from him the promise that she should be wakened only by a hero who knew no fear. She now teaches Sigurd many wise runes, and tells him of harm to fear through love of her. In spite of all, however, Sigurd does not waver, and they swear an oath of mutual faithful love.

Next Sigurd comes to King Gjuki at the Rhine, and joins in friendship with him and his sons Gunnar and Hogni. Queen Grimhild gives Sigurd a potion which causes him to forget Brynhild and be filled with love for her own daughter Gudrun, whom he marries. Gunnar now seeks Brynhild for wife, and Sigurd goes with him on his wooing-journey. They come to the castle encircled by fire, where Brynhild lives. She will be wooed only by him who will ride to her through the flames. Gunnar tries in vain to do this, even when mounted on Sigurd’s steed Grani. Sigurd and Gunnar then exchange shapes and the former spurs Grani through the flames. He calls himself Gunnar the son of Gjuki, and finally Brynhild consents to become his wife. Three nights he shares her couch, but always his sharp sword lies between them. He takes the ring from her finger and places in its stead one from Fafnir’s treasure. Then he exchanges form again with Gunnar, who is soon after wedded to Brynhild. Only now does Sigurd recollect the oath that he once swore to Brynhild himself.

One day Brynhild and Gudrun are bathing in the Rhine. A quarrel arises between them when Brynhild takes precedence of Gudrun by going into the water above her in the stream, saying that her husband is a braver and mightier man than Gudrun’s. Gudrun retorts by revealing the secret that it was Sigurd in Gunnar’s form, and not Gunnar himself, who rode through the flame, and in proof thereof shows her the ring taken by Sigurd from Brynhild’s finger. Pale as death, Brynhild goes quietly home: Gunnar must die, she says in wrath. Sigurd tries to pacify her, even offering to desert Gudrun. Now she will have neither him nor another, and when Gunnar appears she demands of him Sigurd’s death. In spite of Hogni’s protest Gunnar’s stepbrother Gutthorm, who has not sworn blood-friendship with Sigurd, is got to do the deed. He is given the flesh of wolf and serpent to eat in order to make him savage. Twice Gutthorm goes to kill Sigurd, but cowers before the piercing glance of his eyes; at last he steals upon Sigurd asleep and thrusts his sword through him. The dying Sigurd hurls the sword after the fleeing murderer and cuts him in two. To Gudrun, who wakes from sleep by his side, he points to Brynhild as the instigator of the crime, and dies. Brynhild rejoices at the sound of Gudrun’s wailing. Gudrun cannot find relief for her grief, the tears will not flow. Men and women seek to console her by tales of greater woes befallen them. But still Gudrun cannot weep as she sits by Sigurd’s corpse. At last one of the women lifts the cloth from Sigurd’s face and lays his head upon Gudrun’s lap. Then Gudrun gazes on his blood-besmirched hair, his dimmed eyes, and breast pierced by the sword: she sinks down upon the couch and a flood of tears bursts at length from her eyes.

Brynhild now tells Gunnar that Sigurd had really kept faith with him on the wooing journey; but she will live with him no longer and pierces herself with a sword, after foretelling to Gunnar his future fate and that of Gudrun. In accord with her own request she is burned on one funeral-pyre with Sigurd, the sword between them as once before.

Atli,[1] king of the Huns, now seeks Gudrun for wife. She refuses, but Grimhild gives her a potion which causes her to forget Sigurd and the past, and then she becomes the wife of Atli. After Sigurd’s death Gunnar had taken possession of the Niflungen hoard, and this Atli now covets. He treacherously invites Gunnar and the others to visit him, which they do in spite of Gudrun’s warnings, first of all, however, sinking the hoard in the Rhine. On their arrival Atli demands of them the hoard, which, he says, belongs of right to Gudrun. On their refusal he attacks them. Hosts of fighters on both sides fall and in the end Gunnar and Hogni, the only two of their number remaining, are bound in fetters. Gunnar refuses Atli’s command to reveal the hiding-place of the hoard, bidding them bring to him the heart of Hogni. They kill a servant and bring his heart to Gunnar; but Gunnar sees how it still quivers with fear, and knows it is not the heart of the fearless Hogni. Then the latter is really killed, and his heart is brought to Gunnar, who cries exultingly that now only the Rhine knows where the hoard lies hidden. In spite of Gudrun Atli orders that Gunnar be thrown into a den of serpents. With a harp communicated to him by Gudrun he pacifies them all but one, which stings him to the heart, and thus Gunnar dies. Gudrun is nominally reconciled with Atli, but in secret plans revenge for the death of her brothers. She kills Atli’s two sons, gives him at a banquet their blood to drink and their hearts to eat. In the night she plunges a sword into his own heart, confesses herself to him as his murderer, and sets fire to the castle, in which Atli and all his remaining men are consumed.

[1] That is, Attila; the Etzel of the Nibelungenlied.

3. The Saga as preserved in the Nibelungenlied

The saga as we find it in the German Nibelungenlied differs very widely in form and substance from the Northern version which has just been outlined, though the two have still enough points of similarity to indicate clearly a common origin. Each bears the stamp of the poetic genius of the people among whom it grew. Of all the sagas of the Germanic peoples none holds so prominent a place as the Nibelungen saga, and it may safely be said that the epic literature of the world, though offering poems of more refined literary worth, has none that are at the same time such valuable records of the growth of the poetic genius of two kindred peoples through many centuries of their early civilization as the Edda poems of this saga and the Nibelungenlied. It is impossible here to undertake a comparison of the two and point out in detail their parallelism and their respective significance as monuments of civilization; suffice it to indicate briefly the chief points of difference in the two stories, and note particularly those parts of the Nibelungenlied that have, as it were, suffered atrophy, and that point to earlier stages of the saga in which, as in the Northern version, they played a more important role.

First, as to the hoard. The Nibelungenlied knows nothing of its being taken by Loki from Andvari, of the latter’s curse upon it, and how it came finally into the possession of Fafnir, the giant-dragon. Here it belongs, as we learn from Hagen’s account (strophes 86-99), to Siegfried (Sigurd), who has slain the previous owners of it, Schilbung and Nibelung, and wrested it from its guardian the dwarf Alberich (Andvari). From this point onward its history runs nearly parallel in the two versions. After Siegfried’s death it remains for a time with Kriemhild (Gudrun), is treacherously taken from her by Gunther (Gunnar) and Hagen (Hogni), and finally, before their journey to Etzel (Atli), sunk in the Rhine.

The protracted narrative of Sigurd’s ancestry and his descent from Odin has no counterpart in the Nibelungenlied. Here we learn merely that Siegfried is the son of Siegmund. His father plays an entirely different part; and his mother’s name is not Hjordis, as in the Edda, but Siegelind.

Of Siegfried’s youth the Nibelungenlied knows very little. No mention is made of his tutelage to the dwarf smith Regin and preparation for the slaying of the dragon Fafnir. The account of him placed in the mouth of Hagen (strophes 86-501), how he won the hoard, the tarnkappe, and the sword Balmung, and slew the dragon, is evidently a faint echo of an earlier version of this episode, which sounds out of place in the more modern German form of the story. From the latter the mythical element has almost entirely vanished. It is worthy of note, moreover, that the very brief account of Siegfried’s slaying of the dragon is given in the Nibelungenlied as separate from his acquisition of the hoard, and differs in detail from that of the Edda. Of Sigurd’s steed Grani, his ride to Frankenland, and his awakening of Brynhild the Nibelungenlied has nothing to tell us. Through the account of Siegfried’s assistance to Gunther in the latter’s wooing of Brunhild (Adventures 6 and 7) shimmers faintly, however, the earlier tradition of the mythical Siegfried’s awakening of the fire-encircled valkyrie. Only by our knowledge of a more original version can we explain, for example, Siegfried’s previous acquaintance with Brunhild which the Nibelungenlied takes for granted but says nothing of. On this point of the relation between Sigurd and Brynhild it is difficult to form a clear account owing to the confusion and even contradictions that exist when the various Northern versions themselves are placed side by side. The name of the valkyrie whom Sigurd awakens from her magic sleep is not directly mentioned. Some of the accounts are based on the presupposition that she is one with the Brynhild whom Sigurd later wooes for Gunnar, while others either know nothing of the sleeping valkyrie or treat the two as separate personages. The situation in the Nibelungenlied is more satisfactorily explained by the theory that they were originally identical. But we see at once that the figure of Brunhild has here lost much of its original significance. It is her quarrel with Kriemhild (Gudrun) that leads to Siegfried’s death, though the motives are not just the same in the two cases; and after the death of Siegfried she passes unaccountably from the scene.

But it is in the concluding part of the story–the part which, as we shall see, has its basis in actual history–that the two accounts diverge most widely. So strange, indeed, has been the evolution of the saga that the central character of it, Kriemhild (Gudrun) holds a diametrically opposite relation to her husband Etzel (Atli) at the final catastrophe in the two versions. In the Nibelungenlied as in the Edda the widowed Kriemhild (Gudrun) marries King Etzel (Atli), her consent in the former resulting from a desire for revenge upon the murderers of Siegfried, in the latter from the drinking of a potion which takes away her memory of him; in the Nibelungenlied it is Kriemhild who treacherously lures Gunther and his men to their destruction unknown to Etzel, in the Edda the invitation comes from Atli, while Gudrun tries to warn them to stay at home; in the former Kriemhild is the author of the attack on the guests, in the latter Atli; in the former Kriemhild is the frenzied avenger of her former husband Siegfried’s death upon her brother Gunther, in the latter Gudrun is the avenger of her brothers’ death upon her husband Atli.

4. Mythical Element and Historical Element

A sifting of the Nibelungen saga reveals a mythical element (the story of Siegfried) and a historical element (the story of the Burgundians and Etzel). How, when, and where these two elements were blended together must remain largely a matter of conjecture. This united central body received then from time to time accessions of other elements, some of them originally historical in character, some of them pure inventions of the poetic imagination.

The Siegfried myth is the oldest portion of the Nibelungen saga, and had already passed through a long period of development before its union with the story of the Burgundian kings. Like so many others of its kind, it is part of the spiritual equipment of our Germanic ancestors at the dawn of their recorded history. It grew gradually with the people themselves and has its counterpart among other peoples. Such myths are a record of the impressions made upon the mind of man by the mighty manifestations of the world of nature in which he lives; their formation may be likened to the unconscious impressions of its surroundings on the mind of the child. And just as the grown man is unable to trace back the formation of his own individuality to its very beginnings in infancy, so is it impossible for the later nation in its advanced stage to peer back beyond the dawn of its history. It is in the gloom beyond the dawn that such myths as this of Siegfried have their origin.

Though modern authorities differ greatly in their conjectures, it is generally agreed that the Siegfried story was in its original form a nature-myth. The young day slays the mist-dragon and awakens the sun-maiden that sleeps on the mountain; at evening he falls a prey to the powers of gloom that draw the sun down again beneath the earth. With this day-myth was probably combined the parallel myth of the changing seasons: the light returns in spring, slays the cloud-dragon, and frees the budding earth from the bonds of winter.[2]

[2] For the Siegfried saga in general see Symons in Paul’s Grundriss der germanischen Philologie, 2d ed., vol. III, pp. 651-671.

In the course of time this nature-myth became transformed into a hero-saga; the liberating power of light was humanized into the person of the light-hero Siegfried. This stage of development had already been reached at the time of our earliest records, and the evidences point to the Rhine Franks, a West Germanic tribe settled in the fifth century in the country about Cologne, as the people among whom the transformation from nature-myth to hero-saga took place, for it is among them that the saga in its earliest form is localized. By the Rhine Siegfried is born, there he wins the Nibelungen hoard, and in Frankenland he finds the sleeping valkyrie. By the Rhine, too, he enters into service with the Nibelungen kings and weds their sister.

The Franks had as neighbors up-stream in the first half of the fifth century the Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe. These Burgundians, who were closely allied to the Goths, had originally dwelt in the Baltic region between the Vistula and the Oder, whence they had made their way south westward across Germany and settled in the year 413 in Germania prima on the west bank of the Rhine about Worms. Here a tragic fate was soon to overtake them. In the year 435 they had already suffered a reverse in a conflict with the Romans under Aetius, and two years later, in 437, they were practically annihilated by the Huns. Twenty thousand of them, we are told, fell in battle, the remainder were scattered southward. Beyond the brief record by a contemporary, Prosper, we know but little of this event. It has been conjectured that the Huns were on this occasion acting as auxiliaries of Aetius. At any rate it is fairly certain that Attila was not personally on the scene.

We can easily imagine what a profound impression this extinction of the Burgundians would produce upon the minds of their neighbors the Rhine Franks. Fact, too, would soon become mingled with fiction. This new feat was ascribed to Attila himself, already too well known as the scourge of Europe and the subduer of so many German tribes. A very few years later, however, fate was to subdue the mighty conqueror himself. With the great battle of Chalons in 451 the tide turned against him, and two years afterwards he died a mysterious death. The historian Jordanes of the sixth century relates that on the morning after Attila’s wedding with a German princess named Ildico (Hildiko) he was found lying in bed in a pool of blood, having died of a hemorrhage. The mysteriousness of Attila’s ending inspired his contemporaries with awe, and the popular fancy was not slow to clothe this event also in a dress of fiction. The attendant circumstances peculiarly favored such a process. Historians soon recorded the belief that Attila had perished at the hands of his wife, and it was only a step further for the imagination to find the motive for the deed in the desire of Hildiko to avenge the death of her German kinsmen who had perished through Attila. The saga of Attila’s death is before long connected with the growing Burgundian saga, Hildiko becomes the sister of the Burgundian kings Gundahari, Godomar, and Gislahari, and her deed is vengeance taken upon Attila for his destruction of her brothers. As is seen at once from the outline I have already given (Chapter 2.) of the saga as we find it in the Edda, this is the stage of development it had reached when it began to find its way northward from the Rhine country to Norway and Iceland.

It is unnecessary here to record the speculations–for beyond speculations we cannot go–as to how the union of this historical saga of the Burgundians and Attila with the Siegfried saga took place. In the course of time, and naturally with greatest probability among the Rhine Franks who followed the Burgundians as occupants of Germania prima, the two were brought together, and the three Burgundian kings and their sister were identified with the three Nibelungen kings and their sister of the already localized Siegfried saga. It is also beyond the scope of this introduction to follow the course of the saga northward or to note its further evolution during its wanderings and in its new home until it was finally recorded in poetic form in the Edda. We have now to consider briefly the transformation it passed through in Germany between this date (about 500) and the time (about 1200) when it emerges in written record as the Nibelungenlied.

An account has already been given (Chapter 3.) of the chief features in which the Nibelungenlied differs from the Northern form. As we saw there, the mythical element of the Siegfried saga has almost entirely evaporated and the historical saga of the Burgundian kings and Attila has undergone a complete transformation. That the originally mythical and heathen Siegfried saga should dwindle away with the progress of civilization and under the influence of Christianity was but natural. The character of the valkyrie Brynhild who avenges upon Sigurd his infidelity to her, yet voluntarily unites herself with him in death, as heathen custom demanded, is no longer intelligible. She recedes into the background, and after Siegfried’s death, though she is still living, she plays no further part. The Nibelungenlied found its final form on Upper German, doubtless Austrian, territory. Here alone was it possible that that greatest of all transformations could take place, namely, in the character of Attila. The Franks of the Rhine knew him only as the awe-inspiring conqueror who had annihilated their neighbors the Burgundians. In Austrian lands it was quite otherwise. Many Germanic tribes, particularly the East Goths, had fought under the banner of Attila, and in the tradition handed down from them he lived as the embodiment of wisdom and generosity. Here it was impossible that epic story should picture him as slaying the Burgundian kings through a covetous desire for their gold. The annihilation of the Burgundians is thus left without a motive. To supply this, Kriemhild’s character is placed upon an entirely different basis. Instead of avenging upon Attila the death of her brothers the Burgundian kings, Kriemhild now avenges upon her brothers the slaying of her first husband Siegfried. This fundamental change in the character of Kriemhild has a deep ethical reason. To the ancient heathen Germans the tie of blood-relationship was stronger than that of wedlock, and thus in the original version of the story Attila’s wife avenges upon him the death of her brothers; to the Christianized Germans of later times the marriage bond was the stronger, and accordingly from the altered motive Kriemhild avenges upon her brothers the slaying of her husband. In accordance, too, with this ethical transformation the scene of the catastrophe is transferred from Worms to Attila’s court. Kriemhild now looms up as the central figure of the second half of the drama, while Etzel remains to the last ignorant of her designs for revenge.

This transformation of the fundamental parts of the saga was accompanied by another process, namely, the addition of new characters. Some of these are the product of the poetic faculty of the people or individuals who preserved and remoulded the story in the course of centuries, others are based upon history. To the former class belong the Margrave Ruediger, the ideal of gentle chivalry, and Volker the Fiddler-knight, doubtless a creation of the spielleute. To the second class belong Dietrich of Bern, in whom we see the mighty East Gothic king, Theodoric of Verona; also Bishop Pilgrim of Passau, a very late importation, besides several others in whom are perpetuated in more or less faint outline actual persons of history. This introduction of fresh characters from time to time as the saga grew has led to some strange anachronisms, which however are a disturbing element only to us readers of a modern day, who with sacrilegious hand lift the veil through which they were seen in a uniform haze of romance by the eye of the knights and ladies of seven centuries ago. They neither knew nor cared to know, for instance, that Attila was dead before Theodoric was born, and that Bishop Pilgrim flourished at Passau the trifling space of five hundred years later still.[3]

[3] Attila lived from about 406 to 453; Theodoric, 475 to 526. Pilgrim was Bishop of Passau, 971 to 991.

II. The Nibelungenlied

1. The Manuscripts

Among the German epic poems of the Middle Ages the Nibelungenlied [4] enjoyed an exceptional popularity, as is evident from the large number of manuscripts–some thirty, either complete or fragmentary–that have been preserved from the centuries immediately following its appearance. Three are of prime importance as texts, namely, those preserved now in Munich, St. Gall, and Donaueschingen, and cited as A, B, and C respectively. Since the time when Lachmann, about a century ago, made the first scientific study of the poem, a whole flood of writings has been poured forth discussing the relative merits of these texts. Each in turn has had its claims advocated with warmth and even acrimony. None of these three principal manuscripts, however, offers the poem in its earliest form; they all point to a still earlier version. It is now generally admitted that the St. Gall manuscript (B), according to which the present translation has been made, contains the best and most nearly original text.

[4] The closing strophe of MS. C calls the poem der Nibelunge liet, or Nibelungenlied, i.e. the lay of the Nibelungen, and this is the title by which it is commonly known. MSS. A and B have in the corresponding strophe der Nibelunge not, i.e. the ’need’, ’distress’, ’downfall’ of the Nibelungen. In the title of the poem ’Nibelungen’ is simply equivalent to ’Burgundians’: the poem relates the downfall of the Burgundian kings and their people. Originally the Nibelungen were, as their name, which is connected with nebel, ’mist’, ’gloom’, signifies, the powers of darkness to whom the light-hero Siegfried fell a prey. After Siegfried obtains possession of the treasure the name Nibelungen is still applied to Alberich and the dwarfs who guard it and who are now Siegfried’s vassals. Then after Siegfried’s death the name is given to the Burgundians. It is a mistake to suppose that the name was applied in each case to those who became possessors of the hoard, for Siegfried himself is never so designated.

2. Stages in the Evolution of the Poem

Hand in hand with the discussion of the relative authenticity of the manuscripts went the consideration of another more important literary question,–the evolution of the poem itself. Even if we knew nothing of the history of the Nibelungen saga as revealed in the Edda and through other literary and historic sources, a reading of the poem would give us unmistakable hints that it is not, in its present form, a perfect literary unit. We detect inconsistencies in matter and inequalities of style that prove it to be a remodelling of material already existing in some earlier form. What, then, has been the history of its evolution? How did this primeval Siegfried myth, this historical saga of the Burgundians and Attila, first come to be part of the poetic stock of the German people? What was its earliest poetic form, and what series of transformations did it pass through during seven centuries of growth? These and many kindred questions present themselves, and the search for answers to them takes us through many winding labyrinths of the nation’s contemporary history. Few products of German literature have so exercised and tantalized critics as the Nibelungenlied.

In this connection we have to remind ourselves that comparatively little of what must have been the large body of native poetry in Germany previous to the eleventh century has come down to us. Barely enough has been preserved to show the path of the nation’s literary progress. Some of the important monuments have been saved by chance, while others of equal or perhaps greater value have been irrecoverably lost. The interest in the various incidents of the Nibelungen story was sufficient to keep it alive among the people and hand it down orally through many generations. If we could observe it as it passed from age to age we should doubtless see it undergoing continuous change according to the time and the class of the people that were the preservers of the native literature in its many ups and downs. Lachmann in the year 1816 was the first to bring scientific criticism to bear on the question of the Nibelungenlied and its origin. Applying to it the same methods as had recently been used by Wolf in his criticism of the Homeric poems, he thought he was able to discover as the basis of the complete epic a cycle of twenty separate lieder, ballads or shorter episodic poems, on the strength of which belief he went so far as to publish an edition of the poem in which he made the division into the twenty separate lays and eliminated those strophes (more than one third of the whole number) that he deemed not genuine. It is now generally admitted, however, that the pioneer of Nibelungen investigation fell here into over-positive refinements of literary criticism. Separate shorter poems there doubtless existed narrating separate episodes of the story, but these are no longer to be arrived at by a process of critical disintegration and pruning of the epic as we have it. An examination of the twenty lieder according to Lachmann’s division convinces us that they are not separate units in the sense he conceived them to be. Though these twenty lieder may be based upon a number of earlier episodic poems, yet the latter already constituted a connected series. They were already like so many scenes of a gradually developing drama. Events were foreshadowed in one that were only fulfilled in another, and the incidents of later ones are often only intelligible on the supposition of an acquaintance with motives that originated in preceding ones. It is in this sense only, not according to Lachmann’s overwrought theory, that we are justified in speaking of a liedercyclus, or cycle of separate episodic poems, as the stage of the epic antecedent to the complete form in which we now have it. But beyond this cycle we cannot trace it back. How the mythical saga of Siegfried and the Nibelungen, and the story of the Burgundians and Attila, were first sung in alliterative lays in the Migration Period, how as heathen song they were pushed aside or slowly influenced by the spirit of Christianity, how with changing time they changed also their outward poetical garb from alliteration to rhyme and altered verse-form, till at last in the twelfth century they have become the cycle of poems from which the great epic of the Nibelungenlied could be constructed–of all this we may form a faint picture from the development of the literature in general, but direct written record of it is almost completely wanting.

3. Character of the Poem

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries witnessed far-reaching changes in the social and intellectual life of the German lands, the leading feature of which is the high development of all that is included under the name of chivalry. It is marked, too, by a revival of the native literature such as had not been known before, a revival which is due almost entirely to its cultivation by the nobility. From emperor down to the simple knight they were patrons of poetry and, what is most striking, nearly all the poets themselves belong to the knightly class. The drama has not yet begun, but in the field of epic and lyric there appear about the year 1200 poets who are among the greatest that German literature even down to the present time has to show. The epic poetry of that period, though written almost entirely by the knights, is of two distinct kinds according to its subject: on the one hand what is called the Court Epic, on the other hand the National, or Popular, Epic. The Court Epic follows for the most part French models and deals chiefly with the life of chivalry, whose ideals were embodied in king Arthur and his circle of knights; the National Epic drew its subjects from the national German saga, its two great products being the Nibelungenlied and the poem of Gudrun. Court Epic and National Epic are further distinct in form, the Court Epic being written in the rhymed couplets popularized in modern times in English by Sir Walter Scott, while the National Epic is composed in four-lined strophes.

Though we know the name and more or less of the life of the authors of the many court epics of the period, the name of the poet who gave the Nibelungenlied its final form has not been recorded. As we have seen, the poem is at bottom of a truly popular, national character, having its beginnings in mythology and early national history. For centuries the subject had been national property and connected with the name of no one individual. We have it now in the form in which it was remodelled to suit the taste of the court and the nobility, and like the court epic to be read aloud in castle hall. That it is written in four-lined strophes[5] and not in the usual rhymed couplets of the court epics is doubtless due to the fact that the former verse-form had already been used in the earlier ballads upon which it is based, and was simply taken over by the final moulder of the poem. This latter was probably a member of the nobility like the great majority of the epic poets of the time; he must at least have been well acquainted with the manners, tastes, sentiments, and general life of the nobility. Through him the poem was brought outwardly more into line with the literary ideals of the court circles. This shows itself chiefly in a negative way, namely, in the almost complete avoidance of the coarse language and farcical situations so common with the popular poet, the spielmann. Beyond this no violence is done to the simple form of the original. The style is still inornate and direct, facts still speak rather than words, and there is nothing approaching the refined psychological dissection of characters and motives such as we find in Wolfram von Eschenbach and the other court writers.

[5] For description of the Nibelungen strophe see below, Chapter 7.

When we look to the inner substance we see that the ground ideals are still those of the original Germanic heroic age. The chief characters are still those of the first stages of the story–Siegfried, Brunhild, Gunther, Kriemhild, Hagen. The fundamental theme is the ancient theme of triuwe, unswerving personal loyalty and devotion, which manifests itself above all in the characters of Kriemhild and Hagen. Kriemhild’s husband Siegfried is treacherously slain: her sorrow and revenge are the motives of the drama. Hagen’s mistress has, though with no evil intent on Siegfried’s part, received an insult to her honor: to avenge that insult is Hagen’s absorbing duty, which he fulfils with an utter disregard of consequences. Over this their fundamental character the various persons of the story have received a gloss of outward conduct in keeping with the close of the twelfth century. The poet is at pains to picture them as models of courtly bearing, excelling in hofscheit, zuht, tugent. Great attention is paid to dress, and the preparation of fitting apparel for court festivities is described and re-described with wearisome prolixity. A cardinal virtue is milte, liberality in the bestowal of gifts. Courtesy toward women is observed with the careful formality of the age of the minnesingers. It was above all Siegfried, the light-hero of the original myth, whose character lent itself to an idealization of knighthood. Ruediger holds a like place in the latter part of the poem. In the evident pleasure with which the minstrel-knight Volker of the sword-fiddlebow is depicted, as well doubtless as in occasional gleams of broader humor, the hand of the minstrels who wrought on the story in its earlier ballad stages may be seen. And the whole poem, in keeping with its form in an age strongly under church influence, has been tinged with the ideals of Christianity. Not only does the ordinary conversation of all the characters, including even the heathen Etzel, contain a great number of formal imprecations of God, but Christian institutions and Christian ethics come frequently into play. Mass is sung in the minster, baptism, marriage, burial are celebrated in Christian fashion, the devil is mentioned according to the Christian conception, we hear of priest, chaplain, and bishop, Christians are contrasted with heathen, and Kriemhild, in marrying Etzel, has a hope of turning him to Christianity. In Hagen’s attempt to drown the chaplain whom the Burgundians have with them as they set out for the land of the Huns we have perhaps an expression of the conflict between the heathen and the Christian elements, possibly also a reflection of the traditional animosity of the spielmann to his clerical rival.

The Nibelungenlied and the Iliad of Homer have often been compared, but after all to no great purpose. The two epics are alike in having their roots deep in national origins, but beyond this we have contrasts rather than resemblances. The Iliad is a more varied and complete picture of the whole Greek world than the Nibelungenlied is of the German, its religious atmosphere has not been disturbed in the same way as that of the saga of early Germanic times projected several centuries into a later Christian age, and it possesses in every way a greater unity of sentiment. In the varied beauty of its language, its wealth of imagery, its depth of feeling and copiousness of incident the Iliad is superior to the Nibelungenlied with its language of simple directness, its few lyrical passages, its expression of feeling by deeds rather than by words. Homer, too, is in general buoyant, the Nibelungenlied is sombre and stern. And in one last respect the two epics differ most of all: the Iliad is essentially narrative and descriptive, a series of episodes; the Nibelungenlied is essentially dramatic, scene following scene of dramatic necessity and pointing steadily to a final and inevitable catastrophe.

4. Later Forms of the Saga

In the Northern Edda and in the German Nibelungenlied the Nibelungen saga found its fullest and most poetic expression. But these were not to be the only literary records of it. Both in Scandinavian lands and in Germany various other monuments, scattered over the intervening centuries, bear witness to the fact that it lived on in more or less divergent forms. The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus of the latter part of the twelfth century has a reference to the story of Kriemhild’s treachery toward her brothers. About the year 1250 an extensive prose narrative, known as the Thidrekssaga, was written by a Norwegian from oral accounts given him by men from Bremen and Munster. This narrative is interesting as showing the form the saga had taken by that date on Low German territory, and holds an important place in the history of the development of the saga. It has much more to say of the early history of Siegfried than we find in the Nibelungenlied, and yet in the main outlines of the story of Kriemhild’s revenge it corresponds with the German epic and not with the Northern Edda. A chronicle of the island of Hven in the Sound, dating in its original form from the sixteenth century, as well as Danish ballads on the same island that have lived on into modern times, tell of Sivard (Siegfried), Brynhild, and also of Grimild’s (Kriemhild’s) revenge. In Norway and Sweden traces of the saga have recently been discovered; while songs that are sung on the Faroe Islands, as an accompaniment to the dance on festive occasions, have been recorded, containing over six hundred strophes in which is related in more or less distorted form the Nibelungen story.

In Germany the two poems known as the Klage and Hurnen Seyfrid are the most noteworthy additional records of the Nibelungen saga, as offering in part at least independent material. The Klage is a poem of over four thousand lines in rhymed couplets, about half of it being an account of the mourning of Etzel, Dietrich, and Hildebrand as they seek out the slain and prepare them for burial, the other half telling of the bringing of the news to Bechlaren, Passau, and Worms. The poem was written evidently very soon after the Nibelungenlied, the substance of which was familiar to the author, though he also draws in part from other sources. Compared with the Nibelungenlied it possesses but little poetic merit and is written with distinctly Christian sentiment which is out of harmony with the ground-tone of the Germanic tragedy.

The Hurnen Seyfrid is a poem of 179 four-lined strophes which is preserved only in a print of the sixteenth century, but at least a portion of whose substance reaches back in its original form to a period preceding the composition of the Nibelungenlied. It is evidently, as we have it, formed by the union of two earlier separate poems, which are indeed to a certain extent contradictory of each other. The first tells of the boyhood of Seyfrid (Siegfried) and his apprenticeship to the smith; how he slew many dragons, burned them, and smeared over his body with the resulting fluid horny substance (hence his name hurnen), which made him invulnerable; how he further found the hoard of the dwarf Nybling, and by service to King Gybich won the latter’s daughter for his wife. The second part tells how King Gybich reigned at Worms. He has three sons, Gunther, Hagen, Gyrnot, and one daughter, Kriemhild. The latter is borne off by a dragon, but finally rescued by Seyfrid, to whom she is given in marriage. The three brothers are jealous of the might and fame of Seyfrid, and after eight years Hagen slays him beside a cool spring in the Ottenwald.

The poem Biterolf, written soon after the Nibelungenlied, and Rosengarten of perhaps a half-century later, represent Dietrich in conflict with Siegfried at Worms. The famous shoemaker-poet Hans Sachs of Nuremberg in 1557 constructed a tragedy, Der hornen Sewfriedt, on the story of Siegfried as he knew it from the Hurnen Seyfrid and the Rosengarten. A prose version of the Hurnen Seyfrid, with free additions and alterations, is preserved in the Volksbuch vom gehornten Sigfrid, the oldest print of which dates from the year 1726. Of the vast number of Fairy Tales, those most genuine creations of the poetic imagination of the people, in which live on, often to be sure in scarcely recognizable form, many of the myths and sagas of the nation’s infancy, there are several that may with justice be taken as relics of the Siegfried myth, for instance, The Two Brothers, The Young Giant, The Earth-Manikin, The King of the Golden Mount, The Raven, The Skilled Huntsman, and perhaps also the Golden Bird and The Water of Life;[6] though it would seem from recent investigations that Thorn-Rose or the Sleeping Beauty, is no longer to be looked upon as the counterpart of the sleeping Brynhild. Finally, it is probable that several names in Germany and in Northern countries preserve localized memories of the saga.

[6] These will be found in Grimm’s Marchen as numbers 60, 90-93, 111, 57, and 97.

5. Poem and Saga in Modern Literature

Fundamentally different from the foregoing natural outgrowths of the Nibelungen saga are the modern dramas and poems founded upon it since the time of the romanticists at the beginning of the nineteenth century.[7] Nearly all of these have already vanished as so much chaff from the winnowing-mill of time: only two, perhaps, are now considered seriously, namely, Hebbel’s Die Nibelungen and Richard Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen. Hebbel in his grandly conceived drama in three parts follows closely the story as we have it in our epic poem the Nibelungenlied, and the skill with which he makes use of its tragic elements shows his dramatic genius at its best. But not even the genius of Hebbel could make these forms of myth and saga live again for us upon a modern stage, and the failure of this work with its wealth of poetic beauty and many scenes of highest dramatic effectiveness to maintain its place as an acting drama is sufficient evidence that the yawning gap that separates the sentiment of the modern world from that of the early centuries in which these sagas grew is not to be bridged over by the drama, however easy and indeed delightful it may be for us to allow ourselves to be transported thither to that romantic land upon the wings of epic story. Wagner in his music-drama in three parts and prelude has followed in the main the saga in its Northern form [8] up to the death of Siegfried and Brunhild, but to the entire exclusion of the latter part of the story in which Atli (Etzel) figures; his work has accordingly hardly any connection with the Nibelungenlied here offered in translation. Only the pious loyalty of national sentiment can assign a high place in dramatic literature to Wagner’s work with its intended imitation of the alliterative form of verse; while his philosophizing gods and goddesses are also but decadent modern representatives of their rugged heathen originals.

[7] The curious will find a list of these in the introduction to Piper’s edition, cited below, Chapter 7. [8] See above, Chapter 2.

6. Modern German Translations

The language of the Nibelungenlied presents about the same difficulty to the German reader of to-day as that of our English Chaucer to us. Many translations into modern German have accordingly been made to render it accessible to the average reader without special study. In the year 1767 Bodmer in Zurich published a translation into hexameters of a portion of it, and since the investigations of Lachmann raised it to the position of a national epic of first magnitude many more have appeared, both in prose and verse. The best in prose is that by Scherr, of the year 1860. Of the metrical translations that by Simrock, which in its later editions follows pretty closely the text of MS. C, is deservedly the most popular and has passed through a great number of editions. Bartsch has also made a translation based on his edition of MS. B. These modern versions by Simrock and Bartsch reproduce best the metrical quality of the original strophe. Easily obtainable recent translations are those by Junghans (in Reclam’s Universalbibliothek) of text C, and by Hahn (Collection Spemann) of text A.

7. English Translations[9]

[9] For a complete list of these, also of magazine articles, etc., relating to the Nibelungenlied, see F. E. Sandbach, The Nibelungenlied and Gudrun in England and America, London, 1903.

Early in last century interest in the Nibelungenlied began to manifest itself in England. A synopsis of it, with metrical translation of several strophes, appeared in the year 1814 in Weber, Jamieson and Scott’s "Illustrations of Northern Antiquities” (London and Edinburgh), in which, according to Lockhart, Sir Walter Scott’s hand may perhaps be seen. Carlyle, laboring as a pioneer to spread a knowledge of German literature in England, contributed to the Westminster Review in 1831 his well-known essay on the Nibelungenlied which, though containing an additional mass of rather ill-arranged matter and now antiquated in many particulars, is still well worth reading for its enthusiastic account of the epic itself in the genuine style of the author. Carlyle here reproduces in metrical form a few strophes. He has said elsewhere that one of his ambitions was to make a complete English version of the poem. Since then an endless number of accounts of it, chiefly worthless, has appeared in magazines and elsewhere. The first attempt at a complete metrical translation was made in 1848 by Jonathan Birch, who however only reproduces Lachmann’s twenty lieder, with some fifty-one strophes added on his own account. His version of the first strophe runs thus:

Legends of by-gone times reveal wonders and prodigies,

  Of heroes worthy endless fame,–of matchless braveries,–
  Of jubilees and festal sports,–of tears and sorrows great,–
  And knights who daring combats fought:–the like I now relate.

In 1850 appeared William Nansom Lettsom’s translation of the whole poem according to Braunfels’ edition, with the opening strophe turned as follows:

In stories of our fathers high marvels we are told

  Of champions well approved in perils manifold.

  Of feasts and merry meetings, of weeping and of wail,

  And deeds of gallant daring I’ll tell you in my tale.

The next metrical rendering is that by A. G. Foster-Barham in the year 1887. His first strophe reads:

Many a wondrous story have the tales of old,

  Of feats of knightly glory, and of the Heroes bold,

  Of the delights of feasting, of weeping and of wail,

  Of noble deeds of daring; you may list strange things in my tale.

In the year 1898 follows still another, by Alice Horton (edited by E. Bell). This latest translation is based on Bartsch’s text of MS. B, and is prefaced by Carlyle’s essay. First strophe:

To us, in olden legends, / is many a marvel told

  Of praise-deserving heroes, / of labours manifold,

  Of weeping and of wailing, / of joy and festival;

  Of bold knights’ battling shall you / now hear a wondrous tale.

Apart from the many faults of interpretation all of the metrical translations of the Nibelungenlied here enumerated are defective in one all-important respect: they do not reproduce the poem in its metrical form. Carlyle and other pioneers we may perhaps acquit of any intention of following the original closely in this regard. None of the translators of the complete poem, however, has retained in the English rendering what is after all the very essence of a poem,–its exact metrical quality. Birch has created an entirely different form of strophe in which all four lines are alike, each containing seven principal accents, with the caesura, following the fourth foot. Lettsom makes the first serious attempt to reproduce the original strophe. It is evident from the introduction to his translation (see p. xxvi) that he had made a careful study of its form, and he does in fact reproduce the first three lines exactly. Of the fourth line he says: “I have not thought it expedient to make a rule of thus lengthening the fourth lines of the stanzas, though I have lengthened them occasionally"(!). What moved him thus to deprive the stanza of its most striking feature–and one, moreover, that is easily preserved in English–he does not make clear. The versions of Foster-Barham and of Horton and Bell show the same disfigurement, the latter omitting the extra accent of the fourth line, as they say, “for the sake of euphony"(!). It is just this lengthened close of each strophe that gives the Nibelungenlied its peculiar metrical character and contributes not a little to the avoidance of monotony in a poem of over two thousand strophes. In theory the form of the fourth line as it stands in the original is no more foreign to the genius of the English language than to that of modern German, and few of the many Germans giving a modernized version of the epic have been bold enough to lay sacrilegious hands upon it to shorten it.

A brief account of the Nibelungen strophe may not be out of place here, owing to the fact that its character has generally been misunderstood. The origin and evolution of the strophe have been the subject of much discussion, the results of which we need not pause to formulate here. As it appears in actual practice in our poem of about the year 1200, it was as follows: Each strophe consists of four long lines, the first line rhyming with the second, and the third with the fourth. The rhymes are masculine, that is, rhymes on the end syllable. Each line is divided by a clearly marked caesura into two halves; each half of the first three lines and the first half of the fourth line has three accented syllables, the second half of the fourth line has four accented syllables. The first half of each line ends in an unaccented syllabic–or, strictly speaking, in a syllable bearing a secondary accent; that is, each line has what is called a “ringing” caesura. The metrical character of the Nibelungen strophe is thus due to its fixed number of accented syllables. Of unaccented syllables the number may vary within certain limits. Ordinarily each accented syllable is preceded by an unaccented one; that is, the majority of feet are iambic. The unaccented syllable may, however, at times be wanting, or there may, on the other hand, be two or even three of them together. A characteristic of the second half of the last line is that there is very frequently no unaccented syllable between the second and the third accented ones. Among occasional variations of the normal strophe as here described may be mentioned the following: The end-rhyme is in a few instances feminine instead of masculine; while on the other hand the ending of the first half-lines is occasionally masculine instead of feminine, that is, the caesura is not “ringing.” In a few scattered instances we find strophes that rhyme throughout in the caesura as well as at the end of lines;[10] occasionally the first and second lines, or still less frequently the third and fourth, alone have caesural rhyme.[11] Rhyming of the caesura may be regarded as accidental in most cases, but it is reproduced as exactly as possible in this translation.

[10] Strophes 1, 17, 102, and possibly 841. [11] Strophes 18, 69, 103, 115, 129, 148, 177, 190, 198, 222, 231, 239, 293, 325, 345, 363, 485, 584, 703, 712, 859, 864, 894, 937, 1022, 1032, 1114, 1225, 1432, 1436, 1460, 1530, 1555, 1597, 1855, 1909, 1944, 1956, 2133, 2200, 2206, 2338.

In the original the opening strophe, which is altogether more regular than the average and is, moreover, one of the few that have also complete caesural rhyme, is as follows:

Uns ist in alten maeren / wunders vil geseit

  von heleden lobebaeren, / von grozer arebeit,

  von frouden, hochgeziten, / von weinen und von klagen,

  von kuener recken striten / muget ir nu wunder hoeren sagen.

Here the only place where the unaccented syllable is lacking before the accented is before wunders at the beginning of the second half of the first line. A strophe showing more typical irregularities is, for instance, the twenty-second:

In sinen besten ziten, / bi sinen jungen tagen,

  man mohte michel wunder / von Sivride sagen,

  waz eren an im wuchse / und wie scoene was sin lip.

  sit heten in ze minne / diu vil waetlichen wip.

Here the rhyme of the first and second lines is still masculine, tagen and sagen being pronounced tagn and sagn. The unaccented syllable is lacking, e.g., before the second accent of the second half of line two, also before the first and the third accent of the second half of line four. There are two unaccented syllables at the beginning (Auftakt) of the second half of line three. The absence of the unaccented syllable between the second and the third accent of the last half of the fourth line of a strophe, as here, is so frequent in the poem as to amount almost to a rule; it shows an utter misconception, or disregard, of its true character, nevertheless, to treat this last half-line as having only three accented syllables, as all translators hitherto have done.

8. Editions Of The Nibelungenlied

MS. A. (Hohenems-Munich).
Lachmann, Der Nibelunge Not und die Klage, 5th ed., Berlin, 1878.
Several reprints of the text alone later.

MS. B. (St. Gall).
Bartsch, Das Nibelungenlied, 6th ed., Leipzig, 1886. (Vol. 3 of the series Deutsche Classiker des Mittelalters.)
Piper, Die Nibelungen. (Vol. 6 of Kurschner’s Deutsche National-Litteratur.)

MS. C. (Donaueschingen).
Zarncke, Das Nibelungenlied, 6th ed., Leipzig, 1887.

The Nibelungenlied - First Adventure - Kriemhild’s Dream

To us in olden story / are wonders many told

Of heroes rich in glory, / of trials manifold:

Of joy and festive greeting, / of weeping and of woe,

Of keenest warriors meeting, / shall ye now many a wonder know.

There once grew up in Burgundy / a maid of noble birth,

Nor might there be a fairer / than she in all the earth:

Kriemhild hight the maiden, / and grew a dame full fair,

Through whom high thanes a many / to lose their lives soon doomed were.

’Twould well become the highest / to love the winsome maid,

Keen knights did long to win her, / and none but homage paid.

Beauty without measure, / that in sooth had she,

And virtues wherewith many / ladies else adorned might be.

Three noble lords did guard her, / great as well in might,

Gunther and Gernot, / each one a worthy knight,

And Giselher their brother, / a hero young and rare.

The lady was their sister / and lived beneath the princes’ care.

These lords were free in giving, / and born of high degree;

Undaunted was the valor / of all the chosen three.

It was the land of Burgundy / o’er which they did command,

And mighty deeds of wonder / they wrought anon in Etzel’s land.

At Worms amid their warriors / they dwelt, the Rhine beside,

And in their lands did serve them / knights of mickle pride,

Who till their days were ended / maintained them high in state.

They later sadly perished / beneath two noble women’s hate.

A high and royal lady, / Ute their mother hight,

Their father’s name was Dankrat, / a man of mickle might.

To them his wealth bequeathed he / when that his life was done,

For while he yet was youthful / had he in sooth great honor won.

In truth were these three rulers, / as I before did say,

Great and high in power, / and homage true had they

Eke of knights the boldest / and best that e’er were known,

Keen men all and valiant, / as they in battle oft had shown.

There was of Tronje Hagen, / and of that princely line

His brother valiant Dankwart; / and eke of Metz Ortwein;

Then further the two margraves, / Gere and Eckewart;

Of Alzei was Volker, / a doughty man of dauntless heart.

Rumold the High Steward, / a chosen man was he,

Sindold and Hunold / they tended carefully

Each his lofty office / in their three masters’ state,

And many a knight beside them / that I the tale may ne’er relate.

Dankwart he was Marshal; / his nephew, then, Ortwein

Upon the monarch waited / when that he did dine;

Sindold was Cup-bearer, / a stately thane was he,

And Chamberlain was Hunold, / masters all in courtesy.

Of the kings’ high honor / and their far-reaching might,

Of their full lofty majesty / and how each gallant knight

Found his chiefest pleasure / in the life of chivalry,

In sooth by mortal never / might it full related be.

Amid this life so noble / did dream the fair Kriemhild

How that she reared a falcon, / in beauty strong and wild,

That by two eagles perished; / the cruel sight to see

Did fill her heart with sorrow / as great as in this world might be.

The dream then to her mother / Queen Ute she told,

But she could not the vision / than thus more clear unfold:

"The falcon that thou rearedst, / doth mean a noble spouse:

God guard him well from evil / or thou thy hero soon must lose.”

“Of spouse, O darling mother, / what dost thou tell to me?

Without a knight to woo me, / so will I ever be,

Unto my latest hour / I’ll live a simple maid,

That I through lover’s wooing / ne’er be brought to direst need.”

“Forswear it not so rashly," / her mother then replied.

"On earth if thou wilt ever / cast all care aside,

’Tis love alone will do it; / thou shalt be man’s delight,

If God but kindly grant thee / to wed a right good valiant knight.”

“Now urge the case, dear mother," / quoth she, “not further here.

Fate of many another / dame hath shown full clear

How joy at last doth sorrow / lead oft-times in its train.

That I no ruth may borrow, / from both alike I’ll far remain.”

Long time, too, did Kriemhild / her heart from love hold free,

And many a day the maiden / lived right happily,

Ere good knight saw she any / whom she would wish to woo.

In honor yet she wedded / anon a worthy knight and true.

He was that same falcon / she saw the dream within

Unfolded by her mother. / Upon her nearest kin,

That they did slay him later, / how wreaked she vengeance wild!

Through death of this one hero / died many another mother’s child.

Second Adventure - Siegfried

There grew likewise in Netherland / a prince of noble kind,

Siegmund hight his father, / his mother Siegelind–
Within a lordly castle / well known the country o’er,

By the Rhine far downward: / Xanten was the name it bore.

Siegfried they did call him, / this bold knight and good;

Many a realm he tested, / for brave was he of mood.

He rode to prove his prowess / in many a land around:

Heigh-ho! what thanes of mettle / anon in Burgundy he found!

In the springtime of his vigor, / when he was young and bold,

Could tales of mickle wonder / of Siegfried be told,

How he grew up in honor, / and how fair he was to see:

Anon he won the favor / of many a debonair lady.

As for a prince was fitting, / they fostered him with care:

Yet how the knightly virtues / to him native were!

’Twas soon the chiefest glory / of his father’s land,

That he in fullest measure / endowed with princely worth did stand.

He soon was grown in stature / that he at court did ride.

The people saw him gladly, / lady and maid beside

Did wish that his own liking / might lead him ever there.

That they did lean unto him / the knight was soon right well aware.

In youth they let him never / without safe escort ride;

Soon bade Siegmund and Siegelind / apparel rich provide;

Men ripe in wisdom taught him, / who knew whence honor came.

Thus many lands and people / he won by his wide-honored name.

Now was he of such stature / that he could weapons bear:

Of what thereto he needed / had he an ample share.

Then to think of loving / fair maids did he begin,

And well might they be honored / for wooer Siegfried bold to win.

Then bade his father Siegmund / make known to one and all

That he with his good kinsmen / would hold high festival.

And soon were tidings carried / to all the neighboring kings;

To friends at home and strangers / steeds gave he and rich furnishings.

Wherever they found any / who knight was fit to be

By reason of his kindred, / all such were courteously

Unto the land invited / to join the festal throng,

When with the prince so youthful / on them the knightly sword was hung.

Of this high time of revelry / might I great wonders tell.

Siegmund and Siegelind / great honor won full well,

Such store of goodly presents / they dealt with generous hand,

That knights were seen full many / from far come pricking to their land.

Four hundred lusty squires / were there to be clad

In knight’s full garb with Siegfried. / Full many a beauteous maid

At work did never tire, / for dear they did him hold,

And many a stone full precious / those ladies laid within the gold,

That they upon the doublets / embroidered cunningly

Of those soon to be knighted: / ’t was thus it had to be,

Seats bade the host for many / a warrior bold make right

Against the high midsummer, / when Siegfried won the name of knight.

Then went unto the minster / full many a noble knight

And gallant squires beside them. / The elder there with right

Did wait upon the younger, / as once for them was done.

They were all light-hearted, / in hope of pleasure every one.

God to praise and honor / they sang the mass’ song;

There, too, were crowds of people, / a great and surging throng,

When after knightly custom / knighthood received they then,

In such a stately pageant / as scarce might ever be again.

They hastened where they found them / saddled many a steed;

In the court of Siegmund’s castle / they tilted with such speed

That far the din resounded / through castle and through hall,

As in the play with clamor / did join the fiery riders all.

Well-tried old knights and youthful / met there in frequent clash,

There was sound of shattered lances / that through the air did crash,

And along before the castle / were splinters seen to fly

From hands of knights a many: / each with other there did vie.

The king he bade give over: / they led the chargers out:

There was seen all shattered / many a boss well-wrought,

And many a stone full costly / lay there upon the sward

From erstwhile shining shield-bands, / now broken in the jousting hard.

The guests all went thereafter / where seats for them were reared;

They by the choicest viands / from weariness were cheered,

And wine, of all the rarest, / that then in plenty flowed.

Upon both friends and strangers / were fitting honors rich bestowed.

In such merry manner / all day did last the feast.

Many a wandering minstrel / knew not any rest,

But sang to win the presents / dealt out with bounteous hand;

And with their praise was honored / far and wide King Siegmund’s land.

The monarch then did order / Siegfried his youthful son

In fee give lands and castles, / as he erstwhile had done.

To all his sword-companions / he gave with such full hand,

That joyed they o’er the journey / they now had made unto that land.

The festival yet lasted / until the seventh day.

Siegelind after old custom / in plenty gave away

–For so her son she honored– / rich gifts of shining gold:

In sooth deserved she richly / that all should him in honor hold.

Never a wandering minstrel / was unprovided found:

Horses there and raiment / so free were dealt around,

As if to live they had not / beyond it one day more.

I ween a monarch’s household / ne’er bestowed such gifts before.

Thus closed the merry feasting / in this right worthy way,

And ’t was well known thereafter / how those good knights did say

That they the youthful hero / for king would gladly have;

But this nowise he wished for, / Siegfried the stately knight and brave.

While that they both were living, / Siegmund and Siegelind,

No crown their son desired, / –thereto he had no mind.

Yet would he fain be master / o’er all the hostile might

That in the lands around him / opposed the keen and fiery knight.

Third Adventure - How Siegfried came to Worms

Seldom in sooth, if ever, / the hero’s heart was sad.

He heard them tell the story, / how that a winsome maid

There lived afar in Burgundy, / surpassing fair to see:

Great joy she brought him later, / but eke she brought him misery.

Of her exceeding beauty / the fame spread far and near,

And of the thing, moreover, / were knights oft-times aware

How the maid’s high spirit / no mortal could command:

The thing lured many a stranger / from far unto King Gunther’s land.

Although to win her favor / were many wooers bent,

In her own heart would never / Kriemhild thereto consent

That any one amongst them / for lover she would have:

Still to her was he a stranger / to whom anon her troth she gave.

To true love turned his fancy / the son of Siegelind.

’Gainst his, all others’ wooing / was like an idle wind:

Full well did he merit / a lady fair to woo,

And soon the noble Kriemhild / to Siegfried bold was wedded true.

By friends he oft was counselled, / and many a faithful man,

Since to think of wooing / in earnest he began,

That he a wife should find him / of fitting high degree.

Then spoke the noble Siegfried: / “In sooth fair Kriemhild shall it be,

“The noble royal maiden / in Burgundy that dwells,

For sake of all her beauty. / Of her the story tells,

Ne’er monarch was so mighty / that, if for spouse he sighed,

’Twere not for him befitting / to take the princess for his bride.”

Unto King Siegmund also / the thing was soon made known.

His people talked about it, / whereby to him was shown

The Prince’s fixed purpose. / It grieved him sorely, too,

That his son intent was / the full stately maid to woo.

Siegelind asked and learned it, / the noble monarch’s wife.

For her loved son she sorrowed / lest he should lose his life,

For well she knew the humor / of Gunther and his men.

Then gan they from the wooing / strive to turn the noble thane.

Then said the doughty Siegfried: / “O father dear to me,

Without the love of woman / would I ever be,

Could I not woo in freedom / where’er my heart is set.

Whate’er be said by any, / I’ll keep the selfsame purpose yet.”

“Since thou wilt not give over," / the king in answer said,

"Am I of this thy purpose / inwardly full glad,

And straightway to fulfil it / I’ll help as best I can,

Yet in King Gunther’s service / is many a haughty-minded man.

“And were there yet none other / than Hagen, warrior-knight,

He with such haughty bearing / is wont to show his might,

That I do fear right sorely / that sad our end may be,

If we set out with purpose / to win the stately maid for thee.”

“Shall we by that be hindered?" / outspake Siegfried then;

"Whate’er in friendly fashion / I cannot obtain

I’ll yet in other manner / take that, with sword in hand.

I trow from them I’ll further / wrest both their vassals and their land.”

“I grieve to hear thy purpose," / said Siegmund the king;

"If any one this story / unto the Rhine should bring,

Then durst thou never after / within that land be seen.

Gunther and Gernot, / –well known to me they long have been.

“By force, however mighty, / no man can win the maid,"

Spake King Siegmund further, / “to me hath oft been said.

But if with knightly escort / thither thou wilt ride,

Good friends–an have we any– / shall soon be summoned to thy side.”

“No wish,” then answered Siegfried, / “it ever was of mine,

That warrior knights should follow / with me unto the Rhine

As if arrayed for battle: / ’twould make my heart full sad,

To force in hostile manner / to yield to me the stately maid.

“By my own hand–thus only– / trust I to win my bride;

With none but twelve in company / to Gunther’s land I’ll ride.

In this, O royal father, / thy present help I pray."

Gray and white fur raiment / had his companions for the way.

Siegelind his mother / then heard the story too,

And grieved she was on hearing / what her dear son would do,

For she did fear to lose him / at hands of Gunther’s men.

Thereat with heart full heavy / began to weep the noble queen.

Then came forth Sir Siegfried / where the queen he sought,

And to his weeping mother / thus gently spake his thought:

"No tear of grief thou shouldest / ever shed for me,

For I care not a tittle / for all the warriors that be.

“So help me on my journey / to the land of Burgundy,

And furnish such apparel / for all my knights and me,

As warriors of our station / might well with honor wear.

Then I in turn right truly / to thee my gratitude will swear.”

“Since thou wilt not give over," / Siegelind then replied,

"My only son, I’ll help thee / as fits thee forth to ride,

With the best apparel / that riders ever wore,

Thee and thy companions: / ye shall of all have goodly store.”

Then bowed the youthful Siegfried / the royal dame before,

And said: “Upon the journey / will I take no more,

But twelve good knights only: / for these rich dress provide,

For I would know full gladly / how ’t doth with Kriemhild betide.”

Then sat at work fair women / by night and eke by day,

And rest indeed but little / from busy toil had they,

Until they had made ready / the dress Siegfried should wear.

Firm bent upon the journey, / no other counsel would he hear.

His father bade a costly / garb for him prepare,

That leaving Siegmund’s country / he the same might wear.

For all their glittering breastplates / were soon prepared beside,

And helmets firmly welded, / and shining shields long and wide.

Then fast the day grew nearer / when they should thence depart.

Men and likewise women / went sorrowing in heart,

If that they should ever / see more their native land.

With full equipment laden / the sumpter horses there did stand.

Their steeds were stately, furnished / with trappings rich with gold;

It were a task all bootless / to seek for knights more bold

Than were the gallant Siegfried / and his chosen band.

He longed to take departure / straightway for Burgundian land.

Leave granted they with sadness, / both the king and queen,

The which to turn to gladness / sought the warrior keen,

And spake then: “Weep ye shall not / at all for sake of me,

Forever free from doubtings / about my safety may ye be.”

Stern warriors stood there sorrowing, / –in tears was many a maid.

I ween their hearts erred nothing, / as sad forebodings said

That ’mongst their friends so many / thereby were doomed to die.

Good cause had they to sorrow / at last o’er all their misery.

Upon the seventh morning / to Worms upon the strand

Did come the keen knights riding. / Bright shone many a band

Of gold from their apparel / and rich equipment then;

And gently went their chargers / with Siegfried and his chosen men.

New-made shields they carried / that were both strong and wide

And brightly shone their helmets / as thus to court did ride

Siegfried the keen warrior / into King Gunther’s land.

Of knights before was never / beheld so richly clad a band.

The points of their long scabbards / reached down unto the spur,

And spear full sharply pointed / bore each chosen warrior.

The one that Siegfried carried / in breadth was two good span,

And grimly cut its edges / when driven by the fearless man.

Reins with gold all gleaming / held they in the hand,

The saddle-bands were silken. / So came they to the land.

On every side the people / to gape at them began,

And also out to meet them / the men that served King Gunther ran.

Gallant men high-hearted, / knight and squire too,

Hastened to receive them, / for such respect was due,

And bade the guests be welcome / unto their master’s land.

They took from them their chargers, / and shields as well from out the

      hand.

Then would they eke the chargers / lead forth unto their rest;

But straight the doughty Siegfried / to them these words addressed:

"Yet shall ye let our chargers / stand the while near by;

Soon take we hence our journey; / thereon resolved full well am I.

“If that be known to any, / let him not delay,

Where I your royal master / now shall find, to say,–
Gunther, king so mighty / o’er the land of Burgundy."

Then told him one amongst them / to whom was known where that might be:

“If that the king thou seekest, / right soon may he be found.

Within that wide hall yonder / with his good knights around

But now I saw him sitting. / Thither do thou repair,

And thou may’st find around him / many a stately warrior there.”

Now also to the monarch / were the tidings told,

That within his castle / were knights arrived full bold,

All clad in shining armor / and apparelled gorgeously;

But not a man did know them / within the land of Burgundy.

Thereat the king did wonder / whence were come to him

These knights adventure seeking / in dress so bright and trim,

And shields adorned so richly / that new and mighty were.

That none the thing could tell him / did grieve him sorely to hear.

Outspake a knight then straightway, / Ortwein by name was he,

Strong and keen as any / well was he known to be:

"Since we of them know nothing, / bid some one quickly go

And fetch my uncle Hagen: / to him thou shalt the strangers show.

“To him are known far kingdoms / and every foreign land,

And if he know these strangers / we soon shall understand."

The king then sent to fetch him: / with his train of men

Unto the king’s high presence / in stately gear went he then.

What were the king’s good pleasure, / asked Hagen grim in war.

"In the court within my castle / are warriors from afar,

And no one here doth know them: / if them thou e’er didst see

In any land far distant, / now shalt thou, Hagen, tell to me.”

“That will I do, ’tis certain."– / To a window then he went,

And on the unknown strangers / his keen eye he bent.

Well pleased him their equipment / and the rich dress they wore,

Yet ne’er had he beheld them / in land of Burgundy before.

He said that whencesoever / these knights come to the Rhine,

They bear a royal message, / or are of princely line.

"Their steeds are so bedizened, / and their apparel rare:

No matter whence they journey, / high-hearted men in truth they are.”

Further then spake Hagen: / “As far as goes my ken,

Though I the noble Siegfried / yet have never seen,

Yet will I say meseemeth, / howe’er the thing may be,

This knight who seeks adventure, / and yonder stands so proud, is he.

“’Tis some new thing he bringeth / hither to our land.

The valiant Nibelungen / fell by the hero’s hand,

Schilbung and Nibelung, / from royal sire sprung;

Deeds he wrought most wondrous / anon when his strong arm he swung.

“As once alone the hero / rode without company,

Found he before a mountain / –as hath been told to me–
With the hoard of Nibelung / full many stalwart men;

To him had they been strangers / until he chanced to find them then.

“The hoard of King Nibelung / entire did they bear

Forth from a mountain hollow. / And now the wonder hear,

How that they would share it, / these two Nibelung men.

This saw the fearless Siegfried, / and filled he was with wonder then.

“He came so near unto them / that he the knights espied,

And they in turn him also. / One amongst them said:

’Here comes the doughty Siegfried, / hero of Netherland.’
Since ’mongst the Nibelungen / strange wonders wrought his mighty hand.

“Right well did they receive him, / Schilbung and Nibelung,

And straight they both together, / these noble princes young,

Bade him mete out the treasure, / the full valorous man,

And so long time besought him / that he at last the task began.

“As we have heard in story, / he saw of gems such store

That they might not be laden / on wagons full five score;

More still of gold all shining / from Nibelungenland.

’Twas all to be divided / between them by keen Siegfried’s hand.

“Then gave they him for hire / King Nibelung’s sword.

And sooth to say, that service / brought them but small reward,

That for them there performed / Siegfried of dauntless mood.

His task he could not finish; / thereat they raged as were they wood.

“They had there of their followers / twelve warriors keen,

And strong they were as giants: / what booted giants e’en?

Them slew straightway in anger / Siegfried’s mighty hand,

And warriors seven hundred / he felled in Nibelungenland

“With the sword full trusty, / Balmung that hight.

Full many a youthful warrior / from terror at the sight

Of that deadly weapon / swung by his mighty hand

Did render up his castle / and pledge him fealty in the land.

“Thereto the kings so mighty, / them slew he both as well.

But into gravest danger / through Alberich he fell,

Who thought for his slain masters / vengeance to wreak straightway,

Until the mighty Siegfried / his wrath with strong arm did stay.

“Nor could prevail against him / the Dwarf, howe’er he tried.

E’en as two wild lions / they coursed the mountainside,

Where he the sightless mantle[1] / from Alberich soon won.

Then Siegfried, knight undaunted, / held the treasure for his own.

[1] This is the tarnkappe, a cloak that made the wearer invisible, and also gave him the strength of twelve men.

“Who then dared join the struggle, / all slain around they lay.

Then he bade the treasure / to draw and bear away

Thither whence ’twas taken / by the Nibelungen men.

Alberich for his valor / was then appointed Chamberlain.

“An oath he had to swear him, / he’d serve him as his slave;

To do all kinds of service / his willing pledge he gave"–
Thus spake of Tronje Hagen– / “That has the hero done;

Might as great before him / was never in a warrior known.

“Still know I more about him, / that has to me been told.

A dragon, wormlike monster, / slew once the hero bold.

Then in its blood he bathed him, / since when his skin hath been

So horn-hard, ne’er a weapon / can pierce it, as hath oft been seen.

“Let us the brave knight-errant / receive so courteously

That we in nought shall merit / his hate, for strong is he.

He is so keen of spirit / he must be treated fair:

He has by his own valor / done many a deed of prowess rare.”

The monarch spake in wonder: / “In sooth thou tellest right.

Now see how proudly yonder / he stands prepared for fight,

He and his thanes together, / the hero wondrous keen!

To greet him we’ll go thither, / and let our fair intent be seen.”

“That canst thou,” out spake Hagen, / “well in honor do.

He is of noble kindred, / a high king’s son thereto.

’Tis seen in all his bearing; / meseems in truth, God wot,

The tale is worth the hearing / that this bold knight has hither

      brought.”

Then spake the mighty monarch: / “Be he right welcome here.

Keen is he and noble, / of fame known far and near.

So shall he be fair treated / in the land of Burgundy."

Down then went King Gunther, / and Siegfried with his men found he.

The king and his knights with him / received so well the guest,

That the hearty greeting / did their good will attest.

Thereat in turn the stranger / in reverence bowed low,

That in their welcome to him / they did such courtesy bestow.

“To me it is a wonder," / straightway spake the host,

"From whence, O noble Siegfried, / come to our land thou dost,

Or what here thou seekest / at Worms upon the Rhine."

Him the stranger answered: / “Put thou away all doubts of thine.

“I oft have heard the tiding / within my sire’s domain,

How at thy court resided / –and know this would I fain–
Knights, of all the keenest, / –’tis often told me so–
That e’er a monarch boasted: / now come I hither this to know.

“Thyself have I heard also / high praised for knightly worth;

’Tis said a nobler monarch / ne’er lived in all the earth.

Thus speak of thee the people / in all the lands around.

Nor will I e’er give over / until in this the truth I’ve found.

“I too am warrior noble / and born to wear a crown;

So would I right gladly / that thou of me shouldst own

That I of right am master / o’er people and o’er land.

Of this shall now my honor / and eke my head as pledges stand.

“And art thou then so valiant / as hath to me been told,

I reck not, will he nill he / thy best warrior bold,

I’ll wrest from thee in combat / whatever thou may’st have;

Thy lands and all thy castles / shall naught from change of masters

      save.”

The king was seized with wonder / and all his men beside,

To see the manner haughty / in which the knight replied

That he was fully minded / to take from him his land.

It chafed his thanes to hear it, / who soon in raging mood did stand.

“How could it be my fortune," / Gunther the king outspoke,

"What my sire long ruled over / in honor for his folk,

Now to lose so basely / through any vaunter’s might?

In sooth ’twere nobly showing / that we too merit name of knight!”

“Nowise will I give over," / was the keen reply.

"If peace through thine own valor / thy land cannot enjoy,

To me shall all be subject: / if heritage of mine

Through thy arm’s might thou winnest, / of right shall all hence-forth be

      thine.

“Thy land and all that mine is, / at stake shall equal lie.

Whiche’er of us be victor / when now our strength we try,

To him shall all be subject, / the folk and eke the land."

But Hagen spake against it, / and Gernot too was quick at hand.

“Such purpose have we never," / Gernot then said,

"For lands to combat ever, / that any warrior dead

Should lie in bloody battle. / We’ve mighty lands and strong;

Of right they call us master, / and better they to none belong.”

There stood full grim and moody / Gernot’s friends around,

And there as well amongst them / was Ortwein to be found.

He spake: “This mild peace-making / doth grieve me sore at heart,

For by the doughty Siegfried / attacked all undeserved thou art.

“If thou and thy two brothers / yourselves to help had naught,

And if a mighty army / he too had hither brought,

I trow I’d soon be able / to make this man so keen

His manner now so haughty / of need replace by meeker mien.”

Thereat did rage full sorely / the hero of Netherland:

"Never shall be measured / ’gainst me in fight thy hand.

I am a mighty monarch, / thou a king’s serving-knight;

Of such as thou a dozen / dare not withstand me in the fight.”

For swords then called in anger / of Metz Sir Ortwein:

Son of Hagen’s sister / he was, of Tronje’s line.

That Hagen so long was silent / did grieve the king to see.

Gernot made peace between them: / a gallant knight and keen was he.

Spake he thus to Ortwein: / “Curb now thy wrathful tongue,

For here the noble Siegfried / hath done us no such wrong;

We yet can end the quarrel / in peace,–such is my rede–
And live with him in friendship; / that were for us a worthier deed.”

Then spake the mighty Hagen: / “Sad things do I forebode

For all thy train of warriors, / that this knight ever rode

Unto the Rhine thus armed. / ’Twere best he stayed at home;

For from my masters never / to him such wrong as this had come.”

But outspake Siegfried proudly, / whose heart was ne’er dismayed:

"An’t please thee not, Sir Hagen, / what I now have said,

This arm shall give example / whereby thou plain shall see

How stern anon its power / here in Burgundy will be.”

“Yet that myself will hinder," / said then Gernot.

All his men forbade he / henceforth to say aught

With such unbridled spirit / to stir the stranger’s ire.

Then Siegfried eke was mindful / of one most stately maid and fair.

“Such strife would ill befit us," / Gernot spake again;

"For though should die in battle / a host of valiant men

’Twould bring us little honor / and ye could profit none."

Thereto gave Siegfried answer, / good King Siegmund’s noble son:

“Wherefore bides thus grim Hagen, / and Ortwein tardy is

To begin the combat / with all those friends of his,

Of whom he hath so many / here in Burgundy?"

Answer him they durst not, / for such was Gernot’s stern decree.

“Thou shalt to us be welcome," / outspake young Giselher,

"And all thy brave companions / that hither with thee fare.

Full gladly we’ll attend thee, / I and all friends of mine."

For the guests then bade they / pour out in store of Gunther’s wine.

Then spake the stately monarch: / “But ask thou courteously,

And all that we call ours / stands at thy service free;

So with thee our fortune / we’ll share in ill and good."

Thereat the noble Siegfried / a little milder was of mood.

Then carefully was tended / all their knightly gear,

And housed in goodly manner / in sooth the strangers were,

All that followed Siegfried; / they found a welcome rest.

In Burgundy full gladly / anon was seen the noble guest.

They showed him mickle honor / thereafter many a day,

And more by times a thousand / than I to you could say.

His might respect did merit, / ye may full well know that.

Scarce a man e’er saw him / who bore him longer any hate.

And when they held their pastime, / the kings with many a man,

Then was he ever foremost; / whatever they began,

None there that was his equal, / –so mickle was his might–
If they the stone were putting, / or hurling shaft with rival knight.

As is the knightly custom, / before the ladies fair

To games they turned for pastime, / these knights of mettle rare;

Then ever saw they gladly / the hero of Netherland.

But he had fixed his fancy / to win one fairest maiden’s hand.

In all that they were doing / he’d take a ready part.

A winsome loving maiden / he bore within his heart;

Him only loved that lady, / whose face he ne’er had seen,

But she full oft in secret / of him spake fairest words, I ween.

And when before the castle / they sped in tournament,

The good knights and squires, / oft-times the maiden went

And gazed adown from casement, / Kriemhild the princess rare.

Pastime there was none other / for her that could with this compare.

And knew he she was gazing / whom in his heart he bore,

He joy enough had found him / in jousting evermore.

And might he only see her, / –that can I well believe–
On earth through sight none other / his eyes could such delight receive.

Whene’er with his companions / to castle court he went,

E’en as do now the people / whene’er on pleasure bent,

There stood ’fore all so graceful / Siegelind’s noble son,

For whom in love did languish / the hearts of ladies many a one.

Eke thought he full often: / “How shall it ever be,

That I the noble maiden / with my own eyes may see,

Whom I do love so dearly / and have for many a day?

To me is she a stranger, / which sorely grieves my heart to say.”

Whene’er the kings so mighty / rode o’er their broad domain,

Then of valiant warriors / they took a stately train.

With them abroad rode Siegfried, / which grieved those ladies sore:

–He too for one fair maiden / at heart a mickle burden bore.

Thus with his hosts he lingered / –’tis every tittle true–
In King Gunther’s country / a year completely through,

And never once the meanwhile / the lovely maid did see,

Through whom such joy thereafter / for him, and eke such grief should be.

Fourth Adventure - How Siegfried fought with the Saxons

Now come wondrous tidings / to King Gunther’s land,

By messengers brought hither / from far upon command

Of knights unknown who harbored / against him secret hate.

When there was heard the story, / at heart in sooth the grief was great.

Of these I now will tell you: / There was King Luedeger

From out the land of Saxons, / a mighty warrior,

And eke from land of Denmark / Luedegast the king:

Whene’er they rode to battle / went they with mighty following.

Come were now their messengers / to the land of Burgundy,

Sent forth by these foemen / in proud hostility.

Then asked they of the strangers / what tidings they did bring:

And when they heard it, straightway / led them to court before the king.

Then spake to them King Gunther: / “A welcome, on my word.

Who ’tis that send you hither, / that have I not yet heard:

Now shall ye let me know it," / spake the monarch keen.

Then dreaded they full sorely / to see King Gunther’s angry mien.

“Wilt them, O king, permit us / the tidings straight to tell

That we now have brought thee, / no whit will we conceal,

But name thee both our masters / who us have hither sent:

Luedegast and Luedeger, / –to waste thy land is their intent.

“Their hate hast thou incurred, / and thou shalt know in sooth

That high enraged against thee / are the monarchs both.

Their hosts they will lead hither / to Worms upon the Rhine;

They’re helped by thanes full many– / of this put off all doubts of

      thine.

“Within weeks a dozen / their march will they begin;

And if thy friends be valiant, / let that full quick be seen,

To help thee keep in safety / thy castles and thy land:

Full many a shield and helmet / shall here be cleft by warrior’s hand.

“Or wilt thou with them parley, / so let it quick be known,

Before their hosts so mighty / of warlike men come down

To Worms upon Rhine river / sad havoc here to make,

Whereby must death most certain / many a gallant knight o’ertake.”

“Bide ye now the meanwhile," / the king did answer kind,

"Till I take better counsel; / then shall ye know my mind.

Have I yet warriors faithful, / from these I’ll naught conceal,

But to my friends I’ll straightway / these warlike tidings strange

      reveal.”

The lordly Gunther wondered / thereat and troubled sore,

As he the message pondered / in heart and brooded o’er.

He sent to fetch grim Hagen / and others of his men,

And bade likewise in hurry / to court bring hither Gernot then.

Thus at his word his trusted / advisers straight attend.

He spake: “Our land to harry / foes all unknown will send

Of men a mighty army; / a grievous wrong is this.

Small cause have we e’er given / that they should wish us aught amiss.”

“Our swords ward such things from us," / Gernot then said;

"Since but the fated dieth, / so let all such lie dead.

Wherefore I’ll e’er remember / what honor asks of me:

Whoe’er hath hate against us / shall ever here right welcome be.”

Then spake the doughty Hagen: / “Methinks ’twould scarce be good;

Luedegast and Luedeger / are men of wrathful mood.

Help can we never summon, / the days are now so few."

So spake the keen old warrior, / “’Twere well Siegfried the tidings

      knew.”

The messengers in the borough / were harbored well the while,

And though their sight was hateful, / in hospitable style

As his own guests to tend them / King Gunther gave command,

Till ’mongst his friends he learned / who by him in his need would

      stand.

The king was filled with sorrow / and his heart was sad.

Then saw his mournful visage / a knight to help full glad,

Who could not well imagine / what ’twas that grieved him so.

Then begged he of King Gunther / the tale of this his grief to know.

“To me it is great wonder," / said Siegfried to the king,

"How thou of late hast changed / to silent sorrowing

The joyous ways that ever / with us thy wont have been."

Then unto him gave answer / Gunther the full stately thane:

“’Tis not to every person / I can the burden say

That ever now in secret / upon my heart doth weigh:

To well-tried friends and steady / are told our inmost woes."

–Siegfried at first was pallid, / but soon his blood like fire up-rose.

He spake unto the monarch: / “To thee I’ve naught denied.

All ills that now do threaten / I’ll help to turn aside.

And if but friends thou seekest, / of them the first I’ll be,

And trow I well with honor / till death to serve thee faithfully.”

“God speed thee well, Sir Siegfried, / for this thy purpose fair:

And though such help in earnest / thy arm should render ne’er,

Yet do I joy at hearing / thou art so true to me.

And live I yet a season, / right heartily repaid ’twill be.

“Know will I also let thee / wherefore I sorrowing stand.

Through messengers from my foemen / have tidings reached my land

That they with hosts of warriors / will ride my country o’er;

Such thing to us did never / thanes of any land before.”

“Small cause is that for grieving," / said then Siegfried;

"But calm thy troubled spirit / and hearken to my rede:

Let me for thee acquire / honor and vantage too,

And bid thou now assemble / for service eke thy warriors true.

“And had thy mighty enemies / to help them now at hand

Good thanes full thirty thousand, / against them all I’d stand,

Had I but one good thousand: / put all thy trust in me."

Then answered him King Gunther: / “Thy help shall full requited be.”

“Then bid for me to summon / a thousand of thy men,

Since I now have with me / of all my knightly train

None but twelve knights only; / then will I guard thy land.

For thee shall service faithful / be done alway by Siegfried’s hand.

“Herein shall help us Hagen / and eke Ortwein,

Dankwart and Sindold, / those trusted knights of thine;

And with us too shall journey / Volker, the valiant man;

The banner he shall carry: / bestow it better ne’er I can.

“Back to their native country / the messengers may go;

They’ll see us there right quickly, / let them full surely know,

So that all our castles / peace undisturbed shall have."

Then bade the king to summon / his friends with all their warriors brave.

To court returned the heralds / King Luedeger had sent,

And on their journey homeward / full joyfully they went.

King Gunther gave them presents / that costly were and good,

And granted them safe convoy; / whereat they were of merry mood.

“Tell ye my foes,” spake Gunther, / “when to your land ye come,

Than making journeys hither / they better were at home;

But if they still be eager / to make such visit here,

Unless my friends forsake me, / cold in sooth shall be their cheer.”

Then for the messengers / rich presents forth they bore,

Whereof in sooth to give them / Gunther had goodly store:

And they durst not refuse them / whom Luedeger had sent.

Leave then they took immediate, / and homeward joyfully they went.

When to their native Denmark / the messengers returned,

And the king Luedegast / the answer too had learned,

They at the Rhine had sent him, / –when that to him was told,

His wrath was all unbounded / to have reply in words so bold.

’Twas said their warriors numbered / many a man full keen:

"There likewise among them / with Gunther have we seen

Of Netherland a hero, / the same that Siegfried hight."

King Luedegast was grieved, / when he their words had heard aright.

When throughout all Denmark / the tidings quick spread o’er,

Then in hot haste they summoned / helpers all the more,

So that King Luedegast, / ’twixt friends from far and near,

Had knights full twenty thousand / all furnished well with shield and

      spear.

Then too his men did summon / of Saxony Luedeger,

Till they good forty thousand, / and more, had gathered there,

With whom to make the journey / ’gainst the land of Burgundy.

–At home likewise the meanwhile / King Gunther had sent forth decree

Mighty men to summon / of his own and brothers twain,

Who against the foemen / would join the armed train.

In haste they made them ready, / for right good cause they had.

Amongst them must thereafter / full many a noble thane lie dead.

To march they quick made ready. / And when they thence would fare,

The banner to the valiant / Volker was given to bear,

As they began the journey / from Worms across the Rhine;

Strong of arm grim Hagen / was chosen leader of the line.

With them there rode Sindold / and eke the keen Hunold

Who oft at hands of Gunther / had won rewards of gold;

Dankwart, Hagen’s brother, / and Ortwein beside,

Who all could well with honor / in train of noble warriors ride.

“King Gunther,” spake then Siegfried, / “stay thou here at home;

Since now thy knights so gallant / with me will gladly come,

Rest thou here with fair ladies, / and be of merry mood:

I trow we’ll keep in safety / thy land and honor as we should.

“And well will I see to it / that they at home remain,

Who fain would ride against thee / to Worms upon the Rhine.

Against them straight we’ll journey / into their land so far

That they’ll be meeker minded / who now such haughty vaunters are.”

Then from the Rhine through Hesse / the hosts of knights rode on

Toward the land of Saxons, / where battle was anon.

With fire and sword they harried / and laid the country waste,

So that both the monarchs / full well the woes of war did taste.

When came they to the border / the train-men onward pressed.

With thought of battle-order / Siegfried the thanes addressed:

"Who now shall guard our followers / from danger in the rear?"

In sooth like this the Saxons / in battle worsted never were.

Then said they: “On the journey / the men shall guarded be

By the valiant Dankwart, / –a warrior swift is he;

So shall we lose the fewer / by men of Luedeger.

Let him and Ortwein with him / be chosen now to guard the rear.”

Spake then the valiant Siegfried: / “Myself will now ride on,

And against our enemies / will keep watch in the van,

Till I aright discover / where they perchance may be."

The son of fair Queen Siegelind / did arm him then immediately.

The folk he left to Hagen / when ready to depart,

And as well to Gernot, / a man of dauntless heart.

Into the land of Saxons / alone he rode away,

And by his hand was severed / many a helmet’s band that day.

He found a mighty army / that lay athwart the plain,

Small part of which outnumbered / all those in his own train:

Full forty thousand were they / or more good men of might.

The hero high in spirit / saw right joyfully the sight.

Then had eke a warrior / from out the enemy

To guard the van gone forward, / all armed cap-a-pie.

Him saw the noble Siegfried, / and he the valiant man;

Each one straight the other / to view with angry mien began.

Who he was I’ll tell you / that rode his men before,

–A shield of gold all shining / upon his arm he bore–
In sooth it was King Luedegast / who there the van did guard.

Straightway the noble Siegfried / full eagerly against him spurred.

Now singled out for combat / him, too, had Luedegast.

Then full upon each other / they spurred their chargers fast,

As on their shields they lowered / their lances firm and tight,

Whereat the lordly monarch / soon found himself in sorry plight.

After the shock their chargers / bore the knights so fast

Onward past each other / as flew they on the blast.

Then turned they deftly backward / obedient to the rein,

As with their swords contested / the grim and doughty fighters twain.

When Siegfried struck in anger / far off was heard the blow,

And flew from off the helmet, / as if ’twere all aglow,

The fiery sparks all crackling / beneath his hand around.

Each warrior in the other / a foeman worth his mettle found.

Full many a stroke with vigor / dealt eke King Luedegast,

And on each other’s buckler / the blows fell thick and fast.

Then thirty men discovered / their master’s sorry plight:

But ere they came to help him / had doughty Siegfried won the fight.

With three mighty gashes / which he had dealt the king

Through his shining breastplate / made fast with many a ring.

The sword with sharpest edges / from wounds brought forth the blood,

Whereat King Luedegast / apace fell into gloomy mood.

To spare his life he begged him, / his land he pledged the knight,

And told him straight moreover, / that Luedegast he hight.

Then came his knights to help him, / they who there had seen

How that upon the vanguard / fierce fight betwixt the twain had been.

After duel ended, / did thirty yet withstand

Of knights that him attended; / but there the hero’s hand

Kept safe his noble captive / with blows of wondrous might.

And soon wrought greater ruin / Siegfried the full gallant knight.

Beneath his arm of valor / the thirty soon lay dead.

But one the knight left living, / who thence full quickly sped

To tell abroad the story / how he the others slew;

In sooth the blood-red helmet / spake all the hapless tidings true.

Then had the men of Denmark / for all their grief good cause,

When it was told them truly / their king a captive was.

They told it to King Luedeger, / when he to rage began

In anger all unbounded: / for him had grievous harm been done.

The noble King Luedegast / was led a prisoner then

By hand of mighty Siegfried / back to King Gunther’s men,

And placed in hands of Hagen: / and when they did hear

That ’twas the king of Denmark / they not a little joyful were.

He bade the men of Burgundy / then bind the banners on.

"Now forward!” Siegfried shouted, / “here shall yet more be done,

An I but live to see it; / ere this day’s sun depart,

Shall mourn in land of Saxons / full many a goodly matron’s heart.

“Ye warriors from Rhineland, / to follow me take heed,

And I unto the army / of Luedeger will lead.

Ere we again turn backward / to the land of Burgundy

Helms many hewn asunder / by hand of good knights there shall be.”

To horse then hastened Gernot / and with him mighty men.

Volker keen in battle / took up the banner then;

He was a doughty Fiddler / and rode the host before.

There, too, every follower / a stately suit of armor wore.

More than a thousand warriors / they there had not a man,

Saving twelve knights-errant. / To rise the dust began

In clouds along the highway / as they rode across the fields,

And gleaming in the sunlight / were seen the brightly shining shields.

Meanwhile eke was nearing / of Saxons a great throng,

Each a broadsword bearing / that mickle was and long,

With blade that cut full sorely / when swung in strong right hand.

’Gainst strangers were they ready / to guard their castles and their

      land.

The leaders forth to battle / led the warriors then.

Come was also Siegfried / with his twelve chosen men,

Whom he with him hither / had brought from Netherland.

That day in storm of battle / was blood-bespattered many a hand.

Sindold and Hunold / and Gernot as well,

Beneath their hands in battle / full many a hero fell,

Ere that their deeds of valor / were known throughout the host.

Through them must many a stately / matron weep for warrior lost.

Volker and Hagen / and Ortwein in the fight

Lustily extinguished / full many a helmet’s light

With blood from wounds down flowing,– / keen fighters every one.

And there by Dankwart also / was many a mickle wonder done.

The knights of Denmark tested / how they could weapons wield.

Clashing there together / heard ye many a shield

And ’neath sharp swords resounding, / swung by many an arm.

The Saxons keen in combat / wrought ’mid their foes a grievous harm.

When the men of Burgundy / pressed forward to the fight,

Gaping wounds full many / hewed they there with might.

Then flowing down o’er saddle / in streams was seen the blood,

So fought for sake of honor / these valiant riders keen and good.

Loudly were heard ringing, / wielded by hero’s hand,

The sharply-cutting weapons, / where they of Netherland

Their master followed after / into the thickest throng:

Wherever Siegfried led them / rode too those valiant knights along.

Of warriors from Rhine river / could follow not a one.

There could be seen by any / a stream of blood flow down

O’er brightly gleaming helmet / ’neath Siegfried’s mighty hand,

Until King Luedeger / before him with his men did stand.

Three times hither and thither / had he the host cut through

From one end to the other. / Now come was Hagen too

Who helped him well in battle / to vent his warlike mood.

That day beneath his valor / must die full many a rider good.

When the doughty Luedeger / Siegfried there found,

As he swung high in anger / his arm for blows around

And with his good sword Balmung / knights so many slew,

Thereat was the keen warrior / filled with grief and anger too.

Then mickle was the thronging / and loud the broadswords clashed,

As all their valiant followers / ’gainst one another dashed.

Then struggled all the fiercer / both sides the fight to win;

The hosts joined with each other: / ’twas frightful there to hear the

      din.

To the monarch of the Saxons / it had been told before,

His brother was a captive, / which grieved his heart right sore.

He knew not that had done it / fair Siegelind’s son,

For rumor said ’twas Gernot. / Full well he learned the truth anon.

King Luedeger struck so mighty / when fierce his anger rose,

That Siegfried’s steed beneath him / staggered from the blows,

But forthwith did recover; / then straight his rider keen

Let all his furious mettle / in slaughter of his foes be seen.

There helped him well grim Hagen, / and Gernot in the fray,

Dankwart and Volker; / dead many a knight there lay.

Sindold and Hunold / and Ortwein, doughty thane,

By them in that fierce struggle / was many a valiant warrior slain.

Unparted in storm of battle / the gallant leaders were,

Around them over helmet / flew there many a spear

Through shield all brightly shining, / from hand of mighty thane:

And on the glancing armor / was seen full many a blood-red stain.

Amid the hurly-burly / down fell many a man

To ground from off his charger. / Straight ’gainst each other ran

Siegfried the keen rider / and eke King Luedeger.

Then flew from lance the splinters / and hurled was many a pointed spear.

’Neath Siegfried’s hand so mighty / from shield flew off the band.

And soon to win the victory / thought he of Netherland

Over the valiant Saxons, / of whom were wonders seen.

Heigh-ho! in shining mail-rings / many a breach made Dankwart keen!

Upon the shining buckler / that guarded Siegfried’s breast

Soon espied King Luedeger / a painted crown for crest;

By this same token knew he / it was the doughty man,

And to his friends he straightway / amid the battle loud began:

“Give o’er from fighting further, / good warriors every one!

Amongst our foes now see I / Siegmund’s noble son,

Of netherland the doughty / knight on victory bent.

Him has the evil Devil / to scourge the Saxons hither sent.”

Then bade he all the banners / amid the storm let down.

Peace he quickly sued for: / ’Twas granted him anon,

But he must now a hostage / be ta’en to Gunther’s land.

This fate had forced upon him / the fear of Siegfried’s mighty hand.

They thus by common counsel / left off all further fight.

Hacked full many a helmet / and shields that late were bright

From hands down laid they weary; / as many as there might be,

With stains they all were bloody / ’neath hands of the men of Burgundy.

Each whom he would took captive, / now they had won the fight.

Gernot, the noble hero, / and Hagen, doughty knight,

Bade bear forth the wounded. / Back led they with them then

Unto the land of Burgundy / five hundred stalwart fighting-men.

The knights, of victory cheated, / their native Denmark sought,

Nor had that day the Saxons / with such high valor fought,

That one could praise them for it, / which caused the warriors pain.

Then wept their friends full sorely / at home for those in battle slain.

For the Rhine then laden / they let their armor be.

Siegfried, the knight so doughty, / had won the victory

With his few chosen followers; / that he had nobly done,

Could not but free acknowledge / King Gunther’s warriors every one.

To Worms sent Gernot riding / now a messenger,

And of the joyous tiding / soon friends at home were ware,

How that it well had prospered / with him and all his men.

Fought that day with valor / for honor had those warriors keen.

The messenger sped forward / and told the tidings o’er.

Then joyfully they shouted / who boded ill before,

To hear the welcome story / that now to them was told.

From ladies fair and noble / came eager questions manifold,

Who all the fair fortune / of King Gunther’s men would know.

One messenger they ordered / unto Kriemhild to go.

But that was done in secret: / she durst let no one see,

For he was ’mongst those warriors / whom she did love so faithfully.

When to her own apartments / was come the messenger

Joyfully addressed him / Kriemhild the maiden fair:

"But tell me now glad tidings, / and gold I’ll give to thee,

And if thou tell’st not falsely, / good friend thou’lt ever find in me.

“How has my good brother / Gernot in battle sped,

And how my other kinsmen? / Lies any of them dead?

Who wrought most deeds of valor? / –That shall thou let me know."

Then spake the messenger truly: / “No knight but did high valor show.

“But in the dire turmoil / rode rider none so well,

O Princess fair and noble, / since I must truly tell,

As the stranger knight full noble / who comes from Netherland;

There deeds of mickle wonder / were wrought by doughty Siegfried’s hand.

“Whate’er have all the warriors / in battle dared to do,

Dankwart and Hagen / and the other knights so true,

Howe’er they fought for honor, / ’twas naught but idle play

Beside what there wrought Siegfried, / King Siegmund’s son, amid the

      fray.

“Beneath their hands in battle / full many a hero fell,

Yet all the deeds of wonder / no man could ever tell,

Wrought by the hand of Siegfried, / when rode he ’gainst the foe:

And weep aloud must women / for friends by his strong arm laid low.

“There, too, the knight she loved / full many a maid must lose.

Were heard come down on helmet / so loud his mighty blows,

That they from gaping gashes / brought forth the flowing blood.

In all that maketh noble / he is a valiant knight and good.

“Many a deed of daring / of Metz Sir Ortwein wrought:

For all was evil faring / whom he with broadsword caught,

Doomed to die that instant, / or wounded sore to fall.

And there thy valiant brother / did greater havoc work than all

“That e’er in storm of battle / was done by warrior bold.

Of all those chosen warriors / let eke the truth be told:

The proud Burgundian heroes / have made it now right plain,

That they can free from insult / their country’s honor well maintain.

“Beneath their hands was often / full many a saddle bare,

When o’er the field resounding / their bright swords cut the air.

The warriors from Rhine river / did here such victory win

That for their foes ’twere better / if they such meeting ne’er had seen.

“Keen the knights of Tronje / ’fore all their valor showed,

When with their stalwart followers / against their foes they rode;

Slain by the hand of Hagen / must knights so many be,

’Twill long be in the telling / here in the land of Burgundy.

“Sindold and Hunold, / Gernot’s men each one,

And the valiant Rumold / have all so nobly done,

King Luedeger will ever / have right good cause to rue

That he against thy kindred / at Rhine dared aught of harm to do.

“And deeds of all most wondrous / e’er done by warrior keen

In earliest time or latest, / by mortal ever seen,

Wrought there in lusty manner / Siegfried with doughty hand.

Rich hostages he bringeth / with him unto Gunther’s land.

“By his own strength subdued them / the hero unsurpassed

And brought down dire ruin / upon King Luedegast,

Eke on the King of Saxons / his brother Luedeger.

Now hearken to the story / I tell thee, noble Princess fair.

“Them both hath taken captive / Siegfried’s doughty hand.

Hostages were so many / ne’er brought into this land

As to the Rhine come hither / through his great bravery."

Than these could never tidings / unto her heart more welcome be.

“With captives home they’re hieing, / five hundred men or mo’,

And of the wounded dying / Lady shalt thou know,

Full eighty blood-stained barrows / unto Burgundian land,

Most part hewn down in battle / beneath keen Siegfried’s doughty hand.

“Who message sent defiant / unto the Rhine so late

Must now as Gunther’s prisoners / here abide their fate.

Bringing such noble captives / the victors glad return."

Then glowed with joy the princess / when she the tidings glad did learn.

Her cheeks so full of beauty / with joy were rosy-red,

That passed he had uninjured / through all the dangers dread,

The knight she loved so dearly, / Siegfried with doughty arm.

Good cause she had for joying / o’er all her friends escaped from harm.

Then spake the beauteous maiden: / “Glad news thou hast told me,

Wherefor now rich apparel / thy goodly meed shall be,

And to thee shall be given / ten marks of gold as well."

’Tis thus a thing right pleasant / to ladies high such news to tell.

The presents rich they gave him, / gold and apparel rare.

Then hastened to the casement / full many a maiden fair,

And on the street looked downward: / hither riding did they see

Many a knight high-hearted / into the land of Burgundy.

There came who ’scaped uninjured, / and wounded borne along,

All glad to hear the greetings / of friends, a joyful throng.

To meet his friends the monarch / rode out in mickle glee:

In joying now was ended / all his full great anxiety.

Then did he well his warriors / and eke the strangers greet;

And for a king so mighty / ’twere nothing else but meet

That he should thank right kindly / the gallant men each one,

Who had in storm of battle / the victory so bravely won.

Then of his friends King Gunther / bade tidings tell straightway,

Of all his men how many / were fallen in the fray.

Lost had he none other / than warriors three score:

Then wept they for the heroes, / as since they did for many more.

Shields full many brought they / all hewn by valiant hand,

And many a shattered helmet / into King Gunther’s hand.

The riders then dismounted / from their steeds before the hall,

And a right hearty welcome / from friends rejoicing had they all.

Then did they for the warriors / lodging meet prepare,

And for his guests the monarch / bade full well have care.

He bade them take the wounded / and tend them carefully,

And toward his enemies also / his gentle bearing might ye see.

To Luedeger then spake he: / “Right welcome art thou here.

Through fault of thine now have I / lost many friends full dear,

For which, have I good fortune, / thou shall right well atone.

God rich reward my liegemen, / such faithfulness to me they’ve shown.”

“Well may’st thou thank them, truly," / spake then Luedeger;

"Hostages so noble / won a monarch ne’er.

For chivalrous protection / rich goods we offer thee,

That thou now right gracious / to us thy enemies shalt be.”

“I’ll grant you both your freedom," / spake the king again;

"But that my enemies surely / here by me remain,

Therefor I’ll have good pledges / they ne’er shall quit my land,

Save at my royal pleasure." / Thereto gave Luedeger the hand.

Sweet rest then found the weary / their tired limbs to aid,

And gently soon on couches / the wounded knights were laid;

Mead and wine right ruddy / they poured out plenteously:

Than they and all their followers / merrier men there none might be.

Their shields all hacked in battle / secure were laid away;

And not a few of saddles / stained with blood that day,

Lest women weep to see them, / hid they too from sight.

Full many a keen rider / home came aweary from the fight.

The host in gentlest manner / did his guests attend:

The land around with stranger / was crowded, and with friend.

They bade the sorely wounded / nurse with especial care:

Whereby the knights high-hearted / ’neath all their wounds knew not

      despair.

Who there had skill in healing / received reward untold,

Silver all unweighed / and thereto ruddy gold

For making whole the heroes / after the battle sore.

To all his friends the monarch / gave presents rich in goodly store.

Who there again was minded / to take his homeward way

They bade, as one a friend doth, / yet a while to stay.

The king did then take counsel / how to reward each one,

For they his will in battle / like liegemen true had nobly done.

Then outspake royal Gernot: / “Now let them homeward go;

After six weeks are over, / –thus our friends shall know–
To hold high feast they’re bidden / hither to come again;

Many a knight now lying / sore wounded will be healed ere then.

Of Netherland the hero / would also then take leave.

When of this King Gunther / did tidings first receive,

The knight besought he kindly / not yet his leave to take:

To this he’d ne’er consented / an it were not for Kriemhild’s sake.

A prince he was too noble / to take the common pay;

He had right well deserved it / that the king alway

And all his warriors held him / in honor, for they had seen

What by his arm in battle / bravely had accomplished been.

He stayed there yet a little / for the maiden’s sake alone,

Whom he would see so gladly. / And all fell out full soon

As he at heart had wished it: / well known to him was she.

Home to his father’s country / joyously anon rode he.

The king bade at all seasons / keep up the tournament,

And many a youthful rider / forth to the lists there went.

The while were seats made ready / by Worms upon the strand

For all who soon were coming / unto the Burgundian land.

In the meantime also, / ere back the knights returned,

Had Kriemhild, noble lady, / the tidings likewise learned,

The king would hold high feasting / with all his gallant men.

There was a mickle hurry, / and busy were fair maidens then

With dresses and with wimples / that they there should wear.

Ute, queen so stately, / the story too did hear,

How to them were coming / proud knights of highest worth.

Then from enfolding covers / were store of dresses rich brought forth.

Such love she bore her children / she bade rich dress prepare,

Wherewith adorned were ladies / and many a maiden fair,

And not a few young riders / in the land of Burgundy.

For strangers many bade she / rich garments eke should measured be.

Fifth Adventure - How Siegfried first saw Kriemhild

Unto the Rhine now daily / the knights were seen to ride,

Who there would be full gladly / to share the festive tide.

To all that thither journeyed / to the king to show them true,

In plenty them were given / steeds and rich apparel too.

And soon were seats made ready / for every noble guest,

As we have heard the story, / for highest and for best,

Two and thirty princes / at the festival.

Then vied with one another / to deck themselves the ladies all.

Never was seen idle / the young Prince Giselher:

The guests and all their followers / received full kindly were

By him and eke by Gernot / and their men every one.

The noble thanes they greeted / as ever ’tis in honor done.

With gold bright gleaming saddles / unto the land they brought,

Good store of rich apparel / and shields all richly wrought

Unto the Rhine they carried / to that high festival.

And joyous days were coming / for the wounded warriors all.

They who yet on couches / lay wounded grievously

For joy had soon forgotten / how bitter death would be:

The sick and all the ailing / no need of pity had.

Anent the days of feasting / were they o’er the tidings glad,

How they should make them merry / there where all were so.

Delight beyond all measure, / of joys an overflow,

Had in sooth the people / seen on every hand:

Then rose a mickle joyance / over all King Gunther’s land.

Full many a warrior valiant / one morn at Whitsuntide

All gorgeously apparelled / was thither seen to ride,

Five thousand men or over, / where the feast should be;

And vied in every quarter / knight with knight in revelry.

Thereof the host was mindful, / for he well did understand

How at heart right warmly / the hero of Netherland

Loved alone his sister, / though her he ne’er had seen,

Who praised for wondrous beauty / before all maidens else had been.

Then spake the thane so noble / of Metz Sir Ortwein:

"Wilt thou full be honored / by every guest of thine,

Then do them all the pleasure / the winsome maids to see,

That are held so high in honor / here in the land of Burgundy.

“What were a man’s chief pleasure, / his very joy of life,

An ’t were not a lovely maiden / or a stately wife?

Then let the maid thy sister / before thy guests appear."

–Brave thanes did there full many / at heart rejoice the rede to hear.

“Thy words I’ll gladly follow," / then the monarch said,

And all the knights who heard him / ere thereat right glad.

Then told was Queen Ute / and eke her daughter fair,

That they with maids in waiting / unto the court should soon repair.

Then in well-stored wardrobes / rich attire they sought,

And forth from folding covers / their glittering dresses brought,

Armbands and silken girdles / of which they many had.

And zealous to adorn her / was then full many a winsome maid.

Full many a youthful squire / upon that day did try,

By decking of his person, / to win fair lady’s eye;

For the which great good fortune / he’d take no monarch’s crown:

They longed to see those maidens, / whom they before had never known.

For her especial service / the king did order then

To wait upon his sister / a hundred of his men,

As well upon his mother: / they carried sword in hand.

That was the court attendance / there in the Burgundian land.

Ute, queen so stately, / then came forth with her:

And with the queen in waiting / ladies fair there were,

A hundred or over, / in festal robes arrayed.

Eke went there with Kriemhild / full many a fair and winsome maid.

Forth from their own apartments / they all were seen to go:

There was a mickle pressing / of good knights to and fro,

Who hoped to win the pleasure, / if such a thing might be,

The noble maiden Kriemhild, / delight of every eye, to see.

Now came she fair and lovely, / as the ruddy sun of morn

From misty clouds emerging. / Straight he who long had borne

Her in his heart and loved her, / from all his gloom was freed,

As so stately there before him / he saw the fair and lovely maid.

Her rich apparel glittered / with many a precious stone,

And with a ruddy beauty / her cheeks like roses shone.

Though you should wish to do so, / you could not say, I ween,

That e’er a fairer lady / in all the world before was seen.

As in a sky all starlit / the moon shines out so bright,

And through the cloudlets peering / pours down her gentle light,

E’en so was Kriemhild’s beauty / among her ladies fair:

The hearts of gallant heroes / were gladder when they saw her there.

The richly clad attendants / moved stately on before,

And the valiant thanes high-hearted / stood patiently no more,

But pressed right eager forward / to see the lovely maid:

In noble Siegfried’s bosom / alternate joy and anguish swayed.

He thought with heart despairing, / “How could it ever be,

That I should win thy favor? / There hoped I foolishly.

But had I e’er to shun thee, / then were I rather dead."

And oft, to think upon it, / the color from his visage fled.

The noble son of Siegmund / did there so stately stand

As if his form were pictured / by good old master’s hand

Upon a piece of parchment. / All who saw, confessed

That he of all good heroes / was the stateliest and the best.

The fair Kriemhild’s attendants / gave order to make way

On all sides for the ladies, / and willing thanes obey.

To see their noble bearing / did every warrior cheer;

Full many a stately lady / of gentle manner born was there.

Then outspake of Burgundy / Gernot the valiant knight:

"To him who thus has helped thee / so bravely in the fight,

Gunther, royal brother, / shalt thou like favor show,

A thane before all others; / he’s worthy of it well, I trow.

“Let then the doughty Siegfried / unto my sister go

To have the maiden’s greetings, / –’twill be our profit so.

She that ne’er greeted hero / shall greet him courteously,

That thus the stately warrior / for aye our faithful friend may be.”

The king’s knights hastened gladly / upon his high command

And told these joyous tidings / to the prince of Netherland.

"It is the king’s good pleasure / that thou to court shalt go,

To have his sister’s greetings; / to honor thee ’tis ordered so.”

Then was the thane full valiant / thereat soon filled with joy.

Yea, bore he in his bosom / delight without alloy

At thought that he should straightway / Ute’s fair daughter see.

Siegfried anon she greeted / in courteous manner lovingly.

As she saw the knight high-hearted / there before her stand,

Blushed red and spake the maiden, / the fairest of the land:

"A welcome, brave Sir Siegfried, / thou noble knight and good."

As soon as he had heard it, / the hearty greeting cheered his mood.

Before her low he bended; / him by the hand took she,

And by her onward wended / the knight full willingly.

They cast upon each other / fond glances many a one,

The knight and eke the maiden; / furtively it all was done.

Whether he pressed friendly / that hand as white as snow

From the love he bore her, / that I do not know;

Yet believe I cannot / that this was left undone,

For straightway showed the maiden / that he her heart had fully won.

In the sunny summer season / and in the month of May

Had his heart seen never / before so glad a day,

Nor one so fully joyous, / as when he walked beside

That maiden rich in beauty / whom fain he’d choose to be his bride.

Then thought many a warrior: / “Were it likewise granted me

To walk beside the maiden, / just as now I see,

Or to lie beside her, / how gladly were that done!"

But ne’er a knight more fully / had gracious lady’s favor won.

From all the lands far distant / were guests distinguished there,

But fixed each eye was only / upon this single pair.

By royal leave did Kriemhild / kiss then the stately knight:

In all the world he never / before had known so rare delight.

Then full of strange forebodings, / of Denmark spake the king:

"This full loving greeting / to many woe will bring,

–My heart in secret warns me– / through Siegfried’s doughty hand.

God give that he may never / again be seen within my land.”

On all sides then ’twas ordered / ’fore Kriemhild and her train

Of women make free passage. / Full many a valiant thane

With her unto the minster / in courtly way went on.

But from her side was parted / the full stately knight anon.

Then went she to the minster, / and with her many a maid.

In such rich apparel / Kriemhild was arrayed,

That hearty wishes many / there were made in vain:

Her comely form delighted / the eye of many a noble thane.

Scarce could tarry Siegfried / till mass was sung the while.

And surely did Dame Fortune / upon him kindly smile,

To him she was so gracious / whom in his heart he bore.

Eke did he the maiden, / as she full well deserved, adore.

As after mass then Kriemhild / came to the minster door,

The knight his homage offered, / as he had done before.

Then began to thank him / the full beauteous maid,

That he her royal brothers / did ’gainst their foes so nobly aid.

“God speed thee, Sir Siegfried," / spake the maiden fair,

"For thou hast well deserved / that all these warriors are,

As it hath now been told me, / right grateful unto thee."

Then gan he cast his glances / on the Lady Kriemhild lovingly.

“True will I ever serve them," / –so spake the noble thane–
"And my head shall never / be laid to rest again,

Till I, if life remaineth, / have their good favor won.

In sooth, my Lady Kriemhild, / for thy fair grace it all is done.”

Ne’er a day passed over / for a twelve of happy days,

But saw they there beside him / the maiden all did praise,

As she before her kinsmen / to court would daily go:

It pleased the thane full highly / that they did him such honor show.

Delight and great rejoicing, / a mighty jubilee,

Before King Gunther’s castle / daily might ye see,

Without and eke within it, / ’mongst keen men many a one.

By Ortwein and by Hagen / great deeds and wondrous there were done.

Whate’er was done by any, / in all they ready were

To join in way right lusty, / both the warriors rare:

Whereby ’mongst all the strangers / they won an honored name,

And through their deeds so wondrous / of Gunther’s land spread far the

      fame.

Who erstwhile lay sore wounded / now were whole again,

And fain would share the pastime, / with all the king’s good men;

With shields join in the combat, / and try the shaft so long.

Wherein did join them many / of the merry-making throng.

To all who joined the feasting / the host in plenty bade

Supply the choicest viands: / so guarded well he had

’Gainst whate’er reproaches / could rise from spite or spleen.

Unto his guests right friendly / to go the monarch now was seen.

He spake: “Ye thanes high-hearted, / ere now ye part from me,

Accept of these my presents; / for I would willingly

Repay your noble service. / Despise ye not, I pray,

What now I will share with you: / ’tis offered in right grateful way.”

Straightway they of Denmark / thus to the king replied:

"Ere now upon our journey / home again we ride,

We long for lasting friendship. / Thereof we knights have need,

For many a well-loved kinsman / at hands of thy good thanes lies dead.”

Luedegast was recovered / from all his wounds so sore,

And eke the lord of Saxons / from fight was whole once more.

Some amongst their warriors / left they dead behind.

Then went forth King Gunther / where he Siegfried might find.

Unto the thane then spake he: / “Thy counsel give, I pray.

The foes whom we hold captive / fain would leave straightway,

And long for lasting friendship / with all my men and me.

Now tell me, good Sir Siegfried, / what here seemeth good to thee.

“What the lords bid as ransom, / shall now to thee be told

Whate’er five hundred horses / might bear of ruddy gold,

They’d give to me right gladly, / would I but let them free."

Then spake the noble Siegfried: / “That were to do right foolishly.

“Thou shalt let them freely / journey hence again;

And that they both hereafter / shall evermore refrain

From leading hostile army / against thee and thy land,

Therefor in pledge of friendship / let each now give to thee the hand.”

“Thy rede I’ll gladly follow." / Straightway forth they went.

To those who offered ransom / the answer then was sent,

Their gold no one desired / which they would give before.

The warriors battle-weary / dear friends did yearn to see once more.

Full many a shield all laden / with treasure forth they bore:

He dealt it round unmeasured / to friends in goodly store;

Each one had marks five hundred / and some had more, I ween.

Therein King Gunther followed / the rede of Gernot, knight full keen.

Then was a great leave-taking, / as they departed thence.

The warriors all ’fore Kriemhild / appeared in reverence,

And eke there where her mother / Queen Ute sat near by.

Gallant thanes were never / dismissed as these so graciously.

Bare were the lodging-places, / when away the strangers rode.

Yet in right lordly manner / there at home abode

The king with friends around him, / full noble men who were.

And them now saw they daily / at court before Kriemhild appear.

Eke would the gallant hero / Siegfried thence depart,

The thing to gain despairing / whereon was set his heart.

The king was told the tidings / how that he would away.

Giselher his brother / did win the knight with them to stay.

“Whither, O noble Siegfried, / wilt thou now from us ride?

Do as I earnest pray thee, / and with these thanes abide,

As guest here with King Gunther, / and live right merrily.

Here dwell fair ladies many: / them will he gladly let thee see.”

Then spake the doughty Siegfried: / “Our steeds leave yet at rest,

The while from this my purpose / to part will I desist.

Our shields once more take from us. / Though gladly home I would,

Naught ’gainst the fond entreaties / of Giselher avail me could.”

So stayed the knight full gallant / for sake of friendship there.

In sooth in ne’er another / country anywhere

Had he so gladly lingered: / iwis it was that he,

Now whensoe’er he wished it, / Kriemhild the maiden fair could see.

’Twas her surpassing beauty / that made the knight to stay.

With many a merry pastime / they whiled the time away;

But love for her oppressed him, / oft-times grievously.

Whereby anon the hero / a mournful death was doomed to die.

Sixth Adventure - How Gunther fared to Isenland to Brunhild

Tidings unknown to any / from over Rhine now come,

How winsome maids a many / far yonder had their home.

Whereof the royal Gunther / bethought him one to win,

And o’er the thought the monarch / of full joyous mood was seen.

There was a queenly maiden / seated over sea,

Like her nowhere another / was ever known to be.

She was in beauty matchless, / full mickle was her might;

Her love the prize of contest, / she hurled the shaft with valiant

      knight.

The stone she threw far distant, / wide sprang thereafter too.

Who turned to her his fancy / with intent to woo,

Three times perforce must vanquish / the lady of high degree;

Failed he in but one trial, / forfeited his head had he.

This same the lusty princess / times untold had done.

When to a warrior gallant / beside the Rhine ’twas known,

He thought to take unto him / the noble maid for wife:

Thereby must heroes many / since that moment lose their life.

Then spake of Rhine the master: / “I’ll down unto the sea

Unto Brunhild journey, / fare as ’twill with me.

For her unmeasured beauty / I’ll gladly risk my life,

Ready eke to lose it, / if she may not be my wife.”

“I counsel thee against it," / spake then Siegfried.

"So terrible in contest / the queen is indeed,

Who for her love is suitor / his zeal must dearly pay.

So shalt thou from the journey / truly be content to stay.”

“So will I give thee counsel," / outspake Hagen there,

"That thou beg of Siegfried / with thee to bear

The perils that await thee: / that is now my rede,

To him is known so fully / what with Brunhild will be thy need.”

He spake: “And wilt thou help me, / noble Siegfried,

To win the lovely maiden? / Do what now I plead;

And if in all her beauty / she be my wedded wife,

To meet thy fullest wishes / honor will I pledge and life.”

Thereto answered Siegfried, / the royal Siegmund’s son:

"Giv’st thou me thy sister, / so shall thy will be done,

–Kriemhild the noble princess, / in beauty all before.

For toils that I encounter / none other meed I ask thee more.”

“That pledge I,” spake then Gunther, / “Siegfried, in thy hand.

And comes the lovely Brunhild / thither to this land,

Thereunto thee my sister / for wife I’ll truly give,

That with the lovely maiden / thou may’st ever joyful live.”

Oaths the knight full noble / upon the compact swore,

Whereby to them came troubles / and dangers all the more,

Ere they the royal lady / brought unto the Rhine.

Still should the warriors valiant / in sorest need and sorrow pine.

With him carried Siegfried / that same mantle then,

The which with mickle trouble / had won the hero keen

From a dwarf in struggle, / Alberich by name.

They dressed them for the journey, / the valiant thanes of lofty fame.

And when the doughty Siegfried / the sightless mantle wore,

Had he within it / of strength as good a store

As other men a dozen / in himself alone.

The full stately princess / anon by cunning art he won.

Eke had that same mantle / such wondrous properties

That any man whatever / might work whate’er he please

When once he had it on him, / yet none could see or tell.

’Twas so that he won Brunhild; / whereby him evil since befell.

“Ere we begin our journey, / Siegfried, tell to me,

That we with fullest honor / come unto the sea,

Shall we lead warriors with us / down to Brunhild’s land?

Thanes a thirty thousand / straightway shall be called to hand.”

“Men bring we ne’er so many," / answered Siegfried then.

"So terrible in custom / ever is the queen,

That all would death encounter / from her angry mood.

I’ll give thee better counsel, / thane in valor keen and good.

“Like as knights-errant journey / down the Rhine shall we.

Those now will I name thee / who with us shall be;

But four in all the company / seaward shall we fare:

Thus shall we woo the lady, / what fortune later be our share.

“Myself one of the company, / a second thou shalt be,

Hagen be the third one / –so fare we happily;

The fourth let it be Dankwart, / warrior full keen.

Never thousand others / dare in fight withstand us then.”

“The tale I would know gladly," / the king then further said,

"Ere we have parted thither / –of that were I full glad–
What should we of apparel, / that would befit us well,

Wear in Brunhild’s presence: / that shalt thou now to Gunther tell.”

“Weeds the very finest / that ever might be found

They wear in every season / in Brunhild’s land:

So shall we rich apparel / before the lady wear,

That we have not dishonor / where men the tale hereafter hear.”

Then spake he to the other: / “Myself will go unto

My own loving mother, / if I from her may sue

That her fair tendant maidens / help that we be arrayed

As we may go in honor / before the high majestic maid.”

Then spake of Tronje Hagen / with noble courtliness:

"Why wilt thou of thy mother / beg such services?

Only let thy sister / hear our mind and mood:

So shall for this our journey / her good service be bestowed.”

Then sent he to his sister / that he her would see,

And with him also Siegfried. / Ere that such might be,

Herself had there the fair one / in rich apparel clad.

Sooth to tell, the visit / but little did displease the maid.

Then also were her women / decked as for them was meet.

The princes both were coming: / she rose from off her seat,

As doth a high-born lady / when that she did perceive,

And went the guest full noble / and eke her brother to receive.

“Welcome be my brother / and his companion too.

I’d know the story gladly," / spake the maiden so,

"What ye now are seeking / that ye are come to me:

I pray you straightway tell me / how ’t with you valiants twain may be.”

Then spake the royal Gunther: / “Lady, thou shall hear:

Spite of lofty spirits / have we yet a care.

To woo a maid we travel / afar to lands unknown;

We should against the journey / have rich apparel for our own.”

“Seat thee now, dear brother," / spake the princess fair;

"Let me hear the story, / who the ladies are

That ye will seek as suitors / in stranger princes’ land."

Both good knights the lady / took in greeting by the hand.

With the twain then went she / where she herself had sat,

To couches rich and costly, / in sooth believe ye that,

Wrought in design full cunning / of gold embroidery.

And with these fair ladies / did pass the time right pleasantly.

Many tender glances / and looks full many a one

Fondly knight and lady / each other cast upon.

Within his heart he bore her, / she was as his own life.

Anon the fairest Kriemhild / was the doughty Siegfried’s wife.

Then spake the mighty monarch: / “Full loving sister mine,

This may we ne’er accomplish / without help of thine.

Unto Brunhild’s country / as suitor now we fare:

’Tis fitting that ’fore ladies / we do rich apparel wear.”

Then spake the royal maiden: / “Brother dear to me,

In whatsoever manner / my help may given be,

Of that I well assure you, / ready thereto am I.

To Kriemhild ’twere a sorrow / if any should the same deny.

“Of me, O noble brother, / thou shalt not ask in vain:

Command in courteous manner / and I will serve thee fain.

Whatever be thy pleasure, / for that I’ll lend my aid

And willingly I’ll do it," / spake the fair and winsome maid.

“It is our wish, dear sister, / apparel good to wear;

That shall now directing / the royal hand prepare;

And let thy maids see to it / that all is done aright,

For we from this same journey / turn not aside for word of wight.”

Spake thereupon the maiden: / “Now mark ye what I say:

Myself have silks in plenty; / now send us rich supply

Of stones borne on bucklers, / so vesture we’ll prepare."

To do it royal Gunther / and Siegfried both right ready were.

“And who are your companions," / further questioned she,

"Who with you apparelled / now for court shall be?"

"I it is and Siegfried, / and of my men are two,

Dankwart and Hagen, / who with us to court shall go.

“Now rightly what we tell thee, / mark, O sister dear:

’Tis that we four companions / for four days may wear

Thrice daily change of raiment / so wrought with skilful hand

That we without dishonor / may take our leave of Brunhild’s land.”

After fair leave-taking / the knights departed so.

Then of her attendants / thirty maids to go

Forth from her apartments / Kriemhild the princess bade,

Of those that greatest cunning / in such skilful working had.

The silks that were of Araby / white as the snow in sheen,

And from the land of Zazamank / like unto grass so green,

With stones of price they broidered; / that made apparel rare.

Herself she cut them, Kriemhild / the royal maiden debonair.

Fur linings fashioned fairly / from dwellers in the sea

Beheld by people rarely, / the best that e’er might be,

With silken stuffs they covered / for the knights to wear.

Now shall ye of the shining / weeds full many a wonder hear.

From land of far Morocco / and eke from Libya

Of silks the very finest / that ever mortal saw

With any monarch’s kindred, / they had a goodly store.

Well showed the Lady Kriemhild / that unto them good will she bore.

Since they unto the journey / had wished that so it be,

Skins of costly ermine / used they lavishly,

Whereon were silken pieces / black as coal inlaid.

To-day were any nobles / in robes so fashioned well arrayed.

From the gold of Araby / many a stone there shone.

The women long were busy / before the work was done;

But all the robes were finished / ere seven weeks did pass,

When also trusty armor / for the warriors ready was.

When they at length were ready / adown the Rhine to fare,

A ship lay waiting for them / strong built with mickle care,

Which should bear them safely / far down unto the sea.

The maidens rich in beauty / plied their work laboriously.

Then ’twas told the warriors / for them was ready there

The finely wrought apparel / that they were to wear;

Just as they had wished it, / so it had been made;

After that the heroes / there by the Rhine no longer stayed.

To the knights departing / went soon a messenger:

Would they come in person / to view their new attire,

If it had been fitted / short and long aright.

’Twas found of proper measure, / and thanked those ladies fair each

      knight.

And all who there beheld them / they must needs confess

That in the world they never / had gazed on fairer dress:

At court to wear th’ apparel / did therefore please them well.

Of warriors better furnished / never could a mortal tell.

Thanks oft-times repeated / were there not forgot.

Leave of parting from them / the noble knights then sought:

Like thanes of noble bearing / they went in courteous wise.

Then dim and wet with weeping / grew thereat two shining eyes.

She spake: “O dearest brother, / still here thou mightest stay,

And woo another woman– / that were the better way–
Where so sore endangered / stood not thus thy life.

Here nearer canst thou find thee / equally a high-born wife.”

I ween their hearts did tell them / what later came to pass.

They wept there all together, / whatever spoken was.

The gold upon their bosoms / was sullied ’neath the tears

That from their eyes in plenty / fell adown amid their fears.

She spake: “O noble Siegfried, / to thee commended be

Upon thy truth and goodness / the brother dear to me,

That he come unscathed / home from Brunhild’s land."

That plighted the full valiant / knight in Lady Kriemhild’s hand.

The mighty thane gave answer: / “If I my life retain,

Then shall thy cares, good Lady, / all have been in vain.

All safe I’ll bring him hither / again unto the Rhine,

Be that to thee full sicker." / To him did the fair maid incline.

Their shields of golden color / were borne unto the strand,

And all their trusty armor / was ready brought to hand.

They bade their horses bring them: / they would at last depart.

–Thereat did fairest women / weep with sad foreboding heart.

Down from lofty casement / looked many a winsome maid,

As ship and sail together / by stirring breeze were swayed.

Upon the Rhine they found them, / the warriors full of pride.

Then outspake King Gunther: / “Who now is here the ship to guide?”

“That will I,” spake Siegfried; / “I can upon the flood

Lead you on in safety, / that know ye, heroes good;

For all the water highways / are known right well to me."

With joy they then departed / from the land of Burgundy.

A mighty pole then grasped he, / Siegfried the doughty man,

And the ship from shore / forth to shove began.

Gunther the fearless also / himself took oar in hand.

The knights thus brave and worthy / took departure from the land.

They carried rich provisions, / thereto the best of wine

That might in any quarter / be found about the Rhine.

Their chargers stood in comfort / and rested by the way:

The ship it moved so lightly / that naught of injury had they.

Stretched before the breezes / were the great sail-ropes tight,

And twenty miles they journeyed / ere did come the night,

By fair breezes favored / down toward the sea.

Their toil repaid thereafter / the dauntless knights full grievously.

Upon the twelfth morning, / as we in story hear,

Had they by the breezes / thence been carried far,

Unto Castle Isenstein / and Brunhild’s country:

That to Siegfried only / was known of all the company.

As soon as saw King Gunther / so many towers rise

And eke the boundless marches / stretch before his eyes,

He spake: “Tell me, friend Siegfried, / is it known to thee

Whose they are, the castles / and the majestic broad country?”

Thereto gave answer Siegfried: / “That well to me is known:

Brunhild for their mistress / do land and people own

And Isenstein’s firm towers, / as ye have heard me say.

Ladies fair a many / shall ye here behold to-day.

“And I will give you counsel: / be it well understood

That all your words must tally / –so methinks ’twere good.

If ere to-day is over / our presence she command,

Must we leave pride behind us, / as before Brunhild we stand.

“When we the lovely lady / ’mid her retainers see,

Then shall ye, good companions, / in all your speech agree

That Gunther is my master / and I his serving-man:

’Tis thus that all he hopeth / shall we in the end attain.”

To do as he had bidden / consented straight each one,

And spite of proudest spirit / they left it not undone.

All that he wished they promised, / and good it proved to be

When anon King Gunther / the fair Brunhild came to see.

“Not all to meet thy wishes / do I such service swear,

But most ’tis for thy sister, / Kriemhild the maiden fair;

Just as my soul unto me / she is my very life,

And fain would I deserve it / that she in truth become my wife.”

Seventh Adventure - How Gunther won Brunhild

The while they thus did parley / their ship did forward glide

So near unto the castle / that soon the king espied

Aloft within the casements / many a maiden fair to see.

That all to him were strangers / thought King Gunther mournfully.

He asked then of Siegfried, / who bare him company:

"Know’st thou aught of the maidens, / who the same may be,

Gazing yonder downward / upon us on the tide?

Howe’er is named their master, / minded are they high in pride.”

Then spake the valiant Siegfried: / “Now thither shalt thou spy

Unseen among the ladies, / then not to me deny

Which, wert thou free in choosing, / thou’dst take to be thy queen."

"That will I do,” then answered / Gunther the valiant knight and keen.

“I see there one among them / by yonder casement stand,

Clad in snow-white raiment: / ’tis she my eyes demand,

So buxom she in stature, / so fair she is to see.

An I were free in choosing, / she it is my wife must be.”

“Full well now in choosing / thine eyes have guided thee:

It is the stately Brunhild / the maiden fair to see,

That doth now unto her / thy heart and soul compel."

All the maiden’s bearing / pleased the royal Gunther well.

But soon the queen commanded / from casement all to go

Of those her beauteous maidens: / they should not stand there so

To be gazed at by the strangers. / They must obey her word.

What were the ladies doing, / of that moreover have we heard.

Unto the noble strangers / their beauty they would show,

A thing which lovely women / are ever wont to do.

Unto the narrow casements / came they crowding on,

When they spied the strangers: / that they might also see, ’twas done.

But four the strangers numbered, / who came unto that land.

Siegfried the doughty / the king’s steed led in hand:

They saw it from the casements, / many a lovely maid,

And saw the willing service / unto royal Gunther paid.

Then held he by the bridle / for him his gallant steed,

A good and fair-formed charger, / strong and of noble breed,

Until the royal Gunther / into the saddle sprung.

Thus did serve him Siegfried: / a service all forgot ere long.

Then his own steed he also / led forth upon the shore.

Such menial service had he / full seldom done before,

That he should hold the stirrup / for monarch whomsoe’er.

Down gazing from the casements / beheld it ladies high and fair.

At every point according, / the heroes well bedight

–Their dress and eke their chargers / of color snowy white–
Were like unto each other, / and well-wrought shield each one

Of the good knights bore with him, / that brightly glimmered in the sun.

Jewelled well was saddle / and narrow martingale

As they rode so stately / in front of Brunhild’s Hall,

And thereon bells were hanging / of red gold shining bright.

So came they to that country, / as fitting was for men of might,

With spears all newly polished, / with swords, well-made that were

And by the stately heroes / hung down unto the spur:

Such bore the valiant riders / of broad and cutting blade.

The noble show did witness / Brunhild the full stately maid.

With him came then Dankwart / and Hagen, doughty thane.

The story further telleth / how that the heroes twain

Of color black as raven / rich attire wore,

And each a broad and mighty / shield of rich adornment bore.

Rich stones from India’s country / every eye could see,

Impending on their tunics, / sparkle full brilliantly.

Their vessel by the river / they left without a guard,

As thus the valiant heroes / rode undaunted castleward.

Six and fourscore towers / without they saw rise tall,

Three spacious palaces / and moulded well a hall

All wrought of precious marble / green as blade of grass,

Wherein the royal Brunhild / with company of fair ladies was.

The castle doors unbolted / were flung open wide

As out toward them / the men of Brunhild hied

And received the strangers / into their Lady’s land.

Their steeds they bade take over, / and also shield from out the hand.

Then spake a man-in-waiting: / “Give o’er the sword each thane,

And eke the shining armor."– / “Good friend, thou ask’st in vain,"

Spake of Tronje Hagen; / “the same we’d rather wear."

Then gan straightway Siegfried / the country’s custom to declare.

“’Tis wont within this castle, / –of that be now aware–
That never any stranger / weapons here shall bear.

Now let them hence be carried: / well dost thou as I say."

In this did full unwilling / Hagen, Gunther’s man, obey.

They bade the strangers welcome / with drink and fitting rest.

Soon might you see on all sides / full many knights the best

In princely weeds apparelled / to their reception go:

Yet did they mickle gazing / who would the keen new-comers know.

Then unto Lady Brunhild / the tidings strange were brought

How that unknown warriors / now her land had sought,

In stately apparel / come sailing o’er the sea.

The maiden fair and stately / gave question how the same might be.

“Now shall ye straight inform me," / spake she presently,

"Who so unfamiliar / these warrior knights may be,

That within my castle / thus so lordly stand,

And for whose sake the heroes / have hither journeyed to my land.”

Then spake to her a servant: / “Lady, I well can say

Of them I’ve ne’er seen any / before this present day:

Be it not that one among them / is like unto Siegfried.

Him give a goodly welcome: / so is to thee my loyal rede.

“The next of the companions / he is a worthy knight:

If that were in his power / he well were king of might

O’er wide domains of princes, / the which might reach his hand.

Now see him by the others / so right majestically stand.

“The third of the companions, / that he’s a man of spleen,

–Withal of fair-formed body, / know thou, stately Queen,–
Do tell his rapid glances / that dart so free from him.

He is in all his thinking / a man, I ween, of mood full grim.

“The youngest one among them / he is a worthy knight:

As modest as a maiden, / I see the thane of might

Goodly in his bearing / standing so fair to see,

We all might fear if any / affront to him should offered be.

“How blithe soe’er his manner, / how fair soe’er is he,

Well could he cause of sorrow / to stately woman be,

If he gan show his anger. / In him may well be seen

He is in knightly virtues / a thane of valor bold and keen.”

Then spake the queen in answer: / “Bring now my robes to hand.

And is the mighty Siegfried / come unto this land,

For love of me brought thither, / he pays it with his life.

I fear him not so sorely / that I e’er become his wife.”

So was fair Brunhild / straightway well arrayed.

Then went with her thither / full many a beauteous maid,

A hundred good or over, / bedight right merrily.

The full beauteous maidens / would those stranger warriors see.

And with them went the warriors / there of Isenland,

The knights attending Brunhild, / who bore sword in hand,

Five hundred men or over. / Scarce heart the strangers kept

As those knights brave and seemly / down from out the saddle leapt.

When the royal lady / Siegfried espied,

Now mote ye willing listen / what there the maiden said.

"Welcome be thou, Siegfried, / hither unto this land.

What meaneth this thy journey, / gladly might I understand.”

“Full mickle do I thank thee, / my Lady, high Brunhild,

That thou art pleased to greet me, / noble Princess mild,

Before this knight so noble, / who stands before me here:

For he is my master, / whom first to honor fitting were.

“Born is he of Rhineland: / what need I say more?

For thee ’tis highest favor / that we do hither fare.

Thee will he gladly marry, / an bring that whatsoe’er.

Betimes shalt thou bethink thee: / my master will thee never spare.

“For his name is Gunther / and he a mighty king.

If he thy love hath won him, / more wants he not a thing.

In sooth the king so noble / hath bade me hither fare:

And gladly had I left it, / might I to thwart his wishes dare.”

She spake: “Is he thy master / and thou his vassal art,

Some games to him I offer, / and dare he there take part,

And comes he forth the victor, / so am I then his wife:

And be it I that conquer, / then shall ye forfeit each his life.”

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / “Lady, let us see

Thy games so fraught with peril. / Before should yield to thee

Gunther my master, / that well were something rare.

He trows he yet is able / to win a maid so passing fair.”

“Then shall ye try stone-putting / and follow up the cast,

And the spear hurl with me. / Do ye naught here in haste.

For well may ye pay forfeit / with honor eke and life:

Bethink ye thus full calmly," / spake she whom Gunther would for wife.

Siegfried the valiant / stepped unto the king,

And bade him speak out freely / his thoughts upon this thing

Unto the queen so wayward, / he might have fearless heart.

"For to well protect thee / from her do I know an art.”

Then spake the royal Gunther: / “Now offer, stately Queen,

What play soe’er thou mayest. / And harder had it been,

Yet would I all have ventured / for all thy beauty’s sake.

My head I’ll willing forfeit / or thyself my wife I’ll make.”

When therefore the Queen Brunhild / heard how the matter stood

The play she begged to hasten, / as indeed she should.

She bade her servants fetch her / therefor apparel trim,

A mail-coat ruddy golden / and shield well wrought from boss to rim.

A battle-tunic silken / the maid upon her drew,

That in ne’er a contest / weapon pierced through,

Of skins from land of Libya, / and structure rare and fine;

And brilliant bands embroidered / might you see upon it shine.

Meanwhile were the strangers / jibed with many a threat;

Dankwart and Hagen, / their hearts began to beat.

How here the king should prosper / were they of doubtful mood,

Thinking, “This our journey / shall bring us wanderers naught of good.”

The while did also Siegfried / the thane beyond compare,

Before ’twas marked by any, / unto the ship repair,

Where he found his sightless mantle[2] / that did hidden lie,

And slipped into ’t full deftly: / so was he veiled from every eye.

[2] See strophe 97, note.

Thither back he hied him / and found great company

About the queen who ordered / what the high play should be.

There went he all in secret; / so cunningly ’twas done,

Of all around were standing / perceived him never any one.

The ring it was appointed / wherein the play should be

’Fore many a keen warrior / who the same should see.

More than seven hundred / were seen their weapons bear,

That whoso were the victor / they might sure the same declare.

Thither was come Brunhild; / all armed she did stand

Like as she were to combat / for many a royal land;

Upon her silken tunic / were gold bars many a one,

And glowing ’mid the armor / her flesh of winsome color shone.

Then followed her attendants / and with them thither brought

At once a shield full stately, / of pure red gold ’twas wrought,

With steel-hard bands for facings, / full mickle ’twas and broad,

Wherewith in the contest / would guard herself the lovely maid.

To hold the shield securely / a well-wrought band there was,

Whereon lay precious jewels / green as blade of grass.

Full many a ray their lustre / shot round against the gold.

He were a man full valiant / whom this high dame should worthy hold.

The shield was ’neath the boss-point, / as to us is said,

Good three spans in thickness, / which should bear the maid.

Of steel ’twas wrought so richly / and had of gold such share,

That chamberlain and fellows / three the same scarce could bear.

When the doughty Hagen / the shield saw thither brought,

Spake the knight of Tronje, / and savage was his thought:

"Where art thou now, King Gunther? / Shall we thus lose our life!

Whom here thou seekst for lover, / she is the very Devil’s wife.”

List more of her apparel; / she had a goodly store.

Of silk of Azagang / a tunic made she wore,

All bedight full richly; / amid its color shone

Forth from the queen it covered, / full many a sparkling precious stone.

Then brought they for the lady, / large and heavy there,

As she was wont to hurl it, / a sharply-pointed spear;

Strong and massive was it, / huge and broad as well,

And at both its edges / it cut with devastation fell.

To know the spear was heavy / list ye wonders more:

Three spears of common measure / ’twould make, and something o’er.

Of Brunhild’s attendants / three scarce the same could bear.

The heart of noble Gunther / thereat began to fill with fear.

Within his soul he thought him: / “What pickle am I in?

Of hell the very Devil, / how might he save his skin?

Might I at home in Burgundy / safe and living be,

Should she for many a season / from proffered love of mine be free.”

Then spake Hagen’s brother / the valiant Dankwart:

"In truth this royal journey / doth sorely grieve my heart.

We passed for good knights one time: / what caitiff’s death, if we

Here in far-off country / a woman’s game are doomed to be!

“It rueth me full sorely / that I came to this land.

And had my brother Hagen / his good sword in hand,

And had I mine to help him, / a bit more gently then,

A little tame of spirit, / might show themselves all Brunhild’s men.

“And know it of a certain / to lord it thus they’d cease;

E’en though oaths a thousand / I’d sworn to keep the peace,

Before that I’d see perish / my dear lord shamefully,

Amid the souls departed / this fair maid herself should be.”

“Well should we unhampered / quit at last this land,"

Spake his brother Hagen, / “did we in armor stand,

Such as we need for battle, / and bore we broadswords good:

’Twould be a little softened, / this doughty lady’s haughty mood.”

Well heard the noble maiden / what the warriors spoke.

Back athwart her shoulder / she sent a smiling look:

"Now thinks he him so valiant, / so let them armed stand;

Their full keen-edged broadswords / give the warriors each in hand.”

When they their swords received, / as the maiden said,

The full valiant Dankwart / with joy his face grew red.

"Now play they what them pleaseth," / cried the warrior brave;

"Gunther is yet a freeman, / since now in hand good swords we have.”

The royal Brunhild’s prowess / with terror was it shown.

Into the ring they bore her / in sooth a ponderous stone,

Great and all unwieldy, / huge it was and round:

And scarce good knights a dozen / together raised it from the ground.

To put this was her custom / after trial with the spear.

Thereat the men of Burgundy / began to quake with fear.

"Alack! Alack!” quoth Hagen, / “what seeks the king for bride?

Beneath in hell ’twere better / the Devil had her by his side!”

On her white arms the flowing / sleeves she backward flung,

Then with grasp of power / the shield in hand she swung,

And spear poised high above her. / So did the contest start.

Gunther and Siegfried / saw Brunhild’s ire with falling heart.

And were it not that Siegfried / a ready help did bring,

Surely then had perished / beneath her hand the king.

There went he unperceived / and the king’s hand did touch.

Gunther at his cunning / artifice was troubled much.

“What is that hath touched me?" / thought the monarch keen.

Then gazed he all around him: / none was there to be seen.

A voice spake: “Siegfried is it, / a friend that holds thee dear.

Before this royal maiden / shall thy heart be free from fear.

“Thy shield in hand now give me / and leave it me to bear,

And do thou rightly mark thee / what thou now shalt hear.

Now make thyself the motions, / –the power leave to me."

When he did know him rightly, / the monarch’s heart was filled with glee.

“Now secret keep my cunning, / let none e’er know the same:

Then shall the royal maiden / here find but little game

Of glory to win from thee, / as most to her is dear.

Behold now how the lady / stands before thee void of fear.”

The spear the stately maiden / with might and main did wield,

And huge and broad she hurled it / upon the new-made shield,

That on his arm did carry / the son of Siegelind;

From the steel the sparks flew hissing / as if were blowing fierce the

      wind.

The mighty spear sharp-pointed / full through the shield did crash,

That ye from off the mail-rings / might see the lightning flash.

Beneath its force they stumbled, / did both those men of might;

But for the sightless mantle / they both were killed there outright.

From mouth of the full doughty / Siegfried burst the blood.

Full soon he yet recovered; / then seized the warrior good

The spear that from her strong arm / thus his shield had rent,

And back with force as came it / the hand of doughty Siegfried sent.

He thought: “To pierce the maiden / were but small glory earned,"

And so the spear’s sharp edges / backward pointing turned;

Against her mail-clad body / he made the shaft to bound,

And with such might he sent it / full loud her armor did resound.

The sparks as if in stormwind / from mail-rings flew around.

So mightily did hurl it / the son of Siegmund

That she with all her power / could not the shaft withstand.

In sooth it ne’er was speeded / so swiftly by King Gunther’s hand.

But to her feet full sudden / had sprung Brunhild fair.

"A shot, O noble Gunther, / befitting hero rare."

She weened himself had done it, / and all unaided he,

Nor wot she one far mightier / was thither come so secretly.

Then did she go full sudden, / wrathful was her mood,

A stone full high she heaved / the noble maiden good,

And the same far from her / with might and main she swung:

Her armor’s mail-rings jingled / as she herself thereafter sprung.

The stone, when it had fallen, / lay fathoms twelve from there,

And yet did spring beyond it / herself the maiden fair.

Then where the stone was lying / thither Siegfried went:

Gunther feigned to move it, / but by another arm ’twas sent.

A valiant man was Siegfried / full powerful and tall.

The stone then cast he farther, / and farther sprang withal.

From those his arts so cunning / had he of strength such store

That as he leaped he likewise / the weight of royal Gunther bore.

And when the leap was ended / and fallen was the stone,

Then saw they ne’er another / but Gunther alone.

Brunhild the fair maiden, / red grew she in wrath:

Siegfried yet had warded / from royal Gunther surest death.

Unto her attendants / she spake in loud command,

When she saw ’cross the circle / the king unvanquished stand.

"Come hither quick, my kinsmen, / and ye that wait on me;

Henceforth unto Gunther / shall all be pledged faithfully.”

Then laid the knights full valiant / their swords from out the hand;

At feet ’fore mighty Gunther / from Burgundian land

Offered himself in service / full many a valiant knight.

They weened that he had conquered / in trial by his proper might.

He gave her loving greeting, / right courteous was he.

Then by the hand she took him, / the maiden praiseworthy,

In pledge that all around him / was his to have and hold.

Whereat rejoiced Hagen / the warrior valorous and bold.

Into the spacious palace / with her thence to go

Bade she the noble monarch. / When they had done so,

Then still greater honors / unto the knight were shown.

Dankwart and Hagen, / right willingly they saw it done.

Siegfried the valiant, / by no means was he slow,

His sightless mantle did he / away in safety stow.

Then went he again thither / where many a lady sat.

He spake unto the monarch– / full cunningly was done all that:

“Why bidest thus, my master? / Wilt not the play begin,

To which so oft hath challenged / thee the noble queen?

Let us soon have example / what may the trial be."

As knew he naught about it, / did the knight thus cunningly.

Then spake the queen unto him: / “How hath this ever been,

That of the play, Sir Siegfried, / nothing thou hast seen,

Wherein hath been the victor / Gunther with mighty hand?"

Thereto gave answer Hagen / a grim knight of Burgundian land.

Spake he: “There dost thou, Lady, / think ill without a cause:

By the ship down yonder / the noble Siegfried was,

The while the lord of Rhineland / in play did vanquish thee:

Thus knows he nothing of it," / spake Gunther’s warrior courteously.

“A joy to me these tidings," / the doughty Siegfried spoke,

"That so thy haughty spirit / is brought beneath the yoke,

And that yet one there liveth / master to be of thine.

Now shalt thou, noble maiden, / us follow thither to the Rhine.”

Then spake the maiden shapely: / “It may not yet be so.

All my men and kindred / first the same must know.

In sooth not all so lightly / can I quit my home.

First must I bid my trusty / warriors that they hither come.”

Then bade she messengers / quickly forth to ride,

And summoned in her kindred / and men from every side.

Without delay she prayed them / to come to Isenstein,

And bade them all be given / fit apparel rare and fine.

Then might ye see daily / ’twixt morn and eventide

Unto Brunhild’s castle / many a knight to ride.

"God wot, God wot,” quoth Hagen, / “we do an evil thing,

To tarry here while Brunhild / doth thus her men together bring.

“If now into this country / their good men they’ve brought

–What thing the queen intendeth / thereof know we naught:

Belike her wrath ariseth, / and we are men forlorn–
Then to be our ruin / were the noble maiden born.”

Then spake the doughty Siegfried: / “That matter leave to me.

Whereof thou now art fearful, / I’ll never let it be.

Ready help I’ll bring thee / hither unto this land,

Knights of whom thou wotst not / till now I’ll bring, a chosen band.

“Of me shalt thou ask not: / from hence will I fare.

May God of thy good honor / meanwhile have a care.

I come again right quickly / with a thousand men for thee,

The very best of warriors / hitherto are known to me.”

“Then tarry not unduly," / thus the monarch said.

"Glad we are full fairly / of this thy timely aid."

He spake: “Till I come to thee / full short shall be my stay.

That thou thyself hast sent me / shalt thou unto Brunhild say.”

Eighth Adventure - How Siegfried fared to his Knights, the Nibelungen

Thence went then Siegfried / out through the castle door

In his sightless mantle / to a boat upon the shore.

As Siegmund’s son doth board it / him no mortal sees;

And quickly off he steers it / as were it wafted by the breeze.

No one saw the boatman, / yet rapid was the flight

Of the boat forth speeding / driven by Siegfried’s might.

They weened that did speed it / a swiftly blowing wind:

No, ’twas Siegfried sped it, / the son of fairest Siegelind.

In that one day-time / and the following night

Came he to a country / by dint of mickle might,

Long miles a hundred distant, / and something more than this:

The Nibelungen were its people / where the mighty hoard was his.

Alone did fare the hero / unto an island vast

Whereon the boat full quickly / the gallant knight made fast.

Of a castle then bethought him / high upon a hill,

And there a lodging sought him, / as wayworn men are wont to still.

Then came he to the portals / that locked before him stood.

They guarded well their honor / as people ever should.

At the door he gan a-knocking, / for all unknown was he.

But full well ’twas guarded, / and within it he did see

A giant who the castle / did guard with watchful eye,

And near him did at all times / his good weapons lie.

Quoth he: “Who now that knocketh / at the door in such strange wise?"

Without the valiant Siegfried / did cunningly his voice disguise.

He spake: “A bold knight-errant / am I; unlock the gate.

Else will I from without here / disturbance rare create

For all who’d fain lie quiet / and their rest would take."

Wrathful grew the Porter / as in this wise Siegfried spake.

Now did the giant valorous / his good armor don,

And placed on head his helmet; / then the full doughty man

His shield up-snatched quickly / and gate wide open swung.

How sore was he enraged / as himself upon Siegfried he flung!

’How dared he thus awaken / brave knights within the hall?’
The blows in rapid showers / from his hand did fall.

Thereat the noble stranger / began himself to shield.

For so a club of iron / the Porter’s mighty arm did wield,

That splinters flew from buckler, / and Siegfried stood aghast

From fear that this same hour / was doomed to be his last,

So mightily the Porter’s / blows about him fell.

To find such faithful warder / did please his master Siegfried well.

So fiercely did they struggle / that castle far within

And hall where slept the Nibelungen / echoed back the din.

But Siegfried pressed the Porter / and soon he had him bound.

In all the land of Nibelungen / the story soon was bruited round.

When the grim sound of fighting / afar the place had filled,

Alberich did hear it, / a Dwarf full brave and wild.

He donned his armor deftly, / and running thither found

This so noble stranger / where he the doughty Porter bound.

Alberich was full wrathy, / thereto a man of power.

Coat of mail and helmet / he on his body wore,

And in his hand a heavy / scourge of gold he swung.

Where was fighting Siegfried, / thither in mickle haste he sprung.

Seven knobs thick and heavy / on the club’s end were seen,

Wherewith the shield that guarded / the knight that was so keen

He battered with such vigor / that pieces from it brake.

Lest he his life should forfeit / the noble stranger gan to quake.

The shield that all was battered / from his hand he flung;

And into sheath, too, thrust he / his sword so good and long.

For his trusty chamberlain / he did not wish to slay,

And in such case he could not / grant his anger fullest sway.

With but his hands so mighty / at Alberich he ran.

By the beard then seized he / the gray and aged man,

And in such manner pulled it / that he full loud did roar.

The youthful hero’s conduct / Alberich did trouble sore.

Loud cried the valiant steward: / “Have mercy now on me.

And might I other’s vassal / than one good hero’s be,

To whom to be good subject / I an oath did take,

Until my death I’d serve thee." / Thus the man of cunning spake.

Alberich then bound he / as the giant before.

The mighty arm of Siegfried / did trouble him full sore.

The Dwarf began to question: / “Thy name, what may it be?"

Quoth he: “My name is Siegfried; / I weened I well were known to thee.”

“I joy to hear such tidings," / Dwarf Alberich replied.

"Well now have I found thee / in knightly prowess tried,

And with goodly reason / lord o’er lands to be.

I’ll do whate’er thou biddest, / wilt thou only give me free.”

Then spake his master Siegfried: / “Quickly shalt thou go,

And bring me knights hither, / the best we have to show,

A thousand Nibelungen, / to stand before their lord."

Wherefore thus he wished it, / spake he never yet a word.

The giant and Alberich / straightway he unbound.

Then ran Alberich quickly / where the knights he found.

The warriors of Nibelung / he wakened full of fear.

Quoth he: “Be up, ye heroes, / before Siegfried shall ye appear.”

From their couches sprang they / and ready were full soon,

Clothed well in armor / a thousand warriors boon,

And went where they found standing / Siegfried their lord.

Then was a mickle greeting / courteously in act and word.

Candles many were lighted, / and sparkling wine he drank.

That they came so quickly, / therefor he all did thank.

Quoth he: “Now shall ye with me / from hence across the flood."

Thereto he found full ready / the heroes valiant and good.

Good thirty hundred warriors / soon had hither pressed,

From whom were then a thousand / taken of the best.

For them were brought their helmets / and what they else did need.

For unto Brunhild’s country / would he straightway the warriors lead.

He spake: “Ye goodly nobles, / that would I have you hear,

In full costly raiment / shall ye at court appear,

For yonder must there see us / full many a fair lady.

Therefore shall your bodies / dight in good apparel be.”

Upon a morning early / went they on their way.

What host of brave companions / bore Siegfried company!

Good steeds took they with them / and garments rich to wear,

And did in courtly fashion / unto Brunhild’s country fare.

As gazed from lofty parapet / women fair to see,

Spake the queen unto them: / “Knows any who they be,

Whom I see yonder sailing / upon the sea afar?

Rich sails their ships do carry, / whiter than snow they are.”

Then spake the king of Rhineland: / “My good men they are,

That on my journey hither / left I lying near.

I’ve sent to call them to me: / now are they come, O Queen."

With full great amazing / were the stately strangers seen.

There saw they Siegfried / out on the ship’s prow stand

Clad in costly raiment, / and with him his good band.

Then spake Queen Brunhild: / “Good monarch, let me know,

Shall I go forth to greet them, / or shall I greetings high forego?”

He spake: “Thou shalt to meet them / before the palace go,

So that we see them gladly / they may surely know."

Then did the royal lady / fulfil the king’s behest.

Yet Siegfried in the greeting / was not honored with the rest.

Lodgings were made ready / and their armor ta’en in hand.

Then was such host of strangers / come into that land,

On all sides they jostled / from the great company.

Then would the knights full valiant / homeward fare to Burgundy.

Then spake Queen Brunhild: / “In favor would I hold

Who might now apportion / my silver and my gold

To my guests and the monarch’s, / for goodly store I have."

Thereto an answer Dankwart, / Giselher’s good warrior, gave:

“Full noble royal Lady, / give me the keys to hold.

I trow I’ll so divide it," / spake the warrior bold,

"If blame there be about it, / that shall be mine alone."

That he was not a niggard, / beyond a doubt he soon had shown.

When now Hagen’s brother / the treasure did command,

So many a lavish bounty / dealt out the hero’s hand,

Whoso mark did covet, / to him was given such store

That all who once were poor men / might joyous live for evermore.

In sooth good pounds a hundred / gave he to each and all.

A host in costly raiment / were seen before the hall,

Who in equal splendor / ne’er before were clad.

When the queen did hear it, / verily her heart was sad.

Then spake the royal lady: / “Good King, it little needs,

That now thy chamberlain / of all my stately weeds

Leave no whit remaining, / and squander clean my gold.

Would any yet prevent it, / him would I aye in favor hold.

“He deals with hand so lavish, / in sooth doth ween the thane

That death I’ve hither summoned; / but longer I’ll remain.

Eke trow I well to spend all / my sire hath left to me."

Ne’er found queen a chamberlain / of such passing generosity.

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / “Lady, be thou told,

That the king of Rhineland / raiment hath and gold

So plenteous to lavish / that we may well forego

To carry with us homeward / aught that Brunhild can bestow.”

“No; as high ye hold me," / spake the queen again,

"Let me now have filled / coffers twice times ten

Of gold and silken raiment, / that may deal out my hand,

When that we come over / into royal Gunther’s land.”

Then with precious jewels / the coffers they filled for her.

The while her own chamberlain / must be standing near:

For no whit would she trust it / unto Giselher’s man.

Whereat Gunther and Hagen / heartily to laugh began.

Then spake the royal lady: / “To whom leave I my lands?

First must they now be given / in charge from out our hands."

Then spake the noble monarch: / “Whomsoe’er it pleaseth thee,

Bid him now come hither, / the same we’ll let our Warden be.”

One of her highest kindred / near by the lady spied,

–He was her mother’s brother– / to him thus spake the maid:

"Now be to thee entrusted / the castles and eke the land,

Until that here shall govern / Gunther the king by his own hand.”

Trusty knights two thousand / from her company

Chose she to journey with her / unto Burgundy,

Beyond those thousand warriors / from Nibelungenland.

They made ready for the journey, / and downward rode unto the strand.

Six and eighty ladies / led they thence with her,

Thereto good hundred maidens / that full beauteous were.

They tarried no whit longer, / for they to part were fain.

Of those they left behind them, / O how they all to weep began!

In high befitting fashion / quitted she her land:

She kissed of nearest kindred / all who round did stand.

After fair leave-taking / they went upon the sea.

Back to her father’s country / came never more that fair lady.

Then heard you on the journey / many a kind of play:

Every pleasant pastime / in plenty had they.

Soon had they for their journey / a wind from proper art:

So with full great rejoicing / did they from that land depart.

Yet would she on the journey / not be the monarch’s spouse:

But was their pleasant pastime / reserved for his own house

At Worms within his castle / at a high festival,

Whither anon full joyous / came they with their warriors all.

Ninth Adventure - How Siegfried was sent to Worms

When that they had journeyed / full nine days on their way,

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / “Now hear what I shall say.

We tarry with the tidings / for Worms upon the Rhine.

At Burgundy already / should now be messengers of thine.”

Then outspake King Gunther: / “There hast thou spoken true.

And this selfsame journey, / none were so fit thereto

As thyself, friend Hagen. / So do thou now ride on.

This our high court journey, / none else can better make it known.”

Thereto answered Hagen: / “Poor messenger am I.

Let me be treasure-warden. / Upon the ships I’ll stay

Near by the women rather, / their guardian to be,

Till that we bring them safely / into the land of Burgundy.

“Now do thou pray Siegfried / that he the message bear,

For he’s a knight most fitting / this thing to have in care.

If he decline the journey, / then shalt thou courteously,

For kindness to thy sister, / pray that he not unwilling be.”

He sent for the good warrior / who came at his command.

He spake: “Since we are nearing / home in my own land,

So should I send a message / to sister dear of mine

And eke unto my mother, / that we are nigh unto the Rhine.

“Thereto I pray thee, Siegfried, / now meet my wish aright,"

Spake the noble monarch: / “I’ll ever thee requite."

But Siegfried still refused it, / the full valiant man,

Till that King Gunther / sorely to beseech began.

He spake: “Now bear the message, / in favor unto me

And eke unto Kriemhild / a maiden fair to see,

That the stately maiden / help me thy service pay."

When had heard it Siegfried, / ready was the knight straightway.

“Now what thou wilt, command me: / ’twill not be long delayed.

This thing will I do gladly / for sake of that fair maid.

Why should I aught refuse her, / who all my heart hath won?

What thou for her commandest, / whate’er it be ’twill all be done.”

“Then say unto my mother, / Ute the queen,

That we on our journey / in joyous mood have been.

Let know likewise my brothers / what fortune us befell.

Eke unto all our kinsmen / shalt thou then merry tidings tell.

“Unto my fair sister / shalt thou all confide.

From me bring her fair compliment / and from Brunhild beside,

And eke unto our household / and all my warriors brave.

What my heart e’er did strive for, / how well accomplished it I have!

“And say as well to Ortwein / nephew dear of mine

That he do bid make ready / at Worms beside the Rhine.

And all my other kindred, / to them made known shall be,

With Brunhild I am minded / to keep a great festivity.

“And say unto my sister, / when that she hath learned

That I am to my country / with many a guest returned,

She shall have care to welcome / my bride in fitting way.

So all my thoughts of Kriemhild / will be her service to repay.”

Then did Sir Siegfried / straightway in parting greet

High the Lady Brunhild, / as ’twas very meet,

And all her company; / then toward the Rhine rode he.

Nor in this world a better / messenger might ever be.

With four and twenty warriors / to Worms did he ride.

When soon it was reported / the king came not beside,

Then did all the household / of direst news have dread:

They feared their royal master / were left in distant country dead.

Then sprang they from the saddle, / full high they were of mood.

Full soon before them Giselher / the prince so youthful stood,

And Gernot his brother. / How quickly then spake he,

When he the royal Gunther / saw not in Siegfried’s company:

“Be thou welcome, Siegfried. / Yet shalt thou tell to me,

Why the king my brother / cometh not with thee.

Brunhild’s prowess is it / hath taken him, I ween;

And so this lofty wooing / hath naught but our misfortune been.”

“Now cease such ill foreboding. / To you and friends hath sent

My royal companion / his good compliment.

Safe and sound I left him; / myself did he command

That I should be his herald / with tidings hither to your land.

“Quickly shall ye see to it, / how that it may be,

That I the queen and likewise / your fair sister see.

From Gunther and Brunhild / the message will I tell

That hath now been sent them: / the twain do find them passing well.”

Then spake the youthful Giselher: / “So shalt thou go to her:

Here dost thou on my sister / a favor high confer.

In sooth she’s mickle anxious / how’t with my brother be.

The maid doth see thee gladly, / –of that will I be surety.”

Then outspake Sir Siegfried: / “If serve her aught I can,

That same thing most willing / in truth it shall be done.

Who now will tell the ladies / I would with them confer?"

Then was therein Giselher / the stately knight his messenger.

Giselher the valiant / unto his mother kind

And sister spake the tidings / when he the twain did find:

"To us returned is Siegfried, / the hero of Netherlands

Unto the Rhine he cometh / at my brother Gunther’s command.

“He bringeth us the tidings / how’t with the king doth fare.

Now shall ye give permission / that he ’fore you appear.

He’ll tell the proper tidings / from Isenland o’er the main."

Yet mickle sad forebodings / did trouble still the ladies twain.

They sprang for their attire / and donned it nothing slow.

Then bade they that Siegfried / to court should thither go.

That did he right willing / for he gladly them did see.

Kriemhild the noble maiden / spake to him thus graciously.

“Welcome be, Sir Siegfried, / thou knight right praiseworthy.

Yet where may King Gunther / my noble brother be?

It is through Brunhild’s prowess, / I ween, he is forlorn.

Alack of me, poor maiden, / that I into this world was born!”

The valiant knight then answered: / “Give me news-bringer’s meed

Know ye, fairest ladies, / ye weep without a need.

I left him well and happy, / that would I have you know;

They two have sent me hither / to bear the tidings unto you.

“And offer thee good service / both his bride and he,

My full noble lady, / in love and loyalty.

Now give over weeping, / for straight will they be here."

They had for many a season / heard not a tale to them so dear.

With fold of snow-white garment / then her eyes so bright

Dried she after weeping. / She gan thank the knight

Who of these glad tidings / had been the messenger.

Then was a mickle sorrow / and cause of weeping ta’en from her.

She bade the knight be seated, / which he did willingly.

Then spake the lovely maiden: / “It were a joy to me,

Could I the message-bringer / with gold of mine repay.

Thereto art thou too high-born; / I’ll serve thee then in other way.”

“If I alone were ruler," / spake he, “o’er thirty lands,

Yet gifts I’d take right gladly, / came they from thy fair hands."

Then spake the virtuous maiden: / “In truth it shall be so."

Then bade she her chamberlain / forth for message-money go.

Four and twenty armlets / with stones of precious kind,

These gave she him for guerdon. / ’Twas not the hero’s mind,

That he himself should keep them: / he dealt them all around

Unto her fair attendants / whom he within the chamber found.

Of service, too, her mother / did kindly offer make.

"Then have I more to tell you," / the keen warrior spake:

"Of what the king doth beg you, / when comes he to the Rhine.

Wilt thou perform it, lady, / then will he e’er to thee incline.

“The noble guests he bringeth, / –this heard I him request,

That ye shall well receive them; / and furthermore his hest,

That ye ride forth to meet him / ’fore Worms upon the strand.

So have ye from the monarch / faithfully his high command.”

Then spake the lovely maiden: / “Full ready there am I.

If I in aught can serve him, / I’ll never that deny.

In all good faith and kindness / shall it e’er be done."

Then deeper grew her color / that from increase of joy she won.

Never was royal message / better received before.

The lady sheer had kissed him, / if ’twere a thing to dare.

From those high ladies took he / his leave in courteous wise.

Then did they there in Burgundy / in way as Siegfried did advise.

Sindold and Hunold / and Rumold the thane

In truth were nothing idle, / but wrought with might and main

To raise the sitting-places / ’fore Worms upon the strand.

There did the royal Steward / busy ’mid the workers stand.

Ortwein and Gere / thought longer not to bide,

But sent unto their kinsmen / forth on every side.

They told of festive meeting / there that was to be;

And deck themselves to meet them / did the maidens fair to see.

The walls throughout the palace / were dight full richly all,

Looking unto the strangers; / and King Gunther’s hall

Full well with seats and tables / for many a noble guest.

And great was the rejoicing / in prospect of the mighty feast.

Then rode from every quarter / hither through the land

The three monarchs’ kinsmen, / who there were called to hand,

That they might be in waiting / for those expected there.

Then from enfolding covers / took they store of raiments rare.

Some watchers brought the tidings / that Brunhild’s followers were

Seen coming riding hither. / Then rose a mickle stir

Among the folk so many / in the land of Burgundy.

Heigh-ho! What valiant warriors / alike on both parts might you see!

Then spake the fair Kriemhild: / “Of my good maidens, ye

Who at this reception / shall bear me company,

From out the chests now seek ye / attire the very best.

So shall praise and honor / be ours from many a noble guest.”

Then came the knights also / and bade bring forth to view

The saddles richly furnished / of ruddy golden hue,

That ladies fair should ride on / at Worms unto the Rhine.

Better horse-equipment / could never artisan design.

Heigh-ho! What gold all glancing / from the steeds there shone!

Sparkled from their bridles / full many a precious stone.

Gold-wrought stools for mounting / and shining carpets good

Brought they for the ladies: / joyous were they all of mood.

Within the court the heroes / bedight with trappings due

Awaited noble maidens, / as I have told to you.

A narrow band from saddle / went round each horse’s breast,

Its beauty none could tell you: / of silk it was the very best.

Six and eighty ladies / came in manner meet

Wearing each a wimple. / Kriemhild there to greet

They went, all fair to look on, / in shining garments clad.

Then came eke well apparelled / full many a fair and stately maid.

Four and fifty were they / of the land of Burgundy,

And they were eke the noblest / that ever you might see.

Adorned with shining hair-bands / the fair-haired maids came on.

What now the king desired, / that most carefully was done.

Made of stuffs all costly, / the best you might desire,

Before the gallant strangers / wore they such rich attire

As well did fit the beauty / of many amid the throng.

He sure had lost his senses, / who could have wished them any wrong.

Of sable and of ermine / many a dress was worn.

Arms and hands a many / did they full well adorn

With rings o’er silken dresses / that there did clothe them well.

Of all the ready-making / none might ever fully tell.

Full many a well-wrought girdle / in long and costly braid

About the shining garments / by many a hand was laid

On dress of precious ferrandine / of silk from Araby.

And full of high rejoicing / were those maids of high degree.

With clasps before her bosom / was many a fair maid

Laced full beauteously. / She might well be sad,

Whose full beaming color / vied not with weeds she wore.

Such a stately company / ne’er possessed a queen before.

When now the lovely maidens / attired you might see,

Soon were those beside them / should bear them company,

Of warriors high-hearted / a full mickle band.

And with their shields they carried / full many an ashen shaft in hand.

Tenth Adventure - How Brunhild was received at Worms

On yonder side Rhine river / they saw a stately band,

The king and host of strangers, / ride down unto the strand,

And also many a lady / sitting on charger led.

By those who should receive them / was goodly preparation made.

Soon they of Isenland / the ship had entered then,

And with them Siegfried’s vassals / the Nibelungen men;

They strained unto the shore / with untiring hand

When they beheld the monarch’s / friends upon the farther strand.

Now list ye eke the story / of the stately queen,

Ute, how at her bidding / ladies fair were seen

Forth coming from the castle / to ride her company.

Then came to know each other / full many a knight and fair lady.

The Margrave Gere / but to the castle gate

The bridle held for Kriemhild; / the keen Siegfried did wait

Thenceforward upon her. / She was a beauteous maid.

Well was the knight’s good service / by the lady since repaid.

Ortwein the valiant / Queen Ute rode beside,

And many a knight full gallant / was stately lady’s guide.

At such a high reception, / that may we say, I ween,

Was ne’er such host of ladies / in company together seen.

With show of rider’s talent / the tilt was carried on,

For might the knights full gallant / naught fitting leave undone,

As passed down to the river / Kriemhild the lady bright.

Then helped was many a lady / fair from charger to alight.

The king had then come over / and many a stranger too.

Heigh-ho! What strong shafts splintered / before the ladies flew!

Many a shaft go crashing / heard you there on shield.

Heigh-ho! What din of costly / arms resounded o’er the field.

The full lovely maidens / upon the shore did stand,

As Gunther with the strangers / stepped upon the land;

He himself did Brunhild / by the hand lead on.

Then sparkled towards each other / rich dress and many a shining stone.

Then went Lady Kriemhild / with fullest courtesy due,

To greet the Lady Brunhild / and her retinue.

And saw ye each the head-band / with fair hand move aside

When they kissed each other: / high courtesy did the ladies guide.

Then spake the maiden Kriemhild, / a high-born lady she:

"Unto this our country / shalt thou right welcome be,

To me and to my mother / and each true friend of mine,

That we here have with us." / Then each did unto each incline.

Within their arms the ladies / oft-times clasped each other.

Like this fond reception / heard ye of ne’er another,

As when both the ladies / there the bride did greet,

Queen Ute and her daughter; / oft-times they kissed her lips so sweet.

When all of Brunhild’s ladies / were come upon the strand,

Then was there taken / full fondly by the hand

By the warriors stately / many a fair lady.

Before the Lady Brunhild / the train of fair maids might ye see.

Before their greetings ended / a mickle time was gone,

For lips of rosy color / were kissed there, many a one.

Long stood they together, / the royal ladies high,

And so to look upon them / pleased many a noble warrior’s eye.

Then spied with probing eye, too, / who before did hear

That till then was never / aught beheld so fair,

As those two royal ladies: / they found it was no lie.

In all their person might ye / no manner of deceit espy.

Who there could spy fair ladies / and judge of beauty rare,

They praised the wife of Gunther / that she was passing fair;

Yet spake again the wise men / who looked with keener gaze,

They rather would to Kriemhild / before Brunhild award the praise.

Then went unto each other / maid and fair lady.

Full many a fair one might ye / in rich adornment see.

There stood rich tents a many, / silken great and small,

Wherewith in every quarter / ’fore Worms the field was covered all.

Of the king’s high kindred / a mighty press there was.

Then bade they Brunhild / and Kriemhild on to pass,

And with them all the ladies, / where they in shade might be.

Thither did bring them warriors / of the land of Burgundy.

When now the strangers also / on horse sat every one,

Plenteous knightly tilting / at shield was there begun.

Above the field rose dust-clouds, / as had the country been

All in flames a-burning; / who bore the honors there was seen.

Looked on full many a maiden / as the knights did sport them so.

Meseemeth that Sir Siegfried / full many a to-and-fro

Did ride with his good followers / along ’fore many a tent.

With him of Nibelungen / a thousand stately men there went.

Then came of Tronje Hagen, / whom the king did send;

He bade in pleasing manner / the tourney have an end,

Before in dust be buried / all the ladies fair.

And ready to obey him / soon the courteous strangers were.

Then spake Sir Gernot: / “Now let the chargers stand,

Until the air is cooler, / for we must be at hand

As escort for fair ladies / unto the stately hall;

And will the king take saddle, / so let him find you ready all.”

When now the sound of tourney / o’er all the field was spent,

Then went for pleasant pastime / ’neath many a lofty tent

The knights unto the ladies, / and willing thither hied.

And there they passed the hours / till such time as they thence should

      ride.

Just before the evening / when the sun was in the west,

And the air grew cooler, / no longer did they rest,

But both knights and ladies / unto the castle passed.

And eyes in loving glances / on many a beauteous maid were cast.

By hand of goodly warrior / many a coat was rent,

For in the country’s custom / they tourneyed as they went,

Until before the palace / the monarch did dismount.

They tended fairest ladies / as knights high-spirited are wont.

After fairest greeting / the queens did part again.

Dame Ute and her daughter, / thither passed the twain

With train of fair attendants / unto a hall full wide.

Din of merrymaking / heard ye there on every side.

Arranged were sitting-places / where the king would be

With his guests at table. / By him might ye see

Standing the fair Brunhild. / She wore a royal crown

In the monarch’s country, / the which might well such mistress own.

Seats for all the people / at many a spacious board

There were, as saith the story, / where victuals rich were stored.

How little there was lacking / of all that makes a feast!

And by the monarch saw ye / sitting many a stately guest.

The royal host’s attendants / in basins golden red

Carried water forward. / And should it e’er be said

By any that a better / service did receive

Ever guests of monarch, / I never could such thing believe.

Before the lord of Rhineland / with water was waited on,

Unto him Sir Siegfried, / as fitting was, had gone;

He called to mind a promise / that made by him had been

Ere that the Lady Brunhild / afar in Isenland he’d seen.

He spake: “Thou shalt bethink thee / what once did plight thy hand,

If that the Lady Brunhild / should come unto this land,

Thou’dst give to me thy sister. / Where now what thou hast sworn?

In this thy wooing journey / not small the labor I have borne.”

Then to his guest the monarch: / “Well hast thou minded me,

And by this hand shall never / false word plighted be.

To gain thy wish I’d help thee / in the way as best I know."

Bidden then was Kriemhild / forth unto the king to go.

With her full beauteous maidens / unto the Hall she passed.

Then sprang the youthful Giselher / adown the steps in haste

"Bid now these many maidens / wend their way again;

None but my sister only / unto the king shall enter in.”

Then led they Kriemhild thither / where the king was found,

With him were knights full noble / from many a land around.

Within that Hall so spacious / she waited the king’s behest,

What time the Lady Brunhild / betook her likewise to the feast.

Then spake the royal Gunther: / “Sister mine full fair,

Redeem the word I’ve given, / an hold’st thou virtue dear.

Thee to a knight I plighted: / An tak’st thou him to man,

Thereby my wish full truly / unto the warrior hast thou done.”

Then spake the noble maiden: / “Brother full dear to me,

Not long shalt thou entreat me. / In truth I’ll ever be

Obedient to thy bidding; / that shall now be done,

And him I’ll take full gladly, / my Lord, whom thou giv’st me for man.”

Before those fair eyes’ glances / grew Siegfried’s color red.

The knight to Lady Kriemhild / his service offered.

Within a ring together / then were led the twain,

And they asked the maiden, / if she to take the knight were fain.

Upon her face not little / was the modest glow;

Nathless to joy of Siegfried / did fortune will it so,

That the maiden would not / refuse the knight her hand.

Eke swore his wife to make her / the noble king of Netherland.

When he to her had plighted, / and eke to him the maid,

Siegfried to embrace her / nothing more delayed,

But clasped in arms full fondly / and oft the lady fair,

And stately knights were witness / how that he kissed the princess there.

When that the maids attendant / from thence had ta’en their leave,

In place of honor seated / Siegfried might ye perceive

And by him fairest Kriemhild; / and many a knight at hand

Was seen of the Nibelungen / at Siegfried’s service ready stand.

There too was Gunther seated / and with him Queen Brunhild.

At sight of Kriemhild sitting / by Siegfried was she filled

With anger such as never / before her heart did swell:

She wept, and tears in plenty / adown her shining face there fell.

Then spake who ruled the country: / “What aileth, lady mine,

That so thou let’st be dimmed / thine eyes that brightly shine?

Be straight of joyous spirit, / for now at thy command

My land and my good castles / and host of stately warriors stand.”

“Good cause to me for weeping," / spake the lady fair.

"For sake of this thy sister / sorrow now I bear,

Whom here behold I seated / by one that serveth thee.

That must forever grieve me, / shall she thus dishonored be.”

Then answered her King Gunther: / “But for the nonce be still.

At other time more fitting / the thing to thee I’ll tell,

Wherefore thus my sister / to Siegfried I did give.

And truly with the hero / may she ever joyous live.”

She spake: “Her name and beauty / thus lost it grieveth me.

An knew I only whither, / from hence I’d surely flee,

This night nor e’er hereafter / to share thy royal bed,

Say’st thou not truly wherefore / Kriemhild thus hath Siegfried wed.”

Then spake the noble monarch: / “Then unto thee be known

That he as stately castles, / lands wide as I, doth own.

And know thou that full surely / a mighty monarch he;

Wherefore the fairest maiden / I grant him thus his wife to be.”

Whate’er the king did tell her, / sad was she yet of mood.

Then hastened from the tables / full many a warrior good,

And jousted that the castle / walls gave back the din.

Amid his guests the monarch / waiting longingly was seen.

He deemed ’twere better lying / beside his fair lady.

Of thinking on that plaisance / his mind he could not free,

And what her love would bring him / before the night be past;

He many a glance full tender / upon the Lady Brunhild cast.

The guests they bade give over / in joust who combated,

For that with spouse new-wedded / the monarch would to bed.

Leaving then the banquet, / there together met

Kriemhild and Brunhild: / their bitter hate was silent yet.

At hand were their attendants; / they longer tarried not,

And chamberlains full lordly / lights for them had brought.

Then parted eke the followers / of the monarchs twain,

And bearing Siegfried company / went full many a worthy thane.

The lords were both come thither / where that they should lie.

As each one bethought him / of loving victory

To win o’er winsome lady, / merry he grew of mood.

The noble Siegfried’s pastime / it was beyond all measure good.

As there Sir Siegfried / by fair Kriemhild lay

And to the maid devoted / himself in such fond way

As noble knight beseemeth, / they twain to him were one,

And not a thousand others / had he then ta’en for her alone.

I’ll tell you now no further / how he the lady plied,

But list ye first the story / what Gunther did betide

By Lady Brunhild lying. / In sooth the noble thane

By side of other ladies / a deal more happily had lain.

Withdrawn were now attendants, / man and also maid;

Not long to lock the chamber / within the king delayed.

He weened to have good pleasure / of that fair lady,

Yet was the time still distant / when that she his wife should be.

In gown of whitest linen / unto the bed she passed.

Then thought the knight full noble: / “Now have I here at last

All that I e’er desired / as long as I can tell."

Perforce her stately beauty / did please the monarch passing well.

That they should shine more dimly / he placed the lights aside,

Then where did lie the lady / the thane full eager hied.

He placed himself a-nigh her, / his joy right great it was,

As in his arms the monarch / the winsome maid did there embrace.

A loving plaisance had he / with vigor there begun

If that the noble lady / had let the same be done.

She then did rage so sorely / that grieved was he thereat;

He weened to find who loved him, / –instead he found him naught but

      hate.

Spake she: “Good knight and noble, / from this thing give o’er.

That which thou here hast hope of, / it may be nevermore.

A maid I still will keep me / –well mayest thou know that–
Until I learn that story." / Gunther wrathy grew thereat.

Her gown he wrought to ruin / to win her maidenhead.

Whereat did seize a girdle / the full stately maid,

A strong and silken girdle / that round her sides she wore,

And with the same the monarch / she soon had brought to pains full sore.

His feet and his hands also, / together bound she all,

Unto a nail she bore him / and hung him on the wall.

Him who disturbed her sleeping / in his love she sorely let,

And from her mighty prowess, / he full nigh his death had met.

Then gan he to entreat her, / who master late had been.

"From these my bonds now loose me, / my full noble queen.

Nor trow I e’er, fair lady, / victor o’er thee to be,

And henceforth will I seldom / seek to lie thus nigh to thee.”

She recked not how ’twere with him, / as she full softly lay.

There hung he, will he nill he, / the night through unto day,

Until the light of morning / through the windows shone.

Could he e’er boast of prowess, / small now the measure he did own.

“Now tell me, lordly Gunther, / wert thou thereat so sad,

If that in bonds should find thee" / –spake the fairest maid–
"Thy royal men-in-waiting, / bound by lady’s hand?"

Then spake the knight full noble: / “Thou should’st in case most evil

      stand.

“Eke had I little honor / therefrom,” continued he.

"For all thy royal honor / let me then go to thee.

Since that my fond embracements / do anger thee so sore,

With these my hands I pledge thee / to touch thy garment nevermore.”

Then she loosed him straightway / and he once more stood free.

To the bed he went as erstwhile / where rested his lady.

But far from her he laid him / and well he now forebore

To stir the lady’s anger / by touching e’en the gown she wore.

At length came their attendants / who garments fresh did bring,

Whereof was ready for them / good store on that morning.

Yet merry as his folk were, / a visage sad did own

The lord of that proud country, / for all he wore that day a crown.

As was the country’s custom, / a thing folk do of right,

Gunther and Brunhild / presently were dight

To go unto the minster / where the mass was sung.

Thither eke came Siegfried, / and in their trains a mighty throng.

As fitted royal honor / for them was thither brought

The crown that each should carry / and garments richly wrought.

There were they consecrated; / and when the same was done,

Saw ye the four together / happy stand and wearing crown.

There was knighted many a squire, / –six hundred or beyond–
In honor of the crowning, / that shall ye understand.

Arose full great rejoicing / in the land of Burgundy

As hand of youthful warrior / did shatter shaft right valiantly.

Then sat in castle casement / maidens fair to see,

And many a shield beneath them / gleamed full brilliantly.

Yet himself had sundered / from all his men the king;

Though joyous every other, / sad-visaged stood he sorrowing.

He and the doughty Siegfried, / how all unlike their mood!

Well wist the thing did grieve him / that noble knight and good.

He went unto the monarch / and straight addressed him so:

"This night how hast thou fared? / In friendship give thou me to know.”

To his guest the king gave answer: / “Than shame and scathe I’ve naught.

The devil’s dam I surely / into my house have brought.

When as I thought to have her / she bound me like a thrall;

Unto a nail she bore me / and hung me high upon the wall.

“There hung I sore in anguish / the night through until day

Ere that she would unbind me, / the while she softly lay!

And hast thou friendly pity / know then the grief I bear."

Then spake the doughty Siegfried: / “Such grieves me verily to hear.

“The which I’ll show thee truly, / wilt thou me not deny.

I’ll bring it that to-night she / so near to thee shall lie

That she to meet thy wishes / shall tarry nevermore."

Thereat rejoice did Gunther / to think perchance his trials o’er.

Then further spake Sir Siegfried: / “With thee ’twill yet be right.

I ween that all unequal / we twain have fared this night.

To me thy sister Kriemhild / dearer is than life;

Eke shall the Lady Brunhild / be yet this coming night thy wife.”

“I’ll come unto thy chamber / this night all secretly,"

Spake he, “and wrapped in mantle / invisible I’ll be,

That of this my cunning / naught shall any know;

And thy attendants shalt thou / bid to their apartments go.

“The lights I’ll all extinguish / held by each page in hand,

By the which same token / shalt thou understand

I present am to serve thee. / I’ll tame thy shrewish wife

That thou this night enjoy her, / else forfeit be my caitiff life.”

“An thou wilt truly leave me" / –answered him the king–
’My lady yet a maiden, / I joy o’er this same thing.

So do thou as thou willest; / and takest thou her life,

E’en that I’ll let pass o’er me, / –to lose so terrible a wife.”

“Thereto,” spake then Siegfried, / “plight I word of mine,

To leave her yet a maiden. / A sister fair of thine

Is to me before all women / I ever yet have seen."

Gunther believed right gladly / what had by Siegfried plighted been.

Meanwhile the merry pastime / with joy and zest went on.

But all the din and bustle / bade they soon be done,

When band of fairest ladies / would pass unto the hall

’Fore whom did royal chamberlains / bid backward stand the people all.

The chargers soon and riders / from castle court were sped.

Each of the noble ladies / by bishop high was led,

When that before the monarchs / they passed to banquet board,

And in their train did follow / to table many a stately lord.

There sat the king all hopeful / and full of merriment;

What him did promise Siegfried, / thereon his mind was bent.

To him as long as thirty / did seem that single day;

To plaisance with his lady, / thither turned his thought alway.

And scarce the time he bided / while that the feast did last.

Now unto her chamber / the stately Brunhild passed,

And for her couch did Kriemhild / likewise the table leave.

Before those royal ladies / what host ye saw of warriors brave!

Full soon thereafter Siegfried / sat right lovingly

With his fair wife beside him, / and naught but joy had he.

His hand she clasped full fondly / within her hand so white,

Until–and how she knew not– / he did vanish from her sight.

When she the knight did fondle, / and straightway saw him not,

Unto her maids attendant / spake the queen distraught:

"Meseemeth a mickle wonder / where now the king hath gone.

His hands in such weird fashion / who now from out mine own hath drawn?”

Yet further not she questioned. / Soon had he hither gone

Where with lights were standing / attendants many a one.

The same he did extinguish / in every page’s hand;

That Siegfried then was present / Gunther thereby did understand.

Well wist he what he would there; / so bade he thence be gone

Ladies and maids-in-waiting. / And when that was done,

Himself the mighty monarch / fast did lock the door:

Two bolts all wrought securely / he quickly shoved the same before.

The lights behind the curtains / hid he presently.

Soon a play was started / (for thus it had to be),

Betwixt the doughty Siegfried / and the stately maid:

Thereat was royal Gunther / joyous alike and sad.

Siegfried there laid him / by the maid full near.

Spake she: “Let be, now, Gunther, / an hast thou cause to fear

Those troubles now repeated / which befell thee yesternight."

And soon the valiant Siegfried / through the lady fell in sorry plight.

His voice did he keep under / and ne’er a word spake he.

Intently listened Gunther, / and though he naught could see,

Yet knew he that in secret / nothing ’twixt them passed.

In sooth nor knight nor lady / upon the bed had mickle rest.

He did there as if Gunther / the mighty king he were,

And in his arms he pressed her, / the maiden debonair.

Forth from the bed she hurled him / where a bench there stood,

And head of valiant warrior / against a stool went ringing loud.

Up sprang again undaunted / the full doughty man,

To try for fortune better. / When he anew began

Perforce to curb her fury, / fell he in trouble sore.

I ween that ne’er a lady / did so defend herself before.

When he would not give over, / up the maid arose:

"My gown so white thou never / thus shalt discompose.

And this thy villain’s manner / shall sore by thee be paid,

The same I’ll teach thee truly," / further spake the buxom maid.

Within her arms she clasped him, / the full stately thane,

And thought likewise to bind him, / as the king yestreen,

That she the night in quiet / upon her couch might lie.

That her dress he thus did rumple, / avenged the lady grievously.

What booted now his prowess / and eke his mickle might?

Her sovereignty of body / she proved upon the knight;

By force of arm she bore him, / –’twixt wall and mighty chest

(For so it e’en must happen) / him she all ungently pressed.

“Ah me!"–so thought the hero– / “shall I now my life

Lose at hand of woman, / then will every wife

Evermore hereafter / a shrewish temper show

Against her lord’s good wishes, / who now such thing ne’er thinks to do.”

All heard the monarch meanwhile / and trembled for the man.

Sore ashamed was Siegfried, / and a-raging he began.

With might and main he struggled / again to make him free,

Ere which to sorest trouble / ’neath Lady Brunhild’s hand fell he.

Long space to him it seemed / ere Siegfried tamed her mood.

She grasped his hand so tightly / that ’neath the nails the blood

Oozed from the pressure, / which made the hero wince.

Yet the stately maiden / subdued he to obedience since.

Her unrestrained temper / that she so late displayed,

All overheard the monarch, / though ne’er a word he said.

’Gainst the bed did press her Siegfried / that aloud she cried,

Ungentle was the treatment / that he meted to the bride.

Then grasped she for a girdle / that round her sides she wore,

And thought therewith to bind him; / but her limbs and body o’er

Strained beneath the vigor / that his strong arm displayed.

So was the struggle ended / –Gunther’s wife was vanquished.

She spake: “O noble monarch, / take not my life away.

The harm that I have done thee / full well will I repay.

No more thy royal embraces / by me shall be withstood,

For now I well have seen it, / thou canst be lord o’er woman’s mood.”

From the couch rose Siegfried, / lying he left the maid,

As if that he would from him / lay his clothes aside.

He drew from off her finger / a ring of golden sheen

Without that e’er perceived / his practice the full noble queen.

Thereto he took her girdle / that was all richly wrought:

If from wanton spirit / he did it, know I not.

The same he gave to Kriemhild: / the which did sorrow bear.

Then lay by one another / Gunther and the maiden fair.

Hearty were his embraces / as such king became:

Perforce must she relinquish / her anger and her shame.

In sooth not little pallid / within his arms she grew,

And in that love-surrender / how waned her mighty prowess too!

Then was e’en she not stronger / than e’er another bride;

He lay with fond embraces / the beauteous dame beside.

And had she struggled further, / avail how could it aught?

Gunther, when thus he clasped her, / such change upon her strength had

      wrought.

And with right inward pleasure / she too beside him lay

In warmest love embracings / until the dawn of day!

Meantime now had Siegfried / departure ta’en from there,

And was full well received / by a lady debonair.

Her questioning he avoided / and all whereon she thought,

And long time kept he secret / what he for her had brought,

Until in his own country / she wore a royal crown;

Yet what for her he destined, / how sure at last it was her own.

Upon the morn was Gunther / by far of better mood

Than he had been before it; / joy thus did spread abroad

’Mid host of knights full noble / that from his lands around

To his court had been invited, / and there most willing service found.

The merry time there lasted / until two weeks were spent,

Nor all the while did flag there / the din of merriment

And every kind of joyance / that knight could e’er devise;

With lavish hand expended / the king thereto in fitting wise.

The noble monarch’s kinsmen / upon his high command

By gifts of gold and raiment / told forth his generous hand,

By steed and thereto silver / on minstrel oft bestowed.

Who there did gift desire / departed thence in merry mood.

All the store of raiment / afar from Netherland,

The which had Siegfried’s thousand / warriors brought to hand

Unto the Rhine there with them, / complete ’twas dealt away,

And eke the steeds well saddled: / in sooth a lordly life led they.

Ere all the gifts so bounteous / were dealt the guests among,

They who would straightway homeward / did deem the waiting long.

Ne’er had guests of monarch / such goodly gifts before;

And so as Gunther willed it / the merry feast at last was o’er.

Eleventh Adventure - How Siegfried came home with his Wife

When that now the strangers / all from thence were gone,

Spake unto his followers / noble Siegmund’s son:

"We shall eke make ready / home to my land to fare."

Unto his spouse was welcome / such news when she the same did hear.

She spake unto her husband: / “When shall we hence depart?

Not hastily on the journey / I pray thee yet to start.

With me first my brothers / their wide lands shall share."

Siegfried yet it pleased not / such words from Kriemhild to hear.

The princes went unto him / and spake they there all three:

"Now know thou well, Sir Siegfried, / for thee shall ever be

In faithfulness our service / ready while yet we live."

The royal thanes then thanked he / who thus did proof of friendship give.

“With thee further share we," / spake young Giselher,

"The lands and eke the castles / by us that owned are.

In wide lands whatsoever / we rule o’er warriors brave,

Of the same with Kriemhild / a goodly portion shalt thou have.

Then spake unto the princes / the son of Siegmund

When he their lofty purpose / did rightly understand:

"God grant your goodly heritage / at peace may ever be,

And eke therein your people. / The spouse in sooth so dear to me.”

“May well forego the portion / that ye to her would give.

For she a crown shall carry, / if to such day I live,

And queen more rich than any / that lives she then must be.

What else to her ye offer, / therein I’ll meet you faithfully.”

Then spake the Lady Kriemhild: / “If wealth thou wilt not choose,

Yet gallant thanes of Burgundy / shalt thou not light refuse.

They’re such as monarch gladly / would lead to his own land.

Of these shall make division / with me my loving brothers’ hand.”

Thereto spake noble Gernot: / “Now take to please thy mind.

Who gladly will go with thee / full many here thou’lt find.

Of thirty hundred warriors / we give thee thousand men

To be thy royal escort." / Kriemhild did summon then

Hagen of Tronje to her / and Ortwein instantly:

And would they and their kinsmen / make her good company?

To hear the same did Hagen / begin to rage full sore.

Quoth he: “E’en royal Gunther / may thus bestow us nevermore.

“Other men that serve thee, / let them follow thee;

Thou know’st the men of Tronje / and what their pledges be:

Here must we by the monarchs / in service true abide;

Hereto as them we followed, / so shall we henceforth keep their side.”

And so the thing was ended: / to part they ready make.

A high and noble escort / did Kriemhild to her take,

Maidens two and thirty / and five hundred men also.

In Lady Kriemhild’s company / the Margrave Eckewart did go.

Leave took they all together, / squire and also knight,

Maidens and fair ladies, / as was their wont aright.

There parted they with kisses / and eke with clasp of hand:

Right merrily they journeyed / forth from royal Gunther’s land.

Their friends did give them escort / upon the way full far.

Night-quarters at every station / they bade for them prepare,

Where they might wish to tarry / as on their way they went.

Then straightway was a messenger / unto royal Siegmund sent,

To him and Siegelind bearing / thereof the joyful sign

That his son was coming / from Worms upon the Rhine

And with him Ute’s daughter, / Kriemhild the fair lady.

As this could other message / nevermore so welcome be.

“Well is me!” quoth Siegmund, / “that I the day have known,

When the fair Lady Kriemhild / here shall wear a crown.

Thus higher shall my kingdom / stand in majesty.

My son the noble Siegfried / here himself the king shall be.”

Then dealt the Lady Siegelind / velvet red in store,

Silver and gold full heavy / to them the news that bore:

She joyed to hear the story / that there her ear did greet.

Then decked themselves her ladies / all in rich attire meet.

’Twas told, with Siegfried coming / whom they did expect.

Then bade they sitting-places / straightway to erect,

Where he before his kinsmen / a crown in state should wear.

Then men of royal Siegmund / forward rode to meet him there.

Was e’er more royal greeting, / news have I not to hand,

As came the knights full noble / into Siegmund’s land.

There the royal Siegelind / to Kriemhild forth did ride

With ladies fair a many, / and followed gallant knights beside

Out a full day’s journey / to welcome each high guest.

And little with the strangers / did they ever rest

Until into a castle / wide they came once more,

The same was called Xanten, / where anon a crown they wore.

With smiling lips Dame Siegelind / –and Siegmund eke did this–
To show the love they bore her / full oft did Kriemhild kiss,

And eke the royal Siegfried: / far was their sorrow gone.

And all the merry company, / good welcome had they every one.

The train of strangers bade they / ’fore Siegmund’s Hall to lead,

And maidens fair a many / down from gallant steed

Helped they there dismounting. / Full many a man was there

To do them willing service / as was meet for ladies fair.

How great soe’er the splendor / erstwhile beside the Rhine,

Here none the less was given / raiment yet more fine,

Nor were they e’er attired / in all their days so well.

Full many a wonder might I / of their rich apparel tell.

How there in state resplendent / they sat and had full store,

And how each high attendant / gold-broidered raiment wore,

With stones full rare and precious / set with skill therein!

The while with care did serve them / Siegelind the noble queen.

Then spake the royal Siegmund / before his people so:

"To every friend of Siegfried / give I now to know

That he before these warriors / my royal crown shall wear."

And did rejoice that message / the thanes of Netherland to hear.

His crown to him he tendered / and rule o’er wide domain

Whereof he all was master. / Where’er did reach his reign

Or men were subject to him / bestowed his hand such care

That evil-doers trembled / before the spouse of Kriemhild fair.

In such high honor truly / he lived, as ye shall hear,

And judged as lofty monarch / unto the tenth year,

What time his fairest lady / to him a son did bear.

Thereat the monarch’s kinsmen / filled with mickle joyance were.

They soon the same did christen / and gave to him a name,

Gunther, as hight his uncle, / nor cause was that for shame:

Grew he but like his kinsmen / then happy might he be.

As well he did deserve it, / him fostered they right carefully.

In the selfsame season / did Lady Siegelind die,

When was full power wielded / by Ute’s daughter high,

As meet so lofty lady / should homage wide receive.

That death her thus had taken / did many a worthy kinsman grieve.

Now by the Rhine yonder, / as we likewise hear,

Unto mighty Gunther / eke a son did bear

Brunhild his fair lady / in the land of Burgundy.

In honor to the hero / Siegfried named eke was he.

The child they also fostered / with what tender care!

Gunther the noble monarch / anon did masters rare

Find who should instruct him / a worthy man to grow.

Alas! by sad misfortune / to friends was dealt how fell a blow!

At all times the story / far abroad was told,

How that in right worthy / way the warriors bold

Lived there in Siegmund’s country / as noble knights should do.

Likewise did royal Gunther / eke amid his kinsmen true.

Land of the Nibelungen / Siegfried as well did own,

–Amid his lofty kindred / a mightier ne’er was known–
And Schilbung’s knights did serve him, / with all that theirs had been.

That great was thus his power / did fill with joy the knight full keen.

Hoard of all the greatest / that hero ever won,

Save who erstwhile did wield it, / now the knight did own,

The which before a mountain / he seized against despite,

And for whose sake he further / slew full many a gallant knight.

Naught more his heart could wish for; / yet had his might been less,

Rightly must all people / of the high knight confess,

One was he of the worthiest / that e’er bestrode a steed.

Feared was his mickle prowess, / and, sooth to say, thereof was need.

Twelfth Adventure - How Gunther bade Siegfried to the Feast

Now all time bethought her / royal Gunther’s wife:

"How now doth Lady Kriemhild / lead so haughty life?

In sooth her husband Siegfried / doth homage to us owe,

But now full long unto us / little service he doth show.”

That in her heart in secret / eke she pondered o’er.

That they were strangers to her / did grieve her heart full sore,

And so seldom sign of service / came from Siegfried’s land.

How it thus was fallen, / that she fain would understand.

She probed then the monarch, / if the thing might be,

That she the Lady Kriemhild / once again might see.

She spake it all in secret / whereon her heart did dwell;

The thing she then did speak of / pleased the monarch passing well.

“How might we bring them hither" / –spake the mighty king–
"Unto this my country? / ’Twere ne’er to do, such thing.

They dwell too distant from us, / the quest I fear to make."

Thereto gave answer Brunhild, / and in full crafty wise she spake:

“How high soe’er and mighty / king’s man were ever one,

Whate’er should bid his master, / may he not leave undone."

Thereat did smile King Gunther, / as such words spake she:

Ne’er bade he aught of service, / oft as Siegfried he did see.

She spake: “Full loving master, / as thou hold’st me dear,

Help me now that Siegfried / and thy sister fair

Come to this our country, / that them we here may see;

In sooth no thing could ever / unto me more welcome be.

“Thy sister’s lofty bearing / and all her courtesy,

Whene’er I think upon it, / full well it pleaseth me,

How we did sit together / when erst I was thy spouse!

Well in sooth with honor / might she the valiant Siegfried choose.”

She pleaded with the monarch / so long till answered he:

"Know now that guests none other / so welcome were to me.

To gain thy wish ’tis easy: / straight messengers of mine

To both shall message carry, / that hither come they to the Rhine.”

Thereto the queen gave answer: / “Now further shalt thou say,

When thou them wilt summon, / or when shall be the day

That our dear friends come hither / unto our country.

Who’ll bear thy message thither, / shalt thou eke make known to me.”

“That will I,” spake the monarch. / “Thirty of my men

Shall thither ride unto them." / The same he summoned then,

And bade them with the message / to Siegfried’s land to fare.

They joyed as gave them Brunhild / stately raiment rich to wear.

Then further spake the monarch: / “Ye knights from me shall bring

This message, nor withhold ye / of it anything,

Unto the doughty Siegfried / and eke my sister fair:

In the world could never any / to them a better purpose bear.

“And pray them both that hither / they come unto the Rhine.

With me will e’er my lady / such grace to pay combine,

Ere turn of sun in summer / he and his men shall know

That liveth here full many / to them would willing honor show.

“Unto royal Siegmund / bear greeting fair from me,

That I and my friends ever / to him well-minded be.

And tell ye eke my sister / she shall no wise omit

Hither to friends to journey: / ne’er feast could better her befit.”

Brunhild and Ute / and ladies all at hand,

They sent a fairest greeting / unto Siegfried’s land

To winsome ladies many / and many a warrior brave.

With godspeed from the monarch / and friends the messengers took leave.

They fared with full equipment: / their steeds did ready stand

And rich were they attired: / so rode they from that land

They hastened on the journey / whither they would fare;

Escort safe the monarch / had bidden eke for them prepare.

Their journey had they ended / e’er three weeks were spent.

At the Nibelungen castle, / whither they were sent,

In the mark of Norway / found they the knight they sought,

And weary were the horses / the messengers so far had brought.

Then was told to Siegfried / and to Kriemhild fair

How knights were there arrived / who did raiment wear

Like as in land of Burgundy / of wont the warriors dressed.

Thereat did hasten Kriemhild / from couch where she did lying rest.

Then bade eke to a window / one of her maids to go.

She saw the valiant Gere / stand in the court below,

And with him his companions, / who did thither fare.

To hear such joyous tidings, / how soon her heart forgot its care.

She spake unto the monarch: / “Look now thitherward

Where with the doughty Gere / stand in the castle yard

Whom to us brother Gunther / adown the Rhine doth send!"

Thereto spake doughty Siegfried: / “With greeting fair we’ll them

      attend.”

Then hastened their retainers / all the guests to meet,

And each of them in special / manner then did greet

The messengers full kindly / and warmest welcome bade.

Siegmund did likewise / o’er their coming wax full glad.

In fitting way was harbored / Gere and his men,

And steeds in charge were taken. / The messengers went then

Where beside Sir Siegfried / the Lady Kriemhild sat.

To court the guests were bidden, / where them did greeting fair await.

The host with his fair lady, / straightway up stood he,

And greeted fairly Gere / of the land of Burgundy

And with him his companions / King Gunther’s men also.

Gere, knight full mighty, / bade they to a settle go.

“Allow that first the message / we give ere sit we down;

The while we’ll stand, though weary / upon our journey grown.

Tidings bring we to you / what greetings high have sent

Gunther and Brunhild / who live in royal fair content.

“Eke what from Lady Ute / thy mother now we’ve brought.

The youthful Giselher / and also Sir Gernot

And best among thy kinsmen / have sent us here to thee:

A fairest greeting send they / from the land of Burgundy.”

“God give them meed,” spake Siegfried; / “Good will and faith withal

I trow full well they harbor, / as with friends we shall;

Likewise doth eke their sister. / Now further shall ye tell

If that our friends beloved / at home in high estate do dwell.

“Since that we from them parted / hath any dared to do

Scathe to my lady’s kinsmen? / That shall ye let me know.

I’ll help them ever truly / all their need to bear

Till that their enemies / have good cause my help to fear.”

Then spake the Margrave / Gere, a knight full good:

"In all that maketh knighthood / right proud they stand of mood.

Unto the Rhine they bid you / to high festivity:

They’d see you there full gladly, / thereof may ye not doubtful be.

“And bid they eke my Lady / Kriemhild that she too,

When ended is the winter, / thither come with you.

Ere turn of sun in summer / trust they you to see."

Then spake the doughty Siegfried: / “That same thing might hardly be.”

Thereto did answer Gere / of the land of Burgundy:

"Your high mother Ute / hath message sent by me,

Likewise Gernot and Giselher, / that they plead not in vain.

That you they see so seldom / daily hear I them complain.

“Brunhild my mistress / and all her company

Of fair maids rejoice them; / if the thing might be

That they again should see you, / of merry mood they were."

Then joy to hear the tidings / filled the Lady Kriemhild fair.

Gere to her was kinsman. / The host did bid him rest,

Nor long were they in pouring / wine for every guest.

Thither came eke Siegmund / where the strangers he did see,

And in right friendly manner / spake to the men of Burgundy:

“Welcome be, ye warriors, / ye Gunther’s men, each one.

Since that fair Kriemhild / Siegfried my son

For spouse did take unto him, / we should you ofter see

Here in this our country, / an ye good friends to us would be.”

They spake, whene’er he wished it, / full glad to come were they.

All their mickle weariness / with joy was ta’en away.

The messengers were seated / and food to them they bore,

Whereof did Siegfried offer / unto his guests a goodly store.

Until nine days were over / must they there abide,

When did at last the valiant / knights begin to chide

That they did not ride thither / again unto their land.

Then did the royal Siegfried / summon his good knights to hand.

He asked what they did counsel: / should they unto the Rhine?

"Me unto him hath bidden / Gunther, friend of mine,

He and his good kinsmen, / to high festivity.

Thither went I full gladly, / but that his land so far doth lie.

“Kriemhild bid they likewise / that she with me shall fare.

Good friends, now give ye counsel / how we therefor prepare.

And were it armies thirty / to lead in distant land,

Yet must serve them gladly / evermore Siegfried’s hand.”

Then answer gave his warriors. / “An’t pleaseth thee to go

Thither to the festival, / we’ll counsel what thou do.

Thou shalt with thousand warriors / unto Rhine river ride.

So may’st thou well with honor / in the land of Burgundy abide.”

Then spake of Netherland / Siegmund the king:

"Will ye to the festival, / why hide from me the thing!

I’ll journey with you thither, / if it not displeasing be,

And lead good thanes a hundred / wherewith to swell your company.”

“And wilt thou with us journey, / father full dear to me,"

Spake the valiant Siegfried, / “full glad thereat I’ll be.

Before twelve days are over / from these my lands I fare."

To all who’d join the journey / steeds gave they and apparel rare.

When now the lofty monarch / was minded thus to ride

Bade he the noble messengers / longer not to bide,

And to his lady’s kinsmen / to the Rhine a message sent,

How that he would full gladly / join to make them merriment.

Siegfried and Kriemhild, / this same tale we hear,

To the messengers gave so richly / that the burden could not bear

Their horses with them homeward, / such wealth in sooth he had.

The horses heavy-laden / drove they thence with hearts full glad.

Siegfried and Siegmund / their people richly clad.

Eckewart the Margrave, / straightway he bade

For ladies choose rich clothing, / the best that might be found,

Or e’er could be procured / in all Siegfried’s lands around.

The shields and the saddles / gan they eke prepare,

To knights and fair ladies / who with them should fare

Lacked nothing that they wished for, / but of all they were possessed.

Then to his friends led Siegfried / many a high and stately guest.

The messengers swift hasted / homeward on their way,

And soon again came Gere / to the land of Burgundy.

Full well was he received, / and there dismounted all

His train from off their horses / before the royal Gunther’s Hall.

Old knights and youthful squires / crowded, as is their way,

To ask of them the tidings. / Thus did the brave knight say:

"When to the king I tell them / then shall ye likewise hear."

He went with his companions / and soon ’fore Gunther did appear.

Full of joy the monarch / did from the settle spring;

And did thank them also / for their hastening

Brunhild the fair lady. / Spake Gunther eagerly:

"How now liveth Siegfried, / whose arm hath oft befriended me?”

Then spake the valiant Gere: / “Joy o’er the visage went

Of him and eke thy sister. / To friends was never sent

A more faithful greeting / by good knight ever one,

Than now the mighty Siegfried / and his royal sire have done.”

Then spake unto the Margrave / the noble monarch’s wife:

"Now tell me, cometh Kriemhild? / And marketh yet her life

Aught of the noble bearing / did her erstwhile adorn?"

"She cometh to thee surely," / Gere answer did return.

Ute straightway the messengers / to her did command.

Then might ye by her asking / full well understand

To her was joyous tidings / how Kriemhild did betide.

He told her how he found her, / and that she soon would hither ride.

Eke of all the presents / did they naught withhold,

That had given them Siegfried: / apparel rich and gold

Displayed they to the people / of the monarchs three.

To him were they full grateful / who thus had dealt so bounteously.

“Well may he,” quoth Hagen, / “of his treasure give,

Nor could he deal it fully, / should he forever live:

Hoard of the Nibelungen / beneath his hand doth lie.

Heigh-ho, if came it ever / into the land of Burgundy!”

All the king’s retainers / glad they were thereat,

That the guests were coming. / Early then and late

Full little were they idle, / the men of monarchs three.

Seats builded they full many / toward the high festivity.

The valiant knight Hunold / and Sindold doughty thane

Little had of leisure. / Meantime must the twain,

Stands erect full many, / as their high office bade.

Therein did help them Ortwein, / and Gunther’s thanks therefor they had.

Rumold the High Steward / busily he wrought

Among them that did serve him. / Full many a mighty pot,

And spacious pans and kettles, / how many might ye see!

For those to them were coming / prepared they victuals plenteously.

Thirteenth Adventure - How they fared to the Feast

Leave we now the ardor / wherewith they did prepare,

And tell how Lady Kriemhild / and eke her maidens fair

From land of Nibelungen / did journey to the Rhine.

Ne’er did horses carry / such store of raiment rich and fine.

Carrying-chests full many / for the way they made ready.

Then rode the thane Siegfried / with his friends in company

And eke the queen thither / where joy they looked to find.

Where now was high rejoicing / they soon in sorest grief repined.

At home behind them left they / Lady Kriemhild’s son

That she did bear to Siegfried / –’twas meet that that be done.

From this their festive journey / rose mickle sorrow sore:

His father and his mother / their child beheld they never more.

Then eke with them thither / Siegmund the king did ride.

Had he e’er had knowledge / what should there betide

Anon from that high journey, / such had he never seen:

Ne’er wrought upon dear kindred / might so grievous wrong have been.

Messengers sent they forward / that the tidings told should be.

Then forth did ride to meet them / with gladsome company

Ute’s friends full many / and many a Gunther’s man.

With zeal to make him ready / unto his guests the king began.

Where he found Brunhild sitting, / thither straight went he.

"How received thee my sister, / as thou cam’st to this country?

Like preparations shalt thou / for Siegfried’s wife now make."

"Fain do I that; good reason / have I to love her well,” she spake.

Then quoth the mighty monarch: / “The morn shall see them here.

Wilt thou go forth to meet them, / apace do thou prepare,

That not within the castle / their coming we await.

Guests more welcome never / greeted I of high estate.”

Her maidens and her ladies / straight did she command

To choose them rich apparel, / the best within the land,

In which the stately company / before the guests should go.

The same they did right gladly, / that may ye full surely know.

Then eke to offer service / the men of Gunther hied,

And all his doughty warriors / saw ye by the monarch’s side.

Then rode the queen full stately / the strangers forth to meet,

And hearty was the welcome / as she her loving guests did greet.

With what glad rejoicings / the guests they did receive!

They deemed that Lady Kriemhild / did unto Brunhild give

Ne’er so warm a welcome / to the land of Burgundy.

Bold knights that yet were strangers / rejoiced each other there to see.

Now come was also Siegfried / with his valiant men.

The warriors saw ye riding / thither and back again,

Where’er the plain extended, / with huge company.

From the dust and crowding / could none in all the rout be free.

When the monarch of the country / Siegfried did see

And with him also Siegmund, / spake he full lovingly:

"Be ye to me full welcome / and to all these friends of mine.

Our hearts right glad they shall be / o’er this your journey to the

      Rhine.”

“God give thee meed,” spake Siegmund, / a knight in honor grown.

"Since that my son Siegfried / thee for a friend hath known,

My heart hath e’er advised me / that thee I soon should see."

Thereto spake royal Gunther: / “Joy hast thou brought full great to me.”

Siegfried was there received, / as fitted his high state,

With full lofty honors, / nor one did bear him hate.

There joined in way right courteous / Gernot and Giselher:

I ween so warm a welcome / did they make for strangers ne’er.

The spouse of each high monarch / greeted the other there.

Emptied was many a saddle, / and many a lady fair

By hero’s hand was lifted / adown upon the sward.

By waiting on fair lady / how many a knight sought high reward!

So went unto each other / the ladies richly dight;

Thereat in high rejoicing / was seen full many a knight,

That by both the greeting / in such fair way was done.

By fair maidens standing / saw ye warriors many a one.

Each took the hand of other / in all their company;

In courteous manner bending / full many might ye see

And loving kisses given / by ladies debonair.

Rejoiced the men of Gunther / and Siegfried to behold them there.

They bided there no longer / but rode into the town.

The host bade to the strangers / in fitting way be shown,

That they were seen full gladly / in the land of Burgundy.

High knights full many tilting / before fair ladies might ye see.

Then did of Tronje Hagen / and eke Ortwein

In high feats of valor / all other knights outshine.

Whate’er the twain commanded / dared none to leave undone;

By them was many a service / to their high guests in honor shown.

Shields heard ye many clashing / before the castle gate

With din of lances breaking. / Long in saddle sate

The host and guests there with him, / ere that within they went.

With full merry pastime / joyfully the hours they spent.

Unto the Hall so spacious / rode the merry company.

Many a silken cover / wrought full cunningly

Saw ye beyond the saddles / of the ladies debonair

On all sides down hanging. / King Gunther’s men did meet them there.

Led by the same the strangers / to their apartments passed.

Meanwhile oft her glances / Brunhild was seen to cast

Upon the Lady Kriemhild, / for she was passing fair.

In lustre vied her color / with the gold that she did wear.

Within the town a clamor / at Worms on every hand

Arose amid their followers. / King Gunther gave command

To Dankwart his Marshal / to tend them all with care.

Then bade he fitting quarters / for the retinue prepare.

Without and in the castle / the board for all was set:

In sooth were never strangers / better tended yet.

Whatever any wished for / did they straightway provide:

So mighty was the monarch / that naught to any was denied.

To them was kind attention / and all good friendship shown.

The host then at the table / with his guests sat him down.

Siegfried they bade be seated / where he did sit before.

Then went with him to table / full many a stately warrior more.

Gallant knights twelve hundred / in the circle there, I ween,

With him sat at table. / Brunhild the lofty queen

Did deem that never vassal / could more mighty be.

So well she yet was minded, / she saw it not unwillingly.

There upon an evening, / as the king with guests did dine,

Full many a rich attire / was wet with ruddy wine,

As passed among the tables / the butlers to and fro.

And great was their endeavor / full honor to the guests to show.

As long hath been the custom / at high festivity

Fit lodging there was given / to maid and high lady.

From whence soe’er they came there / they had the host’s good care;

Unto each guest was meted / of fitting honors fullest share.

When now the night was ended / and came forth the dawn,

From chests they carried with them, / full many a precious stone

Sparkled on costly raiment / by hand of lady sought.

Stately robes full many / forth to deck them then they brought.

Ere dawn was full appeared, / before the Hall again

Came knights and squires many, / whereat arose the din

E’en before the matins / that for the king were sung.

Well pleased was the monarch / at joust to see the warriors young.

Full lustily and loudly / many a horn did blare,

Of flutes and eke of trumpets / such din did rend the air

That loud came back the echo / from Worms the city wide.

The warriors high-hearted / to saddle sprung on every side.

Arose there in that country / high a jousting keen

Of many a doughty warrior / whereof were many seen,

Whom there their hearts more youthful / did make of merry mood;

Of these ’neath shield there saw ye / many a stately knight and good.

There sat within the casements / many a high lady

And maidens many with them, / the which were fair to see.

Down looked they where did tourney / many a valiant man.

The host with his good kinsmen / himself a-riding soon began.

Thus they found them pastime, / and fled the time full well;

Then heard they from the minster / the sound of many a bell.

Forth upon their horses / the ladies thence did ride;

Many a knight full valiant / the lofty queens accompanied.

They then before the minster / alighted on the grass.

Unto her guests Queen Brunhild / yet well-minded was.

Into the spacious minster / they passed, and each wore crown.

Their friendship yet was broken / by direst jealousy anon.

When the mass was ended / went they thence again

In full stately manner. / Thereafter were they seen

Joyous at board together. / The pleasure full did last,

Until days eleven / amid the merry-making passed.

Fourteenth Adventure - How the Queens Berated Each Other

Before the time of vespers / arose a mickle stir

On part of warriors many / upon the courtyard there.

In knightly fashion made they / the time go pleasantly;

Thither knights and ladies / went their merry play to see.

There did sit together / the queens, a stately pair,

And of two knights bethought them, / that noble warriors were.

Then spake the fair Kriemhild: / “Such spouse in sooth have I,

That all these mighty kingdoms / might well beneath his sceptre lie.”

Then spake the Lady Brunhild: / “How might such thing be?

If that there lived none other / but himself and thee,

So might perchance his power / rule these kingdoms o’er;

The while that liveth Gunther, / may such thing be nevermore.”

Then again spake Kriemhild: / “Behold how he doth stand

In right stately fashion / before the knightly band,

Like as the bright moon beameth / before the stars of heaven.

In sooth to think upon it / a joyous mood to me is given.”

Then spake the Lady Brunhild: / “How stately thy spouse be,

Howe’er so fair and worthy, / yet must thou grant to me

Gunther, thy noble brother, / doth far beyond him go:

In sooth before all monarchs / he standeth, shalt thou truly know.”

Then again spake Kriemhild: / “So worthy is my spouse,

That I not have praised him / here without a cause.

In ways to tell full many / high honor doth he bear:

Believe well may’st thou, Brunhild, / he is the royal Gunther’s peer.”

“Now guard thee, Lady Kriemhild, / my word amiss to take,

For not without good reason here / such thing I spake.

Both heard I say together, / when them I first did see,

When that erstwhile the monarch / did work his royal will o’er me,

And when in knightly fashion / my love for him he won,

Then himself said Siegfried / he were the monarch’s man.

For liegeman thus I hold him, / since he the same did say."

Then spake fair Lady Kriemhild: / “With me ’twere dealt in sorry way.

“And these my noble brothers, / how could they such thing see,

That I of their own liegeman / e’er the wife should be?

Thus will I beg thee, Brunhild, / as friend to friend doth owe,

That thou, as well befits thee, / shalt further here such words forego.”

“No whit will I give over," / spake the monarch’s spouse.

"Wherefore should I so many / a knight full valiant lose,

Who to us in service / is bounden with thy man?"

Kriemhild the fair lady / thereat sore to rage began.

“In sooth must thou forego it / that he should e’er to thee

Aught of service offer. / More worthy e’en is he

Than is my brother Gunther, / who is a royal lord.

So shalt thou please to spare me / what I now from thee have heard.

“And to me is ever wonder, / since he thy liegeman is,

And thou dost wield such power / over us twain as this,

That he so long his tribute / to thee hath failed to pay.

’Twere well thy haughty humor / thou should’st no longer here display.”

“Too lofty now thou soarest," / the queen did make reply.

"Now will I see full gladly / if in such honor high

This folk doth hold thy person / as mine own it doth."

Of mood full sorely wrathful / were the royal ladies both.

Then spake the Lady Kriemhild: / “That straightway shall be seen.

Since that thou my husband / dost thy liegeman ween,

To-day shall all the followers / of both the monarchs know,

If I ’fore wife of monarch / dare unto the minster go.

“That I free-born and noble / shalt thou this day behold,

And that my royal husband, / as now to thee I’ve told,

’Fore thine doth stand in honor, / by me shall well be shown.

Ere night shalt thou behold it, / how wife of him thou call’st thine own

To court shall lead good warriors / in the land of Burgundy.

And ne’er a queen so lofty / as I myself shall be

Was seen by e’er a mortal, / or yet a crown did wear."

Then mickle was the anger / that rose betwixt the ladies there.

Then again spake Brunhild: / “Wilt thou not service own,

So must thou with thy women / hold thyself alone

Apart from all my following, / as we to minster go."

Thereto gave answer Kriemhild: / “In truth the same I fain will do.”

“Now dress ye fair, my maidens," / Kriemhild gave command.

"Nor shall shame befall me / here within this land.

An have ye fair apparel, / let now be seen by you.

What she here hath boasted / may Brunhild have full cause to rue.”

But little need to urge them: / soon were they richly clad

In garments wrought full deftly, / lady and many a maid.

Then went with her attendants / the spouse of the monarch high;

And eke appeared fair Kriemhild, / her body decked full gorgeously,

With three and forty maidens, / whom to the Rhine led she,

All clad in shining garments / wrought in Araby.

So came unto the minster / the maidens fair and tall.

Before the hall did tarry / for them the men of Siegfried all.

The people there did wonder / how the thing might be,

That no more together / the queens they thus did see,

And that beside each other / they went not as before.

Thereby came thanes a many / anon to harm and trouble sore.

Here before the minster / the wife of Gunther stood.

And good knights full many / were there of merry mood

With the fair ladies / that their eyes did see.

Then came the Lady Kriemhild / with a full stately company.

Whate’er of costly raiment / decked lofty maids before,

’Twas like a windy nothing / ’gainst what her ladies wore.

The wives of thirty monarchs / –such riches were her own–
Might ne’er display together / what there by Lady Kriemhild shown.

Should any wish to do so / he could not say, I ween,

That so rich apparel / e’er before was seen

As there by her maidens / debonair was worn:

But that it grieved Brunhild / had Kriemhild that to do forborne.

There they met together / before the minster high.

Soon the royal matron, / through mickle jealousy,

Kriemhild to pass no further, / did bid in rage full sore:

"She that doth owe her homage / shall ne’er go monarch’s wife before.”

Then spake the Lady Kriemhild / –angry was her mood:

"An could’st thou but be silent / that for thee were good.

Thyself hast brought dishonor / upon thy fair body:

How might, forsooth, a harlot / ever wife of monarch be?”

“Whom mak’st thou now a harlot?" / the king’s wife answered her.

"That do I thee,” spake Kriemhild, / “for that thy body fair

First was clasped by Siegfried, / knight full dear to me.

In sooth ’twas ne’er my brother / won first thy maidenhead from thee.

“How did thy senses leave thee? / Cunning rare was this.

How let his love deceive thee, / since he thy liegeman is?

And all in vain,” quoth Kriemhild, / “the plaint I hear thee bring."

"In sooth,” then answered Brunhild, / “I’ll tell it to my spouse the

      king.”

“What reck I of such evil? / Thy pride hath thee betrayed,

That thou deem’st my homage / should e’er to thee be paid.

Know thou in truth full certain / the thing may never be:

Nor shall I e’er be ready / to look for faithful friend in thee.”

Thereat did weep Queen Brunhild: / Kriemhild waited no more,

But passed into the minster / the monarch’s wife before,

With train of fair attendants. / Arose there mickle hate,

Whereby eyes brightly shining / anon did grow all dim and wet.

However God they worshipped / or there the mass was sung,

Did deem the Lady Brunhild / the waiting all too long,

For that her heart was saddened / and angry eke her mood.

Therefore anon must suffer / many a hero keen and good.

Brunhild with her ladies / ’fore the minster did appear.

Thought she: “Now must Kriemhild / further give me to hear

Of what so loud upbraideth / me this free-tongued wife.

And if he thus hath boasted, / amend shall Siegfried make with life.”

Now came the noble Kriemhild / followed by warrior band.

Then spake the Lady Brunhild: / “Still thou here shalt stand.

Thou giv’st me out for harlot: / let now the same be seen.

Know thou, what thus thou sayest / to me hath mickle sorrow been.”

Then spake the Lady Kriemhild: / “So may’st thou let me go.

With the ring upon my finger / I the same can show:

That brought to me my lover / when first by thee he lay."

Ne’er did Lady Brunhild / know grief as on this evil day.

Quoth she: “This ring full precious / some hand from me did steal,

And from me thus a season / in evil way conceal:

Full sure will I discover / who this same thief hath been."

Then were the royal ladies / both in mood full angry seen.

Then gave answer Kriemhild: / “I deem the thief not I.

Well hadst thou been silent, / hold’st thou thine honor high.

I’ll show it with this girdle / that I around me wear,

That in this thing I err not: / Siegfried hath lain by thee full near.”

Wrought of silk of Nineveh / a girdle there she wore,

That of stones full precious / showed a goodly store.

When saw it Lady Brunhild / straight to weep gan she:

Soon must Gunther know it / and all the men of Burgundy.

Then spake the royal matron: / “Bid hither come to me

Of Rhine the lofty monarch. / Hear straightway shall he

How that his sister / doth my honor stain.

Here doth she boast full open / that I in Siegfried’s arms have lain.”

The king came with his warriors, / where he did weeping find

His royal spouse Brunhild, / then spake in manner kind:

"Now tell me, my dear lady, / who hath done aught to thee?"

She spake unto the monarch: / “Thy wife unhappy must thou see.

“Me, thy royal consort, / would thy sister fain

Rob of all mine honor. / To thee must I complain:

She boasts her husband Siegfried / hath known thy royal bed."

Then spake the monarch Gunther: / “An evil thing she then hath said.”

“I did lose a girdle: / here by her ’tis worn,

And my ring all golden. / That I e’er was born,

Do I rue full sorely / if thou wardest not from me

This full great dishonor: / that will I full repay to thee.”

Then spake the monarch Gunther: / “Now shall he come near,

And hath he such thing boasted, / so shall he let us hear:

Eke must full deny it / the knight of Netherland."

Then straight the spouse of Kriemhild / hither to bring he gave command.

When that angry-minded / Siegfried them did see,

Nor knew thereof the reason, / straightway then spake he:

"Why do weep these ladies? / I’d gladly know that thing,

Or wherefore to this presence / I am bidden by the king.”

Then spake the royal Gunther: / “Sore grieveth me this thing:

To me my Lady Brunhild / doth the story bring,

How that thereof thou boastest / that her fair body lay

First in thy embraces: / this doth thy Lady Kriemhild say.”

Thereto gave answer Siegfried: / “An if she thus hath said,

Full well shall she repent it / ere doth rest my head:

Before all thy good warriors / of that I’ll make me free,

And swear by my high honor / such thing hath ne’er been told by me.”

Then spake of Rhine the monarch: / “That shalt thou let us see.

The oath that thou dost offer, / if such performed be,

Of all false accusation / shalt thou delivered stand."

In ring to take their station / did he the high-born thanes command.

The full valiant Siegfried / in oath the hand did give.

Then spake the lordly monarch: / “Well now do I perceive

How thou art all blameless, / of all I speak thee free;

What here maintains my sister, / the same hath ne’er been done by thee.”

Thereto gave answer Siegfried: / “If gain should e’er accrue

Unto my spouse, that Brunhild / from her had cause to rue,

Know that to me full sorely / ’twould endless sorrow be."

Then looked upon each other / the monarchs twain right graciously.

“So should we govern women," / spake the thane Siegfried,

"That to leave wanton babble / they should take good heed.

Forbid it to thy wife now, / to mine I’ll do the same.

Such ill-becoming manner /in sooth doth fill my heart with shame.”

No more said many a lady / fair, but thus did part.

Then did the Lady Brunhild / grieve so sore at heart,

That it must move to pity / all King Gunther’s men.

To go unto his mistress / Hagen of Tronje saw ye then.

He asked to know her worry, / as he her weeping saw.

Then told she him the story. / To her straight made he vow,

That Lady Kriemhild’s husband / must for the thing atone,

Else henceforth should never / a joyous day by him be known.

Then came Ortwein and Gernot / where they together spake,

And there the knights did counsel / Siegfried’s life to take.

Thither came eke Giselher, / son of Ute high.

When heard he what they counselled, / spake he free from treachery:

“Ye good knights and noble, / wherefore do ye that?

Ne’er deserved hath Siegfried / in such way your hate,

That he therefor should forfeit / at your hands his life.

In sooth small matter is it / that maketh cause for woman’s strife.”

“Shall we rear race of bastards?" / Hagen spake again:

"Therefrom but little honor / had many a noble thane.

The thing that he hath boasted / upon my mistress high,

Therefor my life I forfeit, / or he for that same thing shall die.”

Then spake himself the monarch: / “To us he ne’er did give

Aught but good and honor: / let him therefore live.

What boots it if my anger / I vent the knight upon?

Good faith he e’er hath shown us, / and that full willingly hath done.”

Then outspake of Metz / Ortwein the thane:

"In sooth his arm full doughty / may bring him little gain.

My vengeance full he’ll suffer, / if but my lord allow."

The knights–nor reason had they– / against him mortal hate did vow.

None yet his words did follow, / but to the monarch’s ear

Ne’er a day failed Hagen / the thought to whisper there:

If that lived not Siegfried, / to him would subject be

Royal lands full many. / The king did sorrow bitterly.

Then did they nothing further: / soon began the play.

As from the lofty minster / passed they on their way,

What doughty shafts they shattered / Siegfried’s spouse before!

Gunther’s men full many / saw ye there in rage full sore.

Spake the king: “Now leave ye / such mortal enmity:

The knight is born our honor / and fortune good to be.

Keen is he unto wonder, / hath eke so doughty arm

That, were the contest open, / none is who dared to work him harm.”

“Naught shall he know,” quoth Hagen. / “At peace ye well may be:

I trow the thing to manage / so full secretly

That Queen Brunhild’s weeping / he shall rue full sore.

In sooth shall he from Hagen / have naught but hate for evermore.”

Then spake the monarch Gunther: / “How might such thing e’er be?"

Thereto gave answer Hagen: / “That shalt thou hear from me.

We’ll bid that hither heralds / unto our land shall fare,

Here unknown to any, / who shall hostile tidings bear.

“Then say thou ’fore the strangers / that thou with all thy men

Wilt forth to meet the enemy. / He’ll offer service then

If that thus thou sayest, / and lose thereby his life,

Can I but learn the story / from the valiant warrior’s wife.”

The king in evil manner / did follow Hagen’s rede,

And the two knights, ere any / man thereof had heed,

Had treachery together / to devise begun.

From quarrel of two women / died heroes soon full many a one.

Fifteenth Adventure - How Siegfried was Betrayed

Upon the fourth morning / two and thirty men

Saw ye to court a-riding. / Unto King Gunther then

Were tidings borne that ready / he should make for foe–
This lie did bring to women / many, anon full grievous woe.

Leave had they ’fore the monarch’s / presence to appear,

There to give themselves out / for men of Luedeger,

Him erstwhile was conquered / by Siegfried’s doughty hand

And brought a royal hostage / bound unto King Gunther’s land.

The messengers he greeted / and to seat them gave command.

Then spake one amongst them: / “Allow that yet we stand

Until we tell the tidings / that to thee are sent.

Know thou that warriors many / on thee to wreak their hate are bent.

“Defiance bids thee Luedegast / and eke Luedeger

Who at thy hands full sorely / erstwhile aggrieved were:

In this thy land with hostile / host they’ll soon appear."

To rage begin the monarch / when such tidings he did hear.

Those who did act thus falsely / they bade to lodge the while.

How himself might Siegfried / guard against such guile

As there they planned against him, / he or ever one?

Unto themselves ’twas sorrow / great anon that e’er ’twas done.

With his friends the monarch / secret counsel sought.

Hagen of Tronje / let him tarry not.

Of the king’s men yet were many / who fain would peace restore:

But nowise would Hagen / his dark purpose e’er give o’er.

Upon a day came Siegfried / when they did counsel take,

And there the knight of Netherland / thus unto them spake:

"How goeth now so sorrowful / amid his men the king?

I’ll help you to avenge it, / hath he been wronged in anything.”

Then spake the monarch Gunther: / “Of right do I lament,

Luedegast and Luedeger / have hostile message sent:

They will in open manner / now invade my land."

The knight full keen gave answer: / “That in sooth shall Siegfried’s

      hand,

“As doth befit thy honor, / know well to turn aside.

As erstwhile to thy enemies, / shall now from me betide:

Their lands and eke their castles / laid waste by me shall be

Ere that I give over: / thereof my head be surety.

“Thou and thy good warriors / shall here at home abide,

And let me with my company / alone against them ride.

That I do serve thee gladly, / that will I let them see;

By me shall thy enemies, / –that know thou– full requited be.”

“Good tidings, that thou sayest," / then the monarch said,

As if he in earnest / did joy to have such aid.

Deep did bow before him / the king in treachery.

Then spake Sir Siegfried: / “Bring that but little care to thee.”

Then serving-men full many / bade they ready be:

’Twas done alone that Siegfried / and his men the same might see.

Then bade he make them ready / the knights of Netherland,

And soon did Siegfried’s warriors / for fight apparelled ready stand.

“My royal father Siegmund, / here shalt thou remain,"

Spake then Sir Siegfried. / “We come full soon again

If God but give good fortune, / hither the Rhine beside;

Here shalt thou with King Gunther / full merrily the while abide.”

Then bound they on the banners / as they thence would fare.

Men of royal Gunther / were full many there,

Who naught knew of the matter, / or how that thing might be:

There with Siegfried saw ye / of knights a mickle company.

Their helms and eke their mail-coats / bound on horse did stand:

And doughty knights made ready / to fare from out that land.

Then went of Tronje Hagen / where he Kriemhild found

And prayed a fair leave-taking, / for that to battle they were bound.

“Now well is me, such husband / I have,” Kriemhild said,

"That to my loving kindred / can bring so potent aid,

As my lord Siegfried / doth now to friends of me.

Thereby,” spake the high lady, / “may I full joyous-minded be.

“Now full dear friend Hagen, / call thou this to mind,

Good-will I e’er have borne thee, / nor hate in any kind.

Let now therefrom have profit / the husband dear to me.

If Brunhild aught I’ve injured / may’t not to him requited be.

“For that I since have suffered," / spake the high lady.

"Sore punishment hath offered / therefor the knight to me.

That I have aught e’er spoken / to make her sad of mood,

Vengeance well hath taken / on me the valiant knight and good.”

“In the days hereafter shall ye / be reconciled full well.

Kriemhild, beloved lady, / to me shalt thou tell

How that in Siegfried’s person / I may service do to thee.

That do I gladly, lady, / and unto none more willingly.”

“No longer were I fearful," / spake his noble wife,

"That e’er in battle any / should take from him his life,

Would he but cease to follow / his high undaunted mood:

Secure were then forever / the thane full valiant and good.”

“Lady,” spake then Hagen, / “an hast thou e’er a fear

That hostile blade should pierce him, / now shalt thou give to hear

With what arts of cunning / I may the same prevent.

On horse and foot to guard him / shall ever be my fair intent.”

She spake: “Of my kin art thou, / as I eke of thine.

In truth to thee commended / be then dear spouse of mine,

That him well thou guardest / whom full dear I hold."

She told to him a story / ’twere better had she left untold.

She spake: “A valorous husband / is mine, and doughty too.

When he the worm-like dragon / by the mountain slew,

In its blood the stately / knight himself then bathed,

Since when from cutting weapons / in battle is he all unscathed.

“Nathless my heart is troubled / when he in fight doth stand,

And full many a spear-shaft / is hurled by hero’s hand,

Lest that I a husband / full dear should see no more.

Alack! How oft for Siegfried / must I sit in sorrow sore!

“On thy good-will I rest me, / dear friend, to tell to thee,

And that thy faith thou fully / provest now to me,

Where that my spouse may smitten / be by hand of foe.

This I now shall tell thee, / and on thy honor this I do.

“When from the wounded dragon / reeking flowed the blood,

And therein did bathe him / the valiant knight and good,

Fell down between his shoulders / full broad a linden leaf.

There may he be smitten; / ’tis cause to me of mickle grief.’

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / “Upon his tunic sew

Thou a little token. / Thereby shall I know

Where I may protect him / when in the fight we strain."

She weened to save the hero, / yet wrought she nothing save his bane.

She spake: “All fine and silken / upon his coat I’ll sew

A little cross full secret. / There, doughty thane, shalt thou

From my knight ward danger / when battle rageth sore,

And when amid the turmoil / he stands his enemies before.”

“That will I do,” quoth Hagen, / “lady full dear to me."

Then weened eke the lady / it should his vantage be,

But there alone did Kriemhild / her own good knight betray.

Leave of her took Hagen, / and joyously he went away.

The followers of the monarch / were all of merry mood.

I ween that knight thereafter / never any could

Of treachery be guilty / such as then was he

When that Queen Kriemhild / did rest on his fidelity.

With his men a thousand / upon the following day

Rode thence Sir Siegfried / full joyously away.

He weened he should take vengeance / for harm his friends did bear.

That he might view the tunic / Hagen rode to him full near.

When he had viewed the token / sent Hagen thence away

Two of his men in secret / who did other tidings say:

How that King Gunther’s country / had nothing now to fear

And that unto the monarch / had sent them royal Luedeger.

’Twas little joy to Siegfried / that he must turn again

Ere for the hostile menace / vengeance he had ta’en.

In sooth the men of Gunther / could scarce his purpose bend.

Then rode he to the monarch, / who thus began his thanks to lend:

“Now God reward thee for it, / my good friend Siegfried,

That thou with mind so willing / hast holpen me in need.

That shall I e’er repay thee, / as I may do of right.

To thee before all other / friends do I my service plight.

“Now that from battle-journey / free we are once more,

So will I ride a-hunting / the wild bear and the boar

Away to the Vosges forest, / as I full oft have done."

The same had counselled Hagen, / the full dark and faithless man.

“To all my guests here with me / shall now be told

That we ride forth at daybreak: / themselves shall ready hold,

Who will join the hunting; / will any here remain

For pastime with fair ladies, / the thing behold I eke full fain.”

Then outspake Sir Siegfried / as in manner due:

"If that thou rid’st a-hunting, / go I gladly too.

A huntsman shalt thou grant me / and good hound beside

That shall the game discover; / so with thee to the green I’ll ride.”

Straightway spake the monarch: / “Wilt thou but one alone?

And wilt thou, four I’ll grant thee, / to whom full well is known

The forest with the runways / where most the game doth stray,

And who unto the camp-fires / will help thee back to find thy way.”

Unto his spouse then rode he, / the gallant knight and bold.

Full soon thereafter Hagen / unto the king had told

How he within his power / would have the noble thane:

May deed so dark and faithless / ne’er by knight be done again!

Sixteenth Adventure - How Siegfried was slain

Gunther and Hagen, / the knights full keen,

Proposed with evil forethought / a hunting in the green:

The boar within the forest / they’d chase with pointed spear,

And shaggy bear and bison. / –What sport to valiant men more dear?

With them rode also Siegfried / happy and light of heart:

Their load of rich refreshments / was made in goodly part.

Where a spring ran cooling / they took from him his life,

Whereto in chief had urged them / Brunhild, royal Gunther’s wife.

Then went the valiant Siegfried / where he Kriemhild found;

Rich hunting-dress was laden / and now stood ready bound

For him and his companions / across the Rhine to go.

Than this a sadder hour / nevermore could Kriemhild know.

The spouse he loved so dearly / upon the mouth he kissed.

"God grant that well I find thee / again, if so He list,

And thine own eyes to see me. / ’Mid kin that hold thee dear

May now the time go gently, / the while I am no longer near.”

Then thought she of the story / –but silence must she keep–
Whereof once Hagen asked her: / then began to weep

The princess high and noble / that ever she was born,

And wept with tears unceasing / the valiant Siegfried’s wife forlorn.

She spake unto her husband: / “Let now this hunting be.

I dreamt this night of evil, / how wild boars hunted thee,

Two wild boars o’er the meadow, / wherefrom the flowers grew red.

That I do weep so sorely / have I poor woman direst need.

“Yea, do I fear, Sir Siegfried, / something treacherous,

If perchance have any / of those been wronged by us

Who might yet be able / to vent their enmity.

Tarry thou here, Sir Siegfried: / let that my faithful counsel be.”

Quoth he: “I come, dear lady, / when some short days are flown.

Of foes who bear us hatred / here know I never one.

All of thine own kindred / are gracious unto me,

Nor know I aught of reason / why they should other-minded be.”

“But nay, beloved Siegfried, / thy death I fear ’twill prove.

This night I dreamt misfortune, / how o’er thee from above

Down there fell two mountains: / I never saw thee more.

And wilt thou now go from me, / that must grieve my heart full sore.”

The lady rich in virtue / within his arms he pressed,

And with loving kisses / her fair form caressed.

From her thence he parted / ere long time was o’er:

Alas for her, she saw him / alive thereafter nevermore.

Then rode from thence the hunters / deep within a wold

In search of pleasant pastime. / Full many a rider bold

Followed after Gunther / in his stately train.

Gernot and Giselher, / –at home the knights did both remain.

Went many a horse well laden / before them o’er the Rhine,

That for the huntsmen carried / store of bread and wine,

Meat along with fishes / and other victualling,

The which upon his table / were fitting for so high a king.

Then bade they make encampment / before the forest green

Where game was like to issue, / those hunters proud and keen,

Who there would join in hunting, / on a meadow wide that spread.

Thither also was come Siegfried: / the same unto the king was said.

By the merry huntsmen / soon were watched complete

At every point the runways. / The company then did greet

Siegfried the keen and doughty: / “Who now within the green

Unto the game shall guide us, / ye warriors so bold and keen?”

“Now part we from each other," / answered Hagen then,

"Ere that the hunting / we do here begin!

Thereby may be apparent / to my masters and to me

Who on this forest journey / of the hunters best may be.

“Let then hounds and huntsmen / be ta’en in equal share,

That wheresoever any / would go, there let him fare.

Who then is first in hunting / shall have our thanks this day."

Not longer there together / did the merry hunters stay.

Thereto quoth Sir Siegfried: / “Of dogs have I no need,

More than one hound only / of trusty hunting breed

For scenting well the runway / of wild beast through the brake.

And now the chase begin we!" / –so the spouse of Kriemhild spake.

Then took a practised hunter / a good tracking-hound,

That did bring them where they / game in plenty found,

Nor kept them long awaiting. / Whate’er did spring from lair

Pursued the merry huntsmen, / as still good hunters everywhere.

As many as the hound started / slew with mighty hand

Siegfried the full doughty / hero of Netherland.

So swiftly went his charger / that none could him outrun;

And praise before all others / soon he in the hunting won.

He was in every feature / a valiant knight and true.

The first within the forest / that with his hand he slew

Was a half-grown wild-boar / that he smote to ground;

Thereafter he full quickly / a wild and mighty lion found.

When it the hound had started, / with bow he shot it dead,

Wherewith a pointed arrow / he had so swiftly sped

That the lion after / could forward spring but thrice.

All they that hunted with him / cried Siegfried’s praise with merry

      voice.

Soon fell a prey unto him / an elk and bison more,

A giant stag he slew him / and huge ure-oxen four.

His steed bore him so swiftly / that none could him outrun;

Of stag or hind encountered / scarce could there escape him one.

A boar full huge and bristling / soon was likewise found,

And when the same bethought him / to flee before the hound,

Came quick again the master / and stood athwart his path.

The boar upon the hero / full charged straightway in mickle wrath.

Then the spouse of Kriemhild, / with sword the boar he slew,

A thing that scarce another / hunter had dared to do.

When he thus had felled him / they lashed again the hound,

And soon his hunting prowess / was known to all the people round.

Then spake to him his huntsmen: / “If that the thing may be,

So let some part, Sir Siegfried, / of the forest game go free;

To-day thou makest empty / hillside and forest wild."

Thereat in merry humor / the thane so keen and valiant smiled.

Then they heard on all sides / the din, from many a hound

And huntsmen eke the clamor / so great was heard around

That back did come the answer / from hill and forest tree–
Of hounds had four-and-twenty / packs been set by hunter free.

Full many a forest denizen / from life was doomed to part.

Each of all the hunters / thereon had set his heart,

To win the prize in hunting. / But such could never be,

When they the doughty Siegfried / at the camping-place did see.

Now the chase was ended, / –and yet complete ’twas not.

All they to camp who wended / with them thither brought

Skin of full many an animal / and of game good store.

Heigho! unto the table / how much the king’s attendants bore!

Then bade the king the noble / hunters all to warn

That he would take refreshment, / and loud a hunting-horn

In one long blast was winded: / to all was known thereby

That the noble monarch / at camp did wait their company.

Spake one of Siegfried’s huntsmen: / “Master, I do know

By blast of horn resounding / that we now shall go

Unto the place of meeting; / thereto I’ll make reply."

Then for the merry hunters / blew the horn right lustily.

Then spake Sir Siegfried: / “Now leave we eke the green."

His charger bore him smoothly, / and followed huntsmen keen.

With their rout they started / a beast of savage kind,

That was a bear untamed. / Then spake the knight to those behind

“For our merry party / some sport will I devise.

Let slip the hound then straightway, / a bear now meets my eyes,

And with us shall he thither / unto the camp-fire fare.

Full rapid must his flight be / shall he our company forbear.”

From leash the hound was loosened, / the bear sprang through the brake,

When that the spouse of Kriemhild / did wish him to o’ertake.

He sought a pathless thicket, / but yet it could not be,

As bruin fondly hoped it, / that from the hunter he was free.

Then from his horse alighted / the knight of spirit high,

And gan a running after. / Bruin all unguardedly

Was ta’en, and could escape not. / Him caught straightway the knight,

And soon all unwounded / had him bound in fetters tight.

Nor claws nor teeth availed him / for aught of injury,

But bound he was to saddle. / Then mounted speedily

The knight, and to the camp-fire / in right merry way

For pastime led he bruin, / the hero valiant and gay.

In what manner stately / unto the camp he rode!

He bore a spear full mickle, / great of strength and broad.

A sword all ornamented / hung down unto his spur,

And wrought of gold all ruddy / at side a glittering horn he wore.

Of richer hunting-garments / heard I ne’er tell before.

Black was the silken tunic / that the rider wore,

And cap of costly sable / did crown the gallant knight.

Heigho, and how his quiver / with well-wrought hands was rich bedight!

A skin of gleaming panther / covered the quiver o’er,

Prized for its pleasant odor. / Eke a bow he bore,

The which to draw if ever / had wished another man,

A lever he had needed: / such power had Siegfried alone.

Of fur of costly otter / his mantle was complete,

With other skins embroidered / from head unto the feet.

And ’mid the fur all shining, / full many a golden seam

On both sides of the valiant / huntsman saw ye brightly gleam.

Balmung, a goodly weapon / broad, he also wore,

That was so sharp at edges / that it ne’er forbore

To cleave when swung on helmet: / blade it was full good.

Stately was the huntsman / as there with merry heart he rode.

If that complete the story / to you I shall unfold,

Full many a goodly arrow / did his rich quiver hold

Whereof were gold the sockets, / and heads a hand-breadth each.

In sooth was doomed to perish / whate’er in flight the same did reach.

Pricking like goodly huntsman / the noble knight did ride

When him the men of Gunther / coming thither spied.

They hasted out to meet him / and took from him his steed,

As bruin great and mighty / by the saddle he did lead.

When he from horse alighted / he loosed him every band

From foot and eke from muzzle. / Straight on every hand

Began the dogs a howling / when they beheld the bear.

Bruin would to the forest: / among the men was mickle stir.

Amid the clamor bruin / through the camp-fires sped:

Heigho, how the servants / away before him fled!

O’erturned was many a kettle / and flaming brands did fly:

Heigho, what goodly victuals / did scattered in the ashes lie!

Then sprang from out the saddle / knights and serving-men.

The bear was wild careering: / the king bade loosen then

All the dogs that fastened / within their leashes lay.

If this thing well had ended, / then had there passed a merry day.

Not longer then they waited / but with bow and eke with spear

Hasted the nimble hunters / to pursue the bear,

Yet none might shoot upon him / for all the dogs around.

Such clamor was of voices / that all the mountain did resound.

When by the dogs pursued / the bear away did run,

None there that could o’ertake him / but Siegfried alone.

With his sword he came upon him / and killed him at a blow,

And back unto the camp-fire / bearing bruin they did go.

Then spake who there had seen it, / he was a man of might.

Soon to the table bade they / come each noble knight,

And on a smiling meadow / the noble company sat.

Heigho, with what rare victuals / did they upon the huntsmen wait!

Ne’er appeared a butler / wine for them to pour.

Than they good knights were never / better served before,

And had there not in secret / been lurking treachery,

Then were the entertainers / from every cause of cavil free.

Then spake Sir Siegfried: / “A wonder ’tis to me,

Since that from the kitchen / so full supplied are we,

Why to us the butlers / of wine bring not like store:

If such the huntsman’s service / a huntsman reckon me no more.

“Meseems I yet did merit / some share of courtesy."

The king who sat at table / spake then in treachery:

"Gladly shall be amended / wherein we’re guilty so.

The fault it is of Hagen, / he’d willing see us thirsting go.”

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / “Good master, hear me say,

I weened for this our hunting / we did go to-day

Unto the Spessart forest: / the wine I thither sent.

Go we to-day a-thirsting, / I’ll later be more provident.”

Thereto replied Sir Siegfried: / “Small merit here is thine.

Good seven horses laden / with mead and sparkling wine

Should hither have been conducted. / If aught the same denied,

Then should our place of meeting / have nearer been the Rhine beside.”

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / “Ye noble knights and bold,

I know here nigh unto us / a spring that’s flowing cold.

Be then your wrath appeased, / and let us thither go."

Through that same wicked counsel / came many a thane to grievous woe.

Sore was the noble Siegfried / with the pangs of thirst:

To bid them rise from table / was he thus the first.

He would along the hillside / unto the fountain go:

In sooth they showed them traitors, / those knights who there did

      counsel so.

On wagons hence to carry / the game they gave command

Which had that day been slaughtered / by Siegfried’s doughty hand.

He’d carried off the honors, / all who had seen did say.

Hagen his faith with Siegfried / soon did break in grievous way.

When now they would go thither / to where the linden spread,

Spake of Tronje Hagen: / “To me hath oft been said,

That none could follow after / Kriemhild’s nimble knight

Or vie with him in running: / would that he’d prove it to our sight!”

Then spake of Netherland / bold Siegfried speedily:

"That may ye well have proof of, / will ye but run with me

In contest to the fountain. / When that the same be done,

To him be given honor / who the race hath fairly won.”

“Now surely make we trial," / quoth Hagen the thane.

Thereto the doughty Siegfried: / “I too will give you gain,

Afore your feet at starting / to lay me in the grass."

When that he had heard it, / thereat how joyous Gunther was!

And spake again the warrior: / “And ye shall further hear:

All my clothing likewise / will I upon me wear,

The spear and shield full heavy / and hunting-dress I’ll don."

His sword as well as quiver / had he full quickly girded on.

Doffed they their apparel / and aside they laid it then:

Clothed in white shirts only / saw you there the twain.

Like unto two wild panthers / they coursed across the green:

Yet first beside the fountain / was the valiant Siegfried seen.

No man in feats of valor / who with him had vied.

The sword he soon ungirded / and quiver laid aside,

The mighty spear he leaned / against the linden-tree:

Beside the running fountain / stood the knight stately to see.

To Siegfried naught was lacking / that doth good knight adorn.

Down the shield then laid he / where did flow the burn,

Yet howsoe’er he thirsted / no whit the hero drank

Before had drunk the monarch: / therefor he earned but evil thank.

There where ran clear the water / and cool from out the spring,

Down to it did bend him / Gunther the king.

And when his thirst was quenched / rose he from thence again:

Eke the valiant Siegfried, / how glad had he done likewise then.

For his courtesy he suffered. / Where bow and sword there lay,

Both did carry Hagen / from him thence away,

And again sprang quickly thither / where the spear did stand:

And for a cross the tunic / of the valiant knight he scanned.

As there the noble Siegfried / to drink o’er fountain bent,

Through the cross he pierced him, / that from the wound was sent

The blood nigh to bespatter / the tunic Hagen wore.

By hand of knight such evil / deed shall wrought be nevermore.

The spear he left projecting / where it had pierced the heart.

In terror as that moment / did Hagen never start

In flight from any warrior / he ever yet had found.

Soon as the noble Siegfried / within him felt the mighty wound,

Raging the knight full doughty / up from the fountain sprang,

The while from ’twixt his shoulders / stood out a spearshaft long.

The prince weened to find there / his bow or his sword:

Then in sooth had Hagen / found the traitor’s meet reward.

When from the sorely wounded / knight his sword was gone,

Then had he naught to ’venge him / but his shield alone.

This snatched he from the fountain / and Hagen rushed upon,

And not at all escape him / could the royal Gunther’s man.

Though he nigh to death was wounded / he yet such might did wield

That out in all directions / flew from off the shield

Precious stones a many: / the shield he clave in twain.

Thus vengeance fain had taken / upon his foe the stately thane.

Beneath his hand must Hagen / stagger and fall to ground.

So swift the blow he dealt him, / the meadow did resound.

Had sword in hand been swinging, / Hagen had had his meed,

So sorely raged he stricken: / to rage in sooth was mickle need.

Faded from cheek was color, / no longer could he stand,

And all his might of body / soon complete had waned,

As did a deathly pallor / over his visage creep.

Full many a fairest lady / for the knight anon must weep.

So sank amid the flowers / Kriemhild’s noble knight,

While from his wound flowed thickly / the blood before the sight.

Then gan he reviling / –for dire was his need–
Who had thus encompassed / his death by this same faithless deed.

Then spake the sorely wounded: / “O ye base cowards twain,

Doth then my service merit / that me ye thus have slain?

To you I e’er was faithful / and so am I repaid.

Alas, upon your kindred / now have ye shame eternal laid.

“By this deed dishonored / hereafter evermore

Are their generations. / Your anger all too sore

Have ye now thus vented / and vengeance ta’en on me.

With shame henceforth be parted / from all good knights’ company.”

All the hunters hastened / where he stricken lay,

It was in sooth for many / of them a joyless day.

Had any aught of honor, / he mourned that day, I ween,

And well the same did merit / the knight high-spirited and keen.

As there the king of Burgundy / mourned that he should die,

Spake the knight sore wounded: / “To weep o’er injury,

Who hath wrought the evil / hath smallest need, I trow.

Reviling doth he merit, / and weeping may he well forego.”

Thereto quoth grim Hagen: / “Ye mourn, I know not why:

This same day hath ended / all our anxiety.

Few shall we find henceforward / for fear will give us need,

And well is me that from his / mastery we thus are freed.”

“Light thing is now thy vaunting," / did Siegfried then reply.

"Had I e’er bethought me / of this thy infamy

Well had I preserved / ’gainst all thy hate my life.

Me rueth naught so sorely / as Lady Kriemhild my wife.

“Now may God have mercy / that to me a son was born,

That him alack!, the people / in times to come shall spurn,

That those he nameth kinsmen / have done the murderer’s deed.

An had I breath,” spake Siegfried, / “to mourn o’er this I well had

      need.”

Then spake, in anguish praying, / the hero doomed to die:

"An wilt thou, king, to any / yet not good faith deny,

In all the world to any, / to thee commended be

And to thy loving mercy / the spouse erstwhile was wed to me.

“Let it be her good fortune / that she thy sister is:

By all the princely virtues, / I beg thee pledge me this.

For me long time my father / and men henceforth must wait:

Upon a spouse was never / wrought, as mine, a wrong so great.”

All around the flowers / were wetted with the blood

As there with death he struggled. / Yet not for long he could,

Because the deadly weapon / had cut him all too sore:

And soon the keen and noble / knight was doomed to speak no more.

When the lords perceived / how that the knight was dead,

Upon a shield they laid him / that was of gold full red,

And counsel took together / how of the thing should naught

Be known, but held in secret / that Hagen the deed had wrought.

Then spake of them a many: / “This is an evil day.

Now shall ye all conceal it / and all alike shall say,

When as Kriemhild’s husband / the dark forest through

Rode alone a-hunting, / him the hand of robber slew.”

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / “Myself will bring him home.

In sooth I reck but little / if to her ears it come,

Who my Lady Brunhild / herself hath grieved so sore.

It maketh me small worry, / an if she weep for evermore.”

Seventeenth Adventure - How Kriemhild mourned for Siegfried, and How he was Buried

There till the night they tarried / and o’er the Rhine they went.

By knights in chase might never / more evil day be spent;

For the game that there they hunted / wept many a noble maid.

In sooth by many a valiant / warrior must it since be paid.

Of humor fierce and wanton / list now and ye shall hear,

And eke of direst vengeance. / Hagen bade to bear

Siegfried thus lifeless, / of the Nibelung country,

Unto a castle dwelling / where Lady Kriemhild found might be.

He bade in secret manner / to lay him there before

Where she should surely find him / when she from out the door

Should pass to matins early, / ere that had come the day.

In sooth did Lady Kriemhild / full seldom fail the hour to pray.

When, as was wont, in minster / the bell to worship bade,

Kriemhild, fair lady, wakened / from slumber many a maid:

A light she bade them bring her / and eke her dress to wear.

Then hither came a chamberlain / who Siegfried’s corse found waiting

      there.

He saw him red and bloody, / all wet his clothing too.

That it was his master, / in sooth no whit he knew.

On unto the chamber / the light in hand he bore,

Whereby the Lady Kriemhild / did learn what brought her grief full sore.

When she with train of ladies / would to the minster go,

Then spake the chamberlain: / “Pause, I pray thee now:

Here before thy dwelling / a noble knight lies slain."

Thereat gan Lady Kriemhild / in grief unmeasured sore to plain.

Ere yet that ’twas her husband / she did rightly find,

Had she Hagen’s question / begun to call to mind,

How might he protect him: / then first did break her heart,

For all her joy in living / did with his death from her depart.

Unto the earth then sank she / ere she a word did say,

And reft of all her pleasure / there the fair lady lay.

Soon had Kriemhild’s sorrow / all measure passed beyond:

She shrieked, when past the swooning, / that did the chamber all resound.

Then spake her attendants: / “What if’t a stranger were?"

From out her mouth the heart-blood / did spring from anguish sore.

Then spake she: “It is Siegfried / my husband, other none:

This thing hath counselled Brunhild, / and Hagen’s hand the deed hath

      done.”

The lady bade them lead her / where did lie the knight,

And his fair head she raised / with her hand full white.

Red though it was and bloody / she knew him yet straightway,

As all forlorn the hero / of Nibelungenland there lay.

Then cried the queen in anguish, / whose hand such wealth might wield:

"O woe is me for sorrow! / Yet is not thy shield

With blow of sword now battered, / but murdered dost thou lie.

And knew I who hath done it, / by my counsel should he die.”

All of her attendants / did weep and wail enow

With their beloved mistress, / for filled they were with woe

For their noble master / whom they should see no more.

For anger of Queen Brunhild / had Hagen wrought revenge full sore.

Then spake Kriemhild sorrowing: / “Hence now the message take,

And all the men of Siegfried / shall ye straightway awake.

Unto Siegmund likewise / tell ye my sorrow deep,

If that he will help me / for the doughty Siegfried weep.”

Then ran straightway a messenger / and soon he found at hand,

Siegfried’s valiant warriors / of Nibelungenland.

Of joy he all bereft him / with tale that he did bear,

Nor would they aught believe it / till sound of weeping met their ear.

The messenger came eke quickly / where the king did lie,

Yet closed was not in sleeping / the monarch Siegmund’s eye:

I ween his heart did tell him / the thing that there had been,

And that his dear son living / might nevermore by him be seen.

“Awake, awake, Lord Siegmund. / Hither hath sent for thee

Kriemhild my mistress. / A wrong now beareth she,

A grief that ’fore all others / unto her heart doth go:

To mourn it shalt thou help her, / for sorely hast thou need thereto.”

Up raised himself then Siegmund. / He spake: “What may it be

Of wrong that grieveth Kriemhild, / as thou hast told to me?"

The messenger spake weeping: / “Now may I naught withhold:

Know thou that of Netherland / Siegfried brave lies slain and cold.”

Thereto gave answer Siegmund: / “Let now such mocking be

And tale of such ill tidings / –an thou regardest me–
As that thou say’st to any / now he lieth slain:

An were it so, I never / unto my end might cease to plain.”

“Wilt thou now believe not / the tidings that I bear,

So may’st thyself the Lady / Kriemhild weeping hear,

And all of her attendants, / that Siegfried lieth dead."

With terror filled was Siegmund: / whereof in very sooth was need.

He and his men a hundred / from their beds they sprang,

Then snatched in hand full quickly / swords both sharp and long,

And toward the sound of weeping / in sorrow sore did speed.

There came a thousand warriors / eke of the valiant knight Siegfried.

When they heard the women weeping / in such sore distress

Thought some, strict custom keeping, / we first must don our dress.

In sooth for very sorrow / their wits no more had they,

For on their hearts a burden / of grief full deep and heavy lay.

Then came the monarch Siegmund / where he Kriemhild espied.

He spake: “Alack that ever / to this country I did ride!

Who in such wondrous manner, / and while good friends are near,

Hath of my child bereft me / and thee of spouse thou hold’st so dear?”

“Ah, might I him discover," / spake the lady high,

"Evermore would mercy / I to him deny.

Such meed of vengeance should he / at my hands receive

That all who call him kinsman / reason good should have to grieve.”

Siegmund the monarch / in arms the knight did press,

And of his friends there gathered / so great was the distress,

That from the mighty wailing / palace and wide hall

And Worms the city likewise / with sound of woe re-echoed all.

None was who aught might comfort / the wife of Siegfried there.

They drew the knight’s attire / from off his body fair,

From wounds the blood, too, washed they / and laid him on the bier.

Then from all his people / a mighty wailing might ye hear.

Then outspake his warriors / of Nibelungenland:

"Until he be avenged / rest shall not our hand.

He is within this castle / who the deed hath done."

Then rushed to find their weapons / Siegfried’s warriors every one.

The knights of chosen valor / with shields did thither throng,

Eleven hundred warriors, / that did to train belong

Of Siegmund the monarch. / That his son lay dead,

Would he wreak dire vengeance, / whereof in very sooth was need.

Yet knew they not whom should they / beset in battle then,

If it were not Gunther / and with him his men

With whom their lord Siegfried / unto the hunting rode.

Yet filled with fear was Kriemhild / when she beheld how armed they

      stood.

How great soe’er her sorrow / and stern the grief she bore,

Yet for the Nibelungen / feared she death full sore

From her brother’s warriors, / and bade them hold their wrath.

She gave them kindly warning / as friend to friend beloved doth.

Then spake she rich in sorrow: / “What thing beginnest thou,

Good my lord Siegmund? / This case thou dost not know.

In sooth hath here King Gunther / so many a valiant knight,

Lost are ye all together, / will ye the thanes withstand in fight.”

With shields upraised they ready / for the fight did stand.

But the queen full noble / did straightway give command

To those high knights, and prayed them, / their purpose to give o’er.

That she might not dissuade them, / in sooth to her was sorrow sore.

Spake she thus: “Lord Siegmund, / thou shalt this thing let be

Until more fitting season. / Seek will I e’er with thee

Full to avenge my husband. / Who him from me hath ta’en,

An I shall know him guilty, / in me shall surely find his bane.

“Of warriors proud and mighty / are many here by Rhine,

Therefore will I advise not / the struggle to begin.

For one that we can muster / good thirty men have they;

As unto us their dealing, / God them requite in equal way.

“Here shall ye bide with me / and help my grief to bear;

Soon as dawns the morning, / ye noble knights and rare,

Help me my loved husband / prepare for burial."

"That shall be done full willing," / spake the doughty warriors all.

To you could never any / full the wonder say,

Of knights and noble ladies, / so full of grief were they,

That the sound of wailing / through the town was heard afar,

Whereat the noble burghers / hastily did gather there.

With the guests they mourned together, / for sore they grieved as well.

What was the guilt of Siegfried / none to them might tell,

Wherefore the knight so noble / thus his life should lose.

Then wept with the high ladies / many a worthy burgher’s spouse.

Smiths they bade a casket / work full hastily

All of gold and silver / that great and strong should be.

They bade them fast to weld it / with bands of steel full good.

Then saw ye all the people / stand right sorrowful of mood.

Now the night was over, / for day, they said, drew near.

Then bade the noble lady / unto the minster bear

Siegfried her lord full loved / for whom she mourned so.

Whoe’er was friend unto him, / him saw ye weeping thither go.

As they brought him to the minster / bells full many rung.

On every hand then heard ye / how priests did chant their song.

Thither with his followers / came Gunther the king

And eke the grim knight Hagen / where was sound of sorrowing.

He spake: “Full loving sister, / alack for grief to thee,

And that from such great evil / spared we might not be!

Henceforth must we ever / mourn for Siegfried’s sake."

"That do ye without reason," / full of woe the lady spake.

“If that ye grieved for it, / befallen were it not.

For say I may full truly, / me had ye all forgot

There where I thus was parted / from my husband dear.

Would it God,” spake Kriemhild, / “that done unto myself it were!”

Fast they yet denied it. / Kriemhild spake again:

"If any speak him guiltless, / let here be seen full plain.

Unto the bier now shall he / before the people go;

Thus the truth full quickly / may we in this manner know.”

It is a passing wonder / that yet full oft is seen,

Where blood-bespotted slayer / beside slain corse hath been,

That from the wounds come blood-drops, / as here it eke befell.

Thereby the guilt of Hagen / might they now full plainly tell.

Now ran the wounds all bloody /like as they did before.

Who erstwhile wept full sorely / now wept they mickle more.

Then spake the monarch Gunther: / “To thee the truth be known:

Slain hath he been by robbers, / nor is this deed by Hagen done.”

“Of these same robbers,” spake she, / “full well I understand.

God give that yet may vengeance / wreak some friendly hand.

Gunther and Hagen, / yourselves have done this deed."

Then looked for bloody conflict / the valiant thanes that served

      Siegfried.

Then spake unto them Kriemhild: / “Now bear with me my need."

Knights twain came likewise hither / and did find him dead,–
Gernot her brother / and the young Giselher.

With upright hearts then joined they / with the others grief to share.

They mourned for Kriemhild’s husband / with hearts all full of woe.

A mass should then be chanted: / to the minster forth did go

Man and child and woman / gathered from every side.

E’en they did likewise mourn him / who little lost that Siegfried died.

Gernot and Giselher spake: / “O Sister dear,

Now comfort thee in sorrow, / for death is ever near.

Amends we’ll make unto thee / the while that we shall live."

In the world might never any / unto her a comfort give.

His coffin was made ready / about the middle day.

From off the bier they raised him / whereupon he lay.

But yet would not the lady / let him be laid in grave.

Therefor must all the people / first a mickle trouble have.

In a shroud all silken / they the dead man wound.

I ween that never any / that wept not might be found.

There mourned full of sorrow / Ute the queen full high

And all of her attendants / that such a noble knight did die.

When did hear the people / how they in minster sung,

And that he there lay coffined, / came then a mickle throng:

For his soul’s reposing / what offerings they bore!

E’en amid his enemies / found he of good friends a store.

Kriemhild the poor lady / to her attendants spake:

"Let them shun no trouble / to suffer for my sake,

Who to him are friendly-minded / and me in honor hold;

For the soul of Siegfried / meted be to them his gold.”

Child so small there was not, / did it but reason have,

But offering carried thither. / Ere he was laid in grave,

More than a hundred masses / upon the day they sung,

Of all the friends of Siegfried / was gathered there a mickle throng.

When were the masses over, / the folk departed soon.

Then spake the Lady Kriemhild: / “Leave ye me not alone

To pass the night in watching / by this chosen thane now dead,

With whose passing from me / all my joy of life hath fled.

“Three days and three nights further / shall he lie on bier,

Until my heart find quiet / that weeps for spouse so dear.

God perchance commandeth / that death eke me do take:

That were for me poor Kriemhild / fit end of all my woe to make.”

Then of the town the people / went to their homes again.

Priests and monks yet bade she / longer there remain,

And all the hero’s followers / who willing served alway.

They watched a night all gruesome, / and full of toil was eke the day.

Meat and drink forgetting / abode there many a one.

If any were would take it / ’twas unto all made known,

That have they might in plenty: / thus did provide Siegmund.

Then for the Nibelungen / did trouble and sore need abound.

The while the three days lasted / –such the tale we hear–
All who could join the chanting, / mickle must they bear

There of toil and trouble. / What gifts to them they bore!

Rich were seen full many / who did suffer need before.

As many poor as found they / who themselves had naught,

By them yet an offering / bade they there be brought,

Of gold of Siegfried’s treasure. / Though he no more might live,

Yet for his soul’s reposing / marks many thousand did they give.

Land of fruitful income / bestowed Kriemhild around,

Wheresoever cloisters / and worthy folk were found.

Silver and apparel / to the poor she gave in store,

And in good manner showed she / that truest love to him she bore.

Upon the third morning / at the mass’ tide

Was there beside the minster / filled the church-yard wide

With country-folk a-weeping / that came from far and near:

In death they yet did serve him / as is meet for friend full dear.

And so it hath been told us, / ere these four days were o’er,

Marks full thirty thousand, / yea, in sooth, and more,

For his soul’s reposing / to the poor were given there:

The while that lay all broken / his life and eke his body fair.

When ended was the service / and full the masses sung,

In unrestrained sorrow / there the flock did throng.

They bade that from the minster / he to the grave be borne.

Them that fain had kept him / there beheld ye weep and mourn.

Thence full loud lamenting / did the people with him pass.

Unmoved there never any / nor man nor woman was.

Ere that in grave they laid him / chanted they and read.

What host of priests full worthy / at his burial were gathered!

Ere that the wife of Siegfried / was come unto the grave,

With water from the fountain / full oft her face they lave,

So struggled with her sorrow / the faithful lady fair.

Great beyond all measure / was the grief that she did bear.

It was a mickle wonder / that e’er her life she kept.

Many a lady was there / that helped her as she wept.

Then spake the queen full noble: / “Ye men that service owe

To Siegfried, as ye love me, / now to me a mercy show.

“Upon this sorrow grant ye / the little grace to me

That I his shining visage / yet once more may see."

So filled she was with anguish / and so long time she sought,

Perforce they must break open / the casket all so fairly wrought.

Where she did see him lying / they then the lady led.

With hand full white and spotless / raised she his fair head;

Then kissed she there all lifeless / the good and noble knight,–
And wept so that for sorrow / ran blood from out her eyes so bright.

Mournful was the parting / that then did rend the twain.

Thence away they bore her, / nor might she walk again,

But in a swoon did senseless / the stately lady lie.

In sooth her winsome body / for sorrow sore was like to die.

When they the knight full noble / now in the grave had laid,

Beheld ye every warrior / beyond all measure sad

That with him was come hither / from Nibelung country.

Full seldom joyous-hearted / might ye royal Siegmund see.

And many were among them / that for sorrow great

Till three days were over / did nor drink nor eat.

Yet might they not their bodies / long leave uncared-for so:

For food they turned from mourning / as people still are wont to do.

Eighteenth Adventure - How Siegmund fared Home Again

Then went royal Siegmund / where he Kriemhild found.

Unto the queen spake he: / “Home must we now be bound.

We ween that guests unwelcome / here are we by the Rhine.

Kriemhild, beloved lady, / come now to country that is mine.

“Though from us hath been taken / by foul traitor’s hand

Thy good spouse and noble / here in stranger land,

Thine be it not to suffer: / good friend thou hast in me

For sake of son beloved: / thereof shalt thou undoubting be.

“Eke shalt thou have, good lady, / all the power to hold,

The which erstwhile hath shown thee / Siegfried the thane full bold.

The land and the crown likewise, / be they thine own to call,

And gladly eke shall serve thee / Siegfried’s doughty warriors all.”

Then did they tell the servants / that they thence would ride,

And straight to fetch the horses / these obedient hied.

’Mid such as so did hate them / it grieved them more to stay:

Ladies high and maidens / were bidden dress them for the way.

When that for royal Siegmund / stood ready horse and man,

Her kinsmen Lady Kriemhild / to beseech began

That she from her mother / would still forbear to go.

Then spake the lofty lady: / “That might hardly yet be so.

“How might I for ever / look with eyes upon

Him that to me, poor woman, / such evil thing hath done?"

Then spake the youthful Giselher: / “Sister to me full dear,

By thy goodness shalt thou / tarry with thy mother here.”

“Who in this wise have harmed thee / and so grieved thy heart,

Thyself may’st spurn their service: / of what is mine take part."

Unto the knight she answered: / “Such thing may never be.

For die I must for sorrow / when that Hagen I should see.”

“From need thereof I’ll save thee, / sister full dear to me,

For with thy brother Giselher / shalt thou ever be.

I’ll help to still thy sorrow / that thy husband lieth dead."

Then spake she sorrow-stricken: / “Thereof in sooth had Kriemhild need.”

When that the youthful Giselher / such kindly offer made,

Then her mother Ute / and Gernot likewise prayed,

And all her faithful kinsmen, / that she would tarry there:

For that in Siegfried’s country / but few of her own blood there were.

“To thee they all are strangers," / did Gernot further say.

Nor lived yet man so mighty / but dead at last he lay.

Bethink thee that, dear sister, / in comfort of thy mood.

Stay thou amid thy kinsmen, / I counsel truly for thy good.”

To Giselher she promised / that she would tarry there.

For the men of Siegmund / the horses ready were,

When they thence would journey / to the Nibelungen land:

On carrying-horses laden / the knights’ attire did ready stand.

Went the royal Siegmund / unto Kriemhild then;

He spake unto the lady: / “Now do Siegfried’s men

Await thee by the horses. / Straight shall we hence away,

For ’mid the men of Burgundy / unwilling would I longer stay.”

Then spake the Lady Kriemhild: / “My friends have counselled me,

That by the love I bear them, / here my home shall be,

For that no kinsmen have I / in the Nibelungen land."

Grieved full sore was Siegmund / when he did Kriemhild understand.

Then spake the royal Siegmund: / “To such give not thine ear,

A queen ’mid all my kinsmen, / thou a crown shalt wear

And wield as lordly power / as e’er till now thou hast.

Nor thou a whit shalt forfeit, / that we the hero thus have lost.

“And journey with us thither, / for child’s sake eke of thine:

Him shalt thou never, lady, / an orphan leave to pine.

When hath grown thy son to manhood, / he’ll comfort thee thy mood.

Meanwhile shall ready serve thee / many a warrior keen and good.”

She spake: “O royal Siegmund, / I may not thither ride,

For I here must tarry, / whate’er shall me betide,

’Mid them that are my kinsmen, / who’ll help my grief to share."

The knights had sore disquiet / that such tidings they must hear.

“So might we say full truly," / spake they every one,

"That unto us still greater / evil now were done,

Would’st thou longer tarry / here amid our foes:

In sooth were never journey / of knights to court more full of woes.”

“Now may ye free from trouble / in God’s protection fare:

I’ll bid that trusty escort / shall you have in care

Unto Siegmund’s country. / My child full dear to me,

Unto your knights’ good mercy / let it well commended be.”

When that they well perceived / how she would not depart,

Wept all the men of Siegmund / and sad they were at heart.

In what right heavy sorrow / Siegmund then took leave

Of the Lady Kriemhild! / Full sore thereover must he grieve.

“Woe worth this journey hither," / the lofty monarch spake.

"Henceforth from merry meeting / shall nevermore o’ertake

King or his faithful kinsmen / what here our meed hath been.

Here ’mid the men of Burgundy / may we never be more seen.”

Then spake the men of Siegfried / in open words and plain:

"An might we right discover / who our lord hath slain,

Warriors bent on vengeance / shall yet lay waste this ground.

Among his kin in plenty / may doughty foemen be found.”

Anon he kissed Kriemhild / and spake sorrowfully,

When she there would tarry, / and he the same did see:

"Now ride we joy-forsaken / home unto our land.

First now what ’tis to sorrow / do I rightly understand.”

From Worms away sans escort / unto the Rhine they rode:

I ween that they full surely / did go in such grim mood,

That had against them any / aught of evil dared,

Hand of keen Nibelungen / had known full well their life to guard.

Nor parting hand they offered / to any that were there.

Then might ye see how Gernot / and likewise Giselher

Did give him loving greeting. / That as their very own

They felt the wrong he suffered, / by the courteous knights and brave

      was shown.

Then spake in words full kindly / the royal knight Gernot:

"God in heaven knoweth / that of guilt I’ve naught

In the death of Siegfried, / that e’er I e’en did hear

Who here to him were hostile. / Well may I of thy sorrow share.”

An escort safe did furnish / the young knight Giselher:

Forth from out that country / he led them full of care,

The monarch with his warriors, / to Netherland their home.

How joyless is the greeting / as thither to their kin they come!

How fared that folk thereafter, / that can I nowise say.

Here heard ye Kriemhild plaining / as day did follow day,

That none there was to comfort / her heart and sorry mood,

Did Giselher not do it; / he faithful was to her and good.

The while the fair Queen Brunhild / in mood full haughty sat,

And weep howe’er did Kriemhild, / but little recked she that,

Nor whit to her of pity / displayed she evermore.

Anon was Lady Kriemhild / eke cause to her of sorrow sore.

Nineteenth Adventure - How the Nibelungen Hoard was Brought to Worms

When that the noble Kriemhild / thus did widowed stand,

Remained there with his warriors / by her in that land

Eckewart the margrave, / and served her ever true.

And he did help his mistress / oft to mourn his master too.

At Worms a house they built her / the minster high beside,

That was both rich and spacious, / full long and eke full wide,

Wherein with her attendants / joyless did she dwell.

She sought the minster gladly, / –that to do she loved full well.

Seldom undone she left it, / but thither went alway

In sorry mood where buried / her loved husband lay.

God begged she in his mercy / his soul in charge to keep,

And, to the thane right faithful, / for him full often did she weep.

Ute and her attendants / all times a comfort bore,

But yet her heart was stricken / and wounded all so sore

That no whit might avail it / what solace e’er they brought.

For lover taken from her / with such grief her heart was fraught,

As ne’er for spouse beloved / a wife did ever show.

Thereby how high in virtue / she stood ye well might know.

She mourned until her ending / and while did last her life.

Anon a mighty vengeance / wreaked the valiant Siegfried’s wife.

And so such load of sorrow / for her dead spouse she bore,

The story sayeth truly, / for years full three or more,

Nor ever unto Gunther / any word spake she,

And meantime eke her enemy / Hagen never might she see.

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / “Now seek’st thou such an end,

That unto thee thy sister / be well-disposed friend?

Then Nibelungen treasure / let come to this country:

Thereof thou much might’st win thee, / might Kriemhild friendly-minded

      be.”

He spake: “Be that our effort. / My brothers’ love hath she:

Them shall we beg to win her / that she our friend may be,

And that she gladly see it / that we do share her store."

"I trow it well,” spake Hagen, / “may such thing be nevermore.”

Then did he Ortwein / unto the court command

And the margrave Gere. / When both were found at hand,

Thither brought they Gernot / and eke young Giselher.

In friendly manner sought they / to win the Lady Kriemhild there.

Then spake of Burgundy / Gernot the warrior strong:

"Lady, the death of Siegfried / thou mournest all too long.

Well will the monarch prove thee / that him he ne’er hath slain.

’Tis heard how that right sorely / thou dost for him unending plain.”

She spake: “The king none chargeth: / t’was Hagen’s hand that slew.

When Hagen me did question / where might one pierce him through,

How might e’er thought come to me / that hate his heart did bear?

Then ’gainst such thing to guard me," / spake she, “had I ta’en good

      care.

“And kept me from betraying / to evil hands his life,

Nor cause of this my weeping / had I his poor lorn wife.

My heart shall hate forever / who this foul deed have done."

And further to entreat her / young Giselher had soon begun.

When that to greet the monarch / a willing mind spake she,

Him soon with noble kinsmen / before her might ye see.

Yet dare might never Hagen / unto her to go:

On her he’d wrought sore evil, / as well his guilty mind did know.

When she no hatred meted / unto Gunther as before,

By Hagen to be greeted / were fitting all the more.

Had but by his counsel / no ill to her been done,

So might he all undaunted / unto Kriemhild have gone.

Nor e’er was peace new offered / kindred friends among

Sealed with tears so many. / She brooded o’er her wrong.

To all she gave her friendship / save to one man alone.

Nor slain her spouse were ever, / were not the deed by Hagen done.

Small time it was thereafter / ere they did bring to pass

That with the Lady Kriemhild / the mighty treasure was,

That from Nibelungen country / she brought the Rhine unto.

It was her bridal portion / and ’twas fairly now her due.

For it did journey thither / Gernot and Giselher.

Warriors eighty hundred / Kriemhild commanded there

That they should go and fetch it / where hidden it did lie,

And where the good thane Alberich / with friends did guard it faithfully.

When saw they coming warriors / from Rhine the hoard to take,

Alberich the full valiant / to his friends in this wise spake:

"We dare not of the treasure / aught from them withhold:

It is her bridal portion, / –thus the noble queen hath told.

“Yet had we never granted," / spake Alberich, “this to do,

But that in evil manner / the sightless mantle too

With the doughty Siegfried / we alike did lose,

The which did wear at all times / the fair Kriemhild’s noble spouse.

“Now alas hath Siegfried / had but evil gain

That from us the sightless mantle / the hero thus hath ta’en,

And so hath forced to serve him / all these lands around."

Then went forth the porter / where full soon the keys he found.

There stood before the mountain / ready Kriemhild’s men,

And her kinsmen with them. / The treasure bore they then

Down unto the water / where the ships they sought:

To where the Rhine flowed downward / across the waves the hoard they

      brought.

Now of the treasure further / may ye a wonder hear:

Heavy wains a dozen / scarce the same might bear

In four days and nights together / from the mountain all away,

E’en did each one of them / thrice the journey make each day.

In it was nothing other / than gold and jewels rare.

And if to every mortal / on earth were dealt a share,

Ne’er ’twould make the treasure / by one mark the less.

Not without good reason / forsooth would Hagen it possess.

The wish-rod lay among them, / of gold a little wand.

Whosoe’er its powers / full might understand,

The same might make him master / o’er all the race of men.

Of Alberich’s kin full many / with Gernot returned again.

When they did store the treasure / in King Gunther’s land,

And to royal Kriemhild / ’twas given ’neath her hand,

Storing-rooms and towers / could scarce the measure hold.

Nevermore such wonder / might of wealth again be told.

And had it e’en been greater, / yea a thousandfold,

If but again might Kriemhild / safe her Siegfried hold,

Fain were she empty-handed / of all the boundless store.

Spouse than she more faithful / won a hero nevermore.

When now she had the treasure, / she brought into that land

Knights many from far distance. / Yea, dealt the lady’s hand

So freely that such bounty / ne’er before was seen.

High in honor held they / for her goodly heart the queen.

Unto both rich and needy / began she so to give

That fearful soon grew Hagen, / if that she would live

Long time in such high power, / lest she of warriors true

Such host might win to serve her, / that cause would be her strength to

      rue.

Spake Gunther then: / “The treasure is hers and freedom too.

Wherefore shall I prevent her, / whate’er therewith she do?

Yea, nigh she did her friendship / from me evermore withhold.

Now reck we not who shareth / or her silver or her gold.”

Unto the king spake Hagen: / “No man that boasteth wit

Should to any woman / such hoard to hold permit.

By gifts she yet will bring it / that will come the day

When valiant men of Burgundy / rue it with good reason may.”

Then spake the monarch Gunther: / “To her an oath I swore,

That I would cause of evil / to her be nevermore,

Whereof henceforth I’ll mind me: / sister she is to me."

Then spake further Hagen: / “Let me bear the guilt for thee.”

Many they were that kept not / there their plighted word:

From the widow took they / all that mighty hoard:

Every key had Hagen / known to get in hand.

Rage filled her brother Gernot / when he the thing did understand.

Then spake the knight Giselher: / “Hagen here hath wrought

Sore evil to my sister: / permit this thing I’ll not.

And were he not my kinsman, / he’d pay it with his life."

Anew did fall aweeping / then the doughty Siegfried’s wife.

Then spake the knight Gernot: / “Ere that forever we

Be troubled with this treasure, / let first commanded be

Deep in the Rhine to sink it, / that no man have it more."

In sad manner plaining / Kriemhild stood Giselher before.

She spake: “Beloved brother, / be mindful thou of me:

What life and treasure toucheth / shalt thou my protector be."

Then spake he to the lady: / “That shall sure betide,

When we again come hither: / now called we are away to ride.”

The monarch and his kinsmen / rode from out the land,

And in his train the bravest / ye saw on any hand:

Went all save Hagen only, / and there he stayed for hate,

That he did bear to Kriemhild, / and full gladly did he that.

Ere that the mighty monarch / was thither come again,

In that while had Hagen / all that treasure ta’en.

Where Loch is by the river / all in the Rhine sank he.

He weened thereof to profit, / yet such thing might never be.

The royal knights came thither / again with many a man.

Kriemhild with her maidens / and ladies then began

To mourn the wrong they suffered, / that pity was to hear.

Fain had the faithful Giselher / been unto her a comforter.

Then spake they all together: / “Done hath he grievous wrong."

But he the princes’ anger / avoided yet so long

At last to win their favor. / They let him live sans scathe.

Then filled thereat was Kriemhild / as ne’er before with mickle wrath.

Ere that of Tronje Hagen / had hidden thus the hoard,

Had they unto each other / given firm plighted word,

That it should lie concealed / while one of them might live.

Thereof anon nor could they / to themselves nor unto other give.

With renewed sorrows / heavy she was of heart

That so her dear-loved husband / perforce from life must part,

And that of wealth they reft her. / Therefor she mourned alway,

Nor ever ceased her plaining / until was come her latest day.

After the death of Siegfried / dwelt she in sorrow then,

–Saith the tale all truly– / full three years and ten,

Nor in that time did ever / for the knight mourn aught the less.

To him she was right faithful, / must all the folk of her confess.

Twentieth Adventure - How King Etzel sent to Burgundy for Kriemhild

In that same time when ended / was Lady Helke’s life,

And that the monarch Etzel / did seek another wife,

To take a highborn widow / of the land of Burgundy

Hun his friends did counsel: / Lady Kriemhild hight was she.

Since that was ended / the fair Helke’s life,

Spake they: “Wilt thou ever / win for thee noble wife,

The highest and the fairest / that ever king did win,

Take to thee this same lady / that doughty Siegfried’s spouse hath been.”

Then spake the mighty monarch: / “How might that come to pass

Since that I am a heathen, / nor named with sign of cross?

The lady is a Christian, / thereto she’ll ne’er agree.

Wrought must be a wonder, / if the thing may ever be.”

Then spake again his warriors: / “She yet may do the same.

For sake of thy great power / and thy full lofty name

Shalt thou yet endeavor / such noble wife to gain.

To woo the stately lady / might each monarch high be fain.”

Then spake the noble monarch: / “Who is ’mong men of mine,

That knoweth land and people / dwelling far by Rhine?"

Spake then of Bechelaren / the trusty Ruediger:

"I have known from childhood / the noble queen that dwelleth there.

“And Gunther and Gernot, / the noble knights and good,

And hight the third is Giselher: / whatever any should

That standeth high in honor / and virtue, doth each one:

Eke from eld their fathers / have in like noble manner done.”

Then spake again Etzel: / “Friend, now shalt thou tell,

If she within my country / crown might wear full well–
For be she fair of body / as hath been told to me,

My friends for this their counsel / shall ever full requited be.”

“She likeneth in beauty / well my high lady,

Helke that was so stately. / Nor forsooth might be

In all this world a fairer / spouse of king soe’er.

Whom taketh she for wooer, / glad of heart and mind he were.”

He spake: “Make trial, Ruediger, / as thou hold’st me dear.

And if by Lady Kriemhild / e’er I lie full near,

Therefor will I requite thee / as in best mode I may:

So hast thou then fulfilled / all my wish in fullest way.

“Stores from out my treasure / I’ll bid to thee to give,

That thou with thy companions / merry long shalt live,

Of steeds and rich apparel / what thou wilt have to share.

Thereof unto thy journey / I’ll bid in measure full prepare.”

Thereto did give him answer / the margrave Ruediger:

"Did I thy treasure covet / unworthy thing it were.

Gladly will I thy messenger / be unto the Rhine,

From my own store provided: / all have I e’en from hand of thine.”

Then spake the mighty monarch: / “When now wilt thou fare

To seek the lovely lady? / God of thee have care

To keep thee on thy journey / and eke a wife to me.

Therein good fortune help me, / that she to us shall gracious be.”

Then again spake Ruediger: / “Ere that this land we quit,

Must we first prepare us / arms and apparel fit,

That we may thus in honor / in royal presence stand.

To the Rhine I’ll lead five hundred / warriors, a doughty band.

“Wherever they in Burgundy / me and my men may see,

Shall they all and single / then confess of thee

That ne’er from any monarch / so many warriors went

As now to bear thy message / thou far unto the Rhine hast sent.

“May it not, O mighty monarch, / thee from thy purpose move:

Erstwhile unto Siegfried / she gave her noble love,

Who scion is of Siegmund: / him thou here hast seen.

Worthy highest honor / verily the knight had been.”

Then answered him King Etzel: / “Was she the warrior’s wife,

So worthy was of honor / the noble prince in life,

That I the royal lady / therefor no whit despise.

’Tis her surpassing beauty / that shall be joy unto mine eyes.”

Then further spake the margrave: / “Hear then what I do say:

After days four-and-twenty / shall we from hence away.

Tidings to Gotelinde / I’ll send, my spouse full dear,

That I to Lady Kriemhild / myself will be thy messenger.”

Away to Bechelaren / sent then Ruediger.

Both sad his spouse and joyous / was the news to hear.

He told how for the monarch / a wife he was to woo:

With love she well remembered / the fair Lady Helke too.

When that the margravine / did the message hear,

In part ’twas sorrow to her, / and weep she must in fear

At having other mistress / than hers had been before.

To think on Lady Helke / did grieve her inmost heart full sore.

Ruediger from Hunland / in seven days did part,

Whereat the monarch Etzel / merry was of heart.

When at Vienna city / all was ready for the way,

To begin the journey / might he longer not delay.

At Bechelaren waited / Gotelinde there,

And eke the young margravine, / daughter of Ruediger,

Was glad at thought her father / and all his men to see.

And many a lovely maiden / looked to the coming joyfully.

Ere that to Bechelaren / rode noble Ruediger

From out Vienna city, / was rich equipment there

For them in fullest measure / on carrying-horses brought,

That went in such wise guarded / that robber hand disturbed them not.

When they at Bechelaren / within the town did stand,

His fellows on the journey / did the host command

To lead to fitting quarters / and tend carefully.

The stately Gotelinde, / glad she was her spouse to see.

Eke his lovely daughter / the youthful margravine,–
To her had nothing dearer / than his coming been.

The warriors too from Hunland, / what joy for her they make!

With a laughing spirit / to all the noble maiden spake:

“Be now to us right welcome, / my father and all his men."

Fairest thanks on all sides / saw ye offered then

Unto the youthful margravine / by many a valiant knight.

How Ruediger was minded / knew Gotelinde aright.

When then that night she / by Ruediger lay,

Questioned him the margravine / in full loving way,

Wherefore had sent him thither / the king of Hunland.

He spake: “My Lady Gotelinde, / that shalt thou gladly understand.

“My master now hath sent me / to woo him other wife,

Since that by death was ended / the fair Helke’s life.

Now will I to Kriemhild / ride unto the Rhine:

She shall here in Hunland / be spouse to him and stately queen.”

“God will it,” spake Gotelinde, / “and well the same might be,

Since that so high in honor / ever standeth she.

The death of my good mistress / we then may better bear;

Eke might we grant her gladly / among the Huns a crown to wear.”

Then spake to her the margrave: / “Thou shalt, dear lady mine,

To them that shall ride with me / thither unto the Rhine,

In right bounteous manner / deal out a goodly share.

Good knights go lighter-hearted / when they well provided fare.”

She spake: “None is among them, / an he would take from me,

But I will give whatever / to him may pleasing be,

Ere that ye part thither, / thou and thy good men."

Thereto spake the margrave: / “So dost thou all my wishes then.”

Silken stuffs in plenty / they from her chamber bore,

And to the knights full noble / dealt out in goodly store,

Mantles lined all richly / from collar down to spur.

What for the journey pleased him / did choose therefrom Sir Ruediger.

Upon the seventh morning / from Bechelaren went

The knight with train of warriors. / Attire and armament

Bore they in fullest measure / through the Bavarian land,

And ne’er upon the journey / dared assail them robber band.

Unto the Rhine then came they / ere twelve days were flown,

And there were soon the tidings / of their coming known.

’Twas told unto the monarch / and with him many a man,

How strangers came unto him. / To question then the king began,

If any was did know them, / for he would gladly hear.

They saw their carrying-horses / right heavy burdens bear:

That they were knights of power / knew they well thereby.

Lodgings they made them ready / in the wide city speedily.

When that the strangers / had passed within the gate

Every eye did gaze on / the knights that came in state,

And mickle was the wonder / whence to the Rhine they came.

Then sent the king for Hagen, / if he perchance might know the same.

Then spake he of Tronje: / “These knights I ne’er have seen,

Yet when we now behold them / I’ll tell thee well, I ween,

From whence they now ride hither / unto this country.

An I not straightway know them, / from distant land in sooth they be.”

For the guests fit lodgings / now provided were.

Clad in rich apparel / came the messenger,

And to the court his fellows / did bear him company.

Sumptuous attire / wore they, wrought full cunningly.

Then spake the doughty Hagen: / “As far as goes my ken,

For that long time the noble / knight I not have seen,

Come they in such manner / as were it Ruediger,

The valiant thane from Hunland, / that leads the stately riders here.”

Then straightway spake the monarch: / “How shall I understand

That he of Bechelaren / should come unto this land?"

Scarce had King Gunther / his mind full spoken there,

When saw full surely Hagen / that ’twas the noble Ruediger.

He and his friends then hastened / with warmest welcoming.

Then saw ye knights five hundred / adown from saddle spring,

And were those knights of Hunland / received in fitting way.

Messengers ne’er beheld ye / attired in so fine array.

Hagen of Tronje, / with voice full loud spake he:

"Unto these thanes full noble / a hearty welcome be,

To the lord of Bechelaren / and his men every one."

Thereat was fitting honor / done to every valiant Hun.

The monarch’s nearest kinsmen / went forth the guests to meet.

Of Metz the knight Sir Ortwein / Ruediger thus did greet:

"The while our life hath lasted, / never yet hath guest

Here been seen so gladly: / be that in very truth confessed.”

For that greeting thanked they / the brave knights one and all.

With train of high attendants / they passed unto the hall,

Where valiant men a many / stood round the monarch’s seat.

The king arose from settle / in courteous way the guests to greet.

Right courteously he greeted / then the messenger.

Gunther and Gernot, / full busy both they were

For stranger and companions / a welcome fit to make.

The noble knight Sir Ruediger / by the hand the king did take.

He led him to the settle / where himself he sat:

He bade pour for the strangers / (a welcome work was that)

Mead the very choicest / and the best of wine,

That e’er ye might discover / in all the lands about the Rhine.

Giselher and Gere / joined the company too,

Eke Dankwart and Volker, / when that they knew

The coming of the strangers: / glad they were of mood,

And greeted ’fore the monarch / fair the noble knights and good.

Then spake unto his master / of Tronje the knight:

"Let our thanes seek ever / fully to requite

What erstwhile the margrave / in love to us hath done:

Fair Gotelinde’s husband / our gratitude full well hath won.”

Thereto spake King Gunther: / “Withhold it not I may.

How they both do bear them, / tell me now, I pray,

Etzel and Helke / afar in Hunland."

Then answered him the margrave: / “Fain would I have thee understand.”

Then rose he from the settle / and his men every one.

He spake unto the monarch: / “An may the thing be done,

And is’t thy royal pleasure, / so will I naught withhold,

But the message that I bring thee / shall full willingly be told.”

He spake: “What tale soever, / doth this thy message make,

I grant thee leave to tell it, / nor further counsel take.

Now shalt thou let us hear it, / me and my warriors too,

For fullest leave I grant thee / thy high purpose to pursue.”

Then spake the upright messenger: / “Hither to thee at Rhine

Doth faithful service tender / master high of mine;

To all thy kinsmen likewise, / as many as may be:

Eke is this my message / borne in all good will to thee.

“To thee the noble monarch / bids tell his tale of need.

His folk ’s forlorn and joyless; / my mistress high is dead,

Helke the full stately / my good master’s wife,

Whereby now is orphaned / full many a fair maiden’s life,

“Children of royal parents / for whom hath cared her hand:

Thereby doth the country / in plight full sorry stand.

Alack, nor is there other / that them with love may tend.

I ween the time long distant / eke when the monarch’s grief shall end.”

“God give him meed,” spake Gunther, / “that he so willingly

Doth offer thus good service / to my kinsmen and to me–
I joy that I his greeting / here have heard this day–
The which with glad endeavor / my kinsmen and my men shall pay.”

Thereto the knight of Burgundy, / the valiant Gernot, said:

"The world may ever rue it / that Helke fair lies dead,

So manifold the virtues / that did her life adorn."

A willing testimony / by Hagen to the words was borne.

Thereto again spake Ruediger / the noble messenger:

"Since thou, O king, dost grant it, / shalt thou now further hear

What message ’tis my master / beloved hath hither sent,

For that since death of Helke / his days he hath in sorrow spent.

“’Tis told my lord that Kriemhild / doth widowed live alone,

And dead is doughty Siegfried. / May now such thing be done,

And wilt thou grant that favor, / a crown she then shall wear

Before the knights of Etzel: / this message from my lord I bear.”

Then spake the mighty monarch / –a king he was of grace–
"My will in this same matter / she’ll hear, an so she please.

Thereof will I instruct thee / ere three days are passed by–
Ere I her mind have sounded, / wherefore to Etzel this deny?”

Meanwhile for the strangers / bade they make cheer the best

In sooth so were they tended / that Ruediger confessed

He had ’mong men of Gunther / of friends a goodly store.

Hagen full glad did serve him, / as he had Hagen served of yore.

Thus there did tarry Ruediger / until the third day.

The king did counsel summon / –he moved in wisest way–
If that unto his kinsmen / seemed it fitting thing,

That Kriemhild take unto her / for spouse Etzel the king.

Together all save Hagen / did the thing advise,

And unto King Gunther / spake he in this wise:

"An hast thou still thy senses, / of that same thing beware,

That, be she ne’er so willing, / thou lend’st thyself her will to share.”

“Wherefore,” spake then Gunther, / “should I allow it not?

Whene’er doth fortune favor / Kriemhild in aught,

That shall I gladly grant her, / for sister dear is she.

Yea, ought ourselves to seek it, / might it but her honor be.”

Thereto gave answer Hagen: / “Now such words give o’er.

Were Etzel known unto thee / as unto me of yore,

And did’st thou grant her to him, / as ’tis thy will I hear,

Then wouldst thou first have reason / for thy later weal to fear.”

“Wherefore?” spake then Gunther. / “Well may I care for that,

E’er to thwart his temper / that so I aught of hate

At his hands should merit, / an if his wife she be."

Thereto gave answer Hagen: / “Such counsel hast thou ne’er of me.”

Then did they bid for Gernot / and Giselher to go,

For wished they of the royal / twain their mind to know,

If that the mighty monarch / Kriemhild for spouse should take.

Yet Hagen and none other / thereto did opposition make.

Then spake of Burgundy / Giselher the thane:

"Well may’st thou now, friend Hagen, / show upright mind again:

For sorrows wrought upon her / may’st thou her well requite.

Howe’er she findeth fortune, / ne’er should it be in thy despite.”

“Yea, hast thou to my sister / so many sorrows done,"

So spake further Giselher, / the full noble thane,

"That fullest reason hath she / to mete thee naught but hate.

In sooth was never lady / than she bereft of joy more great.”

“What I do know full certain, / that known to all I make:

If e’er shall come the hour / that she do Etzel take,

She’ll work us yet sore evil, / howe’er the same she plan.

Then in sooth will serve her / full many a keen and doughty man.”

In answer then to Hagen / the brave Gernot said:

"With us doth lie to leave it / until they both be dead,

Ere that we ride ever / unto Etzel’s land.

That we be faithful to her / doth honor meantime sure command.”

Thereto again spake Hagen: / “Gainsay me here may none.

And shall the noble Kriemhild / e’er sit ’neath Helke’s crown,

Howe’er she that accomplish, / she’ll do us grievous hurt.

Good knights, therefrom to keep you / doth better with your weal

      consort.”

In anger spake then Giselher / the son of Ute the fair:

"None shall yet among us / himself like traitor bear.

What honor e’er befall her, / rejoice thereat should we.

Whate’er thou sayest, Hagen, / true helper shall she find in me.”

When that heard it Hagen / straightway waxed he wroth.

Gernot and Giselher / the knights high-minded both,

And Gunther, mighty monarch, / did counsel finally,

If that did wish it Kriemhild, / by them ’twould unopposed be.

Then spake the margrave Gere: / “That lady will I tell

How that of royal Etzel / she may think full well.

In fear are subject to him / brave warriors many a one:

Well may he recompense her / for wrong that e’er to her was done.”

Then went the knight full valiant / where he did Kriemhild find,

And straightway spake unto her / upon her greeting kind:

"Me may’st thou gladly welcome / with messengers high meed.

Fortune hath come to part thee / now from all thy bitter need.

“For sake of love he bears thee, / lady, doth seek thy hand

One of all the highest / that e’er o’er monarch’s land

Did rule in fullest honor, / or ever crown might wear:

High knights do bring the message, / which same thy brother bids thee

      hear.”

Then spake she rich in sorrow: / “Now God forbid to thee

And all I have of kinsmen / that aught of mockery

They do on me, poor woman. / What were I unto one,

Who e’er at heart the joyance / of a noble wife hath known?”

Much did she speak against it. / Anon as well came there

Gernot her brother / and the young Giselher.

In loving wise they begged her / her mourning heart to cheer:

An would she take the monarch, / verily her weal it were.

Yet might not then by any / the lady’s mind be bent,

That any man soever / to love she would consent.

Thereon the thanes besought her: / “Now grant the thing to be,

An dost thou nothing further, / that the messenger thou deign’st to see.”

“That will I not deny you," / spake the high lady,

"That the noble Ruediger / I full gladly see,

Such knightly grace adorns him. / Were he not messenger,

And came there other hither / by him I all unspoken were.”

She spake: “Upon the morrow / bid him hither fare

Unto this my chamber. / Then shall he fully hear

How that do stand my wishes, / the which I’ll tell him true."

Of her full grievous sorrow / was she minded thus anew.

Eke not else desired / the noble Ruediger

Than that by the lady / leave thus granted were:

He knew himself so skilful, / might he such favor earn,

So should he her full certain / from her spoken purpose turn.

Upon the morrow early / when that the mass was sung

Came the noble messengers, / whereof a mickle throng.

They that should Sir Ruediger / to court bear company,

Many a man full stately / in rich apparel might ye see.

Kriemhild, dame high-stated, / –full sad she was of mood–
There Ruediger awaited, / the noble knight and good.

He found her in such raiment / as daily she did wear:

The while were her attendants / in dresses clad full rich and rare,

Unto the threshold went she / the noble guest to meet,

And the man of Etzel / did she full kindly greet.

Twelve knights there did enter, / himself and eleven more,

And well were they received: / to her such guests came ne’er before.

The messenger to seat him / and his men they gave command.

The twain valiant margraves / saw ye before her stand,

Eckewart and Gere, / the noble knights and keen,

Such was the lady’s sorrow, / none saw ye there of cheerful mien.

They saw before her sitting / full many a lady fair,

And yet the Lady Kriemhild / did naught but sorrow there.

The dress upon her bosom / was wet with tears that fell,

And soon the noble margrave / perceived her mickle grief full well.

Then spake the lofty messenger: / “Daughter of king full high,

To me and these my fellows / that bear me company

Deign now the grace to grant us / that we before thee stand

And tell to thee the tidings / wherefore we rode unto thy land.”

“That grace to thee is granted," / spake the lofty queen;

"Whate’er may be thy message, / I’ll let it now be seen

That I do hear it gladly: / thou’rt welcome messenger."

That fruitless was their errand / deemed the others well to hear.

Then spake of Bechelaren / the noble Ruediger:

"Pledge of true love unto thee / from lofty king I bear,

Etzel who bids thee, lady, / here royal compliment:

He hath to woo thy favor / knights full worthy hither sent.

“His love to thee he offers / full heartily and free:

Fidelity that lasteth / he plighteth unto thee,

As erst to Lady Helke / who o’er his heart held sway.

Yea, thinking on her virtues / hath he full oft had joyless day.”

Then spake the royal lady: / “O Margrave Ruediger,

If that known to any / my sharp sorrows were,

Besought then were I never / again to take me spouse.

Such ne’er was won by lady / as the husband I did lose.”

“What is that sootheth sorrow," / the valiant knight replied,

"An be’t not loving friendship / whene’er that may betide,

And that each mortal choose him / who his delight shall be?

Naught is that so availeth / to keep the heart from sorrow free.

“Wilt thou minded be to love him, / this noble master mine,

O’er mighty crowns a dozen / the power shall be thine.

Thereto of princes thirty / my lord shall give thee land,

The which hath all subdued / the prowess of his doughty hand.

“O’er many a knight full worthy / eke mistress shalt thou be

That my Lady Helke / did serve right faithfully,

And over many a lady / that served amid her train,

Of high and royal lineage," / spake the keen and valiant thane.

“Thereto my lord will give thee / –he bids to thee make known–
If that beside the monarch / thou deign’st to wear a crown,

Power in fullest measure / that Helke e’er might boast:

The same in lordly manner / shalt thou wield o’er Etzel’s host.”

Then spake the royal lady: / “How might again my life

Have thereof desire / to be a hero’s wife?

Hath death in one already / wrought me such sorrows sore,

That joyless must my days be / from this time for evermore.”

Then spake the men of Hunland: / “O royal high lady,

Thy life shall there by Etzel / so full of honor be

Thy heart ’twill ever gladden / if but may be such thing:

Full many a thane right stately / doth homage to the mighty king.

“Might but Helke’s maidens / and they that wait on thee

E’er be joined together / in one royal company,

Well might brave knights to see them / wax merry in their mood.

Be, lady, now persuaded / –’tis verily thy surest good.”

She spake in courteous manner: / “Let further parley be

Until doth come the morrow. / Then hither come to me.

So will I give my answer / to bear upon your way."

The noble knights and worthy / must straight therein her will obey.

When all from thence were parted / and had their lodgings sought,

Then bade the noble lady / that Giselher be brought,

And eke with him her mother. / To both she then did tell

That meet for her was weeping, / and naught might fit her mood so well.

Then spake her brother Giselher: / “Sister, to me ’tis told–
And well may I believe it– / that thy grief manifold

Etzel complete will scatter, / an tak’st thou him for man.

Whate’er be other’s counsel, / meseems it were a thing well done.”

Further eke spake Giselher: / “Console thee well may he.

From Rhone unto Rhine river, / from Elbe unto the sea,

King there is none other / that holds so lordly sway.

An he for spouse do take thee, / gladden thee full well he may.”

“Brother loved full dearly, / wherefore dost counsel it?

To mourn and weep forever / doth better me befit.

How may I ’mid warriors / appear in royal state?

Was ever fair my body, / of beauty now ’tis desolate.”

Then spake the Lady Ute / her daughter dear unto:

"The thing thy brother counsels, / my loving child, that do.

By thy friends be guided, / then with thee well ’twill be.

Long time it now hath grieved me / thee thus disconsolate to see.”

Then prayed she God with fervor / that he might her provide

With store of gold and silver / and raiment rich beside,

As erstwhile when her husband / did live a stately thane:

Since then so happy hour / never had she known again.

In her own bosom thought she: / “An shall I not deny

My body to a heathen / –a Christian lady I–
So must I while life lasteth / have shame to be my own.

An gave he realms unnumbered, / such thing by me might ne’er be done.”

And there withal she left it. / The night through until day,

Upon her couch the lady / with mind full troubled lay.

Nor yet her eyes full shining / of tears at all were free,

Until upon the morrow / forth to matins issued she.

When for mass was sounded, / came there the kings likewise.

Again did they their sister / by faithful word advise

To take for spouse unto her / of Hunland the king.

All joyless was the visage / they saw the lady thither bring.

They bade the men of Etzel / thither lead again,

Who unto their country / fain their leave had ta’en,

Their message won or fruitless, / how that soe’er might be.

Unto the court came Ruediger. / Full eager were his company

By the knight to be informed / how the thing befell,

And if betimes they knew it / ’twould please them all full well,

For weary was the journey / and long unto their land.

Soon did the noble Ruediger / again in Kriemhild’s presence stand.

In full earnest manner / then the knight gan pray

The high royal lady / that she to him might say

What were from her the message / to Etzel he should bear.

Naught but denial only / did he from the lady hear,

For that her love might never / by man again be won.

Thereto spake the margrave: / “Ill such thing were done.

Wherefore such fair body / wilt thou to ruin give?

Spouse of knight full worthy / may’st thou yet in honor live.”

Naught booted how they besought her, / till that Ruediger

Spake in secret manner / in the high lady’s ear,

How Etzel should requite her / for ills she e’er did know.

Then gan her mickle sorrow / milder at the thought to grow.

Unto the queen then spake he: / “Let now thy weeping be.

If ’mong the Huns hadst thou / other none than me

And my faithful kinsmen / and my good men alone,

Sorely must he repay it / who hath aught to thee of evil done.”

Thereat apace all lighter / the lady’s sorrow grew,

She spake: “So swear thou truly, / what any ’gainst me do,

That thou wilt be the foremost / my sorrows to requite."

Thereto spake the margrave: / “Lady, to thee my word I plight.”

With all his men together / sware then Ruediger

Faithfully to serve her, / and in all things whatsoe’er

Naught would e’er deny her / the thanes from Etzel’s land,

Whereof she might have honor: / thereto gave Ruediger his hand.

Then thought the faithful lady: / “Since I thus have won

Band of friends so faithful, / care now have I none

How shall speak the people / in my sore need of me.

The death of my loved husband / perchance shall yet avenged be.”

Thought she: “Since hath Etzel / so many knights and true,

An shall I but command them, / whate’er I will I do.

Eke hath he such riches / that free may be my hand:

Bereft of all my treasure / by Hagen’s faithless art I stand.”

Then spake she unto Ruediger: / “Were it not, as I do know,

The king is yet a heathen, / so were I fain to go

Whithersoe’er he willed it, / and take him for my lord."

Thereto spake the margrave: / “Lady, no longer hold such word.

“Such host he hath of warriors / who Christians are as we,

That beside the monarch / may care ne’er come to thee.

Yea, may he be baptized / through thee to Christian life:

Well may’st thou then rejoice thee / to be the royal Etzel’s wife.”

Then spake again her brother: / “Sister, thy favor lend,

That now all thy sorrow / thereby may have an end."

And so long they besought her / that full of sadness she

Her word at length had plighted / the monarch Etzel’s wife to be.

She spake: “You will I follow, / I most lorn lady,

That I fare to Hunland, / as soon as it may be

That I friends have ready / to lead me to his land."

Before the knights assembled / fair Kriemhild pledged thereto her hand.

Then spake again the margrave: / “Two knights do serve thee true,

And I thereof have many: / ’tis easy thing to do,

That thee with fitting honor / across the Rhine we guide.

Nor shalt thou, lady, longer / here in Burgundy abide.

“Good men have I five hundred, / and eke my kinsmen stand

Ready here to serve thee / and far in Etzel’s land,

Lady, at thy bidding. / And I do pledge the same,

Whene’er thou dost admonish, / to serve thee without cause for shame.

“Now bid with full equipment / thy horses to prepare:

Ruediger’s true counsel / will bring thee sorrow ne’er;

And tell it to thy maidens / whom thou wilt take with thee.

Full many a chosen warrior / on the way shall join our company.”

They had full rich equipment / that once their train arrayed

The while that yet lived Siegfried, / so might she many a maid

In honor high lead with her, / as she thence would fare.

What steeds all rich caparisoned / awaited the high ladies there!

If till that time they ever / in richest dress were clad,

Thereof now for their journey / full store was ready made,

For that they of the monarch / had such tidings caught.

From chests longtime well bolted / forth the treasures rich were brought.

Little were they idle / until the fifth day,

But sought rich dress that folded / secure in covers lay.

Kriemhild wide did open / all her treasure there,

And largess great would give she / unto the men of Ruediger.

Still had she of the treasure / of Nibelungenland,

(She weened the same in Hunland / to deal with bounteous hand)

So great that hundred horses / ne’er the whole might bear.

How stood the mind of Kriemhild, / came the tidings unto Hagen’s ear.

He spake: “Since Kriemhild never / may me in favor hold,

E’en so here must tarry / Siegfried’s store of gold.

Wherefore unto mine enemies / such mickle treasure go?

What with the treasure Kriemhild / intendeth, that full well I know.

“Might she but take it thither, / in sooth believe I that,

’Twould be dealt out in largess / to stir against me hate.

Nor own they steeds sufficient / the same to bear away.

’Twill safe be kept by Hagen / –so shall they unto Kriemhild say.”

When she did hear the story, / with grief her heart was torn.

Eke unto the monarchs / all three the tale was borne.

Fain would they prevent it: / yet when that might not be,

Spake the noble Ruediger / in this wise full joyfully:

“Wherefore, queen full stately, / weep’st thou o’er this gold?

For thee will King Etzel / in such high favor hold

When but his eyes behold thee, / to thee such store he’ll give

That ne’er thou may’st exhaust it: / that, lady, by my word believe.”

Thereto the queen gave answer: / “Full noble Ruediger,

Greater treasure never / king’s daughter had for share

Than this that Hagen from me / now hath ta’en away."

Then went her brother Gernot / to the chamber where the treasure lay.

With force he stuck the monarch’s / key into the door,

And soon of Kriemhild’s treasure / they from the chamber bore

Marks full thirty thousand / or e’en more plenteously.

He bade the guests to take it, / which pleased King Gunther well to see.

Then Gotelinde’s husband / of Bechelaren spake:

"An if my Lady Kriemhild / with her complete might take

What treasure e’er came hither / from Nibelungenland,

Ne’er a whit would touch it / mine or my royal lady’s hand.

“Now bid them here to keep it, / for ne’er the same I’ll touch.

Yea brought I from my country / of mine own wealth so much,

That we upon our journey / may be full well supplied,

And ne’er have lack in outlay / as in state we homeward ride.”

Chests well filled a dozen / from the time of old

Had for their own her maidens, / of the best of gold

That e’er ye might discover: / now thence away ’twas borne,

And jewels for the ladies / upon the journey to be worn.

Of the might she yet was fearful / of Hagen grim and bold.

Still had she of mass-money / a thousand marks in gold,

That gave she for the soul’s rest / of her husband dear.

Such loving deed and faithful / did touch the heart of Ruediger.

Then spake the lady mournful: / “Who now that loveth me,

And for the love they bear me / may willing exiles be,

Who with me to Hunland / now away shall ride?

Take they of my treasure / and steeds and meet attire provide.”

Then did the margrave Eckewart / answer thus the queen:

"Since I from the beginning / of thy train have been,

Have I e’er right faithful / served thee,” spake the thane,

"And to the end I’ll ever / thus faithful unto thee remain.

“Eke will I lead with me / five hundred of my men,

Whom I grant to serve thee / in faithful way again.

Nor e’er shall we be parted / till that we be dead."

Low bowing thanked him Kriemhild, / as verily might be his meed.

Forth were brought the horses, / for that they thence would fare.

Then was a mickle weeping / of friends that parted there.

Ute, queen full stately, / and many a lady more

Showed that from Lady Kriemhild / to part did grieve their hearts full

      sore.

A hundred stately maidens / with her she led away,

And as for them was fitting, / full rich was their array.

Many a bitter tear-drop / from shining eye fell down:

Yet joys knew they full many / eke in Etzel’s land anon.

Thither came Sir Giselher / and Gernot as well,

And with them train of followers, / as duty did compel.

Safe escort would they furnish / for their dear sister then,

And with them led of warriors / a thousand brave and stately men.

Then came the valiant Gere, / and Ortwein eke came he:

Rumold the High Steward / might not absent be.

Unto the Danube did they / night-quarters meet provide.

Short way beyond the city / did the royal Gunther ride.

Ere from the Rhine they started / had they forward sent

Messengers that full quickly / unto Hunland went,

And told unto the monarch / how that Ruediger

For spouse at length had won him / the high-born queen beyond compare.

Twenty-First Adventure - How Kriemhild fared to the Huns

The messengers leave we riding. / Now shall ye understand

How did the Lady Kriemhild / journey through the land,

And where from her were parted / Gernot and Giselher.

Upon her had they waited / as faithful unto her they were.

As far as to the Danube / at Vergen did they ride,

Where must be the parting / from their royal sister’s side,

For that again they homeward / would ride unto the Rhine.

No eye but wet from weeping / in all the company was seen.

Giselher the valiant / thus to his sister said:

"If that thou ever, lady, / need hast of my aid,

And fronts thee aught of trouble, / give me to understand,

And straight I’ll ride to serve thee / afar unto King Etzel’s land.”

Upon the mouth then kissed she / all her friends full dear.

The escort soon had taken / eke leave of Ruediger

And the margrave’s warriors / in manner lovingly.

With the queen upon her journey / went many a maid full fair to see.

Four beyond a hundred / there were, all richly clad

In silk of cunning pattern. / Many a shield full broad

On the way did guard the ladies / in hand of valiant thane.

Full many a stately warrior / from thence did backward turn again.

Thence away they hastened / down through Bavarian land.

Soon were told the tidings / how that was at hand

A mickle host of strangers, / where a cloister stands from yore

And where the Inn its torrent / doth into Danube river pour.

At Passau in the city / a lordly bishop bode.

Empty soon each lodging / and bishop’s palace stood:

To Bavarian land they hastened / the high guests to meet,

And there the Bishop Pilgrim / the Lady Kriemhild fair did greet.

The warriors of that country / no whit grieved they were

Thus to see follow with her / so many a maiden fair.

Upon those high-born ladies / their eyes with joy did rest,

Full comfortable quarters / prepared they for each noble guest.

With his niece the bishop / unto Passau rode.

When among the burghers / the story went abroad,

That thither was come Kriemhild, / the bishop’s niece full fair,

Soon did the towns-people / reception meet for her prepare.

There to have them tarry / was the bishop fain.

To him spake Sir Eckewart: / “Here may we not remain.

Unto Ruediger’s country / must we journey down.

Thanes many there await us, / to whom our coming well is known.”

The tidings now knew likewise / Lady Gotelinde fair.

Herself and noble daughter / did them quick prepare.

Message she had from Ruediger / that he well pleased would be,

Should she unto Lady / Kriemhild show such courtesy,

That she ride forth to meet her, / and bring his warriors true

Upward unto the Ense. / When they the tidings knew,

Saw ye how on all sides / they thronged the busy way.

Forth to meet the strangers / rode and eke on foot went they.

As far as Everdingen / meanwhile was come the queen:

In that Bavarian country / on the way were never seen

Robbers seeking plunder, / as e’er their custom was:

Of fear from such a quarter / had the travellers little cause.

’Gainst that had well provided / the noble margrave:

A band he led that numbered / good thousand warriors brave.

There was eke come Gotelinde, / spouse of Ruediger,

And bearing her high company / full many noble knights there were.

When came they o’er the Traune / by Ense on the green,

There full many an awning / outstretched and tent was seen,

Wherein that night the strangers / should find them welcome rest.

Well was made provision / by Ruediger for each high guest.

Not long fair Gotelinde did in her quarters stay,

But left them soon behind her. / Then coursed upon the way

With merry jingling bridle / many a well-shaped steed.

Full fair was the reception: / whereat was Ruediger right glad.

On one side and the other / did swell the stately train

Knights that rode full gaily, / many a noble thane.

As they in joust disported, / full many a maid looked on,

Nor to the queen unwelcome / was the riders’ service done.

As rode there ’fore the strangers / the men of Ruediger,

From shaft full many a splinter / saw ye fly in air

In hand of doughty warrior / that jousted lustily.

Them might ye ’fore the ladies / pricking in stately manner see.

Anon therefrom they rested. / Knights many then did greet

Full courteously each other. / Then forth Kriemhild to meet

Went the fair Gotelinde, / by gallant warriors led.

Those skilled in lady’s service, / –little there the rest they had.

The lord of Bechelaren / unto his lady rode.

Soon the noble margravine / her high rejoicing showed,

That all safe and sound he / from the Rhine was come again.

The care that filled her bosom / by mickle joy from her was ta’en.

When him she had received, / her on the green he bade

Dismount with all the ladies / that in her train she led.

There saw ye all unidle / many a knight of high estate,

Who with full ready service / upon the ladies then did wait.

Then saw the Lady Kriemhild / the margravine where she stood

Amid her fair attendants: / nearer not she rode.

Upon the steed that bore her / the rein she drew full tight,

And bade them straightway help her / adown from saddle to alight.

The bishop saw ye leading / his sister’s daughter fair,

And with him eke went Eckewart / to Gotelinde there.

The willing folk on all sides / made way before their feet.

With kiss did Gotelinde / the dame from land far distant greet.

Then spake in manner kindly / the wife of Ruediger;

"Right glad am I, dear lady, / that I thy visage fair

Have in this our country / with mine own eyes seen.

In these times might never / greater joy to me have been.”

“God give thee meed,” spake Kriemhild, / “Gotelinde, for this grace.

If with son of Botelung / happy may be my place,

May it henceforth be thy profit / that me thou here dost see."

Yet all unknown to either / was that which yet anon must be.

With curtsy to each other / went full many a maid,

The knights a willing service / unto the ladies paid.

After the greeting sat they / adown upon the green;

Knew many then each other / that hitherto had strangers been.

For the ladies they poured refreshment. / Now was come mid-day,

And did those high attendants / there no longer stay,

But went where found they ready / many a spreading tent.

Full willing was the service / unto the noble guests they lent.

The night through until morning / did they rest them there.

They of Bechelaren / meanwhile did prepare

That into fitting quarters / each high guest be brought.

’Twas by the care of Ruediger / that never one did want for aught.

Open ye saw the windows / the castle walls along,

And the burgh at Bechelaren / its gates wide open flung,

As through the guests went pricking, / that there full welcome were.

For them the lord full noble / had bidden quarters meet prepare.

Ruediger’s fair daughter / with her attendant train

Came forth in loving manner / to greet the lofty queen.

With her was eke her mother / the stately margravine;

There full friendly greeting / of many a maiden fair was seen.

By the hand they took each other / and thence did pass each pair

Into a Hall full spacious, / the which was builded fair,

And ’neath its walls the Danube / flowed down with rushing tide.

As breezes cool played round them, / might they full happy there abide.

What they there did further, / tell it not I can.

That they so long did tarry, / heard ye the knights complain

That were of Kriemhild’s company, / who unwilling there abode.

What host of valiant warriors / with them from Bechelaren rode!

Full kindly was the service / did render Ruediger,

Likewise gave Lady Kriemhild / twelve golden armbands rare

To Gotelinde’s daughter, / and dress so richly wrought

That finer was none other / that into Etzel’s land she brought.

Though Nibelungen treasure / from her erstwhile was ta’en,

Good-will of all that knew her / did she e’er retain

With such little portion / as yet she did command.

Unto her host’s attendants / dealt she thereof with bounteous hand.

The Lady Gotelinde / such honors high again

Did pay in gracious manner / to the guests afar from Rhine

That of all the strangers / found ye never one

That wore not rich attire / from her, and many a precious stone.

When they their fast had broken / and would thence depart,

The lady of the castle / did pledge with faithful heart

Unto the wife of Etzel / service true to bear.

Kriemhild caressed full fondly / the margravine’s young daughter fair.

To the queen then spake the maiden: / “If e’er it pleaseth thee,

Well know I that my father / dear full willingly

Unto thee will send me / where thou livest in Hunland."

That faithful was the maiden, / full well did Kriemhild understand.

Now ready were the horses / the castle steps before,

And soon the queen full stately / did take her leave once more

Of the lovely daughter / and spouse of Ruediger.

Eke parted with fair greeting / thence full many a maiden fair.

Each other they full seldom / thereafter might behold.

From Medelick were carried / beakers rich of gold

In hand and eke full many, / wherein was sparkling wine:

Upon the way were greeted / thus the strangers from the Rhine.

High there a lord was seated, / Astold the name he bore,

Who that into Osterland / did lead the way before

As far as to Mautaren / adown the Danube’s side.

There did they fitting service / for the lofty queen provide.

Of his niece the bishop / took leave in loving wise.

That she well should bear her, / did he oft advise,

And that she win her honor / as Helke erst had done.

Ah, how great the honor / anon that ’mid the Huns she won!

Unto the Traisem brought they / forth the strangers then.

Fair had they attendance / from Ruediger’s men,

Till o’er the country riding / the Huns came them to meet.

With mickle honor did they / then the royal lady greet.

For had the king of Hunland, / Traisem’s stream beside,

A full mighty castle, / known afar and wide,

The same hight Traisenmauer: / Dame Helke there before

Did sit, such bounteous mistress / as scarce ye ever might see more,

An it were not Kriemhild / who could such bounty show,

That after days of sorrow / the pleasure she might know,

To be held in honor / by Etzel’s men each one:

That praise in fullest measure / had she amid those thanes anon.

Afar the might of Etzel / so well was known around,

That at every season / within his court were found

Knights of all the bravest, / whereof ye e’er did hear

In Christian lands or heathen: / with him all thither come they were.

By him at every season, / as scarce might elsewhere be,

Knights both of Christian doctrine / and heathen use saw ye.

Yet in what mind soever / did each and every stand,

To all in fullest measure / dealt the king with bounteous hand.

Twenty-Second Adventure - How Etzel kept the Wedding-feast with Kriemhild

At Traisenmauer she tarried / until the fourth day.

Upon the road the dust-clouds / meanwhile never lay.

But rose like smoke of fire / around on every side:

Onward then through Austria / King Etzel’s warriors did ride.

Then eke unto the monarch / such tidings now were told,

That at the thought did vanish / all his grief of old,

In what high manner Kriemhild / should in his land appear.

Then gan the monarch hasten / where he did find the lady fair.

Of many a tongue and varied / upon the way were seen

Before King Etzel riding / full many warriors keen,

Of Christians and of heathen / a spreading company.

To greet their coming mistress / forth they rode in fair array.

Of Reuss men and Greeks there / great was the tale,

And rapid saw ye riding / the Wallach and the Pole

On chargers full of mettle / that they did deftly guide.

Their own country’s custom / did they in no wise lay aside.

From the land of Kief / rode there full many a thane,

And the wild Petschenegers. / Full many a bow was drawn,

As at the flying wild-fowl / through air the bolt was sped.

With might the bow was bended / as far as to the arrow’s head.

A city by the Danube / in Osterland doth stand,

Hight the same is Tulna: / of many a distant land

Saw Kriemhild there the customs, / ne’er yet to her were known.

To many there did greet her / sorrow befell through her anon.

Before the monarch Etzel / rode a company

Of merry men and mighty, / courteous and fair to see,

Good four-and-twenty chieftains, / mighty men and bold.

Naught else was their desire / save but their mistress to behold.

Then the Duke Ramung / from far Wallachia

With seven hundred warriors / dashed forth athwart her way:

Their going might ye liken / unto birds in flight.

Then came the chieftain Gibeke, / with his host a stately sight.

Eke the valiant Hornbog / with full thousand men

From the king went forward / to greet his mistress then.

After their country’s custom / in joy they shouted loud;

The doughty thanes of Hunland / likewise in merry tourney rode.

Then came a chief from Denmark, / Hawart bold and keen,

And the valiant Iring, / in whom no guile was seen,

And Irnfried of Thuringia, / a stately knight to see:

Kriemhild they greeted / that honor high therefrom had she,

With good knights twelve hundred / whom led they in their train.

Thither with three thousand / came Bloedel eke, the thane

That was King Etzel’s brother / out of Hunland:

Unto his royal mistress / led he then his stately band.

Then did come King Etzel / and Dietrich by his side

With all his doughty fellows. / In state there saw ye ride

Many a knight full noble, / valiant and void of fear.

The heart of Lady Kriemhild / did such host of warriors cheer.

Then to his royal mistress / spake Sir Ruediger:

"Lady, now give I greeting / to the high monarch here.

Whom to kiss I bid thee, / grant him such favor then:

For not to all like greeting / may’st thou give ’mid Etzel’s men.”

They lifted then from saddle / the dame of royal state.

Etzel the mighty monarch / might then no longer wait,

But sprang from off his charger / with many a warrior keen:

Unto Kriemhild hasting / full joyously he then was seen.

As is to us related, / did there high princes twain

By the lady walking / bear aloft her train,

As the royal Etzel / went forward her to meet,

And she the noble monarch / with kiss in kindly wise did greet.

Aside she moved her wimple, / whereat her visage fair

Gleamed ’mid the gold around it. / Though many a knight stood there,

They deemed that Lady Helke / did boast not fairer face.

Full close beside the monarch / his brother Bloedel had his place.

To kiss him then Margrave / Ruediger her did tell,

And eke the royal Gibeke / and Sir Dietrich as well.

Of highest knights a dozen / did Etzel’s spouse embrace;

Other knights full many / she greeted with a lesser grace.

All the while that Etzel / stood by Kriemhild so,

Did the youthful riders / as still they’re wont to do:

In varied tourney saw ye / each ’gainst the other pass,

Christian knights and heathen, / as for each the custom was.

From men that followed Dietrich / saw ye in kindly wise

Splinters from the lances / flying high arise

Aloft above their bucklers, / from hand of good knight sent!

By the German strangers / pierced was many a shield and rent.

From shaft of lances breaking / did far the din resound.

Together came the warriors / from all the land around,

Eke the guests of the monarch / and many a knight there was.

Thence did the mighty monarch / then with Lady Kriemhild pass.

Stretched a fair pavilion / beside them there was seen:

With tents as well was covered / all around the green,

Where they now might rest them / all that weary were.

By high-born knights was thither / led full many a lady fair.

With their royal mistress, / where in rich cushioned chair

Sat the queen full stately. / ’Twas by the margrave’s care

That well had been provided, / with all that seemed good,

A worthy seat for Kriemhild: / thereat was Etzel glad of mood.

What was by Etzel spoken, / may I not understand.

In his right hand resting / lay her fair white hand.

They sat in loving fashion, / nor Ruediger would let

The king have secret converse / with Lady Kriemhild as yet.

’Twas bidden that the jousting / on all sides they give o’er.

The din of stately tourney / heard ye then no more.

All the men of Etzel / unto their tents did go,

For every warrior present / did they full spacious lodging show.

And now the day was ended / and they did rest the night

Until beheld they shining / once more the morning light.

Soon on charger mounted / again was many a man:

Heigho, what merry pastime, / the king to honor, they began!

By the Huns the monarch / bade honors high be shown.

Soon rode they forth from Tulna / unto Vienna town,

Where found they many a lady / decked out in fair array:

The same the monarch Etzel’s / wife received in stately way.

In very fullest measure / upon them there did wait

Whate’er they might desire. / Of knights the joy was great,

Looking toward the revel. / Lodging then sought each one.

The wedding of the monarch / was in merry wise begun.

Yet not for all might lodging / within the town be had.

All that were not strangers, / Ruediger them bade

That they find them lodgings / beyond the city’s bound.

I ween that at all seasons / by Lady Kriemhild’s side was found

The noble Sir Dietrich / and many another thane,

Who amid their labors / but little rest had ta’en,

That the guests they harbored / of merry mood should be.

For Ruediger and his companions / went the time full pleasantly.

The wedding time was fallen / upon a Whitsuntide,

When the monarch Etzel / lay Kriemhild beside

In the town at Vienna. / So many men I ween

Through her former husband / had not in her service been.

Many that ne’er had seen her / did her rich bounty take,

And many a one among them / unto the strangers spake:

"We deemed that Lady Kriemhild / of wealth no more had aught

Now hath she by her giving / here full many a wonder wrought.”

The wedding-feast it lasted / for days full seventeen.

Ne’er of other monarch / hath any told, I ween,

That wedded with more splendor: / of such no tale we hear.

All that there were present, / new-made apparel did they wear.

I ween that far in Netherland / sat she ne’er before

Amid such host of warriors. / And this believe I more:

Was Siegfried rich in treasure, / that yet he ne’er did gain,

As here she saw ’fore Etzel, / so many a high and noble thane.

Nor e’er gave any other / at his own wedding-tide

So many a costly mantle / flowing long and wide,

Nor yet so rich apparel / –so may ye well believe–
As here from hand of Kriemhild / did they one and all receive.

Her friends and eke the strangers / were of a single mind,

That they would not be sparing / of treasure in any kind:

What any from them desired, / they gave with willing hand.

Many a thane from giving / himself of clothing reft did stand.

How by her noble husband / at the Rhine a queen she sat,

Of that she still was minded, / and her eye grew wet thereat.

Yet well she kept it hidden / that none the same might mark.

Now had she wealth of honor / after long years of sorrow dark.

What any did with bounty, / ’twas but an idle wind

By side of Dietrich’s giving: / what Etzel’s generous mind

Before to him had given, / complete did disappear.

Eke wrought there many a wonder / the hand of bounteous Ruediger.

Bloedelein the chieftain / that came from Hunland,

Full many a chest to empty / did he then command,

Of gold and eke of silver. / That did they freely give.

Right merrily the warriors / of the monarch saw ye live.

Likewise the monarch’s minstrels / Werbel and Schwemmelein,

Won they at the wedding / each alone, I ween,

Marks a good thousand / or even more than that,

Whenas fair Lady Kriemhild / ’neath crown by royal Etzel sat.

Upon the eighteenth morning / from Vienna town they went.

Then in knightly pastime / many a shield was rent

By spear full well directed / by doughty rider’s hand.

So came the royal Etzel / riding into Hunland.

At Heimburg’s ancient castle / they tarried over night.

Tell the tale of people / no mortal ever might,

And the number of good warriors / did o’er the country come.

Ah, what fairest women / were gathered unto Etzel’s home!

By Miesenburg’s majestic / towers did they embark.

With horses eke and riders / the water all was dark,

As if ’twere earth they trod on, / as far as eye might see.

The way-worn ladies rested / now on board right pleasantly.

Now was lashed together / many a boat full good,

That no harm they suffered / from the waves and flood.

Many a stately awning / likewise above them spread,

Just as if beneath them / had they land and flowery mead.

When to Etzelburg the tidings / soon were borne along,

Therein of men and women / were seen a merry throng.

Who once the Lady Helke / as mistress did obey,

Anon by Lady Kriemhild / lived they many a gladsome day.

There did stand expectant / full many a maid high-born,

That since the death of Helke / had pined all forlorn.

Daughters of seven monarchs / Kriemhild there waiting found,

That were the high adornment / of all King Etzel’s country round.

Herrat, a lofty princess, / did all the train obey,

Sister’s child to Helke, / in whom high virtues lay,

Betrothed eke of Dietrich, / of royal lineage born,

Daughter of King Nentwein; / her did high honors eft adorn.

Against the strangers’ coming / her heart with joy flowed o’er:

Eke was thereto devoted / of wealth a mickle store.

Who might e’er give the picture, / how the king eft sat on throne?

Nor had with any mistress / the Huns such joyous living known.

As with his spouse the monarch / up from the river came,

Unto the noble Kriemhild / of each they told the name

’Mong them that she did find there: / she fairer each did greet.

Ah, how mighty mistress / she long did sit in Helke’s seat!

Ready and true the service / to her was offered there.

The queen dealt out in plenty / gold and raiment rare,

Silver eke and jewels. / What over Rhine she brought

With her unto Hunland, / soon thereof retained she naught.

Eke in faithful service / she to herself did win

All the king’s warriors / and all his royal kin,

–So that ne’er did Lady Helke / so mighty power wield

As until death to Kriemhild / such host did willing service yield.

Thus stood so high in honor / the court and country round,

That there at every season / was pleasant pastime found

By each, whithersoever / his heart’s desire might stand:

That wrought the monarch’s favor / and the queen’s full bounteous hand.

Twenty-Third Adventure - How Kriemhild thought to avenge her Wrong

In full lordly honor, / –truth is that ye hear–
Dwelt they with each other / until the seventh year.

Meanwhile Lady Kriemhild / a son to Etzel bore,

Nor gladder might the monarch / be o’er aught for evermore.

Yet would she not give over, / nor with aught be reconciled,

But that should be baptized / the royal Etzel’s child

After Christian custom: / Ortlieb they did him call.

Thereat was mickle joyance / over Etzel’s borders all.

Whate’er of highest virtues / in Lady Helke lay,

Strove the Lady Kriemhild / to rival her each day.

Herrat the stranger maiden / many a grace she taught,

Who yet with secret pining / for her mistress Helke was distraught.

To stranger and to native / full well she soon was known,

Ne’er monarch’s country, said they, / did royal mistress own

That gave with freer bounty, / that held they without fear.

Such praise she bore in Hunland, / until was come the thirteenth year.

Now had she well perceived / how all obeyed her will,

As service to royal mistress / king’s knights do render still,

And how at every season / twelve kings ’fore her were seen.

She thought of many a sorrow / that wrought upon her once had been.

Eke thought she of lordly power / in Nibelungenland

That she erstwhile had wielded, / and how that Hagen’s hand

Of it all had reft her / with her lord Siegfried dead;

She thought for so great evil / how might he ever be repaid.

“’Twould be, might I but bring him / hither into this land."

She dreamed that fondly led her / full often by the hand

Giselher her brother, / full oft in gentle sleep

Thought she to have kissed him, / wherefrom he sorrow soon must reap.

I ween the evil demon / was Kriemhild’s counsellor

That she her peace with Gunther / should sacred keep no more,

Whom she kissed in friendly token / in the land of Burgundy.

Adown upon her bosom / the burning tears fell heavily.

On her heart both late and early / lay the heavy thought,

How that, herself all guiltless, / thereto she had been brought,

That she must share in exile / a heathen monarch’s bed.

Through Hagen eke and Gunther / come she was to such sore need.

From her heart such longing / seldom might she dismiss.

Thought she: “A queen so mighty / I am o’er wealth like this,

That I upon mine enemies / may yet avenge me well.

Fain were I that on Hagen / of Tronje yet my vengeance fell.

“For friends that once were faithful / full oft my heart doth long.

Were they but here beside me / that wrought on me such wrong,

Then were in sooth avenged / my lover reft of life;

Scarce may I bide that hour," / spake the royal Etzel’s wife.

Kriemhild they loved and honored, / the monarch’s men each one,

As they that came there with her: / well might the same be done.

The treasure wielded Eckewart, / and won good knights thereby.

The will of Lady Kriemhild might / none in all that land deny.

She mused at every season: / “The king himself I’ll pray,"–
That he to her the favor / might grant in friendly way,

To bring her kinsmen hither / unto Hunland.

What vengeful thought she cherished / might none soever understand.

As she in stillest night-time / by the monarch lay

(In his arms enclosed he held her, / as he was wont alway

To caress the noble lady: / she was to him as life),

Again unto her enemies / turned her thoughts his stately wife.

She spake unto the monarch: / “My lord full dear to me,

Now would I pray a favor, / if with thy grace it be,

That thou wilt show unto me / if merit such be mine

That unto my good kinsmen / truly doth thy heart incline.”

The mighty monarch answered / (from guile his heart was free):

"Of a truth I tell thee, / if aught of good may be

The fortune of thy kinsmen, / –of that I were full fain,

For ne’er through love of woman / might I friends more faithful gain.”

Thereat again spake Kriemhild: / “That mayst thou well believe,

Full high do stand my kinsmen; / the more it doth me grieve

That they deign so seldom / hither to take their way.

That here I live a stranger, / oft I hear the people say.”

Then spake the royal Etzel: / “Beloved lady mine,

Seemed not too far the journey, / I’d bid from yond the Rhine

Whom thou wouldst gladly welcome / hither unto my land."

Thereat rejoiced the lady / when she his will did understand.

Spake she: “Wilt thou true favor / show me, master mine,

Then shall thou speed thy messengers / to Worms across the Rhine.

Were but my friends acquainted / what thing of them I would,

Then to this land came hither / full many a noble knight and good.”

He spake: “Whene’er thou biddest, / straight the thing shall be.

Thyself mightst ne’er thy kinsmen / here so gladly see,

As I the sons of Ute, / high and stately queen.

It grieveth me full sorely / that strangers here so long they’ve been.

“If this thing doth please thee, / beloved lady mine,

Then gladly send I thither / unto those friends of thine

As messengers my minstrels / to the land of Burgundy."

He bade the merry fiddlers / lead before him presently.

Then hastened they full quickly / to where they found the king

By side of Kriemhild sitting. / He told them straight the thing,

How they should be his messengers / to Burgundy to fare.

Full stately raiment bade he / for them straightway eke prepare.

Four and twenty warriors / did they apparel well.

Likewise did the monarch / to them the message tell,

How that they King Gunther / and his men should bid aright.

Them eke the Lady Kriemhild / to secret parley did invite.

Then spake the mighty monarch: / “Now well my words attend.

All good and friendly greeting / unto my friends I send,

That they may deign to journey / hither to my country.

Few be the guests beside them / that were so welcome unto me.

“And if they be so minded / to meet my will in aught,

Kriemhild’s lofty kinsmen, / that they forego it not

To come upon the summer / here where I hold hightide,

For that my joy in living / doth greatly with my friends abide.”

Then spake the fiddle-player, / Schwemmelein full bold:

"When thinkst thou in this country / such high feast to hold,

That unto thy friends yonder / tell the same we may?"

Thereto spake King Etzel: / “When next hath come midsummer day.”

“We’ll do as thou commandest," / spake then Werbelein.

Unto her own chamber / commanded then the queen

To bring in secret manner / the messengers alone.

Thereby did naught but sorrow / befall full many a thane anon.

She spake unto the messengers: / “Mickle wealth I give to you,

If my will in this matter / right faithfully ye do,

And bear what tidings send I / home unto our country.

I’ll make you rich in treasure / and fair apparelled shall ye be.

“And friends of mine so many / as ever see ye may

At Worms by Rhine river, / to them ye ne’er shall say

That any mood of sorrow / in me ye yet have seen.

Say ye that I commend me / unto the knights full brave and keen.”

“Pray them that to King Etzel’s / message they give heed,

Thereby to relieve me / of all my care and need,

Else shall the Huns imagine / that I all friendless am.

If I but a knight were, / oft would they see me at their home.

“Eke say ye unto Gernot, / brother to me full dear,

To him might never any / disposed be more fair;

Pray him that he bring hither / unto this country

All our friends most steadfast, / that we thereby shall honored be.

“Say further eke to Giselher / that he do have in mind,

That by his guilt I never / did cause for sorrow find;

Him therefore would I gladly / here with mine own eyes see,

And give him warmest welcome, / so faithful hath he been to me.

“How I am held in honor, / to my mother eke make plain.

And if of Tronje Hagen / hath mind there to remain,

By whom might they in coming / through unknown lands be shown?

The way to Hunland hither / from youth to him hath well been known.”

No whit knew the messengers / wherefore she did advise

That they of Tronje Hagen / should not in any wise

Leave by the Rhine to tarry. / That was anon their bane:

Through him to dire destruction / was doomed full many a doughty thane.

Letters and kindly greeting / now to them they give;

They fared from thence rich laden, / and merrily might live.

Leave then they took of Etzel / and eke his lady fair,

And parted on their journey / dight in apparel rich and rare.

Twenty-Fourth Adventure - How Werbel and Schwemmel brought the Message

When to the Rhine King Etzel / his messengers had sent,

With hasty flight fresh tidings / from land to land there went:

With messengers full quickly / to his high festival

He bade them, eke and summoned. / To many thereby did death befall.

The messengers o’er the borders / of Hunland thence did fare

Unto the land of Burgundy; / thither sent they were

Unto three lordly monarchs / and eke their mighty men.

To Etzel’s land to bid them / hastily they journeyed then.

Unto Bechelaren / rode they on their way,

Where found they willing service. / Nor did aught delay

Ruediger to commend him / and Gotelinde as well

And eke their fairest daughter / to them that by the Rhine did dwell.

They let them not unladen / with gifts from thence depart,

So did the men of Etzel / fare on with lighter heart.

To Ute and to her household / sent greeting Ruediger,

That never margrave any / to them more well disposed were.

Unto Brunhild also / did they themselves commend

With willing service offered / and steadfast to the end.

Bearing thus fair greeting / the messengers thence did fare,

And prayed the noble margravine / that God would have them in his care.

Ere the messengers had fully / passed o’er Bavarian ground,

Had the nimble Werbel / the goodly bishop found.

What greetings to his kinsmen / unto the Rhine he sent,

That I cannot tell you; / the messengers yet from him went

Laden with gold all ruddy, / to keep his memory.

Thus spake the Bishop Pilgrim: / “’Twere highest joy to me

Might I my sister’s children / here see in home of mine,

For that I may but seldom / go unto them to the Rhine.”

What were the ways they followed / as through the lands they fared,

That can I nowise tell you. / Yet never any dared

Rob them of wealth or raiment, / for fear of Etzel’s hand:

A lofty king and noble, / mighty in sooth was his command.

Before twelve days were over / came they unto the Rhine,

And rode into Worms city / Werbel and Schwemmelein.

Told were soon the tidings / to the kings and their good men,

How that were come strange messengers. / Gunther the king did question

      then.

And spake the monarch further: / “Who here may understand

Whence do come these strangers / riding unto our land?"

Yet was never any / might answer to him make,

Until of Tronje Hagen / thus unto King Gunther spake:

“To us hath come strange tidings / to hand this day, I ween,

For Etzel’s fiddlers riding / hither have I seen.

The same have by thy sister / unto the Rhine been sent:

For sake of their high master / now give we them fair compliment.”

E’en then did ride the messengers / unto the castle door,

And never royal minstrels / more stately went before.

By the monarch’s servants / well received they were:

They gave them fitting lodging / and for their raiment had a care.

Rich and wrought full deftly / was the travelling-dress they wore,

Wherein they well with honor / might go the king before;

Yet they at court no longer / would the same garments wear.

The messengers inquired / if any were might wish them there.

In sooth in such condition / many eke were found,

Who would receive them gladly; / to such they dealt around.

Then decked themselves the strangers / in garments richer far,

Such as royal messengers / beseemeth well at court to wear.

By royal leave came forward / to where the monarch sat

The men that came from Etzel, / and joy there was thereat.

Hagen then to meet them / in courteous manner went,

And heartily did greet them, / whereat they gave fair compliment.

To know what were the tidings, / to ask he then began

How did find him Etzel / and each valiant man.

Then answer gave the fiddler: / “Ne’er higher stood the land,

Nor the folk so joyous: / that shall ye surely understand.”

They went unto the monarch. / Crowded was the hall.

There were received the strangers / as of right men shall

Kindly greeting offer / in other monarch’s land.

Many a valiant warrior / saw Werbel by King Gunther stand.

Right courteously the monarch / began to greet them then:

"Now be ye both right welcome, / Hunland’s merry men,

And knights that give you escort. / Hither sent are ye

By Etzel mighty monarch / unto the land of Burgundy?”

They bowed before the monarch; / then spake Werbelein:

"My dear lord and master, / and Kriemhild, sister thine,

Hither to thy country / give fairest compliment.

In faith of kindly welcome / us unto you they now have sent.”

Then spake the lofty ruler: / “I joy o’er this ye bring.

How liveth royal Etzel," / further spake the king,

"And Kriemhild, my sister, / afar in Hunland?"

Then answered him the fiddler: / “That shalt thou straightway understand.

“That never any people / more lordly life might show

Than they both do joy in, / –that shalt thou surely know,–
Wherein do share their kinsmen / and all their doughty train.

When from them we parted, / of our journey were they fain.”

“My thanks for these high greetings / ye bring at his command

And from my royal sister. / That high in joy they stand,

The monarch and his kinsmen, / rejoiceth me to hear.

For, sooth to say, the tidings / asked I now in mickle fear.”

The twain of youthful princes / were eke come thitherward,

As soon as they the tidings / from afar had heard.

Right glad were seen the messengers / for his dear sister’s sake

By the young Giselher, / who in such friendly manner spake:

“Right hearty were your welcome / from me and brother mine,

Would ye but more frequent / ride hither to the Rhine;

Here found ye friends full many / whom glad ye were to see,

And naught but friendly favors / the while that in this land ye be.”

“To us how high thy favor," / spake Schwemmel, “know we well;

Nor with my best endeavor / might I ever tell

How kindly is the greeting / we bear from Etzel’s hand

And from your noble sister, / who doth in highest honor stand.

“Your sometime love and duty / recalleth Etzel’s queen,

And how to her devoted / in heart we’ve ever been,

But first to royal Gunther / do we a message bear,

And pray it be your pleasure / unto Etzel’s land to fare.

“To beg of you that favor / commanded o’er and o’er

Etzel mighty monarch / and bids you know the more,

An will ye not your sister / your faces give to see,

So would he know full gladly / wherein by him aggrieved ye be,

“That ye thus are strangers / to him and all his men.

If that his spouse so lofty / to you had ne’er been known,

Yet well he thought to merit / that him ye’d deign to see;

In sooth could naught rejoice him / more than that such thing might be.”

Then spake the royal Gunther: / “A sennight from this day

Shall ye have an answer, / whereon decide I may

With my friends in counsel. / The while shall ye repair

Unto your place of lodging, / and right goodly be your fare.”

Then spake in answer Werbel: / “And might such favor be

That we the royal mistress / should first have leave to see,

Ute, the lofty lady, / ere that we seek our rest?"

To him the noble Giselher / in courteous wise these words addressed.

“That grace shall none forbid you. / Will ye my mother greet,

Therein do ye most fully / her own desire meet.

For sake of my good sister / fain is she you to see,

For sake of Lady Kriemhild / ye shall to her full welcome be.”

Giselher then led him / unto the lofty dame,

Who fain beheld the messengers / from Hunland that came.

She greeted them full kindly / as lofty manner taught,

And in right courteous fashion / told they to her the tale they brought.

“Pledge of loyal friendship / sendeth unto thee

Now my lofty mistress," / spake Schwemmel. “Might it be,

That she should see thee often, / then shalt thou know full well,

In all the world there never / a greater joy to her befell.”

Replied the royal lady: / “Such thing may never be.

Gladly as would I oft-times / my dearest daughter see,

Too far, alas, is distant / the noble monarch’s wife.

May ever yet full happy / with King Etzel be her life.

“See that ye well advise me, / ere that ye hence are gone,

What time shall be your parting; / for messengers I none

Have seen for many seasons / as glad as greet I you."

The twain gave faithful promise / such courtesy full sure to do.

Forthwith to seek their lodgings / the men of Hunland went,

The while the mighty monarch / for trusted warriors sent,

Of whom did noble Gunther / straightway question make,

How thought they of the message. / Whereupon full many spake

That he might well with honor / to Etzel’s land be bound,

The which did eke advise him / the highest ’mongst them found,

All save Hagen only, / whom sorely grieved such rede.

Unto the king in secret / spake he: “Ill shall be thy meed.

“What deed we twain compounded / art thou full well aware,

Wherefor good cause we ever / shall have Kriemhild to fear,

For that her sometime husband / I slew by my own hand.

How dare we ever journey / then unto King Etzel’s land?”

Replied the king: “My sister / no hate doth harbor more.

As we in friendship kissed her, / vengeance she forswore

For evil that we wrought her, / ere that from hence she rode,–
Unless this message, Hagen, / ill for thee alone forebode.”

“Now be thou not deceived," / spake Hagen, “say what may

The messengers from Hunland. / If thither be thy way,

At Kriemhild’s hands thou losest / honor eke and life,

For full long-avenging / is the royal Etzel’s wife.”

Added then his counsel / the princely Gernot there:

"Though be it thou hast reason / thine own death to fear

Afar in Hunnish kingdom, / should we for that forego

To visit our high sister, / that were in sooth but ill to do.”

Unto that thane did likewise / Giselher then say:

"Since well thou know’st, friend Hagen, / what guilt on thee doth weigh,

Then tarry here behind us / and of thyself have care,

And let who dares the journey / with us unto my sister fare.”

Thereat did rage full sorely / Tronje’s doughty thane:

"So shall ye ne’er find any / that were to go more fain,

Nor who may better guide you / than I upon your way.

And will ye not give over, / know then my humor soon ye may.”

Then spake the Kitchen Master, / Rumold a lofty thane:

"Here might ye guests and kinsmen / in plenty long maintain

After your own pleasure, / for ye have goodly store.

I ween ye ne’er found Hagen / traitor to you heretofore.

“If heed ye will not Hagen, / still Rumold doth advise

–For ye have faithful service / from me in willing wise–
That here at home ye tarry / for the love of me,

And leave the royal Etzel / afar with Kriemhild to be.

“Where in the world might ever / ye more happy be

Than here where from danger / of every foeman free,

Where ye may go as likes you / in goodliest attire,

Drink wine the best, and stately / women meet your heart’s desire.

“And daily is your victual / the best that ever knew

A king of any country. / And were the thing not true,

At home ye yet should tarry / for sake of your fair wife

Ere that in childish fashion / ye thus at venture set your life.

“Thus rede I that ye go not. / Mighty are your lands,

And at home more easy may ye / be freed from hostile hands

Than if ye pine in Hunland. / How there it is, who knows?

O Master, go not thither, / –such is the rede that Rumold owes.”

“We’ll ne’er give o’er the journey," / Gernot then did say,

"When thus our sister bids us / in such friendly way

And Etzel, mighty monarch. / Wherefore should we refrain?

Who goes not gladly thither, / here at home may he remain.”

Thereto gave answer Hagen: / “Take not amiss, I pray,

These my words outspoken, / let befall what may.

Yet do I counsel truly, / as ye your safety prize,

That to the Huns ye journey / armed full well in warlike guise.

“Will ye then not give over, / your men together call,

The best that ye may gather / from districts one and all.

From out them all I’ll choose you / a thousand knights full good,

Then may ye reck but little / the vengeful Kriemhild’s angry mood.”

“I’ll gladly heed thy counsel," / straight the king replied,

And bade the couriers traverse / his kingdom far and wide.

Soon they brought together / three thousand men or more,

Who little weened what mickle / sorrow was for them in store.

Joyful came they riding / to King Gunther’s land.

Steeds and equipment for them / all he did command,

Who should make the journey / thence from Burgundy.

Warriors many were there / to serve the king right willingly.

Hagen then of Tronje / to Dankwart did assign

Of their warriors eighty / to lead unto the Rhine.

Equipped in knightly harness / were they soon at hand.

Riding in gallant fashion / unto royal Gunther’s land.

Came eke the doughty Volker, / a noble minstrel he,

With thirty goodly warriors / to join the company,

Who wore so rich attire / ’twould fit a monarch well.

That he would fare to Hunland, / bade he unto Gunther tell.

Who was this same Volker / that will I let you know:

He was a knight full noble, / to him did service owe

Many a goodly warrior / in the land of Burgundy.

For that he well could fiddle, / named the Minstrel eke was he.

Thousand men chose Hagen, / who well to him were known.

What things in storm of battle / their doughty arm had done,

Or what they wrought at all times, / that knew he full well.

Nor of them might e’er mortal / aught but deeds of valor tell.

The messengers of Kriemhild, / full loath they were to wait,

For of their master’s anger / stood they in terror great.

Each day for leave to journey / more great their yearning grew,

But daily to withhold it / crafty Hagen pretext knew.

He spake unto his master: / “Well shall we beware

Hence to let them journey / ere we ourselves prepare

In seven days thereafter / to ride to Etzel’s land:

If any mean us evil, / so may we better understand.

“Nor may the Lady Kriemhild / ready make thereto,

That any by her counsel / scathe to us may do.

Yet if such wish she cherish, / evil shall be her meed,

For many a chosen warrior / with us shall we thither lead.”

Shields well-wrought and saddles, / with all the mickle gear

That into Etzel’s country / the warriors should wear,

The same was now made ready / for many a knight full keen.

The messengers of Kriemhild / before King Gunther soon were seen.

When were come the messengers, / Gernot them addressed:

"King Gunther now is minded / to answer Etzel’s quest.

Full gladly go we thither / with him to make high-tide

And see our lofty sister, / –of that set ye all doubt aside.”

Thereto spake King Gunther: / “Can ye surely say

When shall be the high-tide, / or upon what day

We shall there assemble?" / Spake Schwemmel instantly:

"At turn of sun in summer / shall in sooth the meeting be.”

The monarch leave did grant them, / ere they should take their way,

If that to Lady Brunhild / they would their homage pay,

His high pleasure was it / they unto her should go.

Such thing prevented Volker, / and did his mistress’ pleasure so.

“In sooth, my Lady Brunhild / hath scarce such health to-day

As that she might receive you," / the gallant knight did say.

"Bide ye till the morrow, / may ye the lady see."

When thus they sought her presence, / might their wish not granted be.

To the messengers right gracious / was the mighty king,

And bade he from his treasure / on shields expansive bring

Shining gold in plenty / whereof he had great store.

Eke richest gifts received they / from his lofty kinsmen more.

Giselher and Gernot, / Gere and Ortwein,

That they were free in giving / soon full well was seen.

So costly gifts were offered / unto each messenger

That they dared not receive them, / for Etzel’s anger did they fear.

Then unto King Gunther / Werbel spake again:

Sire, let now thy presents / in thine own land remain.

The same we may not carry, / my master hath decreed

That we accept no bounty. / Of that in sooth we’ve little need.”

Thereat the lord of Rhineland / was seen in high displeasure,

That they should thus accept not / so mighty monarch’s treasure?

In their despite yet took they / rich dress and gold in store,

The which moreover with them / home to Etzel’s land they bore.

Ere that they thence departed / they Lady Ute sought,

Whereat the gallant Giselher / straight the minstrels brought

Unto his mother’s presence. / Kind greetings sent the dame,

And wish that high in honor / still might stand her daughter’s name.

Then bade the lofty lady / embroidered silks and gold

For the sake of Kriemhild, / whom loved she as of old,

And eke for sake of Etzel, / unto the minstrels give.

What thus so free was offered / might they in sooth right fain receive.

Soon now had ta’en departure / the messengers from thence,

From knight and fairest lady, / and joyous fared they hence

Unto Suabian country; / Gernot had given behest

Thus far for armed escort, / that none their journey might molest.

When these had parted from them, / safe still from harm were they,

For Etzel’s might did guard them / wherever led their way.

Nor ever came there any / that aught to take would dare,

As into Etzel’s country / they in mickle haste did fare.

Where’er they friends encountered, / to all they straight made known

How that they of Burgundy / should follow after soon

From Rhine upon their journey / unto the Huns’ country.

The message brought they likewise / unto Bishop Pilgrim’s see.

As down ’fore Bechelaren / they passed upon their way,

The tidings eke to Ruediger / failed they not to say,

And unto Gotelinde, / the margrave’s wife the same.

At thought so soon to see them / was filled with joy the lofty dame.

Hasting with the tidings / each minstrel’s courser ran,

Till found they royal Etzel / within his burgh at Gran.

Greeting upon greeting, / which they must all bestow,

They to the king delivered; / with joy his visage was aglow.

When that the lofty Kriemhild / did eke the tidings hear,

How that her royal brothers / unto the land would fare,

In sooth her heart was gladdened; / on the minstrels she bestowed

Richest gifts in plenty, / as she to her high station owed.

She spake: “Now shall ye, Werbel / and Schwemmel, tell to me

Who cometh of my kinsmen / to our festivity,

Who of all were bidden / this our land to seek?

Now tell me, when the message / heard he, what did Hagen speak?”

Answered: “He came to council / early upon a day,

But little was of pleasant / in what he there did say.

When learned he their intention, / in wrath did Hagen swear,

To death ’twere making journey, / to country of the Huns to fare.

“Hither all are coming, / thy royal brothers three,

And they right high in spirit. / Who more shall with them be,

The tale to tell entire / were more than I might do.

To journey with them plighted / Volker the valiant fiddler too.”

“’Twere little lost, full truly," / answered then the queen,

"If by my eyes never / Volker here were seen.

’Tis Hagen hath my favor, / a noble knight is he,

And mickle is my pleasure / that him full soon we here may see.”

Her way the Lady Kriemhild / then to the king did take,

And in right joyous manner / unto her consort spake:

"How liketh thee the tidings, / lord full dear to me?

What aye my heart hath yearned for, / that shall now accomplished be.”

“Thy will my joy was ever," / the lofty monarch said.

"In sooth for my own kinsmen / I ne’er have been so glad,

To hear that they come hither / unto my country.

To know thy friends are coming, / hath parted sadness far from me.”

Straight did the royal provosts / give everywhere decree

That hall and stately palace / well prepared should be

With seats, that unprovided / no worthy guest be left.

Anon by them the monarch / should be of mickle joy bereft.

Twenty-Fifth Adventure - How the Knights all fared to the Huns

Tell we now no further / how they here did fare.

Knights more high in spirit / saw ye journey ne’er

In so stately fashion / to the land of e’er a king.

Of arms and rich attire / lacked they never anything.

At Rhine the lordly monarch / equipped his warriors well,

A thousand knights and sixty, / as I did hear tell,

And eke nine thousand squires / toward the festivity.

Whom they did leave behind them / anon must mourn full grievously.

As at Worms across the courtyard / equipment full they bore

Spake there of Speyer / a bishop old and hoar

Unto Lady Ute: / “Our friends have mind to fare

Unto the festivity; / may God their honor have in care.”

Then spake unto her children / Ute the noble dame:

"At home ye here should tarry, / ye knights full high in fame.

Me dreamt but yester even / a case of direst need,

How that in this country / all the feathered fowl were dead.”

“Who recketh aught of dreamings," / Hagen then replied,

"Distraught is sure his counsel / when trouble doth betide,

Or he would of his honor / have a perfect care.

I counsel that my master / straight to take his leave prepare.

“Gladly shall we journey / into Etzel’s land;

There at their master’s service / may good knights ready stand,

For that we there shall witness / Kriemhild’s festivity."

That Hagen gave such counsel, / rue anon full sore did he.

Yet in sooth far other / than this had been his word,

Had not with bitter mocking / Gernot his anger stirred.

He spake to him of Siegfried / whom Kriemhild loved so,

And said: “Therefore the journey / would Hagen willingly forego.”

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / “Through fear I nothing do.

Whenever will ye, Masters, / set straight your hand thereto,

With you I’ll gladly journey / unto Etzel’s land."

Many a shield and helmet / there hewed anon his mighty hand.

The ships stood ready waiting, / whereunto ample store

Of clothing for the journey / men full many bore,

Nor had they time for resting / till shades of even fell.

Anon in mood full joyous / bade they friends at home farewell.

Tents full large and many / arose upon the green,

Yonder side Rhine river. / But yet the winsome queen

Caressed the doughty monarch / that night, and still did pray

That far from Etzel’s country / among his kinsmen might he stay.

When sound of flute and trumpet / arose at break of day,

A signal for their parting, / full soon they took their way.

Each lover to his bosom / did friend more fondly press:

King Etzel’s wife full many / did part anon in dire distress.

The sons of stately Ute, / a good knight had they,

A brave man and a faithful. / When they would thence away,

Apart unto the monarch / did he his mind reveal,

And spake: “That ye will journey, / may I naught but sorrow feel.”

Hight the same was Rumold, / a man of doughty hand.

He spake: “To whom now leave ye / people here and land?

O that never any / might alter your intent!

Small good, methinks, may follow / message e’er by Kriemhild sent.”

“The land to thee entrusted / and eke my child shall be,

And tender care of ladies, / –so hast command from me.

Whene’er thou seest weeping, / do there thy comfort give.

Yea, trust we free from sorrow / at hand of Etzel’s wife to live.”

For knight and royal master / the chargers ready were,

As with fond embracing / parted many there,

Who long in joy together / a merry life had led.

By winsome dame full many / therefor must bitter tear be shed.

As did those doughty warriors / into the saddle spring,

Might full many a lady / be seen there sorrowing;

For told them well their spirit / that thus so long to part

Did bode a dire peril, / the which must ever cloud the heart.

As mounted stood the valiant / thanes of Burgundy,

Might ye a mickle stirring / in that country see,

Both men and women weeping / on either riverside.

Yet pricked they gaily forward, / let what might their folk betide.

The Nibelungen warriors / in hauberks bright arrayed

Went with them, a thousand, / while at home behind them stayed

Full many a winsome lady, / whom saw they nevermore.

The wounds of doughty Siegfried / still grieved the Lady Kriemhild sore.

Their journey they directed / onward to the Main,

Up through East Frankish country, / the men of Gunther’s train

Thither led by Hagen, / who well that country knew;

Marshal to them was Dankwart, / a knight of Burgundy full true.

On from East Frankish country / to Schwanefeld they went,

A train of valiant warriors / of high accomplishment,

The monarchs and their kinsmen, / all knights full worthy fame.

Upon the twelfth morning / the king unto the Danube came.

The knight of Tronje, Hagen, / the very van did lead,

Ever to the Nibelungen / a surest help in need.

First the thane full valiant / down leapt upon the ground,

And straightway then his charger / fast unto a tree he bound.

Flooded were the waters / and ne’er a boat was near,

Whereat began the Nibelungen / all in dread to fear

They ne’er might cross the river, / so mighty was the flood.

Dismounted on the shore, / full many a stately knight then stood.

“Ill may it,” spake then Hagen, / “fare here with thee,

Lord of Rhine river. / Now thyself mayst see

How flooded are the waters, / and swift the current flows.

I ween, before the morrow / here many a goodly knight we lose.”

“How wilt reproach me, Hagen?" / the lofty monarch spake.

I pray thee yet all comfort / not from our hearts to take.

The ford shalt thou discover / whereby we may pass o’er,

Horse and equipment bringing / safely unto yonder shore.”

“In sooth, not I,” quoth Hagen, / “am yet so weary grown

Of life, that in these waters / wide I long to drown.

Ere that, shall warriors sicken / in Etzel’s far country

Beneath my own arm stricken: / –’tis my intent full certainly.

“Here tarry by the water, / ye gallant knights and good,

The while I seek the boatmen / myself along the flood,

Who will bring us over / into Gelfrat’s land."

With that the doughty Hagen / took his trusty shield in hand.

He cap-a-pie was armed, / as thus he strode away,

Upon his head a helmet / that gleamed with brilliant ray,

And o’er his warlike harness / a sword full broad there hung,

That on both its edges / did fiercely cut, in battle swung.

He sought to find the boatmen / if any might be near,

When sound of falling waters / full soon upon his ear.

Beside a rippling fountain, / where ran the waters cool,

A group of wise mermaidens / did bathe themselves within the pool.

Ware of them soon was Hagen / and stole in secret near,

But fast away they hurried / when they the sound did hear.

That they at all escaped him, / filled they were with glee.

The knight did take their clothing, / yet wrought none other injury.

Then spake the one mermaiden, / Hadburg that hight:

"Hagen, knight full noble, / tell will we thee aright,

An wilt thou, valiant warrior, / our garments but give o’er,

What fortune may this journey / to Hunland have for thee in store.”

They hovered there before him / like birds above the flood,

Wherefore did think the warrior / that tell strange things they could,

And all the more believed he / what they did feign to say,

As to his eager question / in ready manner answered they.

Spake one: “Well may ye journey / to Etzel’s country.

Thereto my troth I give thee / in full security

That ne’er in any kingdom / might high guests receive

Such honors as there wait you, / –this may ye in sooth believe.”

To hear such speech was Hagen / in sooth right glad of heart;

He gave to them their garments, / and straightway would depart.

But when in strange attire / they once more were dight,

Told they of the journey / into Etzel’s land aright.

Spake then the other mermaid, / Siegelind that hight:

"I warn thee, son of Aldrian, / Hagen valiant knight,

’Twas but to gain her clothing / my cousin falsely said,

For, comest thou to Hunland, / sorely shalt thou be betrayed.

“Yea, that thou turnest backward / is fitter far, I ween;

For but your death to compass / have all ye warriors keen

Received now the bidding / unto Etzel’s land.

Whose doth thither journey, / death leadeth surely by the hand.”

Thereto gave answer Hagen: / “False speech hath here no gain.

How might it ever happen / that we all were slain

Afar in Etzel’s country / through hate of any man?"

To tell the tale more fully / unto him she then began.

Spake again the other: / “The thing must surely be,

That of you never any / his home again shall see,

Save only the king’s chaplain; / well do we understand

That he unscathed returneth / unto royal Gunther’s land.”

Then spake the valiant Hagen / again in angry way:

"Unto my royal masters / ’twere little joy to say

That we our lives must forfeit / all in Hunland.

Now show us, wisest woman, / how pass we safe to yonder strand.”

She spake: “Since from thy purposed / journey thou wilt not turn,

Where upward by the water / a cabin stands, there learn

Within doth dwell a boatman, / nor other find thou mayst."

No more did Hagen question, / but strode away from there in haste.

As went he angry-minded / one from afar did say:

"Now tarry still, Sir Hagen; / why so dost haste away?

Give ear yet while we tell thee / how thou reachest yonder strand.

Master here is Else, / who doth rule this borderland.

“Hight is his brother Gelfrat, / and is a thane full rare,

Lord o’er Bavarian country. / Full ill with you ’twill fare,

Will ye pass his border. / Watchful must ye be,

And eke with the ferryman / ’twere well to walk right modestly.

“He is so angry-minded / that sure thy bane ’twill be,

Wilt thou not show the warrior / all civility.

Wilt thou that he transport thee, / give all the boatman’s due.

He guardeth well the border / and unto Gelfrat is full true.

“If he be slow to answer, / then call across the flood

That thy name is Amelrich. / That was a knight full good,

Who for a feud did sometime / go forth from out this land.

The ferryman will answer, / when he the name doth understand.

Hagen high of spirit / before those women bent,

Nor aught did say, but silent / upon his way he went.

Along the shore he wandered / till higher by the tide

On yonder side the river / a cabin standing he espied.

He straight began a calling / across the flood amain.

"Now fetch me over, boatman," / cried the doughty thane.

"A golden armband ruddy / I’ll give to thee for meed.

Know that to make this crossing / I in sooth have very need.”

Not fitting ’twas high ferryman / his service thus should give,

And recompense from any / seldom might he receive;

Eke were they that served him / full haughty men of mood.

Still alone stood Hagen / on the hither side the flood.

Then cried he with such power / the wave gave back the sound,

For in strength far-reaching / did the knight abound:

"Fetch me now, for Amelrich, / Else’s man, am I,

That for feud outbroken / erstwhile from this land did fly.”

Full high upon his sword-point / an armband did he hold,

Fair and shining was it / made of ruddy gold,

The which he offered to him / for fare to Gelfrat’s land.

The ferryman high-hearted / himself did take the oar in hand.

To do with that same boatman / was ne’er a pleasant thing;

The yearning after lucre / yet evil end doth bring.

Here where thought he Hagen’s / gold so red to gain,

Must he by the doughty / warrior’s fierce sword be slain.

With might across the river / his oar the boatman plied,

But he who there was named / might nowhere be espied.

His rage was all unbounded / when he did Hagen find,

And loud his voice resounded / as thus he spake his angry mind:

“Thou mayst forsooth be called / Amelrich by name:

Whom I here did look for, / no whit art thou the same.

By father and by mother / brother he was to me.

Since me thou thus hast cozened, / so yet this side the river be.”

“Nay, by highest Heaven," / Hagen did declare.

"Here am I a stranger / that have good knights in care.

Now take in friendly manner / here my offered pay,

And guide me o’er the ferry; / my favor hast thou thus alway.”

Whereat replied the boatman: / “The thing may never be.

There are that to my masters / do bear hostility;

Wherefore I never stranger / do lead into this land.

As now thy life thou prizest, / step straightway out upon the strand.”

“Deny me not,” quoth Hagen, / “for sad in sooth my mood.

Take now for remembrance / this my gold so good,

And carry men a thousand / and horses to yonder shore."

Quoth in rage the boatman: / “Such thing will happen nevermore.”

Aloft he raised an oar / that mickle was and strong,

And dealt such blow on Hagen, / (but rued he that ere long,)

That in the boat did stumble / that warrior to his knee.

In sooth so savage boatman / ne’er did the knight of Tronje see.

With thought the stranger’s anger / the more to rouse anew,

He swung a mighty boat-pole / that it in pieces flew

Upon the crown of Hagen;– / he was a man of might.

Thereby did Else’s boatman / come anon to sorry plight.

Full sore enraged was Hagen, / as quick his hand he laid

Upon his sword where hanging / he found the trusty blade.

His head he struck from off him / and flung into the tide.

Known was soon the story / to the knights of Burgundy beside.

While the time was passing / that he the boatman slew,

The waters bore him downward, / whereat he anxious grew.

Ere he the boat had righted / began his strength to wane,

So mightily was pulling / royal Gunther’s doughty thane.

Soon he yet had turned it, / so rapid was his stroke,

Until the mighty oar / beneath his vigor broke.

As strove he his companions / upon the bank to gain,

No second oar he found him. / Yet soon the same made fast again.

With quickly snatched shield-strap, / a fine and narrow band.

Downward where stood a forest / he sought again the land,

And there his master found he / standing upon the shore.

In haste came forth to meet him / many a stately warrior more.

The gallant knight they greeted / with right hearty mood.

When in the boat perceived they / reeking still the blood

That from the wound had issued / where Hagen’s sword did swing,

Scarce could his companions / bring to an end their questioning.

When that royal Gunther / the streaming blood did see

Within the boat there running, / straightway then spake he:

"Where is now the ferryman, / tell me, Hagen, pray?

By thy mighty prowess / his life, I ween, is ta’en away.”

Thereto replied he falsely: / “When the boat I found

Where slopeth a wild meadow, / I the same unbound.

Hereabout no ferryman / I to-day have seen,

Nor ever cause of sorrow / unto any have I been.”

The good knight then of Burgundy, / the gallant Gernot, spake:

"Dear friends full many, fear I, / the flood this day will take,

Since we of the boatmen / none ready here may find

To guide us o’er the current. / ’Tis mickle sorrow to my mind.”

Full loudly cried then Hagen: / “Lay down upon the grass,

Ye squires, the horse equipments. / I ween a time there was,

Myself was best of boatmen / that dwelt the Rhine beside.

To Gelfrat’s country trow I / to bring you safely o’er the tide.”

That they might come the sooner / across the running flood,

Drove they in the horses. / Their swimming, it was good,

For of them never any / beneath the waves did sink,

Though many farther downward / must struggle sore to gain the brink.

Their treasure and apparel / unto the boat they bore,

Since by no means the journey / thought they to give o’er.

Hagen was director, / and safely reached the strand

With many a stalwart warrior / bound unto the unknown land.

Gallant knights a thousand / first he ferried o’er,

Whereafter came his own men. / Of others still were more,

For squires full nine thousand / he led unto that land.

That day no whit was idle / that valiant knight of Tronje’s hand.

When he them all in safety / o’er the flood had brought,

Of that strange story / the valiant warrior thought,

Which erstwhile had told him / those women of the sea.

Lost thereby the chaplain’s / life well-nigh was doomed to be.

Beside his priestly baggage / he saw the chaplain stand,

Upon the holy vestments / resting with his hand.

No whit was that his safety; / when Hagen him did see,

Must the priest full wretched / suffer sorest injury.

From out the boat he flung him / ere might the thing be told,

Whereat they cried together: / “Hold, O Master, hold!"

Soon had the youthful Giselher / to rage thereat begun,

And mickle was

The Nibelungenlied By George Henry Needler, Translator