For out of a far, far country were heralds to Burgundy sped
With a tale of unknown warriors and the hate they bare to the king;
And in passing great disquiet the brethren heard that thing.
Now these were they that had sent them:—the lord of the Saxon land,
King Lüdiger mighty in war-hosts, mighty in strength of hand;
And Lüdegast for his helper, the lord of the land of the Dane;
And warriors marched unnumbered ’neath the banners of these twain.
So they came to the land of Gunther, those bearers of threats of war,
Even they whom his adversaries had sent forth from afar.
And men looked on the unknown faces, and asked, “What tale do ye bring?”
And they led the heralds of war-storm to the presence of the King.
And he gave to them courteous greeting: “Welcome to me be ye.
What man hath sent you hither not yet hath been told unto me:
Speak out and utter your message,” said the noble king war-wise.
Then sank their hearts, as they looked on the flame in Gunther’s eyes.
“If thou, O King, wilt suffer that we speak”—the heralds replied—
“Unhindered all our message, no word from thee will we hide.
So name we to you the princes who have laid on us this command:
Lo, Lüdegast hitherward marcheth with Lüdiger unto your land.
Ye twain have provoked their anger: in our ears was spoken the word,
How that ye in the hearts of our liege-lords deadliest hate have stirred;
And they purpose to lead their battles unto Worms beside the Rhine.
See ye that your war-thanes help you! Lo, this is the warning-sign.
Within twelve weeks shall the thunder of the tramp of their hosts draw near.
If then ye have loyal vassals, let their fealty now appear:
Let them ward the peace of the castle, let them keep unharried the field.
Ha, here shall be fearful hewing of many a helm and shield!
{p. 21}
Or if haply for peace ye will pray them, now let us be certified,
Or ever their ranks of battle across your marches ride,
Or ever your strong foes bow you in bitterness of soul.
Ha, many a champion shall perish when hither the war-waves roll!”
“Ye shall tarry a little season—my mind shall ye know ere long—
While I ponder upon this matter,” spake Gunther the valiant and strong.
“O yea, I have loyal vassals; to them will I bear this word,
And the tale of your war-defiance shall of all my friends be heard.”
Of a truth unto Gunther the mighty full heavy the tidings were,
And his innermost heart was burdened by the message that it bare;
And he bade to his presence Hagen and other his liegemen withal,
And he sent to summon Gernot in haste to his council-hall:
So gathered his best, all vassals unto whom came that command;
And he spake: “Lo, our foes be minded to march into Burgundy-land
With a mighty array—ye may well be indignation-stung
At the unprovoked defiance that these in our faces have flung!”
“From these shall our swords defend us!” Prince Gernot’s voice rang high.
“Men must die in the day of their dooming: in death e’en let them lie!
I will never forget mine honour for dread of what may befall!
We will welcome our adversaries to the War-god’s festival!”
Then answered Hagen of Troneg: “O’er-hasty, I trow, are thy words;
For the kings of the Danes and the Saxons be exceeding arrogant lords;
And so few days cannot suffice us for our war-host’s mustering.
It were good,” said the valiant warrior, “that we told unto Siegfried the thing.”
So they gave those war-denouncers for dwellings their city’s best,
How hateful they were soever, for such was the knightly hest
Of Gunther the noble-hearted—since thus fair honour bade—
Till the friends should be known who would fail not to bring their battle-aid.
Now the King in his heart was bearing a burden of sorrow and fear;
Then the hero, the swift war-helper, beheld him heavy of cheer,
And he marvelled thereat, for he knew not why he went ’neath a load of care.
And he spake, and he prayed King Gunther the cause thereof to declare.
{p. 22}
“Exceeding sorely I marvel,” the hero Siegfried said,
“Wherefore thine olden joyance this day is utterly fled,
The gracious cheer that aforetime made the hearts that love thee light.”
Answered and spake to him Gunther, that royal-goodly knight:
“In sooth may I suffer not all men in my sorrow of soul to have part:
I must keep my grief deep-hidden, I must bear it alone in mine heart:
Unto tried friends only and steadfast may a man unveil his pain.”
Then pale grew the face of Siegfried, and anon waxed crimson again.
He spake to the King, and he answered: “Have I ever denied thee aught?
I will help thee to cast the burden of thy spirit sorrow-fraught.
If ye seek for friends true-hearted, lo, such an one even am I:
I will cleave unto thee and aid thee in honour till I die.”
“Now God requite thee, Siegfried, for thy words as music ring!
Yea, though thy might and thy valour no help unto me could bring,
Even so should thy love’s assurance make glad mine heart this day.
If I live on yet for a season, of a surety I will repay.
Thou therefore shalt hear the trouble wherewith mine heart is stirred:
Mine adversaries’ heralds have brought unto me this word,
That their kings be marching to seek us here with their war-array;—
Such outrage never warriors have dealt to us unto this day!”
“Let this not disquiet thy spirit,” spake the hero in answer thereto;
“Speak peace to thine heart, and according to this my counsel do:
Suffer me, even me, to win thee honour and goodly gain
Or ever thy foes to the marches of this thy land attain.
Yea, had those thy mighty foemen of battle-helpers arrayed
So many as thrice ten thousand, by me should their onset be stayed,
Had I at my side but a thousand. Commit thy cause unto me.”
Then spake unto him King Gunther: “I am bounden for ever to thee!”
“Give charge that a thousand riders shall follow me forth to the fray,
Inasmuch as of mine own warriors no more can I set in array
Here, than my twelve war-fellows: so will I ward your land,
And loyal service ever shall be done you by Siegfried’s hand.
{p. 23}
Yea also let Hagen help us, and Ortwein fare to the fight,
Dankwart and Sindold, each man a well-belovèd knight,
Therewithal shall ride in our war-host Volker the aweless one,
And he shall be banner-bearer: better than he is none.
And let those war-denouncers to their own lords’ land ride back,
And cause them to bear this message, that we follow hard on their track:
So safe shall our castles be warded, and their peace no foe shall mar.”
Then the king bade summon the muster of his friends and his men of war.
So back to their lord went the bearers of Lüdiger’s command:
They were well content to be faring thence to their own home-land.
And Gunther the royal-hearted rich gifts on the men bestowed,
And therewithal safe-conduct; and with blithe hearts thence they rode.
“Say ye to my mighty foemen,” thus spake Burgundia’s Lord,
“Better for them unventured were their journey hitherward.
Howbeit, if here in mine own land to seek my face they be fain,
So my battle-helpers fail not, they shall find their bitter bane.”
Then goodly gifts to the heralds his treasure-warders bare;—
Good sooth, of the same had Gunther enow and withal to spare!—
Neither dared they refuse them, the bearers of Lüdiger’s command.
So took they their leave, and they journeyed with glad hearts forth of the land.
So then when the heralds to Denmark from Burgundy had passed,
And had spoken the tidings unlooked-for to their lord, King Lüdegast,
Had told him the word of the dwellers by Rhine, that message grim,
For that haughty-hearted defiance was the soul made bitter in him.
For they told him of many a valiant knight in the King’s war-band:—
“Yea, one we beheld with Gunther, and he stood at the king’s right hand,
And Siegfried they named him, a hero of Netherland.” Thus spake they.
Then Lüdegast’s heart at the tidings was filled with strange dismay.
So then when the tale of their message was heard all Denmark o’er,
They hasted to win war-helpers, yea, more than theretofore,
Till their lord, King Lüdegast, under his banner beheld enrolled
Warriors twice ten thousand, all war-thanes dauntless-souled.
{p. 24}
Then Lüdiger, lord of the Saxons, gathered his war-array,
Till his battle-muster was two-score thousand, yea, more than they,
Who should join them with Denmark’s war-host, unto Burgundy to ride.
But in that land also had Gunther the King sent far and wide;
To his kinsmen-friends and the war-host of his brethren he sent his hest
To the end they should follow his banner as battleward he pressed;
And with these came the knights of Hagen: yea, sore was their need that day;
And the shadow of death already over many a warrior lay.
They addressed them unto their journey; for nought was their march delayed;
And Volker was banner-bearer, Volker the unafraid,
On the day that they went forth riding from Worms by the waters of Rhine;
And Hagen of Troneg marshalled Burgundia’s battle-line.
There in the ranks rode Sindold and Hunold the dauntless-souled,
Such warriors as earn rich guerdon when war-kings lavish their gold;
Rode Dankwart the brother of Hagen, and with these was Ortwein found.
So they marched on the path of honour, they marched to be glory-crowned.
“Lord King,” spake Siegfried, “I pray thee, at home do thou abide,
While the good knights after my banner forth to the battle shall ride;
Stay thou, that the hearts of the weak ones may be strong in thy fearlessness;
And I will guard thine honour and thy wealth in the battle’s stress.
And they that were fain to seek thee at Worms by the waters of Rhine,
With them will I take such order, that nought shall they harm that is thine.
Yea, we into their own homeland so far will ride in our raid,
That soon shall the overweening be with sorrow sore dismayed.”
From Rhine through the land of Hesse rode on that hero-host,
And over the Saxon marches, where the fight should be won and lost;
And they drave the spoil, and they harried with flame the land of the foe:
Ha, bitter straits and anguish did the robber war-kings know!
So they came to the Saxon marches, and the vanguard pressed on still.
Then Siegfried the mighty champion asked of the chieftains’ will:
“Whom now shall we make our warder of camp and of sumpter-train?”
—Ha, never of war-raid the Saxons suffered deadlier bane!
{p. 25}
So they said, “Let the henchmen that follow the wielders of spear and brand
Be warded of Dankwart the valiant, of the swift death-dealing hand;
So shall our loss be the lesser from Lüdiger’s plundering horde.
Yea, leave with him Ortwein: our rear-guard shall these twain safely ward.”
“Then will myself ride onward,” spake Siegfried the knight straightway,
“To watch for the foe’s on-coming, and to spy out their array,
Until I shall know of a surety where now their warriors are.”
And with speed fair Siegelind’s scion stood sheathed in his harness of war.
So the host he committed to Hagen, or ever he rode on the quest,
Even to him and to Gernot, the knight of the dauntless breast.
So into the land of the Saxons rode he forward alone—
Yea, to fashion a tale for the minstrels, a tale of glory won!
Then spied he onward-surging o’er the plain a host of war,
So huge that Burgundia’s warriors by these were outnumbered far;
For their tale was two-score thousand, yea, more than this, I trow.
Then leapt his heart and lightened his eyes with the battle-glow.
Now afront of the host of the foemen there rode a goodly knight,
To watch for a battle-token, in shining harness dight.
And Siegfried the hero beheld him, and on him that champion gazed,
And the eyes of each upon other with the fury of battle blazed.
Now who was the keen war-eagle that on watching pinions hung?
A gleaming shield all-golden from his leftward shoulder was slung.
King Lüdegast was the warrior that thus o’er the host kept ward.
Lo, the noble stranger-hero against him is spurring hard!
And the wrath of the lord of the Danefolk by the battle-challenge is stirred,
And the mighty steeds to the onset are racing fierily spurred.
In their strong grip over the shield-rims they couched their lances low—
Ha, but the proud king knew not that he rode to his shame and his woe!
The war-steeds hearkened the spur-sting, and swift as arrows they leapt,
And the kings clashed like unto breakers by a tempest-blast on-swept;
And knightly they wheeled to the onset their reeling steeds with the rein,
And with swords they essayed the decision of strife, that terrible twain.
{p. 26}
At each stroke of the hero Siegfried far round the whole plain rung,
And the helmet was flashing and flaming as with fire from a torch outflung;
Even so were the red sparks leaping ’neath the sword in the hero’s hand.
Lions both were the Dane-king and the Lord of the Nether Land,
For with many a furious sword-stroke did the king of the Daneland smite;
Yea, this one and that at the bucklers hewed with his uttermost might.
Now their strife was beheld of thirty knights of the king’s war-band:
But or ever these might reach him victor did Siegfried stand.
For with three wide-gaping gashes he made that war-king reel;
They sundered the shining harness, the welded links of steel;
On the great sword’s cleaving lightning swift followed the rain of blood;
Then groaned the king of the Danefolk in bitterness of mood.
For his life must he make supplication: “I will pay for my ransoming,”
He cried, “the land of Denmark! I am Lüdegast the king!”
But by this full nigh were his war-band, the knights that from far had seen
Betwixt these two fore-scouters what deadly strife had been.
Then Siegfried would lead the vanquished away; but they fell forthright
Upon him, those thirty warriors, yet his hand by its single might
Aye guarded his princely captive with strokes that fell like hail;
And soon to that king’s defenders had he dealt yet deadlier bale.
For he smote, that captive-warder, the thirty, till dead they lay,
Save one that turned his horse-rein, and swiftly fled away,
And bare the bitter tidings of all to the host of the Danes,
And his shattered helmet witnessed thereto with its bloody stains.
Then were the knights of Daneland shame-stricken and bitter-souled,
When the tale how their king was a captive that day in their ears was told.
And they bare to his brother the tidings, and the storm of his wrath outbrake
In madness of fury and anguish for his captive brother’s sake.
Now by this had the king of the Danefolk been led from the field of fight
Back to the host of Gunther by Siegfried’s resistless might;
And to Hagen’s hand did he give him: glad were his friends for the word
That the King of the land of Denmark was the spoil of Siegfried’s sword!
{p. 27}
Then they cried through the host, “To the spear-staves bind ye the banners on!”
“Forward!” rang Siegfried’s war-cry: “great deeds this day shall be done
Ere the evenfall, if my sinews fail not, if I lose not life!
This day through the land of the Saxons shall be rued by many a wife!
Heroes of Rhineland, whither I press before, take heed!
To the heart of Lüdiger’s war-host cleaving your path will I lead:
Ye shall see brave hewing of helmets by many a hero’s hand!
Ere back from the battle we turn us, shall sorrow o’ercloud this land.”
Now on their steeds have Gernot and the men of his war-band sprung;
In the grasp of the warrior-minstrel is the battle-flag upflung;
Volker is bearing the banner afront of them all to the fray:—
Yea, the very hearts of the camp-folk leap to the onset to-day!
Now the host that they led to the war-shock in no more than a thousand was told,
Save for those twelve knights of Siegfried. In clouds was the dust uprolled
From the tramp of the mighty horse-hoofs as they charged across the field:
Ever gleamed through the eddying darkness the glint of many a shield.
Now nearer and nearer the Saxons drew, and the flashing was seen
Of the tossing sea of their broadswords—O, the edges thereof were keen!—
Swung up, as telleth the story, in many a champion’s hand.
They were fain to thrust back the aliens from castle and from land.
Onward the battle-marshals the ranks to the war-shock led,
Onward withal Prince Siegfried with those his twelve knights sped
Which companioning his journey afar from the Low Land went.
Many a hand in the war-storm that day saw blood-besprent.
Now Sindold and Hunold and Gernot in the forefront of battle smite,
And many a hero falleth before them dead in the fight;
Ere they could prove their valour they slept the iron sleep:—
Ah, for their fate must many a lovely lady weep!
Volker and Hagen and Ortwein with shattering strokes made dim
The splendour of many a helmet in the battle bitter-grim;
For the blood streamed over the morions where the aweless heroes fought:
Yea, many a marvel of prowess the hand of Dankwart wrought.
{p. 28}
Now the Danes are essaying how mighty are the broadswords that they wield:
Loud rang the clashing and clanging of shield that shocked on shield;
And the griding glaives keen-whetted made the hot blood spurt through the mail;
Nor for nought did the battle-fearless Saxons their foes assail.
Onward the fierce Burgundians through that war-thicket clave,
And many a wound wide-gaping they dealt with the deadly glaive.
All over the saddle-housings the blood ran streaming down:
So strove those dauntless champions for the winning of renown.
Far afront rang out the clashing of the helmet-sundering brand
In the grasp of the mightiest champions, where the knights of Netherland
Pressed after their lord on-charging through the heart of the battle-din:
Those Twelve in knightly fashion, where Siegfried led, burst in.
No man of the warriors of Rhineland could follow where these rode:
From far they beheld the blood-streams as in sudden crimson they flowed
Through the bright helms riven asunder by Siegfried’s smiting hand,
Till he found where Lüdiger battled afront of his own war-band.
Three times through their reeling squadrons did the Son of Siegmund ride
From end to end of their war-host—now Hagen fights at his side;
Yea, mightily now doth he help him to accomplish his will in the fight.
Borne down by their onset perished full many a valiant knight.
But face to face with Siegfried at last strong Lüdiger came,
And saw in his hand upleaping the great sword’s battle-flame,
Saw the edges of Balmung cleaving through his knights a death-strewn path.
Then the heart of the dauntless Saxon was swept by a storm of wrath.
Then hurled were the surges of battle together with clash of swords,
As the war-bands closed in the grapple of fight around their lords,
And the two kings sought each other with uttermost desire.
Reeled squadrons sundered before them till they met, for their hate was as fire.
To the Lord of the land of the Saxons long since the tidings came
How his brother was taken captive, and for this was his wrath aflame;
But he wotted not who had achieved it: nought knew he of Siegelind’s son,
For the deed had been told for Gernot’s—but of him was the truth soon known!
{p. 29}
Then rained from Lüdiger’s war-glaive such storm of blow on blow
That Siegfried’s steed ’neath the saddle sank on his haunches low;
But he sprang to his full height straightway, and the dauntless Siegfried’s might
Flashed forth in terrible lightnings through the tempest of that fight.
There beside him was Hagen smiting, and Gernot bare him well,
And Dankwart and Volker; before them the swaths of battle fell:
Hewed Sindold and Hunold and Ortwein, the war-triumphant lords:
Before them many a champion slept the sleep of swords.
In the battle’s heart close-grappling were Saxon and Lowland king,
And over their helm-crests ever did many a javelin sing;
Through glittering bucklers pierced they from the hands of heroes sped,
Till many a goodly shield-rim dripped with the life-stream red.
Mid the surges of battle-tempest sank many a good knight slain
From his steed to the earth: yet ever they clashed, those terrible twain
Hurling together, Siegfried and Lüdiger the king,
’Neath the splintered staves upsoaring and the javelins’ eager wing.
Lo, the sweep of the sword of Siegfried hath severed the King’s shield-band!
Now seeth the Netherland hero the victory hard at hand
Over the valiant Saxons—nigh these was the bitter end.
—Ha, how did the dauntless Dankwart the glittering mail-rings rend!—
Even then the King of the Saxons with sudden-cold despair
Beheld a crown emblazoned on the shield that Siegfried bare.
He saw it, he knew it—“None other than the Hero resistless is here!”
And he lifted his voice, through the clangour of battle his shout rang clear:
“Refrain you from fight, refrain you, all ye of my battle-aid!
Lo, here is the Son of Siegmund in the strife against us arrayed!
I have seen, I have known him, Siegfried, the all-resistless lord:
Of a truth hath the Foul Fiend sent him against us hitherward!
Let sink my battle-banners,” he cried, “the fight is done!”
For peace he made entreaty; peace was vouchsafed anon.
Yet himself must fare as hostage afar to Gunther’s land
Beneath the hard constraining of dauntless Siegfried’s hand.
{p. 30}
So ceased the weary warriors with one consent from the fight;
And many a shattered helmet and shield to left and to right
Did they cast from their hands; nor any of all on the field that lay,
But blood-besprent from the hewing of Burgundia’s swords were they.
From the field, by the right of the victor, what captives they would did they lead:
And the swift war-helpers, Gernot and Hagen, took order with heed
That the wounded men upon litters be borne: so led they away,
Captives unto the Rhine-flood, five hundred men from the fray.
All empty-handed of triumph home rode each Danish knight,
Nor yet had the Saxons borne them so stoutly in that fight
That their people should sing their praises: in sorrow and shame went they
Mid wailing for dear ones fallen in the slaughter of that day.
Now their needless armour Rhineward the sumpter-beasts might bear,
For Siegfried the strong and his helpers had rid the land of the fear
Of foes from border to border: so had he accomplished this
That all King Gunther’s war-host must acclaim the deed for his.
Straightway to Worms Prince Gernot hasted the messengers’ feet
To bear unto friends in the homeland the tidings passing sweet,
That tale of the might triumphant of the Kings and their war-array,
The tale of the deeds of the valiant, of the dawn of glory’s day.
Fast, fast those victory-heralds sped, and the tale was told.
How leap their hearts for gladness that of late were sorrowful-souled,
For all those joyful tidings through the jubilant land that ring!
How instant are high-born ladies with eager questioning
How had it fared with their dear lords in the King’s war-host who fought!
Yea, into the presence of Kriemhild was a messenger straightway brought:
Yet the thing was done as in secret, and she would not that folk should know,
For the Hero’s sake in whose keeping was her heart from long ago.
When stood that victory-bringer in her bower before her eyes,
Kriemhild the lovely bespake him in exceeding gracious wise:
{p. 31}
“Now tell me thy joyful tidings, and my gold shall thy guerdon be;
And, so nought of the truth be hidden, thou hast ever a friend in me.
Tell how hath my brother Gernot come forth of the battle-strife,
And other my friends and kinsmen. Be there many that lost their life?
Who in that day triumphant was in prowess chief?—say on!”
Spake the messenger true-hearted: “Sooth, battle-blencher was none;
But in that stern warrior-onset no champion rode so well,
O noble Daughter of Princes, if the truth my tongue must tell,
As the princely stranger-hero, which came from the Netherland;—
O the marvels of battle-prowess that were wrought by Siegfried’s hand!
What deeds soever the champions achieved in the battle-play,
Even Dankwart and Hagen, and other of Gunther’s war-array—
Their glory, their prowess, were even as an idle wind should sing,
Set by the deeds of Siegfried, the son of Siegmund the King.
O yea, in the storm of battle full many a hero they slew:
But whoso essayed could never tell all the marvels through
That were wrought by the arm of Siegfried as he rode the surges of fight—
Ah, many a lady for dear ones slain shall bewail his might!
Went down before his onset the beloved of many a bride;
His giant strokes on the helmets o’er the field rang far and wide,
And forth of the gaping gashes the blood flowed fast and free:—
O yea, in all achievement the glory of knighthood is he!
Sooth, many a deed of valour wrought Ortwein, Metz’s Lord;
Whosoever was touched in the war-storm by the lightning of his sword
Fell back from his face sore wounded—yea, for the more part slain:
And thy brother withal to the foemen dealt the deadliest bane
That ever in battle-tempest hath any champion wrought.
True witness were this of the chosen warriors there that fought,
That so mighty in war-achievement were our proud Burgundians found,
That shame shall touch them never: for aye are they glory-crowned.
For they smote, and they saw before them many a riderless selle:
O’er the echoing field their war-glaives rang many a foeman’s knell.
{p. 32}
O yea, the knights of Rhineland rode through that stormy day
In such wise that their foes repent them that ever they dared the fray.
And the valiant brethren of Troneg withal dealt deadly bane
When the war-hosts clashed, when the nations wrestled with desperate strain:
So many were then hurled earthward by dauntless Hagen’s hand,
That thereof might a goodly story be told in Burgundia-land.
Sindold withal and Hunold, ’neath Gernot’s banner who warred,
These wrought such deeds of prowess, with Rumold the dauntless lord,
That Lüdiger, king of the Saxons, to his latest hour shall repent
The folly of that war-challenge to the Lords of Rhineland sent.
Yet of all the mightiest war-deeds that ever on earth have been,
From the least even unto the greatest that ever eye hath seen,
Never were such as Siegfried hath wrought with resistless hand.
And he bringeth royal captives hither to Gunther’s land;
Even these with his might overmastering the warrior-prince subdued.
Of a truth his self-sought evils hath Lüdegast bitterly rued,
And Lüdiger his brother, the lord of the Saxons, withal!
O noble Daughter of Princes, not yet have I told thee all;
For behold, these twain were captive taken by Siegfried’s hand.
Never so many war-thralls have come into this our land
As now his valour haleth hitherward unto the Rhine.”
—More welcome words had she hearkened never, ye well may divine—
“Five hundred barons unwounded, nay more, be hitherward led,
O Queen, and of men sore stricken in fight, yea, well-nigh dead,
Full fourscore blood-stained litters come softly through the land;
And of these were the more part smitten by dauntless Siegfried’s hand.
They whose pride overweening challenged the Lords of Rhine to the war
Now captives of King Gunther by sore constraint they are.
With joy to thy land that goodly prey do our warriors hale.”
Then flushed into rose the lily at the telling of that tale.
Yea, over her lovely visage for rapture the roses burned
That out of the imminent peril alive and whole had returned
{p. 33}
Her knight, her winsome Siegfried, of the young, heart-conquering eyes—
Yea, she rejoiced for her kinsfolk withal in sisterly wise.
Then spake that Queen of Beauty: “Glad tidings to me hast thou brought.
I will give thee for thy guerdon bright raiment richly wrought;
And my treasurer shall count thee withal ten marks of gold.”
He is happy of whom such tidings unto noble dames be told!
They gave him for his guerdon the gold and the costly array.
Many a lovely maiden from her casement leaned that day,
And gazed o’er the city highway, and saw go riding by
Many a thane high-hearted of the land of Burgundy.
First rode the knights unwounded, then the train of the stricken came,—
Well might these hearken the greeting of friends with nought of shame!
And the King rode forth glad-hearted to meet them, kinsman and guest:
From all his care in rejoicing his soul had gotten rest.
Then greeted he well his kinsfolk, and hailed each stranger knight,
As for kings of men so mighty is ever meet and right
With thanks and with lovingkindness to meet men faring back
From plucking the flower of glory from the field of the battle-wrack.
Now touching his friends and his kinsmen King Gunther questioneth,
Even who in the highways of battle had been stricken unto death:
And behold, in heroes fourscore the tale of their slain is told!—
But the brave dead none bewaileth, and so hath it been from of old.
Yea, even the knights unwounded brought many a sword-hacked shield,
And many a rifted helmet, home from that stricken field.
And the riders sprang from their horses at the gates of the hall of the King;
And with shouts of salutation did the very heavens ring.
Fair harbourage unto the good knights they gave that city through;
And the King commanded to honour his guests with tendance due;
And they bound up the hurts of the wounded, and with diligent heed did they tend:
Yea, that knightly King was gracious unto foe no less than friend.
{p. 34}
Then unto Lüdegast spake he: “Welcome to me be thou!
Through thy misdeed to my kingdom hath mischief been wrought enow,
For the which thou must make atonement, if this may be compassed of me.
God look on my friends and reward them: right well have they holpen me!”
“Well mayst thou thank thine helpers,” spake Lüdiger answering:
“In sooth such high-born captives had never earthly king!
And now for knightly warding we tender thee goodly fee,
And pray thee for gracious dealing with them that were foes unto thee.”
“Unto both of you freedom from fetters,” he answered, “will I accord,
So all which have fought against me abide here still in ward:
And for this shall ye give me pledges that none shall leave my land,
Except as I give them licence.” To the covenant gave they the hand.
Then they led to their rest the weary, where all things ready were made.
Full soon upon easeful couches were the wounded warriors laid.
And they poured for the knights unwounded bright wine and mead good store:
Never in mirth and joyance were hearts uplifted more.
The bucklers battle-riven took they, and they laid them by,
And saddles blood-empurpled might one see plenteously;
But these caused they to be hidden, lest women should weep at the sight:—
Ah, the sun went down that even upon many a wayworn knight!
“Give kindliest entertainment to my guests,” did the King command:—
With the native-born and with strangers now thronged was all the land:—
He took thought for the heedful tendance of each sore-wounded foe:
Ha, how was their haughty defiance in humility brought low!
Whosoever were cunning in leechcraft, rich guerdon their skill repaid,
Bright gold unstinted and silver outlavished, yea, unweighed,
So they would but heal those heroes who had gotten hurt in the war.
And with gifts the King still loaded his guests that came from far.
And whoso of these was minded homeward to turn again,
As one should entreat a dear friend, so prayed they him to remain.
Nor forgat the King his liegemen, but devised for them rich reward,
Even all whose labour of glory had accomplished the will of their lord.
{p. 35}
Then spake Prince Gernot his counsel: “Let our guests depart as now:
And in forty days—proclaim it, and to all men publish it thou—
Unto a festal high-tide shall all return once more;
For healed by then shall be many that now lie wounded sore.”
Then made his request Prince Siegfried: “I pray you, let me depart.”
But when to the Rhine-lord Gernot was known the desire of his heart,
He besought him in loving fashion for a season to tarry still:—
Sooth, but for the love of his sister, he had swayed him not to his will!
To a prince so royal might no man for his measureless desert
Proffer reward; but his guerdon was the love of Gunther’s heart,
And of all his friends and kinsfolk; for alway in their sight
Fair shone the mighty achievements that his hand had wrought in fight.
He said to his heart: “I will linger for the sake of Beauty’s Queen,
If at last I may haply behold her.” And so was his heart’s dream seen
At the last: after long, long waiting he beheld her, his love and his star;
Then with heart all love-overflowing he rode to his home afar.
Now the King had given commandment for tourneys day by day,
And strong young knights rode gladly in the gentle and joyous fray.
And he bade make ready the high-seats in the city beside Rhine-strand
For the noble guests who were bidden to the feast in Burgundia-land.
Now as near drew the day and nearer when the guests from afar should be there,
Told was the tale of their coming unto Kriemhild the passing-fair,
And of that great festal high-tide with dear-loved friends she heard—
Lo, the heart of each winsome lady to beauty’s arraying is stirred;
And they seek out wimples to deck them, and the lovely robes unfold.
And now to the lady Uta the tidings moreover are told
Of the coming of those proud warriors which unto the feast are bidden.
Forth drawn is the costly raiment in the cedar caskets hidden;
And she bade for her sons’ sake fashion bright mantle and vest straightway
For the clothing of maid and matron in royal-rich array;
Yea, doublet and cloak for vesture of the knights of Burgundy,
And withal for many a stranger much goodly bravery.