Part 25

Then spake the valiant Dankwart, / a knight that knew no fear; "In sooth stands not unaided / my brother Hagen here. Who here have peace denied us / may yet have cause to rue. I would that this ye doubt not, / for verily I tell you true."

2108

The queen to those around her: / "Ye gallant warriors, go Now nigher to the stairway / and straight avenge my woe. I'll ever make requital / therefor, as well I may. For his haughty humor / will I Hagen full repay.

2109

"To pass without the portal / let not one at all, For at its four corners / I'll bid ignite the hall. So will I fullest vengeance / take for all my woe." Straightway the thanes of Etzel / ready stood her hest to do.

2110

Who still without were standing / were driven soon within By sword and spear upon them, / that made a mighty din. Yet naught might those good warriors / from their masters take, By their faith would never / each the other's side forsake.

2111

To burn the hall commanded / Etzel's wife in ire, And tortured they those warriors / there with flaming fire; Full soon with wind upon it / the house in flames was seen. To any folk did never / sadder plight befall, I ween.

2112

Their cries within resounded: / "Alack for sorest need! How mickle rather lay we / in storm of battle dead. 'Fore God 'tis cause for pity, / for here we all must die! Now doth the queen upon us / vengeance wreak full grievously."

2113

Among them spake another: / "Our lives we here must end. What now avails the greeting / the king to us did send? So sore this heat oppresseth / and parched with thirst my tongue, My life from very anguish / I ween I must resign ere long."

2114

Then quoth of Tronje Hagen: / "Ye noble knights and good, Whoe'er by thirst is troubled, / here let him drink the blood. Than wine more potent is it / where such high heat doth rage, Nor may we at this season / find us a better beverage."

2115

Where fallen knight was lying, / thither a warrior went. Aside he laid his helmet, / to gaping wound he bent, And soon was seen a-quaffing / therefrom the flowing blood. To him though all unwonted, / yet seemed he there such drinking good.

2116

"Now God reward thee, Hagen," / the weary warrior said, "That I so well have drunken, / thus by thy teaching led. Better wine full seldom / hath been poured for me, And live I yet a season / I'll ever faithful prove to thee."

2117

When there did hear the others / how to him it seemed good, Many more beheld ye / eke that drank the blood. Each thereby new vigor / for his body won, And eke for lover fallen / wept many a buxom dame anon.

2118

The flaming brands fell thickly / upon them in the hall, With upraised shields they kept them / yet scatheless from their fall, Though smoke and heat together / wrought them anguish sore. Beset were heroes never, / I ween, by so great woe before.

2119

Then spake of Tronje Hagen: / "Stand nigh unto the wall, Let not the brands all flaming / upon your helmets fall. Into the blood beneath you / tread them with your feet. In sooth in evil fashion / us doth our royal hostess greet."

2120

In trials thus endured / ebbed the night away. Still without the portal / did the keen Fiddler stay And Hagen his good fellow, / o'er shield their bodies leant; They deemed the men of Etzel / still on further mischief bent.

2121

Then was heard the Fiddler: / "Pass we into the hall, For so the Huns shall fondly / deem we are perished all Amid the mickle torture / we suffer at their hand. Natheless shall they behold us / boun for fight before them stand."

2122

Spake then of Burgundy / the young Sir Giselher: "I ween 'twill soon be dawning, / for blows a cooler air. To live in fuller joyance / now grant us God in heaven. To us dire entertainment / my sister Kriemhild here hath given."

2123

Spake again another: / "Lo! how I feel the day. For that no better fortune / here await us may, So don, ye knights, your armor, / and guard ye well your life. Full soon, in sooth, we suffer / again at hands of Etzel's wife."

2124

Fondly Etzel fancied / the strangers all were dead, From sore stress of battle / and from the fire dread; Yet within were living / six hundred men so brave, That never thanes more worthy / a monarch for liegemen might have.

2125

The watchers set to watch them / soon full well had seen How still lived the strangers, / spite what wrought had been Of harm and grievous evil, / on the monarchs and their band. Within the hall they saw them / still unscathed and dauntless stand.

2126

Told 'twas then to Kriemhild / how they from harm were free. Whereat the royal lady / quoth, such thing ne'er might be That any still were living / from that fire dread. "Nay, believe I rather / that within they all lie dead."

2127

Gladly yet the strangers / would a truce compound, Might any grace to offer / amid their foes be found. But such appeared not any / in them of Hunnish land. Well to avenge their dying / prepared they then with willing hand.

2128

About the dawn of morning / greeted they were again With a vicious onslaught, / that paid full many a thane. There was flung upon them / many a mighty spear, While gallantly did guard them / the lofty thanes that knew not fear.

2129

The warriors of Etzel / were all of eager mood, And Kriemhild's promised bounty / win for himself each would; To do the king's high bidding / did likewise urge their mind. 'Twas cause full soon that many / were doomed swift death in fight to find.

2130

Of store of bounty promised / might wonders great be told, She bade on shields to carry / forth the ruddy gold, And gave to him that wished it / or would but take her store; In sooth a greater hire / ne'er tempted 'gainst the foe before.

2131

A mickle host of warriors / went forth in battle-gear. Then quoth the valiant Volker: / "Still may ye find us here. Ne'er saw I move to battle / warriors more fain, That to work us evil / the bounty of the king have ta'en."

2132

Then cried among them many: / "Hither, ye knights, more nigh! Since all at last must perish, / 'twere better instantly; And here no warrior falleth / but who fore-doomed hath been." With well-flung spears all bristling / full quickly then their shields were seen.

2133

What need of further story? / Twelve hundred stalwart men, Repulsed in onset gory, / still returned again; But dealing wounds around them / the strangers cooled their mood, And there stood all unvanquished. / Flowing might ye see the blood

2134

From deep wounds and mortal, / whereof were many slain. For friends in battle fallen / heard ye loud complain; Slain were all those warriors / that served the mighty king, Whereat from loving kinsmen / arose a mickle sorrowing.

THIRTY-SEVENTH ADVENTURE

How the Margrave Ruediger was Slain

2135

At morning light the strangers / had wrought high deed of fame, When the spouse of Gotelinde / unto the courtyard came. To behold on both sides / such woe befallen there, Might not refrain from weeping / sorely the faithful Ruediger.

2136

"O woe is me!" exclaimed he, / "that ever I was born. Alack that this great sorrow / no hand from us may turn! Though I be ne'er so willing, / the king no peace will know, For he beholds his sorrow / ever great and greater grow."

2137

Then did the kindly Ruediger / unto Dietrich send, If to the lofty monarchs / they yet might truce extend. The knight of Bern gave message: / "How might such thing be? For ne'er the royal Etzel / granteth to end it peacefully."

2138

When a Hunnish warrior / saw standing Ruediger As from eyes sore weeping / fell full many a tear, To his royal mistress spake he: / "Behold how stands he there With whom here by Etzel / none other may in might compare,

2139

"And who commandeth service / of lands and people all. How many lordly castles / Ruediger his own doth call, That unto him hath given / the bounty of the king! Not yet in valorous conflict / saw'st thou here his sword to swing.

2140

"Methinks, but little recks he, / what may here betide, Since now in fullest measure / his heart is satisfied. 'Tis told he is, surpassing / all men, forsooth, so keen, But in this time of trials / his valor ill-displayed hath been."

2141

Stood there full of sorrow / the brave and faithful man, Yet whom he thus heard speaking / he cast his eyes upon. Thought he: "Thou mak'st atonement, / who deem'st my mettle cold. Thy thought here all too loudly / hast thou unto the people told."

2142

His fist thereat he doubled / and upon him ran, And smote with blow so mighty / there King Etzel's man That prone before him straightway / fell that mocker dead. So came but greater sorrow / on the royal Etzel's head.

2143

"Hence thou basest caitiff," / cried then Ruediger; "Here of pain and sorrow / enough I have to bear. Wherefore wilt thou taunt me / that I the combat shun? In sooth had I the utmost / of harm upon the strangers done,

2144

"For that good reason have I / to bear them hate indeed, But that myself the warriors / as friends did hither lead. Yea, was I their safe escort / into my master's land; So may I, man most wretched, / ne'er raise against them hostile hand."

2145

Then spake the lofty Etzel / unto the margrave: "What aid, O noble Ruediger, / here at thy hands we have! Our country hath so many / already doomed to die, We need not any other: / now hast thou wrought full wrongfully."

2146

Returned the knight so noble: / "My heart he sore hath grieved, And reproached me for high honors / at thy hand received And eke for gifts unto me / by thee so freely made; Dearly for his slander / hath the base traducer paid."

2147

When had the queen come hither / and had likewise seen How on the Hunnish warrior / his wrath had vented been, Incontinent she mourned it, / and tears bedimmed her sight. Spake she unto Ruediger: / "How dost thou now our love requite,

2148

"That for me and thy master / thou bring'st increase of woe? Now hast thou, noble Ruediger, / ever told us so, How that thou life and honor / for our sake wouldst dare. Eke heard I thanes full many / proclaim thee knight beyond compare.

2149

"Of the oath I now remind thee / that thou to me didst swear, When counsel first thou gavest / to Etzel's land to fare, That thou wouldst truly serve me / till one of us were dead: Of that I wretched woman / never stood so sore in need."

2150

"Nor do I, royal mistress, / deny that so I sware That I for thy well-being / would life and honor dare: But eke my soul to forfeit, / --that sware I not indeed. 'Tis I thy royal brothers / hither to this land did lead."

2151

Quoth she: "Bethink thee, Ruediger, / of thy fidelity And oath once firmly plighted / that aught of harm to me Should ever be avenged, / and righted every ill." Replied thereto the margrave: / "Ne'er have I failed to work thy will."

2152

Etzel the mighty monarch / to implore him then began, And king and queen together / down knelt before their man, Whereat the good margrave / was seen in sorest plight, And gan to mourn his station / in piteous words the faithful knight.

2153

"O woe is me most wretched," / he sorrow-stricken cried, "That forced I am my honor / thus to set aside, And bonds of faith and friendship / God hath imposed on me. O Thou that rul'st in heaven! / come death, I cannot yet be free.

2154

"Whate'er it be my effort / to do or leave undone, I break both faith and honor / in doing either one; But leave I both, all people / will cry me worthy scorn. May He look down in mercy / who bade me wretched man be born!"

2155

With many a prayer besought him / the king and eke his spouse, Wherefore was many a warrior / soon doomed his life to lose At hand of noble Ruediger, / when eke did die the thane. Now hear ye how he bore him, / though filled his heart with sorest pain.

2156

He knew how scathe did wait him / and boundless sorrowing, And gladly had refused / to obey the king And eke his royal mistress. / Full sorely did he fear, That if one stranger slew he, / the scorn of all the world he'd bear.

2157

Then spake unto the monarch / the full gallant thane: "O royal sire, whatever / thou gavest, take again, The land and every castle, / that naught remain to me. On foot a lonely pilgrim / I'll wander to a far country."

2158

Thereto replied King Etzel: / "Who then gave help to me? My land and lordly castles / give I all to thee, If on my foes, O Ruediger, / revenge thou wilt provide. A mighty monarch seated, / shalt thou be by Etzel's side."

2159

Again gave answer Ruediger: / "How may that ever be? At my own home shared they / my hospitality. Meat and drink I offered / to them in friendly way, And gave them of my bounty: / how shall I seek them here to slay ?

2160

"The folk belike will fancy / that I a coward be. Ne'er hath faithful service / been refused by me Unto the noble princes / and their warriors too; That e'er I gained their friendship, / now 'tis cause for me to rue.

2161

"For spouse unto Sir Giselher / gave I a daughter mine, Nor into fairer keeping / might I her resign, Where truth were sought and honor / and gentle courtesy: Ne'er saw I thane so youthful / virtuous in mind as he."

2162

Again gave answer Kriemhild: / "O noble Ruediger, To me and royal Etzel / in mercy now give ear For sorrows that o'erwhelm us. / Bethink thee, I implore, That monarch never any / harbored so evil guests before."

2163

Spake in turn the margrave / unto the monarch's wife: "Ruediger requital / must make to-day with life For that thou and my master / did me so true befriend. Therefore must I perish; / now must my service find an end.

2164

"E'en this day, well know I, / my castles and my land Must surely lose their master / beneath a stranger's hand. To thee my wife and children / commend I for thy care, And with all the lorn ones / that wait by Bechelaren's towers fair."

2165

"Now God reward thee, Ruediger," / thereat King Etzel quoth. He and the queen together, / right joyful were they both. "To us shall all thy people / full commended be; Eke trow I by my fortune / no harm shall here befall to thee."

2166

For their sake he ventured / soul and life to lose. Thereat fell sore to weeping / the royal Etzel's spouse. He spake: "I must unto you / my plighted word fulfil. Alack! beloved strangers, / whom to assail forbids my will."

2167

From the king there parting / ye saw him, sad of mood, And passed unto his warriors / who at small distance stood. "Don straightway now your armor, / my warriors all," quoth he. "Alas! must I to battle / with the valiant knights of Burgundy."

2168

Then straightway for their armor / did the warriors call. A shining helm for this one, / for that a shield full tall Soon did the nimble squires / before them ready hold. Anon came saddest tidings / unto the stranger warriors bold.

2169

With Ruediger there saw ye / five hundred men arrayed, And noble thanes a dozen / that came unto his aid, Thinking in storm of battle / to win them honor high. In sooth but little knew they / how death awaited them so nigh.

2170

With helm on head advancing / saw ye Sir Ruediger. Swords that cut full keenly / the margrave's men did bear, And eke in hand each carried / a broad shield shining bright. Boundless was the Fiddler's / sorrow to behold the sight.

2171

When saw the youthful Giselher / his bride's sire go Thus with fastened helmet, / how might he ever know What he therewith did purpose / if 'twere not only good? Thereat the noble monarchs / right joyous might ye see of mood.

2172

"I joy for friends so faithful," / spake Giselher the thane, "As on our journey hither / we for ourselves did gain. Full great shall be our vantage / that I found spouse so dear, And high my heart rejoiceth / that plighted thus to wed we were."

2173

"Small cause I see for comfort," / thereto the minstrel spake. "When saw ye thanes so many / come a truce to make With helmet firmly fastened / and bearing sword in hand? By scathe to us will Ruediger / service do for tower and land."

2174

The while that thus the Fiddler / had spoken to the end, His way the noble Ruediger / unto the hall did wend. His trusty shield he rested / on the ground before his feet, Yet might he never offer / his friends in kindly way to greet.

2175

Loudly the noble margrave / cried into the hall: "Now guard you well, ye valiant / Nibelungen all. From me ye should have profit: / now have ye harm from me. But late we plighted friendship: / broken now these vows must be."

2176

Then quailed to hear such tidings / those knights in sore distress, For none there was among them / but did joy the less That he would battle with them / for whom great love they bore. At hand of foes already / had they suffered travail sore.

2177

"Now God in heaven forfend it," / there King Gunther cried, "That from mercy to us / thou so wilt turn aside, And the faithful friendship / whereof hope had we. I trow in sooth that never / may such thing be done by thee."

2178

"Desist therefrom I may not," / the keen knight made reply, "But now must battle with you, / for vow thereto gave I. "Now guard you, gallant warriors, / as fear ye life to lose: From plighted vow release me / will nevermore King Etzel's spouse."

2179

"Too late thou turnst against us," / spake King Gunther there. "Now might God requite thee, / O noble Ruediger, For the faith and friendship / thou didst on us bestow, If thou a heart more kindly / even to the end wouldst show.

2180

"We'd ever make requital / for all that thou didst give,-- I and all my kinsmen, / wouldst thou but let us live,-- For thy gifts full stately, / as faithfully thou here To Etzel's land didst lead us: / know that, O noble Ruediger."

2181

"To me what pleasure were it," / Ruediger did say, "With full hand of my treasure / unto you to weigh And with a mind right willing / as was my hope to do! Thus might no man reproach me / with lack of courtesy to you."

2182

"Turn yet, O noble Ruediger." / Gernot spake again, "For in so gracious manner / did never entertain Any host the stranger, / as we were served by thee; And live we yet a little, / shall thou well requited be."

2183

"O would to God, full noble / Gernot," spake Ruediger, "That ye were at Rhine river / and that dead I were With somewhat saved of honor, / since I must be your foe! Upon good knights was never / wrought by friends more bitter woe."

2184

"Now God requite thee, Ruediger," / Gernot gave reply, "For gifts so fair bestowed. / I rue to see thee die, For that in thee shall perish / knight of so gentle mind. Here thy sword I carry, / that gav'st thou me in friendship kind.

2185

"It never yet hath failed me / in this our sorest need, And 'neath its cutting edges / many a knight lies dead. 'Tis strong and bright of lustre, / cunning wrought and well. I ween, whate'er was given / by knight it doth in worth excel.

2186

"An wilt thou not give over / upon us here to fall, And if one friend thou slayest / here yet within this hall, With this same sword thou gavest, / I'll take from thee thy life. I sorrow for thee Ruediger, / and eke thy fair and stately wife."

2187

"Would God but give, Sir Gernot, / that such thing might be, That thou thy will completely / here fulfilled mightst see, And of thy friends not any / here his life should lose! Yea, shalt thou live to comfort / both my daughter and my spouse."

2188

Then out spake of Burgundy / the son of Ute fair: "How dost thou so, Sir Ruediger? / All that with me are To thee are well disposed. / Thou dost an evil thing, And wilt thine own fair daughter / to widowhood too early bring.

2189

"If thou with armed warriors / wilt thus assail me here, In what unfriendly manner / thou makest to appear How that in thee I trusted / beyond all men beside, When thy fairest daughter / erstwhile I won to be my bride."

2190

"Thy good faith remember, / O Prince of virtue rare, If God from hence do bring thee," / --so spake Ruediger: "Forsake thou not the maiden / when bereft of me, But rather grant thy goodness / be dealt to her more graciously."

2191

"That would I do full fairly," / spake Giselher again. "But if my lofty kinsmen, / who yet do here remain, Beneath thy hand shall perish, / severed then must be The friendship true I cherish / eke for thy daughter and for thee."

2192

"Then God to us give mercy," / the knight full valiant spake. Their shields in hand then took they, / as who perforce would make Their passage to the strangers / into Kriemhild's hall. Adown the stair full loudly / did Hagen, knight of Tronje, call:

2193

"Tarry yet a little, / O noble Ruediger, For further would we parley," / --thus might ye Hagen hear-- "I and my royal masters, / as presseth sorest need. What might it boot to Etzel / that we strangers all lay dead.

2194

"Great is here my trouble," / Hagen did declare: "The shield that Lady Gotelinde / gave to me to bear Hath now been hewn asunder / by Hun-men in my hand. With friendly thought I bore it / hither into Etzel's land.

2195

"Would that God in heaven / might grant in kindliness, That I a shield so trusty / did for my own possess As in thy hand thou bearest, / O noble Ruediger! In battle-storm then need I / never hauberk more to wear."

2196

"Full glad I'd prove my friendship / to thee with mine own shield, Dared I the same to offer / before Lady Kriemhild. But take it, natheless, Hagen, / and bear it in thy hand. Would that thou mightst take it / again unto Burgundian land!"

2197

When with mind so willing / he offered him his shield, Saw ye how eyes full many / with scalding tears were filled; For the last gift was it / that was offered e'er Unto any warrior / by Bechelaren's margrave, Ruediger.

2198

How grim soe'er was Hagen / and stern soe'er of mind, That gift to pity moved him / that there the chieftain kind, So near his latest moment, / did on him bestow. From eyes of many another / began likewise the tears to flow.

2199

"Now God in heaven requite thee, / O noble Ruediger! Like unto thee none other / warrior was there e'er, Unto knights all friendless / so bounteously to give. God grant in his mercy / thy virtue evermore to live.

2200

"Woe's me to hear such tiding," / Hagen did declare. "Such load of grief abiding / already do we bear, If we with friends must struggle, / to God our plaint must be." Thereto replied the margrave: / "'Tis cause of sorrow sore to me."

2201

"To pay thee for thy favor, / O noble Ruediger, Howe'er these lofty warriors / themselves against thee bear, Yet never thee in combat / here shall touch my hand, E'en though complete thou slayest / them from out Burgundian land."

2202

Thereat the lofty Ruediger / 'fore him did courteous bend. On all sides was lamenting / that no man might end These so great heart-sorrows / that sorely they must bear. The father of all virtue / fell with noble Ruediger.

2203

Then eke the minstrel Volker / from hall down glancing said: "Since Hagen thus, my comrade, / peace with thee hath made, Lasting truce thou likewise / receivest from my hand. Well hast thou deserved it / as fared we hither to this land.

2204

"Thou, O noble margrave, / my messenger shalt be. These arm-bands ruddy golden / thy lady gave to me, That here at this high festival / I the same should wear. Now mayst thyself behold them / and of my faith a witness bear."

2205

"Would God but grant," / spake Ruediger, "who ruleth high in heaven, That to thee by my lady / might further gift be given! I'll gladly tell thy tidings / to spouse full dear to me, An I but live to see her: / from doubt thereof thou mayst be free."

2206

When thus his word was given, / his shield raised Ruediger. Nigh to madness driven / bode he no longer there, But ran upon the strangers / like to a valiant knight. Many a blow full rapid / smote the margrave in his might.

2207

Volker and Hagen / made way before the thane, As before had promised / to him the warriors twain. Yet found he by the portal / so many a valiant man That Ruediger the combat / with mickle boding sore began.

2208