Chapter 10

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.

602

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.

603

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.

604

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.

605

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.

606

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.

607

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.

608

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."

609

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.

610

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."

611

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.

612

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."

613

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."

614

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.

615

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.

616

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.

617

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.

618

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.

619

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."

620

"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."

621

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."

622

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."

623

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."

624

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.

625

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.

626

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.

627

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.

628

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.

629

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.

630

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.

631

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.

632

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.

633

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.

634

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.

635

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.

636

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.

637

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.

638

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."

639

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.

640

"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.

641

"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."

642

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.

643

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.

644

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.

645

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.

646

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.

647

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.

648

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."

649

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.

650

"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.

651

"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.

652

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."

653

"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.

654

"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."

655

"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."

656

"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.

657

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.

658

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.

659

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.

660

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!

661

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.

662

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?"

663

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.

664

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.

665

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.

666

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.

667

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.

668

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.

669

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.

670

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.

671

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.

672

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.

673

"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."

674

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.

675

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.

676

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.

677

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.

678

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."

679

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.

680

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.

681

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!

682

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.

683

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.

684

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.

685

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.

686

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.

687

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.

688

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.

689

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

690

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.

691

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.

692

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.

693

"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.

694

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."

695

"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."

696

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."

697

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

698

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.

699

"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."

700

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.