Chapter 15

How the Nibelungen Hoard was Brought to Worms

1101

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.

1102

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.

1103

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.

1104

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,

1105

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.

1106

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.

1107

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."

1108

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."

1109

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.

1110

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."

1111

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.

1112

"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.

1113

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.

1114

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.

1115

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.

1116

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.

1117

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.

1118

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.

1119

"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.

1120

"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.

1121

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.

1122

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.

1123

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.

1124

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.

1125

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.

1126

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.

1127

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.

1128

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.

1129

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."

1130

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."

1131

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."

1132

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.

1133

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.

1134

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.

1135

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."

1136

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.

1137

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.

1138

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.

1139

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.

1140

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.

1141

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.

1142

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

1143

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.

1144

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."

1145

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."

1146

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."

1147

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.

1148

"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."

1149

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."

1150

"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."

1151

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.

1152

"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."

1153

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."

1154

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."

1155

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.

1156

"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.

1157

"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."

1158

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."

1159

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."

1160

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.

1161

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.

1162

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.

1163

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.

1164

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.

1165

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.

1166

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:

1167

"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.

1168

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.

1169

"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."

1170

"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."

1171

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."

1172

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."

1173

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.

1174

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.

1175

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,

1176

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.

1177

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.

1178

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."

1179

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.

1180

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."

1181

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.

1182

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.

1183

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.

1184

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."

1185

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.

1186

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.

1187

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.

1188

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.

1189

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."

1190

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."

1191

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."

1192

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."

1193

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.

1194

"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,

1195

"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."

1196

"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."

1197

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.

1198

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.

1199

"'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."

1200

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?"

1201

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.

1202