to the gates of the royal city men saw on the fourth day’s morn
come two-and-thirty riders. straightway was their message borne
unto gunther, to wit, a defiance unto war from a far-off foe.
—that lie unto wives and mothers was a fathomless wellspring of woe.
unto these was licence given to appear before the king.
then said they to him: “we be liegemen of lüdeger’s following,
the king overcome in battle, time was, by siegfried’s hand,
and by him led thence as a hostage into king gunther’s land.”
then gunther greeted the heralds, and bade them sit at the meat.
but spake of them one, and answered: “lord king, let us stand on our feet
till we tell out all the tidings wherewith we be sent unto thee.
of many children of women be ye holden in enmity.
king lüdegast bids thee defiance, and with him king lüdeger,
because at thine hands aforetime despitefully used they were.
they will ride now into thy kingdom with a host for battle arrayed.”
great semblance of indignation at their message gunther made.
{p. 120}
then lodged they those feigned heralds, as who would take counsel awhile.
how might it be that siegfried should beware of such deep guile—
he, yea, or any other, when the snare for his feet was cast?
ha, in the net they had hidden were their own feet taken at last!
to and fro the king with his kinsmen whispering ever went:
ever hagen of troneg was pricking the sides of his intent.
in sooth, of gunther’s liegemen was many a man for peace,
but never from dark devising of murder would hagen cease.
thus as they whispered, siegfried found these thanes on a day;
and the hero of netherland marvelled, and questioning thus ’gan say:
“why goeth the king with his liegemen in heaviness of heart?
in avenging your wrongs am i ever ready to bear my part.”
answered and spake king gunther: “good cause for trouble have i.
me do the dane and the saxon again unto battle defy.
with their war-hosts now be they minded to ride into burgundy-land.”
answered the aweless hero: “their onset shall siegfried’s hand,
as best befitteth your honour, meet in the battle’s strain.
that i did to the kings aforetime, shall now be done yet again:
i will ravage their land and their strongholds beneath the spoiler’s tread
or ever from war i refrain me: hereon will i stake mine head.
as for thee, do thou and thy liegemen here in the homeland stay.
let me ride forth against them with mine own war-array.
that i render you service gladly, shall ye and all men see.
be ye sure, full evil entreated at mine hand shall your enemies be.”
“now welcome to me is thy saying,” the king said joyful-voiced,
as though in the proffered helping indeed and in truth he rejoiced.
in his falseness lowly he bowed him, that king of the traitor-heart!
yet again spake siegfried the noble, “let all your fears depart.”
plotters and vassals prepared them, as it were for the war-march, then;
but all was done for a semblance unto siegfried and his men.
and the hero bade his warriors of netherland arm for the fray;
and straightway the knights of siegfried sought out their war-array.
{p. 121}
to his sire spake siegfried the mighty: “here in the land remain,
siegmund my father: returning soon shalt thou see us again,
so god but grant good fortune to us, to the land of the rhine.
while thou with the king abidest fair days and glad shall be thine.”
now all were at point of departing: banners to staves they bound.
many of gunther’s liegemen the while were standing round:
but that all was hollow semblance no man of these was ware.
sooth, mighty was the war-host arrayed round siegfried there.
the hauberks and the helmets on the horses laded they:
knights many stalwart and fearless would forth of the land straightway.
then stole thence hagen of troneg: to the presence of kriemhild he came,
as who, ere they marched unto battle, would take his leave of the dame.
“now happy am i,” said kriemhild, “to have won to myself such a lord
who unto my friends belovèd is so mighty a battle-ward
as siegfried is to my brethren when he aideth them in fight;
and for this am i heart-uplifted,” said the queen, “with abiding delight.
hagen, friend well-belovèd, i pray thee, of this take thought—
i have joyed to do thee service, nor borne thee malice in aught:
let this be requited in kindness to my belovèd lord.
let him suffer not for my speaking to brunhild a hasty word.
thereof,” said the noble lady, “constrained have i been to repent:
he hath visited on my body in sorest chastisement
my folly of speech in stirring the queen unto angry mood:
he hath verily well avenged her, that noble knight and good.”
“yet a little while, and atonement shall she accept of thee,”
he said, “dear lady kriemhild: now i pray thee, tell unto me
in what wise i may do thee service through siegfried thy lord and thy knight.
none living would i, o lady, for thy kindness so gladly requite.”
“for him were i wholly dreadless,” made answer siegfried’s wife,
“lest any in storm of battle should imperil mine hero’s life,
{p. 122}
were it not for his reckless defying of danger in battle’s van;
else would he aye go scatheless, that good and valiant man.”
“o lady, if this thou fearest,” in his subtlety hagen replied,
“lest in battle he haply be wounded, then unto me confide
how best i may devise it, such peril to withstand;
then for his warding ever will i ride full near at hand.”
she answered, “thou art my kinsman, and of blood am i near unto thee.
i commit my lord, my belovèd, to thy faith and thy fealty,
that for my sake o’er my belovèd the shield of protection thou hold.”
then to hagen revealed she a story that had better been left untold.
for she said, “my lord is fearless, and the strongest man of men;
and he slew on a day mid the mountains the dragon of the fen;
then bathed the hero his body in the blood of the monster worm,
wherefore availeth to wound him no weapon that man may form.
yet ever mine heart is fearful when in forefront of battle he stands,
and many a flying javelin is sped from warriors’ hands,
lest i peradventure may lose him, mine hero of all loved best:—
ah me, with what fears for siegfried tosses mine heart in unrest!
o friend, dear friend and kinsman, on thy faithful love i lean
that thou wilt guard thy troth-plight given herein to a queen,
when i tell to thee where my belovèd may be wounded of the steel.
now shalt thou hear: the secret to thine honour and love i reveal.
when from the wounds of the dragon flowed the hot-reeking blood,
and when in the red pool bathed him that fearless knight and good,
there fell on him ’twixt the shoulders one broad lime-tree leaf
on that spot may he be wounded; and this is my sorrow and grief.”
answered her hagen of troneg: “thou then with thine own hand sew
on his vesture a little token that to me that spot may show
the which, when we stand in the war-storm, with heed evermore must i shield.”
she thought from peril to save him; but so unto death was he sealed.
she said, “i will sew on his garment with a silken thread spun fine
a faintly-visible crosslet: there that strong hand of thine,
{p. 123}
hero, shall guard mine husband, as he presseth aye to the front,
and standeth begirt with foemen in the battle’s sternest brunt.”
“even this will i do, dear lady,” false hagen made reply.
she thought in her wifely yearning to redeem him from death thereby:—
ah me, thereby did kriemhild her lord unto death betray!
most courteous leave took hagen, and with glad heart hasted away.
(c) then asked of him king gunther: “what secret hath hagen learned?”
“king, we will ride forth hunting when back is the war-march turned.
now have i gotten the knowledge whereby he shall surely die.
thou, wilt thou appoint this hunting?” said the king, “yea, that will i!”
now are the kinsmen of gunther blithe, and their hearts are light!
never, i ween, thereafter to the end of time shall knight
devise such black betrayal as by these contrived hath been
from the trust in knighthood’s honour placed by a wife and a queen!
on the morrow’s morning early siegfried the knight rode forth
with a thousand men blithe-hearted, their faces set to the north.
he weened he should take a vengeance for his friends’ wrong fierce and fell.
so nigh unto him rode hagen that he marked his surcoat well.
then, when he spied the token, he sent all secretly
to be bearers of other tidings two men of his company
which should say, “let the great king’s country in peace unmarred abide,
for to make submission to gunther hath lüdeger bidden us ride.”
how passing loth was siegfried to turn him back from the fight,
from avenging friends and kinsmen on these that had done them despite!
scarce could the liegemen of gunther persuade him to sheathe the sword.
back rode he at last to the traitor, and the king his thanks outpoured:
“god guerdon thee, friend siegfried, for thy good heart unto mine aid,
that thou offeredst thee so freely what time for thine help i prayed!
for this will i aye be beholden to thee, as well may i be.
beyond all friends and kinsmen do i put chief trust in thee!
but seeing that now for a season war unto peace giveth place,
go to, let us hunt the wild-boar and hold the bear in chase
{p. 124}
in the odenwald, as ofttimes in days overpast have i done.”
—by hagen was all this plotted, the utter-treacherous one.
“each guest of mine by my message shall straightway be certified
that tomorn we go forth hunting: whoso with me will ride,
let him hold him early ready: if any will bide here still
fleeting careless hours with the ladies, that doth he with my good will.”
with knightly courtesy siegfried made answer thereunto:
“if ye ride forth a-hunting, i will gladly go with you.
so ye will but lend me a huntsman who shall rouse the quarry for me,
and therewithal some sleuth-hounds, to the forest will i with thee.”
“one huntsman wilt thou only?” king gunther straightway replied.
“i will lend thee four, an it please thee, which know from side to side
the forest and all the wood-ways, and every wild thing’s lair,
lest thou err from the path unknowing when campward at even we fare.”
then rode the hero to kriemhild, and told to her everything,
the while that the tale of hagen was told in the ears of the king,
even all his deadly devising against that noble thane:—
god grant such treachery never may be wrought by man again!
(c) so when these royal hunters had woven the dark death-snare,
then told they the plot to their fellows. yet gernot and giselher
would not with the rest go hunting. wherefore from warning their friend
they hardened their hearts, i know not. fully paid was the price in the end.
