now when they had so sailed onward for nine days over the sea,

then out spake hagen of troneg: “i pray you, hearken to me:

lo, here we tarry from sending the tidings to worms on rhine;

yet by this in the land burgundian should they be, those heralds of thine.”

made answer to him king gunther: “of a truth good counsel is this;

and to send as our tidings-bearer were none so meet, i wis,

as thou thyself, friend hagen; thou unto my land ride on.

our royal journey may no man better than thou make known.”

“now nay, lord king, of heralds nowise the best should i be.

let me as thy treasure-warder tarry still on the sea:

here will i bide with the women, and guard their costly array

till unto the land burgundian we have brought them on their way.

not so; pray rather siegfried to bear this message for thee:

well can he do thine errand with wisdom and courtesy.

if he haply be loth for the journey, in kingly-courteous wise

entreat him in kindly fashion by the love in thy sister’s eyes.”

then unto the knight sent gunther, and he came before the king;

and he said to him: “nigh are we gotten to my land in our journeying;

and now to my dear-loved sister would i send a messenger,

and withal to my mother, to tell them who to the land draw near.

{p. 73}

so then, lord siegfried, i pray thee that thou wouldst bear this word,

and so will i aye be beholden to thee,” said the rhineland’s lord.

yet loth was siegfried the valiant, and fain would have said him nay,

until the king besought him, and thus did gunther pray:

he said unto him: “for my love’s sake thitherward shouldst thou ride,

and withal for the sake of kriemhild, the maiden lovely-eyed,

to the end that the royal maiden with me may requite thy pain.”

when heard was her name of siegfried, the knight was exceeding fain.

“lay on me what charge thou pleasest,” he answered, “all shall be done:

with joy shall it be accomplished for the sake of that lovely one

whom i bear in my heart enshrinèd!—who am i, to deny or defer?

even all that thou requirest will i perform for her.”

“so then to my mother uta the queen of the land say thou

that with heart uplifted and joyous i am faring homeward now.

and how we have sped in our wooing do thou to my brethren unfold:

and to all our nearest and dearest withal be the story told.

yea, from my sister, the fair one, nought shalt thou hide thereof:

commend unto her queen brunhild and me in service of love.

and unto all my servants and to all my vassals say,

whatsoever mine heart hath longed for, all have i gained this day.

and to ortwein, my nephew belovèd, bear this hest of mine,

that he shall prepare us high-seats in the city beside the rhine.

tell also my vassals and kinsfolk this—be it known to them all

that i purpose for brunhild’s bridal a high-tide festival.

and make my request to my sister, that now that she hath learned

how that i to the land burgundian with these my guests have returned,

she receive with loving welcome this my belovèd bride:

so bound evermore unto kriemhild shall my love and my service abide.”

then of the lady brunhild and of all her following

fair leave was taken of siegfried, the child of siegmund the king,

even as was meet and seemly: then on to the rhine rode he.

no better herald than siegfried in all the world might be!

{p. 74}

with good knights four-and-twenty to the city of worms he came.

“without gunther he cometh!”—the rumour through the city ran like flame.

then all the thanes were troubled, and a wailing moaned all round.

they foreboded that in that far land his death the king had found.

but the knights with hearts uplifted sprang each from his gallant steed.

then giselher to meet them, the young prince, hied him with speed:

came gernot beside him, his brother, and in eager haste he cried,

when he marked how no king gunther was there by siegfried’s side:

“now welcome to thee, lord siegfried! i beseech thee, tell this thing,

where left ye in your departing my brother, gunther the king?

the mighty strength of brunhild, i fear me, hath reft him from us;

so for us should his princely wooing have issue dolorous.”

“cast to the winds your foreboding: to you and to all true friends

my noble comrade in emprise his loving service sends.

whole and unharmed i left him: unto you was i sent of your lord

that i should come with the tidings his messenger hitherward.

now lend me your aid, to the end that this grace unto me may fall

that i may see queen uta, and the lady your sister withal,

that now i may bear them the story that i was bidden to tell

of gunther and lady brunhild, that with these twain all is well.”

then the young prince giselher answered: “speak thou unto them thereof,

so shalt thou unto my sister render a service of love.

for the sake of my brother gunther in exceeding sorrow she is.

full gladly the maiden will see thee: lo, i will be surety for this.”

spake siegfried: “what service soever unto her may be rendered of me,

faithfully will i perform it ever and willingly.

now who beareth word of my coming to the noble ladies twain?”

so giselher was herald, that young and comely thane.

blithely giselher hasted, and the lad to his mother cried

and his sister, where in their bower these twain sat side by side:

“siegfried the netherland hero hither to us is come!

gunther my brother hath sent him to us in our rhineland home!

{p. 75}

tidings to us he bringeth of the king your brother’s plight.

now send him word of your pleasure that he come into your sight.

the story of all that in iceland was done unto us he brings.”

—but he left to another to comfort those sorrowing daughters of kings.

they ran to their tiring-bower, they donned their richest array,

and they sent word praying siegfried to come unto them straightway.

full fain did he come at their summons, and he met them with joyful eyes.

then spake kriemhild the queenly to the hero in gracious wise:

“now welcome, lord knight siegfried, peer unto whom is none!

where bideth my brother gunther, that noble kingly one?

through the might of brunhild, i fear me, are we left of his love forlorn!

woe for me, hapless maiden, that ever i was born!”

but the bold knight smiled in answer—“my good-news’ guerdon pay!

ye be weeping, o lovely ladies, without a cause this day.

whole and unharmed i left him: this know ye in very deed.

unto you twain by their bidding with tidings hither i speed.

with all heart’s love and kindness, o lady of queenly pride,

in service to you he commends him, he and his new-won bride.

now let your weeping have ending; soon will themselves be here.”

long, long had it been ere she hearkened a tale to her heart so dear!

then dried she the tears of her weeping with her vesture’s snow-white fold

from her lovely eyes, and she poured forth the thanks of the happy-souled

to the bearer of these glad tidings that made music in her ears.

past was all her affliction, and banished were all her tears.

she prayed her herald to seat him; that did he willingly;

then spake that winsome lady: “exceeding glad were i

if i dared but give unto siegfried my gold for his herald’s fee;

but for this art thou too exalted—i have left but love for thee.”

but he said, “though thirty kingdoms were each and all named mine,

gifts would i take glad-hearted from this fair hand of thine.”

answered the high-born lady, “my desire shall become my deed.”

and her chamberlain she commanded to bring her the herald’s meed.

{p. 76}

four-and-twenty armlets that flashed with many a gem

gave she to him for guerdon: for himself he kept not them;

of his knightly and courteous spirit he dealt them in that same hour

to her comely maidens which waited on their lady in her bower.

then her most loving service graciously tendered the queen.

“lo, this of my message remaineth,” spake on that warrior keen,

“touching that which the king desireth when he meets you by rhine-flood’s side:

if herein ye will do his pleasure, in his love shall ye ever abide.

his noble guests receive ye—for this his petition is—

with loving and courteous welcome; and he earnestly asketh this,

that ye ride forth all to meet him from worms by the rhine-stream shore.

this is the kindness that gunther by your love and your faith doth implore.”

“even that will i do right gladly,” the fair one made reply:

“of all wherein i can serve him nothing will i deny.

in loyallest love and kindness shall his every wish be fulfilled.”

and the blood in her fair cheeks mantled from the heart with rapture thrilled.

never had herald of princes more gracious welcome than he:

an she dared but have kissed him, kissed him with all her heart had she.

and so with sweet leave-taking from those ladies forth he went.

now burgundy’s thanes were fulfilling the commands by siegfried sent.

there sindold and hunold bestirred them, and rumold the noble thane;

with all their hearts they laboured, and in love they toiled amain

making ready the festal high-seats in worms beside the river:

early and late those craftsmen of the king were toiling ever.

ortwein withal and gere were nowise slack of hand,

for they sent forth word unto kinsmen through the length and the breadth of the land

to bid those guests to the feast-tide that soon should be holden there;

and ready was made her adorning by many a maiden fair.

splendour-arrayed was the palace, and with tapestries each wall

was hung in the great guests’ honour: king gunther’s royal hall

{p. 77}

was adorned in princely fashion to greet the strangers’ eyes:

and thus did the stately feast-tide begin in gladsome wise.

now did the three kings’ kinsmen down many a highway ride

through all the land to the city, which were summoned from every side

to the end that these with honour might welcome the bidden guests.

then drawn from their cedar coffers were many costly vests.

now heard are the tidings that watchers have spied the far-off gleam

of the knights of the train of brunhild. lo, how the great throngs stream

as all the multitudes gather and flock through burgundia-land!

what gallant knights went riding in either princely band!

then spake she, kriemhild the lovely: “o my bower-maidens, ye

which forth unto this guest-welcome this day will ride with me,

out of the coffers take ye attire most glorious,

and so shall praise and honour by the guests be rendered to us.”

then also hasted the good knights, and bade their squires bring out

goodly saddles with red gold all richly set about.

mounting-blocks gold-gleaming upon foot-cloths spread on the earth

they set for the feet of the ladies on that day of gladness and mirth.

there in the court stood waiting the palfreys richly dight,

prepared, as the old song telleth, for many a lady bright.

on the breast of each horse gleaming was the dainty martingale

of the richest silk threads woven ever sung in minstrel’s tale.

fourscore-and-six fair ladies came pacing forth in state

with their bright hair wimple-hooded: gather now to the palace-gate

kriemhild’s own bower-maidens in lovely vesture arrayed;

decked with their jewels came they, many a winsome maid.

fifty-and-four were her fair ones, the maids of burgundia-land;

there were none of such high-born lineage as they of her queenly band:

the silken snoods fair-jewelled mid their golden tresses shone.

sooth, all that the king had prayed for, with right good will was it done.

{p. 78}

all of the costliest loom-work and the best that earth bestowed

was the vesture of their arrayal as to meet those guests they rode;

with the lily and rose of their faces it blended in harmony.

whosoe’er had been ill-contented, a witless wight were he!

mantles of ermine and sable over the housings flowed;

on lovely arm and white wrist many a bracelet glowed.

clasps gathered the silk in many a softly-floating fold:—

but of all their splendour-devising the end can ne’er be told.

full many a rich-wrought girdle with tassels swinging low

over their shining raiment did hands of ladies throw,

coiled round the silken loom-work far-fetched from araby.

—o, the hearts of the noble maidens with joy and hope beat high!

there too did many a fair one over her bosom lace

the bodice clasped with jewels:—yet she whose lovely face

outshone not all the splendour of her raiment might well be sad!

so fair a train of ladies never queen in the whole world had.

so when all those winsome ladies were arrayed in their bravery,

then did the knights of their escort in eager haste draw nigh;

yea, thither the thanes high-hearted came in a mighty throng

all bearing their shining bucklers and their ashen lances long.