now for his battle-harness lord dietrich’s self hath gone,
and hildebrand the grey-haired helped him to gird it on.
so loud was the voice of the wailing of that most mighty man,
that through all the shuddering palace the shivering echoes ran.
but at last he refrained him, and hardened his hero-heart again,
and in sternest wrath he armed him, that good and gallant thane;
and a shield of the steel tough-welded he took in his sinewy hand,
and forth of the palace he hied him with master hildebrand.
then out spake hagen of troneg: “i see draw nigh to the hall
dietrich the great war-captain. surely on us will he fall
to avenge the grievous evil that we unto him have done.
we will see of us two warriors which is the mightier one.
ay, what though yonder champion, dietrich the lord of bern,
account him never so stalwart, a foeman never so stern,
if he think upon us to avenge him for that hath befallen him,
even i am he shall withstand him.” thus spake hagen the grim.
that saying was heard of dietrich and of master hildebrand,
as they came and beheld the heroes, the two yet living, stand
without, and for weariness leaning on the stairway-parapet.
then afront of his feet did dietrich his goodly buckler set.
then lifted his voice the hero, a voice of heart-sick woe:
“wherefore hast thou, lord gunther, evil-entreated me so,
a homeless man? what evil have i ever done unto thee,
that thus of all life’s comfort wholly bereaved i should be?
that grievous hurt that ye did us, sufficed it not unto you,
that ye to our sorrow the hero rüdiger smote and slew,
{p. 319}
but that therewithal ye must rob me of all my vassal-throng?
of a truth unto you, o heroes, had i never wrought such wrong!
of your own ill plight bethink you, and of all your grief and pain,
of the death of your friends and kinsmen, of the travail of battle-strain—
good knights, were your hearts not smitten with ruth by reason of this?
ah me! unto me how bitter the death of rüdiger is!
such cruel wrong unto no man ever on earth was wrought!
little enow on mine anguish and your own hard strait ye thought!
whatsoever was mine of joyance, by you slain lieth here.
never shall end my mourning for these i have held so dear!”
“not wholly are we so guilty,” hagen made reply;
“for against us to this hallway all thy thanes drew nigh,
full-harnessed all as for battle, an exceeding great array.
not truly, i trow, the story hath been told unto thee this day.”
“not truly?—was this not true then, that was told of hildebrand,
that of you my men petitioned, my knights of amelung-land,
to give them forth of the feast-hall the body of rüdiger,
and ye rendered them for answer nought but mock and jeer?”
answered the lord of rhineland: “they fain would bear away
the body of rüdiger, said they: thereunto i answered nay,
not as to flout thy people, but to do unto etzel despite.
thereat brake forth into railing wolfhart the haughty knight.”
the hero of bern made answer: “the finger of fate is here.
by thy knightly honour i pray thee, o gunther, royal peer,
requite thou me for the heart-pain that thou upon me didst wreak.
o brave knight, make the atonement: no further revenge will i seek.
unto me do thou render thee captive, with hagen thy vassal-thane;
and so to mine uttermost power will i defend you twain
from all despiteful usage that the huns would do unto you.
ye shall prove herein mine honour, ye shall find me faithful and true.”
“forefend it, god in heaven,” cried hagen scornfully,
“that two such battle-champions should render them captive to thee,
{p. 320}
who yet are strong to face thee with shield and helm and brand,
who yet with limbs unfettered before all foes may stand!”
“ill should ye do to deny me,” said dietrich thereunto,
“king gunther and thou hagen; ye have done unto me, ye two,
yea, to my heart and my spirit, such passing bitter despite,
that if now ye will make me atonement, it shall be but just and right.
i pledge unto you mine honour and the faith of my right hand,
that with you will i ride, your safeguard, back to your own home-land.
as befitteth kings and heroes will i lead you—else will i die;
and for your sakes all mine anguish in forgetfulness buried shall lie.”
“require this thing no further!” his answer hagen flung.
“good sooth, ’twere a seemly story to be told of the mocker’s tongue
that two so valiant war-lords had yielded them unto thine hand!
what, man?—none standeth beside thee save only hildebrand!”
but master hildebrand answered: “lord hagen, god doth know—
this peace, which my lord dietrich now offereth to bestow,
the hour may come upon you, ay, and perchance full soon,
when gladly ye would accept it, but may not grasp the boon.”
“so low as to such atonement would i stoop,” did hagen cry,
“ere i in such craven fashion forth of a hall would fly
as thou didst, o good master, but a little while ago!
i weened that thou couldst bear thee more bravely before a foe!”
then master hildebrand answered: “for that thing me dost thou mock?
who was it that sat all deedless on his shield by the wasken-rock,
when so many of his own kinsmen were killed by walter of spain?
of a truth, upon thine own honour there lieth many a stain!”
“peace!” cried the noble dietrich, “such knights doth it misbeseem
with words to rail on each other, as when old shrews scold and scream
hildebrand, i forbid it: speak thou here no more.
a homeless knight, with sorrow enow mine heart is sore!
{p. 321}
answer me, hero hagen,” said dietrich yet again;
“what spake ye knights together, ye battle-eager twain,
when a little agone in mine harness ye saw me hard at hand?
thou saidst that alone in battle against me thou wouldst stand.”
“ay, no man shall gainsay it!” cried hagen the void of fear:
“i will prove it by mighty handstrokes upon thy body here,
if so be that the sword of the niblungs unshivered fail not me.
i am wroth that thou darest require us to yield us captive to thee!”
forthright, when dietrich heard it, the mind of hagen the grim,
that battle-eager champion caught his shield unto him.
how swiftly adown that stairway to meet him hagen sprang!
loudly on dietrich’s armour the sword of the niblungs rang.
full well in that hour knew dietrich that his lion-hearted foe
was passing grim of spirit: from many a deadly blow
with cunning of fence did he ward him, that noble lord of bern.
he proved what a knight was hagen, to his mortal foe how stern.
he had need to beware of balmung, stark sword renowned afar;
and but now and again smote dietrich, with cunningest craft of war,
till at last in a grapple of giants he wore down hagen the strong,
and a grievous wound he dealt him, a gash both deep and long.
then bethought him dietrich the noble: “long travail hath sapped thy might:
small honour should it bring me, if the death-stroke now i should smite.
nay, rather will i make trial if yet i may constrain
even thee to become my captive.” with peril he did it and pain.
mighty of thews was dietrich: his shield from his arm he slipped;
he sprang upon hagen of troneg, and with sinewy hands he gripped.
and so at the last overmastered was the warrior aweless-bold;
and gunther the noble beheld it exceeding sorrowful-souled.
then dietrich bound sir hagen, and he led that battle-thrall
unto where was the high-born kriemhild; and the bravest knight of all
{p. 322}
that ever with sword were girded, to her hands he rendered up.
she had drunken the dregs of affliction; at last joy brimmed her cup.
how glad was the wife of etzel! low to the thane did she bow:
“blessèd in soul and in body evermore be thou!
for all my sore tribulation now hast thou recompensed me.
except death’s coming prevent me, i will ever be bounden to thee!”
made answer dietrich the noble: “let him live, and in no wise slay,
o noble daughter of princes! it may come to pass one day
that his good deeds may requite thee for the wrongs thou hast had at his hands.
visit it not upon him that in bonds in thy presence he stands.”
then to a dungeon-chamber she bade lead hagen away
where no man’s eye beheld him, and there close-barred he lay.
then gunther the noble uplifted his voice, and aloud he cried:
“the hero of bern hath wronged me!—from my vengeance where doth he hide?”
hasted to meet him dietrich the lord of bern forthright;
but gunther’s battle-prowess was worthy of such a knight:
not for his coming he tarried, but adown the stairway sprang.
clashed their meeting war-glaives with a passing-deadly clang.
how proved soever was dietrich in prowess of olden fame,
such madness of battle-fury now upon gunther came,
unto such fell hate of his foeman was he stung by grief and pain,
that men yet count it a marvel that dietrich escaped unslain.
so stalwart were these, so thrilled them the battle-spirit’s power,
that loud from their thunderous smiting re-echoed palace and tower.
hewing the hard steel helmets did the great swords whirl and swing.
ha, with right royal courage did he bear him, gunther the king!
but at last by the might of dietrich he too was overborne:
men saw his blood fast flowing through the mail-rings shattered and shorn
by the all-resistless keenness of the blade that dietrich bare.
well had he warded him, gunther, how weary he was soe’er!
{p. 323}
then by the hand of dietrich were the limbs of gunther bound—
though never should king with dishonour of bonds be compassed round;
yet he weened, if he left unshackled gunther and hagen the knight,
they would verily slay all hunfolk on whomsoe’er they should light.
the prince of bern, lord dietrich, hath grasped him by the hand:
in bonds to the hall hath he haled him where waiting doth kriemhild stand.
at sight of his affliction light grew the load on her heart;
and she cried: “o king burgundian, welcome to me thou art!”
“for thy greeting,” he said, “might i thank thee, o noble sister mine,
if aught of lovingkindness lurked in that welcome of thine.
but i know, o queen, thine hatred and thy wrath-enkindled mood,
and how little to me and to hagen thy greeting bodeth of good.”
but the prince of bern, the hero, spake: “o noble queen,
never such peerless heroes made captive hath any seen,
as thou, o daughter of princes, from mine hand now dost take.
deal gently with these, the homeless, for my lovingkindness’ sake.”
she answered: “that will i gladly.” so turned with weeping eyes
dietrich away from the heroes, famed lords of high emprize.
but thereafter was ghastly vengeance taken by etzel’s wife:
by her from the chosen heroes ruthlessly reft was the life.
she gave command, and to dungeons apart those twain they bore;
and these two friends were beholden of each other never more,
until she bare unto hagen the head of her brother slain.
grim was the vengeance that kriemhild wreaked upon these twain!
then went the queen unto hagen, and she looked on him, and she spake—
and all the hoarded hatred of years in her voice outbrake:—
“if thou restore me the treasure that thy robber hand hath ta’en,
peradventure thou mayest living see burgundy-land again.”
made answer the grim knight hagen: “the word is wasted in air,
o noble daughter of princes. a certain oath i sware
to reveal the hoard unto no man:—so long as liveth but one
of the princes three, my masters, it is rendered up unto none.”
{p. 324}
“of the oath will i make swift ending!” that high-born woman said.
to her brother she sent her servants, and she bade them smite him dead.
and they hewed his head from his body: she held it on high by the hair
in sight of the hero of troneg. with grief beyond compare
and with indignation of spirit he saw the head of his lord.
grimly he turned on kriemhild, and spake his latest word:
“thou hast indeed made ending according to thy will.
even as i had foreseen it, so now doth fate fulfil.
dead now is the noble gunther, the king of burgundy,
young giselher, lord gernot—yea, dead be the princes three.
now, now of the hoard none knoweth save god and i alone—
never, thou child of the devil, unto thee shall its place be known!”
she answered: “an evil requital hast thou rendered into mine hand!
this hold i at least in possession, siegfried’s battle-brand.
he bare it, mine own, my belovèd, when i saw him for that last time,
ere thou, to my grief everlasting, wroughtest that foul crime!”
she flashed it out of the scabbard—her hand he could not stay—
for now from the knight she purposed to rend the life away:
on high in her hands she swung it, from his body his head did she smite;
and king etzel saw, and he deemed it an evil and bitter sight.
“woe’s me!” cried the king in anguish; “how is he stricken down,—
stricken by hands of a woman!—the hero of chiefest renown
that ever in battle’s forefront fighting his buckler bore!
were he never so much my foeman, mine heart is for him full sore!”
then master hildebrand shouted: “this thing shall profit her not
that she dared to slay him! what cometh to me i care no jot!—
yea, though he brought me also into mortal peril and pain,
i will take in any wise vengeance for valiant hagen slain!”
in wrathful indignation on kriemhild hildebrand leapt,
and the head of that daughter of princes from her shoulders his brand hath swept.
{p. 325}
with horror she saw him before her like the spirit of vengeance rise.
what availed her shriek of anguish as the death-flame flashed in her eyes?
dead all round were they lying, the men foredoomed death’s prey:
hewn in twain in the midmost of all a dead queen lay!
dietrich and king etzel into sudden weeping broke,
and a bitter voice of wailing went up from all the folk.
there was the might and the glory of heroes in death laid low;
and the people had for their portion lamentation and mourning and woe.
this was the dolorous ending of a great king’s festival!
so ever is sorrow begotten of joy at the end of all.
what things befell thereafter in the land no minstrel hath sung[13],
save that ever the voice of weeping from christian and heathen rung,
weeping of knights and ladies, and of many a maiden fair:
whelmed in abysses of sorrow for the loved and the lost they were.
(c) ah no, no more can i tell you of a people’s misery.
there are the mighty fallen—in silence let them lie.
i can bring not from years forgotten that nation’s after-fate.
the lay is ended—the story of the niblungs’ bitter strait.
