Adventure
XXIX
How He Stood Not Up Before Her
This famous pair of warriors
asunder then withdrew,
Hagen, the lord of Tronjé,
and noble Dietrich, too.
Whereon across his shoulder
look’d Gunther’s man around
In hope to see a comrade,
whom in a trice he found;
For there Sir Volker standing
by Giselher he saw;
He begg’d that cunning minstrel
aside with him to draw,
For well was he acquainted
with his unyielding mood.
In sooth, he was in all points
a warrior bold and good.
They left the lords together
standing in the courtyard.
’Twas seen how they twain only,
and not another, fared
Across the court wide-stretching
before a palace great;
Those chosen men of valour
had fear of no man’s hate.
They sat upon a settle
against the palace front,
Hard by a hall which Kriemhild
herself to use was wont.
Brightly upon their bodies
their noble raiment shone,
And plenty who beheld them
would gladly them have known.
Like wild beasts of the forest
those haughty heroes then
Were gaped upon and gazed at
by all the Hunnish men.
The wife of Etzel spied them
athwart a window-pane:
Whereby the fair Kriemhilda
was sorely grieved again.
It brought to mind her sorrow;
she fell to weeping then,
Whereat was mickle marvel
among King Etzel’s men:
What could have thus so quickly
troubled their lady’s mood?
She answer’d: “That hath Hagen,
ye heroes bold and good.”
They spake unto the lady:
“How can this thing have been
When we ourselves but lately
have you so happy seen?
None can have been so hardy
such evil to have wrought:
Else bid us to avenge it;
his life shall go for naught.”
“For ever would I serve him
who would my wrongs repay,
To give him all he ask’d for
I would be ready aye.
Upon my knees I beg you,”
so spake the royal wife,
“Avenge me now on Hagen,
that he may lose his life.”
Then sixty gallant warriors
girded their armour on,
Who, for the love of Kriemhild,
were keen to set upon
And make an end of Hagen—
the ever valiant one—
And likewise of the minstrel.
’Twas all with forethought done.
But when the queen beheld them,
how small a band they made,
In grim and gloomy humour
she to the heroes said:
“Ye must leave unaccomplish’d
what ye would take in hand:
Ay, never against Hagen
so few will dare to stand!
“How strong and bold soever
Hagen of Tronjé be,
The man who sits beside him
is stronger far than he,
Volker, the fiddler, namely;
he is an evil wight.
These heroes to encounter
ye will not find so light.”
When they had heard this warning
still more took heart of grace—
Four hundred gallant warriors.
That queen of noble race
Had set her heart upon it
to do her foes despite:
Whence soon was mickle sorrow
made ready for each knight.
Now when she saw her liegemen
with arms and armour clad,
Unto the ready warriors
the noble lady bade:
“Abide ye here a little,
ay, stand ye quiet so;
I mean to put my crown on,
and to my foemen go.
“And hark while I upbraid him
for what he did to me,
This Hagen, lord of Tronjé,
King Gunther’s knight in fee.
So arrogant I know him,
he’ll give me not the lie;
And eke care I as little
what he shall get thereby.”
Then look’d the fiddle-player,
the minstrel bold, and lo,
He saw the noble lady
along a stairway go,
That led down from the palace.
And when he that espied,
The ever valiant Volker
unto his comrade cried:
“Now look ye there, friend Hagen,
how yonder cometh nigh
She who into this country
hath lured us faithlessly.
With king’s wife saw I never
so many men around,
Bearing in hand their weapons,
as for a battle bound.
“Know’st thou, friend Hagen, whether
they hatred to thee bear?
If so, I fain would counsel
that thou the better care
Shouldst take of life and honour:
ay, that, methinks, were good!
Unless I am mistaken,
they are in wrathful mood.
“And some there are among them
so exceeding broad of breast
That who would rest in surety
hath little time to waste.
I ween, beneath their clothing,
their hauberks bright they wear;
But whom therewith they threaten
I nowise can declare.”
Then spake in mood of anger
Hagen, the valiant one:
“For me, right well I know it,
the whole of this is done—
That thus their unsheath’d weapons
they carry in the hand;
Yet will I, notwithstanding,
ride to Burgundian land!
“Now say if thou, friend Volker,
thine aid to me wilt lend,
If so be Kriemhild’s liegemen
to fight with me intend?
That let me hear you promise,
as I am dear to you;
And evermore I’ll answer
to you with service true.”
“Ay, surely will I help thee,”
the gallant minstrel spake:
“Saw I a king come hither,
attack on us to make
With all his warriors round him,
so long as I should live
I would not fail to help thee,
and not a foot would give.”
“Thy service, noble Volker,
may God in Heaven requite.
What further can I ask for,
if thou by me wilt fight?
Since thou art fain to aid me,
as I am glad to hear,
These blades may come and welcome
with all their warlike gear.”
“Now from the seat upstand we,”
then said the man of song:
“She is a sovereign lady;
and let her pass along.
Let us that honour pay her,
she is of noble birth,
Thereby our own condition
shall seem of greater worth.”
“For love of me, I pray thee,
do it not,” Hagen spake:
“Lest otherwise these warriors
perchance the deed mistake
And think that I had risen,
through fear, upon my feet.
For such as her and her kind
I’ll never leave my seat!
“For both of us ’twere better,
methinks, to let it be.
Why should I do her honour
who bears such hate to me?
Nay, that will I do never
as long as I have life;
Nor care I for the hatred
of royal Etzel’s wife!”
The overweening Hagen
across his knees laid down
A bare and shining weapon,
upon whose pommel shone
A very brilliant jasper,
greener than any sward.
Kriemhilda well remember’d
that it was Siegfried’s sword.
When she that sword remember’d
a grief it needs must be;
The hilt of it was golden,
its sheath red broidery.
It brought to mind her sorrow;
her tears began to fall;
I ween the hardy Hagen
had therefor done it all.
Upon the bench towards him
the valiant Volker drew
A fiddle-bow, a strong one,
and long and mighty, too,
Which to a sword had likeness,
right keen and broad of blade
The pair of doughty heroes
thus sat there undismay’d.
The valiant twain so lordly
seem’d, in their own conceit,
They did not deem it fitting
to stand up from their seat
For fear of man or woman.
Whereon, with foe-like mien,
Nigh to their feet, to greet them,
came up the noble queen.
She spake: “Now tell me, Hagen,
who sent to bid you here,
That riding in our country
thou darest to appear?
Thou, too, who so well knowest
what thou hast done to me?
Hadst thou been well advisèd
thou best hadst let it be.”
“No one hath sent to fetch me,”
Hagen in answer said:
“But hither to this country
three warriors you bade;
My masters they are callèd,
to them I service owe.
On any royal journey
I scarce could fail to go.”
Said she: “Now tell me further,
how was it thou didst that
For which thou hast deservèd
my everlasting hate?
Thou was it who didst Siegfried,
my well-loved husband, slay;
Whom I must mourn for ever
until my dying day.”
He spake: “What boots that further?
Of talk we have no need.
I am that self-same Hagen
who did to death Siegfried,
The mighty-handed hero.
How dearly he repaid
The flouts which Dame Kriemhilda
on fair Brunhilda laid!
“It is not to be doubted,
O great and mighty queen,
Of all your baleful sorrows
that I have guilty been.
Now be it man or woman,
let them avenge who will;
Though I should then gainsay you,
I’ve done you grievous ill.”
Said she: “Now hark ye, warriors,
he doth not e’en deny
That he hath work’d my sorrow!
What may befall thereby
To him, ye men of Etzel,
of no account I hold.”
Then look’d on one another
those haughty thanes and bold.
It doubtless had befallen,
whichever had begun
The strife, that these two comrades
the honour would have won;
Seeing how oft in battle
they gallantly had fought.
In dread the others shrank from
the deed they had in thought.
Then spake one of the warriors:
“Why look ye so on me?
From what I erewhile promised
I would that I were free!
For sake of no one’s largesse
would I forego my life.
Ay! to our ruin go we,
led by King Etzel’s wife.”
Whereafter spake another:
“To that same thought I hold;
Were anyone to give me
whole towers of good red gold,
I’d care not to contend with
that fiddler willingly,
For dread of the swift glances
that in his eyes I see.
“Hagen have I known also,
and from his early youth:
Thus little can be told me
about that knight, forsooth!
In two-and-twenty battles
I’ve seen him, in the strife;
Whereby hath heartfelt sorrow
befallen many a wife.
“On many a foray went they,
he and the Spaniard,
When they were here with Etzel;
ofttimes a battle hard
They fought for the king’s honour;
and many such befell;
Whereof one must of Hagen
much to his honour tell.
“At that time this same warrior
was but a child in years.
They who were then but youngsters,
how gray are now their hairs!
Now he is come to wisdom,
a man of ruth is he.
And eke he wieldeth Balmung,
won by foul treachery.”
With that the thing was settled—
that none should strike a blow.
Whereby the queen was stricken
unto the heart with woe.
The heroes all disbanded:
fearful lest death indeed
Be dealt them by the fiddler:
in sooth they had good need.
Then spake anon the fiddler:
“We have right plainly seen
That foemen here beset us,
as we forewarn’d have been.
Now to the court return we
and seek the sovrans there:
That no one, then, our masters
to meet in strife may dare.
“How oft a man, faint-hearted,
will let a chance slip by,
When if a friend beside him
upheld him cheerfully
And with good understanding,
he would not do the same.
Right many a man by forethought
is saved from loss and shame.”
“Where you go I will follow,”
Hagen was quick to say;
Then back into the courtyard
forthwith they took their way,
Where still in grand assembly
waited the knightly crowd.
And then the valiant Volker
began to speak aloud
And say unto his masters:
“How long here will ye stay
To let yourselves be crowded?
To court ye should away,
And from the king discover
what he in mind may have.”
Then might one see forgather
the heroes good and brave.
The prince of Bern, Sir Dietrich,
took hold of by the hand
Gunther, the mighty ruler
of the Burgundian land.
Irnfried was fain with Gernot,
that right bold man, to fare,
And Rüdeger went walking
to court with Giselher.
Howe’er the rest companion’d,
and so to court pass’d on,
Betwixt Volker and Hagen
of parting there was none,
Save only in one struggle,
which ended their two lives,
And caus’d sad weeping later
to many noble wives.
Upon the kings attending
one saw to court go then
Their nobly-born retainers,
a thousand gallant men;
And sixty warriors also
along with them had come;
The same that valiant Hagen
had brought with him from home.
And Haward eke and Iring,
a pair of chosen worth,
By one another walking,
went with the sovrans forth.
Dankwart and also Wolfhart,
a thane of courage rare;
These well before the others
upheld their honour there.
When came the lord of Rhineland
within the palace door,
Etzel, the mighty monarch
refrained himself no more,
But from his seat upsprang he,
seeing him entering,
A better greeting never
was given by a king.
“Be welcome, my lord Gunther,
and you, lord Gernot, too,
And Giselher, your brother.
My zealous service true,
I have already sent you
to Worms beyond the Rhine.
And all your followers also
shall welcome be as mine.
“I bid a hearty welcome
to you, ye knightly pair,
To Volker the right valiant
and eke to Hagen there,
From me and from my lady,
unto this land of mine.
She messengers in plenty
hath sent ye to the Rhine.”
Hagen of Tronjé answered:
“So heard I, more than once!
And had I for my masters
not come unto the Huns,
Yet would I you to honour
have ridden to this land.”
The noble host then kindly
his guests took by the hand;
And to the seat he brought them
where he himself had sat,
Then to the guests they offer’d
(they busily did that),
In wide-mouth’d golden goblets,
wine, mead and mulberry,
And bade to the newcomers
a welcome heartily.
Then spake the royal Etzel:
“I will to you confess
Naught in this world could give me
a greater happiness
Than ye have given me, heroes,
in coming thus to me;
Whereby the queen is also
from mickle grief set free.
“And ofttimes have I marvell’d
what was the fault in me—
So many guests right noble
have I been wont to see—
That ye unto my country
to come did never deign?
But now that I have seen you
to joy is turn’d my pain.”
Said Rüdeger in answer
(a knight of noble mood):
“Well may you see them gladly;
their faith indeed is good,
And all my lady’s kinsfolk
the same can well uphold;
They bring unto your palace
full many a warrior bold.”
The even of Midsummer,
at mighty Etzel’s court
These princes made their entry;
and seldom hath report
Told of such royal welcome
as on these chiefs he spent.
Now was it time for eating;
and all to table went.
Amidst his guests more nobly
a host ne’er took his seat.
For them there was abundance
whereof to drink and eat,
And everything they wanted
it was all ready made;
For truly of these heroes
great marvels had been said.