He took an oath to serve him, as his
liegeman
true,
In all that to a master from his man is due.
In all that to a master from his man is due.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v16 to v20 - Phi to Qui
The gradual petrifaction of the Minnesang
into the Meistersang contributed to the same end, and the revival of
learning in the brilliant Humanistic movement hastened the process.
The intellectual upheaval known as the Reformation, although out of
line with the Humanistic Renascence, also helped to subvert the old
Germanic traditions, in which so many healthy heathen elements held
a still persistent place. The last person who seems to have taken
any interest in the Nibelungenlied was the Emperor Maximilian, who
had a manuscript of it made. In the sixteenth century there is no
mention of the poem, except by a few obscure historians who used
it superficially and unintelligently as a historical document. Lazius,
the Austrian scholar, quotes several strophes in his 'History of the
Migrations. In the seventeenth century, amid the devastations of the
Thirty Years' War, it had passed so entirely from human ken that
Opitz, the literary dictator of his threadbare time, had no other
knowledge of it than what he had derived from Lazius; and as late
as 1752 Gottsched, the literary leader of an equally threadbare period,
seems not to have known that such a poem had ever existed. Just
four years later the Nibelungenlied was "discovered. " Inspired by
Bodmer's Old German studies, a Swiss physician found at the castle
## p. 10630 (#506) ##########################################
10630
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
of Hohenems a manuscript of the poem which is now regarded as
the oldest form in which the work has come down to us.
It con-
tains the famous 'Klage' or lamentation for the fallen heroes; and
in 1757 Bodmer published the second part under the title of 'Kriem-
hild's Revenge. ' But the work aroused no interest even among those
most interested in the folk-lore and poetry of their native land.
Neither Herder nor Lessing nor Klopstock recognized the national
epic; Wieland too remained untouched, although when the work
came out he was in daily intercourse with Bodmer. Indeed, Bodmer
himself was not aware that he was dealing with a great poem, but
regarded it rather as an antiquarian curiosity. The first complete
edition of the Nibelungenlied appeared in 1782. Professor Myller of
Berlin included it in his collection of 'Poems of the Twelfth, Thir-
teenth, and Fourteenth Centuries. ' The fact that such a collection
had found subscribers at all is evidence that some languid interest
in these early ages had begun to manifest itself; but it was still
an interest of curiosity rather than one of appreciation. A letter
addressed to Myller by Frederick the Great will best illustrate the
attitude of many cultivated readers of that time. Myller had sent a
copy of his work to the King, who, writing from Potsdam in 1784,
said:"Most learned and faithful subject, dear sir: You think a
great deal too much of those poems of the twelfth, thirteenth, and
fourteenth centuries which you have had printed, and which you
consider of so much value for the enrichment of the German lan-
guage. In my opinion they are not worth a gunshot, and did not
deserve to be dragged out of the dust of oblivion. In my own library
I should not tolerate such wretched stuff, but throw it away at once.
The copy that has been sent to me may therefore await its fate
in the great library there [Berlin]. Much demand for it cannot be
promised by your otherwise gracious king, Frederick. " Goethe also
received a copy of Myller's work, but it was unbound, and he did not
read it; only the warning of the mermaidens to Hagen, which hap-
pened to lie on top of one of the loose signatures, attracted his atten-
tion for a moment. In after years, however, when in conversation
with Eckermann he defined the classic as health and the romantic as
disease, he added: "For that reason the Nibelungenlied is classic like
Homer, for both are healthy and strong. " In another place he wrote:
"The acquaintance with this poem marks a new stage in the history
of the nation's culture. " To this larger appreciation of the import-
ance of the Nibelungenlied in the history of civilization it was still a
far cry when Myller issued his first edition; and only after the humil-
iation of the defeat at Jena in 1806 did the eyes of Germany turn
once more to the glories of her heroic age, and to their embodiment
in the national epic.
## p. 10631 (#507) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10631
The stimulus to the true appreciation and scientific study of the
Nibelungenlied came from the circle of the Romanticists. In 1802
and 1803 A. W. von Schlegel delivered a course of lectures in Berlin
in which he treated of the poem in detail. These lectures were not
published; but among the hearers was Von der Hagen, who caught
the enthusiasm of the lecturer, and began a translation of the Lied
which was published in 1807. In 1810 he issued the first critical
edition of the original text. He was followed by Lachmann, whose
labors in this field were epoch-making. The Nibelungen craze had
broken forth in earnest, and with it came the whole unrefreshing
controversy over the origins of the poem and the relative antiquity
of the manuscripts. It is not to the purpose to review this strife
of scholars in detail. Lachmann approached the question from a
preconceived view-point which had been furnished him by Wolf's
'Prolegomena to Homer. ' He differentiated in the Nibelungenlied
twenty independent Lieder, all of which had been more or less modi-
fied by subsequent transcribers and interpolators. These songs, he
maintained, had then been put together by one reviser or arranger,
and thus was produced the composite poem which we have. Of the
twenty-eight or more manuscripts of which we have knowledge, only
three come into consideration; the others are transcriptions. The St.
Gallen manuscript, known to scholars as B, and the Hohenems manu-
script (C), which Bodmer had used, Lachmann declared to be later
revisions; while the oldest form of the poem was to be found in a
third manuscript, also discovered at Hohenems, which he denominated
A. It was this one that Myller had used for the first part of his
edition, though following Bodmer's C in the second part. All these
tenets were held sacred for thirty years by the adherents of Lach-
mann. In 1854, however, arose one Holtzmann, who ably defended
the essential unity of the poem and confuted Lachmann's reasoning
concerning the manuscripts. He declared that C was the oldest; but
assumed that the original form was no longer extant, and even went
so far as to name its author, Konrad, the secretary of the Bishop
Pilgrim of Passau, who is mentioned in the poem. Germany now
had not only her Homeric question but her Nibelungen question also.
The controversy reached a fierce stage, and the learned uproar tended
to discredit the entire matter in the eyes of the lay observer. In
1862 Pfeiffer added new fuel. It is a well-known fact that down to
the middle of the thirteenth century it was an unwritten but well-
observed law among German singers that the inventor of a new
strophe became its exclusive owner. The Nibelungen strophe is that
used by the oldest of the Minnesingers, Kürenberg, who flourished
in the thirteenth century; him, accordingly, Pfeiffer designated as the
author of the original poem. To-day it is the prevailing view that
## p. 10632 (#508) ##########################################
10632
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
the Nibelungenlied is the work of one poet who in the present stage
of our knowledge cannot be named, and that the Hohenems manu-
script (C) is probably the oldest form in which it has been preserved.
This is the view which the poet Uhland, seeing with clearer vision
than his brother philologists, long ago maintained; and we may now
be permitted to regard the poem as the product of a single genius.
shaping the legends of his land.
The Nibelungenlied was called a song because it was intended to
be sung; it is an epic because it is a descriptive narrative of mo-
mentous events; it is also dramatic because there is a logical devel-
opment in Kriemhild's character, an inevitable interaction of motives,
and an irresistible and gradually accelerated movement towards the
catastrophe. No outline of a work so "gigantic," to use Goethe's
phrase, can give an adequate idea of its impressiveness. The poem,
which is written in Middle High German, consists of two parts:
the first contains nineteen Adventures, the second twenty. The first
part is joyous with wooings and weddings, with festal preparations
and brilliant expeditions, until the quarrel of the queens begins the
tragedy which ends in the death of Siegfried. The second part is
devoted to Kriemhild's revenge, which results in the annihilation of
all her people. It is sombre, ominous, tragic. But from the begin-
ning, and often in the midst of the festivities, the poet sounds the
warning note that forebodes this tragic conclusion. The poem opens
with a description of fair Kriemhild and the situation at the Burgun-
dian court. Kriemhild is telling her mother of a dream she has had:
a falcon which she had trained was torn to death by two fierce
eagles. Siegfried's death is thus foreshadowed. In the second adven-
ture Siegfried is introduced. He has heard of Kriemhild's beauty,
and is determined to win her. Reluctantly his parents prepare an
elaborate wardrobe,— a necessary preliminary to every journey, which
is several times described in the poem with affectionate detail. Sieg-
fried is cordially received by the Burgundians, whom he assists in a
war against the Saxons. He grows popular, and all seek to do him
honor. Kriemhild's shy growing interest in the handsome stranger
is delicately indicated. For a whole year he does not reveal his
purpose; not until Gunther is seized with a desire to win and wed
Brunhild, the strong maiden of the north. This is a perilous enter-
prise, for every wooer must meet her in various trials of strength,
and if unsuccessful lose his life. Siegfried promises to aid Gunther
if in return he shall receive Kriemhild for his wife. They undertake
the journey to Issland; and Siegfried, rendered invisible by his cloud-
cloak, enables Gunther to overcome Brunhild. He then procures
thirty thousand of his own Nibelungers as a royal retinue, and at
Worms there are soon two bridal couples. Siegfried and Kriemhild
## p. 10633 (#509) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10633
are radiantly happy, but Gunther's difficulties are not yet ended.
Siegfried's supernatural power is again required to subdue the fierce
northern maiden to her husband's will. The symbolic ring and gir-
dle which Siegfried wrests from Brunhild he gives to Kriemhild. The
tragedy is now in train. At the portals of the cathedral of Worms
arises an unfortunate quarrel between the two high-hearted queens.
Each asserts the superiority of her own husband, and claims prece-
dence. In an unguarded moment of wrath Kriemhild reveals to her
rival who it was that subdued her, and she displays the girdle and
ring. The clouds begin to gather over the scene. The days of inno-
cent merry-making are past, and Siegfried, the impersonation of
sunny serenity and human happiness, is doomed. Hagen, the sombre
figure who moves grim-visaged through the poem, faithful to no one
but to his king, learns from Kriemhild the secret of Siegfried's vul-
nerable spot. At Brunhild's instigation, but with his own covetous
purposes, he treacherously murders Siegfried. At the solemn funeral
Siegfried's wounds, opening in Hagen's presence, reveal the mur-
derer to Kriemhild. The Nibelungen hoard is brought to Worms
and buried in the Rhine. Only Gunther and Hagen know the spot.
Henceforth the Burgundians are called also the Nibelungers. So fol-
lows for Kriemhild, after her brief happiness, thirteen years of sor-
row and mourning. The first part ends in the midst of gloom. In
the second part Attila sends his knight Rudiger to sue for Kriem-
hild's hand. She with her purposes concealed becomes his wife, and
the scene is transferred to the Hungarian court. Thirteen years more
pass, and Kriemhild lives in honor at Attila's side; but "her home-
bred wrongs again she brooded o'er. " She invites her brothers on
the Rhine to attend a great festival at her husband's court.
In spite
of Hagen's gloomy forebodings, the Burgundians go to Hungary, and
in their progress thither ominous signs announce the coming woe.
Hagen is warned by the wise mermaidens, but resolutely he proceeds.
The entire army is ferried over the Danube, which none but the
king's chaplain is destined to recross. The events now move with
tragic rapidity. Hagen knows his fate and defies it, sitting in Kriem-
hild's presence with Siegfried's sword across his knee. Death follows
death, and in the general slaughter the bodies are thrown out of the
windows, the hall is set on fire, and the Nibelungers are destroyed to
the last man. Kriemhild herself cuts off Hagen's head with Sieg-
fried's sword Balmung, and with him is lost forever the secret of the
fatal hoard. Incensed at this cruel act, the famous Hildebrand. Die-
trich's man, slays Kriemhild, and so perish utterly the Burgundians
of the Rhine.
Such is the briefly outlined story of the Nibelungers' fall. It is a
song of the wrath of Kriemhild. She is the centre of interest, and
upon her character the poet has bestowed his most loving care. She
## p. 10634 (#510) ##########################################
10634
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
appeared as the gentle, carefully guarded maid, timidly telling her
mother of a dream. Siegfried gave her life new value, and love
exalted her powers; proudly she walked by his side a stately queen.
With his death joy departed from her life; her tenderness was hard-
ened into a passion for revenge, and to this end she dedicated the
whole strength of her character. Thenceforth she moves a threaten-
ing figure towards the great catastrophe. Siegfried's character is less
complex; he is radiant, joyous, triumphant. Next to these two, Hagen,
Dietrich, and Rudiger are the figures to which the most interest
attaches. Hagen is the embodiment of grim fatalistic fidelity; Die-
trich, large-souled and noble, preserves all the fine characteristics with
which he was invested by the epic cycle of which he is the centre;
Rudiger is a knight of the chivalric age, and is probably a creation
of the Nibelungen poet. He is the most lovable and modern of all
the group. The conflict between his duty to the Nibelungers, imposed
upon him by the sacred rights of hospitality which he has given and
received, and his duty to his king and Kriemhild, is a touch wholly
modern. Over all the tragedy hovers mysteriously the power of the
hoard, but these reminiscences of the mythical happenings of long
ago serve only to create an ominous atmosphere: the course of events
could not have been otherwise, for the motives are all human.
The origins of the Nibelungenlied are purely Germanic. The
mythical and historical elements are clearly distinguishable. The for-
mer have faded into the background and given place to human inter-
ests; ethical motives have superseded the mythological. The curse
of the hoard, Siegfried's sword and cloud-cloak, and all the marvels
of that elder time, come to us in faint echoes, like the surge of a far-
off ocean heard in the shells of the sea. These echoes are of the
'Elder Edda'; but they are of Germanic origin, for the Eddic myths
were not indigenous to the North. The strange old heathen tradi-
tions had not altogether lost their vitality, however; for although the
fundamental ideas of the Nibelungenlied are on a plane of exalted
morality, it is essentially a heathen code that obtains. Nowhere is
there a trace of any supreme power controlling the destinies of men.
The Christian Church is purely external, and belongs to the scenery
and ceremonial. Siegfried and Brunhild have brought with them from
the 'Eddas' some part of their inheritance from a wonder-working
age, but they are human beings; Brunhild has lost her impressiveness
and grandeur, Siegfried has gained in sympathetic qualities. In the
older sources the Burgundian kings come to their death not through
their sister, there named Gudrun, but through Attila, who covets their
treasure, and upon whom in turn, according to ancient German usage,
Gudrun wreaks blood-vengeance. From historical sources we have
Etzel (Attila), Dietrich of Bern (Theodoric of Verona), and Gunther
(Gundicar), who with all his Burgundian people was killed in battle
## p. 10635 (#511) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10635
with the Huns in the year 437. The Nibelungen poet has of course
dealt freely with his materials, for he was a poet and not a chronicler.
The fatal encounter with the Huns doubtless took place on the left
bank of the Rhine and not on the shores of the Danube. It was
probably not Attila who led the Huns, but his brother Bleda, who
appears in the Lied as Bloedel. Dietrich is taken from another cycle
of epics, of which Theodoric the Great, King of the Visigoths and of
Italy, was the centre, and he belonged to a later generation than
Attila. Gunther's brother Giselher also has some dim historical exist-
ence, and the already mentioned Bishop Pilgrim of Passau can be
traced to a real personage. All other attempts to establish a his-
torical basis for the characters and events of the poem have little
plausibility. But the skill with which all these elements are united
in an organic whole shows that epic narrative had passed out of the
realm of folk poetry into the hands of the conscious plastic artist.
It is a noble monument erected by a sturdy people upon the thresh-
old of modern history, and was worthy to become a rallying-point for
their patriotic posterity.
Chart Guing
FROM THE NIBELUNGENLIED (FALL OF THE NIBELUNGERS)
Translation of William Nanson Lettsom
KRIEMHILD
IN
N STORIES of our fathers, high marvels we are told
Of champions well approved in perils manifold.
Of feasts and merry meetings, of weeping and of wail,
And deeds of gallant daring I'll tell you in my tale.
In Burgundy there flourished a maid so fair to see,
That in all the world together a fairer could not be. [strife
This maiden's name was Kriemhild; through her in dismal
Full many a prowest warrior thereafter lost his life.
Many a fearless champion, as such well became,
Wooed the lovely lady; she from none had blame.
Matchless was her person, matchless was her mind:
This one maiden's virtue graced all womankind.
## p. 10636 (#512) ##########################################
10636
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
Three puissant Kings her guarded with all the care they might:
Gunther and eke Gernot, each a redoubted knight,
And Giselher the youthful, a chosen champion he;
This lady was their sister, well loved of all the three.
They were high of lineage, thereto mild of mood,
But in field and foray champions fierce and rude.
They ruled a mighty kingdom, Burgundy by name;
They wrought in Etzel's country deeds of deathless fame.
At Worms was their proud dwelling, the fair Rhine flowing by;
There had they suit and service from haughtiest chivalry
For broad lands and lordships, and glorious was their state,
Till wretchedly they perished by two noble ladies' hate.
A dream was dreamt by Kriemhild, the virtuous and the gay,
How a wild young falcon she trained for many a day,
Till two fierce eagles tore it; to her there could not be
In all the world such sorrow as this perforce to see.
To her mother Uta at once the dream she told,
But she the threatening future could only thus unfold:
"The falcon that thou trainedst is sure a noble mate;
God shield him in his mercy, or thou must lose him straight. "
"A mate for me? what sayest thou, dearest mother mine?
Ne'er to love, assure thee, my heart will I resign.
I'll live and die a maiden, and end as I began,
Nor (let what else befall me) will suffer woe for man. "
"Nay," said her anxious mother, "renounce not marriage so;
Would'st thou true heartfelt pleasure taste ever here below,
Man's love alone can give it. Thou'rt fair as eye can see:
A fitting mate God send thee, and naught will wanting be. "
"No more," the maiden answered, "no more, dear mother, say:
From many a woman's fortune this truth is clear as day,
That falsely smiling Pleasure with Pain requites us ever.
I from both will keep me, and thus will sorrow never. "
So in her lofty virtues, fancy-free and gay,
Lived the noble maiden many a happy day,
Nor one more than another found favor in her sight;
Still at the last she wedded a far-renowned knight.
He was the selfsame falcon she in her dream had seen,
Foretold by her wise mother. What vengeance took the queen
On her nearest kinsmen who him to death had done!
That single death atoning died many a mother's son.
## p. 10637 (#513) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10637
SIEGFRIED
IN NETHERLAND then flourished a prince of lofty kind
(Whose father was called Siegmund, his mother Siegelind),
In a sumptuous castle down by the Rhine's fair side;
Men did call it Xanten: 'twas famous far and wide.
I tell you of this warrior, how fair he was to see;
From shame and from dishonor lived he ever free.
Forthwith fierce and famous waxed the mighty man.
Ah! what height of worship in this world he wan!
Siegfried men did call him, that same champion good;
Many a kingdom sought he in his manly mood,
And through strength of body in many a land rode he.
Ah! what men of valor he found in Burgundy!
Before this noble champion grew up to man's estate,
His hand had mighty wonders achieved in war's debate,
Whereof the voice of rumor will ever sing and say,
Though much must pass in silence in this our later day.
In his freshest season, in his youthful days,
One might full many a marvel tell in Siegfried's praise:
What lofty honors graced him, and how fair his fame;
How he charmed to love him many a noble dame.
As did well befit him, he was bred with care,
And his own lofty nature gave him virtues rare;
From him his father's country grace and honor drew,
To see him proved in all things so noble and so true.
He now, grown up to youthhood, at court his duty paid:
The people saw him gladly; many a wife and many a maid
Wished he would often thither, and bide for ever there;
They viewed him all with favor, whereof he well was ware.
The child by his fond parents was decked with weeds of pride,
And but with guards about him they seldom let him ride.
Uptrained was he by sages, who what was honor knew,
So might he win full lightly broad lands and liegemen too.
Now had he strength and stature that weapons well he bore;
Whatever thereto needed, he had of it full store.
He began fair ladies to his love to woo,
And they inclined to Siegfried with faith and honor true.
## p. 10638 (#514) ##########################################
10638
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
(HAGAN'S ACCOUNT OF SIEGFRIED)
AS ALL alone and aidless he was riding once at will,
As I have heard reported, he found beside a hill
With Niblung's hoarded treasure full many a man of might;
Strange seemed they to the champion, till he came to know them
right.
They had brought the treasure, as just then befell,
Forth from a yawning cavern: now hear a wonder tell,
How those fierce Nibelungers the treasure would divide;
The noble Siegfried eyed them, and wondered as he eyed.
He nearer came and nearer, close watching still the clan
Till they got sight of him too, when one of them began,
"Here comes the stalwart Siegfried, the chief of Netherland. "
A strange adventure met he with that Nibelungers' band.
Him well received the brethren Shilbung and Nibelung.
With one accord they begged him, those noble princes young,
To part the hoard betwixt them; and ever pressing bent
The hero's wavering purpose till he yielded full consent.
He saw of gems such plenty, drawn from that dark abode,
That not a hundred wagons could bear the costly load,
Still more of gold so ruddy from the Nibelungers' land:
All this was to be parted by noble Siegfried's hand.
So Niblung's sword they gave him to recompense his pain;
But ill was done the service, which they had sought so fain,
And he so hard had granted: Siegfried, the hero good,
Failed the long task to finish; this stirred their angry mood.
The treasure undivided he needs must let remain,
When the two kings indignant set on him with their train;
But Siegfried gripped sharp Balmung (so hight their father's
sword),
And took from them their country and the beaming precious
hoard.
For friends had they twelve champions, each, as avers my tale,
A strong and sturdy giant; but what could all avail?
All twelve to death successive smote Siegfried's mastering hand,
And vanquished chiefs seven hundred of the Nibelungers' land
With that good weapon Balmung; by sudden fear dismayed
Both of the forceful swordsman and of the sword he swayed,
## p. 10639 (#515) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10639
Unnumbered youthful heroes to Siegfried bent that hour,-
Themselves, their lands, their castles submitting to his power.
Those two fierce kings together he there deprived of life;
Then waged with puissant Albric a stern and dubious strife,—
Who thought to take full vengeance for both his masters slain,
But found his might and manhood with Siegfried's matched in
vain.
The mighty dwarf successless strove with the mightier man;
Like to wild mountain lions to th' hollow hill they ran;
He ravished there the cloud-cloak from struggling Albric's hold,
And then became the master of th' hoarded gems and gold.
Whoever dared resist him, all by his sword lay slain.
Then bade he bring the treasure back to the cave again,
Whence the men of Niblung the same before had stirred;
On Albric last the office of keeper he conferred.
He took an oath to serve him, as his liegeman true,
In all that to a master from his man is due.
Such deeds (said he of Trony) has conquering Siegfried done;
Be sure such mighty puissance, knight has never won.
Yet more I know of Siegfried, that well your ear may hold:
A poison-spitting dragon he slew with courage bold,
And in the blood then bathed him; this turned to horn his skin.
And now no weapons harm him, as often proved has been.
HOW SIEGFRIED FIRST SAW KRIEMHILD
Now went she forth, the loveliest, as forth the morning goes
From misty clouds outbeaming; then all his weary woes
Left him, in heart who bore her, and so long time had done.
He saw there stately standing the fair, the peerless one.
Many a stone full precious flashed from her vesture bright;
Her rosy blushes darted a softer, milder light.
Whate'er might be his wishes, each could not but confess
He ne'er on earth had witnessed such perfect loveliness.
As the moon arising outglitters every star
That through the clouds so purely glimmers from afar,
E'en so love-breathing Kriemhild dimmed every beauty nigh.
Well might at such a vision many a bold heart beat high.
Rich chamberlains before them marched on in order due;
Around th' high-mettled champions close and closer drew,
## p. 10640 (#516) ##########################################
10640
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
Each pressing each, and struggling to see the matchless maid.
Then inly was Sir Siegfried both well and ill apaid.
Within himself thus thought he: "How could I thus misdeem
That I should dare to woo thee? sure 'twas an idle dream!
Yet, rather than forsake thee, far better were I dead. "
Thus thinking, thus impassioned, waxed he ever white and red.
So stood the son of Sieglind in matchless grace arrayed,
As though upon a parchment in glowing hues portrayed
By some good master's cunning; all owned, and could no less,
Eye had not seen a pattern of such fair manliness.
Those who the dames attended bade all around make way;
Straight did the gentle warriors, as such became, obey.
There many a knight, enraptured, saw many a dame in place
Shine forth in bright perfection of courtliness and grace.
Then the bold Burgundian, Sir Gernot, spoke his thought:-
"Him who in hour of peril his aid so frankly brought,
Requite, dear brother Gunther, as fits both him and you,
Before this fair assembly; th' advice I give, I ne'er shall rue.
"Bid Siegfried come to Kriemhild; let each the other meet:
'Twill sure be to our profit, if she the warrior greet.
'Twill make him ours for ever, this man of matchless might,
If she but give him greeting, who never greeted knight. ”
Then went King Gunther's kinsmen, a high-born haughty band,
And found and fair saluted the knight of Netherland:-
"The king to court invites you, such favor have you won;
His sister there will greet you: this to honor you is done. ”
Glad man was then Sir Siegfried at this unlooked-for gain;
His heart was full of pleasure without alloy of pain,
To see and meet so friendly fair Uta's fairer child.
Then greeted she the warrior maidenly and mild.
There stood he, the high-minded, beneath her star-bright eye,
His cheek as fire all glowing; then said she modestly,
"Sir Siegfried, you are welcome, noble knight and good! "
Yet loftier at that greeting rose his lofty mood.
He bowed with soft emotion, and thanked the blushing fair;
Love's strong constraint together impelled th' enamored pair;
Their longing eyes encountered, their glances every one
Bound knight and maid for ever; yet all by stealth was done.
## p. 10641 (#517) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10641
That in the warmth of passion he pressed her lily hand,
I do not know for certain, but well can understand
'Twere surely past believing they ventured not on this:
Two loving hearts, so meeting, else had done amiss.
No more in pride of summer nor in bloom of May
Knew he such heartfelt pleasure as on this happy day,
When she, than May more blooming, more bright than summer's
pride,
His own, a dream no longer, was standing by his side.
Then thought full many a champion, "Would this had happed to
me,
To be with lovely Kriemhild as Siegfried now I see,
Or closer e'en than Siegfried: well were I then, I ween. "
Never yet was champion who so deserved a queen.
Whate'er the king or country of the guests assembled there,
All could look on nothing save on that gentle pair.
Now 'twas allowed that Kriemhild the peerless knight should
kiss.
Ne'er in the world had drained he so full a draught of bliss. .
She now the minster entered; her followed many a dame;
There so her stately beauty her rich attire became,
That drooped each high aspiring, born but at once to die.
Sure was that maid created to ravish every eye.
Scarce could wait Sir Siegfried till the mass was sung.
Well might he thank his fortune that, all those knights among,
To him inclined the maiden whom still in heart he bore,
While he to her, as fitted, returned as much or more.
When now before the minster after the mass she stood,
Again to come beside her was called the champion good.
Then first by that sweet maiden thanks to the knight were given,
That he before his comrades so warrior-like had striven.
"God you reward, Sir Siegfried! " said the noble child,
"For all your high deservings in honor's bead-roll filed,
The which I know from all men have won you fame and grace. "
Sir Siegfried, love-bewildered, looked Kriemhild in the face.
"Ever," said he, "your brethren I'll serve as best I may,
Nor once, while I have being, will head on pillow lay,
Till I have done to please them whate'er they bid me do;
And this, my lady Kriemhild, is all for love of you. "
XVIII-666
## p. 10642 (#518) ##########################################
10642
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
HOW THE TWO QUEENS REVILED ONE ANOTHER
ONE day at th' hour of vespers a loud alarum rose
From certain lusty champions that for their pastime chose
To prove themselves at tilting in the castle court;
Then many a knight and lady ran thither to see the sport.
There were the proud queens sitting together, as befell,
Each on a good knight thinking that either loved full well.
Then thus began fair Kriemhild, "My husband's of such might,
That surely o'er these kingdoms he ought to rule by right. "
Then answered lady Brunhild, "Nay, how can that be shown?
Were there none other living but thou and he alone,
Then might, no doubt, the kingdoms be ruled by him and thee;
But long as Gunther's living, that sure can never be. "
Thereto rejoined fair Kriemhild, "See'st thou how proud he
stands,
How proud he stalks,-conspicuous among those warrior bands,
As doth the moon far-beaming the glimmering stars outshine?
Sure have I cause to pride me when such a knight is mine. "
Thereto replied Queen Brunhild, "How brave soe'er he be,
How stout soe'er or stately, one greater is than he:
Gunther, thy noble brother, a higher place may claim,
Of knights and kings the foremost in merit and in fame. "
Thereto rejoined fair Kriemhild, "So worthy is my mate,
All praise that I can give him can ne'er be termed too great.
In all he does how matchless! In honor too how clear!
Believ'st thou this, Queen Brunhild? At least he's Gunther's
peer. "
"Thou shouldst not so perversely, Kriemhild, my meaning take.
What I said, assure thee, with ample cause I spake.
I heard them both allow it, then when both first I saw,
And the stout king in battle compelled me to his law.
"E'en then, when my affection he so knightly wan,
'Twas fairly owned by Siegfried that he was Gunther's man.
Myself I heard him own it, and such I hold him still. »
"Forsooth," replied fair Kriemhild, "they must have used me ill.
"How could my noble brethren their power have so applied,
As to make me, their sister, a lowly vassal's bride?
## p. 10643 (#519) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10643
For manners' sake then, Brunhild, this idle talk give o'er,
And by our common friendship, let me hear no more. "
"Give o'er will I never," the queen replied again:
"Shall I renounce the service of all the knightly train
That hold of him, our vassal, and are our vassals too? "
Into sudden anger at this fair Kriemhild flew:
"Ay! but thou must renounce it, for never will he grace
Thee with his vassal service: he fills a higher place
Than e'en my brother Gunther, noble though be his strain.
Henceforth thou shouldst be wiser, nor hold such talk again.
"I wonder too, since Siegfried thy vassal is by right,
Since both of us thou rulest with so much power and might,
Why to thee his service so long he has denied.
Nay! I can brook no longer thy insolence and pride. "
«< Thyself too high thou bearest," Brunhild answer made:
"Fain would see this instant whether to thee be paid
Public respect and honor such as waits on me. "
Then both the dames with anger lowering you might see.
"So shall it be," said Kriemhild: "to meet thee I'm prepared.
Since thou my noble husband a vassal hast declared,
By the men of both our consorts to-day it shall be seen,
That I the church dare enter before King Gunther's queen.
"To-day by proof thou'lt witness what lofty birth is mine,
And that my noble husband worthier is than thine;
Nor for this with presumption shall I be taxed, I trow:
To-day thou'lt see moreover thy lowly vassal go
"To court before the warriors here in Burgundy.
Assure thee, thou'lt behold me honored more royally
Than the proudest princess that ever here wore crown. ”
The dames their spite attested with many a scowl and frown.
"Since thou wilt be no vassal," Brunhild rejoined again,
"Then thou with thy women must apart remain
From my dames and damsels, as to the church we go. "
Thereto Kriemhild answered, "Trust me it shall be so.
"Array ye now, my maidens," said Siegfried's haughty dame:
"You must not let your mistress here be put to shame;
That you have gorgeous raiment make plain to every eye.
What she has just asserted, she soon shall fain deny. "
## p. 10644 (#520) ##########################################
10644
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
They needed not much bidding: all sought out their best;
Matrons alike and maidens each donned a glittering vest.
Queen Brunhild with her meiny was now upon her way.
By this was decked fair Kriemhild in royal rich array,
With three-and-forty maidens, whom she to Rhine had brought;
Bright stuffs were their apparel, in far Arabia wrought.
So towards the minster marched the maidens fair;
All the men of Siegfried were waiting for them there.
Strange thought it each beholder, what there by all was seen,
How with their trains far-sundered passed either noble queen,
Not walking both together as was their wont before;
Full many a prowest warrior thereafter rued it sore.
Now before the minster the wife of Gunther stood;
Meanwhile by way of pastime many a warrior good
Held light and pleasant converse with many a smiling dame;
When up the lovely Kriemhild with her radiant meiny came.
All that the noblest maiden had ever donned before
Was as wind to the splendor her dazzling ladies wore.
So rich her own apparel in gold and precious things,
She alone might outglitter the wives of thirty kings.
Howe'er he might be willing, yet none could dare deny
That such resplendent vesture never met mortal eye
As on that fair retinue then sparkled to the sun.
Except to anger Brunhild, Kriemhild had not so done.
Both met before the minster in all the people's sight;
There at once the hostess let out her deadly spite.
Bitterly and proudly she bade fair Kriemhild stand:
"No vassaless precedeth the lady of the land. "
Out then spake fair Kriemhild (full of wrath was she),
"Couldst thou still be silent, better 'twere for thee.
Thou'st made thy beauteous body a dishonored thing.
How can a vassal's leman be consort of a king? "
"Whom here call'st thou leman? " said the queen again.
"So call I thee," said Kriemhild: "thy maidenly disdain
Yielded first to Siegfried, my husband, Siegmund's son;
Ay! 'twas not my brother that first thy favors won.
"Why, where were then thy senses? sure 'twas a crafty train,
To take a lowly lover, to ease a vassal's pain!
## p. 10645 (#521) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10645
Complaints from thee," said Kriemhild, "methinks are much
amiss. "
"Verily," said Brunhild, "Gunther shall hear of this. "
"And why should that disturb me? thy pride hath thee betrayed.
Why didst thou me, thy equal, with vassalship upbraid?
Know this for sure and certain (to speak it gives me pain),
Never can I meet thee in cordial love again. "
Then bitterly wept Brunhild: Kriemhild no longer stayed;
Straight with all her followers before the queen she made
Her way into the minster; then deadly hate 'gan rise;
And starting tears o'erclouded the shine of brightest eyes.
For all the solemn service, for all the chanted song,
Still it seemed to Brunhild they lingered all too long.
Both on her mind and body a load like lead there lay.
Many a high-born hero for her sorrow was to pay.
Brunhild stopped with her ladies without the minster door.
Thought she, "This wordy woman shall tell me something more
Of her charge against me spread so loud and rife.
If he has but so boasted, let him look to his life! "
Now came the noble Kriemhild begirt with many a knight;
Then spake the noble Brunhild, "Stop and do me right.
You've voiced me for a wanton: prove it ere you go.
You and your foul speeches have wrought me pain and woe. "
Then spake the lady Kriemhild, "Twere wiser to forbear:
E'en with the gold I'll prove it that on my hand I wear;
'Twas this that Siegfried brought me from where by you he lay. "
Never lived Queen Brunhild so sorrowful a day.
Said she, "That ring was stolen from me who held it dear,
And mischievously hidden has since been many a year.
But now I've met with something by which the thief to guess. "
Both the dames were frenzied with passion masterless.
"Thief? " made answer Kriemhild, "I will not brook the name.
Thou wouldst have kept silence, hadst thou a sense of shame.
By the girdle here about me prove full well I can
That I am ne'er a liar; Siegfried was indeed thy man. "
'Twas of silk of Nineveh the girdle that she brought,
With precious stones well garnished; a better ne'er was wrought:
When Brunhild but beheld it, her tears she could not hold.
The tale must needs to Gunther and all his men be told.
## p. 10646 (#522) ##########################################
10646
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
HOW SIEGFRIED PARTED FROM KRIEMHILD
GUNTHER and Hagan, the warriors fierce and bold,
To execute their treason, resolved to scour the wold,
The bear, the boar, the wild bull, by hill or dale or fen,
To hunt with keen-edged javelins: what fitter sport for valiant
men?
In lordly pomp rode with them Siegfried the champion strong.
Good store of costly viands they brought with them along.
Anon by a cool runnel he lost his guiltless life.
'Twas so devised by Brunhild, King Gunther's moody wife.
But first he sought the chamber where he his lady found.
He and his friend already had on the sumpters bound
Their gorgeous hunting raiment; they o'er the Rhine would go.
Never before was Kriemhild sunk so deep in woe.
On her mouth of roses he kissed his lady dear:
"God grant me, dame, returning in health to see thee here;
So may those eyes see me too: meanwhile be blithe and gay
Among the gentle kinsmen; I must hence away. "
Then thought she on the secret (the truth she durst not tell)
How she had told it Hagan; then the poor lady fell
To wailing and lamenting that ever she was born.
Then wept she without measure, sobbing and sorrow-worn.
She thus bespake her husband: "Give up that chase of thine.
I dreamt last night of evil,- how two fierce forest swine
Over the heath pursued thee; the flowers turned bloody red.
I cannot help thus weeping: I'm chilled with mortal dread.
་་
"I fear some secret treason, and cannot lose thee hence,
Lest malice should be borne thee for misconceived offense.
Stay, my beloved Siegfried, take not my words amiss,-
'Tis the true love I bear thee that bids me counsel this. ".
"Back shall I be shortly, my own beloved mate;
Not a soul in Rhineland know I who bears me hate:
I'm well with all thy kinsmen; they're all my firm allies:
Nor have I from any e'er deservèd otherwise. "—
"Nay! do not, dearest Siegfried! 'tis e'en thy death I dread.
Last night I dreamt two mountains fell thundering on thy head,
And I no more beheld thee: if thou from me wilt go,
My heart will sure be breaking with bitterness of woe. "
## p. 10647 (#523) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10647
Round her peerless body his clasping arms he threw;
Lovingly he kissed her, that faithful wife and true;
Then took his leave, and parted: in a moment all was o'er;-
Living, alas poor lady! she saw him nevermore.
HOW SIEGFRIED WAS SLAIN
THE noble knight Sir Siegfried with thirst was sore opprest;
So earlier rose from table, and could no longer rest,
But straight would to the mountain the running brook to find,-
And so advanced the treason his faithless foes designed.
Meanwhile were slowly lifted on many a groaning wain
The beasts in that wild forest by Siegfried's manhood slain.
Each witness gave him honor, and loud his praises spoke.
Alas, that with him Hagan his faith so foully broke!
Now when to the broad linden they all would take their way,
Thus spake the fraudful Hagan, "Full oft have I heard say,
That none a match in swiftness for Kriemhild's lord can be,
Whene'er to race he pleases: would he grant us this to see? »
Then spake the Netherlander, Siegfried, with open heart:—
"Well then! let's make the trial! Together we will start
From hence to yonder runnel; let us at once begin:
And he shall pass for winner who shall be seen to win. "
"Agreed! " said treacherous Hagan, "let us each other try. "
Thereto rejoined stout Siegfried, "And if you pass me by,
Down at your feet I'll lay me humbled on the grass. ”
When these words heard Gunther, what joy could his surpass?
Then said the fearless champion, "And this I tell you more:
I'll carry all the equipment that in the chase I wore,—
My spear, my shield, my vesture,-leave will I nothing out. "
His sword then and his quiver he girt him quick about.
-
Whate'er he did, the warrior high o'er his fellows soared.
Now laid he down his quiver, and quick ungirt his sword:
Against the spreading linden he leaned his mighty spear:
So by the brook stood waiting the chief without a peer.
King Gunther and Sir Hagan to strip were nothing slow;
Both for the race stood ready in shirts as white as snow.
Long bounds, like two wild panthers, o'er the grass they took,
But seen was noble Siegfried before them at the brook.
## p. 10648 (#524) ##########################################
10648
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
In every lofty virtue none with Sir Siegfried vied:
Down he laid his buckler by the water's side;
For all the thirst that parched him, one drop he never drank
Till the king had finished: he had full evil thank.
Cool was the little runnel, and sparkled clear as glass;
O'er the rill King Gunther knelt down upon the grass;
When he his draught had taken he rose and stepped aside.
Full fain alike would Siegfried his thirst have satisfied.
Dear paid he for his courtesy: his bow, his matchless blade,
His weapons all, Sir Hagan far from their lord conveyed,
Then back sprung to the linden to seize his ashen spear,
And to find out the token surveyed his vesture near;
Then, as to drink Sir Siegfried down kneeling there he found,
He pierced him through the croslet, that sudden from the wound
Forth the life-blood spouted e'en o'er his murderer's weed.
Never more will warrior dare so foul a deed.
Between his shoulders sticking he left the deadly spear.
Never before Sir Hagan so fled for ghastly fear,
As from the matchless champion whom he had butchered there.
Soon as was Sir Siegfried of the mortal wound aware,
Up he from the runnel started as he were wood;
Out from betwixt his shoulders his own huge boar-spear stood!
He thought to find his quiver or his broadsword true;
The traitor for his treason had then received his due:
But ah! the deadly wounded nor sword nor quiver found:
His shield alone beside him lay there upon the ground;
This from the bank he lifted, and straight at Hagan ran:
Him could not then by fleetness escape King Gunther's man.
E'en to the death though wounded, he hurled it with such power,
That the whirling buckler scattered wide a shower
Of the most precious jewels, then straight in shivers broke:
Full gladly had the warrior ta'en vengeance with that stroke.
E'en as it was, his manhood fierce Hagan leveled low;
Loud all around the meadow rang with the wondrous blow:
Had he in hand good Balmung, the murderer he had slain.
His wound was sore upon him; he writhed in mortal pain.
His lively color faded; a cloud came o'er his sight:
He could stand no longer; melted all his might.
## p. 10649 (#525) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10649
In his paling visage the mark of death he bore.
Soon many a lovely lady sorrowed for him sore.
into the Meistersang contributed to the same end, and the revival of
learning in the brilliant Humanistic movement hastened the process.
The intellectual upheaval known as the Reformation, although out of
line with the Humanistic Renascence, also helped to subvert the old
Germanic traditions, in which so many healthy heathen elements held
a still persistent place. The last person who seems to have taken
any interest in the Nibelungenlied was the Emperor Maximilian, who
had a manuscript of it made. In the sixteenth century there is no
mention of the poem, except by a few obscure historians who used
it superficially and unintelligently as a historical document. Lazius,
the Austrian scholar, quotes several strophes in his 'History of the
Migrations. In the seventeenth century, amid the devastations of the
Thirty Years' War, it had passed so entirely from human ken that
Opitz, the literary dictator of his threadbare time, had no other
knowledge of it than what he had derived from Lazius; and as late
as 1752 Gottsched, the literary leader of an equally threadbare period,
seems not to have known that such a poem had ever existed. Just
four years later the Nibelungenlied was "discovered. " Inspired by
Bodmer's Old German studies, a Swiss physician found at the castle
## p. 10630 (#506) ##########################################
10630
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
of Hohenems a manuscript of the poem which is now regarded as
the oldest form in which the work has come down to us.
It con-
tains the famous 'Klage' or lamentation for the fallen heroes; and
in 1757 Bodmer published the second part under the title of 'Kriem-
hild's Revenge. ' But the work aroused no interest even among those
most interested in the folk-lore and poetry of their native land.
Neither Herder nor Lessing nor Klopstock recognized the national
epic; Wieland too remained untouched, although when the work
came out he was in daily intercourse with Bodmer. Indeed, Bodmer
himself was not aware that he was dealing with a great poem, but
regarded it rather as an antiquarian curiosity. The first complete
edition of the Nibelungenlied appeared in 1782. Professor Myller of
Berlin included it in his collection of 'Poems of the Twelfth, Thir-
teenth, and Fourteenth Centuries. ' The fact that such a collection
had found subscribers at all is evidence that some languid interest
in these early ages had begun to manifest itself; but it was still
an interest of curiosity rather than one of appreciation. A letter
addressed to Myller by Frederick the Great will best illustrate the
attitude of many cultivated readers of that time. Myller had sent a
copy of his work to the King, who, writing from Potsdam in 1784,
said:"Most learned and faithful subject, dear sir: You think a
great deal too much of those poems of the twelfth, thirteenth, and
fourteenth centuries which you have had printed, and which you
consider of so much value for the enrichment of the German lan-
guage. In my opinion they are not worth a gunshot, and did not
deserve to be dragged out of the dust of oblivion. In my own library
I should not tolerate such wretched stuff, but throw it away at once.
The copy that has been sent to me may therefore await its fate
in the great library there [Berlin]. Much demand for it cannot be
promised by your otherwise gracious king, Frederick. " Goethe also
received a copy of Myller's work, but it was unbound, and he did not
read it; only the warning of the mermaidens to Hagen, which hap-
pened to lie on top of one of the loose signatures, attracted his atten-
tion for a moment. In after years, however, when in conversation
with Eckermann he defined the classic as health and the romantic as
disease, he added: "For that reason the Nibelungenlied is classic like
Homer, for both are healthy and strong. " In another place he wrote:
"The acquaintance with this poem marks a new stage in the history
of the nation's culture. " To this larger appreciation of the import-
ance of the Nibelungenlied in the history of civilization it was still a
far cry when Myller issued his first edition; and only after the humil-
iation of the defeat at Jena in 1806 did the eyes of Germany turn
once more to the glories of her heroic age, and to their embodiment
in the national epic.
## p. 10631 (#507) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10631
The stimulus to the true appreciation and scientific study of the
Nibelungenlied came from the circle of the Romanticists. In 1802
and 1803 A. W. von Schlegel delivered a course of lectures in Berlin
in which he treated of the poem in detail. These lectures were not
published; but among the hearers was Von der Hagen, who caught
the enthusiasm of the lecturer, and began a translation of the Lied
which was published in 1807. In 1810 he issued the first critical
edition of the original text. He was followed by Lachmann, whose
labors in this field were epoch-making. The Nibelungen craze had
broken forth in earnest, and with it came the whole unrefreshing
controversy over the origins of the poem and the relative antiquity
of the manuscripts. It is not to the purpose to review this strife
of scholars in detail. Lachmann approached the question from a
preconceived view-point which had been furnished him by Wolf's
'Prolegomena to Homer. ' He differentiated in the Nibelungenlied
twenty independent Lieder, all of which had been more or less modi-
fied by subsequent transcribers and interpolators. These songs, he
maintained, had then been put together by one reviser or arranger,
and thus was produced the composite poem which we have. Of the
twenty-eight or more manuscripts of which we have knowledge, only
three come into consideration; the others are transcriptions. The St.
Gallen manuscript, known to scholars as B, and the Hohenems manu-
script (C), which Bodmer had used, Lachmann declared to be later
revisions; while the oldest form of the poem was to be found in a
third manuscript, also discovered at Hohenems, which he denominated
A. It was this one that Myller had used for the first part of his
edition, though following Bodmer's C in the second part. All these
tenets were held sacred for thirty years by the adherents of Lach-
mann. In 1854, however, arose one Holtzmann, who ably defended
the essential unity of the poem and confuted Lachmann's reasoning
concerning the manuscripts. He declared that C was the oldest; but
assumed that the original form was no longer extant, and even went
so far as to name its author, Konrad, the secretary of the Bishop
Pilgrim of Passau, who is mentioned in the poem. Germany now
had not only her Homeric question but her Nibelungen question also.
The controversy reached a fierce stage, and the learned uproar tended
to discredit the entire matter in the eyes of the lay observer. In
1862 Pfeiffer added new fuel. It is a well-known fact that down to
the middle of the thirteenth century it was an unwritten but well-
observed law among German singers that the inventor of a new
strophe became its exclusive owner. The Nibelungen strophe is that
used by the oldest of the Minnesingers, Kürenberg, who flourished
in the thirteenth century; him, accordingly, Pfeiffer designated as the
author of the original poem. To-day it is the prevailing view that
## p. 10632 (#508) ##########################################
10632
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
the Nibelungenlied is the work of one poet who in the present stage
of our knowledge cannot be named, and that the Hohenems manu-
script (C) is probably the oldest form in which it has been preserved.
This is the view which the poet Uhland, seeing with clearer vision
than his brother philologists, long ago maintained; and we may now
be permitted to regard the poem as the product of a single genius.
shaping the legends of his land.
The Nibelungenlied was called a song because it was intended to
be sung; it is an epic because it is a descriptive narrative of mo-
mentous events; it is also dramatic because there is a logical devel-
opment in Kriemhild's character, an inevitable interaction of motives,
and an irresistible and gradually accelerated movement towards the
catastrophe. No outline of a work so "gigantic," to use Goethe's
phrase, can give an adequate idea of its impressiveness. The poem,
which is written in Middle High German, consists of two parts:
the first contains nineteen Adventures, the second twenty. The first
part is joyous with wooings and weddings, with festal preparations
and brilliant expeditions, until the quarrel of the queens begins the
tragedy which ends in the death of Siegfried. The second part is
devoted to Kriemhild's revenge, which results in the annihilation of
all her people. It is sombre, ominous, tragic. But from the begin-
ning, and often in the midst of the festivities, the poet sounds the
warning note that forebodes this tragic conclusion. The poem opens
with a description of fair Kriemhild and the situation at the Burgun-
dian court. Kriemhild is telling her mother of a dream she has had:
a falcon which she had trained was torn to death by two fierce
eagles. Siegfried's death is thus foreshadowed. In the second adven-
ture Siegfried is introduced. He has heard of Kriemhild's beauty,
and is determined to win her. Reluctantly his parents prepare an
elaborate wardrobe,— a necessary preliminary to every journey, which
is several times described in the poem with affectionate detail. Sieg-
fried is cordially received by the Burgundians, whom he assists in a
war against the Saxons. He grows popular, and all seek to do him
honor. Kriemhild's shy growing interest in the handsome stranger
is delicately indicated. For a whole year he does not reveal his
purpose; not until Gunther is seized with a desire to win and wed
Brunhild, the strong maiden of the north. This is a perilous enter-
prise, for every wooer must meet her in various trials of strength,
and if unsuccessful lose his life. Siegfried promises to aid Gunther
if in return he shall receive Kriemhild for his wife. They undertake
the journey to Issland; and Siegfried, rendered invisible by his cloud-
cloak, enables Gunther to overcome Brunhild. He then procures
thirty thousand of his own Nibelungers as a royal retinue, and at
Worms there are soon two bridal couples. Siegfried and Kriemhild
## p. 10633 (#509) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10633
are radiantly happy, but Gunther's difficulties are not yet ended.
Siegfried's supernatural power is again required to subdue the fierce
northern maiden to her husband's will. The symbolic ring and gir-
dle which Siegfried wrests from Brunhild he gives to Kriemhild. The
tragedy is now in train. At the portals of the cathedral of Worms
arises an unfortunate quarrel between the two high-hearted queens.
Each asserts the superiority of her own husband, and claims prece-
dence. In an unguarded moment of wrath Kriemhild reveals to her
rival who it was that subdued her, and she displays the girdle and
ring. The clouds begin to gather over the scene. The days of inno-
cent merry-making are past, and Siegfried, the impersonation of
sunny serenity and human happiness, is doomed. Hagen, the sombre
figure who moves grim-visaged through the poem, faithful to no one
but to his king, learns from Kriemhild the secret of Siegfried's vul-
nerable spot. At Brunhild's instigation, but with his own covetous
purposes, he treacherously murders Siegfried. At the solemn funeral
Siegfried's wounds, opening in Hagen's presence, reveal the mur-
derer to Kriemhild. The Nibelungen hoard is brought to Worms
and buried in the Rhine. Only Gunther and Hagen know the spot.
Henceforth the Burgundians are called also the Nibelungers. So fol-
lows for Kriemhild, after her brief happiness, thirteen years of sor-
row and mourning. The first part ends in the midst of gloom. In
the second part Attila sends his knight Rudiger to sue for Kriem-
hild's hand. She with her purposes concealed becomes his wife, and
the scene is transferred to the Hungarian court. Thirteen years more
pass, and Kriemhild lives in honor at Attila's side; but "her home-
bred wrongs again she brooded o'er. " She invites her brothers on
the Rhine to attend a great festival at her husband's court.
In spite
of Hagen's gloomy forebodings, the Burgundians go to Hungary, and
in their progress thither ominous signs announce the coming woe.
Hagen is warned by the wise mermaidens, but resolutely he proceeds.
The entire army is ferried over the Danube, which none but the
king's chaplain is destined to recross. The events now move with
tragic rapidity. Hagen knows his fate and defies it, sitting in Kriem-
hild's presence with Siegfried's sword across his knee. Death follows
death, and in the general slaughter the bodies are thrown out of the
windows, the hall is set on fire, and the Nibelungers are destroyed to
the last man. Kriemhild herself cuts off Hagen's head with Sieg-
fried's sword Balmung, and with him is lost forever the secret of the
fatal hoard. Incensed at this cruel act, the famous Hildebrand. Die-
trich's man, slays Kriemhild, and so perish utterly the Burgundians
of the Rhine.
Such is the briefly outlined story of the Nibelungers' fall. It is a
song of the wrath of Kriemhild. She is the centre of interest, and
upon her character the poet has bestowed his most loving care. She
## p. 10634 (#510) ##########################################
10634
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
appeared as the gentle, carefully guarded maid, timidly telling her
mother of a dream. Siegfried gave her life new value, and love
exalted her powers; proudly she walked by his side a stately queen.
With his death joy departed from her life; her tenderness was hard-
ened into a passion for revenge, and to this end she dedicated the
whole strength of her character. Thenceforth she moves a threaten-
ing figure towards the great catastrophe. Siegfried's character is less
complex; he is radiant, joyous, triumphant. Next to these two, Hagen,
Dietrich, and Rudiger are the figures to which the most interest
attaches. Hagen is the embodiment of grim fatalistic fidelity; Die-
trich, large-souled and noble, preserves all the fine characteristics with
which he was invested by the epic cycle of which he is the centre;
Rudiger is a knight of the chivalric age, and is probably a creation
of the Nibelungen poet. He is the most lovable and modern of all
the group. The conflict between his duty to the Nibelungers, imposed
upon him by the sacred rights of hospitality which he has given and
received, and his duty to his king and Kriemhild, is a touch wholly
modern. Over all the tragedy hovers mysteriously the power of the
hoard, but these reminiscences of the mythical happenings of long
ago serve only to create an ominous atmosphere: the course of events
could not have been otherwise, for the motives are all human.
The origins of the Nibelungenlied are purely Germanic. The
mythical and historical elements are clearly distinguishable. The for-
mer have faded into the background and given place to human inter-
ests; ethical motives have superseded the mythological. The curse
of the hoard, Siegfried's sword and cloud-cloak, and all the marvels
of that elder time, come to us in faint echoes, like the surge of a far-
off ocean heard in the shells of the sea. These echoes are of the
'Elder Edda'; but they are of Germanic origin, for the Eddic myths
were not indigenous to the North. The strange old heathen tradi-
tions had not altogether lost their vitality, however; for although the
fundamental ideas of the Nibelungenlied are on a plane of exalted
morality, it is essentially a heathen code that obtains. Nowhere is
there a trace of any supreme power controlling the destinies of men.
The Christian Church is purely external, and belongs to the scenery
and ceremonial. Siegfried and Brunhild have brought with them from
the 'Eddas' some part of their inheritance from a wonder-working
age, but they are human beings; Brunhild has lost her impressiveness
and grandeur, Siegfried has gained in sympathetic qualities. In the
older sources the Burgundian kings come to their death not through
their sister, there named Gudrun, but through Attila, who covets their
treasure, and upon whom in turn, according to ancient German usage,
Gudrun wreaks blood-vengeance. From historical sources we have
Etzel (Attila), Dietrich of Bern (Theodoric of Verona), and Gunther
(Gundicar), who with all his Burgundian people was killed in battle
## p. 10635 (#511) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10635
with the Huns in the year 437. The Nibelungen poet has of course
dealt freely with his materials, for he was a poet and not a chronicler.
The fatal encounter with the Huns doubtless took place on the left
bank of the Rhine and not on the shores of the Danube. It was
probably not Attila who led the Huns, but his brother Bleda, who
appears in the Lied as Bloedel. Dietrich is taken from another cycle
of epics, of which Theodoric the Great, King of the Visigoths and of
Italy, was the centre, and he belonged to a later generation than
Attila. Gunther's brother Giselher also has some dim historical exist-
ence, and the already mentioned Bishop Pilgrim of Passau can be
traced to a real personage. All other attempts to establish a his-
torical basis for the characters and events of the poem have little
plausibility. But the skill with which all these elements are united
in an organic whole shows that epic narrative had passed out of the
realm of folk poetry into the hands of the conscious plastic artist.
It is a noble monument erected by a sturdy people upon the thresh-
old of modern history, and was worthy to become a rallying-point for
their patriotic posterity.
Chart Guing
FROM THE NIBELUNGENLIED (FALL OF THE NIBELUNGERS)
Translation of William Nanson Lettsom
KRIEMHILD
IN
N STORIES of our fathers, high marvels we are told
Of champions well approved in perils manifold.
Of feasts and merry meetings, of weeping and of wail,
And deeds of gallant daring I'll tell you in my tale.
In Burgundy there flourished a maid so fair to see,
That in all the world together a fairer could not be. [strife
This maiden's name was Kriemhild; through her in dismal
Full many a prowest warrior thereafter lost his life.
Many a fearless champion, as such well became,
Wooed the lovely lady; she from none had blame.
Matchless was her person, matchless was her mind:
This one maiden's virtue graced all womankind.
## p. 10636 (#512) ##########################################
10636
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
Three puissant Kings her guarded with all the care they might:
Gunther and eke Gernot, each a redoubted knight,
And Giselher the youthful, a chosen champion he;
This lady was their sister, well loved of all the three.
They were high of lineage, thereto mild of mood,
But in field and foray champions fierce and rude.
They ruled a mighty kingdom, Burgundy by name;
They wrought in Etzel's country deeds of deathless fame.
At Worms was their proud dwelling, the fair Rhine flowing by;
There had they suit and service from haughtiest chivalry
For broad lands and lordships, and glorious was their state,
Till wretchedly they perished by two noble ladies' hate.
A dream was dreamt by Kriemhild, the virtuous and the gay,
How a wild young falcon she trained for many a day,
Till two fierce eagles tore it; to her there could not be
In all the world such sorrow as this perforce to see.
To her mother Uta at once the dream she told,
But she the threatening future could only thus unfold:
"The falcon that thou trainedst is sure a noble mate;
God shield him in his mercy, or thou must lose him straight. "
"A mate for me? what sayest thou, dearest mother mine?
Ne'er to love, assure thee, my heart will I resign.
I'll live and die a maiden, and end as I began,
Nor (let what else befall me) will suffer woe for man. "
"Nay," said her anxious mother, "renounce not marriage so;
Would'st thou true heartfelt pleasure taste ever here below,
Man's love alone can give it. Thou'rt fair as eye can see:
A fitting mate God send thee, and naught will wanting be. "
"No more," the maiden answered, "no more, dear mother, say:
From many a woman's fortune this truth is clear as day,
That falsely smiling Pleasure with Pain requites us ever.
I from both will keep me, and thus will sorrow never. "
So in her lofty virtues, fancy-free and gay,
Lived the noble maiden many a happy day,
Nor one more than another found favor in her sight;
Still at the last she wedded a far-renowned knight.
He was the selfsame falcon she in her dream had seen,
Foretold by her wise mother. What vengeance took the queen
On her nearest kinsmen who him to death had done!
That single death atoning died many a mother's son.
## p. 10637 (#513) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10637
SIEGFRIED
IN NETHERLAND then flourished a prince of lofty kind
(Whose father was called Siegmund, his mother Siegelind),
In a sumptuous castle down by the Rhine's fair side;
Men did call it Xanten: 'twas famous far and wide.
I tell you of this warrior, how fair he was to see;
From shame and from dishonor lived he ever free.
Forthwith fierce and famous waxed the mighty man.
Ah! what height of worship in this world he wan!
Siegfried men did call him, that same champion good;
Many a kingdom sought he in his manly mood,
And through strength of body in many a land rode he.
Ah! what men of valor he found in Burgundy!
Before this noble champion grew up to man's estate,
His hand had mighty wonders achieved in war's debate,
Whereof the voice of rumor will ever sing and say,
Though much must pass in silence in this our later day.
In his freshest season, in his youthful days,
One might full many a marvel tell in Siegfried's praise:
What lofty honors graced him, and how fair his fame;
How he charmed to love him many a noble dame.
As did well befit him, he was bred with care,
And his own lofty nature gave him virtues rare;
From him his father's country grace and honor drew,
To see him proved in all things so noble and so true.
He now, grown up to youthhood, at court his duty paid:
The people saw him gladly; many a wife and many a maid
Wished he would often thither, and bide for ever there;
They viewed him all with favor, whereof he well was ware.
The child by his fond parents was decked with weeds of pride,
And but with guards about him they seldom let him ride.
Uptrained was he by sages, who what was honor knew,
So might he win full lightly broad lands and liegemen too.
Now had he strength and stature that weapons well he bore;
Whatever thereto needed, he had of it full store.
He began fair ladies to his love to woo,
And they inclined to Siegfried with faith and honor true.
## p. 10638 (#514) ##########################################
10638
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
(HAGAN'S ACCOUNT OF SIEGFRIED)
AS ALL alone and aidless he was riding once at will,
As I have heard reported, he found beside a hill
With Niblung's hoarded treasure full many a man of might;
Strange seemed they to the champion, till he came to know them
right.
They had brought the treasure, as just then befell,
Forth from a yawning cavern: now hear a wonder tell,
How those fierce Nibelungers the treasure would divide;
The noble Siegfried eyed them, and wondered as he eyed.
He nearer came and nearer, close watching still the clan
Till they got sight of him too, when one of them began,
"Here comes the stalwart Siegfried, the chief of Netherland. "
A strange adventure met he with that Nibelungers' band.
Him well received the brethren Shilbung and Nibelung.
With one accord they begged him, those noble princes young,
To part the hoard betwixt them; and ever pressing bent
The hero's wavering purpose till he yielded full consent.
He saw of gems such plenty, drawn from that dark abode,
That not a hundred wagons could bear the costly load,
Still more of gold so ruddy from the Nibelungers' land:
All this was to be parted by noble Siegfried's hand.
So Niblung's sword they gave him to recompense his pain;
But ill was done the service, which they had sought so fain,
And he so hard had granted: Siegfried, the hero good,
Failed the long task to finish; this stirred their angry mood.
The treasure undivided he needs must let remain,
When the two kings indignant set on him with their train;
But Siegfried gripped sharp Balmung (so hight their father's
sword),
And took from them their country and the beaming precious
hoard.
For friends had they twelve champions, each, as avers my tale,
A strong and sturdy giant; but what could all avail?
All twelve to death successive smote Siegfried's mastering hand,
And vanquished chiefs seven hundred of the Nibelungers' land
With that good weapon Balmung; by sudden fear dismayed
Both of the forceful swordsman and of the sword he swayed,
## p. 10639 (#515) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10639
Unnumbered youthful heroes to Siegfried bent that hour,-
Themselves, their lands, their castles submitting to his power.
Those two fierce kings together he there deprived of life;
Then waged with puissant Albric a stern and dubious strife,—
Who thought to take full vengeance for both his masters slain,
But found his might and manhood with Siegfried's matched in
vain.
The mighty dwarf successless strove with the mightier man;
Like to wild mountain lions to th' hollow hill they ran;
He ravished there the cloud-cloak from struggling Albric's hold,
And then became the master of th' hoarded gems and gold.
Whoever dared resist him, all by his sword lay slain.
Then bade he bring the treasure back to the cave again,
Whence the men of Niblung the same before had stirred;
On Albric last the office of keeper he conferred.
He took an oath to serve him, as his liegeman true,
In all that to a master from his man is due.
Such deeds (said he of Trony) has conquering Siegfried done;
Be sure such mighty puissance, knight has never won.
Yet more I know of Siegfried, that well your ear may hold:
A poison-spitting dragon he slew with courage bold,
And in the blood then bathed him; this turned to horn his skin.
And now no weapons harm him, as often proved has been.
HOW SIEGFRIED FIRST SAW KRIEMHILD
Now went she forth, the loveliest, as forth the morning goes
From misty clouds outbeaming; then all his weary woes
Left him, in heart who bore her, and so long time had done.
He saw there stately standing the fair, the peerless one.
Many a stone full precious flashed from her vesture bright;
Her rosy blushes darted a softer, milder light.
Whate'er might be his wishes, each could not but confess
He ne'er on earth had witnessed such perfect loveliness.
As the moon arising outglitters every star
That through the clouds so purely glimmers from afar,
E'en so love-breathing Kriemhild dimmed every beauty nigh.
Well might at such a vision many a bold heart beat high.
Rich chamberlains before them marched on in order due;
Around th' high-mettled champions close and closer drew,
## p. 10640 (#516) ##########################################
10640
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
Each pressing each, and struggling to see the matchless maid.
Then inly was Sir Siegfried both well and ill apaid.
Within himself thus thought he: "How could I thus misdeem
That I should dare to woo thee? sure 'twas an idle dream!
Yet, rather than forsake thee, far better were I dead. "
Thus thinking, thus impassioned, waxed he ever white and red.
So stood the son of Sieglind in matchless grace arrayed,
As though upon a parchment in glowing hues portrayed
By some good master's cunning; all owned, and could no less,
Eye had not seen a pattern of such fair manliness.
Those who the dames attended bade all around make way;
Straight did the gentle warriors, as such became, obey.
There many a knight, enraptured, saw many a dame in place
Shine forth in bright perfection of courtliness and grace.
Then the bold Burgundian, Sir Gernot, spoke his thought:-
"Him who in hour of peril his aid so frankly brought,
Requite, dear brother Gunther, as fits both him and you,
Before this fair assembly; th' advice I give, I ne'er shall rue.
"Bid Siegfried come to Kriemhild; let each the other meet:
'Twill sure be to our profit, if she the warrior greet.
'Twill make him ours for ever, this man of matchless might,
If she but give him greeting, who never greeted knight. ”
Then went King Gunther's kinsmen, a high-born haughty band,
And found and fair saluted the knight of Netherland:-
"The king to court invites you, such favor have you won;
His sister there will greet you: this to honor you is done. ”
Glad man was then Sir Siegfried at this unlooked-for gain;
His heart was full of pleasure without alloy of pain,
To see and meet so friendly fair Uta's fairer child.
Then greeted she the warrior maidenly and mild.
There stood he, the high-minded, beneath her star-bright eye,
His cheek as fire all glowing; then said she modestly,
"Sir Siegfried, you are welcome, noble knight and good! "
Yet loftier at that greeting rose his lofty mood.
He bowed with soft emotion, and thanked the blushing fair;
Love's strong constraint together impelled th' enamored pair;
Their longing eyes encountered, their glances every one
Bound knight and maid for ever; yet all by stealth was done.
## p. 10641 (#517) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10641
That in the warmth of passion he pressed her lily hand,
I do not know for certain, but well can understand
'Twere surely past believing they ventured not on this:
Two loving hearts, so meeting, else had done amiss.
No more in pride of summer nor in bloom of May
Knew he such heartfelt pleasure as on this happy day,
When she, than May more blooming, more bright than summer's
pride,
His own, a dream no longer, was standing by his side.
Then thought full many a champion, "Would this had happed to
me,
To be with lovely Kriemhild as Siegfried now I see,
Or closer e'en than Siegfried: well were I then, I ween. "
Never yet was champion who so deserved a queen.
Whate'er the king or country of the guests assembled there,
All could look on nothing save on that gentle pair.
Now 'twas allowed that Kriemhild the peerless knight should
kiss.
Ne'er in the world had drained he so full a draught of bliss. .
She now the minster entered; her followed many a dame;
There so her stately beauty her rich attire became,
That drooped each high aspiring, born but at once to die.
Sure was that maid created to ravish every eye.
Scarce could wait Sir Siegfried till the mass was sung.
Well might he thank his fortune that, all those knights among,
To him inclined the maiden whom still in heart he bore,
While he to her, as fitted, returned as much or more.
When now before the minster after the mass she stood,
Again to come beside her was called the champion good.
Then first by that sweet maiden thanks to the knight were given,
That he before his comrades so warrior-like had striven.
"God you reward, Sir Siegfried! " said the noble child,
"For all your high deservings in honor's bead-roll filed,
The which I know from all men have won you fame and grace. "
Sir Siegfried, love-bewildered, looked Kriemhild in the face.
"Ever," said he, "your brethren I'll serve as best I may,
Nor once, while I have being, will head on pillow lay,
Till I have done to please them whate'er they bid me do;
And this, my lady Kriemhild, is all for love of you. "
XVIII-666
## p. 10642 (#518) ##########################################
10642
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
HOW THE TWO QUEENS REVILED ONE ANOTHER
ONE day at th' hour of vespers a loud alarum rose
From certain lusty champions that for their pastime chose
To prove themselves at tilting in the castle court;
Then many a knight and lady ran thither to see the sport.
There were the proud queens sitting together, as befell,
Each on a good knight thinking that either loved full well.
Then thus began fair Kriemhild, "My husband's of such might,
That surely o'er these kingdoms he ought to rule by right. "
Then answered lady Brunhild, "Nay, how can that be shown?
Were there none other living but thou and he alone,
Then might, no doubt, the kingdoms be ruled by him and thee;
But long as Gunther's living, that sure can never be. "
Thereto rejoined fair Kriemhild, "See'st thou how proud he
stands,
How proud he stalks,-conspicuous among those warrior bands,
As doth the moon far-beaming the glimmering stars outshine?
Sure have I cause to pride me when such a knight is mine. "
Thereto replied Queen Brunhild, "How brave soe'er he be,
How stout soe'er or stately, one greater is than he:
Gunther, thy noble brother, a higher place may claim,
Of knights and kings the foremost in merit and in fame. "
Thereto rejoined fair Kriemhild, "So worthy is my mate,
All praise that I can give him can ne'er be termed too great.
In all he does how matchless! In honor too how clear!
Believ'st thou this, Queen Brunhild? At least he's Gunther's
peer. "
"Thou shouldst not so perversely, Kriemhild, my meaning take.
What I said, assure thee, with ample cause I spake.
I heard them both allow it, then when both first I saw,
And the stout king in battle compelled me to his law.
"E'en then, when my affection he so knightly wan,
'Twas fairly owned by Siegfried that he was Gunther's man.
Myself I heard him own it, and such I hold him still. »
"Forsooth," replied fair Kriemhild, "they must have used me ill.
"How could my noble brethren their power have so applied,
As to make me, their sister, a lowly vassal's bride?
## p. 10643 (#519) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10643
For manners' sake then, Brunhild, this idle talk give o'er,
And by our common friendship, let me hear no more. "
"Give o'er will I never," the queen replied again:
"Shall I renounce the service of all the knightly train
That hold of him, our vassal, and are our vassals too? "
Into sudden anger at this fair Kriemhild flew:
"Ay! but thou must renounce it, for never will he grace
Thee with his vassal service: he fills a higher place
Than e'en my brother Gunther, noble though be his strain.
Henceforth thou shouldst be wiser, nor hold such talk again.
"I wonder too, since Siegfried thy vassal is by right,
Since both of us thou rulest with so much power and might,
Why to thee his service so long he has denied.
Nay! I can brook no longer thy insolence and pride. "
«< Thyself too high thou bearest," Brunhild answer made:
"Fain would see this instant whether to thee be paid
Public respect and honor such as waits on me. "
Then both the dames with anger lowering you might see.
"So shall it be," said Kriemhild: "to meet thee I'm prepared.
Since thou my noble husband a vassal hast declared,
By the men of both our consorts to-day it shall be seen,
That I the church dare enter before King Gunther's queen.
"To-day by proof thou'lt witness what lofty birth is mine,
And that my noble husband worthier is than thine;
Nor for this with presumption shall I be taxed, I trow:
To-day thou'lt see moreover thy lowly vassal go
"To court before the warriors here in Burgundy.
Assure thee, thou'lt behold me honored more royally
Than the proudest princess that ever here wore crown. ”
The dames their spite attested with many a scowl and frown.
"Since thou wilt be no vassal," Brunhild rejoined again,
"Then thou with thy women must apart remain
From my dames and damsels, as to the church we go. "
Thereto Kriemhild answered, "Trust me it shall be so.
"Array ye now, my maidens," said Siegfried's haughty dame:
"You must not let your mistress here be put to shame;
That you have gorgeous raiment make plain to every eye.
What she has just asserted, she soon shall fain deny. "
## p. 10644 (#520) ##########################################
10644
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
They needed not much bidding: all sought out their best;
Matrons alike and maidens each donned a glittering vest.
Queen Brunhild with her meiny was now upon her way.
By this was decked fair Kriemhild in royal rich array,
With three-and-forty maidens, whom she to Rhine had brought;
Bright stuffs were their apparel, in far Arabia wrought.
So towards the minster marched the maidens fair;
All the men of Siegfried were waiting for them there.
Strange thought it each beholder, what there by all was seen,
How with their trains far-sundered passed either noble queen,
Not walking both together as was their wont before;
Full many a prowest warrior thereafter rued it sore.
Now before the minster the wife of Gunther stood;
Meanwhile by way of pastime many a warrior good
Held light and pleasant converse with many a smiling dame;
When up the lovely Kriemhild with her radiant meiny came.
All that the noblest maiden had ever donned before
Was as wind to the splendor her dazzling ladies wore.
So rich her own apparel in gold and precious things,
She alone might outglitter the wives of thirty kings.
Howe'er he might be willing, yet none could dare deny
That such resplendent vesture never met mortal eye
As on that fair retinue then sparkled to the sun.
Except to anger Brunhild, Kriemhild had not so done.
Both met before the minster in all the people's sight;
There at once the hostess let out her deadly spite.
Bitterly and proudly she bade fair Kriemhild stand:
"No vassaless precedeth the lady of the land. "
Out then spake fair Kriemhild (full of wrath was she),
"Couldst thou still be silent, better 'twere for thee.
Thou'st made thy beauteous body a dishonored thing.
How can a vassal's leman be consort of a king? "
"Whom here call'st thou leman? " said the queen again.
"So call I thee," said Kriemhild: "thy maidenly disdain
Yielded first to Siegfried, my husband, Siegmund's son;
Ay! 'twas not my brother that first thy favors won.
"Why, where were then thy senses? sure 'twas a crafty train,
To take a lowly lover, to ease a vassal's pain!
## p. 10645 (#521) ##########################################
THE NIBELUNGENLIED
10645
Complaints from thee," said Kriemhild, "methinks are much
amiss. "
"Verily," said Brunhild, "Gunther shall hear of this. "
"And why should that disturb me? thy pride hath thee betrayed.
Why didst thou me, thy equal, with vassalship upbraid?
Know this for sure and certain (to speak it gives me pain),
Never can I meet thee in cordial love again. "
Then bitterly wept Brunhild: Kriemhild no longer stayed;
Straight with all her followers before the queen she made
Her way into the minster; then deadly hate 'gan rise;
And starting tears o'erclouded the shine of brightest eyes.
For all the solemn service, for all the chanted song,
Still it seemed to Brunhild they lingered all too long.
Both on her mind and body a load like lead there lay.
Many a high-born hero for her sorrow was to pay.
Brunhild stopped with her ladies without the minster door.
Thought she, "This wordy woman shall tell me something more
Of her charge against me spread so loud and rife.
If he has but so boasted, let him look to his life! "
Now came the noble Kriemhild begirt with many a knight;
Then spake the noble Brunhild, "Stop and do me right.
You've voiced me for a wanton: prove it ere you go.
You and your foul speeches have wrought me pain and woe. "
Then spake the lady Kriemhild, "Twere wiser to forbear:
E'en with the gold I'll prove it that on my hand I wear;
'Twas this that Siegfried brought me from where by you he lay. "
Never lived Queen Brunhild so sorrowful a day.
Said she, "That ring was stolen from me who held it dear,
And mischievously hidden has since been many a year.
But now I've met with something by which the thief to guess. "
Both the dames were frenzied with passion masterless.
"Thief? " made answer Kriemhild, "I will not brook the name.
Thou wouldst have kept silence, hadst thou a sense of shame.
By the girdle here about me prove full well I can
That I am ne'er a liar; Siegfried was indeed thy man. "
'Twas of silk of Nineveh the girdle that she brought,
With precious stones well garnished; a better ne'er was wrought:
When Brunhild but beheld it, her tears she could not hold.
The tale must needs to Gunther and all his men be told.
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HOW SIEGFRIED PARTED FROM KRIEMHILD
GUNTHER and Hagan, the warriors fierce and bold,
To execute their treason, resolved to scour the wold,
The bear, the boar, the wild bull, by hill or dale or fen,
To hunt with keen-edged javelins: what fitter sport for valiant
men?
In lordly pomp rode with them Siegfried the champion strong.
Good store of costly viands they brought with them along.
Anon by a cool runnel he lost his guiltless life.
'Twas so devised by Brunhild, King Gunther's moody wife.
But first he sought the chamber where he his lady found.
He and his friend already had on the sumpters bound
Their gorgeous hunting raiment; they o'er the Rhine would go.
Never before was Kriemhild sunk so deep in woe.
On her mouth of roses he kissed his lady dear:
"God grant me, dame, returning in health to see thee here;
So may those eyes see me too: meanwhile be blithe and gay
Among the gentle kinsmen; I must hence away. "
Then thought she on the secret (the truth she durst not tell)
How she had told it Hagan; then the poor lady fell
To wailing and lamenting that ever she was born.
Then wept she without measure, sobbing and sorrow-worn.
She thus bespake her husband: "Give up that chase of thine.
I dreamt last night of evil,- how two fierce forest swine
Over the heath pursued thee; the flowers turned bloody red.
I cannot help thus weeping: I'm chilled with mortal dread.
་་
"I fear some secret treason, and cannot lose thee hence,
Lest malice should be borne thee for misconceived offense.
Stay, my beloved Siegfried, take not my words amiss,-
'Tis the true love I bear thee that bids me counsel this. ".
"Back shall I be shortly, my own beloved mate;
Not a soul in Rhineland know I who bears me hate:
I'm well with all thy kinsmen; they're all my firm allies:
Nor have I from any e'er deservèd otherwise. "—
"Nay! do not, dearest Siegfried! 'tis e'en thy death I dread.
Last night I dreamt two mountains fell thundering on thy head,
And I no more beheld thee: if thou from me wilt go,
My heart will sure be breaking with bitterness of woe. "
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Round her peerless body his clasping arms he threw;
Lovingly he kissed her, that faithful wife and true;
Then took his leave, and parted: in a moment all was o'er;-
Living, alas poor lady! she saw him nevermore.
HOW SIEGFRIED WAS SLAIN
THE noble knight Sir Siegfried with thirst was sore opprest;
So earlier rose from table, and could no longer rest,
But straight would to the mountain the running brook to find,-
And so advanced the treason his faithless foes designed.
Meanwhile were slowly lifted on many a groaning wain
The beasts in that wild forest by Siegfried's manhood slain.
Each witness gave him honor, and loud his praises spoke.
Alas, that with him Hagan his faith so foully broke!
Now when to the broad linden they all would take their way,
Thus spake the fraudful Hagan, "Full oft have I heard say,
That none a match in swiftness for Kriemhild's lord can be,
Whene'er to race he pleases: would he grant us this to see? »
Then spake the Netherlander, Siegfried, with open heart:—
"Well then! let's make the trial! Together we will start
From hence to yonder runnel; let us at once begin:
And he shall pass for winner who shall be seen to win. "
"Agreed! " said treacherous Hagan, "let us each other try. "
Thereto rejoined stout Siegfried, "And if you pass me by,
Down at your feet I'll lay me humbled on the grass. ”
When these words heard Gunther, what joy could his surpass?
Then said the fearless champion, "And this I tell you more:
I'll carry all the equipment that in the chase I wore,—
My spear, my shield, my vesture,-leave will I nothing out. "
His sword then and his quiver he girt him quick about.
-
Whate'er he did, the warrior high o'er his fellows soared.
Now laid he down his quiver, and quick ungirt his sword:
Against the spreading linden he leaned his mighty spear:
So by the brook stood waiting the chief without a peer.
King Gunther and Sir Hagan to strip were nothing slow;
Both for the race stood ready in shirts as white as snow.
Long bounds, like two wild panthers, o'er the grass they took,
But seen was noble Siegfried before them at the brook.
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In every lofty virtue none with Sir Siegfried vied:
Down he laid his buckler by the water's side;
For all the thirst that parched him, one drop he never drank
Till the king had finished: he had full evil thank.
Cool was the little runnel, and sparkled clear as glass;
O'er the rill King Gunther knelt down upon the grass;
When he his draught had taken he rose and stepped aside.
Full fain alike would Siegfried his thirst have satisfied.
Dear paid he for his courtesy: his bow, his matchless blade,
His weapons all, Sir Hagan far from their lord conveyed,
Then back sprung to the linden to seize his ashen spear,
And to find out the token surveyed his vesture near;
Then, as to drink Sir Siegfried down kneeling there he found,
He pierced him through the croslet, that sudden from the wound
Forth the life-blood spouted e'en o'er his murderer's weed.
Never more will warrior dare so foul a deed.
Between his shoulders sticking he left the deadly spear.
Never before Sir Hagan so fled for ghastly fear,
As from the matchless champion whom he had butchered there.
Soon as was Sir Siegfried of the mortal wound aware,
Up he from the runnel started as he were wood;
Out from betwixt his shoulders his own huge boar-spear stood!
He thought to find his quiver or his broadsword true;
The traitor for his treason had then received his due:
But ah! the deadly wounded nor sword nor quiver found:
His shield alone beside him lay there upon the ground;
This from the bank he lifted, and straight at Hagan ran:
Him could not then by fleetness escape King Gunther's man.
E'en to the death though wounded, he hurled it with such power,
That the whirling buckler scattered wide a shower
Of the most precious jewels, then straight in shivers broke:
Full gladly had the warrior ta'en vengeance with that stroke.
E'en as it was, his manhood fierce Hagan leveled low;
Loud all around the meadow rang with the wondrous blow:
Had he in hand good Balmung, the murderer he had slain.
His wound was sore upon him; he writhed in mortal pain.
His lively color faded; a cloud came o'er his sight:
He could stand no longer; melted all his might.
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In his paling visage the mark of death he bore.
Soon many a lovely lady sorrowed for him sore.
