the glittering shield-bands fallen in the grapple bitter-hard.
Then sat those guests in the feast-hall in their own ordained high-seats;
And the war-toil’s ache was banished like a dream by the goodly meats
And the wines of noble vintage that flowed as a fountain free.
There homeland guest and stranger had honour plenteously.
In gentle sports and joyous had they worn the long day out;
And now the song of the minstrels through the feast-hall went about;
And their singing had goodly guerdon of the ever-bounteous hand,
And their praise was a crown of glory upon all King Siegmund’s land.
Then the King bade Siegfried deliver in fee to his vassals true
Broad lands and stately castles, as himself had been wont to do.
And he gave with hand ungrudging to his fellows of the sword,
That their hearts were glad for his presence, for their coming thitherward.
So the feast sped on and the mirth-tide, till they saw the seventh sun rise;
And all in the olden fashion did the Queen give gifts of price;
Red gold for the love of Siegfried, and in Siegfried’s name she gave.
That to him as the giver of bounty the hearts of all men clave.
Not a wandering bard thereafter in need in the land abode:
Steeds, raiment on these were showered as though with gifts it snowed,
As though there should come no morrow, and men’s lives lack nothing more:
Never were palace-stewards that lavished so of their store.
So filled with the winning of honour that feast-tide fleeted by,
That whiles one heard the earl-folk each unto other cry:
“Well were we if but Prince Siegfried in his father’s stead were our lord!”
But a grief unto him was their longing, and his true heart loathed the word.
While endured the days of Siegmund and Siegelind, their son
Siegfried, the loved and the loving, would in no wise sit on the throne.
But he yearned in his fearless spirit to break the oppressor’s yoke,
And to rid of the fear of the spoiler the hearth of the lowly folk.
(C) No man might make him a mocking: since first the sword he drew,
The praise of the brave was his lodestar; but little rest he knew:
Ever he wooed war-perils, and his battle-triumphant hand
Bare the banner of his glory through many a far-off land.
III.
How Siegfried rode to the City of Worms
Not often the heart of the hero had ache or sorrow known,
Till the tidings came of a fair-one on a wind of rumour blown.
Fair past all heart’s desiring was the Star of Burgundy—
She was doomed to be joy and anguish unto him in the days to be!
With the fame of her glorious beauty there flew forth far and wide
The tale of the queenly spirit, of the heart of tameless pride;
And the souls of princely champions were set on fire of the word,
That from lands afar to the guest-hall of Gunther the King they spurred.
But for all the love of the wooers, and their burning words thereof,
No whit were Kriemhild’s heart-strings once swept by the finger of love,
That she deigned to take of them any for the love of her life and her king.
In a strange land yet was her Falcon with the victory in his wing.
When borne down love’s dream-river was the heart of Siegelind’s son,
As an idle wind was the wooing of all save him alone.
Above all men was Siegfried worthy the chosen of women to wed:—
Now soon to the fair shall the fearless by the hand of love be led.
Then his friends took thought for Siegfried, and the wise in council met,
When they knew the heart of the hero on the love of woman set.
“Seek her for thy bride,” they counselled, “whose birth shall shame not thee.”
Answered the prince: “None other than Kriemhild this shall be!
Lo, she is a great king’s daughter, and the Star of Burgundia she is,
And she is the Queen of Beauty, and my heart knoweth certainly this—
Never Kaiser nor King is so mighty, but, if he would choose him a bride,
Kriemhild, the glory of women, for him were a crown of pride.”
Then was told the tale of his purpose unto Siegmund the ancient King,
For his people brought him the tidings, and so was he ware of the thing
Whereunto was his son’s mind steadfast; and the King was sore afraid
For the peril of Siegfried’s wooing of the haughty-hearted maid.
Yea also the selfsame rumour did the lady Siegelind hear;
And her heart was exceeding heavy with a burden of sorrow and fear;
For she wotted how grim was Gunther and the earls of his war-array:
And they laboured to turn Prince Siegfried from the perilous quest away.
Then answered the aweless Siegfried: “Heart’s dearest, father mine,
Never to love of woman shall the soul of me incline,
Except I may woo untrammelled where love leads forth mine
