Tale IX: How Gudrun Was Sought by Siegfried

We speak no more of Hagen. A word may now be toldAbout King Hettel’s kinsmen: they who land did holdEver owed him fealty for these and for their castles;To court they all came often when Hettel and Hilda sent to call their vassals.

Wâ-te went to Sturmland, Morunc to Nifland rode;Horant, prince of Denmark, led his warriors goodTo Givers, by the seashore, where as lord they held him;There their homes they guarded, and many, far and wide, their master called him.

With mighty sway in Ortland Irold had his seat;Its lands he held of Hettel; so, as a vassal meet,Near and far to serve him, his duty was the greater:The king was brave and worthy; and ne’er for a lord of lands was known a better.

If ever in any kingdom Hettel heard them speakOf a fair and well-born maiden, her he sought to takeInto his home and castle, as handmaid to his lady:Whatever Hilda wished for, to help wild Hagen’s child they all were ready.

The king, with his wife beside him, was happy on the throne;Their life was ever blissful. To all in the land ’twas knownThat better far and dearer than all on earth he thought her.Never by all his kinsmen a lovelier could be found, where’er they sought her.

Within seven years thereafter Hettel, in stormy fight,Thrice to his foes gave battle. They who, day and night,To wrong his name and honor did their utmost gladly,Now by the knightly Hettel found themselves brought low and chastened sadly.

His castles he did strengthen, and peace he gave to his land,As well a king befitteth: such were the deeds of his hand,That never in any kingdom, when his name was spoken,Was it said he was faint-hearted. The praise of all did well his worth betoken.

While, with name so worthy, Hettel held the throne,Wâ-te, the man of wisdom, never left undoneHis duty to his master, to see him three times yearly;Truly he was faithful, far and near, to the lord he held so dearly.

Horant, the lord from Denmark, to court not seldom rode;Costly gems and clothing on the maids he there bestowed,With gold and silken raiment, meet for women’s wearing:He from Daneland brought them, and to all who wished was he of gifts unsparing.

The service true and steady that the liegemen of the kingGave to the lordly Hettel honor to him did bring.Praised was he for knighthood more than any other:This Hilda also furthered, a queen herself, and child of a queenly mother.

Hilda, Hagen’s daughter, children two did bearUnto her lord, King Hettel: to bring them up with careHis faithful friends were bidden. Soon among his vassalsWere the tidings bruited that an heir no more was lacking for his lands and castles.

One became a warrior, Ortwin was his name;To Wâ-te he was trusted. It was the teacher’s aimThat he from early boyhood should his thoughts be turningTo all things good and worthy; to be a trusty knight he thus was learning.

The very comely daughter of Hilda and the kingWas called Gu-drun the lovely: from the land of the HegelingTo Denmark she was carried, to be in her kinsmen’s wardship.Thus they helped King Hettel, and this they never felt to be a hardship.

When the maid grew older, her shape became so fairThat neither man nor woman to praise her could forbear:Far from the maiden’s birthplace, all her worth were telling.Gu-drun her kinsfolk called her, in the Danish land where now she had her dwelling.

That age she now was reaching when, had she been a man,A sword she might have wielded. Many a prince was fainTo wed the lovely maiden, and sought her love and favor;But many came a-wooing who soon their hopes must lose, and win her never.

However fair was Hilda, Hettel’s lovely wife,Yet was Gu-drun more lovely, and fair beyond belief;More fair than the early Hilda, erst to Ireland carried.Above all other women Gu-drun was praised, ere yet the maid was married.

Her father scorned to give her to the king of Alzabé;When he heard he could not win her to him ’twas a sorry day.He held himself most highly for all his kingly graces,And thought there could be no one whose deeds, like his, were worthy of men’s praises.

Both brave he was and daring, and from the Moorland came:He was known afar and widely, Siegfried was his name;A king was he full mighty over vassals seven.He sued for Hilda’s daughter, such tales of her lofty worth to him were given.

He, with his faithful liegemen from far Icaria’s strand,Won many costly prizes there in Hettel’s land:His strong and doughty warriors, in sight of ladies seatedBefore King Hettel’s castle, in games of knighthood often there were mated.

When Hilda and her daughter passed the hall within,Before the house of Wigaleis there rose a mighty dinFrom warriors of the Moorland, who, all boldly dashing,Rode in the sight of the women; oft of spears and shields was heard the clashing.

Never could knight in tilting better in this behave.A friendly will she bore him, and oft kind words she gave,Though he was brown to look on, and in hue was dusky even.He for her love was yearning, yet for a wife she ne’er to him was given.

This pained him beyond measure, and truly he was wrothThat he from far had ridden, yet gave she not her troth.To burn the land of Hettel then did he threaten madly:His followers from Moorland, when now his hopes were lost, were mourning sadly.

From him was the maid withholden by Hettel’s lofty pride;And now their loving friendship was ended on either side.Then swore the Moor that never he his hate would slacken,And that the grudge he bore him, whate’er befell, should never be forsaken.

Then from the land of the Hegeling rode they all away.When many years were ended, there came at last a dayWhen by a knight most worthy was bitter sorrow tasted;Then the foes of Herwic did him the worst they could, nor in it rested.