Adventure XXV: How the Princes rode to the Land of the Huns

So then of their doings in Hunland needeth no more to say:But for them of Burgundia--never such high-souled heroes as theyRode in such lordly fashion in the land of any king.All had they, weapons and raiment, that they would for theirwayfaring.The Lord of the Rhine in vesture arrayed his warrior-throng,Knights fourscore and a thousand, as sayeth the olden song;Yea also, and squires nine thousand to that great feast-tide rode.--They were sorely bewept thereafter by them that at home abode.

At Worms through the palace-courtyard armour they bare and attire.As he watched, a word of boding spake the ancient bishop of SpeyerUnto Queen Uta the lovely: "Our friends be minded to fareTo be guests in a far-off country--God have them in his care!"Then Uta the noble Lady spake to her sons in her fear:"O heroes mighty-hearted, I pray you, tarry here!Last night came a dream of anguish mid the visions of mine head;For meseemed in the land Burgundian that all her birds were dead."Swiftly made answer Hagen: "Whoso regardeth a dreamShall never wisely advise him; he shall never rightly deemIn a matter that toucheth his honour, or choose the better part!Now it behoveth my master to bid farewell and depart.Blithely will we ride onward into King Etzel's land;There well to a king may service be done by a hero's hand:There what manner of high-tide Kriemhild holds shall we see."So Hagen counselled the journey--cause to rue it had he!Nay, still had he spoken against it, were it not for the bitter jeerThat Gernot had flung at the hero, when he said with scornful sneer:"The ghost of Siegfried standeth, of the Lady Kriemhild's lord,In the path, and frighteth Hagen from journeying thitherward!"Spake Hagen of Troneg: "Never fear stirreth nor stayeth me!Lo, ye have determined it, heroes: your hands to the work set ye.Doubt not, I will ride with you blithely into King Etzel's realm."--Soon hewn by him asunder was many a shield and helm.

To bear them over the Rhine-flood ready the galleys lay;So the warriors set a-shipboard their goodly vesture-array:With lading and unlading till eventide busy they were.--O forth from their homes full blithely on the journey did theyfare.The warriors pitched in the meadow for themselves pavilion and tentOn the other side the Rhine-flood, where that last night was spent."Tarry, O Gunther!" did Brunhild, his lovely wife, implore,As she clasped to her heart her husband that night, and never more.Shrilled flutes and blared forth trumpets as the first of thedawn-light shone,Bidding them forth on the journey, and all made haste to be gone.Lover in arms of lover was strained close, close to the heart,They whom with anguish unending would the wife of Etzel part.

Now the sons of the fair Queen Uta had of their vassals a manBold and withal true-hearted: even as the journey began,The thoughts of his heart he uttered to the King, for he drew himaside,And he said: "It grieveth me sorely that thou goest to thishigh-tide."And the name of the thane was Rumold, trusty of heart and hand."Whom wilt thou leave as warden," he said, "of thy folk and thy land?Alas that none can turn you, O knights, from your enterprise!Never the message of Kriemhild was good in thy servant's eyes.""Unto thee be the land committed, and also my little son.To our wives do loyal service: I will that so it be done.Whomsoever thou seest weeping, speak to them words of cheer.No hurt shall the wife of Etzel do us; have thou no fear."

(C) Moreover the King took counsel, or ever they parted thence,With all his chiefest liegemen: he left not bare of defenceHis kingdom and his castles: to keep them safe in wardHe delivered them over to chosen barons, to watch and to guard.

All harnessed stood the horses for vassal and for king.With loving kisses of parting did wives unto husbands clingIn whose bosoms were hearts high-leaping, in whose veins was lustylife,Yet for whom there was soon sore weeping of many a widowed wife.(C) Now all the air was thrilling with weeping and wailing wild.To the King drew nigh Queen Brunhild; she bare in her arms theirchild:"How canst thou endure to leave us desolate both in a day?For love of us," said the woeful Queen, "ah, stay with us, stay!"(C) "My wife, it doth not beseem thee thus to be weeping for me;Rather in queenly courage fearless here shouldst thou be.With joy shall we soon be returning safe and sound again."In that same hour from their dear ones parted all his train.Now did those valiant warriors their steeds at last bestride,While many a loving woman stood watching tearful-eyed."Long, long shall be this parting!" their hearts were whisperingstill.None can be blithe of spirit in the shadow of coming ill.

Forward set the Burgundians, a battle-eager band.Thronged and pressed to behold them the people of the land.To right and to left on the hill-sides men and women wept;But, how sorrowed the people soever, for joy their own hearts leapt.Forth also with these went riding Niblung men of war,A thousand heroes in hauberks: in the Niblung homes afarFair women they left full many whom they saw not from that day.--Rankled the wounds of Siegfried in the heart of Kriemhild aye!

(C) Albeit the faith of Christians was weak in those far-off days,Yet journeyed with these a chaplain for chanting of prayer andpraise;And, though out of desperate peril, alive this man came home;But all the rest in the Hunland tarried, for death was their doom.

Onward their way they wended far up the stream of Main,And upward through Eastern Frankland, that armour-glittering line.By Hagen still were they guided, for all the land knew he.And Dankwart was their marshal, the hero of Burgundy.On through the land of the East-Franks, through Swanfeld are theygone.It was like a procession of princes as the stately ranks swept on,Kings and their high-born kinsmen, heroes of world-sung fame.So at the twelfth day's dawning the King to the Danube came.

There rode Hagen of Troneg afront of all the rest,Right good at need as a helper, and a stay unto men distressed.From the saddle that dauntless baron sprang by the river-side,And the bridle of his charger straightway to a tree hath he tied.In flood were the mighty waters, no boat might any see.Then were the Niblung warriors in sore perplexityHow they should win thereover, so broad was the rolling flood.Down lighted beside the river full many a warrior good."Evil may well befall thee," said Hagen, "in this place.See, Lord of Rhineland, the peril stareth thee in the face.Over-bank are the great flood-waters: too strong is their rush toessay:Many good knights, if we tempt it, I ween, shall we lose this day.""Wherefore essay to daunt me, Hagen?" the proud King said."For the sake of thy knightly honour no more speak counsels of dread!Seek thou for a ford for our crossing over to yonder land,Whereby our gear and our horses may be brought from strand tostrand.""Not yet of my life so weary am I waxen," Hagen replied,"That I were contented to drown me in yonder waters wide.Full many a warrior smitten by mine hands shall perish firstIn the land of this King Etzel--yea, I am battle-athirst.Tarry ye here by the water, ye thanes of knightly pride.Alone will I go, and for boatmen will I search by the river-sideWhich unto the land of Gelfrat shall ferry us over the spate."Then took the aweless Hagen his strong shield, goodly and great.Well was he armed against foemen: his shield from his shoulders wasslung,And he laced on his head his helmet, a splendour of fight far-flung:Belted unto his corslet was a broad bright battle-glaiveTwin-edged, whose deadly keenness the shields of the mighty clave.

Up-stream and down-stream casting for a ferry-wight sought he.Then heard he a plashing of water, and hearkened where it should be.And lo, in a pool fair-welling did mermaids plunge and swimTo cool in the dimpling river each summer-fevered limb.Then Hagen was ware of the wise-wives, and stealthily nearer hecrept.They saw him, and swiftly flashing far off through the ripples leapt.Laughed they for glee, as fleers that mark a pursuer outrun.Then seized he their raiment, but further scathe unto them did henone.Then cried unto him a mermaiden, and Hadburg had she to name:"Behold, we will tell thee, Hagen, thou knight of peerless fame,--So thou wilt restore our apparel in guerdon for our rede,--How thou and thy friends in thy journey to the land of the Huns shallspeed."

They swayed on the swaying water as birds that rock on the sea:And he thought on their weird foreknowledge, on the eyes that piercethe To Be;The gladlier therefore he trusted that their lips the truth wouldshow;And answer they made, when he questioned of the thing that he fainwould know.For Hadburg said: "Ye may safely to the land of Etzel ride.I pledge thee my faith in surety for that I have prophesied.Never hath journey of heroes to an alien land been crownedWith such high honour and worship. True shall my words be found."Welcome and heart-uplifting did the word unto Hagen come:He restored unto them their raiment, and tarried no more therefrom.

But when they had donned the vesture of the wondrous cloudy fold,Of the journey to Etzel's kingdom then first the truth they told.For now the second mermaid, whose name was Sieglind, spake:"Aldrian's son, thou Hagen, from me this warning take:--False is the thing my cousin but to win her raiment saith.If thou to the Hunfolk goest, betrayed art thou to thy death.While yet there is time, turn backward; wisely so should ye do,Forasmuch as ye valiant heroes are but bidden theretoTo the end that ye all may perish in the Hunfolk's land.Yea, whoso rideth thither, Death rideth at his right hand."Answered and spake to her Hagen: "This your deceit is vain.How should thy word be accomplished, that all we should be slain,And so through any man's malice dead at their high-tide stay?"Then to the knight the story did they clearly and throughly say.Moreover said one of the mermaids: "Thus is it doomed to betide,That none shall alive fare homeward of all in your host that ride,Save one, King Gunther's chaplain. We verily know this thing,That unharmed he only returneth to the land of Gunther the King."

In scornful indignation made answer Hagen the bold:"And a goodly tale to my masters in sooth were this to be told,That doomed are we all mid the Hunfolk to pour out our lives inblood!Nay, show us, thou wisest of women, how we may cross this flood."She said: "If thou wilt not be counselled, if thy journey needs mustbe,Look yonder across the water; a hostel there shalt thou see.Therein a ferry-wight dwelleth: there is none else far or near."Thither impatiently turned he, to ask yet more and to hear.Yet after the wrathful warrior again the mermaid cried:"Too hasty art thou, Lord Hagen: a little yet abideTill thou have received instruction how thou shalt reach yon strand.Elsè named is the ruler of the marches of yonder land.Gelfrat named is his brother, a mighty man in fight,A prince in the land Bavarian. Count not the emprise light,If ye think to press on through his marches: of peril must ye beware;And for dealing with yonder boatman have ye need of heedful care.So grim is he of his temper, he will do a mischief to thee,If thou gain not the strong one's goodwill, and bespeak himcourteously.To win him to ferry thee over, proffer him guerdon due.He is warder of this land's gateway, and to Gelfrat is faithful andtrue.If he come not unto thee straightway, shout over the flood a name;Thy name is Amelrich, say thou: a warrior good was the sameWho out of this land was driven by the malice of his foes.Thou shalt so draw over the boatman by the lure of the name that heknows."

Then bowed him Hagen the haughty to those weird women twain;But he sought no more of their counsel, and from speech did herefrain.Up-stream by the swirling waters close to the verge he hied,Till he marked where a little hostel stood on the farther side.Then Hagen his voice uplifted, and he shouted across the flood:"Ho! ferry me over, thou boatman," cried the thane in battle good,"And I will give thee an armlet of red gold for thine hire.Sore is my need of the crossing, and eager my desire."Now this ferryman nowise needed to ply, so rich was he.Right seldom a hire he accepted from whosoe'er it might be.And his servants were like to their master: haughty as he were theygrown.So there stood Hagen unheeded still by the river alone.Once more so loudly he shouted, the whole stream rang again;For like to the crashing thunder was the mighty voice of the thane:"Me--Amelrich--ferry thou over! Elsè's liegeman am I,Who by reason of feud with foemen from thy land was enforced to fly."

High on his sword he uplifted the armlet full in his sight--Fair-wrought and golden-ruddy, and flashed therefrom the light--To tempt him to ferry him over into Gelfrat's land.Then gripped that haughty boatman himself the oar in hand.Now this same ferry-boatman was a churlish wight and dour,Yet greedy of gain; and ofttimes is greed destruction's lure.He weened he should earn full lightly Hagen's gold for reward--Ha, but he earned from the hero grim death by the edge of the sword!

With mighty strokes that boatman from bank to bank rowed o'er;But him who was named he found not abiding him on the shore.Then brake he forth into fury when Hagen alone he espied:In the fierceness of his anger unto the hero he cried:"Haply the name that thou bearest Amelrich may be;But nothing thou hast of the favour of him I had looked to see.My brother was he: one father begat us, one mother bare.Since thou by a lie hast lured me across, e'en bide thou there!""Nay, in God's name I charge thee!" Hagen answering cried."A knight am I, and a stranger, and to other thanes am I guide.Take thou the gold that I proffer unto thee for thine hire as afriend,And ferry us over the river: no hurt unto thee I intend."Swiftly the ferryman answered: "Never shall this be done!My well-belovèd masters have enemies many an one;Therefore I bear no strangers from this to the farther shore.Thou then, if thy life thou lovest, step forth on the bank oncemore.""That will I not," said Hagen, "for now am I bitter-souled.Accept thou then as a friend's gift the jewel of precious gold,And bear us, a thousand horses and men, across the river,"But that grim ferryman answered, "That will I do never!"

A mighty oar upswung he, massy and broad of blade,And on Hagen's head down dashed it--for the deed right dearly hepaid!--Back in the boat he staggered, and sank upon one knee.So grim a ferryman never it befell to the hero to see!To enkindle yet hotter the anger of the valiant stranger, he strakeWith a huge boat-pole--so starkly, that wholly asunder it brake--On the head of Hagen the hero. A giant was he in might;But thereof came his own destruction on Elsè's ferry-wight.In sternness of fury Hagen caught with sudden handAt his side where hung the sword-sheath, and he flashed thereout thebrand;He smote his head from his shoulders, that adown the bank it rolled.Soon mid the proud Burgundians the tale thereof was told.

But in that selfsame moment when he laid the ferryman low,The barge slid down the current, which cost him travail enow:Yea, ere he could right her, weary he was with labour sore.In sooth, King Gunther's liegeman mightily plied the oar.He toiled, up-stream to turn her, with many a swift strong stroke,Even till the stubborn oar-shank in his grasp asunder broke,As he strove to steer to the waiting knights at the river-side.Inasmuch as he had none other, swiftly around it he tiedHis shield-strap, and firmly he spliced it with the narrowsteel-strong band;So hard by a certain coppice he guided the barge to the land.There on the river-bank waiting his lords his coming abode,And many a chosen warrior to meet him eagerly strode.

With gladsome greeting they hailed him, those noble knights andgood;And they looked, and they saw yet reeking on the planks of the bargethe bloodThat welled from the trunk made headless by that swift sweep of thesword;And a torrent of eager questions anent it on Hagen poured.Yea also, when King Gunther beheld the hot blood reek,As within the barge it weltered, he could not choose but speak:"Prithee, what now, Lord Hagen, hath chanced to the ferryman-wight?His life, methinks, hath he yielded to thine overmastering might."But with lying lips he answered: "Nay, sooth, but the barge I foundBy a river-mead, a waste land, and mine hand her hawser unbound.But as touching ferry-boatmen, this day here saw I none.Of a truth by mine hands unto no man this day hath scathe been done."

Straightway thereat did Gernot the Prince Burgundian say:"Lest many a dear friend perish I needs must fear this day,Inasmuch as on all the river we see no boatman here.How we shall win thereover needs must I sorely fear."But cheerly and loud cried Hagen: "Down on the bank do ye cast,O squires, the horses' harness! I mind me that in time pastMyself was the deftest boatman that on all the Rhine men knew.Into the land of Gelfrat even I will ferry you."

To the end that over the river they might win with the better speed,Thereinto drave they the horses: so well swam each good steed,That never a one of their thousands did the rush of the strong flooddrown,Albeit were some forwearied, and won to the land far down.Then into the barge they carried their gold and their vesture-store,Forasmuch as now from the journey they could turn them back no more.And Hagen steered them over, that, with his strong hand on the helm,Came many a gallant warrior into the stranger's realm.At the first proud knights a thousand, and his own thanes threescoreDid Hagen ferry over: then came aye more and more,Till squires had crossed nine thousand: all these he brought to land.Small rest that day had the valiant Lord of Troneg's hand!(C) Now the barge was stoutly builded, wide and exceeding great;Five hundred or more uncumbered it bare at a single freightOver the waters, heroes with their victual and war-array.Full many a stalwart warrior must strain at the oar that day.

When all these over the river Hagen had safely brought,Thereafter the fierce-heart hero on that weird prophecy thought,The boding the wild mermaiden so lately spake unto him.And for this King Gunther's chaplain well-nigh lost life and limb.In the boat stood the priest with his vessels of holy sacrament;His hand on the sacred relics and the hallowed things he leant.But their sanctity nothing availed him when Hagen's cruel eyeFell on the priest, and doomed him to sore calamity.With sudden violence he seized him, he hurled him over the sideOf the barge, while "Hold! hold, Hagen!" many a warrior cried,And brake into wrath indignant the young Prince Giselher.Yet, till he had well-nigh drowned him, would Hagen not forbear.Thereat did the princely Gernot, the lord Burgundian, cry:"What profit to thee is it, Hagen, that Gunther's chaplain shoulddie?Had another done such outrage, it had cost him his life, I trow!What wrong had the poor priest done thee, that thou shouldst be hisfoe?"Hard strained the priest in swimming: he had gotten aboard again,If but any man had helped him; but his striving was all in vain,By reason that Hagen the stalwart--savage was he of mood--Back thrust him under the water: was none that deemed it good.So when that hapless chaplain no human aid could see,Back turned he, and swam shoreward: in bitter strait was he.With failing strength was he sinking; but upborne by God's own handWere his limbs, that at last in safety he won back unto the land.There stood the priest all-hapless, and his streaming vesture wrung;And by that sign known unto Hagen was the truth of the tale that thetongueOf the wild mermaiden had uttered, of the doom no man might shun.And he thought, "These knights of a surety be dead men every one!"

So soon as the barge was unladed, and men had borne ashoreThe possessions of Gunther's liegemen, and all the treasure-store,Then Hagen shattered the planking, and thrust it forth on the floodTo founder: exceedingly marvelled the valiant knights and good."Why hast thou done this, brother?" did Dankwart wondering say."How shall we pass hereover on the homeward-faring way,What time from the land of the Hunfolk back to the Rhine we ride?"Thereafter did Hagen tell him that this should never betide;But now said the Hero of Troneg: "Herein was this my thought,That if haply any faint-heart thus far on the way have been brought,Who might think in his fear to forsake us, and return by the way thathe came,He should know that in these wild waters there waited a death ofshame."There was one in their host who had journeyed forth ofBurgundia-land,And his name of renown was Volker, a hero mighty of hand.The thoughts of his fearless spirit with a biting tongue would hetell.Whatsoever was done of Hagen, it liked that minstrel well.

(C) Now when King Gunther's chaplain saw the wreck drift down thetide,He lifted his voice, and to Hagen across the water he cried:"Thou murderer and faithless, what had I done unto theeThat thine heart should devise the drowning of a guiltless priest,even me?"(C) Fierce answer flung back Hagen: "Shaveling, refrain thee fromspeech!By my troth, 'tis for this I am sorry, that now thou art out of thereachOf the hands that be fain to slay thee! No gibe, but the truth itis."Made answer the priest all-hapless: "I praise God ever for this!(C) Full little now do I dread thee, know this for verity!Now fare ye on into Hunland, and back over Rhine will I.May God vouchsafe to thee never to come over Rhine again!This is mine heart's petition, for my life well-nigh hast thouta'en."(C) Then cried aloud King Gunther to the priest there standing lone:"Lo, I will fully requite thee for all that Hagen hath doneUnto thee in his evil anger, whensoever back to the RhineAlive thou shalt see me returning: no fear thereof be thine.(C) Fare homeward unto thy country, for so it must needs be now,And unto my wife, my belovèd, take my greetings thou.And by thee do I greet my kinsfolk, as is meet and right for a king.Bear thou unto them glad tidings of our prosperous wayfaring."

Now harnessed the horses waited, and the sumpters each with its loadAnd as yet no scathe had befallen any as onward they rode,Nor cause for fear or for grieving, save the priest, by a deed unmeetConstrained to fare back Rhineward alone upon his feet.