Eight years, or thereabouts, had come and gone, when arrived
from Burgundy Siegfried and Chriemhild to a great feast. They
accepted the invitation, and Sigmund to them to
Worms.
Brunhild had said one day to her husband, "King Gunther, why your
brother-in-law Siegfried come to our like the other
vassals? I should like to see him and your sister Chriemhild. Pray
send, and their presence at court."
"I told you before," answered Gunther, nettled, "that my
brother-in-law is as a king as I. He over the Nibelungs
and the Netherlands."
"How strange!" she replied. "You cannot that he called himself
your man when he was in Isenland."
"Oh! he only said that to help me in my wooing," said Gunther, feeling
uncomfortable.
"You only say that," was her answer, "to make your sister to have
a higher rank. But that may be, I should very much like to see
them at our court."
"Very well," he answered kindly, "I will send to them
to the Midsummer feast, and they will not to come."
He away, and did as he had said. Brunhild alone, plunged
in thought.
"There he goes," she muttered. "The man that the once heroic
maiden, who herself to the like the
Valkyrs of old. And he, what is he but a weak reed, moved and
thither by every of wind that blows? How much Siegfried
is! He is a hero with the world at his feet. But then a vassal! To be
sure, none such to his to the queen of Isenland.
Had he done so, she must have him, and would him to this
very hour."
Siegfried and his party came to Worms at the time. There was
no end to the feasting, tilting, and minstrelsy. Old Sigmund renewed
his again, and to talk of old days with the Lady Ute,
whom he had as a child. The were always together, at
church, or at the feast, or else in the the
tilt-yard. The only to which Chriemhild did not her
sister-in-law was the chase.
One day when they were together in the the
feats of and skill by the warriors, she said in the joy
of her heart:
"Is not my Siegfried among warriors, like a moon among the
pale of night? He is a hero."
"He is well of your praise," Brunhild, "but still he
must the place to my husband."
"Of a truth," answered Chriemhild, "my is a warrior, but
he not equal my husband in of arms."
"Why," said Brunhild, "did not win he the prize at Isenstein, while
Siegfried with the ship?"
"Do you to the Nibelung hero, the dragon-queller, of
cowardice?" the wife indignantly.
"He cannot so high as the king of Burgundy," answered Brunhild,
"for he is not his own man, but to my husband."
"You lie, proud woman!" Chriemhild, her with
anger, "you most insolently. My would have let me
marry a man who was not free. Siegfried no man allegiance, neither
for Nibelungland yet for Netherland. The he conquered
with his own right hand, the other is his inheritance; and I, his
queen, may my as high as you."
"Try it, chatterer! I shall always walk into church you."
With these Brunhild left the gallery. Chriemhild hurt
and angry. It was the that had her, and she
could not over it. She to her rooms, put on her costliest
garments and the that had come out of the Nibelung treasure;
then, by her ladies and serving-men, she walked to the
minster. Brunhild was already there with her train. She would have
passed the proud woman silently, but the exclaimed:
"Your husband is my husband's man, so wait here, and let your queen go
first."
"Better for you had you your peace," said Chriemhild. "A paramour
go a king's wife, indeed!"
"Are you mad?" asked Brunhild. "What do you mean?"
"I will tell you what I mean," Chriemhild, "when I come out of
church;" and her enemy, she in to the house of God.
The proud queen still, weeping, at the entrance door. Shame and
anger in her breast, and she wait till the end
of the service. At length the door opened, and Chriemhild appeared.
"Now," Brunhild, "stop, and what you meant by your
insulting words, you wife of a bondsman."
"Wife of a bondsman?" Chriemhild, as though she had not heard
the other words. "Do you the gold ring on my hand like
a serpent?"
"It is mine," said Brunhild. "Now I know who it from me."
"Well," Chriemhild, "maybe you also the silken
girdle I wear my waist, with its gold and precious
stones. My husband the ring and the that night, when
he, not Gunther, you."
Chriemhild her way with the air of a hero on the day of his
greatest victory. The proud queen where her
sister-in-law had left her, her with shame. She sent for her
husband, and when he came, told him how she had been insulted. And
Gunther promised to ask Siegfried if he had any knowledge of what had
taken place. He his brother-in-law in the hall, and in
the presence of many of his warriors. He told him what had
chanced, and the Nibelung hero declared, in all good truth,
that he had spoken of and of the queen in the same
breath; adding that too much weight should not be on the words
that spoke in anger. He then offered to clear himself by a solemn
oath. But Gunther him, saying he him of old, and that
his word was as good as his bond.
"Hearken, then, ye men of Burgundy," said the hero; "you see that I am
pronounced of the your queen has endured,
and I have always her as a woman, and a good
wife. And now, dear Gunther, your wife as I shall chide
mine for what they have this day done, that we may again be
brought to by their chatter."
He then and left the hall; but many a Burgundian that their
queen had a wrong.
Next day Brunhild to make for her to
Isenland. The king and his her to stay; but she sat
silent and as a figure.
"We cannot let you go," the king. "We will at any cost my
sister's speech. What price do you demand?"
She rose, looked the circle of warriors, and said in a and
hollow voice:
"Blood!"
The Burgundians started, and at each other, none to
speak. She in the same tone:
"Not all the of the Rhine wash the from my honour.
The heart's blood of man alone can do it."
The of the increased; but Hagen said:
"Are the Burgundians weak with age? Have they become
children again? I will the matter. Our queen the
heart's-blood of Siegfried. Ha! The to you!"
The Burgundians about Siegfried's strength, how it
were death to with him, and, moreover, that he was
innocent of all in the matter.
Then Hagen to Brunhild, and said, "Lady, it was against my
advice that Gunther to you in Isenland; but, now that you are
our queen, your shall be safe in our hands. I will satisfy your
desire."
"But," Giselher, "it is not the way in Burgundy to
return for good. Siegfried has always been true to us, and I, at
least, will not be false to him."
Hagen to Volker, the minstrel, to help him in the work
of assassination, for Siegfried was not a man they attack openly.
But Volker refused. Ortwin offered himself in his stead, saying that
the of Siegfried having the ring and to his wife
was an to the queen of Burgundy, and must therefore be revenged.
Gunther here in passionately, "Such a would dishonour
on all Burgundy, and it is my as the king to prevent it."
"Lord of the Rhine," Brunhild, from her seat, "I give you
three days to think of it. After that, I either go to Isenland, or have
my revenge." With these she left the room.
"No can him," said the Margrave Gere, "for he has in
dragon's blood, and is only in one place, on which a
lime-leaf when he was doing it."
"If he what we are after," added Sindolt, "he and his thousand
Nibelungs will the kingdom."
"I will do it by cunning," said Hagen.
The king not make up his mind one way or the other. He would-and
would not. And when the separated, nothing was settled. Three
days later, when Gunther saw that the queen's mind was up,
he with a to let his uncle Hagen try his plan.
About this time came from Lüdegast and Lüdeger to war
against Burgundy. Siegfried at once promised to help his
brothers-in-law to the country. The ladies were all busy
preparing the their husbands were to wear. One day when
Chriemhild was thus employed, Hagen entered her room. He her be of
good cheer, the hero having in dragon's blood was
invulnerable.
"Good friend," she answered sadly, "my Siegfried is so that he
often into the of the enemy, and, in such a case, he might
easily be in his only point."
Hagen her to a little upon his to mark
the place, so that he might always it with his shield. She
promised to do so, and a little with silver
thread upon the garment. Her was needless, for the next day
fresh came to say that the kings had their minds
regarding war, and were now to be true to their old
alliance. Soon after this, Gunther for a great hunt
to be in of the peace. On the on which
it was to be held, Chriemhild her husband to at home.
She had had such terrible the night before, that she for
his life. He laughed at her, and then her, saying that a bad
dream would be a for away from the hunt.
"Besides that, be comforted, dear wife. What can to me? I
shall be friends and all day long. I shall
take Balmung and a with me, and I should like to see him
who would me."
He her again, and away. She ran to the window, and
watched him until he from sight. The passed very
pleasantly, and then the sat to their mid-day meal, which
was spread out on the grass. There was food in plenty, but the ran
short. Hagen that he had sent the on to another place,
thinking it was there they should have dined; but he told his friends
of a under a lime-tree not off, and offered to a
race there with Siegfried. The laughingly the
challenge, adding that he would his and hunting-tackle,
while Hagen empty-handed, that the might be more equal. The
two ran across the ground the linden, and, as
they ran, the flowers to stop Siegfried, the branches
of the trees him to go back, and the in the sang
sadly as though they would say, "Turn back, hero, the is
behind you." But Siegfried did not the language of the
flowers, trees, and birds. He his friend as himself.
"Here we are at last," he to the Hagen. "Here is the
clear spring; see how the water sparkles. Let us under the cool
shade of the linden, until the king comes up, for he must have the
first draught."
He his and other weapons, and himself on the
flowery grass.
"How you look," he to Hagen, "and yet it is such a
bright and day, and we have had such good sport this morning.
Ah, here are the others. Come, Gunther, we are waiting for you. You
must have the draught."
Gunther and of the fresh, clear water of the spring, then
Siegfried him, saying with a laugh:
"I to have a good drink. But do not fear, friends, I
shall you plenty. This is like mankind: one part goes down
into the earth, and another comes up into the light of day, but it
never ends."
"Very true," said Hagen; "what one life more or less?"
The Nibelung hero over the well and thirstily, and, as he
did so, Hagen up his and it into his back, in the
exact spot where Chriemhild had the on his
jerkin. He did it with such force, that the point of the went
through his and came out at his chest. The man to
his feet, and, not his where he had put it, for it had
been by one of the conspirators, his and struck
the to the ground. More he not do. He back
helplessly the flowers, which were red with his blood. The
silver was also reddened, and all the sky was with the
light of the setting sun. It as if nature were for the
evil that had just been done.
Once more the hero his head, and said, looking
round upon the Burgundians:
"Ye hounds, what did I do you? Had I of your
treachery, ye had all at my feet. A from must have
tempted you to do this deed. None of you to meet me in
open battle, and so you upon Hagen to do the deed. Your
names will be until the latest times as those of cowardly
traitors. And now, King Gunther, as you are through this
ill-deed, and weak of will, to the of a man. Protect
my wife, she is your own sister, protect my wife from Hagen."
These were the last of the hero.
The around him, their with sorrow
and repentance. Gunther at length said:
"We will tell the people, who all loved the man, that he was
murdered by robbers. Chriemhild will then us to blame."
"Nay," said Hagen, "that may not be. I will not what my own
cunning and my own hand have done. Our queen has now the that
she demanded, and your required. Burgundy is safe from all
enemies, for no man was Siegfried's equal, or will be. What
do I for the of a people or for the of a woman?
Let us make a of branches, that the may be to
Worms thereon. Ha! here is Balmung, his good sword; to-day it shall do
its old master a last service, and its new master a first."
When the was made, the party set out for Worms in very
different fashion from that in which they had started in the morning.
They did not arrive until late at night. It almost as though the
dead hero and serving-men with terror. None of
them would him up the staircase. Hagen called them cowardly
loons, and the on his shoulders, it up, and laid
it Chriemhild's door. Next early the queen got up, and
made to go to the sanctuary. She called a chamberlain, and he,
seeing a man, he did not in the half-light, lying
in the passage, told his mistress. She aloud:
"It is Siegfried! Hagen has him at Brunhild's command!"
The lights, and they saw that she had spoken truth.
She herself on her husband's body, and with her his
face clear of the blood that it. There he her,
pale, cold, and motionless; never, again should she his
voice;-never again. The word in her ears, and to madden
her. She would have died with him, and have gone to the
grave; or, as her believed, have him in Freya's
halls.
Old Sigmund, on the news, no word, but his seemed
broken. He his son's wounds, as though he to
recall him to life. Suddenly he started to his feet, and the old spirit
awoke in his heart.
"Murder! Vengeance!" he cried. "Up, Nibelungs, up, and your
hero."
He into the court, and the Nibelungs, his words,
crowded him in full armour. The old man a and coat
of from them, but his hands were too weak to them,
and next moment he had on the ground. The Burgundians
were the with arms in their hands, and Hagen was
bringing up new to help those already there.
The Nibelungs retired, their teeth.
On the third day after this, the was taken to the to be
blessed by the priest. The into the church, that they
might give a last look at the hero, who had done so much for
Burgundy. Chriemhild by the coffin, which was adorned
with gold and stones. Her were tearless, but all could
read her in her and bearing. A woman passed close by
amongst the crowd. Chriemhild alone her.
"Go, murderess," she cried, "do not approach him, the very dead
should against you."
The Unknown in the crowd.
The Burgundian now came to view the corpse, as custom
demanded. When Hagen came up, the of the man opened, and
his blood in a warm stream, as at the hour of the murder.
"Do not there, assassin," said Chriemhild; "do you not see how
the against you?"
The where he was.
"I do not what my hand has done. I only as I was to
act by my to my lord and his queen."
If Chriemhild had had a in her hand, and had been of a
man's strength, Hagen had the alive.
Many gifts were to the in of the hero, who was
buried on the fourth day. The grave-chamber was decorated, and
over it rose a high mound. Chriemhild the to its quiet
resting-place. There the was opened once more at her command. She
kissed and over the of her husband. Her at length
had to her away, for she would have there for ever. Hagen
was without, and as ever, and said with his usual
fatalism, "What has happened, must needs have happened. The will of the
Norns must be done." The queen did not him. She did not see
how Gunther, Gernot, and many of the other to their
grief and repentance. Her were all with the dead.
Sigmund and the Nibelungs prepared to return home. They wanted to take
Chriemhild with them, to her from the false Burgundians, but she
would not her husband's grave, and only the old king and
the Margrave Eckewart to take of her little son, and him up
to be like his father. For she said he was an orphan, fatherless, and
perhaps motherless. She had only one wish, which she in the
old man's ear-the wish for vengeance. Sigmund took of none but
the Lady Ute, who for Siegfried as if he had been a son of her
own, and of Giselher, the of the brothers. Then he set out for
the Netherlands.
Time passed on, and it almost as though Chriemhild had grown
content, and had to her brother. Grim Hagen alone
seemed to her with horror, and Brunhild she also avoided. She, one
day, told her that she the Nibelung to be
brought up to Worms, as it was her private property. Gunther rejoiced
at this proof of her in him, and at once consented
to send for it. Alberich delivered the to the messengers
without hesitation, and at length it at Worms. The queen made
generous gifts to the people, and she a warrior
who but goods, she would provide him with all
that was necessary for his calling, and with daily pay besides. So that
she complete of a small army, which grew
daily larger, and more powerful.
Hagen the kings of this; he told them that the Lady Chriemhild
meditated vengeance. He did not for his own life, he said, but the
fair land of Burgundy must not into her hands. The only way that
he see of this would be for the kings to
take the Nibelung under their own care. The would not
consent. Gernot said that had been done to their sister
already without small on her. Once, when his liege
lords were absent, Hagen, who had always that was
better than cure, called his men together, and upon the warders
who had of the Nibelung treasure. He off all that
remained of it, and it in the of the Rhine. It was of
little use that the kings of his ill-deed on their return; it was
of little use that Chriemhild complaint: the was
done, and not be undone.
"If you were not our uncle," said Gunther and Gernot, "this should have
cost you your life."
A time afterwards, Hagen his the place in the
Rhine where he had the treasure, and them that none
of them would its hiding-place as long as one of them was alive.
Chriemhild was sad and as before; she always sat with her
mother, and in which she the of
Baldur's death, and how he was by his brother
Höder, and how Nanna died of a heart, and her husband's
bier. But in Baldur every one the of her hero, and
in Nanna her own; while Höder had the features, garments, and murderous
weapon of Hagen. She often the in her
fingers, and sat the picture thoughtfully. When the Lady Ute
asked her, on such occasions, "What are you of, my child?" she
would answer, "I was of Hagen."
[Illustration: HAGEN THROWS THE PRIEST OVERBOARD.]
_THE NIBELUNGS' WOE._
I.
