{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_6866/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_6866","id":"gutenberg_6866","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6866","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Fantasy fiction","Siegfried (Legendary character) -- Fiction"],"text":"Produced by J. C. Byers\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF SIEGFRIED\n\nBy James Baldwin\n\nNew York Charles Scribner\u2019s Sons\n\n1899\n\n\n\nTo My Children,\n\nWinfred, Louis, and Nellie,\n\nThis Book Is Affectionately Inscribed.\n\n\n\n\nThe Fore Word.\n\n\nWhen the world was in its childhood, men looked upon the works of Nature\nwith a strange kind of awe. They fancied that every thing upon the\nearth, in the air, or in the water, had a life like their own, and that\nevery sight which they saw, and every sound which they heard, was caused\nby some intelligent being. All men were poets, so far as their ideas and\ntheir modes of expression were concerned, although it is not likely that\nany of them wrote poetry. This was true in regard to the Saxon in his\nchilly northern home, as well as to the Greek in the sunny southland.\nBut, while the balmy air and clear sky of the south tended to refine\nmen\u2019s thoughts and language, the rugged scenery and bleak storms of\nthe north made them uncouth, bold, and energetic. Yet both the cultured\nGreek and the rude Saxon looked upon Nature with much the same eyes,\nand there was a strange resemblance in their manner of thinking and\nspeaking. They saw, that, in all the phenomena which took place around\nthem, there was a certain system or regularity, as if these were\ncontrolled by some law or by some superior being; and they sought, in\ntheir simple poetical way, to account for these appearances. They had\nnot yet learned to measure the distances of the stars, nor to calculate\nthe motions of the earth. The changing of the seasons was a mystery\nwhich they scarcely sought to penetrate. But they spoke of these\noccurrences in a variety of ways, and invented many charming, stories\nwith reference to them, not so much with a view towards accounting\nfor the mystery, as towards giving expression to their childlike but\npicturesque ideas.\n\nThus, in the south, when reference was made to the coming of winter and\nto the dreariness and discomforts of that season of the year, men did\nnot know nor care to explain it all, as our teachers now do at school;\nbut they sometimes told how Hades had stolen Persephone (the summer)\nfrom her mother Demetre (the earth), and had carried her, in a chariot\ndrawn by four coal black steeds, to the gloomy land of shadows; and how,\nin sorrow for her absence, the Earth clothed herself in mourning, and\nno leaves grew upon the trees, nor flowers in the gardens, and the very\nbirds ceased singing, because Persephone was no more. But they added,\nthat in a few months the fair maiden would return for a time to her\nsorrowing mother, and that then the flowers would bloom, and the trees\nwould bear fruit, and the harvest-fields would again be full of golden\ngrain.\n\nIn the north a different story was told, but the meaning was the same.\nSometimes men told how Odin (the All-Father) had become angry with\nBrunhild (the maid of spring), and had wounded her with the thorn\nof sleep, and how all the castle in which she slept was wrapped in\ndeathlike slumber until Sigurd or Siegfried (the sunbeam) rode through\nflaming fire, and awakened her with a kiss. Sometimes men told how Loki\n(heat) had betrayed Balder (the sunlight), and had induced blind old\nHoder (the winter months) to slay him, and how all things, living and\ninanimate, joined in weeping for the bright god, until Hela (death)\nshould permit him to revisit the earth for a time.\n\nSo, too, when the sun arose, and drove away the darkness and the hidden\nterrors of the night, our ancestors thought of the story of a noble\nyoung hero slaying a hideous dragon, or taking possession of the golden\ntreasures of Mist Land. And when the springtime came, and the earth\nrenewed its youth, and the fields and woods were decked in beauty, and\nthere was music everywhere, they loved to tell of Idun (the spring)\nand her youth-giving apples, and of her wise husband Bragi (Nature\u2019s\nmusician). When storm-clouds loomed up from the horizon and darkened the\nsky, and thunder rolled overhead, and lightning flashed on every\nhand, they talked about the mighty Thor riding over the clouds in his\ngoat-drawn chariot, and battling with the giants of the air. When the\nmountain-meadows were green with long grass, and the corn was yellow for\nthe sickles of the reapers, they spoke of Sif, the golden-haired wife\nof Thor, the queen of the pastures and the fields. When the seasons were\nmild, and the harvests were plentiful, and peace and gladness prevailed,\nthey blessed Frey, the giver of good gifts to men.\n\nTo them the blue sky-dome which everywhere hung over them like an arched\nroof was but the protecting mantle which the All-Father had suspended\nabove the earth. The rainbow was the shimmering bridge which stretches\nfrom earth to heaven. The sun and the moon were the children of a giant,\nwhom two wolves chased forever around the earth. The stars were sparks\nfrom the fire-land of the south, set in the heavens by the gods. Night\nwas a giantess, dark and swarthy, who rode in a car drawn by a steed the\nfoam from whose bits sometimes covered the earth with dew. And Day was\nthe son of Night; and the steed which he rode lighted all the sky and\nthe earth with the beams which glistened from his mane.\n\n\nIt was thus that men in the earlier ages of the world looked upon and\nspoke of the workings of Nature; and it was in this manner that many\nmyths, or poetical fables, were formed. By and by, as the world grew\nolder, and mankind became less poetical and more practical, the first or\nmythical meaning of these stories was forgotten, and they were regarded\nno longer as mere poetical fancies, but as historical facts. Perhaps\nsome real hero had indeed performed daring deeds, and had made the world\naround him happier and better. It was easy to liken him to Sigurd, or\nto some other mythical slayer of giants; and soon the deeds of both were\nascribed to but one. And thus many myth-stories probably contain some\nhistorical facts blended with the mass of poetical fancies which\nmainly compose them; but, in such cases, it is generally impossible to\ndistinguish what is fact from what is mere fancy.\n\nAll nations have had their myth-stories; but, to my mind, the purest and\ngrandest are those which we have received from our northern ancestors.\nThey are particularly interesting to us; because they are what\nour fathers once believed, and because they are ours by right of\ninheritance. And, when we are able to make them still more our own by\nremoving the blemishes which rude and barbarous ages have added to some\nof them, we shall discover in them many things that are beautiful and\ntrue, and well calculated to make us wiser and better.\n\nIt is not known when or by whom these myth-stories were first put into\nwriting, nor when they assumed the shape in which we now have them.\nBut it is said, that, about the year 1100, an Icelandic scholar called\nSaemund the Wise collected a number of songs and poems into a book\nwhich is now known as the \u201cElder Edda;\u201d and that, about a century later,\nSnorre Sturleson, another Icelander, wrote a prose-work of a similar\ncharacter, which is called the \u201cYounger Edda.\u201d And it is to these two\nbooks that we owe the preservation of almost all that is now known of\nthe myths and the strange religion of our Saxon and Norman forefathers.\nBut, besides these, there are a number of semi-mythological stories of\ngreat interest and beauty,--stories partly mythical, and partly founded\nupon remote and forgotten historical facts. One of the oldest and finest\nof these is the story of Sigurd, the son of Sigmund. There are many\nversions of this story, differing from each other according to the time\nin which they were written and the character of the people among whom\nthey were received. We find the first mention of Sigurd and his strange\ndaring deeds in the song of Fafnir, in the \u201cElder Edda.\u201d Then, in the\n\u201cYounger Edda,\u201d the story is repeated in the myth of the Niflungs and\nthe Gjukungs. It is told again in the \u201cVolsunga Saga\u201d of Iceland. It is\nrepeated and re-repeated in various forms and different languages, and\nfinally appears in the \u201cNibelungen Lied,\u201d a grand old German poem, which\nmay well be compared with the Iliad of the Greeks. In this last version,\nSigurd is called Siegfried; and the story is colored and modified by the\nintroduction of many notions peculiar to the middle ages, and unknown to\nour Pagan fathers of the north. In our own time this myth has been woven\ninto a variety of forms. William Morris has embodied it in his noble\npoem of \u201cSigurd the Volsung;\u201d Richard Wagner, the famous German\ncomposer, has constructed from it his inimitable drama, the \u201cNibelungen\nRing;\u201d W. Jordan, another German writer, has given it to the world\nin his \u201cSigfrid\u2019s Saga;\u201d and Emanuel Geibel has derived from it the\nmaterials for his \u201cTragedy of Brunhild.\u201d\n\n\nAnd now I, too, come with the STORY OF SIEGFRIED, still another version\nof the time-honored legend. The story as I shall tell it you is not in\nall respects a literal rendering of the ancient myth; but I have taken\nthe liberty to change and recast such portions of it as I have deemed\nadvisable. Sometimes I have drawn materials from one version of the\nstory, sometimes from another, and sometimes largely from my own\nimagination alone. Nor shall I be accused of impropriety in thus\nreshaping a narrative, which, although hallowed by an antiquity of\na thousand years and more, has already appeared in so many different\nforms, and been clothed in so many different garbs; for, however much\nI may have allowed my fancy or my judgment to retouch and remodel the\nimmaterial portions of the legend, the essential parts of this immortal\nmyth remain the same. And, if I succeed in leading you to a clearer\nunderstanding and a wiser appreciation of the thoughts and feelings of\nour old northern ancestors, I shall have accomplished the object for\nwhich I have written this Story of Siegfried.\n\n\n\nContents.\n\n\n\n     The Fore Word\n     I.     Mimer, the Master\n     II.    Greyfell\n     III.   The Curse of Gold\n     IV.    Fafnir, the Dragon\n     V.     In AEgir\u2019s Kingdom\n     VI.    Brunhild\n     VII.   In Nibelungen Land\n     VIII.  Siegfried\u2019s Welcome Home\n     IX.    The Journey to Burgundy-land\n     X.     Kriemhill\u2019s Dream\n     XI.    How the Spring Time Came\n     XII.   The War with the North-kings\n     XIII.  The Story of Balder\n     XIV.   How Gunther Outwitted Brunhild\n     XV.    In Nibelungen Land Again\n     XVI.   How Brunhild Was Welcomed Home\n     XVII.  How Siegfried Lived in Nibelungen Land\n     XVIII. How the Mischief Began to Brew\n     XIX.   How They Hunted in the Odenwald\n     XX.    How the Hoard Was Brought to Burgundy\n     The After Word\n     Notes\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure I. Mimer, the Master.\n\n\n\nAt Santen, in the Lowlands, there once lived a young prince named\nSiegfried. His father, Siegmund, was king of the rich country through\nwhich the lazy Rhine winds its way just before reaching the great North\nSea; and he was known, both far and near, for his good deeds and his\nprudent thrift. And Siegfried\u2019s mother, the gentle Sigelind, was loved\nby all for her goodness of heart and her kindly charity to the poor.\nNeither king nor queen left aught undone that might make the young\nprince happy, or fit him for life\u2019s usefulness. Wise men were brought\nfrom far-off lands to be his teachers; and every day something was added\nto his store of knowledge or his stock of happiness. And very skilful\ndid he become in warlike games and in manly feats of strength. No other\nyouth could throw the spear with so great force, or shoot the arrow\nwith surer aim. No other youth could run more swiftly, or ride with more\nbecoming ease. His gentle mother took delight in adding to the beauty of\nhis matchless form, by clothing him in costly garments decked with the\nrarest jewels. The old, the young, the rich, the poor, the high, the\nlow, all praised the fearless Siegfried, and all vied in friendly strife\nto win his favor. One would have thought that the life of the young\nprince could never be aught but a holiday, and that the birds would\nsing, and the flowers would bloom, and the sun would shine forever for\nhis sake.\n\nBut the business of man\u2019s life is not mere pastime; and none knew this\ntruth better than the wise old king, Siegmund.\n\n\u201cAll work is noble,\u201d said he to Siegfried; \u201cand he who yearns to\nwin fame must not shun toil. Even princes should know how to earn a\nlivelihood by the labor of their hands.\u201d\n\nAnd so, while Siegfried was still a young lad, his father sent him to\nlive with a smith called Mimer, whose smithy was among the hills not far\nfrom the great forest. For in those early times the work of the smith\nwas looked upon as the most worthy of all trades,--a trade which the\ngods themselves were not ashamed to follow. And this smith Mimer was a\nwonderful master,--the wisest and most cunning that the world had ever\nseen. Men said that he was akin to the dwarf-folk who had ruled the\nearth in the early days, and who were learned in every lore, and skilled\nin every craft; and they said that he was so exceeding old that no one\ncould remember the day when he came to dwell in the land of Siegmund\u2019s\nfathers. And some said, too, that he was the keeper of a wonderful well,\nor flowing spring, the waters of which imparted wisdom and far-seeing\nknowledge to all who drank of them.\n\nTo Mimer\u2019s school, then, where he would be taught to work skilfully\nand to think wisely, Siegfried was sent, to be in all respects like\nthe other pupils there. A coarse blue blouse, and heavy leggings, and a\nleathern apron, took the place of the costly clothing which he had worn\nin his father\u2019s dwelling. His feet were incased in awkward wooden shoes,\nand his head was covered with a wolf-skin cap. The dainty bed, with its\ndowny pillows, wherein every night his mother had been wont, with gentle\ncare, to see him safely covered, was given up for a rude heap of straw\nin a corner of the smithy. And the rich food to which he had been\nused gave place to the coarsest and humblest fare. But the lad did\nnot complain. The days which he passed in the smithy were mirthful and\nhappy; and the sound of his hammer rang cheerfully, and the sparks from\nhis forge flew briskly, from morning till night.\n\nAnd a wonderful smith he became. No one could do more work than he, and\nnone wrought with greater skill. The heaviest chains and the strongest\nbolts, for prison or for treasure-house, were but as toys in his stout\nhands, so easily and quickly did he beat them into shape. And he was\nalike cunning in work of the most delicate and brittle kind. Ornaments\nof gold and silver, studded with the rarest jewels, were fashioned\ninto beautiful forms by his deft fingers. And among all of Mimer\u2019s\napprentices none learned the master\u2019s lore so readily, nor gained the\nmaster\u2019s favor more.[EN#1]\n\nOne morning the master, Mimer, came to the smithy with a troubled look\nupon his face. It was clear that something had gone amiss; and what it\nwas the apprentices soon learned from the smith himself. Never, until\nlately, had any one questioned Mimer\u2019s right to be called the foremost\nsmith in all the world; but now a rival had come forward. An unknown\nupstart--one Amilias, in Burgundy-land--had made a suit of armor, which,\nhe boasted, no stroke of sword could dint, and no blow of spear could\nscratch; and he had sent a challenge to all other smiths, both in the\nRhine country and elsewhere, to equal that piece of workmanship, or else\nacknowledge themselves his underlings and vassals. For many days had\nMimer himself toiled, alone and vainly, trying to forge a sword whose\nedge the boasted armor of Amilias could not foil; and now, in despair,\nhe came to ask the help of his pupils and apprentices.\n\n\u201cWho among you is skilful enough to forge such a sword?\u201d he asked.\n\nOne after another, the pupils shook their heads. And Veliant, the\nforeman of the apprentices, said, \u201cI have heard much about that\nwonderful armor, and its extreme hardness, and I doubt if any skill can\nmake a sword with edge so sharp and true as to cut into it. The best\nthat can be done is to try to make another war-coat whose temper shall\nequal that of Amilias\u2019s armor.\u201d\n\nThen the lad Siegfried quickly said, \u201cI will make such a sword as you\nwant,--a blade that no war-coat can foil. Give me but leave to try!\u201d\n\nThe other pupils laughed in scorn, but Mimer checked them. \u201cYou hear how\nthis boy can talk: we will see what he can do. He is the king\u2019s son, and\nwe know that he has uncommon talent. He shall make the sword; but if,\nupon trial, it fail, I will make him rue the day.\u201d\n\nThen Siegfried went to his task. And for seven days and seven nights\nthe sparks never stopped flying from his forge; and the ringing of his\nanvil, and the hissing of the hot metal as he tempered it, were heard\ncontinuously. On the eighth day the sword was fashioned, and Siegfried\nbrought it to Mimer.\n\nThe smith felt the razor-edge of the bright weapon, and said, \u201cThis\nseems, indeed, a fair fire-edge. Let us make a trial of its keenness.\u201d\n\nThen a thread of wool as light as thistle-down was thrown upon water,\nand, as it floated there, Mimer struck it with the sword. The glittering\nblade cleft the slender thread in twain, and the pieces floated\nundisturbed upon the surface of the liquid.\n\n\u201cWell done!\u201d cried the delighted smith. \u201cNever have I seen a keener\nedge. If its temper is as true as its sharpness would lead us to\nbelieve, it will indeed serve me well.\u201d\n\nBut Siegfried took the sword again, and broke it into many pieces; and\nfor three days he welded it in a white-hot fire, and tempered it with\nmilk and oatmeal. Then, in sight of Mimer and the sneering apprentices,\nhe cast a light ball of fine-spun wool upon the flowing water of the\nbrook; and it was caught in the swift eddies of the stream, and whirled\nabout until it met the bared blade of the sword, which was held in\nMimer\u2019s hands. And it was parted as easily and clean as the rippling\nwater, and not the smallest thread was moved out of its place.\n\nThen back to the smithy Siegfried went again; and his forge glowed with\na brighter fire, and his hammer rang upon the anvil with a cheerier\nsound, than ever before. But he suffered none to come near, and no\none ever knew what witchery he used. But some of his fellow-pupils\nafterwards told how, in the dusky twilight, they had seen a one-eyed\nman, long-bearded, and clad in a cloud-gray kirtle, and wearing a\nsky-blue hood, talking with Siegfried at the smithy door. And they said\nthat the stranger\u2019s face was at once pleasant and fearful to look upon,\nand that his one eye shone in the gloaming like the evening star, and\nthat, when he had placed in Siegfried\u2019s hands bright shards, like pieces\nof a broken sword, he faded suddenly from their sight, and was seen no\nmore.\n\nFor seven weeks the lad wrought day and night at his forge; and then,\npale and haggard, but with a pleased smile upon his face, he stood\nbefore Mimer, with the gleaming sword in his hands. \u201cIt is finished,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cBehold the glittering terror!--the blade Balmung. Let us try its\nedge, and prove its temper once again, that so we may know whether you\ncan place your trust in it.\u201d\n\nAnd Mimer looked long at the ruddy hilts of the weapon, and at the\nmystic runes that were scored upon its sides, and at the keen edge,\nwhich gleamed like a ray of sunlight in the gathering gloom of the\nevening. But no word came from his lips, and his eyes were dim and\ndazed; and he seemed as one lost in thoughts of days long past and gone.\n\nSiegfried raised the blade high over his head; and the gleaming edge\nflashed hither and thither, like the lightning\u2019s play when Thor rides\nover the storm-clouds. Then suddenly it fell upon the master\u2019s anvil,\nand the great block of iron was cleft in two; but the bright blade was\nno whit dulled by the stroke, and the line of light which marked the\nedge was brighter than before.\n\nThen to the flowing brook they went; and a great pack of wool, the\nfleeces of ten sheep, was brought, and thrown upon the swirling water.\nAs the stream bore the bundle downwards, Mimer held the sword in its\nway. And the whole was divided as easily and as clean as the woollen\nball or the slender woollen thread had been cleft before.\n\n\u201cNow, indeed,\u201d cried Mimer, \u201cI no longer fear to meet that upstart,\nAmilias. If his war-coat can withstand the stroke of such a sword as\nBalmung, then I shall not be ashamed to be his underling. But, if this\ngood blade is what it seems to be, it will not fail me; and I, Mimer the\nOld, shall still be called the wisest and greatest of smiths.\u201d\n\nAnd he sent word at once to Amilias, in Burgundy-land, to meet him on\na day, and settle forever the question as to which of the two should be\nthe master, and which the underling. And heralds proclaimed it in every\ntown and dwelling. When the time which had been set drew near,\nMimer, bearing the sword Balmung, and followed by all his pupils and\napprentices, wended his way towards the place of meeting. Through the\nforest they went, and then along the banks of the sluggish river, for\nmany a league, to the height of land which marked the line between King\nSiegmund\u2019s country and the country of the Burgundians. It was in this\nplace, midway between the shops of Mimer and Amilias, that the great\ntrial of metal and of skill was to be made. And here were already\ngathered great numbers of people from the Lowlands and from Burgundy,\nanxiously waiting for the coming of the champions. On the one side were\nthe wise old Siegmund and his gentle queen, and their train of knights\nand courtiers and fair ladies. On the other side were the three\nBurgundian kings, Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher, and a mighty retinue of\nwarriors, led by grim old Hagen, the uncle of the kings, and the wariest\nchief in all Rhineland.\n\nWhen every thing was in readiness for the contest, Amilias, clad in his\nboasted war-coat, went up to the top of the hill, and sat upon a great\nrock, and waited for Mimer\u2019s coming. As he sat there, he looked, to the\npeople below, like some great castle-tower; for he was almost a giant\nin size, and his coat of mail, so skilfully wrought, was so huge\nthat twenty men of common mould might have found shelter, or hidden\nthemselves, within it. As the smith Mimer, so dwarfish in stature,\ntoiled up the steep hillside, Amilias smiled to see him; for he felt\nno fear of the slender, gleaming blade that was to try the metal of\nhis war-coat. And already a shout of expectant triumph went up from the\nthroats of the Burgundian hosts, so sure were they of their champion\u2019s\nsuccess.\n\nBut Mimer\u2019s friends waited in breathless silence, hoping, and yet\nfearing. Only King Siegmund whispered to his queen, and said, \u201cKnowledge\nis stronger than brute force. The smallest dwarf who has drunk from the\nwell of the Knowing One may safely meet the stoutest giant in battle.\u201d\n\nWhen Mimer reached the top of the hill, Amilias folded his huge arms,\nand smiled again; for he felt that this contest was mere play for him,\nand that Mimer was already as good as beaten, and his thrall. The smith\npaused a moment to take breath, and as he stood by the side of his\nfoe he looked to those below like a mere black speck close beside a\nsteel-gray castle-tower.\n\n\u201cAre you ready?\u201d asked the smith.\n\n\u201cReady,\u201d answered Amilias. \u201cStrike!\u201d\n\nMimer raised the beaming blade in the air, and for a moment the\nlightning seemed to play around his head. The muscles on his short,\nbrawny arms, stood out like great ropes; and then Balmung, descending,\ncleft the air from right to left. The waiting lookers-on in the plain\nbelow thought to hear the noise of clashing steel; but they listened in\nvain, for no sound came to their ears, save a sharp hiss like that which\nred-hot iron gives when plunged into a tank of cold water. The huge\nAmilias sat unmoved, with his arms still folded upon his breast; but the\nsmile had faded from his face.\n\n\u201cHow do you feel now?\u201d asked Mimer in a half-mocking tone.\n\n\u201cRather strangely, as if cold iron had touched me,\u201d faintly answered the\nupstart.\n\n\u201cShake thyself!\u201d cried Mimer.\n\nAmilias did so, and, lo! he fell in two halves; for the sword had cut\nsheer through the vaunted war-coat, and cleft in twain the great body\nincased within. Down tumbled the giant head and the still folded arms,\nand they rolled with thundering noise to the foot of the hill, and fell\nwith a fearful splash into the deep waters of the river; and there,\nfathoms down, they may even now be seen, when the water is clear, lying\nlike great gray rocks among the sand and gravel below. The rest of the\nbody, with the armor which incased it, still sat upright in its place;\nand to this day travellers sailing down the river are shown on moonlit\nevenings the luckless armor of Amilias on the high hill-top. In the dim,\nuncertain light, one easily fancies it to be the ivy covered ruins of\nsome old castle of feudal times.\n\nThe master, Mimer, sheathed his sword, and walked slowly down the\nhillside to the plain, where his friends welcomed him with glad cheers\nand shouts of joy. But the Burgundians, baffled, and feeling vexed,\nturned silently homeward, nor cast a single look back to the scene of\ntheir disappointment and their ill-fated champion\u2019s defeat.\n\nAnd Siegfried went again with the master and his fellows to the smoky\nsmithy, to his roaring bellows and ringing anvil, and to his coarse\nfare, and rude, hard bed, and to a life of labor. And while all men\npraised Mimer and his knowing skill, and the fiery edge of the sunbeam\nblade, no one knew that it was the boy Siegfried who had wrought that\npiece of workmanship.\n\nBut after a while it was whispered around that not Mimer, but one of his\npupils, had forged the sword. And, when the master was asked what truth\nthere was in this story, his eyes twinkled, and the corners of his mouth\ntwitched strangely, and he made no answer. But Veliant, the foreman of\nthe smithy, and the greatest of boasters said, \u201cIt was I who forged the\nfire-edge of the blade Balmung.\u201d And, although none denied the truth of\nwhat he said, but few who knew what sort of a man he was believed his\nstory. And this is the reason, my children, that, in the ancient songs\nand stories which tell of this wondrous sword, it is said by most that\nMimer, and by a few that Veliant, forged its blade. But I prefer to\nbelieve that it was made by Siegfried, the hero who afterwards wielded\nit in so many adventures. [EN#3] Be this as it may, however, blind hate\nand jealousy were from this time uppermost in the coarse and selfish\nmind of Veliant; and he sought how he might drive the lad away from the\nsmithy in disgrace. \u201cThis boy has done what no one else could do,\u201d said\nhe. \u201cHe may yet do greater deeds, and set himself up as the master smith\nof the world, and then we shall all have to humble ourselves before him\nas his underlings and thralls.\u201d\n\nAnd he nursed this thought, and brooded over the hatred which he felt\ntowards the blameless boy; but he did not dare to harm him, for fear of\ntheir master, Mimer. And Siegfried busied himself at his forge, where\nthe sparks flew as briskly and as merrily as ever before, and his\nbellows roared from early morning till late at evening. Nor did the\nforeman\u2019s unkindness trouble him for a moment, for he knew that the\nmaster\u2019s heart was warm towards him.\n\nOftentimes, when the day\u2019s work was done, Siegfried sat with Mimer by\nthe glowing light of the furnace-fire, and listened to the sweet tales\nwhich the master told of the deeds of the early days, when the world\nwas young, and the dwarf-folk and the giants had a name and a place upon\nearth. And one night, as they thus sat, the master talked of Odin the\nAll-Father, and of the gods who dwell with him in Asgard, and of the\npuny men-folk whom they protect and befriend, until his words grew full\nof bitterness, and his soul of a fierce longing for something he dared\nnot name. And the lad\u2019s heart was stirred with a strange uneasiness, and\nhe said,--\n\n\u201cTell me, I pray, dear master, something about my own kin, my father\u2019s\nfathers,--those mighty kings, who, I have heard said, were the bravest\nand best of men.\u201d\n\nThen the smith seemed pleased again. And his eyes grew brighter, and\nlost their far-away look; and a smile played among the wrinkles of his\nswarthy face, as he told a tale of old King Volsung and of the deeds of\nthe Volsung kings:--\n\n\u201cLong years ago, before the evil days had dawned, King Volsung ruled\nover all the land which lies between the sea and the country of the\nGoths. The days were golden; and the good Frey dropped peace and plenty\neverywhere, and men went in and out and feared no wrong. King Volsung\nhad a dwelling in the midst of fertile fields and fruitful gardens.\nFairer than any dream was that dwelling. The roof was thatched with\ngold, and red turrets and towers rose above. The great feast-hall was\nlong and high, and its walls were hung with sun-bright shields; and the\ndoor-nails were of silver. In the middle of the hall stood the pride of\nthe Volsungs,--a tree whose blossoms filled the air with fragrance, and\nwhose green branches, thrusting themselves through the ceiling, covered\nthe roof with fair foliage. It was Odin\u2019s tree, and King Volsung had\nplanted it there with his own hands.\n\n\u201cOn a day in winter King Volsung held a great feast in his hall in honor\nof Siggeir, the King of the Goths, who was his guest. And the fires\nblazed bright in the broad chimneys, and music and mirth went round. But\nin the midst of the merry-making the guests were startled by a sudden\npeal of thunder, which seemed to come from the cloudless sky, and which\nmade the shields upon the walls rattle and ring. In wonder they looked\naround. A strange man stood in the doorway, and laughed, but said not a\nword. And they noticed that he wore no shoes upon his feet, but that\na cloud-gray cloak was thrown over his shoulders, and a blue hood was\ndrawn down over his head. His face was half-hidden by a heavy beard; and\nhe had but one eye, which twinkled and glowed like a burning coal. And\nall the guests sat moveless in their seats, so awed were they in the\npresence of him who stood at the door; for they knew that he was none\nother than Odin the All-Father, the king of gods and men. He spoke not\na word, but straight into the hall he strode, and he paused not until\nhe stood beneath the blossoming branches of the tree. Then, forth from\nbeneath his cloud-gray cloak, he drew a gleaming sword, and struck the\nblade deep into the wood,--so deep that nothing but the hilt was left\nin sight. And, turning to the awe-struck guests, he said, \u2018A blade\nof mighty worth have I hidden in this tree. Never have the earth-folk\nwrought better steel, nor has any man ever wielded a more trusty sword.\nWhoever there is among you brave enough and strong enough to draw it\nforth from the wood, he shall have it as a gift from Odin.\u2019 Then slowly\nto the door he strode again, and no one saw him any more.\n\n\u201cAnd after he had gone, the Volsungs and their guests sat a long time\nsilent, fearing to stir, lest the vision should prove a dream. But at\nlast the old king arose, and cried, \u2018Come, guests and kinsmen, and set\nyour hands to the ruddy hilt! Odin\u2019s gift stays, waiting for its fated\nowner. Let us see which one of you is the favored of the All-Father.\u2019\nFirst Siggeir, the King of the Goths, and his earls, the Volsungs\u2019\nguests, tried their hands. But the blade stuck fast; and the stoutest\nman among them failed to move it. Then King Volsung, laughing, seized\nthe hilt, and drew with all his strength; but the sword held still in\nthe wood of Odin\u2019s tree. And one by one the nine sons of Volsung tugged\nand strained in vain; and each was greeted with shouts and laughter, as,\nashamed and beaten, he wended to his seat again. Then, at last, Sigmund,\nthe youngest son, stood up, and laid his hand upon the ruddy hilt,\nscarce thinking to try what all had failed to do. When, lo! the blade\ncame out of the tree as if therein it had all along lain loose. And\nSigmund raised it high over his head, and shook it, and the bright flame\nthat leaped from its edge lit up the hall like the lightning\u2019s gleaming;\nand the Volsungs and their guests rent the air with cheers and shouts of\ngladness. For no one among all the men of the mid-world was more worthy\nof Odin\u2019s gift than young Sigmund the brave.\u201d\n\nBut the rest of Mimer\u2019s story would be too long to tell you now; for he\nand his young apprentice sat for hours by the dying coals, and talked of\nSiegfried\u2019s kinfolk,--the Volsung kings of old. And he told how Siggeir,\nthe Goth king, was wedded to Signy the fair, the only daughter of\nVolsung, and the pride of the old king\u2019s heart; and how he carried\nher with him to his home in the land of the Goths; and how he coveted\nSigmund\u2019s sword, and plotted to gain it by guile; and how, through\npresence of friendship, he invited the Volsung kings to visit him in\nGothland, as the guests of himself and Signy; and how he betrayed and\nslew them, save Sigmund alone, who escaped, and for long years lived an\noutlaw in the land of his treacherous foe. And then he told how Sigmund\nafterwards came back to his own country of the Volsungs; and how his\npeople welcomed him, and he became a mighty king, such as the world had\nnever known before; and how, when he had grown old, and full of years\nand honors, he went out with his earls and fighting-men to battle\nagainst the hosts of King Lyngi the Mighty; and how, in the midst of the\nfight, when his sword had hewn down numbers of the foe, and the end of\nthe strife and victory seemed near, an old man, one eyed and bearded,\nand wearing a cloud-gray cloak, stood up before him in the din, and\nhis sword was broken in pieces, and he fell dead on the heap of the\nslain.[EN#4] And, when Mimer had finished his tale, his dark face seemed\nto grow darker, and his twinkling eyes grew brighter, as he cried out in\na tone of despair and hopeless yearning,--\n\n\u201cOh, past are those days of old and the worthy deeds of the brave!\nAnd these are the days of the home-stayers,--of the wise, but\nfeeble-hearted. Yet the Norns have spoken; and it must be that another\nhero shall arise of the Volsung blood, and he shall restore the name and\nthe fame of his kin of the early days. And he shall be my bane; and in\nhim shall the race of heroes have an end.\u201d[EN#7]\n\nSiegfried\u2019s heart was strangely stirred within him as he hearkened to\nthis story of ancient times and to the fateful words of the master,\nand for a long time he sat in silent thought; and neither he nor Mimer\nmoved, or spoke again, until the darkness of the night had begun to\nfade, and the gray light of morning to steal into the smithy. Then, as\nif moved by a sudden impulse, he turned to the master, and said,--\n\n\u201cYou speak of the Norns, dear master, and of their foretelling; but\nyour words are vague, and their meaning very broad. When shall that hero\ncome? and who shall he be? and what deeds shall be his doing?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d answered Mimer, \u201cI know not, save that he shall be of the\nVolsung race, and that my fate is linked with his.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd why do you not know?\u201d returned Siegfried. \u201cAre you not that old\nMimer, in whom it is said the garnered wisdom of the world is stored? Is\nthere not truth in the old story that even Odin pawned one of his\neyes for a single draught from your fountain of knowledge? And is\nthe possessor of so much wisdom unable to look into the future with\nclearness and certainty?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d answered Mimer again, and his words came hard and slow, \u201cI\nam not that Mimer, of whom old stories tell, who gave wisdom to the\nAll-Father in exchange for an eye. He is one of the giants, and he still\nwatches his fountain in far-off Jotunheim.[EN#2] I claim kinship\nwith the dwarfs, and am sometimes known as an elf, sometimes as a\nwood-sprite. Men have called me Mimer because of my wisdom and skill,\nand the learning which I impart to my pupils. Could I but drink from the\nfountain of the real Mimer, then the wisdom of the world would in truth\nbe mine, and the secrets of the future would be no longer hidden. But I\nmust wait, as I have long waited, for the day and the deed and the doom\nthat the Norns have foretold.\u201d\n\nAnd the old strange look of longing came again into his eyes, and the\nwrinkles on his swarthy face seemed to deepen with agony, as he arose,\nand left the smithy. And Siegfried sat alone before the smouldering\nfire, and pondered upon what he had heard.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure II. Greyfell.\n\n\n\nMany were the pleasant days that Siegfried spent in Mimer\u2019s smoky\nsmithy; and if he ever thought of his father\u2019s stately dwelling, or of\nthe life of ease which he might have enjoyed within its halls, he never\nby word or deed showed signs of discontent. For Mimer taught him all the\nsecrets of his craft and all the lore of the wise men. To beat hot\niron, to shape the fire-edged sword, to smithy war-coats, to fashion the\nslender bracelet of gold and jewels,--all this he had already learned.\nBut there were many other things to know, and these the wise master\nshowed him. He told him how to carve the mystic runes which speak to\nthe knowing ones with silent, unseen tongues; he told him of the men of\nother lands, and taught him their strange speech; he showed him how to\ntouch the harp-strings, and bring forth bewitching music: and the heart\nof Siegfried waxed very wise, while his body grew wondrous strong. And\nthe master loved his pupil dearly.\n\nBut the twelve apprentices grew more jealous day by day, and when Mimer\nwas away they taunted Siegfried with cruel jests, and sought by harsh\nthreats to drive him from the smithy; but the lad only smiled, and made\nthe old shop ring again with the music from his anvil. On a day when\nMimer had gone on a journey, Veliant, the foreman, so far forgot himself\nas to strike the boy. For a moment Siegfried gazed at him with withering\nscorn; then he swung his hammer high in air, and brought it swiftly\ndown, not upon the head of Veliant, who was trembling with expectant\nfear, but upon the foreman\u2019s anvil. The great block of iron was shivered\nby the blow, and flew into a thousand pieces. Then, turning again\ntowards the thoroughly frightened foreman, Siegfried said, while angry\nlightning-flashes darted from his eyes,--\n\n\u201cWhat if I were to strike you thus?\u201d\n\nVeliant sank upon the ground, and begged for mercy.\n\n\u201cYou are safe,\u201d said Siegfried, walking away. \u201cI would scorn to harm a\nbeing like you!\u201d\n\nThe apprentices were struck dumb with amazement and fear; and when\nSiegfried had returned to his anvil they one by one dropped their\nhammers, and stole away from the smithy. In a secret place not far from\nthe shop, they met together, to plot some means by which they might rid\nthemselves of him whom they both hated and feared.\n\nThe next morning Veliant came to Siegfried\u2019s forge, with a sham smile\nupon his face. The boy knew that cowardice and base deceit lurked, ill\nconcealed, beneath that smile; yet, as he was wont to do, he welcomed\nthe foreman kindly.\n\n\u201cSiegfried,\u201d said Veliant, \u201clet us be friends again. I am sorry that I\nwas so foolish and so rash yesterday, and I promise that I will never\nagain be so rude and unmanly as to become angry at you. Let us be\nfriends, good Siegfried! Give me your hand, I pray you, and with it your\nforgiveness.\u201d\n\nSiegfried grasped the rough palm of the young smith with such a gripe,\nthat the smile vanished from Veliant\u2019s face, and his muscles writhed\nwith pain.\n\n\u201cI give you my hand, certainly,\u201d said the boy, \u201cand I will give you my\nforgiveness when I know that you are worthy of it.\u201d\n\nAs soon as Veliant\u2019s aching hand allowed him speech, he said,--\n\n\u201cSiegfried, you know that we have but little charcoal left for our\nforges, and our master will soon return from his journey. It will never\ndo for him to find us idle, and the fires cold. Some one must go to-day\nto the forest-pits, and bring home a fresh supply of charcoal. How would\nyou like the errand? It is but a pleasant day\u2019s journey to the pits; and\na ride into the greenwood this fine summer day would certainly be more\nagreeable than staying in the smoky shop.\u201d\n\n\u201cI should like the drive very much,\u201d answered Siegfried; \u201cbut I have\nnever been to the coal-pits, and I might lose my way in the forest.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo danger of that,\u201d said Veliant. \u201cFollow the road that goes straight\ninto the heart of the forest, and you cannot miss your way. It will lead\nyou to the house of Regin, the master, the greatest charcoal-man in all\nRhineland. He will be right glad to see you for Mimer\u2019s sake, and you\nmay lodge with him for the night. In the morning he will fill your cart\nwith the choicest charcoal, and you can drive home at your leisure; and,\nwhen our master comes again, he will find our forges flaming, and our\nbellows roaring, and our anvils ringing, as of yore.\u201d\n\nSiegfried, after some further parley, agreed to undertake the errand,\nalthough he felt that Veliant, in urging him to do so, wished to work\nhim some harm. He harnessed the donkey to the smith\u2019s best cart, and\ndrove merrily away along the road which led towards the forest.[EN#5]\nThe day was bright and clear; and as Siegfried rode through the flowery\nmeadows, or betwixt the fields of corn, a thousand sights and sounds met\nhim, and made him glad. Now and then he would stop to watch the reapers\nin the fields, or to listen to the song of some heaven-soaring lark\nlost to sight in the blue sea overhead. Once he met a company of gayly\ndressed youths and maidens, carrying sheaves of golden grain,--for it\nwas now the harvest-time,--and singing in praise of Frey, the giver of\npeace and plenty.\n\n\u201cWhither away, young prince?\u201d they merrily asked.\n\n\u201cTo Regin, the coal-burner, in the deep greenwood,\u201d he answered.\n\n\u201cThen may the good Frey have thee in keeping!\u201d they cried. \u201cIt is a long\nand lonesome journey.\u201d And each one blessed him as they passed.\n\nIt was nearly noon when he drove into the forest, and left the blooming\nmeadows and the warm sunshine behind him. And now he urged the donkey\nforwards with speed; for he knew that he had lost much precious time,\nand that many miles still lay between him and Regin\u2019s charcoal-pits. And\nthere was nothing here amid the thick shadows of the wood to make him\nwish to linger; for the ground was damp, and the air was chilly, and\nevery thing was silent as the grave. And not a living creature did\nSiegfried see, save now and then a gray wolf slinking across the road,\nor a doleful owl sitting low down in some tree-top, and blinking at him\nin the dull but garish light. Evening at last drew on, and the shadows\nin the wood grew deeper; and still no sign of charcoal-burner, nor of\nother human being, was seen. Night came, and thick darkness settled\naround; and all the demons of the forest came forth, and clamored and\nchattered, and shrieked and howled. But Siegfried was not afraid. The\nbats and vampires came out of their hiding-places, and flapped their\nclammy wings in his face; and he thought that he saw ogres and many\nfearful creatures peeping out from behind every tree and shrub. But,\nwhen he looked upwards through the overhanging tree-tops, he saw the\nstar-decked roof of heaven, the blue mantle which the All-Father has\nhung as a shelter over the world; and he went bravely onwards, never\ndoubting but that Odin has many good things in store for those who are\nwilling to trust him.\n\nAnd by and by the great round moon arose in the east, and the fearful\nsounds that had made the forest hideous began to die away; and Siegfried\nsaw, far down the path, a red light feebly gleaming. And he was glad,\nfor he knew that it must come from the charcoal-burners\u2019 pits. Soon he\ncame out upon a broad, cleared space; and the charcoal-burners\u2019 fires\nblazed bright before him; and some workmen, swarthy and soot-begrimed,\ncame forwards to meet him.\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d they asked; \u201cand why do you come through the forest at\nthis late hour?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am Siegfried,\u201d answered the boy; \u201cand I come from Mimer\u2019s smithy. I\nseek Regin, the king of charcoal-burners; for I must have coal for my\nmaster\u2019s smithy.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome with me,\u201d said one of the men: \u201cI will lead you to Regin.\u201d\n\nSiegfried alighted from his cart, and followed the man to a low-roofed\nhut not far from the burning pits. As they drew near, they heard the\nsound of a harp, and strange, wild music within; and Siegfried\u2019s heart\nwas stirred with wonder as he listened. The man knocked softly at the\ndoor, and the music ceased.\n\n\u201cWho comes to break into Regin\u2019s rest at such a time as this?\u201d said a\nrough voice within.\n\n\u201cA youth who calls himself Siegfried,\u201d answered the man. \u201cHe says that\nhe comes from Mimer\u2019s smithy, and he would see you, my master.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet him come in,\u201d said the voice.\n\nSiegfried passed through the low door, and into the room beyond; and so\nstrange was the sight that met him that he stood for a while in awe,\nfor never in so lowly a dwelling had treasures so rich been seen. Jewels\nsparkled from the ceiling; rare tapestry covered the walls; and on the\nfloor were heaps of ruddy gold and silver, still unfashioned. And in\nthe midst of all this wealth stood Regin, the king of the forest, the\ngreatest of charcoal-men. And a strange old man he was, wrinkled and\ngray and beardless; but out of his eyes sharp glances gleamed of a light\nthat was not human, and his heavy brow and broad forehead betokened\nwisdom and shrewd cunning. And he welcomed Siegfried kindly for Mimer\u2019s\nsake, and set before him a rich repast of venison, and wild honey, and\nfresh white bread, and luscious grapes. And, when the meal was finished,\nthe boy would have told his errand, but Regin stopped him.\n\n\u201cSay nothing of your business to-night,\u201d said he; \u201cfor the hour is\nalready late, and you are weary. Better lie down, and rest until the\nmorrow; and then we will talk of the matter which has brought you\nhither.\u201d\n\nAnd Siegfried was shown to a couch of the fragrant leaves of the myrtle\nand hemlock, overspread with soft white linen, such as is made in the\nfar-off Emerald Isle; and he was lulled to sleep by sweet strains of\nmusic from Regin\u2019s harp,--music which told of the days when the gods\nwere young on the earth. And as he slept he dreamed. He dreamed that\nhe stood upon the crag of a high mountain, and that the eagles flew\nscreaming around him, and the everlasting snows lay at his feet, and the\nworld in all its beauty was stretched out like a map below him; and he\nlonged to go forth to partake of its abundance, and to make for himself\na name among men. Then came the Norns, who spin the thread, and weave\nthe woof, of every man\u2019s life; and they held in their hands the web\nof his own destiny. And Urd, the Past, sat on the tops of the eastern\nmountains, where the sun begins to rise at dawn; while Verdanda, the\nPresent, stood in the western sea, where sky and water meet. And they\nstretched the web between them, and its ends were hidden in the far-away\nmists. Then with all their might the two Norns span the purple and\ngolden threads, and wove the fatal woof. But as it began to grow in\nbeauty and in strength, and to shadow the earth with its gladness and\nits glory, Skuld, the pitiless Norn of the Future, seized it with rude\nfingers, and tore it into shreds, and cast it down at the feet of Hela,\nthe white queen of the dead.[EN#6] And the eagles shrieked, and the\nmountain shook, and the crag toppled, and Siegfried awoke.\n\nThe next morning, at earliest break of day, the youth sought Regin, and\nmade known his errand.\n\n\u201cI have come for charcoal for my master Mimer\u2019s forges. My cart stands\nready outside; and I pray you to have it filled at once, for the way is\nlong, and I must be back betimes.\u201d\n\nThen a strange smile stole over Regin\u2019s wrinkled face, and he said,--\n\n\u201cDoes Siegfried the prince come on such a lowly errand? Does he come\nto me through the forest, driving a donkey, and riding in a sooty\ncoal-cart? I have known the day when his kin were the mightiest kings of\nearth, and they fared through every land the noblest men of men-folk.\u201d\n\nThe taunting word, the jeering tones, made Siegfried\u2019s anger rise.\nThe blood boiled in his veins; but he checked his tongue, and mildly\nanswered,--\n\n\u201cIt is true that I am a prince, and my father is the wisest of kings;\nand it is for this reason that I come thus to you. Mimer is my master,\nand my father early taught me that even princes must obey their masters\u2019\nbehests.\u201d\n\nThen Regin laughed, and asked, \u201cHow long art thou to be Mimer\u2019s thrall?\nDoes no work wait for thee but at his smoky forge?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen Mimer gives me leave, and Odin calls me,\u201d answered the lad, \u201cthen\nI, too, will go faring over the world, like my kin of the earlier\ndays, to carve me a name and great glory, and a place with the noble of\nearth.\u201d\n\nRegin said not a word; but he took his harp, and smote the strings,\nand a sad, wild music filled the room. And he sang of the gods and the\ndwarf-folk, and of the deeds that had been in the time long past and\ngone. And a strange mist swam before Siegfried\u2019s eyes; and so bewitching\nwere the strains that fell upon his ears, and filled his soul, that he\nforgot about his errand, and his master Mimer, and his father Siegmund,\nand his lowland home, and thought only of the heart-gladdening sounds.\nBy and by the music ended, the spell was lifted, and Siegfried turned\nhis eyes towards the musician. A wonderful change had taken place. The\nlittle old man still stood before him with the harp in his hand; but his\nwrinkled face was hidden by a heavy beard, and his thin gray locks were\ncovered with a long black wig, and he seemed taller and stouter than\nbefore. As Siegfried started with surprise, his host held out his hand,\nand said,--\n\n\u201cYou need not be alarmed, my boy. It is time for you to know that\nRegin and Mimer are the same person, or rather that Mimer is Regin\ndisguised.[EN#8] The day has come for you to go your way into the world,\nand Mimer gives you leave.\u201d\n\nSiegfried was so amazed he could not say a word. He took the master\u2019s\nhand, and gazed long into his deep, bright eyes. Then the two sat down\ntogether, and Mimer, or Regin as we shall now call him, told the prince\nmany tales of the days that had been, and of his bold, wise forefathers.\nAnd the lad\u2019s heart swelled within him; and he longed to be like\nthem,--to dare and do and suffer, and gloriously win at last. And he\nturned to Regin and said,--\n\n\u201cTell me, wisest of masters, what I shall do to win fame, and to make\nmyself worthy to rule the fair land which my fathers held.\u201d\n\n\u201cGo forth in your own strength, and with Odin\u2019s help,\u201d answered\nRegin,--\u201cgo forth to right the wrong, to help the weak, to punish evil,\nand come not back to your father\u2019s kingdom until the world shall know\nyour noble deeds.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut whither shall I go?\u201d asked Siegfried.\n\n\u201cI will tell you,\u201d answered Regin. \u201cPut on these garments, which better\nbefit a prince than those soot-begrimed clothes you have worn so long.\nGird about you this sword, the good Balmung, and go northward. When you\ncome to the waste lands which border upon the sea, you will find\nthe ancient Gripir, the last of the kin of the giants. Ask of him a\nwar-steed, and Odin will tell you the rest.\u201d\n\nSo, when the sun had risen high above the trees, Siegfried bade Regin\ngood-by, and went forth like a man, to take whatsoever fortune should\nbetide. He went through the great forest, and across the bleak moorland\nbeyond, and over the huge black mountains that stretched themselves\nacross his way, and came to a pleasant country all dotted with white\nfarmhouses, and yellow with waving, corn. But he tarried not here,\nthough many kind words were spoken to him, and all besought him to stay.\nRight onwards he went, until he reached the waste land which borders the\nsounding sea. And there high mountains stood, with snow-crowned crags\nbeetling over the waves; and a great river, all foaming with the summer\nfloods, went rolling through the valley. And in the deep dales between\nthe mountains were rich meadows, green with grass, and speckled with\nthousands of flowers of every hue, where herds of cattle and deer, and\nnoble elks, and untamed horses, fed in undisturbed peace. And Siegfried,\nwhen he saw, knew that these were the pastures of Gripir the ancient.\n\nHigh up among the gray mountain-peaks stood Gripir\u2019s dwelling,--a\nmighty house, made of huge bowlders brought by giant hands from the far\nnorth-land. And the wild eagle, built their nests around it, and the\nmountain vultures screamed about its doors. But Siegfried was not\nafraid. He climbed the steep pathway which the feet of men had never\ntouched before, and, without pausing, walked straightway into the\nhigh-built hall. The room was so dark that at first he could see nothing\nsave the white walls, and the glass-green pillars which upheld the roof.\nBut the light grew stronger soon; and Siegfried saw, beneath a heavy\ncanopy of stone, the ancient Gripir, seated in a chair made from the\nsea-horse\u2019s teeth.[EN#9] And the son of the giants held in his hand an\nivory staff; and a purple mantle was thrown over his shoulders, and his\nwhite beard fell in sweeping waves almost to the sea-green floor. Very\nwise he seemed, and he gazed at Siegfried with a kindly smile.\n\n\u201cHail, Siegfried!\u201d he cried. \u201cHail, prince with the gleaming eye! I know\nthee, and I know the woof that the Norns have woven for thee. Welcome to\nmy lonely mountain home! Come and sit by my side in the high-seat where\nman has never sat, and I will tell thee of things that have been, and of\nthings that are yet to be.\u201d\n\nThen Siegfried fearlessly went and sat by the side of the ancient wise\none. And long hours they talked together,--strong youth and hoariest\nage; and each was glad that in the other he had found some source of\nhope and comfort. And they talked of the great midworld, and of the\nstarry dome above it, and of the seas which gird it, and of the men who\nlive upon it. All night long they talked, and in the morning Siegfried\narose to go.\n\n\u201cThou hast not told me of thy errand,\u201d said Gripir; \u201cbut I know what it\nis. Come first with me, and see this great mid-world for thyself.\u201d\n\nThen Gripir, leaning on his staff, led the way out of the great hall,\nand up to the top of the highest mountain-crag. And the wild eagles\ncircled in the clear, cold air above them; and far below them the white\nwaves dashed against the mountain\u2019s feet; and the frosty winds swept\naround them unchecked, bringing to their ears the lone lamenting of the\nnorth giants, moaning for the days that had been and for the glories\nthat were past. Then Siegfried looked to the north, and he saw the dark\nmountain-wall of Norway trending away in solemn grandeur towards\nthe frozen sea, but broken here and there by sheltering fjords, and\npleasant, sunny dales. He looked to the east, and saw a great forest\nstretching away and away until it faded to sight in the blue distance.\nHe looked to the south, and saw a pleasant land, with farms and\nvineyards, and towns and strong-built castles; and through it wound the\nRiver Rhine, like a great white serpent, reaching from the snow-capped\nAlps to the northern sea. And he saw his father\u2019s little kingdom of the\nNetherlands lying like a green speck on the shore of the ocean. Then\nhe looked to the west, and nothing met his sight but a wilderness of\nrolling, restless waters, save, in the far distance, a green island half\nhidden by sullen mists and clouds. And Siegfried sighed, and said,--\n\n\u201cThe world is so wide, and the life of man so short!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe world is all before thee,\u201d answered Gripir. \u201cTake what the Norns\nhave allotted thee. Choose from my pastures a battle-steed, and ride\nforth to win for thyself a name and fame among the sons of men.\u201d\n\nThen Siegfried ran down the steep side of the mountain to the grassy\ndell where the horses were feeding. But the beasts were all so fair and\nstrong, that he knew not which to choose. While he paused, uncertain\nwhat to do, a strange man stood before him. Tall and handsome was the\nman, with one bright eye, and a face beaming like the dawn in summer;\nand upon his head he wore a sky-blue hood bespangled with golden stars,\nand over his shoulder was thrown a cloak of ashen gray.\n\n\u201cWould you choose a horse, Sir Siegfried?\u201d asked the stranger.\n\n\u201cIndeed I would,\u201d answered he. \u201cBut it is hard to make a choice among so\nmany.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is one in the meadow,\u201d said the man, \u201cfar better than all\nthe rest. They say that he came from Odin\u2019s pastures on the green\nhill-slopes of Asgard, and that none but the noblest shall ride him.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich is he?\u201d asked Siegfried.\n\n\u201cDrive the herd into the river,\u201d was the answer, \u201cand then see if you\ncan pick him out.\u201d\n\nAnd Siegfried and the stranger drove the horses down the sloping bank,\nand into the rolling stream; but the flood was too strong for them.\nSome soon turned back to the shore; while others, struggling madly, were\nswept away, and carried out to the sea. Only one swam safely over. He\nshook the dripping water from his mane, tossed his head in the air, and\nthen plunged again into the stream. Right bravely he stemmed the\ntorrent the second time. He clambered up the shelving bank, and stood by\nSiegfried\u2019s side.\n\n\u201cWhat need to tell you that this is the horse?\u201d said the stranger. \u201cTake\nhim: he is yours. He is Greyfell, the shining hope that Odin sends to\nhis chosen heroes.\u201d\n\nAnd then Siegfried noticed that the horse\u2019s mane glimmered and flashed\nlike a thousand rays from the sun, and that his coat was as white and\nclear as the fresh-fallen snow on the mountains. He turner to speak to\nthe stranger, but he was nowhere to be seen and Siegfried bethought him\nhow he had talked with Odin unawares. Then he mounted the noble Greyfell\nand rode with a light heart across the flowery meadows.\n\n\u201cWhither ridest thou?\u201d cried Gripir the ancient, from his doorway among\nthe crags.\n\n\u201cI ride into the wide world,\u201d said Siegfried; \u201cbut I know not whither. I\nwould right the wrong, and help the weak, and make myself a name on the\nearth, as did my kinsmen of yore. Tell me, I pray you, where I shall\ngo; for you are wise, and you know the things which have been, and those\nwhich shall befall.\u201d\n\n\u201cRide back to Regin, the master of masters,\u201d answered Gripir. \u201cHe will\ntell thee of a wrong to be righted.\u201d\n\nAnd the ancient son of the giants withdrew into his lonely abode; and\nSiegfried, on the shining Greyfell, rode swiftly away towards the south.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure III. The Curse of Gold.\n\n\n\nForth then rode Siegfried, upon the beaming Greyfell, out into the broad\nmid-world. And the sun shone bright above him, and the air was soft and\npure, and the earth seemed very lovely, and life a gladsome thing. And\nhis heart was big within him as he thought of the days to come, of\nthe deeds of love and daring, of the righting of many wrongs, of the\npeople\u2019s praise, and the glory of a life well lived. And he wended his\nway back again toward the south and the fair lands of the Rhine. He left\nthe barren moorlands behind him, and the pleasant farms and villages of\nthe fruitful countryside, and after many days came once more to Regin\u2019s\nwoodland dwelling. For he said to himself, \u201cMy old master is very wise;\nand he knows of the deeds that were done when yet the world was young,\nand my kin were the mightiest of men. I will go to him, and learn what\ngrievous evil it is that he has so often vaguely hinted at.\u201d\n\nRegin, when he saw the lad and the beaming Greyfell standing like\na vision of light at his door, welcomed them most gladly, and led\nSiegfried into the inner room, where they sat down together amid the\ngold, and the gem-stones, and the fine-wrought treasures there.\n\n\u201cTruly,\u201d said the master, \u201cthe days of my long waiting are drawing to a\nclose, and at last the deed shall be done.\u201d\n\nAnd the old look of longing came again into his eyes, and his pinched\nface seemed darker and more wrinkled than before, and his thin lips\ntrembled with emotion as he spoke.\n\n\u201cWhat is that deed of which you speak?\u201d asked Siegfried.\n\n\u201cIt is the righting of a grievous wrong,\u201d answered Regin, \u201cand the\nwinning of treasures untold. Lo, many years have I waited for the coming\nof this day; and now my heart tells me that the hero so long hoped for\nis here, and the wisdom and the wealth of the world shall be mine.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut what is the wrong to be righted?\u201d asked Siegfried. \u201cAnd what is\nthis treasure that you speak of as your own?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d answered Regin, \u201cthe treasure is indeed mine; and yet wrongfully\nhas it been withheld from me. But listen a while to a tale of the early\ndays, and thou shalt know what the treasure is, and what is the wrong to\nbe righted.\u201d\n\nHe took his harp and swept the strings, and played a soft, low melody\nwhich told of the dim past, and of blighted hopes, and of a nameless,\nnever-satisfied yearning for that which might have been. And then he\ntold Siegfried this story:\n\n\n\nRegin\u2019s Story.\n\n\n\nWhen the earth was still very young, and men were feeble and few, and\nthe Dwarfs were many and strong, the Asa-folk were wont oft-times\nto leave their halls in heaven-towering Asgard in order to visit the\nnew-formed mid-world, and to see what the short-lived sons of men were\ndoing. Sometimes they came in their own godlike splendor and might;\nsometimes they came disguised as feeble men-folk, with all man\u2019s\nweaknesses and all his passions. Sometimes Odin, as a beggar, wandered\nfrom one country to another, craving charity; sometimes, as a warrior\nclad in coat of mail, he rode forth to battle for the cause of right; or\nas a minstrel he sang from door to door, and played sweet music in the\nhalls of the great; or as a huntsman he dashed through brakes and fens,\nand into dark forests, and climbed steep mountains in search of game; or\nas a sailor he embarked upon the sea, and sought new scenes in unknown\nlands. And many times did men-folk entertain him unawares.\n\nOnce on a time he came to the mid-world in company with Hoenir and\nLoki; and the three wandered through many lands and in many climes, each\ngiving gifts wherever they went. Odin gave knowledge and strength, and\ntaught men how to read the mystic runes; Hoenir gave gladness and\ngood cheer, and lightened many hearts with the glow of his comforting\npresence; but Loki had nought to give but cunning deceit and base\nthoughts, and he left behind him bitter strife and many aching breasts.\nAt last, growing tired of the fellowship of men, the three Asas sought\nthe solitude of the forest, and as huntsmen wandered long among the\nhills and over the wooded heights of Hunaland. Late one afternoon they\ncame to a mountain-stream at a place where it poured over a ledge of\nrocks, and fell in clouds of spray into a rocky gorge below. As they\nstood, and with pleased eyes gazed upon the waterfall, they saw near the\nbank an otter lazily making ready to eat a salmon which he had caught.\nAnd Loki, ever bent on doing mischief, hurled a stone at the harmless\nbeast, and killed it. And he boasted loudly that he had done a worthy\ndeed. And he took both the otter, and the fish which it had caught, and\ncarried them with him as trophies of the day\u2019s success.\n\nJust at nightfall the three huntsmen came to a lone farmhouse in the\nvalley, and asked for food, and for shelter during the night.\n\n\u201cShelter you shall have,\u201d said the farmer, whose name was Hreidmar, \u201cfor\nthe rising clouds foretell a storm. But food I have none to give you.\nSurely huntsmen of skill should not want for food; since the forest\nteems with game, and the streams are full of fish.\u201d\n\nThen Loki threw upon the ground the otter and the fish, and said, \u201cWe\nhave sought in both forest and stream, and we have taken from them at\none blow both flesh and fish. Give us but the shelter you promise, and\nwe will not trouble you for food.\u201d\n\nThe farmer gazed with horror upon the lifeless body of the otter, and\ncried out, \u201cThis creature which you mistook for an otter, and which you\nhave robbed and killed, is my son Oddar, who for mere pastime had taken\nthe form of the furry beast. You are but thieves and murderers!\u201d\n\nThen he called loudly for help: and his two sons Fafnir and Regin,\nsturdy and valiant kin of the dwarf-folk, rushed in, and seized upon the\nhuntsmen, and bound them hand and foot; for the three Asas, having taken\nupon themselves the forms of men, had no more than human strength, and\nwere unable to withstand them.\n\nThen Odin and his fellows bemoaned their ill fate. And Loki said,\n\u201cWherefore did we foolishly take upon ourselves the likenesses of\npuny men? Had I my own power once more, I would never part with it in\nexchange for man\u2019s weaknesses.\u201d\n\nAnd Hoenir sighed, and said, \u201cNow, indeed, will darkness win: and the\nfrosty breath of the Reimthursen giants will blast the fair handiwork of\nthe sunlight and the heat; for the givers of life and light and warmth\nare helpless prisoners in the hands of these cunning and unforgiving\njailers.\u201d\n\n\u201cSurely,\u201d said Odin, \u201cnot even the highest are free from obedience to\nheaven\u2019s behests and the laws of right. I, whom men call the Preserver\nof Life, have demeaned myself by being found in evil company; and,\nalthough I have done no other wrong, I suffer rightly for the doings of\nthis mischief-maker with whom I have stooped to have fellowship. For all\nare known, not so much by what they are as by what they seem to be, and\nthey bear the bad name which their comrades bear. Now I am fallen from\nmy high estate. Eternal right is higher than I. And in the last Twilight\nof the gods I must needs meet the dread Fenris-wolf, and in the end\nthe world will be made new again, and the shining Balder will rule in\nsunlight majesty forever.\u201d\n\nThen the Asas asked Hreidmar, their jailer, what ransom they should\npay for their freedom; and he, not knowing who they were, said, \u201cI must\nfirst know what ransom you are able to give.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe will give any thing you may ask,\u201d hastily answered Loki.\n\nHreidmar then called his sons, and bade them strip the skin from the\notter\u2019s body. When this was done, they brought the furry hide and spread\nit upon the ground; and Hreidmar said, \u201cBring shining gold and precious\nstones enough to cover every part of this otter-skin. When you have paid\nso much ransom, you shall have your freedom.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat we will do,\u201d answered Odin. \u201cBut one of us must have leave to\ngo and fetch it: the other two will stay fast bound until the morning\ndawns. If, by that time, the gold is not here, you may do with us as you\nplease.\u201d\n\nHreidmar and the two young men agreed to Odin\u2019s offer; and, lots being\ncast, it fell to Loki to go and fetch the treasure. When he had been\nloosed from the cords which bound him, Loki donned his magic shoes,\nwhich had carried him over land and sea from the farthest bounds of\nthe mid-world, and hastened away upon his errand. And he sped with the\nswiftness of light, over the hills and the wooded slopes, and the deep\ndark valleys, and the fields and forests and sleeping hamlets, until he\ncame to the place where dwelt the swarthy elves and the cunning dwarf\nAndvari. There the River Rhine, no larger than a meadow-brook, breaks\nforth from beneath a mountain of ice, which the Frost giants and blind\nold Hoder, the Winter-king, had built long years before; for they had\nvainly hoped that they might imprison the river at its fountain-head.\nBut the baby-brook had eaten its way beneath the frozen mass, and\nhad sprung out from its prison, and gone on, leaping and smiling, and\nkissing the sunlight, in its ever-widening course towards Burgundy and\nthe sea.\n\nLoki came to this place, because he knew that here was the home of the\nelves who had laid up the greatest hoard of treasures ever known in the\nmid-world. He scanned with careful eyes the mountain-side, and the deep,\nrocky caverns, and the dark gorge through which the little river rushed;\nbut in the dim moonlight not a living being could he see, save a lazy\nsalmon swimming in the quieter eddies of the stream. Any one but Loki\nwould have lost all hope of finding treasure there, at least before the\ndawn of day; but his wits were quick, and his eyes were very sharp.\n\n\u201cOne salmon has brought us into this trouble, and another shall help us\nout of it!\u201d he cried.\n\nThen, swift as thought, he sprang again into the air; and the magic\nshoes carried him with greater speed than before down the Rhine valley,\nand through Burgundy-land, and the low meadows, until he came to the\nshores of the great North Sea. He sought the halls of old AEgir, the\nOcean-king; but he wist not which way to go,--whether across the North\nSea towards Isenland, or whether along the narrow channel between\nBritain-land and the main. While he paused, uncertain where to turn,\nhe saw the pale-haired daughters of old AEgir, the white-veiled Waves,\nplaying in the moonlight near the shore. Of them he asked the way to\nAEgir\u2019s hall.\n\n\u201cSeven days\u2019 journey westward,\u201d said they, \u201cbeyond the green Isle of\nErin, is our father\u2019s hall. Seven days\u2019 journey northward, on the bleak\nNorwegian shore, is our father\u2019s hall.\u201d\n\nAnd they stopped not once in their play, but rippled and danced on the\nshelving beach, or dashed with force against the shore.\n\n\u201cWhere is your mother Ran, the Queen of the Ocean?\u201d asked Loki.\n\nAnd they answered,--\n\n     \u201cIn the deep sea-caves\n     By the sounding shore,\n     In the dashing waves\n     When the wild storms roar,\n     In her cold green bowers\n     In the northern fiords,\n     She lurks and she glowers,\n     She grasps and she hoards,\n     And she spreads her strong net for her prey.\u201d\n\nLoki waited to hear no more; but he sprang into the air, and the magic\nshoes carried him onwards over the water in search of the Ocean-queen.\nHe had not gone far when his sharp eyes espied her, lurking near a rocky\nshore against which the breakers dashed with frightful fury. Half hidden\nin the deep dark water, she lay waiting and watching; and she spread her\ncunning net upon the waves, and reached out with her long greedy fingers\nto seize whatever booty might come near her.\n\nWhen the wary queen saw Loki, she hastily drew in her net, and tried to\nhide herself in the shadows of an overhanging rock. But Loki called her\nby name, and said,--\n\n\u201cSister Ran, fear not! I am your friend Loki, whom once you served as a\nguest in AEgir\u2019s gold-lit halls.\u201d\n\nThen the Ocean-queen came out into the bright moonlight, and welcomed\nLoki to her domain, and asked, \u201cWhy does Loki thus wander so far from\nAsgard, and over the trackless waters?\u201d\n\nAnd Loki answered, \u201cI have heard of the net which you spread upon the\nwaves, and from which no creature once caught in its meshes can ever\nescape. I have found a salmon where the Rhine-spring gushes from beneath\nthe mountains, and a very cunning salmon he is for no common skill can\ncatch him. Come, I pray, with your wondrous net, and cast it into the\nstream where he lies. Do but take the wary fish for me, and you shall\nhave more gold than you have taken in a year from the wrecks of stranded\nvessels.\u201d\n\n\u201cI dare not go,\u201d cried Ran. \u201cA bound is set, beyond which I may not\nventure. If all the gold of earth were offered me, I could not go.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen lend me your net,\u201d entreated Loki. \u201cLend me your net, and I will\nbring it back to-morrow filled with gold.\u201d\n\n\u201cMuch I would like your gold,\u201d answered Ran; \u201cbut I cannot lend my net.\nShould I do so, I might lose the richest prize that has ever come into\nmy husband\u2019s kingdom. For three days, now, a gold-rigged ship, bearing\na princely crew with rich armor and abundant wealth, has been sailing\ncarelessly over these seas. To-morrow I shall send my daughters and the\nbewitching mermaids to decoy the vessel among the rocks. And into my net\nthe ship, and the brave warriors, and all their armor and gold, shall\nfall. A rich prize it will be. No: I cannot part with my net, even for a\nsingle hour.\u201d\n\nBut Loki knew the power of flattering words.\n\n\u201cBeautiful queen,\u201d said he, \u201cthere is no one on earth, nor even in\nAsgard, who can equal you in wisdom and foresight. Yet I promise you,\nthat, if you will but lend me your net until the morning dawns, the ship\nand the crew of which you speak shall be yours, and all their golden\ntreasures shall deck your azure halls in the deep sea.\u201d\n\nThen Ran carefully folded the net, and gave it to Loki.\n\n\u201cRemember your promise,\u201d was all that she said.\n\n\u201cAn Asa never forgets,\u201d he answered.\n\nAnd he turned his face again towards Rhineland; and the magic shoes bore\nhim aloft, and carried him in a moment back to the ice-mountain and\nthe gorge and the infant river, which he had so lately left. The\nsalmon still rested in his place, and had not moved during Loki\u2019s short\nabsence.\n\nLoki unfolded the net, and cast it into the stream. The cunning fish\ntried hard to avoid being caught in its meshes; but, dart which way\nhe would, he met the skilfully woven cords, and these drew themselves\naround him, and held him fast. Then Loki pulled the net up out of the\nwater, and grasped the helpless fish in his right hand. But, lo! as he\nheld the struggling creature high in the air, it was no longer a fish,\nbut the cunning dwarf Andvari.\n\n\u201cThou King of the Elves,\u201d cried Loki, \u201cthy cunning has not saved thee.\nTell me, on thy life, where thy hidden treasures lie!\u201d\n\nThe wise dwarf knew who it was that thus held him as in a vise; and he\nanswered frankly, for it was his only hope of escape, \u201cTurn over the\nstone upon which you stand. Beneath it you will find the treasure you\nseek.\u201d\n\nThen Loki put his shoulder to the rock, and pushed with all his might.\nBut it seemed as firm as the mountain, and would not be moved.\n\n\u201cHelp us, thou cunning dwarf,\u201d he cried,--\u201chelp us, and thou shalt have\nthy life!\u201d\n\nThe dwarf put his shoulder to the rock, and it turned over as if by\nmagic, and underneath was disclosed a wondrous chamber, whose walls\nshone brighter than the sun, and on whose floor lay treasures of gold\nand glittering gem-stones such as no man had ever seen. And Loki, in\ngreat haste, seized upon the hoard, and placed it in the magic net which\nhe had borrowed from the Ocean-queen. Then he came out of the chamber;\nand Andvari again put his shoulder to the rock which lay at the\nentrance, and it swung back noiselessly to its place.\n\n\u201cWhat is that upon thy finger?\u201d suddenly cried Loki. \u201cWouldst keep back\na part of the treasure? Give me the ring thou hast!\u201d\n\nBut the dwarf shook his head, and made answer, \u201cI have given thee all\nthe riches that the elves of the mountain have gathered since the world\nbegan. This ring I cannot give thee, for without its help we shall never\nbe able to gather more treasures together.\u201d\n\nAnd Loki grew angry at these words of the dwarf; and he seized the ring,\nand tore it by force from Andvari\u2019s fingers. It was a wondrous little\npiece of mechanism shaped like a serpent, coiled, with its tail in its\nmouth; and its scaly sides glittered with many a tiny diamond, and its\nruby eyes shone with an evil light. When the dwarf knew that Loki really\nmeant to rob him of the ring, he cursed it and all who should ever\npossess it, saying,--\n\n\u201cMay the ill-gotten treasure that you have seized tonight be your bane,\nand the bane of all to whom it may come, whether by fair means or by\nfoul! And the ring which you have torn from my hand, may it entail upon\nthe one who wears it sorrow and untold ills, the loss of friends, and a\nviolent death! The Norns have spoken, and thus it must be.\u201d\n\nLoki was pleased with these words, and with the dark curses which\nthe dwarf pronounced upon the gold; for he loved wrong-doing, for\nwrong-doing\u2019s sake, and he knew that no curses could ever make his own\nlife more cheerless than it always had been. So he thanked Andvari\nfor his curses and his treasures; and, throwing the magic net upon his\nshoulder, he sprang again into the air, and was carried swiftly back to\nHunaland; and, just before the dawn appeared in the east, he alighted\nat the door of the farmhouse where Odin and Hoenir still lay bound with\nthongs, and guarded by Fafnir and Regin.\n\nThen the farmer, Hreidmar, brought the otter\u2019s skin, and spread it upon\nthe ground; and, lo! it grew, and spread out on all sides, until it\ncovered an acre of ground. And he cried out, \u201cFulfil now your promise!\nCover every hair of this hide with gold or with precious stones. If you\nfail to do this, then your lives, by your own agreement, are forfeited,\nand we shall do with you as we list.\u201d\n\nOdin took the magic net from Loki\u2019s shoulder; and opening it, he poured\nthe treasures of the mountain elves upon the otter-skin. And Loki and\nHoenir spread the yellow pieces carefully and evenly over every part\nof the furry hide. But, after every piece had been laid in its place;\nHreidmar saw near the otter\u2019s mouth a single hair uncovered; and he\ndeclared, that unless this hair, too, were covered, the bargain would\nbe unfulfilled, and the treasures and lives of his prisoners would be\nforfeited. And the Asas looked at each other in dismay; for not another\npiece of gold, and not another precious stone, could they find in the\nnet, although they searched with the greatest care. At last Odin took\nfrom his bosom the ring which Loki had stolen from the dwarf; for he had\nbeen so highly pleased with its form and workmanship, that he had hidden\nit, hoping that it would not be needed to complete the payment of the\nransom. And they laid the ring upon the uncovered hair. And now no\nportion of the otter\u2019s skin could be seen. And Fafnir and Regin, the\nransom being paid, loosed the shackles of Odin and Hoenir, and bade the\nthree huntsmen go on their way.\n\nOdin and Hoenir at once shook off their human disguises, and, taking\ntheir own forms again, hastened with all speed back to Asgard. But Loki\ntarried a little while, and said to Hreidmar and his sons,--\n\n\u201cBy your greediness and falsehood you have won for yourselves the Curse\nof the Earth, which lies before you. It shall be your bane. It shall\nbe the bane of every one who holds it. It shall kindle strife between\nfather and son, between brother and brother. It shall make you mean,\nselfish, beastly. It shall transform you into monsters. The noblest king\namong men-folk shall feel its curse. Such is gold, and such it shall\never be to its worshippers. And the ring which you have gotten\nshall impart to its possessor its own nature. Grasping, snaky, cold,\nunfeeling, shall he live; and death through treachery shall be his\ndoom.\u201d\n\nThen he turned away, delighted that he had thus left the curse of\nAndvari with Hreidmar and his sons, and hastened northward toward\nthe sea; for he wished to redeem the promise that he had made to the\nOcean-queen, to bring back her magic net, and to decoy the richly laden\nship into her clutches.\n\nNo sooner were the strange huntsmen well out of sight than Fafnir and\nRegin began to ask their father to divide the glittering hoard with\nthem.\n\n\u201cBy our strength and through our advice,\u201d said they, \u201cthis great store\nhas come into your hands. Let us place it in three equal heaps, and then\nlet each take his share and go his way.\u201d\n\nAt this the farmer waxed very angry; and he loudly declared that he\nwould keep all the treasure for himself, and that his sons should not\nhave any portion of it whatever. So Fafnir and Regin, nursing their\ndisappointment, went to the fields to watch their sheep; but their\nfather sat down to guard his new-gotten treasure. And he took in his\nhand the glittering serpent-ring, and gazed into its cold ruby eyes:\nand, as he gazed, all his thoughts were fixed upon his gold; and there\nwas no room in his heart for love toward his fellows, nor for deeds\nof kindness, nor for the worship of the All-Father. And behold, as he\ncontinued to look at the snaky ring, a dreadful change came over him.\nThe warm red blood, which until that time had leaped through his veins,\nand given him life and strength and human feelings, became purple and\ncold and sluggish; and selfishness, like serpent-poison, took hold of\nhis heart. Then, as he kept on gazing at the hoard which lay before him,\nhe began to lose his human shape; his body lengthened into many scaly\nfolds, and he coiled himself around his loved treasures,--the very\nlikeness of the ring upon which he had looked so long.\n\nWhen the day drew near its close, Fafnir came back from the fields with\nhis herd of sheep, and thought to find his father guarding the treasure,\nas he had left him in the morning; but instead he saw a glittering\nsnake, fast asleep, encircling the hoard like a huge scaly ring of gold.\nHis first thought was that the monster had devoured his father; and,\nhastily drawing his sword, with one blow he severed the serpent\u2019s head\nfrom its body. And, while yet the creature writhed in the death-agony,\nhe gathered up the hoard, and fled with it beyond the hills of Hunaland,\nuntil on the seventh day he came to a barren heath far from the homes\nof men. There he placed the treasures in one glittering heap; and he\nclothed himself in a wondrous mail-coat of gold that was found among\nthem, and he put on the Helmet of Dread, which had once been the terror\nof the mid-world, and the like of which no man had ever seen; and then\nhe gazed with greedy eyes upon the fateful ring, until he, too, was\nchanged into a cold and slimy reptile,--a monster dragon. And he coiled\nhimself about the hoard; and, with his restless eyes forever open, he\ngloated day after day upon his loved gold, and watched with ceaseless\ncare that no one should come near to despoil him of it. This was ages\nand ages ago; and still he wallows among his treasures on the Glittering\nHeath, and guards as of yore the garnered wealth of Andvari.[EN#10]\n\nWhen I, Regin, the younger brother, came back in the late evening to my\nfather\u2019s dwelling, I saw that the treasure had been carried away; and,\nwhen I beheld the dead serpent lying in its place, I knew that a part of\nAndvari\u2019s curse had been fulfilled. And a strange fear came over me; and\nI left every thing behind me, and fled from that dwelling, never more\nto return. Then I came to the land of the Volsungs, where your father\u2019s\nfathers dwelt, the noblest king-folk that the world has ever seen. But\na longing for the gold and the treasure, a hungry yearning, that would\nnever be satisfied, filled my soul. Then for a time I sought to forget\nthis craving. I spent my days in the getting of knowledge and in\nteaching men-folk the ancient lore of my kin, the Dwarfs. I taught them\nhow to plant and to sow, and to reap the yellow grain. I showed them\nwhere the precious metals of the earth lie hidden, and how to smelt iron\nfrom its ores,--how to shape the ploughshare and the spade, the spear\nand the battle-axe. I taught them how to tame the wild horses of the\nmeadows, and how to train the yoke-beasts to the plough; how to build\nlordly dwellings and mighty strongholds, and how to sail in ships across\nold AEgir\u2019s watery kingdom. But they gave me no thanks for what I had\ndone; and as the years went by they forgot who had been their teacher,\nand they said that it was Frey who had given them this knowledge and\nskill. And I taught the young maidens how to spin and weave, and\nto handle the needle deftly,--to make rich garments, and to work in\ntapestry and embroidery. But they, too, forgot me, and said that it was\nFreyja who had taught them. Then I showed men how to read the mystic\nrunes aright, and how to make the sweet beverage of poetry, that charms\nall hearts, and enlightens the world. But they say now that they had\nthese gifts from Odin. I taught them how to fashion the tales of old\ninto rich melodious songs, and with music and sweet-mouthed eloquence to\nmove the minds of their fellow-men. But they say that Bragi taught them\nthis; and they remember me only as Regin, the elfin schoolmaster, or\nat best as Mimer, the master of smiths. At length my heart grew bitter\nbecause of the neglect and ingratitude of men; and the old longing for\nAndvari\u2019s hoard came back to me, and I forgot much of my cunning and\nlore. But I lived on and on, and generations of short-lived men arose\nand passed, and still the hoard was not mine; for I was weak, and no man\nwas strong enough to help me.\n\nThen I sought wisdom of the Norns, the weird women who weave the woof of\nevery creature\u2019s fate.[EN#6] and [EN#7]\n\n\u201cHow long,\u201d asked I, \u201cmust I hope and wait in weary expectation of that\nday when the wealth of the world and the garnered wisdom of the ages\nshall be mine?\u201d\n\nAnd the witches answered, \u201cWhen a prince of the Volsung race shall come\nwho shall excel thee in the smithying craft, and to whom the All-Father\nshall give the Shining Hope as a helper, then the days of thy weary\nwatching, shall cease.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow long,\u201d asked I, \u201cshall I live to enjoy this wealth and this wisdom,\nand to walk as a god among men? Shall I be long-lived as the Asa-folk,\nand dwell on the earth until the last Twilight comes?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is written,\u201d answered Skuld, \u201cthat a beardless youth shall see thy\ndeath. But go thou now, and bide thy time.\u201d\n\nHere Regin ended his story, and both he and Siegfried sat for a long\ntime silent and thoughtful.\n\n\u201cI know what you wish,\u201d said Siegfried at last. \u201cYou think that I am the\nprince of whom the weird sisters spoke; and you would have me slay the\ndragon Fafnir, and win for you the hoard of Andvari.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is even so,\u201d answered Regin.\n\n\u201cBut the hoard is accursed,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cLet the curse be upon me,\u201d was the answer. \u201cIs not the wisdom of the\nages mine? And think you that I cannot escape the curse? Is there aught\nthat can prevail against him who has all knowledge and the wealth of the\nworld at his call?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing but the word of the Norns and the will of the All-Father,\u201d\n answered Siegfried.\n\n\u201cBut will you help me?\u201d asked Regin, almost wild with earnestness. \u201cWill\nyou help me to win that which is rightfully mine, and to rid the world\nof a horrible evil?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy is the hoard of Andvari more thine than Fafnir\u2019s?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is a monster, and he keeps the treasure but to gloat upon its\nglittering richness. I will use it to make myself a name upon the earth.\nI will not hoard it away. But I am weak, and he is strong and terrible.\nWill you help me?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo-morrow,\u201d said Siegfried, \u201cbe ready to go with me to the Glittering\nHeath. The treasure shall be thine, and also the curse.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd also the curse,\u201d echoed Regin.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure IV. Fafnir, the Dragon.\n\n\n\nRegin took up his harp, and his fingers smote the strings; and the music\nwhich came forth sounded like the wail of the winter\u2019s wind through\nthe dead treetops of the forest. And the song which he sang was full of\ngrief and wild hopeless yearning for the things which were not to be.\nWhen he had ceased, Siegfried said,--\n\n\u201cThat was indeed a sorrowful song for one to sing who sees his hopes so\nnearly realized. Why are you so sad? Is it because you fear the curse\nwhich you have taken upon yourself? or is it because you know not what\nyou will do with so vast a treasure, and its possession begins already\nto trouble you?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, many are the things I will do with that treasure!\u201d answered Regin;\nand his eyes flashed wildly, and his face grew red and pale. \u201cI will\nturn winter into summer; I will make the desert-places glad; I will\nbring back the golden age; I will make myself a god: for mine shall be\nthe wisdom and the gathered wealth of the world. And yet I fear\u201d--\n\n\u201cWhat do you fear?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe ring, the ring--it is accursed! The Norns, too, have spoken, and my\ndoom is known. I cannot escape it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Norns have woven the woof of every man\u2019s life,\u201d answered Siegfried.\n\u201cTo-morrow we fare to the Glittering Heath, and the end shall be as the\nNorns have spoken.\u201d\n\nAnd so, early the next morning, Siegfried mounted Greyfell, and rode\nout towards the desert-land that lay beyond the forest and the barren\nmountain-range; and Regin, his eyes flashing with desire, and his feet\nnever tiring, trudged by his side. For seven days they wended their\nway through the thick greenwood, sleeping at night on the bare ground\nbeneath the trees, while the wolves and other wild beasts of the forest\nfilled the air with their hideous howlings. But no evil creature dared\ncome near them, for fear of the shining beams of light which fell\nfrom Greyfell\u2019s gleaming mane. On the eighth day they came to the open\ncountry and to the hills, where the land was covered with black bowlders\nand broken by yawning chasms. And no living thing was seen there, not\neven an insect, nor a blade of grass; and the silence of the grave was\nover all. And the earth was dry and parched, and the sun hung above them\nlike a painted shield in a blue-black sky, and there was neither shade\nnor water anywhere. But Siegfried rode onwards in the way which Regin\npointed out, and faltered not, although he grew faint with thirst and\nwith the overpowering heat. Towards the evening of the next day they\ncame to a dark mountain-wall which stretched far out on either hand, and\nrose high above them, so steep that it seemed to close up the way, and\nto forbid them going farther.\n\n\u201cThis is the wall!\u201d cried Regin. \u201cBeyond this mountain is the Glittering\nHeath, and the goal of all my hopes.\u201d\n\nAnd the little old man ran forwards, and scaled the rough side of the\nmountain, and reached its summit, while Siegfried and Greyfell were yet\ntoiling among the rocks at its foot. Slowly and painfully they climbed\nthe steep ascent, sometimes following a narrow path which wound along\nthe edge of a precipice, sometimes leaping, from rock to rock, or over\nsome deep gorge, and sometimes picking their way among the crags and\ncliffs. The sun at last went down, and one by one the stars came out;\nand the moon was rising, round and red, when Siegfried stood by Regin\u2019s\nside, and gazed from the mountain-top down upon the Glittering Heath\nwhich lay beyond. And a strange, weird scene it was that met his sight.\nAt the foot of the mountain was a river, white and cold and still; and\nbeyond it was a smooth and barren plain, lying silent and lonely in\nthe pale moonlight. But in the distance was seen a circle of flickering\nflames, ever changing,--now growing brighter, now fading away, and now\nshining with a dull, cold light, like the glimmer of the glow-worm or\nthe fox-fire. And as Siegfried gazed upon the scene, he saw the dim\noutline of some hideous monster moving hither and thither, and seeming\nall the more terrible in the uncertain light.\n\n\u201cIt is he!\u201d whispered Regin, and his lips were ashy pale, and his knees\ntrembled beneath him. \u201cIt is Fafnir, and he wears the Helmet of Terror!\nShall we not go back to the smithy by the great forest, and to the life\nof ease and safety that may be ours there? Or will you rather dare to go\nforwards, and meet the Terror in its abode?\u201d\n\n\u201cNone but cowards give up an undertaking once begun,\u201d answered\nSiegfried. \u201cGo back to Rhineland yourself, if you are afraid; but you\nmust go alone. You have brought me thus far to meet the dragon of the\nheath, to win the hoard of the swarthy elves, and to rid the world of\na terrible evil. Before the setting of another sun, the deed which you\nhave urged me to do will be done.\u201d\n\nThen he dashed down the eastern slope of the mountain, leaving Greyfell\nand the trembling Regin behind him. Soon he stood on the banks of the\nwhite river, which lay between the mountain and the heath; but the\nstream was deep and sluggish, and the channel was very wide. He paused\na moment, wondering how he should cross; and the air seemed heavy with\ndeadly vapors, and the water was thick and cold. While he thus stood in\nthought, a boat came silently out of the mists, and drew near; and the\nboatman stood up and called to him, and said,--\n\n\u201cWhat man are you who dares come into this land of loneliness and fear?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am Siegfried,\u201d answered the lad; \u201cand I have come to slay Fafnir, the\nTerror.\u201d\n\n\u201cSit in my boat,\u201d said the boatman, \u201cand I will carry you across the\nriver.\u201d\n\nAnd Siegfried sat by the boatman\u2019s side; and without the use of an oar,\nand without a breath of air to drive it forwards, the little vessel\nturned, and moved silently towards the farther shore.\n\n\u201cIn what way will you fight the dragon?\u201d asked the boatman.\n\n\u201cWith my trusty sword Balmung I shall slay him,\u201d answered Siegfried.\n\n\u201cBut he wears the Helmet of Terror, and he breathes deathly poisons, and\nhis eyes dart forth lightning, and no man can withstand his strength,\u201d\n said the boatman.\n\n\u201cI will find some way by which to overcome him.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen be wise, and listen to me,\u201d said the boatman. \u201cAs you go up from\nthe river you will find a road, worn deep and smooth, starting from\nthe water\u2019s edge, and winding over the moor. It is the trail of Fafnir,\nadown which he comes at dawn of every day to slake his thirst at the\nriver. Do you dig a pit in this roadway,--a pit narrow and deep,--and\nhide yourself within it. In the morning, when Fafnir passes over it, let\nhim feel the edge of Balmung.\u201d\n\nAs the man ceased speaking, the boat touched the shore, and Siegfried\nleaped out. He looked back to thank his unknown friend, but neither boat\nnor boatman was to be seen. Only a thin white mist rose slowly from the\ncold surface of the stream, and floated upwards and away towards the\nmountain-tops. Then the lad remembered that the strange boatman had worn\na blue hood bespangled with golden stars, and that a gray kirtle was\nthrown over his shoulders, and that his one eye glistened and sparkled\nwith a light that was more than human. And he knew that he had again\ntalked with Odin. Then, with a braver heart than before, he went\nforwards, along the river-bank, until he came to Fafnir\u2019s trail,--a\ndeep, wide furrow in the earth, beginning at the river\u2019s bank, and\nwinding far away over the heath, until it was lost to sight in the\ndarkness. The bottom of the trail was soft and slimy, and its sides had\nbeen worn smooth by Fafnir\u2019s frequent travel through it.\n\nIn this road, at a point not far from the river, Siegfried, with his\ntrusty sword Balmung, scooped out a deep and narrow pit, as Odin had\ndirected. And when the gray dawn began to appear in the east he hid\nhimself within this trench, and waited for the coming of the monster. He\nhad not long to wait; for no sooner had the sky begun to redden in the\nlight of the coming sun than the dragon was heard bestirring himself.\nSiegfried peeped warily from his hiding-place, and saw him coming far\ndown the road, hurrying with all speed, that he might quench his thirst\nat the sluggish river, and hasten back to his gold; and the sound which\nhe made was like the trampling of many feet and the jingling of many\nchains. With bloodshot eyes, and gaping mouth, and flaming nostrils, the\nhideous creature came rushing onwards. His sharp, curved claws dug\ndeep into the soft earth; and his bat-like wings, half trailing on the\nground, half flapping in the air, made a sound like that which is heard\nwhen Thor rides in his goat-drawn chariot over the dark thunder-clouds.\nIt was a terrible moment for Siegfried, but still he was not afraid. He\ncrouched low down in his hiding-place, and the bare blade of the trusty\nBalmung glittered in the morning light. On came the hastening feet and\nthe flapping wings: the red gleam from the monster\u2019s flaming nostrils\nlighted up the trench where Siegfried lay. He heard a roaring and a\nrushing like the sound of a whirlwind in the forest; then a black,\ninky mass rolled above him, and all was dark. Now was Siegfried\u2019s\nopportunity. The bright edge of Balmung gleamed in the darkness one\nmoment, and then it smote the heart of Fafnir as he passed. Some men say\nthat Odin sat in the pit with Siegfried, and strengthened his arm and\ndirected his sword, or else he could not thus have slain the Terror.\nBut, be this as it may, the victory was soon won. The monster stopped\nshort, while but half of his long body had glided over the pit; for\nsudden death had overtaken him. His horrid head fell lifeless upon\nthe ground; his cold wings flapped once, and then lay, quivering and\nhelpless, spread out on either side; and streams of thick black blood\nflowed from his heart, through the wound beneath, and filled the trench\nin which Siegfried was hidden, and ran like a mountain-torrent down the\nroad towards the river. Siegfried was covered from head to foot with the\nslimy liquid, and, had he not quickly leaped from his hiding-place, he\nwould have been drowned in the swift-rushing, stream.[EN#11]\n\nThe bright sun rose in the east, and gilded the mountain-tops, and fell\nupon the still waters of the river, and lighted up the treeless plains\naround. The south wind played gently against Siegfried\u2019s cheeks and in\nhis long hair, as he stood gazing on his fallen foe. And the sound of\nsinging birds, and rippling waters, and gay insects,--such as had not\nbroken the silence of the Glittering Heath for ages,--came to his ears.\nThe Terror was dead, and Nature had awakened from her sleep of dread.\nAnd as the lad leaned upon his sword, and thought of the deed he had\ndone, behold! the shining Greyfell, with the beaming, hopeful mane,\nhaving crossed the now bright river, stood by his side. And Regin, his\nface grown wondrous cold, came trudging over the meadows; and his heart\nwas full of guile. Then the mountain vultures came wheeling downwards\nto look upon the dead dragon; and with them were two ravens, black as\nmidnight. And when Siegfried saw these ravens he knew them to be Odin\u2019s\nbirds,--Hugin, thought, and Munin, memory. And they alighted on the\nground near by; and the lad listened to hear what they would say. Then\nHugin flapped his wings, and said,--\n\n\u201cThe deed is done. Why tarries the hero?\u201d\n\nAnd Munin said,--\n\n\u201cThe world is wide. Fame waits for the hero.\u201d\n\nAnd Hugin answered,--\n\n\u201cWhat if he win the Hoard of the Elves? That is not honor. Let him seek\nfame by nobler deeds.\u201d\n\nThen Munin flew past his ear, and whispered,--\n\n\u201cBeware of Regin, the master! His heart is poisoned. He would be thy\nbane.\u201d\n\nAnd the two birds flew away to carry the news to Odin in the happy halls\nof Gladsheim.\n\nWhen Regin drew near to look upon the dragon, Siegfried kindly accosted\nhim: but he seemed not to hear; and a snaky glitter lurked in his eyes,\nand his mouth was set and dry, and he seemed as one walking in a dream.\n\n\u201cIt is mine now,\u201d he murmured: \u201cit is all mine, now,--the Hoard of the\nswarthy elf-folk, the garnered wisdom of ages. The strength of the world\nis mine. I will keep, I will save, I will heap up; and none shall have\npart or parcel of the treasure which is mine alone.\u201d\n\nThen his eyes fell upon Siegfried; and his cheeks grew dark with wrath,\nand he cried out,--\n\n\u201cWhy are you here in my way? I am the lord of the Glittering Heath: I am\nthe master of the Hoard. I am the master, and you are my thrall.\u201d\n\nSiegfried wondered at the change which had taken place in his old\nmaster; but he only smiled at his strange words, and made no answer.\n\n\u201cYou have slain my brother!\u201d Regin cried; and his face grew fearfully\nblack, and his mouth foamed with rage.\n\n\u201cIt was my deed and yours,\u201d calmly answered Siegfried. \u201cI have rid the\nworld of a Terror: I have righted a grievous wrong.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have slain my brother,\u201d said Regin; \u201cand a murderer\u2019s ransom you\nshall pay!\u201d\n\n\u201cTake the Hoard for your ransom, and let us each wend his way,\u201d said the\nlad.\n\n\u201cThe Hoard is mine by rights,\u201d answered Regin still more wrathfully. \u201cI\nam the master, and you are my thrall. Why stand you in my way?\u201d\n\nThen, blinded with madness, he rushed at Siegfried as if to strike him\ndown; but his foot slipped in a puddle of gore, and he pitched headlong\nagainst the sharp edge of Balmung. So sudden was this movement, and so\nunlooked for, that the sword was twitched out of Siegfried\u2019s hand, and\nfell with a dull splash into the blood-filled pit before him; while\nRegin, slain by his own rashness, sank dead upon the ground. Full of\nhorror, Siegfried turned away, and mounted Greyfell.[EN#12]\n\n\u201cThis is a place of blood,\u201d said he, \u201cand the way to glory leads not\nthrough it. Let the Hoard still lie on the Glittering Heath: I will go\nmy way from hence; and the world shall know me for better deeds than\nthis.\u201d\n\nAnd he turned his back on the fearful scene, and rode away; and so\nswiftly did Greyfell carry him over the desert land and the mountain\nwaste, that, when night came, they stood on the shore of the great North\nSea, and the white waves broke at their feet. And the lad sat for a long\ntime silent upon the warm white sand of the beach, and Greyfell waited\nat his side. And he watched the stars as they came out one by one, and\nthe moon, as it rose round and pale, and moved like a queen across the\nsky. And the night wore away, and the stars grew pale, and the moon sank\nto rest in the wilderness of waters. And at day-dawn Siegfried looked\ntowards the west, and midway between sky and sea he thought he saw dark\nmountain-tops hanging above a land of mists that seemed to float upon\nthe edge of the sea.\n\nWhile he looked, a white ship, with sails all set, came speeding over\nthe waters towards him. It came nearer and nearer, and the sailors\nrested upon their oars as it glided into the quiet harbor. A minstrel,\nwith long white beard floating in the wind, sat at the prow; and the\nsweet music from his harp was wafted like incense to the shore. The\nvessel touched the sands: its white sails were reefed as if by magic,\nand the crew leaped out upon the beach.\n\n\u201cHail, Siegfried the Golden!\u201d cried the harper. \u201cWhither do you fare\nthis summer day?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have come from a land of horror and dread,\u201d answered the lad; \u201cand I\nwould fain fare to a brighter.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen go with me to awaken the earth from its slumber, and to robe the\nfields in their garbs of beauty,\u201d said the harper. And he touched the\nstrings of his harp, and strains of the softest music arose in the still\nmorning air. And Siegfried stood entranced, for never before had he\nheard such music.\n\n\u201cTell me who you are!\u201d he cried, when the sounds died away. \u201cTell me who\nyou are, and I will go to the ends of the earth with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am Bragi,\u201d answered the harper, smiling. And Siegfried noticed then\nthat the ship was laden with flowers of every hue, and that thousands\nof singing birds circled around and above it, filling the air with the\nsound of their glad twitterings.\n\nNow, Bragi was the sweetest musician in all the world. It was said by\nsome that his home was with the song-birds, and that he had learned his\nskill from them. But this was only part of the truth: for wherever there\nwas loveliness or beauty, or things noble and pure, there was Bragi;\nand his wondrous power in music and song was but the outward sign of\na blameless soul. When he touched the strings of his golden harp, all\nNature was charmed with the sweet harmony: the savage beasts of the wood\ncrept near to listen; the birds paused in their flight; the waves of the\nsea were becalmed, and the winds were hushed; the leaping waterfall\nwas still, and the rushing torrent tarried in its bed; the elves forgot\ntheir hidden treasures, and joined in silent dance around him; and the\nstrom-karls and the musicians of the wood vainly tried to imitate him.\nAnd he was as fair of speech as he was skilful in song. His words were\nso persuasive that he had been known to call the fishes from the sea, to\nmove great lifeless rocks, and, what is harder, the hearts of kings. He\nunderstood the voice of the birds, and the whispering of the breeze, the\nmurmur of the waves, and the roar of the waterfalls. He knew the length\nand breadth of the earth, and the secrets of the sea, and the language\nof the stars. And every day he talked with Odin the All-Father, and with\nthe wise and good in the sunlit halls of Gladsheim. And once every year\nhe went to the North-lands, and woke the earth from its long winter\u2019s\nsleep, and scattered music and smiles and beauty everywhere.[EN#13]\n\nRight gladly did Siegfried agree to sail with Bragi over the sea; for\nhe wot that the bright Asa-god would be a very different guide from\nthe cunning, evil-eyed Regin. So he went on board with Bragi, and the\ngleaming Greyfell followed them, and the sailors sat at their oars. And\nBragi stood in the prow, and touched the strings of his harp. And, as\nthe music arose, the white sails leaped up the masts, and a warm south\nbreeze began to blow; and the little vessel, wafted by sweet sounds and\nthe incense of spring, sped gladly away over the sea.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure V. In AEgir\u2019s Kingdom.\n\n\n\nThe vessel in which Siegfried sailed was soon far out at sea; for the\nbalmy south wind, and the songs of the birds, and the music from Bragi\u2019s\nharp, all urged it cheerily on. And Siegfried sat at the helm, and\nguided it in its course. By and by they lost all sight of land, and the\nsailors wist not where they were; but they knew that Bragi, the Wise,\nwould bring them safely into some haven whenever it should so please\nhim, and they felt no fear. And the fishes leaped up out of the water\nas the white ship sped by on woven wings; and the monsters of the deep\npaused, and listened to the sweet music which floated down from above.\nAfter a time the vessel began to meet great ice-mountains in the\nsea,--mountains which the Reifriesen, and old Hoder, the King of the\nwinter months, had sent drifting down from the frozen land of the north.\nBut these melted at the sound of Bragi\u2019s music and at the sight of\nSiegfried\u2019s radiant armor. And the cold breath of the Frost-giants,\nwhich had driven them in their course, turned, and became the ally of\nthe south wind.\n\nAt length they came in sight of a dark shore, which stretched on either\nhand, north and south, as far as the eye could reach; and as they drew\nnearer they saw a line of huge mountains, rising, as it were, out of\nthe water, and stretching their gray heads far above the clouds. And\nthe overhanging cliffs seemed to look down, half in anger, half in pity,\nupon the little white winged vessel which had dared thus to sail through\nthese unknown waters. But the surface of the sea was smooth as glass;\nand the gentle breeze drove the ship slowly forwards through the calm\nwater, and along the rock-bound coast, and within the dark shadows of\nthe mountain-peaks. Long ago the Frost-giants had piled great heaps of\nsnow upon these peaks, and built huge fortresses of ice between,\nand sought, indeed, to clasp in their cold embrace the whole of the\nNorwegian land. But the breezes of the South-land that came with Bragi\u2019s\nship now played among the rocky steeps, and swept over the frozen\nslopes above, and melted the snow and ice; and thousands of rivulets of\nhalf-frozen water ran down the mountain-sides, and tumbled into rocky\ngorges, or plunged into the sea. And the grass began to grow on the\nsunny slopes, and the flowers peeped up through the half-melted snow,\nand the music of spring was heard on every side. Now and then the little\nvessel passed by deep, dark inlets enclosed between high mountain-walls,\nand reaching many leagues far into land. But the sailors steered clear\nof these shadowy fjords; for they said that Ran, the dread Ocean-queen,\nlived there, and spread her nets in the deep green waters to entangle\nunwary seafaring men. And the sound of Bragi\u2019s harp awakened all\nsleeping things; and it was carried from rock to rock, and from\nmountain-height to valley, and was borne on the breeze far up the\nfjords, and all over the land.\n\nOne day, as they were sailing through these quiet waters, beneath the\noverhanging cliffs, Bragi tuned his harp, and sang a song of sea. And\nthen he told Siegfried a story of AEgir and his gold-lit hall.\n\nOld AEgir was the Ocean-king. At most times he was rude and rough, and\nhis manners were uncouth and boisterous. But when Balder, the Shining\nOne, smiled kindly upon him from above, or when Bragi played his harp by\nthe seashore, or sailed his ship on the waters, the heart of the bluff\nold king was touched with a kindly feeling, and he tried hard to curb\nhis ungentle passions, and to cease his blustering ways. He was one of\nthe old race of giants; and men believe that he would have been a very\ngood and quiet giant, had it not been for the evil ways of his wife, the\ncrafty Queen Ran. For, however kind at heart the king might be, his good\nintentions were almost always thwarted by the queen. Ran could never be\ntrusted; and no one, unless it were Loki, the Mischief-maker, could ever\nsay any thing in her praise. She was always lurking among hidden rocks,\nor in the deep sea, or along the shores of silent fjords, and reaching\nout with her long lean fingers, seeking to clutch in her greedy grasp\nwhatever prey might unwarily come near her. And many richly-laden\nvessels, and many brave seamen and daring warriors, had she dragged down\nto her blue-hung chamber in old AEgir\u2019s hall.\n\nAnd this is the story that Bragi told of\n\n\n\nThe Feast in AEgir\u2019s Hall.\n\n\n\nIt happened long ago, when the good folk at Gladsheim were wont to visit\nthe mid-world oftener than now. On a day in early autumn Queen Ran,\nwith her older daughters,--Raging Sea, Breaker, Billow, Surge, and\nSurf,--went out to search for plunder. But old AEgir staid at home, and\nwith him his younger daughters,--fair Purple-hair, gentle Diver, dancing\nRipple, and smiling Sky-clear. And as they played around him, and kissed\nhis old storm-beaten cheeks, the heart of the king was softened into\ngentleness, and he began to think kindly of the green earth which\nbordered his kingdom, and of the brave men who lived there; but most of\nall did he think of the great and good Asa-folk, who dwell in Asgard,\nand overlook the affairs of the world. Then he called his servants,\nFunfeng and Elder, and bade them prepare a feast in his gold-lit hall.\nAnd he sent fleet messengers to invite the Asa-folk to come and partake\nof the good cheer. And his four young daughters played upon the beach,\nand smiled and danced in the beaming sunlight. And the hearts of many\nseafaring men were gladdened that day, as they spread their sails to the\nwind; for they saw before them a pleasant voyage, and the happy issue of\nmany an undertaking.\n\nLong before the day had begun to wane, the Asa-folk arrived in a body\nat AEgir\u2019s hall; for they were glad to answer the bidding of the\nOcean-king. Odin came, riding Sleipner, his eight-footed steed; Thor\nrode in his iron chariot drawn by goats; Frey came with Gullinburste,\nhis golden-bristled boar. There, too, was the war-like Tyr, and blind\nHoder, and the silent Vidar, and the sage Forsete, and the hearkening\nHeimdal, and Niord, the Ruler of the Winds, and Bragi, with his harp;\nand lastly came many elves, the thralls of the Asa-folk, and Loki, the\ncunning Mischief-maker. In his rude but hearty way old AEgir welcomed\nthem; and they went down into his amber hall, and rested themselves upon\nthe sea-green couches that had been spread for them. And a thousand\nfair mermaids stood around them, and breathed sweet melodies through\nsea-shells of rainbow hue, while the gentle white-veiled daughters of\nthe Ocean-king danced to the bewitching music.\n\nHours passed by, and the sun began to slope towards the west, and the\nwaiting guests grew hungry and ill at ease; and then they began to\nwonder why the feast was so long in getting ready. At last the host\nhimself became impatient; and he sent out in haste for his servants,\nFunfeng and Elder. Trembling with fear, they came and stood before him.\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d said they, \u201cwe know that you are angry because the feast is\nnot yet made ready; but we beg that your anger may not fall upon us. The\ntruth is, that some thief has stolen your brewing-kettle, and we have no\nale for your guests.\u201d\n\nThen old AEgir\u2019s brow grew dark, and his breath came quick and fast;\nand, had not Niord held the winds tightly clutched in his hand, there\nwould have been a great uproar in the hall. Even as it was, the mermaids\nfled away in great fright, and the white-veiled Waves stopped dancing,\nand a strange silence fell upon all the company.\n\n\u201cSome enemy has done this!\u201d crier AEgir, as soon as he could speak.\n\u201cSome enemy has taken away my brewing-kettle; and, unless we can find\nit, I fear our feast will be but a dry one.\u201d\n\nThen Thor said,--\n\n\u201cIf any one knows where this kettle is, let him speak, and I will bring\nit back; and I promise you you shall not wait long for the feast.\u201d\n\nBut not one in all this company knew aught about the missing kettle. At\nlast Tyr stood up and said,--\n\n\u201cIf we cannot find the same vessel that our host has lost, mayhap we\nmay find another as good. I know a dogwise giant who lives east of the\nRivers Elivagar, and who has a strong kettle, fully a mile deep, and\nlarge enough to brew ale for all the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is the very kettle we want!\u201d cried Thor. \u201cThink you that we can\nget it?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf we are cunning enough, we may,\u201d answered Tyr. \u201cBut old Hymer will\nnever give it up willingly.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it Hymer of whom you speak?\u201d asked Thor. \u201cThen I know him well; and,\nwillingly or not willingly he must let us have his kettle. For what is a\nfeast without the gladsome ale?\u201d\n\nThen Thor and Tyr set out on their journey towards the land of Elivagar;\nand they travelled many a league northwards, across snowy mountains\nand barren plains, until they came to the shores of the frozen sea. And\nthere the sun rises and sets but once a year, and even in summer the sea\nis full of ice. On the lonely beach, stood Hymer\u2019s dwelling,--a dark\nand gloomy abode. Tyr knocked at the door; and it was opened by Hymer\u2019s\nwife, a strangely handsome woman, who bade them come in. Inside the hall\nthey saw Hymer\u2019s old mother, sitting in the chimney-corner, and crooning\nover the smouldering fire. She was a horribly ugly old giantess, with\nnine hundred heads; but every head was blind and deaf and toothless. Ah,\nme! what a wretched old age that must have been!\n\n\u201cIs your husband at home?\u201d asked Thor, speaking to the pretty woman who\nhad opened the door.\n\n\u201cHe is not,\u201d was the answer. \u201cHe is catching fish in the warm waters of\nthe sheltered bay; or, mayhap, he is tending his cows in the open sea,\njust around the headland.\u201d\n\nFor the great icebergs that float down from the frozen sea are called\nold Hymer\u2019s cows.\n\n\u201cWe have come a very long journey,\u201d said Tyr. \u201cWill you not give\ntwo tired strangers food and lodging until they shall have rested\nthemselves?\u201d\n\nThe woman seemed in nowise loath to do this; and she set before the two\nAsa-folk a plentiful meal of the best that she had in the house. When\nthey had eaten, she told them that it would be far safer for them to\nhide themselves under the great kettles in the hall; for, she said, her\nhusband would soon be home, and he might not be kind to them. So Thor\nand Tyr hid themselves, and listened for Hymer\u2019s coming. After a time,\nthe great hall-door opened, and they heard the heavy steps of the giant.\n\n\u201cWelcome home!\u201d cried the woman, as Hymer shook the frost from his hair\nand beard, and stamped the snow from his feet. \u201cI am so glad that you\nhave come! for there are two strangers in the hall, and they have asked\nfor you. One of them I know is Thor, the foe of the giants, and the\nfriend of man. The other is the one-armed god of war, the brave Tyr.\nWhat can be their errand at Hymer\u2019s hall?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere are they?\u201d roared Hymer, stamping so furiously, that even his\ndeaf old mother seemed to hear, and lifted up her heads.\n\n\u201cThey are under the kettles, at the gable-end of the hall,\u201d answered the\nwoman.\n\nHymer cast a wrathful glance towards the place. The post at the end of\nthe hall was shivered in pieces by his very look; the beam that upheld\nthe floor of the loft was broken, and all the kettles tumbled down with\na fearful crash. Thor and Tyr crept out from among the rubbish, and\nstood before old Hymer. The giant was not well pleased at the sight of\nsuch guests come thus unbidden to his hall. But he knew that his rude\nstrength would count as nothing if matched with their skill and weapons:\nhence he deemed it wise to treat the two Asas as his friends, and to\nmeet them with cunning and strategy.\n\n\u201cWelcome to my hall!\u201d he cried. \u201cFear no hurt from Hymer, for he was\nnever known to harm a guest.\u201d\n\nAnd Thor and Tyr were given the warmest seats at the fireside. And the\ngiant ordered his thralls to kill the fatted oxen, and to make ready a\ngreat feast in honor of his guests. And, while the meal was being got\nready, he sat by Thor\u2019s side, and asked him many questions about what\nwas going on in the great South-land. And Thor answered him pleasantly,\nmeeting guile with guile. When the feast was in readiness, all sat down\nat the table, which groaned beneath its weight of meat and drink; for\nHymer\u2019s thralls had killed three fat oxen, and baked them whole for\nthis meal, and they had filled three huge bowls with ale from his great\nbrewing-kettle. Hymer ate and drank very fast, and wished to make his\nguests fear him, because he could eat so much. But Thor was not to be\ntaken aback in this way; for he at once ate two of the oxen, and quaffed\na huge bowl of ale which the giant had set aside for himself. The giant\nsaw that he was outdone, and he arose from the table, saying,--\n\n\u201cNot all my cows would serve to feed two guests so hungry as these. We\nshall be obliged to live on fish now.\u201d\n\nHe strode out of the hall without another word, and began getting his\nboat ready for a sail. But Thor followed him.\n\n\u201cIt is a fine day for fishing,\u201d said Thor gayly. \u201cHow I should like to\ngo out with you!\u201d\n\n\u201cSuch little fellows as you would better stay at home,\u201d growled Hymer.\n\n\u201cBut let me go with you,\u201d persisted Thor. \u201cI can certainly row the boat\nwhile you fish.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have no need of help from such a stunted pygmy,\u201d muttered the giant.\n\u201cYou could not be of the least use to me: you would only be in my way.\nStill, if you are bent on doing so, you may go, and you shall take all\nthe risks. If I go as far as I do sometimes, and stay as long as I often\ndo, you may make up your mind never to see the dry land again; for you\nwill certainly catch your death of cold, and be food for the fishes--if,\nindeed, they would deign to eat such a scrawny scrap!\u201d\n\nThese taunting words made Thor so angry, that he grasped his hammer, and\nwas sorely tempted to crush the giant\u2019s skull. But he checked himself,\nand coolly said,--\n\n\u201cI pray you not to trouble yourself on my account I have set my head on\ngoing with you, and go I will. Tell me where I can find something that I\ncan use for bait, and I will be ready in a trice.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have no bait for you,\u201d roughly answered Hymer \u201cYou must look for it\nyourself.\u201d\n\nHalf a dozen oxen, the very finest and fattest of Hymer\u2019s herd, were\ngrazing on the short grass which grew on the sunnier slopes of the\nhillside; for not all of the giant\u2019s cattle had yet taken to the water.\nWhen Thor saw these great beasts, he ran quickly towards them, and\nseizing the largest one, which Hymer called the Heaven-breaker, he\ntwisted off his head as easily as he would that of a small fowl, and ran\nback with it to the boat. Hymer looked at him in anger and amazement,\nbut said nothing; and the two pushed the boat off from the shore. The\nlittle vessel sped through the water more swiftly than it had ever done\nbefore, for Thor plied the oars.\n\nIn a moment the long, low beach was out of sight; and Hymer, who had\nnever travelled so fast, began to feel frightened.\n\n\u201cStop!\u201d he cried. \u201cHere is the place to fish: I have often caught great\nstore of flat-fish here. Let us out with our lines!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d answered Thor; and he kept on plying the oars. \u201cWe are not yet\nfar enough from shore. The best fish are still many leagues out.\u201d\n\nAnd the boat skimmed onwards through the waters, and the white spray\ndashed over the prow; and Hymer, now very much frightened, sat still,\nand looked at his strange fellow-fisherman, but said not a word. On and\non they went; and the shore behind them first grew dim, and then sank\nout of sight; and the high mountain-tops began to fade away in the sky,\nand then were seen no more. And when at last the fishermen were so far\nout at sea that nothing was in sight but the rolling waters on every\nside, Thor stopped his rowing.\n\n\u201cWe have come too far!\u201d cried the giant, trembling in every limb. \u201cThe\ngreat Midgard snake lies hereabouts. Let us turn back!\u201d\n\n\u201cNot yet,\u201d answered Thor quietly. \u201cWe will fish here a little while.\u201d\n\nWithout loss of time he took from his pocket a strong hook, wonderfully\nmade, to which he fastened a long line as strong as ten ships\u2019 cables\ntwisted together; then he carefully baited the hook with the gory head\nof the Heaven-breaker ox, and threw it into the water. As the giant had\nfeared, they were now right over the head of the great Midgard snake.\nThe huge beast looked upward with his sleepy eyes, and saw the tempting\nbait falling slowly through the water; but he did not see the boat, it\nwas so far above him. Thinking of no harm, he opened his leathern jaws,\nand greedily gulped the morsel down; but the strong iron hook stuck fast\nin his throat. Maddened by the pain, he began to lash his tail against\nthe floor of the sea; and he twisted and writhed until the ocean was\ncovered with foam, and the waves ran mountain-high. But Thor pulled hard\nupon the line above, and strove to lift the reptile\u2019s head out of the\nwater; then the snake darted with lightning speed away, pulling the boat\nafter him so swiftly, that, had not Thor held on to the oar-locks, he\nwould have been thrown into the sea. Quickly he tightened his magic\ngirdle of strength around him, and, standing up in the boat, he pulled\nwith all his might. The snake would not be lifted. But the boat split in\ntwo; and Thor slid into the water, and stood upon the bottom of the sea.\nHe seized the great snake in his hands, and raised his head clean above\nthe water. What a scene of frightful turmoil was there then! The earth\nshook; the mountains belched forth fire; the lightnings flashed; the\ncaves howled; and the sky grew black and red. Nobody knows what the end\nwould have been, had not Hymer reached over, and cut the strong cord.\nThe slippery snake glided out of Thor\u2019s hands, and hid himself in the\ndeep sea; and every thing became quiet again.\n\nSilently Thor and Hymer sat in the broken boat, and rowed swiftly back\ntowards land. Thor felt really ashamed of himself, because he had gained\nnothing by his venture. And the giant was not at all happy.\n\nWhen they reached the frozen shore and Hymer\u2019s cheerless castle again,\nthey found Tyr there, anxiously waiting for them. He felt that they were\ntarrying too long in this dreary place; and he wished to be back among\nhis fellows in old AEgir\u2019s hall. Hymer felt very cross and ugly because\nhis boat had been broken; and, when they came into the hall, he said to\nThor,--\n\n\u201cYou may think that you are very stout,--you who dared attack the\nMidgard snake, and lifted him out of the sea. Yet there are many little\nthings that you cannot do. For instance, here is the earthen goblet from\nwhich I drink my ale. Great men, like myself, can crush such goblets\nbetween their thumbs and fingers; but such puny fellows as you will find\nthat they cannot break it by any means.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me try!\u201d cried Thor.\n\nHe took the great goblet in his hands, and threw it with all his\nstrength against a stone post in the middle of the hall. The post was\nshattered into a thousand pieces, but the goblet was unharmed.\n\n\u201cHa, ha!\u201d laughed the giant. \u201cTry again!\u201d\n\nThor did so. This time he threw it against a huge granite rock that\nstood like a mountain near the seashore. The rock crumbled in pieces and\nfell, but the goblet was whole as ever.\n\n\u201cWhat a very stout fellow you are!\u201d cried Hymer in glee. \u201cGo home now,\nand tell the good Asa-folk that you cannot even break a goblet!\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me try once more,\u201d said Thor, amazed, but not disheartened.\n\n\u201cThrow it against Hymer\u2019s forehead,\u201d whispered some one over his\nshoulder. \u201cIt is harder than any rock.\u201d\n\nThor looked, and saw that it was the giant\u2019s handsome wife who had\ngiven him this kind advice. He took the goblet, and hurled it quickly,\nstraight at old Hymer\u2019s head. The giant had no time to dodge. The\nvessel struck him squarely between the eyes, and was shattered into ten\nthousand little pieces. But the giant\u2019s forehead was unhurt.\n\n\u201cThat drink was rather hot!\u201d cried Hymer, trying to joke at his ill\nluck. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t take a very great man to break a goblet. There\nis one thing, however, that you cannot do. Yonder is my great\nbrewing-kettle, a mile deep. No man has ever lifted it. Now, if you will\ncarry it out of the hall, where it sits, you may have it for your own.\u201d\n\n\u201cAgreed!\u201d cried Thor. \u201cIt is a fair bargain; and, if I fail, I will go\nhome and never trouble you again.\u201d\n\nThen he took hold of the edge of the great kettle, and lifted it with\nall his might. The floor of Hymer\u2019s hall broke under him, and the walls\nand roof came tumbling down; but he turned the kettle over his head,\nand walked away with it, the great rings of the vessel clattering at his\nheels. Tyr went before him, and cleared the way; and Hymer gazed\nafter him in utter amazement. The two Asa-folk had fairly won the\nbrewing-kettle.\n\nIn due time they reached old AEgir\u2019s hall, where the guests were still\nwaiting for them. Some said that they had been gone three days, but most\nagreed that it was only three hours. Be that as it may, AEgir\u2019s thralls,\nFunfeng and Elder, brewed great store of ale in the kettle which Thor\nhad brought; and, when the guests were seated at the table, the foaming\nliquor passed itself around to each, and there was much merriment and\nglad good cheer. And old AEgir was so happy in the pleasant company of\nthe Asa-folk, that men say that he forgot to blow and bluster for a full\nsix months thereafter.[EN#14]\n\nSuch was the story which the wise harper told to Siegfried as they\nsailed gayly along the Norwegian shore. And with many other pleasant\ntales did they beguile the hours away. And no one ever thought of\ndanger, for the sky was blue and cloudless. And, besides this, Bragi\nhimself was on board; and he could charm and control the rudest\nelements.\n\nOne day, however, the sea became unaccountably ruffled. There was no\nwind; but yet the waves rose suddenly, and threatened to overwhelm the\nlittle ship. Quickly the sailors sprang to their oars, and tried by\nrowing to drive the vessel away from the shore and into the quieter\nwaters of the open sea. But all their strength was of no avail: the\nswift stream carried the little bark onward in its course, as an autumn\nleaf is borne on the bosom of a mighty river. Then the whole surface\nof the water seemed lashed into fury. The waves formed hundreds of\ncurrents, each stronger than a mountain torrent, and each seeming to\nfollow a course of its own. They clashed wildly against each other; they\nheaved, and boiled, and hissed, and threw great clouds of spray high\ninto the air; they formed deep whirlpools, which twisted and twirled,\nand broke into a thousand eddies, and then plunged deep down into rocky\ncaverns beneath, or laid bare the bottom of the sea. The helpless ship\nwas carried round and round, swiftly and more swiftly still; and vain\nwere the efforts of the crew to steer her out of the seething caldron\nof waters. Then the cheeks of the sailors grew white with fear; and they\ndropped their oars, and clung to the masts and ropes, and cried out,--\n\n\u201cAlas, we are lost! This is old AEgir\u2019s brewing-kettle!\u201d\n\nBut Siegfried stood by the helm, and said,--\n\n\u201cIf that be true, then we may sup with him in his gold-lit hall.\u201d\n\nAnd all this time Bragi slept in the hold, and no one dared awaken him.\nFaster and faster the ship was carried round the seething pool. The\nflying spray was frozen in the air; and it filled the masts with snow,\nand pattered like heavy hail upon the deck. The light of the sun seemed\nshut out, and darkness closed around. A dismal chasm yawned deep before\nthem, and in the gray gloom the ship\u2019s crew saw many wondrous things.\nGreat sea-monsters swam among the rocks, and seemed not to heed the\nuproar above them. Lovely mermaids sat in their green-and-purple caves,\nand combed their tresses of golden hair; and thoughtful mermen groped\namong the seaweeds, searching hopefully for lost or hidden treasures.\nThen Siegfried caught a glimpse of the mighty AEgir, sitting in his\nbanquet-room; and, as he quaffed his foaming ale, he called aloud to his\ndaughters to leave their play, and come to their father in his gold-lit\nhall. And the white-veiled Waves answered to their names, and came\nat his call. First, Raging Sea entered the wide hall, and sat by the\nOcean-king\u2019s side; then Billow, then Surge, then Surf, and Breakers;\nthen came the Purple-haired, and the Diver; but AEgir\u2019s two youngest\ndaughters, Laughing Ripple and Smiling Sky-clear, came not at their\nfather\u2019s beck, but lingered to play among the rocks and in the open sea.\n\nSo deeply engaged was Siegfried in watching this scene, that he did not\nnotice Bragi, who now came upon the deck with his harp in his hand. And\nsweet music arose from among the dashing waves, and was heard far down\nin the deep sea-caverns, and even in AEgir\u2019s hall. And, when Siegfried\nlooked up again, the eddying whirlpools, and the threatening waves, and\nthe flying spray, were no more; but the ship was gliding over the quiet\nwaters of a deep blue sea, and the sun was shining brightly in the clear\nsky above. Then an east wind filled the sails; and, as Bragi\u2019s music\nrose sweeter and higher, they glided swiftly away from the coast, and\nsoon the snow-capped mountain-peaks grew dim in the distance, and then\nsank from sight.\n\nMany days they sailed over an unknown sea, and towards an unknown land;\nand none but Bragi knew what the end of their voyage would be. And yet\nno one doubted or was afraid, for the secrets of the earth and the sea\nwere known to the sweet singer. After a time, the water became as smooth\nas glass: not a ripple moved upon its surface, and not the slightest\nbreath of air stirred among the idly-hanging sails. Then the sailors\nwent to their oars; but they seemed overcome with languor and\nsleepiness, and only when Bragi played upon his harp did they move their\noars with their wonted strength and quickness. And at last they came in\nsight of a long, low coast, and a shelving beach up which the tide was\nslowly creeping in drowsy silence. And not half a league from the shore\nwas a grand old castle, with a tall tower and many turrets, and broad\nhalls and high battlements; and in the light of the setting sun every\nthing was as green as emerald or as the fresh grass of early spring. And\na pale flickering light gleamed on the castle-walls, and the moat seemed\nfilled with a glowing fire.\n\nThe ship glided silently up to the sandy beach, and the sailors moored\nit to the shore. But Siegfried heard no sound upon the land, nor could\nhe see any moving, living thing. Silence brooded everywhere, and the\ncastle and its inmates seemed to be wrapped in slumber. The sentinels\ncould be seen upon the ramparts, standing like statues of stone, and\nshowing no signs of life; while above the barbacan gate the watchman was\nat his post, motionless and asleep.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure VI. Brunhild.\n\n\n\nSiegfried and the harper sat together in the little ship as it lay\nmoored to the sandy shore; and their eyes were turned towards the\nsea-green castle and its glowing walls, and they looked in vain for\nany movement, or any sign of wakeful life. Every thing was still. Not a\nbreath of air was stirring. The leaves of the trees hung motionless,\nas if they, too, were asleep. The great green banner on the tower\u2019s top\nclung around the flagstaff as if it had never fluttered to the breeze.\nNo song of birds, nor hum of insects, came to their ears. There was\nneither sound nor motion anywhere.\n\n\u201cPlay your harp, good Bragi, and awaken all these sleepers,\u201d said\nSiegfried.\n\nThen the harper touched the magic strings, and strains of music, loud\nand clear, but sweet as a baby\u2019s breath, rose up in the still air,\nand floated over the quiet bay, and across the green meadows which lay\naround the castle-walls; and it was borne upward over the battlements,\nand among the shining turrets and towers, and was carried far out over\nthe hills, and among the silent trees of the plain. And Bragi sung of\nthe beginning of all things, and of whatsoever is beautiful on the land,\nor in the sea, or in the sky. And Siegfried looked to see every thing\nawakened, and quickened into life, as had oft been done before by\nBragi\u2019s music; but nothing stirred. The sun went down, and the gray\ntwilight hung over sea and land, and the red glow in the castle-moat\ngrew redder still; and yet every thing slept. Then Bragi ended his song,\nand the strings of his harp were mute.\n\n\u201cMusic has no charms to waken from sleep like that,\u201d he said.\n\nAnd then he told Siegfried what it all meant; and, to make the story\nplain, he began by telling of Odin\u2019s bright home at Gladsheim and of the\nmany great halls that were there.\n\nOne of the halls in Gladsheim is called Valhal. This hall is so large\nand wide, that all the armies of the earth might move within it.\nOutside, it is covered with gold and with sun-bright shields. A fierce\nwolf stands guard before it, and a mountain-eagle hovers over it. It has\nfive hundred and forty doors, each large enough for eight hundred heroes\nto march through abreast. Inside, every thing is glittering bright. The\nrafters are made of spears, and the ceiling is covered with shields,\nand the walls are decked with war-coats. In this hall Odin sets daily\na feast for all the heroes that have been slain in battle. These sit\nat the great table, and eat of the food which Odin\u2019s servants have\nprepared, and drink of the heavenly mead which the Valkyries, Odin\u2019s\nhandmaids, bring them.\n\nBut the Valkyries have a greater duty. When the battle rages, and swords\nclash, and shields ring, and the air is filled with shouts and groans\nand all the din of war, then these maidens hover over the field of blood\nand death, and carry the slain heroes home to Valhal.[EN#15]\n\nOne of Odin\u2019s Valkyries was named Brunhild, and she was the most\nbeautiful of all the maidens that chose heroes for his war-host. But she\nwas wilful too, and did not always obey the All-Father\u2019s behests. And\nwhen Odin knew that she had sometimes snatched the doomed from death,\nand sometimes helped her chosen friends to victory, he was very angry.\nAnd he drove her away from Gladsheim, and sent her, friendless and poor,\nto live among the children of men, and to be in all ways like them. But,\nas she wandered weary and alone over the earth, the good old King of\nIsenland saw her beauty and her distress, and pity and love moved\nhis heart; and, as he had no children of his own, he took her for his\ndaughter, and made her his heir. And not long afterward he died, and the\nmatchless Brunhild became queen of all the fair lands of Isenland and\nthe hall of Isenstein. When Odin heard of this, he was more angry still;\nand he sent to Isenstein, and caused Brunhild to be stung with the thorn\nof Sleep. And he said,--\n\n\u201cShe shall sleep until one shall come who is brave enough to ride\nthrough fire to awaken her.\u201d\n\nAnd all Isenland slept too, because Brunhild, the Maiden of Spring, lay\nwounded with the Sleepful thorn.\n\n* * * * *\n\nWhen Siegfried heard this story, he knew that the land which lay before\nthem was Isenland, and that the castle was Isenstein, and that Brunhild\nwas sleeping within that circle of fire.\n\n\u201cMy songs have no power to awaken such a sleeper,\u201d said Bragi. \u201cA hero\nstrong and brave must ride through the flame to arouse her. It is for\nthis that I have brought you hither; and here I will leave you, while I\nsail onwards to brighten other lands with my music.\u201d\n\nSiegfried\u2019s heart leaped up with gladness; for he thought that here,\nat last, was a worthy deed for him to do. And he bade his friend Bragi\ngood-by, and stepped ashore; and Greyfell followed him. And Bragi sat at\nthe prow of the ship, and played his harp again; and the sailors plied\ntheir oars; and the little vessel moved swiftly out of the bay, and was\nseen no more. And Siegfried stood alone on the silent, sandy beach.\n\nAs he thus stood, the full moon rose white and dripping from the sea;\nand its light fell on the quiet water, and the sloping meadows, and the\ngreen turrets of the castle. And the last notes of Bragi\u2019s harp came\nfloating to him over the sea.\n\nThen a troop of fairies came down to dance upon the sands. It was the\nfirst sign of life that Siegfried had seen. As the little creatures drew\nnear, he hid himself among the tall reeds which grew close to the shore;\nfor he wished to see them at their gambols, and to listen to their\nsongs. At first, as if half afraid of their own tiny shadows, they\ndanced in silence; but, as the moon rose higher, they grew bolder, and\nbegan to sing. And their music was so sweet and soft, that Siegfried\nforgot almost every thing, else for the time: they sang of the pleasant\nsummer days, and of cooling shades, and still fountains, and silent\nbirds, and peaceful slumber. And a strange longing for sleep took hold\nof Siegfried; and his eyes grew heavy, and the sound of the singing\nseemed dim and far away. But just as he was losing all knowledge of\noutward things, and his senses seemed moving in a dream, the fairies\nstopped dancing, and a little brown elf came up from the sea, and\nsaluted the queen of the tiny folk.\n\n\u201cWhat news bring you from the great world beyond the water?\u201d asked the\nqueen.\n\n\u201cThe prince is on his way hither,\u201d answered the elf.\n\n\u201cAnd what will he do?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf he is brave enough, he will awaken the princess, and arouse the\ndrowsy people of Isenstein; for the Norns have said that such a prince\nshall surely come.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut he must be the bravest of men ere he can enter the enchanted\ncastle,\u201d said the queen; \u201cfor the wide moat is filled with flames, and\nno faint heart will ever dare battle with them.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I will dare!\u201d cried Siegfried; and he sprang from his hiding-place,\nforgetful of the little folk, who suddenly flitted away, and left him\nalone upon the beach. He glanced across the meadows at the green turrets\nglistening in the mellow moonlight, and then at the flickering flames\naround the castle walls, and he resolved that on the morrow he would at\nall hazards perform the perilous feat.\n\nIn the morning, as soon as the gray dawn appeared, he began to make\nready for his difficult undertaking. But, when he looked again at the\nred flames, he began to hesitate. He paused, uncertain whether to\nwait for a sign and for help from the All-Father, or whether to go\nstraightway to the castle, and, trusting in his good armor alone, try\nto pass through the burning moat. While he thus stood in doubt, his eyes\nwere dazzled by a sudden flash of light. He looked up. Greyfell came\ndashing across the sands; and from his long mane a thousand sunbeams\ngleamed and sparkled in the morning light. Siegfried had never seen the\nwondrous creature so radiant; and as the steed stood by him in all his\nstrength and beauty he felt new hope and courage, as if Odin himself had\nspoken to him. He hesitated no longer, but mounted the noble horse; and\nGreyfell bore him swiftly over the plain, and paused not until he had\nreached the brink of the burning moat.\n\nNow, indeed, would Siegfried\u2019s heart have failed him, had he not been\ncheered by the sunbeam presence of Greyfell. For filling the wide,\ndeep ditch, were angry, hissing flames, which, like a thousand\nserpent-tongues, reached out, and felt here and there, for what they\nmight devour; and ever and anon they took new forms, and twisted and\nwrithed like fiery snakes, and then they swirled in burning coils high\nover the castle-walls. Siegfried stopped not a moment. He spoke the\nword, and boldly the horse with his rider dashed into the fiery lake;\nand the vile flames fled in shame and dismay before the pure sunbeam\nflashes from Greyfell\u2019s mane. And, unscorched and unscathed, Siegfried\nrode through the moat, and through the wide-open gate, and into the\ncastle-yard.\n\nThe gate-keeper sat fast asleep in his lodge, while the chains and the\nheavy key with which, when awake, he was wont to make the great gate\nfast, lay rusting at his feet; and neither he, nor the sentinels on the\nramparts above, stirred or awoke at the sound of Greyfell\u2019s clattering\nhoofs. As Siegfried passed from one part of the castle to another, many\nstrange sights met his eyes. In the stables the horses slumbered in\ntheir stalls, and the grooms lay snoring by their sides. The birds sat\nsound asleep on their nests beneath the eaves. The watch-dogs, with\nfast-closed eyes, lay stretched at full-length before the open doors. In\nthe garden the fountain no longer played, the half-laden bees had\ngone to sleep among the blossoms of the apple-trees, and the flowers\nthemselves had forgotten to open their petals to the sun. In the\nkitchen the cook was dozing over the half-baked meats in front of the\nsmouldering fire; the butler was snoring in the pantry; the dairy-maid\nwas quietly napping among the milk-pans; and even the house-flies\nhad gone to sleep over the crumbs of sugar on the table. In the great\nbanquet-room a thousand knights, overcome with slumber, sat silent at\nthe festal board; and their chief, sitting on the dais, slept, with his\nhalf-emptied goblet at his lips.\n\nSiegfried passed hurriedly from room to room and from hall to hall, and\ncast but one hasty glance at the strange sights which met him at every\nturn; for he knew that none of the drowsy ones in that spacious castle\ncould be awakened until he had aroused the Princess Brunhild. In the\ngrandest hall of the palace he found her. The peerless maiden, most\nrichly dight, reclined upon a couch beneath a gold-hung canopy; and her\nattendants, the ladies of the court, sat near and around her. Sleep held\nfast her eyelids, and her breathing was so gentle, that, but for the\nblush upon her cheeks, Siegfried would have thought her dead. For long,\nlong years had her head thus lightly rested on that gold-fringed pillow;\nand in all that time neither her youth had faded, nor her wondrous\nbeauty waned.\n\nSiegfried stood beside her. Gently he touched his lips to that matchless\nforehead; softly he named her name,--\n\n\u201cBrunhild!\u201d\n\nThe charm was broken. Up rose the peerless princess in all her\nqueen-like beauty; up rose the courtly ladies round her. All over the\ncastle, from cellar to belfry-tower, from the stable to the banquet\nhall, there was a sudden awakening, a noise of hurrying feet and\nmingled voices, and sounds which had long been strangers to the halls of\nIsenstein. The watchman on the tower, and the sentinels on the ramparts,\nyawned, and would not believe they had been asleep; the porter picked\nup his keys, and hastened to lock the long-forgotten gates; the horses\nneighed in their stalls; the watchdogs barked at the sudden hubbub; the\nbirds, ashamed at having allowed the sun to find them napping, hastened\nto seek their food in the meadows; the servants hurried here and there,\neach intent upon his duty; the warriors in the banquet-hall clattered\ntheir knives and plates, and began again their feast; and their chief\ndropped his goblet, and rubbed his eyes, and wondered that sleep should\nhave overtaken him in the midst of such a meal.[EN#16]\n\nAnd Siegfried, standing at an upper window, looked out over the\ncastle-walls; and he saw that the flames no longer raged in the moat,\nbut that it was filled with clear sparkling water from the fountain\nwhich played in the garden. And the south wind blew gently from the sea,\nbringing from afar the sweetest strains of music from Bragi\u2019s golden\nharp; and the breezes whispered among the trees, and the flowers opened\ntheir petals to the sun, and birds and insects made the air melodious\nwith their glad voices. Then Brunhild, radiant with smiles, stood by\nthe hero\u2019s side, and welcomed him kindly to Isenland and to her\ngreen-towered castle of Isenstein.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure VII. In Nibelungen Land.\n\n\n\nEvery one in the castle of Isenstein, from the princess to the\nkitchen-maid, felt grateful to the young hero for what he had done. The\nbest rooms were fitted up for his use, and a score of serving men and\nmaidens were set apart to do his bidding, and ordered to be mindful of\nhis slightest wish. And all the earl-folk and brave men, and all the\nfair ladies, and Brunhild, fairest of them all, besought him to make his\nhome there, nor ever think of going back to Rhineland. Siegfried yielded\nto their persuasions, and for six months he tarried in the enchanted\nland in one long round of merry-making and gay enjoyment. But his\nthoughts were ever turned toward his father\u2019s home in the Lowlands\nacross the sea, and he longed to behold again his gentle mother\nSigelind. Then he grew tired of his life of idleness and ease, and he\nwished that he might go out again into the busy world of manly action\nand worthy deeds. And day by day this feeling grew stronger, and filled\nhim with unrest.\n\nOne morning, as he sat alone by the seashore, and watched the lazy tide\ncome creeping up the sands, two ravens lighted near him. Glad was he to\nsee them, for he knew them to be Hugin and Munin, the sacred birds of\nOdin, and he felt sure that they brought him words of cheer from the\nAll-Father. Then Hugin flapped his wings, and said, \u201cIn idleness the\nstings of death lie hidden, but in busy action are the springs of life.\nFor a hundred years fair Brunhild slept, but why should Siegfried sleep?\nThe world awaits him, but it waits too long.\u201d\n\nThen Munin flapped his wings also, but he said nothing. And busy memory\ncarried Siegfried back to his boyhood days; and he called to mind the\nwise words of his father Siegmund, and the fond hopes of his gentle\nmother, and he thought, too, of the noble deeds of his kinsfolk of the\nearlier days. And he rose in haste, and cried, \u201cLife of ease, farewell!\nI go where duty leads. To him who wills to do, the great All-Father will\nsend strength and help.\u201d\n\nWhile he spoke, his eyes were dazzled with a flash of light. He looked;\nand the beaming Greyfell, his long mane sparkling like a thousand\nsunbeams, dashed up the beach, and stood beside him. As the noble steed\nin all his strength and beauty stood before him, the youth felt fresh\ncourage; for, in the presence of the shining hope which the All-Father\nhad given him, all hinderances seemed to vanish, and all difficulties to\nbe already overcome. He looked toward the sea again, and saw in the\nblue distance a white-sailed ship drawing swiftly near, its golden\ndragon-stem ploughing through the waves like some great bird of the\ndeep. And as with straining, eager eyes, he watched its coming, he felt\nthat Odin had sent it, and that the time had come wherein he must be up\nand doing. The hour for thriving action comes to us once: if not seized\nupon and used, it may never come again.\n\nThe ship drew near the shore. The sailors rested on their oars.\nSiegfried and the steed Greyfell sprang upon the deck; then the sailors\nsilently bent again to their rowing. The flapping sails were filled and\ntightened by the strong west wind; and the light vessel leaped from wave\nto wave like a thing of life, until Isenstein, with its tall towers and\nits green marble halls, sank from sight in the distance and the mist.\nAnd Siegfried and his noble steed seemed to be the only living beings\non board; for the sailors who plied the oars were so silent and\nphantom-like, that they appeared to be nought but the ghosts of the\nsummer sea-breezes. As the ship sped swiftly on its way, all the\ncreatures in the sea paused to behold the sight. The mermen rested from\ntheir weary search for hidden treasures, and the mermaids forgot to comb\ntheir long tresses, as the radiant vessel and its hero-freight glided\npast. And even old King AEgir left his brewing-kettle in his great hall,\nand bade his daughters, the white-veiled Waves, cease playing until the\nvessel should safely reach its haven.\n\nWhen, at length, the day had passed, and the evening twilight had come,\nSiegfried saw that the ship was nearing land; but it was a strange\nland.[EN#17] Like a fleecy cloud it appeared to rest above the waves,\nmidway between the earth and the sky; a dark mist hung upon it, and it\nseemed a land of dreams and shadows. The ship drew nearer and nearer\nto the mysterious shore, and as it touched the beach the sailors rested\nfrom their rowing. Then Siegfried and the horse Greyfell leaped ashore;\nbut, when they looked back, the fair vessel that had carried them was\nnowhere to be seen. Whether it had suddenly been clutched by the\ngreedy fingers of the Sea-queen Ran, and dragged down into her deep\nsea-caverns, or whether, like the wondrous ship Skidbladner, it had been\nfolded up, and made invisible to the eyes of men, Siegfried never knew.\nThe thick mists and the darkness of night closed over and around both\nhero and horse; and they dared not stir, but stood long hours in the\nsilent gloom, waiting for the coming of the dawn.\n\nAt length the morning came, but the light was not strong enough to\nscatter the fogs and thick vapors that rested upon the land. Then\nSiegfried mounted Greyfell; and the sunbeams began to flash from the\nhorse\u2019s mane and from the hero\u2019s glittering mail-coat; and the hazy\nclouds fled upward and away, until they were caught and held fast by\ngreat mist-giants, who stood like sentinels on the mountain-tops. As\nthe shining pair came up from the sea, and passed through the woods and\nvalleys of the Nibelungen Land, there streamed over all that region such\na flood of sunlight as had never before been seen.\n\nIn every leafy tree, and behind every blade of grass, elves and fairies\nwere hidden; and under every rock and in every crevice lurked cunning\ndwarfs. But Siegfried rode straight forward until he came to the steep\nside of a shadowy mountain. There, at the mouth of a cavern, a strange\nsight met his eyes. Two young men, dressed in princes\u2019 clothing, sat\nupon the ground: their features were all haggard and gaunt, and pinched\nwith hunger, and their eyes wild with wakefulness and fear; and all\naround them were heaps of gold and precious stones,--more than a hundred\nwagons could carry away. And neither of the two princes would leave\nthe shining hoard for food, nor close his eyes in sleep, lest the\nother might seize and hide some part of the treasure. And thus they had\nwatched and hungered through many long days and sleepless nights, each\nhoping that the other would die, and that the whole inheritance might be\nhis own.\n\nWhen they saw Siegfried riding near, they called out to him, and said,\n\u201cNoble stranger, stop a moment! Come and help us divide this treasure.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d asked Siegfried; \u201cand what treasure is it that lies\nthere?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are the sons of Niblung, who until lately was king of this Mist\nLand. Our names are Schilbung and the young Niblung,\u201d faintly answered\nthe princes.\n\n\u201cAnd what are you doing here with this gold and these glittering\nstones?\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is the great Nibelungen Hoard, which our father not long ago\nbrought from the South-land. It is not clear just how he obtained\nit.[EN#18] Some say that he got it unjustly from his brother, whose\nvassals had digged it from the earth. Others say that he found it\nlying on the Glittering Heath, where Fafnir the Dragon had guarded it\nzealously for ages past, until he was slain by a hero who cared nought\nfor his gold. But, be this as it may, our father is now dead, and we\nhave brought the hoard out of the cavern where he had hidden it, in\norder that we may share it between us equally. But we cannot agree, and\nwe pray you to help us divide it.\u201d\n\nThen Siegfried dismounted from the horse Greyfell, and came near the two\nprinces.\n\n\u201cI will gladly do as you ask,\u201d said he; \u201cbut first I must know more\nabout your father,--who he was, and whether this is really the Hoard of\nthe Glittering Heath.\u201d\n\nThen Niblung answered, as well as his feeble voice would allow, \u201cOur\nfather was, from the earliest times, the ruler of this land, and the\nlord of the fog and the mist. Many strongholds, and many noble halls,\nhad he in this land; and ten thousand brave warriors were ever ready to\ndo his bidding. The trolls, and the swarthy elves of the mountains, and\nthe giants of the cloudy peaks, were his vassals. But he did more than\nrule over the Nibelungen Land. Twice every year he crossed the sea and\nrambled through the Rhine valleys, or loitered in the moist Lowlands;\nand now and then he brought rich trophies back to his island home. The\nlast time, he brought this treasure with him; but, as we have said, it\nis not clear how he obtained it. We have heard men say that it was the\nHoard of Andvari, and that when Fafnir, the dragon who watched it, was\nslain, the hero who slew him left it to be taken again by the swarthy\nelves who had gathered it; but because of a curse which Andvari had\nplaced upon it, no one would touch it, until some man would assume its\nownership, and take upon himself the risk of incurring the curse. This\nthing, it is said, our father did. And the dwarf Alberich undertook to\nkeep it for him; and he, with the help of the ten thousand elves who\nlive in these caverns, and the twelve giants whom you see standing on\nthe mountain-peaks around, guarded it faithfully so long as our father\nlived. But, when he died, we and our thralls fetched it forth from the\ncavern, and spread it here on the ground. And, lo! for many days we have\nwatched and tried to divide it equally. But we cannot agree.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat hire will you give me if I divide it for you?\u201d asked Siegfried.\n\n\u201cName what you will have,\u201d answered the princes.\n\n\u201cGive me the sword which lies before you on the glittering heap.\u201d\n\nThen Niblung handed him the sword, and said, \u201cRight gladly will we give\nit. It is a worthless blade that our father brought from the South-land.\nThey say that he found it also on the Glittering Heath, in the trench\nwhere Fafnir was slain. And some will have it that it was forged by\nRegin, Fafnir\u2019s own brother. But how that is, I do not know. At any\nrate, it is of no use to us; for it turns against us whenever we try to\nuse it.\u201d\n\nSiegfried took the sword. It was his own Balmung, that had been lost so\nlong.\n\nForthwith he began the task of dividing the treasure; and the two\nbrothers, so faint from hunger and want of sleep that they could\nscarcely lift their heads, watched him with anxious, greedy eyes. First\nhe placed a piece of gold by Niblung\u2019s side, and then a piece of like\nvalue he gave to Schilbung. And this he did again and again, until no\nmore gold was left. Then, in the same manner, he divided the precious\ngem-stones until none remained. And the brothers were much pleased; and\nthey hugged their glittering treasures, and thanked Siegfried for his\nkindness, and for the fairness with which he had given to each his\nown. But one thing was left which had not fallen to the lot of either\nbrother. It was a ring of curious workmanship,--a serpent coiled, with\nits tail in its mouth, and with ruby eyes glistening and cold.\n\n\u201cWhat shall I do with this ring?\u201d asked Siegfried.\n\n\u201cGive it to me!\u201d cried Niblung.\n\n\u201cGive it to me!\u201d cried Schilbung.\n\nAnd both tried to snatch it from Siegfried\u2019s hand.\n\nBut the effort was too great for them. Their arms fell helpless at their\nsides, their feet slipped beneath them, their limbs failed: they sank\nfainting, each upon his pile of treasures.\n\n\u201cO my dear, dear gold!\u201d murmured Niblung, trying to clasp it all in his\narms,--\u201cmy dear, dear gold! Thou art mine, mine only. No one shall\ntake thee from me. Here thou art, here thou shalt rest. O my dear, dear\ngold!\u201d And then, calling up the last spark of life left in his famished\nbody, he cried out to Siegfried, \u201cGive me the ring!--the ring, I say!\u201d\n\nHe hugged his cherished gold nearer to his bosom; he ran his thin\nfingers deep down into the shining yellow heap; he pressed his pale lips\nto the cold and senseless metal; he whispered faintly, \u201cMy dear, dear\ngold!\u201d and then he died.\n\n\u201cO precious, precious gem-stones,\u201d faltered Schilbung, \u201chow beautiful\nyou are! And you are mine, all mine. I will keep you safe. Come, come,\nmy bright-eyed beauties! No one but me shall touch you. You are mine,\nmine, mine!\u201d And he chattered and laughed as only madmen laugh. And he\nkissed the hard stones, and sought to hide them in his bosom. But his\nhands trembled and failed, dark mists swam before his eyes; he fancied\nthat he heard the black dwarfs clamoring for his treasure; he sprang up\nquickly, he shrieked--and then fell lifeless upon his hoard of sparkling\ngems.\n\nA strange, sad sight it was,--boundless wealth, and miserable death;\ntwo piles of yellow gold and sun-bright diamonds, and two thin, starved\ncorpses stretched upon them. Some stories relate that the brothers were\nslain by Siegfried, because their foolish strife and greediness had\nangered him.[EN#19] But I like not to think so. It was the gold, and not\nSiegfried, that slew them.\n\n\u201cO gold, gold!\u201d cried the hero sorrowfully, \u201ctruly thou art the\nmid-world\u2019s curse; thou art man\u2019s bane. But when the bright spring-time\nof the new world shall come, and Balder shall reign in his glory, then\nwill the curse be taken from thee, and thy yellow brightness will be the\nsign of purity and enduring worth; and then thou wilt be a blessing to\nmankind, and the precious plaything of the gods.\u201d\n\nBut Siegfried had little time for thought and speech. A strange sound\nwas heard upon the mountain-side. The twelve great giants who had stood\nas watchmen upon the peaks above were rushing down to avenge their\nmasters, and to drive the intruder out of Nibelungen Land. Siegfried\nwaited not for their onset; but he mounted the noble horse Greyfell,\nand, with the sword Balmung in his hand, he rode forth to meet his foes,\nwho, with fearful threats and hideous roars, came striding toward him.\nThe sunbeams flashed from Greyfell\u2019s mane, and dazzled the dull eyes of\nthe giants, unused as they were to the full light of day. Doubtful,\nthey paused, and then again came forward. But they mistook every tree in\ntheir way for an enemy, and every rock they thought a foe; and in their\nfear they fancied a great host to be before them. Did you ever see the\ndark and threatening storm-clouds on a summer\u2019s day scattered and put\nto flight by the bright beams of the sun? It was thus that Siegfried\u2019s\ngiant foes were routed. One and all, they dropped their heavy clubs, and\nstood ashamed and trembling, not knowing what to do. And Siegfried made\neach one swear to serve him faithfully; and then he sent them back to\nthe snow-covered mountain-peaks to stand again as watchmen at their\nposts.\n\nAnd now another danger appeared. Alberich the dwarf, the master of the\nswarthy elves who guarded the Nibelungen Hoard, had come out from his\ncavern, and seen the two princes lying dead beside their treasures, and\nhe thought that they had been murdered by Siegfried; and, when he beheld\nthe giants driven back to the mountain-tops, he lifted a little silver\nhorn to his lips, and blew a shrill bugle-call. And the little brown\nelves came trooping forth by thousands: from under every rock, from\nthe nooks and crannies and crevices in the mountain-side, from the deep\ncavern and the narrow gorge, they came at the call of their chief. Then,\nat Alberich\u2019s word, they formed in line of battle, and stood in order\naround the hoard and the bodies of their late masters. Their little\ngolden shields and their sharp-pointed spears were thick as the blades\nof grass in a Rhine meadow. And Siegfried, when he saw them, was pleased\nand surprised; for never before had such a host of pygmy warriors stood\nbefore him.\n\nWhile he paused and looked, the elves became suddenly silent, and\nSiegfried noticed that Alberich stood no longer at their head, but had\nstrangely vanished from sight.\n\n\u201cAh, Alberich!\u201d cried the hero. \u201cThou art indeed cunning. I have heard\nof thy tricks. Thou hast donned the Tarnkappe, the cloak of darkness,\nwhich hides thee from sight, and makes thee as strong as twelve common\nmen. But come on, thou brave dwarf!\u201d\n\nScarcely had he spoken, when he felt a shock which almost sent him\nreeling from his saddle, and made Greyfell plunge about with fright.\nQuickly, then, did Siegfried dismount, and, with every sense alert,\nhe waited for the second onset of the unseen dwarf. It was plain that\nAlberich wished to strike him unawares, for many minutes passed in utter\nsilence. Then a brisk breath of wind passed by Siegfried\u2019s face, and\nhe felt another blow; but, by a quick downward movement of his hand, he\ncaught the plucky elf-king, and tore off the magic Tarnkappe, and then,\nwith firm grasp, he held him, struggling in vain to get free.\n\n\u201cAh, Alberich!\u201d he cried, \u201cnow I know thou art cunning. But the\nTarnkappe I must have for my own. What wilt thou give for thy freedom?\u201d\n\n\u201cWorthy prince,\u201d answered Alberich humbly, \u201cyou have fairly overcome\nme in fight, and made me your prisoner. I and all mine, as well as\nthis treasure, rightfully belong to you. We are yours, and you we shall\nobey.\u201d\n\n\u201cSwear it!\u201d said Siegfried. \u201cSwear it, and thou shalt live, and be the\nkeeper of my treasures.\u201d\n\nAnd Alberich made a sign to his elfin host, and every spear was turned\npoint downwards, and every tiny shield was thrown to the ground, and\nthe ten thousand little warriors kneeled, as did also their chief, and\nacknowledged Siegfried to be their rightful master, and the lord of the\nNibelungen Land, and the owner of the Hoard of Andvari.\n\nThen, by Alberich\u2019s orders, the elves carried the Hoard back into the\ncavern, and there kept faithful watch and ward over it. And they buried\nthe starved bodies of the two princes on the top of the mist-veiled\nmountain; and heralds were sent to all the strongholds in Nibelungen\nLand, proclaiming that Siegfried, through his wisdom and might, had\nbecome the true lord and king of the land. Afterwards the prince, riding\non the beaming Greyfell, went from place to place, scattering sunshine\nand smiles where shadows and frowns had been before. And the Nibelungen\nfolk welcomed him everywhere with glad shouts and music and dancing; and\nten thousand warriors, and many noble earl-folk, came to meet him, and\nplighted their faith to him. And the pure brightness of his hero-soul,\nand the gleaming sunbeams from Greyfell\u2019s mane,--the light of hope and\nfaith,--lifted the curtain of mists and fogs that had so long darkened\nthe land, and let in the glorious glad light of day and the genial\nwarmth of summer.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure VIII. Siegfried\u2019s Welcome Home.\n\n\n\nIn Santen Castle, one day, there was a strange uproar and confusion.\nEverybody was hurrying aimlessly about, and no one seemed to know just\nwhat to do. On every side there were restless whisperings, and hasty\ngestures, and loud commands. The knights and warriors were busy donning\ntheir war-coats, and buckling on their swords and helmets. Wise King\nSiegmund sat in his council-chamber, and the knowing men of the kingdom\nstood around him; and the minds of all seemed troubled with doubt, if\nnot with fear.\n\nWhat could have caused so great an uproar in the once quiet old castle?\nWhat could have brought perplexity to the mind of the wisest king in\nall Rhineland? It was this: a herald had just come from the seashore,\nbringing word that a strange fleet of a hundred white-sailed vessels had\ncast anchor off the coast, and that an army of ten thousand fighting men\nhad landed, and were making ready to march against Santen. Nobody had\never heard of so large a fleet before; and no one could guess who the\nstrangers might be, nor whence they had come, nor why they should thus,\nwithout asking leave, land in the country of a peace-loving king.\n\nThe news spread quickly over all the land. People from every part came\nhastening to the friendly shelter of the castle. The townsmen, with\ntheir goods and cattle, hurried within the walls. The sentinels on the\nramparts paced uneasily to and fro, and scanned with watchful eye every\nstranger that came near the walls. The warders stood ready to hoist\nthe drawbridge, and close the gate, at the first signal given by the\nwatchman above, who was straining his eyes to their utmost in order to\nsee the first approach of the foe.\n\nA heavy mist hung over the meadow-lands between Santen and the sea,\nand nothing was visible beyond the gates of the town. The ten thousand\nstrange warriors might be within half a league of the castle, and yet\nthe sharpest eagle-eye could not see them.\n\nAll at once a clatter of horse\u2019s hoofs was heard; the dark mist rose up\nfrom the ground, and began to roll away, like a great cloud, into the\nsky; and then strange sunbeam-flashes were seen where the fog had lately\nrested.\n\n\u201cThey come!\u201d cried one of the sentinels. \u201cI see the glitter of their\nshields and lances.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot so,\u201d said the watchman from his place on the tower above. \u201cI see\nbut one man, and he rides with the speed of the wind, and lightning\nflashes from the mane of the horse which carries him.\u201d\n\nThe drawbridge was hastily hoisted. The heavy gates were quickly shut,\nand fastened with bolts and bars. Every man in the castle was at his\npost, ready to defend the fortress with his life. In a short time the\nhorse and his rider drew near. All who looked out upon them were dazzled\nwith the golden brightness of the hero\u2019s armor, as well as with\nthe lightning gleams that flashed from the horse\u2019s mane. And some\nwhispered,--\n\n\u201cThis is no man who thus comes in such kingly splendor. More likely\nit is Odin on one of his journeys, or the Shining Balder come again to\nearth.\u201d\n\nAs the stranger paused on the outer edge of the moat, the sentinels\nchallenged him,--\n\n\u201cWho are you who come thus, uninvited and unheralded, to Santen?\u201d\n\n\u201cOne who has the right to come,\u201d answered the stranger. \u201cI am Siegfried;\nand I have come to see my father, the good Siegmund, and my mother, the\ngentle Sigelind.\u201d\n\nIt was indeed Siegfried; and he had come from his kingdom in the\nNibelungen Land, with his great fleet, and the noblest of his warriors,\nto see once more his boyhood\u2019s home, and to cheer for a time the hearts\nof his loving parents. For he had done many noble deeds, and had ruled\nwisely and well, and he felt that he was now not unworthy to be called\nthe son of Siegmund, and to claim kinship with the heroes of the earlier\ndays.\n\nAs soon as it was surely known that he who stood before the castle-walls\nwas the young prince who had been gone so many years, and about whom\nthey had heard so many wonderful stories, the drawbridge was hastily let\ndown, and the great gates were thrown wide open. And Siegfried, whose\nreturn had been so long wished for, stood once again in his father\u2019s\nhalls. And the fear and confusion which had prevailed gave place to\ngladness and gayety; and all the folk of Santen greeted the returned\nhero with cheers, and joyfully welcomed him home. And in the whole world\nthere was no one more happy than Siegmund and Sigelind.\n\nOn the morrow the ten thousand Nibelungen warriors came to Santen; and\nSiegmund made for them a great banquet, and entertained them in a right\nkingly way, as the faithful liegemen of his son. And Siegfried, when he\nhad given them rich gifts, sent them with the fleet back to Nibelungen\nLand; for he meant to stay for a time with his father and mother at\nSanten.\n\nWhen the harvest had been gathered, and the fruit was turning purple and\ngold, and the moon rode round and full in the clear autumn sky, a gay\nhigh-tide was held for Siegfried\u2019s sake; and everybody in the Lowland\ncountry, whether high or low, rich or poor, was asked to come to\nthe feast. For seven days, nought but unbridled gayety prevailed in\nSiegmund\u2019s halls. On every hand were sounds of music and laughter, and\nsickness and poverty and pain were for the time forgotten. A mock-battle\nwas fought on the grassy plain not far from the town, and the young men\nvied with each other in feats of strength and skill. Never before had\nso many beautiful ladies nor so many brave men been seen in Santen.\nAnd, when the time of jollity and feasting had drawn to an end, Siegmund\ncalled together all his guests, and gave to each choice gifts,--a festal\ngarment, and a horse with rich trappings. And Queen Sigelind scattered\ngold without stint among the poor, and many were the blessings she\nreceived. Then all the folk went back to their homes with light hearts\nand happy faces.[EN#20]\n\nThe autumn days passed quickly by, and Siegfried began to grow weary of\nthe idle, inactive life in his father\u2019s halls; and Greyfell in his stall\npined for the fresh, free air, and his mane lost all its brightness.\nWhen Siegmund saw how full of unrest his son had become, he said to\nhim,--\n\n\u201cSiegfried, I have grown old and feeble, and have no longer the strength\nof my younger days. My kingdom would fare better were a younger ruler\nplaced over it. Take my crown, I pray you, and let me withdraw from\nkingly cares.\u201d\n\nBut Siegfried would not listen to such an offer. He had his own kingdom\nof the Nibelungens, he said; and, besides, he would never sit on his\nfather\u2019s throne while yet that father lived. And although he loved the\npleasant companionship of his mother, and was delighted to listen to\nthe wise counsels of his father, the craving for action, and the unrest\nwhich would not be satisfied, grew greater day by day. At last he\nsaid,--\n\n\u201cI will ride out into the world again. Mayhap I may find some other\nwrong to right, or some other kingdom to win. It was thus that my kin,\nin the golden age long past, went faring over the land and sea, and met\ntheir doom at last. They were not home-abiders, nor tillers of the soil;\nbut the world was their abiding-place, and they filled the hearts of\nmen.\u201d\n\nAnd, when his father and mother heard this, they tried no longer to\nkeep him with them; for they knew that it would be more cruel than the\nkeeping of a caged bird away from the sunlight.\n\n\u201cOnly go not into Burgundy,\u201d said his father. \u201cThe kings of that country\nare not friendly to us, and they may do you harm. Hagen, the kinsman of\nthe kings, and the chief of their fighting-men, is old and crafty, and\nhe cannot brook a greater hero than himself.\u201d\n\nSiegfried laughed.\n\n\u201cThat is all the better reason why I should go to Burgundy-land,\u201d he\nsaid.\n\n\u201cThen take ten thousand of my warriors,\u201d said his father, \u201cand make\nyourself master of the land.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d cried Siegfried. \u201cOne kingdom is enough for me. My own\nNibelungen Land is all I want. I will take my twelve Nibelungen knights\nthat I have with me here, and we will fare forth to see the world and\nits beauties, and men\u2019s work; and, when we have tired with riding, we\nwill sail across the sea to our Nibelungen home.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure IX. The Journey to Burgundy-Land.\n\n\n\nFor many days before Siegfried\u2019s departure, the queen, and all the women\nof the household, busily plied their needles; and many suits of rich\nraiment made they for the prince and his worthy comrades. At length the\ntime for leave-taking came, and all the inmates of the castle went out\nto the gate to bid the heroes God-speed. Siegfried sat upon his noble\nhorse Greyfell, and his trusty sword Balmung hung at his side. And his\nNibelungen knights were mounted on lordly steeds, with gold-red saddles\nand silver trappings chased with gold; and their glittering helmets, and\nburnished shields, and war-coats of polished steel, when added to\ntheir noble bearing and manlike forms, made up a picture of beauty and\nstrength such as no one in Santen had ever seen before, or would ever\nsee again.\n\n\u201cOnly go not into Burgundy-land,\u201d were the parting words of Siegmund.\n\nAnd all who had come to bid them farewell wept bitterly as the young men\nrode out of the city, and were lost to sight in the distance.\n\n\u201cOnly go not into Burgundy-land!\u201d These words of his father sounded\nstill in Siegfried\u2019s ears; and he turned his horse\u2019s head towards the\nwest and south; and they rode through the level country, and among the\nfields, from which the corn had already been gathered; and at night they\nslept in the open air, upon the still warm ground. Thus for many days\nthey travelled. And they left the Lowlands far behind them, and Burgundy\nfar to the left of them; and by and by they came to a country covered\nwith high hills, and mountains that seemed to touch the sky. The crags\nand peaks were covered with snow, and ice lay all summer in the dales\nand in the deep gorges cleft long time ago by giant hands. Here it is\nthat the rivers take their beginning. And here it is that the purple\ngrapes and the rare fruits of milder climes are found; for the sun\nshines warm in the valleys and upon the plains, and the soil is\nexceeding rich. It is said that these mountains are midway between the\ncold regions of Jotunheim and the glowing gardens of Muspelheim, and\nthat, in ages past, they were the scene of many battles between the\ngiants who would overwhelm the earth,--these with ice, and those\nwith fire. Here and there were frowning caves dug out of the solid\nmountain-side; while higher up were great pits, half-filled with ashes,\nwhere, it is said, the dwarf-folk, when they were mighty on earth, had\ntheir forges.\n\nSiegfried stopped not long in this land. Thoughts of the Nibelungen\nLand, and of his faithful liegemen who waited for his return, began to\nfill his mind. Then the heroes turned their horses\u2019 heads, and rode back\ntowards the north, following the course of the River Rhine, as it wound,\nhere and there, between hills and mountains, and through meadows where\nthe grass was springing up anew, and by the side of woodlands, now\nbeginning to be clothed in green again; for the winter was well over,\nand spring was hastening on apace. And as they rode down the valley of\nthe Rhine they came, ere they were aware, into the Burgundian Land,\nand the high towers of King Gunther\u2019s castle rose up before them. Then\nSiegfried remembered again his father\u2019s words,--\n\n\u201cOnly go not into Burgundy-land.\u201d\n\nBut it was now too late to go back, and they determined to stop for\na few days with the Burgundian kings. They rode onwards through the\nmeadows and the pleasant farming-lands which lay around the city; and\nthey passed a wonderful garden of roses, said to belong to Kriemhild,\nthe peerless princess of the Rhine country; and at last they halted\nbefore the castle-gate. So lordly was their bearing, that a company of\nknights came out to meet them, and offered, as the custom was, to take\ncharge of their horses and their shields. But Siegfried asked that they\nbe led at once to King Gunther and his brothers; and, as their stay\nwould not be long, they said they would have no need to part with horses\nor with shields. Then they followed their guides, and rode through the\ngreat gateway, and into the open court, and halted beneath the palace\nwindows.\n\nAnd the three kings--Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher--and their young\nsister, the matchless Kriemhild, looked down upon them from above, and\nhazarded many guesses as to who the lordly strangers might be. And all\nthe inmates of the castle stood at the doors and windows, or gathered in\ncurious groups in the courtyard, and gazed with open-mouthed wonder upon\nthe rich armor and noble bearing of the thirteen heroes. But all eyes\nwere turned most towards Siegfried and the wondrous steed Greyfell. Some\nof the knights whispered that this was Odin, and some that it was Thor,\nthe thunderer, making a tour through Rhineland. But others said that\nThor was never known to ride on horseback, and that the youth who sat\non the milk-white steed was little like the ancient Odin. And the ladies\nwho looked down upon the heroes from the palace windows said that this\nman could be no other than the Sunbright Balder, come from his home in\nBreidablik, to breathe gladness and sunshine into the hearts and lives\nof men.\n\nOnly one among all the folk in the castle knew who the hero was who had\nridden thus boldly into the heart of Burgundy-land. That one was\nHagen, the uncle of the three kings, and the doughtiest warrior in all\nRhineland. With a dark frown and a sullen scowl he looked out upon the\nlittle party, and already plotted in his mind how he might outwit, and\nbring to grief, the youth whose name and fame were known the whole world\nover. For his evil mind loved deeds of darkness, and hated the pure and\ngood. By his side, at an upper window, stood Kriemhild, the peerless\nmaiden of the Rhine; but her thoughts were as far from his thoughts as\nthe heaven-smile on her face was unlike the sullen scowl on his grim\nvisage. As the moon in her calm beauty is sometimes seen in the sky,\nriding gloriously by the side of a dark thunder-cloud,--the one more\nlovely, the other more dreadful, by their very nearness,--so seemed\nKriemhild standing there by the side of Hagen.\n\n\u201cThink you not, dear uncle,\u201d she said, \u201cthat this is the Shining Balder\ncome to earth again?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe gods have forgotten the earth,\u201d answered Hagen in surly tones. \u201cBut\nif, indeed, this should be Balder, we shall, without doubt, find another\nblind archer, who, with another sprig of mistletoe, will send him back\nagain to Hela.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d asked Kriemhild earnestly.\n\nBut old Hagen said not a word in answer. He quietly withdrew from the\nroom, and left the maiden and her mother, the good dame Ute, alone.\n\n\u201cWhat does uncle Hagen mean by his strange words? and why does he look\nso sullen and angry?\u201d asked Kriemhild.\n\n\u201cIndeed, I know not,\u201d answered the queen-mother. \u201cHis ways are dark, and\nhe is cunning. I fear that evil will yet come to our house through him.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile the three kings and their chiefs had gone into the courtyard\nto greet their unknown guests. Very kindly did Gunther welcome the\nstrangers to his home; and then he courteously asked them whence they\ncame, and what the favors they wished.\n\n\u201cI have heard,\u201d answered Siegfried, \u201cthat many knights and heroes live\nin this land, and that they are the bravest and the proudest in the\nworld. I, too, am a knight; and some time, if I am worthy, I shall be a\nking. But first I would make good my right to rule over land and folk;\nand for this reason I have come hither. If, indeed, you are as brave as\nall the world says you are, ride now to the meadows with us, and let us\nfight man to man; and he who wins shall rule over the lands of both. We\nwill wager our kingdom and our heads against yours.\u201d\n\nKing Gunther and his brothers were amazed at this unlooked-for speech.\n\n\u201cSuch is not the way to try where true worth lies!\u201d they cried. \u201cWe have\nno cause of quarrel with you, neither have you any cause of quarrel with\nus. Why, then, should we spill each other\u2019s blood?\u201d\n\nAgain Siegfried urged them to fight with him; but they flatly refused.\nAnd Gernot said,--\n\n\u201cThe Burgundian kings have never wished to rule over folk that are not\ntheir own. Much less would they gain new lands at the cost of their best\nheroes\u2019 blood. And they have never taken part in needless quarrels. Good\nmen in Burgundy are worth more than the broadest lands, and we will not\nhazard the one for the sake of gaining the other. No, we will not fight.\nBut we greet you most heartily as our friends and guests.\u201d\n\nAll the others joined in urging Siegfried and his comrades to dismount\nfrom their steeds, and partake of the cheer with which it was their use\nto entertain strangers. And at last he yielded to their kind wishes,\nand alighted from Greyfell, and, grasping King Gunther\u2019s hand, he\nmade himself known. And there was great rejoicing in the castle and\nthroughout all the land; and the most sumptuous rooms were set apart for\nthe use of Siegfried and his Nibelungen knights; and a banquet was at\nonce made ready; and no pains were spared in giving the strangers\na right hearty welcome to the kingly halls of Burgundy. But Hagen,\ndark-browed and evil-eyed, stood silent and alone in his chamber and\nwaited his time.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure X. Kriemhild\u2019s Dream.\n\n\n\nEarly on the morrow morning, ere the sun had risen high, the peerless\nKriemhild walked alone amid the sweet-scented bowers of her rose-garden.\nThe dewdrops still hung thick on flower and thorn, and the wild birds\ncarolled their songs of merry welcome to the new-born day. Every\nthing seemed to have put on its handsomest colors, and to be using\nits sweetest voice, on purpose to gladden the heart of the maiden. But\nKriemhild was not happy. There was a shadow on her face and a sadness\nin her eye that the beauty and the music of that morning could not drive\naway.\n\n\u201cWhat ails thee, my child?\u201d asked her mother, Queen Ute, who met her.\n\u201cWhy so sad, as if thy heart were heavy with care? Has any one spoken\nunkindly, or has aught grievous happened to thee?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no, dearest mother!\u201d said Kriemhild. \u201cIt is nothing that saddens\nme,--nothing but a foolish dream. I cannot forget it.\u201d\n\n\u201cTell me the dream,\u201d said her mother: \u201cmayhap it betokens something that\nthe Norns have written for thee.\u201d\n\nThen Kriemhild answered, \u201cI dreamed that I sat at my window, high up in\nthe eastern tower; and the sun shone bright in the heavens, and the\nair was mild and warm, and I thought of nought but the beauty and the\ngladness of the hour. Then in the far north I saw a falcon flying. At\nfirst he seemed but a black speck in the sky; but swiftly he drew nearer\nand nearer, until at last he flew in at the open window, and I caught\nhim in my arms. Oh, how strong and beautiful he was! His wings were\npurple and gold, and his eyes were as bright as the sun. Oh, a glorious\nprize I thought him! and I held him on my wrist, and spoke kind words to\nhim. Then suddenly, from out of the sky above, two eagles dashed in at\nthe window, and snatched my darling from me, and they tore him in pieces\nbefore my eyes, and laughed at my distress.\u201d\n\n\u201cThy dream,\u201d said Queen Ute, \u201cis easy to explain. A king shall come from\nthe north-land, and a mighty king shall he be. And he shall seek thee,\nand love thee, and wed thee, and thy heart shall overflow with bliss.\nThe two eagles are the foes who shall slay him; but who they may be, or\nwhence they may come, is known only to the Norns.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I slept, and I dreamed again,\u201d said Kriemhild. \u201cThis time I sat in\nthe meadow, and three women came to me. And they span, and they wove\na woof more fair than any I have ever seen. And methought that another\nwoof was woven, which crossed the first, and yet it was no whit less\nbeautiful. Then the women who wove the woofs cried out, \u2018Enough!\u2019 And\na fair white arm reached out and seized the rare fabrics, and tore them\ninto shreds. And then the sky was overcast, and the thunder began to\nroll and the lightning to flash, and red fires gleamed, and fierce\nwolves howled around me, and I awoke.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis dream,\u201d said Queen Ute, \u201cis more than I can understand. Only this\nI can see and explain, that in the dim future the woof of another\u2019s fate\nshall cross thy own. But trouble not thyself because of that which\nshall be. While yet the sun shines for thee, and the birds sing, and\nthe flowers shed their sweet perfume, it is for thee to rejoice and\nbe light-hearted. What the Norns have woven is woven, and it cannot be\nundone.\u201d[EN#21]\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XI. How the Spring-time Came.\n\n\n\nSiegfried, when he came to Gunther\u2019s castle, thought of staying there\nbut a few days only. But the king and his brothers made every thing so\npleasant for their honored guest, that weeks slipped by unnoticed, and\nstill the hero remained in Burgundy.\n\nSpring had fairly come, and the weeping April clouds had given place to\nthe balmy skies of May. The young men and maidens, as was their wont,\nmade ready for the May-day games; and Siegfried and his knights were\nasked to take part in the sport.\n\nOn the smooth greensward, which they called Nanna\u2019s carpet, beneath the\nshade of ash-trees and elms, he who played Old Winter\u2019s part lingered\nwith his few attendants. These were clad in the dull gray garb which\nbecomes the sober season of the year, and were decked with yellow\nstraw, and dead, brown leaves. Out of the wood came the May-king and his\nfollowers, clad in the gayest raiment, and decked with evergreens and\nflowers. With staves and willow-withes they fell upon Old Winter\u2019s\nchampions, and tried to drive them from the sward. In friendly fray\nthey fought, and many mishaps fell to both parties. But at length the\nMay-king won; and grave Winter, battered and bruised, was made prisoner,\nand his followers were driven from the field. Then, in merry sport,\nsentence was passed on the luckless wight, for he was found guilty of\nkilling the flowers, and of covering the earth with hoar-frost; and\nhe was doomed to a long banishment from music and the sunlight. The\nlaughing party then set up a wooden likeness of the worsted winter-king,\nand pelted it with stones and turf; and when they were tired they threw\nit down, and put out its eyes, and cast it into the river. And then a\npole, decked with wild-flowers and fresh green leaves, was planted in\nthe midst of the sward, and all joined in merry dance around it. And\nthey chose the most beautiful of all the maidens to be the Queen of May,\nand they crowned her with a wreath of violets and yellow buttercups; and\nfor a whole day all yielded fealty to her, and did her bidding.\n\nIt was thus that May Day came in Burgundy. And in the evening, when the\nparty were seated in King Gunther\u2019s hall, Siegfried, at the command of\nthe May-queen,--who was none other than Kriemhild the peerless,--amused\nthem by telling the story of\n\n\n\nIdun and Her Apples.\n\n\n\nIt is a story that Bragi told while at the feast in AEgir\u2019s hall. Idun\nis Bragi\u2019s wife. Very handsome is she; but the beauty of her face is by\nno means greater than the goodness of her heart. Right attentive is she\nto every duty, and her words and thoughts are always worthy and wise.\nA long time ago the good Asa-folk who dwell in heaven-towering Asgard,\nknowing how trustworthy Idun was, gave into her keeping a treasure\nwhich they would not have placed in the hands of any other person.\nThis treasure was a box of apples, and Idun kept the golden key safely\nfastened to her girdle. You ask me why the gods should prize a box of\napples so highly? I will tell you.\n\nOld age, you know, spares none, not even Odin and his Asa-folk. They all\ngrow old and gray; and, if there were no cure for age, they would become\nfeeble and toothless and blind, deaf, tottering, and weak minded. The\napples which Idun guarded so carefully were the priceless boon of youth.\nWhenever the gods felt old age coming on, they went to her, and she gave\nthem of her fruit; and, when they had tasted, they grew young and strong\nand handsome again. Once, however, they came near losing the apples,--or\nlosing rather Idun and her golden key, without which no one could ever\nopen the box.\n\nIn those early days Odin delighted to come down now and then from his\nhigh home above the clouds, and to wander, disguised, among the woods\nand mountains, and by the seashore, and in wild desert places. For\nnothing pleases him more than to commune with Nature as she is found\nin the loneliness of vast solitudes, or in the boisterous uproar of the\nelements. Once on a time he took with him his friends Hoenir and Loki;\nand they rambled many days among the icy cliffs, and along the barren\nshores, of the great frozen sea. In that country there was no game, and\nno fish was found in the cold waters; and the three wanderers, as they\nhad brought no food with them, became very hungry. Late in the afternoon\nof the seventh day, they reached some pasture-lands belonging to the\ngiant Hymer, and saw a herd of the giant\u2019s cattle browsing upon the\nshort grass which grew in the sheltered nooks among the hills.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d cried Loki: \u201cafter fasting for a week, we shall now have food in\nabundance. Let us kill and eat.\u201d\n\nSo saying, he hurled a sharp stone at the fattest of Hymer\u2019s cows, and\nkilled her; and the three quickly dressed the choicest pieces of flesh\nfor their supper. Then Loki gathered twigs and dry grass, and kindled a\nblazing fire; Hoenir filled the pot with water from melted ice; and Odin\nthrew into it the bits of tender meat. But, make the fire as hot as they\nwould, the water would not boil, and the flesh would not cook.\n\nAll night long the supperless three sat hungry around the fire; and,\nevery time they peeped into the kettle, the meat was as raw and gustless\nas before. Morning came, but no breakfast. And all day Loki kept\nstirring the fire, and Odin and Hoenir waited hopefully but impatiently.\nWhen the sun again went down, the flesh was still uncooked, and their\nsupper seemed no nearer ready than it was the night before. As they were\nabout yielding to despair, they heard a noise overhead, and, looking up,\nthey saw a huge gray eagle sitting on the dead branch of an oak.\n\n\u201cHa, ha!\u201d cried the bird. \u201cYou are pretty fellows indeed! To sit hungry\nby the fire a night and a day, rather than eat raw flesh, becomes you\nwell. Do but give me my share of it as it is, and I warrant you the rest\nshall boil, and you shall have a fat supper.\u201d\n\n\u201cAgreed,\u201d answered Loki eagerly. \u201cCome down and get your share.\u201d\n\nThe eagle waited for no second asking. Down he swooped right over the\nblazing fire, and snatched not only the eagle\u2019s share, but also what the\nLybians call the lion\u2019s share; that is, he grasped in his strong talons\nthe kettle, with all the meat in it, and, flapping his huge wings,\nslowly rose into the air, carrying his booty with him. The three gods\nwere astonished. Loki was filled with anger. He seized a long pole, upon\nthe end of which a sharp hook was fixed, and struck at the treacherous\nbird. The hook stuck fast in the eagle\u2019s back, and Loki could not loose\nhis hold of the other end of the pole. The great bird soared high\nabove the tree-tops, and over the hills, and carried the astonished\nmischief-maker with him.\n\nBut it was no eagle. It was no bird that had thus outwitted the hungry\ngods: it was the giant Old Winter, clothed in his eagle-plumage. Over\nthe lonely woods, and the snow-crowned mountains, and the frozen sea,\nhe flew, dragging the helpless Loki through tree-tops, and over jagged\nrocks, scratching and bruising his body, and almost tearing his arms\nfrom his shoulders. At last he alighted on the craggy top of an iceberg,\nwhere the storm-winds shrieked, and the air was filled with driving\nsnow. As soon as Loki could speak, he begged the giant to carry him back\nto his comrades,--Odin and Hoenir.\n\n\u201cOn one condition only will I carry you back,\u201d answered Old Winter.\n\u201cSwear to me that you will betray into my hands dame Idun and her golden\nkey.\u201d\n\nLoki asked no questions, but gladly gave the oath; and the giant flew\nback with him across the sea, and dropped him, torn and bleeding and\nlame, by the side of the fire, where Odin and Hoenir still lingered. And\nthe three made all haste to leave that cheerless place, and returned to\nOdin\u2019s glad home in Asgard.\n\nSome weeks after this, Loki, the Prince of Mischief-makers, went to\nBragi\u2019s house to see Idun. He found her busied with her household cares,\nnot thinking of a visit from any of the gods.\n\n\u201cI have come, good dame,\u201d said he, \u201cto taste your apples again; for I\nfeel old age coming on apace.\u201d\n\nIdun was astonished.\n\n\u201cYou are not looking old,\u201d she answered. \u201cThere is not a single gray\nhair upon your head, and not a wrinkle on your brow. If it were not for\nthat scar upon your cheek, and the arm which you carry in a sling you\nwould look as stout and as well as I have ever seen you. Besides, I\nremember that it was only a year ago when you last tasted of my fruit.\nIs it possible that a single winter should make you old?\u201d\n\n\u201cA single winter has made me very lame and feeble, at least,\u201d said Loki.\n\u201cI have been scarcely able to walk about since my return from the North.\nAnother winter without a taste of your apples will be the death of me.\u201d\n\nThen the kind-hearted Idun, when she saw that Loki was really lame, went\nto the box, and opened it with her golden key, and gave him one of the\nprecious apples to taste. He took the fruit in his hand, bit it, and\ngave it back to the good dame. She put it in its place again, closed the\nlid, and locked it with her usual care.\n\n\u201cYour apples are not so good as they used to be,\u201d said Loki, making a\nvery wry face. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you fill your box with fresh fruit?\u201d\n\nIdun was amazed. Her apples were supposed to be always fresh,--fresher\nby far than any that grow nowadays. None of the gods had ever before\ncomplained about them; and she told Loki so.\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said he. \u201cI see you do not believe me, and that you mean to\nfeed us on your sour, withered apples, when we might as well have golden\nfruit. If you were not so bent on having your own way, I could tell you\nwhere you might fill your box with the choicest of apples, such as Odin\nloves. I saw them in the forest over yonder, hanging ripe on the trees.\nBut women will always have their own way; and you must have yours, even\nthough you do feed the gods on withered apples.\u201d\n\nSo saying, and without waiting to hear an answer, he limped out at the\ndoor, and was soon gone from sight.\n\nIdun thought long and anxiously upon the words which Loki had spoken;\nand, the more she thought, the more she felt troubled. If her husband,\nthe wise Bragi, had been at home, what would she not have given? He\nwould have understood the mischief-maker\u2019s cunning. But he had gone on\na long journey to the South, singing in Nature\u2019s choir, and painting\nNature\u2019s landscapes, and she would not see him again until the return\nof spring. At length she opened the box, and looked at the fruit. The\napples were certainly fair and round: she could not see a wrinkle or a\nblemish on any of them; their color was the same golden-red,--like the\nsky at dawn of a summer\u2019s day; yet she thought there must be something\nwrong about them. She took up one of the apples, and tasted it. She\nfancied that it really was sour, and she hastily put it back, and locked\nthe box again.\n\n\u201cHe said that he had seen better apples than these growing in the\nwoods,\u201d said she to herself. \u201cI half believe that he told the truth,\nalthough everybody knows that he is not always trustworthy. I think I\nshall go to the forest and see for myself, at any rate.\u201d\n\nSo she donned her cloak and hood, and, with a basket on her arm, left\nthe house, and walked rapidly away, along the road which led to the\nforest. It was much farther than she had thought, and the sun was almost\ndown when she reached the edge of the wood. But no apple-trees were\nthere. Tall oaks stretched their bare arms up towards the sky, as if\npraying for help. There were thorn-trees and brambles everywhere; but\nthere was no fruit, neither were there any flowers, nor even green\nleaves. The Frost-giants had been there.\n\nIdun was about to turn her footsteps homewards, when she heard a wild\nshriek in the tree-tops over her head; and, before she could look up,\nshe felt herself seized in the eagle-talons of Old Winter. Struggle as\nshe would, she could not free herself. High up, over wood and stream,\nthe giant carried her; and then he flew swiftly away with her, towards\nhis home in the chill North-land; and, when morning came, poor Idun\nfound herself in an ice-walled castle in the cheerless country of the\ngiants. But she was glad to know that the precious box was safely locked\nat home, and that the golden key was still at her girdle.\n\nTime passed; and I fear that Idun would have been forgotten by all,\nsave her husband Bragi, had not the gods begun to feel the need of her\napples. Day after day they came to Idun\u2019s house, hoping to find the good\ndame and her golden key at home; and each day they went away some hours\nolder than when they had come. Bragi was beside himself with grief, and\nhis golden harp was unstrung and forgotten. No one had seen the missing\nIdun since the day when Loki had visited her, and none could guess what\nhad become of her. The heads of all the folk grew white with age; deep\nfurrows were ploughed in their faces; their eyes grew dim, and their\nhearing failed; their hands trembled; their limbs became palsied; their\nfeet tottered; and all feared that Old Age would bring Death in his\ntrain.\n\nThen Bragi and Thor questioned Loki very sharply; and when he felt that\nhe, too, was growing odd and feeble, he regretted the mischief he had\ndone, and told them how he had decoyed Idun into Old Winter\u2019s clutches.\nThe gods were very angry; and Thor threatened to crush Loki with his\nhammer, if he did not at once bring Idun safe home again.\n\nSo Loki borrowed the falcon-plumage of Freyja, the goddess of love, and\nwith it flew to the country of the giants. When he reached Old Winter\u2019s\ncastle, he found the good dame Idun shut up in the prison-tower, and\nbound with fetters of ice; but the giant himself was on the frozen sea,\nherding old Hymer\u2019s cows. And Loki quickly broke the bonds that held\nIdun, and led her out of her prison-house; and then he shut her up in a\nmagic nut-shell which he held between his claws, and flew with the speed\nof the wind back towards the South-land and the home of the gods. But\nOld Winter coming home, and learning what had been done, donned his\neagle-plumage and followed swiftly in pursuit.\n\nBragi and Thor, anxiously gazing into the sky, saw Loki, in Freyja\u2019s\nfalcon-plumage, speeding homewards, with the nut-shell in his talons,\nand Old Winter, in his eagle-plumage, dashing after in sharp pursuit.\nQuickly they gathered chips and slender twigs, and placed them high upon\nthe castle-wall; and, when Loki with his precious burden had flown past,\nthey touched fire to the dry heap, and the flames blazed up to the sky,\nand caught Old Winter\u2019s plumage, as, close behind the falcon, he blindly\npressed. And his wings were scorched in the flames; and he fell helpless\nto the ground, and was slain within the castle-gates. Loki slackened\nhis speed; and, when he reached Bragi\u2019s house, he dropped the nut-shell\nsoftly before the door. As it touched the ground, it gently opened, and\nIdun, radiant with smiles, and clothed in gay attire, stepped forth,\nand greeted her husband and the waiting gods. And the heavenly music of\nBragi\u2019s long-silent harp welcomed her home; and she took the golden key\nfrom her girdle, and unlocked the box, and gave of her apples to the\naged company; and, when they had tasted, their youth was renewed.[EN#22]\n\nIt is thus with the seasons and their varied changes. The gifts of\nSpring are youth and jollity, and renewed strength; and the music of air\nand water and all things, living and lifeless, follow in her train. The\ndesolating Winter plots to steal her from the earth, and the Summer-heat\ndeserts and betrays her. Then the music of Nature is hushed, and all\ncreatures pine in sorrow for her absence, and the world seems dying of\nwhite Old Age. But at length the Summer-heat repents, and frees her from\nher prison-house; and the icy fetters with which Old Winter bound her\nare melted in the beams of the returning sun, and the earth is young\nagain.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XII. The War with the North-kings.\n\n\n\nSo swiftly and so pleasantly the days went by, that weeks lengthened\ninto months, and the spring-time passed, and the summer came, and still\nSiegfried lingered in Burgundy with his kind friends. The time was spent\nin all manner of joyance,--in hunting the deer in the deep oak-woods,\nin riding over the daisied meadows or among the fields of corn, in manly\ngames and sports, in music and dancing, in feasting and in pleasant\ntalk. And of all the noble folk who had ever sat at Gunther\u2019s table, or\nhunted in the Burgundian woods, none were so worthy or so fair as the\nproud young lord of the Nibelungens.\n\nOne day in early autumn a party of strange knights rode up to the\ncastle, and asked to speak with the Burgundian kings. They were led\nstraightway into the great hall; and Gunther and his brothers welcomed\nthem, as was their wont, right heartily, and asked them from what\ncountry they had come, and what was their errand.\n\n\u201cWe come,\u201d they answered, \u201cfrom the North country; and we bring word\nfrom our lords and kings, Leudiger and Leudigast.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what would our kingly neighbors say to us?\u201d asked Gunther.\n\nThen the strangers said that their lords had become very angry with the\nBurgundian kings, and that they meant, within twelve weeks from that\nday, to come with a great army, and lay the country waste, and besiege\ntheir city and castle. All this they had sworn to do unless the\nBurgundians would make peace with them upon such terms as Leudiger and\nLeudigast should please to grant.\n\nWhen Gunther and his brothers heard this, they were struck with dismay.\nBut they ordered the messengers to be well cared for and handsomely\nentertained within the palace until the morrow, at which time they\nshould have the Burgundians\u2019 answer. All the noblest knights and\nearl-folk were called together, and the matter was laid before them.\n\n\u201cWhat answer shall we send to our rude neighbors of the North?\u201d asked\nGunther.\n\nGernot and the young Giselher declared at once for war. Old Hagen and\nother knights, whose prudence was at least equal to their bravery, said\nbut little. It was known, that, in the armies of the North-kings, there\nwere at least forty thousand soldiers; but in Burgundy there were not\nmore than thirty thousand fighting-men, all told. The North-kings\u2019\nforces were already equipped, and ready to march; but the Burgundians\ncould by no means raise and arm any considerable body of men in the\nshort space of twelve weeks. It would be the part of wisdom to delay,\nand to see what terms could best be made with their enemies. Such were\nthe prudent counsels of the older knights, but Gernot and the young\nchief Volker would not listen to such words.\n\n\u201cThe Burgundians are not cowards,\u201d said they. \u201cWe have never been foiled\nin battle; never have we been the vassals of a stranger. Why, then,\nshall we cringe and cower before such men as Leudiger and Leudigast?\u201d\n\nThen Hagen answered, \u201cLet us ask our friend and guest Siegfried. Let us\nlearn what he thinks about this business. Everybody knows that he is as\nwise in council as he is brave in the field. We will abide by what he\nsays.\u201d\n\nBut Gunther and Gernot and the young Giselher were unwilling to do this;\nfor it was not their custom to annoy their guests with questions which\nshould be allowed to trouble themselves alone. And the kings and their\ncounsellors went out of the council-chamber, each to ponder in silence\nupon the troublesome question.\n\nAs Gunther, with downcast head and troubled brow, walked thoughtfully\nthrough the great hall, he unexpectedly met Siegfried.\n\n\u201cWhat evil tidings have you heard?\u201d asked the prince, surprised at the\nstrange mien of the king. \u201cWhat has gone amiss, that should cause such\nlooks of dark perplexity?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is a matter which I can tell only to friends long tried and true,\u201d\n answered Gunther.\n\nSiegfried was surprised and hurt by these words; and he cried out,--\n\n\u201cWhat more would Gunther ask of me that I might prove my friendship?\nSurely I have tried to merit his esteem and trust. Tell me what troubles\nyou, and I will further show myself to be your friend both tried and\ntrue.\u201d\n\nThen Gunther was ashamed of the words he had spoken to his guest; and he\ntook Siegfried into his own chamber, and told him all; and he asked\nhim what answer they should send on the morrow to the overbearing\nNorth-kings.\n\n\u201cTell them we will fight,\u201d answered Siegfried. \u201cI myself will lead\nyour warriors to the fray. Never shall it be said that my friends have\nsuffered wrong, and I not tried to help them.\u201d\n\nThen he and Gunther talked over the plans which they would follow. And\nthe clouds fled at once from the brow of the king, and he was no longer\ntroubled or doubtful; for he believed in Siegfried.\n\nThe next morning the heralds of the North-kings were brought again\nbefore Gunther and his brothers; and they were told to carry this word\nto their masters,--\n\n\u201cThe Burgundians will fight. They will make no terms with their enemies,\nsave such as they make of their own free-will.\u201d\n\nThen the heralds were loaded with costly presents, and a company of\nknights and warriors went with them to the border-line of Burgundy; and,\nfilled with wonder at what they had seen, they hastened back to their\nliege lords, and told all that had happened to them. And Leudiger\nand Leudigast were very wroth when they heard the answer which the\nBurgundians had sent to them; but, when they learned that the noble\nSiegfried was at Gunther\u2019s castle, they shook their heads, and seemed to\nfeel more doubtful of success.\n\nMany and busy were the preparations for war, and in a very few days all\nthings were in readiness for the march northwards. It was settled that\nSiegfried with his twelve Nibelungen chiefs, and a thousand picked\nmen, should go forth to battle against their boastful enemies. The\ndark-browed Hagen, as he had always done, rode at the head of the\ncompany, and by his side was Siegfried on the noble horse Greyfell. Next\ncame Gernot and the bold chief Volker, bearing the standard, upon which\na golden dragon was engraved; then followed Dankwart and Ortwin, and the\ntwelve worthy comrades of Siegfried; and then the thousand warriors,\nthe bravest in all Rhineland, mounted on impatient steeds, and clad\nin bright steel armor, with broad shields, and plumed helmets, and\nburnished swords, and sharp-pointed spears. And all rode proudly out\nthrough the great castle-gate. And Gunther and the young Giselher and\nall the fair ladies of the court bade them God-speed.\n\nThe little army passed through the forest, and went northwards, until,\non the fifth day, they reached the boundaries of Saxon Land. And\nSiegfried gave spur to his horse Greyfell, and, leaving the little army\nbehind him, hastened forwards to see where the enemy was encamped. As\nhe reached the top of a high hill, he saw the armies of the North-kings\nresting carelessly in the valley beyond. Knights, mounted on their\nhorses, rode hither and thither: the soldiers sauntered lazily among\nthe trees, or slept upon the grass; arms were thrown about in great\ndisorder, or stacked in piles near the smoking camp-fires. No one\ndreamed of danger; but all supposed that the Burgundians were still at\nhome, and would never dare to attack a foe so numerous and so strong.\n\nFor it was, indeed, a mighty army which Siegfried saw before him. Full\nforty thousand men were there; and they not only filled the valley, but\nspread over the hills beyond, and far to the right and left.\n\nWhile he stood at the top of the hill, and gazed upon this sight, a\nwarrior, who had spied him from below, rode up, and paused before him.\nLike two black thunder-clouds, with lightning flashing between, the\ntwo knights stood facing each other, and casting wrathful glances from\nbeneath their visors. Then each spurred his horse, and charged with fury\nupon the other; and the heavy lances of both were broken in shivers upon\nthe opposing shields. Then, quick as thought, they turned and drew\ntheir swords, and hand to hand they fought. But soon Siegfried, by an\nunlooked-for stroke, sent his enemy\u2019s sword flying from him, broken in a\ndozen pieces, and by a sudden movement he threw him from his horse. The\nheavy shield of the fallen knight was no hinderance to the quick strokes\nof Siegfried\u2019s sword; and his glittering armor, soiled by the mud into\nwhich he had been thrown, held him down. He threw up his hands, and\nbegged for mercy.\n\n\u201cI am Leudigast the king!\u201d he cried. \u201cSpare my life. I am your\nprisoner.\u201d\n\nSiegfried heard the prayer of the discomfited king; and, lifting him\nfrom the ground, he helped him to remount his charger. But, while he was\ndoing this, thirty warriors, who had seen the combat from below, came\ndashing up the hill to the rescue of their liege-lord. Siegfried faced\nabout with his horse Greyfell, and quietly waited for their onset. But,\nas they drew near, they were so awed by the noble bearing and grand\nproportions of the hero, and so astonished at sight of the sunbeam mane\nof Greyfell, and the cold glitter of the blade Balmung, that in sudden\nfright they stopped, then turned, and fled in dismay down the sloping\nhillside, nor paused until they were safe among their friends.\n\nIn the mean while Leudiger, the other king, seeing what was going on\nat the top of the hill, had caused an alarm to be sounded; and all his\nhosts had hastily arranged themselves in battle-array. At the same time\nHagen and Gernot, and their little army of heroes, hove in sight, and\ncame quickly to Siegfried\u2019s help, and the dragon-banner was planted upon\nthe crest of the hill. The captive king, Leudigast, was taken to the\nrear, and a guard was placed over him. The champions of the Rhine formed\nin line, and faced their foes. The great army of the North-kings moved\nboldly up the hill: and, when they saw how few were the Burgundians,\nthey laughed and cheered most lustily; for they felt that the odds was\nin their favor--and forty to one is no small odds.\n\nThen Siegfried and his twelve comrades, and Hagen and the thousand\nBurgundian knights, dashed upon them with the fury of the whirlwind.\nThe lances flew so thick in the air, that they hid the sun from sight;\nswords flashed on every side; the sound of clashing steel, and horses\u2019\nhoofs, and soldiers\u2019 shouts, filled earth and sky with a horrid din. And\nsoon the boastful foes of the Burgundians were everywhere worsted, and\nthrown into disorder. Siegfried dashed hither and thither, from one part\nof the field to another, in search of King Leudiger. Thrice he cut his\nway through the ranks, and at last he met face to face the one for whom\nhe sought.\n\nKing Leudiger saw the flashing sunbeams that glanced from Greyfell\u2019s\nmane, he saw the painted crown upon the hero\u2019s broad shield, and then he\nfelt the fearful stroke of the sword Balmung, as it clashed against\nhis own, and cut it clean in halves. He dropped his weapons, raised his\nvisor, and gave himself up as a prisoner.\n\n\u201cGive up the fight, my brave fellows,\u201d he cried. \u201cThis is Siegfried the\nbrave, the Prince of the Lowlands, and the Lord of Nibelungen Land. It\nwere foolishness to fight against him. Save yourselves as best you can.\u201d\n\nThis was the signal for a frightful panic. All turned and fled. Each\nthought of nothing but his own safety; and knights and warriors,\nhorsemen and foot-soldiers, in one confused mass, throwing shields and\nweapons here and there, rushed wildly down the hill, and through the\nvalley and ravines, and sought, as best they could, their way homeward.\nThe Burgundian heroes were the masters of the field, and on the morrow\nthey turned their faces joyfully towards Rhineland. And all joined in\nsaying that to Siegfried was due the praise for this wonderful victory\nwhich they had gained.\n\nHeralds had been sent on the fleetest horses to carry the glad news to\nBurgundy; and when, one morning, they dashed into the court-yard of the\ncastle, great was the anxiety to know what tidings they brought. And\nKing Gunther, and the young Giselher, and the peerless Kriemhild,\ncame out to welcome them, and eagerly to inquire what had befallen the\nheroes. With breathless haste the heralds told the story of all that had\nhappened.\n\n\u201cAnd how fares our brother Gernot?\u201d asked Kriemhild.\n\n\u201cThere is no happier man on earth,\u201d answered the herald. \u201cIn truth,\nthere was not a coward among them all; but the bravest of the brave was\nSiegfried. He it was who took the two kings prisoners; and everywhere in\nthe thickest of the fight there was Siegfried. And now our little army\nis on its homeward march, with a thousand prisoners, and large numbers\nof the enemy\u2019s wounded. Had it not been for the brave Siegfried, no such\nvictory could have been won.\u201d\n\nIn a few days the Rhine champions reached their home. And gayly were the\ncastle and all the houses in the city decked in honor of them. And all\nthose who had been left behind went out to meet them as they came down\nfrom the forest-road, and drew near to the castle. And the young girls\nstrewed flowers in their path, and hung garlands upon their horses;\nand music and song followed the heroes into the city, and through the\ncastle-gate.\n\nWhen they reached the palace, the two prisoner kings, Leudiger and\nLeudigast, were loosed from their bonds, and handsomely entertained at\nGunther\u2019s table. And the Burgundian kings assured them that they should\nbe treated as honored guests, and have the freedom of the court and\ncastle, if they would pledge themselves not to try to escape from\nBurgundy until terms of peace should be agreed upon. This pledge they\ngladly gave, and rich apartments in the palace were assigned for their\nuse. Like favors were shown to all the prisoners, according to their\nrank; and the wounded were kindly cared for. And the Burgundians made\nready for a gay high-tide,--a glad festival of rejoicing, to be held at\nthe next full moon.\n\nWhen the day drew near which had been set for this high-tide, the folk\nfrom all parts of Rhineland began to flock towards the city. They\ncame in companies, with music and laughter, and the glad songs of\nthe spring-time. And all the knights were mounted on gallant horses\ncaparisoned with gold-red saddles, from which hung numbers of tinkling\nsilver bells. As they rode up the sands towards the castle-gate,\nwith their dazzling shields upon their saddle-bows, and their gay and\nmany-colored banners floating in the air, King Gernot and the young\nGiselher, with the noblest knights of the fortress, went courteously out\nto meet them; and the friendly greetings which were offered by the two\nyoung kings won the hearts of all. Thirty and two princes and more than\nfive thousand warriors came as bidden guests. The city and castle were\ndecked in holiday attire, and all the people in the land gave themselves\nup to enjoyment. The sick and the wounded, who until now had thought\nthemselves at death\u2019s door, forgot their ailments and their pains as\nthey heard the shouts of joy and the peals of music in the streets.\n\nIn a green field outside of the city walls, arrangements had been made\nfor the games, and galleries and high stages had been built for the\nlookers-on. Here jousts and tournaments were held, and the knights and\nwarriors engaged in trials of strength and skill. When King Gunther saw\nwith what keen enjoyment both his own people and his guests looked upon\nthese games, and took part in the gay festivities, he asked of those\naround him,--\n\n\u201cWhat more can we do to heighten the pleasures of the day?\u201d\n\nAnd one of his counsellors answered,--\n\n\u201cMy lord, the ladies of the court, and the little children, pine in\nsilence in the sunless rooms of the palace, while we enjoy the free air\nand light of heaven, the music, and the gay scenes before us. There is\nnothing wanting to make this day\u2019s joy complete, save the presence of\nour dear ones to share these pleasures with us.\u201d\n\nGunther was delighted to hear these words; and he sent a herald to the\npalace, and invited all the ladies of the court and all the children to\ncome out and view the games, and join in the general gladness.\n\nWhen Dame Ute heard the message which the herald brought from her kingly\nson, she hastened to make ready rich dresses and costly jewels wherewith\nto adorn the dames and damsels of the court. And, when all were in\nreadiness, the peerless Kriemhild, with her mother at her side, went\nforth from the castle; and a hundred knights, all sword in hand, went\nwith her as a body-guard, and a great number of noble ladies dressed in\nrich attire followed her. As the red dawn peers forth from behind gray\nclouds, and drives the mists and shadows away from earth, so came\nthe lovely one. As the bright full moon in radiant splendor moves in\nqueen-like beauty before her train of attendant stars, and outshines\nthem all, so was Kriemhild the most glorious among all the noble ladies\nthere. And the thousand knights and warriors paused in their games, and\ngreeted the peerless princess as was due to one so noble and fair. Upon\nthe highest platform, under a rich canopy of cloth-of-gold, seats were\nmade ready for the maiden and her mother and the fair ladies in their\ntrain; and all the most worthy princes in Rhineland sat around, and the\ngames were begun again.\n\nFor twelve days the gay high-tide lasted, and nought was left undone\nwhereby the joy might be increased. And of all the heroes and princes\nwho jousted in the tournament, or took part in the games, none could\nequal the unassuming Siegfried; and his praises were heard on every\nhand, and all agreed that he was the most worthy prince that they had\never seen.\n\nWhen at last the festal days came to an end, Gunther and his brothers\ncalled their guests and vassals around them, and loaded them with costly\ngifts, and bade them God-speed. And tears stood in the eyes of all at\nparting.\n\nThe captive kings, Leudiger and Leudigast, were not forgotten.\n\n\u201cWhat will ye give me for your freedom?\u201d asked King Gunther, half in\njest.\n\nThey answered,--\n\n\u201cIf you will allow us without further hinderance to go back to our\npeople, we pledge our lives and our honor that we will straightway send\nyou gold, as much as half a thousand horses can carry.\u201d\n\nThen Gunther turned to Siegfried, and said,--\n\n\u201cWhat think you, friend Siegfried, of such princely ransom?\u201d\n\n\u201cNoble lord,\u201d said Siegfried, \u201cI think you are in need of no such\nransom. Friendship is worth much more than gold. If your kingly captives\nwill promise, on their honor, never more to come towards Burgundy as\nenemies, let them go. We have no need of gold.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018Tis well said,\u201d cried Gunther highly pleased.\n\nAnd Leudiger and Leudigast, with tears of thankfulness, gladly made\nthe asked-for promise, and on the morrow, with light hearts and costly\ngifts, they set out on their journey homewards.\n\nWhen all the guests had gone, and the daily routine of idle palace-life\nset in again, Siegfried began to talk of going back to Nibelungen\nLand. But young Giselher, and the peerless Kriemhild, and King Gunther,\nbesought him to stay yet a little longer. And he yielded to their kind\nwishes. And autumn passed away with its fruits and its vintage, and grim\nold winter came howling down from the north, and Siegfried was still\nin Burgundy. And then old Hoder, the king of the winter months,\ncame blustering through the Rhine valley; and with him were the\nReifriesen,--the thieves that steal the daylight from the earth and\nthe warmth from the sun. And they nipped the flowers, and withered the\ngrass, and stripped the trees, and sealed up the rivers, and covered the\nearth with a white mantle of sorrow.\n\nBut within King Gunther\u2019s wide halls there was joy and good cheer.\nAnd the season of the Yule-feast came, and still Siegfried tarried in\nBurgundy-land.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XIII. The Story of Balder.\n\n\n\nThere was mirth in King Gunther\u2019s dwelling, for the time of the\nYule-feast had come. The broad banquet hall was gayly decked with cedar\nand spruce and sprigs of the mistletoe; and the fires roared in the\ngreat chimneys, throwing warmth and a ruddy glow of light into every\ncorner of the room. The long table fairly groaned under its weight of\ngood cheer. At its head sat the kings and the earl-folk; and before\nthem, on a silver platter of rare workmanship, was the head of a huge\nwild boar,--the festal offering to the good Frey, in honor of whom\nthe Yule-feast was held. For now the sun, which had been driven by the\nFrost-giants far away towards the South-land, had begun to return, and\nFrey was on his way once more to scatter peace and plenty over the land.\n\nThe harp and the wassail-bowl went round; and each one of the company\nsang a song, or told a story, or in some way did his part to add to the\nevening\u2019s enjoyment. And a young sea-king who sat at Siegfried\u2019s side\ntold most bewitching tales of other lands which lie beyond Old AEgir\u2019s\nkingdom. Then, when the harp came to him, he sang the wondrous song of\nthe shaping of the earth. And all who heard were charmed with the sweet\nsound and with the pleasant words. He sang of the sunlight and the south\nwinds and the summer-time, of the storms and the snow and the sombre\nshadows of the North-land. And he sang of the dead Ymir, the giant whose\nflesh had made the solid earth, and whose blood the sea, and whose bones\nthe mountains, whose teeth the cliffs and crags, and whose skull the\nheavens. And he sang of Odin, the earth\u2019s preserver, the Giver of life,\nthe Father of all; and of the Asa-folk who dwell in Asgard; and of\nthe ghostly heroes in Valhal. Then he sang of the heaven-tower of the\nthunder-god, and of the shimmering Asa-bridge, or rainbow, all afire;\nand, lastly, of the four dwarfs who hold the blue sky-dome above them,\nand of the elves of the mountains, and of the wood-sprites and\nthe fairies. Then he laid aside his harp, and told the old but\never-beautiful story of the death of Balder the Good.\n\n\n\nThe Story.\n\n\n\nBalder, as you know, was Odin\u2019s son; and he was the brightest and\nbest of all the Asa-folk. Wherever he went, there were gladness and\nlight-hearted mirth, and blooming flowers, and singing birds, and\nmurmuring waterfalls. Balder, too, was a hero, but not one of the\nblustering kind, like Thor. He slew no giants; he never went into\nbattle; he never tried to make for himself a name among the dwellers of\nthe mid-world; and yet he was a hero of the noblest type. He dared to do\nright, and to stand up for the good, the true, and the beautiful. There\nare still some such heroes, but the world does not always hear of them.\n\nHoder, the blind king of the winter months, was Balder\u2019s brother, and as\nunlike him as darkness is unlike daylight. While one rejoiced, and\nwas merry and cheerful, the other was low-spirited and sad. While one\nscattered sunshine and blessings everywhere, the other carried with him\na sense of cheerlessness and gloom. Yet the brothers loved each other\ndearly.\n\nOne night Balder dreamed a strange dream, and when he awoke he could not\nforget it. All day long he was thoughtful and sad, and he was not his\nown bright, happy self. His mother, the Asa-queen, saw that something\ntroubled him; and she asked,--\n\n\u201cWhence comes that cloud upon your brow? Will you suffer it to chase\naway all your sunshine? and will you become, like your brother Hoder,\nall frowns and sighs and tears?\u201d\n\nThen Balder told her what he had dreamed; and she, too, was sorely\ntroubled, for it was a frightful dream, and foreboded dire disasters.\nThen both she and Balder went to Odin, and to him they told the cause\nof their uneasiness. And the All-Father also was distressed; for he knew\nthat such dreams, dreamed by Asa-folk, were the forewarnings of evil. So\nhe saddled his eight-footed steed Sleipner; and, without telling any one\nwhere he was going, he rode with the speed of the winds down into\nthe Valley of Death. The dog that guards the gateway to that dark and\ndoleful land came out to meet him. Blood was on the fierce beast\u2019s\nbreast, and he barked loudly and angrily at the All-Father and his\nwondrous horse. But Odin sang sweet magic songs as he drew near; and the\ndog was charmed with the sound, and Sleipner and his rider went onward\nin safety. And they passed the dark halls of the pale-faced queen, and\ncame to the east gate of the valley. There stood the low hut of a witch\nwho lived in darkness, and, like the Norns, spun the thread of fate for\ngods and men.\n\nOdin stood before the hut, and sang a wondrous song of witchery and\nenchantment; and he laid a spell upon the weird woman, and forced her to\ncome out of her dark dwelling, and to answer his questions.\n\n\u201cWho is this stranger?\u201d asked the witch. \u201cWho is this unknown who calls\nme from my narrow home, and sets an irksome task for me? Long have I\nbeen left alone in my quiet house; nor recked I that the snow sometimes\ncovered with its cold white mantle both me and my resting-place, or that\nthe pattering rain and the gently falling dew often moistened the roof\nof my dwelling. Long have I rested quietly, and I do not wish now to be\naroused.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am Valtam\u2019s son,\u201d said Odin; \u201cand I come to learn of thee. Tell me,\nI pray, for whom are the soft couches prepared that I saw in the broad\nhalls of Death? For whom are the jewels, and the rings, and the rich\nclothing, and the shining shield?\u201d\n\n\u201cAll are for Balder, Odin\u2019s son,\u201d she answered. \u201cAnd the mead which has\nbeen brewed for him is hidden beneath the shining shield.\u201d\n\nThen Odin asked who would be the slayer of Balder, and she answered that\nHoder was the one who would send the shining Asa to the halls of Death.\n\n\u201cWho will avenge Balder, and bring distress upon his slayer?\u201d asked\nOdin.\n\n\u201cA son of Earth but one day old shall be Balder\u2019s avenger. Go thou now\nhome, Odin; for I know thou art not Valtam\u2019s son. Go home; and none\nshall again awaken me, nor disturb me at my task, until the new day\nshall dawn, and Balder shall rule over the young world in its purity,\nand there shall be no more Death.\u201d\n\nThen Odin rode sorrowfully homeward; but he told no one of his journey\nto the Dark Valley, nor of what the weird witch had said to him.\n\nBalder\u2019s mother, the Asa-queen, could not rest because of the ill-omened\ndream that her son had had; and in her distress she called all the\nAsa-folk together to consider what should be done. But they were\nspeechless with sorrow and alarm; and none could offer advice, nor set\nher mind at ease. Then she sought out every living creature, and every\nlifeless thing, upon the earth, and asked each one to swear that it\nwould not on any account hurt Balder, nor touch him to do him harm. And\nthis oath was willingly made by fire and water, earth and air, by all\nbeasts and creeping things and birds and fishes, by the rocks and by the\ntrees and all metals; for every thing loved Balder the Good.\n\nThen the Asa-folk thought that great honor was shown to Balder each time\nany thing refused to hurt him; and to show their love for him, as well\nas to amuse themselves, they often hewed at him with their battle-axes,\nor struck at him with their sharp swords, or hurled toward him their\nheavy lances. For every weapon turned aside from its course, and would\nneither mark nor bruise the shining target at which it was aimed; and\nBalder\u2019s princely beauty shone as bright and as pure as ever.\n\nWhen Loki the Mischief-maker saw how all things loved and honored\nBalder, his heart was filled with jealous hate, and he sought all over\nthe earth for some beast or bird or tree or lifeless thing, that had\nnot taken the oath. But he could find not one. Then, disguised as a fair\nmaiden, he went to Fensal Hall, where dwelt Balder\u2019s mother. The fair\nAsa-queen was busy at her distaff, with her golden spindles, spinning\nflax to be woven into fine linen for the gods. And her maid-servant,\nFulla of the flowing hair, sat on a stool beside her. When the queen saw\nLoki, she asked,--\n\n\u201cWhence come you, fair stranger? and what favor would you ask of Odin\u2019s\nwife?\u201d\n\n\u201cI come,\u201d answered the disguised Loki, \u201cfrom the plains of Ida, where\nthe gods meet for pleasant pastime, as well as to talk of the weightier\nmatters of their kingdom.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd how do they while away their time to-day?\u201d asked the queen.\n\n\u201cThey have a pleasant game which they call Balder\u2019s Honor,\u201d was the\nanswer. \u201cThe shining hero stands before them as a target, and each one\ntries his skill at hurling some weapon toward him. First Odin throws at\nhim the spear Gungner, which never before was known to miss its mark;\nbut it passes harmlessly over Balder\u2019s head. Then Thor takes up a huge\nrock, and hurls it full at Balder\u2019s breast; but it turns in its course,\nand will not smite the sun-bright target. Then Tyr seizes a battle-axe,\nand strikes at Balder as though he would hew him down; but the keen edge\nrefuses to touch him: and in this way the Asa-folk show honor to the\nbest of their number.\u201d\n\nThe Asa-queen smiled in the glad pride of her mother-heart, and said,\n\u201cYes, every thing shows honor to the best of Odin\u2019s sons; for neither\nmetal nor wood nor stone nor fire nor water will touch Balder to do him\nharm.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it true, then,\u201d asked Loki, \u201cthat every thing has made an oath to\nyou, and promised not to hurt your son?\u201d\n\nAnd the queen, not thinking what harm an unguarded word might do,\nanswered, \u201cEvery thing has promised, save a little feeble sprig that men\ncall the mistletoe. So small and weak it is, that I knew it could never\nharm any one; and so I passed it by, and did not ask it to take the\noath.\u201d\n\nThen Loki went out of Fensal Hall, and left the Asa-queen at her\nspinning. And he walked briskly away, and paused not until he came to\nthe eastern side of Valhal, where, on the branches of an old oak, the\nmistletoe grew. Rudely he tore the plant from its supporting branch, and\nhid it under his cloak. Then he walked leisurely back to the place where\nthe Asa-folk were wont to meet in council.\n\nThe next day the Asas went out, as usual, to engage in pleasant pastimes\non the plains of Ida. When they had tired of leaping and foot-racing and\ntilting, they placed Balder before them as a target again; and, as\neach threw his weapon toward the shining mark, they laughed to see the\nmissile turn aside from its course, and refuse to strike the honored\none. But blind Hoder stood sorrowfully away from the others, and did not\njoin in any of their sports. Loki, seeing this, went to him and said,--\n\n\u201cBrother of the gloomy brow, why do you not take part with us in our\ngames?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am blind,\u201d answered Hoder. \u201cI can neither leap, nor run, nor throw\nthe lance.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you can shoot arrows from your bow,\u201d said Loki.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said Hoder, \u201cthat I can do only as some one shall direct my aim,\nfor I can see no target.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you hear that laughter?\u201d asked Loki. \u201cThor has hurled the straight\ntrunk of a pine-tree at your brother; and, rather than touch such a\nglorious mark; it has turned aside, and been shivered to pieces upon the\nrocks over there. It is thus that the Asa-folk, and all things living\nand lifeless, honor Balder. Hoder is the only one who hangs his head,\nand fears to do his part. Come, now, let me fit this little arrow in\nyour bow, and then, as I point it, do you shoot. When you hear the gods\nlaugh, you will know that your arrow has shown honor to the hero by\nrefusing to hit him.\u201d\n\nAnd Hoder, thinking no harm, did as Loki wished. And the deadly arrow\nsped from the bow, and pierced the heart of shining Balder, and he\nsank lifeless upon the ground. Then the Asa-folk who saw it were struck\nspeechless with sorrow and dismay; and, had it not been that the Ida\nplains where they then stood were sacred to peace, they would have\nseized upon Loki, and put him to death.\n\nForthwith the world was draped in mourning for Balder the Good;\nthe birds stopped singing, and flew with drooping wings to the far\nSouth-land; the beasts sought to hide themselves in their lairs and\nin the holes of the ground; the trees shivered and sighed until their\nleaves fell withered to the earth; the flowers closed their eyes, and\ndied; the rivers stopped flowing, and dark and threatening billows\nveiled the sea; even the sun shrouded his face, and withdrew silently\ntowards the south.\n\nWhen Balder\u2019s good mother heard the sad news, she left her golden\nspindle in Fensal Hall, and with her maidens hastened to the Ida-plains,\nwhere the body of her son still lay. Nanna, the faithful wife of Balder,\nwas already there; and wild was her grief at sight of the lifeless\nloved one. And all the Asa-folk--save guilty Loki, who had fled for\nhis life--stood about them in dumb amazement. But Odin was the most\nsorrowful of all; for he knew, that, with Balder, the world had lost its\nmost gladsome life.\n\nThey lifted the body, and carried it down to the sea, where the great\nship \u201cRinghorn,\u201d which Balder himself had built, lay ready to be\nlaunched. And a great company followed, and stood upon the beach, and\nbewailed the untimely death of the hero. First came Odin, with his\ngrief-stricken queen, and then his troop of handmaidens, the Valkyrien,\nfollowed by his ravens Hugin and Munin. Then came Thor in his goat-drawn\ncar, and Heimdal on his horse Goldtop; then Frey, in his wagon, behind\nthe boar Gullinbruste of the golden bristles. Then Freyja, in her\nchariot drawn by cats, came weeping tears of gold. Lastly, poor blind\nHoder, overcome with grief, was carried thither on the back of one of\nthe Frost-giants. And Old AEgir, the Ocean king, raised his dripping\nhead above the water, and gazed with dewy eyes upon the scene; and the\nwaves, as if affrighted, left off their playing, and were still.\n\nHigh on the deck they built the funeral-pile; and they placed the body\nupon it, and covered it with costly garments, and with woods of the\nfinest scent; and the noble horse which had been Balder\u2019s they slew, and\nplaced beside him, that he might not have to walk to the halls of Death.\nAnd Odin took from his finger the ring Draupner, the earth\u2019s enricher,\nand laid it on the pile. Then Nanna, the faithful wife, was overcome\nwith grief, and her gentle heart was broken, and she fell lifeless at\nthe feet of the Asa-queen. And they carried her upon the ship, and laid\nher by her husband\u2019s side.\n\nWhen all things were in readiness to set fire to the pile, the gods\ntried to launch the ship; but it was so heavy that they could not move\nit. So they sent in haste to Jotunheim for the stout giantess Hyrroken;\nand she came with the speed of the whirlwind, and riding on a wolf,\nwhich she guided with a bridle of writhing snakes.\n\n\u201cWhat will you have me do?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cWe would have you launch the great ship \u2018Ring horn,\u2019\u201d answered Odin.\n\n\u201cThat I will do!\u201d roared the grim giantess. And, giving the vessel a\nsingle push, she sent it sliding with speed into the deep waters of the\nbay. Then she gave the word to her grisly steed, and she flew onwards\nand away, no one knew whither.\n\nThe \u201cRinghorn\u201d floated nobly upon the water,--a worthy bier for the body\nwhich it bore. The fire was set to the funeral-pile, and the red flames\nshot upwards to the sky; but their light was but a flickering beam when\nmatched with the sun-bright beauty of Balder, whose body they consumed.\n\nThen the sorrowing folk turned away, and went back to their homes: a\ncheerless gloom rested heavily where light gladness had ruled before.\nAnd, when they reached the high halls of Asgard, the Asa-queen spoke,\nand said,--\n\n\u201cWho now, for the love of Balder and his stricken mother, will undertake\nan errand? Who will go down into the Valley of Death, and seek for\nBalder, and ransom him, and bring him back to Asgard and the mid-world?\u201d\n\nThen Hermod the Nimble, the brother of Balder, answered, \u201cI will go. I\nwill find him, and, with Hela\u2019s leave, will bring him back.\u201d\n\nAnd he mounted Sleipner, the eight-footed steed, and galloped swiftly\naway. Nine days and nine nights he rode through strange valleys and\nmountain gorges, where the sun\u2019s light had never been, and through\ngloomy darkness and fearful silence, until he came to the black river,\nand the glittering, golden bridge which crosses it. Over the bridge his\nstrong horse carried him; although it shook and swayed and threatened to\nthrow him into the raging, inky flood below. On the other side a maiden\nkeeps the gate, and Hermod stopped to pay the toll.\n\n\u201cWhat is thy name?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cMy name is Hermod, and I am called the Nimble,\u201d he answered.\n\n\u201cWhat is thy father\u2019s name?\u201d\n\n\u201cHis name is Odin. Mayhap you have heard of him.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy ridest thou with such thunderous speed? Five kingdoms of dead men\npassed over this bridge yesterday, and it shook not with their weight\nas it did with thee and thy strange steed. Thou art not of the pale\nmultitude that are wont to pass this gate. What is thy errand? and why\nridest thou to the domains of the dead?\u201d\n\n\u201cI go to find my brother Balder,\u201d answered Hermod. \u201cIt is but a short\ntime since he unwillingly came down into these shades.\u201d\n\n\u201cThree days ago,\u201d said the maiden, \u201cBalder passed this way, and by his\nside rode the faithful Nanna. So bright was his presence, even here,\nthat the whole valley was lighted up as it had never before been\nlighted. The black river glittered like a gem; the frowning mountains\nsmiled for once; and Hela herself, the queen of these regions, slunk far\naway into her most distant halls. But Balder went on his way, and even\nnow he sups with Nanna in the dark castle over yonder.\u201d\n\nThen Hermod rode forward till he came to the castle walls. These were\nbuilt of black marble; and the iron gate was barred and bolted, and none\nwho went in had ever yet come out. Hermod called loudly to the porter\nto open the gate and let him in; but no one seemed to hear nor heed him,\nfor the words of the living are unknown in that place. Then he drew\nthe saddle-girths more tightly around the horse Sleipner, and urged him\nforward. High up, the great horse leaped; and he sprang clear over the\ngates, and landed at the open door of the great hall. Leaving his steed,\nHermod went boldly in; and there he found his brother Balder and the\nfaithful Nanna seated at the festal board, and honored as the most\nworthy of all the guests. With Balder, Hermod staid until the night had\npassed; and many were the pleasant words they spoke. When morning came,\nHermod went into the presence of Hela, and said,--\n\n\u201cO mighty queen! I come to ask a boon of thee. Balder the Good, whom\nboth gods and men loved, has been sent to dwell with thee here in thy\ndarksome house; and all the world weeps for him, and has donned the garb\nof mourning, and cannot be consoled until his bright light shall shine\nupon them again. And the gods have sent me, his brother, to ask thee to\nlet Balder ride back with me to Asgard, to his noble, sorrowing mother,\nthe Asa-queen; for then will hope live again in the hearts of men, and\nhappiness will return to the earth.\u201d\n\nThe Death-queen was silent for a moment; and then she said in a sad\nvoice, \u201cHardly can I believe that any being is so greatly loved by\nthings living and lifeless; for surely Balder is not more the friend of\nearth than I am, and yet men love me not. But go thou back to Asgard;\nand, if every thing shall weep for Balder, then I will send him to\nyou. But, if any thing shall refuse to weep, then I will keep him in my\nhalls.\u201d\n\nSo Hermod made ready to return home; and Balder gave him the ring\nDraupner to carry to his father as a keepsake; and Nanna sent to the\nqueen-mother a rich carpet of purest green. Then the nimble messenger\nmounted his horse, and rode swiftly back over the dark river, and\nthrough the frowning valleys, until he at last reached Odin\u2019s halls.\n\nWhen the Asa-folk learned upon what terms they might have Balder again\nwith them, they sent heralds all over the world to beseech every thing\nto mourn for him. And men and beasts, and creeping things, and birds and\nfishes, and trees and stones, and air and water,--all things, living and\nlifeless, joined in weeping for the lost Balder.\n\nBut, as the heralds were on their way back to Asgard, they met a\ngiantess named Thok, and they asked her to join in the universal grief.\nAnd she answered, \u201cWhat good thing did Balder ever do for Thok? What\ngladness did he ever bring her? If she should weep for him, it would be\nwith dry tears. Let Hela keep him in her halls.\u201d[EN#23]\n\n\u201cAnd yet the day shall come,\u201d added the story-teller, \u201cwhen the words of\nthe weird woman to Odin shall prove true; and Balder shall come again to\nrule over a newborn world in which there shall be no wrong-doing and no\nmore death.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XIV. How Gunther Outwitted Brunhild.\n\n\n\nWhile still the festivities were at their height, an old man of noble\nmien, and with snow-white beard and hair, came into the great hall, and\nsang for the gay company. And some whispered that this must be Bragi,\nfor surely such rare music could not be made by any other. But he sang\nnot of spring, as Bragi does, nor yet of youth nor of beauty, nor like\none whose home is with the song-birds, and who lives beside the babbling\nbrooks and the leaping waterfalls. His song was a sorrowful one,--of\ndying flowers, and falling leaves, and the wailing winds of autumn, of\nforgotten joys, of blasted hopes, of a crushed ambition, of gray hairs,\nof uttering footsteps, of old age, of a lonely grave. And, as he sang,\nall were moved to tears by the mournful melody and the sad, sad words.\n\n\u201cGood friend,\u201d said Siegfried, \u201cthy music agrees not well with this time\nand place; for, where nothing but mirth and joy are welcome, thou hast\nbrought sorrowful thoughts and gloomy forebodings. Come, now, and undo\nthe harm thou hast done, by singing a song which shall tell only of\nmirth and gladness.\u201d\n\nThe old man shook his head, and answered, \u201cWere I Bragi; as some think\nI am, or were I even a strolling harper, I might do as you ask. But I am\nneither, and I know no gladsome songs. Men have called me a messenger of\nill omen; and such, indeed, I have sometimes been, although through no\nwish of my own. I come as a herald from a far-off land, and I bear a\nmessage to all the kings and the noblest chiefs of Rhineland. If King\nGunther will allow me, I will now make that message known.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet the herald speak on,\u201d said Gunther graciously.\n\n\u201cFar over the sea,\u201d said the herald, \u201cthere lies a dreamy land called\nIsenland; and in that land there is a glorious castle, with six and\neighty towers, built of purest marble, green as grass. In that castle\nthere lives the fairest of all Earth\u2019s daughters, Brunhild, the maiden\nof the spring-time. In the early days she was one of Odin\u2019s Valkyrien;\nand with other heavenly maidens it was her duty to follow, unseen, in\nthe wake of armies, and when they met in battle to hover over the field,\nand with kisses to waken the dead heroes, and lead their souls away\nto Odin\u2019s glad banquet-hall. But upon a day she failed to do the\nAll-Father\u2019s bidding, and he, in anger, sent her to live among men, and\nlike them to be short-lived, and subject to old age and death. But the\nchildless old king of Isenland took pity upon the friendless maiden, and\ncalled her his daughter, and made her his heir. Then Odin, still more\nangered, sent the thorn of sleep to wound the princess. And sleep seized\nupon every creature in Isenland, and silence reigned in the halls of the\nmarble palace. For Odin said, \u2018Thus shall they all sleep until the hero\ncomes, who will ride through fire, and awaken Brunhild with a kiss.\u2019\n\n\u201cAt last the hero so long waited for came. He passed the fiery barrier\nsafe, and awoke the slumbering maiden; and all the castle sprang\nsuddenly into life again. And Brunhild became known once more as the\nmost glorious princess in this mid-world. But the sun-bright hero who\nfreed her from her prison of sleep vanished from Isenland, and no one\nknew where he went; but men say that he rides through the noble world,\nthe fairest and the best of kings. And Brunhild has sought for him in\nmany lands; and, although all folk have heard of his deeds, none know\nwhere he dwells. And so, as a last resort, she has sent heralds into\nevery land to challenge every king to match his skill with hers in three\ngames of strength,--in casting the spear, in hurling the heavy stone,\nand in leaping. The one who can equal her in these feats shall be king\nof Isenland, and share with her the throne of Isenstein. And by this\nmeans she hopes to find the long-absent hero; for she believes that\nthere is no other prince on earth whose strength and skill are equal to\nher own. Many men have already risked their lives in this adventure, and\nall have failed.\n\n\u201cAnd now, King Gunther,\u201d continued the herald, \u201cI have come by her\norders into Rhineland, and I deliver the challenge to you. If you\naccept, and are beaten, your life is forfeited. If you succeed, the\nfairest kingdom and the most beautiful queen in the world are yours; for\nyou will have proved that you are at least the equal of the hero whom\nshe seeks. What reply shall I carry back to Isenland?\u201d\n\nKing Gunther answered hastily, and as one dazed and in a dream, \u201cSay\nthat I accept the challenge, and that when the spring-time comes again,\nand the waters in the river are unlocked, I shall go to Isenland, and\nmatch my skill and strength with that of the fair and mighty Brunhild.\u201d\n\nAll who stood around were greatly astonished at Gunther\u2019s reply; for,\nalthough his mind was somewhat weak, he was not given to rash and\nhazardous undertakings. And Siegfried, who was at his side, whispered,\n\u201cThink twice, friend Gunther, ere you decide. You do not know the\nstrength of this mighty but lovely warrior-maiden. Were your strength\nfour times what it is, you could not hope to excel her in those feats.\nGive up this hasty plan, I pray you, and recall your answer to the\nchallenge. Think no more of such an undertaking, for it surely will cost\nyou your life.\u201d\n\nBut these warnings, and the words of others who tried to dissuade him,\nonly made Gunther the more determined; and he vowed that nothing should\nhinder him from undertaking the adventure. Then the dark-browed Hagen\nsaid,--\n\n\u201cOur friend Siegfried seems to know much about Isenland and its\nmaiden-queen. And indeed, if there is any truth in hearsay, he has had\nthe best of means for learning. Now, if our good King Gunther has set\nhis mind on going upon this dangerous enterprise, mayhap Siegfried would\nbe willing to bear him company.\u201d\n\nGunther was pleased with Hagen\u2019s words; and he said to Siegfried, \u201cMy\nbest of friends, go with me to Isenland, and help me. If we do well in\nour undertaking, ask of me any reward you wish, and I will give it you,\nso far as in my power lies.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know, kind Gunther,\u201d answered Siegfried, \u201cthat for myself I have\nno fear; and yet again I would warn you to shun the unknown dangers with\nwhich this enterprise is fraught. But if, after all, your heart is set\nupon it, make ready to start as soon as the warm winds shall have melted\nthe ice from the river. I will go with you.\u201d\n\nThe king grasped Siegfried\u2019s hand, and thanked him heartily.\n\n\u201cWe must build a fleet,\u201d said he. \u201cA thousand fighting-men shall go with\nus, and we will land in Isenland with a retinue such as no other prince\nhas had. A number of stanch vessels shall be built at once, and in the\nearly spring they shall be launched upon the Rhine.\u201d\n\nSiegfried was amused at Gunther\u2019s earnestness, and he answered, \u201cDo\nnot think of taking such a following. You would waste twelve months in\nbuilding and victualling such a fleet. You would take from Burgundy its\nonly safeguard against foes from without; and, after you should reach\nIsenland, you would find such a large force to be altogether useless.\nTake my advice: have one small vessel built and rigged and victualled\nfor the long and dangerous voyage; and, when the time shall come,\nyou and I, and your kinsmen Hagen and Dankwart,--we four only,--will\nundertake the voyage and the emprise you have decided upon.\u201d\n\nGunther knew that his friend\u2019s judgment in this matter was better than\nhis own, and he agreed readily to all of Siegfried\u2019s plans.\n\n* * * * *\n\nWhen, at length, the winter months began to wane, many hands were busy\nmaking ready for the voyage. The peerless Kriemhild called together\nthirty of her maidens, the most skilful seamstresses in Burgundyland,\nand began the making of rich clothing for her brother and his\nfriends.[EN#24] With her own fair hands she cut out garments from the\nrarest stuffs,--from the silky skins brought from the sunny lands of\nLybia; from the rich cloth of Zazemang, green as clover; from the silk\nthat traders bring from Araby, white as the drifted snow. For seven\nweeks the clever maidens and their gentle mistress plied their busy\nneedles, and twelve suits of wondrous beauty they made for each of\nthe four heroes. And the princely garments were covered with fine\nneedle-work, and with curious devices all studded with rare and costly\njewels; and all were wrought with threads of gold.\n\nMany carpenters and ship-builders were busy with axes and hammers, and\nflaming forges, working day and night to make ready a vessel new and\nstanch, to carry the adventurers over the sea. And great stores of\nfood, and of all things needful to their safety or comfort, were brought\ntogether and put on board.\n\nNeither were the heroes themselves idle; for when not busy in giving\ndirections to the workmen, or in overseeing the preparations that were\nelsewhere going on, they spent the time in polishing their armor (now\nlong unused), in looking after their weapons, or in providing for the\nmanagement of their business while away. And Siegfried forgot not his\ntrusty sword Balmung, nor his cloak of darkness the priceless Tarnkappe,\nwhich he had captured from the dwarf Alberich in the Nibelungen Land.\n\nThen the twelve suits of garments which fair fingers had wrought were\nbrought. And when the men tried them on, so faultless was the fit, so\nrare and perfect was every piece in richness and beauty, that even the\nwearers were amazed, and all declared that such dazzling and kingly\nraiment had never before been seen.\n\nAt last the spring months had fairly vanquished all the forces of the\ncold North-land. The warm breezes had melted the snow and ice, and\nunlocked the river; and the time had come for Gunther and his comrades\nto embark. The little ship, well victualled, and made stanch and stout\nin every part, had been launched upon the Rhine; and she waited with\nflying streamers and impatient sails the coming of her crew. Down the\nsands at length they came, riding upon their steeds; and behind them\nfollowed a train of vassals bearing their kingly garments and their\ngold-red shields. And on the banks stood many of the noblest folk of\nBurgundy,--Gernot and the young Giselher, and Ute the queen-mother, and\nKriemhild the peerless, and a number of earl-folk, and warriors, and\nfair dames, and blushing damsels. And the heroes bade farewell to their\nweeping friends, and went upon the waiting vessel, taking their steeds\nwith them. And Siegfried seized an oar, and pushed the bark off from the\nshore.\n\n\u201cI myself will be the steersman, for I know the way,\u201d he said.\n\nAnd the sails were unfurled to the brisk south wind, and the vessel sped\nswiftly toward the sea; and many fair eyes were filled tears as they\nwatched it until it could be seen no more. And with sighs and gloomy\nforebodings the good people went back to their homes, and but few hoped\never again to see their king and his brave comrades.\n\nDriven by favorable winds, the trusty little vessel sailed gayly down\nthe Rhine, and, ere many days had passed, was out in the boundless sea.\nFor a long time the heroes sailed and rowed through Old AEgir\u2019s watery\nkingdom. But they kept good cheer, and their hearts rose higher and\nhigher; for each day they drew nearer the end of their voyage and the\ngoal of their hopes. At length they came in sight of a far-reaching\ncoast and a lovely land; and not far from the shore they saw a noble\nfortress, with a number of tall towers pointing toward the sky.\n\n\u201cWhat land is that?\u201d asked the king.[EN#25]\n\nAnd Siegfried answered that it was Isenland, and that the fortress which\nthey saw was the Castle of Isenstein and the green marble hall of the\nPrincess Brunhild. But he warned his friends to be very wary when they\nshould arrive at the hall.\n\n\u201cLet all tell this story,\u201d said he: \u201csay that Gunther is the king, and\nthat I am his faithful vassal. The success of our undertaking depends on\nthis.\u201d And his three comrades promised to do as he advised.\n\nAs the vessel neared the shore, the whole castle seemed to be alive.\nFrom every tower and turret-window, from every door and balcony,\nlords and ladies, fighting-men and serving-men, looked out to see what\nstrangers these were who came thus unheralded to Isenland. The heroes\nwent on shore with their steeds, leaving the vessel moored to the bank;\nand then they rode slowly up the beach, and across the narrow plain, and\ncame to the drawbridge and the great gateway, where they paused.\n\nThe matchless Brunhild in her chamber had been told of the coming of the\nstrangers; and she asked the maidens who stood around,--\n\n\u201cWho, think you, are the unknown warriors who thus come boldly to\nIsenstein without asking leave? What is their bearing? Do they seem to\nbe worthy of our notice? or are they some straggling beggars who have\nlost their way?\u201d\n\nAnd one of the maidens, looking through the casement, answered, \u201cThe\nfirst is a king, I know, from his noble mien and the respect which his\nfellows pay to him. But the second bears himself with a prouder grace,\nand seems the noblest of them all. He reminds me much of the brave young\nSiegfried of former days. Indeed, it must be Siegfried; for he rides\na steed with sunbeam mane, which can be none other than Greyfell. The\nthird is a dark and gloomy man: he wears a sullen frown upon his brow,\nand his eyes seem to shoot quick glances around. How nervously he grasps\nhis sword-hilt, as if ever guarding against surprise! I think his temper\nmust be grim and fiery, and his heart a heart of flint. The fourth\nand last of the company is young and fair, and of gentle port. Little\nbusiness has he with rude warriors; and many tears, methinks, would be\nshed for him at home should harm overtake him. Never before have I\nseen so noble a company of strangers in Isenland. Their garments are\nof dazzling lustre; their saddles are covered with gem-stones; their\nweapons are of unequalled brightness. Surely they are worthy of your\nnotice.\u201d\n\nWhen Brunhild heard that Siegfried was one of the company, she was\nhighly pleased, and she hastened to make ready to meet them in the great\nhall. And she sent ten worthy lords to open the gate, and to welcome the\nheroes to Isenland.\n\nWhen Siegfried and his comrades passed through the great gateway, and\ncame into the castle-yard, their horses were led away to the stables,\nand the clanging armor and the broad shields and swords which they\ncarried were taken from them, and placed in the castle armory. Little\nheed was paid to Hagen\u2019s surly complaint at thus having every means of\ndefence taken away. He was told that such had always been the rule at\nIsenstein, and that he, like others, must submit.\n\nAfter a short delay the heroes were shown into the great hall, where the\nmatchless Brunhild already was awaiting them. Clad in richest raiment,\nfrom every fold of which rare jewels gleamed, and wearing a coronet of\npearls and gold, the warrior-maiden sat on a throne of snow-white ivory.\nFive hundred earl-folk and warriors, the bravest in Isenland, stood\naround her with drawn swords, and fierce, determined looks. Surely men\nof mettle less heroic than that of the four knights from Rhineland would\nhave quaked with fear in such a presence.\n\nKing Gunther and his comrades went forward to salute the queen. With\na winning smile she kindly greeted them, and then said to Siegfried,\n\u201cGladly do we welcome you back to our land, friend Siegfried, We have\never remembered you as our best friend. May we ask what is your will,\nand who are these warriors whom you have with you?\u201d\n\n\u201cMost noble queen,\u201d answered he, \u201cright thankful am I that you have\nnot forgotten me, and that you should deign to notice me while in the\npresence of this my liege lord,\u201d and he pointed towards King Gunther.\n\u201cThe king of all Burgundy-land, whose humble vassal I am, has heard the\nchallenge you have sent into different lands, and he has come to match\nhis strength with yours.\u201d\n\n\u201cDoes he know the conditions?\u201d asked Brunhild.\n\n\u201cHe does,\u201d was the answer. \u201cIn case of success, the fairest of women for\nhis queen: in case of failure, death.\u201d\n\n\u201cYet scores of worthy men have made trial, and all have failed,\u201d said\nshe. \u201cI warn your liege lord to pause, and weigh well the chances ere he\nruns so great a risk.\u201d\n\nThen Gunther stepped forward and spoke:--\n\n\u201cThe chances, fairest queen, have all been weighed, and nothing can\nchange our mind. Make your own terms, arrange every thing as pleases\nyou best. We accept your challenge, and ask to make a trial of our\nstrength.\u201d\n\nThe warrior-maiden, without more words, bade her servants help her to\nmake ready at once for the contest. She donned a rich war-coat, brought\nlong ago from the far-off Lybian shores,--an armor which, it was said,\nno sword could dint, and upon which the heaviest stroke of spear fell\nharmless. Her hemlet was edged with golden lace, and sparkled all over\nwith rich gem-stones. Her lance, of wondrous length, a heavy weight for\nthree stout men, was brought. Her shield was as broad and as bright as\nthe sun, and three spans thick with steel and gold.\n\nWhile the princess was thus arming herself, the heroes looked on with\namazement and fear. But Siegfried, unnoticed, hastened quietly out of\nthe hall, and through the open castle-gate, and sped like the wind to\nthe seashore and to their little ship. There he arrayed himself in the\nTarnkappe, and then, silent and unseen, he ran back to his friends in\nthe great hall.\n\n\u201cBe of good cheer,\u201d he whispered in the ears of the trembling Gunther.\n\nBut the king could not see who it was that spoke to him, so well was\nthe hero hidden in the cloak of darkness. Yet he knew that it must be\nSiegfried and he felt greatly encouraged.\n\nHagen\u2019s frowning face grew darker, and the uneasy glances which shot\nfrom beneath his shaggy eyebrows were not those of fear, but of anger\nand deep anxiety. Dankwart gave up all as lost, and loudly bewailed\ntheir folly.\n\n\u201cMust we, unarmed, stand still and see our liege lord slain for a\nwoman\u2019s whim?\u201d he cried. \u201cHad we only our good swords, we might defy\nthis maiden-queen and all her Isenland.\u201d\n\nBrunhild overheard his words. Scornfully she called to her servants,\n\u201cBring to these boasters their armor, and let them have their keen-edged\nswords. Brunhild has no fear of such men, whether they be armed or\nunarmed.\u201d\n\nWhen Hagen and Dankwart felt their limbs again enclosed in steel, and\nwhen they held their trusty swords in hand, their uneasiness vanished,\nand hope returned.\n\nIn the castle-yard a space was cleared, and Brunhild\u2019s five hundred\nwarriors stood around as umpires. The unseen Siegfried kept close by\nGunther\u2019s side.\n\n\u201cFear not,\u201d he said. \u201cDo my bidding, and you are safe. Let me take your\nshield. When the time comes, make you the movements, and trust me to do\nthe work.\u201d\n\nThen Brunhild threw her spear at Gunther\u2019s shield. The mighty weapon\nsped through the air with the swiftness of lightning; and, when it\nstruck the shield, both Gunther and the unseen Siegfried fell to the\nground, borne down by its weight and the force with which it was thrown.\nBlood gushed from the nostrils of both; and sad would have been their\nfate if the friendly Tarnkappe had not hidden Siegfried from sight, and\ngiven him the strength of twelve giants. Quickly they rose. And Gunther\nseemed to pick up the heavy shaft, but it was really Siegfried who\nraised it from the ground. For one moment he poised the great beam in\nthe air, and then, turning the blunt end foremost, he sent it flying\nback more swiftly than it had come. It struck the huge shield which\nBrunhild held before her, with a sound that echoed to the farthest\ncliffs of Isenland. The warrior-maiden was dashed to the earth; but,\nrising at once, she cried,--\n\n\u201cThat was a noble blow, Sir Gunther. I confess myself fairly outdone.\nBut there are two chances yet, and you will do well if you equal me in\nthose. We will now try hurling the stone, and jumping.\u201d\n\nTwelve men came forward, carrying a huge rough stone in weight a ton or\nmore. And Brunhild raised this mass of rock in her white arms, and held\nit high above her head; then she swung it backwards once, and threw it a\ndozen fathoms across the castle-yard. Scarcely had it reached the ground\nwhen the mighty maiden leaped after, and landed just beside it. And the\nthousand lookers-on shouted in admiration. But old Hagen bit his unshorn\nlip, and cursed the day that had brought them to Isenland.\n\nGunther and the unseen Siegfried, not at all disheartened, picked up the\nheavy stone, which was half buried in the ground, and, lifting it with\nseeming ease, threw it swiftly forward. Not twelve, but twenty, fathoms\nit flew; and Siegfried, snatching up Gunther in his arms, leaped after,\nand landed close to the castle-wall. And Brunhild believed that Gunther\nalone had done these great feats through his own strength and skill;\nand she at once acknowledged herself beaten in the games, and bade her\nvassals do homage to Gunther as their rightful liege lord.\n\nAlas that the noblest of men-folk should gave stooped to such deed of\nbase deception! The punishment, although long delayed, came surely at\nlast; for not even the highest are exempt from obedience to Heaven\u2019s\nbehests and the laws of right.\n\nWhen the contest was ended, the unseen Siegfried ran quickly back to the\nlittle ship, and hastily doffed the magic Tarnkappe. Then, in his own\nform, he returned to the castle, and leisurely entered the castle-yard.\nWhen he met his pleased comrades and the vanquished maiden-queen, he\nasked in careless tones when the games would begin. All who heard his\nquestion laughed; and Brunhild said,--\n\n\u201cSurely, Sir Siegfried, the old sleep-thorn of Isenstein must have\ncaught you, and held you in your ship. The games are over, and Gunther,\nyour liege lord, is the winner.\u201d\n\nAt this news Siegfried seemed much delighted, as indeed he was. And all\nwent together to the great banquet-hall, where a rich feast was served\nto our heroes and to the worthy earl-folk and warriors of Isenland.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XV. In Nibelungen Land Again.\n\n\n\nWhen the folk of Isenland learned that their queen had been outwitted\nand won by a strange chief from a far-off and unknown land, great was\ntheir sorrow and dismay; for they loved the fair maiden-queen, and they\nfeared to exchange her mild reign for that of an untried foreigner. Nor\nwas the queen herself at all pleased with the issue of the late contest.\nShe felt no wish to leave her loved people, and her pleasant home, and\nthe fair island which was her kingdom, to take up her abode in a strange\nland, as the queen of one for whom she could feel no respect. And every\none wondered how it was that a man like Gunther, so commonplace, and so\nfeeble in his every look and act, could have done such deeds, and won\nthe wary warrior-maiden.\n\n\u201cIf it had only been Siegfried!\u201d whispered the maidens among themselves.\n\n\u201cIf it had only been Siegfried!\u201d murmured the knights and the\nfighting-men.\n\n\u201cIf it had only been Siegfried!\u201d thought the queen, away down in the\nmost secret corner of her heart. And she shut herself up in her room,\nand gave wild vent to her feelings of grief and disappointment.\n\nThen heralds mounted the swiftest horses, and hurried to every village\nand farm, and to every high-towered castle, in the land. And they\ncarried word to all of Brunhild\u2019s kinsmen and liegemen, bidding them to\ncome without delay to Isenstein. And every man arose as with one accord,\nand hastened to obey the call of their queen. And the whole land was\nfilled with the notes of busy preparation for war. And day by day to the\ncastle the warriors came and went, and the sound of echoing horse-hoofs,\nand the rattling of ready swords, and the ringing of the war-shields,\nwere heard on every hand.\n\n\u201cWhat means this treason?\u201d cried Gunther in dismay. \u201cThe coy\nwarrior-maiden would fain break her plighted word; and we, here in our\nweakness, shall perish from her wrath.\u201d\n\nAnd even old Hagen, who had never felt a fear when meeting a host in\nopen battle, was troubled at the thought of the mischief which was\nbrewing.\n\n\u201c\u2018Tis true, too true,\u201d he said, and the dark frown deepened on his face,\n\u201cthat we have done a foolish thing. For we four men have come to this\ncheerless land upon a hopeless errand; and, if we await the gathering of\nthe storm, our ruin will be wrought.\u201d And he grasped his sword-hilt with\nsuch force, that his knuckles grew white as he paced fiercely up and\ndown the hall.\n\nDankwart, too, bewailed the fate that had driven them into this net,\nfrom which he saw no way of escape. And both the warriors besought King\nGunther to take ship at once, and to sail for Rhineland before it was\ntoo late. But Siegfried said,--\n\n\u201cWhat account will you give to the folk at home, if you thus go back\nbeaten, outwitted, and ashamed? Brave warriors, indeed! we should be\ncalled. Wait a few days, and trust all to me. When Brunhild\u2019s warriors\nshall be outnumbered by our own, she will no longer hesitate, and our\nreturn to Rhineland shall be a triumphant one; for we shall carry the\nglorious warrior-queen home with us.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered Hagen, mocking, \u201cwe will wait until her warriors are\noutnumbered by our own. But how long shall that be? Will the lightning\ncarry the word to Burgundy? and will the storm-clouds bring our brave\nmen from across the sea? Had you allowed King Gunther\u2019s plans to be\nfollowed, they would have been here with us now, and we might have\nquelled this treason at the first.\u201d\n\nAnd Dankwart said, \u201cBy this time the fields of the South-land are green\nwith young corn, and the meadows are full of sweet-smelling flowers, and\nthe summer comes on apace. Why should we stay longer in this chilly and\nfog-ridden land, waiting upon the whims of a fickle maiden,--as fickle\nas the winds themselves? Better face the smiles and the jeers of the\nfolk at home than suffer shameful shipwreck in this cold Isenland.\u201d\n\nBut Siegfried would not be moved by the weak and wavering words of his\nonce valiant comrades.\n\n\u201cTrust me,\u201d he said, \u201cand all will yet be well. Wait here but a few days\nlonger in quietness, while I go aboard ship, and fare away. Within three\ndays I will bring to Isenstein a host of warriors such as you have never\nseen. And then the fickle fancies of Brunhild will flee, and she will no\nlonger refuse to sail with us to the now sunny South-land.\u201d\n\nHagen frowned still more deeply; and as he strode away he muttered,\n\u201cHe only wants to betray us, and leave us to die in this trap which he\nhimself has doubtless set for us.\u201d\n\nBut Gunther anxiously grasped the hand of Siegfried, and said, \u201cGo! I\ntrust you, and believe in you. But be sure not to linger, for no one\nknows what a day may bring forth in this uncertain and variable clime.\u201d\n\nWithout saying a word in reply, Siegfried turned, and hastened down to\nthe shore. Without any loss of time he unmoored the little ship, and\nstepped aboard. Then he donned his Tarnkappe, spread the sails, and\nseized the helm; and the vessel, like a bird with woven wings,\nsped swiftly out of the bay, and Isenstein, with its wide halls\nand glass-green towers, was soon lost to the sight of the invisible\nhelmsman. For four and twenty hours did Siegfried guide the flying\nvessel as it leaped from wave to wave, and sent the white foam dashing\nto left and right like flakes of snow. And late on the morrow he came to\na rock-bound coast, where steep cliffs and white mountain-peaks rose up,\nas it were, straight out of the blue sea. Having found a safe and\nnarrow inlet, he moored his little bark; and, keeping the Tarnkappe well\nwrapped around him, he stepped ashore. Briskly he walked along the rough\nshore, and through a dark mountain-pass, until he came to a place well\nknown to him,--a place where, years before, he had seen a cavern\u2019s\nyawning mouth, and a great heap of shining treasures, and two princes\ndying of hunger. But now, upon the selfsame spot there stood a frowning\nfortress, dark and gloomy and strong, which Siegfried himself had built\nin after-years; and the iron gates were barred and bolted fast, and no\nliving being was anywhere to be seen.\n\nLoud and long did Siegfried, wrapped in his cloak of darkness, knock and\ncall outside. At last a grim old giant, who sat within, and kept watch\nand ward of the gate, cried out,--\n\n\u201cWho knocks there?\u201d\n\nSiegfried, angrily and in threatening tones, answered,--\n\n\u201cOpen the gate at once, lazy laggard, and ask no questions. A stranger,\nwho has lost his way among the mountains, seeks shelter from the storm\nwhich is coming. Open the gate without delay, or I will break it down\nupon your dull head.\u201d\n\nThen the giant in hot anger seized a heavy iron beam, and flung the gate\nwide open, and leaped quickly out to throttle the insolent stranger.\nWarily he glanced around on every side; but Siegfried was clad in the\nmagic Tarnkappe, and the giant could see no one. Amazed and ashamed, he\nturned to shut the gate, and to go again to his place; for he began to\nbelieve that a foolish dream had awakened and deceived him. Then the\nunseen Siegfried seized him from behind; and though he struggled hard,\nand fought with furious strength, our hero threw him upon the ground,\nand bound him with cords of sevenfold strength.\n\nThe unwonted noise at the gate rang through the castle, and awakened\nthe sleeping inmates. The dwarf Alberich, who kept the fortress against\nSiegfried\u2019s return, and who watched the Nibelungen treasure, which was\nstored in the hollow hill, arose, and donned his armor, and hurried to\nthe giant\u2019s help. A right stout dwarf was Alberich; and, as we have seen\nin a former adventure, he was as bold as stout. Armed in a war-coat of\nsteel, he ran out to the gate, flourishing a seven-thonged whip, on each\nthong of which a heavy golden ball was hung. Great was his amazement\nand his wrath when he saw the giant lying bound and helpless upon the\nground; and with sharp, eager eyes he peered warily around to see if,\nperchance, he might espy his hidden foe. But, when he could find no\none, his anger grew hotter than before, and he swung his golden scourge\nfiercely about his head. Well was it for Siegfried then, that the\nTarnkappe hid him from sight; for the dwarf kept pounding about in air\nso sturdily and strong, that, even as it was, he split the hero\u2019s shield\nfrom the centre to the rim. Then Siegfried rushed quickly upon the\ndoughty little fellow, and seized him by his long gray beard, and threw\nhim so roughly upon the ground, that Alberich shrieked with pain.\n\n\u201cSpare me, I pray you,\u201d he cried. \u201cI know that you are no mean knight;\nand, if I had not promised to serve my master Siegfried until death, I\nfain would acknowledge you as my lord.\u201d\n\nBut Siegfried bound the writhing dwarf, and placed him, struggling and\nhelpless, by the side of the giant.\n\n\u201cTell me, now, your name, I pray,\u201d said the dwarf; \u201cfor I must give an\naccount of this adventure to my master when he comes.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is your master?\u201d\n\n\u201cHis name is Siegfried; and he is king of the Nibelungens, and lord, by\nright, of the great Nibelungen Hoard. To me and to my fellows he long\nago intrusted the keeping of this castle and of the Hoard that lies deep\nhidden in the hollow hill; and I have sworn to keep it safe until his\nreturn.\u201d\n\nThen Siegfried threw off his Tarnkappe, and stood in his own proper\nperson before the wonder-stricken dwarf.\n\n\u201cNoble Siegfried,\u201d cried the delighted Alberich, \u201cright glad I am that\nyou have come again to claim your own. Spare my life, and pardon me, I\npray, and let me know what is your will. Your bidding shall be done at\nonce.\u201d\n\n\u201cHasten, then,\u201d said Siegfried, loosing him from his bonds,--\u201chasten,\nand arouse my Nibelungen hosts. Tell them that their chief has come\nagain to Mist Land, and that he has work for them to do.\u201d\n\nThen Alberich, when he had set the giant gatekeeper free, sent heralds\nto every town and castle in the land to make known the words and wishes\nof Siegfried. And the gallant Nibelungen warriors, when they heard that\ntheir liege lord had come again, sprang up joyously, and girded on\ntheir armor, and hastened to obey his summons. And soon the strong-built\ncastle was full of noble men,--of earls, and the faithful liegemen\nwho had known Siegfried of old. And joyful and happy were the words of\ngreeting.\n\nIn the mean while, Alberich had busied himself in preparing a great\nfeast for his master and his master\u2019s chieftains. In the long low hall\nthat the dwarfs had hollowed out within the mountain\u2019s heart, the table\nwas spread, and on it was placed every delicacy that could be wished.\nThere were fruits and wines from the sunny South-land, and snow-white\nloaves made from the wheat of Gothland, and fish from Old AEgir\u2019s\nkingdom, and venison from the king\u2019s wild-wood, and the flesh of many a\nfowl most delicately baked, and, near the head of the board, a huge wild\nboar roasted whole. And the hall was lighted by a thousand tapers, each\nheld in the hands of a swarthy elf; and the guests were served by the\nelf-women, who ran hither and thither, obedient to every call. But\nAlberich, at Siegfried\u2019s desire, sat upon the dais at his lord\u2019s right\nhand. Merriment ruled the hour, and happy greetings were heard on every\nside. And, when the feast was at its height, a troop of hill-folk came\ndancing into the hall; and a hundred little fiddlers, perched in the\nniches of the wall, made merry music, and kept time for the busy,\nclattering little feet. And when the guests had tired of music and\nlaughter, and the dancers had gone away, and the tables no longer\ngroaned under the weight of good cheer Siegfried and his earls still\nsat at their places, and beguiled the hours with pleasant talk and with\nstories of the earlier days. And Alberich, as the master of the feast,\ntold a tale of the dwarf-folk, and how once they were visited in their\nhill-home by Loki the Mischief-maker.\n\n\n\nAlberich\u2019s Story.\n\n\n\nMy story begins with the Asa-folk, and has as much to do with the gods\nas with my kinsmen the dwarfs. It happened long ago, when the world was\nyoung, and the elf-folk had not yet lost all their ancient glory.\n\nSif, as you all know, is Thor\u2019s young wife, and she is very fair. It is\nsaid, too, that she is as gentle and lovable as her husband is rude\nand strong; and that while he rides noisily through storm and wind,\nfuriously fighting the foes of the mid-world, she goes quietly about,\nlifting up the down-trodden, and healing the broken-hearted. In the\nsummer season, when the Thunderer has driven the Storm-giants back to\ntheir mist-hidden mountain homes, and the black clouds have been rolled\naway, and piled upon each other in the far east, Sif comes gleefully\ntripping through the meadows, raising up the bruised flowers, and with\nsmiles calling the frightened birds from their hiding-places to frolic\nand sing in the fresh sunshine again. The growing fields and the\ngrassy mountain slopes are hers; and the rustling green leaves, and the\nsparkling dewdrops, and the sweet odors of spring blossoms, and the glad\nsongs of the summer-time, follow in her footsteps.\n\nSif, as I have said, is very fair; and, at the time of my story, there\nwas one thing of which she was a trifle vain. That was her long silken\nhair, which fell in glossy waves almost to her feet. On calm, warm days,\nshe liked to sit by the side of some still pool, and gaze at her own\nbeauty pictured in the water below, while, like the sea-maidens of old\nAEgir\u2019s kingdom, she combed and braided her rich, flowing tresses.\nAnd in all the mid-world nothing has ever been seen so like the golden\nsunbeams as was Sif\u2019s silken hair.\n\nAt that time the cunning Mischief-maker, Loki, was still living with the\nAsa-folk. And, as you well know, this evil worker was never pleased save\nwhen he was plotting trouble for those who were better than himself.\nHe liked to meddle with business which was not his own, and was always\ntrying to mar the pleasures of others. His tricks and jokes were seldom\nof the harmless kind, and yet great good sometimes grew out of them.\n\nWhen Loki saw how proud Sif was of her long hair, and how much time\nshe spent in combing and arranging it, he planned a very cruel piece of\nmischief. He hid himself in a little rocky cavern, near the pool where\nSif was wont to sit, and slily watched her all the morning as she\nbraided and unbraided her flowing silken locks. At last, overcome by the\nheat of the mid-day sun, she fell asleep upon the grassy bank. Then the\nMischief-maker quietly crept near, and with his sharp shears cut off all\nthat wealth of hair, and shaved her head until it was as smooth as\nher snow-white hand. Then he hid himself again in the little cave, and\nchuckled with great glee at the wicked thing he had done.\n\nBy and by Sif awoke, and looked into the stream; but she started quickly\nback with horror and affright at the image which she saw. She felt of\nher shorn head; and, when she learned that those rich waving tresses\nwhich had been her joy and pride were no longer there, she knew not what\nto do. Hot, burning tears ran down her cheeks, and with sobs and shrieks\nshe began to call aloud for Thor. Forthwith there was a terrible uproar.\nThe lightning flashed, and the thunder rolled, and an earthquake shook\nthe rocks and trees. Loki, looking out from his hiding-place, saw that\nThor was coming, and he trembled with fear; for he knew, that, should\nthe Thunderer catch him, he would have to pay dearly for his wicked\nsport. He ran quickly out of the cavern, and leaped into the river, and\nchanged himself into a salmon, and swam as swiftly as he could away from\nthe shore.\n\nBut Thor was not so easily fooled; for he had long known Loki, and was\nacquainted with all his cunning ways. So when he saw Sif bewailing her\nstolen hair, and beheld the frightened salmon hurrying alone towards\nthe deep water, he was at no loss to know whose work this mischief was.\nStraightway he took upon himself the form of a sea-gull, and soared high\nup over the water. Then, poising a moment in the air, he darted, swift\nas an arrow, down into the river. When he arose from the water, he held\nthe struggling salmon tightly grasped in his strong talons.\n\n\u201cVile Mischief-maker!\u201d cried Thor, as he alighted upon the top of\na neighboring crag: \u201cI know thee who thou art; and I will make thee\nbitterly rue the work of this day. Limb from limb will I tear thee, and\nthy bones will I grind into powder.\u201d\n\nLoki, when he saw that he could not by any means get away from the angry\nThunderer, changed himself back to his own form, and humbly said to\nThor,--\n\n\u201cWhat if you do your worst with me? Will that give back a single hair to\nSif\u2019s shorn head? What I did was only a thoughtless joke, and I really\nmeant no harm. Do but spare my life, and I will more than make good the\nmischief I have done.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can that be?\u201d asked Thor.\n\n\u201cI will hie me straight to the secret smithies of dwarfs,\u201d answered\nLoki; \u201cand those cunning little kinsmen of mine shall make golden\ntresses for fair Sif, which will grow upon her head like other hair, and\ncause her to be an hundred-fold more beautiful than before.\u201d\n\nThor knew that Loki was a slippery fellow, and that he did not always do\nwhat he promised, and hence he would not let him go. He called to Frey,\nwho had just come up, and said,--\n\n\u201cCome, cousin Frey, help me to rid the world of this sly thief. While I\nhold fast to his raven hair, and his long slim arms, do you seize him by\nthe heels, and we will give his limbs to the fishes, and his body to the\nbirds, for food.\u201d\n\nLoki, now thoroughly frightened, wept, and kissed Frey\u2019s feet, and\nhumbly begged for mercy. And he promised that he would bring from the\ndwarf\u2019s smithy, not only the golden hair for Sif, but also a mighty\nhammer for Thor, and a swift steed for Frey. So earnest were his\nwords, and so pitiful was his plea, that Thor at last set the trembling\nMischief-maker free, and bade him hasten away on his errand. Quickly,\nthen, he went in search of the smithy of the dwarfs.\n\nHe crossed the desert moorlands, and came, after three days, to the\nbleak hill-country, and the rugged mountain-land of the South. There the\nearthquake had split the mountains apart, and dug dark and bottomless\ngorges, and hollowed out many a low-walled cavern, where the light\nof day was never seen. Through deep, winding ways, and along narrow\ncrevices, Loki crept; and he glided under huge rocks, and downward\nthrough slanting, crooked clefts, until at last he came to a great\nunderground hall, where his eyes were dazzled by a light which was\nstronger and brighter than day; for on every side were glowing fires,\nroaring in wonderful little forges, and blown by wonderful little\nbellows And the vaulted roof above was thickly set with diamonds and\nprecious stones, that sparkled and shone like thousands of bright stars\nin the blue sky. And the little dwarfs, with comical brown faces,\nand wearing strange leathern aprons, and carrying heavy hammers, were\nhurrying here and there, each busy at his task. Some were smelting pure\ngold from the coarse rough rocks; others were making precious gems, and\nrich rare jewels, such as the proudest king would be glad to wear. Here,\none was shaping pure, round pearls from dewdrops and maidens\u2019 tears;\nthere, another wrought green emeralds from the first leaves of spring.\nSo busy were they all, that they neither stopped nor looked up when Loki\ncame into their hall, but all kept hammering and blowing and working, as\nif their lives depended upon their being always busy.\n\nAfter Loki had curiously watched their movements for some time, he spoke\nto the dwarf whose forge was nearest to him, and made known his errand.\nBut the little fellow was fashioning a flashing diamond, which he called\nthe Mountain of Light; and he scarcely looked up as he answered,--\n\n\u201cI do not work in gold. Go to Ivald\u2019s sons: they will make whatever you\nwish.\u201d\n\nTo Ivald\u2019s sons, then, in the farthest and brightest corner of the hall,\nLoki went. They very readily agreed to make the golden hair for Sif,\nand they began the work at once. A lump of purest gold was brought, and\nthrown into the glowing furnace; and it was melted and drawn, and melted\nand drawn, seven times. Then it was given to a little brown elf with\nmerry, twinkling eyes, who carried it with all speed to another part of\nthe great hall, where the dwarfs\u2019 pretty wives were spinning. One of\nthe little women took the yellow lump from the elf\u2019s hands, and laid it,\nlike flax, upon her spinning-wheel. Then she sat down and began to spin;\nand, as she span, the dwarf-wives sang a strange, sweet song of the old,\nold days when the dwarf-folk ruled the world. And the tiny brown elves\ndanced gleefully around the spinner, and the thousand little anvils rang\nout a merry chorus to the music of the singers. And the yellow gold was\ntwisted into threads, and the threads ran into hair softer than silk,\nand finer than gossamer. And at last the dwarf-woman held in her hand\nlong golden tresses ten times more beautiful than the amber locks that\nLoki had cut from Sif\u2019s fair head. When Ivald\u2019s sons, proud of their\nskill, gave the rare treasure to the Mischief-maker, Loki smiled as if\nhe were well pleased; but in his heart he was angry because the dwarfs\nhad made so fair a piece of workmanship. Then he said,--\n\n\u201cThis is, indeed, very handsome, and will be very becoming to Sif. Oh,\nwhat an uproar was made about those flaxen tresses that she loved so\nwell! And that reminds me that her husband, the gruff old Giant-killer,\nwants a hammer. I promised to get him one; and, if I fail, he will\ndoubtless be rude with me. I pray you make such a hammer as will be of\nmost use to him in fighting the Jotuns, and you may win favor both for\nyourselves and me.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot now,\u201d said the elder of Ivald\u2019s sons. \u201cWe cannot make it now; for\nwho would dare to send a present to Thor before he has offered one to\nOdin, the great All-Father?\u201d\n\n\u201cMake me, then, a gift for Odin,\u201d cried Loki; \u201cand he will shelter me\nfrom the Thunderer\u2019s wrath.\u201d\n\nSo the dwarfs put iron into their furnace, and heated it to a glowing\nwhite-heat; and then they drew it out, and rolled it upon their anvils,\nand pounded it with heavy hammers, until they had wrought a wondrous\nspear, such as no man had ever seen. Then they inlaid it with priceless\njewels, and plated the point with gold seven times tried.\n\n\u201cThis is the spear Gungner,\u201d said they. \u201cTake it to the great All-Father\nas the best gift of his humble earth-workers.\u201d\n\n\u201cMake me now a present for Frey the gentle,\u201d said Loki. \u201cI owe my life\nto him; and I have promised to take him a swift steed that will bear him\neverywhere.\u201d\n\nThen Ivald\u2019s sons threw gold into the furnace, and blew with their\nbellows until the very roof of the great cave-hall seemed to tremble,\nand the smoke rolled up the wide chimney, and escaped in dense fumes\nfrom the mountain-top. When they left off working, and the fire died\naway, a fairy ship, with masts and sails, and two banks of long oars,\nand a golden dragon stem, rose out of the glowing coals; and it grew in\nsize until it filled a great part of the hall, and might have furnished\nroom for a thousand warriors with their arms and steeds. Then, at a word\nfrom the dwarfs, it began to shrink, and it became smaller and smaller\nuntil it was no broader than an oak-leaf. And the younger of Ivald\u2019s\nsons folded it up like a napkin, and gave it to Loki, saying,--\n\n\u201cTake this to Frey the gentle. It is the ship Skidbladner. When it is\nwanted for a voyage, it will carry all the Asa-folk and their weapons\nand stores; and, no matter where they wish to go, the wind will always\ndrive it straight to the desired port. But, when it is not needed, the\ngood Frey may fold it up, as I have done, and carry it safely in his\npocket.\u201d\n\nLoki was much pleased; and, although he felt disappointed because he had\nno present for Thor, he heartily thanked the dwarfs for their kindness;\nand taking the golden hair, and the spear Gungner, and the ship\nSkidbladner, he bade Ivald\u2019s sons good-by, and started for home. But,\nbefore he reached the narrow doorway which led out of the cave, he met\ntwo crooked-backed dwarfs, much smaller and much uglier than any he had\nseen before.\n\n\u201cWhat have you there?\u201d asked one of them, whose name was Brok.\n\n\u201cHair for Sif, a spear for Odin, and a ship for Frey,\u201d answered Loki.\n\n\u201cLet us see them,\u201d said Brok.\n\nLoki kindly showed them the strange gifts, and told them, that, in\nhis belief, no dwarfs in all the world had ever before wrought such\nwonderful things.\n\n\u201cWho made them?\u201d inquired Brok.\n\n\u201cIvald\u2019s sons.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! Ivald\u2019s sons sometimes do good work, but there are many other\ndwarfs who can do better. For instance, my brother Sindre, who stands\nhere, can make three other treasures altogether as good as those you\nhave.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt cannot be!\u201d cried Loki.\n\n\u201cI tell you the truth,\u201d said the dwarf. \u201cAnd, to show you that I mean\njust what I say, I will wager against your head all the diamonds in\nthe ceiling above us, that he will make not only as good treasures, but\nthose which the Asas will esteem much higher.\u201d\n\n\u201cAgreed!\u201d cried Loki,--\u201cagreed! I take the wager. Let your brother try\nhis skill at once.\u201d\n\nThe three went straightway to Sindre\u2019s forge, and the brothers began\ntheir task. When the fire was roaring hot, and the sparks flew from the\nchimney like showers of shooting-stars, Sindre put a pig-skin into the\nfurnace, and bade Brok blow the bellows with all his might, and never\nstop until he should speak the word. The flames leaped up white and\nhot, and the furnace glowed with a dazzling light, while Brok plied the\nbellows, and Sindre, with unblinking eyes, watched the slowly changing\ncolors that played around the melted and shapeless mass within. While\nthe brothers were thus intent upon their work, Loki changed himself to\na great horse-fly, and settled upon Brok\u2019s hand, and bit him without\nmercy. But the dwarf kept on blowing the bellows, and stopped not until\nhis brother cried out,--\n\n\u201cEnough!\u201d\n\nThen Sindre drew out of the flickering blue flames a huge wild boar with\nlong tusks of ivory, and golden bristles that glittered and shone like\nthe beams of the sun.\n\n\u201cThis is Golden Bristle,\u201d said the dwarf. \u201cIt is the gift of Brok and\nhis brother to the gentle Frey. His ship Skidbladner can carry him only\nover the sea; but Golden Bristle shall be a trusty steed that will bear\nhim with the speed of the wind over the land or through the air.\u201d\n\nNext the dwarfs threw gold into the furnace, and Brok plied the bellows,\nand Sindre gazed into the flames, as before. And the great horse-fly\nbuzzed in Brok\u2019s face, and darted at his eyes, and at last settled upon\nhis neck, and stung him until the pain caused big drops of sweat to roll\noff of his forehead. But the dwarf stopped not nor faltered, until his\nbrother again cried out,--\n\n\u201cEnough!\u201d\n\nThis time Sindre drew out a wondrous ring of solid gold, sparkling all\nover with the rarest and most costly jewels.\n\n\u201cThis is the ring Draupner,\u201d said he. \u201cIt is well worthy to be worn on\nOdin\u2019s finger. Every ninth day eight other rings, equal to it in every\nway, shall drop from it. It shall enrich the earth, and make the desert\nblossom as the rose; and it shall bring plentiful harvests, and fill the\nfarmers\u2019 barns with grain, and their houses with glad good cheer. Take\nit to the All-Father as the best gift of the earth-folk to him and to\nmankind.\u201d\n\nAfter this the dwarfs took iron which had been brought from the\nmountains of Norse Land; and, after beating it upon their bellows until\nit glowed white and hot, Sindre threw it into the furnace.\n\n\u201cThis shall be the gift of gifts,\u201d said he to Brok. \u201cPly the bellows\nas before, and do not, for your life, stop or falter until the work is\ndone.\u201d\n\nBut as Brok blew the bellows, and his brother gazed into the glowing\nfire, the horse-fly came again. This time he settled between the dwarf\u2019s\neyes, and stung his eyelids until the blood filled his eyes, and ran\ndown his cheeks, and blinded him so that he could not see. At last,\nin sore distress, and wild with pain, Brok let go of the bellows, and\nlifted his hand to drive the fly away. Then Sindre drew his work out of\nthe furnace. It was a blue steel hammer, well made in every way, save\nthat the handle was half an inch too short.\n\n\u201cThis is the mighty Mjolner,\u201d said Sindre to Loki, who had again taken\nhis proper shape. \u201cThe Thunderer may have the hammer that you promised\nhim; although it is our gift, and not yours. The stoutest giant will not\nbe able now to cope with Thor. No shield nor armor, nor mountain-wall,\nnor, indeed, any thing on earth, shall be proof against the\nlightning-strokes of Mjolner.\u201d\n\nAnd Brok took the three treasures which Sindre had fashioned, and went\nwith Loki to Asgard, the home of the Asa-folk. And they chose Odin and\nThor and Frey to examine and judge which was best,--Loki\u2019s three gifts,\nthe work of Ivald\u2019s sons; or Brok\u2019s three gifts, the work of Sindre.\nWhen the judges were seated, and all were in readiness, Loki went\nforward and gave to Odin the spear Gungner, that would always hit\nthe mark; and to Frey he gave the ship Skidbladner, that would sail\nwhithersoever he wished. Then he gave the golden hair to Thor, who\nplaced it upon the head of fair Sif; and it grew there, and was a\nthousand-fold more beautiful than the silken tresses she had worn\nbefore.\n\nAfter the Asas had carefully looked at these treasures, and talked of\ntheir merits, little Brok came humbly forward and offered his gifts. To\nOdin he gave the precious ring Draupner, already dropping richness. To\nFrey he gave the boar Golden Bristle, telling him that wherever he chose\nto go this steed would serve him well, and would carry him faster than\nany horse, while his shining bristles would light the way on the darkest\nnight or in the gloomiest path. At last he gave to Thor the hammer\nMjolner, and said that it, like Odin\u2019s spear, would never miss the mark,\nand that whatever it struck, it would crush in pieces, and whithersoever\nit might be hurled, it would come back to his hand again.\n\nThen the Asas declared at once that Thor\u2019s hammer was the best of all\nthe gifts, and that the dwarf had fairly won the wager. But, when\nBrok demanded Loki\u2019s head as the price of the wager, the cunning\nMischief-maker said,--\n\n\u201cMy head is, by the terms of our agreement, yours; but my neck is my\nown, and you shall not on any account touch or harm it.\u201d[EN#26]\n\nSo Brok went back to his brother and his smithy without the head of\nLoki, but he was loaded with rich and rare presents from the Asa-folk.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XVI. How Brunhild Was Welcomed Home.\n\n\n\nWhen the next morning\u2019s sun arose, and its light gilded the mountain\npeaks, and fell in a flood of splendor down upon the rich uplands and\nthe broad green fields of Nibelungen Land, Siegfried, with his earls and\nmighty men, rode through the valley, and down to the seashore. There a\npleasant sight met his eyes: for the little bay was white with the sails\nof a hundred gold-beaked vessels which lay at anchor; and on the sandy\nbeach there stood in order three thousand island warriors,--the bravest\nand the best of all the Nibelungens,--clad in armor, and ready to hear\nand to do their master\u2019s bidding. And Siegfried told them why he had\nthus hastily called them together; and he gave to each one rich gifts\nof gold and jewels and costly raiment. Then he chose from among them\none thousand of the most trustworthy, who should follow him back to\nIsenland; and these went aboard the waiting vessels, amid the cheers\nand the farewells of their comrades who were left behind. And when every\nthing was in readiness, the anchors were hoisted and the sails were set,\nand the little fleet, wafted by pleasant winds, sailed out of the bay,\nand eastward across the calm blue sea. And Siegfried\u2019s vessel, with a\ngolden dragon banner floating from the masthead, led all the rest.\n\nOn the fourth day after Siegfried\u2019s departure from Isenland, Dankwart\nand grim old Hagen sat in a room of the castle at Isenstein. Outside and\nbelow they heard the fair-haired warriors of Queen Brunhild pacing to\nand fro, and ready, at a word, to seize upon the strangers, and either\nto put them to death, or to drive them forever from the land.\nOld Hagen\u2019s brows were closely knit, and his face was dark as a\nthunder-cloud, and his hands played nervously with his sword-hilt, as he\nsaid,--\n\n\u201cWhere now is Gunther, the man whom we once called king?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is standing on the balcony above, talking with the queen and her\nmaidens,\u201d answered Dankwart.\n\n\u201cThe craven that he is!\u201d cried Hagen hoarsely. \u201cOnce he was a king, and\nworthy to be obeyed; but now who is the king? That upstart Siegfried has\nbut to say what shall be done, and our master Gunther, blindly and like\na child, complies. Four days ago we might have taken ship, and sailed\nsafely home. Now our vessel is gone, the boasted hero is gone, and\nnothing is left for us to do but to fight and die.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut we are sure of Odin\u2019s favor,\u201d returned Dankwart; and a wild light\ngleamed from his eyes, and he brandished his sword high over his head.\n\u201cA place in Valhal is promised to us; for, him who bravely dies with\nhis blood-stained sword beside him and his heart unrent with fears, the\nAll-Father\u2019s victory-wafters will gently carry home. Even now, methinks,\nI sit in the banqueting-hall of the heroes, and quaff the flowing mead.\u201d\n\n* * * * *\n\nIn the mean while Gunther stood with Queen Brunhild at an upper window,\nand looked out upon the great sea that spread forever and away towards\nthe setting sun. And all at once, as if by magic, the water was covered\nwith white-sailed ships, which, driven by friendly winds and the helping\nhands of AEgir\u2019s daughters and the brawny arms of many a stalwart\noarsman, came flying towards the bay.\n\n\u201cWhat ships are those with the snow-white sails and the dragon-stems?\u201d\n asked Brunhild, wondering.\n\nGunther gazed for a moment towards the swift-coming fleet, and his eyes\nwere gladdened with the sight of Siegfried\u2019s dragon-banner floating from\nthe vessel in the van. A great load seemed lifted from his breast,\nfor now he knew that the hoped-for help was at hand. And, smiling he\nanswered the queen,--\n\n\u201cThose white-sailed ships are mine. My body-guard--a thousand of my\ntrustiest fighting-men--are on board, and every man is ready to die for\nme.\u201d\n\nAnd as the vessels came into the harbor, and the sailors furled the\nsails, and cast the anchors into the sea, Siegfried was seen standing on\nthe golden prow of his ship, arrayed in princely raiment, with his earls\nand chiefs around him. And their bright armor glittered in the sunlight,\nand their burnished shields shone like so many golden mirrors. A fairer\nsight had the folk of Isenstein never seen.\n\nLong and earnestly Queen Brunhild gazed, and then, turning away, she\nburst into tears; for she knew that she had been again outwitted, and\nthat it was vain for her to struggle against the Norns\u2019 decrees. Then,\ncrushing back the grief and the sore longing that rose in her heart, she\nspoke again to Gunther, and her eyes shone stern and strange.\n\n\u201cWhat now will you have me do?\u201d she asked; \u201cfor you have fairly won\nme, and my wayward fancies shall no longer vex you. Shall I greet your\nfriends with kindness, or shall we send them back again over the sea?\u201d\n\n\u201cI pray you give them welcome to the broad halls of Isenstein,\u201d he\nanswered; \u201cfor no truer, nobler men live than these my liegemen.\u201d\n\nSo the queen sent word to Siegfried and his Nibelungen warriors to leave\nthe ships and come ashore. And she herself, as radiant now as a morning\nin May, went down to meet them and welcome them. Then she had a great\nfeast made in honor of the heroes, and the long, low-raftered feast-hall\nrang with the sounds of merriment, instead of with the clash of arms.\nThe fair-haired, blue-eyed warriors of the queen sat side by side with\nthe tall strangers from over the sea. And in the high-seat was Brunhild,\nher face exceeding pale, yet beauteous to behold; and by her side sat\nGunther, smiling and glad, and clad in his kingly raiments. And around\nthem were the earls and chieftains, and many a fair lady of Isenland,\nand Hagen, smiling through his frowns, and Dankwart, now grown fearless,\nand Siegfried sad and thoughtful. Mirth and gladness ruled the hour, and\nnot until the morning star began to fade in the coming sunlight lid the\nguests retire to rest.\n\nOnly a few days longer did the heroes tarry in Isenland; for the mild\nspring days were growing warmer, and all faces were southward turned,\nand the queen herself was anxious to haste to her South-land home. When,\nat last, the time for leave-taking came, the folk of Isenland gathered\naround to bid their queen Godspeed. Then Brunhild called to Dankwart,\nand gave him her golden keys, and bade him unlock her closets where her\ngold and jewels were stored, and to scatter with hands unstinted her\ntreasures among the poor. And many were the tearful blessings, and many\nthe kind words said, as the radiant queen went down to the waiting,\nwhite-winged vessel, and stepped aboard with Gunther and the heroes of\nthe Rhine. But she was not to go alone to the land of strangers; for\nwith her were to sail a hundred fair young damsels, and more than\nfourscore noble dames, and two thousand blue-eyed warriors, the bravest\nof her land.\n\nWhen all had gone on board the waiting fleet, the anchors were hoisted,\nand the sails were unfurled to the breeze; and amid the tearful\nfarewells of friends, and the joyful shouting of the sailors, the\nhundred heavy-laden vessels glided from the bay, and were soon far out\nat sea. And the sorrowing folk of Isenland turned away, and went back to\ntheir daily tasks, and to the old life of mingled pain and pleasure, of\nshadow and sunshine; and they never saw their loved warrior-queen again.\n\nThe gay white fleet, with its precious cargo of noble men and fair\nladies, sped swiftly onwards through Old AEgir\u2019s kingdom; and it seemed\nas if Queen Ran had forgotten to spread her nets, so smooth and quiet\nwas the sea; and the waves slept on the peaceful bosom of the waters:\nonly Ripple and Sky-clear danced in the wake of the flying ships, and\nadded to the general joy. And on shipboard music and song enlivened the\ndragging hours; and from morn till eve no sounds were heard, save those\nof merriment and sport, and glad good cheer. Yet, as day after day\npassed by, and no sight met their eyes but the calm blue waters beneath,\nand the calm blue sky above, all began to wish for a view, once more, of\nthe solid earth, and the fields, and the wild greenwood. But the ships\nsailed steadily onward, and every hour brought them nearer and nearer to\nthe wished-for haven.\n\nAt length, on the ninth day, they came in sight of a long, flat coast,\nstretching far away towards the Lowlands, where Old AEgir and his\ndaughters--sometimes by wasting warfare, sometimes by stealthy\nstrategy--ever plot and toil to widen the Sea-king\u2019s domains. When the\nsailors saw the green shore rising up, as it were, out of the quiet\nwater, and the wild woodland lying dense and dark beyond, and when they\nknew that they were nearing the end of their long sea-voyage, they rent\nthe air with their joyful shouts. And a brisker breeze sprang up, and\nfilled the sails, and made the ships leap forward over the water, like\nglad living creatures.\n\nIt was then that the thought came to King Gunther that he ought to send\nfleet heralds to Burgundy-land to make known the happy issue of his\nbold emprise, and to tell of his glad home-coming, with Brunhild, the\nwarrior-maiden, as his queen. So he called old Hagen to him, and told\nhim of his thoughts, and asked him if he would be that herald.\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d answered the frowning chief. \u201cNo bearer of glad tidings am I. To\nevery man Odin has given gifts. To some he has given light hearts, and\ncheery faces, and glad voices; and such alone are fitted to carry good\nnews and happy greetings. To others he has given darker souls, and less\nlightsome faces, and more uncouth manners; and these may bear the brunt\nof the battle, and rush with Odin\u2019s heroes to the slaughter: but they\nwould be ill at ease standing in the presence of fair ladies, or telling\nglad tidings at court. Let me still linger, I pray, on board this narrow\nship, and send your friend Siegfried as herald to Burgundy-land. He is\nwell fitted for such a duty.\u201d\n\nSo Gunther sent at once for Siegfried, to whom, when he had come, he\nsaid,--\n\n\u201cMy best of friends, although we are now in sight of land, our voyage\nstill is a long one; for the river is yet far away, and, when it is\nreached, its course is winding, and the current will be against us, and\nour progress must needs be slow. The folk at home have had no tidings\nfrom us since we left them in the early spring; and no doubt their\nhearts grow anxious, and they long to hear of our whereabouts, and\nwhether we prosper or no. Now, as we near the headland which juts out\ndark and green before us, we will set you on shore, with the noble\nGreyfell, and as many comrades as you wish, to haste with all speed to\nBurgundy, to tell the glad news of our coming to the loved ones waiting\nthere.\u201d\n\nSiegfried at first held back, and tried to excuse himself from\nundertaking this errand,--not because he felt any fear of danger, but\nbecause he scorned to be any man\u2019s thrall, to go and do at his beck and\nbidding. Then Gunther spoke again, and in a different tone.\n\n\u201cGentle Siegfried,\u201d he said, \u201cif you will not do this errand for my\nsake, I pray that you will undertake it for the sake of my sister, the\nfair Kriemhild, who has so long waited for our coming.\u201d\n\nThen willingly did the prince agree to be the king\u2019s herald. And on the\nmorrow the ship touched land; and Siegfried bade his companions a short\nfarewell, and went ashore with four and twenty Nibelungen chiefs,\nwho were to ride with him to Burgundy. And, when every thing was in\nreadiness, he mounted the noble Greyfell, as did also each warrior his\nfavorite steed, and they galloped briskly away; and their glittering\narmor and nodding plumes were soon lost to sight among the green trees\nof the wood. And the ship which bore Gunther and his kingly party\nweighed anchor, and moved slowly along the shore towards the distant\nriver\u2019s mouth.\n\nFor many days, and through many strange lands, rode Siegfried and his\nNibelungen chiefs. They galloped through the woodland, and over a stony\nwaste, and came to a peopled country rich in farms and meadows, and\ndotted with pleasant towns. And the folk of that land wondered greatly\nat sight of the radiant Siegfried, and the tall warriors with him, and\ntheir noble steeds, and their sunbright armor. For they thought that it\nwas a company of the gods riding through the mid-world, as the gods were\nwont to do in the golden days of old. So they greeted them with smiles,\nand kind, good words, and scattered flowers and blessings in their way.\n\nThey stopped for a day in Vilkina-land, where dwelt one Eigill, a\nfamous archer, who, it is said, was a brother of Veliant, Siegfried\u2019s\nfellow-apprentice in the days of his boyhood. And men told them this\nstory of Eigill. That once on a time old Nidung, the king of that land,\nin order to test his skill with the bow, bade him shoot an apple, or, as\nsome say, an acorn, from the head of his own little son. And Eigill\ndid this; but two other arrows, which he had hidden beneath his coat,\ndropped to the ground. And when the king asked him what these were for\nhe answered, \u201cTo kill thee, wretch, had I slain my child.\u201d[EN#27]\n\nAfter this our heroes rode through a rough hill-country, where the\nground was covered with sharp stones, and the roads were steep and hard.\nAnd their horses lost their shoes, and were so lamed by the travel,\nthat they were forced to turn aside to seek the house of one Welland, a\nfamous smith, who re-shod their steeds, and entertained them most\nkindly three days and nights. And it is said by some that Welland is but\nanother name for Veliant, and that this was the selfsame foreman whom we\nknew in Siegfried\u2019s younger days. But, be this as it may, he was at this\ntime the master of all smiths, and no one ever wrought more cunningly.\nAnd men say that his grandfather was Vilkinus, the first king of that\nland; and that his grandmother, Wachitu, was a fair mermaid, who lived\nin the deep green sea; and that his father, Wada, had carried him,\nwhen a child, upon his shoulders through water five fathoms deep, to\napprentice him to the cunning dwarfs, from whom he learned his trade.\nAnd if this story is true, he could not have been Veliant. He was wedded\nto a beautiful lady, who sometimes took the form of a swan, and flew\naway to a pleasant lake near by, where, with other swan-maidens, she\nspent the warm summer days among the reeds and the water-lilies. And\nmany other strange tales were told of Welland the smith: how he had once\nmade a boat from the single trunk of a tree, and had sailed in it all\naround the mid-world; how, being lame in one foot, he had forged a\nwondrous winged garment, and flown like a falcon through the air;\nand how he had wrought for Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon hero, a gorgeous\nwar-coat that no other smith could equal.[EN#28] And so pleasantly did\nWelland entertain his guests that they were loath to leave him; but on\nthe fourth day they bade him farewell, and wended again their way.\n\nNow our heroes rode forward, with greater speed than before, across many\na mile of waste land, and over steep hills, and through pleasant wooded\ndales. Then, again, they came to fair meadows, and broad pasture-lands,\nand fields green with growing corn; and every one whom they met blessed\nthem, and bade them a hearty God-speed. Then they left the farmlands\nand the abodes of men far behind them; and they passed by the shore of a\nsparkling lake, where they heard the swan-maidens talking to each other\nas they swam among the rushes, or singing in silvery tones of gladness\nas they circled in the air above. Then they crossed a dreary moor, where\nnothing grew but heather; and they climbed a barren, stony mountain,\nwhere the feet of men had never been, and came at last to a wild, dark\nforest, where silence reigned undisturbed forever.\n\nIt was the wood in which dwells Vidar, the silent god, far from the\nsound of man\u2019s busy voice, in the solemn shade of century-living oaks\nand elms. There he sits in quiet but awful grandeur,--strong almost as\nThor, but holding his mighty strength in check. Hoary and gray, he sits\nalone in Nature\u2019s temple, and communes with Nature\u2019s self, waiting for\nthe day when Nature\u2019s silent but resistless forces shall be quickened\ninto dread action. His head is crowned with sear and yellow leaves,\nand long white moss hangs pendent from his brows and cheeks, and his\ngarments are rusted with age. On his feet are iron shoes, with soles\nmade thick with the scraps of leather gathered through centuries past;\nand with these, it is said, he shall, in the last great twilight of the\nmid-world, rend the jaws of the Fenris-wolf.[EN#29]\n\n\u201cWho is this Fenris-wolf?\u201d asked one of the Nibelungens as they rode\nthrough the solemn shadows of the wood.\n\nAnd Siegfried thereupon related how that fierce creature had been\nbrought up and cared for by the Asa-folk; and how, when he grew large\nand strong, they sought to keep him from doing harm by binding him with\nan iron chain called Leding. But the strength of the monster was so\ngreat, that he burst the chain asunder, and escaped. Then the Asas made\nanother chain twice as strong, which they called Drome. And they called\nto the wolf, and besought him to allow them to bind him again, so that,\nin bursting the second chain, he might clear up all doubts in regard to\nhis strength. Flattered by the words of the Asas, the wolf complied;\nand they chained him with Drome, and fastened him to a great rock. But\nFenris stretched his legs, and shook himself, and the great chain was\nsnapped in pieces. Then the Asas knew that there was no safety for them\nso long as a monster so huge and terrible was unbound; and they besought\nthe swarthy elves to forge them another and a stronger chain. This the\nelves did. They made a most wondrous chain, smooth as silk, and soft as\ndown, yet firmer than granite, and stronger than steel. They called it\nGleipner; and it was made of the sinews of a bear, the footsteps of a\ncat, the beard of a woman, the breath of a fish, the sweat of a bird,\nand the roots of a mountain. When the Asas had obtained this chain, they\nlured the Fenris-wolf to the rocky Island of Lyngve, and by flattery\npersuaded him to be bound again. But this he would not agree to do until\nTyr placed his hand in his mouth as a pledge of good faith. Then they\ntied him as before, and laughingly bade him break the silken cord. The\nhuge creature stretched himself as before, and tried with all his might\nto burst away; but Gleipner held him fast, and the worst that he could\ndo was to bite off the hand of unlucky Tyr. And this is why Tyr is\ncalled the one-armed god.\n\n\u201cBut it is said,\u201d added Siegfried, \u201cthat in the last twilight the\nFenris-wolf will break his chain, and that he will swallow the sun, and\nslay the great Odin himself, and that none can subdue him save Vidar the\nSilent.\u201d\n\nIt was thus that the heroes conversed with each other as they rode\nthrough the silent ways of the wood.\n\nAt length, one afternoon in early summer, the little company reached the\nRhine valley; and looking down from the sloping hill-tops, green with\ngrowing corn, they saw the pleasant town of the Burgundians and the high\ngray towers of Gunther\u2019s dwelling. And not long afterwards they rode\nthrough the streets of the old town, and, tired and travel-stained,\nhalted outside of the castle-gates. Very soon it became noised about\nthat Siegfried and a company of strange knights, fair and tall, had come\nagain to Burgundy and to the home of the Burgundian kings. But when it\nwas certainly known that neither Gunther the king, nor Hagen of the evil\neye, nor Dankwart his brother, had returned, the people felt many\nsad misgivings; for they greatly feared that some hard mischance had\nbefallen their loved king. Then Gernot and the young Giselher, having\nheard of Siegfried\u2019s arrival, came out with glad but anxious faces to\ngreet him.\n\n\u201cWelcome, worthy chief!\u201d they cried. \u201cBut why are you alone? What are\nyour tidings? Where is our brother? and where are our brave uncles,\nHagen and Dankwart? And who are those strange, fair men who ride with\nyou? And what about Brunhild, the warrior-maiden? Alas! if our brother\nhas fallen by her cruel might, then woe to Burgundy! Tell us quickly all\nabout it!\u201d\n\n\u201cHave patience, friends!\u201d answered Siegfried. \u201cGive me time to speak,\nand I will gladden the hearts of all the folk of Burgundy with my news.\nYour brother Gunther is alive and well; and he is the happiest man in\nthe whole mid-world, because he has won the matchless Brunhild for his\nbride. And he is ere now making his way up the river with a mighty fleet\nof a hundred vessels and more than two thousand warriors. Indeed, you\nmay look for him any day. And he has sent me, with these my Nibelungen\nearls, to bid you make ready for his glad home-coming.\u201d\n\nThen, even before he had alighted from Greyfell, he went on to tell of\nthe things that had happened at Isenstein; but he said nothing of the\npart which he had taken in the strange contest. And a crowd of eager\nlisteners stood around, and heard with unfeigned joy of the happy\nfortune of their king.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d said Siegfried to Giselher, when he had finished his story,\n\u201ccarry the glad news to your mother and your sister; for they, too, must\nbe anxious to learn what fate has befallen King Gunther.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d answered the prince, \u201cyou yourself are the king\u2019s herald, and you\nshall be the one to break the tidings to them. Full glad they\u2019ll be to\nhear the story from your own lips, for long have they feared that\nour brother would never be seen by us again. I will tell them of your\ncoming, but you must be the first to tell them the news you bring.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d answered Siegfried. \u201cIt shall be as you say.\u201d\n\nThen he dismounted from Greyfell, and, with his Nibelungen earls, was\nshown into the grand hall, where they were entertained in a right kingly\nmanner.\n\nWhen Kriemhild the peerless, and Ute her mother, heard that Siegfried\nhad come again to Burgundy, and that he brought news from Gunther the\nking, they hastened to make ready to see him. And, when he came before\nthem, he seemed so noble, so bright, and so glad, that they knew he bore\nno evil tidings.\n\n\u201cMost noble prince,\u201d said Kriemhild, trembling in his presence, \u201cright\nwelcome are you to our dwelling! But wherefore are you come? How fares\nmy brother Gunther? Why came he not with you back to Burgundy-land? Oh!\nundone are we, if, through the cruel might of the warrior-queen, he has\nbeen lost to us.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow give me a herald\u2019s fees!\u201d cried Siegfried, laughing. \u201cKing Gunther\nis alive and well. In the games of strength to which fair Brunhild\nchallenged him, he was the winner. And now he comes up the Rhine with\nhis bride, and a great retinue of lords and ladies and fighting-men.\nIndeed, the sails of his ships whiten the river for miles. And I am\ncome by his desire to ask that every thing be made ready for his glad\nhome-coming and the loving welcome of his peerless queen.\u201d\n\nGreat was the joy of Kriemhild and her queenly mother when they heard\nthis gladsome news; and they thanked the prince most heartily for all\nthat he had done.\n\n\u201cYou have truly earned a herald\u2019s fee,\u201d said the lovely maiden, \u201cand\ngladly would I pay it you in gold; for you have cheered us with pleasant\ntidings, and lightened our minds of a heavy load. But men of your noble\nrank take neither gifts nor fees, and hence we have only to offer our\ndeepest and heartiest thanks.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot so,\u201d answered Siegfried gayly. \u201cThink not I would scorn a fee. Had\nI a kingdom of thirty realms, I should still be proud of a gift from\nyou.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, you shall have your herald\u2019s fee!\u201d cried Kriemhild; and she sent\nher maidens to fetch the gift. And with her own lily hands she gave him\ntwenty golden bracelets, richly inwrought with every kind of rare and\ncostly gem-stones. Happy, indeed, was Siegfried to take such priceless\ngift from the hand of so peerless a maiden; and his face shone radiant\nwith sunbeams as he humbly bowed, and thanked her. But he had no need\nfor the jewels, nor wished he to keep them long: so he gave them, with\ngracious wishes, to the fair young maidens at court.\n\nFrom this time forward, for many days, there was great bustle in\nGunther\u2019s dwelling. On every side was heard the noise of busy hands,\nmaking ready for the glad day when the king should be welcomed home.\nThe broad halls and the tall gray towers were decked with flowers, and\nfloating banners, and many a gay device; the houses and streets of the\npleasant burgh put on their holiday attire; the shady road which led\nthrough Kriemhild\u2019s rose-garden down to the river-banks was dusted and\nswept with daily care; and the watchman was cautioned to keep on the\nlookout every moment for the coming of the expected fleet. And heralds\nhad been sent to every burgh and castle, and to every countryside in\nBurgundy, announcing the happy home-coming of Gunther and his bride, and\nbidding every one, both high and low, to the glad merry-making.\n\nOn the morning of the eleventh day, ere the sun had dried the dew from\nthe springing grass, the keen-eyed watchman, in his perch on the topmost\ntower, cried out in happy accents to the waiting folk below,--\n\n\u201cThey come at last! I see the white-winged ships still far down the\nstream. But a breeze springs up from the northward, and the sailors are\nat the oars, and swift speed the hastening vessels, as if borne on the\nwings of the wind. Ride forth, O ye brave and fair, to welcome the fair\nand the brave!\u201d\n\nThen quickly the king-folk, and the warriors, and fair ladies, mounted\ntheir ready steeds, and gayly through the gates of the castle they rode\nout river-wards. And Ute, the noble queen-mother, went first. And the\ncompany moved in glittering array, with flying banners, and music, and\nthe noisy flourish of drums, adown the rose-covered pathway which led\nto the water\u2019s side. And the peerless Kriemhild followed, with a hundred\nlovely maidens, all mounted on snow-white palfreys; and Siegfried, proud\nand happy, on Greyfell, rode beside her.\n\nWhen the party reached the river-bank, a pleasant sight met their eyes;\nfor the fleet had now drawn near, and the whole river, as far as the\neye could reach, glittered with the light reflected from the shield-hung\nrails and the golden prows of the swift-coming ships. King Gunther\u2019s own\nvessel led all the rest; and the king himself stood on the deck, with\nthe glorious Brunhild by his side. Nearer and nearer the fresh breeze\nof the summer morning wafted the vessel to the shore, where stood\nthe waiting multitude. Softly the golden dragon glided in to the\nlanding-place, and quickly was it moored to the banks; then Gunther,\nclad in his kingly garments, stepped ashore, and with him his lovely\nqueen. And a mighty shout of welcome, and an answering shout of\ngladness, seemed to rend the sky as the waiting hosts beheld the sight.\nAnd the queen-mother Ute, and the peerless Kriemhild, and her kingly\nbrothers, went forward to greet the pair. And Kriemhild took Brunhild by\nthe hand, and kissed her, and said,--\n\n\u201cWelcome, thrice welcome, dear sister! to thy home and thy kindred and\nthy people, who hail thee as queen. And may thy days be full of joyance,\nand thy years be full of peace!\u201d\n\nThen all the folk cried out their goodly greetings; and the sound of\ntheir glad voices rang out sweet and clear in the morning air, and rose\nup from the riverside, and was echoed among the hill-slopes, and carried\nover the meadows and vineyards, to the farthest bounds of Burgundy-land.\nAnd the matchless Brunhild, smiling, returned the happy greeting; and\nher voice was soft and sweet, as she said,--\n\n\u201cO kin of the fair Rhineland, and folk of my new-found home! may your\ndays be summer sunshine, and your lives lack grief and pain; and may\nthis hour of glad rejoicing be the type of all hours to come!\u201d\n\nThen the lovely queen was seated in a golden wain which stood in waiting\nfor her; and Gunther mounted his own war-steed; and the whole company\nmade ready to ride to the castle. Never before had so pleasant a sight\nbeen seen in Rhineland, as that glorious array of king-folk and lords\nand ladies wending from river to fortress along the rose-strewn roadway.\nForemost went the king, and by his side was Siegfried on the radiant\nGreyfell. Then came the queen\u2019s golden wain, drawn by two snow-white\noxen, which were led with silken cords by sweet-faced maidens; and\nin it, on an ivory throne deep-carved with mystic runes, sat glorious\nBrunhild. Behind rode the queen-mother and her kingly sons, and frowning\nHagen, and Dankwart, and Volker, and all the earl-folk and mighty\nwarriors of Burgundy and of Nibelungen Land. And lastly came Kriemhild\nand her hundred damsels, sitting on their snow-white steeds. And they\nrode past the blooming gardens, and through the glad streets of the\nburgh, and then, like a radiant vision, they entered the castle-halls;\nand the lovely pageant was seen no more.\n\nFor twelve days after this, a joyful high-tide was held at the castle;\nand the broad halls rang with merriment and music and festive mirth.\nAnd games and tournaments were held in honor of the king\u2019s return.\nBrave horsemen dashed here and there at break-neck speed, or contended\nmanfully in the lists; lances flew thick in the air; shouts and glad\ncries were heard on every hand; and for a time the most boisterous\ntumult reigned. But gladness and good-feeling ruled the hour, and no one\nthought of aught but merry-making and careless joy. At length, when\nthe days of feasting were past, the guests bade Gunther and his queen\nfarewell; and each betook himself to his own home, and to whatsoever\nhis duty called him. And one would have thought that none but happy days\nwere henceforth in store for the kingly folk of Burgundy. But alas!\ntoo soon the cruel frost and the cold north winds nipped the buds and\nblossoms of the short summer, and the days of gladness gave place to\nnights of gloom.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XVII. How Siegfried Lived in Nibelungen Land.\n\n\n\nWhen the twelve-days\u2019 high-tide at King Gunther\u2019s home-coming had\nbeen brought to an end, and the guests had all gone to their homes,\nSiegfried, too, prepared to bid farewell to the Rhineland kings, and to\nwend to his own country. But he was not to go alone; for Kriemhild, the\npeerless princess, was to go with him as his bride. They had been wedded\nduring the merry festivities which had just closed, and that event had\nadded greatly to the general joy; for never was there a fairer or a\nnobler pair than Siegfried the fearless, and Kriemhild the peerless.\n\n\u201cIt grieves my heart to part with you,\u201d said Gunther, wringing\nSiegfried\u2019s hand. \u201cIt will fare but ill with us, I fear, when we no\nlonger see your radiant face, or hear your cheery voice.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay not so, my brother,\u201d answered Siegfried; \u201cfor the gods have many\ngood things in store for you. And, if ever you need the help of my arm,\nyou have but to say the word, and I will hasten to your aid.\u201d\n\nThen the Burgundian kings besought the hero to take the fourth part\nof their kingdom as his own and Kriemhild\u2019s, and to think no more of\nleaving them. But Siegfried would not agree to this. His heart yearned\nto see his father and mother once again, and then to return to his own\nloved Nibelungen Land. So he thanked the kings for their kind offer, and\nhastened to make ready for his intended journey.\n\nEarly on Midsummer Day the hero and his bride rode out of Gunther\u2019s\ndwelling, and turned their faces northward. And with them was a noble\nretinue of warriors,--five hundred brave Burgundians, with Eckewart as\ntheir chief,--who had sworn to be Queen Kriemhild\u2019s vassals in her new,\nfar-distant home. Thirty and two fair maidens, too, went with her. And\nwith Siegfried were his Nibelungen earls.\n\nAs the company rode down the sands, and filed gayly along the\nriver-road, it seemed a lovely although a sad sight to their kinsmen\nwho gazed after them from the castle-towers. Fair and young were all the\nfolk; and the world, to most, was still untried. And they rode, in the\nmorning sunlight, away from their native land, nor recked that never\nagain would they return. Each warrior sat upon a charger, richly geared\nwith gilt-red saddle, and gorgeous bridle, and trappings of every hue;\nand their war-coats were bright and dazzling; and their spears glanced\nin the sun; and their golden shields threw rays of resplendent light\naround them. The maidens, too, were richly dight in broidered cloaks\nof blue, and rare stuffs brought from far-off Araby; and each sat on a\nsnow-white palfrey geared with silken housings, and trappings of bright\nblue.\n\nFor some days the company followed the course of the river, passing\nthrough many a rich meadow, and between lovely vineyards, and fields of\nyellow corn. Then they rode over a dreary, barren waste, and through\na wild greenwood, and reached, at last, the hills which marked the\nbeginning of King Siegmund\u2019s domains. Then Siegfried sent fleet heralds\nbefore them to carry to his father the tidings of his coming with\nhis bride, fair Kriemhild. Glad, indeed, were old King Siegmund and\nSiegfried\u2019s gentle mother when they heard this news.\n\n\u201cOh, happy is the day!\u201d cried the king. \u201cThrice happy be the day that\nshall see fair Kriemhild a crowned queen, and Siegfried a king in the\nthrone of his fathers!\u201d\n\nAnd they showered upon the heralds who had brought the happy news rich\nfees of gold and silver, and gave them garments of silken velvet. And on\nthe morrow they set out, with a train of earl-folk and lovely ladies,\nto meet their son and his bride. For one whole day they journeyed to\nthe old fortress of Santen, where in former days the king\u2019s dwelling had\nbeen. There they met the happy bridal-party, and fond and loving were\nthe hearty greetings they bestowed upon Kriemhild and the radiant\nSiegfried. Then, without delay, they returned to Siegmund\u2019s kingly hall;\nand for twelve days a high tide, more happy and more splendid than\nthat which had been held in Burgundy, was made in honor of Siegfried\u2019s\nmarriage-day. And, in the midst of those days of sport and joyance,\nthe old king gave his crown and sceptre to his son; and all the people\nhailed Siegfried, king of the broad Lowlands, and Kriemhild his lovely\nqueen.\n\nOld stories tell how Siegfried reigned in peace and glad contentment in\nhis fatherland; and how the joyous sunshine shone wherever he went, and\npoured a flood of light and warmth and happiness into every nook and\ncorner of his kingdom; and how, at length, after the gentle Sigelind\nhad died, he moved his court to that other country of his,--the far-off\nNibelungen Land. And it is in that strange, dream-haunted land, in a\nstrong-built mountain fortress, that we shall next find him.\n\nGlad were the Nibelungen folk when their own king and his lovely wife\ncame to dwell among them; and the mists once more were lifted, and the\nskies grew bright and clear, and men said that the night had departed,\nand the better days were near. Golden, indeed, and most glorious, was\nthat summer-time; and long to be remembered was Siegfried\u2019s too brief\nreign in Nibelungen Land. And, ages afterward, folk loved to sing of his\ncare for his people\u2019s welfare, of his wisdom and boundless lore, of his\ndeeds in the time of warring, and the victories gained in peace. And\nstrong and brave were the men-folk, and wise and fair were the women,\nand broad and rich were the acres, in Siegfried\u2019s well-ruled land. The\nfarm-lands were yellow with the abundant harvests, fruitful orchards\ngrew in the pleasant dales, and fair vineyards crowned the hills. Fine\ncities sprang up along the seacoast, and strong fortresses were built\non every height. Great ships were made, which sailed to every land, and\nbrought home rich goods from every clime,--coffee and spices from India,\nrich silks from Zazemang, fine fruits from the Iberian shore, and soft\nfurs, and ivory tusks of the sea-beast, from the frozen coasts of the\nnorth. Never before was country so richly blessed; for Siegfried taught\nhis people how to till the soil best, and how to delve far down into the\nearth for hidden treasures, and how to work skilfully in iron and bronze\nand all other metals, and how to make the winds and the waters, and even\nthe thunderbolt, their thralls and helpful servants. And he was as great\nin war as in peace; for no other people dared harm, or in any way impose\nupon, the Nibelungen folk, or any of his faithful liegemen.\n\nIt is told how, once on a time, he warred against the Hundings, who\nhad done his people an injury, and how he sailed against them in a long\ndragon-ship of a hundred oars. When he was far out in the mid-sea, and\nno land was anywhere in sight, a dreadful storm arose. The lightnings\nflashed, and the winds roared, and threatened to carry the ship to\ndestruction. Quickly the fearful sailors began to reef the sails, but\nSiegfried bade them stop.\n\n\u201cWhy be afraid?\u201d he cried. \u201cThe Norns have woven the woof of every man\u2019s\nlife, and no man can escape his destiny. If the gods will that we should\ndrown, it is folly for us to strive against fate. We are bound to the\nshore of the Hundings\u2019 land, and thither must our good ship carry us.\nHoist the sails high on the masts, even though the wind should tear them\ninto shreds, and split the masts into splinters!\u201d\n\nThe sailors did as they were bidden; and the hurricane caught the ship\nin its mighty arms, and hurried it over the rolling waves with the speed\nof lightning. And Siegfried stood calmly at the helm, and guided the\nflying vessel. Presently they saw a rocky point rising up out of the\nwaters before them; and on it stood an old man, his gray cloak streaming\nin the wind, and his blue hood tied tightly down over his head.\n\n\u201cWhose ship is that which comes riding on the storm?\u201d cried the man.\n\n\u201cKing Siegfried\u2019s ship,\u201d answered the man at the prow. \u201cThere lives no\nbraver man on earth than he.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou sayest truly,\u201d came back from the rock. \u201cLay by your oars, reef\nthe sails, and take me on board!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is your name?\u201d asked the sailor, as the ship swept past him.\n\n\u201cWhen the raven croaks gladly over his battle-feast, men call me Hnikar.\nBut call me now Karl from the mountain, Fengr, or Fjolner. Reef, quick,\nyour sails, and take me in!\u201d\n\nThe men, at Siegfried\u2019s command, obeyed. And at once the wind ceased\nblowing, and the sea was calm, and the warm sun shone through the rifted\nclouds, and the coast of Hundings Land lay close before them. But when\nthey looked for Fjolner, as he called himself, they could not find him.\n\nOne day Siegfried sat in his sun-lit hall in Nibelungen Land; and\nKriemhild, lovely as a morning in June, sat beside him. And they talked\nof the early days when alone he fared through the mid-world, and alone\ndid deeds of wondrous daring. And Siegfried bethought him then of the\nglittering Hoard of Andvari, and the cave and the mountain fortress,\nwhere the faithful dwarf Alberich still guarded the measureless\ntreasure.\n\n\u201cHow I should like to see that mountain fastness and that glittering\nhoard!\u201d cried Kriemhild.\n\n\u201cYou shall see,\u201d answered the king.\n\nAnd at once horses were saddled, and preparations were made for a\nmorning\u2019s jaunt into the mountains. And, ere an hour had passed,\nSiegfried and his queen, and a small number of knights and ladies,\nwere riding through the passes. About noon they came to Alberich\u2019s\ndwelling,--a frowning fortress of granite built in the mountain-side.\nThe gate was opened by the sleepy giant who always sat within, and the\nparty rode into the narrow court-yard. There they were met by Alberich,\nseeming smaller and grayer, and more pinched and wan, than ever before.\n\n\u201cHail, noble master!\u201d cried he, bowing low before Siegfried. \u201cHow can\nAlberich serve you to-day?\u201d\n\n\u201cLead us to the treasure-vaults,\u201d answered the king. \u201cMy queen would\nfain feast her eyes upon the yellow, sparkling hoard.\u201d\n\nThe dwarf obeyed. Through a narrow door they were ushered into a long,\nlow cavern, so frowning and gloomy, that the queen started back in\naffright. But, re-assured by Siegfried\u2019s smiling face, she went forward\nagain. The entrance-way was lighted by little torches held in the hands\nof tiny elves, who bowed in humble politeness to the kingly party. But,\nwhen once beyond the entrance-hall, no torches were needed to show the\nway; for the huge pile of glittering gold and sparkling jewels, which\nlay heaped up to the cavern\u2019s roof, lighted all the space around with a\nglory brighter than day.\n\n\u201cThere is the dwarf\u2019s treasure!\u201d cried Siegfried. \u201cBehold the Hoard of\nAndvari, the gathered wealth of the ages! Henceforth, fair Kriemhild, it\nis yours--all yours, save this serpent-ring.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd why not that too?\u201d asked the queen; for she admired its glittering\ngolden scales, and its staring ruby eyes.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d answered he, \u201ca curse rests upon it,--the curse which Andvari\nthe ancient laid upon it when Loki tore it from his hand. A miser\u2019s\nheart--selfish, cold, snaky--is bred in its owner\u2019s being; and he\nthenceforth lives a very serpent\u2019s life. Or, should he resist its\ninfluence, then death through the guile of pretended friends is sure to\nbe his fate.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen why,\u201d asked the queen,--\u201cwhy do you keep it yourself? Why do you\nrisk its bane? Why not give it to your sworn foe, or cast it into the\nsea, or melt it in the fire, and thus escape the curse?\u201d\n\nSiegfried answered by telling how, when in the heyday of his youth, he\nhad slain Fafnir, the keeper of this hoard, upon the Glittering Heath;\nand how, while still in the narrow trench which he had dug, the blood of\nthe horrid beast had flown in upon him, and covered him up.\n\n\u201cAnd this I have been told by Odin\u2019s birds,\u201d he went on to say, \u201cthat\nevery part of my body that was touched by the slimy flood was made\nforever proof against sword and spear, and sharp weapons of every kind.\nHence I have no cause to fear the stroke, either of open foes or of\ntraitorous false friends.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut was all of your body covered with the dragon\u2019s blood? Was there no\nsmall spot untouched?\u201d asked the queen, more anxious now than she had\never seemed to be before she had known aught of her husband\u2019s strange\nsecurity from wounds.\n\n\u201cOnly one very little spot between the shoulders was left untouched,\u201d\n answered Siegfried. \u201cI afterwards found a lime-leaf sticking there, and\nI know that the slimy blood touched not that spot. But then who fears a\nthrust in the back? None save cowards are wounded there.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the queen, toying tremulously with the fatal ring, \u201cthat\nlittle lime-leaf may yet bring us unutterable woe.\u201d\n\nBut Siegfried laughed at her fears; and he took the serpent-ring, and\nslipped it upon his forefinger, and said that he would wear it there,\nbane or no bane, so long as Odin would let him live.\n\nThen, after another long look at the heaps of glittering gold and\npriceless gem-stones, the company turned, and followed Alberich back,\nthrough the gloomy entranceway and the narrow door, to the open air\nagain. And mounting their steeds, which stood ready, they started\nhomewards. But, at the outer gate, Siegfried paused, and said to the\ndwarf at parting,--\n\n\u201cHearken, Alberich! The Hoard of Andvari is no longer mine. I have made\na present of it to my queen. Hold it and guard it, therefore, as hers\nand hers alone; and, whatever her bidding may be regarding it, that do.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour word is law, and shall be obeyed,\u201d said the dwarf, bowing low.\n\nThen the drowsy gate-keeper swung the heavy gate to its place, and the\nkingly party rode gayly away.\n\nOn their way home the company went, by another route, through the narrow\nmountain pass which led towards the sea, and thence through a rocky\ngorge between two smoking mountains. And on one side of this road a\ngreat cavern yawned, so dark and deep that no man had ever dared to step\ninside of it. And as they paused before it, and listened, they heard,\naway down in its dismal depths, horrid groans, sad moanings, and faint\nwild shrieks, so far away that it seemed as if they had come from the\nvery centre of the earth. And, while they still listened, the ground\naround them trembled and shook, and the smoking mountain on the other\nside of the gorge smoked blacker than before.\n\n\u201cLoki is uneasy to-day,\u201d said Siegfried, as they all put spurs to their\nhorses, and galloped swiftly home.\n\nIt was the Cavern of the Mischief-maker which the party had visited;\nand that evening, as they again sat in Siegfried\u2019s pleasant hall, they\namused themselves by telling many strange old tales of the mid-world\u2019s\nchildhood, when the gods, and the giants, and the dwarf-folk, had their\ndwelling on the earth. But they talked most of Loki, the flame, the\nrestless, the evil-doer. And this, my children, is the story that was\ntold of the Doom of the Mischief-maker.[EN#30]\n\n\n\nThe Story.\n\n\n\nYou have heard of the feast that old AEgir once made for the Asa-folk in\nhis gold-lit dwelling in the deep sea; and how the feast was hindered,\nthrough the loss of his great brewing-kettle, until Thor had obtained\na still larger vessel from Hymer the giant. It is very likely that\nthe thief who stole King AEgir\u2019s kettle was none other than Loki the\nMischief-maker; but, if this was so, he was not long unpunished for his\nmeanness.\n\nThere was great joy in the Ocean-king\u2019s hall, when at last the banquet\nwas ready, and the foaming ale began to pass itself around to the\nguests. But Thor, who had done so much to help matters along, could not\nstay to the merry-making: for he had heard that the Storm-giants were\nmarshalling their forces for a raid upon some unguarded corner of the\nmid-world; and so, grasping his hammer Mjolner, he bade his kind host\ngood-by, and leaped into his iron car.\n\n\u201cBusiness always before pleasure!\u201d he cried, as he gave the word to his\nswift, strong goats, and rattled away at a wonderful rate through the\nair.\n\nIn old AEgir\u2019s hall glad music resounded on every side; and the gleeful\nWaves danced merrily as the Asa-folk sat around the festal-board, and\npartook of the Ocean-king\u2019s good fare. AEgir\u2019s two thralls, the faithful\nFunfeng and the trusty Elder, waited upon the guests, and carefully\nsupplied their wants. Never in all the world had two more thoughtful\nservants been seen; and every one spoke in praise of their quickness,\nand their skill, and their ready obedience.\n\nThen Loki, unable to keep his hands from mischief, waxed very angry,\nbecause every one seemed happy and free from trouble, and no one noticed\nor cared for him. So, while good Funfeng was serving him to meat, he\nstruck the faithful thrall with a carving-knife, and killed him. Then\narose a great uproar in the Ocean-king\u2019s feast-hall. The Asa-folk rose\nup from the table, and drove the Mischief-maker out from among them; and\nin their wrath they chased him across the waters, and forced him to hide\nin the thick greenwood. After this they went back to AEgir\u2019s hall, and\nsat down again to the feast. But they had scarcely begun to eat, when\nLoki came quietly out of his hiding-place, and stole slyly around to\nAEgir\u2019s kitchen, where he found Elder, the other thrall, grieving sadly\nbecause of his brother\u2019s death.\n\n\u201cI hear a great chattering and clattering over there in the feast-hall,\u201d\n said Loki. \u201cThe greedy, silly Asa-folk seem to be very busy indeed, both\nwith their teeth and their tongues. Tell me, now, good Elder, what they\ntalk about while they sit over their meat and ale.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey talk of noble deeds,\u201d answered Elder. \u201cThey speak of gallant\nheroes, and brave men, and fair women, and strong hearts, and willing\nhands, and gentle manners, and kind friends. And for all these they have\nwords of praise, and songs of beauty; but none of them speak well of\nLoki, the thief and the vile traitor.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Loki wrathfully, twisting himself into a dozen different\nshapes, \u201cno one could ask so great a kindness from such folk. I must go\ninto the feast-hall, and take a look at this fine company, and listen to\ntheir noisy merry-making. I have a fine scolding laid up for those good\nfellows; and, unless they are careful with their tongues, they will find\nmany hard words mixed with their ale.\u201d\n\nThen he went boldly into the great hall, and stood up before the\nwonder-stricken guests at the table. When the Asa-folk saw who it was\nthat had darkened the doorway, and was now in their midst, a painful\nsilence fell upon them, and all their merriment was at an end. And Loki\nstretched himself up to his full height, and said to them,--\n\n\u201cHungry and thirsty come I to AEgir\u2019s gold lit hall. Long and rough was\nthe road I trod, and wearisome was the way. Will no one bid me welcome?\nWill none give me a seat at the feast? Will none offer me a drink of the\nprecious mead? Why are you all so dumb? Why so sulky and stiff-necked,\nwhen your best friend stands before you? Give me a seat among you,--yes,\none of the high-seats,--or else drive me from your hall! In either case,\nthe world will never forget me. I am Loki.\u201d\n\nThen one among the Asa-folk spoke up, and said, \u201cLet him sit with us.\nHe is mad; and when he slew Funfeng, he was not in his right mind. He is\nnot answerable for his rash act.\u201d\n\nBut Bragi the Wise, who sat on the innermost seat, arose, and said,\n\u201cNay, we will not give him a seat among us. Nevermore shall he feast\nor sup with us, or share our good-fellowship. Thieves and murderers we\nknow, and will shun.\u201d\n\nThis speech enraged Loki all the more; and he spared not vile words,\nbut heaped abuse without stint upon all the folk before him. And by main\nforce he seized hold of the silent Vidar, who had come from the forest\nsolitudes to be present at the feast, and dragged him away from the\ntable, and seated himself in his place. Then, as he quaffed the foaming\nale, he flung out taunts and jeers and hard words to all who sat around,\nbut chiefly to Bragi the Wise. Then he turned to Sif, the beautiful wife\nof Thor, and began to twit her about her golden hair.\n\n\u201cOh, how handsome you were, when you looked at your bald head in the\nmirror that day! Oh, what music you made when your hands touched your\nsmooth pate! And now whose hair do you wear?\u201d\n\nAnd the wretch laughed wickedly, as he saw the tears welling up in poor\nSif\u2019s eyes.\n\nThen suddenly a great tumult was heard outside. The mountains shook\nand trembled; and the bottom of the sea seemed moved; and the waves,\naffrighted and angry, rushed hither and thither in confusion. All the\nguests looked up in eager expectation, and some of them fled in alarm\nfrom the hall. Then the mighty Thor strode through the door, and up\nto the table, swinging his hammer, and casting wrathful glances at the\nMischief-maker. Loki trembled, and dropped his goblet, and sank down\nupon his knees before the terrible Asa.\n\n\u201cI yield me!\u201d he cried. \u201cSpare my life, I pray you, and I will be your\nthrall forever!\u201d\n\n\u201cI want no such thrall,\u201d answered Thor. \u201cAnd I spare your life on one\ncondition only,--that you go at once from hence, and nevermore presume\nto come into the company of Asa-folk.\u201d\n\n\u201cI promise all that you ask,\u201d said Loki, trembling more than ever. \u201cLet\nme go.\u201d\n\nThor stepped aside; and the frightened culprit fled from the hall, and\nwas soon out of sight. The feast was broken up. The folk bade AEgir a\nkind farewell, and all embarked on Frey\u2019s good ship Skidbladner; and\nfair winds wafted them swiftly home to Asgard.\n\nLoki fled to the dark mountain gorges of Mist Land, and sought for a\nwhile to hide himself from the sight of both gods and men. In a deep\nravine by the side of a roaring torrent, he built himself a house of\niron and stone, and placed a door on each of its four sides, so that he\ncould see whatever passed around him. There, for many winters, he lived\nin lonely solitude, planning with himself how he might baffle the gods,\nand regain his old place in Asgard. And now and then he slipped slyly\naway from his hiding-place, and wrought much mischief for a time among\nthe abodes of men. But when Thor heard of his evil-doings, and sought\nto catch him, and punish him for his evil deeds, he was nowhere to be\nfound. And at last the Asa-folk determined, that, if he could ever be\ncaptured, the safety of the world required that he should be bound hand\nand foot, and kept forever in prison.\n\nLoki often amused himself in his mountain home by taking upon him his\nfavorite form of a salmon, and lying listlessly, beneath the waters\nof the great Fanander Cataract, which fell from the shelving rocks a\nthousand feet above him. One day while thus lying, he bethought himself\nof former days, when he walked the glad young earth in company with\nthe All-Father. And among other things he remembered how he had once\nborrowed the magic net of Ran, the Ocean-queen, and had caught with it\nthe dwarf Andvari, disguised, as he himself now was, in the form of a\nslippery salmon.\n\n\u201cI will make me such a net!\u201d he cried. \u201cI will make it strong and good;\nand I, too, will fish for men.\u201d\n\nSo he took again his proper shape, and went back to his cheerless home\nin the ravine. And he gathered flax and wool and long hemp, and spun\nyarn and strong cords, and wove them into meshes, after the pattern of\nQueen Ran\u2019s magic net; for men had not, at that time, learned how to\nmake or use nets for fishing. And the first fisherman who caught fish in\nthat way is said to have taken Loki\u2019s net as a model.\n\nOdin sat, on the morrow, in his high hall of Hlidskialf, and looked\nout over all the world, and saw, even to the uttermost corners, what\nmen-folk were everywhere doing. When his eye rested upon the dark line\nwhich marked the mountain-land of the Mist Country, he started up in\nquick surprise, and cried out,\n\n\u201cWho is that who sits by the Fanander Force, and ties strong cords\ntogether?\u201d\n\nBut none of those who stood around could tell, for their eyes were not\nstrong enough and clear enough to see so far.\n\n\u201cBring Heimdal!\u201d then cried Odin.\n\nNow, Heimdal the White dwells among the blue mountains of sunny\nHimminbjorg, where the rainbow, the shimmering Asa-bridge, spans the\nspace betwixt heaven and earth. He is the son of Odin, golden-toothed,\npure-faced, and clean-hearted; and he ever keeps watch and ward over the\nmid-world and the homes of frail men-folk, lest the giants shall break\nin, and destroy and slay. He rides upon a shining steed named Goldtop;\nand he holds in his hand a horn called Gjallar-horn, with which, in\nthe last great twilight, he shall summon the world to battle with\nthe Fenris-wolf and the sons of Loki. This watchful guardian of the\nmid-world is as wakeful as the birds. And his hearing is so keen, that\nno sound on earth escapes him,--not even that of the rippling waves upon\nthe seashore, nor of the quiet sprouting of the grass in the meadows,\nnor even of the growth of the soft wool on the backs of sheep. And his\neyesight, too, is wondrous clear and sharp; for he can see by night as\nwell as by day, and the smallest thing, although a hundred leagues away,\ncannot be hidden from him.\n\nTo Heimdal, then, the heralds hastened, bearing the words which Odin\nhad spoken. And the watchful warder of the mid-world came at once to the\ncall of the All-Father.\n\n\u201cTurn your eyes to the sombre mountains that guard the shadowy Mist-land\nfrom the sea,\u201d said Odin, \u201cNow look far down into the rocky gorge in\nwhich the Fanander Cataract pours, and tell me what you see.\u201d\n\nHeimdal did as he was bidden.\n\n\u201cI see a shape,\u201d said he, \u201csitting by the torrent\u2019s side. It is Loki\u2019s\nshape, and he seems strangely busy with strong strings and cords.\u201d\n\n\u201cCall all our folk together!\u201d commanded Odin. \u201cThe wily Mischief-maker\nplots our hurt. He must be driven from his hiding-place, and put where\nhe can do no further harm.\u201d\n\nGreat stir was there then in Asgard. Every one hastened to answer Odin\u2019s\ncall, and to join in the quest for the Mischief-maker. Thor came on\nfoot, with his hammer tightly grasped in his hands, and lightning\nflashing from beneath his red brows. Tyr, the one-handed, came with\nhis sword. Then followed Bragi the Wise, with his harp and his sage\ncounsels; then Hermod the Nimble, with his quick wit and ready hands;\nand, lastly, a great company of elves and wood-sprites and trolls.\nThen a whirlwind caught them up in its swirling arms, and carried\nthem through the air, over the hill-tops and the country-side, and\nthe meadows and the mountains, and set them down in the gorge of the\nFanander Force.\n\nBut Loki was not caught napping. His wakeful ears had heard the tumult\nin the air, and he guessed who it was that was coming. He threw the net,\nwhich he had just finished, into the fire, and jumped quickly into the\nswift torrent, where, changing himself into a salmon, he lay hidden\nbeneath the foaming waters.\n\nWhen the eager Asa-folk reached Loki\u2019s dwelling, they found that he whom\nthey sought had fled; and although they searched high and low, among the\nrocks and the caves and the snowy crags, they could see no signs of the\ncunning fugitive. Then they went back to his house again to consult what\nnext to do. And, while standing by the hearth, Kwaser, a sharp-sighted\nelf, whose eyes were quicker than the sunbeam, saw the white ashes of\nthe burned net lying undisturbed in the still hot embers, the woven\nmeshes unbroken and whole.\n\n\u201cSee what the cunning fellow has been making!\u201d cried the elf. \u201cIt must\nhave been a trap for catching fish.\u201d\n\n\u201cOr rather for catching men,\u201d said Bragi; \u201cfor it is strangely like the\nSea-queen\u2019s net.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn that case,\u201d said Hermod the Nimble, \u201che has made a trap for himself;\nfor, no doubt, he has changed himself, as is his wont, to a slippery\nsalmon, and lies at this moment hidden beneath the Fanander torrent.\nHere are plenty of cords of flax and hemp and wool, with which he\nintended to make other nets. Let us take them, and weave one like the\npattern which lies there in the embers; and then, if I mistake not, we\nshall catch the too cunning fellow.\u201d\n\nAll saw the wisdom of these words, and all set quickly to work. In\na short time they had made a net strong and large, and full of fine\nmeshes, like the model among the coals. Then they threw it into the\nroaring stream, Thor holding to one end, and all the other folk pulling\nat the other. With great toil, they dragged it forwards, against the\ncurrent, even to the foot of the waterfall. But the cunning Loki crept\nclose down between two sharp stones, and lay there quietly while the net\npassed harmlessly over him.\n\n\u201cLet us try again!\u201d cried Thor. \u201cI am sure that something besides dead\nrocks lies at the bottom of the stream.\u201d\n\nSo they hung heavy weights to the net, and began to drag it a\nsecond time, this time going down stream. Loki looked out from his\nhiding-place, and saw that he would not be able to escape again by lying\nbetween the rocks, and that his only chance for safety was either to\nleap over the net, and hide himself behind the rushing cataract itself,\nor to swim with the current out to the sea. But the way to the sea was\nlong, and there were many shallow places; and Loki had doubts as to\nhow old AEgir would receive him in his kingdom. He feared greatly to\nundertake so dangerous and uncertain a course. So, turning upon his\nfoes, and calling up all his strength, he made a tremendous leap high\ninto the air, and clean over the net. But Thor was too quick for him. As\nhe fell towards the water, the Thunderer quickly threw out his hand, and\ncaught the slippery salmon, holding him firmly by the tail.\n\nWhen Loki found that he was surely caught, and could not by any means\nescape, he took again his proper shape. Fiercely did he struggle with\nmighty Thor, and bitter were the curses which he poured down upon his\nenemies. But he could not get free. Into the deep, dark cavern, beneath\nthe smoking mountain, where daylight never comes, nor the warmth of\nthe sun, nor the sound of Nature\u2019s music, the fallen Mischief-maker was\ncarried. And they bound him firmly to the sharp rocks, with his face\nturned upwards toward the dripping roof; for they said that nevermore,\nuntil the last dread twilight, should he be free to vex the world with\nhis wickedness. And Skade, the giant wife of Niord and the daughter of\ngrim Old Winter, took a hideous poison snake, and hung it up above Loki,\nso that its venom would drop into his upturned face. But Sigyn, the\nloving wife of the suffering wretch, left her home in the pleasant halls\nof Asgard, and came to his horrible prison-house to soothe and comfort\nhim; and evermore she holds a basin above his head, and catches in it\nthe poisonous drops as they fall. When the basin is filled, and she\nturns to empty it in the tar-black river that flows through that home\nof horrors, the terrible venom falls upon his unprotected face, and Loki\nwrithes and shrieks in fearful agony, until the earth around him\nshakes and trembles, and the mountains spit forth fire, and fumes of\nsulphur-smoke.\n\nAnd there the Mischief-maker, the spirit of evil, shall lie in torment\nuntil the last great day and the dread twilight of all mid-world things.\nHow strange and how sad, that, while Loki lies thus bound and harmless,\nevil still walks the earth, and that so much mischief and such dire\ndisasters were prepared for Siegfried and the folk of Nibelungen Land!\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XVIII. How the Mischief Began to Brew.\n\n\n\nOne day a party of strangers came to Siegfried\u2019s Nibelungen dwelling,\nand asked to speak with the king.\n\n\u201cWho are you? and what is your errand?\u201d asked the porter at the gate.\n\n\u201cOur errand is to the king, and he will know who we are when he sees\nus,\u201d was the answer.\n\nWhen Siegfried was told of the strange men who waited below, and of\nthe strange way in which they had answered the porter\u2019s question, he\nasked,--\n\n\u201cFrom what country seem they to have come? For surely their dress and\nmanners will betray something of that matter to you. Are they South-land\nfolk, or East-land folk? Are they from the mountains, or from the sea?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey belong to none of the neighbor-lands,\u201d answered the earl who had\nbrought the word to the king. \u201cNo such men live upon our borders. They\nseem to have come from a far-off land; for they are travel-worn, and\ntheir sea-stained clothing betokens a people from the south. They are\ntall and dark, and their hair is black, and they look much like those\nRhineland warriors who came hither with our lady the queen. And they\ncarry a blood-red banner with a golden dragon painted upon it.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, they must be from Burgundy!\u201d cried the queen, who had overheard\nthese words. And she went at once to the window to see the strangers,\nwho were waiting in the courtyard below.\n\nThere, indeed, she saw thirty tall Burgundians, clad in the gay costume\nof Rhineland, now faded and worn with long travel. But all save one were\nyoung, and strangers to Kriemhild. That one was their leader,--an old\nman with a kind face, and a right noble bearing.\n\n\u201cSee!\u201d said the queen to Siegfried: \u201cthere is our brave captain Gere,\nwho, ever since my childhood, has been the trustiest man in my brother\nGunther\u2019s household. Those men are from the fatherland, and they bring\ntidings from the dear old Burgundian home.\u201d\n\n\u201cWelcome are they to our Nibelungen Land!\u201d cried the delighted king.\n\nAnd he ordered that the strangers should be brought into the castle,\nand that the most sumptuous rooms should be allotted to them, and a\nplenteous meal prepared, and every thing done to entertain them in a\nstyle befitting messengers from Kriemhild\u2019s fatherland. Then Gere, the\ntrusty captain, was led into the presence of the king and queen. Right\ngladly did they welcome him, and many were the questions they asked\nabout their kin-folk, and the old Rhineland home.\n\n\u201cTell us, good Gere,\u201d said Siegfried, \u201cwhat is thy message from our\nfriends; for we are anxious to know whether they are well and happy, or\nwhether some ill luck has overtaken them. If any harm threatens them,\nthey have but to speak, and I, with my sword and my treasures, will\nhasten to their help.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey are all well,\u201d answered the captain. \u201cNo ill has befallen them,\nand no harm threatens them. Peace rules all the land; and fair weather\nand sunshine have filled the people\u2019s barns, and made their hearts glad.\nAnd thus it has been ever since Gunther brought to his dwelling the\nwarrior-maiden Brunhild to be his queen. And this is my errand and the\nmessage that I bring: King Gunther, blessed with happiness, intends\nto hold a grand high-tide of joy and thanksgiving at the time of the\nharvest-moon. And nothing is wanting to complete the gladness of that\ntime, but the sight of you and the peerless Kriemhild in your old places\nat the feast. And it is to invite you to this festival of rejoicing that\nI have come, at the king\u2019s command, to Nibelungen Land.\u201d\n\nSiegfried sat a moment in silence, and then thoughtfully answered,--\n\n\u201cIt is a long, long journey from this land to Burgundy, and many dangers\nbeset the road; and my own people would sadly miss me while away, and I\nknow not what mishaps might befall.\u201d\n\nThen Gere spoke of the queen-mother Ute, now grown old and feeble,\nwho wished once more, ere death called her hence, to see her daughter\nKriemhild. And he told how all the people, both high and low, yearned\nfor another sight of the radiant hero who in former days had blessed\ntheir land with his presence and his noble deeds. And his persuasive\nwords had much weight with Siegfried, who said at length,--\n\n\u201cTarry a few days yet for my answer. I will talk with my friends and the\nNibelungen earls; and what they think best, that will I do.\u201d\n\nFor nine days, then, waited Gere at Siegfried\u2019s hall; but still the king\nput off his answer.\n\n\u201cWait until to-morrow,\u201d he said each day, for his heart whispered dim\nforebodings.\n\nAt length, as midsummer was fast drawing near, the impatient captain\ncould stay no longer; and he bade his followers make ready to go back\nforthwith to Burgundy. When the queen saw that they were ready to\ntake their leave, and that Gere could wait no longer upon the king\u2019s\npleasure, she urged her husband to say to Gunther that they would come\nto his harvest festival. And the lords and noble earl-folk added their\npersuasions to hers.\n\n\u201cSend word back to the Burgundian king,\u201d said they, \u201cthat you will go,\nas he desires. We will see to it that no harm comes to your kingdom\nwhile you are away.\u201d\n\nSo Siegfried called Gere and his comrades into the ball, and loaded them\nwith costly gifts such as they had never before seen, and bade them say\nto their master that he gladly accepted the kind invitation he had sent,\nand that, ere the harvest high-tide began, he and Kriemhild would be\nwith him in Burgundy.\n\nAnd the messengers went back with all speed, and told what wondrous\nthings they had seen in Nibelungen Land, and in what great splendor\nSiegfried lived. And, when they showed the rare presents which had been\ngiven them, all joined in praising the goodness and greatness of the\nhero-king. But old chief Hagen frowned darkly as he said,--\n\n\u201cIt is little wonder that he can do such things, for the Shining Hoard\nof Andvari is his. If we had such a treasure, we, too, might live in\nmore than kingly grandeur.\u201d\n\nEarly in the month of roses, Siegfried and his peerless queen, with a\nretinue of more than a thousand warriors and many fair ladies, started\non their long and toilsome journey to the South-land. And the folk who\nwent with them to the city gates bade them mane tearful farewells, and\nreturned to their homes, feeling that the sunshine had gone forever from\nthe Nibelungen Land. But the sky was blue and cloudless, and the breezes\nwarm and mild, and glad was the song of the reapers as adown the seaward\nhighway the kingly company rode. Two days they rode through Mist Land,\nto the shore of the peaceful sea. Ten days they sailed on the waters.\nAnd the winds were soft and gentle; and the waves slept in the sunlight,\nor merrily danced in their wake. But each day, far behind them, there\nfollowed a storm-cloud, dark as night, and the pleasant shores of Mist\nLand were hidden forever behind it. Five days they rode through the\nLowlands, and glad were the Lowland folk with sight of their hero-king.\nTwo days through the silent greenwood, and one o\u2019er the barren moor, and\nthree amid vineyards and fields, and between orchards fruitful and fair,\nthey rode. And on the four and twentieth day they came in sight of the\nquiet town, and the tall gray towers, where dwelt the Burgundian kings.\nAnd a great company on horseback, with flashing shields and fine-wrought\ngarments and nodding plumes, came out to meet them. It was King Gernot\nand a thousand of the best men and fairest women in Burgundy; and they\nwelcomed Siegfried and Kriemhild and their Nibelungen-folk to the fair\nland of the Rhine. And then they turned, and rode back with them to the\ncastle. And, as the company passed through the pleasant streets of the\ntown, the people stood by the wayside, anxious to catch sight of the\nradiant Siegfried on his sunbright steed, and of the peerless Kriemhild,\nriding on a palfrey by his side. And young girls strewed roses in their\npathway, and hung garlands upon their horses; and every one shouted,\n\u201cHail to the conquering hero! Hail to the matchless queen!\u201d\n\nWhen they reached the castle, King Gunther and Giselher met them, and\nushered them into the old familiar halls, where a right hearty welcome\ngreeted them from all the kingly household. And none seemed more glad\nin this happy hour than Brunhild the warrior-queen, now more gloriously\nbeautiful than even in the days of yore.\n\nWhen the harvest-moon began to shine full and bright, lighting up the\nwhole world from evening till morn with its soft radiance, the gay\nfestival so long looked forward to began. And care and anxiety, and the\nfatigues of the long journey, were forgotten amid the endless round of\npleasure which for twelve days enlivened the whole of Burgundy. And the\nchiefest honors were everywhere paid to Siegfried the hero-king, and to\nKriemhild the peerless queen of beauty.\n\nThen Queen Brunhild called to mind, how, on a time, it had been told\nher in Isenland that Siegfried was but the liegeman and vassal of King\nGunther; and she wondered why such honor should be paid to an underling,\nand why the king himself should treat him with so much respect. And as\nshe thought of this, and of the high praises with which every one spoke\nof Kriemhild, her mind became filled with jealous broodings. And soon\nher bitter jealousy was turned to deadly hate; for she remembered then,\nhow, in the days long past, a noble youth, more beautiful and more\nglorious than the world would ever see again, had awakened her from the\ndeep sleep that Odin\u2019s thorn had given; and she remembered how Gunther\nhad won her by deeds of strength and skill which he never afterwards\ncould even imitate; and she thought how grand indeed was Kriemhild\u2019s\nhusband compared with her own weak and wavering and commonplace lord.\nAnd her soul was filled with sorrow and bitterness and deepest misery,\nwhen, putting these thoughts together, she believed that she had in some\nway been duped and cheated into becoming Gunther\u2019s wife.\n\nWhen at last the gay feast was ended, and most of the guests had gone\nto their homes, she sought her husband, and thus broached the matter to\nhim.\n\n\u201cOften have I asked you,\u201d said she, \u201cwhy your sister Kriemhild was given\nin marriage to a vassal, and as often have you put me off with vague\nexcuses. Often, too, have I wondered why your vassal, Siegfried, has\nnever paid you tribute for the lands which he holds from you, and why he\nhas never come to render you homage. Now he is here in your castle; but\nhe sets himself up, not as your vassal, but as your peer. I pray you,\ntell me what such strange things mean. Was an underling and a vassal\never known before to put himself upon a level with his liege lord?\u201d\n\nGunther was greatly troubled, and he knew not what to say; for he feared\nto tell the queen how they had deceived her when he had won the games at\nIsenstein, and how the truth had ever since been kept hidden from her.\n\n\u201cAsk me not to explain this matter further than I have already done,\u201d\n he answered. \u201cIt is enough that Siegfried is the greatest of all my\nvassals, and that his lands are broader even than my own. He has helped\nme out of many straits, and has added much to the greatness and strength\nof my kingdom: for this reason he has never been asked to pay us\ntribute, and for this reason we grant him highest honors.\u201d\n\nBut this answer failed to satisfy the queen.\n\n\u201cIs it not the first duty of a vassal,\u201d she asked, \u201cto help his liege\nlord in every undertaking? If so, Siegfried has but done his duty, and\nyou owe him nothing. But you have not told me all. You have deceived me,\nand you would fain deceive me again. You have a secret, and I will find\nit out.\u201d\n\nThe king made no answer, but walked silently and thoughtfully away.\n\nIt happened one evening, not long thereafter, that the two queens sat\ntogether at an upper window, and looked down upon a company of men in\nthe courtyard below. Among them were the noblest earl-folk of Burgundy,\nand Gunther the king, and Siegfried. But Siegfried towered above all the\nrest; and he moved like a god among men.\n\n\u201cSee my noble Siegfried!\u201d cried Kriemhild in her pride. \u201cHow grandly he\nstands there! What a type of manly beauty and strength! No one cares to\nlook at other men when he is near.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe maybe handsome,\u201d answered Brunhild sadly; \u201cand, for aught I know, he\nmay be noble. But what is all that by the side of kingly power? Were he\nbut the peer of your brother Gunther, then you might well boast.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is the peer of Gunther,\u201d returned Kriemhild. \u201cAnd not only his peer,\nbut more; for he stands as high above him in kingly power and worth as\nin bodily stature.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can that be?\u201d asked Brunhild, growing angry. \u201cFor, when Gunther so\ngallantly won me at Isenstein, he told me that Siegfried was his vassal;\nand often since that time I have heard the same. And even your husband\ntold me that Gunther was his liege lord.\u201d\n\nQueen Kriemhild laughed at these words, and answered, \u201cI tell you again\nthat Siegfried is a king far nobler and richer and higher than any other\nking on earth. Think you that my brothers would have given me to a mere\nvassal to be his wife?\u201d\n\nThen Brunhild, full of wrath, replied, \u201cYour husband is Gunther\u2019s vassal\nand my own, and he shall do homage to us as the humblest and meanest of\nour underlings. He shall not go from this place until he has paid all\nthe tribute that has so long been due from him. Then we shall see who is\nthe vassal, and who is the lord.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d answered Kriemhild. \u201cIt shall not be. No tribute was ever due;\nand, if homage is to be paid, it is rather Gunther who must pay it.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt shall be settled once for all!\u201d cried Brunhild, now boiling over\nwith rage. \u201cI will know the truth. If Siegfried is not our vassal, then\nI have been duped; and I will have revenge.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is well,\u201d was the mild answer. \u201cLet it be settled, once for all;\nand then, mayhap, we shall know who it was who really won the games at\nIsenstein, and you for Gunther\u2019s wife.\u201d\n\nAnd the two queens parted in wrath.[EN#31]\n\nKriemhild\u2019s anger was as fleeting as an April cloud, which does but\nthreaten, and then passes away in tears and sunshine. But Brunhild\u2019s was\nlike the dread winter storm that sweeps down from Niflheim, and brings\nruin and death in its wake. She felt that she had been cruelly wronged\nin some way, and that her life had been wrecked, and she rested not\nuntil she had learned the truth.\n\nIt was Hagen who at last told her the story of the cruel deceit that\nhad made her Gunther\u2019s wife; and then her wrath and her shame knew no\nbounds.\n\n\u201cWoe betide the day!\u201d she cried,--\u201cwoe betide the day that brought me to\nRhineland, and made me the wife of a weakling and coward, and the jest\nof him who might have done nobler things!\u201d\n\nHagen smiled. He had long waited for this day.\n\n\u201cIt was Siegfried, and Siegfried alone, who plotted to deceive you,\u201d\n he said. \u201cHad it not been for him, you might still have been the happy\nmaiden-queen of Isenland. And now he laughs at you, and urges his queen,\nKriemhild, to scorn you as she would an underling.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know it, I know it,\u201d returned the queen in distress. \u201cAnd yet how\ngrandly noble is the man! How he rushed through the flames to awaken me,\nwhen no one else could save! How brave, how handsome,--and yet he has\nbeen my bane. I can have no peace while he lives.\u201d\n\nHagen smiled again, and a strange light gleamed from his dark eye. Then\nhe said, \u201cTruly handsome and brave is he, but a viler traitor was never\nborn. He even now plots to seize this kingdom, and to add it to his\ndomain. Why else should he bring so great a retinue of Nibelungen\nwarriors to Burgundy? I will see King Gunther at once, and we will put\nan end to his wicked projects.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo even so, good Hagen,\u201d said Brunhild. \u201cTake him from my path, and\nbring low the haughty pride of his wife, and I shall be content.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I will do!\u201d cried Hagen. \u201cThat I will do! Gunther is and shall be\nthe king without a peer; and no one shall dare dispute the worth and the\nqueenly beauty of his wife.\u201d\n\nThen the wily chief sought Gunther, and with cunning words poisoned his\nweak mind. The feeble old king was easily made to believe that Siegfried\nwas plotting against his life, and seeking to wrest the kingdom from\nhim. And he forgot the many kind favors he had received at the hero\u2019s\nhand. He no longer remembered how Siegfried had slain the terror of the\nGlittering Heath, and freed the Burgundians from many a fear; and how\nhe had routed the warlike hosts of the North-land, and made prisoners\nof their kings; and how he had brought his voyage to Isenland to a happy\nand successful ending. He forgot, also, that Siegfried was his sister\u2019s\nhusband. He had ears and mind only for Hagen\u2019s wily words.\n\n\u201cWhile this man lives,\u201d said the dark-browed chief, \u201cnone of us are\nsafe. See how the people follow him! Hear how they shout at his coming!\nThey look upon him as a god, and upon Gunther as a nobody. If we are\nwise, we shall rid ourselves of so dangerous a man.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is but a week until he takes his leave of us, and goes back to his\nown home in Nibelungen Land. Watch him carefully until that time, but do\nhim no harm. When he is once gone, he shall never come back again,\u201d said\nthe king. But he spoke thus, not because of any kind feelings towards\nSiegfried, but rather because he feared the Nibelungen hero.\n\n\u201cHe has no thought of going at that time,\u201d answered Hagen. \u201cHe speaks of\nit, only to hide his wicked and traitorous plots. Instead of going home,\nhis plans will then be ready for action, and it will be too late for\nus to save ourselves. Still, if you will not believe me, take your own\ncourse. You have been warned.\u201d\n\nThe cunning chief arose to leave the room; but Gunther, now thoroughly\nfrightened, stopped him.\n\n\u201cHagen,\u201d he said, \u201cyou have always been my friend, and the words which\nyou say are wise. Save us and our kingdom now, in whatsoever way you may\ndeem best. I know not what to do.\u201d\n\nThen the weak king and the warrior-chief talked long together in low,\nhoarse whispers. And, when they parted, shame and guilt were stamped in\nplain lines on Gunther\u2019s face, from which they were nevermore erased;\nand he dared not lift his gaze from the floor, fearing that his eyes\nwould betray him, if seen by any more pure-hearted than he. But a smile\nof triumph played under the lurking gleams of Hagen\u2019s eye; and he walked\nerect and bold, as if he had done a praiseworthy deed.\n\nThat night a storm came sweeping down from the North, and the cold rain\nfell in torrents; and great hailstones pattered on the roofs and towers\nof the castle, and cruelly pelted the cattle in the fields, and the\nbirds in the friendly shelter of the trees. And old Thor fought\nbravely with the Storm-giants; and all night long the rattle of his\nchariot-wheels, and the heavy strokes of his dread hammer, were heard\nresounding through the heavens. In his lonely chamber Hagen sat and\nrubbed his hands together, and grimly smiled.\n\n\u201cThe time so long waited for has come at last,\u201d he said.\n\nBut the guilty king, unable to sleep, walked restlessly to and fro, and\ntrembled with fear at every sound of the storm-gust without.\n\nWhen day dawned at last, a sad scene met the eyes of all beholders. The\nearth was covered with the broken branches of leafy trees; the flowers\nand shrubs were beaten pitilessly to the ground; and here and there lay\nthe dead bodies of little feathered songsters, who, the day before, had\nmade the woods glad with their music.\n\nThe sun had scarcely risen above this sorrowful scene, gilding the gray\ntowers and turrets and the drooping trees with the promise of\nbetter things, than a strange confusion was noticed outside of the\ncastle-gates. Thirty and two horsemen wearing the livery of the\nNorth-lands stood there, and asked to be led to the Burgundian kings.\n\n\u201cWho are you? and what is your errand?\u201d asked the gate-keeper.\n\n\u201cWe come as heralds and messengers from Leudiger and Leudigast, the\nmighty kings of the North,\u201d they answered. \u201cBut our errand we can tell\nto no man save to Gunther your king, or to his brothers Gernot and\nGiselher.\u201d\n\nThen they were led by the king\u2019s command into the council-hall, where\nsat Gunther, Gernot, and the noble Giselher; and behind them stood their\nuncle and chief, brave old Hagen.\n\n\u201cWhat message bring you from our old friends Leudiger and Leudigast?\u201d\n asked Gunther of the strangers.\n\n\u201cCall them not your friends,\u201d answered the chief of the company. \u201cWe\nbring you this message from our liege lords, whom you may well count as\nenemies. Many years ago they were sorely beaten in battle, and suffered\nmuch hurt at your hands. And they vowed then to avenge the injury, and\nto wipe out the disgrace you had caused them, just so soon as they were\nstrong enough to do so. Now they are ready, with fifty thousand men, to\nmarch into your country. And they swear to lay waste your lands, and to\nburn your towns and villages and all your castles, unless you at once\nacknowledge yourselves their vassals, and agree to pay them tribute.\nThis is the kings\u2019 message. And we were further ordered not to wait for\nan answer, but to carry back to them without delay your reply, whether\nyou will agree to their terms or no.\u201d\n\nKing Gunther, as was his wont, turned to Hagen for advice.\n\n\u201cSend for Siegfried,\u201d whispered the chief.\n\nIt was done. And soon the hero came into the hall. His kingly grace and\nwarlike bearing were such that Gunther dared not raise his guilty eyes\nfrom the ground; and Hagen\u2019s furtive glances were, for the moment,\nfreighted with fear and shame. The message of the heralds was repeated\nto Siegfried; and Gunther said,--\n\n\u201cMost noble friend, you hear what word these traitorous kings dare send\nus. Now, we remember, that, long years ago, you led us against them,\nand gave us a glorious victory. We remember, too, how, by your counsel,\ntheir lives were spared, and they were sent home with costly gifts. It\nis thus they repay our kindness. What answer shall we send them?\u201d\n\n\u201cSay that we will fight,\u201d answered Siegfried at once. \u201cI will lead my\nbrave Nibelungens against them, and they shall learn how serious a thing\nit is to break an oath, or to return treason for kindness.\u201d\n\nThe news soon spread through all the town and through the country-side,\nthat Leudiger and Leudigast, with fifty thousand men, were marching into\nBurgundy, and destroying every thing in their way. And great flight and\nconfusion prevailed. Men and women hurried hither and thither in dismay.\nSoldiers busily sharpened their weapons, and burnished their armor,\nready for the fray. Little children were seen cowering at every sound,\nand anxious faces were found everywhere.\n\nWhen Queen Kriemhild saw the busy tumult, and heard the shouts and cries\nin the street and the courtyard, and learned the cause of it all, she\nwas greatly troubled, and went at once to seek Siegfried. When she found\nhim, she drew him aside, and besought him not to take part in the war\nwhich threatened, but to hasten with all speed back to their own loved\nNibelungen Land.\n\n\u201cAnd why would my noble queen wish me thus to play the part of a coward,\nand to leave my friends when they most need my help?\u201d asked Siegfried in\nsurprise.\n\n\u201cI would not have you play the coward,\u201d answered Kriemhild, and hot\ntears stood in her eyes. \u201cBut some unseen danger overhangs. There are\nother traitors than Leudiger and Leudigast, and men to be more feared\nthan they. Last night I dreamed a fearful dream, and it follows me\nstill. I dreamed that you hunted in the forest, and that two wild boars\nattacked you. The grass and the flowers were stained with your gore,\nand the cruel tusks of the beasts tore you in pieces, and no one came\nto your help. And I cried out in my distress, and awoke; and the\nstorm-clouds roared and threatened, and the hail pattered on the roof,\nand the wind and rain beat against the windowpanes. Then I slept again,\nand another dream, as fearful as the first, came to me. I dreamed that\nyou rode in the forest, and that music sprang up in your footsteps, and\nall things living called you blessed, but that suddenly two mountains\nrose up from the ground, and their high granite crags toppled over, and\nfell upon you, and buried you from my sight forever. Then I awoke again,\nand my heart has ever since been heavy with fearful forebodings. I know\nthat some dread evil threatens us; yet, what it is, I cannot tell. But\ngo not out against the North-kings. Our Nibelungen-folk wait too long\nfor your coming.\u201d\n\nSiegfried gayly laughed at his queen\u2019s fears, and said, \u201cThe woof of\nevery man\u2019s fate has been woven by the Norns, and neither he nor his\nfoes can change it. When his hour comes, then he must go to meet his\ndestiny.\u201d\n\nThen he led her gently back to her room in the castle, and bade her a\nloving farewell, saying, \u201cWhen the foes of our Burgundian hosts are put\nto flight, and there is no longer need for us here, then will we hasten\nback to Nibelungen Land. Have patience and hope for a few days only, and\nall will yet be well. Forget your foolish dreams, and think only of my\nglad return.\u201d\n\nIt was arranged, that, in the march against the North-kings, Siegfried\nwith his Nibelungens should take the lead; while Hagen, with a picked\ncompany of fighting-men, should bring up the rear. Every one was eager\nto join in the undertaking; and no one, save King Gunther and his\ncunning counsellor, and Ortwin and Dankwart, knew that the pretended\nheralds from the North-kings were not heralds at all, but merely the\nfalse tools of wicked Hagen. For the whole was but a well-planned plot,\nas we shall see, to entrap unwary, trusting Siegfried.\n\nSoon all things were in readiness for the march; but, as the day was now\nwell spent, it was agreed, that, at early dawn of the morrow, the little\narmy should set out. And every one went home to put his affairs in\norder, and to rest for the night.\n\nLate that evening old Hagen went to bid Siegfried\u2019s queen good-by.\nKriemhild had tried hard to drown her gloomy fears, and to forget her\nsad, foreboding dreams; but it was all in vain, for deep anxiety still\nrested heavily upon her mind. Yet she welcomed her dark-browed uncle\nwith the kindest words.\n\n\u201cHow glad I am,\u201d she said, \u201cthat my husband is here to help my kinsfolk\nin this their time of need! I know right well, that, with him to lead,\nyou shall win. But, dear uncle, remember, when you are in the battle,\nthat we have always loved you, and that Siegfried has done many\nkindnesses to the Burgundians; and, if any danger threaten him, turn\nit aside, I pray you, for Kriemhild\u2019s sake. I know that I merit Queen\nBrunhild\u2019s anger, because of the sharp words I lately spoke to her; but\nlet not my husband suffer blame for that which is my fault alone.\u201d\n\n\u201cKriemhild,\u201d answered Hagen, \u201cno one shall suffer blame,--neither\nSiegfried nor yourself. We are all forgetful, and sometimes speak hasty\nwords; but that which we say in angry thoughtlessness should not be\ncherished up against us. There is no one who thinks more highly of\nSiegfried than I, and there is nothing I would not do to serve him.\u201d\n\n\u201cI should not fear for him,\u201d said she, \u201cif he were not so bold and\nreckless. When he is in the battle, he never thinks of his own safety.\nAnd I tremble lest at some time he may dare too much, and meet his\ndeath. If you knew every thing, as I do, you would fear for him too.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is it?\u201d asked Hagen, trying to hide his eagerness,--\u201cwhat is it\nthat gives you cause for fear? Tell me all about it, and then I will\nknow the better how to shield him from danger. I will lay down my life\nfor his sake.\u201d\n\nThen Kriemhild, trusting in her uncle\u2019s word, and forgetful of every\ncaution, told him the secret of the dragon\u2019s blood, and of Siegfried\u2019s\nstrange bath, and of the mischief-working lime-leaf.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d she added, \u201csince I know that there is one spot which a\ndeadly weapon might reach, I am in constant fear that the spear of\nan enemy may, perchance, strike him there. Is there not some way of\nshielding that spot?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is,\u201d answered Hagen. \u201cMake some mark, or put some sign, upon his\ncoat, that I may know where that spot is. And, when the battle rages, I\nwill ride close behind him, and ward off every threatened stroke.\u201d\n\nAnd Kriemhild joyfully promised that she would at once embroider a\nsilken lime-leaf on the hero\u2019s coat, just over the fatal spot. And\nHagen, well pleased, bade her farewell, and went away.\n\nWithout delay the chief sought the weak-minded Gunther, and to him he\nrelated all that the trustful Kriemhild had told him. And, until the\nmidnight hour, the two plotters sat in the king\u2019s bed-chamber, and laid\ntheir cunning plans. Both thought it best, now they had learned the\nfatal secret, to give up the sham march against the North-kings, and to\nseek by other and easier means to lure Siegfried to his death.\n\n\u201cThe chiefs will be much displeased,\u201d said Gunther. \u201cFor all will come,\nready to march at the rising of the sun. What shall we do to please\nthem, and make them more ready to change their plans?\u201d\n\nHagen thought a moment, and then the grim smile that was wont to break\nthe dark lines of his face when he was pleased spread over his features.\n\n\u201cWe will have a grand hunt in the Odenwald to-morrow,\u201d he hoarsely\nwhispered.\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XIX. How They Hunted in the Odenwald.\n\n\n\nNext morning, at earliest daybreak, while yet the stars were bright, and\nthe trees hung heavy with dew-drops, and the clouds were light and high,\nKing Siegfried stood with his warriors before the castle-gate. They\nwaited but for the sunrise, and a word from Gunther the king, to ride\nforth over dale and woodland, and through forest and brake and field, to\nmeet, as they believed, the hosts of the North-land kings. And Siegfried\nmoved among them, calm-faced and bright as a war-god, upon the radiant\nGreyfell. And men said, long years afterward, that never had the shining\nhero seemed so glorious to their sight. Within the spacious courtyard a\nthousand Burgundian braves stood waiting, too, for the signal, and the\nking\u2019s word of command. And at their head stood Hagen, dark as a cloud\nin summer, guilefully hiding his vile plots, and giving out orders for\nthe marching. There, too, were honest Gernot, fearless and upright, and\nGiselher, true as gold; and neither of them dreamed of evil, or of the\ndark deed that day was doomed to see. Close by the gate was Ortwin,\nbearing aloft the blood-red dragon-banner, which the Burgundians were\nwont to carry in honor of Siegfried\u2019s famous fight with Fafnir. And\nthere was Dankwart, also, ever ready to boast when no danger threatened,\nand ever willing to do chief Hagen\u2019s bidding. And next came Volker the\nFiddler good, with the famed sword Fiddle-bow by him, on which, it\nis said, he could make the sweetest music while fighting his foes in\nbattle.\n\nAt length the sun began to peep over the eastern hills, and his beams\nfell upon the castle-walls, and shot away through the trees, and over\nthe meadows, and made the dewdrops glisten like myriads of diamonds\namong the dripping leaves and blossoms. And a glad shout went up from\nthe throats of the waiting heroes; for they thought that the looked-for\nmoment had come, and the march would soon begin. And the shout was\nechoed from walls to turrets, and from turrets to trees, and from trees\nto hills, and from the hills to the vaulted sky above. And nothing was\nwanting now but King Gunther\u2019s word of command.\n\nSuddenly, far down the street, the sound of a bugle was heard, and then\nof the swift clattering of horses\u2019 hoofs coming up the hill towards the\ncastle.\n\n\u201cWho are they who come thus to join us at the last moment?\u201d asked Hagen\nof the watchman above the gate.\n\n\u201cThey are strangers,\u201d answered the watchman; \u201cand they carry a\npeace-flag.\u201d\n\nIn a few moments the strange horsemen dashed up, and halted some\ndistance from the castle-gate, where Siegfried and his heroes stood.\n\n\u201cWho are you? and what is your errand?\u201d cried Hagen, in the king\u2019s name.\n\nThey answered that they were heralds from the North-land kings, sent\nquickly to correct the message of the day before; for their liege\nlords, Leudiger and Leudigast, they said, had given up warring against\nBurgundy, and had gone back to their homes. And they had sent humbly to\nask the Rhineland kings to forget the rash threats which they had made,\nand to allow them to swear fealty to Gunther, and henceforth to be his\nhumble vassals, if only they might be forgiven.\n\n\u201cRight cheerfully do we forgive them!\u201d cried Gunther, not waiting to\nconsult with his wise men. \u201cAnd our forgiveness shall be so full, that\nwe shall ask neither fealty nor tribute from them.\u201d\n\nThen he turned to Siegfried, and said, \u201cYou hear, friend Siegfried, how\nthis troublesome matter has been happily ended. Accept our thanks, we\npray you, for your proffered help; for, without it, it might have gone\nbut roughly with us in a second war with the Northland kings. But now\nyou are free to do what pleases you. If, as you said yesterday, you\nwould fain return to Nibelungen Land, you may send your warriors on the\nway to-day, for they are already equipped for the journey. But abide you\nwith us another day, and to-morrow we will bid you God-speed, and you\nmay easily overtake your Nibelungen friends ere they have reached our\nown boundaries.\u201d\n\nSiegfried was not well pleased to give up an undertaking scarce begun,\nand still less could he understand why the king should be so ready to\nforgive the affront which the North-land kings had offered him. And\nhe was not slow in reading the look of shame and guilt that lurked in\nGunther\u2019s face, or the smile of jealous hate that Hagen could no longer\nhide. Yet no word of displeasure spoke he, nor seemed he to understand\nthat any mischief was brewing; for he feared neither force nor guile.\nSo he bade his Nibelungens to begin their homeward march, saying that he\nand Kriemhild, and the ladies of her train, would follow swiftly on the\nmorrow.\n\n\u201cSince it is your last day with us,\u201d said Gunther, grown cunning through\nHagen\u2019s teaching, \u201cwhat say you, dear Siegfried, to a hunt in Odin\u2019s\nWood?\u201d\n\n\u201cRight glad will I be to join you in such sport,\u201d answered Siegfried.\n\u201cI will change my war-coat for a hunting-suit, and be ready within an\nhour.\u201d\n\nThen Siegfried went to his apartments, and doffed his steel-clad armor,\nand searched in vain through his wardrobe for his favorite hunting-suit.\nBut it was nowhere to be found; and he was fain to put on the rich\nembroidered coat which he sometimes wore in battle, instead of a\ncoat-of-mail. And he did not see the white lime-leaf that Kriemhild with\nanxious care had worked in silk upon it. Then he sought the queen, and\ntold her of the unlooked-for change of plans, and how, on the morrow,\nthey would ride towards Nibelungen Land; but to-day he said he had\npromised Gunther to hunt with him in the Odenwald.\n\nBut Kriemhild, to his great surprise, begged him not to leave her, even\nto hunt in the Odenwald. For she had begun to fear that she had made a\ngreat mistake in telling Hagen the story of the lime-leaf; and yet she\ncould not explain to Siegfried the true cause of her uneasiness.\n\n\u201cOh, do not join in the hunt!\u201d she cried. \u201cSomething tells me that\ndanger lurks hidden in the wood. Stay in the castle with me, and help me\nput things in readiness for our journey homewards to-morrow. Last night\nI had another dream. I thought that Odin\u2019s birds, Hugin and Munin, sat\non a tree before me. And Hugin flapped his wings, and said, \u2018What more\nvile than a false friend? What more to be feared than a secret foe?\nHarder than stone is his unfeeling heart; sharper than the adder\u2019s\npoison-fangs are his words; a snake in the grass is he!\u2019 Then Munin\nflapped his wings too, but said nothing. And I awoke, and thought at\nonce of the sunbright Balder, slain through Loki\u2019s vile deceit. And, as\nI thought upon his sad death, a withered leaf came fluttering through\nthe casement, and fell upon my couch. Sad signs and tokens are these, my\nhusband; and much grief, I fear, they foretell.\u201d\n\nBut Siegfried was deaf to her words of warning, and he laughed at the\nfoolish dream. Then he bade her farewell till even-tide, and hastened to\njoin the party of huntsmen who waited for him impatiently at the gate.\n\nWhen the party reached the Odenwald, they separated; each man taking his\nown course, and following his own game. Siegfried, with but one trusty\nhuntsman and his own fleet-footed hound, sought at once the wildest and\nthickest part of the wood. And great was the slaughter he made among the\nfierce beasts of the forest; for nothing that was worthy of notice could\nhide from his sight, or escape him. From his lair in a thorny thicket, a\nhuge wild boar sprang up; and with glaring red eyes, and mouth foaming,\nand tusks gnashing with rage, he charged fiercely upon the hero. But,\nwith one skilful stroke from his great spear, Siegfried laid the beast\ndead on the heather. Next he met a tawny lion, couched ready to spring\nupon him; but, drawing quickly his heavy bow, he sent a quivering arrow\nthrough the animal\u2019s heart. Then, one after another, he slew a buffalo,\nfour bisons, a mighty elk with branching horns, and many deers and stags\nand savage beasts.\n\nAt one time the hound drove from its hiding-place another wild boar,\nmuch greater than the first, and far more fierce. Quickly Siegfried\ndismounted from his horse, and met the grizzly creature as it rushed\nwith raving fury towards him. The sword of the hero cleft the beast in\ntwain, and its bloody parts lay lifeless on the ground. Then Siegfried\u2019s\nhuntsman, in gay mood, said, \u201cMy lord, would it not be better to rest a\nwhile! If you keep on slaughtering at this rate, there will soon be no\ngame left in Odenwald.\u201d\n\nSiegfried laughed heartily at the merry words, and at once called in\nhis hound, saying, \u201cYou are right! We will hunt no more until our good\nfriends have joined us.\u201d\n\nSoon afterward the call of a bugle was heard; and Gunther and Hagen and\nDankwart and Ortwin, with their huntsmen and hounds, came riding up.\n\n\u201cWhat luck have you had, my friends?\u201d asked Siegfried.\n\nThen Hagen told what game they had taken,--a deer, a young bear, and two\nsmall wild boars. But, when they learned what Siegfried had done, the\nold chief\u2019s face grew dark, and he knit his eyebrows, and bit his lips\nin jealous hate: for four knights, ten huntsmen, and four and twenty\nhounds, had beaten every bush, and followed every trail; and yet the\nNibelungen king, with but one follower and one hound, had slain ten\ntimes as much game as they.\n\nWhile they stood talking over the successes of the day, the sound of a\nhorn was heard, calling the sportsmen together for the mid-day meal; and\nknights and huntsmen turned their steeds, and rode slowly towards the\ntrysting-place. Suddenly a huge bear, roused by the noise of baying\nhounds and tramping feet, crossed their pathway.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d cried Siegfried, \u201cthere goes our friend Bruin, just in time to\ngive us a bit of fun, and some needed sport at dinner. He shall go with\nus, and be our guest!\u201d\n\nWith these words he loosed his hound, and dashed swiftly forwards after\nthe beast. Through thick underbrush and tangled briers, and over fallen\ntrees, the frightened creature ran, until at last it reached a steep\nhillside. There, in a rocky cleft, it stood at bay, and fought fiercely\nfor its life. When Siegfried came up, and saw that his hound dared not\ntake hold of the furious beast, he sprang from his horse, and seized\nthe bear in his own strong arms, and bound him safely with a stout cord.\nThen he fastened an end of the cord to his saddle-bows, and remounted\nhis steed. And thus he rode through the forest to the place where the\ndinner waited, dragging the unwilling bear behind him, while the dog\nbounded gayly along by his side.\n\nNo nobler sight had ever been seen in that forest than that which\nGunther\u2019s people saw that day. The Nibelungen king was dressed as well\nbecame so great a hero. His suit was of the speckled lynx\u2019s hide and\nrich black silk, upon which were embroidered many strange devices,\nwith threads of gold. (But, alas! between the shoulders was the silken\nlime-leaf that Queen Kriemhild\u2019s busy fingers had wrought.) His cap was\nof the blackest fur, brought from the frozen Siberian land. Over his\nshoulder was thrown his well-filled quiver, made of lion\u2019s skin; and in\nhis hands he carried his bow of mulberry,--a very beam in size, and so\nstrong that no man save himself could bend it. A golden hunting-horn was\nat his side, and his sunbright shield lay on his saddle-bow; while his\nmighty sword, the fire-edged Balmung, in its sheath glittering with\ngemstones, hung from his jewelled belt.\n\nThe men who stood around chief Hagen, and who saw the hero coming thus\ngod-like through the greenwood, admired and trembled; and Dankwart\nwhispered a word of caution to his dark-browed brother. But the old\nchief\u2019s face grew gloomier than before; and he scowled fiercely upon the\nfaint-hearted Dankwart, as he hoarsely whispered in return,--\n\n\u201cWhat though he be Odin himself, still will I dare! It is not I: it is\nthe Norns, who shape every man\u2019s fate.\u201d\n\nWhen Siegfried reached the camp with his prize, the huntsmen shouted\nwith delight; and the hounds howled loudly, and shook their chains, and\ntried hard to get at the shaggy beast. The king leaped to the ground,\nand unloosed the cords which bound him; and at the same time the hounds\nwere unleashed, and set upon the angry, frightened creature. Hemmed in\non every side, the bear rushed blindly forwards, and leaped over the\nfires, where the cooks were busy with the dinner. Pots and kettles were\nknocked about in great confusion, and the scared cooks thrown sprawling\nupon the ground; and many a dainty dish and savory mess was spoiled. The\nbear fled fast down the forest road, followed by the baying hounds and\nthe fleet-footed warriors. But none dared shoot an arrow at him for fear\nof killing the dogs; and it seemed as if he would surely escape, so\nfast he ran away. Then Siegfried bounded forwards, swifter than a\ndeer, overtook the bear, and with one stroke of the sword gave him his\ndeath-blow. And all who saw this feat of strength and quickness wondered\ngreatly, and felt that such a hero must indeed be without a peer.\n\nWhen Gunther\u2019s cooks had made the dinner ready, the company sat down on\nthe grass, and all partook of a merry meal; for the bracing air and the\nmorning\u2019s sport had made sharp appetites. But, when they had eaten, they\nwere surprised to find that there was nothing to drink. Indeed, there\nwas neither wine nor water in the camp.\n\n\u201cHow glad I am,\u201d said Siegfried gayly, \u201cthat I am not a huntsman by\ntrade, if it is a huntsman\u2019s way to go thus dry! Oh for a glass of wine,\nor even a cup of cold spring-water, to quench my thirst!\u201d\n\n\u201cWe will make up for this oversight when we go back home,\u201d said Gunther;\nand his heart was black with falsehood. \u201cThe blame in this matter should\nrest on Hagen, for it was he who was to look after the drinkables.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d said Hagen, \u201cI fell into a mistake by thinking that we would\ndine, not here, but at the Spessart Springs; and thither I sent the\nwine.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd is there no water near?\u201d asked Siegfried.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered Hagen. \u201cThere is a cool, shady spring not far from\nhere, where the water gushes in a clear, cold stream from beneath a\nlinden-tree. Do but forgive me for the lack of wine, and I will lead you\nto it. It is a rare spring, and the water is almost as good as wine.\u201d\n\n\u201cBetter than wine for me!\u201d cried Siegfried. And he asked to be shown to\nthe spring at once.\n\nHagen arose, and pointed to a tree not far away, beneath whose spreading\nbranches Siegfried could see the water sparkling in the sunlight.\n\n\u201cMen have told me,\u201d said the chief, \u201cthat the Nibelungen king is very\nfleet of foot, and that no one has ever outstripped him in the race.\nTime was, when King Gunther and myself were spoken of as very swift\nrunners; and, though we are now growing old, I fancy that many young men\nwould, even now, fail to keep pace with us. Suppose we try a race to the\nspring, and see which of the three can win.\u201d\n\n\u201cAgreed!\u201d cried Siegfried. \u201cWe will run; and, if I am beaten, I will\nkneel down in the grass to him who wins. I will give the odds in your\nfavor too; for I will carry with me my spear, and my shield, and my\nhelmet and sword, and all the trappings of the chase, while you may doff\nfrom your shoulders whatever might hinder your speed.\u201d\n\nSo Gunther and Hagen laid aside all their arms, and put off their\nheavy clothing; but Siegfried took up his bow and quiver, and his heavy\nshield, and his beamlike spear. Then the word was given, and all three\nran with wondrous speed. Gunther and his chief flew over the grass as\nlight-footed as two wild panthers: but Siegfried sped swift as an arrow\nshot from the hand of a skilful bowman. He reached the spring when yet\nthe others were not half way to it. He laid his spear and sword, and\nbow and quiver of arrows, upon the ground, and leaned his heavy shield\nagainst the linden-tree; and then he waited courteously for King Gunther\nto come up, for his knightly honor would not allow him to drink until\nhis host had quenched his thirst.\n\nGunther, when he reached the spring, stooped over, and drank heartily\nof the cool, refreshing water; and, after he had risen, Siegfried knelt\nupon the grass at the edge of the pool to quaff from the same gushing\nfountain. Stealthily then, and with quickness, did chief Hagen hide his\nhuge bow and his quiver, and his good sword Balmung, and, seizing the\nhero\u2019s spear, he lifted it in air, and with too steady aim struck the\nsilken lime-leaf that the loving Kriemhild had embroidered. Never in all\nthe wide mid-world was known a deed more cowardly, never a baser act.\nThe hero was pierced with his own weapon by one he had deemed his\nfriend. His blood gushed forth in torrents, and dyed the green grass\nred, and discolored the sparkling water, and even filled the face and\neyes of vile Hagen.\n\nYet, in the hour of death, King Siegfried showed how noble was his soul,\nhow great his strength of will. Up he rose from his bended knees, and\nfiercely glanced around. Then, had not the evil-eyed chief, who never\nbefore had shunned a foe, fled with fleet-footed fear, quick vengeance\nwould have overtaken him. In vain did the dying king look for his bow\nand his trusty sword: too safely had they been hidden. Then, though\ndeath was fast dimming his eyes, he seized his heavy shield, and sprang\nafter the flying Hagen. Swift as the wind he followed him, quickly he\novertook him. With his last strength he felled the vile wretch to the\nground, and beat him with the shield, until the heavy plates of brass\nand steel were broken, and the jewels which adorned it were scattered\namong the grass. The sound of the heavy blows was heard far through the\nforest; and, had the hero\u2019s strength held out, Hagen would have had his\nreward.[EN#32] But Siegfried, weak and pale from the loss of blood, now\nstaggered, and fell among the trampled flowers of the wood.\n\nThen with his last breath he thus upbraided his false friends:--\n\n\u201cCowards and traitors, ye! A curse shall fall upon you. My every care\nhas been to serve and please you, and thus I am requited. Bitterly shall\nyou rue this deed. The brand of traitor is set upon your foreheads, and\nit shall be a mark of loathing and shame to you forever.\u201d\n\nThen the weak old Gunther began to wring his hands, and to bewail the\ndeath of Siegfried. But the hero bade him hush, and asked him of what\nuse it was to regret an act which could have been done only by his leave\nand sanction.\n\n\u201cBetter to have thought of tears and groans before,\u201d said he. \u201cI have\nalways known that you were a man of weak mind, but never did I dream\nthat you could lend yourself to so base a deed. And now, if there is\nleft aught of manliness in your bosom, I charge you to have a care for\nKriemhild your sister. Long shall my loved Nibelungen-folk await my\ncoming home.\u201d\n\nThe glorious hero struggled in the last agony. The grass and flowers\nwere covered with his blood; the trees shivered, as if in sympathy\nwith him, and dropped their leaves upon the ground; the birds stopped\nsinging, and sorrowfully flew away; and a solemn silence fell upon the\nearth, as if the very heart of Nature had been crushed.\n\nAnd the men who stood around--all save the four guilty ones--bowed their\nheads upon their hands, and gave way to one wild burst of grief. Then\ntenderly they took up Siegfried, and laid him upon a shield, with his\nmighty weapons by him. And, when the sorrowing Night had spread her\nblack mantle over the mid-world, they carried him silently out of the\nforest, and across the river, and brought him, by Gunther\u2019s orders,\nto the old castle, which now nevermore would resound with mirth and\ngladness. And they laid him at Kriemhild\u2019s door, and stole sadly away to\ntheir own places, and each one thought bitterly of the morrow.[EN#33]\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventure XX. How the Hoard Was Brought to Burgundy.\n\n\n\nAnd what was done on the morrow?\n\nToo sad is the tale of Kriemhild\u2019s woe and her grief for the mighty\ndead. Let us pass it by in tearful, pitying silence, nor wish to awaken\nthe echoes of that morning of hopeless anguish which dawned on the cold\nand cheerless dwelling of the kings. For peace had fled from Burgundy,\nnevermore to return.\n\nSiegfried was dead. Faded, now, was the glory of the Nibelungen Land,\nand gone was the mid-world\u2019s hope.\n\nIt is told in ancient story, how men built a funeral-pile far out on the\ngrassy meadows, where the quiet river flows; and how, in busy silence,\nthey laid the sun-dried beams of ash and elm together, and made ready\nthe hero\u2019s couch; and how the pile was dight with many a sun-bright\nshield, with war-coats and glittering helms, and silks and rich dyed\ncloths from the South-land, and furs, and fine-wrought ivory, and\ngem-stones priceless and rare; and how, over all, they scattered sweet\nspices from Araby, and the pleasantest of all perfumes. Then they\nbrought the golden Siegfried, and laid him on his couch; and beside him\nwere his battered shield, and Balmung with its fire-edge bare. And,\nas the sun rose high in heaven, the noblest earl-folk who had loved\nSiegfried best touched fire to the funeral-pile. And a pleasant breeze\nfrom the Southland fanned the fire to a flame, and the white blaze\nleaped on high, and all the folk cried out in mighty agony to the gods.\n\nSuch was the story that men told to each other when the world was still\nyoung, and the heroes were unforgotten.[EN#34] And some said, too, that\nBrunhild, the fair and hapless queen, died then of a broken heart and of\na hopeless, yearning sorrow, and that she was burned with Siegfried on\nthat high-built funeral-pile.\n\n\u201cThey are gone,--the lovely, the mighty, the hope of the ancient earth:\nIt shall labor and bear the burden as before the day of their birth:...\nIt shall yearn, and be oft-times holpen, and forget their deeds no more,\nTill the new sun beams on Balder and the happy sealess shore.\u201d[EN#35]\n\nAnother and much later story is sometimes told of these last sad\ndays,--how the hero\u2019s body was laid in a coffin, and buried in the quiet\nearth, amid the sorrowful lamentations of all the Rhineland folk; and\nhow, at Kriemhild\u2019s earnest wish, it was afterwards removed to the place\nwhere now stands the little minster of Lorsch. As to which of these\nstories is the true one, it is not for me to say. Enough it is to know\nthat Siegfried was dead, and that the spring-time had fled, and the\nsummer-season with all its golden glories had faded away from Rhineland,\nand that the powers of darkness and of cold and of evil had prevailed.\n\nTo this day the city where was the dwelling of the Burgundian kings is\ncalled Worms, in remembrance of the dragon, or worm, which Siegfried\nslew; and a figure of that monster was for many years painted upon\nthe city arms, and borne on the banner of the Burgundians. And, until\nrecently, travellers were shown the Reisen-haus,--a stronghold, which,\nmen say, Siegfried built; and in it were many strange and mighty\nweapons, which, they claim, were wielded by the hero. The lance which\nwas shown there was a great beam nearly eighty feet in length; and the\nwar-coat, wrought with steel and gold, and bespangled with gem-stones,\nwas a wonder to behold. And now, in the Church of St. Cecilia, you may\nsee what purports to be the hero\u2019s grave. And a pleasant meadow, not far\nfrom the town, is still called Kriemhild\u2019s Rose-garden; while farther\naway is the place called Drachenfels, or the dragon\u2019s field, where, they\nsay, Siegfried met Fafnir. But whether it is the same as the Glittering\nHeath of the ancient legend, I know not.\n\nAnd what became of the Hoard of Andvari?\n\nThe story is briefly told.[EN#36] When the days of mourning were past,\nand the people had gone back sadly to their homes, Queen Kriemhild began\nto speak of returning to the land of the Nibelungens. But Ute, her aged\nmother, could not bear to part with her, and besought her to stay, for\na while at least, in the now desolate Burgundian castle. And Gernot and\nGiselher, her true and loving brothers, added their words of entreaty\nalso. And so, though heart-sick, and with many misgivings, she agreed to\nabide for a season in this cheerless and comfortless place. Many days,\neven months, dragged by, and still she remained; for she found it still\nharder and harder to tear herself away from her mother, and all that her\nheart held dear. Yet never, for three years and more, did she even speak\nto Gunther, or by any sign show that she remembered him. And, as for\nHagen, no words could utter the deep and settled hate she felt towards\nhim. But the dark-browed chief cared nought either for love or hate; and\nhe walked erect, as in the days of yore, and he smiled and frowned alike\nfor both evil and good. And he said, \u201cIt was not I: it was the Norns,\nwho wove the woof of his life and mine.\u201d\n\nThe years went by on leaden wings, and brought no sunlight to Gunther\u2019s\ndwelling; for his days were full of sadness, and his nights of fearful\ndreams. At length he said to chief Hagen, \u201cIf there is aught in the\nmid-world that can drive away this gloom, I pray thee to help me find\nit; for madness steals upon me.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is one thing,\u201d answered Hagen, \u201cwhich might brighten our land\nagain, and lift up your drooping spirits, and bring gladness to your\nhalls.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is that?\u201d asked the king.\n\n\u201cIt is the Nibelungen Hoard,\u201d said the chief. \u201cIt is the wondrous\ntreasure of Andvari, which Siegfried gave as a gift to Kriemhild. If it\nwere ours, we might become the masters of the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how can we obtain it?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is Kriemhild\u2019s,\u201d was the answer. \u201cBut she does not care for it;\nneither could she use it if she wished. If you could only gain her favor\nand forgiveness, I feel sure that she would let you do with it as you\nwish.\u201d\n\nThen Gunther besought his younger brothers to intercede for him with\nKriemhild, that she would so far forgive him as to look upon his face,\nand speak with him once more. And this the queen at last consented to\ndo. And, when Gunther came into her presence, she was so touched at\nsight of his haggard face and whitened locks, and his earnest words\nof sorrow, that she forgave him the great wrong that he had done, and\nwelcomed him again as her brother. And he swore that never would he\nagain wrong her or hers, nor do aught to grieve her. But it was not\nuntil a long time after this, that he proposed to her that they should\nbring the Hoard of Andvari away from the Nibelungen Land.\n\n\u201cFor, if it were here, dear sister,\u201d he said, \u201cit might be of great use\nto you.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo whatever seems best to you,\u201d answered Kriemhild. \u201cOnly remember the\noath that you have given me.\u201d\n\nThen Gunther, because he was anxious to see the wondrous Hoard, but more\nbecause he was urged on by Hagen, made ready to send to the Nibelungen\nLand to bring away the treasure by Kriemhild\u2019s command. Eight thousand\nmen, with Gernot and Giselher as their leaders, sailed over the sea in\nstanch vessels, and landed on the Nibelungen shore. And when they told\nwho they were, and whence they came, and showed the queen\u2019s signet-ring,\nthey were welcomed heartily by the fair-haired folk of Mist Land,\nwho gladly acknowledged themselves the faithful liegemen of the loved\nKriemhild.\n\nWhen the Burgundians made known their errand to Alberich the dwarf,\nwho still held watch and ward over the mountain stronghold, he was much\namazed, and he grieved to part with his cherished treasure.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said he to his little followers, who stood around him by\nthousands, each anxious to fight the intruders,--\u201cbut there is Queen\nKriemhild\u2019s order and her signet-ring, and we must, perforce, obey. Yet\nhad we again the good Tarnkappe which Siegfried took from us, the Hoard\nshould never leave us.\u201d\n\nThen sadly he gave up the keys, and the Burgundians began to remove the\ntreasure. For four whole days and nights they toiled, carrying the Hoard\nin huge wagons down to the sea. And on the fifth day they set sail, and\nwithout mishap arrived in good time at Worms. And many of Alberich\u2019s\npeople, the swarthy elves of the cave, came with Gernot to Rhineland;\nfor they could not live away from the Hoard. And it is said, that hidden\namong the gold and the gem-stones was the far-famed Wishing-rod, which\nwould give to its owner the power of becoming the lord of the wide\nmid-world.\n\nAnd the vast treasure was stored in the towers and vaults of the castle.\nAnd Queen Kriemhild alone held the keys, and lavishly she scattered the\ngold wherever it was needed most. The hungry were fed, the naked were\nclothed, the sick were cared for; and everybody near and far blessed the\npeerless Queen of Nibelungen Land.\n\nThen Hagen, always plotting evil, whispered to King Gunther, and said,\n\u201cIt is dangerous to suffer your sister to hold so vast a treasure. All\nthe people are even now ready to leave you, and follow her. She will yet\nplot to seize the kingdom, and destroy us.\u201d\n\nAnd he urged the king to take the keys and to make the Nibelungen Hoard\nhis own.\n\nBut Gunther answered, \u201cI have already done too great a wrong. And I have\nsworn to my sister never to harm her again, or to do aught that will\ngrieve her.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet the guilt, then, rest on me,\u201d said Hagen. And he strode away, and\ntook the keys from Kriemhild by force.\n\nWhen Gernot and Giselher heard of this last vile act of the evil-eyed\nchief, they waxed very angry, and vowed that they would help their\nsister regain that which was her own. But the wary Hagen was not to be\nfoiled; for, while the brothers were away from the burgh, he caused the\ngreat Hoard to be carried to the river, at a place called Lochheim,\nand sunk, fathoms deep, beneath the water. And then, for fear of the\nvengeance which might be wreaked upon him, he fled from Rhineland, and\nhid himself for a while among the mountains and the barren hill-country\nof the South.\n\nAnd this was the end of the fated Hoard of Andvari.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe After Word.\n\n\n\nSuch is the story of Siegfried (or Sigurd), as we gather it from various\nGerman and Scandinavian legends. In this recital I have made no attempt\nto follow any one of the numerous originals, but have selected here\nand there such incidents as best suited my purpose in constructing one\nconnected story which would convey to your minds some notion of the\nbeauty and richness of our ancient myths. In doing this, I have drawn,\nnow from the Volsunga Saga, now from the Nibelungen Lied, now from one\nof the Eddas, and now from some of the minor legends relating to the\ngreat hero of the North. These ancient stories, although differing\nwidely in particulars, have a certain general relationship and agreement\nwhich proves beyond doubt a common origin. \u201cThe primeval myth,\u201d says\nThomas Carlyle, \u201cwhether it were at first philosophical truth, or\nhistorical incident, floats too vaguely on the breath of men: each has\nthe privilege of inventing, and the far wider privilege of borrowing\nand new modelling from all that preceded him. Thus, though tradition\nmay have but one root, it grows, like a banian, into a whole overarching\nlabyrinth of trees.\u201d\n\nIf you would follow the tradition of Siegfried to the end; if you would\nlearn how, after the great Hoard had been buried in the Rhine, the curse\nof the dwarf Andvari still followed those who had possessed it, and how\nKriemhild wreaked a terrible vengeance upon Siegfried\u2019s murderers,--you\nmust read the original story as related in the Volsung Myth or in the\nNibelungen Song. Our story ends with Siegfried.\n\nThe episodes which I have inserted here and there--the stories of AEgir,\nand of Balder, and of Idun, and of Thor--do not, as you may know, belong\nproperly to the legend of Siegfried; but I have thrown them in, in order\nto acquaint you with some of the most beautiful mythical conceptions of\nour ancestors.\n\nA grand old people were those early kinsmen of ours,--not at all so\nsavage and inhuman as our histories would sometimes make us believe. For\nhowever mistaken their notions may have been, and however ignorant they\nwere, according to our ideas of things, they were strong-hearted, brave\nworkers; and, so far as opportunity was afforded them, they acted well\ntheir parts. What their notions were of true manhood,--a strong mind in\na strong body, good, brave, and handsome,--may be learned from the story\nof Siegfried.\n\n\nEnd of The Story of Siegfried.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Story of Siegfried Endnotes.\n\n\n\n[EN#1] Siegfried\u2019s Boyhood.\n\n\u201cAll men agree that Siegfried was a king\u2019s son. He was born, as we here\nhave good reason to know, \u2018at Santen in Netherland,\u2019 of Siegmund and the\nfair Siegelinde; yet by some family misfortune or discord, of which the\naccounts are very various, he came into singular straits during boyhood,\nhaving passed that happy period of life, not under the canopies of\ncostly state, but by the sooty stithy, in one Mimer, a blacksmith\u2019s\nshop.\u201d--Thomas Carlyle, The Nibelungen Lied.\n\nThe older versions of this story represent Siegfried, under the name of\nSigurd, as being brought up at the court of the Danish King Hialprek;\nhis own father Sigmund having been slain in battle, as related in this\nchapter. He was early placed under the tuition of Regin, or Regino, an\nelf, who instructed his pupil in draughts, runes, languages, and various\nother accomplishments.--See Preface to Vollmer\u2019s Nibelunge Not, also the\nSong of Sigurd Fafnisbane, in the Elder Edda, and the Icelandic Volsunga\nSaga.\n\n\n\n[EN#2]--Mimer.\n\n\u201cThe Vilkinasaga brings before us yet another smith, Mimer, by whom not\nonly is Velint instructed in his art, but Sigfrit (Siegfried) is brought\nup,--another smith\u2019s apprentice. He is occasionally mentioned in the\nlater poem of Biterolf, as Mime the Old. The old name of Munster in\nWestphalia was Mimigardiford; the Westphalian Minden was originally\nMimidun; and Memleben on the Unstrut, Mimileba.. .. The elder Norse\ntradition names him just as often, and in several different connections.\nIn one place, a Mimingus, a wood-satyr, and possessor of a sword and\njewels, is interwoven into the myth of Balder and Hoder. The Edda gives\na higher position to its Mimer. He has a fountain, in which wisdom\nand understanding lie hidden: drinking of it every morning, he is the\nwisest, most intelligent, of men. To Mimer\u2019s fountain came Odin, and\ndesired a drink, but did not receive it till he had given one of his\neyes in pledge, and hidden it in the fountain: this accounts for Odin\nbeing one-eyed.... Mimer is no Asa, but an exalted being with whom the\nAsas hold converse, of whom they make use,--the sum total of wisdom,\npossibly an older Nature-god. Later fables degraded him into a\nwood-sprite, or clever smith.\u201d--Grimm\u2019s Deutsche Mythologie, I. p. 379.\n\nConcerning the Mimer of the Eddas, Professor Anderson says, \u201cThe name\nMimer means the knowing. The Giants, being older than the Asas, looked\ndeeper than the latter into the darkness of the past. They had witnessed\nthe birth of the gods and the beginning of the world, and they foresaw\ntheir downfall. Concerning both these events, the gods had to go to\nthem for knowledge. It is this wisdom that Mimer keeps in his\nfountain.\u201d--Norse Mythology, p 209.\n\nIn the older versions of the legend, the smith who cared for Siegfried\n(Sigurd) is called, as we have before noticed, Regin. He is thus\ndescribed by Morris:--\n\n     \u201cThe lore of all men he knew,\n     And was deft in every cunning, save the dealings of the\n     sword.\n     So sweet was his tongue-speech fashioned, that men\n     trowed his every word.\n     His hand with the harp-strings blended was the mingler\n     of delight\n     With the latter days of sorrow: all tales he told\n     aright.\n     The Master of the Masters in the smithying craft was\n     he;\n     And he dealt with the wind and the weather and the\n     stilling of the sea;\n     Nor might any learn him leech-craft, for before that\n     race was made,\n     And that man-folk\u2019s generation, all their life-days had\n     he weighed.\u201d\n\n     Sigurd the Volsung, Bk. II.\n\n\n[EN#3]--The Sword.\n\n\u201cBy this sword Balmung also hangs a tale. Doubtless it was one of those\ninvaluable weapons sometimes fabricated by the old Northern smiths,\ncompared with which our modern Foxes and Ferraras and Toledos are mere\nleaden tools. Von der Hagen seems to think it simply the sword Mimung\nunder another name; in which case, Siegfried\u2019s old master, Mimer, had\nbeen the maker of it, and called it after himself, as if it had been his\nson.\u201d--Carlyle, on the Nibelungen Lied, note.\n\nIn Scandinavian legends, the story of Mimer and Amilias is given,\ndiffering but slightly from the rendering in this chapter.--See Weber\nand Jamieson\u2019s Illustrations of Northern Antiquities.\n\nIn the older versions of the myth, the sword is called Gram, or the\nWrath. It was wrought from the shards, or broken pieces, of Sigmund\u2019s\nsword, the gift of Odin. It was made by Regin for Sigurd\u2019s (Siegfried\u2019s)\nuse, and its temper was tested as here described.\n\n\n\n[EN#4]--Sigmund The Volsung.\n\nSigmund the Volsung, in the Volsunga Saga, is represented as the father\nof Sigurd (Siegfried); but there is such a marked contrast between him,\nand the wise, home-abiding King Siegmund of the later stories, that I\nhave thought proper to speak of them here as two different individuals.\nThe word \u201cSigmund,\u201d or \u201cSiegmund,\u201d means literally the mouth of victory.\nThe story of the Volsungs, as here supposed to be related by Mimer, is\nderived mainly from the Volsunga Saga.\n\n\n\n[EN#5]--Siegfried\u2019s Journey Into The Forest.\n\n\n\n\u201cIn the shop of Mimer, Siegfried was nowise in his proper element, ever\nquarrelling with his fellow-apprentices, nay, as some say, breaking the\nhardest anvils into shivers by his too stout hammering; so that Mimer,\notherwise a first-rate smith, could by no means do with him there. He\nsends him, accordingly, to the neighboring forest to fetch charcoal,\nwell aware that a monstrous dragon, one Regin, the smith\u2019s own brother,\nwould meet him, and devour him. But far otherwise it proved.\u201d--Carlyle,\non The Nibelungen Lied.\n\n\n\n[EN#6]--The Norns.\n\nThe Norns are the Fates, which watch over man through life. They are\nUrd the Past, Verdande the Present, and Skuld the Future. They approach\nevery new-born child, and utter his doom. They are represented as\nspinning the thread of fate, one end of which is hidden by Urd in the\nfar east, the other by Verdande in the far west. Skuld stands ready\nto rend it in pieces. --See Grimm\u2019s Teutonic Mythology, p. 405, also\nAnderson\u2019s Norse Mythology, p. 209.\n\nThe three weird women in Shakespeare\u2019s Tragedy of Macbeth represent a\nlater conception of the three Norns, now degraded to mere witches.\n\nCompare the Norns with the Fates of the Greek Mythology. These, also,\nare three in number. They sit clothed in white, and garlanded, singing\nof destiny. Clotho, the Past, spins; Lachesis, the Present, divides; and\nAtropos, the Future, stands ready with her shears to cut the thread.\n\n\n\n[EN#7]--The Idea of Fatality.\n\nThroughout the story of the Nibelungs and Volsungs, of Sigurd and of\nSiegfried,--whether we follow the older versions or the mote recent\nrenderings,--there is, as it were, an ever-present but indefinable\nshadow of coming fate, \u201ca low, inarticulate voice of Doom,\u201d foretelling\nthe inevitable. This is but in consonance with the general ideas of\nour Northern ancestors regarding the fatality which shapes and controls\nevery man\u2019s life. These ideas are embodied in more than one ancient\nlegend. We find them in the old Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf. \u201cTo\nus,\u201d cries Beowulf in his last fight, \u201cto us it shall be as our Weird\nbetides,--that Weird that is every man\u2019s lord!\u201d \u201cEach man of us shall\nabide the end of his life-work; let him that may work, work his doomed\ndeeds ere death comes!\u201d Similar ideas prevailed among the Greeks. Read,\nfor example, that passage in the Iliad describing the parting of Hector\nand Andromache, and notice the deeper meaning of Hector\u2019s words.\n\n\n\n[EN#8]--Regin.\n\n\n\nAs we have already observed (EN#1), the older versions of this myth\ncalled Siegfried\u2019s master and teacher Regin, while the more recent\nversions call him Mimer. We have here endeavored to harmonize the two\nversions by representing Mimer as being merely Regin in disguise.\n\n\n\n[EN#9]--Gripir.\n\n\u201cA man of few words was Gripir; but he knew of all deeds that had been;\nAnd times there came upon him, when the deeds to be were seen: No sword\nhad he held in his hand since his father fell to field, And against the\nlife of the slayer he bore undinted shield: Yet no fear in his heart\nabided, nor desired he aught at all: But he noted the deeds that had\nbeen, and looked for what should befall.\u201d Morris\u2019s Sigurd the Volsung,\nBk. II.\n\n\n[EN#10]--The Hoard.\n\nThis story is found in both the Elder and the Younger Eddas, and is\nreally the basis upon which the entire plot of the legend of Sigurd, or\nSiegfried, is constructed. See also EN#18.\n\n\n\n[EN#11]--The Dragon.\n\nThe oldest form of this story is the Song of Sigurd Fafnisbane, in the\nElder Edda. The English legend of St. George and the Dragon was probably\nderived from the same original sources. A similar myth may be found\namong all Aryan peoples. Sometimes it is a treasure, sometimes a\nbeautiful maiden, that the monster guards, or attempts to destroy. Its\nfirst meaning was probably this: The maiden, or the treasure, is the\nearth in its beauty and fertility. \u201cThe monster is the storm-cloud.\nThe hero who fights it is the sun, with his glorious sword, the\nlightning-flash. By his victory the earth is relieved from her peril.\nThe fable has been varied to suit the atmospheric peculiarities of\ndifferent climes in which the Aryans found themselves.... In Northern\nmythology the serpent is probably the winter cloud, which broods over\nand keeps from mortals the gold of the sun\u2019s light and heat, till in the\nspring the bright orb overcomes the powers of darkness and tempest, and\nscatters his gold over the face of the earth.\u201d This myth appears in a\ngreat variety of forms among the Scandinavian and German nations. In\nthe Eddas, Sigurd (Siegfried) is represented as roasting the heart of\nFafnir, and touching it to his lips. We have ventured to present a less\nrevolting version.--See Baring-Gould\u2019s Curious Myths of the Middle Ages.\n\n\u201cThe slaying of the dragon Fafnir reminds us of Python, whom Apollo\novercame; and, as Python guarded the Delphic Oracle, the dying Fafnir\nprophesies.\u201d--Jacob Grimm.\n\n\n\n[EN#12.]\n\nIn order to harmonize subsequent passages in the story as related in\ndifferent versions, we here represent Siegfried as turning his back\nupon the Glittering Heath, and leaving the Hoard to some other hero or\ndiscoverer. In the Younger Edda, Siegfried (Sigurd) rides onward until\nhe comes to Fafnir\u2019s bed, from which \u201che took out all the gold, packed\nit in two bags, and laid it on Grane\u2019s (Greyfell\u2019s) back, then got on\nhimself and rode away.\u201d\n\n\n\n[EN#13]--BRAGI. This episode of Bragi and his vessel is no part of the\noriginal story of Siegfried, but is here introduced in order to acquaint\nyou with some of the older myths of our ancestors. Bragi was the\nimpersonation of music and eloquence, and here represents the music of\nNature,--the glad songs and sounds of the spring-time. \u201cAbove any other\ngod,\u201d says Grimm, \u201cone would like to see a more general veneration of\nBragi revived, in whom was vested the gift of poetry and eloquence....\nHe appears to have stood in pretty close relation to AEgir.\u201d\n\n\n\n[EN#14]--AEgir.\n\n\u201cAEgir was the god presiding over the stormy sea. He entertains the\ngods every harvest, and brews ale for them. The name still survives\nin provincial English for the sea-wave on rivers.\u201d--Anderson\u2019s Norse\nMythology. See Carlyle\u2019s Heroes and Hero-Worship.\n\n\n\n[EN#15]--The Valkyries.\n\nSee Grimm\u2019s Teutonic Mythology, p. 417, and Anderson\u2019s Norse Mythology,\np. 265.\n\n\n\n[EN#16]--Brunhild.\n\nIn the Elder Edda, Brunhild\u2019s inaccessible hall stands on a mountain,\nwhere she was doomed to sleep under her shield until Sigurd should\nrelease her. In the Nibelungen Lied, she is represented as ruling\nin Isenland, an island far over the sea. The well-known story of the\nSleeping Beauty is derived from this myth.\n\n\n\n[EN#17]--Nibelungen Land.\n\n\u201cVain were it to inquire where that Nibelungen Land specially is.\nIts very name is Nebel-land, or Nifl-land, the land of Darkness, of\nInvisibility.... Far beyond the firm horizon, that wonder-bearing\nregion swims on the infinite waters, unseen by bodily eye, or, at\nmost, discerned as a faint streak hanging in the blue depths, uncertain\nwhether island or cloud.\u201d--Carlyle, on The Nibelungen Lied.\n\n\n\n[EN#18]--Schilbung and Nibelung.\n\n\u201cOld King Nibelung, the former lord of the land, had left, when he died,\na mighty hoard concealed within a mountain-cavern. As Siegfried rode\npast the mountain-side alone, he found Schilbung and Nibelung, the\nking\u2019s sons, seated at the mouth of the cavern surrounded by more gold\nand precious stones than a hundred wagons could bear away. Espying\nSiegfried, they called upon him to settle their dispute, offering him\nas reward their father\u2019s mighty sword Balmung.\u201d--Auber Forestier\u2019s\nTranslation of the Nibelungen Lied.\n\nWe have here made some slight variations from the original versions.\n(See also EN#12.)\n\nAn ancient legend relates how King Schilbung had obtained the Hoard in\nthe upper Rhine valley, and how he was afterwards slain by his brother\nNiblung. This Niblung possessed a magic ring in the shape of a coiled\nserpent with ruby eyes. It had been presented to him by a prince named\nGunthwurm, who had come to him in the guise of a serpent, desiring the\nhand of his daughter in marriage. This ring, according to the Eddas, was\nthe one taken by Loki from the dwarf Andvari, and was given by Sigurd\n(Siegfried) to Brunhild in token of betrothal. It was the cause of all\nthe disasters that afterwards occurred.--See W. Jordan\u2019s Sigfridssaga.\nSee also EN#10.\n\n\n\n[EN#19]\n\n     \u201c... Siegfried the hero good\n     Failed the long task to finish: this stirred their\n     angry mood.\n     The treasure undivided he needs must let remain,\n     When the two kings indignant set on him with their\n     train;\n     But Siegfried gripped sharp Balmung (so hight their\n     father\u2019s sword),\n     And took from them their country, and the beaming,\n     precious hoard.\u201d\n      The Nibelungenlied, Lettsom, 96, 97\n\n\n\n[EN#20]--Siegfried\u2019s Welcome Home.\n\nIn the Nibelungen Lied this is our first introduction to the hero. The\n\u201cHigh-tide\u201d held in honor of Siegfried\u2019s coming to manhood, and which we\nsuppose to have occurred at this time, forms the subject of the Second\nAdventure in that poem.\n\n\n\n[EN#21]--Kriemhild\u2019s Dream.\n\nThis forms the subject of the first chapter of the Nibelungen Lied. \u201cThe\neagles of Kriemhild\u2019s dream,\u201d says Auber Forestier, \u201care winter-giants,\nwhose wont it was to transform themselves into eagles; while the pure\ngods were in the habit of assuming the falcon\u2019s form.\u201d\n\n\n\n[EN#22]--Idun.\n\nThe story of Idun and her Apples is related in the Younger Edda. It is\nthere represented as having been told by Bragi himself to his friend\nAEgir. This myth means, that the ever-renovating spring (Idun) being\ntaken captive by the desolating winter (Thjasse), all Nature (all\nthe Asa-folk) languishes until she regains her freedom through the\nintervention of the summer\u2019s heat (Loki). --See Anderson\u2019s Norse\nMythology.\n\n\n\n[EN#23]--Balder.\n\nThe story of Balder is, in reality, the most ancient form of the\nSiegfried myth. Both Balder and Siegfried are impersonations of the\nbeneficent light of the summer\u2019s sun, and both are represented as being\ntreacherously slain by the powers of winter. The errand of Hermod to\nthe Halls of Death (Hela) reminds us of the errand of Hermes to Hades\nto bring back Persephone to her mother Demetre. We perceive also a\nresemblance in this story to the myth of Orpheus, in which that hero is\ndescribed as descending into the lower regions to bring away his wife\nEurydice.\n\n\n\n[EN#24]\n\nThe making of rich clothing for the heroes is frequently referred to in\nthe Nibelungen Lied. Carlyle says, \u201cThis is a never-failing preparative\nfor all expeditions, and is always specified and insisted on with a\nsimple, loving, almost female impressiveness.\u201d\n\n\n\n[EN#25]--The Winning of Brunhild.\n\nThe story of the outwitting of Brunhild, as related in the pages which\nfollow, is essentially the same as that given in the Nibelungen Lied. It\nis quite different from the older versions.\n\n\n\n[EN#26]--Sif.\n\nSif corresponds to the Ceres of the Southern mythology. (See Grimm, p.\n309.) The story of Loki and the Dwarfs is derived from the Younger Edda.\nIt has been beautifully rendered by the German poet Oelenschlager, a\ntranslation of whose poem on this subject may be found in Longfellow\u2019s\nPoets and Poetry of Europe.\n\n\n\n[EN#27]--Eigill.\n\nEigill is the original William Tell. The story is related in the Saga\nof Thidrik. For a full history of the Tell myth, see Grimm\u2019s Teutonic\nMythology, p. 380, and Baring-Gould\u2019s Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,\np. 110.\n\n\n\n[EN#28]--Welland the Smith.\n\nThe name of this smith is variously given as Weland, Wieland, Welland,\nVolundr, Velint etc. The story is found in the Vilkina Saga, and was one\nof the most popular of middle age myths. (See Grimm\u2019s Mythology.) Sir\nWalter Scott, in his novel of Kenilworth, has made use of this legend in\nintroducing the episode of Wayland Smith.\n\n\n\n[EN#29]--Vidar[FN#1] the Silent.\n\n\u201cVidar is the name of the silent Asa. He has a very thick shoe, and he\nis the strongest next to Thor. From him the gods have much help in all\nhard tasks.\u201d--The Younger Edda (Anderson\u2019s translation).\n\n[FN#1] The word Vidar means forest.\n\n\n\n[EN#30]--Loki.\n\n\u201cLoki, in nature, is the corrupting element in air, fire, and water. In\nthe bowels of the earth he is the volcanic flame, in the sea he appears\nas a fierce serpent, and in the lower world we recognize him as pale\ndeath. Like Odin, he pervades all nature. He symbolizes sin, shrewdness,\ndeceitfulness, treachery, malice etc.\u201d--Anderson\u2019s Mythology, p. 372.\n\nHe corresponds to the Ahriman of the Persians, to the Satan of the\nChristians, and remotely to the Prometheus of the Greeks.\n\n\n\n[EN#31]--The Quarrel of the Queens.\n\nIn the ancient versions, the culmination of this quarrel occurred while\nthe queens were bathing in the river: in the Nibelungen Lied it happened\non the steps leading up to the door of the church.\n\n\n\n[EN#32]--Hagen.\n\nHagen corresponds to the Hoder of the more ancient myth of Balder. In\nthe Sigurd Sagas he is called Hogni, and is a brother instead of an\nuncle, of Gunther (Gunnar).\n\n\n\n[EN#33]--The Death of Siegfried.\n\nThis story is related here essentially as found in the Nibelungen\nLied. It is quite differently told in the older versions. Siegfried\u2019s\ninvulnerability save in one spot reminds us of Achilles, who also was\nmade invulnerable by a bath, and who could be wounded only in the heel.\n\n\n\n[EN#34]--The Burial of Siegfried.\n\nThe story of the burning of Siegfried\u2019s body upon a funeral-pile, as\nrelated of Sigurd in the older myths, reminds us of the burning of\nBalder upon the ship \u201cRinghorn.\u201d (See p. 162.) The Nibelungen Lied\nrepresents him as being buried in accordance with the rites of the\nRoman-Catholic Church. This version of the story must, of course, have\nbeen made after the conversion of the Germans to Christianity. \u201cWhen\nthe Emperor Frederick III. (1440-93) visited Worms after his Netherlands\ncampaign,\u201d says Forestier, \u201che undertook to have the mighty hero\u2019s bones\ndisinterred, probably in view of proving the truth of the marvellous\nstory then sung throughout Germany; but, although he had the ground dug\ninto until water streamed forth, no traces of these became manifest.\u201d\n\n\n\n[EN#35]--Morris: Sigurd the Volsung, Bk. III.\n\n\n[EN#36]--The Hoard.\n\nThe story of bringing the Hoard from Nibelungen Land belongs to the\nlater versions of the myth, and fitly closes the First Part of the\nNibelungen Lied. Lochheim, the place where the Hoard was sunk, was not\nfar from Bingen on the Rhine.\n\n\n\n[EN#37]--a Short Vocabulary of the Principal Proper Names Mentioned in\nthis Story.\n\n   AEGIR. The god of the sea.\n   ALBERICH and ANDVARI. Dwarfs who guard the great Hoard.\n   ASA. A name applied to the gods of the Norse mythology.\n   ASGARD. The home of the gods.\n   BALDER. The god of the summer sunlight.\n   BRAGI. The god of eloquence and of poetry.\n   DRAUPNER. Odin\u2019s ring, which gives fertility to the earth.\n   FAFNIR. The dragon whom Siegfried slays.\n   FENRIS-WOLF. The monster who in the last twilight slays\n   Odin.\n   FREYJA. The goddess of love.\n   REY. The god of peace and plenty.\n   GRIPIR. The giant who gives wise counsel to Siegfried\n   (Sigurd).\n   GUNTHER. In the older myths called Gunnar.\n   HEIMDAL. The heavenly watchman.\n   HELA. The goddess of death.\n   HERMOD. The quick messenger who is sent to Hela for Balder.\n   HODER. The winter-god. He slays Balder.\n   HOENIR. One of the three most ancient gods.\n   HUGIN. Odin\u2019s raven, Thought.\n   IDUN. The goddess of spring.\n   IVALD. A skilful dwarf.\n   JOTUNHEIM. The home of the giants.\n   KRIEMHILD. In the older myths called Gudrun.\n   LOKI. The mischief-maker. The god of evil.\n   MIMER. In the later German mythology a skilful smith. In the\n   older mythology a wise giant.\n   NORNS. The three Fates,--Urd, Verdande, and Skuld.\n   ODIN. The chief of the gods.\n   REGIN. The teacher of Sigurd, by whom he is slain.\n   SIEGFRIED. In the older myths called Sigurd.\n   SIF. Thor\u2019s wife.\n   SLEIPNER. Odin\u2019s eight-footed horse.\n   TYR. The god of war.\n   THOR. The god of thunder. The foe of the giants.\n   VALHAL. The hall of the slain.\n   VALKYRIES. The choosers of the slain. Odin\u2019s handmaidens.\n   VIDAR. The silent god.\n   YMIR. The huge giant out of whose body the world was made.","title":"The Story of Siegfried","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":78405}