<h2><SPAN name="chap03"></SPAN>Third Adventure<br/> How Siegfried Came to Worms</h2>
<p>Little recked Siegfried of heart’s dole till that the news reached him of
a fair maid of Burgundy, than whom none could wish a fairer; by reason of her,
joy befell him, and sorrow.</p>
<p>Her beauty was rumoured far and wide, and the fame of her virtues, joined
thereto, brought many strangers into Gunther’s land. Yet, though many
wooed her, Kriemhild was firm-minded to wed none. The man that was to win her
was yet a stranger.</p>
<p>Thereupon Siegmund’s son yearned to her with true love. Weighed with him
all other suitors were as wind, for he was meet to be chosen of fair women;
and, or long, Kriemhild the high maiden was bold Sir Siegfried’s bride.</p>
<p>His kinsmen and his liegemen counselled him to woo a fitting mate, if he meant
to love in earnest, whereto Siegfried answered, “It shall be Kriemhild.
So measureless fair is the maiden of Burgundy, that the greatest emperor, were
he minded to wed, were none too good for her.”</p>
<p>The tidings came to Siegmund’s ear. His knights told him
Siegfried’s intent, and it irked him that his son should woo the royal
maiden. To Sieglind, the king’s wife, they told it also, and she feared
for his life, for she knew Gunther and his men.</p>
<p>They would have turned him from his quest.</p>
<p>Spake bold Siegfried then, “Dearest father mine, either I will think no
more on women at all, or I will woo where my heart’s desire is.”
And for all they could say, he changed not his purpose.</p>
<p>Then said the king, “If thou wilt not yield in this, i’faith, I
approve thy choice, and will further thee therein as I best can. Nevertheless,
Gunther hath many mighty men, were it none other than Hagen, an arrogant and
overweening knight. I fear both thou and I must rue that thou goest after this
king’s daughter.”</p>
<p>“What harm can come thereof?” answered Siegfried. “What I win
not for the friendly asking, I will take by the prowess of my hand. I doubt not
but I shall strip him of both liegemen and lands.”</p>
<p>But Siegmund said, “I am grieved at thy word. If it were heard at the
Rhine, thou durst not ride at all into Gunther’s country. Both Gunther
and Gernot are known to me from aforetime, and by force shall none win the
maiden. That have I often heard. But if thou wilt ride thither with warriors, I
will summon my friends. They will follow thee nothing loth.”</p>
<p>Siegfried answered, “I will not ride with an army of warriors to the
Rhine; it would shame me so to win the maiden by force. I would win her with
mine own hand. One of twelve I will forth to Gunther’s land, and to this
shalt thou help me, my father Siegmund.”</p>
<p>They gave to his knights cloaks of fur, some grey and some striped.</p>
<p>Sieglind his mother heard it, and sorrowed for her dear son, for fear she might
lose him by the hand of Gunther’s men. The noble queen wept sore.</p>
<p>Siegfried went where she sat, and spake comfortably to her. “Weep not,
mother, for my sake, for I shall be without scathe among foemen. Help me rather
to the journey that I make into Burgundy, that I and my fellows may have
raiment beseeming proud knights. For this shalt thou have much thanks.”</p>
<p>“Since thou wilt not be turned,” spake Sieglind, “I will give
to thee, my only child, the best apparel that ever knight did on, and to thy
companions, for thy journey. Thou shalt receive without stint.”</p>
<p>The youth bowed before the queen and said, “Twelve strong we ride forth,
no more. I would have raiment for so many; for I would see with mine eyes how
it standeth with Kriemhild.”</p>
<p>The women sat night and day, nor rested till Siegfried’s mantle was
ready; for none could dissuade him from his quest. His father let forge for him
a coat of mail that might do honour to his land. Bright were the breastplates
and the helmet, and the bucklers fair and massy.</p>
<p>Now the time was come to ride forth, and all the folk, men and women, made
dole, lest they should return never more. The hero bade load the sumpters with
the arms and apparel. The horses were goodly, and their equipment of ruddy
gold. None had more cause for pride than Siegfried and his knights. He asked
leave to set out for Burgundy, and the king and the queen gave it sorrowing.
But he spake comfortably to both of them, and said, “Weep not for my
sake; nor fear aught for my life.”</p>
<p>The knights were downcast, and the maidens wept. Their hearts told them, I
ween, that by reason of this day’s doings, many a dear one would lie
dead. Needs made they dole, for they were sorrowful.</p>
<p>On the seventh morning after this, the fearless band drew towards Worms on the
Rhine. Their garments were woven of ruddy gold, and their riding-gear was to
match. Smooth paced the horses, deftly managed by Siegfried’s bold
warriors. Their shields were new, bright and massy, and their helmets goodly,
as Siegfried the hero and his following rode into Gunther’s country to
the court. Never knights were in seemlier trim. Their sword-points clanged on
their spurs, and in their hands they bare sharp spears; the one that Siegfried
carried was broad two spans or more, of the sort that maketh grim wounds.
Gold-hued were their bridles, their poitrels of silk; so they rode through the
land.</p>
<p>Everywhere the folk marvelled, gazing at them, and Gunther’s men ran to
meet them; proud warriors, knights and squires, went toward the strangers, as
was meet, and welcomed the guests to the court of their king, taking horse and
shield from their hands. They would have put the horses in the stalls, but
Siegfried spake in haste, “Let our horses stand, for I am minded to
depart again speedily. Where I may find Gunther, the great king of Burgundy,
let whoso knoweth tell me.”</p>
<p>One answered him that knew, “Thou mayest see the king if thou wilt. I saw
him amidst of his men in yonder wide hall. Go in to him. Thou shalt find there
many brave warriors.”</p>
<p>They told the king that a valiant knight, fair equipped and apparelled, that
knew none in Burgundy, was come thither. And the king marvelled where those
proud knights in shining harness, with their shields new and massy, might hie
from. It irked him that none knew it.</p>
<p>Ortwin of Metz, a goodly man of high courage, spake to the king then,
“Since we know naught thereof, bid to thee Hagen mine uncle, and show
them to him. For he hath knowledge of the mighty men of all lands; and what he
knoweth he will tell us.”</p>
<p>The king summoned Hagen with his vassals, and he drew nigh with proud step,
and asked the king his will.</p>
<p>“Strange knights are come to my court that none knoweth. If thou hast
ever seen them afore, tell me thereof truly.”</p>
<p>“That will I,” spake Hagen, and went to the window, and looked down
on the strangers below. The show of them and their equipment pleased him, but
he had not seen them afore in Burgundy. And he said, “From wheresoever
they be come, they must be princes, or princes’ envoys. Their horses are
good, and wonderly rich their vesture. From whatso quarter they hie, they be
seemly men. But for this I vouch, that, though I never saw Siegfried, yonder
knight that goeth so proud is, of a surety, none but he. New adventures he
bringeth hither. By this hero’s hand fell the brave Nibelungs, Shilbung
and Nibelung, the high princes. Wonders hath he wrought by his prowess. I have
heard tell that on a day when he rode alone, he came to a mountain, and chanced
on a company of brave men that guarded the Nibelung’s hoard, whereof he
knew naught. The Nibelung men had, at that moment, made an end of bringing it
forth from a hole in the hill, and oddly enow, they were about to share it.
Siegfried saw them and marvelled thereat. He drew so close that they were ware
of him, and he of them. Whereupon one said, ‘Here cometh Siegfried, the
hero of the Netherland!’ Strange adventure met he amidst of them.
Shilbung and Nibelung welcomed him, and with one accord the princely youths
asked him to divide the treasure atween them, and begged this so eagerly that
he could not say them nay. The tale goeth that he saw there more precious
stones than an hundred double waggons had sufficed to carry, and of the red
Nibelung gold yet more. This must bold Siegfried divide. In guerdon therefor
they gave him the sword of the Nibelungs, and were ill paid by Siegfried for
the service. He strove vainly to end the task, whereat they were wroth. And
when he could not bear it through, the kings, with their men, fell upon him.
But with their father’s sword, that hight Balmung, he wrested from them
both hoard and land. The princes had twelve champions—stark giants, yet
little it bested them. Siegfried slew them wrathfully with his hand, and, with
Balmung, vanquished seven hundred knights; and many youths there, afraid of the
man and his sword, did homage for castles and land. He smote the two kings
dead. Then he, himself, came in scathe by Albric, that would have avenged the
death of his masters then and there, till that he felt Siegfried’s
exceeding might. When the dwarf could not overcome him, they ran like lions to
the mountain, where Siegfried won from Albric the cloud-cloak that hight
<i>Tarnkappe</i>. Then was Siegfried, the terrible man, master of the hoard.
They that had dared the combat lay slain; and he bade carry the treasure back
whence the Nibelungs had brought it forth; and he made Albric the keeper
thereof, after that he had sworn an oath to serve him as his man, and to do all
that he commanded him.”</p>
<p>“These are his deeds,” said Hagen; “bolder knight there never
was. Yet more I might tell of him. With his hand he slew a dragon, and bathed
him in its blood, that his skin is as horn, and no weapon can cut him, as hath
been proven on him ofttimes.”</p>
<p>“Let us welcome the young lord, that we come not in his hate. So fair is
he of his body that one may not look unfriendly thereon; with his strength he
hath done great deeds.”</p>
<p>Then spake the great king, “Belike thou sayest sooth. Knightly he
standeth there as for the onset—he and his warriors with him. We will go
down to him and greet him.”</p>
<p>“Thou mayest do that with honour,” answered Hagen; “for he is
of high birth, even a great king’s son. By Christ, there is somewhat in
his bearing that showeth he hath ridden hither on no slight matter.”</p>
<p>The king of the land said, “He is right welcome, for I perceive that he
is brave and noble, the which shall profit him in Burgundy.”</p>
<p>Gunther went out to Siegfried. The king and his men gave the strangers
courteous welcome, and the valiant man bowed before them because they greeted
him so fair.</p>
<p>“I would know,” said the king, “whence noble Siegfried
cometh, and what he seeketh at Worms by the Rhine.”</p>
<p>The guest answered him, “I will tell thee that readily. Word hath reached
me in the land of my father, that, hereby thee, dwell the prowest ever sworn to
king. I have heard much of these, and would know them; for this I am come
hither. Thy knightliness also I hear praised, and am told that nowhere is a
better king. So say the folk throughout the land; and, till I have proven it, I
will not depart hence. I also am a king that shall wear a crown, and I would
have men say of me that the country and the people are rightly mine. Thereto I
pledge both honour and life. If thou art valiant, as they say, I care not whom
it liketh or irketh, I will take from thee all thou hast, land and castles, and
they shall be mine.”</p>
<p>The king and his men marvelled when they heard this strange saying, that he
would take their land; when the warriors understood it they were wroth.</p>
<p>“Wherein have I wronged thee,” said Gunther the knight, “that
I should yield to the might of any man what my father ruled so long with
honour? We will show thee to thy hurt that we also are brave knights.”</p>
<p>“I will abide by my purpose,” said the doughty man. “If thou
canst not hold they land in peace, I will rule it. Also what I have in fee, if
thou overcome, shall be thine. With thy country be it even as with mine. To the
one of us twain that overcometh shall the whole belong, people and land.”</p>
<p>But Hagen and Gernot answered him back straightway. “We desire
not,” said Gernot, “to win new kingdoms at the cost of dead heroes.
Our land is rich, and we are the rightful lords. The folk desire none
better.”</p>
<p>Grim and angered stood Gunther’s kinsmen. Amidst of them was Ortwin of
Metz, who said, “This bargain pleaseth me little. Bold Siegfried hath
challenged thee wrongfully. Were thou and thy brothers naked, and he with a
whole king’s army at his back, I would undertake to show the overweening
man he did well to abate his pride.”</p>
<p>Whereat the knight of the Netherland was wroth and said, “Not such as
thou art shall raise a hand against me, for I am a great king; thou art but a
king’s man. Twelve of thy sort could not withstand me.”</p>
<p>Then Ortwin of Metz, the sister’s son of Hagen of Trony, cried aloud for
his sword. It grieved the king that he had kept silence so long, but Gernot, a
warrior bold and keen, came betwixt them.</p>
<p>He said to Ortwin, “Calm thyself. Siegfried hath done naught to us, that
we should not end this matter peaceably. I counsel that we take him to friend.
That were more to our honour.”</p>
<p>Then said Hagen the stark man, “It may well irk thy knights that he
rideth hither as a foeman. Better had he refrained. My masters had never done
the like by him.”</p>
<p>Brave Siegfried answered, “If thou like not my words, I will show thee
here, in Burgundy, the deeds of my hand.”</p>
<p>“That I will hinder,” said Gernot, and he forbade to his knights
their overweening words, for they irked him. Siegfried also thought on the
noble maiden.</p>
<p>“Wherefore should we fight with thee?” said Gernot. “Though
every knight lay dead thereby, small were our glory and little thine
adventure.”</p>
<p>Whereto Siegfried, King Siegmund’s son, answered, “Why do Hagen and
Ortwin hang back, and their friends, whereof they have enow in Burgundy?”</p>
<p>But these must needs hold their peace, as Gernot commanded them.</p>
<p>“Thou art welcome,” said Uta’s son; “thou and thy
comrades that are with thee. We will serve thee gladly, I and my
kinsmen.”</p>
<p>They let pour for them Gunther’s wine, and the host of that land, even
Gunther the king, said, “All that is ours, and whatsoever thou mayest
with honour desire, is thine to share with us, body and goods.”</p>
<p>Then Siegfried was milder of his mood.</p>
<p>What he and his men had with them was seen to; they gave Siegfried’s
knights good quarters and fair lodging; and they rejoiced to see the stranger
in Burgundy.</p>
<p>They did him honour many days: more than I can tell. This he won, I trow, by
his valour. Few looked on him sourly.</p>
<p>The king and his men busied them with sports, and in each undertaking Siegfried
still approved him the best. Whether they threw the stone or shot with the
shaft, none came near him by reason of his great strength. Held the doughty
warriors tourney before the women, then looked these all with favour on the
knight of the Netherland. But, as for him, he thought only on his high love.
The fair women of the court demanded who the proud stranger was. “He is
so goodly,” they said, “and so rich his apparel.”</p>
<p>And there answered them folk enow, “It is the king of the
Netherland.” Whatsoever sport they followed, he was ready. In his heart
he bare the beautiful maiden that as yet he had not seen: the which spake in
secret kind words also of him. When the youths tilted in the courtyard,
Kriemhild, the high princess, looked down at them from her window; nor, at that
time, desired she better pastime. Neither had he asked better, had he known
that his heart’s dear one gazed upon him: the fairest thing on earth had
he deemed it to behold her eyes. When he stood there amidst of the heroes in
the tilt-yard, as the custom is, to rest at the tourney, so graceful the son of
Sieglind bare him, that the hearts of many maidens yearned toward him. And
ofttimes would he think, “How shall I attain to behold the noble lady
that I have loved long and dearly? She is still a stranger. For this reason I
am downcast.”</p>
<p>When the rich kings rode abroad, it behoved the knights to go with them,
wherefore Siegfried also rode forth, the which irked the damsel sore; and
likewise, for love of her, he was heavy enow of his cheer.</p>
<p>So in a year (I say sooth) he abode by these princes, nor in all that time had
once seen his dear one, that afterward brought him so much gladness and dole.</p>
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