The Nibelungenlied: The Lay of the Nibelungs (Oxford World's Classics) (23 page)

1089

‘You shall depart without anxiety, commended to God’s keeping. They will give you a good escort to Sigmunt’s land—I’ll order that you be well protected. Let my dear baby be well commended to the favour of you warriors.’

1090

When they heard for certain that she did not want to leave, all Sigmunt’s men wept as one. How wretchedly Sigmunt then parted from Lady Kriemhilt. Anger then made his acquaintance.

1091

‘A curse upon this festivity!’ said the proud king then. ‘Never again will a king and his kinsmen, bent on pleasure, suffer what has befallen us! Never again will they see us here in Burgundy!’

1092

Then Sivrit’s men said openly: ‘The journey might yet be made into this land, when we have found out for certain who slew our lord. They will find plenty of fierce foes among his kinsfolk.’

1093

Sigmunt kissed Kriemhilt. When he saw for certain that she wanted to remain, how wretchedly he spoke: ‘Now let us ride without joy, home to our land. Only now are all my sorrows known to me.’

1094

They rode away from Worms on the Rhine without any escort. They must have been fully confident in their minds that if they were attacked by foes, the bold Nibelungs’ hands would defend themselves. They asked leave of no man there. Then Gernot and

1095

Giselher were seen to go up to Sigmunt in friendship. They grieved over his loss. Those bold and gallant heroes assured him of that.

1096

Courteously Prince Gernot then said: ‘God in Heaven knows well that I was never guilty of Sivrit’s murder, nor did I ever hear tell who might be hostile to him here. I have every right to mourn over him.’

1097

Then young Giselher gave them good escort. He took pains that the king and his warriors be brought out of that land afterwards and home to the Netherlands. How few of their kinsmen were found to rejoice there! How they then fared I cannot tell.

1098

Here in Burgundy Kriemhilt was heard to lament at all times, and no one comforted her heart and mind, unless it were Giselher, who was loyal and worthy. Fair Prünhilt resided there in arrogance. She

1099

cared little for all the tears that Kriemhilt shed. Never again was she ready to show her true kindness. In time to come Lady Kriemhilt would, for her part, cause her most heartfelt suffering.

1100

W
HEN
noble Kriemhilt was thus widowed, Count Eckewart remained with her in Burgundy, along with his men. He was at her service every day. He often helped his lady to lament over his lord.

1101

A closed chamber was built for her in Worms near the minster, broad, great in size, and costly, where she would then sit with her retinue, devoid of happiness. She went gladly to church, and did so with a good will. How seldom she failed to go at all times, sad at heart,

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to where her beloved lay buried! She besought gracious God to tend his soul. Time and again she wept over the knight in great loyalty.

1103

Uote and her retinue comforted her at all times. Yet her heart was so grievously wounded that all the comfort they offered her could be of no avail. The anguish she felt for her dearly beloved was the greatest

1104

any woman ever felt for her dear husband. Her great virtue could clearly be perceived by this. She mourned until her end, for as long as her life lasted. (In time to come bold Sivrit’s wife was to avenge herself with courage.)

1105

Thus she resided there after the grief that had befallen her—this is nothing but the truth I tell you—for some three-and-a-half years after her husband’s death, never speaking a single word to Gunther, nor ever beholding her foe Hagen in all that time.

1106

Then the hero of Tronege said: ‘If you could contrive that your sister might be on friendly terms with you, then Nibelunc’s gold might come to these lands. You might gain much of that if we were in the queen’s favour.’

1107

Gunther said: ‘Let’s make the attempt. My brothers are often with her. We’ll ask them to try to bring about friendly relations with her, and see if we can win her consent.’

‘I doubt’, said Hagen, ‘if that’ll ever happen.’

1108

Then Gunther bade Ortwin come to court, and Margrave Gere. When that was done, they also sent for Gernot and young Giselher. After that they tried a friendly approach to Lady Kriemhilt. Bold

1109

Gernot of Burgundy then said: ‘Lady, you lament Sivrit’s death
too long. The king wants to testify to you publicly that he did not slay him. People hear you lamenting so very grievously at all times.’

1110

She said: ‘No one accuses him of it. It was Hagen’s hand that slew him. When he found out from me where he might be wounded, how was I to believe that he bore him enmity? I would have been on my guard’, said the queen, ‘against giving him away!
*
Then I could now

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abandon my weeping, most wretched woman that I am. Those who did that deed will never find favour with me.’ Then Giselher, that most gallant warrior, began to plead with her.

1112

‘I will greet the king.’

When she had conceded that to Giselher, they saw Gunther come before her with his best allies. Hagen did not then dare go before her. He was well aware of his guilt and the suffering he had caused her. When she decided to abandon her enmity towards Gunther, it

1113

would have better befitted him—if he were to kiss her
*
—if the wrong to her had not been done by his counsel. Then he might have approached Kriemhilt without trepidation. No reconciliation among friends was

1114

ever accompanied by so many tears. Her loss hurt her sorely. She renounced her enmity to all of them, except for one man. No one would have slain Sivrit if Hagen had not done so. Not very long after that they

1115

arranged that Lady Kriemhilt should acquire the great hoard from the land of the Nibelungs, and it was taken to the Rhine. It was her dowry and was rightly hers. Giselher and Gernot then went to fetch the

1116

hoard. Kriemhilt ordered eight thousand men to fetch it from where it lay hidden, where Sir Albrich guarded it along with his best allies.

1117

When they saw the men from the Rhine come for the treasure, valiant Albrich said to his allies: ‘We dare not keep the hoard from her, since the noble queen claims it as her dowry. Yet this would never

1118

have been done’, said Albrich, ‘if we had not, to our misfortune, lost, along with Sivrit, the good cloak of invisibility, for fair Kriemhilt’s beloved bore that with him at all times. Now, sadly, Sivrit has met

1119

with an evil end, because the hero took the cloak of invisibility from us, and all this land has had to serve him.’

Then the chamberlain went to fetch the keys. Kriemhilt’s men

1120

stood before the mountain, and also some of her kinsmen. They ordered the treasure to be carried to the sea, to the skiffs. They took it upstream over the waves to the Rhine.

1121

Now you may hear marvels told about the hoard: all that twelve waggons could carry at their utmost was taken away in four days
and nights from the mountain. Moreover, each of the waggons had to go there three times a day. The treasure consisted entirely of

1122

precious stones and gold. Even if every man in all the world were to be paid out of it, it would not have been worth a mark less. It was not without good reason that Hagen had desired it. The most perfect

1123

that lay among the treasures was a little rod of gold.
*
A man who had learned its secrets might easily be master over every man in the world. Many of Albrich’s kinsfolk left along with Gernot.

1124

Once they had stored the hoard in Gunther’s land and the queen had taken charge of it all, the chambers and towers were filled with it. Never again were such marvels heard tell of treasure. Yet even if

1125

there had been a thousand times as much, if Lord Sivrit might be alive again, Kriemhilt would have stood beside him empty-handed. No hero ever won a more loyal wife.

1126

Now that she had charge of the hoard, she brought many foreign warriors into the land. The lady’s hands gave away so much that greater generosity was never beheld. She practised great courtesy, they said of the queen. She now set about giving gifts to rich and poor alike, to such

1127

an extent that Hagen said that if she were to live any longer, she would gain so many men for her service that it might cost them dear.

1128

Then King Gunther said: ‘The treasure is hers for life. How might I forestall anything she does with it? It was with great difficulty that I won her favour. Let us not trouble ourselves now over where she shares out her silver and her gold.’

1129

Hagen said to the king: ‘No right-thinking man ought to abandon the hoard to one woman alone. By her gifts she will yet bring about a day that the bold Burgundians may well rue.’

1130

King Gunther replied: ‘I swore an oath to her that I would never harm her again, and will guard against it from now on—she is my sister.’ Then Hagen answered: ‘Let me be the guilty party.’

1131

The oaths that several of them had sworn were not kept. They took the great treasure from the widow. Hagen took charge of all the keys. That angered her brother Gernot when he found out about it.

1132

Then Lord Giselher said: ‘Hagen has done my sister much wrong. I ought to forestall this. If he were not my kinsman it would cost him his life.’ Sivrit’s wife then wept anew.

1133

Then Lord Gernot said: ‘Rather than be forever plagued by this gold, we should have it all sunk in the Rhine, so that it never belongs to any man.’

Kriemhilt went to her brother Giselher and stood before him most piteously. She said: ‘Dearest brother, think of my plight. You ought

1134

to be the protector of both me and my property.’

He replied to the lady: ‘That will be done when we come back. We have it in mind to go riding.’

1135

The king and his kinsmen, all the best among them there, then left the land, except for Hagen alone, who remained behind because of the enmity he bore Kriemhilt, and was most willing to do so.

1136

Before the mighty king had come back, Hagen meanwhile had taken charge of the treasure in its entirety. He sank it all in the Rhine by Lochheim. He thought he would find a use for it—that could not be.

1137

The princes came back with men in great numbers. Kriemhilt then began to lament over her great loss, together with her maidens and ladies. They were deeply grieved. Giselher would willingly have shown her nothing but loyalty. They all said as one then: ‘Hagen has acted ill.’

1138

Hagen stayed out of reach of the princes’ wrath for long enough, until he regained their favour. They let him live. Kriemhilt could never have been more hostile towards him than at that time. Before

1139

Hagen of Tronege thus hid the treasure they had sworn such strong oaths that it would be hidden until only one of them should be left alive. In time to come they could neither give it to themselves nor anyone else. Kriemhilt’s mind was saddened by new sorrows about

1140

her husband’s end, and when they had thus taken all her wealth from her, her mourning never ceased her whole life long, not until her very last day. After Sivrit’s death—I tell you nothing but the truth—she

1141

dwelt there in great sorrow for thirteen years, not being able to forget the warrior’s death. She was loyal to him, as all and sundry aver.

1142

I
T
was about that time that Lady Helche died, and King Etzel sought another wife. Then his allies counselled him to look to Burgundy, where there lived a proud widow who was called Lady Kriemhilt.

1143

Now that fair Helche had died, they said: ‘If you ever want to win a
noble wife, the highest in rank and the best a king ever won, then take that same lady. Mighty Sivrit was her husband.’

1144

Then the great king said: ‘How might that happen, since I am a heathen and am not baptized? The lady, for her part, is a Christian, which is why she won’t consent to this. It would be a marvel if it were ever to come about.’

1145

Yet his bold allies replied: ‘What if she will perhaps do so because of your high repute and your great wealth? We ought at least to make an attempt with that most noble lady. It would please you greatly to make love to that fair woman.’

1146

Then the noble king said: ‘Now who among you is acquainted with the people by the Rhine and the land?’

Then worthy Rüedeger of Pöchlarn said: ‘I have known those proud, noble kings since childhood: Gunther and Gernot, those

1147

noble, worthy knights. The third is called Giselher. Each of them acts with all the best possible honour and virtue. Their ancestors had also always done the same.’

1148

Then Etzel spoke again: ‘Friend, you must tell me if she is fit to wear a crown in my land. If she is as beautiful as I am told, it would never be to the harm of my best allies.’

1149

‘She may readily be likened in beauty to my dear lady, great Helche. No king’s wife could be fairer in this world. He whom she consents to have as her beloved has good reason to be content.’

1150

Etzel said: ‘Then undertake this, Rüedeger, by the love you bear me. If I am ever to lie with Kriemhilt I will reward you as best as I can, for you will have carried out all my wishes. From my treasury

1151

I’ll order that you be given all the horses and clothes that you desire, so that you and your companions may be of good cheer. I will have you well equipped for this embassy.’

1152