The Nibelungenlied

ADVENTURE XVIII How Siegmund Journeyed Home Again.

Kriemhild’s hus­band’s fa­ther went to where he found her. Un­to the queen he spake: “We must un­to our land; by the Rhine, I ween, we be un­wel­come guests. Kriemhild, dear la­dy, now jour­ney with me to my lands. Al­beit treach­ery here in these lands hath bereft us of your no­ble hus­band, yet should ye not re­quite this. I will be friend­ly to you for my dear son’s sake, of this shall ye have no doubt. Ye shall have, my la­dy, all the pow­er which Siegfried, the bold knight, gave you afore­time. The land and al­so the crown shall be sub­ject to you. All Siegfried’s men shall serve you glad­ly.”

Then the squires were told that they must ride away. A mick­le hur­ry­ing for steeds was seen, for they were loth to stay with their dead­ly foes. Men bade dames and maid­ens seek their robes. When that King Sieg­mund would fain have rid­den forth, Kriemhild’s moth­er gan beg her that she stay there with her kin­dred.

The roy­al la­dy an­swered: “That might hard­ly hap. How could I bear the sight of him from whom such great wrong hath happed to me, poor wife?”

Then spake young Gisel­her: “Dear sis­ter mine, by thy troth thou shouldst stay here with thy moth­er. Thou dost need no ser­vice of them that have grieved thee and sad­dened thy mood. Live from my goods alone.”

To the war­rior she spake: “Certes, it may not hap, for I should die of dole when­ev­er I should gaze on Ha­gen.”

“I’ll give thee rede for that, dear sis­ter mine. Thou shalt live with thy broth­er Gisel­her, and of a truth I’ll com­fort thee of thy hus­band’s death.”

Then an­swered the hap­less wife: “Of that hath Kriemhild need.”

When the youth had made her such kind­ly of­fer, then gan Uta and Ger­not and her faith­ful kin en­treat. They begged her to tar­ry there, for but lit­tle kith she had among Siegfried’s men.

“They be all strangers to you,” spake Ger­not; “none that liveth is so strong but that he must come to die. Con­sid­er that, dear sis­ter, and con­sole your mind. Stay with your kins­folk; ye shall fare well in truth.”

Then she made vow to Gisel­her that she would stay. The steeds were brought for Siegfried’s men, sith they would ride to the Ni­belung land. Al­so all the trap­pings of the knights were packed up­on the sumpters. Then the Lord Sieg­mund hied him to Kriemhild’s side. To the la­dy he spake: “Siegfried’s men are wait­ing by the steeds. Now must we ride away, for I be ill con­tent in Bur­gundy.”

The La­dy Kriemhild then replied: “All that I have of faith­ful kin ad­vise me that I stay here with them; I have no kith in the Ni­belung land.”

Loth it was to Sieg­mund, when that he found Kriemhild of this mind. He spake: “Let no one tell you that. Be­fore all my kins­men ye shall wear the crown with such sovran pow­er as ye did afore­time. Ye shall not suf­fer, be­cause we have lost the knight. Ride al­so with us home again, for the sake of your lit­tle child. La­dy, ye should not leave him or­phaned. When your son groweth up, he will com­fort your heart. Mean­while many bold heroes and good shall serve you.”

“Sir Sieg­mund,” quoth she, “for­sooth I like not for to ride. What­ev­er for­tune, here must I tar­ry with my kin­dred, who help me mourn.”

These tales gan now dis­please the doughty war­riors. All spake alike: “We might well aver that now first hath ill be­fall­en us. If ye would stay here with our foes, then have heroes nev­er rid­den to court more sor­row­ful­ly.”

“Ye shall jour­ney free of care, com­mend­ed un­to God; ye shall be giv­en safe-​con­duct to Sieg­mund’s land, I’ll bid them guard you well. To the care of you knights shall my dear child be giv­en.”

When they marked that she would not go hence, then wept all of Sieg­mund’s men alike. How right sor­row­ful­ly Sieg­mund part­ed then from La­dy Kriemhild! He be­came ac­quaint with grief. “Woe worth this court­ly feast­ing,” spake the no­ble king. “Through pas­time will nev­er­more hap to king or to his kins­men, what here hath happed to us. Men shall see us nev­er­more in Bur­gundy.”

Then Siegfried’s men spake open­ly: “A jour­ney to this land might still take place, if we dis­cov­ered aright him who slew our lord. Enow of his kins­men be their dead­ly foes.”

He kissed Kriemhild; how sor­row­ful­ly he spake, when he per­ceived aright that she would stay: “Now let us ride joy­less home un­to our land, now first do I feel all my sor­row.”

Down to the Rhine from Worms they rode with­out an es­cort. They were sure­ly of the mind that they, the bold Ni­belungs, could well de­fend them, should they be en­coun­tered in hos­tile wise. Leave they asked of none, but Ger­not and Gisel­her were seen to go to Sieg­mund in lov­ing wise. These brave and lusty knights con­vinced him that they mourned his loss. Cour­te­ous­ly Prince Ger­not spake: “God in heav­en knoweth well that I be not to blame for Siegfried’s death, nor heard I ev­er that any was his foe. I mourn him just­ly.”

Gisel­her, the youth, gave them then safe-​con­duct. Sor­row­ly he led them from the land home to Nether­land. How few kins­man were found joy­ous then!

How they now fared at Worms I can­not tell. All time men heard Kriemhild mourn, so that none might com­fort her heart nor mind, save Gisel­her alone; loy­al he was and good. Brun­hild, the fair, sate in over­ween­ing pride. How Kriemhild wept, she recked not, nor did she ev­er show her love or troth. La­dy Kriemhild wrought her in af­ter days the bit­ter­est woe of heart.