Tale XX: How Hartmut Went Home to Normandy

No further will we tell you / of how with these it fared,
Or how the cloister-brothers / their life together shared.
Now to the tale of Hartmut / we ask you all to listen;
How he with many maidens, / high-born and fair, unto his land did hasten.

After the fight was ended, / as I have told before,
For many there was sorrow / for the bitter wounds they bore:
Many who had fallen / on the stormy field lay dying;
Children bereft of fathers / bewailed them soon with tears they ne’er were drying.

With heavy hearts the Normans / were wafted o’er the flood;
Every night and morning / many a warrior good
Felt ashamed and sorry, / thus from the sands to be driven;
So felt the old and the youthful, / although in all things else they well had thriven.

They came to the Norman borders, / unto King Ludwig’s land.
It was a day of gladness / to all the sailing band,
To see at last their homesteads / and thither to be steering.
Then said one among them: / “These are Hartmut’s towns that we are nearing.”

Helped by kindly breezes, / soon they reached the shore.
Now the men of Normandy / happy hearts all bore,
When to their wives and children / they again were coming;
Long had they been fearing / that they must die, while they afar were roaming.

When now the glad King Ludwig / did on his castles look,
Thus the lordly Norman / to Gu-drun, the maiden, spoke:
“See you that palace, Lady? / In bliss you may there be living;
If you to us are kindly, / our richest lands will we to you be giving.”

Then the high-born maiden / thus made her sorrow known:
“To whom should I feel kindly, / when kindness none have shown?
From that, alas! I’m sundered, / and in my hopes am thwarted;
Nothing I know but hardship, / and all my weary days I spend sad-hearted.”

Then answered her King Ludwig: / “Throw off this sorry mood,
And give your love to Hartmut, / a knight both brave and good.
Whatever we are owning / to give you we are willing;
With one who is so worthy / blest may you live, and lofty rank be filling.”

Then spake Hilda’s daughter: / “Why leave me not in peace?
Rather than wed with Hartmut / death would I dread far less.
That he should be my lover / by birth he is not fitted;
To lose my life were better / than take his love and as his bride be greeted.”

When this was heard by Ludwig, / filled with wrath was he;
Quick by the hair he seized her, / and flung her into the sea.
Straightway the daring Hartmut / his ready help then gave her;
He sprang at once to the maiden, / and from the whirling waves his arm did save her.

Just as the maid was sinking / Hartmut reached her side;
Had not her lover helped her / drowned were she in the tide.
Her yellow locks well grasping, / then from out the water
With his hands he drew her: / else nought from death had spared Queen Hilda’s daughter.

Back to the ship did Hartmut / bring the maiden fair;—
Rough ways to lovely women / Ludwig did not spare.
Dragged from out the water, / she in her smock was seated;
How full was she of sadness! / Never before had the maiden thus been treated.

Then all her friends together / wept for the lovely maid,
None could there be happy; / for what could be more sad
Than to see the king’s own daughter / handled thus so roughly?
The thought to them was rising: / “To us they now will bear themselves more gruffly.”

Then said the knightly Hartmut: / “Why drown my hoped-for wife,
Gu-drun, the lovely maiden, / dear to me as life?
If any but my father / so foul a wrong had done her,
Sore would be my anger, / and I from him would take both life and honor.”

To him King Ludwig answered: / “Ever free from shame
Have I till age been living, / and still a worthy name
And rank among my fellows / will hold till life is ending.
Bid now Gu-drun, your lady, / that she no more her scorn on me be spending.”

Now unto Queen Gerlind / errand-bearers came,
Who, in mood most happy, / bore in Hartmut’s name
Words of love and honor, / as from her son was fitting.
He asked a friendly welcome / for his many knights who on the shore were waiting.

They bore from him the tidings / that he across the wave
Had brought the Hegeling maiden, / to whom his love he gave
Ere he had looked upon her, / and for whom he still was pining.
When this was heard by Gerlind, / a happier day on her was never shining.

Then said he who told it: / “Lady, you now should ride
To the sea before the castle, / where yet the maid doth bide,
And give her, in her sorrow, / your love and kindly greeting;
You and your daughter, Ortrun, / should haste to the shore, the homeless maiden meeting.

“Likewise, riding with you / down unto the flood,
Should go both maids and women, / and also warriors good.
Her you will find in the harbor / who from home was riven;
Both to the maid and her followers / a welcome kind by you should now be given.”

Then Queen Gerlind answered: / “That will I gladly do;
’Twill make me richly happy / King Hettel’s child to know,
And to find that, with her maidens, / she has come to tarry.
Well I know that Hartmut / will soon be blest, when he the maid shall marry.”

Then she bade that horses, / with saddle-cloths, be brought.
Ortrun, the youthful princess, / was happy in the thought
Soon in her father’s kingdom / to see Gu-drun, the maiden,
If this might truly happen; / for the speech of all was with her praises laden.

Then out of chests were taken / of all the clothes the best
They knew therein were lying, / to be worn to meet the guest.
Soon the knights of Hartmut / to don the clothes were bidden;
Erelong a throng of followers, / gaily bedight, from Gerlind’s halls had ridden.

Upon the third day early, / women as well as men,
All who there had gathered / before Gerlind, their queen,
To give the maidens welcome, / were ready and outfitted;
Out of the gates they crowded, / and on their steeds not long in the court-yard waited.

The Normans now with the women / had into the harbor come:
The booty they unloaded / that they would carry home.
All unto their birthland / back had come right gladly;
Gu-drun and her band of maidens, / alone of all, demeaned themselves but sadly.

Now the brave Sir Hartmut / led her forth by the hand,
If she had deemed it fitting, / this she had not deigned;
Yet the poor child, in sorrow, / took his love but coldly,
Altho’ he showed it warmly, / and worship more had done freely and boldly.

With her went sixty maidens / who over the sea had come:
One saw, as he beheld them, / how that all from their home
Came with proudest bearing. / They erst high rank had taken,
In other lands and kingdoms; / their hearts were heavy now, of bliss forsaken.

The sister of young Hartmut / between two barons rode;
Now to Hilda’s daughter / a welcome warm she showed:
Ortrun, Ludwig’s daughter, / her eyes now wet with weeping,
Kissed the homeless maiden, / while she her fair white hands in her own was keeping.

Then the wife of Ludwig / to kiss her, too, was fain,
But to the youthful maiden / the thought was full of pain.
Thus she spake to Gerlind: / “Why come you here to meet me?
Loath am I to kiss you, / and neither can I bear that you should greet me.

“’Twas by your own ill-doing / that I, poor wretched maid,
Have known no home nor dwelling; / heart-sorrow long I’ve had;
My lot, alas! is shameful, / and will, I fear, grow harder.”
Then Ortrun strove to soothe her, / and did her best that with love Gu-drun should reward her.

One by one she greeted / the maids on every side.
Now rose a wondrous shouting; / men flocked from far and wide:
Upon the pebbly sea-beach / stakes for tents were driven;
With silken ropes were they fastened; / to Hartmut and his men was shelter in them given.

To bear the goods from the seaside / the folk were all astir.
Gu-drun, fair maiden, sorrowed, / and pain it gave to her
To see that all around her / the Normans were so many;
Unless it were to Ortrun, / she never showed a friendly mood to any.

The maidens on the seashore / must all the day abide.
With tears their eyes were flowing, / whatever others did;
Dry were they but seldom, / their cheeks were pale with sorrow:
Hartmut tried to soothe them, / but their sadness lasted yet through many a morrow.

To hold Gu-drun in honor / was Ortrun ever stern,
And, e’en if others wronged her, / with love to her did turn:
She in her father’s kingdom / strove to make her merry,
But, far from friends and kindred, / often the poor young girl was sad and weary.

To the Normans home was welcome, / as indeed was right;
They boasted much of the booty, / both churl as well as knight,
Brought from the Hegeling kingdom, / as they home were turning.
What welcome glad all gave them / who ne’er to see them hoped, albeit yearning!

Soon as Hartmut’s warriors / from all their toil were free,
And they were fully rested / from off the stormy sea,
They quickly left each other, / for their homes in many places:
While some their hands were wringing, / smiles were seen to brighten others’ faces.

Then did Hartmut also / turn away from the shore,
And to a stately palace / the fair Gu-drun he bore.
Henceforth the youthful maiden / must tarry there far longer
Than she to stay was minded, / and there her woe and pain grew ever stronger.

When now the high-born maiden / sat in Hartmut’s hall,
Where his men should crown her, / then he bade them all
To be forever faithful, / and their goodwill to show her;
So would she not forget them, / but would enrich whoe’er should kindness do her.

Then spake the mother, Gerlind, / old King Ludwig’s wife:
“When will Gu-drun be ready / to share young Hartmut’s life,
Our youthful prince so noble, / and in her arms to fold him?
Of her his rank is worthy, / and ne’er will she be sorry for her lord to hold him.”

Gu-drun to this had listened, / the wretched, homeless maid;
She said: “My Lady Gerlind, / ’twould make you sad indeed
If you must take in wedlock / one who the lives had wasted
Of many friends and kinsfolk; / by toil for him your life were ever blasted.”

“This shall no one hinder,” / to her then said the queen;
“Gainsay his will no longer, / let your love for him be seen,
And on my head I pledge you / that rich shall be your guerdon:
If to be a queen you spurn not, / you of my crown shall bear the happy burden.”

Then said the sorrowing maiden: / “That will I never wear;
Of all his wealth and greatness / you the tale may spare.
Your son, the knightly Hartmut, / my love can ne’er be winning:
Unwilling here I linger, / and hence to go I day by day am pining.”

Then the youthful Hartmut, / who of the land was lord,
Was angry with the maiden / when he her answer heard.
He said: “If, then, to wed her / the lady granteth never,
So, also, to the fair one / shall my goodwill and love be wanting ever.”

Then the wicked Gerlind / to Hartmut said, in turn:
“Ever the young and thoughtless / from the wise should learn.
Now leave to me this maiden, / let me for her be caring,
And I so well shall teach her / that she will quickly drop her lofty bearing.”

“That will I grant you gladly,” / Hartmut answering said;
“Whate’er from this may follow, / to you I give the maid,
To have in your good keeping, / as suits her rank and honor;
The maid is sad and homeless; / lady, ’tis right that kindly care be shown her.”

So Gu-drun, the fair one, / when Hartmut went that day,
Was left unto his mother, / and given to her sway:
But Hilda’s youthful daughter / Gerlind’s guidance hated;
She could not brook her teaching, / and never her dislike for this abated.

Then to the lovely maiden / the old she-devil spake:
“If you will not live happy, / then sorrow you must take.
You have to heat my chamber; / yourself the fire must kindle;
See, there is none to help you, / nor may you hope your toil will ever dwindle.”

The high-born maiden answered: / “That I well can do;
Whatever you shall bid me, / in all must I yield to you,
Until the God in heaven / at last my wrongs has righted.
Never my mother’s daughter / the fire upon the hearth ere this has lighted.”

Said Gerlind: “As I’m living, / to toil must you begin,
As never queenly daughter / to do before was seen.
To be so proud and headstrong / I will make you weary:
Before to-morrow darkens, / your maidens you must leave, and ne’er be merry.

“You hold yourself too highly, / as I have heard it said;
For this shall work most toilsome / soon upon you be laid.
This pride and froward bearing / must be by you forsaken;
Your lofty mood will I lower, / and all your hopes will very quickly weaken.”

Then went the wicked Gerlind / to court, in anger wild;
She said to her son, young Hartmut: / “Hettel’s wilful child
Scorns both you and your kindred, / and ever at us is sneering:
Would we had never seen her, / if we such talk from her must now be hearing.”

Then spake unto his mother / Hartmut, the knight so brave:
“Pray treat the maiden kindly, / howe’er she may behave:
So, for the care you show her, / my thanks will you be earning.
Greatly have I wronged her; / it well may be that she my love is spurning.”

Then said to him old Gerlind: / “Whate’er by us is done,
In mood she is so stubborn / that she will yield to none.
Unless we treat her harshly / she ne’er, as you would have her,
Will come to you in wedlock; / this must we do, or else to herself must leave her.”

Then to her thus answered / the worthy Norman knight:
“Good lady, show her kindness / henceforth in all men’s sight,
Now for the love you bear me; / such care I beg you give her
That from her love and friendship / the king’s fair daughter may not bar me ever.”

Then his devilish mother, / with anger brimming o’er,
To the throng of Hegeling maidens / quickly went once more.
She said: “Make ready, maidens, / and to your toil betake you,
To do what you are bidden; / the task to each that’s given ne’er forsake you.”

The maidens then were sundered, / and soon from each other torn;
They saw not one another, / and long must live forlorn.
Those who once so worthily / lofty rank were taking,
In winding yarn were busied; / while they sat at work their hearts were aching.

Some her flax were combing, / others for her must spin;
Ladies of lofty breeding, / whose pastime it had been
On their silken clothing / to lay, with skill unsparing,
Gold and gems most costly, / these for her now heavy toil were bearing.

The first in birth among them / at the court was kept;
Water she must carry / to the room where Ortrun slept:
To wait upon that lady / the high-born maid was bidden;
By name was she called Hergart; / her lofty birth was nought, she still was chidden.

Among them was another, / brought from Galicia’s strand;
The griffin her from Portugal / had borne to a far-off land.
She to the Hegeling kingdom / with Hagen’s child was carried,
From over Ireland’s borders; / now with the maids in the Norman land she tarried.

She was a prince’s daughter, / who castles owned and lands;
The fire must now be lighted / by her, with fair white hands,
While in the room well heated / Gerlind’s ladies rested.
For all the work she was doing / no thanks on her by them were ever wasted.

Now you well may wonder / to hear her sorry plight.
For Gerlind’s lowest wenches / she drudged both day and night;
Whatever task they set her, / to do must she be willing.
It helped her not with the Normans / that she at home a lofty rank was filling.

The work was mean and shameful / that they were made to do
For seven half years and over, / —this is all too true,—
Until the young Lord Hartmut, / when three wars were ended,
Had come again to his kingdom, / and found the maids at work, and ill-befriended.

To see again his loved one / Hartmut deeply yearned;
But when he looked upon her, / the truth he quickly learned,
That she good food and lodging / of late had seldom tasted:
For choosing to live rightly, / ’twas her reward to be with sorrow wasted.

When forth she came to meet him, / to her young Hartmut said:
“Gu-drun, most lovely maiden, / what is the life you have led
Since I, with all my warriors, / my lands and home was leaving?”
She said: “Such tasks they set me, / ’twas sin for you, and shame to me ’twas giving.”

Then outspoke young Hartmut: / “Why has this been done,
Gerlind, my dearest mother? / Your love she should have known;
When with you I left her, / her lot you should have brightened,
And all her heavy sorrows / you should for her within my land have lightened.”

His wolfish mother answered: / “How could I better teach
King Hettel’s ill-bred daughter? / ’Twas bootless to beseech,
Nor could I ever bend her, / to make her leave her jeering:
She scorned both you and your father / and kindred, too: to this should you give hearing.”

Then again spake Hartmut: / “Much wrong we’ve done the maid.
Slain by us, her kindred / and many knights lie dead;
While from the lovely maiden / her father we have taken,
Slain by my father, Ludwig, / and now with thoughtless words her woes we waken.”

Then answered him his mother: / “My son, ’tis truth I say;
If we Gu-drun, proud maiden, / for thirty years should pray,
If she with brooms were stricken, / or with rods were beaten,
Your wife we ne’er could make her; / hopeless it is the wayward maid to threaten.”

She farther said to Hartmut: / “However, since you bid,
I’ll gladly treat her better.” / But still her mind she hid,
And Hartmut never knew it; / erelong Gu-drun would find her
Harsher yet than ever; / and now the maiden’s wrongs could no one hinder.

Then went again old Gerlind / to where Gu-drun then sat,
And said to the Hegeling maiden, / in her wrath and hate:
“’Twere best you now bethink you, / or else, my fair young maiden,
You with your flowing tresses / must wipe the stools and seats, with dust thick laden.

“Then the room I sleep in, / mark what now I say,
You, to do my bidding, / must sweep three times a day;
You carefully must warm it, / and keep the fire well burning.”
Said she: “That do I gladly, / rather than take a lover I am spurning.”

Whatever she was bidden / the willing maiden did;
No work of hers she slighted, / nor should for aught be chid.
For seven years, full-numbered, / in a land far over the water,
The maid was toiling wearily, / and none did hold her as a kingly daughter.

The years had long been running, / and the ninth was coming on,
When Hartmut to bethink him / wisely had begun,
That indeed ’twas shameful / that he no crown was wearing;
And for himself and his kinsmen / ’twas right the name of king he now were bearing.

After heavy fighting, / Hartmut, with his men,
Bearing the prize of bravery, / riding home was seen.
He hoped the love of the maiden / would now to him be granted;
For, more than any other, / he the fair Gu-drun for his true love wanted.

When he reached his homestead, / he bade them bring the maid.
His evil mother, Gerlind, / allowed her to be clad
In meanest clothing only: / Gu-drun but little heeded
The youthful Hartmut’s wooing; / steadfast and true, no love from him she needed.

To him his friends then whispered, / that, whether glad or no
For this might be his mother, / he never should forego
To bend the maid to his wishes; / and must his care be giving
That so he might with the lady / for many a happy day in love be living.

To the ladies’ room he hastened, / when thus his kinsmen spoke,
And there he found the maiden; / her by the hand he took,
And said to her: “Fair lady, / love me now, I pray you,
And sit as queen beside me; / my knights and men shall worship ever pay you.”

Then said the lovely maiden: / “For this I have no mind;
For while the fiendish Gerlind / to me is so unkind,
The love of knights, tho’ worthy, / I can long for never.
To her and all her kindred / henceforth am I a bitter foe forever.”

“Sorry am I,” said Hartmut; / “to you will I make good
The hate my mother Gerlind / to you so harshly showed;
As for both of us is worthy, / your wrongs shall now be righted.”
The high-born maiden answered: / “I trust you not; your word need ne’er be plighted.”

Then said to her young Hartmut, / the lord of the Norman land:
“Gu-drun, most lovely maiden, / you well must understand
Mine are these lands and castles: / to none may you betake you;
Who is there here would hang me / if, ’gainst your will, I now my own should make you?”

Then said King Hettel’s daughter: / “That were a deed of shame:
Of aught so wrong and hateful / never did I dream.
It would be said by princes, / should they the tale be hearing,
That one of the kin of Hagen / in Hartmut’s land a harlot’s name is bearing.”

Then did Hartmut answer: / “What care I what they say?
If only you, fair lady, / do not say me nay,
A king my men shall see me, / and you my seat be sharing.”
Then said the maid to Hartmut: / “That I should love you be you never fearing.

“Well you know, Sir Hartmut, / how with me it stands;
And all the wrong and sorrow / I met with at your hands,
When far from home you carried / me whom you had stolen,
And, wounded by your warriors, / my father’s men erewhile in death had fallen.

“Well known to you ’tis also, / —for this I mourn again,—
How my father, Hettel, / was by your father slain.
Were I knight, and not a woman, / he durst not come before me
Unless his weapons wearing. / Why wed the man who from my kindred tore me?”

For many years now bygone, / it ever was the way,
No man should take a woman, / and have her in his sway,
Unless they both were willing. / Much praise for this is owing.
Gu-drun, the homeless maiden, / her father’s loss still mourned, with tears o’erflowing.

Then spake to her in anger / Hartmut, the youthful knight:
“Whatever may befall you, / I reck not for your plight;
Since now you are not willing / to wear the crown beside me,
You’ll have what you are seeking, / your meed you’ll daily earn, nor need you chide me.”

“That will I earn most gladly, / as I have done before,
Though for the men of Hartmut / the hardest toil I bore,
And for Queen Gerlind’s women. / If God my wrongs forgetteth,
To bear them I am willing; / but heavy is the woe that me besetteth.”

Still they sought to soothe her: / first to the court they sent
Young Ortrun, Hartmut’s sister, / whose looks all kindness meant;
’Twas hoped that she and her maidens, / now by friendly dealing,
Would bring Gu-drun, poor lone one, / to bear towards them all a better feeling.

Then to his sister Ortrun / Hartmut freely spake:
“Wealth I will give you, sister, / if kindly, for my sake,
To me you will be helpful, / and bring Gu-drun, fair lady,
Soon to forget her sorrows; / nor o’er her woes to brood be ever ready.”

Then spake the youthful Ortrun, / the Norman maiden fair:
“To help both her and her maidens / shall ever be my care,
Till they forget their sorrows: / I bow my head before her,
And I and mine will hold her / even as our kin, and watchful love spread o’er her.”

Gu-drun now said to Ortrun: / “My hearty thanks you win,
That you, with kindly wishes, / would see me sit as queen,
By the side of Hartmut, / while with pride I’m gladdened:
For this my trust I give you, / but homeless, none the less, my days are saddened.”