Tale III: How Hagen Sailed to His Home

Ere they went on shipboard, / the pilgrims them besought
Kindly to take the clothing / they with them had brought.
However shy were the maidens, / to wear them they were ready;
They donned the clothes with blushes, / and now their sorrow had an ending speedy.

Soon as the lovely maidens / embarked upon the wave,
They heartily were greeted / by knights both good and brave,
Who to the high-born daughters / welcome to give were heedful;
Tho’ they at first mistook them, / and thought them wicked elves, or mermaids dreadful.

That night the maidens rested / with friends upon the sea;
So wondrous was their dwelling, / from fear they were not free:
Wiser it were in the children / to think this home a blessing.
Soon as the earl had bidden, / their food upon the maids they all were pressing.

After they had eaten, / and while with them he sat,
The lord of the land of Garadie / the maidens did entreat
To say by whom such fair ones / were brought unto that shore.
The children, at his asking, / only felt their sorrow grow the more.

First answered him the eldest / of those who with him sat:
“I come from a far-off kingdom, / (my lord, now hear my fate;)
I was born in the land of India, / a land wherein my father
Was king while he was living, / but I, alas! the crown must leave to another.”

Then spake the maid next younger: / “I too have come from far;
Erewhile a strong old griffin / did me from Portugal bear.
A king in the land was my father; / none than he was prouder,
Nor for a mighty ruler, / far or near, were ever praises louder.”

Then the youngest maiden, / who by the earl sat near,
To him spoke low and modestly, / and said: “I pray you hear;
From Iserland I was carried, / my father there held power;
But from those who hoped to rear me, / alas! afar was I borne in an evil hour.”

The high-born knight then answered: / “By God ’tis ordered well,
Since you among your kinsfolk / not long were left to dwell;
Now, at last, by his kindness / you are freed from dangers,
For I within these borders / have found you living here, such lovely strangers.”

However much he asked them, / they yet to tell were loath,
How unto them it happened / grim death had spared them both,
When erewhiles the griffin / unto his nest had brought them.
Many had been their sorrows; / no more to speak of these the maids bethought them.

Then said the worthy leader, / turning to the youth;
“My dearest friend and fellow, / now let me hear the truth;
Since unto me these maidens / their sorry tale have given,
From you would I hear gladly, / and learn the land and kin whence you were riven.”

To him wild Hagen answered: / “That will I tell to you;
One of those dreadful griffins / bore me hither too.
Sigeband was my father; / in Ireland once was I living;
But long with these lovely maidens / I since have dwelt, with many sorrows striving.”

Then they all besought him / to say how it befell
That, living with the griffins / he had come off so well.
To them young Hagen answered: / “To God it all was owing;
But now I have cooled my anger; / no more for them my heart with hate is glowing.”

Then spake the lord of Garadie: / “I fain would learn from you
How you were freed from danger?” / He said: “I quickly slew
Both the old and the young ones; / not one of those is living
By whom my life was threatened, / and who to me such fear were daily giving.”

Then said all the sailors: / “Your strength indeed was great;
For every man and woman / to praise you it were meet.
A thousand of us truly / ’gainst them in, vain had striven,
Nor ever could have slain them; / truly to you have blessings great been given.”

The earl and all his followers / were of the boy afraid;
His strength was past all measure, / and sorrow for them made.
They would by craft his weapons / have taken from him gladly,
But these he sternly guarded, / and soon, thro’ him, it ended for them sadly.

Then spake the earl yet further: / “It now has happened well,
After our toilsome wanderings, / and all that us befell.
But since you are a kinsman / of my foeman, Sigeband,
And here have come from Ireland, / I as a hostage hold you in my hand.

“You come to me most fitly, / as you shall know ere long,
For many of your kindred / have done to me great wrong.
In Garadie’s fair kingdom, / which lies too near their border,
In a heavy fight, my warriors / were seized upon and murdered by their shameful order.”

Then answered him young Hagen: / “Of all the wrongs they did
I am wholly guiltless; / if me to them you lead
I their hearts will soften, / and so will the strife be ended.
Let hope to me be granted / that I on my kinsmen’s shore may soon be landed.”

Then said the earl to Hagen: / “For a pledge must you abide,
And I shall keep these maidens / to live at court by my side;
They will swell my greatness, / and I shall be their owner.”
Then thought the youthful Hagen, / such words to be to him a wrong and a dishonor.

He quickly said in anger: / “No bondsman will I be;
That may no man ask for, / who would unscathed go free.
And now, my worthy sailors, / you needs to my land must bear me;
I will reward you gladly, / and to give you clothes and gold will never spare me.

“The earl has thought my maidens / his own shall ever be;
But they shall yet be happy, / and shall of him be free.
Whoe’er is blest with wisdom, / let him my bidding follow;
Look to your sails, and turn them, / and guide the ship to Ireland, o’er the billow.”

The men, as the earl had bidden, / to seize the boy now dared,
But boldly did he meet them, / and for their lives they feared.
He by the hair caught thirty, / and into the water flung them;
Soon the strength of his body / was known to all, and dreaded much among them.

Had not the kindly maidens / sought to end the fight,
Soon the earl of Garadie / he would have killed outright.
’Gainst neither low nor mighty / did his anger falter;
These warriors and sailors / now to Ireland’s shores their way must alter.

They began at once to hasten, / lest he their lives might take;
For now the wrath of Hagen / made them with fear to quake.
For seventeen days the sailors / from toiling never rested,
And sorely were they frightened; / whene’er he seemed unkind they ills forecasted.

When he now drew nearer / unto his father’s shore,
He saw the roomy castles / he well had known before;
Soon a lofty palace / he spied at the edge of the river;
Three hundred towers fully / he there beheld, as strong and good as ever.

In it dwelt King Sigeband, / with his proud and queenly wife.
Again each pilgrim sailor / thought to lose his life;
For should the lord of Ireland / aught of them be learning,
They feared that he would slay them; / but Hagen stood between, his anger turning.

Then spake unto the pilgrims / that brave and warlike man:
“Your peace will I make gladly, / altho’ I do not reign;
I hold no sway in the kingdom, / but thither will I be sending,
And ’twixt yourself and my father / of the hatred old I soon will make an ending.

“Would any now be doing / what wealth to him will bring,
Let him my errand carry. / Whoever to the king
Shall say what I shall bid him, / gold will I give him truly;
And also, very gladly, / my father and my mother will reward him duly.”

Twelve of the stranded pilgrims / he bade to ride away:
“Now ask of the king, my father,” / thus the youth did say,
“Whether to see young Hagen, / his son, he still is yearning,—
Him who erst by the griffin / was stolen far away, heart-sorrow learning.

“I know that what you tell him / the king will not believe;
Then ask you of my mother / if she her faith will give,
And if for her child to own me / she will at last be willing,
If I upon my bosom / will show a golden cross, the proof fulfilling.”

When those he sent had ridden / farther into the land,
They found, in the palace seated, / Queen U-te and Sigeband.
Then knew the king that the riders / from Garadie came thither,
And that they to him were foemen; / at this both he and his men were wroth together.

He asked of them how dared they / to come within his land?
Then one among them answered: / “We are sent here at the hand
Of your son, the youthful Hagen. / If any fain would meet him,
He now is here, so near you, / that you ere many hours, in truth, may greet him.”

Then spake the kingly Sigeband: / “To cheat there is no need;
The loss of my dear little one, / who hath so long been dead,
Still my heart’s deep sorrow / doth too oft awaken.”
“Ask, then, the queen, your lady, / if for a falsehood should our word be taken?

“The little boy so often / in her fond care has been,
She knows if on his bosom / a golden cross was seen.
And if upon this wanderer / be found the self-same token,
You as your child can own him; / you then will grant that truth by us is spoken.”

Then to the Lady U-te / the tale was quickly told;
Glad was she of the tidings, / yet mourned she as of old.
She said: “Now let us hasten, / that the truth no more be hidden.”
Her lord then bade to saddle; / and steeds for himself and his bravest knights were bidden.

Straightway one of the pilgrims / to the fair Queen U-te said:
“I will tell you, if you listen, / what now to do you need.
You first must carry clothing / for each young lovely maiden
Whose coming does you honor; / as followers of your son were they hither bidden.”

Soon brought they richest clothing, / and tiring-women, too;
The queen was also followed / by men both brave and true.
They found the youthful Hagen, / who on the shore was standing;
And many men from Garadie, / who with the wandering boy on the beach were landing.