Tale IV: How Hagen Was Met by His Father and Mother

Soon both men and women / riding there were seen;
Then the brave young Hagen / went forth to meet his kin.
Who ’twas that came to greet him / he now to know was seeking;
The throng grew ever thicker / of friends who came in haste, their kindness speaking.

The king a friendly welcome / into his land soon gave;
He said: “To send men hither / did you the boldness have,
To say that our queen beloved / is in truth your mother?
If the words are true you’ve spoken, / so glad as now I am there’s not another.”

His queen, the lovely U-te, / with lofty breeding, said:
“Bid that for these new-comers / lodgings now be made;
I shall know right easily / if he for the crown is fitted.”
She found, in truth, the token, / and, full of bliss, her youthful son she greeted.

With eyes all wet with weeping, / she kissed him on the mouth:
“Though I before was ailing, / I now am well in sooth.
Welcome be thou, my Hagen, / my only child, loved dearly!
All in the land of Sigeband / right glad shall be for him they lost so early.”

The king to the youth came nearer; / his happiness was great.
For the hearty love he bore him / his manly cheek was wet;
With tears that hot had risen / his eyes were overflowing.
For the child, from him erst stolen, / rightly the father felt the love he was showing.

The queenly U-te welcomed / the homeless maids that day;
Many clothes she gave them, / both bright in hue and gray,
Of silk, with downy linings, / that much the maidens wanted.
Their sorrows now were lightened / by all the gifts the wife of Sigeband granted.

Well they clothed the maidens, / as their loveliness became;
This they long had needed, / and oft had blushed with shame;
But, decked with gaudy trimmings, / now they came less shyly.
The king and all his followers / soon to the maidens gave a welcome freely.

Hagen asked that friendship / to the men of Garadie
Should by the king and his lieges / be granted speedily;
Beseeching his forgiveness / for all their foul misdoing.
Soon, at the wish of Hagen, / kindness to the pilgrims he was showing.

When the king had kissed them / and soothed his angry mood,
He to the shipwrecked pilgrims / made their losses good.
To them it was a blessing, / and praise to Hagen carried;
The lands of the men of Ireland / never since have they as foemen harried.

Then their food and clothing / the guests took out, for use,
And up on the sands they bore them, / trusting in Hagen’s truce;
To take their rest for a fortnight / them did he embolden.
The band of haughty pilgrims / to give to him their thanks were now beholden.

Then, in the midst of uproar, / they rode away from the shore;
Up the castle of Ballian / came also many more,
Led by a tale of wonder / that the son of the king was living,—
Of their king so rich and mighty; / a thing so strange was to many past believing.

The water-weary pilgrims, / long-tossed upon the sea,
When fourteen days were ended / to leave the land were free.
To them by the host were given / gifts of gold, bright shining;
By the help of his son’s great kindness / he hoped a lasting friendship to be winning.

Hagen his maidens never / henceforth unthought-of leaves;
Kindly doth he teach them / ofttimes to bathe in the waves.
He showed himself most loving, / ever for them caring;
Rich clothes to them were given, / and wise beyond his years was all his bearing.

Now was the youth beginning / to be a man well-grown.
He ever showed his kinsmen / the skill to warriors known;
Whate’er a knight befitteth / with hand and weapon doing.
In the land of his father, Sigeband, / his mighty sway he soon to all was showing.

Hagen was ever learning / what doth a king beseem.
He who of knights is leader / must ever free from shame
And every stain be living; / this earns fair women’s praises.
So gentle was he truly / that every one with wonder on him gazes.

Brave he was and daring, / (such is the olden song,)
And ever was he ready / to right his neighbor’s wrong.
He high upheld his honor / in all things, never fearing;
Throughout the land, his praises / were spoken and were sung in all men’s hearing.

In a waste he grew to manhood, / that youthful son of a king,
Wild beasts his only fellows; / but none so quick could spring
That they to flee were able, / if he for them was striving.
I ween both he and his maidens / had wonders seen, while by the waters living.

Rightly his name was Hagen; / but later men did own
He was “of kings the Devil;” / so came he to be known
In every land and kingdom, / such was his strength in fighting.
The bold and wild young Hagen / well did earn his name, his foemen smiting.

He oft was begged by his kinsmen / that he a wife would take;
One so fair was near him / that none had need to seek
A fairer or a lovelier, / all earthly kingdoms over.
He himself had taught her; / with her in sorrow grown, and now her lover.

She bore the name of Hilda; / from India she had come,
And love she oft had shown him / under their wretched doom,
Since, in their early childhood, / he in the cave had found her.
None better need he wish for, / or seek in any land the heavens under.

His father bade him hasten / to be knighted with the sword,
With a hundred of his vassals. / He gave, with kindly word,
To him and to his maidens, / for clothes and horses needed,
A thousand marks of silver. / Hagen said that the will of his father should be heeded.

The news of this was bruited / through many a prince’s land;
And the day when it should happen / all did understand.
Soon the king’s great kindness / from all won praises golden
In a year and three days after / the festival of knighting them was holden.

For this the knights made busy, / glad to be bidden there.
Soon they made them bucklers, / bright and painted fair;
In making showy saddles / the workmen were not idle;
With gold both red and shining / the breastplate was bedecked, as was the bridle.

Upon a broad green meadow / the guests of the mighty king
Were bidden then to gather. / He left not anything
That they from him could ask for; / seats were spread in order,
And many guests soon after / were seen to ride to his land from every border.

To those from far now ready / the sword with him to bear
Fighting-gear was given, / that beseemed them well to wear.
They who from other kingdoms / into his land were faring
A thousand men were reckoned; / to give them clothes and steeds he was not sparing.

Unto his friends then said he: / “If now you deem it fit
That men a king should call me, / it therefore seemeth meet
That she my heart holds dearest / a crown with me be wearing;
Never shall I rest happy / until, for her love to me, she this is sharing.”

Then asked of him his followers / who might the lady be,
Who, riding proudly before them, / they at court should see?
He said: “Her name is Hilda, / in India once living;
To me and to my kindred / she, as our queen, no shame will e’er be giving.”

Well pleased was now his mother, / when she the tidings had,
That they thought to crown the lady; / his father, too was glad.
Of them was she so worthy, / that high in heart they set her.
With him the sword was taken / by full six hundred; the number e’en was greater.

As is the way of Christians, / both of them were bid
First for the crown to be hallowed; / this at once they did.
King Hagen with Queen Hilda / in state were soon seen riding;
Many games of knighthood / were played at court by his men, at Hagen’s bidding.

Sigeband, too, rode with them; / high rose his heart as he went;
He reckoned very little / the wealth that must be spent.
When in jousts they had ridden, / in ways most true and knightly,
Then were pages busy / to make the halls for the guests all fair and sightly.

Seats were brought together, / strong, and broad, and long,
With stools besides, and tables. / After the mass was sung,
U-te, his wife, came riding, / with women round her thronging;
These the youthful warriors / to gaze on, as they rode, right earnestly were longing.

While the great King Sigeband / sat by U-te’s side,
And Hagen next to Hilda, / all looked on with pride;
And said, in his child-belovéd / happy was their master.
Before them, while at table, / the throng was great; the clash of spears grew faster.

After the king of Ireland / at the meal his fill had eat,
By riders the grass was trodden; / flowers to dust they beat
With rude and heavy trampling, / while in uproar riding.
The men best known for bravery, / before the fair, in knightly jousts were leading.

Four and twenty warriors, / bearing well the shield,
Over the plain came riding; / bold were they in the field,
And now in many a struggle / all their strength were spending.
’Twas done in sight of the ladies, / and hard it was of their games to make an ending.

The brave young son of Sigeband / himself in the onset rode.
Not loth was she to gaze on him / who her with hope had wooed;
That she to him was friendly / in a far-off land forsaken,
For this would he reward her. / No truer knight the sword had ever taken.

Amid the throngs here riding, / one thro’ the dust might see
Men whose birth was princely, / in number twelve and three;
The Christian and the heathen / to him their fiefs were owing,
And honor now, right heartily, / to Sigeband and Hagen they were showing.

Long those high times lasted; / their mirth, how loud it rose!
With crowding and with shouting / great the bustle grows.
The king now bade the champions / to end the strife so heated;
And leave to them was given / that they beside the ladies should be seated.

Before his friends and kinsmen / then spake King Sigeband:
“Unto my dear son Hagen / give I now my land,
With the dwellers and the strongholds, / be they far or nearer.
Let all my trusty liegemen / have him now for their lord, and hold none dearer.”

As soon as his father, Sigeband, / his sway did thus forego,
Hagen his lands and castles / began in fief to bestow;
This he did right freely, / and to those to whom he gave them
He seemed so true and worthy / that they indeed from him would gladly have them.

As by feudal law is rightful, / many stretched the hand
To the youthful king in fealty. / To all, from every land,
Or far or near, then gave he / clothes and riches hoarded.
A feast so freely given / would now the poor not harm, and with thanks be rewarded.

At court now dwelt the maidens / who had before been brought
With him within those borders; / of these one now was sought,
And sent to the king and Hilda; / there she soon was dwelling.
The maid it was from Iserland; / of one more fair to see none e’er was telling.

A princely youth soon wooed her, / who saw the maiden fair
Beside the king’s fair daughter. / Soothly might he swear
That she by right was worthy / to be of a crown the wearer.
She had erst been Hilda’s playmate; / of widespread lands she now became the sharer.

At last the guests were scattered, / and all now left the king.
That high-born lady also / men did straightway bring
Into the land of Norway, / to her youthful lord’s kind keeping.
After her heavy sorrows, / blest with hope, she knew no more of weeping.

Now, throughout all Ireland, / did Hagen his sway begin.
If ever among his lieges / a deed of wrong was seen,
At once for this the doer / must pay with pain well dreaded;
Of such, within a twelvemonth, / eighty or more were for evil deeds beheaded.

An inroad made he later / into the lands of his foes.
He spared the poor, and brought not / flames, to add to their woes;
But if with pride and rudeness / he was by any treated,
He quick laid waste their strongholds, / and deadly wounds in bitter wrath he meted.

When it came to fighting, / he was a goodly knight.
Of heroes high in breeding / he soon brought low the might;
To all he showed his bravery, / whether far or near him.
Of kings was he the Devil; / in truth his many foes might greatly fear him.

The life he led was happy, / nor of gladness asked he more.
His wife, from far-off India, / to her lord and master bore
A fair and lovely daughter; / she also, like her mother,
Bore the name of Hilda; / well known is her tale to us, and to many another.

Wild Hagen bade his maidens / so to rear the child,
That the sun ne’er shone upon her; / nor were rough winds wild
Oft allowed to touch her. / She was by ladies guarded,
And cared for by her kinsmen; / most wisely was the trust to them awarded.

Before twelve years were ended / the fair and well-born maid
Was comely more than any, / and her name was widely spread;
Rich and high-born princes / gladly would have sought her,
And earnestly were thinking / how they could win wild Hagen’s lovely daughter.

One of these same princes / in Denmark had his home,
Within the land of Waleis. / When the tale to him had come
About this lovely maiden, / his longing ne’er would leave him;
But he was scorned by Hagen, / who swore of life and name he would bereave him.

Whene’er to seek the maiden / men were by wooers sent,
In his pride, wild Hagen / upon their death was bent.
He to none would give her / who than himself was weaker;
Of the tale of the mighty Hagen, / far and near, was every man the speaker.

He bade that more than twenty / of those sent there be hung;
None might wreak his anger, / though sore his heart was wrung.
When all had done their errand, / for Hagen’s daughter suing,
“Enough,” soon went the saying: / “’Twere best that none should go for her a-wooing.”

But still by high-born warriors / the maid was not unsought.
Let pride be ne’er so lofty, / as we have long been taught,
There always is another / with just as high a bearing;
While to win her kindness / his yearning grows, and his toil he is never sparing.