Tale IX: How Gudrun Was Sought by Siegfried

We speak no more of Hagen. / A word may now be told
About King Hettel’s kinsmen: / they who land did hold
Ever owed him fealty / for these and for their castles;
To court they all came often / when Hettel and Hilda sent to call their vassals.

Wâ-te went to Sturmland, / Morunc to Nifland rode;
Horant, prince of Denmark, / led his warriors good
To Givers, by the seashore, / where as lord they held him;
There their homes they guarded, / and many, far and wide, their master called him.

With mighty sway in Ortland / Irold had his seat;
Its lands he held of Hettel; / so, as a vassal meet,
Near and far to serve him, / his duty was the greater:
The king was brave and worthy; / and ne’er for a lord of lands was known a better.

If ever in any kingdom / Hettel heard them speak
Of a fair and well-born maiden, / her he sought to take
Into his home and castle, / as handmaid to his lady:
Whatever Hilda wished for, / to help wild Hagen’s child they all were ready.

The king, with his wife beside him, / was happy on the throne;
Their life was ever blissful. / To all in the land ’twas known
That better far and dearer / than all on earth he thought her.
Never by all his kinsmen / a lovelier could be found, where’er they sought her.

Within seven years thereafter / Hettel, in stormy fight,
Thrice to his foes gave battle. / They who, day and night,
To wrong his name and honor / did their utmost gladly,
Now by the knightly Hettel / found themselves brought low and chastened sadly.

His castles he did strengthen, / and peace he gave to his land,
As well a king befitteth: / such were the deeds of his hand,
That never in any kingdom, / when his name was spoken,
Was it said he was faint-hearted. / The praise of all did well his worth betoken.

While, with name so worthy, / Hettel held the throne,
Wâ-te, the man of wisdom, / never left undone
His duty to his master, / to see him three times yearly;
Truly he was faithful, / far and near, to the lord he held so dearly.

Horant, the lord from Denmark, / to court not seldom rode;
Costly gems and clothing / on the maids he there bestowed,
With gold and silken raiment, / meet for women’s wearing:
He from Daneland brought them, / and to all who wished was he of gifts unsparing.

The service true and steady / that the liegemen of the king
Gave to the lordly Hettel / honor to him did bring.
Praised was he for knighthood / more than any other:
This Hilda also furthered, / a queen herself, and child of a queenly mother.

Hilda, Hagen’s daughter, / children two did bear
Unto her lord, King Hettel: / to bring them up with care
His faithful friends were bidden. / Soon among his vassals
Were the tidings bruited / that an heir no more was lacking for his lands and castles.

One became a warrior, / Ortwin was his name;
To Wâ-te he was trusted. / It was the teacher’s aim
That he from early boyhood / should his thoughts be turning
To all things good and worthy; / to be a trusty knight he thus was learning.

The very comely daughter / of Hilda and the king
Was called Gu-drun the lovely: / from the land of the Hegeling
To Denmark she was carried, / to be in her kinsmen’s wardship.
Thus they helped King Hettel, / and this they never felt to be a hardship.

When the maid grew older, / her shape became so fair
That neither man nor woman / to praise her could forbear:
Far from the maiden’s birthplace, / all her worth were telling.
Gu-drun her kinsfolk called her, / in the Danish land where now she had her dwelling.

That age she now was reaching / when, had she been a man,
A sword she might have wielded. / Many a prince was fain
To wed the lovely maiden, / and sought her love and favor;
But many came a-wooing / who soon their hopes must lose, and win her never.

However fair was Hilda, / Hettel’s lovely wife,
Yet was Gu-drun more lovely, / and fair beyond belief;
More fair than the early Hilda, / erst to Ireland carried.
Above all other women / Gu-drun was praised, ere yet the maid was married.

Her father scorned to give her / to the king of Alzabé;
When he heard he could not win her / to him ’twas a sorry day.
He held himself most highly / for all his kingly graces,
And thought there could be no one / whose deeds, like his, were worthy of men’s praises.

Both brave he was and daring, / and from the Moorland came:
He was known afar and widely, / Siegfried was his name;
A king was he full mighty / over vassals seven.
He sued for Hilda’s daughter, / such tales of her lofty worth to him were given.

He, with his faithful liegemen / from far Icaria’s strand,
Won many costly prizes / there in Hettel’s land:
His strong and doughty warriors, / in sight of ladies seated
Before King Hettel’s castle, / in games of knighthood often there were mated.

When Hilda and her daughter / passed the hall within,
Before the house of Wigaleis / there rose a mighty din
From warriors of the Moorland, / who, all boldly dashing,
Rode in the sight of the women; / oft of spears and shields was heard the clashing.

Never could knight in tilting / better in this behave.
A friendly will she bore him, / and oft kind words she gave,
Though he was brown to look on, / and in hue was dusky even.
He for her love was yearning, / yet for a wife she ne’er to him was given.

This pained him beyond measure, / and truly he was wroth
That he from far had ridden, / yet gave she not her troth.
To burn the land of Hettel / then did he threaten madly:
His followers from Moorland, / when now his hopes were lost, were mourning sadly.

From him was the maid withholden / by Hettel’s lofty pride;
And now their loving friendship / was ended on either side.
Then swore the Moor that never / he his hate would slacken,
And that the grudge he bore him, / whate’er befell, should never be forsaken.

Then from the land of the Hegeling / rode they all away.
When many years were ended, / there came at last a day
When by a knight most worthy / was bitter sorrow tasted;
Then the foes of Herwic / did him the worst they could, nor in it rested.