Tale X: How Hartmut Sent to Woo Gudrun

Now in the land of Normandy / the tale was widely told,
That never fairer maiden / did any man behold
Than was King Hettel’s daughter, / Gu-drun, the high-born lady.
A king, whose name was Hartmut, / to her then turned his love, to woo her ready.

Gerlind, Hartmut’s mother, / her wish to him made known,
That he should woo the maiden; / her word he followed soon.
First they sent for his father, / when they of this had spoken;
He bore the name of Ludwig, / and in Norman lands he wore the kingly token.

Then the aged father / rode to see his son.
Of the end that he was seeking / had Ludwig knowledge won;
But when to him he hearkened, / and learned his wishes wholly,
Evil he foreboded, / yet still the youth’s fond hopes upheld he fully.

“Who tells you,” said King Ludwig, / “she is so very fair?
Tho’ she all lands were owning, / the home is not so near,
Wherein the maid is dwelling, / that we should go a-wooing;
If we sent our men before us / to ask her love, their task they would soon be ruing.”

Then did Hartmut answer: / “For me ’tis not too far;
Whene’er the lord of a kingdom / no pain or toil doth spare
To win a wife and riches, / he gains a life-long blessing.
My wish, I pray you, follow; / let men be sent, that they my suit be pressing.”

Then spake his mother, Gerlind, / of Normandy the queen:
“Letters must now be written; / let clothes, the best e’er seen,
With gold, to those be given / upon your errand speeding;
They, too, must learn the roadways / that towards the home of fair Gu-drun are leading.”

Then spake again King Ludwig: / “Know you not full well
That Hilda, the maiden’s mother, / did erst in Ireland dwell?
And know you not what happened / to many a one who sought her?
Her kin are proud and lofty, / and now will scorn the love we shall have brought her.”

Then young Hartmut answered: / “Tho’ with a warlike band
I afar must seek her, / over sea and land,
That shall I do most willingly: / my heart to her is given,
And never will I rest me / till I for Hilda’s daughter happily have striven.”

“Gladly will I help you,” / King Ludwig then did say:
“Let this now make you happy; / erelong, upon the way
I’ll send twelve sumpter-horses / bearing silver treasure;
That when they hear our errand, / our wealth and worth they may more rightly measure.”

By Hartmut then were chosen / sixty men, to send
To woo the fair young maiden, / and help to him to lend;
With food and clothing also / well were they outfitted,
And on the road well guided: / Ludwig was wise, and was in this foresighted.

When everything was ready / that soon the men would need,
Then were letters written, / sealed, and given with speed,
Both by brave young Hartmut / and his queenly mother.
Then from home they started; / so proud a throng there never was another.

Fast they rode and steadily / for many a day and night,
Until the land they sought for / came at last in sight,
And they might tell the errand / they were thither bringing.
Long was Hartmut waiting, / while love and care were in his heart upspringing.

Over land and rivers / they took their toilsome way,
As far as in days a hundred / a pasturing herd may stray,
Until the land of the Hegelings / lay before them stretching.
Their steeds were worn and weary / ere they gave the letters they were fetching.

At last they far had ridden, / and to the sea had come,
Upon the shores of Denmark: / sadly they long did roam,
Before they reached the kingdom, / and its lord did know them;
Now they begged for guidance, / and men were bid the nearest way to show them.

The news was given to Horant, / the knight well-bred and bold;
Now asked the errand-bearers, / and the truth to them was told,
About King Hettel and Hilda, / and all they had been hearing.
They saw the men of Hettel / coming in throngs, their shields and weapons bearing.

Horant, lord of Daneland, / then to his liegemen spake,
And bade for the errand-bearers / a safeguard now to make,
And that the men of Hartmut / should be by them well guided
To the court of his lord, King Hettel; / they grudged no toil, and well his bidding heeded.

When thro’ the Hegeling kingdom / the heralds took their way,
So lordly was their bearing, / that often men did say:
“These folk are rich and mighty, / whatever they are seeking.”
The news to the king was carried, / and soon to him all men the tale were speaking.

To all the guests from Normandy / were lodgings given there;
The king now bade his liegemen / to wait on them with care.
He knew not yet their errand, / and why to him they had ridden;
But on the twelfth day, early, / young Hartmut’s men before the king were bidden.

An earl there was among them; / how well his breeding showed!
Upon their clothing also / were praises high bestowed;
They rode the best of horses / on which men e’er were seated,
And before the king they gathered, / in fairest guise, that well they might be greeted.

The king gave kindly welcome, / as also did his men,
Until their wooing errand / was unto him made plain:
Then were they ill-treated, / and knew the king’s hard feeling.
I ween the mighty Hettel / to grant young Hartmut’s wish would ne’er be willing.

One who in that was skilful / to the king the letters read;
But he was greatly angered / that they to court were led
By the good and upright Horant, / a knight so brave and noble;
And, had they not his friendship, / they had not left the king without more trouble.

Then spake to them King Hettel: / “No good to you ’twill bring
That you were sent a-wooing / by Hartmut, your lord and king.
To pay for this full dearly / you may well be fearing;
Your kingly master’s wishes / both I and Lady Hilda are wroth at hearing.”

One among them answered: / “Hartmut makes it known
That much he loves the maiden; / and if to wear the crown
In Normandy she deigneth, / before his friends there living,
That he, a knight all spotless, / will rightly earn the love she shall be giving.”

Then quoth the Lady Hilda: / “How can she be his wife?
A hundred and three of his castles / his father held in fief,
Within the land of Cardigan, / from Hagen, my noble sire;
It ill becomes my kinsmen / to be King Ludwig’s vassals, or owe him hire.

“Ludwig dwelt in Scotland, / and there it erst befell
That a brother of King Otto / did wrong to Ludwig deal:
Both were Hagen’s vassals, / and of him their lands had taken;
And thus my father’s friendship / for him was lost, and hate instead did waken.

“Say you now to Hartmut / she ne’er his wife shall be.
Your lord is not so worthy / that he to boast is free,
That he doth love my daughter, / and she doth not disdain him;
Bid him elsewhere be looking, / if he be fain a queen for his land to gain him.”

The heralds’ hearts were heavy; / ’twas not for their good name
That they, for miles full many, / in sorrow and in shame,
Back to their homes in Normandy / this news must carry sadly.
Hartmut, as well as Ludwig, / was vexed that they herein were foiled so badly.

Forthwith to them said Hartmut: / “Tell me now the truth,
The grand-daughter of Hagen / have you seen, forsooth?
Is the maid, Gu-drun, as lovely / as men have here been saying?
May God bring shame to Hettel, / that he my suit with such ill-will is paying!”

Then the earl thus answered: / “This can I truly say,—
Whoe’er shall see the maiden / must feel her charms and sway;
Above all maids and women, / her worth is past the telling.”
Then quoth the kingly Hartmut: / “To live without her ne’er shall I be willing.”

Whereon his mother, Gerlind, / sadly thus did say,
With tears her lot bewailing: / “My son, oh, lack-a-day!
Alas that e’er the heralds / to win the maiden started!
If we at home had kept them, / e’en to this day had I been still light-hearted.”