The Nibelungenlied
By George Henry Needler, Translator
Fourteenth Adventure - How the Queens Berated Each Other
814
Before the time of vespers / arose a mickle stir On part of warriors many / upon the courtyard there. In knightly fashion made they / the time go pleasantly; Thither knights and ladies / went their merry play to see.
815
There did sit together / the queens, a stately pair, And of two knights bethought them, / that noble warriors were. Then spake the fair Kriemhild: / “Such spouse in sooth have I, That all these mighty kingdoms / might well beneath his sceptre lie.”
816
Then spake the Lady Brunhild: / “How might such thing be? If that there lived none other / but himself and thee, So might perchance his power / rule these kingdoms o’er; The while that liveth Gunther, / may such thing be nevermore.”
817
Then again spake Kriemhild: / “Behold how he doth stand In right stately fashion / before the knightly band, Like as the bright moon beameth / before the stars of heaven. In sooth to think upon it / a joyous mood to me is given.”
818
Then spake the Lady Brunhild: / “How stately thy spouse be, Howe’er so fair and worthy, / yet must thou grant to me Gunther, thy noble brother, / doth far beyond him go: In sooth before all monarchs / he standeth, shalt thou truly know.”
819
Then again spake Kriemhild: / “So worthy is my spouse, That I not have praised him / here without a cause. In ways to tell full many / high honor doth he bear: Believe well may’st thou, Brunhild, / he is the royal Gunther’s peer.”
820
“Now guard thee, Lady Kriemhild, / my word amiss to take, For not without good reason here / such thing I spake. Both heard I say together, / when them I first did see, When that erstwhile the monarch / did work his royal will o’er me,
821
And when in knightly fashion / my love for him he won, Then himself said Siegfried / he were the monarch’s man. For liegeman thus I hold him, / since he the same did say." Then spake fair Lady Kriemhild: / “With me ’twere dealt in sorry way.
822
“And these my noble brothers, / how could they such thing see, That I of their own liegeman / e’er the wife should be? Thus will I beg thee, Brunhild, / as friend to friend doth owe, That thou, as well befits thee, / shalt further here such words forego.”
823
“No whit will I give over," / spake the monarch’s spouse. “Wherefore should I so many / a knight full valiant lose, Who to us in service / is bounden with thy man?" Kriemhild the fair lady / thereat sore to rage began.
824
“In sooth must thou forego it / that he should e’er to thee Aught of service offer. / More worthy e’en is he Than is my brother Gunther, / who is a royal lord. So shalt thou please to spare me / what I now from thee have heard.
825
“And to me is ever wonder, / since he thy liegeman is, And thou dost wield such power / over us twain as this, That he so long his tribute / to thee hath failed to pay. ’Twere well thy haughty humor / thou should’st no longer here display.”
826
“Too lofty now thou soarest," / the queen did make reply. “Now will I see full gladly / if in such honor high This folk doth hold thy person / as mine own it doth." Of mood full sorely wrathful / were the royal ladies both.
827
Then spake the Lady Kriemhild: / “That straightway shall be seen. Since that thou my husband / dost thy liegeman ween, To-day shall all the followers / of both the monarchs know, If I ’fore wife of monarch / dare unto the minster go.
828
“That I free-born and noble / shalt thou this day behold, And that my royal husband, / as now to thee I’ve told, ’Fore thine doth stand in honor, / by me shall well be shown. Ere night shalt thou behold it, / how wife of him thou call’st thine own
829
To court shall lead good warriors / in the land of Burgundy. And ne’er a queen so lofty / as I myself shall be Was seen by e’er a mortal, / or yet a crown did wear." Then mickle was the anger / that rose betwixt the ladies there.
830
Then again spake Brunhild: / “Wilt thou not service own, So must thou with thy women / hold thyself alone Apart from all my following, / as we to minster go." Thereto gave answer Kriemhild: / “In truth the same I fain will do.”
831
“Now dress ye fair, my maidens," / Kriemhild gave command. “Nor shall shame befall me / here within this land. An have ye fair apparel, / let now be seen by you. What she here hath boasted / may Brunhild have full cause to rue.”
832
But little need to urge them: / soon were they richly clad In garments wrought full deftly, / lady and many a maid. Then went with her attendants / the spouse of the monarch high; And eke appeared fair Kriemhild, / her body decked full gorgeously,
833
With three and forty maidens, / whom to the Rhine led she, All clad in shining garments / wrought in Araby. So came unto the minster / the maidens fair and tall. Before the hall did tarry / for them the men of Siegfried all.
834
The people there did wonder / how the thing might be, That no more together / the queens they thus did see, And that beside each other / they went not as before. Thereby came thanes a many / anon to harm and trouble sore.
835
Here before the minster / the wife of Gunther stood. And good knights full many / were there of merry mood With the fair ladies / that their eyes did see. Then came the Lady Kriemhild / with a full stately company.
836
Whate’er of costly raiment / decked lofty maids before, ’Twas like a windy nothing / ’gainst what her ladies wore. The wives of thirty monarchs / –such riches were her own– Might ne’er display together / what there by Lady Kriemhild shown.
837
Should any wish to do so / he could not say, I ween, That so rich apparel / e’er before was seen As there by her maidens / debonair was worn: But that it grieved Brunhild / had Kriemhild that to do forborne.
838
There they met together / before the minster high. Soon the royal matron, / through mickle jealousy, Kriemhild to pass no further, / did bid in rage full sore: “She that doth owe her homage / shall ne’er go monarch’s wife before.”
839
Then spake the Lady Kriemhild / –angry was her mood: “An could’st thou but be silent / that for thee were good. Thyself hast brought dishonor / upon thy fair body: How might, forsooth, a harlot / ever wife of monarch be?”
840
“Whom mak’st thou now a harlot?" / the king’s wife answered her. “That do I thee,” spake Kriemhild, / “for that thy body fair First was clasped by Siegfried, / knight full dear to me. In sooth ’twas ne’er my brother / won first thy maidenhead from thee.
841
“How did thy senses leave thee? / Cunning rare was this. How let his love deceive thee, / since he thy liegeman is? And all in vain,” quoth Kriemhild, / “the plaint I hear thee bring." “In sooth,” then answered Brunhild, / “I’ll tell it to my spouse the king.”
842
“What reck I of such evil? / Thy pride hath thee betrayed, That thou deem’st my homage / should e’er to thee be paid. Know thou in truth full certain / the thing may never be: Nor shall I e’er be ready / to look for faithful friend in thee.”
843
Thereat did weep Queen Brunhild: / Kriemhild waited no more, But passed into the minster / the monarch’s wife before, With train of fair attendants. / Arose there mickle hate, Whereby eyes brightly shining / anon did grow all dim and wet.
844
However God they worshipped / or there the mass was sung, Did deem the Lady Brunhild / the waiting all too long, For that her heart was saddened / and angry eke her mood. Therefore anon must suffer / many a hero keen and good.
845
Brunhild with her ladies / ’fore the minster did appear. Thought she: “Now must Kriemhild / further give me to hear Of what so loud upbraideth / me this free-tongued wife. And if he thus hath boasted, / amend shall Siegfried make with life.”
846
Now came the noble Kriemhild / followed by warrior band. Then spake the Lady Brunhild: / “Still thou here shalt stand. Thou giv’st me out for harlot: / let now the same be seen. Know thou, what thus thou sayest / to me hath mickle sorrow been.”
847
Then spake the Lady Kriemhild: / “So may’st thou let me go. With the ring upon my finger / I the same can show: That brought to me my lover / when first by thee he lay." Ne’er did Lady Brunhild / know grief as on this evil day.
848
Quoth she: “This ring full precious / some hand from me did steal, And from me thus a season / in evil way conceal: Full sure will I discover / who this same thief hath been." Then were the royal ladies / both in mood full angry seen.
849
Then gave answer Kriemhild: / “I deem the thief not I. Well hadst thou been silent, / hold’st thou thine honor high. I’ll show it with this girdle / that I around me wear, That in this thing I err not: / Siegfried hath lain by thee full near.”
850
Wrought of silk of Nineveh / a girdle there she wore, That of stones full precious / showed a goodly store. When saw it Lady Brunhild / straight to weep gan she: Soon must Gunther know it / and all the men of Burgundy.
851
Then spake the royal matron: / “Bid hither come to me Of Rhine the lofty monarch. / Hear straightway shall he How that his sister / doth my honor stain. Here doth she boast full open / that I in Siegfried’s arms have lain.”
852
The king came with his warriors, / where he did weeping find His royal spouse Brunhild, / then spake in manner kind: “Now tell me, my dear lady, / who hath done aught to thee?" She spake unto the monarch: / “Thy wife unhappy must thou see.
853
“Me, thy royal consort, / would thy sister fain Rob of all mine honor. / To thee must I complain: She boasts her husband Siegfried / hath known thy royal bed." Then spake the monarch Gunther: / “An evil thing she then hath said.”
854
“I did lose a girdle: / here by her ’tis worn, And my ring all golden. / That I e’er was born, Do I rue full sorely / if thou wardest not from me This full great dishonor: / that will I full repay to thee.”
855
Then spake the monarch Gunther: / “Now shall he come near, And hath he such thing boasted, / so shall he let us hear: Eke must full deny it / the knight of Netherland." Then straight the spouse of Kriemhild / hither to bring he gave command.
856
When that angry-minded / Siegfried them did see, Nor knew thereof the reason, / straightway then spake he: “Why do weep these ladies? / I’d gladly know that thing, Or wherefore to this presence / I am bidden by the king.”
857
Then spake the royal Gunther: / “Sore grieveth me this thing: To me my Lady Brunhild / doth the story bring, How that thereof thou boastest / that her fair body lay First in thy embraces: / this doth thy Lady Kriemhild say.”
858
Thereto gave answer Siegfried: / “An if she thus hath said, Full well shall she repent it / ere doth rest my head: Before all thy good warriors / of that I’ll make me free, And swear by my high honor / such thing hath ne’er been told by me.”
859
Then spake of Rhine the monarch: / “That shalt thou let us see. The oath that thou dost offer, / if such performed be, Of all false accusation / shalt thou delivered stand." In ring to take their station / did he the high-born thanes command.
860
The full valiant Siegfried / in oath the hand did give. Then spake the lordly monarch: / “Well now do I perceive How thou art all blameless, / of all I speak thee free; What here maintains my sister, / the same hath ne’er been done by thee.”
861
Thereto gave answer Siegfried: / “If gain should e’er accrue Unto my spouse, that Brunhild / from her had cause to rue, Know that to me full sorely / ’twould endless sorrow be." Then looked upon each other / the monarchs twain right graciously.
862
“So should we govern women," / spake the thane Siegfried, “That to leave wanton babble / they should take good heed. Forbid it to thy wife now, / to mine I’ll do the same. Such ill-becoming manner /in sooth doth fill my heart with shame.”
863
No more said many a lady / fair, but thus did part. Then did the Lady Brunhild / grieve so sore at heart, That it must move to pity / all King Gunther’s men. To go unto his mistress / Hagen of Tronje saw ye then.
864
He asked to know her worry, / as he her weeping saw. Then told she him the story. / To her straight made he vow, That Lady Kriemhild’s husband / must for the thing atone, Else henceforth should never / a joyous day by him be known.
865
Then came Ortwein and Gernot / where they together spake, And there the knights did counsel / Siegfried’s life to take. Thither came eke Giselher, / son of Ute high. When heard he what they counselled, / spake he free from treachery:
866
“Ye good knights and noble, / wherefore do ye that? Ne’er deserved hath Siegfried / in such way your hate, That he therefor should forfeit / at your hands his life. In sooth small matter is it / that maketh cause for woman’s strife.”
867
“Shall we rear race of bastards?" / Hagen spake again: “Therefrom but little honor / had many a noble thane. The thing that he hath boasted / upon my mistress high, Therefor my life I forfeit, / or he for that same thing shall die.”
868
Then spake himself the monarch: / “To us he ne’er did give Aught but good and honor: / let him therefore live. What boots it if my anger / I vent the knight upon? Good faith he e’er hath shown us, / and that full willingly hath done.”
869
Then outspake of Metz / Ortwein the thane: “In sooth his arm full doughty / may bring him little gain. My vengeance full he’ll suffer, / if but my lord allow." The knights–nor reason had they– / against him mortal hate did vow.
870
None yet his words did follow, / but to the monarch’s ear Ne’er a day failed Hagen / the thought to whisper there: If that lived not Siegfried, / to him would subject be Royal lands full many. / The king did sorrow bitterly.
871
Then did they nothing further: / soon began the play. As from the lofty minster / passed they on their way, What doughty shafts they shattered / Siegfried’s spouse before! Gunther’s men full many / saw ye there in rage full sore.
872
Spake the king: “Now leave ye / such mortal enmity: The knight is born our honor / and fortune good to be. Keen is he unto wonder, / hath eke so doughty arm That, were the contest open, / none is who dared to work him harm.”
873
“Naught shall he know,” quoth Hagen. / “At peace ye well may be: I trow the thing to manage / so full secretly That Queen Brunhild’s weeping / he shall rue full sore. In sooth shall he from Hagen / have naught but hate for evermore.”
874
Then spake the monarch Gunther: / “How might such thing e’er be?" Thereto gave answer Hagen: / “That shalt thou hear from me. We’ll bid that hither heralds / unto our land shall fare, Here unknown to any, / who shall hostile tidings bear.
875
“Then say thou ’fore the strangers / that thou with all thy men Wilt forth to meet the enemy. / He’ll offer service then If that thus thou sayest, / and lose thereby his life, Can I but learn the story / from the valiant warrior’s wife.”
876
The king in evil manner / did follow Hagen’s rede, And the two knights, ere any / man thereof had heed, Had treachery together / to devise begun. From quarrel of two women / died heroes soon full many a one.