The Nibelungenlied
By George Henry Needler, Translator
Thirtieth Adventure - How they kept Guard
1818
And now the day was ended / and nearing was the night. Came then the thought with longing / unto each way-worn knight, When that they might rest them / and to their beds be shown. ’Twas mooted first by Hagen / and straight was answer then made known.
1819
To Etzel spake then Gunther: / “Fair days may God thee give! To bed we’ll now betake us, / an be it by thy leave; We’ll come betimes at morning, / if so thy pleasure be." From his guests the monarch / parted then full courteously.
1820
Upon the guests on all sides / the Huns yet rudely pressed, Whereat the valiant Volker / these words to them addressed: “How dare ye ’fore these warriors / thus beset the way? If that ye desist not, / rue such rashness soon ye may.
1821
“Let fall will I on some one / such stroke of fiddle-bow, That eyes shall fill with weeping / if he hath friend to show. Why make not way before us, / as fitting were to do! Knights by name ye all are, / but knighthood’s ways unknown to you.”
1822
When outspake the Fiddler / thus so wrathfully Backward glanced bold Hagen / to see what this might be. Quoth he: “He redes you rightly, / this keen minstrel knight. Ye followers of Kriemhild, / now pass to rest you for the night.
1823
“The thing whereof ye’re minded / will none dare do, I ween. If aught ye purpose ’gainst us, / on the morrow be that seen, And let us weary strangers / the night in quiet pass; I ween, with knights of honor / such evermore the custom was.”
1824
Then were led the strangers / into a spacious hall Where they found prepared / for the warriors one and all Beds adorned full richly, / that were both wide and long. Yet planned the Lady Kriemhild / to work on them the direst wrong.
1825
Rich quilted mattress covers / of Arras saw ye there Lustrous all and silken, / and spreading sheets there were Wrought of silk of Araby, / the best might e’er be seen. O’er them lay rich embroidered / stuffs that cast a brilliant sheen.
1826
Coverlets of ermine / full many might ye see, With sullen sable mingled, / whereunder peacefully They should rest the night through / till came the shining day. A king with all retinue / ne’er, I ween, so stately lay.
1827
“Alack for these night-quarters!" / quoth young Giselher, “Alack for my companions / who this our journey share! How kind so e’er my sister’s / hospitality, Dead by her devising, / I fear me, are we doomed to be.”
1828
“Let now no fears disturb you," / Hagen gave reply; “Through the hours of sleeping / keep the watch will I. I trust full well to guard you / until return the day, Thereof be never fearful; / let then preserve him well who may.”
1829
Inclined they all before him / thereat to give him grace. Then sought they straight their couches; / in sooth ’twas little space Until was softly resting / every stately man. But Hagen, valiant hero, / the while to don his armor gan.
1830
Spake then to him the Fiddler, / Volker a doughty thane: “I’ll be thy fellow, Hagen, / an wilt thou not disdain, While watch this night thou keepest, / until do come the morn." Right heartily the hero / to Volker then did thanks return.
1831
“God in heaven requite thee, / Volker, trusty fere. In all my time of trouble / wished I none other near, None other but thee only, / when dangers round me throng. I’ll well repay that favor, / if death withhold its hand so long.”
1832
Arrayed in glittering armor / both soon did ready stand; Each did take unto him / a mighty shield in hand, And passed without the portal / there to keep the way. Thus were the strangers guarded, / and trusty watchers eke had they.
1833
Volker the valiant, / as he sat before the hall, Leaned his trusty buckler / meanwhile against the wall, Then took in hand his fiddle / as he was wont to do: All times the thane would render / unto his friends a service true.
1834
Beneath the hall’s wide portal / he sat on bench of stone; Than he a bolder fiddler / was there never none. As from his chords sweet echoes / resounded through the hall, Thanks for glad refreshment / had Volker from the warriors all.
1835
Then from the strings an echo / the wide hall did fill, For in his fiddle-playing / the knight had strength and skill. Softer then and sweeter / to fiddle he began And wiled to peaceful slumber / many an anxious brooding man.
1836
When they were wrapped in slumber / and he did understand, Then took again the warrior / his trusty shield in hand And passed without the portal / to guard the entrance tower, And safe to keep his fellows / where Kriemhild’s crafty men did lower.
1837
About the hour of midnight, / or earlier perchance, The eye of valiant Volker / did catch a helmet’s glance Afar from out the darkness: / the men of Kriemhild sought How that upon the strangers / might grievous scathe in stealth be wrought.
1838
Quoth thereat the Fiddler: / “Friend Hagen, ’tis full clear That we do well together / here this watch to share. I see before us yonder / men armed for the fight; I ween they will attack us, / if I their purpose judge aright.”
1839
“Be silent, then,” spake Hagen, / “and let them come more nigh. Ere that they perceive us / shall helmets sit awry, By good swords disjointed / that in our hands do swing. Tale of vigorous greeting / shall they back to Kriemhild bring.”
1840
Amid the Hunnish warriors / one full soon did see, That well the door was guarded; / straightway then cried he: “The thing we here did purpose / ’tis need we now give o’er, For I behold the Fiddler / standing guard before the door.
1841
“Upon his head a helmet / of glancing light is seen, Welded strong and skilful, / dintless, of clearest sheen. The mail-rings of his armor / do sparkle like the fire, Beside him stands eke Hagen; / safe are the strangers from our ire.”
1842
Straightway they back returned. / When Volker that did see, Unto his companion / wrathfully spake he: “Now let me to those caitiffs / across the court-yard go; What mean they by such business, / from Kriemhild’s men I fain would know.”
1843
“No, as thou dost love me," / Hagen straight replied; “If from this hall thou partest, / such ill may thee betide At hands of these bold warriors / and from the swords they bear, That I must haste to help thee, / though here our kinsmen’s bane it were.
1844
“Soon as we two together / have joined with them in fight, A pair or two among them / will surely hasten straight Hither to this hall here, / and work such havoc sore Upon our sleeping brethren, / as must be mourned evermore.”
1845
Thereto gave answer Volker: / “So much natheless must be, That they do learn full certain / how I the knaves did see, That the men of Kriemhild / hereafter not deny What they had wrought full gladly / here with foulest treachery.”
1846
Straightway then unto them / aloud did Volker call: “How go ye thus in armor, / ye valiant warriors all? Or forth, perchance, a-robbing, / Kriemhild’s men, go ye? Myself and my companion / shall ye then have for company.”
1847
Thereto no man gave answer. / Wrathful grew his mood: “Fie, ye caitiff villains," / spake the hero good, “Would ye us so foully / have murdered while we slept? With knights so high in honor / full seldom thus hath faith been kept.”
1848
Then unto Queen Kriemhild / were the tidings borne, How her men did fail their purpose: / ’twas cause for her to mourn. Yet otherwise she wrought it, / for grim she was of mood: Anon through her must perish / full many a valorous knight and good.