The Nibelungenlied
By George Henry Needler, Translator
Thirty-Second Adventure - How Bloedel was Slain
1921
The knights by Bloedel summoned / soon armed and ready were, A thousand wearing hauberks / straightway did repair Where Dankwart sat at table / with many a goodly squire. Soon knight on knight was seeking / in fiercest way to vent his ire.
1922
When there Sir Bloedel / strode unto the board, Dankwart the marshal / thus spoke courteous word: “Unto this hall right welcome / good Sir Bloedel be. What business hast thou hither / is cause of wonder yet to me.”
1923
“No greeting here befits thee," / spake Bloedel presently, “For that this my coming / now thy end must be, Through Hagen’s fault, thy brother, / who Siegfried erstwhile slew To the Huns thou mak’st atonement, / and many another warrior too.”
1924
“But nay, but nay, Sir Bloedel," / Dankwart spake thereto, “For so should we have reason / our coming here to rue. A child I was and little / when Siegfried lost his life, Nor know I why reproacheth / me the royal Etzel’s wife.”
1925
“In sooth I may the story / never fully tell. Gunther and Hagen was it / by whom the deed befell. Now guard you well, ye strangers, / for doomed in sooth are ye, Unto Lady Kriemhild / must your lives now forfeit be.”
1926
“An so thou wilt desist not," / Dankwart declared, “Regret I my entreaty, / my toil were better spared." The nimble thane and valiant / up from the table sprung, And drew a keen-edged weapon, / great in sooth that was and long.
1927
Then smote he with it Bloedel / such a sudden blow That his head full sudden / before his feet lay low. “Be that thy wedding-dower," / the doughty Dankwart spake, “Along with bride of Nudung / whom thou would’st to thy bosom take.
1928
“To-morrow may she marry, / but some other one: Will he have bridal portion, / e’en so to him be done." A Hun that liked not treason / had given him to know How that the queen upon him / thought to work so grievous woe.
1929
When the men of Bloedel / saw thus their master slain, To fall upon the strangers / would they longer not refrain. With swords swung high above them / upon the squires they flew In a grimmest humor. / Soon many must that rashness rue.
1930
Full loudly cried then Dankwart / to all his company: “Behold ye, noble squires, / the fate that ours must be. Now quit yourselves with valor, / for evil is our pass, Though fair to us the summons / hither from Lady Kriemhild was!”
1931
They, too, reached down before them, / who no weapons bore, And each a massive footstool / snatched from off the floor, For the Burgundian squires / no whit were they dismayed; And by the selfsame weapons / was many a dint in helmet made.
1932
How fierce they fought to shield them / the strangers one and all! E’en their armed foemen / drove they from the hall. Or smote dead within it / hundreds five or more; All the valiant fighters / saw ye drenched with ruddy gore.
1933
Ere long the wondrous tidings / some messenger did tell Unto Etzel’s chieftain / –fierce did their anger swell– How that slain was Bloedel / and knights full many a one; The which had Hagen’s brother / with his lusty squires done.
1934
The Huns, by anger driven, / ere Etzel was aware, Two thousand men or over, / did quick themselves prepare. They fell upon those squires / –e’en so it had to be– And never any living / they left of all that company.
1935
A mickle host they faithless / unto those quarters brought, But lustily the strangers / ’gainst their assailants fought. What booted swiftest valor? / Soon must all lie dead. A dire woe thereafter / on many a man was visited.
1936
Now may ye hear a wondrous / tale of honor told: Of squires full nine thousand / soon in death lay cold, And eke good knights a dozen / there of Dankwart’s band. Forlorn ye saw him only / the last amid his foemen stand.
1937
The din at last was ended / and lulled the battle-sound, When the valiant Dankwart / did cast a glance around. “Alack for my companions," / cried he, “now from me reft. Alack that I now only / forlorn amid my foes am left.”
1938
The swords upon his body / fell full thick and fast, Which rashness many a warrior’s / widow mourned at last. His shield he higher lifted / and drew the strap more low: Down coats of ring-made armor / made he the ebbing blood to flow.
1939
“O woe is me!” spake Dankwart, / the son of Aldrian. “Now back, ye Hunnish fighters, / let me the open gain, That the air give cooling / to me storm-weary wight." In splendid valor moving / strode forward then anew the knight.
1940
As thus he battle-weary / through the hall’s portal sprang, What swords of new-come fighters / upon his helmet rang! They who not yet had witnessed / what wonders wrought his hand, Rashly rushed they forward / to thwart him of Burgundian land.
1941
“Now would to God,” quoth Dankwart, / “I found a messenger Who to my brother Hagen / might the tidings bear, That ’fore host of foemen / in such sad case am I! From hence he’d surely help me, / or by my side he slain would lie.”
1942
Then Hunnish knights gave answer: / “Thyself the messenger Shalt be, when to thy brother / thee a corse we bear. So shall that thane of Gunther / first true sorrow know. Upon the royal Etzel / here hast thou wrought so grievous woe.”
1943
Quoth he: “Now leave such boasting / and yield me passage free, Else shall mail-rings a many / with blood bespattered be. Myself will tell the tidings / soon at Etzel’s court, And eke unto my masters / of this my travail make report.”
1944
Etzel’s men around him / belabored he so sore That they at sword-point / durst not withstand him more. Spears shot into his shield he / so many there did stop That he the weight unwieldy / must from out his hand let drop.
1945
Then thought they to subdue him / thus of his shield bereft, But lo! the mighty gashes / wherewith he helmets cleft! Must there keen knights full many / before him stagger down, High praise the valiant Dankwart / thereby for his valor won.
1946
On right side and on left side / they still beset his way, Yet many a one too rashly / did mingle in the fray. Thus strode he ’mid the foemen / as doth in wood the boar By yelping hounds beleaguered; / more stoutly fought he ne’er before.
1947
As there he went, his pathway / with reeking blood was wet. Yea, never any hero / more bravely battled yet When by foes surrounded, / than he did might display. To court did Hagen’s brother / with splendid valor make his way.
1948
When stewards and cup-bearers / heard how sword-blades rung, Many a brimming goblet / from their hands they flung And eke the viands ready / that they to table bore; Thus many doughty foemen / withstood him where he sought the door.
1949
“How now, ye stewards?" / cried the weary knight; “’Twere better that ye tended / rather your guests aright, Bearing to lords at table / choice food that fitteth well, And suffered me these tidings / unto my masters dear to tell.”
1950
Whoe’er before him rashly / athwart the stairway sprung, On him with blow so heavy / his mighty sword he swung, That soon faint heart gave warning / before his path to yield. Mickle wonder wrought he / where sword his doughty arm did wield.