Niblungs

“ And they looked and the white-clad Gudrun sat silent over all.
Then the churls and thralls of the Eastland howled out as wolves accurst,
But oft gaped the Niblungs voiceless, for they choked with anger and thirst;
And the hall grew hot as a furnace, and men drank their flowing blood,
Men laughed and gnawed on their shield-rims, men knew not where they stood
And saw not what was before them; as in the dark men smote,
Men died heart-broken, unsmitten; men wept with the cry in the throat,
Men lived on full of war-shafts, men cast their shields aside
And caught the spears to their bosoms ”

“ Atli biddeth the Niblungs to him.
There now is Gudrun abiding, and gone by is the bloom of her youth,
And she dwells with a folk untrusty, and a King that knows not ruth:
Great are his gains in the world, and few men may his might withstand,
But he weigheth sore on his people and cumbers the hope of his land ”

“ Nay not for thine own, meseemeth, for thou bidest here as the dead,
As the pale ones stricken deedless, whose tale of life is sped."
She hearkened him not nor answered; and day came on apace,
And they heard the anguish of Gudrun and her voice in the ancient place.
"Awake, O House of the Niblungs! for my kin hath slain my lord.
Awake, awake, to the murder, and the edges of the sword! ”

“ Unheard, unseen, forever, a wonder and a tale,
Till the last of earthly singers from the sons of men shall fail."
Not yet, however, had the curse of that gold-hoard been entirely fulfilled. For when the brave Niblungs reached the hall of Atli, they found no welcome awaiting them, but sharp swords and hostile looks. Fiercely they fought, but to no avail, and at length all were slain save only Gunnar and Högni. ”

“ Seems it not meet to thee
That the heart and the love of the Niblungs in Atli's hand should be,
When he stands by the high Gods' altars, and uplifts his heart for the tide
When the kings of the world-great people to the Eastland house shall ride?
Nay, Bera, wilt thou be weeping? but parting-fear is this;
Doubt not we shall come back happy from the house of Atli's bliss:
At least, when a king's hand offers all honour and great weal,
Wouldst thou have me strive to unclasp it to show the hidden steel?
With evil will I meet evil when it draweth exceeding near ”

“ For tears beseem not king-folk, nor a heart made dull with dreams,
But to hope, if thou mayst, for ever, and to fear nought, well beseems."
There the talk falls down between them, and they rise in the morn, they twain,
And bright-faced wend through the dwelling of the Niblungs' glory and gain.
Meanwhile awakeneth Gunnar, and looks on the wife by his side,
And saith: "Why weepest thou, Glaumvor, what evil now shall betide?"
She said: "I was waking and dreamed, or I slept and saw the truth;
The Norns are hooded and angry, and the Gods have forgotten their ruth." ”

“ To causes such as these, to the common impersonal accidents of tradition, may perhaps be referred one of the strangest of all the alterations in the bearing of a story—the variation of plot in the tradition of the Niblungs.
In the "Elder Edda" the death of the Niblungs is laid to the charge of Attila; their sister Gudrun does her best to save them; when she fails in this, she takes vengeance for them on her husband. ”

“ Till through all the patience of King-folk the flame of his anger burned,
And his voice was the rattling thunder, as he cried across the bed:
"O who art thou, fearful woman? art thou one of the first of the dead?
Hast thou long ago seen and hated the tide of the Niblung praise,
And clad thee in flesh twice over for the bane of our happy days?
Art thou come from the far-off country that none may live and behold
For the bane of the King of the Niblungs, and of Sigurd lord of the Gold?" ”

“ Then spake the wise-heart Hogni: "Do the bidden guests so long
To depart to the night and the silence from the fire and the wine and the song?
Fear not! the feast shall be merry, and here we abide in thine hall,
Till thou and the great feast-master shall bid the best befall."
There were cries of men in the city, there was clang and clatter of steel.
And high cried the thin-voiced Atli, the lord of the Eastland weal:
"Ye are come in your pride, O Niblungs; but this day of days is mine:
Will ye die? will ye live and be little? ”

“ Forth came the fair Queen Kriemhild with a goodly company.
With falsely-feignèd kindness those Niblungs greeted she.
Then Giselher her brother did she kiss, and she clasped his hand:
When Hagen of Troneg saw it, he tightened his helmet-band.
“Good sooth, after such a welcome,” Hagen cried, “there is need
That the battle-eager warriors should take to themselves good heed! ”

“ I may tell thee nothing more:
Thou shalt live and love and lose, and mingle in murder and war.
Is it strange, O child of the Niblungs, that thy glory and thy pain
Must be blent with the battle's darkness and the unseen hurrying bane?
[Pg 157] Do ye, of all folk on the earth, pray God for the changeless peace,
And not for the battle triumphant and the fruit of fame's increase?
For the rest, thou mayst not be lonely in thy welfare or thy woe,
But hearts with thine heart shall be tangled: but the queen and the hand thou shalt know.
When we twain are wise together ”

“ All folk in the round world's compass of their mighty fame have heard:
They are lords of the Ransom of Odin, the uncounted sea-born Gold,
The Grief of the wise Andvari, the Death of the Dwarfs of old,
The gleaming Load of Greyfell, the ancient Serpent's Bed,
The store of the days forgotten, by the dead heaped up for the dead.
Lo, such are the Kings of the Niblungs, but yet they crave and desire
Lest the world hold greater than they, lest the Gods and their kindred be higher.
Fair, bright is their hall in the even ”

“ What gallant knights from Bechlaren thereafter escorted them on!
Service the Margrave tendered most loving and manifold.
Then gave that Daughter of Princes twelve armlets of red gold
Unto the daughter of Gotlind, and raiment lovely-wrought.
Into the land of Etzel none fairer had Kriemhild brought.
Albeit the gold of the Niblungs out of her hand had been reft,
Yet with the little treasure that still unto her was left
She won the hearts of all folk that looked upon her face.
Great gifts unto Rüdiger’s household she gave of her royal grace. ”

“ All hushed was Gunnar the Niblung and knew not how to beseech,
But still Hogni faced his sister, nor faltered aught in his speech:
[Pg 284]
"Thou art young," he said, "O sister; thou wert called a mighty queen
When the nurses first upraised thee and first thy body was seen:
If thou bide with these toiling women when a great king bids thee to wife,
Then first is it seen of the Niblungs that they cringe and cower from strife:
By the deeds of the Golden Sigurd I charge thee hinder us not,
When the Norns have dight the way-beasts, and our hearts for the journey are hot!" ”

“ And he saith:
"O Maid of the Niblungs, thou art weary-faced this eve:
Nay, put thy trouble from thee, lest the shielded warriors grieve!
Or tell me what hath been done, or what deed have men forborne,
That here mid the warriors' joyance thy life-joy lieth forlorn?
For so may the high Gods help me, as nought so much I would,
As that round thine head this even might flit unmingled good!"
He seeth the love in her eyen, and the life that is tangled in his,
And the heart cries out within him, and man's hope of earthly bliss ”

“ That the guests might take it; and Gunther rejoiced that deed to see.
But out spake he of Bechlaren, the fair Gotlinda’s lord:
“Nay, though ’neath the hand of Kriemhild lay all the treasure-hoard
That ever was brought aforetime out of the Niblungs’ land,
Nor I nor the Queen my Lady would touch the same with a hand.
Back let them take, let them keep it; for I thereof will naught.
Of mine own wealth out of my country such plenty have I brought,
That of this no whit for our journey shall we need, through the land as we fare.
Even we for our own wayfaring have gotten enough and to spare.” ”

“ The while the heart of Kriemhild was racked with manifold griefs.
“O Prince of Bern,” she pleaded, “this day must I of thee
Entreat both help and counsel in my sore perplexity.”
Then unto her the good knight Hildebrand answer made:
“Whosoever slayeth the Niblungs doth it without mine aid.
What treasures tempt him soever, he taketh his death with the gold.
Never yet have they been vanquished, those warriors aweless-bold.”
(C) “This toucheth none save Hagen, who hath done foul wrong unto me:
Siegfried, my lord, my belovèd, he murdered treacherously. ”

“ On the flood, in the field hast thou wrought, and hung the chambers with gold;
Far abroad mid many a people are the tidings of thee told:
Now do a deed for thy mother and the hallowed Niblung hearth,
Lest the house of the mighty perish, and our tale grow wan with dearth.
If thou do the deed that I bid thee, and wed a wife of the Kings,
No less shalt thou cleave the war-helms and scatter the ruddy rings."
He said: "Meseemeth, mother, thou speaketh not in haste,
But hast sought and found beforehand, lest thy fair words fall to waste."
She said: "Thou sayest the sooth ”

“ The gods assented.
“But,” said Wotan, “what good does it do you, here in Nibelheim?”
Alberich glared at him, and then laughed.
“Ha! ha! But wait!” he said. “You gods! You gods! You have looked down upon us Nibelungs. Now we, with the help of the Golden Ring, will sway the whole world. We will storm the gates of Walhalla! Beware! Ha! ha! Do you hear me? Beware!”
Wotan, in anger, started forward, but Logi slipped in front of him.
“Most wonderful are you, O Nibelung!” he said, admiringly. “I salute you as the mightiest creature alive. ”

“ Hagen, the half Gibichung, half Nibelung, thought of nothing but winning the Rheingold for the Nibelungs. He had sent Gunther after another's bride, by means of an evil enchantment, and when she was brought to the hall, she would certainly be wearing the ring. Thus the prize of the Nibelungen would once more be within the grasp of an evil race, and that which might be a power for good if rightly used, would become a power for evil and be badly abused. ”

“ Till she feels the arms of Sigurd round her trembling body thrown:
A little while she doubteth in the mighty slayer's arms
As Sigurd's love unhoped-for her barren bosom warms;
A little while she struggleth with the fear of his mighty fame,
That grows with her hope's fulfilment; ruth rises with wonder and shame;
For the kindness grows in her soul, as forgotten anguish dies,
And her heart feels Sigurd's sorrow in the breast whereon she lies;
Then the fierce love overwhelms her, and as wax in the fervent fire
All dies and is forgotten in the sweetness of desire ”

“ THE NIBELUNGEN LIED One of the oldest myths of the Teutonic race is found in the great national epic of the Nibelungen Lied, which dates back to the prehistoric era when Wotan, Frigga, Thor, Loki, and the other gods and goddesses were worshipped in the German forests. The epic is divided into two parts, the first of which tells how Siegfried, the youngest of the kings of the Netherlands, went to Worms, to ask in marriage the hand of Kriemhild, sister of Gunther, King of Burgundy. ”

“ When Folker found they were all asleep, he took his shield in his hand again, and went out and stood before the door, to guard his friends from Kriemhild’s men.
About the middle of the night, or sooner, bold Folker saw a helmet in the distance, shining in the dark. Kriemhild’s vassals were fain to do them a hurt. Or she sent them forth, she said, “For God’s sake, if ye win at them, slay none save the one man, false Hagen; let the others live.”
Then spake the fiddler, “Friend Hagen, we must bear this matter through together. I see armed folk before the house. I ween they come against us.” ”

“ Then was the hero in dire need. Siegfried gan fear a deal his death, when the warder struck such mighty blows. Enow his master Siegfried loved him for this cause. They strove so sore that all the castle rang and the sound was heard in Nibelung's hall. He overcame the warder and bound him, too.
The tale was noised abroad in all the Nibelungs' land. Alberich, the bold, a savage dwarf, heard the fierce struggle through the mountain. He armed him quick and ran to where he found the noble stranger, as he bound the mighty giant. Full wroth was Alberich and strong enow. ”

“ The Dwarf was fearfully enraged at the sight of the old god, whom he hated with all the strength of his wicked Nibelung soul. He burst into a torrent of abuse and anger as Wotan drew near, speaking of the broken promise of the giants and the deceit by which the Gold had been obtained from the Nibelungs, and again threatening the downfall of the gods when the Ring should come back to his hands. The Wanderer answered-80- quietly that a hero was even then drawing near through the woods—a hero fated to kill Fafner and obtain the Gold ”

“ The victims of fate lay still. Sorely wept Dietrich and Etzel. So ended the high feast in death and woe. More is not to be said. Let the dead rest. Thus fell the Nibelungs, thus was accomplished the fate of their house!
The place of origin of the Nibelungenlied is much disputed, a number of scholars arguing for its Scandinavian genesis, but it may be said that the consensus of opinion among modern students of the epic is that it took its rise in Germany, along the banks of the Rhine, among the Frankish division of the Teutonic folk. ”