Nor aught of toil will grudge me. Only to see this lady,
For me and for my kinsman, were happiness enough, and bliss already.”
“Then we ought,” said Fru-te, “to take upon our way
Seven hundred warriors. No man doth honor pay
To Hagen without grudging. He is overweening, truly;
If he thinks that he can crush us, he soon must lay aside his boasting wholly.
“Sir king, you should bid your workmen a ship of cypress-wood
To build upon the river; strong must it be and good,
So your band of warriors shall shipwreck ne’er be ruing.
From timber white as silver the lofty masts your men must soon be hewing.
“Also food for your fighters you must now bespeak;
And bid that men be busy helmets for us to make,
And hauberks strong for many; when we these are wearing,
Then wild Hagen’s daughter we shall the easier win by craft and daring.
“Also my nephew Horant, who is shrewd and wise,
Must go with us as a shopman; (I grudge him not his guise)
There must he to the ladies be clasps and arm-bands selling,
With gold and costly jewels; thus greater trust in us will they be feeling.
“For sale we also must carry weapons and clothing, too;
And since wild Hagen’s daughter it is such risk to woo,
That only now by fighting one can hope to wed her,
Let Wâ-te choose the warriors to go with him, and home to the king to lead her.”
Then spake the aged Wâ-te: “A shop I cannot keep;
Not often doth my money in coffers idly sleep;
My lot I’ve shared with fighters, and that I still am doing;
Therein I am not skilful, that I to ladies gew-gaws should be showing.
“But since my nephew Horant on me this task has laid,
He knows full well that Hagen will never yield the maid:
He prides himself on owning the strength of six and twenty;
If he shall learn of our wooing, our hope to leave his land will be but scanty.
“Good king, now let us hasten, but bid that first our hull
With a deck of deal be covered; let it, below, be full
Of knights both strong and doughty, who shall help be giving,
If ever the wild King Hagen forbids that we shall leave his kingdom, living.
“Of these brave knights a hundred, with outfits good for war,
Unto the land of Ireland we in our ships must bear;
There shall my nephew Horant in his shop be seated,
Keeping two hundred near him; thus shall the ladies’ coming be awaited.
“Your men must also build us barges strong and wide,
To carry food and horses, and to sail our ships beside:
Enough for a year or longer we must take to feed us;
And we will say to Hagen that to leave our land King Hettel did forbid us,
“And that our lord and master great wrong to us hath wrought.
Then with our gifts so costly we often shall be brought
To Hagen and to Hilda, where they their court are keeping;
Our gifts shall make us welcome, and kindness from the king shall we be reaping.
“We then the tale will tell him, we wretched outlaws are;
And thus at once the pity of Hagen we shall share.
To us, poor homeless wanderers, shelter will be granted,
And in his land King Hagen thenceforth will see that nought by us is wanted.”
Hettel asked his warriors: “My friends, I pray you tell,
Since you to go are willing, how soon you hence will sail?”
“So soon as comes the summer, and May with gladsome weather,”
They said, “we shall be ready, and, riding again to court, will we come hither.
“Meanwhile must men be making whatever we shall need—
Sails and also rudders, well-made, and that with speed,
Barges wide, and galleys, to bear us to our haven;
So the swell of the waters shall stir us not, nor make us sick or craven.”
King Hettel said: “Ride quickly, now, to your land and home.
For horses and for clothing no cost to you shall come;
For you and all your followers such outfit shall be ready,
That you no shame shall suffer, whenever you are seen by any lady.”
When he his leave had taken, Wâ-te to Sturmland rode;
Horant and with him Fru-te followed in hurried mood,
Back to the land of Denmark, where they held the lordship.
To help their master Hettel they thought could never be to them a hardship.
Then, in his home, King Hettel let his will be known;
Of shipwrights and of workmen idle was not one.
While the ships were building to do their best they hastened;
The beams that met together, were with bands of silver strongly fastened.
All the spars and mast-trees, they were strong and good;
Red gold, and brightly shining, was laid on the rudder-wood,
And like to fire was glowing: wealth their master blesses.
When time it was for leaving, the men their tasks had done, and won high praises.
The ropes that held the anchors came from a far-off strand,
Brought from the shores of Araby; never on sea or land,
Before that day or after, had any man seen better:
So might the men of the Hegelings easier make their way o’er the deep sea-water.
They who the sails were making worked late, and early rose;
For the king had bid them hurry. For making these they chose
Silken stuff from Abalie, as good as could be brought them.
Truly far from idle were, in those days, the busy hands that wrought them.
Can any one believe it? They had the anchors made
Of purest beaten silver. The heart of the king was led
Strongly now to wooing; no rest would he be knowing,
Nor of his men was sparing, until the day when they should thence be going.
Well-framed, with heavy planking, now the ships were seen,
Sound ’gainst war and weather. Then word was sent to the men,
That to seek the lovely lady they must soon be faring.
This was told to no one but those who the trust of the king were rightly sharing.
Wâ-te to meet King Hettel from Sturmland held his course;
With silver gear and housing, heavily went his horse.
To court went, too, his followers, four hundred men undaunted;
And now the doughty Hettel brave knights enough, for guests, no longer wanted.
Morunc, the brave and daring, from Friesland thither went,
And with him brought two hundred. Word to the king was sent
That now, with helms and breastplates, they were thither riding;
In haste came Irold also; thus gladly Hettel’s kinsmen did his bidding.
Thither rode from Denmark Horant young and brave;
Hettel to do his errand did trusty liegemen have;
A thousand men or over might he for this be sending;
Only a prince so mighty of such a task had ever made an ending.
Irold, too, of Ortland, was ready now to go:
E’en though on him King Hettel should never clothes bestow,
Yet, for himself and his followers, he had of these so many,
That wheresoe’er they were going, they never need
