That men ill-will do bear you. High your lot has raised you,
And you of blame were worthy, if when men spoke your name they never praised you.”
Low bowed to the king wild Hagen, and kissed his child again.
Neither by him nor his followers ever more was seen
The kingdom of the Hegeling: too far away was their dwelling.
Back to his home in Ballian, in his trusty ships, King Hagen soon was sailing.
When he had reached his castle, and sat with the queen alone,
The mother of fair Hilda, Hagen was free to own
That none to win his daughter more fitly could have pleaded;
And if he had yet others, he fain to the Hegeling land would send them to be wedded.
Hilda for this gave praises to her master, Christ the Lord:
“That I of my dear daughter such happy news have heard
Fills my heart with gladness, and with bliss o’erflowing.
How fares it with her followers, and Hildeburg, who long her love was showing?”
Then spake the kingly Hagen: “Now in their land and home
All of them are happy; great hath our child become;
Ne’er, with us, were her maidens clothed in such fine dresses.
There we now must leave them: for her were many breastplates hacked to pieces.”
Tale IX
How Gudrun Was Sought by Siegfried
Wâ-te, Horant, and the other vassals of Hettel go back to their homes. Hilda bears to Hettel a son, Ortwin, and a daughter, Gudrun, who is afterwards sought by Siegfried, king of Moorland. He is rejected by her father, Hettel, and retires in anger.
We speak no more of Hagen. A word may now be told
About King Hettel’s kinsmen: they who land did hold
Ever owed him fealty for these and for their castles;
To court they all came often when Hettel and Hilda sent to call their vassals.
Wâ-te went to Sturmland, Morunc to Nifland rode;
Horant, prince of Denmark, led his warriors good
To Givers, by the seashore, where as lord they held him;
There their homes they guarded, and many, far and wide, their master called him.
With mighty sway in Ortland Irold had his seat;
Its lands he held of Hettel; so, as a vassal meet,
Near and far to serve him, his duty was the greater:
The king was brave and worthy; and ne’er for a lord of lands was known a better.
If ever in any kingdom Hettel heard them speak
Of a fair and well-born maiden, her he sought to take
Into his home and castle, as handmaid to his lady:
Whatever Hilda wished for, to help wild Hagen’s child they all were ready.
The king, with his wife beside him, was happy on the throne;
Their life was ever blissful. To all in the land ’twas known
That better far and dearer than all on earth he thought her.
Never by all his kinsmen a lovelier could be found, where’er they sought her.
Within seven years thereafter Hettel, in stormy fight,
Thrice to his foes gave battle. They who, day and night,
To wrong his name and honor did their utmost gladly,
Now by the knightly Hettel found themselves brought low and chastened sadly.
His castles he did strengthen, and peace he gave to his land,
As well a king befitteth: such were the deeds of his hand,
That never in any kingdom, when his name was spoken,
Was it said he was faint-hearted. The praise of all did well his worth betoken.
While, with name so worthy, Hettel held the throne,
Wâ-te, the man of wisdom, never left undone
His duty to his master, to see him three times yearly;
Truly he was faithful, far and near, to the lord he held so dearly.
Horant, the lord from Denmark, to court not seldom rode;
Costly gems and clothing on the maids he there bestowed,
With gold and silken raiment, meet for women’s wearing:
He from Daneland brought them, and to all who wished was he of gifts unsparing.
The service true and steady that the liegemen of the king
Gave to the lordly Hettel honor to him did bring.
Praised was he for knighthood more than any other:
This Hilda also furthered, a queen herself, and child of a queenly mother.
Hilda, Hagen’s daughter, children two did bear
Unto her lord, King Hettel: to bring them up with care
His faithful friends were bidden. Soon among his vassals
Were the tidings bruited that an heir no more was lacking for his lands and castles.
One became a warrior, Ortwin was his name;
To Wâ-te he was trusted. It was the teacher’s aim
That he from early boyhood should his thoughts be turning
To all things good and worthy; to be a trusty knight he thus was learning.
The very comely daughter of Hilda and the king
Was called Gudrun the lovely: from the land of the Hegeling
To Denmark she was carried, to be in her kinsmen’s wardship.
Thus they helped King Hettel, and this they never felt to be a hardship.
When the maid grew older, her shape became so fair
That neither man nor woman to praise her could forbear:
Far from the maiden’s birthplace, all her worth were telling.
Gudrun her kinsfolk called her, in the Danish land where now she had her dwelling.
That age she now was reaching when, had she been a man,
A sword she might have wielded. Many a prince was fain
To wed the lovely maiden, and sought her love and favor;
But many came a-wooing who soon their hopes must lose, and win her never.
However fair was Hilda, Hettel’s lovely wife,
Yet was Gudrun more lovely, and fair beyond belief;
More fair than the early Hilda, erst to Ireland carried.
Above all other women Gudrun was praised, ere yet the maid was married.
Her father scorned to give her to the king of Alzabé;
When he heard he could not win her to him ’twas a sorry day.
He held himself most highly for all his kingly graces,
And thought there could be no one whose deeds, like his, were worthy of men’s praises.
Both brave he was and daring, and from the Moorland came:
He was known afar and widely, Siegfried was his name;
A king was he full mighty over vassals seven.
He sued for Hilda’s daughter, such tales of her lofty worth to him were given.
He, with his faithful liegemen from far Icaria’s strand,
Won many costly prizes there in Hettel’s land:
His strong and doughty warriors, in sight of ladies seated
Before King Hettel’s castle, in games of knighthood often there were mated.
When Hilda and her daughter passed the hall within,
Before the house of Wigaleis there rose a mighty din
From warriors of the Moorland, who, all boldly dashing,
Rode in the sight of the women; oft of spears and shields was heard the clashing.
Never could knight in tilting better in this behave.
A friendly will she bore him, and oft kind words she gave,
Though he was brown to look on, and in
