So Gudrun, the fair one, when Hartmut went that day,
Was left unto his mother, and given to her sway:
But Hilda’s youthful daughter Gerlind’s guidance hated;
She could not brook her teaching, and never her dislike for this abated.
Then to the lovely maiden the old she-devil spake:
“If you will not live happy, then sorrow you must take.
You have to heat my chamber; yourself the fire must kindle;
See, there is none to help you, nor may you hope your toil will ever dwindle.”
The high-born maiden answered: “That I well can do;
Whatever you shall bid me, in all must I yield to you,
Until the God in heaven at last my wrongs has righted.
Never my mother’s daughter the fire upon the hearth ere this has lighted.”
Said Gerlind: “As I’m living, to toil must you begin,
As never queenly daughter to do before was seen.
To be so proud and headstrong I will make you weary:
Before to-morrow darkens, your maidens you must leave, and ne’er be merry.
“You hold yourself too highly, as I have heard it said;
For this shall work most toilsome soon upon you be laid.
This pride and froward bearing must be by you forsaken;
Your lofty mood will I lower, and all your hopes will very quickly weaken.”
Then went the wicked Gerlind to court, in anger wild;
She said to her son, young Hartmut: “Hettel’s wilful child
Scorns both you and your kindred, and ever at us is sneering:
Would we had never seen her, if we such talk from her must now be hearing.”
Then spake unto his mother Hartmut, the knight so brave:
“Pray treat the maiden kindly, howe’er she may behave:
So, for the care you show her, my thanks will you be earning.
Greatly have I wronged her; it well may be that she my love is spurning.”
Then said to him old Gerlind: “Whate’er by us is done,
In mood she is so stubborn that she will yield to none.
Unless we treat her harshly she ne’er, as you would have her,
Will come to you in wedlock; this must we do, or else to herself must leave her.”
Then to her thus answered the worthy Norman knight:
“Good lady, show her kindness henceforth in all men’s sight,
Now for the love you bear me; such care I beg you give her
That from her love and friendship the king’s fair daughter may not bar me ever.”
Then his devilish mother, with anger brimming o’er,
To the throng of Hegeling maidens quickly went once more.
She said: “Make ready, maidens, and to your toil betake you,
To do what you are bidden; the task to each that’s given ne’er forsake you.”
The maidens then were sundered, and soon from each other torn;
They saw not one another, and long must live forlorn.
Those who once so worthily lofty rank were taking,
In winding yarn were busied; while they sat at work their hearts were aching.
Some her flax were combing, others for her must spin;
Ladies of lofty breeding, whose pastime it had been
On their silken clothing to lay, with skill unsparing,
Gold and gems most costly, these for her now heavy toil were bearing.
The first in birth among them at the court was kept;
Water she must carry to the room where Ortrun slept:
To wait upon that lady the high-born maid was bidden;
By name was she called Hergart; her lofty birth was nought, she still was chidden.
Among them was another, brought from Galicia’s strand;
The griffin her from Portugal had borne to a far-off land.
She to the Hegeling kingdom with Hagen’s child was carried,
From over Ireland’s borders; now with the maids in the Norman land she tarried.
She was a prince’s daughter, who castles owned and lands;
The fire must now be lighted by her, with fair white hands,
While in the room well heated Gerlind’s ladies rested.
For all the work she was doing no thanks on her by them were ever wasted.
Now you well may wonder to hear her sorry plight.
For Gerlind’s lowest wenches she drudged both day and night;
Whatever task they set her, to do must she be willing.
It helped her not with the Normans that she at home a lofty rank was filling.
The work was mean and shameful that they were made to do
For seven half years and over, —this is all too true—
Until the young Lord Hartmut, when three wars were ended,
Had come again to his kingdom, and found the maids at work, and ill-befriended.
To see again his loved one Hartmut deeply yearned;
But when he looked upon her, the truth he quickly learned,
That she good food and lodging of late had seldom tasted:
For choosing to live rightly, ’twas her reward to be with sorrow wasted.
When forth she came to meet him, to her young Hartmut said:
“Gudrun, most lovely maiden, what is the life you have led
Since I, with all my warriors, my lands and home was leaving?”
She said: “Such tasks they set me, ’twas sin for you, and shame to me ’twas giving.”
Then outspoke young Hartmut: “Why has this been done,
Gerlind, my dearest mother? Your love she should have known;
When with you I left her, her lot you should have brightened,
And all her heavy sorrows you should for her within my land have lightened.”
His wolfish mother answered: “How could I better teach
King Hettel’s ill-bred daughter? ’Twas bootless to beseech,
Nor could I ever bend her, to make her leave her jeering:
She scorned both you and your father and kindred, too: to this should you give hearing.”
Then again spake Hartmut: “Much wrong we’ve done the maid.
Slain by us, her kindred and many knights lie dead;
While from the lovely maiden her father we have taken,
Slain by my father, Ludwig, and now with thoughtless words her woes we waken.”
Then answered him his mother: “My son, ’tis truth I say;
If we Gudrun, proud maiden, for thirty years should pray,
If she with brooms were stricken, or with rods were beaten,
Your wife we ne’er could make her; hopeless it is the wayward maid to threaten.”
She farther said to Hartmut: “However, since you bid,
I’ll gladly treat her better.” But still her mind she hid,
And Hartmut never knew it; erelong Gudrun would find her
Harsher yet than ever; and now the maiden’s wrongs could no one hinder.
Then went again old Gerlind to where Gudrun then sat,
And said to the Hegeling maiden, in her wrath and hate:
“ ’Twere best you now bethink you, or else, my fair young maiden,
You with your flowing tresses must wipe the stools and seats, with dust thick laden.
“Then the room I sleep in, mark what now I say,
You, to do my bidding, must sweep three times a day;
You carefully must warm it, and keep the fire well burning.”
Said she: “That do I gladly, rather than take a lover I am spurning.”
Whatever she was bidden the willing maiden did;
No work
