“In that will I gainsay you,” said then the maiden proud;
“Again with rods to beat me you ne’er shall be allowed.
You and all your kindred in birth are far below me;
You may yet for this be sorry, if treatment so unseemly you shall show me.”
Then spake the wolfish Gerlind: “Where is my clothing left,
That, folded in your apron, you thus your hands have wrapt;
Bearing yourself so idly, now from toil thus turning?
If I live a little longer, another kind of work shall you be learning.”
King Hagen’s grandchild answered: “Down by the deep sea-flood
I left your clothing lying. It was too great a load;
I found the weight too heavy, alone to the house to carry.
If never again you see them, but little I care, the while with you I tarry.”
Then quoth the old she-devil: “All this shall help you not;
Before I sleep this evening, bitter shall be your lot!”
Then were tied, at her bidding, rods from hedges broken;
Gerlind would not give over the training hard ’gainst which the maid had spoken.
Then strongly to a bedstead she bade them bind the maid,
And alone in a room to leave her, where not a friend she had:
There should she be beaten, till skin from bone was falling.
When this was known to her women, they all began to weep, and loud were wailing.
Then spake Gudrun, with cunning: “Now list to what I say:
If I with rods am beaten thus shamefully to-day,
Should e’er an eye behold me with kings and princes seated,
And I a crown be wearing, to you a fit reward shall then be meted.
“Henceforth for me such teaching ’twere best you let alone;
Sooner the king I’ve slighted shall have me for his own:
Then as queen of Normandy here will I be dwelling;
And when I here am mighty, what I will do may no one now be telling.”
“Be this your will,” said Gerlind, “angry no more I’ll be:
E’en if a thousand garments you thus had lost for me,
I would, in truth, forgive it; well you will have thriven
If to my son, young Hartmut, the Norman prince, your love at last be given.”
Then said the lovely maiden: “I now would take some rest;
This care and heavy sorrow my strength doth sorely waste.
Send for the young King Hartmut, bid him be hither speeding,
And say, whate’er he wishes, that I henceforth will always do his bidding.”
Those who heard them talking, straightway to Hartmut ran,
And to the youthful warrior told the tale again.
Some of his father’s liegemen there with him were seated,
When word to him was given in haste to seek Gudrun, who for him waited.
Then said the one who told him: “Give me now my fee;
Queen Hilda’s lovely daughter will grant her love to thee.
She bids you now to hasten at once to her in her bower;
No longer are you hated, for better thoughts she harbors than of yore.”
The high-born knight then answered: “To lie you have no need.
If true indeed were your tidings, well should you be feed;
By me would three great castles and a hide of land be given,
With sixty golden arm-bands; while bliss thenceforth my days should long enliven.”
Then said to him another: “This tale, I know, is true;
The fee should I be sharing. At court they wish for you;
Gudrun, the maid, has said it. To love you she is ready;
And if in truth you wish it, she in your land will be your queen and lady.”
To those who told the tidings his thanks young Hartmut gave;
From off his seat, o’er-gladdened, upsprang the warrior brave.
He thought that, in His kindness, God this boon had done him,
And, with a heart now happy, he sought the maiden’s bower who love had shown him.
In garments wet there standing, was seen the high-born maid;
With eyes still dim with weeping, greeting to him she said.
Forward she came to meet him; and now so near was standing
That he, in fondness turning, her in his arms would clasp, towards her bending.
She said: “Not so, King Hartmut, this you may not do;
For men in truth would wonder if they should look on you.
Nought am I but a washer; in scorn would they be holding
You, a king so mighty, if in your arms Gudrun you should be folding.”
“This will I, Sir Hartmut, freely to you allow,
When, by my crown, your kinsmen me as a queen shall know.
No longer shall I scorn you, when I that name am bearing:
For both will this be fitting; me in your arms to take you may then be daring.”
Then, with all good-breeding, he farther off withdrew,
And thus Gudrun he answered: “Maiden fair and true,
Since now you deign to love me, richly will I reward you;
Myself and all my kinsmen, whate’er you bid, will kindness show toward you.”
Then said to him the maiden: “Such bliss I never knew.
If, after my weary toiling, I aught may ask of you,
This first of all I wish for, that I, poor wretched lady,
This night, before I slumber, may have for me a restful bath made ready.
“And list to me yet further: another boon I crave;
’Tis that my friendly maidens I now with me may have.
Among Queen Gerlind’s women you will find them, sad and weary;
But in their room no longer those toiling ones away from me must tarry.”
“Your wish I grant you freely,” the young King Hartmut said.
Then from the room of the women the many maids were led;
With hair unkempt and streaming, and scanty clothing wearing,
They to court betook them: for them the wicked Gerlind nought was caring.
Of these came three and sixty; on them did Hartmut look.
Then Gudrun, the high-born, with lofty breeding spoke:
“Behold, my lord, these maidens! Is it your worth befitting
That they are thus uncared for?” He said: “No more shall they the like be meeting.”
Then spake the high-born lady: “Hartmut, for love of me,
I beg that these my maidens, whom here in shame you see,
May have a bath made ready. Let now my word be heeded;
You ought yourself to see them decked in the comely clothes they long have needed.”
To her then answered Hartmut, of knights a worthy one:
“Gudrun, belovèd lady, if clothes the maids have none
Erst by them brought hither, when they their home were leaving,
To them yet other clothing, the best in all the world, will I be giving.
“Gladly would I see them, with you, more fitly clad.”
Then by those in waiting baths were ready made.
Among the kin of Hartmut chamberlains many were there;
To help Gudrun they hastened, thinking that later she their hopes would further.
Gudrun and all her maidens were by the bath made glad;
Then the best of clothing that any ever had
To all the homeless
