For you have slain her kinsmen: your watch you must not bate.
It is not friends or kinsfolk who at our gates are knocking;
The proud and warlike Hegelings, twenty to one of us, come hither flocking.
“Of this bethink you further, my well-belovèd son:
Bread we have in the castle and wine for every one;
Food will not be lacking if here for a year we are staying;
But if on the field you are taken, our foes will you from bondage ne’er be freeing.”
Then to him spake further old King Ludwig’s wife:
“Ever guard your honor, but do not lose your life.
Bid men to shoot with longbows at the loop-holes standing;
So shall wounds be given, for which their friends at home will tears be spending.
“Let slings with ropes be fitted; we then will meet the foe
By hurling rocks upon them: knights we have enow.
Before with these new-comers you your swords are crossing,
Stones will I and my maidens bring in aprons white, on them to be tossing.”
Angrily spake Hartmut: “Lady, get you gone!
Why do you seek to lead me? Is not my mind my own?
Before my foes shall find me within my castle hiding,
Outside I would die far sooner, in fight with Hilda’s men, against me riding.”
Then to him said, weeping, old King Ludwig’s wife:
“I gave to you this warning that you might spare your life,
And guard yourself the better. Whoe’er is seen this morning
Beneath your banner fighting, rich gifts from us shall he be fairly earning.
“Now arm ourselves,” cried Gerlind, “stand by my son in fight;
Strike from your foemen’s helmets a glowing, fiery light.
Be always near your master, to help him ever striving;
Fitly these guests to welcome, deep be the wounds that you to them are giving.”
Then to his men said Hartmut: “My mother’s words are true;
If you to me are faithful, and strive your best to do,
And this day, in the struggle, to give your help are ready,
When fathers shall have fallen, a friend I’ll be to sons bereft and needy.”
A thousand and a hundred within King Ludwig’s halls
Now were all well-weaponed. Before from out the walls
Went any thro’ the gateways, they left the stronghold guarded;
Still within it posted, five hundred warriors brave the castle warded.
On four gates of the castle the bolts were backward thrown:
Ne’er had they been opened to a single spur alone.
Then with the youthful Hartmut, outgoing at his bidding,
All with helmets fastened, went thirty hundred followers boldly riding.
The hour of strife drew nearer. He of the Sturmisch land,
Wâ-te, his horn was blowing; and loud across the sand,
For thirty miles or over, men the blast were hearing;
The fighters of the Hegelings, to flock to Hilda’s flag, their arms were wearing.
Once again he blew it: at this should all take heed,
That every knight among them then should mount his steed,
And each his men should gather to ride as they were bidden.
A knight so old as Wâ-te, and yet so brave, to the fight had never ridden.
The third time that he blew it, he such a blast did make
That all the land was shaken, and the sea a sound gave back;
Almost from Ludwig’s castle the corner-stones were falling:
To raise Queen Hilda’s banner Wâ-te to Horant then was loudly calling.
They feared old Wâ-te sorely, none dared to speak aloud;
A horse was e’en heard neighing. Upon the roof now stood
Herwic’s well-belovèd, and saw the warriors daring,
Onward proudly riding, to wage the fight with Hartmut, nothing fearing.
Hartmut rode to meet them; he and all his men,
Bearing well their weapons, to leave the gates were seen.
Those from the windows gazing saw the helmets glisten
Of friends as well as foemen. Hartmut not alone to the fight did hasten.
To all four sides of the castle the foes their banners bore;
Bright in hue like silver was the armor that they wore;
The bosses of their bucklers were seen to glitter brightly.
Much was Wâ-te dreaded; no lion grim and wild were feared more rightly.
The fighters from the Moorland were seen apart to ride,
And heavy shafts were hurling; splinters were scattered wide.
When with the Norman foemen soon the fight did thicken,
Sharply from their weapons and from their breastplates fiery sparks were stricken.
The warriors from Denmark near to the castle rode.
There the mighty Irold six thousand fighters good
Up to the walls was leading, an onslaught to be making:
Brave and daring were they; sore ill from them erelong was Ludwig taking.
Elsewhere, riding boldly, Ortwin his followers led,
No less than eighty hundred; sorrow and woe they made
For many of the Normans, and all the land they harried.
Gerlind and Ortrun weeping, watching the fight from the roof, together tarried.
Then came Herwic also, betrothed to fair Gudrun;
Through him full many a woman must come to sorrow soon,
When, for his heart’s belovèd, he to the fight was springing.
Beneath the heavy weapons were heard the clattering helmets loudly ringing.
Now came the aged Wâ-te, with warriors not a few;
Grim was he and fearless, as soon they all well knew.
His spear not yet he lowered as he to the walls came riding:
Sad was the sight to Gerlind, but other were the thoughts Gudrun was hiding.
Then came the Norman Hartmut, riding before his men.
E’en had he been Kaiser, never would he be seen
To bear himself more proudly. In the sun was seen to glisten
All his shining armor. His boldness on the field not yet did lessen.
When he was seen by Ortwin, the lord of Ortland’s throne,
He said: “Will any tell us, to whom this knight is known,
Who is the daring fighter now against us turning?
He shows as bold a bearing as if to win a kingdom he were yearning.”
Then said one among them: “ ’Tis Hartmut whom you see;
There indeed is a warrior! a daring knight is he.
The selfsame foeman is he who erstwhile slew your father.
Where’er the strife is raging, a bolder man than he there’s not another.”
Angrily spake Ortwin: “Me for his wrongs he owes,
And must atone full dearly before from here he goes.
The ills that he has done us must he be soon undoing;
Gerlind cannot help him that he from hence may e’er alive be going.”
Down upon young Ortwin Hartmut riding bore.
Altho’ he did not know him, deep he plunged his spur;
His horse sprang forward widely, against brave Ortwin driven.
Both their spears were lowered; fire on their armor flashed from spear-strokes given.
No thrust against the other did either leave undone:
The war-horse then of Ortwin was on his haunches thrown;
Soon, too, the steed did stagger whereon was Hartmut seated;
They could not bear the onset of kings who rushed together, to madness heated.
High upreared the horses; a mighty clang arose
From clash of kingly sword-blades. Thanks were due to those
Who the fight thus opened, as knights beseemeth ever.
Brave were both and fearless; to shrink from one another thought they never.
On both
