en apart, but exceeding nigh, for a little while they stand,
Till Brynhild toucheth her lord, and taketh his hand in her hand,
And she leadeth him through the chamber, and sitteth down in her seat;
And him she setteth beside her, and she saith:
"It is right and meet
That thou sit in this throne of my fathers, since thy gift today I
have:
Thou hast given it altogether, nor aught from me wouldst save;
And thou knowest the tale of women, how oft it haps on a day
That of such gifts men repent them, and their lives are cast away."

He said: "I have cast it away as the tiller casteth the seed,
That the summer may better the spring-tide, and the autumn winter's
need:
For what were the fruit of our lives if apart they needs must pass,
And men shall say hereafter: Woe worth the hope that was!"

She said: "That day shall dawn the best of all earthly days
When we sit, we twain, in the high-seat in the hall of the people's
praise:
Or else, what fruit of our life-days, what fruit of our death shall be?
What fruit, save men's remembrance of the grief of thee and me?"

He said: "It is sharper to bear than the bitter sword in the breast,
O woe, to think of it now in the days of our gleaning of rest!"

Said Brynhild: "I bid thee remember the word that I have sworn,
How the sun shall turn to blackness, and the last day be outworn,
Ere I forget thee, Sigurd, and the kindness of thy face."

And they kissed and the day grew later and noon failed the golden
place.
But Sigurd said: "O Brynhild, remember how I swore
That the sun should die in the heavens and day come back no more,
Ere I forget thy wisdom and thine heart of inmost love.
Lo now, shall I unsay it, though the Gods be great above,
Though my life should last for ever, though I die tomorrow morn,
Though I win the realm of the world, though I sink to the
thrall-folk's scorn?"

She said: "Thou shalt never unsay it, and thy heart is mine indeed:
Thou shalt bear my love in thy bosom as thou helpest the earth-folk's
need:
Thou shalt wake to it dawning by dawning; thou shalt sleep and it
shall not be strange:
There is none shall thrust between us till our earthly lives shall
change.
Ah, my love shall fare as a banner in the hand of thy renown,
In the ar