s though flames were burning beneath it, and red gleeds the daisies
were:
But fair with face triumphant from the water Gudrun goes,
And with many a thought of Sigurd the heart within her glows.

And yet as she walked the meadow a fear upon her came,
What deeds are the deeds of women in their anguish and their shame;
And many a heavy warning and many a word of fate
By the lips of Sigurd spoken she remembereth overlate;
Yet e'en to the heart within her she dissembleth all her dread.
Daylong she sat in her bower in glee and goodlihead,
But when the day was departing and the earl-folk drank in the hall
She went alone in the garden by the nook of the Niblung wall;
There she thought of that word in the river, and of how it were
better unsaid,
And she looked with kind words to hide it, as men bury their
battle-dead
With the spice and the sweet-smelling raiment: in the cool of the eve
she went
And murmured her speech of forgiveness and the words of her intent,
While her heart was happy with love: then she lifted up her face,
And lo, there was Brynhild the Queen hard by in the leafy place;
Then the smile from her bright eyes faded and a flush came over her
cheek
And she said: "What dost thou, Brynhild? what matter dost thou seek?"

But the word of Sigurd smote her, and she spake ere the answer came:
"Hard speech was between us, Brynhild, and words of evil and shame;
I repent, and crave thy pardon: wilt thou say so much unto me,
That the Niblung wives may be merry, as great queens are wont to be?"

But no word answered Brynhild, and the wife of Sigurd spake:
"Lo, I humble myself before thee for many a warrior's sake,
And yet is thine anger heavy--well then, tell all thy tale,
And the grief that sickens thine heart, that a kindly word may avail."

Then spake Brynhild and said: "Thou art great and livest in bliss,
And the noble queens and the happy should ask better tidings than this:
For ugly words must tell it; thou shouldst scarce know what they mean;
Thou, the child of the mighty Niblungs, thou, Sigurd's wedded queen.
It is good to be kindly and soft while the heart hath all its will."

Said the Queen: "There is that in thy word that the joy of my heart
would kill.
I have humbled myself before thee, and what further shall I say?"

Then spake Brynhild