heart of the Niblungs, and her love exceeding sore,
With fear her soul was smitten for the word that Sigurd spake,
And yet more for his following silence; and the stark death seemed to
awake
And stride through the Niblung dwelling, and the sunny morn grew dim:
Till, lo, the voice of the Volsung, and the speech came forth from him:

"Hearken, Gudrun my wife; the season is nigh at hand,
Yea, the day is now on the threshold, when thou alone in the land
Shalt answer for Sigurd departed, and shalt say that I loved thee well;
And yet if thou hear'st men say it, then true is the tale to tell,
That Brynhild was my beloved in the tide and the season of youth;
And as great as is thy true-love, e'en so was her love and her truth.
But for this cause thus have I spoken, that the tale of the night hast
thou told,
And cast the word unto Brynhild, and shown her the token of gold.
--A deed for the slaying of many, and the ending of my life,
Since I betrayed her unwitting.--Yet grieve not, Gudrun my wife!
For cloudy of late were the heavens with many a woven lie,
And now is the clear of the twilight, when the slumber draweth anigh.
But call up the soul of the Niblungs, and harden thine heart to bear,
For wert thou not sprung from the mighty, today were thy portion of
fear:
Yea, thou wottest it even as I; but I see thine heart arise,
And the soul of the mighty Niblungs, and fair is the love in thine
eyes."

Then forth went the King from the chamber to the council of the Kings,
And he sat with the wise in the Doom-ring for the sifting of troublous
things,
And rejoiced the heart of the people: and the Wrath kept watch by his
side.
And his eyen were nothing dimmer than on many a joyous tide.

But abed lay Brynhild the Queen, as a woman dead she lay,
And no word for better or worse to the best of her folk would she say:
So they bore the tidings to Gunnar, and said: "Queen Brynhild ails
With a sickness whereof none knoweth, and death o'er her life
prevails."

Then uprose Gunnar the Niblung, and he went to Brynhild his wife,
And prayed her to strengthen her heart for the glory of his life:
But she gave not a word in answer, nor turned to where he stood,
And there rose up a fear in his heart, and he looked for little of
good:
There he bode for a long while sil