the strange contest. And a crowd of eager
listeners stood around, and heard with unfeigned joy of the happy
fortune of their king.

"And now," said Siegfried to Giselher, when he had finished his story,
"carry the glad news to your mother and your sister; for they, too, must
be anxious to learn what fate has befallen King Gunther."

"Nay," answered the prince, "you yourself are the king's herald, and you
shall be the one to break the tidings to them. Full glad they'll be to
hear the story from your own lips, for long have they feared that
our brother would never be seen by us again. I will tell them of your
coming, but you must be the first to tell them the news you bring."

"Very well," answered Siegfried. "It shall be as you say."

Then he dismounted from Greyfell, and, with his Nibelungen earls, was
shown into the grand hall, where they were entertained in a right kingly
manner.

When Kriemhild the peerless, and Ute her mother, heard that Siegfried
had come again to Burgundy, and that he brought news from Gunther the
king, they hastened to make ready to see him. And, when he came before
them, he seemed so noble, so bright, and so glad, that they knew he bore
no evil tidings.

"Most noble prince," said Kriemhild, trembling in his presence, "right
welcome are you to our dwelling! But wherefore are you come? How fares
my brother Gunther? Why came he not with you back to Burgundy-land? Oh!
undone are we, if, through the cruel might of the warrior-queen, he has
been lost to us."

"Now give me a herald's fees!" cried Siegfried, laughing. "King Gunther
is alive and well. In the games of strength to which fair Brunhild
challenged him, he was the winner. And now he comes up the Rhine with
his bride, and a great retinue of lords and ladies and fighting-men.
Indeed, the sails of his ships whiten the river for miles. And I am
come by his desire to ask that every thing be made ready for his glad
home-coming and the loving welcome of his peerless queen."

Great was the joy of Kriemhild and her queenly mother when they heard
this gladsome news; and they thanked the prince most heartily for all
that he had done.

"You have truly earned a herald's fee," said the lovely maiden, "and
gladly would I pay it you in gold; for you have cheered us with pleasant
tidings, and lightened our minds of a heavy load. But men of your noble
rank take neither gifts nor fees, and hence we have only to offer our
deepest and heartiest thanks."