each may ride alone
where he chooses; and great praise shall be to him who hunts the best
and bears off the palm."

To this Siegfried agreed, and asked only for one hound that had been
well broken to the chase to accompany him.

This was granted. Then there came an old huntsman with a limehound and
led the sportsmen to where there was an abundance of game. Many beasts
were started and hunted to the death, as is ever the way with good
huntsmen.

Nothing that the limehound started could escape Siegfried. Swift was his
steed as the tempest, and whether it was bear or boar he soon came up
with it and slew it. Once he encountered a stark and mighty lion. Aiming
an arrow at the monster, he shot it through the heart. The forest rang
with acclaim at the deed.

Then there fell by his hand a buffalo, an elk, four grim aurochs, and a
bear, nor could deer or hind escape him, so swift and wight was he.
Anon he brought a wild boar to bay. The grisly beast charged him, but,
drawing his sword, Siegfried transfixed it with the shining blade.

"I pray thee, lord," said the huntsman, "leave to us something living,
for in truth thy strong arm doth empty both mountain and forest."

Merrily rang the noise of the chase in the greenwood that day. The hills
and the leafy aisles of the forest resounded with the shouts of the
hunters and the baying of dogs. In that hunting many a beast met its
death-day and great was the rivalry. But when the hunting was over and
the heroes met at the tryst-fire, they saw that Siegfried had proved
himself the greatest huntsmen of them all.

One by one they returned from the forest to the trysting-place, carrying
with them the shaggy fell of the bear, the bristly boar-skin, and the
grey pelt of the wolf. Meat abounded in that place, and the blast of a
horn announced to the hungry knights that the King was about to feast.
Said Siegfried's huntsman to him: "I hear the blast of a horn bidding
us return to the trysting-place," and raising his bugle to his lips, he
answered it.

Siegfried was about to leave the forest, ambling quietly on horseback
through the green ways, when he roused a mighty bear. The limehound was
slipped and the bear lumbered off, pursued by Siegfried and his men.
They dashed into a ravine, and here Siegfried thought to run the beast
down, but the sides were too steep and the knight could not approach it
on horseback. Lightly he sprang from his steed, and the bear, seeing
his approach,