,
For three times yet will she call Kriemhild back
To bless her and embrace her.

SIEGFRIED.

I refuse.

HAGEN.

What? If this moment came a messenger
In haste announcing that thy father lay
Sick unto death, would'st thou not call at once
For thy good steed? And surely would thy bride
Speed thy departure! Yet a father may,
Though old, recover. Honor wounded once
By cruel wrong, nor mended speedily,
Will never from the dead be raised again.
The honor of the king's the guiding star
Which brings or light or darkness to the knights,
As to the king himself. O woe to him
Who hesitates and robs him of one ray.
Had I thy strength I'd sue to thee no more,
But do the deed myself with pride and joy.
And yet by magic was Brunhilda won,
And magic arts must finish now the task.
Then do it! Must I kneel?

SIEGFRIED.

I like it not!
Who would have dreamed of this! And yet it lay
So very near! O nature three times blest!
In all my life no deed I've shunned like this;
Yet what thou say'st is true. So let it be.

GUNTHER.

I'll go and give my mother but a hint--

HAGEN.

No, no! No woman! We're already three
And have, I hope, no tongue to tell the tale.
Let death the fourth one in our compact be!

[_Exeunt omnes._]

ACT III

_Morning. Courtyard of the castle. The cathedral is at one side._

SCENE I

_Enter_ RUMOLT _and_ DANKWART _armed._

RUMOLT.

Three dead!

DANKWART.

For yesterday it was enough,
For that was but the prelude! Now there'll be
Another tale to tell.

RUMOLT.

These Nibelungs
Are e'er prepared for death; they bring their shrouds
And each man wears both shroud and sword at once.

DANKWART.

The customs are so strange in northern lands!
For as the mountains grow more rugged still
And cheerful oaks make way for sombre firs,
Just so does man grow gloomy, till at last
He's wholly lost and but the brute remains!
First comes a race that cannot even sing,
And next another race that cannot laugh,
Then follows one that's dumb, and so it goes.

SCENE II

_Music. A great procession._ WULF _and_ TRUCHS _among the warriors._

RUMOLT (_joining_ DANKWART).

Will Hagen be content?

DANKWART.

I think he will.
This is a summons, as it were, to war!
Yet he is right, for this strange princess needs
Quite other morning serenades than sings