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Adventure VII
In Nibelungen Land.
Every one in the castle of Isenstein, from the princess to
the kitchen-maid, felt grateful to the young hero for what
he had done. The best rooms were fitted up for his use, and
a score of serving men and maidens were set apart to do his
bidding, and ordered to be mindful of his slightest wish.
And all the earl-folk and brave men, and all the fair
ladies, and Brunhild, fairest of them all, besought him to
make his home there, nor ever think of going back to
Rhineland. Siegfried yielded to their persuasions, and for
six months he tarried in the enchanted land in one long
round of merry-making and gay enjoyment. But his thoughts
were ever turned toward his father's home in the Lowlands
across the sea, and he longed to behold again his gentle
mother Sigelind. Then he grew tired of his life of idleness
and ease, and he wished that he might go out again into the
busy world of manly action and worthy deeds. And day by day
this feeling grew stronger, and filled him with unrest.
One morning, as he sat alone by the seashore, and watched
the lazy tide come creeping up the sands, two ravens lighted
near him. Glad was he to see them, for he knew them to be
Hugin and Munin, the sacred birds of Odin, and he felt sure
that they brought him words of cheer from the All-Father.
Then Hugin flapped his wings, and said, "In idleness the
stings of death lie hidden, but in busy action are the
springs of life. For a hundred years fair Brunhild slept,
but why should Siegfried sleep? The world awaits him, but it
waits too long."
Then Munin flapped his wings also, but he said nothing. And
busy memory carried Siegfried back to his boyhood days; and
he called to mind the wise words of his father Siegmund, and
the fond hopes of his gentle mother, and he thought, too, of
the noble deeds of his kinsfolk of the earlier days. And he
rose in haste, and cried, "Life of ease, farewell! I go
where duty leads. To him who wills to do, the great
All-Father will send strength and help."
While he spoke, his eyes were dazzled with a flash of light.
He looked; and the beaming Greyfell, his long mane sparkling
like a thousand sunbeams, dashed up the beach, and stood
beside him. As the noble steed in all his strength and
beauty stood before him, the youth felt fresh courage; for,
in the presence of the shining hope which the All-Father had
given him, all hinderances seemed to vanish, and all
difficulties to be already overcome. He looked toward the
sea again, and saw in the blue distance a white-sailed ship
drawing swiftly near, its golden dragon-stem ploughing
through the waves like some great bird of the deep. And as
with straining, eager eyes, he watched its coming, he felt
that Odin had sent it, and that the time had come wherein he
must be up and doing. The hour for thriving action comes to
us once: if not seized upon and used, it may never come
again.
The ship drew near the shore. The sailors rested on their
oars. Siegfried and the steed Greyfell sprang upon the deck;
then the sailors silently bent again to their rowing. The
flapping sails were filled and tightened by the strong west
wind; and the light vessel leaped from wave to wave like a
thing of life, until Isenstein, with its tall towers and its
green marble halls, sank from sight in the distance and the
mist. And Siegfried and his noble steed seemed to be the
only living beings on board; for the sailors who plied the
oars were so silent and phantom-like, that they appeared to
be nought but the ghosts of the summer sea-breezes. As the
ship sped swiftly on its way, all the creatures in the sea
paused to behold the sight. The mermen rested from their
weary search for hidden treasures, and the mermaids forgot
to comb their long tresses, as the radiant vessel and its
hero-freight glided past. And even old King AEgir left his
brewing-kettle in his great hall, and bade his daughters,
the white-veiled Waves, cease playing until the vessel
should safely reach its haven.
When, at length, the day had passed, and the evening
twilight had come, Siegfried saw that the ship was nearing
land; but it was a strange land.[EN#17] Like a fleecy cloud
it appeared to rest above the waves, midway between the
earth and the sky; a dark mist hung upon it, and it seemed a
land of dreams and shadows. The ship drew nearer and nearer
to the mysterious shore, and as it touched the beach the
sailors rested from their rowing. Then Siegfried and the
horse Greyfell leaped ashore; but, when they looked back,
the fair vessel that had carried them was nowhere to be
seen. Whether it had suddenly been clutched by the greedy
fingers of the Sea-queen Ran, and dragged down into her deep
sea-caverns, or whether, like the wondrous ship Skidbladner,
it had been folded up, and made invisible to the eyes of
men, Siegfried never knew. The thick mists and the darkness
of night closed over and around both hero and horse; and
they dared not stir, but stood long hours in the silent
gloom, waiting for the coming of the dawn.
At length the morning came, but the light was not strong
enough to scatter the fogs and thick vapors that rested upon
the land. Then Siegfried mounted Greyfell; and the sunbeams
began to flash from the horse's mane and from the hero's
glittering mail-coat; and the hazy clouds fled upward and
away, until they were caught and held fast by great
mist-giants, who stood like sentinels on the mountain-tops.
As the shining pair came up from the sea, and passed through
the woods and valleys of the Nibelungen Land, there streamed
over all that region such a flood of sunlight as had never
before been seen.
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