Adventure XVIII
How the Mischief Began to Brew.
One day a party of strangers came to Siegfried's Nibelungen
dwelling, and asked to speak with the king.
"Who are you? and what is your errand?" asked the porter at
the gate.
"Our errand is to the king, and he will know who we are when
he sees us," was the answer.
When Siegfried was told of the strange men who waited below,
and of the strange way in which they had answered the
porter's question, he asked,--
"From what country seem they to have come? For surely their
dress and manners will betray something of that matter to
you. Are they South-land folk, or East-land folk? Are they
from the mountains, or from the sea?"
"They belong to none of the neighbor-lands," answered the
earl who had brought the word to the king. "No such men live
upon our borders. They seem to have come from a far-off
land; for they are travel-worn, and their sea-stained
clothing betokens a people from the south. They are tall and
dark, and their hair is black, and they look much like those
Rhineland warriors who came hither with our lady the queen.
And they carry a blood-red banner with a golden dragon
painted upon it."
"Oh, they must be from Burgundy!" cried the queen, who had
overheard these words. And she went at once to the window to
see the strangers, who were waiting in the courtyard below.
There, indeed, she saw thirty tall Burgundians, clad in the
gay costume of Rhineland, now faded and worn with long
travel. But all save one were young, and strangers to
Kriemhild. That one was their leader,--an old man with a
kind face, and a right noble bearing.
"See!" said the queen to Siegfried: "there is our brave
captain Gere, who, ever since my childhood, has been the
trustiest man in my brother Gunther's household. Those men
are from the fatherland, and they bring tidings from the
dear old Burgundian home."
"Welcome are they to our Nibelungen Land!" cried the
delighted king.
And he ordered that the strangers should be brought into the
castle, and that the most sumptuous rooms should be allotted
to them, and a plenteous meal prepared, and every thing done
to entertain them in a style befitting messengers from
Kriemhild's fatherland. Then Gere, the trusty captain, was
led into the presence of the king and queen. Right gladly
did they welcome him, and many were the questions they asked
about their kin-folk, and the old Rhineland home.
"Tell us, good Gere," said Siegfried, "what is thy message
from our friends; for we are anxious to know whether they
are well and happy, or whether some ill luck has overtaken
them. If any harm threatens them, they have but to speak,
and I, with my sword and my treasures, will hasten to their
help."
"They are all well," answered the captain. "No ill has
befallen them, and no harm threatens them. Peace rules all
the land; and fair weather and sunshine have filled the
people's barns, and made their hearts glad. And thus it has
been ever since Gunther brought to his dwelling the
warrior-maiden Brunhild to be his queen. And this is my
errand and the message that I bring: King Gunther, blessed
with happiness, intends to hold a grand high-tide of joy and
thanksgiving at the time of the harvest-moon. And nothing is
wanting to complete the gladness of that time, but the sight
of you and the peerless Kriemhild in your old places at the
feast. And it is to invite you to this festival of rejoicing
that I have come, at the king's command, to Nibelungen
Land."
Siegfried sat a moment in silence, and then thoughtfully
answered,--
"It is a long, long journey from this land to Burgundy, and
many dangers beset the road; and my own people would sadly
miss me while away, and I know not what mishaps might
befall."
Then Gere spoke of the queen-mother Ute, now grown old and
feeble, who wished once more, ere death called her hence, to
see her daughter Kriemhild. And he told how all the people,
both high and low, yearned for another sight of the radiant
hero who in former days had blessed their land with his
presence and his noble deeds. And his persuasive words had
much weight with Siegfried, who said at length,--
"Tarry a few days yet for my answer. I will talk with my
friends and the Nibelungen earls; and what they think best,
that will I do."
For nine days, then, waited Gere at Siegfried's hall; but
still the king put off his answer.
"Wait until to-morrow," he said each day, for his heart
whispered dim forebodings.
At length, as midsummer was fast drawing near, the impatient
captain could stay no longer; and he bade his followers make
ready to go back forthwith to Burgundy. When the queen saw
that they were ready to take their leave, and that Gere
could wait no longer upon the king's pleasure, she urged her
husband to say to Gunther that they would come to his
harvest festival. And the lords and noble earl-folk added
their persuasions to hers.
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