Page:The Nibelungenlied - tr. Shumway - 1909.pdf/225

Rh me say), if ye would deign to wear with him the crown, the very highest power which Helca ever won; this shall ye rule before all Etzel’s men.”

Then spake the queen: “How might it ever list me to become a hero’s bride? Death hath given me in the one such dole that I must ever live joyless unto mine end.”

To this the Huns replied: “O mighty queen, your life at Etzel’s court will be so worshipful that it will ever give you joy, an’ it come to pass, for the mighty king hath many a stately knight. Helca’s damosels and your maids shall together form one retinue, at sight of which warriors may well be blithe of mood. Be advised, my lady, ye will fare well in truth.”

With courtesie she spake: “Now let be this speech until the morrow early, when ye shall come here again. Then will I give you answer to what ye have in mind.”

The bold knights and good must needs obey.

When all were now come to their lodgings, the noble dame bade send for Giselher and for her mother, too. To the twain she said, that weeping did beseem her and naught else better.

Then spake her brother Giselher: “Sister, it hath been told me, and I can well believe it, that King Etzel would make all thy sorrows vanish, and thou takest him to be thy husband. Whatever others may advise, this thinketh me well done. He is well able to turn thy grief to joy,” spake Giselher again; “from the Rhone to the Rhine, from the Elbe down to the sea, there be no other king as mighty as he. Thou mayst well rejoice, an’ he make thee his wife.”