Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/105

IV.]

They bade men take the heralds, and lodge them in the town.

However hostile to them, for sake of his renown

Gunther would have them cared for, as was their due and right;

Until he knew what friends would stand by him in the fight.

Yet the king’s heart was heavy and sad with anxious care.

But one beheld him mourning,— a gallant knight and fair,

Who knew not of the sorrow that had befall’n the king;—

Therefore besought he Gunther to declare to him this thing.

“To me it is a marvel,” quoth Siegfried (for ’twas he),

“How all your merry custom hath changéd utterly,

Which was the rule among us, and hath so long held sway?”

To which, in answer, Gunther, the comely knight did say:

“Not unto every comer would I the grief declare,

Which close within my bosom in secret I must bear:

One keeps one’s deepest sorrow for stedfast friends,” he said.

At this did Siegfried’s colour change quick, ‘twixt white and red.

“I never haye denied you,” he spake unto the king ;—

“And shall not, in this trouble, my strong arm succour bring?

If you for friends are seeking, lo, am I not your friend?

I trust to be so ever,— with honour, till mine end.”

“Now God reward you, Siegfried, for what you now have said.

And though your strength should never be needed in mine aid,

Yet doth this news rejoice me, that you my friend will be;—

And you shall ne’er regret it, if life be granted me.