Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/238

160

In all he put his hand to alert he was enow;

Of all the beasts, the first one that he to death did do

An ox was, strong and savage, that with his hand he fell’d;

And then he, on a sudden, a lion grim beheld.

E’en as the hound aroused it he with his bow let fly,

On which a sharpen’d arrow he’d fitted hastily.

After the shot the lion but three bounds further ran;

Whereon his hunting comrades to thank Siegfried began.

There after he an elk slew, and then a buffalo,

And then four sturdy bisons, a savage stag also.

His steed so swiftly bore him that naught could get away:

Of harts and hinds scarce any there were he fail’d to slay.

A huge wild boar the sleuth-hound had routed from his lair,

And when to flee he turn’d him right in his path was there

The hero of the hunting, all ready for the fight;

The savage brute did straightway charge at the valiant knight.

This boar Kriemhilda’s husband then with his broadsword slew:

The like no other huntsman so easily could do.

And when he thus had felled him, they put in leash the hound:

His goodly spoils were talk’d of all Burgundy around.

Then spake to him his huntsmen: “If ’tis for us to say,

Leave us, we pray, Lord Siegfried, a few live beasts to slay!

To-day thou hast made empty for us both wood and wold.”

Thereat he fell to smiling that worthy thane and bold.