Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/316

238

I ween some evil devil Kriemhilda did provoke

That with her brother Gunther her friendship now she broke,

Whom she, in full forgiveness, kiss’d on Burgundian soil.

Then with hot tears began she once more her robe to spoil.

And ever, late and early, within her heart it wrought

How, without fault on her part, she had thereto been brought,

That henceforth with a heathen she must in wedlock live;

This bitterness did Hagen and Gunther, too, contrive.

The wish that dwelt within her ne’er let her heart alone;

Thought she: “I am so mighty, and such great riches own,

That on my foes in vengeance some ill I may repay.

Thus would I do right gladly to Hagen of Tronjé.

‘My heart is longing sorely for my dear faithful one:

Might I but get them near me who ill to me have done,

So would I take full vengeance for my beloved’s life;—

Scarce can I bide their coming;” so murmur’d Etzel’s wife.

The whole of the king’s liegemen held highly in esteem

The warriors of Kriemhilda: and well it was, I deem.

Her treasurer was Eckwart,— good friends thereby he made.

Nor could Kriemhilda’s wishes by any be gainsaid.

Now was she ever thinking: “I will beseech the king!”

To wit, that of his goodness he would allow this thing,

That unto the Hun-country her kinsmen might be brought.

But no one there discover’d the queen’s unholy thought.