The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs | Page 8

ere the worst begin. For that which I spake
aforetime, the seed of a boding drear, It hath sprung, it hath blossomed
and born rank harvest of the spear; Siggeir hath dight the death-snare;
he hath spread the shielded net. But ye come ere the hour appointed,
and he looks not to meet you yet. Now blest be the wind that wafted
your sails here over-soon, For thus have I won me seaward 'twixt the
twilight and the moon, To pray you for all the world's sake turn back
from the murderous shore.
--Ah take me hence, my father, to see my
land once more!"
Then sweetly Volsung kissed her: "Woe am I for thy sake, But earth the
word hath hearkened, that yet unborn I spake; How I ne'er would turn
me backward from the sword or the fire of bale; --I have held that word
till today, and today shall I change the tale? And look on these thy
brethren, how goodly and great are they, Wouldst thou have the
maidens mock them, when this pain hath past away And they sit at the
feast hereafter, that they feared the deadly stroke?
Let us do our day's
work deftly for the praise and the glory of folk; And if the Norns will
have it that the Volsung kin shall fail, Yet I know of the deed that dies
not, and the name that shall ever avail."
But she wept as one sick-hearted: "Woe's me for the hope of the morn!
Yet send me not back unto Siggeir and the evil days and the scorn: Let
me bide the death as ye bide it, and let a woman feel That hope of the

death of battle and the rest of the foeman's steel."
"Nay nay," he said, "go backward: this too thy fate will have; For thou
art the wife of a king, and many a matter may'st save. Farewell! as the
days win over, as sweet as a tale shall it grow, This day when our hearts
were hardened; and our glory thou shalt know, And the love wherewith
we loved thee mid the battle and the wrack."
She kissed them and departed, and mid the dusk fared back, And she
sat that eve in the high-seat; and I deem that Siggeir knew The way that
her feet had wended, and the deed she went to do: For the man was
grim and guileful, and he knew that the snare was laid For the mountain
bull unblenching and the lion unafraid.
But when the sun on the morrow shone over earth and sea Ashore went
the Volsung Children a goodly company,
And toward King Siggeir's
dwelling o'er heath and holt they went But when they came to the
topmost of a certain grassy bent, Lo there lay the land before them as
thick with shield and spear As the rich man's wealthiest acre with the
harvest of the year. There bade King Volsung tarry and dight the
wedge-array; "For duly," he said, "doeth Siggeir to meet his guests by
the way." So shield by shield they serried, nor ever hath been told Of
any host of battle more glorious with the gold;
And there stood the
high King Volsung in the very front of war; And lovelier was his
visage than ever heretofore.
As he rent apart the peace-strings that his
brand of battle bound And the bright blade gleamed to the heavens, and
he cast the sheath to the ground.
Then up the steep came the Goth-folk, and the spear-wood drew anigh,
And earth's face shook beneath them, yet cried they never a cry; And
the Volsungs stood all silent, although forsooth at whiles O'er the faces
grown earth-weary would play the flickering smiles, And swords would
clink and rattle: not long had they to bide, For soon that flood of
murder flowed round the hillock-side; Then at last the edges mingled,
and if men forebore the shout, Yet the din of steel and iron in the grey
clouds rang about; But how to tell of King Volsung, and the valour of
his folk! Three times the wood of battle before their edges broke; And

the shield-wall, sorely dwindled and reft of the ruddy gold, Against the
drift of the war-blast for the fourth time yet did hold. But men's shields
were waxen heavy with the weight of shafts they bore, And the fifth
time many a champion cast earthward Odin's door And gripped the
sword two-handed; and in sheaves the spears came on. And at last the
host of the Goth-folk within the shield-wall won, And wild was the
work within it, and oft and o'er again Forth brake the sons of Volsung,
and drave the foe in vain; For the driven throng still thickened, till it
might not give aback. But fast