The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs | Page 2

its blessings roofward, and wreathed the roof-tree dear With the glory of the summer and the garland of the year. I know not how they called it ere Volsung changed his life, But his dawning of fair promise, and his noontide of the strife, His eve of the battle-reaping and the garnering of his fame, Have bred us many a story and named us many a name;?And when men tell of Volsung, they call that war-duke's tree, That crown��d stem, the Branstock; and so was it told unto me.
So there was the throne of Volsung beneath its blossoming bower. But high o'er the roof-crest red it rose 'twixt tower and tower, And therein were the wild hawks dwelling, abiding the dole of their lord;?And they wailed high over the wine, and laughed to the waking sword.
Still were its boughs but for them, when lo on an even of May Comes a man from Siggeir the King with a word for his mouth to say: "All hail to thee King Volsung, from the King of the Goths I come: He hath heard of thy sword victorious and thine abundant home; He hath heard of thy sons in the battle, the fillers of Odin's Hall; And a word hath the west-wind blown him, (full fruitful be its fall!) A word of thy daughter Signy the crown of womanhood:?Now he deems thy friendship goodly, and thine help in the battle good, And for these will he give his friendship and his battle-aid again: But if thou wouldst grant his asking, and make his heart full fain, Then shalt thou give him a matter, saith he, without a price, --Signy the fairer than fair, Signy the wiser than wise."
Such words in the hall of the Volsungs spake the Earl of Siggeir the Goth,?Bearing the gifts and the gold, the ring, and the tokens of troth. But the King's heart laughed within him and the King's sons deemed it good;?For they dreamed how they fared with the Goths o'er ocean and acre and wood,?Till all the north was theirs, and the utmost southern lands.
But nought said the snow-white Signy as she sat with folded hands And gazed at the Goth-king's Earl till his heart grew heavy and cold, As one that half remembers a tale that the elders have told, A story of weird and of woe: then spake King Volsung and said:
"A great king woos thee, daughter; wilt thou lie in a great king's bed, And bear earth's kings on thy bosom, that our name may never die?"
A fire lit up her face, and her voice was e'en as a cry: "I will sleep in a great king's bed, I will bear the lords of the earth,?And the wrack and the grief of my youth-days shall be held for nothing worth."
Then would he question her kindly, as one who loved her sore, But she put forth her hand and smiled, and her face was flushed no more "Would God it might otherwise be! but wert thou to will it not, Yet should I will it and wed him, and rue my life and my lot."
Lowly and soft she said it; but spake out louder now:?"Be of good cheer, King Volsung! for such a man art thou, That what thou dost well-counselled, goodly and fair it is, And what thou dost unwitting, the Gods have bidden thee this: So work all things together for the fame of thee and thine. And now meseems at my wedding shall be a hallowed sign, That shall give thine heart a joyance, whatever shall follow after." She spake, and the feast sped on, and the speech and the song and the laughter?Went over the words of boding as the tide of the norland main Sweeps over the hidden skerry, the home of the shipman's bane.
So wendeth his way on the morrow that Earl of the Gothland King, Bearing the gifts and the gold, and King Volsung's tokening, And a word in his mouth moreover, a word of blessing and hail, And a bidding to King Siggeir to come ere the June-tide fail And wed him to white-hand Signy and bear away his bride, While sleepeth the field of the fishes amidst the summer-tide.
So on Mid-Summer Even ere the undark night began?Siggeir the King of the Goth-folk went up from the bath of the swan Unto the Volsung dwelling with many an Earl about;?There through the glimmering thicket the link��d mail rang out, And sang as mid the woodways sings the summer-hidden ford: There were gold-rings God-fashioned, and many a Dwarf-wrought sword, And many a Queen-wrought kirtle and many a written spear; So came they to the acres, and drew the threshold near, And amidst of the garden blossoms, on the grassy, fruit-grown land, Was Volsung the King of the