Andvari's ring

Front matter

NDVARI'sHf 1

U N C

J- flTH L)

Book II Attila

I. — Hagen and Andvari II. — Gudrun's Lament III. — Claudius IV. — The Apparition

V. — Gudrun's Soliloquy VI. — Attila and Gudrun VII. — Westward Ho

VIII. — The Hall of Attila (Including Claudius's Story)

IX. — Gudrun and Andvari Finale ....

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BooK L Sigurd

PRELUDE

Sigurd I sing, a son of that dark north,

Of that wild Scandian mother-land whence

sprang The sea- tost hosts who, in that long ago, The bases of imperial England laid: — Such as were they, he was — one of that race Which ever loved to ride the restless waves, Or in grey Scandia, its ancestral home, Dwelling, or in the Isles of Britain, where Later it throve: men with the eagle's heart, Storm-nurtured, calm amid the swirling seas. Wanderers upon the deep until this day. Sigurd — his birth, his life, his death, I sing.

II

And Thou, O Muse, without whose aid divine My lips, however willing, must be mute, Thee I beseech my numbers to inspire. Come Goddess now: I reverently attend.

I

GUDRUN'S DREAM

The fair Gudrun, in her bower beside the Rhine, On three successive nights had dreamed a dream, Piteous, distressful ; and to Ursula, Her mother, good King Dancrat's widowed

queen.

She thus, with tears, unburdened her full heart:

II

"Dear mother, whilst I slept within my bower, On three successive nights to me hath come A dream whereof the meaning I know not. Piteous, distressful ; for methought I loved A white gyrfalcon, more than aught else seemed, In the whole world, this gallant bird to me. With eyes so bright, and plumage like the snow. He from his home in the far north had flown Southward to Burgundy; I myself had tamed His wandering spirit, and upon my hand Content he sat whene'er I rode afield,

Oudrvixi's Dream 5

What time the hern we hunted with our hawks.

But one thrice-sorrowful day, as into air

Swiftly he rose, sighting his quarry, lo!

Two eagles fierce, wheeling from out the hills

In circles vast, inexorable, grim.

Beset and slew him ; and methought my grief

Was like the grief of her who loses all —

Or what seems all when Death hath struck his

blow — The wife her husband or the mother her child."

Ill

Then spoke Queen Ursula: solicitude Dwelt in her voice, disquiet in her mien : **Oft in our dreams the future lives, and thus, My daughter, do I read thy vision wild. Perchance I read it wrong; but, as thou know'st, At Yule-tide was I born, the seventh child Of seventh child, and second-sight is mine — A power clairvoyant granted by the gods. This, then, the interpretation of thy dream: The white gyrfalcon is a noble youth Whom thou wilt learn to love with all thy soul. The eagles fierce two cruel warriors are Whose spears shall slay thy lord. Alas, Gudrun 1 Methinks that by the hand of Skuld herself, Who sits beside the ash-tree Ygdrasil Gazing upon the future, was dispatched This vision, in .whose happenings I discern

The dread announcement of a deed to come. Ruth hath my mother's heart for thee, Gudrun; Thy falcon falls before the eagles twain. O woeful hour ! As swift-descending storm Darkens the day, so shall this murder foul Becloud the sunny springtime of thy life. Thy lord lies still in death. So speak the Norns!"

IV

Thus Ursula: and by her mother's words O'ercome, upon an ancient couch near by, Like broken lily, sank the fair Gudrun.

II

THE COMING OF SIGURD

GuNTER, the king of the Burgundians, gave A mighty feast, to celebrate that day, Seven years before, whereon his reign began. For when his father, old King Dancrat, died. Leaving, besides a widowed queen, three sons, Gunter and Giselher and Gemot bold. And one fair maid, the flower of the land,

Gudrun, Gunter, the eldest, was proclaimed the king. And throve his kingdom. For a respite brief From battle left men time for kindlier deeds. And woods were felled; and fields of waving

grain Covered the land; and towns sprang up anew; And trade with Rome, increasing, filled the

realm With Roman gold, and brought to wondering

eyes The silks and jewels of the mystic East.

So in his palace by the Rhine, where dwelt A Roman pretor once, King Gunter bade Prepare this banquet, to commemorate The day his hand first grasped the helm of state.

II

That time in summer was it when the days Longest and loveliest are, when leafy June Mantles the earth, and Gunter 's capital (Called by the Romans Borbetomagus, And by the men of later centuries Worms) Sat, like a beauteous bride, beside the Rhine.

Ill

Now on the morning of the festive day, While yet the summer sun was low in the east, Appeared far down the Rhine, but moving up Against the stream, their sails filled by the breeze, Three galleys. Them a watchman from his

tower Descried, and to King Gunter brought the word. Whence came they no man knew. And now

the wind Carries them nearer, and the morning sun Blazons each carven, golden-headed prow, And gaily-broidered sail. And lo! within. Sitting upon the rowers' benches some, And others grouped on forecastle and poop, The bold and brawny crews of mail-clad men,

XHe Coming of Sigxird 9

Sons of the ocean, with their red shields hung Outboard along the gunwales. And to eyes That watched the scene the foremost galley

looked A mighty dragon, breasting Rhine's broad flood. For her high-arching prow was shaped and carved Like dragon's front, with gilded crest upreared Above the wave; and all along each side The warriors' shields like dragon's scales appeared ; And, looking aft, the high and curling stem Ended a dragon's gilded tail in air. And of her sister ships a great wolf's head Carved out of wood, with grim wide-open jaws, One bore upon her bow, the other a bear's, Both fancifully gilded. In this wise, A gallant sight, were built these galleys three.

IV

Then said King Gunter: "Let my men-atarms Be ready, but no hostile act disclose. Or friend or foe I know not, but methinks Peace and not war is in the stranger's heart."

Now toward the river's bank each galley turns, And soon the sails are lowered, and in a cove Near by the vessels rest; and from the side lo Andvari's Gixi^

Of one, the largest galley of the three, Whose prow a gilded dragon's front displayed, Is thrown a gangplank to the river shore; And over this, forthwith, a figure steps — Tall — straight — with winged helm and byrnie

bright — And after him a score of viking forms, With spear in hand and shield on arm, and toward The palace of the king all take their way.