Trumpets and flutes spoke out, At dawning of the day,
That time was came for parting, So they rose to march away:
Who loved-one had in arms Did kiss that same, I ween;
And fond farewells were bidden By cause of Etzel’s Queen.
Frau Ute’s noble sons They had a serving-man,
A brave one and a true:; Or ever the march began,
He speaketh to King Gunther, What for his ear was fit,
He said: “Woe for this journey, I grieve because of it.”
He, Rumold hight, the Sewer, Was known as hero true;
He spake: “Whom shall this people And land be trusted to?
Woe on’t, will nought persuade ye, Brave Recken, from this road?
Frau Chriemhild’s flattering message No good doth seem to bode.”
“The land to thee be trusted, And my fair boy also,
And serve thou well the women, I tell thee ere I go;
Whamso thou findest weeping Her heart give comfort to;
No harm to one of us King Etzel’s wife will do.”
The steeds were standing ready, For the Kings and for their men;
With kisses tenderest Took leave full many then,
Who, in gallant cheer and hope, To march were nought afraid;
Then since that day bewaileth Many a noble wife and maid,
But when the rapid Recken Took horse and prickt away,
The women shent in sorrow You saw behind them stay;
Of parting all too long Their hearts to them did tell;
When grief so great is coming, The mind forbodes not well.
Nathless the brisk Burgonden All on their way did go,
Then rose the country over A mickle dole and woe;
On both sides of the hills Woman and man did weep:
Let their folk da how they list, These gay their course did keep.
The Nibelungen Recken[1] Did march with them as well,
Ta a thousand glittering hauberks, Who at home had ta’en farewell
Of many a fair woman Should see them never more:
The wound of her brave Siegfried Did grieve Chriemhilde sore.
- ↑ These are the Nibelungen proper who had come to Worms with Siegfried, on the famed bridal journey from Isenstein, long ago. Observe, at the same time, that ever since the Nibelungen Hoard was transferred to Rhine-land, the whole subjects of King Gunther are often called Nibelungen, and their subsequent history is the Nibelungen Song.
