Volume 9 / Act 2 — SCENE II

Enter SIEGFRIED, with retinue.

SIEGFRIED.

Here am I once again!

GISELHER.

Without my brother?

SIEGFRIED.

Nay, fear not! As his messenger I come!— And yet I bear the message not for thee! 'Tis for thy Lady Mother, and I hope That I may see thy sister Kriemhild, too.

GISELHER.

Brave knight, that shalt thou, for we owe to thee Our thanks for capturing the noble Danes.

SIEGFRIED.

I wish that I had never sent them here.

GISELHER.

Why so? Thou hadst no better way to prove What we have gained in winning thy right arm, For truly are the Princes stalwart men!

SIEGFRIED.

It may be! Yet had I not done the deed, Perhaps some bird had flown and spread abroad The rumor that the Danes had slain me there, And I might ask how Kriemhild heard the tale.

GISELHER.

But as it is they help thy cause enough! That one can take good metal and alloy And beat them into trumpets smooth and round, I long have known. But that one could shape men In such a way I knew not, but these two Show us the work of such a smith as thou. They praised thee—If thou hadst been there to hear, Thy cheeks would still flame scarlet! Yet 'twas not With measured praise, as men will praise their foe, Thinking to lessen thus the burning shame Of their own downfall. No, 'twas heartfelt praise. But you should hear Kriemhilda tell the tale. Unweariedly she asked them o'er and o'er.— She's coming now.