The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Ix Part 45

Thy sister calls me so!

HAGEN (_to FRIGGA_).

What happened here?

FRIGGA.

Ye are discovered now!

We know the conqueror, and Kriemhild vows That he was twice a victor.

HAGEN

(_to GUNTHER_).

He has told!

[_He speaks to him aside._]

SCENE IX

KRIEMHILD (_who has meanwhile come out of the cathedral_).

Forgive me, Siegfried, for the wrong I did!

Yet if thou knewest how she slandered thee--

GUNTHER (to SIEGFRIED).

Hast thou then boasted?

SIEGFRIED (_laying his hand on KRIEMHILD's head_).

By her life I swear, I never did.

HAGEN.

No oath is needed here!

He only told the truth.

SIEGFRIED.

And even that Upon compulsion!

HAGEN. That I do not doubt!

The tale can wait the telling. 'Tis our part To separate the women, for we know That serpents' crests may ever rise again If they too soon gaze in each other's eyes.

SIEGFRIED.

I'm soon departing hence. Come, Kriemhild, come!

KRIEMHILD (_to BRUNHILDA_).

If thou couldst know how thou didst anger me, Then even thou--

BRUNHILDA (_turns away_).

KRIEMHILD.

Since thou dost love my brother, How canst thou hate the means that gave thee him To be his bride?

BRUNHILDA.

Oh, Oh!

HAGEN.

Away! Away!

SIEGFRIED (_leading KRIEMHILD away_).

There's been no tattling here, as you shall see.

[_Exeunt._]

SCENE X

HAGEN.

Come, gather round and vote without delay The doom of death.

GUNTHER.

Hagen, what sayest thou?

HAGEN.

Have we not cause enough? There stands the Queen And burning tears are streaming from her eyes.

For shame she weeps!

(_To BRUNHILDA._)

Oh, thou heroic Queen, To whom alone my homage I do yield, The man who shamed thee so must surely die!

GUNTHER. Hagen!

HAGEN (_to BRUNHILDA_).

The man must die unless thou wilt Forego revenge and plead for him thyself.