ight through till the day, or she loosed me. How soft she lay
there! I tell thee this in secret."

And stark Siegfried said, "I grieve for thee. I will tell thee a remedy
if thou keep it from her. I will so contrive it that this night she will
defy thee no longer." The word was welcome to Gunther after his pain.

"Now see my hands, how they are swollen. She overmastered me, as I had
been a child, that the blood spurted all over me from my nails. I
thought not to come off with my life."

Said Siegfried, "It will yet be well. Unequal was our fortune last
night. Thy sister Kriemhild is dearer to me than mine own body. This
day must Brunhild be thy wife. I will come to-night to thy room secretly
in my _Tarnkappe_, that none may guess the trick. Send the chamberlains
to their beds. I will put out the lights in the hands of the pages, and
by this sign thou shalt know that I am night. I will win thy wife for
thee or perish."

"If only thou winnest her not for thyself. She is my dear wife.
Otherwise I rejoice. Do to her what thou wilt. If thou tookest her
life, I would bear it. She is a terrible woman."

"I vow to thee on mine honour that I will have naught to do with her.
Thy dear sister is more to me than any I have ever seen." And Gunther
believed Siegfried's word.

Meanwhile the guests rode at the tourney with fortune good and bad, but,
when it was time for the women to go to the hall, they stopped the
tilting and the din, and the chamberlains bade the folk void the way.

And now the courtyard was empty of horses and men. A bishop led each
queen before the kings to table, and many proud knights followed them to
their seats. The king sat beside his wife in good hope, for he minded
Siegfried's promise. The one day seemed to him as thirty, for he thought
only on Brunhild.

Scarce could he wait till they rose from the table.

Fair Kriemhild and also Brunhild were led to their chambers. Ha! what
bold knights went before the queens!

Joyful and without hate Siegfried the knight sat sweetly beside his
beautiful wife. With her white hand she caressed his, till, she knew not
how, he vanished from before her eyes. When she played with him and saw
him no longer, she said to her maidens, "I marvel much where the king is
gone. Who took his hands out of mine?" And so the matter dropped.

He had gone where he found the chamberlains with the lights, which he
began to put out. By this sign Gunther per