ng saw many
fair maidens that stood above at the windows. It irked him that he knew
them not, and he said to Siegfried, his friend, "Knowest thou aught of
these maidens that look down at us on the sea? Howso their lord hight,
they are, certes, right noble."

Bold Siegfried answered, "Spy secretly among them, and say which thou
wouldst have chosen, if thou hadst had the choice." And Gunther said, "I
will. I see one standing at yonder window in show-white robe. Goodly is
she, and for her fair body's sake, mine eyes choose her. If I had the
power, she should be my wife."

"Thine eyes have led thee aright. That is the noble Brunhild, the
beautiful lady that thou desirest with thy heart and thy soul." Gunther
found no fault in her.

The queen bade her damsels void the windows, nor stand in the gaze of the
strangers. They obeyed; but what they did after hath been told us. They
adorned them for the warriors, as is the manner of fair women; then they
stole to the loopholes and looked curiously at the heroes.

These came only four strong into the land. Bold Siegfried held a horse
on the strand, and, by reason thereof, the women that spied through the
windows deemed King Gunther of the more worship. He held the good horse,
by the bridle; stately it was and sleek, mickle and stark, and King
Gunther sat in the saddle, and Siegfried served him; but Gunther forgot
this afterward.

Then Siegfried took his own horse from the ship. Seldom before had he
held the stirrup for a warrior to mount. And all this the fair women
marked through the loopholes. The heroes were clad alike; both their
horses and their apparel were snow-white, and the shields were goodly
that shone in their hands. Their saddles were set with precious stones,
their poitrels small, and hung with bells of burnished gold. So they
rode proudly into Brunhild's courtyard, and came into the land as
befitted their might, with new-sharpened spears, and finely-tempered
swords, keen and massy, that reached to their spurs. All this Brunhild,
the royal maiden, saw.

Dankwart rode with them, and Hagen. These knights, they say, wore
clothes of raven-black, and their shields were mickle, broad and goodly.
Stones from India shone on their apparel. They left the vessel unguarded
on the beach, and rode up to the castle. There they saw eighty and six
towers, three great palaces, and a stately hall of costly marble, green
like grass, wherein the queen sat with h