stein. They
besieged the recalcitrant knight in his stronghold of Gerimsburg, which was
given to Walther von Wasgenstein, while Wittich was rewarded for his
services by the hand of Bolfriana, the Lady of Drachenfels, and thus became
the vassal of Ermenrich.

[Sidenote: Sibich.] The estates of Ermenrich were so extensive and so
difficult to govern that he was very glad indeed to secure as prime
minister a capable nobleman by the name of Sibich. Unfortunately, this
Sibich had a remarkably beautiful wife, whom the emperor once insulted
during her husband's absence. As soon as Sibich returned from his journey
his wife told him all that had occurred, and the emperor's conduct so
enraged the minister that he vowed that he would take a terrible revenge.

The better to accomplish his purpose, Sibich concealed his resentment, and
so artfully poisoned Ermenrich's mind that the latter ordered his eldest
son to be slain. To get rid of the second prince, Sibich induced him to
enter a leaky vessel, which sank as soon as he was out at sea. Then, when
the prime minister saw the third son, Randwer, paying innocent attentions
to his fair young stepmother, Swanhild, daughter of Siegfried and
Kriemhild, he so maliciously distorted the affair that Ermenrich ordered
this son to be hung, and his young wife to be trampled to death under the
hoofs of wild horses.

Sibich, the traitor, having thus deprived the emperor of wife and children,
next resolved to rob him of all his kin, so that he might eventually murder
him and take undisputed possession of the empire. With this purpose in
view, he forged letters which incited the emperor to war against his
nephews, the Harlungs. These two young men, who were orphans, dwelt at
Breisach, under the guardianship of their tutor, the faithful Eckhardt.
They were both cruelly slain, and the disconsolate tutor fled to the court
of Dietrich, little thinking that Ermenrich would soon turn upon this his
last male relative, also.

[Sidenote: Herbart and Hilde.] Dietrich, forsaken by Virginal, and anxious
to marry again, had, in the mean while, sent his nephew Herbart to Arthur's
court in the Bertanga land (Britain), to sue for the hand of Hilde, his
fair young daughter. But Arthur, averse to sending his child so far away,
would not at first permit the young ambassador to catch a glimpse of her
face, and sent her to church guarded by ten warriors, ten monks, and ten
duennas.

In spite of all these safeguard