s
knighthood a great tournament was held at Xanten on the Rhine, and in the
jousting the young prince won all the laurels, although great and tried
warriors matched their skill against his in the lists.

The festivities continued for seven whole days, and when the guests
departed they were all heavily laden with the costly gifts which the king
and queen had lavished upon them.

"The gorgeous feast it lasted till the seventh day was o'er.
Siegelind, the wealthy, did as they did of yore;
She won for valiant Siegfried the hearts of young and old,
When for his sake among them she shower'd the ruddy gold.

"You scarce could find one needy in all the minstrel band;
Horses and robes were scatter'd with ever-open hand.
They gave as though they had not another day to live;
None were to take so ready as they inclin'd to give."
_Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's tr.).

After the departure of all these guests, young Siegfried sought his
parents' presence, told them that he had heard rumors of the beauty and
attractions of Kriemhild of Burgundy, and declared his wish to journey
thither to secure her as his wife.

In vain the fond parents tried to prevail upon him to remain quietly at
home; the young hero insisted so strongly that he finally won their consent
to his immediate departure. With eleven companions, all decked out in the
richest garments that the queen's chests could furnish, the young prince
rode down the Rhine, and reached Worms on the seventh day.

[Sidenote: Siegfried's arrival in Burgundy.] The arrival of the gallant
little troop was soon noted by Gunther's subjects, who hastened out to meet
the strangers and help them dismount. Siegfried immediately requested to be
brought into the presence of their king, who, in the mean while, had
inquired of his uncle, Hagen, the names and standing of the newcomers.
Glancing down from the great hall window, Hagen said that the leader must
be Siegfried, the knight who had slain the owners of the Nibelungen hoard
and appropriated it for his own use, as well as the magic cloud-cloak, or
Tarnkappe, which rendered its wearer invisible to mortal eyes.[1] He added
that this same Siegfried was ruler of the Nibelungen land, and the slayer
of a terrible dragon, whose blood had made him invulnerable, and he
concluded by advising Gunther to receive him most courteously. [Footnote 1:
For various legends of this cycle see Gu