by and by they came to a country covered
with high hills, and mountains that seemed to touch the sky. The crags
and peaks were covered with snow, and ice lay all summer in the dales
and in the deep gorges cleft long time ago by giant hands. Here it is
that the rivers take their beginning. And here it is that the purple
grapes and the rare fruits of milder climes are found; for the sun
shines warm in the valleys and upon the plains, and the soil is
exceeding rich. It is said that these mountains are midway between the
cold regions of Jotunheim and the glowing gardens of Muspelheim, and
that, in ages past, they were the scene of many battles between the
giants who would overwhelm the earth,--these with ice, and those
with fire. Here and there were frowning caves dug out of the solid
mountain-side; while higher up were great pits, half-filled with ashes,
where, it is said, the dwarf-folk, when they were mighty on earth, had
their forges.

Siegfried stopped not long in this land. Thoughts of the Nibelungen
Land, and of his faithful liegemen who waited for his return, began to
fill his mind. Then the heroes turned their horses' heads, and rode back
towards the north, following the course of the River Rhine, as it wound,
here and there, between hills and mountains, and through meadows where
the grass was springing up anew, and by the side of woodlands, now
beginning to be clothed in green again; for the winter was well over,
and spring was hastening on apace. And as they rode down the valley of
the Rhine they came, ere they were aware, into the Burgundian Land,
and the high towers of King Gunther's castle rose up before them. Then
Siegfried remembered again his father's words,--

"Only go not into Burgundy-land."

But it was now too late to go back, and they determined to stop for
a few days with the Burgundian kings. They rode onwards through the
meadows and the pleasant farming-lands which lay around the city; and
they passed a wonderful garden of roses, said to belong to Kriemhild,
the peerless princess of the Rhine country; and at last they halted
before the castle-gate. So lordly was their bearing, that a company of
knights came out to meet them, and offered, as the custom was, to take
charge of their horses and their shields. But Siegfried asked that they
be led at once to King Gunther and his brothers; and, as their stay
would not be long, they said they would have no need to part with horses
or with shields. Then t