lly away.

It happened one evening, not long thereafter, that the two queens sat
together at an upper window, and looked down upon a company of men in
the courtyard below. Among them were the noblest earl-folk of Burgundy,
and Gunther the king, and Siegfried. But Siegfried towered above all the
rest; and he moved like a god among men.

"See my noble Siegfried!" cried Kriemhild in her pride. "How grandly he
stands there! What a type of manly beauty and strength! No one cares to
look at other men when he is near."

"He maybe handsome," answered Brunhild sadly; "and, for aught I know, he
may be noble. But what is all that by the side of kingly power? Were he
but the peer of your brother Gunther, then you might well boast."

"He is the peer of Gunther," returned Kriemhild. "And not only his peer,
but more; for he stands as high above him in kingly power and worth as
in bodily stature."

"How can that be?" asked Brunhild, growing angry. "For, when Gunther so
gallantly won me at Isenstein, he told me that Siegfried was his vassal;
and often since that time I have heard the same. And even your husband
told me that Gunther was his liege lord."

Queen Kriemhild laughed at these words, and answered, "I tell you again
that Siegfried is a king far nobler and richer and higher than any other
king on earth. Think you that my brothers would have given me to a mere
vassal to be his wife?"

Then Brunhild, full of wrath, replied, "Your husband is Gunther's vassal
and my own, and he shall do homage to us as the humblest and meanest of
our underlings. He shall not go from this place until he has paid all
the tribute that has so long been due from him. Then we shall see who is
the vassal, and who is the lord."

"Nay," answered Kriemhild. "It shall not be. No tribute was ever due;
and, if homage is to be paid, it is rather Gunther who must pay it."

"It shall be settled once for all!" cried Brunhild, now boiling over
with rage. "I will know the truth. If Siegfried is not our vassal, then
I have been duped; and I will have revenge."

"It is well," was the mild answer. "Let it be settled, once for all;
and then, mayhap, we shall know who it was who really won the games at
Isenstein, and you for Gunther's wife."

And the two queens parted in wrath.[EN#31]

Kriemhild's anger was as fleeting as an April cloud, which does but
threaten, and then passes away in tears and sunshine. But Brunhild's was
like the dread winter storm that swe