d
as he had no wife, his mother, Grimhild, said: "Fair is thy life and
fortune, O my son, but one thing thou lackest. Go, seek for thyself a
wife who shall be a joy to thy house."

"But where can I find one who will be a worthy queen of the Niblungs?"
asked Gunnar.

And his mother answered: "Fair among the daughters of the earth and
bravest of warrior-maidens is Brunhild. In her Castle of Flames she
awaits the bridegroom who shall dare to penetrate the barrier of fire.
Go then, seek her out, and Sigurd will ride with thee."

So Gunnar and Sigurd arrayed themselves joyously and rode away, till
on the crest of a high mountain they saw a castle with a golden roof
and all about it a ring of flaming fire.

Then right eagerly they pricked their steeds, but all too long it
seemed ere they gained the summit. At length they reached the fiery
wall, and Gunnar put his tired horse at it without pause. But the
horse trembled and stood stock still. Again and again he tried him,
but always with the same result, until, at length, Gunnar cried to
Sigurd: "Lend me thy steed, Sigurd, for mine will not brave this
fire."

"With all my heart," replied Sigurd, leaping off Greyfell. But when
Gunnar had mounted the horse, Greyfell would not stir, and he too
trembled before the flames.

Then Gunnar sprang to earth, and stamped with impatience, for he
thought it shame to go afoot into the presence of the maid. Presently
he remembered that his witch-mother had given him a magic potion which
would enable a man to take the face and form of another at will. So he
proposed that Sigurd should take his appearance and win Brunhild for
him by proxy, for he knew that Greyfell would dare anything with his
beloved master astride his back.

Remembering naught, Sigurd eagerly accepted the mission, and when he
had drunk of the potion prepared by Gunnar he leaped again upon the
back of Greyfell, who sprang at once into the heart of the fire.

Then the flames roared with a thunderous sound, and shot up high into
the sky; but next moment they died away into a heap of grey ashes, and
Sigurd, unharmed, entered the hall where Brunhild sat and waited for
her faithless lover.

As he entered she started up with a cry of joy, which quickly died
away when, in place of Sigurd's fair hair and bright blue eyes, she
saw the dark locks and flashing black eyes of Gunnar.

"What man art thou?" she asked.

"Gunnar am I called," said Sigurd, "and through the flames