Sigurd the Volsung 8Book I · Of the last battle of King Sigmund, and the death of him
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Literature · Fantasy
Sigurd the Volsung 8
Book I · Of the last battle of King Sigmund, and the death of him
MorrisEnglish
Now is Queen Borghild driven from the Volsung's bed and board, And unwedded sitteth Sigmund an exceeding mighty lord, And fareth oft to the war-field, and addeth fame to fame: And where'er are the great ones told of his sons shall the people name; But short was their day of harvest and their reaping of renown, And while men stood by to marvel they gained their latest crown. So Sigmund alone abideth of all the Volsung seed, And the folk that the Gods had fashioned lest the earth should lack a deed And he said: "The tree was stalwart, but its boughs are old and worn. Where now are the children departed, that amidst my life were born? I know not the men about me, and they know not of my ways: I am nought but a picture of battle, and a song for the people to praise. I must strive with the deeds of my kingship, and yet when mine hour is come It shall meet me as glad as the goodman when he bringeth the last load home."
Now there was a king of the Islands, whom the tale doth Eylimi call, And saith he was wise and valiant, though his kingdom were but small: He had one only daughter that Hiordis had to name, A woman wise and shapely beyond the praise of fame. And now saith the son of King Volsung that his time is short enow To labour the Volsung garden, and the hand must be set to the plough: So he sendeth an earl of the people to King Eylimi's high-built hall, Bearing the gifts and the tokens, and this word in his mouth withal:
"King Sigmund the son of Volsung hath sent me here with a word That plenteous good of thy daughter among all folk he hath heard, And he wooeth that wisest of women that she may sit on his throne, And lie in the bed of the Volsungs, and be his wife alone. And he saith that he thinketh surely she shall bear the kings of the earth, And maybe the best and the greatest of all who are deemed of worth. Now hereof would he have an answer within a half-month's space, And these gifts meanwhile he giveth for the increase of thy grace."
So King Eylimi hearkened the message, and hath no word to say, For an earl of King Lyngi the mighty is come that very day, He too for the wooing of Hiordis: and Lyngi's realm is at hand, But afar King Sigmund abideth o'er many a sea and land: And the man is young and eager, and grim and guileful of mood.
At last he sayeth: "Abide here such space as thou deemest good, But tomorn shalt thou have thine answer that thine heart may the lighter be For the hearkening of harp and songcraft, and the dealing with game and glee." Then he went to Queen Hiordis bower, where she worked in the silk and the gold The deeds of the world that should be, and the deeds that were of old. And he stood before her and said: "I have spoken a word, time was, That thy will should rule thy wedding; and now hath it come to pass That again two kings of the people will woo thy body to bed." So she rose to her feet and hearkened: "And which be they?" she said.
He spake: "The first is Lyngi, a valiant man and a fair, A neighbour ill for thy father, if a foe's name he must bear: And the next is King Sigmund the Volsung of a land far over sea, And well thou knowest his kindred, and his might and his valiancy, And the tales of his heart of a God; and though old he be waxen now, Yet men deem that the wide world's blossom from Sigmund's loins shall grow."
Said Hiordis: "I wot, my father, that hereof may strife arise; Yet soon spoken is mine answer; for I, who am called the wise, Shall I thrust by the praise of the people, and the tale that no ending hath, And the love and the heart of the godlike, and the heavenward-leading path, For the rose and the stem of the lily, and the smooth-lipped youngling's kiss, And the eyes' desire that passeth, and the frail unstable bliss? Now shalt thou tell King Sigmund, that I deem it the crown of my life To dwell in the house of his fathers amidst all peace and strife, And to bear the sons of his body: and indeed full well I know That fair from the loins of Sigmund shall such a stem outgrow That all folk of the earth shall be praising the womb where once he lay And the paps that his lips have cherished, and shall bless my happy day."
Now the king's heart sore misgave him, but herewith must he be content, And great gifts to the earl of Lyngi and a word withal he sent, That the woman's troth was plighted to another people's king. But King Sigmund's earl on the morrow hath joyful yea-saying, And ere two moons be perished he shall fetch his bride away. "And bid him," King Eylimi sayeth, "to come with no small array, But with sword and shield and war-shaft, lest aught of ill betide."
So forth goes the earl of Sigmund across the sea-flood wide, And comes to the land of the Volsungs, and meeteth Sigmund the king, And tells how he sped on his errand, and the joyful yea-saying.
So King Sigmund maketh him ready, and they ride adown to the sea All glorious of gear and raiment, and a goodly company. Yet hath Sigmund thought of his father, and the deed he wrought before, And hath scorn to gather his people and all his hosts of war To wend to the feast and the wedding: yet are their long-ships ten, And the shielded folk aboard them are the mightiest men of men. So Sigmund goeth a shipboard, and they hoist their sails to the wind, And the beaks of the golden dragons leave the Volsungs' land behind. Then come they to Eylimi's kingdom, and good welcome have they there, And when Sigmund looked on Hiordis, he deemed her wise and fair. But her heart was exceeding fain when she saw the glorious king, And it told her of times that should be full many a noble thing.
So there is Sigmund wedded at a great and goodly feast, And day by day on Hiordis the joy of her heart increased; And her father joyed in Sigmund and his might and majesty, And dead in the heart of the Isle-king his ancient fear did lie.
Yet, forsooth, had men looked seaward, they had seen the gathering cloud, And the little wind arising, that should one day pipe so loud. For well may ye wot indeed that King Lyngi the Mighty is wroth, When he getteth the gifts and the answer, and that tale of the woman's troth: And he saith he will have the gifts and the woman herself withal, Either for loving or hating, and that both those heads shall fall. So now when Sigmund and Hiordis are wedded a month or more, And the Volsung bids men dight them to cross the sea-flood o'er, Lo, how there cometh the tidings of measureless mighty hosts Who are gotten ashore from their long-ships on the skirts of King Eylimi's coasts.
Sore boded the heart of the Isle-king of what the end should be. But Sigmund long beheld him, and he said: "Thou deem'st of me That my coming hath brought thee evil; but put aside such things; For long have I lived, and I know it, that the lives of mighty kings Are not cast away, nor drifted like the down before the wind; And surely I know, who say it, that never would Hiordis' mind Have been turned to wed King Lyngi or aught but the Volsung seed Come, go we forth to the battle, that shall be the latest deed Of thee and me meseemeth: yea, whether thou live or die, No more shall the brand of Odin at peace in his scabbard lie."
And therewith he brake the peace-strings and drew the blade of bale, And Death on the point abided, Fear sat on the edges pale.
So men ride adown to the sea-strand, and the kings their hosts array When the high noon flooded heaven; and the men of the Volsungs lay, With King Eylimi's shielded champions mid Lyngi's hosts of war, As the brown pips lie in the apple when ye cut it through the core.
But now when the kings were departed, from the King's house Hiordis went, And before men joined the battle she came to a woody bent, Where she lay with one of her maidens the death and the deeds to behold.
In the noon sun shone King Sigmund as an image all of gold, And he stood before the foremost and the banner of his fame, And many a thing he remembered, and he called on each earl by his name To do well for the house of the Volsungs, and the ages yet unborn. Then he tossed up the sword of the Branstock, and blew on his father's horn, Dread of so many a battle, doom-song of so many a man. Then all the earth seemed moving as the hosts of Lyngi ran On the Volsung men and the Isle-folk like wolves upon the prey; But sore was their labour and toil ere the end of their harvesting day.
On went the Volsung banners, and on went Sigmund before, And his sword was the flail of the tiller on the wheat of the wheat-thrashing floor, And his shield was rent from his arm, and his helm was sheared from his head: But who may draw nigh him to smite for the heap and the rampart of dead? White went his hair on the wind like the ragged drift of the cloud, And his dust-driven, blood-beaten harness was the death-storm's angry shroud, When the summer sun is departing in the first of the night of wrack; And his sword was the cleaving lightning, that smites and is hurried aback Ere the hand may rise against it; and his voice was the following thunder.
Then cold grew the battle before him, dead-chilled with the fear and the wonder: For again in his ancient eyes the light of victory gleamed; From his mouth grown tuneful and sweet the song of his kindred streamed; And no more was he worn and weary, and no more his life seemed spent: And with all the hope of his childhood was his wrath of battle blent; And he thought: A little further, and the river of strife is passed, And I shall sit triumphant the king of the world at last.
But lo, through the hedge of the war-shafts a mighty man there came, One-eyed and seeming ancient, but his visage shone like flame: Gleaming-grey was his kirtle, and his hood was cloudy blue; And he bore a mighty twi-bill, as he waded the fight-sheaves through, And stood face to face with Sigmund, and upheaved the bill to smite. Once more round the head of the Volsung fierce glittered the Branstock's light, The sword that came from Odin; and Sigmund's cry once more Rang out to the very heavens above the din of war. Then clashed the meeting edges with Sigmund's latest stroke, And in shivering shards fell earthward that fear of worldly folk. But changed were the eyes of Sigmund, and the war-wrath left his face; For that grey-clad mighty helper was gone, and in his place Drave on the unbroken spear-wood 'gainst the Volsung's empty hands: And there they smote down Sigmund, the wonder of all lands, On the foemen, on the death-heap his deeds had piled that day.
Ill hour for Sigmund's fellows! they fall like the seeded hay Before the brown scythes' sweeping, and there the Isle-king fell In the fore-front of his battle, wherein he wrought right well, And soon they were nought but foemen who stand upon their feet On the isle-strand by the ocean where the grass and the sea-sand meet.
And now hath the conquering War-king another deed to do, And he saith: "Who now gainsayeth King Lyngi come to woo, The lord and the overcomer and the bane of the Volsung kin?" So he fares to the Isle-king's dwelling a wife of the kings to win; And the host is gathered together, and they leave the field of the dead; And round as a targe of the Goth-folk the moon ariseth red.
And so when the last is departed, and she deems they will come not aback, Fares Hiordis forth from the thicket to the field of the fateful wrack, And half-dead was her heart for sorrow as she waded the swathes of the sword. Not far did she search the death-field ere she found her king and lord On the heap that his glaive had fashioned: not yet was his spirit past, Though his hurts were many and grievous, and his life-blood ebbing fast; And glad were his eyes and open as her wan face over him hung, And he spake: "Thou art sick with sorrow, and I would thou wert not so young; Yet as my days passed shall thine pass; and a short while now it seems Since my hand first gripped the sword-hilt, and my glory was but in dreams."
She said: "Thou livest, thou livest! the leeches shall heal thee still."
"Nay," said he, "my heart hath hearkened to Odin's bidding and will; For today have mine eyes beheld him: nay, he needed not to speak: Forsooth I knew of his message and the thing he came to seek. And now do I live but to tell thee of the days that are yet to come: And perchance to solace thy sorrow; and then will I get me home To my kin that are gone before me. Lo, yonder where I stood The shards of a glaive of battle that was once the best of the good: Take them and keep them surely. I have lived no empty days; The Norns were my nursing mothers; I have won the people's praise. When the Gods for one deed asked me I ever gave them twain; Spendthrift of glory I was, and great was my life-days' gain; Now these shards have been my fellow in the work the Gods would have, But today hath Odin taken the gift that once he gave. I have wrought for the Volsungs truly, and yet have I known full well That a better one than I am shall bear the tale to tell: And for him shall these shards be smithied; and he shall be my son To remember what I have forgotten and to do what I left undone. Under thy girdle he lieth, and how shall I say unto thee, Unto thee, the wise of women, to cherish him heedfully. Now, wife, put by thy sorrow for the little day we have had; For in sooth I deem thou weepest: The days have been fair and glad: And our valour and wisdom have met, and thou knowest they shall not die: Sweet and good were the days, nor yet to the Fates did we cry For a little longer yet, and a little longer to live: But we took, we twain in our meeting, all gifts that they had to give: Our wisdom and valour have kissed, and thine eyes shall see the fruit, And the joy for his days that shall be hath pierced mine heart to the root. Grieve not for me; for thou weepest that thou canst not see my face How its beauty is not departed, nor the hope of mine eyes grown base. Indeed I am waxen weary; but who heedeth weariness That hath been day-long on the mountain in the winter weather's stress, And now stands in the lighted doorway and seeth the king draw nigh, And heareth men dighting the banquet, and the bed wherein he shall lie?"
Then failed the voice of Sigmund; but so mighty was the man, That a long while yet he lingered till the dusky night grew wan, And she sat and sorrowed o'er him, but no more a word he spake. Then a long way over the sea-flood the day began to break; And when the sun was arisen a little he turned his head Till the low beams bathed his eyen, and there lay Sigmund dead. And the sun rose up on the earth; but where was the Volsung kin And the folk that the Gods had begotten the praise of all people to win?
How King Sigmund the Volsung was laid in mound on the sea-side of the Isle-realm.
Now Hiordis looked from the dead, and her eyes strayed down to the sea, And a shielded ship she saw, and a war-dight company, Who beached the ship for the landing: so swift she fled away, And once more to the depth of the thicket, wherein her handmaid lay: And she said: "I have left my lord, and my lord is dead and gone, And he gave me a charge full heavy, and here are we twain alone, And earls from the sea are landing: give me thy blue attire, And take my purple and gold and my crown of the sea-flood's fire, And be thou the wife of King Volsung when men of our names shall ask, And I will be the handmaid: now I bid thee to this task, And I pray thee not to fail me, because of thy faith and truth, And because I have ever loved thee, and thy mother fostered my youth. Yea, because my womb is wealthy with a gift for the days to be. Now do this deed for mine asking and the tale shall be told of thee."
So the other nought gainsaith it and they shift their raiment there: But well-spoken was the maiden, and a woman tall and fair.
Now the lord of those new-coming men was a king and the son of a king, King Elf the son of the Helper, and he sailed from war-faring And drew anigh to the Isle-realm and sailed along the strand; For the shipmen needed water and fain would go a-land; And King Elf stood hard by the tiller while the world was yet a-cold: Then the red sun lit the dawning, and they looked, and lo, behold! The wrack of a mighty battle, and heaps of the shielded dead, And a woman alive amidst them, a queen with crownèd head, And her eyes strayed down to the sea-strand, and she saw that weaponed folk, And turned and fled to the thicket: then the lord of the shipmen spoke: "Lo, here shall we lack for water, for the brooks with blood shall run, Yet wend we ashore to behold it and to wot of the deeds late done."
So they turned their faces to Sigmund, and waded the swathes of the sword. "O, look ye long," said the Sea-king, "for here lieth a mighty lord: And all these are the deeds of his war-flame, yet hardy hearts, be sure, That they once durst look in his face or the wrath of his eyen endure; Though his lips be glad and smiling as a God that dreameth of mirth. Would God I were one of his kindred, for none such are left upon earth. Now fare we into the thicket, for thereto is the woman fled, And belike she shall tell us the story of this field of the mighty dead."
So they wend and find the women, and bespeak them kind and fair: Then spake the gold-crowned handmaid: "Of the Isle-king's house we were, And I am the Queen called Hiordis; and the man that lies on the field Was mine own lord Sigmund the Volsung, the mightiest under shield."
Then all amazed were the sea-folk when they hearkened to that word, And great and heavy tidings they deem their ears have heard: But again spake out the Sea-king: "And this blue-clad one beside, So pale, and as tall as a Goddess, and white and lovely eyed?"
"In sooth and in troth," said the woman, "my serving-maid is this; She hath wept long over the battle, and sore afraid she is."
Now the king looks hard upon her, but he saith no word thereto, And down again to the death-field with the women-folk they go. There they set their hands to the labour, and amidst the deadly mead They raise a mound for Sigmund, a mighty house indeed; And therein they set that folk-king, and goodly was his throne, And dight with gold and scarlet: and the walls of the house were done With the cloven shields of the foemen, and banners borne to field; But none might find his war-helm or the splinters of his shield, And clenched and fast was his right hand, but no sword therein he had: For Hiordis spake to the shipmen: "Our lord and master bade That the shards of his glaive of battle should go with our lady the Queen: And by them that lie a-dying a many things are seen."
So there lies Sigmund the Volsung, and far away, forlorn Are the blossomed boughs of the Branstock, and the house where he was born. To what end was wrought that roof-ridge, and the rings of the silver door, And the fair-carved golden high-seat, and the many-pictured floor Worn down by the feet of the Volsungs? or the hangings of delight, Or the marvel of its harp-strings, or the Dwarf-wrought beakers bright? Then the Gods have fashioned a folk who have fashioned a house in vain; It is nought, and for nought they battled, and nought was their joy and their pain, Lo, the noble oak of the forest with his feet in the flowers and grass, How the winds that bear the summer o'er its topmost branches pass, And the wood-deer dwell beneath it, and the fowl in its fair twigs sing, And there it stands in the forest, an exceeding glorious thing: Then come the axes of men, and low it lies on the ground, And the crane comes out of the southland, and its nest is nowhere found, And bare and shorn of its blossoms is the house of the deer of the wood. But the tree is a golden dragon; and fair it floats on the flood, And beareth the kings and the earl-folk, and is shield-hung all without: And it seeth the blaze of the beacons, and heareth the war-God's shout. There are tidings wherever it cometh, and the tale of its time shall be told A dear name it hath got like a king, and a fame that groweth not old.
Lo, such is the Volsung dwelling; lo, such is the deed he hath wrought Who laboured all his life-days, and had rest but little or nought, Who died in the broken battle; who lies with swordless hand In the realm that the foe hath conquered on the edge of a stranger-land.
How Queen Hiordis is known; and how she abideth in the house of Elf the son of the Helper.
Now asketh the king of those women where now in the world they will go, And Hiordis speaks for the twain; "This is now but a land of the foe And our lady and Queen beseecheth that unto thine house we wend And that there thou serve her kingly that her woes may have an end."
Fain then was the heart of the folk-king, and he bade aboard forth-right. And they hoist the sails to the wind and sail by day and by night Till they come to a land of the people, and a goodly land it is Where folk may dwell unharried and win abundant bliss, The land of King Elf and the Helper; and there he bids them abide In his house that is goodly shapen, and wrought full high and wide: And he biddeth the Queen be merry, and set aside her woe, And he doth by them better and better, as day on day doth go.
Now there was the mother of Elf, and a woman wise was she, And she spake to her son of a morning: "I have noted them heedfully. Those women thou broughtst from the outlands, and fain now would I wot Why the worser of the women the goodlier gear hath got."
He said: "She hath named her Hiordis, the wife of the mightiest king, E'en Sigmund the son of Volsung with whose name the world doth ring."
Then the old queen laughed and answered: "Is it not so, my son. That the handmaid still gave counsel when aught of deeds was done?"
He said: "Yea, she spake mostly; and her words were exceeding wise. And measureless sweet I deem her, and dear she is to mine eyes."
But she said: "Do after my counsel, and win thee a goodly queen: Speak ye to the twain unwary, and the truth shall soon be seen, And again shall they shift their raiment, if I am aught but a fool."
He said: "Thou sayst well, mother, and settest me well to school." So he spake on a day to the women, and said to the gold-clad one: "How wottest thou in the winter of the coming of the sun When yet the world is darkling?" She said: "In the days of my youth I dwelt in the house of my father, and fair was the tide forsooth, And ever I woke at the dawning, for folk betimes must stir, Be the meadows bright or darksome; and I drank of the whey-tub there As much as the heart desired; and now, though changed be the days, I wake athirst in the dawning, because of my wonted ways."
Then laughed King Elf and answered: "A fashion strange enow, That the feet of the fair queen's-daughter must forth to follow the plough, Be the acres bright or darkling! But thou with the eyes of grey. What sign hast thou to tell thee, that the night wears into day When the heavens are mirk as the midnight?" Said she, "In the days that were My father gave me this gold-ring ye see on my finger here. And a marvel goeth with it: for when night waxeth old I feel it on my finger grown most exceeding cold, And I know day comes through the darkness; and such is my dawning sign."
Then laughed King Elf and answered: "Thy father's house was fine; There was gold enough meseemeth--But come now, say the word And tell me the speech thou spakest awrong mine ears have heard, And that thou wert the wife of Sigmund the wife of the mightiest King."
No whit she smiled, but answered. "Indeed thou sayst the thing: Such a wealth I had in my storehouse that I feared the Kings of men."
He said: "Yet for nought didst thou hide thee; had I known of the matter then, As the daughter of my father had I held thee in good sooth, For dear to mine eyes wert thou waxen, and my heart of thy woe was ruth. But now shall I deal with thee better than thy dealings to me have been: For my wife I will bid thee to be, and the people's very queen."
She said: "When the son of King Sigmund is brought forth to the light of day And the world a man hath gotten, thy will shall I nought gainsay. And I thank thee for thy goodness, and I know the love of thine heart; And I see thy goodly kingdom, thy country set apart, With the day of peace begirdled from the change and the battle's wrack: 'Tis enough, and more than enough since none prayeth the past aback."
Then the King is fain and merry, and he deems his errand sped, And that night she sits on the high-seat with the crown on her shapely head: And amidst the song and the joyance, and the sound of the people's praise, She thinks of the days that have been, and she dreams of the coming days.
So passeth the summer season, and the harvest of the year, And the latter days of the winter on toward the springtide wear.
