She answered, "If he be thy lord, and thou be his man, let him withstand
me at the games. If he have the mastery, then I am his wife, but let him
fail in one of them, and ye be all dead men."

Then said Hagen of Trony, "Lady, show us the games that thou proposest.
It will go hard with Gunther or he yield thee the mastery, for he troweth
well to win so fair a maiden."

"He must put the stone, and leap after it, and throw the spear with me.
Ye may easily forfeit honour and life; wherefore be not so confident, but
bethink you well."

Then bold Siegfried went to the king, and bade him fear naught, but speak
freely to the queen. "For," said he, "I will aid thee with cunning
devices."

And King Gunther said, "Command me, great queen, and were it more yet, I
would risk it for thy sake. I will lose my head, or win thee to wife."

When the queen heard this word, she bade haste to the sports, as was
meet, and let them bring her harness, a golden buckler and a goodly
shield. She did on a surcoat of silk from Libya, that had never been
pierced in combat, cunningly fashioned and embroidered, and shining with
precious stones. Her pride greatly angered the knights, and Dankwart and
Hagen were downcast, for they feared for their lord, and thought, "Ill-
starred was this journey."

Meanwhile, Siegfried, the cunning man, went, when none spied him, to the
ship, where he found the _Tarnkappe_, and he did it on swiftly, that none
knew. Then he hastened back to the crowd of knights, where the queen