--For so her son she honored-- / rich gifts of shining gold:
In sooth deserved she richly / that all should him in honor hold.

41

Never a wandering minstrel / was unprovided found:
Horses there and raiment / so free were dealt around,
As if to live they had not / beyond it one day more.
I ween a monarch's household / ne'er bestowed such gifts before.

42

Thus closed the merry feasting / in this right worthy way,
And 't was well known thereafter / how those good knights did say
That they the youthful hero / for king would gladly have;
But this nowise he wished for, / Siegfried the stately knight and brave.

43

While that they both were living, / Siegmund and Siegelind,
No crown their son desired, / --thereto he had no mind.
Yet would he fain be master / o'er all the hostile might
That in the lands around him / opposed the keen and fiery knight.




THIRD ADVENTURE.

How Siegfried came to Worms