“He said:  ’Why would you drown her who is to be my wife,
The fair and charming Gudrun?  I love her as my life. 
Another than my father, if he had shown such daring,
Would lose his life and honor from wrath of mine unsparing.’”

          
                                                                                Gudrun (Dippold’s tr.).

[Sidenote:  Gudrun a captive.] After this declaration on the part of the young heir, none dared at first treat Gudrun with any disrespect; and Gerlinda and Ortrun, the mother and sister of Hartmut, welcomed her as she landed on their shores.  Gerlinda’s friendliness was a mere pretense, however, for she hated the proud maiden who scorned her son’s proffered love.  She therefore soon persuaded her son to give the gentle captive entirely into her charge, saying that she would make her consent to become his bride.  Hartmut, who was about to depart for the war, and who little suspected his mother’s cruel intentions, bade her do as she pleased; and he was no sooner out of sight than poor Gudrun was degraded to the rank of a servant, and treated with much harshness and often with actual violence.

During three whole years Gudrun endured this cruelty in silence; but when Hartmut returned she was restored to her former state, although she still persisted in refusing his passionate suit.  Discouraged by her obstinacy, the young man weakly consented to abandon her again to Gerlinda’s tender mercies.  The princess was now made to labor harder than ever, and she and Hildburg, her favorite companion and fellow captive, were daily sent down to the shore to wash the royal linen.

[Illustration:  GUDRUN AND THE SWAN.—­Kepler.]

It was winter, the snow lay thick on the ground, and Gudrun and her companion, barefooted and miserably clad, suffered untold agonies from the cold.  Besides, they were nearly exhausted, and the hope of rescue, which had sustained them during the past twelve years, had almost forsaken them.  Their deliverance was near, however, and while Gudrun was washing on the shore, a mermaid, in the guise of a swan, came gently near her and bade her be of good cheer, for her sufferings would soon be at an end.

“‘Rejoice in hope,’ then answered the messenger divine;
’Thou poor and homeless maiden, great joy shall yet be thine. 
If thou wilt ask for tidings from thy dear native land,
To comfort thee, great Heaven has sent me to this strand.’”

          
                                                                            Gudrun (Dippold’s tr.).

The swan maiden then informed her that her brother Ortwine had grown up, and that he would soon come with brave old Wat and the longing Herwig to deliver her.

The next day, in spite of the increased cold, Gerlinda again roughly bade the maidens go down to the shore and wash, refusing to allow them any covering except one rough linen garment.