“‘Ever,’ said he, ’your brethren I’ll serve as best I may,
    Nor once, while I have being, will head on pillow lay
    Till I have done to please them whate’er they bid me do;
    And this, my Lady Kriemhild, is all for love of you.’”
          
                              Nibelungenlied (Lettsom’s tr.).

The festivities being ended, Gunther bestowed many gifts on the departing guests; but when Siegfried would also have departed he entreated him to remain at Worms.  This the young hero was not at all loath to do, as he had fallen deeply in love with the fair Kriemhild, whom he was now privileged to see every day.

[Sidenote:  Brunhild.] The excitement consequent on the festivities had not entirely subsided in Worms when King Gunther declared his desire to win for his wife Brunhild, a princess of Issland, who had vowed to marry none but the man who could surpass her in casting a spear, in throwing a stone, and in jumping.

“Then spake the lord of Rhineland:  ’Straight will I hence to sea,
And seek the fiery Brunhild, howe’er it go with me. 
For love of the stern maiden I’ll frankly risk my life;
Ready am I to lose it, if I win her not to wife.’”
Nibelungenlied (Lettsom’s
tr.).

In vain Siegfried, who knew all about Brunhild, tried to dissuade him; Gunther insisted upon departing, but proposed to Siegfried to accompany him, promising him as reward for his assistance Kriemhild’s hand as soon as the princess of Issland was won.  Such an offer was not to be refused, and Siegfried immediately accepted it, advising Gunther to take only Hagen and Dankwart as his attendants.

[Sidenote:  The expedition to Issland.] After seeking the aid of Kriemhild for a supply of rich clothing suitable for a prince going a-wooing, Gunther and the three knights embarked on a small vessel, whose sails soon filled, and which rapidly bore them flown the Rhine and over the sea to Issland.  When within sight of its shores, Siegfried bade his companions all carefully agree in representing him to the strangers as Gunther’s vassal only.  Their arrival was seen by some inquisitive damsels peering out of the windows of the castle, and reported to Brunhild, who immediately and joyfully concluded that Siegfried had come to seek her hand in marriage.  But when she heard that he held another man’s stirrup to enable him to mount, she angrily frowned, wondering why he came as a menial instead of as a king.  When the strangers entered her hall she would have greeted Siegfried first had he not modestly drawn aside, declaring that the honor was due to his master, Gunther, King of Burgundy, who had come to Issland to woo her.

Brunhild then haughtily bade her warriors make all the necessary preparations for the coming contest; and Gunther, Hagen, and Dankwart apprehensively watched the movements of four warriors staggering beneath the weight of Brunhild’s ponderous shield.  Then they saw three others equally overpowered by her spear; and twelve sturdy servants could scarcely roll the stone she was wont to cast.