KRIEMHILD.

  Then is there something wanted for the Queen?

  FRIGGA.

  There is not.  She needs nothing.

  KRIEMHILD.

  Nothing still? 
  But can she not forgive?

  FRIGGA.

  I do not know! 
  She has had no occasion to forgive;
  She never was offended.  I heard horns. 
  Is there a hunt?

  KRIEMHILD.

  Hast thou then ordered it?

  FRIGGA.

  I—­No!

   [Exit.]

  SCENE XVI

  KRIEMHILD.

  Oh, had I only told it him! 
  Oh, my beloved, no woman host thou known,
  I see it now!  Else nevermore hadst thou
  Unto a trembling girl who doth betray
  Herself through fear, intrusted such a secret. 
  Still do I hear the playful whispered words
  With which thou told’st it to me when I praised
  The dragon’s death.  And then I made thee swear
  To tell no other soul in all the world,
  And now—­Oh birds that circle overhead,
  Oh snow white doves that fly about me now,
  Take pity on me, warn him, fly to him!

  [Exit.]

  ACT V

  Oden Forest.

  SCENE I

  Enter HAGEN, GUNTHER, VOLKER, DANKWART and serving men.

  HAGEN.

  This is the place.  The spring is gushing forth,
  The bushes cover it.  If I stand here,
  I can impale the man who stoops to drink
  Against the rock.

  GUNTHER.

  I’ve given no command.

HAGEN.

When thou hast taken thought thou wilt command. 
There is no other way, and there will come
No second day like this one.  Therefore speak,
Or if thou wilt not speak, be still!

(To the serving men.)

             Hello! 
  ’Tis here we rest!

[The serving men prepare a meal.]

GUNTHER.

Thou’st always hated him.

HAGEN.

  I’ll not deny that gladly to this work
  I lend my hand, and I would surely meet
  In combat any man who came between
  My enemy and me, and yet the deed
  I hold not for that reason less than just.

  GUNTHER.

  And yet my brothers spoke against the deed
  And turned their backs upon us.

  HAGEN.

  Had they then
  The courage to warn him and hinder us? 
  They must have felt that we are in the right,
  And it is but their youth that makes them shrink
  From blood that is not shed in open fight.

  GUNTHER.

  It must be so.

  HAGEN.

  Why he has bought off death
  And so ennobled murder.

  (To the serving men.)

  Sound the horns,
  And call the hunt together.  For ’tis time
  That we should eat.

  [The horns are blown.]