At last he came again at sunset to the Niblung gates, and there came forth Giuki and Grimhild and the Niblung brethren with fair words of greeting, but in the doorway Gudrun stood and wept.  So Sigurd entered with them, yet he knew that a flood of sorrow had come on his life-days and that no more might he feel the joy he had known aforetime in the Niblung hall.  Howbeit, when he looked on the people and saw them in fear at his trouble, the kindness of his heart was kindled, and thrusting the heavy sorrow aside, he lifted his head and spake wise words of good cheer so that the folk looking on him were comforted.

Of the Wedding of Sigurd the Volsung.

But Gudrun knew Sigurd’s heart and was sorrowful because of his grief and her great love for him, and when Grimhild bade her carry him wine, she arose and took the cup but could find no word to speak for anguish.  And Sigurd looking on her face saw there a kindness and a sorrow like his own, and seeing it he knew that she loved him.  Then pity and love for her rose in his heart and comforted him, and he took the cup from her and spake, saying:—­

  “Here are glad men about us, and a joyous folk of war,
  And they that have loved thee for long, and they that have cherished mine
       heart;
  But we twain alone are woeful, as sad folk sitting apart. 
  Ah, if I thy soul might gladden! if thy lips might give me peace! 
  Then belike were we gladdest of all; for I love thee more than these. 
  The cup of goodwill that thou bearest, and the greeting thou wouldst say,
  Turn these to the cup of thy love, and the words of the troth-plighting day;
  The love that endureth for ever, and the never-dying troth,
  To face the Norns’ undoing, and the Gods amid their wrath.”

* * * * *

And his clear voice saith: 
“O Gudrun, now hearken while I swear
That the sun shall die for ever and the day no more be fair,
Ere I forget thy pity and thine inmost heart of love! 
Yea, though the Kings be mighty, and the Gods be great above,
I will wade the flood and the fire, and the waste of war forlorn,
To look on the Niblung dwelling, and the house where thou wert born.”

Strange seemed the words to Sigurd that his gathering love compelled,
And sweet and strange desire o’er his tangled trouble welled.

But bright flashed the eyes of Gudrun, and she said:  “King, as for me,
If thou sawest the heart in my bosom, what oath might better thee? 
Yet my words thy words shall cherish, as thy lips my lips have done. 
—­Herewith I swear, O Sigurd, that the earth shall hate the sun,
And the year desire but darkness, and the blossoms shrink from day,
Ere my love shall fail, beloved, or my longing pass away!”