Till the day of the uttermost trial when the war-shield of Odin is
      raised. 
    So my word is the word of wooing, and I bid thee remember thine oath,
    That here in this hall fair-builded we twain may plight the troth;
    That here in the hall of thy waiting thou be made a wedded wife,
    And be called the Queen of the Niblungs, and awaken unto life.”

    Hard rang his voice in the hall, and a while she spake no word,
    And there stood the Image of Gunnar, and leaned on his bright blue
      sword: 
    But at last she cried from the high-seat:  “If I yet am alive and awake,
    I know no words for the speaking, nor what answer I may make.”

    She ceased and he answered nothing; and a hush on the hall there lay,
    And the moon slipped over the windows as he clomb the heavenly way;
    And no whit stirred the raiment of Brynhild:  till she hearkened the
      Wooer’s voice,
    As he said:  “Thou art none of the women that swear and forswear and
      rejoice,
    Forgetting the sorrow of kings and the Gods and the labouring earth. 
    Thou shalt wed with King Gunnar the Niblung and increase his worth
      with thy worth.”

    And again was there silence a while, and the War-King leaned on his
      sword
    In the shape of his foster-brother; then Brynhild took up the word: 
    “Hail Gunnar, King of the Niblungs! tonight shalt thou lie by my side,
    For thou art the Gods’ beloved, and for thee was I shapen a bride: 
    For thee, for the King, have I waited, and the waiting now is done;
    I shall bear Earth’s kings on my bosom and nourish the Niblung’s son. 
    Though women swear and forswear, and are glad no less in their life,
    Tonight shall I wed with the King-folk and be called King Gunnar’s
      wife. 
    Come Gunnar, Lord of the Niblungs, and sit in my fathers’ seat! 
    For for thee alone was it shapen, and the deed is due and meet.”

    Up she rose exceeding glorious, and it was as when in May
    The blossomed hawthorn stirreth with the dawning-wind of day;
    But the Wooer moved to meet her, and amid the golden place
    They met, and their garments mingled and face was close to face;
    And they turned again to the high-seat, and their very right hands met,
    And King Gunnar’s bodily semblance beside her Brynhild set.

    But over his knees and the mail-rings the high King laid his sword,
    And looked in the face of Brynhild and swore King Gunnar’s word: 
    He swore on the hand of Brynhild to be true to his wedded wife,
    And before all things to love her till all folk should praise her life. 
    Unmoved did Brynhild hearken, and in steady voice she swore
    To be true to Gunnar the Niblung while her life-days should endure;
    So she swore on the hand of the Wooer:  and they two were all alone,
    And they sat a while in the high-seat when the wedding-troth was done,
    But no while looked each on the other, and hand fell down from hand,
    And no speech there was betwixt them that their hearts might
      understand.