the winner of all that is worth: 
    And Gudrun beareth it all, and deemeth it little enow
    Though the wife of Sigurd be worshipped:  and the scorn in her heart
      doth grow,
    Of every soul save Sigurd:  for that tale of the night she bears
    Scarce hid ’twixt the lips and the bosom; and with evil eye she hears
    Songs sung of the deeds of Gunnar, and the rider of the fire,
    Who mocked at the bane of King-folk to win his heart’s desire: 
    But Sigurd’s will constraineth, and with seeming words of peace
    She deals with the converse of Brynhild, and the days her load
      increase.

    Men tell how the heart-wise Hogni grew wiser day by day;
    He knows of the craft of Grimhild, and how she looketh to sway
    The very council of God-home and the Norns’ unchanging mind;
    And he saith that well-learned is his mother, but that e’en her feet
      are blind
    Down the path that she cannot escape from:  nay oft is she nothing,
      he saith,
    Save a staff for the foredoomed staying, and a sword for the ordered
      death;
    And that he will be wiser than this, nor thrust his desire aside,
    Nor smother the flame of his hatred; but the steed of the Norns will
      he ride,
    Till he see great marvels and wonders, and leave great tales to be
      told: 
    And measureless pride is in him, a stern heart, stubborn and cold.

    But of Gunnar the Niblung they say it, that the bloom of his youth
      is o’er,
    And many are manhood’s troubles, and they burden him oft and sore. 
    He dwells with Brynhild his wife, with Grimhild his mother he dwells,
    And noble things of his greatness, of his joy, the rumour tells;
    Yet oft and oft of an even he thinks of that tale of the night,
    And the shame springs fresh in his heart at his brother Sigurd’s might;
    And the wonder riseth within him, what deed did Sigurd there,
    What gift to the King hath he given:  and he looks on Brynhild the fair,
    The fair face never smiling, and the eyes that know no change,
    And he deems in the bed of the Niblungs she is but cold and strange;
    And the Lie is laid between them, as the sword lay while agone. 
    He hearkens to Grimhild moreover, and he deems she is driving him on,
    He knoweth not whither nor wherefore:  but she tells of the measureless
      Gold,
    And the Flame of the uttermost Waters, and the Hoard of the kings of
      old: 
    And she tells of kings’ supplanters, and the leaders of the war,
    Who take the crown of song-craft, and the tale when all is o’er: 
    She tells of kings’ supplanters, and saith:  Perchance ’twere well,
    Might some tongue of the wise of the earth of those deeds of the
      night-tide tell: 
    She tells of kings’ supplanters:  I am wise, and the wise I know,
    And for nought is the sword-edge whetted, save the smiting of the blow: 
    Old friends are last to sever, and twain are strong indeed,
    When one the King’s shame knoweth, and the other knoweth his need.