Then spake Queen Brunhild, “Bring me now my royal vesture; if Siegfried seeks to woo me for his wife, he must risk his life on the cast; I fear him not so much as to yield to him without a struggle.”  So the Queen arrayed her in her royal robes, and went to the hall of audience, and a hundred maidens and more followed her, fair of face and in fair array.  And after the maidens came five hundred warriors and more, each bearing his sword in his hand, the very flower of Isenland.

Said Queen Brunhild to Siegfried, “You are welcome, good Sir Siegfried.  Show me, if you will, for what cause you have come hither.”  “I thank you a thousand times,” answered Siegfried, “that you have greeted me so courteously, but know that I must give place to this noble hero.  He is my lord and master; I am his vassal.  Let your favour be for him.  His kingdom is by the Rhine side, and we have sailed all this way from thence that he may woo you for his bride.  That is his fixed intent, nor will he yield whatever may befall.  Gunther is his name; a great King is he, and nothing will content him but to carry you back with him to the Rhine.”

Queen Brunhild answered, “If he is the master and you the man, then let him know that he must match me in my games and conquer me.  If he prevail, then will I be his wedded wife; but if I prevail, then must he die, he and you and all his comrades.”  Then spake Sir Hagen, “Lady, tell us now the games at which my master must contend; and know that you must strive full hard, if you would conquer him, for he has a full trust that he will win you for his bride.”  The Queen answered, “He must cast the stone further than I, and also leap behind it further than I leap; and also he must cast the spear with me.  It seems to me that you are over-hasty; let him count the cost, ere he lose both fame and life.”  Then Siegfried whispered to the King, “Have no fear for what shall be, and cast away all your care.  Let the fair Brunhild do what she will, I will bear you harmless.”  So the King spake aloud, “Fairest of the fair, tell me your pleasure; were it a greater task willingly would I undertake it, for if I win you not for my bride, willingly will I lose my head.”

Then the fair Brunhild called for her battle gear, her arms, and her breastplate of gold and her mighty shield; and over all she drew a surcoat of silk, marvellously made.  Fierce and angry was her countenance as she looked at the strangers, and Hagen and Dankwart were troubled to see her, for they doubted how it might go with their master. “’Tis a fatal journey,” said they, “and will bring us to trouble.”

Meanwhile Siegfried hied him with nimble foot to the bark, and there he took, from the secret corner where he kept it, the Hood of Darkness, by which, at his will, he could make himself invisible.  Quickly did he go, and quickly returned, and now no one could see him, for he wore the hood.  Through the crowd he went at his pleasure, seeing all but seen of none.