Never a wandering minstrel / was unprovided found: Horses there and raiment / so free were dealt around, As if to live they had not / beyond it one day more. I ween a monarch's household / ne'er bestowed such gifts before. 42 Thus closed the merry feasting / in this right worthy way, And 't was well known thereafter / how those good knights did say That they the youthful hero / for king would gladly have; But this nowise he wished for, / Siegfried the stately knight and brave. 43 While that they both were living, / Siegmund and Siegelind, No crown their son desired, / --thereto he had no mind. Yet would he fain be master / o'er all the hostile might That in the lands around him / opposed the keen and fiery knight. THIRD ADVENTURE. How Siegfried came to Worms 44 Seldom in sooth, if ever, / the hero's heart was sad. He heard them tell the story, / how that a winsome maid There lived afar in Burgundy, / surpassing fair to see: Great joy she brought him later, / but eke she brought him misery. 45 Of her exceeding beauty / the fame spread far and near, And of the thing, moreover, / were knights oft-times aware How the maid's high spirit / no mortal could command: The thing lured many a stranger / from far unto King Gunther's land. 46 Although to win her favor / were many wooers bent, In her own heart would never / Kriemhild thereto consent That any one amongst them / for lover she would have: Still to her was he a stranger / to whom anon her troth she gave. 47 To true love turned his fancy / the son of Siegelind. 'Gainst his, all others' wooing / was like an idle wind: Full well did he merit / a lady fair to woo, And soon the noble Kriemhild / to Siegfried bold was wedded true. 48 By friends he oft was counselled, / and many a faithful man, Since to think of wooing / in earnest he began, That he a wife should find him / of fitting high degree. Then spoke the noble Siegfried: / "In sooth fair Kriemhild shall it be, 49 "The noble royal maiden / in Burgundy that dwells, For sake of all her beauty. / Of her the story tells, Ne'er monarch was so mighty / that, if for spouse he sighed, 'Twere not for him befitting / to take the princess for his bride." 50 Unto King Siegmund also / the thing was soon made known. His people talked about it, / whereby to him was shown The Prince's fixed purpose. / It grieved him sorely, too, That his son intent was / the full stately maid to woo. 51 Siegelind asked and learned it, / the noble monarch's wife. For her loved son she sorrowed / lest he should lose his life, For well she knew the humor / of Gunther and his men. Then gan they from the wooing / strive to turn the noble thane. 52 Then said the doughty Siegfried: / "O father dear to me, Without the love of woman / would I ever be, Could I not woo in freedom / where'er my heart is set. Whate'er be said by any, / I'll keep the selfsame purpose yet." 53