Author: William Morris

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things of uttermost worth;
'Neath the fair-dight benches I laid them and the carven work of the hall;
I was wise, as the handmaid arising ere the sun hath litten the wall,
When the brands on the hearth she lighteth that her work betimes she may win,
That her hand may toil unchidden, and her day with praise begin.
—Begin, O day of Atli! O ancient sun, arise,
With the light that I loved aforetime, with the light that blessed mine eyes,
When I woke and looked on Sigurd, and he rose on the world and shone!
And we twain in the world together! and I dwelt with Sigurd alone."

She spake; and the sun clomb over the Eastland mountains' rim
And shone through the door of Atli and the smoky hall and dim,
But the fire roared up against him, and the smoke-cloud rolled aloof,
And back and down from the timbers, and the carven work of the roof;
There the ancient trees were crackling as the red flames shot aloft
From the heart of the gathering smoke-cloud; there the far-fetched hangings soft,
The gold and the sea-born purple, shrank up in a moment of space,
And the walls of Atli trembled, and the ancient golden place.

But the wine-drenched earls were awaking, and the sleep-dazed warriors stirred,
And the light of their dawning was dreadful; wild voice of the day they heard,
And they knew not where they were gotten, and their hearts were smitten with dread,
And they deemed that their house was fallen to the innermost place of the dead,
The hall for the traitors builded, the house of the changeless plain;
[Pg 344]They cried, and their tongues were confounded, and none gave answer again:
They rushed, and came nowhither; each man beheld his foe,
And smote as the hopeless and dying, nor brother brother might know,
The sons of one mother's sorrow in the fire-blast strove and smote,
And the sword of the first-begotten was thrust in the father's throat,
And the father hewed at his stripling; the thrall at the war-king cried,
And mocked the face of the mighty in that house of Atli's pride.

There Gudrun stood o'er the turmoil; there stood the Niblung child;
As the battle-horn is dreadful, as the winter wind is wild,
So dread and shrill was her crying and the cry none heeded or heard,
As she shook the sword in the Eastland, and spake the hidden word:

"The brand for the flesh of the people, and the sword for the King of the world!"
Then adown the hall and the smoke-cloud the half-slaked torch she hurled
And strode to the chamber of Atli, white-fluttering mid the smoke;
But their eyen met in the doorway and he knew the hand and the stroke,
And shrank aback before her; and no hand might he upraise,
There was nought in his heart but anguish in that end of Atli's days.

But she towered aloft before him, and cried in Atli's home:
"Lo, lo, the day-light, Atli, and the last foe overcome!"
And with all the might of the Niblungs she thrust him through and fled,
And the flame was fleet behind her and hung o'er the face of the dead.

There was none to hinder Gudrun, and the fire-blast scathed her nought,
For the ways of the Norns she wended, and her feet from the wrack they brought
Till free from the bane of the East-folk, the swift pursuing flame,
To the uttermost wall of Atli and the side of the sea she came:
She stood on the edge of the steep, and no child of man was there:
A light wind blew from the sea-flood and its waves were little and fair,
And gave back no sign of the burning, as in twinkling haste they ran,
[Pg 345]White-topped in the merry morning, to the walls and the havens of man.

Then Gudrun girded her raiment, on the edge of the steep she stood,
She looked o'er the shoreless water, and cried out o'er the measureless flood:
"O Sea, I stand before thee; and I who was Sigurd's wife!
By his brightness unforgotten I bid thee deliver my life
From the deeds and the longing of days, and the lack I have won of the earth,
And the wrong amended by wrong, and the bitter wrong of my birth!"

She hath spread out her arms as she spake it, and away from the earth she leapt,
And cut off her tide of returning; for the sea-waves over her swept,
And their will is her will henceforward; and who knoweth the deeps of the sea,
And the wealth of the bed of Gudrun, and the days that yet shall be?

Ye have heard of Sigurd aforetime, how the foes of God he slew;
How forth from the darksome desert the Gold of the Waters he drew;
How he wakened Love on the Mountain, and wakened Brynhild the Bright,
And dwelt upon Earth for a season, and shone in all men's sight.
Ye have heard of the Cloudy People, and the dimming of the day,
And the latter world's confusion, and Sigurd gone away;
Now ye know of the Need of the Niblungs and the end of broken troth,
All the death of kings and of kindreds and the sorrow of Odin the Goth.

THE END.

Transcriber's Notes

Page Problem Correction 7 Siggier the Goth-king Siggeir the Goth-king 7 he said: O Guest, begin; he said: "O Guest, begin; 17 to meet his guests by the way. to meet his guests by the way." 28 wend the ways of his fate." wend the ways of his fate.'" 30 and said: What is it and said: "What is it 42 Sinfioli's Sinfiotli's 57 Sigmund's loins shall grow.' Sigmund's loins shall grow." 64 waded the swathes of the sword waded the swathes of the sword. 99 the blood of the Worm was mine the blood of the Worm was mine. 128 and the Gods are yet but young. and the Gods are yet but young." 140 All hail, O Day "All hail, O Day 141 the Sting of the Sleepful Thorn! the Sting of the Sleepful Thorn!' 143 I needs must speak thy speech.' I needs must speak thy speech." 183 as the sun-beams hide the way as the sun-beams hide the way. 189 God that is smitten nor smites God that is smitten nor smites. 216 his worth with thy worth.' his worth with thy worth." 237 'A witless lie is this; "A witless lie is this; 257 lord of all creatures should die lord of all creatures should die. 281 asembled assembled 283 Now to day do we come Now today do we come 293 called their king with me.' called their king with me." 304 and they seem so gay and kind. and they seem so gay and kind, 338 Lords of the East Lords of the East?

The following words with and without hyphens are transcribed as in the text:

a-cold acold a-land aland all-wise allwise beshielded be-shielded daylight day-light Daylong Day-long doorway door-way downward down-ward evermore ever-more forecourt fore-court forefront fore-front foreordered fore-ordered foreshore fore-shore forthright forth-right fosterbrethren foster-brethren gemstones gem-stones godlike god-like goodwill good-will gravemound grave-mound greensward green-sward handmaid hand-maid harpstrings harp-strings heavyhearted heavy-hearted helpmate help-mate lealand lea-land leechcraft leech-craft lifedays life-days longships long-ships manchild man-child manlike man-like manfolk's man-folk's midnoon mid-noon moonlit moon-lit moonrise moon-rise noontide noon-tide O'ershort O'er-short oakwood oak-wood outbrake out-brake overworn over-worn sidelong side-long songcraft song-craft spearwood spear-wood springtide spring-tide storehouse store-house sunbeams sun-beams sunbright sun-bright sunlit sun-lit today to-day tonight to-night torchlight torch-light trothplight troth-plight upbuilded up-builded upheaveth up-heaveth upraised up-raised warfarings war-farings warflame war-flame wargear war-gear wildfire wild-fire woodways wood-ways yestereve yester-eve yestereven yester-even

The following words with and without accented vowels are transcribed as in the text:

accursed accursèd assured assurèd beloved belovèd changed changèd crooked crookèd crowned crownèd heaped heapèd loved lovèd sheathed sheathèd Son Sôn End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs, by William Morris

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