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Volsungs' lord,

       To tell me of my brother, why cometh he not from the sea?"

      Quoth Sinfiotli: "Well thou wottest and the tale hath come to thee:

       The white swords met in the island; bright there did the war-shields shine,

       And there thy brother abideth, for his hand was worser than mine."

      But she heeded him never a whit, but cried on Sigmund and said:

       "I charge thee now, King Sigmund, as thou art the lord of my bed,

       To drive this wolf of the King-folk from out thy guarded land;

       Lest all we of thine house and kindred should fall beneath his hand."

      Then spake King Sigmund the Volsung: "When thou hast heard the tale,

       Thou shalt know that somewhat thy brother of his oath to my son did fail;

       Nor fell the man all sackless: nor yet need Sigmund's son

       For any slain in sword-field to any soul atone.

       Yet for the love I bear thee, and because thy love I know,

       And because the man was mighty, and far afield would go,

       I will lay down a mighty weregild, a heap of the ruddy gold."

      But no word answered Borghild, for her heart was grim and cold;

       And she went from the hall of the feasting, and lay in her bower a while;

       Nor speech she took, nor gave it, but brooded deadly guile.

       And now again on the morrow to Sigmund the king she went,

       And she saith that her wrath hath failed her, and that well is she content

       To take the king's atonement; and she kissed him soft and sweet,

       And she kissed Sinfiotli his son, and sat down in the golden seat

       All merry and glad by seeming, and blithe to most and least.

       And again she biddeth King Sigmund that he hold a funeral feast

       For her brother slain on the island; and nought he gainsayeth her will.

      And so on an eve of the autumn do men the beakers fill,

       And the earls are gathered together 'neath the boughs of the Branstock green;

       There gold-clad mid the feasting went Borghild, Sigmund's Queen,

       And she poured the wine for Sinfiotli, and smiled in his face and said:

       "Drink now of this cup from mine hand, and bury we hate that is dead."

      So he took the cup from her fingers, nor drank but pondered long

       O'er the gathering days of his labour, and the intermingled wrong.

      Now he sat by the side of his father; and Sigmund spake a word:

       "O son, why sittest thou silent mid the glee of earl and lord?"

      "I look in the cup," quoth Sinfiotli, "and hate therein I see."

      "Well looked it is," said Sigmund; "give thou the cup to me,"

       And he drained it dry to the bottom; for ye mind how it was writ

       That this king might drink of venom, and have no hurt of it.

       But the song sprang up in the hall, and merry was Sigmund's heart,

       And he drank of the wine of King-folk and thrust all care apart.

      Then the second time came Borghild and stood before the twain,

       And she said: "O valiant step-son, how oft shall I say it in vain,

       That my hate for thee hath perished, and the love hath sprouted green?

       Wilt thou thrust my gift away, and shame the hand of a queen?"

      So he took the cup from her fingers, and pondered over it long,

       And thought on the labour that should be, and the wrong that amendeth wrong.

      Then spake Sigmund the King: "O son, what aileth thine heart,

       When the earls of men are merry, and thrust all care apart?"

      But he said: "I have looked in the cup, and I see the deadly snare."

      "Well seen it is," quoth Sigmund, "but thy burden I may bear."

       And he took the beaker and drained it, and the song rose up in the hall;

       And fair bethought King Sigmund his latter days befall.

      But again came Borghild the Queen and stood with the cup in her hand,

       And said: "They are idle liars, those singers of every land

       Who sing how thou fearest nothing; for thou losest valour and might,

       And art fain to live for ever."

       Then she stretched forth her fingers white,

       And he took the cup from her hand, nor drank, but pondered long

       Of the toil that begetteth toil, and the wrong that beareth wrong.

      But Sigmund turned him about, and he said: "What aileth thee, son?

       Shall our life-days never be merry, and our labour never be done?"

      But Sinfiotli said: "I have looked, and lo there is death in the cup."

      And the song, and the tinkling of harp-strings to the roof-tree winded up:

       And Sigmund was dreamy with wine and the wearing of many a year;

       And the noise and the glee of the people as the sound of the wild woods were,

       And the blossoming boughs of the Branstock were the wild trees waving about;

       So he said: "Well seen, my fosterling; let the lip then strain it out."

       Then Sinfiotli laughed and answered: "I drink unto Odin then,

       And the Dwellers up in God-home, the lords of the lives of men."

      He drank as he spake the word, and forthwith the venom ran

       In a chill flood over his heart, and down fell the mighty man

       With never an uttered death-word and never a death-changed look,

       And the floor of the hall of the Volsungs beneath his falling shook.

      Then up rose the elder of days with a great and bitter cry

       And lifted the head of the fallen, and none durst come anigh

       To hearken the words of his sorrow, if any words he said,

       But such as the Father of all men might speak over Baldur dead.

       And again, as before the death-stroke, waxed the hall of the Volsungs dim,

       And once more he seemed in the forest, where he spake with nought but him.

      Then he lifted him up from the hall-floor and bore him on his breast,

       And men who saw Sinfiotli deemed his heart had gotten rest,

       And his eyes were no more dreadful. Forth fared the Volsung child

       With Signy's son through the doorway; and the wind was great and wild,

       And the moon rode high in the heavens, and whiles it shone out bright,

       And whiles the clouds drew over. So went he through the night,

       Until the dwellings of man-folk were a long while left behind.

       Then came he unto the thicket and the houses of the wind,

       And the feet of the hoary mountains, and the dwellings of the deer,

       And the heaths without a shepherd, and the houseless dales and drear.

       Then lo, a mighty water, a rushing flood and wide,

       And no ferry for the shipless; so he went along its side,

      

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