"
* * * * *
And his clear voice saith:
"O Gudrun, now hearken while I swear
That the sun shall die for ever and the day no more be fair,
Ere I forget thy pity and thine inmost heart of love!
Yea, though the Kings be mighty, and the Gods be great above,
I will wade the flood and the fire, and the waste of war forlorn,
To look on the Niblung dwelling, and the house where thou wert born."
Strange seemed the words to Sigurd that his gathering love compelled,
And sweet and strange desire o'er his tangled trouble welled.
But bright flashed the eyes of Gudrun, and she said: "King, as for me,
If thou sawest the heart in my bosom, what oath might better thee?
Yet my words thy words shall cherish, as thy lips my lips have done.
--Herewith I swear, O Sigurd, that the earth shall hate the sun,
And the year desire but darkness, and the blossoms shrink from day,
Ere my love shall fail, beloved, or my longing pass away!"
So they twain went hand in hand to stand before Giuki and Grimhild
and the swart-haired Niblung brethren, and all these were
glad-hearted when they marked their joy and goodlihead. Then Sigurd
spake noble words of thanks to Giuki for all past kindness, and bade
Giuki call him son because he had that day bidden Gudrun to wife, and
he sware also to toil for her exalting and for the weal of all the
Niblung kin.
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