At the castle of the King of Thuringia sat Gisela, the Queen, on a high seat; she supported her head on her white arm, and her long curls fell from under her diadem over her hand, covering her eyes. At her feet a servant-maid was putting back into the chest the gold vessels from the king's table, and counting the pieces before she closed and delivered it into the treasure-room of her royal mistress. She gazed smilingly at her face distorted in the round metal, and looked up to her lady; but the Queen concerned herself little about the golden treasure. Some steps off sat King Bisino, a valiant warrior, of bulky figure, with strong limbs and a broad face; he had on his cheek a black mole, which was hereditary in his race; it had been a cause of derision to one of his ancestors, but was now considered a king's token; it did not add to his beauty, but he was proud of it. The King was looking angry; copious drinking had swollen the veins of his forehead. He was wrangling with the minstrel Volkmar, who was standing before him.

"I have sent for thee after the repast," said the King, "that the Queen may question thee, but she appears not to know that we are here."

"What does my lord command?" asked Queen Gisela, raising herself up proudly.

"There is good reason," murmured the King, "to open one's eyes, when the kings wear iron fetters by the Rhine, and lie in damp prisons."

"Why did they offer their hands to the fetters?" replied Gisela, coldly. "It ill becomes those who have led thousands of their warriors to the death-halls to allow others the precedence. When I see valiant men with death-wounds on the bloody heath, I concern myself little about the bloodless faces in prison."

"Fortune abandons even valiant men," said the King, looking timidly at his wife. "But thou, fellow, hast not told all; one of them escaped and came into my country. There have been loud sounds heard in the house of the Prince; acclamations to Ingo have shaken the hall. Thou wast there, nimble-tongued musician; why didst thou change thy song? For other were the tones of thy ditty in the forest bower."

"Bad would be the repute of the singer if his song sounded uniformly on one string. My duty is to give every man his due, that the heart of the hearer may open itself joyfully. I did not conceal the name of the Hero from the King, for deeds of renown live through my mouth. But I did not know that the name of the fugitive would disturb the mind of the great ruler of the people."

"I know thee," exclaimed the King, with an outbreak of anger; "thou divest with agility, like the otter in the river. Guard thy smooth skin from the strokes of my boys."

"The minstrel is at peace with the wild folk. Thy boys, oh King --- the insolent men whose noise sounds now from the court up to the stone tower --- have fear also of the minstrel; for he carries tidings of every misdeed through all countries; and were his mouth to be forever stopped, then his valiant comrades would revenge his death. Thine anger does not frighten me, yet I should be unwilling to lose thy favor, for thou hast richly rewarded my true service. It is impossible for me to know why my lord hears with such displeasure the name of the stranger; the fugitive appears to me a valiant man, faithful to his friends, and not greedy after foreign goods."

"Thou speakest as befits thee," said the Queen, kindly, "and the King knows well thy value. Take for thy news, even though it should be unpleasant, the reward of a king's messenger." She made a sign to her serving-maid, who pushed the heavy chest in front of her feet; she put her hand in, and without making a choice, offered to the minstrel a gold drinking-vessel. The minstrel looked at her startled, but seeing the Queen knit her brows angrily, he took the cup which she reached him, and bowed low upon her hand.

"If thy rapid foot can tarry with us yet a while, do thou teach my maidens the new dance melody, which thou broughtest the last time to our hall. And afterward come where thou wilt be near me."

She gave him a gracious sign to depart. The King looked after him with a dissatisfied air.

"Thou art liberal with the gold out of thy chest," he said, sulkily.

"The King makes a good bargain when he can by gold repair the injustice that he has done to an inferior. It is little to the honor of my lord to betray his anxieties to the traveling man who sings from hall to hall for pay. Thou hast only the choice of closing the mouth of the man by a cup, or forever by a stroke of the sword; therefore I gave him the cup to propitiate him, that he might be silent; for he is a far-famed man, and it would be dangerous to kill the witness of thy fear."

The King continued dejectedly, terrified, as often happened to him, by the proud spirit of the Queen, "What dost thou advise with respect to the stranger, whom the forest people have received as a friendly guest as a defiance to me? Shall I offer him also gold, or iron?"

"Thy favor, King Bisino; for Ingo, the son of Ingbert, is an illustrious man."

"Is it to my advantage that he can make the king's leap?" asked the King again.

Gisela looked at him, and remained silent. "Confidence alone binds a noble mind," she replied at last, and stood before the King. "If my lord would avoid danger, let him invite the stranger himself to his court, and show him the honor due to him. The King's son may be dangerous, perhaps, among the peasants of the forest, but not in thy castle, and in the midst of thy army; here, as thy friendly guest, his oath and thy power will bind him."

The King reflected.

"Thou advisest well, Gisela, and thou knowest I respect thy words. I will await what the future brings." He rose; the Queen made a sign to the maiden to leave her.

When she was alone, she paced up and down the room with rapid steps. "I am called Gisela; I am fettered in a foreign land to the joyless bed of a low-minded man. For years has the daughter of the King of Burgundy sat in misery on the throne, and her thoughts return to the land of her own people, and to the time of her childhood. There I saw him whom once my father destined for my husband, when I was a child and he was a boy. Ingo, the banished man, hard was thy traveling fare, and bitter thy drink in thy banishment, but bitterer yet is my grief in the King's castle! Whenever a wandering warrior came from foreign lands, I inquired after thy lot. Now thy steps approach the path along which I tread, be thou welcome to me, whether for weal or woe; for I am weary of my solitude."

From without sounded the laughter of many voices, and the song of the maidens; the Queen sat donw, her hands clasped upon her knees, and listened to the melody of the dance, which the minstrel sang. Later the serving-maid led the minstrel quickly in. "Thou hast related much at the King's repast," said she to him, smiling, "which has given my lord heavy thoughts. Now let me know in confidence how thou thyself didst escape the bands of the Romans; for I was in danger of losing a worthy man, who has often given me pleasure. If thou hast a song concerning thine own troubles, I will listen to it."

"I thought little of myself at that hour, Princess; I looked after another who saved me, and put himself in the greatest danger."

"I think that was this stranger," said the Queen. "Begin thy song, and lower thy voice if thou canst, that idle people may not throng to the door."

Volkmar began in a low voice his account of the escape to the boat, and the leap into the Rhine. The golden rays of the evening sun glanced through the small open window, encircling the form of the minstrel, who, in deep excitement, sang softly the emotions of his heart. The Queen sat in the shadow, and again her heavy tresses fell over the hand which supported her bent head; immovable she sat, absorbed within herself, till the minstrel concluded with his recognition in the hall.

"That will be a song glorious for both --- both for him and thee," said the Queen, graciously, when the minstrel ceased. "Thou goest with the blessing of the gods to hall and hearth, that the news may be spread among the people."

The King sat at the evening carouse among his attendants; the shouts and laughter of his bodyguard sounded round the hearth; from large glasses and goblets they quaffed the spicy drink. "Play us the dance, minstrel," cried one of the wild fellows, "which thou hast taught today to the King's maidens, so that we also may dance skilfully to the melody on the heath."

"Let him alone," said Hadubard, mockingly, a scarred warrior who had been a halberdier at the Roman court, and now served the King. "His song is just good enough for the cranes to hop to in the poultry-yard. He who has beheld the dancers, the smiling maidens from Alexandria, thinks the step of the peasant on the grass like the march of geese."

"He has become proud," cried out another, "since he has concealed in his dress the gold cup of the Queen. Be on thy guard, Volkmar; insecure is golden treasure with the traveling man who goes over the heath."

"Wolfgang is thy name," replied the minstrel, "and like a wolf thou goest lurking over the heath. Ill does thy envious look on the Queen's gift befit the bench of the King."

He took his instrument in his hand, touched the strings, and sang the melody of the dance. Then the men began to move their limbs; they beat time with their hands on the table, and stamped the step with their feet; the King also, elevated with wine, clapped his hand on the cover of the wine bottle, and nodded his head. But at the second verse the boys, excited with mead, rose up; only the old men kept seated, and clasped firmly their drinking-horns, while the others, following each other in couples, danced round the bench, so that the noise was great in the hall. The King laughed.

"Thou knowest well how to subdue them," he exclaimed to the minstrel. "Come near, Volkmar, thou crafty-tongued man; sit near me, that I may confide to thee my opinion. I was ill-tempered today; I did not intend ill, but thy news lay heavy upon my soul. However, as concerns the golden cup that the Queen has bestowed upon thee, what my old boy said to thee was not wrong. Gold is a royal metal, and is not fitting for the traveling-bag of an inferior man; thou thyself singest that it is productive of evil to human beings. Thou wouldst act wisely if thou shouldst quietly and with a willing heart give me back this booty, to place in the treasure-house."

Willingly would the minstrel have kept the beautiful cup; and he answered, "What the eye of the master covets will do no good to the servant; yet bethink thee, Prince, the piece which has occasioned sorrow and envy to the man who has lost it will bring a curse into the King's treasury."

"Have no anxiety about that," replied the King; "to me it is nothing."

"But when the Queen learns that I have so little valued her gift, she will justly be angry with me."

"She will scarcely know it, Volkmar, believe me," continued the King, persuasively. "It is all alike to her whether it is gold or copper. When in autumn the forest people send their horses to my court, thou mayest pick out for thyself a good one with round hoofs, and my chamberlain shall give thee a beautiful dress out of the chest, which will give thee more dignity among the people than the round bit of plate. For I mean well by thee, Volkmar; I fear for thee the envy of my attendants."

"I have heard disorderly words at the hearth of the King," replied the minstrel, vexed.

"Do not take it amiss, Volkmar," exclaimed the King, soothingly; "it is true their speech is sometimes wild, and I have difficulty in restraining their violence, but the art of a King is to use every one in his own line. For gold and a warm seat at my bench they do quickly, as King's messengers, all that I choose, asking no questions, whether the deed is bloody or not. How can a King govern a people without such servants? For the minds of men are proud; every one will do only what pleases him, every one stands on his own rights, and seeks his own revenge, and no one yields to the will of others. Every one desires fighting and wounds for his reputation, and is in haste to go up to the gods. I mean some time also, at last, to ask for a seat in the hall of the gods. But I would rather, while on this earth, rule over pliant men; and if I must remove men from the light because they are dangerous to me, it is but a few; but to preserve the others in their inheritance is for my advantage and my glory: think thereon, Volkmar, because thou art a sensible man. The people are insolent, and their minds puffed up, but the King's care is to think of everything that is good for the country. Therefore do not blame my faithful ones. It is better that they should sometimes commit a crime in self-defense than that all the rest should meditate evil against one another, and that the people of Thuringia should have to yield bondsmen's service to a foreign race."