The minstrel remained silent. The King continued, warily, "The wine has opened my heart, and I will speak to thee as to a friend. Tell me, as one would to a brother, what kind of man is the stranger? I would gladly trust him, but he is of that unyielding race who boast that once a god lay in the marriage-bed of their grandmother. The race is of little use on this earth; their blood has become dark, like old mead in pitchy jugs; they make a great blustering among the people, they bear themselves as if they were the cousins of the god of war, and regard the lot of all others like the chaff which they blow before them. Is the stranger such a fellow?"

"It appears to me that his spirit is cheerful and his nature careless, only a heavy late attends him," replied Volkmar.

"How does he behave himself with the wine-cup?" asked the King. "I like a red-cheeked lad who opens his throat for his drink."

"He knows how to give a good account of himself in drinking and in speech," replied the minstrel.

"Then he shall be welcome to me on my hearth," exclaimed the King, tapping his drinking-cup. "But I have chosen thee as a trusty messenger, that thou mayest bring me the stranger from the forest bower to my castle; bring him before my face."

Volkmar rose, and stood reflecting. "I will give thy message to the stranger; yet that he may learn the well-considered intentions of my lord, I beg my King will first promise him peace and safe conduct to the court and from the court --- my King, and his boys in the hall."

"What dost thou imagine, minstrel?" cried the King, with an outburst of displeasure; "how can I give a promise to a wild stranger, whose intentions I do not know?"

"Yet thou wishest, oh my lord, that he should yield himself into thy hands. It is easy to demand an oath from an individual. My lord would himself consider the stranger a fool if he ventured here among our boys, without a surety of peace."

"Why does my King need a wandering minstrel for such a message?" cried out Wolfgang; "let him send us, and we will bring the stranger, either on his feet or on his shield; we have long wished to pay a visit to the villages of these insolent peasants."

"Silence," said the King; "I need not your rude tongue when I have to deal with my forest people. Volkmar shall be my messenger, for today is a day of good words; when there comes a day for hard deeds, then I will call upon thee.

"So thou thinkest he will not be such a fool?" he asked, scowlingly, and from his moist eyes broke forth a fiery look like a flash of fire from out of a wet cloud; but he restrained himself and continued good-humoredly, "Well, I will promise him all. And you, silence there!" he cried out, raising his voice above the noise of his men. "Come in, and promise on my hand peace for Ingo, the son of Ingbert, to the court, at the court, and from the court."

The men took the oath. "And now, minstrel," continued the King, threateningly, "I lay it on thy conscience to bring him here without delay."

"I am only thy messenger, my lord; I can not compel him."

"Think of thine own safety, Volkmar," cried the King, raising his clenched fist on high. "It would be bad for thee if thou shouldst be obliged in the future to avoid thy native land."

"I will behave myself as a true messenger," replied the minstrel, earnestly.

"All right, then, Volkmar," concluded the King, appeased, and rising. "Let the drinking end; break up from your seats; and thou, Volkmar, shalt today accompany me instead of my chamberlain." The King supported himself heavily upon Volkmar's shoulder, and walked with him across the court to the apartment of the Queen. On the way he whispered to him, in a jocund way, "Now, rogue, where is the cup?"

Volkmar opened the bag which he carried on his girdle, and offered the gold vessel to the King.

"Put it into my dress," said the King; "I will for thy sake, take care that Queen Gisela shall not see the thing."

On the following morning the minstrel left the castle. The King looked after his messenger distrustfully, and thought in his own mind:

"My forest fox will hardly bring this stranger to my castle; if they refuse my demand, then they will give me a ground for going against them, to break their peasant pride, and make an end of their free confederation. But then they will choose Ingo for their leader, and he appears to me a brave hero, and there might be a hard fight among logwood and forest mushrooms. No one knows what would be the end of it; and I have no wish to make my body a footstool over which another might rise to the throne."

Thus, full of anxious care, he drank his mead, concealing his thoughts even from the Queen, who with her large eyes looked inquiringly at him, and sometimes guessed his thoughts.

Day after day passed, and Ingo did not come. But one evening Sintram, the uncle of Theodulf, knocked at the door. The King received him with open arms, he spoke long and secretly with him, and Gisela remarked that the King gave assurance to the nobleman, with a shake of the hand, "Thy advantage and mine will go together in the forest like two wolves." But as the Hero Sintram departed, the King looked after him also doubtingly, and called him an evil-eyed fox.