Once had the summer covered the oaks at Idisburg in their green attire, and once had the winter swept the branches bare; but bright blazed through the whole year the hearth-fire of the new house under the trees. Now it was summer again, and a prosperous season; the little light clouds passed over the sky in long rows, and at the foot of the verdant hills the sheep and cattle passed also slowly in long rows. Among the oaks there rose now a strong wooden building --- the Prince's hall. He who ascended the steps, entering through the door into the wide hall, saw at the far end the hearth, over him the strong raftered roof, on the side the raised gallery, and behind the entrance to the chambers of the lord and lady of the house. In the courtyard in front of it stood the low sleeping-houses of the men under a projecting bulwark, also the stalls and storerooms.

Under the oak tree which bore the arbor house sat Irmgard, looking happily down before her, for on the ground lay her little son in the linden shield of his father, and Frida was rocking him. The little one was putting out his hands to catch a bee which was buzzing about him. "Get away with you, honey-bearer," said Irmgard, frightened, "and do the little hero no harm; he does not yet know that thou concealest a weapon under thy coat. Fly to thy playmates, and be industrious in preparing the sweet honeycomb, in order that my hero may have pleasure in thy work in the winter. For he is the young lord of the castle, and we keep for him the tenth of everything good that is produced in the wild forests. Look, Frida, how he clenches his fist, and how wildly he looks before him; he will some time be a warrior whom men will fear. There! his father brings him also his hunting spoil," she exclaimed joyfully, raising the little one out of the shield, and holding him up on high, as Ingo approached, with his curved horn and hunting spear, and a slain roebuck on his shoulder. The Chieftain bent over his son, and stroked the curly hair of his wife as he greeted her; then he laid the game down against the tree. "This speedy foot crossed my path as I walked over the mountain across the Burgundian boundary; it is near enough, and one can reach it without much galloping," he added, laughing. "One of the Marvingians had robbed us of two cattle out of the forest enclosure; we followed the track, which led us over the boundary, and our messengers go south to demand the booty. Yet I fear it is in vain; for the border people over there are ill-disposed, and we may not be able to obtain our property, except by going on their ground and falling on their herds. Bad hero-work is such night-wandering, like a cat that goes out mousing; yet the injured peasants demand it, and the Chieftain dare not refuse."

"Therefore thy country cousins greet thee smiling, and thy wife also rejoices in the honor that they show her," said Irmgard, consolingly.

"I have a good wife, who is glad for my sake," replied Ingo; "yet I fear that she seldom hears a minstrel extolling the deeds of her husband. Last night I dreamt that the weapons over our bed clattered, and when I rose up I saw that my sword danced in its sheath. Dost thou know what the dream portends, thou soothsayer?"

"That my King longs for an expedition," replied Irmgard, earnestly, "away from mother and child. Thy dwelling is narrow, and thy abode concealed in the forest. Well do I sometimes see the clouds on thy brow, and hear battle-words from thy lips, when I bend over thee."

"That is after the manner of men, as thou knowest," replied Ingo --- "at home, when resting on the couch, to long for a fighting expedition, and after the fight, for the return home to the arms of one's wife. It is very possible that the song of my sword predicts a combat with the Burgundians, for their dealings are very vexatious, and Gundomar's feeling cools toward us. Look there --- the old man also is turned into a workman." He pointed to Berthar, who was crossing the court with an ax and a large leathern pocket.

"There is an injury to be repaired in the drawbridge," explained the hero, as he approached them with a greeting, "and hands are few. Thy boys, oh King, are joyfully preparing, with the country-folk, piles of wood for the mountain fires for the midsummer night-feast."

"But thou watchest for us all," said Irmgard.

"Caution becomes the watcher who guards a treasure," replied Berthar, bowing to Irmgard; "and," he continued significantly, "the gable roof of this hall projects toward the north, and a bad storm is collecting in the mountains. I often look northward, even on a warm sunny day like this. Forgive me, Princess, if I awaken secret cares. So long as my old companion Isanbart breathed, he with kind feeling restrained the thoughts of revenge on the other side of the mountain; for Answald paid attention to his words. But since they have raised the mound over him, thy enemies alone have the ear of the Chieftain. 'Tis not the clamor of the people that I fear now, but a secret expedition for revenge over the forest. Unwillingly do I see the Princess wandering alone in the valley."

"Must I live as a prisoner, father?" asked Irmgard, sorrowfully.

"Only for the present time be pleased to submit to our care. Many wounds heal, and that of Theodulf is healed; and he rides, they say, now this way to the court of the King."

There was a sound of loud talk from the bulwark; the watchman on the wooden stage blew his horn, and a gay tone was joined to the call which did not belong to it. Irmgard laughed. "It is a friend," said Ingo; "the watchman wishes to do him honor."

"Volkmar!" cried out Irmgard, and advanced to meet the minstrel, who entered the court in great haste. But she stopped when she beheld the solemn face of the wanderer. "Thou comest from home, yet I perceive that thou dost not bring a friendly greeting."

"I come from the King's castle," began Volkmar; his countenance was alive with emotion as he bent before the Princess and the Chieftain; "my rest was only short in the forest arbor. Prince Answald was preparing to ride to the King's castle, and the Princess was sitting among her maidens; all was still in the house; no one asked whither I was going." Irmgard turned her face away, but in the next moment she clasped the hand of her husband, and looked up to him lovingly.

"Thou comest as a messenger of the King," began Ingo; "I trust he gave thee a kind mission."

"The lips of the King are mute," replied Volkmar; "his anxieties for his throne and treasure are ended; he was found dead on his bed, after an evening of merry carousal among his men. The wood-pile was erected for him, and the fire flamed about his dead body." A deep silence followed.

"He was a powerful ruler, and a courageous warrior; I could have wished him a better end than among his drunken bodyguard," began Ingo, deeply affected. "However he may have acted toward others, from peevish suspicion, he helped my happiness, and for a whole year he has restrained the pressure of my enemies."

"The Queen now keeps the keys of the treasure-room for her son," continued the minstrel; "she rules powerfully in the King's castle, and sends her men into the country. The nobles vie with each other to gain favor at her court: hardly any one ventures to defy her authority. Many already think that the fist of the dead King was less oppressive than the white finger of Gisela. This I announce to thee, Prince, sent by no one; do thou consider whether it signifies evil to thee."

"Thou tellest what is sorrowful and joyful with the same seriousness," answered Ingo smiling. "If the King did me no injury, I know the Queen to be kind and noble-minded. Now for the first time I can boast of my happiness with a light spirit, so far as depends on the neighbors."

"Uncertain is the favor of a ruling woman," said the minstrel.

"I was a faithful boundary-guardian to the departed King: why should I be less so to his son? and so long as Gisela commands in Thuringia, I expect good from thence. Thou didst speak to the Queen?"

"Hostile were the looks the Queen directed to me, when she saw me in the crowd. 'If thou ever thinkest again to play thy dances to the maidens at my court,' she called out to me, 'avoid the forest road. When the magpie flies over the forest, the hawk plucks its feathers. Thou wast a very prattling messenger once; be careful with thy tongue.' She then signed to me to depart, and I hastened flying through the forest here, impelled by anxiety about thee and the Princess."

"Even though thy anxiety may be unnecessary, yet I thank thee for thy faithfulness. Some calumniator has made the Queen hostile to thee. How she is disposed toward me I have experienced in hours of difficulty: assured is our friendship; and our blood flows from the same source. For the high ancestors of both rule in the hall of the gods as two children of one family: we live among strangers on both sides of the mountain --- I the man, and she the woman."

"But not thy wife, my lord," interposed Berthar.

Ingo laughed. "Nevertheless she is a woman, and it would ill befit us men to fear the caprices of a woman."

"Still worse to trust their friendship," said the old man, warningly. "When the she-bear was little, she licked the hand of the man whom she afterward seized by the neck."

"Thou art much too stubborn in thy distrust," said Ingo, in a tone of kind reproof; "but I will exercise the prudence which thou advisests. We ourselves will ride into the villages, and invite the old men to counsel, whether we shall send a message to the new Queen, and use foresight in preparations. If the work should prove useless, we will afterward laugh at our anxieties. Do thou, Volkmar, remain as guest with us till thou knowest that Queen Gisela is again gracious to thee; thou knowest well what a pleasure to us is thy presence."

"Forgive me, my lord," answered the minstrel, seriously, "if I do not stop my journey; quicker than the spring of the deer or the flight of the falcon is the anger of this woman. She has quite forgotten that she praised me, as bearer of news, before the dead King. Though thou thinkest to be safe from her, for me there is no hope."

"Who can stop the foot of the wander-loving minstrel? If thou must depart, yet be pleased to rest thee a while by the hearth of the Princess, and return again soon to our oaks."

"I shall seek again the spot where the oaks stand," replied the minstrel, bending over the offered hand of the Chieftain.

Ingo went with Berthar to the horses. Irmgard looked after him. "Thou knowest many secrets, Volkmar," she said, in a low tone, "but thou canst not interpret to the anxious wife all the thoughts which pass through the head of her husband."

"Thoughts whirl in the head as swallows round the roof of the house --- they fly in and out," said the minstrel, consolingly; "but thou art like the hearth-fire in the house, which gives peace and gladness; do not let thyself be anxious about flitting shadows. But I approach thee also, Princess, as a secret messenger. As I was departing from the forest arbor, Gundrun went with me to the enclosure where she keeps her poultry. She pointed to a female stork, and said, 'The bird flew away from the courtyard in the summer, but before the winter it came back, bringing its young one with it; now we feed them both. One whom thou knowest disappeared from here, because she laid hold of the flag-feather of a wandering swan; take her now another token for a journey.'"

The minstrel presented to her the token --- the wing-feather of a stork and the quill-feather of a young bird, joined together by a thread. Irmgard held in her hand her mother's greeting, and her tears fell upon it. "Frau Adebar, the female stork, flew back to the courtyard, because a bird of prey had clawed in pieces the host of her nest. But my heart bids me withstand the wild falcon, which spreads its wings against my lord. Come, Volkmar, that I may show thee my poor stork-child, which clenches its little hands, crowing, when its father bends his face over it."

In the afternoon all was quiet at the circular fortress. The minstrel had departed; Ingo hastened through the valley with his house-comrades, and Frau Irmgard stood by the spring which trickled out from under the rock, not far from the house. There the men had chiseled out for the Princess a beautiful stone trough, in which the water was collected. The sun shone warm, the cool water splashed merrily, and flowed from the stone trough down the valley; over the wall of rock hung from above the branches of an ash tree as a protecting roof, and round the spring stood willows, concealing the place from the eyes of strangers by their gray foliage.