Ingo placed his shield on the ground, and looked back over his shoulder. "The hawk cries after his nestling; obey the call, Princess of Thuringia."

The wife rushed past her husband to her father, amid the hostile spears. A cry of joy and welcome burst from the Thuringian band. She embraced her father, and exclaimed: "It is well for me that my eyes behold thee, and that thou holdest me to thy breast."

The heart of the Hero Answald trembled, and he drew her to him. "Thy mother awaits thee, dear child."

"Bless me!" cried Irmgard; "hot is the room where a poor child screams for its mother; bless me, father!" she cried out to him convulsively, holding him fast.

The Prince laid his hand upon her head; she bent low down before his knees, then rose up quickly, stepped back, and, stretching out her hand toward him, exclaimed, "Greet my mother!" Then she bounded backward to the burning house.

Ingo had stood immovable, directing a sharp look at the enemy. But when his wife returned to him, in his death-peril he stepped toward her, spread out his arms, and embraced her. Then an ash spear, whirled from Theodulf's hand, struck the King in his side, under his arm. Ingo sank quietly down from the arms of his wife to the ground; Berthar sprang forward, and with his shield covered the wounded man, whom his men, sighing, carried to the raised Prince's seat. Before him knelt Irmgard, but Berthar cried out into the room: "Leave the women to sorrow over the King's wound: on quickly, comrade, to follow the King on his path! There are four doors in the King's hall; from each there is a path to the halls of Heaven. Take care that you revenge the King's wound. Walbrand, thou wast the last on thy lord's bench; therefore today thou shalt leap forward as first, and I will be the last."

The Vandals sprang to the doors and down the steps, one after the other, as the old man called them. And anew there arose round the house noise and tumult of the fight. Wildly did the storm-wind drive over the flaming roof; high above, the thunder rolled; the roof of the hall cracked, ashes and burning splinters fell down. Frida, stunned, placed the child on the King's bed.

"The boy laughs!" exclaimed Irmgard, throwing herself sobbing over the child, which was kicking its little legs about merrily, and stretching out its hands to the flaming pieces on the ground. Irmgard held her child in a fast embrace, and there was a dead silence in the room; then she tore away the pocket of otter-skin, the gift of the Weird Woman, from her dress, hung it round the body of the little child, hid it in the covering, and, once more kissing the child, cried out to Frida: "Save him, and sing to him about his parents."

But Frida sprang up to Wolf, who stood as guard by the King's bed, and besought him --- "Come, at the back-door there are men from our arbor; we will penetrate into the forest."

Then the old man cried out with a hoarse voice: "Where does the foremost dancer tarry? The leapers wait."

"Farewell, Frida," answered Wolf, "we do not go out of the fire by the same door; farewell and think of me."

Once more his true eyes looked upon her, then with a powerful bound he burst out of the door, sprang over the glowing logs of wood before the steps, and thrust his spear into the breast of one of the Queen's boys, so that he fell, and a loud cry sounded among the circle of men. Arrows flew upon the Hero; he bled from many wounds, but swinging his sword, he threw himself into the band before which Theodulf stood; wounded they reeled back, right and left; wildly he raised his weapon against his old bench companions, then fell himself, dying.

Again Theodulf's voice was heard, powerfully warning: "The rafters are giving way; save the women!" Prince Answald cried out, springing up to the door: "Irmgard! Save my child!"

Then the shrunk figure of the old man raised itself before him at the door, his head covered with ashes, his beard burned, and a longing for revenge in his countenance. And he called out grimly: "Who is it who so audaciously makes a noise at the sleeping-chamber of the King, and demands admittance? Is it thou --- the fool who once repented that he had offered the rights of guest? Thou didst dismiss my King with a cold greeting; cold as iron shall be the answer which the Vandal offers thee."

Quickly as a beast of prey he sprang from the steps, and thrust his weapon through the coat of mail and breast of the Chieftain of Thuringia. Then he called out to the dismayed band: "All is accomplished, and the end is good. Go home, pale-nosed fools, and turn with the women the millstones of your Queen. The great King of the Vandals ascends upward to his ancestors."

Shots flew around him, but he shook off the iron like a wounded bear; he turned himself heavily toward the hall, placed himself with his shield at the foot of the King's bed, and never spoke again.

The Queen rode through the broken gate up to the burning hall. The thunder rolled loud, and the lightning flashed; the gold covering of the coat of mail which enclosed her breast glowed like a red fire, from the flames of the house. She descended from her horse to the ground; the men drew timidly back, for deathly pale was her countenance, and dark her frowning brow.

She stood immovable, looking at the glare. Only once she stirred, and cast her flaming eyes on one side, when she saw a woman with a child, which she held fast in her arms, struggling among the men.

"It is only a servant-maid," said Theodulf, half aloud, with pale cheeks, "and it is the child." The Queen, with a vehement gesture, commanded the woman to be led on one side. The fire ran along the ledge of the house, high against the clouds; the storm drove on the flames so that they blazed up wildly; it threw burning splinters against Gisela and the band of men. But the Queen stood motionless, with eyes fixed on the glow.

Within the house all was still; Irmgard knelt by the bed of her husband; her hair covered his wound; she held him in a fast embrace, and listened to his breathing.

The mortally wounded man laid his arm round her, and gazed into her eyes silently. "I thank thee, Ingo," she said; "receive my greeting, beloved; we shall lie both together on the last bed." The thunder rolled near her. "Dost thou hear those above calling?" murmured the dying man. "Hold me, Ingo!" cried Irmgard. A flaming flash of lightning filled the hall, a thunder-clap roared, and the rafters of the roof fell down.

Outside a shower of hail poured down on the stunned men of the Queen; the pieces of ice struck upon helmets and coats of mail. "The gods invite their son to join them in their hall," cried out the Queen, covering her head with her mantle. But the men threw themselves to the ground under their shields, and concealed their faces from the anger of the thunder-god.

When the storm had passed over, and the warriors rose timidly to look about them, the green surface of the hill was covered with gray ice, the house lay in a heap, and little tongues of flame rose from the moist embers. But the Queen, as if turned to stone, still stood before the burning spot, and said in a low tone: "One lies mute on a hot bed, the other stands without, struck by the hail; the envy of the gods has changed my lot; it was my right to have been with him there."

"Where is his child?" they inquired, searching round with wild looks. Frida and the child had disappeared. The warriors sought in the mountain slopes, and in the valley; they spied into every hollow tree, and amid the tangled branches of every thicket. Theodulf rode, with his followers, through the whole district of the forest people, and inquired at every hearth-fire. But the Queen never obtained any intelligence of the son of Ingo and Irmgard.