Northvegr - Waltharius

Then he himself, clothed in a hauberk like a giant,¹ places a red-crested helm on his head, surrounds his calves in golden greaves, and girds his left thigh with a double-edged sword and his right with another in the manner of the Huns—but he dealt blows only from one side.² Then, taking his spear in his right hand and his shield in his left, he anxiously starts to leave the hated land.

The woman led the horse bearing several talents of treasure, and in her hands she held a hazel-wood rod of the sort with which a fisherman put a hook in the water so that the waiting fish might swallow the hook. For the mighty man was burdened all over with armor and weapons, and he feared he might need to fight at any time. Through all the night they hurried to run, but, when Phoebus³ reddened showing the first light to the Earth, they were quick to hide in the forest and seek the shadowed places. Dread, wearing them down, troubled them even in the safe places. Fear struck the woman's heart so much that she shuddered at every whisper of the windy breeze, scared by the birds or branches as they dashed against each other. On this side hatred of exile and on that love of their homelands urged them on.

They flee the towns and leave behind the beautiful fields, following⁴ their winding, curved path through uncut mountains, they turn their nervous steps this way and that through the pathless wild. But the people of the city, loosed by sleep and wine,⁵ lie quiet in slumber until the middle of the following day. But, after they rise, they all seek out the duke⁶ to thank him and greet him in festive praise. King Attila holding his head in his hands, leaves the chamber and calls Walter in pain to complain about his headache.⁷ His attendants answer that they cannot find the man, but the prince hopes he is still quietly held in sleep and that he has chosen a hidden place for his slumber.

Ospirin, after noticing that Hildegund was not there to bring out the queen's clothes as she used to, sadly cried out to the ruler and said: "O you detestable food which we ate yesterday! O wine which has destroyed all the Huns! That day, of which I, in my foreknowledge, warned my lord the king some time ago, has come, and we can do nothing about it. Behold! Today the pillar of your empire has clearly fallen. Behold! Your strength and famous courage has gone far from here. Walter, light of Pannonia, has departed hence, and my dear child Hildegund too—he took her with him."

Now the prince is fired up, wild with anger;⁸ a grieving heart takes the place of his former happiness. From his shoulders he tears off his cloak, rending it down to the hem. And now he shifts his sad mind this way, now that. As the sand is stirred by Aeolian gales, so the king's mind whirls within, his internal concerns all about him;⁹ and, imitating his changing heart with changing face, he showed outside whatever he endured within. Anger permitted him no words. In fact, on this day, he disdained food and drink, nor could his worry give calm rest to his limbs, for, when dark night had stolen color from the world, he fell into bed but did not close his eyes.

Now propped up on his right side, now on his left, and like one pierced in the heart by a sharp javelin, he feels about and tosses his head this way and that, and then in madness he sits bolt upright on his mattress. Nor does this please him—at last, he leaps up and runs about the city; and, whenever he returns to his bed, he leaves it as soon as he touches it.

In such a way, Attila spent a restless night. But the fugitive companions, going through the friendly silence¹⁰ hurried to leave the feared land behind their backs.

Scarcely now had the next day broken, when the king called his elders together and said: "O, if only someone would bring me this fugitive Walter, bound like a worthless hound! Then I would clothe him in oft-smelted gold¹¹ and would wall him up on this side and that right where he stood—I would shut him up alive¹² with treasure." But there was not a single vassal in so large a country—whether duke, count, soldier, or attendant—who, though eager both to show his strength and to win unending praise through his courage, and also ambitious to stuff his purse with treasure, nevertheless, undertook to pursue Walter, since he was angry and armed. They did not wish to see the man with sword drawn—for his courage was known, and they had even personally experienced what great slaughter he had worked scathelessly and victoriously, without receiving a single wound, and so the king could not persuade any of his men, though they wanted the treasure he promised in exchange.

Walter, as I said, went fleeing by night; and by day, seeking out wooded valleys and dense stands of trees, he skillfully lured and caught birds, now tricking them with bird-lime, now with split wood.¹³ But, when he came to where the curved rivers flowed, he would throw in a hook and catch his prey from beneath the swirling waters. Enduring this hard task, he staved off destructive hunger. For always Walter the praiseworthy hero applied himself to the needs of the fugitive maiden.¹⁴

Part II

Look! The sun had finished forty circuits, since he had left the Pannonian city. On that very day, which completed this count, he came now in mid-evening to a river, to the Rhine, where it bent its course toward the city named Wörms, glorious for its royal seat. There for his passage he gave the ferryman fish he had caught before; and soon, after crossing, he stepped out in breathless haste.¹⁵

After day had risen and banished the dark shades, the ferryman got up and went to the aforementioned city and brought the chief royal cook the fish which the traveling man had given him. When the cook had prepared them with herbs and served them to King Gunther, the king was amazed and spoke from his high seat: "Frankland has never shown me this sort of fish. I think they are from a foreign land. Tell me swiftly. What man brought them?" The cook responded and told him that the boatman had given them to him. The prince ordered the man summoned; and, when he arrived and was questioned concerning the matter, he said the following, explaining the matter in sequence: "Last evening, I was sitting by the bank of the Rhine, when I saw a traveler quickly approaching, and he seemed ready for battle, with all his limbs prepared.¹⁶ Indeed, my famous king, he was entirely clothed in bronze; and, as he walked, he carried a shield and a flashing spear—he was quite the brave man, and, though he carried a large load, still his step had a fierce vigor. Attractive and even unbelievably beautiful a girl followed him and her step kept close to his. By the reins she guided a stout horse, which bore two good-sized coffers on its back; and, whenever the steed tossed his high neck and was eager to paw the air with his hooves,¹⁷ the coffers made a sound like someone striking gold with gems. This man gave me the fish here as his fare."

When he heard this, Hagen—who happened to be seated at the table—happily spoke a word from his heart: "Rejoice with me, I beg you, since I have recognized what this means! My comrade Walter has returned from the Huns." Prince Gunther, then, haughtily¹⁸ exclaimed—and soon all the hall shouted back to him: "Rejoice with me, I bid you, since I have lived to see this!¹⁹ The treasure which Gibicho sent to the eastern king has now been returned to me here in my kingdom by the Almighty." This he said; and, striking the table with his foot and leaping up, he bid them to bring his horse and to ready his carved saddle. He chose twelve men out of the crowd with him, men remarkable for their strength and generally proven in their courage. Among these he bid Hagen come too. But he, remembering his old pledge and his former ally, strove to change his lord from the quest he had begun. The king, however, insisted in opposition and began: "Be not slow, men! Gird your brave bodies in iron. Let the scaly hauberk cover your backs. Should this man take away so much treasure from Frankish lands?" All equipped with their weapons, they issued out the gate—for the king's order was urgent. Each of them was wishing to see you, Walter, and was thinking they would cheat²⁰ an unwarlike man for their gain. Still Hagen was busy trying to hinder them however he could, but the unlucky²¹ king did not wish to wisely reconsider what he had begun.

Meanwhile, the great-spirited man continued on from the river and came then into the forested valley called Vosges—it is a huge, broad wood which holds countless haunts of wild beasts and is frequently home to the noise of the hounds and horns of the hunt.²² There were two mountains close by in a secluded recess, and between these there stood a cave quite pleasant in spite of its cramped chamber. It was not dug out of hollowed earth, but formed by an outcropping of rocky crags. Indeed, it was a place fit for bloody bandits.²³ This little retreat produced edible green vegetation.

As soon as the young man saw it, he said: "Here, let us go here. I want to rest my tired body at this camp." For, since he had fled the land of the Avars, he had never yet tasted rest other than what he got propped up against his shield. He had scarcely closed his eyes. Then finally, putting aside his burdens of war, he spoke, collapsing into the maiden's lap: "Keep a careful watch, Hildegund, and, if you see a dark cloud rising, wake me up with your charming touch. And, though you should see a huge host coming, please, my dear girl, take care not to disturb me from my sleep right away; for from here you can see clearly far away. Look sharply all around the area!" This he said and closed his shining eyes, now at last enjoying the rest he had so long desired.

1 Compare Vergil Aeneid 11.486ff., 12.87ff. and the unfavorable biblical connections with the giants Goliath and the Nephilim.

2 The second sword figures into the climactic battle; see lines 1390-2. Note that the Anglo-Saxon Waldere fragments may indicate that that version of the story included a similar incident involving a second sword. Fragment A begins with someone (perhaps Hildegund) encouraging Walter not to worry about his sword failing him, and this concern is repeated in line 24 of the fragment—perhaps to foreshadow the shattering of his sword (seen in the Waltharius at line 1374). Fragment B of Waldere seems to begin with a reference to a sword hidden in a jeweled vessel (i.e., a sheath), but it is unclear who is speaking and so whose sword it is. The kenning for sheath in the Anglo-Saxon version, "stanfate" ("jeweled vessel" frag. B 3), reminds one of the sheath kenning in the Waltharius , "viridem...aedem" ("green house" 1036), which may be owed to a Germanic model.

4 Instead of "following", "sectantes" might be translated "slicing" if the "uncut mountains" ("montibus intonsis") are signs of etymological word play here.

5 Vergil Aeneid 9.189

6 The "duke" is apparently Walter.

7 E. R. Curtius (1973: 429) cites this scene as an example of comic elements in medieval epic.

8 For the description of Attila here (380-401) our author has adapted from Vergil's depiction of Dido in Aeneid 4.1-89.

9 This is one of the epic similes of the Waltharius ; see note 178 on the longest of these.

10 Compare Vergil Aeneid 2.255

11 The poet seems to have incorporated part of a gloss by Servius into his allusion to Vergil. Compare Aeneid 8.624 and Servius On the Aeneid 8.624: "recocto saepe purgato."

12 Kraft translates "vivo" ("alive") as "as I live." This is possible, but the awkwardness of the syntax—there is no word for “as”—and the fact that "alive" fits the context better both argue against Kratz's choice.

13 Apparently this refers to some kind of trap.

14 Kratz (1984) translates: "And that praiseworthy hero Walter, all the time / They fled, refrained from carnal use of Hildegund." Certainly usus can mean intercourse (OLD usus 11) but one would expect some contextual marker. Continere se is a natural idiom for restraining one's self, but the namque introducing this clause should indicate that it explains or elaborates upon the preceding clause—this does not seem to work with the reference to sexual abstinence. Still the normal usage of continere se points to Kratz's version.

15 Evidently he was eager to continue on his way.

16 A strange description because the author adopts Vergil Aeneid 4.554-5 perhaps influenced by Servius On the Aeneid 4.555: "nam et certus eundi fuerat, et rite cuncta praeparaverat..."

17 Literally this means "to ball up haughty whirls of legs," but compare Vergil Georgics 3.117, 192. Note that, though not here, the poet sometimes uses eques for horse (e.g. at line 216) as Vergil did at Georgics 3.116, which is explained in Servius' commentary for that line.

18 Gunther's haughtiness is a major negative aspect of his presentation in the poem. Guthere's character in the fragmentary Anglo-Saxon Waldere appears to have been similar (fragment 1 lines 25b-29a), although clearly the poet of the Waltharius has added depth through his allusions connecting Gunther (and Walter himself) to the character Haughtiness or Pride ( Superbia ) in Prudentius' Psychomachia —compare notes 61 and 65.

19 Note how Gunther repeats and perverts much of Hagen's speech—replacing Hagen's display of loyal friendship with greed and selfishness.

20 The verb "fraudare" ("cheat") foreshadows the thievery topos that will be spread throughout the coming battle. Who are the thieves? Who are the victims?

21 The epithets infelix ("unlucky," "unhappy," or "unblessed") and superbus ("haughty") are often applied to Gunther. This could be the plan of the Latin poet, since his model, Vergil, often calls Aeneas pius —or it may be owed to an oral Germanic model which used standard epithets.

22 A perfect place for Walter, if we consider the poet's hint at the etymology of his name, Walt = forest. See lines 761-775.

23 The phrase "fit for bloody bandits” ("apta...latronibus...cruentis") might cause one to consider who the bandits are. Both Walter and his attackers will be depicted as thieves or bandits in the following narrative. Walter has already stolen treasure and armor from Attila and will be shown "stealing" life from his attackers, while Gunther and his men will try to steal the treasure from him.