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Waltharius

fearful girl with a shout, and she came and bandaged each wound. When this was done, her bridegroom ordered her: "Now mix wine and offer it first to Hagen. He is a good athlete¹ , provided that he keeps his pledge. Then hand it to me, since I endured more than the others. Finally, I want Gunther to drink, in as much as he appeared sluggish among the arms of great-spirited men, and he did the work of Mars in a lukewarm and weakly manner."² The daughter of Heriric obeyed his every word, but the Frank, when the wine was offered, though parched within, said: "Give it first to Alpharides your bridegroom and lord,³ maiden, since, I confess, he is braver than I, and not I alone, but he excels all in warfare."

1421

Then at last thorny Hagen⁴ and the Aquitanian himself, unconquered in mind, though exhausted throughout their bodies, after the various clamours and fearful blows of the fight, playfully jest with each other while drinking.

1425

The Frank says: "Henceforth you will chase the stags, my friend, so that you may enjoy endless gloves⁵ made from their hide! But I advise you to stuff your right glove with tender wool so that you can deceive those who do not know with the appearance of a hand. Wah! Well, what will you say⁶ since you seem to break the custom of your race by fixing a sword by your right thigh? And, if ever you feel the desire, will you really⁷ put your left arm about your wife in a perverse embrace? Now why do I go on? Behold! From now on you must do everything with your left hand!" Walter answered him thus: "Why are you so boastful, I wonder, my one-eyed Sicambrian.⁸ If I shall hunt stags, you will avoid boar meat.⁹ Henceforth in fear you will order your servants—greeting the crowds of heroes with a sideways glance.¹⁰ But, mindful of our old pledge, I will give you counsel: Now, when you come home and near your household, make a larded poultice of barley and milk. This will give you both sustenance and healing."

1443

This said, they renew their pact with repeated pledge; and, together lifting the king, who was in great pain, they put him on his horse; and separated¹¹ thus the Franks returned to Wörms, and the Aquitanian came to his homeland. There, received gratefully with much honor, he made the customary public vows of betrothal to Hildegund; and, dear to all after the death of his father, he ruled the people happily for thrice ten years. What kind of battles and what great triumphs he often received hereafter... Well, my blunted pen refuses to write any more.

1453

Whoever reads this poem, forgive the strident cicada. And consider not its shrill little voice but its age, for it has not yet left its nest to seek the sky.¹² This is the poem of Walter. May Jesus save you!

1 The use of the athletic metaphor here is not as pointed as earlier around the “tug-of-war” scene (see 954-1049), where “athleta” (“athlete”) was used twice.

2 Kratz (1984: xviii) suggests that the final scene in the Waltharius is based on a scene from Prudentius' Psychomachia (606-63) where the Virtues rest and refresh themselves after combat.

3 The word “senior” (“lord”) could also be translated "husband".

4 There is an etymological play on Hagen and the Germanic root meaning "thorn bush"; the English words hedge and haw thorn are related as is the modern German Hagedorn .

5 The poet uses the Old High German word "wantis" for the gloves.

6 The Latin "dicis" literally translates "do you say" but context seems to want a future here. It is somewhat uncommon to have present for future in Latin, but regular in Germanic languages. Compare "I shall cheat" for the present tense "fraudo" at line 979 and "I shall hunt" for present "venor" in 1436.

7 The Latin "euge" is actually an interjection indicating that Hagen is pleased with his clever imagination.

8 The adjective is related to a German tribe called the Sugambri .

9 It is unclear what this means, whether it is a riddle or a joke.

10 His glance is "transversa" ("sideways") because he is suspicious and because he only has one eye. For the phrase "transversa tuendo," compare Vergil Eclogues 3.8 (and Servius on this line) and Valerius Flaccus 2.154.

11 The Latin disiecti ("separated") can refer to both the dis persal of the friends and the dis memberment of their bodies.

12 It would seem that either the author thinks of himself as young and inexperienced, or at least he wants us to think this. Perhaps he was fairly young, but owing to the frequent exaggeration of poetic language it would be rash to assume that he must have been a boy. The claim that he had not yet left the nest could mean that he had not yet achieved the age or ecclesiastic learning which would allow him to gain a greater position in the Church, permitting him to leave his home monastery or church.

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