“I should not fear for him,” said she, “if he were not so bold and reckless. When he is in the battle, he never thinks of his own safety. And I tremble lest at some time he may dare too much, and meet his death. If you knew every thing, as I do, you would fear for him too.”
“What is it?” asked Hagen, trying to hide his eagerness,—“what is it that gives you cause for fear? Tell me all about it, and then I will know the better how to shield him from danger. I will lay down my life for his sake.”
Then Kriemhild, trusting in her uncle’s word, and forgetful of every caution, told him the secret of the dragon’s blood, and of Siegfried’s strange bath, and of the mischief-working lime-leaf.
“And now,” she added, “since I know that there is one spot which a deadly weapon might reach, I am in constant fear that the spear of an enemy may, perchance, strike him there. Is there not some way of shielding that spot?”
“There is,” answered Hagen. “Make some mark, or put some sign, upon his coat, that I may know where that spot is. And, when the battle rages, I will ride close behind him, and ward off every threatened stroke.”
And Kriemhild joyfully promised that she would at once embroider a silken lime-leaf on the hero’s coat, just over the fatal spot. And Hagen, well pleased, bade her farewell, and went away.
Without delay the chief sought the weak-minded Gunther, and to him he related all that the trustful Kriemhild had told him. And, until the midnight hour, the two plotters sat in the king’s bed-chamber, and laid their cunning plans. Both thought it best, now they had learned the fatal secret, to give up the sham march against the North-kings, and to seek by other and easier means to lure Siegfried to his death.
“The chiefs will be much displeased,” said Gunther. “For all will come, ready to march at the rising of the sun. What shall we do to please them, and make them more ready to change their plans?”
Hagen thought a moment, and then the grim smile that was wont to break the dark lines of his face when he was pleased spread over his features.
“We will have a grand hunt in the Odenwald to-morrow,” he hoarsely whispered.