“I have saved you from a great danger. My father was about to give you
a sleeping potion, that he might slip into your room in the night and
cut off your head, as he has already done to many a Christian. I now
offer you my hand and kingdom, if you will only pretend to follow our
faith.”
Wolfdieterich thought of Sigeminne, and turning to Marpilia did his
best to convert her to his faith. They spent the whole night talking on
these subjects.
The next morning Beligan came, and invited his guest to join him at
breakfast, and after that, in a little game of throwing the dagger,
explaining that such was their custom. As soon as breakfast was over,
they went into the court, where the king’s servants stood round them in
a wide circle. The hero laid aside his armour and sword as he was
desired, and received a buckler and three sharp and pointed daggers.
The heathen took his stand opposite, armed in like manner. The latter
flung the first dagger at his opponent’s foot, and he avoided it by
springing to one side.
“By the beard of the Prophet,” cried the heathen, “who taught you that?
Are you Wolfdieterich, from whom it is foretold that evil shall befall
me?”
Wolfdieterich would not confess to his name, but stood ready again for
the fight. The second dagger scratched his head, carrying off a bit of
the scalp; the third he caught on his buckler.
It was now the hero’s turn to throw. His first dagger pinned the
heathen’s left foot to the ground; the second scratched his side; but
the third, which he flung with the cry, “I am Wolfdieterich!” struck
him to the heart. He was now attacked on all sides, but succeeded in
putting his opponents to flight. He then re-entered the castle, put on
his armour, took his horse out of the stable, and was about to mount,
when he suddenly saw that a wide lake surrounded the castle on every
side, and a gale of wind was blowing the great waves so high that there
seemed no chance of escape. At the edge of the water stood Marpilia,
describing circles in the air and on the ground with a magic wand, and
murmuring to herself the while. Riding up to her, he caught her in his
arms, and swung her before him on his horse.
“If I am to drown, witch, you shall not escape,” he said.
With these words he spurred his horse into the wild waves, and saw that
the waters stretched out farther and farther, until they seemed a sea.
He looked around, and saw that only one chance was left him. He flung
the witch-woman off his horse; instantly the storm ceased, the waters
retired, and he was once more on dry land.
But Marpilia was not drowned. She appeared before him again in all her
beauty, stretching out her arms as if to embrace him, but he threatened
her with his drawn sword. Then she changed into a magpie, flew to the
top of a high rock, and sought from thence to entangle him with new
enchantments, each more terrible than the other. At last, thoroughly
spent with fatigue, he exclaimed, “Help me, Thou Three in One, or I
die.”
Scarcely had he uttered the words when the witch vanished, the sun
shone once more upon mount and vale, and before him lay the broad road
that led to Lombardy.
After meeting with many adventures by land and water, he travelled
through a wild mountain region, and there he fell in with a giantess,
an old friend of his father, who received him very kindly, and told
him, amongst other things, of the sad fate of Ortnit and Liebgart.
Although her tale diminished his hopes of help, he was yet determined
to continue his journey. The giantess said it would take an eternity
travelling as he did, horses were so slow! With that she picked up both
horse and rider, and carried them pick-a-back on her broad shoulders
three hundred and fifty miles in one day, over mountains, valleys and
rivers, and set him down in the fair land of Lombardy.