Page:The Nibelungenlied - tr. Shumway - 1909.pdf/266

208 the angry warrior she called: “Pray bide a time, Sir Hagen! Forsooth ye are too much in haste. List further to the tale of how ye may cross to the other bank. The lord of these marches beareth the name of Else. His brother is hight Knight Gelfrat, a lord in the Bavarian land. ’T will go hard with you, an’ ye will cross his land. Ye must guard you well and deal full wisely with the ferryman. So grim of mood is he that he’ll not let you live, unless be that ye have your wits about you with the knight. An’ ye will that he guide you, then give him his meed. He guardeth this land and is liegeman unto Gelfrat. And cometh he not betimes, so call across the flood and say, ye hight Amelrich. He was a doughty hero that because of a feud did void this land. The ferryman will come when he heareth this name.”

Haughty Hagen bowed then to the dames; he spake no more, but held his peace. Then by the river he hied him higher up upon the sandy shore, to where he found an inn upon the other bank. Loudly he began to call across the flood: “Now come and fetch me, ferryman,“ quoth the good knight, “and I will give thee as meed an arm ring of ruddy gold. Know, that of this passage I have great need in truth.”

So noble was the ferryman that it behooved him not to serve, therefore he full seldom took wage of any wight. His squires, too, were full lofty of mood. All this time Hagen still stood alone, this side of the flood. He called with might and main, that all the water rang, for mickle and great was the hero’s strength. “Now fetch me. I am Amelrich, Else’s liegeman, that because of a great feud did void these lands.“