Page:The Nibelungenlied - tr. Shumway - 1909.pdf/321



brave Dankwart was come within the door, he bade King Etzel’s meiny step aside. His garments dripped with blood and in his hand he bare unsheathed a mighty sword. Full loud he called out to the knight: “Brother Hagen, ye sit all too long, forsooth. To you and to God in heaven do I make plaint of our woe. Our knights and squires all lie dead within their lodgements.”

He called in answer: “Who hath done this deed?”

“That Sir Bloedel hath done with his liegemen, but he hath paid for it dearly, as I can tell you, for with mine own hands I struck off his head.”

“It is but little scathe,” quoth Hagen, “if one can only say of a knight that he hath lost his life at a warrior’s hands. Stately dames shall mourn him all the less. Now tell me, brother Dankwart, how comes it that ye be so red of hue? Ye suffer from wounds great dole, I ween. If there be any in the land that hath done you this, ’t will cost his life, and the foul fiend save him not.”

“Ye see me safe and sound; my weeds alone are wet with blood. This hath happed from wounds of other men, of whom I have slain so many a one to-day that, had I to swear it, I could not tell the tale.”

“Brother Dankwart,” he spake, “guard us the door and let not a single Hun go forth. I will hold speech