Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/338

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The warriors of Niblung to ride with them had come,

A thousand men in hauberks, who left behind at home

Full many a lovely lady, ne’er to be seen again.

Still wrought the wounds of Siegfried in Kriemhild bitter pain.

Their course they now directed, King Gunther’s gallant men,

Up through the East Franks’ country, towards the River Main;

And thither led them Hagen, who knew the road of old.

Their marshal was Sir Dankwart, Burgundian hero bold.

As they from Eastern Franks’ land to Schwanefeld rode on,

Well might they be to all men by noble bearing known,

These princes and their kinsmen, heroes deserving fame.

The king on the twelfth morning unto the Danube came.

Then Hagen, knight of Tronjé, rode of them all foremost;

Good heart and courage gave he unto the Niblung host.

The warrior bold dismounted, down on the sand stood he,

And hastily his warhorse made fast unto a tree.

The stream was overflowing, no skiff was there to see,

The Nibelungs misdoubted, in great anxiety,

How they should e’er get over; the flood was all too wide.

The gallant knights dismounted hard by the river-side.

“Much damage,” said Sir Hagen, “may here be done to thee,

O Ruler of the Rhineland! Look for thyself and see;

The river is o’erflowing, and mighty is its flood.

T trow we lose ere nightfall here many a hero good.”