Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/373

XXVIII.]

Then the three mighty chieftains to speak apart withdrew,

Gunther to wit, and Gernot, and the lord Dietrich, too:

“Now, knight of Bern, pray tell us, thou noble warrior good,

What of the queen thou knowest, and what may be her mood.

The knight of Bern made answer: “What can I tell you more?

I hear her ev’ry morning weeping and wailing sore,—

This wedded wife of Etzel— in manner piteous,

To the great God of Heaven, for stalwart Siegfried’s loss.”

“It may not be averted,”— that boldest man declared,

Volker, the fiddle-player,— “the doom whereof we’ve heard;

To court we’re bound to journey, there for ourselves to see

What fate for us good warriors among the Huns shall be.”

So hence the bold Burgundians to court rode on their way

After their country’s fashion, in glorious array.

And many a bold man marvell’d among the Hunfolk there

At Hagen, lord of Tronjé, what kind of man he were.

For since was told the story, (that was enough alone,)

How he the Netherlander Siegfried to death had done,—

The stoutest of all warriors, the husband of Kriemhild—

With questions about Hagen the court was wellnigh fill’d.

Of goodly growth and presence the hero was, no doubt;

Broad-shouldered and deep-chested; his hair was fleck’d about

With streaks of grisly colour; long in the shank was he,

And stony was his visage; he walk’d right royally.