Page:The lay of the Nibelungs; (IA nibelungslay00hortrich).pdf/93

III.]

Then Ortwein, lord of Metz, spake, and answered thus the king

(Rich and high-couraged was he, and feared not anything):

“Since we know naught about them, bid someone straightway go

And fetch my uncle Hagen, he’ll see them, and may know.

“He knoweth all the kingdoms, and ev’ry stranger-land,

If aught he wot anent them, he’ll make us understand.”

So the king sent to fetch him, him and his liegemen all;—

They watched his stately coming, with warriors, to the hall.

What the king wanted of him? first, Hagen sought to know.

“There are within my palace strange warriors, I trow,

Whom not a soul here knoweth; if thou didst them e’er see,

Declare it now, Sir Hagen, and tell the truth to me!”

“That will I,” answered Hagen, and to the window went;

One saw his keen glance wander, till on the guests it bent.

Well pleased him their equipment, and raiment equally:

But they were strangers to him, ne’er seen in Burgundy.

He spake: “From whencesoever have come these cavaliers,

They must thetnselves be princes, or princes’ messengers.

Their raiment is so splendid, their horses are so good;—

’Tis plain, where’er they come from, they are of noble blood.

“And,” furthermore said Hagen, “though hitherto, I ween

The famous hero Siegfried, mine eyes have never seen,

I cannot help believing, how strange soe’er it be,

That yon proud knight, there standing, can be none else but he!