“A priest!” she cried; “they send to me a priest!

Mocking me, that my hand first helped these priests

Till a priest’s hand was strong to strike me down.”

He bent before her, swayed by grief and shame;

Then spoke: “Brunhild, they sent me not to thee;

But I came willingly, nor feared their wrath.

Arnulf and Pippin feast their warriors

In the high-raftered hall, and cheer the bards,

Who sing of how they smote thee: so I crept

Forth from the tumult. At the height of noon