The king himself went forward, and met them where they stood.
He said, with seemly bearing, to them in their sorry mood:
“Brave knights, I give you welcome here to this far-off border.
How fares it with Queen Hilda? Who sent you here? and who is left to guard her?”
[816]
Said one: “Your lady sent us; to you for help she turns:
Wasted are your castles; your lands the foeman burns.
Gu-drun from thence is carried; her maidens, too, are taken:
Never can your kingdom from all these woes and ills again awaken.
[817]