Then spake his devilish mother: “I did it for your sake,

Thinking her will to bridle. My bidding kindly take;

Strongly built is the castle, let now the gates be fastened;

They then will gain but little who on their toilsome way have hither hastened.

[1382]

“Full well you know it, Hartmut, you bear the maiden’s hate,

For you have slain her kinsmen: your watch you must not bate.

It is not friends or kinsfolk who at our gates are knocking;

The proud and warlike Hegelings, twenty to one of us, come hither flocking.

[1383]