The other mermaid, that hight Sieglind, said, “Be warned, Hagen, son of Aldrian. My aunt hath lied to thee because of her clothes. If ye go to the Huns, ye are ill-advised. Turn while there is time, for ye bold knights have been bidden that ye may die in Etzel’s land. Who rideth thither hath death at his hand.”
But Hagen said, “Your deceit is vain. How should we all tarry there, dead, through the hate of one woman?”
Then they began to foretell it plainer, and Hadburg said also, “Ye are doomed. Not one of you shall escape, save the king’s chaplain: this we know for a truth. He, only, shall return alive into Gunther’s land.”
Grimly wroth spake bold Hagen then. “It were a pleasant thing to tell my masters that we must all perish among the Huns! Show us a way across the water, thou wisest of womankind.”
She answered, “Since thou wilt not be turned from the journey, up yonder by the river standeth an inn. Within it is a boatman; there is none beside.”
He betook him thither to ask further. But the mermaidens cried after the wrothful knight, “Stay, Sir Hagen. Thou art too hasty. Hearken first concerning the way. The lord of this march hight Elsy. The name of his brother is Gelfrat, a prince in Bavaria. It might go hard with thee if thou wentest through his march. Look well to thyself, and proceed warily with the boatman. He is so grim of his mood that he will kill thee, if thou speak him not fair. If thou wouldst have him ferry thee across, give him hire. He guardeth this land, and is Gelfrat’s friend. If he come not straightway, cry across the river to him that thou art Amelrich; he was a good knight, that a feud drove from this land. The boatman will come when he heareth that name.”
Proud Hagen thanked the women for their warning and their counsel, and said no more. He went up the river’s bank, till he came to an inn that stood on the far side. He began to shout across the water, “Boatman, row me over, and I will give thee, for thy meed, an armlet of red gold. I must across.”
The boatman was so rich that he needed not to serve for hire, and seldom took reward from any. His men also were overweening, and Hagen was left standing on the bank of the river.
Thereupon he shouted so loud that all the shore rang with it. He was a stark man. “Row across for Amelrich. I am Elsy’s liegeman, that, for a feud, fled the country.” He swung the armlet aloft on his sword—it was of red gold, bright and shining—that they might ferry him over to Gelfrat’s march. At this the haughty boatman himself took the oar, for he was greedy and covetous of gain, the which bringeth oft to a bad end. He thought to win Hagen’s red gold, but won, in lieu thereof, a grim death by his sword.
He rowed over to the shore with mighty strokes. When he found not him that had been named, he fell into a fury; he saw Hagen, and spake wrothfully to the hero, “Thy name may be Amelrich, but, or I err greatly, thy face is none of his. By one father and one mother he was my brother. Since thou hast deceived me, thou canst stay where thou art.”