Therefore, I rede you, bethink you!” So that fair woman spake.
Then Siegfried the battle-helper drew the King apart,
And he prayed him to speak out boldly all that was in his heart
Unto the Queen replying—“Fear not for the end,” he said;
“By my cunning devices against her full well will I shield thine head.”
Then answered and spake King Gunther: “O child of a royal line,
Lay on me what task thou pleasest: were it harder than this of thine,
Yet for the sake of thy beauty I abide all willingly.
If thou be not won by my wooing, then smite mine head from me.”
So soon as the words had been spoken, straightway that Amazon-maid