And all her friends and her vassals she gathered from every side.
Wherefore in swift obedience unto Isenstein came they;
And to each and to all of them gave she most royal-rich array.
Yea, day after day came riding from far, came early and late,
The best of the folk of Brunhild in throngs to her fortress-gate.
“Beshrew our folly,” cried Hagen, “in consenting to this thing!
To our own undoing await we Queen Brunhild’s following.
If these with all their war-might throng into this land thus—
Queen Brunhild’s secret purpose is all unknown unto us,—
What if she be wroth against us? Then were our plight forlorn: