Answered the good knight Siegfried: “Up then, and speedily
Bring thou unto me my bravest which here in the fortress be,
A thousand Niblungs: before me now would I see them brought.”
But the cause for the which he desired them thus, he told him not.
Then Albrich and the giant from their bonds the hero unbound;
And the Dwarf to the place ran swiftly where the Niblung knights slept sound;
And in eager haste he uproused them, the men of the Niblung array,
Crying, “Up, ye heroes! to Siegfried your lord must ye go straightway.”
Upsprang they from their couches, and they clad themselves with speed;
And a thousand eager warriors stood arrayed in battle-weed;