And they laboured to turn Prince Siegfried from the perilous quest away.
Then answered the aweless Siegfried: “Heart’s dearest, father mine,
Never to love of woman shall the soul of me incline,
Except I may woo untrammelled where love leads forth mine heart!”
And never, for all their pleading, would he from the word depart.
“If thus thou abide unshaken,” the King made answer again,
“Know thou, of thine high-wrought purpose my soul is exceeding fain;
And with heart and hand will I aid thee to the uttermost of my might.
Yet mid King Gunther’s vassals is many a haughty knight:
Yea, had he none other than Hagen the stalwart to stand at his side,