XV.
How woven for Siegfried was the Net of Betrayal
To the gates of the royal city men saw on the fourth day’s morn
Come two-and-thirty riders. Straightway was their message borne
Unto Gunther, to wit, a defiance unto war from a far-off foe.
—That lie unto wives and mothers was a fathomless wellspring of woe.
Unto these was licence given to appear before the King.
Then said they to him: “We be liegemen of Lüdeger’s following,
The King overcome in battle, time was, by Siegfried’s hand,
And by him led thence as a hostage into King Gunther’s land.”
Then Gunther greeted the heralds, and bade them sit at the meat.