Should have been in our midst unladen; or, if this too hard were found,

Nigher the good Rhine-water should have been our camping-ground.”

Made answer Hagen of Troneg: “My lords, and thou, O King,

I know where nigh to us lieth a cool-upwelling spring.

That ye be not indignant against me, I counsel that thither we go.”

—That rede unto many a hero was fraught with bitter woe!

Now by this was the good knight Siegfried with thirst-pangs sore distressed.

“Now thrust ye aside the table,” the hero cried to the rest;

“I will hence away to the hill-side, and drink thereby of the well.”

So all that counsel of treason as the false lords plotted befell.