Now by this had the knights run thither, and saw where murdered he lay.
To many a man true-hearted was that a joyless day.
Who cherished faith and honour, they wailed for the glory slain:
Well of them all he deserved it, that battle-fearless thane!
The traitor king that consented to his death wept now for it:
But the death-stricken cried: “Thou needest not this, thou hypocrite!
What doth he to weep for the mischief, who the profit thereof hath won?
O’erlate the accursèd repenteth the deed best left undone!”
Spake Hagen then, the relentless: “I see not why ye should rue.
There is an end of the terror that hath haunted us hitherto.