And his glance like the swoop of an eagle flashed o’er those guests below.
With the warrior’s joy their war-gear and their goodly array he scanned;
Howbeit their faces he knew not: they were strangers in the land.
And he spake: “Whencesoever the warriors to Rhineflood hitherward fare,
Princes are they of a surety, or a message of princes they bear,
So goodly are their war-steeds, so royal is their array.
Sooth, whencesoe’er they have ridden, great-hearted heroes be they.”
Then a little pondered Hagen, and he spake: “It is sooth to say,
Upon Siegfried’s bodily presence have I looked not unto this day:
Yet indeed and in truth meseemeth, howsoever the thing may be,