That if haply foemen in malice had set upon them then,
Their heads had their own hands warded, those aweless Niblung men.
No leave would they take of any: they shook off the dust of their feet.
Yet Giselher and Gernot full lovingly came to greet
The old king at his departing; for they sorrowed in his heart-pain,
And thereof did they give clear witness, those valiant heroes twain.
For to Siegmund spake Prince Gernot exceeding courteously:
“Now God in Heaven be witness, of the death of Siegfried am I
Wholly and utterly guiltless! Never I heard this said,
That any bare him malice. From mine heart do I mourn for thy dead.”