Since Helka the Queen, the lovely, was taken from him and from life,
They said: “If haply thou thinkest on another noble wife,
In blood and in virtue the highest that ever prince hath won,
Take Kriemhild: Siegfried the Hero was her lord in days bygone.”
But the mighty King made answer: “Nay, how may this thing be?
A heathen am I; baptismal waters have touched not me;
And she is a Christian woman—the thing may never befall.
If ever she came, this surely a miracle might one call!”
But the valiant knights made answer: “Perchance may she do that same
For the sake of thy great dominions, for the sake of thy glorious name.