Thus saying: “It were for thine honour unto Etzel’s land to ride.”
This was the rede of the chiefest of them that stood at his side,
Save Hagen alone; but hateful to him was the counsel of those.
To the King he whispered fiercely: “To your own lives are ye foes!
Surely thou hast not forgotten what deeds unto her we wrought!
For us are the wrongs of Kriemhild for ever peril-fraught.
I smote unto death her husband, even I with mine own hand.
How should we be so hardy as to ride into Etzel’s land?”
Made answer the King: “My sister of all wrath emptied her heart:
With kisses of lovingkindness, ere she turned from this land to depart,