“What meaneth this, friend Hagen? And thought ye scorn of our aid,
That I might not come to your helping when the rings of your mail were made
Red with the blood of battle? Who brought you unto this plight?”
He answered: “The deed was Elsè’s: he fell on us in the night.
To avenge his ferryman’s slaying his riders pursued us fast.
Dead by the hand of my brother Gelfrat to earth was cast.
Then Elsè fleeing outran us—of sore need surely he fled!
Of us but four, but a hundred of them, on the field lie dead.”
Where stayed they for rest and for slumber, no witness hath testified.
Swift ran the tale of their coming through all the country-side,