Then spake unto him King Gunther: “Mine herald wilt thou be
To my dear friend Rüdiger? Ask him if, for a grace unto me,
To me and to these my kinsmen and vassals he will be host.
So will I requite that service unto mine uttermost.”
“Gladly will I be thine herald,” answering Eckwart said.
Straightway forth on the errand with eager haste he sped
Unto Rüdiger, bearing the message told even now in his ear.
There had come no such glad tidings to his lord for many a year.
Men saw from the towers of Bechlaren a knight spur thitherward fast.
Well Rüdiger knew that rider, and he said: “In furious haste