Gifts of her lovingkindness: since the King had refused them not,
She prayed he would fare not forward unto Etzel’s festal-tide
Unholpen of her bounty; but the hero refused, and replied:
“Of all things that ever,” said Hagen, “I have seen unto this day,
Nought I desire so sorely to bear with me hence away
As the shield that hangeth yonder against your palace-wall:
That same would I bear right gladly unto Etzel’s festival.”
When heard of the wife of the Margrave was the word that Hagen spake,
It wakened her sleeping sorrow: no marvel her tears outbrake!
With anguish she called to remembrance the death of Nudung, her son,