To the warriors battle-eager the Queen spake yet again:
“Now tarry ye here for a season; stand ye still for a space.
With my crown on mine head yon foemen will I first meet face to face.
Hearken as I reproach him for the wrongs he hath done unto me,
This Hagen of Troneg, vassal of Gunther of Burgundy.
I know him so high-hearted, that his crime he will scorn to deny.
What shall befall him thereafter from avengers nought care I.”
Then the valiant viol-minstrel, the lord of the strings, was ware
Of the high-born Daughter of Princes, as her feet came down the stair
That led from the palace-portal. Soon as he saw that sight,