So then when the heralds to Denmark from Burgundy had passed,
And had spoken the tidings unlooked-for to their lord, King Lüdegast,
Had told him the word of the dwellers by Rhine, that message grim,
For that haughty-hearted defiance was the soul made bitter in him.
For they told him of many a valiant knight in the King’s war-band:—
“Yea, one we beheld with Gunther, and he stood at the king’s right hand,
And Siegfried they named him, a hero of Netherland.” Thus spake they.
Then Lüdegast’s heart at the tidings was filled with strange dismay.
So then when the tale of their message was heard all Denmark o’er,
They hasted to win war-helpers, yea, more than theretofore,