Till their lord, King Lüdegast, under his banner beheld enrolled
Warriors twice ten thousand, all war-thanes dauntless-souled.
Then Lüdiger, lord of the Saxons, gathered his war-array,
Till his battle-muster was two-score thousand, yea, more than they,
Who should join them with Denmark’s war-host, unto Burgundy to ride.
But in that land also had Gunther the King sent far and wide;
To his kinsmen-friends and the war-host of his brethren he sent his hest
To the end they should follow his banner as battleward he pressed;
And with these came the knights of Hagen: yea, sore was their need that day;
And the shadow of death already over many a warrior lay.