“Now nay, my good Lord Blödel,” peaceably Dankwart replied;
“Sooth, this were a sorry ending for us all unto this high-tide!
But a child was I when Siegfried departed from light and life.
No cause know I why hated I should be of Etzel’s wife.”
“For thee, I know not and care not how the truth of the story lies:
Thy kinsmen, Hagen and Gunther, did it in any wise.
Defend you, ye doomed and homeless! Ye live not another day!
Here, now, with your lives the forfeit unto Kriemhild must ye pay!”
“Ha, will ye forbear not?” cried Dankwart, “ye messengers of death!
I repent me of mine entreaty: I had better have spared my breath!”