“How now, ye knightly sewers,” did the weary warrior say,
“Of a truth, to the guests of your master meet service should ye pay,
And should bear to the waiting princes the goodly meats through the hall,
And let me bear to my masters the tidings I come withal.”
Whosoe’er with presumptuous courage to bar his coming essayed,
Upon him with his swinging war-glaive such giant strokes he laid,
That the rest all terror-stricken fell back from his fierce onslaught.
Marvels exceeding mighty by his prowess had he wrought.
XXXIII.
How the Fight began in Etzel’s Hall
So then when the aweless Dankwart strode through the feast-hall door,