A woeful guerdon he gave him for all his travail past!
He marked where at Etzel’s table was seated a minstrel-man:
Swiftly upon him Hagen in madness of fury ran;
He smote him where on his viol rested the bard’s right hand—
“That have thou for the message thou broughtest to Burgundy-land!”
“Woe for mine hand!” cried Werbel the harper of Etzel the King.
“Wherein, Lord Hagen of Troneg, have I wronged thee in anything?
I came to the land of thy masters in faith and in loyalty.
How shall I waken my music who am maimed of mine hand by thee?”
Little enow recked Hagen, though never he harped again!