Go fearless forth of the palace, thou and thy vassal-train.”
When Rüdiger, Lord of the Marches, passed free through the guarded door,
There went with him five hundred—yea, peradventure more—
Friends of the Lord of Bechlaren and his trusty vassal-throng:
But of that fair faith unto Gunther great scathe befell ere long.
Now it happed that a knight of the Hunfolk beheld King Etzel go
Safe under Dietrich’s shielding, and would fain ’scape even so;
But with a stroke so deadly the viol-minstrel swept
The head from the skulker’s shoulders, that to Etzel’s feet it leapt.
So when the Lord of Hunland came forth from the battle-wrack,