Never by guest such sorrow upon mine house was brought!”
(C) Straight to their harbourage went they, those noble warriors twain,
Rüdiger, Lord of the Marches, and Dietrich, Bern’s great thane.
Themselves were steadfast-minded aloof from the quarrel to stay,
And they straitly commanded their vassals to have nought to do with the fray.
(C) Yet had those guests had foreknowledge of the mischief hard by the door,
To be wrought by those two heroes, which for them fate had in store,
Verily not so lightly had they won that hall-way through
Ere those grim portal-keepers with the sword had smitten them too.
All whom they would had they suffered by this to pass from within;