“Lord King, take back, I pray thee, all things that of thee I hold,
My lordships and my castles—I will keep nor wealth nor lands.
Forth on my feet into exile will I fare with empty hands.
(C) Stripped bare of all my possessions thy land will I leave—to be free!
Only my wife and my daughter will I lead by the hand with me.
I choose this, rather than passing to meet death perjured-souled.
In an evil hour to thy service did I bind me to earn thy gold!”
But answer made King Etzel: “Who then shall mine helper be?
Behold, thy land and thy vassals, all these I committed to thee
To the end that thou mightest avenge me on whoso should do me despite.