Do this, and next unto Etzel shalt thou reign in kingly might.”
But Rüdiger made answer: “How can I do this thing?
Unto mine house I bade them with friendly welcoming,
With meats and with drinks love-lavished their feast did I array,
And I gave to them gifts at parting—shall I fall on them now and slay?
What if the world misdeem me, and say that Rüdiger quailed?
At the least in all true service to them have I never failed.
If now I should fall upon them, that were a deed most vile.
I should sorely rue the friendship knit up with these erewhile.
I gave to wife my daughter unto Giselher the thane: