Never were heroes entreated of friends so evilly!”
“Lord Rüdiger, God reward thee,” again did Gernot reply,
“For the gifts of thy princely bounty! Distressed for thy death am I,
In that all that chivalrous spirit should be doomed to perish with thee.
Lo here that sword which thou gavest, O noble thane, unto me.
Not once this steel hath failed me through this distressful tide;
Beneath its undulled edges hath many a hero died:
A lordly blade and a goodly, stubborn it is and bright.
Of a truth, such royal bounty was never bestowed of knight.
Yet, if thou wilt nowise refrain thee, but wilt raise against us thine hand,