Then afront of his feet did Dietrich his goodly buckler set.
Then lifted his voice the hero, a voice of heart-sick woe:
“Wherefore hast thou, Lord Gunther, evil-entreated me so,
A homeless man? What evil have I ever done unto thee,
That thus of all life’s comfort wholly bereaved I should be?
That grievous hurt that ye did us, sufficed it not unto you,
That ye to our sorrow the hero Rüdiger smote and slew,
But that therewithal ye must rob me of all my vassal-throng?
Of a truth unto you, O heroes, had I never wrought such wrong!
Of your own ill plight bethink you, and of all your grief and pain,