Not truly, I trow, the story hath been told unto thee this day.”
“Not truly?—was this not true then, that was told of Hildebrand,
That of you my men petitioned, my knights of Amelung-land,
To give them forth of the feast-hall the body of Rüdiger,
And ye rendered them for answer nought but mock and jeer?”
Answered the Lord of Rhineland: “They fain would bear away
The body of Rüdiger, said they: thereunto I answered nay,
Not as to flout thy people, but to do unto Etzel despite.
Thereat brake forth into railing Wolfhart the haughty knight.”
The Hero of Bern made answer: “The finger of fate is here.