And King Etzel saw, and he deemed it an evil and bitter sight.
“Woe’s me!” cried the King in anguish; “how is he stricken down,—
Stricken by hands of a woman!—the hero of chiefest renown
That ever in battle’s forefront fighting his buckler bore!
Were he never so much my foeman, mine heart is for him full sore!”
Then Master Hildebrand shouted: “This thing shall profit her not
That she dared to slay him! What cometh to me I care no jot!—
Yea, though he brought me also into mortal peril and pain,
I will take in any wise vengeance for valiant Hagen slain!”
In wrathful indignation on Kriemhild Hildebrand leapt,