LXXXIX
Thereto replied the damsel, "It cannot yet be so;
First must my men and kinsmen th' intended journey know;
To bring my friends together, besides, 't were surely fit.
T' were wrong, methinks, so lightly my lands and all to quit."
XC
So messengers in hurry through all the country went;
To liegemen, and to kinsmen, and all her friends she sent.
To Isenstein she begg'd them to come without delay.
And bade give all in plenty rich gifts and garments gay.
XCI
Daily to Brunhild's castle early they rode and late,
In troops from all sides flocking, and all in martial state.
"Ay! ay!" said frowning Hagan, "ill have we done, I fear;
Surely 't will be our ruin to wait this gathering here.
XCII
"Let her strength be only here together brought
(And of the queen's intentions we little know or naught),
If so her passion wills it, we're lost at once, I trow.
In sooth this dainty damsel was born to work us woe."
XCIII
Then spoke the valiant Siegfried, "I'll undertake for all;
Trust me, what now you look for, that shall ne'er befall.
Safe and sound to keep you, I'll hither bring a crew
Of fierce, selected champions, of whom ye never knew.