III
All that day they were running, and all the night the same,
Then to a famous country of mighty power they came,
Days' journey full a hundred stretching far away,
The Nibelungers' country, where his hard-won treasure lay.
IV
Alone the champion landed in a meadow wide;
Straight to the shore securely the little bark he tied,
And then went to a castle seated upon a hill,
To ask for food and shelter as weary travellers will.
V
All found he barr'd and bolted as near the walls he drew;
Men both life and honor kept then as now they do.
The stranger all impatient began a thundering din
At the well fasten'd portal. There found he close within
VI
A huge earth-shaking giant, the castle set to guard,
Who with his weapons by him kept ever watch and ward.
"Who beats the gate so stoutly?" the yawning monster ask'd;
His voice, as he gave answer, the crafty hero mask'd,
VII
And said, "I am a warrior; open me the gate;
I'm wroth with lazy losels who make their betters wait,
While they on down are snoring as if they'd never wake."
It irk'd the burly porter that thus the stranger spake.