Then said the good King Siegmund, when Kriemhild he had seen,
"Woe worth our journey hither! would it had never been!
'Midst such good friends and kinsmen, who has this murder done,
Which thee hath cost thy husband, and me, alas! my son?"
XXIII
The noble lady answer'd, "Could I the murderer find,
I'd wreak on him such vengeance with all my heart and mind,
That all his friends should sorrow at the woful tale,
While they had eyes for weeping, while they had tongues to wail."
XXIV
His arms round the dead champion Sir Siegmund trembling threw;
Thereat so loud the sorrow of each beholder grew,
That the proud hall of Gunther and the palace high
And Worms, through all his quarters, rung to the thrilling cry.
XXV
But none there could bring comfort to Siegfried's lady true.
Out from his bloodied vesture his comely limbs they drew,
And wash'd his wound wide-gaping, and laid him on the bier.
Woe were his weeping followers through heart-consuming drear.
XXVI
Out then spake his warriors from the Nibelungers' land;
"Revenge will we our master each with his own good hand
This very house must harbor him who has done the deed."
Then hasten'd Siegfried's meiny to don their warlike weed.