XVII
Sure ne'er was reconcilement 'twixt friends too long apart
By such full tears cemented; her loss she took to heart,
Yet all concern'd she pardon'd, all, save only one.
Never had been the murder, if not by Hagan done.
'Twas no long time thereafter when this device they wrought,
That from the land of Nibelung should to the Rhine be brought
By the command of Kriemhild the wondrous treasure bright;
'Twas her morning-gift at marriage and so was hers by right.
XIX
For it the youthful Giselher and eke good Gernot went;
Eighty hundred warriors with them their sister sent,
To bring it from the mountain, where close conceal'd it lay,
Watch'd by the stout dwarf Albric and his best friends alway.
XX
When now came the Burgundians the precious hoard to take,
Albric, the faithful keeper, thus his friends bespake:
"This far renowned treasure we can't withhold, I ween,
The marriage-morning present claim'd by the noble queen.