"Yet should they have it never, nor should we thus be cross'd,
Had we not the good cloud-cloak to our misfortune lost
Together with Sir Siegfried, who gain'd it here of yore;
For Kriemhild's noble husband the same at all times wore.
XXII
"Now ill, alas! has happ'd it to Siegfried the good knight,
That from us the cloud-cloak he took by conquering might,
And all this land to serve him as lord and master bound."
Then went the chamberlain sadly, where soon the keys he found.
XXIII
And now the men of Kriemhild before the mountain stood,
And some, too, of her kinsmen; the hoard, as best they could,
Down to the sea they carried; there in good barks 'twas laid,
Thence o'er the waves, and lastly up the Rhine convey'd.
XXIV
The tale of that same treasure might well your wonder raise;
'Twas much as twelve huge wagons in four whole nights and days
Could carry from the mountain down to the salt-sea bay,
If to and fro each wagon thrice journey'd every day.
XXV
It was made up of nothing but precious stones and gold;
Were all the world bought from it, and down the value told,
Not a mark the less thereafter were left, than erst was scor'd.
Good reason sure had Hagan to covet such a hoard.