XI
"Strong is the Knight of Trony, and oft in battle tried,
But stronger yet the warrior who sits him there beside,
Folker, the valiant gleeman; he is a dangerous man.
Attack them not so rashly; first muster all you can."
XII
They hearken'd to her warning; then many more came on,
Till round her knights four hundred in burnish'd armor shone.
The furious queen was longing her rage on both to sate;
Thence came the chiefs soon after to stand in deadly strait.
XIII
When so she saw her meiny each in his harness stand,
Thus she sternly smiling bespake th' impatient band.
"Wait yet, my friends, a moment, ere with yon pair you close;
My crown upon my temples will I confront my foes.
XIV
"First hear, and from the doer, whose hand my heart has torn,
The wrongs, that I from Hagan, my brother's man, have borne,
I know him for so haughty, that out he'll speak them all;
And I too care as little what thence on him may fall."
XV
When that redoubted minstrel, who kept good watch, I ween,
Descending swift a staircase beheld the noble queen,
And thence beyond the threshold—when he this espied
In a trice bespake he his comrade by his side.