LXXX
With one accord agreeing the bloody strife they left;
The shining shields all shiver'd, the helmets hack'd and cleft
They laid aside o'er-wearied; whatever down they threw
Bore from Burgundian falchions a stain of bloody hue.
LXXXI
They took whome'er it pleas'd them, none could their will gainsay.
Gernot and valiant Hagan at once bade bear away
The faint and feeble wounded, and with them carried then
Off to the Rhine as captives five hundred chosen men.
LXXXII
With wailing back to Denmark the bootless warriors came;
The late o'erweening Saxons bore off but loss and shame
From that disastrous struggle; each hung his pensive head.
They last their friends remember'd, and sorrow'd for the dead.
LXXXIII
Anon they bade the sumpters be loaded for the Rhine;
And thus victorious Siegfried his perilous design
Had brought to full performance; well had he done in fight;
This every man of Gunther allow'd him as of right.
LXXXIV
To Worms straight did a message from good Sir Gernot come,
To tell throughout the country to all his friends at home
Whate'er in that encounter to him and his befell,
And how they all their duty had knightly done and well.