Then eke with them thither / Siegmund the king did ride.
Had he e'er had knowledge / what should there betide
Anon from that high journey, / such had he never seen:
Ne'er wrought upon dear kindred / might so grievous wrong have been.
Messengers sent they forward / that the tidings told should be.
Then forth did ride to meet them / with gladsome company
Ute's friends full many / and many a Gunther's man.
With zeal to make him ready / unto his guests the king began.
Where he found Brunhild sitting, / thither straight went he.
"How receivéd thee my sister, / as thou cam'st to this country?
Like preparations shalt thou / for Siegfried's wife now make."
"Fain do I that; good reason / have I to love her well," she spake.
Then quoth the mighty monarch: / "The morn shall see them here.
Wilt thou go forth to meet them, / apace do thou prepare,
That not within the castle / their coming we await.
Guests more welcome never / greeted I of high estate."
Her maidens and her ladies / straight did she command
To choose them rich apparel, / the best within the land,
In which the stately company / before the guests should go.
The same they did right gladly, / that may ye full surely know.