"That will I do, 'tis certain."— / To a window then he went,
And on the unknown strangers / his keen eye he bent.
Well pleased him their equipment / and the rich dress they wore,
Yet ne'er had he beheld them / in land of Burgundy before.
He said that whencesoever / these knights come to the Rhine,
They bear a royal message, / or are of princely line.
"Their steeds are so bedizened, / and their apparel rare:
No matter whence they journey, / high-hearted men in truth they are."
Further then spake Hagen: / "As far as goes my ken,
Though I the noble Siegfried / yet have never seen,
Yet will I say meseemeth, / howe'er the thing may be,
This knight who seeks adventure, / and yonder stands so proud, is he.
"'Tis some new thing he bringeth / hither to our land.
The valiant Nibelungen / fell by the hero's hand,
Schilbung and Nibelung, / from royal sire sprung;
Deeds he wrought most wondrous / anon when his strong arm he swung.
"As once alone the hero / rode without company,
Found he before a mountain / —as hath been told to me—
With the hoard of Nibelung / full many stalwart men;
To him had they been strangers / until he chanced to find them then.