"If this thing doth please thee, / beloved lady mine,
Then gladly send I thither / unto those friends of thine
As messengers my minstrels / to the land of Burgundy."
He bade the merry fiddlers / lead before him presently.
Then hastened they full quickly / to where they found the king
By side of Kriemhild sitting. / He told them straight the thing,
How they should be his messengers / to Burgundy to fare.
Full stately raiment bade he / for them straightway eke prepare.
Four and twenty warriors / did they apparel well.
Likewise did the monarch / to them the message tell,
How that they King Gunther / and his men should bid aright.
Them eke the Lady Kriemhild / to secret parley did invite.
Then spake the mighty monarch: / "Now well my words attend.
All good and friendly greeting / unto my friends I send,
That they may deign to journey / hither to my country.
Few be the guests beside them / that were so welcome unto me.
"And if they be so minded / to meet my will in aught,
Kriemhild's lofty kinsmen, / that they forego it not
To come upon the summer / here where I hold hightide,
For that my joy in living / doth greatly with my friends abide."