To do with that same boatman / was ne'er a pleasant thing;
The yearning after lucre / yet evil end doth bring.
Here where thought he Hagen's / gold so red to gain,
Must he by the doughty / warrior's fierce sword be slain.
With might across the river / his oar the boatman plied,
But he who there was naméd / might nowhere be espied.
His rage was all unbounded / when he did Hagen find,
And loud his voice resounded / as thus he spake his angry mind:
"Thou mayst forsooth be calléd / Amelrich by name:
Whom I here did look for, / no whit art thou the same.
By father and by mother / brother he was to me.
Since me thou thus hast cozened, / so yet this side the river be."
"Nay, by highest Heaven," / Hagen did declare.
"Here am I a stranger / that have good knights in care.
Now take in friendly manner / here my offered pay,
And guide me o'er the ferry; / my favor hast thou thus alway."
Whereat replied the boatman: / "The thing may never be.
There are that to my masters / do bear hostility;
Wherefore I never stranger / do lead into this land.
As now thy life thou prizest, / step straightway out upon the strand."