To hear such words brave Etzel / snatched in haste his shield.
"Now well beware of rashness," / cried Lady Kriemhild,
"And offer to thy warriors / gold heaped on shield full high:
If yonder Hagen reach thee, / straightway shalt thou surely die."
So high was the king's mettle / that he would not give o'er,
Which case is now full seldom / seen in high princes more;
They must by shield-strap tugging / him perforce restrain.
Grim of mood then Hagen / began him to revile again.
"It was a distant kinship," / spake Hagen, dauntless knight,
"That Etzel unto Siegfried / ever did unite,
And husband he to Kriemhild / was ere thee she knew.
Wherefore, O king faint-hearted, / seek'st thou such thing 'gainst me to do?"
Thereto eke must listen / the noble monarch's spouse,
And grievously to hear it / did Kriemhild's wrath arouse.
That he 'fore men of Etzel / durst herself upbraid;
To urge them 'gainst the strangers / she once more her arts essayed.
Cried she: "Of Tronje Hagen / whoso for me will slay,
And his head from body severed / here before me lay,
For him the shield of Etzel / I'll fill with ruddy gold,
Eke lands and lordly castles / I'll give him for his own to hold."