He spake: "Then might I thank thee, / sister of high degree,
When that some whit more gracious / might thy greeting be.
So angry art thou minded / ever yet, O queen,
Full spare shall be thy greeting / to Hagen and to me, I ween."
Then spake of Bern the hero: / "Ne'er till now, O queen,
Given o'er as hostage / have knights so worthy been,
As I, O lofty lady, / in these have given to thee:
I pray thee higher evils / to spare them now for sake of me."
She vowed to do it gladly. / Then forth Sir Dietrich went
With weeping eyes to see there / such knights' imprisonment.
In grimmest ways thereafter / wreaked vengeance Etzel's wife:
Beneath her hand those chosen / warriors twain must end their life.
She let them lie asunder / the less at ease to be,
Nor did each the other / thenceforward ever see
Till that unto Hagen / her brother's head she bore.
In sooth did Kriemhild vengeance / wreak upon the twain full sore.
Forth where she should find Hagen / the queen her way did take,
And in right angry manner / she to the warrior spake:
"An thou wilt but restore me / that thou hast ta'en from me,
So may'st thou come yet living / home to the land of Burgundy."