The fiery vengeance plays.
‘Now yield thee! yield thee!’ the skipper calls—
For thy men we’ve a gallows-tree,
We have loyal hearts to fill thy halls—
But an axe and block for thee!’”
Shortly beyond Hollenburg, also on the right, the river Traisen flows in, and not far from its mouth, but invisible as we pass down the Danube, stands the ancient town of Traisenmauer, the home of Helka the first queen of Etzel, and the last stopping place of Kriemhilda on her journey from the Rhine to her marriage with Etzel and to her long-nursed revenge. We have remarked the splendid cavalcade as it touched points of the river, and may here recall the stanzas describing its arrival at this penultimate stage of the long journey:—
“Unto the Traisen river the guests they soon did bring;
And Rudeger’s retainers served them unwearying,
Until the Hun-folk riding across the country came.
Then was there mickle honour done to the royal dame.