1618.
Now when they were returnéd to where the fight had been,
Spake Hagen, lord of Tronjé: “Ye heroes, be it seen
What damage we have suffer’d, and who to us is lost;
By reason of this battle which Gelfrat’s wrath hath cost.”
1619.
A loss of four they reckon’d; these must they grieve for well.
But fully they aveng’d were: for against them there fell
Of the Bavarian warriors a hundred men and more;
Whereby the Tronians’ bucklers were dimm’d and wet with gore.
1620.
Just then a gleam of moonlight between the clouds did break.
“Now look ye well that no one,” so to them Hagen spake,
“Betray to my dear masters what we have done this day;
Let them until the morning free from all trouble stay.”
1621.
When they who had been fighting had now caught up the rest,
With weariness the people were grievously distress’d.
“How long,” were many asking, “must we be riding yet?”
And doughty Dankwart answer’d: “No lodging can we get.
1622.
“Until the dawn of morning ye all must onwards ride.”
Volker the quick, who all things did for the folk provide,
Bade some one ask the marshal: “Where shall we go towards,
That we may rest our horses and eke our well-loved lords?”
1623.
Then spake the doughty Dankwart: “In sooth I cannot say,
But there must be no resting before the dawn of day;
Then, wheresoe’er we find it, upon the grass we’ll lie.”
Some, when they heard this bidding, were sore aggrieved thereby.
