81.
Then Ortwein, lord of Metz, spake, and answered thus the king
(Rich and high-couraged was he, and feared not anything):
“Since we know naught about them, bid someone straightway go
And fetch my uncle Hagen, he’ll see them, and may know.
82.
“He knoweth all the kingdoms, and ev’ry stranger-land,
If aught he wot anent them, he’ll make us understand.”
So the king sent to fetch him, him and his liegemen all;—
They watched his stately coming, with warriors, to the hall.
83.
What the king wanted of him? first, Hagen sought to know.
“There are within my palace strange warriors, I trow,
Whom not a soul here knoweth; if thou didst them e’er see,
Declare it now, Sir Hagen, and tell the truth to me!”
84.
“That will I,” answered Hagen, and to the window went;
One saw his keen glance wander, till on the guests it bent.
Well pleased him their equipment, and raiment equally:
But they were strangers to him, ne’er seen in Burgundy.
85.
He spake: “From whencesoever have come these cavaliers,
They must thetnselves be princes, or princes’ messengers.
Their raiment is so splendid, their horses are so good;—
’Tis plain, where’er they come from, they are of noble blood.
86.
“And,” furthermore said Hagen, “though hitherto, I ween
The famous hero Siegfried, mine eyes have never seen,
I cannot help believing, how strange soe’er it be,
That yon proud knight, there standing, can be none else but he!
