A fair welcome the princess gave him--now list ye unto his rede, Rich and poor stood there around him, and they gave to his words good heed, And he spake thus, 'My Lady Duchess, if thou wilt not mine hand refuse, 635 But wilt have me for lord and husband, for thy sake I a kingdom lose-- But hearken to what I pray thee, ask thou never who I may be, And seek not to know my country, for so may I abide with thee. In the day thou dost ask the question of my love shalt thou be bereft-- Take thou warning, lest God recall me to the land which erewhile I left.' 640 Then she pledged her faith as a woman that her love, it should ne'er wax less, She would do e'en as he should bid her, and never his will transgress So long as God wit should give her--Her love did he win that night, And Lord of Brabant and its Duchess they hailed him with morning light. And the marriage feast was costly, and many a knight the land 645 That of right should be his, as vassal, must take from his princely hand. For he gave ever righteous judgment, and many a gallant deed Of knighthood he did, and, valiant, he won of fair fame his meed. Fair children were born unto them--The folk of Brabant yet know Of the twain, how he came unto them, and wherefore he thence must go, 650 And how long he dwelt among them ere her question broke the spell, And drove him forth, unwilling, for so shall the story tell. The friendly swan, it sought him, and a little boat did bring, And he sailed thence, and left as tokens his sword, and his horn, and ring. So _Lohengrin_ passed from among them, for in sooth this gallant knight 655 Was Parzival's son, and none other, if the tale ye would know aright. By water-ways he sought it, the home of the Grail, again-- And what of the lovely duchess who longed for her lord in vain? Why drove she hence her true love? since he bade her be warned of yore, And forbade her to ask the question when he landed on Brabant's shore-- 660 Here Herr Erec should speak, for, I think me, he knoweth the tale to tell Of revenging for broken pledges, and the fate that such speech befell!