"Nay, now will we nowise tarry!" did Gernot eagerly cry. "Seeing that thus my sister bids so lovingly, And with her Etzel the mighty, why hold we back therefrom? Who is loth with us to journey, e'en let him linger at home!" (C) "In troth," made answer Rumold, "I will be one at the least Who never will cross Rhine-river unto Etzel's high-tide feast. The better part I have chosen shall I on the hazard fling? So long as my strength availeth to my one life will I cling." (C) "So likewise am I minded," spake to him Ortwein the thane; "I will help thee to ward the kingdom, and the peace of the home to maintain." And so spake many another: of the journey would they none. "Dear Lords, God have you in keeping," said they, "in the land of the Hun!" (C) Indignant was then King Gunther, when he saw how many were these That were minded in Rhineland to tarry, and there to take their ease. "We will not be turned from our purpose," he said; "we will forth on the way. Whoso is prudent of spirit can ward him in peril aye." Answered and spake to him Hagen: "Now in ill part take not ye This last word of my counsel, whatsoever your fate may be,-- For in all true faith I give it:--if aught for your lives ye care, Arrayed in harness of battle to the Hunland do ye fare. Since ye will not be swayed from your purpose, summon your men of war, The best ye may find in your war-band, or hear of near or far; And out of them all will I choose us a thousand chiefest of might: So shall ye not be defenceless against this Kriemhild's spite." {P. 201}