Such outrage never warriors have dealt to us unto this day!" "Let this not disquiet thy spirit," spake the hero in answer thereto; "Speak peace to thine heart, and according to this my counsel do: Suffer me, even me, to win thee honour and goodly gain Or ever thy foes to the marches of this thy land attain. Yea, had those thy mighty foemen of battle-helpers arrayed So many as thrice ten thousand, by me should their onset be stayed, Had I at my side but a thousand. Commit thy cause unto me." Then spake unto him King Gunther: "I am bounden for ever to thee!" "Give charge that a thousand riders shall follow me forth to the fray, Inasmuch as of mine own warriors no more can I set in array Here, than my twelve war-fellows: so will I ward your land, And loyal service ever shall be done you by Siegfried's hand. {P. 23} Yea also let Hagen help us, and Ortwein fare to the fight, Dankwart and Sindold, each man a well-belovèd knight, Therewithal shall ride in our war-host Volker the aweless one, And he shall be banner-bearer: better than he is none. And let those war-denouncers to their own lords' land ride back, And cause them to bear this message, that we follow hard on their track: So safe shall our castles be warded, and their peace no foe shall mar." Then the king bade summon the muster of his friends and his men of war. So back to their lord went the bearers of Lüdiger's command: They were well content to be faring thence to their own home-land. And Gunther the royal-hearted rich gifts on the men bestowed, And therewithal safe-conduct; and with blithe hearts thence they rode. "Say ye to my mighty foemen," thus spake Burgundia's Lord, "Better for them unventured were their journey hitherward. Howbeit, if here in mine own land to seek my face they be fain, So my battle-helpers fail not, they shall find their bitter bane." Then goodly gifts to the heralds his treasure-warders bare;-- Good sooth, of the same had Gunther enow and withal to spare!-- Neither dared they refuse them, the bearers of Lüdiger's command. So took they their leave, and they journeyed with glad hearts forth of the land.