"High on the board I see him; / he beckons with the hand. Now my good friends and kinsmen / of Burgundian land, Stay ye your hands from conflict, / let us hear and see If done upon the chieftain / aught by my men of scathe there be." 1990 When thus King Gunther / did beg and eke command, With swords in stress of battle / stayed they all the hand. 'Twas token of his power / that straight the strife did pause. Then him of Bern he questioned / what of his outcry were the cause. 1991 He spake: "Full noble Dietrich, / what here on thee is wrought By any of my warriors? / For truly is my thought To make a full atonement / and amends to thee. If here hath wronged thee any, / 'twere cause of mickle grief to me." 1992 Then answered him Sir Dietrich: / "Myself do nothing grieve. Grant me with thy protection / but this hall to leave And quit the dire conflict, / with them that me obey. Then surely will I ever / seek thy favor to repay." 1993 "How plead'st thou thus so early?" / Wolfhart was heard; "The Fiddler so securely / the door not yet hath barred, But it so wide we'll open / to pass it through, I trow." "Now hold thy peace," quoth Dietrich, / "wrought but little here hast thou." 1994 Then spake the royal Gunther: / "That grant I thee to do, Forth from the hall lead many / or lead with thee few, An if my foes it be not; / here stay they every one. Upon me here in Hunland / hath grievous wrong by them been done." 1995 When heard he Gunther's answer / he took beneath his arm The noble Queen Kriemhild, / who dreaded mickle harm. On the other side too led he / Etzel with him away; Eke went thence with Dietrich / six hundred knights in fair array. 1996 Then outspake the margrave, / the noble Ruediger: "If leave to any others / be granted forth to fare, Of those who glad would serve you, / give us the same to see. Yea, peace that's never broken / 'twixt friends 'tis meet should ever be." 1997 Thereto gave answer Giselher / of the land of Burgundy: "Peace and unbroken friendship / wish we e'er with thee, With thee and all thy kinsmen, / as true thou ever art. We grant thee all untroubled / with thy friends from hence to part." 1998 When thus Sir Ruediger / from the hall did pass, A train of knights five hundred / or more with him there was, Of them of Bechelaren, / kinsmen and warriors true, Whose parting gave King Gunther / anon full mickle cause to rue. 1999 When did a Hunnish warrior / Etzel's passing see 'Neath the arm of Dietrich, / to profit him thought he. Smote him yet the Fiddler / such a mighty blow, That 'fore the feet of Etzel / sheer on the floor his head fell low. 2000 When the country's monarch / had gained the outer air, Turned he looking backward / and gazed on Volker. "Alack such guests to harbor! / Ah me discomfited! That all the knights that serve me / shall before their might lie dead. 2001