"Ah, woe is me for sorrow! / Is Ruediger then dead, In all my need there never / such grief hath happened. The noble Gotelinde / is cousin fair to me. Alack for the poor orphans / that there in Bechelaren must be!" 2315 Grief and anguish filled him / o'er Ruediger thus slain, Nor might at all the hero / the flowing tears restrain. "Alack for faithful helper / that death from me hath torn. King Etzel's trusty liegeman / never may I cease to mourn. 2316 "Canst thou, Master Hildebrand, / true the tidings say, Who might be the warrior / that Ruediger did slay?" "That did the doughty Gernot / with mighty arm," he said: "Eke at hand of Ruediger / lieth the royal hero dead." 2317 Spake he again to Hildebrand: / "Now let my warriors know, That straightway they shall arm them, / for thither will I go. And bid to fetch hither / my shining mail to me. Myself those knights will question / of the land of Burgundy." 2318 "Who here shall do thee service?" / spake Master Hildebrand; "All that thou hast yet living, / thou seest before thee stand. Of all remain I only; / the others, they are dead." As was in sooth good reason, / filled the tale his soul with dread, 2319 For in his life did never / such woe to him befall. He spake: "Hath death so reft me / of my warriors all, God hath forsaken Dietrich, / ah me, a wretched wight! Sometime a lofty monarch / I was, high throned in wealth and might." 2320 "How might it ever happen?" / Dietrich spake again, "That so worthy heroes / here should all be slain By the battle-weary / strangers thus beset? Ill fortune me hath chosen, / else death had surely spared them yet. 2321 "Since that fate not further / to me would respite give, Then tell me, of the strangers / doth any longer live?" Answered Master Hildebrand: / "God wot, never one Save Hagen, and beside him / Gunther lofty king alone." 2322 "Alack, O faithful Wolfhart, / must I thy death now mourn, Soon have I cause to rue me / that ever I was born. Siegstab and Wolfwein / and eke Wolfbrand! Who now shall be my helpers / in the Amelungen land? 2323 "Helfrich, thane full valiant, / and is he likewise slain? For Gerbart and Wichart / when shall I cease to plain? Of all my life's rejoicing / is this the latest day. Alack that die for sorrow / never yet a mortal may!" THIRTY-NINTH ADVENTURE How Gunther and Hagen and Kriemhild were Slain 2324 Himself did then Sir Dietrich / his armor take in hand, To don the which did help him / Master Hildebrand. The doughty chieftain meanwhile / must make so loud complain That from high palace casement / oft came back the sound again. 2325 Natheless his proper humor / soon he did regain, And armed full in anger / stood the worthy thane; A shield all wrought full firmly / took he straight in hand, And forth they strode together, / he and Master Hildebrand. 2326