"Small cause is that for grieving," / said then Siegfried; "But calm thy troubled spirit / and hearken to my rede: Let me for thee acquire / honor and vantage too, And bid thou now assemble / for service eke thy warriors true. 160 "And had thy mighty enemies / to help them now at hand Good thanes full thirty thousand, / against them all I'd stand, Had I but one good thousand: / put all thy trust in me." Then answered him King Gunther: / "Thy help shall full requited be." 161 "Then bid for me to summon / a thousand of thy men, Since I now have with me / of all my knightly train None but twelve knights only; / then will I guard thy land. For thee shall service faithful / be done alway by Siegfried's hand. 162 "Herein shall help us Hagen / and eke Ortwein, Dankwart and Sindold, / those trusted knights of thine; And with us too shall journey / Volker, the valiant man; The banner he shall carry: / bestow it better ne'er I can. 163 "Back to their native country / the messengers may go; They'll see us there right quickly, / let them full surely know, So that all our castles / peace undisturbed shall have." Then bade the king to summon / his friends with all their warriors brave. 164 To court returned the heralds / King Luedeger had sent, And on their journey homeward / full joyfully they went. King Gunther gave them presents / that costly were and good, And granted them safe convoy; / whereat they were of merry mood. 165 "Tell ye my foes," spake Gunther, / "when to your land ye come, Than making journeys hither / they better were at home; But if they still be eager / to make such visit here, Unless my friends forsake me, / cold in sooth shall be their cheer." 166 Then for the messengers / rich presents forth they bore, Whereof in sooth to give them / Gunther had goodly store: And they durst not refuse them / whom Luedeger had sent. Leave then they took immediate, / and homeward joyfully they went. 167 When to their native Denmark / the messengers returned, And the king Luedegast / the answer too had learned, They at the Rhine had sent him, / --when that to him was told, His wrath was all unbounded / to have reply in words so bold. 168 'Twas said their warriors numbered / many a man full keen: "There likewise among them / with Gunther have we seen Of Netherland a hero, / the same that Siegfried hight." King Luedegast was grieved, / when he their words had heard aright. 169 When throughout all Denmark / the tidings quick spread o'er, Then in hot haste they summoned / helpers all the more, So that King Luedegast, / 'twixt friends from far and near, Had knights full twenty thousand / all furnished well with shield and spear. 170 Then too his men did summon / of Saxony Luedeger, Till they good forty thousand, / and more, had gathered there, With whom to make the journey / 'gainst the land of Burgundy. --At home likewise the meanwhile / King Gunther had sent forth decree 171