“Thee, Hagen, son of Aldrian, to warn I have a mind.
False was it what my sister to get her clothing said:
For comest thou to Hunsland, thou’lt sorely be betray’d.
1540
“Ay! homeward shouldst thou turn thee; yet is there time to spare:
Seeing that ye, bold heroes, have thus been bidden there,
That all of you may perish within King Etzel’s land.
Whoe’er goes riding thither hath Death at his right hand.”
1541
But Hagen spake in answer: “Ye fool me needlessly;
What rhyme or reason is it that all of us should die
Among the Hunfolk yonder, through hate of any man?”
More fully then their meaning to tell him they began.
1542
And one of them spake further: “It must in sooth be so,
That none with life escapeth who to that land doth go,
Save only the king’s chaplain; that can we surely tell;
He unto Gunther’s kingdom will come back safe and well.”
1543
Then, in grim mood, bold Hagen answer unto her made:
“ ’Twere hard to tell my masters what thou just now hast said,
That yonder ’mid the Hunfolk we all must lose our lives.
Show us across the water, thou wisest of all wives!”
1544
She said: “Against this journey since thou wilt nothing hear,
There yonder in a hostel, unto the river near,
A ferryman is dwelling— and none there is elsewhere.”
Then knowing what he wanted he would not tarry there.
1545
But one of them call’d after the knight discomfited:
“Nay, wait awhile, Sir Hagen, thou wilt too fast ahead!
Hear better how we tell you to cross the sands aright;
The warden of the marchland by name is Else hight.
1546
“He hath a brother also, Gelfrat the knight is he,
A great lord in Bavaria. Not easy will it be
For you to pass his marches. Ye ought to well beware—
And with the boatman also ye needs must deal with care.
1547
“So grim is he of humour, he will not let you go,
Unless unto the hero some good intent ye show:
Would ye by him be ferried, give him the payment due.
This land he hath in keeping, and is to Gelfrat true.
1548
“And if he come not quickly shout to him o’er the flood,
Say ‘Amelrich’ your name is;— he was a hero good,
Who, by his foes’ contrivance, was driven from this land—
Whene’er his name is spoken the steersman is at hand.”
1549
The haughty Hagen bow’d him before these womenfolk:
But listening in silence no word again he spoke.
Then higher up the river he walk’d, along the sand;
And there, across the water, he saw a hostel stand.
1550
Then lustily began he to call across the flood:
“Now, steersman, fetch me over!” shouted the warrior good;
“Of ruddy gold an armlet I’ll give thee for reward.
The matter of my journey, I tell thee, presses hard.”
1551
The boatman was so wealthy to serve he would not brook,
Wherefore a fee but seldom from anyone he took;
His underlings were likewise of high and haughty mood.
So, still, alone stood Hagen on this side of the flood.
1552
Then with such might he shouted that, lo, from shore to shore
The river rang: the hero of strength had such great store:
“Now Amelrich come fetch ye, Lord Else’s man am I,
Who had to leave this country by force of enmity.”
1553
High on his sword an armlet towards him did he hold—
All bright and shining was it, compact of ruddy gold—
That he, therefore, might row him across to Gelfrat’s land.
Then took the haughty boatman himself the oar in hand.
1554
The ferryman was churlish and obstinate of will—
The lust of great possession doth often end in ill—
He wished to earn from Hagen that band of gold so red:
But from the warrior’s weapon grim death he got instead.
1555
The ferryman pull’d stoutly unto the hitherside;
But when the man he found not, whose name he had heard cried,
Then was he wroth in earnest. At Hagen’s face look’d he,
And thus unto the hero he spake right bitterly:
1556
“It may be that thou bearest the name of Amelrich;
To him of whom I mind me thou art in no wise like;
By father and by mother he brother was to me.
And as thou hast betray’d me, thou here canst bide!” said he.
1557
“Not I, by God Almighty!” thereon, did Hagen speak:
“I am a stranger warrior, and help for others seek.
Take now in friendly fashion this wage I offer you
To put me o’er the water; I am your friend right true.”
1558
The ferryman made answer: “Nay, that shall never be!
My well-belovéd masters have many an enemy;
Therefore I row no strangers across unto their land.
If life thou prizest, quickly step out upon the sand.”
1559
“Now, do not so,” quoth Hagen, “for sorry is my mood,
But take from me in kindness this band of gold so good,
A thousand men and horses across the stream to row.”
The boatman grim gave answer: “That will I never do.”
1560
A sturdy oar he lifted, mighty and broad of blade,
And struck a blow at Hagen; an erring stroke he made,
And in the boat he stagger’d and on his knee fell down.
A ferryman so gruesome Hagen had never known.
1561
And when the haughty stranger still more he would provoke,
A steering board he wielded, and into splinters broke
About the head of Hagen. A stalwart man was he;
Whence came to Else’s boatman much sorrow presently.
1562
In anger fiercely raging, Hagen reach’d out his hand
In haste to seize his scabbard, wherefrom he drew a brand,
And smote his head from off him, and dash’d it to the ground.
Among the proud Burgundians the news flew quickly round.
1563
But at the self-same moment when he the boatman slew,
The skiff stream-downwards drifted, which gave him cause to rue;
For ere in hand he brought it to weary he began,
Then mighty was the rowing of royal Gunther’s man.
1564
With sturdy strokes the stranger turn’d it about again,
Until within his hand-grasp the stout oar broke in twain.
He would, to reach the warriors, a sandy beach have found:
And having not another, how quickly now he bound
1565
The splinters with his shield-strap! ’twas but a slender band.
Towards a coppice steering, he brought the boat to land.
There on the bank-side standing he found his masters three,
And liegemen came to meet him— a goodly company.
1566
Him with kind welcome greeted these noble knights and good.
But, when they look’d within it, the wherry reek’d with blood
That from the great wound spurted as he the boatman slew;
Then from the warriors Hagen had questions not a few.
1567
No sooner had King Gunther seen the hot blood all red
Within the vessel washing, than, straightway, thus he said:
“Come, why not tell me, Hagen, where is the boatman gone?
I ween your strength so mighty hath him of life fordone.”
1568
With lying words he answer’d: “As I the boat there found
A desert heath alongside, my hand the rope unbound;
But never of a boatman have I to-day had sight,
Nor here by fault on my part, hath any
