o kill Hagen; but the Devil
contrived it so, that they must all perish.

The day was done; they were in sore straits. They deemed a quick death
had been better than long anguish. The proud knights would fain have had
a truce. They asked that the king might be brought to them.

The heroes, red with blood, and blackened with the soil of their harness,
stepped out of the hall with the three kings. They knew not whom to
bewail their bitter woe to.

Both Etzel and Kriemhild came. The land all round was theirs, and many
had joined their host. Etzel said to the guests, "What would ye with
me? Haply ye seek for peace. That can hardly be, after such wrong as ye
have done me and mine. Ye shall pay for it while I have life. Because
of my child that ye slew, and my many men, nor peace nor truce shall ye
have."

Gunther answered, "A great wrong constrained us thereto. All my
followers perished in their lodging by the hands of thy knights. What
had I done to deserve that? I came to see thee in good faith, for I
deemed thou wert my friend."

Then said Giselher, the youth, of Burgundy, "Ye knights of King Etzel
that yet live, what have ye against me? How had I wronged you?--I that
rode hither with loving heart?"

They answered, "Thy love hath filled all the castles of this country with
mourning. We had gladly been spared thy journey from Worms beyond the
Rhine. Thou hast orphaned the land--thou and thy brothers."

Then cried Gunther in wrath, "If ye would lay from you this stark hate
against us homeless ones, it were well for both sides, for we are
guiltless before Etzel."

But the host answered the guests, "My scathe is greater than thine;
because of the mickle toil of the strife, and its shame, not one of you
shall come forth alive."

Then said stark Gernot to the king, "Herein, at the least, incline thy
heart to do mercifully with us. Stand back from the house, that we win
out to you. We know that our life is forfeit; let what must come, come
quickly. Thou hast many knights unwounded; let them fall on us, and give
us battle-weary ones rest. How long wouldst thou have us strive?"

King Etzel's knights would have let them forth, but when Kriemhild heard
it, she was wroth, and even this boon was denied to the strangers.

"Nay now, ye Huns, I entreat you, in good faith, that ye let not these
lusters after blood come out from the hall, lest thy kinsmen all perish
miserably. If none of them were left aliv