(3) "Aldrian's son", i.e., Dankwart.
(4) "Sewers" (O.F. "asseour", M.L. "adsessor" 'one who sets the
table'; cf. F. "asseoir" 'to set', 'place', Lat. "ad
sedere"), older English for an upper servant who brought on
and removed the dishes from the table.

ADVENTURE XXXIII. How The Burgundians Fought The Huns.

When brave Dankwart was come within the door, he bade King Etzel's meiny
step aside. His garments dripped with blood and in his hand he bare
unsheathed a mighty sword. Full loud he called out to the knight:
"Brother Hagen, ye sit all too long, forsooth. To you and to God in
heaven do I make plaint of our woe. Our knights and squires all lie dead
within their lodgements."

He called in answer: "Who hath done this deed?"

"That Sir Bloedel hath done with his liegemen, but he hath paid for
it dearly, as I can tell you, for with mine own hands I struck off his
head."

"It is but little scathe," quoth Hagen, "if one can only say of a knight
that he hath lost his life at a warrior's hands. Stately dames shall
mourn him all the less. Now tell me, brother Dankwart, how comes it that
ye be so red of hue? Ye suffer from wounds great dole, I ween. If there
be any in the land that hath done you this, 'twill cost his life, and
the foul fiend save him not."

"Ye see me safe and sound; my weeds alone are wot with blood. This hath
happed from wounds of other men, of whom I have slain so many a one
to-day that, had I to swear it, I could not tell the tale."

"Brother Dankwart," he spake, "guard us the door and let not a single
Hun go forth. I will hold speech with the warriors, as our need
constraineth us, for our meiny lieth dead before them, undeserved."

"If I must be chamberlain," quoth the valiant man, "I well wet how to
serve such mighty kings and will guard the stairway, as doth become mine
honors." Naught could have been more loth to Kriemhild's knights.

"Much it wondereth me," spake Hagen, "what the Hunnish knights be
whispering in here. I ween, they'd gladly do without the one that
standeth at the door, and who told the courtly tale to us Burgundians.
Long since I have heard it said of Kriemhild, that she would not leave
unavenged her dole of heart. Now let us drink to friendship (1) and pay
for the royal wine. The young lord of the Huns shall be the first."

Then the good knight Hagen smote the child Ortlieb, so that the blood
spurted up the sword towards his hand and the h