ncle, and show
them to him. For he hath knowledge of the mighty men of all lands; and
what he knoweth he will tell us."

The king summoned Hagen with his vassals, and he drew night with proud
step, and asked the king his will.

"Strange knights are come to my court that none knoweth. If thou hast
ever seen them afore, tell me thereof truly."

"That will I," spake Hagen, and went to the window, and looked down on
the strangers below. The show of them and their equipment pleased him,
but he had not seen them afore in Burgundy. And he said, "From
wheresoever they be come, they must be princes, or princes' envoys.
Their horses are good, and wonderly rich their vesture. From whatso
quarter they hie, they be seemly men. But for this I vouch, that, though
I never saw Siegfried, yonder knight that goeth so proud is, of a surety,
none but he. New adventures he bringeth hither. By this hero's hand
fell the brave Nibelungs, Shilbung and Nibelung, the high princes.
Wonders hath he wrought by his prowess. I have heard tell that on a day
when he rode alone, he came to a mountain, and chanced on a company of
brave men that guarded the Nibelung's hoard, whereof he knew naught. The
Nibelung men had, at that moment, made an end of bringing it forth from a
hole in the hill, and oddly enow, they were about to share it. Siegfried
saw them and marvelled thereat. He drew so close that they were ware of
him, and he of them. Whereupon one said, 'Here cometh Siegfried, the
hero of the Netherland!' Strange adventure met he amidst of them.
Shilbung and Nibelung welcomed him, and with one accord the princely
youths asked him to divide the treasure atween them, and begged this so
eagerly that he could not say them nay. The tale goeth that he saw there
more precious stones than an hundred double waggons had sufficed to
carry, and of the red Nibelung gold yet more. This must bold Siegfried
divide. In guerdon therefor they gave him the sword of the Nibelungs,
and were ill paid by Siegfried for the service. He strove vainly to end
the task, whereat they were wroth. And when he could not bear it
through, the kings, with their men, fell upon him. But with their
father's sword, that hight Balmung, he wrested from them both hoard and
land. The princes had twelve champions--stark giants, yet little it
bested them. Siegfried slew them wrathfully with his hand, and, with
Balmung, vanquished seven hundred knights; and many youths there,