Say, what foe is nigh?
Who forces war?
Is Gunther sore pressed?
We come with our weapons,
With weapons keen!
Hoiho! Ho! Hagen!
HAGEN [Still from the rock.
Come fully armed
Without delay!
Welcome Gunther, your lord:
A wife Gunther has wooed.
THE VASSALS
Is he in straits,
Pressed by the foe?
HAGEN
A woman hard won
With him he brings.
THE VASSALS
Her kinsmen and vassals
Follow for vengeance?
HAGEN
No one follows
But his bride.
THE VASSALS
Then the peril is past,
And the foe put to flight?
HAGEN
The dragon-slayer
Helped him at need;
Siegfried, the hero,
Kept him from harm.
THE VASSALS
How then can his vassals avail him?
And why hast callèd us here?
HAGEN
Sturdy oxen
Ye shall slaughter;
On Wotan's altar
Their blood be shed!
THE VASSALS
And after that, Hagen? Say, what next?
HAGEN
After that for Froh
A boar ye shall fell,
And a full-grown and strong
He-goat for Donner;
But for Fricka
Sheep ye shall slaughter,
That she may smile on the marriage!
THE VASSALS
[With increasing cheerfulness.
What shall we do
When the beasts we have slain?
HAGEN
The drink-horn take
That women sweet
With wine and mead
Blithely have filled.
THE VASSALS
The drink-horn in hand,
What task awaits us still?
HAGEN
Gaily carouse
Until tamed by wine:
Drink, that the Gods, duly honoured,
Grace may accord to this marriage.
THE VASSALS