"Be still," spake Siegfried, "ye little know her strength."

"So will I advise you," spake Hagen then, "that ye beg Siegfried
to share with you this heavy task. This is my rede, sith he doth
know so well how matters stand with Brunhild."

The king spake: "Wilt thou help me, noble Siegfried, to woo this
lovely maid? And thou doest what I pray thee and this comely
dame become my love, for thy sake will I risk both life and
honor."

To this Siegfried, the son of Siegmund, answered: "I will do it,
and thou give me thy sister Kriemhild, the noble queen. For my
pains I ask no other meed."

"I'll pledge that, Siegfried, in thy hand," spake then Gunther,
"and if fair Brunhild come hither to this land, I'll give thee my
sister unto wife. Then canst thou live ever merrily with the
fair."

This the noble warriors swore oaths to do, and so the greater
grew their hardships, till they brought the lady to the Rhine.
On this account these brave men must later be in passing danger.
Siegfried had to take with him hence the cloak which he, the bold
hero, had won 'mid dangers from a dwarf, Alberich he hight.
These bold and mighty knights now made them ready for the
journey. When Siegfried wore the Cloak of Darkness he had
strength enow: the force of full twelve men beside his own. With
cunning arts he won the royal maid. This cloak was fashioned so,