Then answer'd Master Hildebrand,
So careful a knight was he;
"Not so, my Lord, will I do, this day,
For the wages delight not me."

Then out spoke Vidrik Verlandson,
And he spoke in wrathful mood;
"O, I'll be first of the band, this day,
All through the Birting wood."

Then out spoke Vidrik Verlandson,
And he spoke with lofty pride;
"The smith he forg'd me a faulchion good,
That can steel, like cloth, divide."

They were three hundred valorous knights,
Unto Birting's land that rode;
They go in quest of Langben the Jutt,
To the gloomy wood, his abode.

Then out spoke Vidrik Verlandson;
"A wondrous game we'll play;
For I will ride in the green wood first,
If ye'll but trust me away."

Then answer'd bold King Diderik,
He answer'd hastily then;
"When thou therein shalt have found the Jutt
Come back for me and my men."