“Then said the royal Hetel:  ’The people all relate
That whosoe’er will woo her incurs her father’s hate,
And for the maid has perished full many a noble knight;
My friends shall never suffer for me such woeful plight.’”

          
                                                                          Gudrun (Dippold’s tr.).

[Sidenote:  Strategy of Hettel’s followers.] His faithful followers, Wat, Horant, and Frute, perceiving that his heart was set upon the maiden, finally volunteered to go and get her, saying that they could easily bear her away by stratagem, although they did not dare to ask for her openly.  So they loaded their vessel with merchandise, hid their weapons, so that they should be taken for the traders they professed to be, and sailed boldly into Hagen’s port, where, spreading out their wares, they invited all the people to buy.

Attracted by the extraordinary bargains they offered, the people came in crowds, and soon all the inhabitants of Balian were busy talking about the strange peddlers and praising their wares.  These stories soon came to the ears of both queen and princess, who, summoning the merchants into their presence, asked who they were and whence they came.

All three replied that they were warriors, and that, being banished from Hettel’s court, they had been forced to take up their present occupation to make a living.  To prove the truth of their assertions, Wat exhibited his skill in athletic sports, while Horant delighted all the ladies by his proficiency in the art of minstrelsy.

    “When now the night was ended and there drew near the dawn,
    Horant began his singing, so that in grove and lawn
    The birds became all silent, because he sang so sweetly;
    The people who were sleeping sprang from their couches fleetly.

    “The cattle in the forests forsook their pasture ground;
    The creeping creatures playing among the grass around,
    The fishes in the water,—­all in their sports were ceasing. 
    The minstrel might most truly rejoice in art so pleasing.

    “Whate’er he might be singing, to no one seemed it long;
    Forgotten in the minster were priest and choral song,
    Church bells no longer sounded so sweetly as before,
    And every one who heard him longed for the minstrel sore.”
                                             Gudrun (Dippold’s tr.).

These soft strains so pleased the younger Hilde that she soon sent for the minstrel again, and Horant, finding her alone, made use of this opportunity to tell her of Hettel’s love and longing.  She was so touched by this declaration of love that he easily won from her a promise to flee with him and his companions as soon as a suitable opportunity occurred.

The pretended merchants, having now achieved the real object of their journey, disposed of their remaining wares.  They then invited the king and his family to visit their ship, and cleverly managing to separate the willing princess from her parents and train, they sailed rapidly away, leaving the angry father to hurl equally ineffectual spears, curses, and threats after them.