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UNITED STATES SPECIAL
OPERATIONS FORCES
SECOND EDITION

DAVID TUCKER
DAVID TUCKER 
CHRISTOPHER J. LAMB
CHRISTOPHER J. LAMB
 UNITED STATES
SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES
 ✪
UNITED STATES
SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES

second edition

David Tucker and

Christopher J. Lamb

columbia university press

new york
 Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2007, 2020 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

is available from the Library of Congress.
978-0-231-18388-8 (cloth: alk. paper)
978-0-231-18389-5 (trade pbk.)
978-0-231-54522-8 (e-book)
LCCN: 2019021928

Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent

and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America

Cover images: (top) © Staff Sgt. Trevor T. McBride /

U.S. Air Force via AP
(bottom): © Michael Christopher Brown /
Magnum Photos
Cover design: Lisa Hamm
 CONTENTS

Introduction: American Special Operations Forces 1

Part I: The American Experience with Special Operations Forces

1 Special Operations Forces and Modern Warfare 13

2 History 61

Part II: Selected Case Studies

3 Somalia 109
4 High-Value Target Teams 148
5 Village Stability Operations 189

Part III: Special Operations Forces and U.S. National Security Policy

6 Special Operations Forces Roles and Missions 215

7 Special Operations Forces and the Future of Warfare 244

Conclusion: The Strategic Utility of American Special

Operations Forces 269

Appendix 1: The Evolution of Special Operations Forces

Roles and Missions 275
Appendix 2: Bibliographic Essay 285
Notes 311
Selected Bibliography 357
Index 363
 UNITED STATES
SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES
 introduction
American Special Operations Forces

The capture of Kabul in 2001 and the killing of Osama bin Laden
in 2011 were the bookends of a remarkable decade in the history of
America’s special operations forces (SOF). Indeed, these two feats of
arms may well take their place among the most famous military actions
in history. In the first, army Special Forces (SF) fought alongside and
led indigenous forces in a military campaign that forced the Taliban and
their al-Qaeda allies to surrender control of Afghanistan. Guiding bombs
with lasers and global positioning technology, while sometimes riding on
horseback, the campaign combined the most modern technology with
the most ancient technique of central Asian warfare. Using an American
idiom, President George W. Bush celebrated SF’s success by describing
their action in Afghanistan as “the first cavalry charge of the 21st cen-
tury.”1 In the second, a SOF special mission unit (SMU), a force specially
trained in conducting high-risk raids, flew into Pakistan, breached bin
Laden’s compound, which was near a Pakistani military facility, killed
him, and gathered large amounts of useful intelligence in the form of
disc drives and papers before exfiltrating without casualties.2
While remarkable, taking Kabul and killing bin Laden were not all
SOF did in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq or in other conflicts and
missions in the years after 2001. SOF developed to a fine art a form of
2 INTRODUC TION

counterterrorism warfare in Iraq; operated against the Islamic State of

Iraq and Syria (ISIS); helped villagers in Afghanistan, the Philippines
and elsewhere defend themselves against insurgents and lawless gangs;
and conducted countless training missions with foreign military forces
around the world, in which they taught not only technical military skills,
but also the rudiments of democratic civil-military relations. In carry-
ing out these various activities, SOF used not only violence to achieve
American objectives but also medical assistance, small infrastructure
projects, and simple personal diplomacy. As SOF’s accomplishments
gave them new prominence, their numbers grew as did their respon-
sibilities. In 2000, there were about 29,000 active duty SOF. In 2018,
there were 57,000.3 The Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the
overall command for SOF, which since its creation in 1987 had struggled
sometimes to integrate itself into the overall military effort of the United
States, was made the coordinating authority to counter violent extremist
organizations,4 until recently perhaps the highest security priority of the
United States.
The first edition of this book appeared in 2007, as SOF’s ascent to its
new prominence and importance was still gathering speed. The second
edition appears as questions have arisen about the future role of SOF.
The United States and the Department of Defense recently have switched
their focus from terrorism and insurgency to great power conflict,
spurred by the rise of China and the continued belligerence of Russia.
Will SOF maintain the same roles, importance, and relevance in this
new security environment? Of the many things that SOF can do, which
are most likely to provide the greatest benefit to the United States, now
and in the future? Increasingly, questions are also raised about the ethics
and professionalism of a force that operates at the very limits of com-
mand and control and in circumstances often unique for military forces.5
The purpose of this book is to address such questions about SOF and,
above all, the question about SOF’s strategic utility. Chapter 1 offers a
series of interviews of SOF personnel. Virtually every issue we subse-
quently discuss emerges in these interviews. They also provide a helpful
introduction to the character of SOF. The final two interviews are new to
this edition. In chapter 2, we present a history of U.S. SOF, updated from
the first edition. This history provides perspective on SOF and the array
of issues and controversies surrounding them. It shows also that SOF’s
complex, often problematic relationship with other military forces and
 INTRODUC TION 3

political leaders is not simply a contemporary phenomenon. The issues,

controversies, and complexity are long-standing; awareness of them is
essential background for understanding SOF. Chapter 3, also updated,
takes an in-depth look at one particular episode from SOF’s history, its
involvement in the effort to capture Mohamed Farrah Aideed, a Somali
faction leader. This episode is perhaps the single most revealing case one
could study to understand how some SOF operate and the challenges of
providing proper command and control of these exceptional forces. In
chapter 4, new to this edition, we examine another more recent chapter in
SOF history, the development of its ability to find and target individuals
of high value. This was the most striking tactical development SOF pro-
duced in its operations over the last two decades, but questions remain
about its strategic utility. Chapter 5, another new chapter, explores village
stability operations (VSO), a term that refers to a village-level kind of war-
fare SOF have employed since Vietnam, but that found new relevance—
and familiar difficulties—in Afghanistan. Chapter 6, revised and updated
for this edition, analyzes SOF as the previous chapters have revealed
them. The chapter looks at roles and missions, as well as the ways in
which SOF are used to accomplish national objectives. The revised and
updated chapter 7 examines SOF and the future of warfare and how SOF
and their traditional roles and missions might change. The conclusion
offers some final thoughts about SOF’s strategic utility based on the his-
tory and analysis that precedes it.
A brief description of SOF and their various missions will help readers
understand the chapters that follow, especially the first. The Department
of Defense (DoD) currently defines special operations as “Operations
requiring unique modes of employment, tactical techniques, equipment
and training often conducted in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive
environments and characterized by one or more of the following: time
sensitive, clandestine, low visibility, conducted with and/or through
indigenous forces, requiring regional expertise, and/or a high degree of
risk.” SOF are the forces “specifically organized, trained, and equipped
to conduct and support” such operations.6 SOF constitute approximately
2 percent of the Department of Defense budget and 3 percent of DoD
manpower.7 SOCOM describes the typical SOF operator in the follow-
ing way: “married and has at least two kids; average age is 29-years-old
enlisted; 34-years-old officer; has 8 years’ experience in the General Pur-
pose Forces [regular military]; receives cultural and language training; has
4 INTRODUC TION

attended multiple advanced tactical schools; enjoys games which require

problem solving like chess; is well educated and likely to have a college
degree; is a thinking athlete—water polo, track, wrestling or football.”8
Each of the services has a component that it designates as SOF. SF,
or Army Special Forces, are known colloquially as “Green Berets,” for
their distinctive headgear. The most important organizational unit in SF
is what is known as the Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha
or the “A-Team,” a twelve-man unit of officers (a captain and a warrant
officer) and senior enlisted personnel. Warrant officers are technical
experts, combat leaders, and managers. They are commissioned officers
but specialists, and so not on a career path that leads to becoming a
general officer, unlike the captains who head the team. The captains,
although the highest-ranking soldiers on the teams, are usually the least
experienced. Warrant officers are typically seasoned soldiers, as are the
other team members. This creates interesting team dynamics.9 The team
contains specialists in weapons, engineering, medicine, communica-
tions, and intelligence. It is so constructed that it can be divided into two
smaller teams, each under the command of one of the team’s officers.
Six “A-teams” make a company; three companies, a battalion; three bat-
talions, a group. Each group and its subordinate elements focus on a
particular region. Fifth Group, for example, focuses on the Middle East
and Central Asia. Other army SOF include civil affairs personnel, who
specialize in working with civilian populations and foreign governments;
psychological operations forces, who specialize in the dissemination of
information in support of SOF and other military units; the 160th Special
Operations Aviation Regiment, which provides helicopter support to
SOF; and the 75th Ranger Regiment, elite light infantry who specialize
in raids and airfield seizures.
The navy’s SOF are the SEALs (short for Sea-Air-Land), whose progen-
itors were underwater demolition teams but who now, as their name sug-
gests, operate in a variety of environments. They carried out a significant
portion of the special operations in the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns,
for example. Like SF, SEALs operate in small teams. Unlike SF, however,
SEALs historically focused on small-unit combat operations, rather than
working with indigenous personnel, although that changed somewhat
during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also part of the force struc-
ture of the SEALs are the special boat teams that carry the SEALs to
their targets.
 INTRODUC TION 5

Air force SOF are the pilots, navigators, and crew who fly air force
special operations aircraft and combat controllers and pararescuemen.
The combat controllers accompany SOF on their missions and coordi-
nate air support. The pararescuemen, as their name implies, specialize
in rescuing downed airmen and SOF. Among lesser-known SOF, combat
controllers and pararescuemen are also among its most highly trained.
Until recently, the marines resisted establishing separate special forces,
although they designated certain elements that received special training
as “special operations capable.” However, in 2006, given the demands of
the war on terrorism and pressure from civilian leaders in the Pentagon,
the marines activated the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations
Command (MARSOC) as part of SOCOM. A MARSOC operations team
has a structure similar to a SF A-Team, but its operational tasks are more
like those of navy SEALs. Recently, MARSOC training has placed greater
emphasis on working with indigenous forces.
We speak about the various kinds of SOF only insofar as is necessary
to discuss the general issues of SOF we focus on, especially the question
of SOF’s strategic utility. We also say little about special mission units,
a term applied to SOF that specialize in combating terrorism and other
secret and often especially demanding missions. These SOF highly value
their operational security. What we say about them respects their security
but is sufficient to make the points that need to be made.
SOCOM, the special operations command, is the overall military
structure in charge of SOF. SOCOM is a unique organization because it
combines the usual duties of a command (operational authority over mil-
itary forces) with some responsibilities of a service (recruiting, training,
and equipping military personnel). In the past, SOCOM seldom exer-
cised operational authority over SOF. Typically, that was done by special
operations commands (SOCs) that work for each of the regional combat-
ant commanders, the four-star generals with responsibility for U.S. mil-
itary operations in the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa,
and North America. Each of the regional combatant commanders has a
SOF command element, its so-called “theater SOC” or TSOC. For exam-
ple, U.S. Central Command, the command with responsibility for the
Middle East and Central Asia, has Special Operations Command Cen-
tral, or SOCCENT.10 SOCOM exercises its service-like responsibilities by
working with the service-specific SOF commands. The U.S. Army Spe-
cial Operations Command has responsibility for Special Forces, the 95th
6 INTRODUC TION

Civil Affairs Brigade, psychological operations forces, the Ranger regi-

ment, and the 160th Aviation Regiment. The U.S. Naval Special Warfare
Command is responsible for the SEALs and their supporting boat units.
The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command has responsibility for
the air force’s special operations aircraft, combat controllers, and parares-
cuemen. Together, SOCOM and its subordinate commands take care of
SOF-specific training and equipment, while the services provide to SOF
what they provide to all personnel under their authority. For example, the
air force buys aircraft, which the Special Operations Command then pays
to have equipped as needed for special operations.
The various organizational and command relationships that govern
SOF prepare them to carry out a variety of missions.11 We highlight below
several that play a particular role in the chapters that follow:12

Civil affairs: actions to enhance awareness of, and manage the interac-
tion with, the civil component of the operational environment; identify
and mitigate underlying causes of instability within civil society; and/or
involve the application of functional specialty skills normally the respon-
sibility of civil government. For example, during the 1994 intervention
in Haiti, civil affairs teams from the 96th CA Battalion assessed Hai-
ti’s creaking infrastructure, and Company A, 96th CA Battalion restored
electricity to Jeremie, Cap Haitien, and other northern cities and towns
for the first time in years.

Counterinsurgency: Comprehensive civilian and military efforts designed

to simultaneously defeat and contain insurgency and address its root
causes. Examples discussed in chapters 1, 2, and 5 include SOF operations
in Vietnam, El Salvador in the 1980s and early 1990s, and Afghanistan.

Counterterrorism: activities and operations taken to neutralize terrorists

and their organizations and networks in order to render them incapa-
ble of using violence to instill fear and coerce governments or societies.
These missions include intelligence operations, attacks against terrorist
networks and infrastructures, recovery of sensitive material from terrorist
organizations, and non-kinetic activities aimed at the ideologies or moti-
vations that spawn terrorists. Some of these operations are cloaked in
secrecy, but others, such as the high value targeting missions discussed
 INTRODUC TION 7

in chapter 4, are well-known. A celebrated example is the raid that killed

Osama bin Laden.

Countering weapons of mass destruction: efforts to curtail the conceptual-

ization, development, possession, proliferation, use, and effects of weap-
ons of mass destruction, related expertise, materials, technologies, and
means of delivery. An example of a counterproliferation operation would
be stopping and searching a ship on the high seas suspected of carrying
a weapon of mass destruction or material for such a weapon, such as the
2002 collaborative effort by Spain and the United States to stop, search,
and seized a North Korean–flagged vessel off the Horn of Africa that was
carrying Scud missiles apparently intended for delivery to Yemen.

Direct action: the conduct of short-duration strikes and other small-scale

offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or
diplomatically sensitive environments that employ specialized military
capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage des-
ignated targets. For example, during the Balkan conflict, a SOF team
destroyed a stretch of railroad tracks to prevent Serbian troop movements.

Foreign internal defense: participation in any of the programs and activities

undertaken by a host nation government to free and protect its society
from subversion, lawlessness, insurgency, terrorism, and other threats
to its security. For example, following the terrorist attacks on 9/11 SOF
advised the Filipino military in their battle with the terrorist organization
Abu Sayyaf Group.

Special reconnaissance: reconnaissance and surveillance actions con-

ducted as special operations in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive
environments to collect or verify information of strategic or operational
significance, employing military capabilities not normally found in con-
ventional forces. For example, in the First Gulf War, Special Forces were
inserted behind enemy lines before the initiation of the ground war to
analyze terrain and soil conditions along the planned invasion route into
Iraq. Navy SEALs also conducted offshore reconnaissance missions as
part of a deception strategy to fix Iraqi attention on a potential amphibi-
ous invasion by U.S. Marines.
8 INTRODUC TION

Preparation of the environment: an umbrella term for operations and activ-

ities conducted by selectively trained special operations forces to develop
an environment for potential future special operations. These operations
are sensitive and have been controversial at times. Their aim is to collect
information and establish contacts that will allow SOF to operate more
effectively.

Psychological operations: operations to convey selected information to for-

eign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, reasoning, and ulti-
mately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and
individuals in a manner favorable to our objectives. For example, during
operations in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime and run al-Qaeda
terrorists to ground, psychological operations forces developed leaflets
and radio broadcasts to weaken support for the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
After the defeat of the Taliban, the objective shifted to building support
for the interim Afghan government led by President Hamid Karzai.

Unconventional warfare: activities conducted to enable a resistance move-

ment or insurgency to coerce, disrupt, or overthrow a government or occu-
pying power by operating through or with an underground, auxiliary, and
guerrilla force in a denied area. For example, the press reported in 2018
that Special Forces trained Lithuanian National Defense Volunteer Forces
to resist an enemy occupation of their country with guerrilla tactics, the
unstated likely candidate for such an occupation force being Russia.

It should be apparent from the above description of SOF and the list
of their missions that SOF are complex and diverse forces. Part of what
we discover in examining their history is how diverse they are, how many
different kinds of missions political and military decision-makers have
called on them to undertake, how different are the orientations and skills
of the different elements of SOF, and how political and bureaucratic
pressures have shaped them over the years. Given SOF’s diverse capabil-
ities, there also are a wide range of choices to be made about how SOF
are organized and employed to best effect. Which missions should they
have, and which should be passed on to general purpose forces? What
are new missions that might emerge? The following pages provide the
information to answer such questions and argue that some answers are
better than others.
 INTRODUC TION 9

This book is the result of a collaboration of almost thirty years in mul-

tiple operations, policy, and academic environments. When it came to
writing, Tucker was the primary author of the introduction and chapters
1, 2, 5 and the conclusion; Lamb was the primary author of chapters 3,
4, 6, 7 and the two appendices. Each read and commented extensively on
the other’s work, with Tucker acting as a general editor. The two appendi-
ces, it should be said, are intended to assist students of SOF in particular.
The first appendix explains the sometimes confusing evolution of official
terminology used to describe SOF missions. The second appendix is an
annotated bibliographic essay that explains different categories of SOF
literature and points readers to some of the better works available for
further consideration.

Both authors are former employees of the federal government, but the
views expressed in this book are those of the authors and are not official
policy or positions of the Naval Post Graduate School, National Defense
University, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
 part i
The American Experience with
Special Operations Forces
 ✪ 1

Special Operations Forces and

Modern Warfare

AFGHANISTAN, NOVEMBER–DECEMBER, 2001

A Special Forces captain who was the leader of one of the first “A-Teams”
to go into Afghanistan describes his experience.

We were supposed to go into Afghanistan October 20th but there were

weather delays. The pilots didn’t think they could get in. So we actually
went on November 1st. It was a 6 ½ hour helicopter flight. We landed in
the middle of the night, early morning hours November 2. We were sup-
posed to hook up with the Northern Alliance1 commander in the region.
He was one of the subordinate commanders in the whole alliance but in
charge of this area. Some of his people were supposed to meet us. But
nobody really knew the commander. We requested intelligence on him,
and they sent us stuff on a guy with a similar name. But the meeting was
set up through the Northern Alliance, so we flew in to meet up with his
people. We landed at night, and there was snow on the ground, which
was cool. You know, we had done all these rehearsals to try and offload
quickly because we were bringing in a lot of stuff. We took two bags of
medical equipment, five parachute kit bags full of beans, five parachute
kit bags full of rice, a couple dozen blankets, wool blankets because it’s
freezing, these guys are suffering ’cause they have no food, no blan-
kets, no nothing, and they are trying to fight a war. And we had two kit
bags full of medical supplies, like bandages and stuff like that, that we
wanted to give them right off the bat to establish that we understand
their situation and get them strengthened up a little bit. So we rehearsed
getting it off quickly, but with the snow we just took the stuff on the bird
14 THE AMERIC AN E XPERIENCE

[helicopter] and threw it on the snow, and because of the slope of the
snow it just slid out of the way. We didn’t have to carry it. Really, you
could just kind of sling it, and it would slide down the mountain. So we
got it off quickly, and the helicopter got out of there, and we took off.
We’re through, and we were gone. And then we walked and walked and
walked, all night.
Well the following morning, we hadn’t been to bed yet, a big defection
[ from the Taliban] took place. All these bad guys were marched into a
little courtyard. They all bowed and the commander’s men had them
under guard. They are drawn down on them [pointing weapons at the
defectors] in this little courtyard and the commander brings out a video
camera, which shocked the hell out of us. And he starts videotaping this
defection, and he is talking to them. They are standing there almost in
a file and rank, and he is talking to them, and I can’t understand a word
he is saying, and we don’t have any interpreters, and he is talking, but
it is obvious that it’s his deal. And everyone paid homage to the com-
mander, the guy we were supposed to work with. They kissed his hand
or bowed or whatever, in some way they paid him homage. And then
some of them, right there, just picked up guns, right there on the spot.
And this was hairy, like, “Holy shit, these guys just bowed 3 seconds ago
and now because they promise to behave, they can carry guns?” But these
defectors were all Afghans. To the Afghans, this made sense. When they
pledged their allegiance to [the commander] they meant it and most of
them stayed with us all the way through the fight. This wasn’t like [what
happened later] at Mazar-i-Sharif;2 those were foreigners. That turned out
to be a perfidious surrender.
I was there for the initial surrender [of the al-Qaeda forces involved in
the uprising at Mazar-i-Sharif ]. The Northern Alliance commander I was
working with, he and I went there [where the defectors were supposed to
show up] about two or three in the morning. We got some intel[ligence]
that five or six hundred were coming, and we moved first to the eastern
edge of Mazar to see what the hell was going on, how they were sur-
rendering or defecting. We knew from intelligence sources that nobody
could defect or desert. Anybody that tried was killed, shot in the back
dead. And the Taliban knew that Mazar-i-Sharif was the last holdout in
the north. We understood it too and knew they couldn’t afford to lose any
forces. So, when the commander came in and said, “There’s five or six
hundred guys heading this way,” nobody knew at the time exactly what
 S O F A N D M O D E R N WA R FA R E 15

they were coming for. The commander and I talked and our attitude was:
“Well, there’s no way they could defect or desert.” We know nobody can
get out of there, let alone five or six hundred dudes with guns and weap-
ons and trucks. We thought, “Something’s wrong about this,” and so
we picked up some guys and we went out there to the east side of town.
And then this convoy of five or six hundred guys pulled up and stopped
and said, “Send an emissary forward,” saying “We want to defect.” And
the commander kicked into the Afghan military culture mode. My team
was like, “Hey, we don’t know the composition of the force, but we do
know the situation. And therefore, it’s a ruse, at a minimum an oppor-
tunity to gather information on surrendering procedures, so they can be
used against us in the future.” Well, when the surrender went without
a hitch, we said, okay. Well, it had to be [either] legitimate or an intel-
ligence-gathering procedure, ’cause they actually did surrender. Pretty
soon, it became clear that it was a ruse.
By the time of Mazar-i-Sharif [November 25, 2005] we were working
well with the commander, but he was still responding in that Afghan
way that didn’t always make sense to us. At the beginning, when we first
started, he didn’t understand what we could do. He didn’t understand
the technology, what it could do. Neither did the bad guys. The com-
mander realized that the Americans brought a lot of prestige and for
that, we were good. And right off the bat, we started bringing in a lot of
supplies, both lethal and nonlethal, and it’s getting to be a tough time of
the year, so the nonlethal aid was probably just as important as the lethal
aid [ammunition, etc.]. So, okay, great, we are very valuable, but in terms
of this war-fighting shit, what are these Americans really bringing? My
group commander warned me before I went into Afghanistan, they are
going to look at you, baby-face captain, as some guy who’s never been in
war and you need to be prepared for that. I don’t think he was off base
on that. I think the [Northern Alliance] commander kind of looked at it
like, “Okay, these guys are bringing me supplies, so I can do my thing.”
But then he saw what we could do. We had him look at a target through
binoculars. And he says “Good target,” and we say “No, no, keep looking,
keep looking,” and all of a sudden he sees this thing just go “Poof!” And
he’s like “Wow, you know, these guys, these guys can do some good; they
bring a whole new dimension to the battlefield!” He was right. A fortified
target up a mountain or something and it would have taken forever to
assault that location. But we could take it out like that; never even have to
16 THE AMERIC AN E XPERIENCE

walk up that freakin’ hill, let alone get a force large enough to accomplish
that kind of assault. And now we can just plink it out of the way.
So it worked out. Where we were, it was clear what we had to do, how
we had to get to Mazar-i-Sharif. That was the key in the north and it was
clear what we had to do to get there. The Taliban had cities that were buf-
fers around Mazar. We were going to systematically erode or exhaust that
buffer backwards. So I told the commander there’s a couple of things I
need. (I was talking to him through an interpreter. The commander gave
us one. The commander had a guy who spoke Russian. We also did the
old pointy-talkie thing, and the little phrase books, you know, from DLI
[Defense Language Institute].) Anyway, I told him, I need someone who
knows the places. I said, “I need to know what I am looking at.” I needed
someone who could tell me where the targets are, and we talked about
that in a lot of depth. And hopefully, this will be someone who can speak
either English or Russian (or actually at times English, Russian, French,
or Chinese, because those were the four languages I had on my team,
and Arabic. Probably after English, we had more Arabic speakers. But
ironically, nobody on the commander’s force spoke Arabic. We didn’t have
an interpreter who spoke English at all until the night before we entered
Mazar). Then I said, “The last thing I need, I need to be able to get there.”
There were mines everywhere. So I needed an escort. And he said, “Okay.”
Once we got to those locations, I split the team. Our team’s SOP
was—you work this out in training—that I would take the junior weap-
ons NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer), the junior Commo guy, and the
senior medic, and the CCT [Combat Controller] with me. But I needed
all the Russian speakers with me. That wasn’t exactly standard for us
[but] I took all the Russian speakers, ’cause I was going to go talk to
the guy that spoke Russian. That is how we split it up, and it worked
out well. The AFSOC [Air Force Special Operations Command] combat
controller was there too, which was great. Initially, we did not want an
AFSOC guy. Traditionally, at least in my experience, and the experience
of people I’ve worked with, we look at the AFSOC guys as kids, kind of
liabilities. Because they don’t have the maturity, because they come in
to AFSOC a lot younger, whether they are PJs [pararescue personnel] or
STS [Special Tactics Squadron] or whatever. But this guy was great. He
was mature, he was an E-6 [a senior non-commissioned officer], he was
31 years old, he was engaged [with the mission], he was laid back, but
he was well trained—he had been around awhile and he fit right in real
 S O F A N D M O D E R N WA R FA R E 17

well, and he was in good shape. So, he was really, really an asset. Also,
he brought another radio, which is a great radio. And it’s great to have
someone there that can talk to the plane, so you don’t have to. Now, he
did not understand UW [unconventional warfare] at all. But in fairness
to him and to AFSOC, that’s not their job, to understand UW. It’s his job
to talk to airplanes. And that was great ‘cause that is what I needed, and
when things got a little hairy at times and we had planes stacking up, I
felt confident that this guy is going to keep these planes safe; he’s going
to keep us safe [ from the bombs of U.S. aircraft] and he’s going to do
the job. You couldn’t ask for a better guy to control the air, but he didn’t
really understand this situation going on around him. But [even so, with
him around] I have got another guy now that can do drop zones, do HLZs
[helicopter landing zones], and control drops and whatever I need to do.
This guy can handle it, and he was good at what he did.
One [element of our split] team stayed, actually, not too far from the
commander’s command post and the rest of us went over to the other
location. We talked by radio to establish priority targets. We both received
information about various target locations and then we would swap the
target information. I would say, “Okay, I got targets alpha alpha, zero zero
one, through zero zero ten,” and he’s like, “Okay, I got zero zero eleven,
through zero zero twenty,” or whatever. Let’s swap this and this. Let’s pri-
oritize these and renumber them, and that’s how we will take them down.
The [Afghan] commander didn’t get involved. He didn’t meddle in how we
were going to do it. I think it was because of the [technology] gap between
us, and it was also respect, [since] it was kind of our show. We corrobo-
rated our information, and then our plan was to target the priorities. We
set target priorities, to make those missions as valuable as possible. Other
teams took different approaches and I can’t speak for their methodologies.
But my particular team, we decided our methodology was going to be the
way I described. We were not interested in dropping bombs on tanks,
unless it’s in an extreme situation. Even in one particular case where [the
Taliban and al-Qaeda] fanned out and came after us with some tanks. We
were confident that they didn’t know where we were, and they were just
kind of stumbling around. So, we asked for planes but we didn’t call “in
extremis” because there was no reason to waste the opportunity [on a
tank that was not a threat]. [Instead,] I [was] going to take out one of the
priority targets. And I think that really caused the rapid collapse. We went
after foreign targets first because we recognized that the foreigners had
18 THE AMERIC AN E XPERIENCE

all the experience and all the training and all the education. Chechens,
IMU [Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]—yeah, we finally got to take the
gloves off against the IMU, the Pakis that had come over and the Saudis.
Then after that we targeted Taliban leadership. This is not decapitation;
we are not trying to take out one or two dudes and expect the whole thing
to fall apart. But so many of the soldiers in Afghanistan were impressed
into service and that was a potential recruiting pool for us for a variety of
reasons. And if we could set the conditions so that they could have even a
minimum opportunity to desert, if not defect, then we thought they would
do it. So we targeted the leaders to give the soldiers a chance to leave. Also,
we recognized how hitting multiple C2 [command and control] targets
disrupted their C2, and since it was a very centralized army, that could
be catastrophic for them. Of the enemy’s elements of combat power, we
chose to hit leadership with air assets.
One time we brought in aircraft to get a leadership target. It was a
B-52. It bombed a chunk of land three kilometers long by one kilometer
wide and they missed. Didn’t hit a damn thing. We blew up the desert,
27 mark 82’s [an air delivered bomb] and we didn’t blow up a damn thing
but dirt. But still it looked impressive because this thing was on top of this
mountain, it’s way up above the valley. The whole arc went right up the
side of the mountain; didn’t hit a damn thing. But it looked—because
this is a huge mountain—it looked spectacular. It was pretty cool, and
you know what? Psychologically, it had to say to everybody in the valley,
“Holy shit, the rules have just changed.” Another time, we were con-
trolling some B-52s and they dropped. And the guys are waiting and
they to talk to the pilots and say “We didn’t see anything,” and suddenly
they hear boom, boom, boom from another direction, and they look over
there and they are like “Oh my God, you know we just destroyed some
part of the village of aq Kopruk. We were supposed to drop the bombs
over there, oh my God.” Well, the commander jumps in the air, he throws
his arms in the air, he’s like “All right!” He’s happy, and the controller is
completely perplexed. He talks to the pilots. “How the hell did you drop
those over there?” It turns out they accidentally punched in the wrong
grid coordinates. You know, that is easy for them to say at 35,000 feet.
For us down here, well, that could be us [getting blown up] or hurting the
local population we rely on. It turns out by the grace of God, and noth-
ing less, the bombs just landed on another bunch of bad guys. And the
commander knew about that target, too. He loved it. He thought it was
 S O F A N D M O D E R N WA R FA R E 19

great. We accidentally hit the wrong target, but it worked. The probability
of that . . . [shakes head].
You know, this war was not won by the air force. The Taliban and
al-Qaeda were killed by the air force but in a UW situation to drop the
bomb—that’s the easy part. The hard part is developing the infrastruc-
ture that facilitates knowing where the targets are, so you can bomb
them. And that is what won the war. It’s getting the targets and getting
which targets, why this target or why that target, and that’s what makes
it work. Riding around on horses dropping bombs, I know that’s sexy
for the cameras and for the drama. But first of all, we went on horses
because that is all we had; we didn’t have any vehicles in the beginning
and some of those trails are not passable in vehicles. But basically, if you
did a relative combat power analysis between the two sides, the Taliban
and al-Qaeda over here and the coalition on the other side, it wasn’t just
a lack of mobility assets that the Northern Alliance suffered from. One
in three guys might have been armed. And when I say “armed,” I mean
like Ahmet shows up at the battlefield and he’s got his AK-47 or he’s got
an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade launcher], this is a great one, and his
son is right behind him. He carries the RPG round, and his youngest
son is behind him waiting to see who dies first because he will pick up
what they drop. And that’s kind of how we would go to battle, until we
could bring in more lethal aid, ammo, and weapons. We didn’t have any
artillery. We had one piece when we got there, and it didn’t work, and
my weapons sergeant field-fabricated a firing pin to make it work. I don’t
even know what the hell he did, but he got the thing working. But close
air support is not very close at this point. I mean, most times [the air-
craft] are dropping in excess of 25,000 feet. Our air defense assessment
for the area was important to encourage the air force to come down a bit
closer because, you know, we missed more often than we hit [when we
bombed from high altitude]. The problem with that is you don’t want to
hurt any of the population, especially if we knew the population was on
our side or could potentially be on our side. But we missed a lot with the
JDAMs [Joint Direct Attack Munitions], to the point where we stopped
using them. We really wanted to use the laser [laser device used to guide
bombs to a target], and once we proved its capabilities, the commander
wanted laser too, for the same reasons. I mean, he doesn’t want to hurt
the population, either. But with the laser we now have a capability that
can kill the bad guys with this air platform at sufficient standoff [so] that
20 THE AMERIC AN E XPERIENCE

their otherwise superior combat power cannot kill us. And maybe the
playing field was not even level anymore, now the sides were tipped to
our advantage, once we began to work and gather information from the
population about where things were.
But in general, it all worked. Once there was pressure in both val-
leys [where we and another team were operating], it really gave way. And
once [one] valley went, then the [other] valley quickly followed, so they
[Taliban/al-Qaeda] couldn’t organize, while we ended up having a meet-
ing between [the Northern Alliance faction leaders]. We got the factions
trying to work together for the first time. By the end of November, I’d say
after Kunduz [a town in northern Afghanistan] fell, we switched from an
unconventional warfare operation to a counterinsurgency operation. And
Kunduz marked that tipping point. That’s why humanitarian assistance
became very important also, because of the winter months coming on.
We had been thinking of [how to fight an unconventional campaign
in Afghanistan] for a while. [My team] had deployments to Uzbekistan
because we had a few people who spoke Russian on my team. In fiscal
year 1998, CENTCOM [Central Command] assumed control of five for-
mer republics of the Soviet Union. They had not been formerly a part of
the CENTCOM AOR [area of responsibility]. So, I was the first of four
people, myself and three others, that were going to the 5th [Special Oper-
ations Forces] group, who were all assigned to learn Russian because
CENTCOM was going to pick up these five countries. At the end of 2000,
a central Asian mission came to our battalion and the commander knew
that my team wanted that and knew that we had at least one good Russian
speaker and a couple other decent ones. Fifth Group had called SWC [the
Special Warfare Center, an army Special Forces organization] and said,
“Hey, we need some Russian-speaking guys now. Take X number of our
Russian speakers, [plus] X number of our incoming assigned personnel
and give them Russian. And make the rest Arabic or whatever.” At that
time, actually, everybody was Arabic except for the four of us, so in that class
all Arabic and four Russian. That’s kind of how this whole Afghanistan
thing gets started, actually, in 2000. Because my team begins to work with
the Uzbek army every month from December 2000 to August of 2001,
except for, I think, two months. We worked with them in some way or
another during that time; I think we had nine different deployments in
that time span. We were training them in peace enforcement operations.
We were working at platoon level and below. Actually, we did two things.
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Alone will I go, and for boatmen will I search by the river-side
Which unto the land of Gelfrat shall ferry us over the spate.”
Then took the aweless Hagen his strong shield, goodly and great.
Well was he armed against foemen: his shield from his shoulders
was slung,
And he laced on his head his helmet, a splendour of fight far-flung:
Belted unto his corslet was a broad bright battle-glaive
Twin-edged, whose deadly keenness the shields of the mighty clave.

Up-stream and down-stream casting for a ferry-wight sought he.

Then heard he a plashing of water, and hearkened where it should
be.
And lo, in a pool fair-welling did mermaids plunge and swim
To cool in the dimpling river each summer-fevered limb.
Then Hagen was ware of the wise-wives, and stealthily nearer he
crept.
They saw him, and swiftly flashing far off through the ripples leapt.
Laughed they for glee, as fleers that mark a pursuer outrun.
Then seized he their raiment, but further scathe unto them did he
none.
Then cried unto him a mermaiden, and Hadburg had she to name:
“Behold, we will tell thee, Hagen, thou knight of peerless fame,—
So thou wilt restore our apparel in guerdon for our rede,—
How thou and thy friends in thy journey to the land of the Huns shall
speed.”

They swayed on the swaying water as birds that rock on the sea:
And he thought on their weird foreknowledge, on the eyes that
pierce the To Be;
The gladlier therefore he trusted that their lips the truth would
show;
And answer they made, when he questioned of the thing that he
fain would know.
For Hadburg said: “Ye may safely to the land of Etzel ride.
I pledge thee my faith in surety for that I have prophesied.
Never hath journey of heroes to an alien land been crowned
With such high honour and worship. True shall my words be found.”
Welcome and heart-uplifting did the word unto Hagen come:
He restored unto them their raiment, and tarried no more therefrom.

But when they had donned the vesture of the wondrous cloudy
fold,
Of the journey to Etzel’s kingdom then first the truth they told.
For now the second mermaid, whose name was Sieglind, spake:
“Aldrian’s son, thou Hagen, from me this warning take:—
False is the thing my cousin but to win her raiment saith.
If thou to the Hunfolk goest, betrayed art thou to thy death.
While yet there is time, turn backward; wisely so should ye do,
Forasmuch as ye valiant heroes are but bidden thereto
To the end that ye all may perish in the Hunfolk’s land.
Yea, whoso rideth thither, Death rideth at his right hand.”
Answered and spake to her Hagen: “This your deceit is vain.
How should thy word be accomplished, that all we should be slain,
And so through any man’s malice dead at their high-tide stay?”
Then to the knight the story did they clearly and throughly say.
Moreover said one of the mermaids: “Thus is it doomed to betide,
That none shall alive fare homeward of all in your host that ride,
Save one, King Gunther’s chaplain. We verily know this thing,
That unharmed he only returneth to the land of Gunther the King.”

In scornful indignation made answer Hagen the bold:

“And a goodly tale to my masters in sooth were this to be told,
That doomed are we all mid the Hunfolk to pour out our lives in
blood!
Nay, show us, thou wisest of women, how we may cross this flood.”
She said: “If thou wilt not be counselled, if thy journey needs must
be,
Look yonder across the water; a hostel there shalt thou see.
Therein a ferry-wight dwelleth: there is none else far or near.”
Thither impatiently turned he, to ask yet more and to hear.
Yet after the wrathful warrior again the mermaid cried:
“Too hasty art thou, Lord Hagen: a little yet abide
Till thou have received instruction how thou shalt reach yon strand.
Elsè named is the ruler of the marches of yonder land.
Gelfrat named is his brother, a mighty man in fight,
A prince in the land Bavarian. Count not the emprise light,
If ye think to press on through his marches: of peril must ye beware;
And for dealing with yonder boatman have ye need of heedful care.
So grim is he of his temper, he will do a mischief to thee,
If thou gain not the strong one’s goodwill, and bespeak him
courteously.
To win him to ferry thee over, proffer him guerdon due.
He is warder of this land’s gateway, and to Gelfrat is faithful and
true.
If he come not unto thee straightway, shout over the flood a name;
Thy name is Amelrich, say thou: a warrior good was the same
Who out of this land was driven by the malice of his foes.
Thou shalt so draw over the boatman by the lure of the name that
he knows.”

Then bowed him Hagen the haughty to those weird women twain;
But he sought no more of their counsel, and from speech did he
refrain.
Up-stream by the swirling waters close to the verge he hied,
Till he marked where a little hostel stood on the farther side.
Then Hagen his voice uplifted, and he shouted across the flood:
“Ho! ferry me over, thou boatman,” cried the thane in battle good,
“And I will give thee an armlet of red gold for thine hire.
Sore is my need of the crossing, and eager my desire.”
Now this ferryman nowise needed to ply, so rich was he.
Right seldom a hire he accepted from whosoe’er it might be.
And his servants were like to their master: haughty as he were they
grown.
So there stood Hagen unheeded still by the river alone.
Once more so loudly he shouted, the whole stream rang again;
For like to the crashing thunder was the mighty voice of the thane:
“Me—Amelrich—ferry thou over! Elsè’s liegeman am I,
Who by reason of feud with foemen from thy land was enforced to
fly.”

High on his sword he uplifted the armlet full in his sight—

Fair-wrought and golden-ruddy, and flashed therefrom the light—
To tempt him to ferry him over into Gelfrat’s land.
Then gripped that haughty boatman himself the oar in hand.
Now this same ferry-boatman was a churlish wight and dour,
Yet greedy of gain; and ofttimes is greed destruction’s lure.
He weened he should earn full lightly Hagen’s gold for reward—
Ha, but he earned from the hero grim death by the edge of the
sword!

With mighty strokes that boatman from bank to bank rowed o’er;
But him who was named he found not abiding him on the shore.
Then brake he forth into fury when Hagen alone he espied:
In the fierceness of his anger unto the hero he cried:
“Haply the name that thou bearest Amelrich may be;
But nothing thou hast of the favour of him I had looked to see.
My brother was he: one father begat us, one mother bare.
Since thou by a lie hast lured me across, e’en bide thou there!”
“Nay, in God’s name I charge thee!” Hagen answering cried.
“A knight am I, and a stranger, and to other thanes am I guide.
Take thou the gold that I proffer unto thee for thine hire as a friend,
And ferry us over the river: no hurt unto thee I intend.”
Swiftly the ferryman answered: “Never shall this be done!
My well-belovèd masters have enemies many an one;
Therefore I bear no strangers from this to the farther shore.
Thou then, if thy life thou lovest, step forth on the bank once more.”
“That will I not,” said Hagen, “for now am I bitter-souled.
Accept thou then as a friend’s gift the jewel of precious gold,
And bear us, a thousand horses and men, across the river,”
But that grim ferryman answered, “That will I do never!”

A mighty oar upswung he, massy and broad of blade,

And on Hagen’s head down dashed it—for the deed right dearly he
paid!—
Back in the boat he staggered, and sank upon one knee.
So grim a ferryman never it befell to the hero to see!
To enkindle yet hotter the anger of the valiant stranger, he strake
With a huge boat-pole—so starkly, that wholly asunder it brake—
On the head of Hagen the hero. A giant was he in might;
But thereof came his own destruction on Elsè’s ferry-wight.
In sternness of fury Hagen caught with sudden hand
At his side where hung the sword-sheath, and he flashed thereout
the brand;
He smote his head from his shoulders, that adown the bank it rolled.
Soon mid the proud Burgundians the tale thereof was told.

But in that selfsame moment when he laid the ferryman low,

The barge slid down the current, which cost him travail enow:
Yea, ere he could right her, weary he was with labour sore.
In sooth, King Gunther’s liegeman mightily plied the oar.
He toiled, up-stream to turn her, with many a swift strong stroke,
Even till the stubborn oar-shank in his grasp asunder broke,
As he strove to steer to the waiting knights at the river-side.
Inasmuch as he had none other, swiftly around it he tied
His shield-strap, and firmly he spliced it with the narrow steel-strong
band;
So hard by a certain coppice he guided the barge to the land.
There on the river-bank waiting his lords his coming abode,
And many a chosen warrior to meet him eagerly strode.

With gladsome greeting they hailed him, those noble knights and
good;
And they looked, and they saw yet reeking on the planks of the
barge the blood
That welled from the trunk made headless by that swift sweep of
the sword;
And a torrent of eager questions anent it on Hagen poured.
Yea also, when King Gunther beheld the hot blood reek,
As within the barge it weltered, he could not choose but speak:
“Prithee, what now, Lord Hagen, hath chanced to the ferryman-
wight?
His life, methinks, hath he yielded to thine overmastering might.”
But with lying lips he answered: “Nay, sooth, but the barge I found
By a river-mead, a waste land, and mine hand her hawser unbound.
But as touching ferry-boatmen, this day here saw I none.
Of a truth by mine hands unto no man this day hath scathe been
done.”

Straightway thereat did Gernot the Prince Burgundian say:

“Lest many a dear friend perish I needs must fear this day,
Inasmuch as on all the river we see no boatman here.
How we shall win thereover needs must I sorely fear.”
But cheerly and loud cried Hagen: “Down on the bank do ye cast,
O squires, the horses’ harness! I mind me that in time past
Myself was the deftest boatman that on all the Rhine men knew.
Into the land of Gelfrat even I will ferry you.”

To the end that over the river they might win with the better
speed,
Thereinto drave they the horses: so well swam each good steed,
That never a one of their thousands did the rush of the strong flood
drown,
Albeit were some forwearied, and won to the land far down.
Then into the barge they carried their gold and their vesture-store,
Forasmuch as now from the journey they could turn them back no
more.
And Hagen steered them over, that, with his strong hand on the
helm,
Came many a gallant warrior into the stranger’s realm.
At the first proud knights a thousand, and his own thanes threescore
Did Hagen ferry over: then came aye more and more,
Till squires had crossed nine thousand: all these he brought to land.
Small rest that day had the valiant Lord of Troneg’s hand!
(C) Now the barge was stoutly builded, wide and exceeding great;
Five hundred or more uncumbered it bare at a single freight
Over the waters, heroes with their victual and war-array.
Full many a stalwart warrior must strain at the oar that day.

When all these over the river Hagen had safely brought,
Thereafter the fierce-heart hero on that weird prophecy thought,
The boding the wild mermaiden so lately spake unto him.
And for this King Gunther’s chaplain well-nigh lost life and limb.
In the boat stood the priest with his vessels of holy sacrament;
His hand on the sacred relics and the hallowed things he leant.
But their sanctity nothing availed him when Hagen’s cruel eye
Fell on the priest, and doomed him to sore calamity.
With sudden violence he seized him, he hurled him over the side
Of the barge, while “Hold! hold, Hagen!” many a warrior cried,
And brake into wrath indignant the young Prince Giselher.
Yet, till he had well-nigh drowned him, would Hagen not forbear.
Thereat did the princely Gernot, the lord Burgundian, cry:
“What profit to thee is it, Hagen, that Gunther’s chaplain should die?
Had another done such outrage, it had cost him his life, I trow!
What wrong had the poor priest done thee, that thou shouldst be his
foe?”
Hard strained the priest in swimming: he had gotten aboard again,
If but any man had helped him; but his striving was all in vain,
By reason that Hagen the stalwart—savage was he of mood—
Back thrust him under the water: was none that deemed it good.
So when that hapless chaplain no human aid could see,
Back turned he, and swam shoreward: in bitter strait was he.
With failing strength was he sinking; but upborne by God’s own hand
Were his limbs, that at last in safety he won back unto the land.
There stood the priest all-hapless, and his streaming vesture wrung;
And by that sign known unto Hagen was the truth of the tale that
the tongue
Of the wild mermaiden had uttered, of the doom no man might
shun.
And he thought, “These knights of a surety be dead men every one!”
 So soon as the barge was unladed, and men had borne ashore
The possessions of Gunther’s liegemen, and all the treasure-store,
Then Hagen shattered the planking, and thrust it forth on the flood
To founder: exceedingly marvelled the valiant knights and good.
“Why hast thou done this, brother?” did Dankwart wondering say.
“How shall we pass hereover on the homeward-faring way,
What time from the land of the Hunfolk back to the Rhine we ride?”
Thereafter did Hagen tell him that this should never betide;
But now said the Hero of Troneg: “Herein was this my thought,
That if haply any faint-heart thus far on the way have been brought,
Who might think in his fear to forsake us, and return by the way that
he came,
He should know that in these wild waters there waited a death of
shame.”
There was one in their host who had journeyed forth of Burgundia-
land,
And his name of renown was Volker, a hero mighty of hand.
The thoughts of his fearless spirit with a biting tongue would he tell.
Whatsoever was done of Hagen, it liked that minstrel well.

(C) Now when King Gunther’s chaplain saw the wreck drift down
the tide,
He lifted his voice, and to Hagen across the water he cried:
“Thou murderer and faithless, what had I done unto thee
That thine heart should devise the drowning of a guiltless priest,
even me?”
(C) Fierce answer flung back Hagen: “Shaveling, refrain thee from
speech!
By my troth, ’tis for this I am sorry, that now thou art out of the
reach
Of the hands that be fain to slay thee! No gibe, but the truth it is.”
Made answer the priest all-hapless: “I praise God ever for this!
(C) Full little now do I dread thee, know this for verity!
Now fare ye on into Hunland, and back over Rhine will I.
May God vouchsafe to thee never to come over Rhine again!
This is mine heart’s petition, for my life well-nigh hast thou ta’en.”
(C) Then cried aloud King Gunther to the priest there standing lone:
“Lo, I will fully requite thee for all that Hagen hath done
Unto thee in his evil anger, whensoever back to the Rhine
Alive thou shalt see me returning: no fear thereof be thine.
(C) Fare homeward unto thy country, for so it must needs be now,
And unto my wife, my belovèd, take my greetings thou.
And by thee do I greet my kinsfolk, as is meet and right for a king.
Bear thou unto them glad tidings of our prosperous wayfaring.”

Now harnessed the horses waited, and the sumpters each with its
load
And as yet no scathe had befallen any as onward they rode,
Nor cause for fear or for grieving, save the priest, by a deed unmeet
Constrained to fare back Rhineward alone upon his feet.
 XXVI.
How Foes fell on them as they journeyed by Night
So when they were now all mustered upon the Danube strand,
Then spake to his men King Gunther: “Who through the unknown
land
Shall now on the right path guide us, that our feet err not from the
same?”
Out spake the valiant Volker: “This office for mine I claim.”
“Nay, halt ye a space,” said Hagen: “halt, both squire and knight!
His friends must a man needs follow, it seemeth me meet and right.
But a tale of evil tidings now at my mouth must ye learn—
Home to the land Burgundian not one of us all shall return.
Unto me this morning early was it told of mermaids two
That for us was no more returning: now counsel I what ye shall do:
Gird on your armour, ye heroes: ward you with heedful care.
Stark foemen await us: ride ye as men that battleward fare.
I had hoped to prove those mermaids false in their prophecy,
When they said unto me, that no man of all our array should see
Again the home in the Rhineland, except the chaplain alone:
Therefore would I so gladly have drowned him a little agone.”
From rank unto rank of their thousands the evil tidings flew.
Pale with a ghastly foreboding many a good knight grew,
As the hideous terror gripped them of the bitter death so near
At the end of this festival-faring, and their hearts were cold with fear.

That place was nigh unto Möring where they passed across the
flood,
Where the ferryman of Elsè poured out his life in blood.
Again to the rest spake Hagen: “I have made for myself by the way
Foes, and our march shall shortly be beset by their array.
To-day have I slain their boatman while yet was the morning grey,
And by this have they heard the tidings. Haste ye, prepare for the
fray,
That, soon as Gelfrat and Elsè fall on our company,
They may fall on their own destruction, so stern shall their welcome
be.
They will nowise fail to attack us, for I know how bold is the foe;
Wherefore let ye your horses all softly pacing go,
That none of them all may imagine that we flee before them in
dread.”
“Yea, I will follow thy counsel,” the young Prince Giselher said.
“Now by whom to our host on-marching through the land shall the
ways be shown?”
They answered: “Our guide shall be Volker, for unto him well-known
Be highways alike and byways, the lordly minstrel-knight.”
And lo, ere any could ask him, he was there, all-armed as for fight,
That valiant viol-minstrel: his helm on his head was laced;
With blazonry splendour-tinted was his armour overtraced:
On his spear was a crimson pennon, a fluttering tongue of flame.
—Ah, soon with his royal masters into terrible peril he came!

And by this of his certain knowledge unto Gelfrat had one brought
word
Concerning the ferryman’s slaying; and another withal had heard
The tale, even Elsè the stalwart: they raged with wrathful pain,
And they summoned their vassals, and ready with speed was their
warrior-train.
But a little while thereafter, as singeth still the Lay,
To their banner came riding champions, whose hands in many a fray
Had wrought wild havoc of carnage, a mighty chivalry;
Unto Gelfrat thronged seven hundred, yea, more it may haply be.
On the track of those grim foemen they set forth spurring in haste;
But their lords, their battle-leaders, afront of them all on-raced
Pursuing the fearless strangers: athirst for revenge they sped;
Yet on to their own destruction full many a friend they led.

Now Hagen the Lord of Troneg had ordered their marching so—
How could a hero better ward friends against a foe?—
That himself with the men of his war-band rode ever in the rear,
And with him Dankwart his brother: wise war-craft was verily here.
Ran out the sands of the day-tide; all light faded away.
On the hero’s heart the peril of his comrades heavily lay.
With shield on arm still rode they on through Bavaria-land:
Well was it for them, for the onset of foes must they shortly
withstand.
On either side of the highway and behind them thundering close
Heard they the sound of hoof-beats of reckless-riding foes.

Then cried the valiant Dankwart: “The foe be at point to set on!
Bind on your brows your helmets: I trow it were wisely done!”
Then, as needs must be, the riders drew rein, and rearward
wheeled.
Gleamed dancing lights through the darkness, the glint of many a
shield.
No longer might Hagen refrain him; he shouted his challenge-cry—
“Who followeth us on the highway?” From Gelfrat rang the reply,
And the lord of Bavarian marches flung fierce answer back:
“We are in search of our foemen, we follow fast on their track.
I know not who this morning my ferryman hath slain.
He was a valiant warrior, and mine heart is hot with pain!”
Made answer Hagen of Troneg: “And was that ferryman thine?
He refused to ferry us over: the guilt of his blood is mine;
I smote and I slew the strong one. Of a truth good cause had I,
For of this thy stalwart liegeman was mine own death brought full
nigh.
I tendered to him fair guerdon, raiment and golden band,
And prayed him to ferry us over, hero, into thy land;
And thereat so flamed he with fury that he dealt me an evil blow
With his oar-blade strong and massy; and my wrath waxed grim
enow.
Mine hand went unto my sword-hilt; from his wrath I warded mine
head
With a wound that was past all healing, and lo, thine hero was dead.
For the deed am I ready to answer so soon as seemeth thee good.”
They addressed them straightway to battle, for exceeding fierce was
their mood.
“Full well did I know,” cried Gelfrat, “that whene’er with his vassal-
throng
Gunther passed over the river, to us would be wrought foul wrong
By the insolence of this Hagen! For this shall his heart’s blood pay!
Yea, for my ferryman’s murder his life shall atone straightway!”

Then couched they over the bucklers for the onset-shock their
spears,
Gelfrat and Hagen the mighty: their rage was exceeding fierce.
Dankwart the while and Elsè in fight clashed man against man.
Right well did they prove their prowess, and stern was the strife that
began.
When was more gallant encounter of champions so renowned?
In the mighty shock of their clashing was Hagen borne to the
ground,
Over his charger’s crupper by Gelfrat’s hand back-forced,
Since the breast-band had snapped asunder: then first was Hagen
unhorsed.
With crashing of shivering lances then met their men withal.
Swift to his feet leapt Hagen, more terrible from that fall
Wherein by his enemy’s lance-thrust he was hurled from the selle to
the sward.
As flaming fire against Gelfrat was the wrath of Troneg’s lord.
I know not in battle-travail who held each warrior’s steed,
For both had voided the saddle, and face to face on the mead
Stood they, Hagen and Gelfrat: then each at the other sprang.
Knights aided their lords: all round them the din of conflict rang.
How furiously soever Hagen on Gelfrat leapt,
Yet the sword of the noble Margrave from the hero’s buckler swept
A huge shard earthward-clanging; the sparks were as lightning-
flame.
Then the champion of King Gunther even to death’s brink came.
He lifted his voice, and to Dankwart he cried for aid, and he said:
“Help me, O brother belovèd, for now am I hardly bestead
Of a mighty-handed hero; he putteth in peril my life!”
Answered him Dankwart the fearless, “Lo, I will part your strife!”
With a leap of his horse he was on them: so fierce and fell a blow
With the keen sword dealt he to Gelfrat, that in death he laid him
low.
Then Elsè would fain take vengeance for the mighty champion slain;
But, so fast were they falling, backward borne were his vassal-train.
Slain was his hero-brother, himself had a grievous wound:
Full eighty of his war-thanes already were stretched on the ground
A prey unto death the relentless: of need must the princely knight
Flee from the men of Gunther in headlong-hasty flight.

As the men of the land Bavarian fled from the face of their foes,
Ringing and clanging behind them ever echoed the dread death-
blows,
As the vassals of Troneg’s hero held them close in chase.
Whoso would ’scape, small respite had he in that terrible race!
But amidst of pursuit and slaughter, to the rest cried Dankwart the
thane:
“Halt! on the path of our journey backward turn we the rein.
Let us leave them riding in panic, while fast their gashes bleed.
Back to our friends let us hasten: of a truth ’tis the better rede.”
When back to the place of their conflict they came, where many had
died,
Spake Hagen of Troneg: “Heroes, now let us be certified
Who from our ranks be missing, whom of our friends we have lost
Here, where the wrath of Gelfrat so many lives hath cost.”
So they numbered, and four were lacking; but for these they made
short moan.
Well were they avenged of a surety! For the deaths of these to atone
There lay of Bavaria’s champions more than a hundred dead.
The shields of the men of Troneg with blood were bedimmed and
red.
Fitfully out of the cloud-rack brake the clear moon’s light.
Then to the rest spake Hagen: “Let no man tell this night
To my well-belovèd liege-lords what hap hath befallen us here.
Till the morrow, as touching our welfare, no care let them know nor
fear.”

When the rest of the host was o’ertaken by these which had come
from the fray,
Behold, all men were complaining for weariness of the way.
“How long must we ride unresting?” many a warrior cried.
Spake Dankwart the brave: “No hostel is here wherein to abide.
Needs must ye still ride onward till breaketh the light of day.”
Then Volker the swift war-helper, which ordered their array,
Sent one to ask of the Marshal: “Where shall we halt to-morn,
Where the steeds and our well-loved masters may rest with toil
outworn?”
But answered Dankwart the fearless: “I may not certainly say.
But we cannot and may not rest us till dawn in the sky is grey:
Then, wheresoever we find us, on the grass must we lay us to rest.”
Heavily weighed the tidings on many a warrior’s breast.
Unbewrayed by the blood red-reeking through those dark hours they
rode,
Till the sun shot forth, for a greeting to Morning’s feet, as they trode
The crests of the hills, his flame-shafts. Then straightway the King
espied
The tokens of that grim conflict, and in indignation he cried:
“What meaneth this, friend Hagen? And thought ye scorn of our aid,
That I might not come to your helping when the rings of your mail
were made
Red with the blood of battle? Who brought you unto this plight?”
He answered: “The deed was Elsè’s: he fell on us in the night.
To avenge his ferryman’s slaying his riders pursued us fast.
Dead by the hand of my brother Gelfrat to earth was cast.
Then Elsè fleeing outran us—of sore need surely he fled!
Of us but four, but a hundred of them, on the field lie dead.”

Where stayed they for rest and for slumber, no witness hath
testified.
Swift ran the tale of their coming through all the country-side,
How the sons of Uta the noble unto Etzel’s feast would fare.
At the last they won unto Passau, and good was their welcome
there.
The noble princes’ uncle, the bishop Pilgerin,
Was exceeding gladdened in spirit to behold his royal kin,
When into his land with comrades so many and knightly they rode.
How fain he was to behold them his deeds right speedily showed.
Friends thronged to meet them and greet them afar from the city-
wall;
And, seeing that lodging in Passau could not be found for them all,
To the farther side of the river to a mead were the more part led
Wherein by the squires were pavilions and many a fair tent spread.
There were they constrained to tarry for the space of one whole day
And the night that followed thereafter: right well entreated were
they.
Thence riding forth and onward, unto Rüdiger’s land they passed,
And to him the joyful tidings of their coming sped full fast.

Now when by the night’s rest strengthened those way-worn

warriors were,
And by this were drawing nearer to the land of Rüdiger,
There, hard by the marches sleeping, on a certain man did they
light,
From whose side was stolen by Hagen a goodly glaive of fight.
Now the name of the sleeper was Eckwart, a good and noble knight;
And exceeding sorrowful-hearted was he for his swordless plight,
For the weapon lost through the passing of heroes the while he
slept.
He was warder of Rüdiger’s marches, but for once ill guard had he
kept.
“Ah, woe is me,” cried Eckwart, “that I wake to know this shame!
Alas for me, that ever the Burgundians hitherward came!
Siegfried’s death was the well-spring of all my calamity!
Alas for my betrayal of Rüdiger’s trust in me!”
Full well was heard by Hagen the sorrow of that good knight.
He restored him his sword, and he added six armlets of red gold
bright:
“Take these for thy guerdon, hero, and be thou a friend to us now.
Though here unguarded thou liest, a valiant thane art thou.”
“God guerdon thee for thine armlets!” Eckwart the knight replied.
“Yet must I surely sorrow that ye to the Huns will ride.
Thou wast the slayer of Siegfried: here hate is undying still.
Look well to thyself!—I counsel in all faith and good-will.”

“Why then, may God protect us,” spake Hagen answering;

“But now these thanes be troubled concerning none other thing
Save for their harbourage only—my lords and their vassals withal—
Even where we shall rest and refresh us at this day’s evenfall:
For by this forspent be our horses with the weary way they have
gone;
And consumed is all our victual”—Hagen the thane spake on—
“Neither see we where we may buy it. Some noble host would we
meet
Whose open-handed bounty might give to us bread to eat.”
And to him made answer Eckwart: “Such a host unto you will I
show,
That entertainment so goodly on you should none bestow
As here shall be your portion, in all lands far or near,
If ye, O valiant warriors, will seek unto Rüdiger.
Nigh to the highway he dwelleth: the noblest host is he
That ever hath dwelt in mansion: his heart with charity
Blooms as the grass with flowers at the touch of May’s bright feet.
Blithe is he and thankful ever such heroes with service to greet.”
Then spake unto him King Gunther: “Mine herald wilt thou be
To my dear friend Rüdiger? Ask him if, for a grace unto me,
To me and to these my kinsmen and vassals he will be host.
So will I requite that service unto mine uttermost.”
“Gladly will I be thine herald,” answering Eckwart said.
Straightway forth on the errand with eager haste he sped
Unto Rüdiger, bearing the message told even now in his ear.
There had come no such glad tidings to his lord for many a year.
 Men saw from the towers of Bechlaren a knight spur thitherward
fast.
Well Rüdiger knew that rider, and he said: “In furious haste
Cometh Eckwart, vassal of Kriemhild, galloping hitherward.”
He weened that of foes some mischief had been done to that valiant
lord.
To the castle-gateway he hied him, and there did the messenger
stand
Who unclasped his sword from his girdle and laid at his feet the
brand.
Spake Rüdiger unto the warrior: “What tidings hast thou brought
That so hath constrained thee to hasten? hath any spoiled us of
aught?”
“No man hath done us a mischief,” straightway Eckwart replied,
“But to-day of three kings bidden unto thee have I hitherward hied,
Of the King of Burgundia, Gunther, of Gernot and Giselher:
And of these knights each commendeth unto thee his service fair.
The like do Hagen and Volker; and each man sayeth it
In loyal faith and hearty. Moreover I do thee to wit
Of the message that the marshal of Gunther hath charged me
withal,
That the good knights pray thee to grant them lodging at evenfall.”
With smiling lips of kindness unto him did Rüdiger say:
“Welcome to me be the tidings that kings so noble as they
Now stand in need of my service: nothing to these I deny.
So they will but come to my dwelling, exceeding glad am I.”
“From Dankwart the marshal moreover a message to thee I bring,
How many unto thy castle this day be journeying.
Threescore valiant champions and a thousand knights draw near,
And with these be squires nine thousand.” Blithe was the host of
cheer.
“Welcome be these guests! Welcome the tidings,” did Rüdiger cry,
“That such noble and valiant heroes to my castle-halls draw nigh
Unto whom I have ne’er shown kindness for kindness shown unto
me!
What ho, my kinsmen and vassals, ride forth to meet them ye!”
Then hasted they to their horses, and rode forth, squire and knight.
Whatsoever their lord commanded, that seemed them meet and
right;
For so with swifter obedience they rendered him service due.
But still in her bower sat Gotlind, and nothing thereof she knew.
 XXVII.
How they came to Bechlaren
Thence hasted him the Margrave to where in the Ladies’ Bower
Were sitting his wife and his daughter: unto these in the selfsame
hour
Told he the joyful tidings that but now had gladdened his ear,
That the brethren of her Lady and Queen to their halls drew near.
“Now therefore, O my belovèd,” spake Rüdiger earnestly,
“Graciously shalt thou receive them, these noble princes three,
When they and their train come hither as they fare unto Etzel’s
court.
And Hagen, Gunther’s liegeman, shalt thou greet in friendly sort.
With these cometh also another, and Dankwart he hath to name,
And another withal, named Volker, of knightly honour and fame.
Upon these six thou and my daughter shall the greeting-kiss bestow,
And the grace of courteous kindness unto all the knights shall ye
show.”

All this did the ladies promise, and nothing loth were they.
Then sought they out of the coffers their goodliest array,
That so they might greet the warriors in worthy bravery.
So with eager haste they bestirred them, those ladies fair to see.
Of false-feigned bloom of roses on their cheeks was little enow;
But shining golden chaplets they bare upon each white brow
Fashioned as rich-wrought garlands, that so their braided hair
By the wind might not be ruffled: all dainty and fresh they were.
In the labours of women busied those courtly dames leave we,
The while went swiftly riding far over the river-lea
Rüdiger’s friends and kinsmen, till they spied that princely band;
Then heartiest welcome they gave them into the Margrave’s land.

So when to the castle the Margrave beheld that company ride,

How blithely hailing their presence the eager Rüdiger cried,
“Welcome to me, ye princes, and all in your vassal-train!
Here in mine own fair country I behold you exceeding fain.”
Then bowed them to him the heroes in friendship and faith
unfeigned.
Well proved he with what gladness by their host were they
entertained.
Unto Hagen special greeting, as a friend known long agone,
He gave, and withal unto Volker, Burgundia’s hero-son.
Dankwart withal he greeted; then spake that valiant thane:
“If thou care for us here in thy castle, who then will see to our train,
Unto all the array which hath followed from Worms beyond the
Rhine?”
Straightway answered the Margrave: “Put by this fear of thine;
For all thy vassal-companions, and what possessions soe’er
Ye have brought into this my country—steeds, silver, and raiment fair
—
I will cause them to have such warding that nought therefrom shall
be lost.
By a single spur no poorer shall be any man of your host.
Pitch the pavilions therefore, ye squires, on yonder lea.
Whatsoe’er from your store shall be missing shall be all made good
by me.
Cast off the bit and bridle, and let the steeds range wide.”
Never had men such welcome from any host beside!
Glad were the guests when they heard it. So then when his bidding
was done,
And the lords rode thence to the castle, the squires all one after one
Stretched them at ease on the greensward. Sweet rest at last had
they:
Nought like it before nor after found they in all the way.

To the front of the castle-gateway did the noble Margravine haste

With her beauteous daughter; and many a lady lovely-faced
Upon this side and that was standing, and many a winsome maid
In carcanet and bracelet and queenly apparel arrayed.
Gleamed many a precious gemstone casting afar its sheen
Forth of their costly vesture—ah, fair were they to be seen!
Forward the guests came riding; from selle sprang they to the earth,
—
What knightly grace and courteous showed they of Burgundian birth!
There were six-and-thirty maidens, and many a dame beside.
Fair to all heart’s desiring were the women lovely-eyed
That with many a valiant warrior to meet the strangers came:
Yea, fairest greeting was tendered of noble damsel and dame.
Then the Margravine welcomed the princes with the kiss of courtesy,
The like did also her daughter. Now Hagen stood thereby,
And her father bade her kiss him: but the maiden looked upon him,
And fain would she have refrained her, for his favour was passing
grim.
Yet as their host her father commanded needs must she do:
But came and went her colour, she was pale and red of hue.
Thereafter Dankwart kissed she, and the lord of the viol-string,
For his might and his valour won him the greeting due to a king.
Then, to usher him into the castle, the maiden stretched her hand
Unto Giselher the courteous, the Prince of Burgundia-land.
And the hand of the valiant Gunther the Margravine hath ta’en.
So blithely into the castle with the heroes passed these twain.
The host gave hand unto Gernot: to the great hall so they came.
There sat they down on the high-seats, brave knight and comely
dame.
Then poured they the wine of welcome, and bare to the guests all
round.
Never more gracious greeting have heroes-errant found!

With eyes of admiration looked many a warrior there

On the damsel, Rüdiger’s daughter, for the maiden was passing fair.
In his heart did many a good knight her loveliness embrace:
Well might they, her queenly spirit made a splendour of her face.
Ah, they might dream as they listed!—’twas a dream no morn should
fulfil!
Hither and thither the glances of the heroes wandered still
To the faces and forms of maidens and of dames that thronged the
hall.
But the heart of the noble minstrel warmed to their host above all.

Then was the company sundered: the knights and the dames
straightway
Passed into several feast-halls, as the wont of the land was aye.
In the great hall of the castle for the knights were the tables
arrayed,
And there to the friends from a far land was eager service paid.
For a grace to her guests Burgundian the noble Margravine
Sat in their midst at the table; but there was her child not seen,
For apart she abode with the maidens, as the land’s wont was from
of old;
And the brave knights sighed for the beauty they might no longer
behold.

So when with the meats and the wine-cup the guests were
satisfied,
Back to the feast-hall led they the ladies lovely-eyed.
Then a murmur of admiration and of worship from all men broke,
And chiefly the valiant Volker the praise of beauty spoke;
For that same viol-minstrel spake freely and openly:
“O noble Lord of the Marches, God hath bestowed upon thee
All gifts of his gracious bounty: he hath given to thee for wife
A lady exceeding lovely, he hath crowned with bliss thy life.
Now if I were the heir to a kingdom,” that viol-minstrel said,
“And if I bare crown and sceptre, then would I choose to wed
None other than thy fair daughter—in all sincerity
I speak:—she is lovely to look on, noble and good is she.”
But the Margrave spake in answer: “How might it befall, this thing,
That my daughter should be the chosen and the heart’s delight of a
king?
Here I and my wife be homeless, nor demesne nor castle we own:
No lands can we give for her portion—what availeth beauty alone?”
Answered and spake to him Gernot, the royal-natured knight:
“Might I choose for my bride a maiden in whom my soul should
delight,
Such wife as she should gladden ever mine heart and mine eyes.”
Spake Hagen withal and answered in knightly-courteous wise:
“For my young lord Giselher’s spousals a fitting time were this:
And of such right noble lineage the child of the Margrave is,
That with joy would we render her homage, I and his liegemen all,
When crowned mid the folk Burgundian she paceth in purple and
pall.”
Good in the eyes of the Margrave was the word of the princes found,
And sweet in the ears of Gotlind did the counsel of Hagen sound.
So of one accord were the heroes that the noble Giselher
Should take to wife that maiden—meet bride for a king she were!

Who may withstand the issue that is doomed by fate to befall?

They summoned the Margrave’s daughter to appear before them in
hall:
Then sware the father to give him the lovely damsel to wife,
And the Prince for his part hath pledged him to cherish her all his
life.
To the maiden the Kings for her portion allotted castles and land;
And with oaths of confirmation by the noble Gunther’s hand
Was it sealed unto her, and by Gernot, that all should so be done.
Then spake her father: “Albeit castles have I none,
And I can but loyally prove me your friend for evermore,
Yet shall my daughter’s dower be silver and gold good store
So much as a hundred sumpters fully laden may bear,
That his kin may with honour content them with the bride of
Giselher.”

Into the midst of a circle led they the plighted twain

After the ancient custom. Full many a strong young thane
Stood there and gazed upon them with laughter-litten eyes,
Thinking such thoughts as ever in young hearts wont to rise.
So then when her kin put question unto the winsome maid—
“Wilt thou take this knight to thine husband?” awhile was she loth
and afraid:
Yet her heart within her was pleading for him, that goodly one;
But for shame she hung on her answer, as many a maiden hath
done.
Then Rüdiger her father spake saying, “Answer yea,
And gladly for husband take him.” How swiftly did he straightway
With loving white hands clasping to his heart his belovèd press;
Even Giselher the young prince!—how brief was their happiness!
Then spake once more the Margrave: “O kings of lineage high,
What time to the realm Burgundian returning ye pass hereby,
Then will I give you my daughter, even as is meet and right,
To bear her with you to the home-land.” Unto this their troth did
they plight.

The tumult of feasting and joyance at last must have an end;

And then did the new-wed maiden to her bridal-chamber wend,
And the guests through the castle rested and slept till the day shone
clear.
Then brake they the bread of the morning, and the host made
abundant cheer.
And now when the feasting was ended, they addressed them thence
to go
Journeying on to the Hunland—“I pray you, do not so,”
Said the Margrave noble-hearted; “awhile yet tarry here.
Long is it since in my castle I have harboured guests so dear.”
Answered and spake to him Dankwart: “Now nay, this may not be.
Whence should provision of victual and of wine be gotten of thee
Enough to suffice for the feasting of so great a company?”
But the host made answer: “I pray you, put all such vain words by!
My lords and dearly beloved, ye may not say me nay.
With meat and drink can I feast you till endeth the fourteenth day,
And all that with you came hither, both lords and vassal-train.
Little enow of my substance King Etzel from me hath ta’en.”
How sorely soe’er they excused them, yet there perforce they abode
Till dawned the fourth day’s morning. Such lavish gifts were
bestowed
Of their host’s free-handed bounty, that the fame thereof spread
wide,
How he gave to his guests rich raiment and gallant steeds to ride.

No longer now might they tarry: they must needs press on to the
goal.
But of all his mighty possessions would Rüdiger’s princely soul
Spare nought in his lavish bounty: whatsoever any might crave,
Unto none he denied or begrudged it; to the heroes gladly he gave.
Before the gate of the castle the squires brought harness-dight
Long lines of goodly horses: then came forth many a knight
Unto where the steeds stood waiting. Their shields on their arms
they bare,
For thence would they now be riding unto Etzel’s land to fare.
But, or ever the high-born strangers forth of the feast-hall strode,
Freely the host on the heroes the gifts of his love had bestowed.
He could live wealth-crowned with honour, how largely he gave
soe’er.
His daughter, a gift all-priceless, had he given to Giselher;
But to Gunther the peerless hero Rüdiger gave a thing
That well might add new honour to the majesty of a king.
Right seldom the King took presents, but he bowed him courteously
As he took from the hand all-courteous the hauberk goodly to see.
And a sword, a light of battle, unto Gernot the princely he gave;
Ere long in the wild war-tempest mightily flashed that glaive.
Smiled on him the wife of the Margrave as he took that gift from his
hand.
—Ah me, but her noble husband was to die by that same brand!

Then, as well beseemed such a lady, unto Hagen Gotlind brought

Gifts of her lovingkindness: since the King had refused them not,
She prayed he would fare not forward unto Etzel’s festal-tide
Unholpen of her bounty; but the hero refused, and replied:
“Of all things that ever,” said Hagen, “I have seen unto this day,
Nought I desire so sorely to bear with me hence away
As the shield that hangeth yonder against your palace-wall:
That same would I bear right gladly unto Etzel’s festival.”
When heard of the wife of the Margrave was the word that Hagen
spake,
It wakened her sleeping sorrow: no marvel her tears outbrake!
With anguish she called to remembrance the death of Nudung, her
son,
Whom Wittich had slain; and rekindled was the olden grief and
moan.
To the thane made answer the mother: “O yea, the shield will I give.
Ah, would to God in Heaven that yet on the earth he might live
Who bare it of old! In battle he slept the iron sleep.
I must needs evermore lament him: sore cause have I to weep.”
Then the noble wife of the Margrave rose up from her carven chair,
And she took down the shield of the dear dead with her own white
hands, and bare
And gave it, her gift unto Hagen: he received in his hands the same;
Ay, and he won for the buckler new glory of deathless fame!
A cover of bright-hued loomwork enfolded its blazonries.
Never hath shone the daylight on better shield than this.
So richly with precious gemstones bordered was its device,
That, if any were fain to buy it, a thousand marks were its price.
His squires bare forth at his bidding that shield for the mighty thane.
Then came his brother Dankwart before the chatelaine,
And on him rich-broidered vesture did the Margrave’s daughter
bestow
Which thereafter he wore glad-hearted in the halls of the Hunland
foe.

But of all gifts Rüdiger gave them, how great soever of worth,
Unto none had the haughty princes stretched a finger forth,
Were it not for his courteous kindness, and the love it begat that day
—
Yet ere long were they foes so bitter that they needs must smite him
and slay!
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