"No warrior will ever do a darker deed."

" ' Tell me, Volker my friend, will you stand by me if Kriemhild's men attack me? Let me hear your answer, by the love you bear me, and I shall be deeply bound to you till the end of my days.'

'You can count on my aid for sure,' replied the Minstrel, 'even if I were to see the

King making for us with all his warriors. Fear shall not make me desert you by yielding so much as one foot as long as I remain alive!' "

" How often men abandon

their plans from fear

when one friend stands by another

in the loyal way he ought,

so that if they are men of sense

their enemies take no action!

Widespread harm can be prevented by the use of good sense."