[Sidenote:  Kriemhild’s cruelty.] By the queen’s orders, Gunther and Hagen were confined in separate cells.  There she soon sought the latter, promising him his liberty if he would but reveal the place where her treasure was concealed.  But Hagen, mistrusting her, declared that he had solemnly sworn never to reveal the secret as long as one of his masters breathed.  Kriemhild, whose cruelty had long passed all bounds, left him only to have her brother Gunther beheaded, and soon returned carrying his head, which she showed to Hagen, commanding him to speak.  But he still refused to gratify her, and replied that since he was now the sole depositary of the secret, it would perish with him.

“’So now, where lies the treasure none knows save God and me,
And told it shall be never, be sure, she-fiend, to thee!’”
Nibelungenlied (Lettsom’s
tr.).

[Sidenote:  Kriemhild slain.] This defiant answer so exasperated Kriemhild that she seized the sword hanging by his side,—­which she recognized as Siegfried’s favorite weapon,—­and with her own hands cut off his head before Etzel or any of his courtiers could interfere.  Hildebrand, seeing this act of treachery, sprang impetuously forward, and, drawing his sword, slew her who had brought untold misery into the land of the Huns.

“The mighty and the noble there lay together dead;
For this had all the people dole and drearihead. 
The feast of royal Etzel was thus shut up in woe,
Pain in the steps of Pleasure treads ever here below.

“’Tis more than I can tell you what afterwards befell,
Save that there was weeping for friends belov’d so well;
Knights and squires, dames and damsels, were seen lamenting all. 
So end I here my story.  This is the Nibelungers’ Fall.”
Nibelungenlied (Lettsom’s
tr.).

Although the “Nibelungenlied” proper ends here, an appendix, probably by another hand, called the “Lament,” continues the story, and relates how Etzel, Dietrich, and Hildebrand, in turn, extolled the high deeds and bewailed the untimely end of each hero.  Then this poem, which is as mournful as monotonous throughout, describes the departure of the messengers sent to bear the evil tidings and the weapons of the slain to Worms, and their arrival at Passau, where more tears were shed and where Bishop Pilgrim celebrated a solemn mass for the rest of the heroes’ souls.

From thence the funeral procession slowly traveled on to Worms, where the sad news was imparted to the remaining Burgundians, who named the son of Gunther and Brunhild as their king, and who never forgot the fatal ride to Hungary.

CHAPTER V.

LANGOBARDIAN CYCLE OF MYTHS.