Alberich, poor little dwarf, gnashed his teeth with rage.  Who would guard the treasure now, and who would warn his master that a strong man had found his way to Nibelheim?

But in the midst of his fears he heard the stranger’s merry laugh.  Nay, it was no stranger, none but the hero-prince could laugh thus merrily.

“I am Siegfried your master,” then said the Prince.  “I did but test thy faithfulness, Alberich,” and laughing still, the hero undid the cords with which he had bound the giant and the dwarf.

“Call me here quickly the Nibelung warriors,” cried Siegfried, “for I have need of them.”  And soon thirty thousand warriors stood before him in shining armor.

Choosing one thousand of the strongest and biggest, the Prince marched with them down to the seashore.  There they embarked in ships and sailed away to Isenland.

Now it chanced that Queen Brunhild was walking on the terrace of her sea-guarded castle with King Gunther when she saw a number of sails approaching.

“Whose can these ships be?” she cried in quick alarm.

“These are my warriors who have followed me from Burgundy,” answered the King, for thus had Siegfried bidden him speak.

“We will go to welcome the fleet,” said Brunhild, and together they met the brave Nibelung army and lodged them in Isenland.

“Now will I give of my silver and my gold to my liegemen and to Gunther’s warriors,” said Queen Brunhild, and she held out the keys of her treasury to Dankwart that he might do her will.  But so lavishly did the knight bestow her gold and her costly gems and her rich raiment upon the warriors that the Queen grew angry.

“Naught shall I have left to take with me to Rhineland,” she cried aloud in her vexation.

“In Burgundy,” answered Hagen, “there is gold enough and to spare.  Thou wilt not need the treasures of Isenland.”

But these words did not content the Queen.  She would certainly take at least twenty coffers of gold as well as jewels and silks with her to King Gunther’s land.

At length, leaving Isenland to the care of her brother, Queen Brunhild, with twenty hundred of her own warriors as a bodyguard, with eighty-six dames and one hundred maidens, set out for the royal city of Worms.

For nine days the great company journeyed homeward, and then King Gunther entreated Siegfried to be his herald to Worms.

“Beg Queen Ute and the Princess Kriemhild,” said the King, “beg them to ride forth to meet my bride and to prepare to hold high festival in honor of the wedding-feast.”

Thus Siegfried with four-and-twenty knights sailed on more swiftly than the other ships, and landing at the mouth of the river Rhine, rode hastily toward the royal city.

The Queen and her daughter, clad in their robes of state, received the hero, and his heart was glad, for once again he stood in the presence of his dear lady, Kriemhild.