Great as was the misfortune that had come upon the people and the royal
house, the burial of the dead had yet to be seen to as speedily as
possible. King Etzel was too full of his own grief to attend to
business of any kind, so Dietrich and Hildebrand gave all necessary
orders, and themselves helped in the sad work.
All the dead were buried with every honour, save and except the hero of
Tronje, who was forgotten. The grave-mounds were filled and closed,
before the old master remembered the brave warrior, whose headless
trunk still lay in the audience-hall. Hildebrand ordered that he should
receive instant burial. So a separate grave was prepared for him, and
there he was laid with all his armour, except the good sword Balmung,
which was to be taken to Siegfried’s grave, according to Chriemhild’s
wish. Many of the Huns went with the funeral procession; they neither
wept nor made moan for the dead man whose strong right hand had brought
so much evil on their native land. Next spring lovely flowers decked
the other grave-mounds, while on Hagen’s thistles and thorns alone were
to be seen, in the midst of which a venomous adder had found its home.
All who had gone near enough to the snake to examine it carefully,
maintained that it had only one eye like the hero of Tronje, and were
firmly convinced that it was the form his spirit had taken.
[Illustration: ETZEL BESIDE CHRIEMHILD’S BIER.]