Now comes the sad part of the Nibelung tale.
Brunhilda and Gunther invited Siegfried and Kriemhilda to visit them
at Worms. During the visit the two queens quarreled and Brunhilda
made Gunther angry with Siegfried. Hagen, too, began to hate Siegfried
and wished to kill him.
But Siegfried could not be wounded except in one spot on which
a falling leaf had rested when he bathed himself in the dragon's
blood. Only Kriemhilda knew where this spot was. Hagen told her to
sew a little silk cross upon Siegfried's dress to mark the spot,
so that he might defend Siegfried in a fight.
No battle was fought, but Siegfried went hunting with Gunther and
Hagen one day and they challenged him to race with them. He easily
won, but after running he was hot and thirsty and knelt to drink
at a spring. Then Hagen seized a spear and plunged it through the
cross into the hero's body. Thus the treasure of the Nibelungs
brought disaster to Siegfried.
Gunther and Hagen told Kriemhilda that robbers in the wood had slain
her husband, but she could not be deceived.
[Illustration: THE BODY OF SIEGFRIED IS CARRIED TO WORMS]
Kriemhilda determined to take vengeance on the murderers of Siegfried,
and so she would not leave Worms. There, too, stayed one thousand
knights who had followed Siegfried from the Nibelung land.
Soon after Siegfried's death Kriemhilda begged her younger brother
to bring the Nibelung treasure from the mountain cave to Worms.
When it arrived Kriemhilda gave gold and jewels to rich and poor
in Burgundy, and Hagen feared that soon she would win the love of
all the people and turn them against him. So, one day, he took
the treasure and hid it in the Rhine. He hoped some day to enjoy
it himself.
As Hagen now possessed the Nibelung treasure the name "Nibelungs"
was given to him and his companions.
V
Etzel, or as we call him, Attila, king of the Huns, heard of the
beauty of Kriemhilda and sent one of his knights to ask the queen
to become his wife.
At first she refused. However, when she remembered that Etzel carried
the sword of Tiew, she changed her mind, because, if she became
his wife, she might persuade him to take vengeance upon Gunther
and Hagen.
And so it came to pass.
Shortly after their marriage Etzel and Kriemhilda invited Gunther
and all his court to a grand midsummer festival in the land of
the Huns.
Hagen was afraid to go, for he felt sure that Kriemhilda had not
forgiven the murder of Siegfried. However, it was decided that
the invitation should be accepted, but that ten thousand knights
should go with Gunther as a body-guard.
Shortly after Gunther and his followers arrived at Attila's court
a banquet was prepared. Nine thousand Burgundians were seated at
the board when Attila's brother came into the banquet hall with a
thousand well-armed knights. A quarrel arose and a fight followed.
Thousands of the Burgundians were slain. The struggle continued
for days. At last, of all the knights of Burgundy, Gunther and
Hagen alone were left alive. Then one of Kriemhilda's friends fought
with them and overpowered both. He bound them and delivered them
to Kriemhilda.
The queen ordered one of her knights to cut off Gunther's head, and
she herself cut off the head of Hagen with "Balmung," Siegfried's
wonderful sword. A friend of Hagen then avenged his death by killing
Kriemhilda herself.
Of all the Nibelungs who entered the land of the Huns one only ever
returned to Burgundy.