him his
life, were he not my kin."

Siegfried's wife shed tears anew. Then spake the Lord Gernot: "Or ever
we be imperiled by the gold, we should have it sunk entirely in the
Rhine, that it belong to none."

Full pitifully she went before her brother Giselher. She spake: "Dear
brother, thou shouldst think of me and be the guardian of both my life
and goods."

Quoth he then to the lady: "That shall be done when we return again, for
now we think to ride."

The king and his kindred voided then the land, the very best among them
that one might find. Only Hagen alone remained at home, through the
hatred he bare to Kriemhild, and did so willingly. Before the king was
come again, Hagen had taken the treasure quite and sunk it all at
Loche, (4) in the Rhine. He weened to use it, but that might not be. The
lordings came again and with them many men. With her maids and ladies
Kriemhild gan bewail her passing loss, for sore it grieved them. Gladly
would Giselher have helped in all good faith. All spake alike: "He hath
done wrong."

Hagen avoided the princes' wrath, until he gained their favor. They
did him naught, but Kriemhild might never have borne him greater hate.
Before Hagen of Troneg thus hid the treasure, they had sworn with mighty
oaths that it should lie concealed as long as any one of them might
live. Later they could not give it to themselves or any other.

Kriemhild's mind was heavy with fresh sorrow over her husband's end, and
because they had taken from her all her wealth. Her plaints ceased not
in all her life, down to her latest day. After Siegfried's death, and
this is true, she dwelt with many a grief full thirteen years, that she
could not forget the warrior's death. She was true to him, as most folk
owned.

ENDNOTES:
(1) "Marriage morning gift" was the gift which it was customary
for the bridegroom to give the bride on the morning after
the bridal night. On this custom see Weinhold, "Deutsche
Frauen im Mittelalter", i, p. 402.
(2) "A1berich", see Adventure III, note 8. It is characteristic
of the poem that even this dwarf is turned into a knight.
(3) "Wishing-rod", a magic device for discovering buried
treasure. Cf. Grimm, "Deutsche Mythologie," ii, 813.
(4) "Loche", according to Piper, is the modern "Locheim" in the
Rhine province.

ADVENTURE XX. How King Etzel (1) Sent To Burgundy For Kriemhild.

That was in a time w