ter of the Siegfried story, into which
we cannot enter here. He comes, however, to the conclusion, that the
Siegfried tale is likewise purely human, and consisted originally of the
murder of relatives, that is, a repetition of the Hagen title. Siegfried
is married to Hagen's sister, and is killed by his brother-in-law
because of his treasure. The kernel of the legend is, therefore, the
enmity between relatives, which exists in two forms, the one in which
the son-in-law kills his father-in-law, as in the "Helgi" saga, the
other in which Hagen kills his son-in-law and is killed by him, too, as
in the "Hilde" saga. The German tradition tries to combine the two by
introducing the new feature, that Kriemhild causes the death of her
relatives, in order to avenge her first husband. Boer is of the opinion
that both the Norse and the German versions have forgotten the original
connection between the two stories, and that this connection was nothing
more nor less than the common motive of the treasure. The same treasure,
which causes Hagen to murder Siegfried, causes his own death in turn
through the greed of Attila. There was originally, according to Boer, no
question of revenge, except the revenge of fate, the retribution which
overtakes the criminal. This feeling for the irony of fate was lost
when the motive, that Hagen kills Siegfried because of his treasure,
was replaced by the one that he does it at the request of Brunhild. This
leads Boer to the conclusion, that Brunhild did not originally belong to
the Siegfried story, but to the well-known fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty
("Erlosungsmurchen"), which occurs in a variety of forms. The type is
that of a hero who rescues a maiden from a magic charm, which may take
the form of a deep sleep, as in the case of Sleeping Beauty, or of being
sewed into a garment, as in No. 111 of Grimm's fairy tales. By the union
of the two stories, i.e., the Hagen-Siegfried saga with the Sleeping
Beauty tale, Siegfried stands in relation to two women; on the one hand
his relation to Sigrdrifa-Brynhild, the maiden whom he rescues on the
rock, on the other his marriage with Grimhild-Gudrun and his consequent
death. This twofold relation had to be disposed of, and since his
connection with Grimhild was decisive for his fate, his relation to
Brunhild had to be changed. It could not be entirely ignored, for it
was too well known, therefore it was given a different interpretation.
Siegfried still rescues a