queen heard that they were still
alive, she bade Ruediger go forth and fight them. He refused until she
reminded him or the solemn oath he had sworn to her in Worms before she
would consent to accompany him to Hungary.

"'Now think upon the homage that once to me you swore,
When to the Rhine, good warrior, King Etzel's suit you bore,
That you would serve me ever to either's dying day.
Ne'er can I need so deeply that you that vow should pay.'"
_Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's
tr.).

Torn by conflicting feelings and urged by opposite oaths,--for he had also
sworn to befriend the Burgundians,--Ruediger now vainly tried to purchase
his release by the sacrifice of all his possessions. At last, goaded to
madness, he yielded to the king's and queen's entreaties, armed his
warriors, and drew near the hall where his former guests were intrenched.
At first they could not believe that Ruediger had any hostile intentions;
but when he pathetically informed them that he must fight, and recommended
his wife and daughter to their care in case he fell, they silently allowed
him and his followers to enter the hall, and grimly renewed the bloody
conflict.

[Sidenote: Death of Ruediger.] Ruediger, after slaying many foes, encountered
Gernot wielding the sword he had given him; and these two doughty champions
finally slew each other. All the followers of Ruediger also fell; and when
Kriemhild, who was anxiously awaiting the result of this new attack in the
court below, saw his corpse among the slain, she began to weep and bemoan
her loss. The mournful tidings of Ruediger's death soon spread all over the
town, and came finally to the ears of Dietrich von Bern, who bade his man
Hildebrand go and claim the corpse from his Burgundian friends.

Hildebrand went thither with an armed force, but some of his men
unfortunately began to bandy words with the Burgundians, and this soon
brought about an impetuous fight. In the ensuing battle all the Burgundians
fell except Gunther and Hagen, while Hildebrand escaped sore wounded to his
master, Dietrich von Bern. When this hero heard that his nephew and vassals
were all slain, he quickly armed himself, and, after vainly imploring
Gunther and Hagen to surrender, fell upon them with an armed force. The two
sole remaining Burgundians were now so exhausted that Dietrich soon managed
to take them captive. He led them bound to Kriemhild, a