nd implored her to
have pity upon them and spare their lives.

"'Fair and noble Kriemhild,' thus Sir Dietrich spake,
Spare this captive warrior, who full amends will make
For all his past transgressions; him here in bonds you see;
Revenge not on the fetter'd th' offenses of the free.'"
_Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's
tr.).

[Sidenote: Kriemhild's cruelty.] By the queen's orders, Gunther and Hagen
were confined in separate cells. There she soon sought the latter,
promising him his liberty if he would but reveal the place where her
treasure was concealed. But Hagen, mistrusting her, declared that he had
solemnly sworn never to reveal the secret as long as one of his masters
breathed. Kriemhild, whose cruelty had long passed all bounds, left him
only to have her brother Gunther beheaded, and soon returned carrying his
head, which she showed to Hagen, commanding him to speak. But he still
refused to gratify her, and replied that since he was now the sole
depositary of the secret, it would perish with him.

"'So now, where lies the treasure none knows save God and me,
And told it shall be never, be sure, she-fiend, to thee!'"
_Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's
tr.).

[Sidenote: Kriemhild slain.] This defiant answer so exasperated Kriemhild
that she seized the sword hanging by his side,--which she recognized as
Siegfried's favorite weapon,--and with her own hands cut off his head
before Etzel or any of his courtiers could interfere. Hildebrand, seeing
this act of treachery, sprang impetuously forward, and, drawing his sword,
slew her who had brought untold misery into the land of the Huns.

"The mighty and the noble there lay together dead;
For this had all the people dole and drearihead.
The feast of royal Etzel was thus shut up in woe,
Pain in the steps of Pleasure treads ever here below.

"'Tis more than I can tell you what afterwards befell,
Save that there was weeping for friends belov'd so well;
Knights and squires, dames and damsels, were seen lamenting all.
So end I here my story. This is the Nibelungers' Fall."
_Nibelungenlied_ (Lettsom's
tr.).

Although the "Nibelungenlied" proper ends here, an appendix, probably by
another hand, called the "Lament," continues the story, and relates how
E