her's orders,
to the old castle, which now nevermore would resound with mirth and
gladness. And they laid him at Kriemhild's door, and stole sadly away to
their own places, and each one thought bitterly of the morrow.[EN#33]

Adventure XX. How the Hoard Was Brought to Burgundy.

And what was done on the morrow?

Too sad is the tale of Kriemhild's woe and her grief for the mighty
dead. Let us pass it by in tearful, pitying silence, nor wish to awaken
the echoes of that morning of hopeless anguish which dawned on the cold
and cheerless dwelling of the kings. For peace had fled from Burgundy,
nevermore to return.

Siegfried was dead. Faded, now, was the glory of the Nibelungen Land,
and gone was the mid-world's hope.

It is told in ancient story, how men built a funeral-pile far out on the
grassy meadows, where the quiet river flows; and how, in busy silence,
they laid the sun-dried beams of ash and elm together, and made ready
the hero's couch; and how the pile was dight with many a sun-bright
shield, with war-coats and glittering helms, and silks and rich dyed
cloths from the South-land, and furs, and fine-wrought ivory, and
gem-stones priceless and rare; and how, over all, they scattered sweet
spices from Araby, and the pleasantest of all perfumes. Then they
brought the golden Siegfried, and laid him on his couch; and beside him
were his battered shield, and Balmung with its fire-edge bare. And,
as the sun rose high in heaven, the noblest earl-folk who had loved
Siegfried best touched fire to the funeral-pile. And a pleasant breeze
from the Southland fanned the fire to a flame, and the white blaze
leaped on high, and all the folk cried out in mighty agony to the gods.

Such was the story that men told to each other when the world was still
young, and the heroes were unforgotten.[EN#34] And some said, too, that
Brunhild, the fair and hapless queen, died then of a broken heart and of
a hopeless, yearning sorrow, and that she was burned with Siegfried on
that high-built funeral-pile.

"They are gone,--the lovely, the mighty, the hope of the ancient earth:
It shall labor and bear the burden as before the day of their birth:...
It shall yearn, and be oft-times holpen, and forget their deeds no more,
Till the new sun beams on Balder and the happy sealess shore."[EN#35]

Another and much later story is sometimes told of these last sad
days,--how the hero's body was laid in a coffin, and buried in the quiet