<P> Having been earlier deceived about the relationship between Siegfried and Gunther, Brünhild thinks it is obvious that she should go first, through custom of her perceived social rank . Kriemhild, unaware of the deception involved in Brünhild's wooing, insists that they are of equal rank and the dispute escalates . Severely angered, Kriemhild shows Brünhild first the ring and then the belt that Siegfried took from Brünhild on her wedding night, and then calls her Siegfried's kebse (mistress or concubine). Brünhild feels greatly distressed and humiliated, and bursts into tears . </P> <P> The argument between the queens is both a risk for the marriage of Gunther and Brünhild and a potential cause for a lethal rivalry between Gunther and Siegfried, which both Gunther and Siegfried attempt to avoid . Gunther acquits Siegfried of the charges . Despite this, Hagen von Tronje decides to kill Siegfried to protect the honor and reign of his king . Although it is Hagen who does the deed, Gunther--who at first objects to the plot--along with his brothers knows of the plan and quietly assents . Hagen contrives a false military threat to Gunther, and Siegfried, considering Gunther a great friend, volunteers to help Gunther once again . </P> <P> Under the pretext of this threat of war, Hagen persuades Kriemhild, who still trusts Hagen, to mark Siegfried's single vulnerable point on his clothing with a cross under the premise of protecting him . Now knowing Siegfried's weakness, the fake campaign is called off and Hagen then uses the cross as a target on a hunting trip, killing Siegfried with a javelin as he is drinking from a brook (Chapter 16). Kriemhild becomes aware of Hagen's deed when, in Hagen's presence, the corpse of Siegfried bleeds at the site of the wound (an old Norse legend held that the corpse of a murdered person would bleed in the presence of the murderer, known as cruentation). This perfidious murder is particularly dishonorable in medieval thought, as throwing a javelin is the manner in which one might slaughter a wild beast, not a knight . We see this in other literature of the period, such as with Parsifal's unwittingly dishonorable crime of combatting and slaying knights with a javelin (transformed into a swan in Wagner's opera). Further dishonoring Siegfried, Hagen steals the hoard from Kriemhild and throws it into the Rhine (Rheingold), to prevent Kriemhild from using it to establish an army of her own . </P> <P> Kriemhild swears to take revenge for the murder of her husband and the theft of her treasure . Many years later, King Etzel of the Huns (Attila the Hun) proposes to Kriemhild, she journeys to the land of the Huns, and they are married . For the baptism of their son, she invites her brothers, the Burgundians, to a feast at Etzel's castle in Hungary . Hagen does not want to go, suspecting that it is a trick by Kriemhild in order to take revenge and kill them all, but is taunted until he does . As the Burgundians cross the Danube, this fate is confirmed by Nixes, who predict that all but one monk will die . Hagen tries to drown the monk in order to render the prophecy futile, but he survives . </P>

Who wrote many of the german epic poems and prose