In the meantime, Brünnhilde, awaiting the return of Siegfried, was visited by another Valkyr, Waltraute, who begged her to give up the fatal ring to the Rhine maidens, and so save the Gods from destruction. But this Brünnhilde refused to do, counting Siegfried’s love a greater treasure than her lost divinity.
Siegfried then appeared to her in the form of Gunther, which he had assumed by means of the magic helmet. He forced the ring from her, and commanded her to accept Gunther as her husband. Brünnhilde was taken by her new husband to the palace of the Gibichungs. When she arrived there, and saw Siegfried with Gutrune, she at once accused him of having betrayed both herself and Gunther. The crafty Hagen then promised Brünnhilde and Gunther to avenge them on Siegfried.
A hunting party was arranged, and during it Siegfried, who had become separated from the others, was met by the three Rhine Maidens, who entreated him to give back the Ring. He refused, even when they told him that his refusal would mean that he should die that day.
Then the others of the party came up, and during the meal Hagen gave Siegfried a magic potion, under the influence of which memory returned to him, and he told the story of Mime, the dragon, and the forest bird. As he was in the midst of his tale, two ravens flew out of the thicket behind him, and he turned to look at them. Hagen immediately speared him in the back, the only vulnerable spot in his body. Brünnhilde had made the hero invulnerable with this exception, for she knew that in battle he would never turn his back to the enemy. Siegfried fell dying, his last words a passionate greeting to Brünnhilde, whom now he recalled with rapture as his beloved wife. His body was placed on his shield, and slowly the funeral procession marched back to the castle.
At the hall Hagen claimed the Ring, and when Gunther opposed him, Hagen killed him. But when he attempted to snatch the Ring from Siegfried’s finger, the hand of the dead hero rose in awful warning.
Brünnhilde then appeared, knowing the truth at last, and proclaimed Siegfried the victim of tragic fate.
A funeral pyre was raised, on which the body of Siegfried was laid. Brünnhilde tenderly drew the Ring from his finger, and cast it to the Rhine. She threw a torch under the funeral pyre and, as the flames rose, she grasped her faithful steed, Grane, by the mane, and charged with him into the flames. The waters of the Rhine then rose and flooded the castle of Gunther. Hagen was dragged beneath the waters. All was submerged, and above the general catastrophe, Walhall was consumed. The twilight of the gods had come. “The old order changeth, yielding place to new.”
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 3, No. 24, SERIAL No. 100
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.