"Away! What I have won, thou shalt ne'er make thine!" Gunther shouted. "Dost think to grasp Gutrune's dower?" The two men fell a-fighting; and Hagen, piercing Gunther's breast, sprang aside, while Gunther fell dead. Instantly Hagen leaped toward Siegfried's body to snatch the ring; but slowly, slowly the dead hand was raised threateningly, and Gutrune shrieked out.
Brünnhilde, who now appeared, advanced toward the corpse, solemnly.
"Do ye who have betrayed me, now think to make that which is mine your own?" she asked, looking at the company contemptuously, and speaking in a grave voice. "Thou wert no wife of his," she said to Gutrune. "Naught that was his is thine." Gutrune looked steadily at Brünnhilde, and believing that she spoke the truth, she crouched down beside her brother's body, and did not move again. Brünnhilde's appearance was so noble that her word convinced everybody and more than that, Siegfried's story and his last cry had told them the truth.
"Now," said Brünnhilde to the vassals, "bring great logs and heap them high beside the river Rhein. There shalt Siegfried's body find a tomb. Bring, too, his steed, and let it await me, here." While Brünnhilde knelt beside Siegfried's beloved body, the men heaped up the logs and the women strewed the top of the pile with garlands. The vassals came for Siegfried's body and as they lifted it, Brünnhilde drew the ring from his finger.
"There, ye sorrowing Rhein maidens, I give ye back this accursed ring," she cried. "Give heed, ye wayward sisters; this ring which has brought so much sorrow to Gods and men, shall now become yours. I thus restore the Rheingold to its owners. I place the ring upon my finger, and when I have leaped into the flames beside my Siegfried, the ring shall be purged by fire from all the stains that have come upon it since it was so wrongfully come by. Take the ring from amid the ashes, and return with it to your water-home." She flung a great brand upon the heap of wood where Siegfried's body lay, and immediately two ravens flew from the heap.
"Go thou, ye ravens, to Walhall, and tell Wotan what ye have seen. The end of Godhood is near. Then go to the rock where Loge burneth and tell him to go to Walhall." The ravens flew away, while the flames leaped about Siegfried. Turning to the horse, Grane, and putting her hand lovingly upon him, Brünnhilde took off his bridle. "Now, Siegfried, we join thee," she cried, and giving her great war-cry, Brünnhilde sprang upon the horse, and together they leaped upon the burning bier. Instantly the flames roared and flared high and seemed to seize upon the Hall of the Gibichungs, while all the company fled, crowding close together. When the fire was at its worst, the river Rhein overflowed its banks and rolled upon the land, extinguishing the flames. On the waves, the three Rhein-daughters swam and hovered over the place where the bodies were. Hagen, who saw before him the loss of the ring, became frantic with despair, so he rushed into the flood, to wrench the treasure from the maidens, but Woglinde and Wellgunde threw their arms about him, dragged him down into the depths, and swam away with him.
Flosshilde, having found the ring, swam before them, holding up the prize triumphantly. A great bank of clouds had piled up beyond the river, and soon this began to glow, as if with fire. The Rhein returned to its natural bed, while the maidens swam once more happily in its waters. The Hall of the Gibichungs had been destroyed, and all the vassals and women had crowded together, watching the scene with horror and wonderment. As the fiery clouds glowed more and more brightly, the Palace of the Gods appeared, and the inner courts of Walhall could be seen, brightly lighted by the fire which was consuming it. Wotan and the Eternals sat within, surrounded by the heroes and the Valkyries. All awaited the flames without resistance, and as the Gibichungs looked, Loge, the spirit of flame, seized upon everything and the Eternals were seen no more.