KRIEMHILD.
Was murder ever called a punishment
Since heaven and earth began?
HAGEN. I'd challenged him
To mortal combat, thou may'st take my word,
But none might tell the hero from the dragon,
And dragons must be killed. So proud a knight,
Why did he hide him in the dragon's skin!
KRIEMHILD.
The dragon's skin! He had to slay him first,
And with the dragon slew he all the world!
The forest depths with all their monstrous beasts,
And every warrior that had feared to slay
The dreadful dragon, Hagen with the rest!
Thy slander cannot harm him. But the dart
Thine envy borrowed from thy wickedness.
And folk will tell of his nobility
As long as men still dwell upon the earth,
And just so long they'll tell thy tale of shame.
HAGEN.
So be it then!
[He takes SIEGFRIED'S sword, Balmung, from beside the body.]
And now 'twill never end!
[He girds on the sword and walks slowly back to his kindred.]