Now came the noble Kriemhild begirt with many a knight;
Then spake the noble Brunhild, "Stop and do me right.
You've voic'd me for a wanton; prove it ere you go.
You and your foul speeches have wrought me pain and woe."
XXXIV
Then spake the Lady Kriemhild, "'Twere wiser to forbear;
E'en with the gold I'll prove it that on my hand I wear;
'Twas this that Siegfried brought me from where by you he lay."
Never liv'd Queen Brunhild so sorrowful a day.
XXXV
Said she, "That ring was stolen from me who held it dear,
And mischievously hidden has since been many a year.
But now I've met with something by which the thief to guess."
Both the dames were frenzied with passion masterless.
XXXVI
"Thief?" made answer Kriemhild, "I will not brook the name.
Thou would'st have kept silence, hadst thou a sense of shame.
By the girdle here about me prove full well I can
That I am ne'er a liar; Siegfried was indeed thy man."
XXXVII
'Twas of silk of Nineveh the girdle that she brought,
With precious stones well garnish'd; a better ne'er was wrought;
When Brunhild but beheld it, her tears she could not hold.
The tale must needs to Gunther and all his men be told.