diate orders that Hoegni's heart should
be brought; but his servants, fearing to lay hands on such a grim
warrior, slew the cowardly scullion Hialli. The trembling heart
of this poor wretch called forth contemptuous words from Gunnar,
who declared that such a timorous organ could never have belonged
to his fearless brother. Atli again issued angry commands, and this
time the unquivering heart of Hoegni was produced, whereupon Gunnar,
turning to the monarch, solemnly swore that since the secret now
rested with him alone it would never be revealed.

The Last of the Niblungs

Livid with anger, the king bade his servants throw Gunnar, with
hands bound, into a den of venomous snakes; but this did not daunt
the reckless Niblung, and, his harp having been flung after him
in derision, he calmly sat in the pit, harping with his toes, and
lulling to sleep all the reptiles save one only. It was said that
Atli's mother had taken the form of this snake, and that she it was
who now bit him in the side, and silenced his triumphant song for ever.

To celebrate his triumph, Atli now ordered a great feast, commanding
Gudrun to be present to wait upon him. At this banquet he ate and
drank heartily, little suspecting that his wife had slain both his
sons, and had served up their roasted hearts and their blood mixed
with wine in cups made of their skulls. After a time the king and his
guests became intoxicated, when Gudrun, according to one version of
the story, set fire to the palace, and as the drunken men were aroused,
too late to escape, she revealed what she had done, and first stabbing
her husband, she calmly perished in the flames with the Huns. Another
version relates, however, that she murdered Atli with Sigurd's sword,
and having placed his body on a ship, which she sent adrift, she cast
herself into the sea and was drowned.

"She spread out her arms as she spake it, and away from the earth
she leapt
And cut off her tide of returning: for the sea-waves over her
swept,
And their will is her will henceforward, and who knoweth the
deeps of the sea,
And the wealth of the bed of Gudrun, and the days that yet
shall be?"

According to a third and very different version, Gudrun was not
drowned, but was borne by the waves to the land where Jonakur was
king. There she became his wife, and the mother of three sons, Soerli,
Hamdir, and Erp. She recovered possession, moreover, of her beloved
dau