f so many corpses
distasteful, they fling seven hundred victims down the steps, those
who are merely wounded being killed by the fall. The Huns, who come to
pick up their dead, now set up so loud and persistent a cry for
revenge, that their monarch is compelled to prepare a force to oust
the Burgundians from his banquet-hall. Seeing the aged monarch himself
advance at the head of the troops, Hagen, who guards the door, loudly
jeers at him, whereupon Kriemhild offers an immense reward to any one
who will bring her his head.

_35th Adventure._ The first to try to earn this guerdon is a Dane, who
not only succeeds in entering the hall but in effecting a retreat.
When, emboldened by this first success, he advances a second time with
a new force, he is killed as well as his men.

_36th Adventure._ After a second brief rest, the Burgundians prepare
to meet a new assault directed by Kriemhild, whose wrath now involves
all her kinsmen, although at first she meditated the death of Hagen
alone. The murder of his child has incensed even Etzel, and the Huns
plan a general massacre to avenge their slain. Although the
Burgundians offer to meet Etzel's forces in fair fight provided they
can return home unmolested if victorious, Kriemhild urges her husband
to refuse unless Hagen is delivered up to their tender mercies.
Deeming it dishonorable to forsake a companion, the Burgundians reject
these terms, whereupon Kriemhild, whose fury has reached a frantic
point, orders the hall set on fire.

Although the queen fancies the Burgundians will be roasted alive, the
hall being built of stone offers them a place of refuge, and, as they
quench in blood all the sparks that enter, they succeed in maintaining
their position.

'Twas well for the Burgundians that vaulted was the roof;
This was, in all their danger, the more to their behoof.
Only about the windows from fire they suffer'd sore.
Still, as their spirit impell'd them, themselves they bravely bore.

The intensity of the heat causes such thirst, however, that Hagen bids
his companions quench that too in the blood of the slain. Thus, six
hundred Burgundians are found alive when a new Hungarian force bursts
into the hall.

_37th Adventure._ Having failed in this third attempt, Kriemhild
reminds Rudiger of his solemn oath, and bids him redeem his promise by
slaying the Burgundians. Although this nobleman pleads with the queen,
offering instead to relinquish all he owns and lea