Siegfried and the Women (part 2)
; "image: Bloodbath … Siegfried wallowing in the dragon’s blood")
Bloodbath … Siegfried wallowing in the dragon’s blood.
; "image: Siegfried fountain in Worms")
Siegfried fountain in Worms
Siegfried, Brunhild and the Origin of the Nibelungen
Siegfried is the son of King Siegmund of Netherland (capital: Xanten on the Lower Rhine). After slaying a dragon and bathing in its blood, his skin gets horny which makes him invulnerable. But what’s more, the strongest of all heroes also has acquired a legendary treasure, the Hoard of the late King Nibelung of Nibelungenland (which is thought to be somewhere in Norway). When he subdued the Hoard’s guard, dwarf Alberich, to get hold of the treasure, he also took a magic cloak that renders him invisible.
Siegfried fares to Worms to woo pretty Kriemhild. But before sparking her, he stays at the royal court for a year to make himself indispensable for her brothers, the kings. He succeeds: Gunther, Kriemhild’s eldest brother, promises to give his consent to a marriage between his sister and Siegfried, if he joins him on his voyage to Isenland (Iceland). King Gunther plans to espouse Brunhild, the island’s queen. However, he himself lacks the power required to overpower and marry her.
; "image: Brünhild")
Brunhild
; "image: Siegfried presents Brunhild’s girdle to Kriemhild")
Siegfried presents Brunhild’s girdle to Kriemhild.
Brunhild’s Betrayal
As long as she is a maiden, Brunhild has supernatural, magic powers and is not willing to bow to a man who has not vanquished her in a contest with three disciplines: stone throw, long jump and javelin throw. If he fails, he has forfeited his life. Gunther could never make it alone. Being aware that he has the cloak that makes him invisible, Siegfried undertakes to help Gunther.
At first Brunhild assumes it is Siegfried who has come to court her. To avert Brunhild’s suspicion, Siegfried conceives a lie explaining why he, a proper king himself, has joined Gunther on his mission in Iceland although he does not play a role in the courtship. So he says he is Gunther’s liegeman, who has not come voluntarily. After accepting Gunther’s courtship, Brunhild is surprised to be defeated by the king, whom she considered weak. She does not realise that Gunther did nothing but gesture, while invisible Siegfried throws the stone and the javelin and carries Gunther in the jump.
After their arrival in Worms, everything has changed: Siegfried no longer appears to be a liegeman, but to be treated much as King Gunther. Likewise, the wedding of Gunther and Brunhild is celebrated at the same time as that of Siegfried and Kriemhild—a double marriage without social distinction. Kriemhild seems to be happy, although getting married with one of her brother’s liegemen would be a mésaillance. Brunhild breaks out in tears at the wedding table, but Gunther refuses to answer her questions. She denies him her marital duties unless he tells her the truth. Since Gunther cannot do this, Brunhild ties him with a girdle in their bridal night and hangs him up on a nail in the wall, only releasing him the next morning.
Again Siegfried must help out. The next night, made invisible again by the magic cloak, he sneaks into Gunther’s bedchamber and overpowers Brunhild in the marital bed until she surrenders and Gunther deflowers her. It is only now that she loses her magic powers and is as feeble as any average woman. During the struggle however, Siegfried has relieved her of her girdle and her ring and gives them as a piece of evidence to his wife Kriemhild when she wants to know where he has been in the night following the bridal night.
