Die Nibelungen
Die Nibelungen
Dedicated to the German people
Kriemhild's Revenge
Canto I
How Kriemhild mourned over Siegfried
and how King Attilla woos her through
through his ambassador, Ruediger von
Bechlam.
King Gunther, Margrave Ruediger von
Bechlam asks for an audience.
I come as ambassador of King Attilla,
who is called lord of the Earth.
He seeks the hand of Kriemhild,
your sister, in marriage.
I am afraid King Attilla does
not know whom he woos.
In the name of Siegfried who was
murdered and whose murder lives!
Bear in mind how Siegfried died!
King Attilla sends me, Lady Kriemhild,
to plead in his stead for your hand!
Ruediger, you seem to know quite well
how I am exposed to grievous wrongs
in the house of my clan!
Brother! Where is your brother
Siegfried?
My king, deliver to me the murderer
of my husband!
He has kept faith with me, I
shall keep faith with him. This,
Kriemhild, is my last word!
Margrave Ruediger, Lady Kriemhild
wishes to speak with you after evensong!
Now is the time to keep close watch
over our Burgundy, Gerenot!
Tell me all about King Attilla,
Ruediger!
You are wooing a dead woman,
Ruediger. The murderer of my
husband flaunts the green
sparkling sword he robbed from
the dead!
If somebody, my lady, would do you wrong
at Attila's court, King Attilla shall know how
to avenge you!
Lord Margrave, swear that to me in
King Attilla's name and yours!
Not on the cross, Lord Margrave -
on the sharp edge of your sword!
My lady! Lord Hagen has robbed
the Nibelungen treasure!
You have my word,
Margrave Ruediger!
Hagen Tronje, where is the
treasure?
The loyal Hagen speaks: At a place,
my lady, where no one can use the
gold to forge weapons against the
kings of Burgundy!
Here ends the first Canto.
Canto II
How Kriemhild takes leave from her
homeland, and how she was received
by King Attilla.
Earth, you were once soaked with
Siegfried's blood. One day I shall
come and drench you with the blood
of Hagen Tronje!
I shall return! Rest assured,
I'll come back!
My daughter, don't you want to bid
farewell to your brother Gunther?
No, mother.
You travel far, Lady Kriemhild. Don't you
want to make peace with your family?
No, my priest.
Don't you want to greet them one
last time, my Lady?
No, Ruediger.
When Kriemhild reached the country
of the Huns, spring had come to the
land.
The sack of gold is mine!
The Queen is coming!
Let us meet her, brother!
The King's treasure!
My lady, King Attilla's brother, Blaodel,
welcomes you!
Ruediger, choose a kingdom
from my lands in gratitude for
this wondrous woman!
Ask King Attilla, Margrave Ruediger,
if he is ready to make your oath his
own!
By my head, o queen - whoever
dares to offend you, shall die a
hundred deaths!
Here ends the second Canto.
Canto III
How King Attilla besieged Rome
and how Kriemhild summoned her
brothers.
Lord Attilla swore to turn Rome's
churches into horse stables! Why
does he not fulfill his oath?
We went into war! Why don't we ride
on? Why is Attilla's horse tethered to
his tent?
And when King Attilla his mount bestrode
It was the world over which he rode
And when he paused his whip to crack
the world cried out - Woe, woe, alack
What deeds are now in his mind?
What is in the mind of our King?
He sleeps! He sleeps! Lord Attilla,
Attilla sleeps!
The white woman stole and bound
our lord! She uses golden tresses
as cord!
The white woman stole and bound
our lord! She uses golden tresses
as cord!!
My Lord-! Kriemhild...
My lord-! Kriemhild has borne
you a son!
Earth... O sacred Earth!
A wish - have you no wish I can
fulfill?
If you would honor me and gladden
my heart, then bid my brothers as
guests to your court.
Leave for Worms, Blaodel, to invite
the royal brothers of my wife as
guests to our court!
Here ends the third Canto.
Canto IV
How Kriemhild receives her brothers.
For over a month your brothers
stayed as guests of Ruediger von
Bechlarn.
The minstrels sing a new song about
the love between your brother Giselher,
and Ruediger's only child, the beautiful
Dietlind!
Thus Bechlam and Burgundy are bound
together: one heart, one life, one death!
To honor your brothers, lord Attilla
has sent the noblest of his knights,
Dietrich von Bern, to greet them.
Once more, dear Nibelungen, before Lord
Attilla comes to greet you: Do not forget
to whom Attilla will lead you!
How could we forget, lord, that we
come to visit our sister, Kriemhild?
Whoever wants to win my gratitude,
must remember my great sorrow!
On the day before summer solstice
the Nibelungen arrived at Attilla's
court.
You must be tired from your
journey. Refresh yourselves
and rest. Tomorrow we will
celebrate the summer solstice
in a very special way.
King Attilla, remember your oath!
He who murdered Siegfried is
now in your hands! Remember
my suffering!
Can you never forget
Lord Siegfried, woman?
Hagen Tronje shall duel with me
for his life!
You would fight an assassin, Attilla?
No, have him killed!
My guest?
Remember you oath, Attilla!
On the life of your child, redeem it!
In the desert, where I was born,
there is but one thing sacred,
the guest!
Hagen Tronje shall be sacred as long
as he regards the peace of my abode!
She said: Whoever wants to win
my gratitude, should remember my
great sorrow!
Whoever brings me Tronje's head
will win a shield full of gold!
But I beseech you: Do not harm
the sons of my mother!
Bard, play on!
Here ends the fourth Canto.
Canto V
How the Huns celebrated
the summer solstice with
the Nibelungen.
Is it the fashion at Worms to sit
at table armed head to toe?
Lord Hagen Tronje knows well,
why he never lays aside his sword!
Methinks, from such a feast
the heir to King Attilla's
crowns should not be absent!
Methinks the boy has not long
to live. We scarcely shall go as
guests to any courts of his!
Treason!
The child!
The work of your guest,
King Attilla!
Now you Nibelungen,
all of my men will be
against you.
Safe conduct from these
halls I demand for me and
my following!
Here ends the fifth Canto.
Canto VI
The Nibelungen's distress.
Go, tell Lady Kriemhild what you
have seen!
Open the gate!
Not a Hun is alive in
Attilla's hall!
Huns, avenge your dead!
It is impossible, my Queen!
Avenge your dead, Huns,
and the royal child!
Sister!
Sister!
Think of our mother!
Hand over the assassin of
Siegfried and you are free!
The fight is too uneven.
The dawn will see no
Nibelung alive.
With Giselher my own child
will die!
Lord Ruediger, stay out of it!
Blood cries for blood!
Call Ruediger!
Now the time has come,
Lord Ruediger! Redeem
your oath!
Margrave Ruediger, I demand
from you the assassin of
Siegfried!
Not against Hagen Tronje,
do you send me, Queen, but
against your brothers who
defend him with their lives!
Ruediger, you swore by the
sharp edge of your sword!
Giselher is engaged to my
only child!
Blood cries for blood, Ruediger!
Lord! Do not force me to kill
my only child!
Here ends the sixth Canto
Canto VII
The Nibelungen's end.
Lord Ruediger stands
before the gate!
He will bring peace!
What are you bringing us,
father?
Death!
O Lord, do not allow that
they who love, kill one another
Tell them that if they deliver
the murderer of my child,
they may go free!
King Attilla, you do not
know the loyal German
soul!
My oath to Kriemhild is older
than my oath to you!
Don't force me to break
my oath! Fight!
Do you want me to lose my
honor?! - Defend yourself
Hagen Tronje!
O sister, what have you
wrought!
Deliver Tronje to me
and you are free!
Rejoice in your revenge
Kriemhild! Dead are your
young brothers. Ruediger is
dead. Dead are all his men!
But Hagen Tronje, who
slew Siegfried, still lives!
Throw fire into the hall!
O lord, fiery arrows are raining
on the hall by the queen's
order - the palace is burning.
Lady Kriemhild is right, more
than right! I myself will stand
at her side when the fire will
flush out Hagen, the murderer!
Thank you, Kriemhild! Although
we were never one in love, we
are at last united in hate!
Never, King Attilla, has my
heart been as filled with love
as it is at this moment.
I wish to spare King Gunther
death in the flames. I shall
offer Lady Kriemhild my head!
Speak, you Nibelungen. Will
you buy your freedom with
Hagen Tronje's head?
Loyalty, which iron could not
break, will not melt in fire,
Hagen Tronje!
Look! Volker prepares his violin
for a last song!
I call it a shame, Lady Kriemhild
that you let heroes, who could
not be beaten in battle, perish
in fire's fury!
Do you hear?
Volker is singing!
Ah, if only we were on the
green, fresh banks of the
Rhine!
Do you hear?
Volker is singing!
Are you not human,
lady Kriemhild-!
No, I died when Siegfried died...
It is finished!
It is finished!
Lord Attilla, there still
lives one vassal!
I cannot go home to my dead
Siegfried until every wrong has
been atoned... Lord Hagen,
here is the sword. Where is
the treasure?
I swore not to betray the
location of the treasure as
long as one of my kings is
alive!
Now, Kriemhild, nobody knows
about the treasure but God and
me and God is no more discreet
than I!
Now, earth, drink your fill!
Take Kriemhild home to
Siegfried, her dead husband,
for she was his and never
belonged to another man!
Thus ends the tale.