[Sidenote: The sword Nagelring.] The dwarf not only promised the desired
information, but gave Dietrich the magic sword Nagelring, which alone could
pierce the giants' skin. Then he led both heroes to the cave, where Grim
and Hilde were gloating over a magic helmet they had made and called
Hildegrim. Peering through a fissure of the rock, Hildebrand was the first
to gaze upon them, and in his eagerness to get at them he braced his
shoulder against the huge mass of stone, forced it apart, and thus made a
passage for himself and for his impetuous young pupil.
As Nagelring, the magic sword, had been stolen from him, Grim attacked
Dietrich with a blazing brand snatched from the fire, while Hildebrand and
Hilde wrestled together. The encounter was short and fierce between the
young hero and his gigantic opponent, who soon succumbed beneath
Nagelring's sharp blows. Then Dietrich, turning, came just in time to save
his master from Hilde's treacherous blade. But, although one stroke of
Nagelring cut her in two, the heroes were dismayed to see the severed parts
of her body knit together in a trice, and permit Hilde, whole once more, to
renew the attack.
To prevent a repetition of this magical performance, Dietrich, after again
cutting her in two, placed his sword between the severed parts, and,
knowing that steel annuls magic, left it there until all power to unite was
gone and Hilde was really dead. The two heroes then returned home in
triumph with Nagelring and Hildegrim, the two famous trophies, which
Dietrich took as his share of the spoil, leaving to Hildebrand an immense
treasure of gold which made him the richest man of his day. This wealth
enabled Hildebrand to marry the noble Ute (Uote or Uta), who helped him to
bring up Dietrich's young brother, then but a babe.
Although the young prince of Bern imagined that he had exterminated all the
giants in his land, he was soon undeceived; for Sigenot, Grim's brother,
coming down from the Alps to visit him, and finding him slain, vowed to
avenge his death. The brave young prince, hearing that Sigenot was
terrorizing all the neighborhood, immediately set out to attack him,
followed at a distance by Hildebrand and the latter's nephew, Wolfhart, who
was always ready to undertake any journey, provided there was some prospect
of a fight at the end.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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