"It was he who wrenched the ring from me," she declared, pointing to Gunther, "yet it is this knight who wears it." Gunther denied having given or taken from her the ring, and Siegfried declared she did not speak the truth. Gunther feared to have it known that he had not dared the flame himself, for his bride, and yet he feared Siegfried had betrayed his honour. There was confusion among the spectators who said among themselves: "Whose wife can Bruennhilde be?" But Siegfried, having quite forgotten the woman he so dearly loved, declared that he had got the ring he wore from no woman, but had taken it from a dragon, whom he attacked in his lair, and killed. This was true, of course, but it was also true that he had given the ring to Bruennhilde and under a wicked enchantment had taken it away. Hagen spoke next, seeing a chance to gain the ring for the Nibelungs: "Bruennhilde, thou sayest it was Gunther who wooed thee, and that it was he who took the ring from thee? Since that is true, Siegfried has won the ring by some false deed. It must have been Siegfried who came to thee in the guise of Gunther." At this all the vassals murmured, and Gunther began to feel resentment, notwithstanding the part he had played in the deception. Bruennhilde wildly accused them both, and everybody cried out against Siegfried, Gutrune, too, accusing him. All the women called upon the knight to defend himself if he could, but he called for the spear's point on which to take an oath. When Hagen presented the spear to him, the knight laid his two fingers upon it and swore that he had been a faithful friend to Gunther, and that Bruennhilde's words were false. Bruennhilde, thus wronged, struck his hand from the spear and placing her own upon it, swore that Siegfried should die by that same spear's point. By this time the quarrel had waxed so hot that the vassals and women called upon Donner to send his thunder, to silence it. In the midst of the threats and confusion, Siegfried went close to Gunther and said aside: "Brother, I am sorrier than thou art for all this, but it must have been the fault of the Tarnhelm which must have hidden only half of me. Thus, Bruennhilde cannot know whose wife she really is. But thou knowest well, that I won her for thee, and have no love for any but Gutrune. Come, let's be gay, and leave this poor girl to rest, so that she may recover herself. Like enough it is the strangeness of this place, after her wild, free life in her mountains, that gives her these uncanny thoughts." Gunther, convinced by Siegfried's words, joined him in urging all to make gay upon this day of double marriage, and finally they followed Siegfried out into the forest, shouting and laughing, to feast and make sacrifices. _Scene V_