When in such manner Dietrich / the king secure had bound By the hand he led him / where Kriemhild he found. At sight of his misfortune / did sorrow from her flee: Quoth she: "Welcome Gunther / from out the land of Burgundy." 2363 He spake: "Then might I thank thee, / sister of high degree, When that some whit more gracious / might thy greeting be. So angry art thou minded / ever yet, O queen, Full spare shall be thy greeting / to Hagen and to me, I ween." 2364 Then spake of Bern the hero: / "Ne'er till now, O queen, Given o'er as hostage / have knights so worthy been, As I, O lofty lady, / in these have given to thee: I pray thee higher evils / to spare them now for sake of me." 2365 She vowed to do it gladly. / Then forth Sir Dietrich went With weeping eyes to see there / such knights' imprisonment. In grimmest ways thereafter / wreaked vengeance Etzel's wife: Beneath her hand those chosen / warriors twain must end their life. 2366 She let them lie asunder / the less at ease to be, Nor did each the other / thenceforward ever see Till that unto Hagen / her brother's head she bore. In sooth did Kriemhild vengeance / wreak upon the twain full sore. 2367 Forth where she should find Hagen / the queen her way did take, And in right angry manner / she to the warrior spake: "An thou wilt but restore me / that thou hast ta'en from me, So may'st thou come yet living / home to the land of Burgundy." 2368 Answered thereto grim Hagen: / "'Twere well thy breath to save, Full high and royal lady. / Sworn by my troth I have That I the hoard will tell not; / the while that yet doth live Of my masters any, / the treasure unto none I'll give." 2369 "Then ended be the story," / the noble lady spake. She bade them from her brother / straightway his life to take. His head they struck from off him, / which by the hair she bore Unto the thane of Tronje. / Thereat did grieve the knight full sore. 2370 When that he in horror / his master's head had seen, Cried the doughty warrior / unto Kriemhild the queen: "Now is thy heart's desire / at length accomplished. And eke hath all befallen / as my foreboding heart hath said. 2371 "Dead lieth now the noble / king of Burgundy, Also youthful Giselher / and Sir Gernot eke doth he. The treasure no one knoweth / but God and me alone, Nor e'er by thee, she-devil, / shall its hiding-place be known." 2372 Quoth she: "But ill requital / hast thou made to me. Yet mine the sword of Siegfried / now henceforth shall be, The which when last I saw him, / my loved husband bore, In whom on me such sorrow / through guilt of thine doth weigh full sore." 2373 She drew it from the scabbard, / nor might he say her nay, Though thought she from the warrior / his life to take away. With both hands high she raised it / and off his head struck she, Whereat did grieve King Etzel / full sore the sorry sight to see. 2374