said to be Brynhild's brother. He invited Gunnar and Högni to his
court and killed them for the sake of the treasure, in vengeance for
which Gudrun killed her own two sons and Atli; this latter incident
being possibly an imitation of Signy. If we may believe that Gudrun,
like Chriemhild in the _Nibelungen Lied_, married Atli in order to
gain vengeance for Sigurd, we might suppose that there was confusion
here: that she herself incited the murder of her brothers, and killed
Atli when he had served his purpose. This would strengthen the part
of Gudrun, who as the tale stands is rather a futile character. But
in all probability the episode is due to a confusion of Signy's story
with that of the German Chriemhild and Etzel.

One point has still to be considered: the place of the Nibelungs in the
story. In the Edda, the Hniflungs are always the Giukings, Gunnar and
Högni, and Snorri gives it as the name of an heroic family. The title
of the first _aventiure_ of the _Nibelungen Lied_ also apparently uses
the word of the Burgundians. Yet the treasure is always the Nibelungs'
hoard, which clearly means that they were the original owners; and when
Hagen von Tronje tells the story later in the poem, he speaks of the
Nibelungs correctly as the dwarfs from whom Siegfried won it. On this
point, therefore, the German preserves the older tradition: the Norse
Andvari, the river-dwarf, is the German Alberich the Nibelung. In
the _Nibelungen Lied_ the winning of the treasure forms no part of
the action: it is merely narrated by Hagen. This accounts for the
shortening of the episode and the omission of the intermediate steps:
the robbing of the dwarf, the curse, and the dragon-slaying.

* * * * *

_Ermanric.--_The two poems of _Gudrun's Lament_ and _Hamthismal_,