later wooes for Gunnar, while others either know nothing of the sleeping
valkyrie or treat the two as separate personages. The situation in the
Nibelungenlied is more satisfactorily explained by the theory that they
were originally identical. But we see at once that the figure of Brunhild
has here lost much of its original significance. It is her quarrel with
Kriemhild (Gudrun) that leads to Siegfried's death, though the motives
are not just the same in the two cases; and after the death of Siegfried
she passes unaccountably from the scene.

But it is in the concluding part of the story--the part which, as we
shall see, has its basis in actual history--that the two accounts diverge
most widely. So strange, indeed, has been the evolution of the saga that
the central character of it, Kriemhild (Gudrun) holds a diametrically
opposite relation to her husband Etzel (Atli) at the final catastrophe in
the two versions. In the Nibelungenlied as in the Edda the widowed
Kriemhild (Gudrun) marries King Etzel (Atli), her consent in the former
resulting from a desire for revenge upon the murderers of Siegfried, in
the latter from the drinking of a potion which takes away her memory of
him; in the Nibelungenlied it is Kriemhild who treacherously lures
Gunther and his men to their destruction unknown to Etzel, in the Edda
the invitation comes from Atli, while Gudrun tries to warn them to stay
at home; in the former Kriemhild is the author of the attack on the
guests, in the latter Atli; in the former Kriemhild is the frenzied
avenger of her former husband Siegfried's death upon her brother Gunther,
in the latter Gudrun is the avenger of her brothers' death upon her
husband Atli.


4. Mythical Element and Historical Element