Nibelungenlied

Nibelungenlied (“Song of the Nibelungs”), German epic dating from the early 1200s, partly based on Scandinavian myths. It tells the story of Siegfried, who wins the treasure of the Nibelungen dwarfs and is given Kriemhild in marriage as a reward for helping Kriemhild's brother Gunther win Brunhild by trickery. In revenge Brunhild has Siegfried killed by Hagen, who hides the treasure in the Rhine. Kriemhild's subsequent vow to avenge Siegfried ends in a holocaust. The story inspired Richard Wagner's operatic tetralogy, The Ring of the Nibelungs.