Siegfried introduces himself to the family as a gentleman who has not gone to grammar school but can handle weapons and is too genteel to work: his motto is “Squander money, go broke and make a rich marriage”. When the family hears that he has placed the Nibelung treasure not on a sandbank in the Rhine but in Rhenish Bank at 6% interest, and in addition runs a sparkling-wine factory, the betrothal with Kriemhild is settled.

Then Brunhild’s arrival is announced. Gunther wants to flee before her, but when he promises Siegfried half of his kingdom the hero offers to assist him in the fight, under the protection of the Tarnhelm. As soon as Gunther knows that the invisible Siegfried is at his side, he is emboldened, and after enormous preparations from the contest he overcomes her with apparent ease. This betrothal too is thereby sealed.

Act II – The double wedding has taken place, the wedding banquet is over. Siegfried acts particularly heroically which Hagen attributes this to his invulnerability. Hagen advises Kriemhild to find and mark a spot on her new husband Sigfried’s clothes where, during his bath in the dragon’s blood, the hero has touched a lime-leaf and hence has retained vulnerable. On her wedding night Kriemhild tries for a long time, but in vain, to worm from her husband the secret of the little spot where he is mortal.

In contrast, Brunhild on her wedding night defeats Gunther in a wrestling match and hangs him on the coat hooks in front of her bedroom door so that the weakling leavers her in peace. Siegfried frees him but can no longer remain invisible at his side, for Kriemhild in her anger has taken away the Tarnhelm because he kept wearing it as a nightcap. Under cover of darkness, Siegfried overpowers the unsuspecting Brunhild, jealousy seizes Gunther: he wants to intervene. Kriemhild and Brunhild feel themselves betrayed by Siegfried and, to save honor, demand a duel between Gunther and the dragon-killer, Siegfried. During the wedding night Kriemhild had discovered the mortal spot and made it recognizable by an embroidered lime-leaf, so that during the conflict Hagen, as referee, can strike Siegfried from behind.

Act III – At breakfast next morning in the castle garden, no one really has an appetite. Siegfried is even taking a hipbath in dragon’s blood so as to be spared similar experiences in future. Brunhild is still continuing to scream for revenge, and Hagen fears that the trashed hero, in his rage, could spread far and wide the story of Gunther’s painful experiences on his wedding night. The family therefore agrees that Siegfried must be assassinated and his money stay with the family.

Siegfried feels uneasy, and questions a bird in the cage about the future. It for tells the attempted murder, but also knows that in an operetta such a thing has to fail. At the same time it warns Siegfried of a total market collapse of his Nibelung shares. The hero is overjoyed that there is as yet nothing on the papers about the crash of the Rhenish Bank and that he has covered himself in the nick of time through his marriage. When Hagen learns of the crash of the shares, the motive for murder also disappears, and the two make friends.

However, Hagen has to convene a kangaroo court because Brunhild still feels insulted as a wife of Siegfried, who has not taken advantage of the nocturnal situation. Even his offer to make over the Nibelung treasure to her cannot reconcile her, for unlike Burgundians, she already knows of the crash of the Rhenish Bank. Not until Sigfried’s promise of love does she feel her honor restored, and the two find themselves in the same love duet which previously united Kriemhild and Siegfried. The members of the secret tribunal take off their disguises, and when Siegfried offers the family 50% of the - worthless – Nibelung shares, harmony is complete.

Dorothea Renckhoff
(Translated by Lionel Salter)