Back in Gunnar's land Sigurd secretly resumed his true form, and Brynhild was married to Gunnar. Brynhild resented Sigurd for his faithlessness. But resentment flared to hatred when, in a bitter quarrel with Gudrun, she learned that it had actually been Sigurd who had rescued her, rather than Gunnar. She wanted a dire revenge. To fan Gunnar's jealousy and injured pride Brynhild told him that Sigurd had possessed her for three nights, when they had really slept with the sword between them. She also told Gunnar that he must kill Sigurd or she would desert him. But Gunnar could not do it, for it would break his oath of brotherhood. Instead, Gunnar had a younger brother kill Sigurd as he slept.
Brynhild laughed bitterly as she heard Gudrun's shrieks on finding herself covered with her husband's blood. The Valkyrie told her anguished husband that Sigurd had remained pure and loyal, that her own love was given totally to Sigurd, and that she would die on his funeral pyre. Gudrun herself could not weep over her husband's murder. She sat silently beside the shroud, and others feared for her life. The women told stories of the terrible things that had happened to them in their lives, but Gudrun remained stony. At last one old woman uncovered Sigurd's head and laid it in Gudrun's lap to kiss. On seeing the bloody, lifeless face of Sigurd, Gudrun's stony reserve dissolved in tears.
