Editing Gudrun (section)

===''Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid''===
[[File:Siegfried 8.gif|thumb|The dragon lays its head in Kriemhild's lap. Woodcut for an early modern printing of ''Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid'']]
In the late medieval/early modern heroic ballad ''[[Das Lied vom Hürnen Seyfrid]]'', Kriemhild is the daughter of king Gybich and sister of Gunther, Gyrnot (Gernot), and Hagen. The name Gybich agrees with the ''Rosengarten zu Worms'' and corresponds to the Old Norse Gjúki, and the fact that Hagen is one of Kriemhild's brothers accords with the ''Thidrekssaga'' and the Scandinavian tradition as well.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=469}} This is taken as evidence that these elements of the tradition existed in oral story-telling into the late Middle Ages.{{sfn|Lienert|2015|p=67}}

In the middle of the ballad, a dragon abducts Kriemhild from her home in Worms. The dragon holds Kriemhild captive for years in his lair of mount Trachenstein (dragon stone), treating her well. One day it lays its head in her lap and transforms into a man, explaining that she needs to stay with him for five years. After that time he will marry her and they will travel to hell together. Kriemhild prays to avoid this fate. Finally, Siegfried (Seyfrid) arrives to save her, but the dragon appears. The dragon forces Siegfried and Kriemhild to flee into the depths of the mountain, where they find the treasure of the Nibelungen and a sword that can cut through the dragon's skin. Siegfried defeats the dragon, and Kriemhild and Siegfried return to Worms, where they are married and Siegfried rules together with Kriemhild's brothers. Her brothers, however, resent how powerful Siegfried has become and after seven years, they murder him.{{sfn|Millet|2008|pp=467–469}}{{sfn|Lienert|2015|p=68}}

It has been suggested that Siegfried's liberation of Kriemhild may be a repurposing of a lost German story about [[Brunhild]],{{sfn|Gentry|McConnell|Müller|Wunderlich|2011|p=169}} though this is far from certain.{{sfn|Gillespie|1973|p=16 n. 8}} The ''Nibelungenlied'' version m includes a version of Siegfried's freeing of Kriemhild from a dragon, meaning the legend developed by 1400.{{sfn|Millet|2008|p=467}} The earliest surviving copy of the ballad itself is from 1530.{{sfn|Lienert|2015|p=67}}