According to Snorri's
paraphrase, Sigurd gives the ring to Brynhild when he goes to her in
Gunnar's form.
For the rest of the story we must depend chiefly on _Gripisspa_ and
_Voelsunga_. The latter tells that Grimhild, the mother of the Giukings,
gave Sigurd a magic drink by which he forgot Brynhild and fell in love
with Giuki's daughter. Gudrun's brothers swore oaths of friendship
with him, and he agreed to ride through the waverlowe, or ring of
fire, disguised and win Brynhild for the eldest brother Gunnar. After
the two bridals, he remembered his first passing through the flame,
and his love for Brynhild returned. The Shield-maiden too remembered,
but thinking that Gunnar had fairly won her, accepted her fate until
Gudrun in spite and jealousy revealed the trick that had been played
on her. Of the treachery of the Giukings Brynhild takes little heed;
but death alone can pay for Sigurd's unconscious betrayal. She tells
Gunnar that Sigurd has broken faith with him, and the Giukings with
some reluctance murder their sister's husband. Brynhild springs on to
the funeral pyre, and dies with Sigurd. _Voelsunga_ makes the murder
take place in Sigurd's chamber, and one poem, the _Short Sigurd Lay_,
agrees. The fragment which follows _Sigrdrifumal_, on the other hand,
places the scene in the open air:
"Sigurd was slain south of the Rhine; a raven on a tree called aloud:
'On you will Atli redden the sword; your broken oaths shall destroy
you.
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