<P> Under the pretext of this threat of war , Hagen persuades Kriemhild , who still trusts Hagen , to mark Siegfried 's single vulnerable point on his clothing with a cross under the premise of protecting him . Now knowing Siegfried 's weakness , the fake campaign is called off and Hagen then uses the cross as a target on a hunting trip , killing Siegfried with a javelin as he is drinking from a brook ( Chapter 16 ) . Kriemhild becomes aware of Hagen 's deed when , in Hagen 's presence , the corpse of Siegfried bleeds at the site of the wound ( an old Norse legend held that the corpse of a murdered person would bleed in the presence of the murderer , known as cruentation ) . This perfidious murder is particularly dishonorable in medieval thought , as throwing a javelin is the manner in which one might slaughter a wild beast , not a knight . We see this in other literature of the period , such as with Parsifal 's unwittingly dishonorable crime of combatting and slaying knights with a javelin ( transformed into a swan in Wagner 's opera ) . Further dishonoring Siegfried , Hagen steals the hoard from Kriemhild and throws it into the Rhine ( Rheingold ) , to prevent Kriemhild from using it to establish an army of her own . </P>
<P> Under the pretext of this threat of war , Hagen persuades Kriemhild , who still trusts Hagen , to mark Siegfried 's single vulnerable point on his clothing with a cross under the premise of protecting him . Now knowing Siegfried 's weakness , the fake campaign is called off and Hagen then uses the cross as a target on a hunting trip , killing Siegfried with a javelin as he is drinking from a brook ( Chapter 16 ) . Kriemhild becomes aware of Hagen 's deed when , in Hagen 's presence , the corpse of Siegfried bleeds at the site of the wound ( an old Norse legend held that the corpse of a murdered person would bleed in the presence of the murderer , known as cruentation ) . This perfidious murder is particularly dishonorable in medieval thought , as throwing a javelin is the manner in which one might slaughter a wild beast , not a knight . We see this in other literature of the period , such as with Parsifal 's unwittingly dishonorable crime of combatting and slaying knights with a javelin ( transformed into a swan in Wagner 's opera ) . Further dishonoring Siegfried , Hagen steals the hoard from Kriemhild and throws it into the Rhine ( Rheingold ) , to prevent Kriemhild from using it to establish an army of her own . </P>
who wrote many of the german epic poems and prose
who wrote many of the german epic poems and prose
knight
knight