KRIEMHILD (GRiMHILD), the heroine of the Nibelungenlied and wife of the hero Siegfried.
The older story, according to which Grimhild slays her husband Attila in revenge for her brothers, is preserved in the Norse tradition, though Grimhild's part is played by Gudrun, a change probably due to the fact, mentioned above, that the name Grimhild still retained in the north its sinister significance.
The name of Grimhild is transferred to Gudrun's mother, the "wise wife," a semi-daemonic figure, who brews the potion that makes Sigurd forget his love for Brunhild and his plighted troth.
So Grimhild comes to hear where Gudrun has take up her abode, and she calls her sons to talk with her, and asks whether they will make atonement to Gudrun for her son and her husband, and said that it was but meet and right to do so.
Grimhild was of their company, for she said that their errand would never be brought fairly to pass if she sat at home.
But in that drink was blended the might of the earth and the sea with the blood of her son; and in that horn were all letters cut and reddened with blood, as is said hereunder—
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