"I will obey my little friend," said Siegfried.
MIMI HAS A SURPRISE
The sly, wicked Mimi came slinking to the place where the dragon lay.
When he saw it lying dead under the trees, he looked about for Siegfried, but Siegfried was nowhere to be seen.
"Now I shall rush in and s.n.a.t.c.h the ring! At last I shall have my pay for all these years of trouble with that rogue I hate!"
But scarcely had Mimi turned toward the dragon"s cave when suddenly Alberich sprang before him.
"You sly, crafty rascal!" cried Alberich. "What do you want here? Ha! I have caught you at your sneaking tricks! Long have I guarded here! You shall not steal my gold! Get back to your murky cave."
But Mimi screamed:--
"You shall not have the gold! "T is mine! Long years have I toiled and waited! The gold is mine, I say!" "Yours?" Alberich snarled in scorn.
"Yours? You s.n.a.t.c.hed it from the Rhine-daughters, did you? You paid the price to mould that ring?"
And Mimi raved:
"Who made the helmet, that wondrous cap that in a flash can change a man into anything he wants to be?"
MIMI AND ALBERICH STOP TO QUARREL TOO LONG
While Mimi and Alberich quarreled, Siegfried came from the dragon"s cave, bearing the helmet and the ring.
He heard no sound save the rustling of the leaves and the song of the bird.
Again he sat down in the shadow of a tree.
"Little bird, can you not help me to find a true friend?" asked Siegfried.
"Each year you have your mate and your little birdlings in the nest. You sing songs with the other birds.
"I have never known a father or a mother, a sister or a brother. I am lonely.
"Is there nowhere in all this world some one whom I may love? Some one who will love me?"
Then the wood-bird began to sing a pretty love-song of a maiden sleeping on the crest of a mountain, encircled by fire.
Sweetly he sang:--"Only he who knows no fear may claim her for his bride."
Siegfried sprang to his feet. "I do not know fear. I have tried with all my might to learn it. Oh, help me to find the mountain where she sleeps!"
The little bird flew away in the opposite direction from where the wicked Nibelungs stood quarreling, and Siegfried joyously hurried after.
SIEGFRIED REACHES THE MOUNTAIN
A heavy storm arose as Siegfried and the bird neared the foot of the mountain where Brunhilde slept. There were peals of deep thunder.
The sky grew very dark. The great boughs of the trees swayed with the wind.
Siegfried took shelter under a low spreading fir.
The storm did not last long, and as the light again broke through the clouds, Siegfried looked about for his little guide, but all in vain.
The bird had fled.
Siegfried started on up the mountain, when suddenly the giant Wotan stood before him.
"What are you doing here?" demanded Wotan.
Siegfried replied:--
"I am going to the top of this mountain. There a maiden lies sleeping. I will awaken her, and she shall be my bride."
"Go back to your forest!" commanded Wotan. "This mountain is encircled by fire."
And stretching forth his arm, he barred the path with his mighty spear.
Siegfried quickly drew his sword from its sheath.
"This is the magic spear that rules the world!" said Wotan. "Put away that sword, or the spear that once shattered it will shatter it again!"
"Ha!" cried Siegfried, "then you were my father"s foe!"
There was a flash of Siegfried"s blade, then a crash that echoed over mountains and valleys, and Siegfried had shattered Wotan"s spear. It lay in splinters on the ground.
Wotan stepped aside and sadly bowed his head upon his breast.
He knew this meant the downfall of the giants. No longer would the earth be ruled from fair Valhalla"s heights.
SIEGFRIED LEARNS WHAT FEAR IS
Siegfried hurried up the mountain-side.
The fierce flames leaped as if to meet him.
They grew redder, and lapped their fiery tongues.
Siegfried bounded toward them with joy.
Lifting his silver horn to his lips, and blowing his Comrade Call so sweet and clear, he plunged into their depths.
The maddened flames leaped and crackled as if to devour him.