Part 14 (1/2)

”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