and sit therein; then canst thou stab him from beneath. As for me, since in naught can I help thee, I will get me to a place of safety," and he rode down the rocks.

Then Siegfried put Grane in shelter, and as he returned there met him a graybeard with one eye, who 5 asked him whither he went and what he was about to do, and Siegfried told him. "That counsel is evil," said the Ancient One; "bide thou here and dig many pits, else the dragon's blood will flow into one and drown thee as thou standest." And ere the youth could 10 answer he was gone.

So Siegfried spent the night in digging pits in the path of Fafnir, and at early dawn, as he sat in the largest, he felt the trembling of the earth, and knew that Fafnir was nigh. Snorting and spitting venom as he went, the 15 great serpent crept slowly on, fearing naught, and as he passed over the pit, Siegfried thrust up Gram with all his strength behind the dragon's left shoulder, and drew it forth black to the hilt; and Fafnir's blood gushed forth and covered Siegfried as he stood, save only 20 in one spot between his shoulders, where a dead leaf had lighted. Then he leaped from the pit and stood afar off, as the mighty serpent lashed out in the pain of his death wound, crying, "Who art thou, and whence, thou that are the undoing of Fafnir?"

"I am Siegfried, son of Sigmund, the Volsung. Tell me of the days that are to come to me." For all men

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believed that to the dying was the future clear, and Siegfried wished to see what he would foretell.

"I see evil come unto thee from the gold, Andvari's Hoard, and from the fatal ring. Take thy horse and ride 5 away, and flee from the evil.”

"Nay," quoth Siegfried, "for thy gold I came, and without it will I not go. Without gold cannot man live."

Then Fafnir poured forth words of wisdom; and as 10 the sun went down he quivered and lay a chill gray heap

upon the Waste, and the sunset light shone upon the bright hair of the Golden Siegfried, as, sword in hand, he looked down on his huge body.

Then came Regin, who had watched from afar, has15 tening to greet Siegfried. "Hail, lord and conqueror !" he cried, "henceforth shalt thou be known throughout the ages as the slayer of Fafnir."

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"Small aid wert thou," laughed Siegfried, "hiding while I fought."

"Yet," said Regin, grimly, "were it not for the sword I forged, thou hadst now lain low before Fafnir. And, since he was my brother, and thou hast slain him, for atonement shalt thou roast me his heart with fire, that I may eat it."

"That will I," said Siegfried, and he set to gather sticks while Regin slept, and the birds gathered round, and he set Fafnir's heart upon a stick to roast. When

it should have been ready, Siegfried laid his fingers upon it, and the fat, hissing out, burnt them so that he put them in his mouth to cool; and behold straightway he knew the words of the woodpeckers that chattered as they hopped around.

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The first said, "Thou foolish Siegfried, to roast for Regin. Eat thou the heart and so become wisest of men." The second said, "Thou crafty Regin, that wouldst betray the trusting youth." The third said, "Smite thou the crafty one, Siegfried, and become thy-10 self lord of the gold." The fourth said, “That is good counsel, to take the treasure and hie over the mountains to sleeping Brynhild." The fifth fluttered and said, Siegfried is a fool if he spareth him whose brother he has just slain."

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Then up sprang Siegfried, saying, "Regin shall not plot my death. He shall follow his brother." And he smote Regin with Gram, so that his head rolled away. Then he leapt on Grane and rode by the dragon's slimy trail until he came to the great cavern; and, although it 20 was now night, the cavern shone with a light as of day, by reason of the golden shine of the Hoard.

So he set Andvari's ring on his finger, and put on the golden mail and the helmet of darkness, and, putting the Hoard into two chests, he fastened them upon the back 25 of Grane, being minded to walk himself because of their weight. But Grane stirred not, and Siegfried was

troubled what he should do, for even he dared not smite the horse. Then he looked into the eyes of Grane and knew what was in his mind, so he gathered up the reins and leaped upon his back, and the gray horse tossed his 5 mane for joy and galloped over the Waste, turning southward, steady and untiring.

By stony ways rode Siegfried southward toward the Frankish land, and he saw before him a mountain whereon a great fire burned, and in the midst of the fire 10 a castle with a floating banner, and shields around the towers. And he climbed that mountain until he came close to the fire, and the crackling heat of it fanned his curls. Then he cried unto Grane, and the brave gray horse, with one mighty spring, leaped through the flame 15 and stood at the castle gate, and Siegfried, looking back, saw only a line of gray ashes where the fire had been.

The castle door stood wide, and Siegfried, with Gram unsheathed, strode through the empty courts. Upon a 20 rock in the inmost hall lay some one in full armor, the face covered by a visor. Then Siegfried cried aloud, "Arise, I am Siegfried."

But the figure moved not; so, with the point of Gram, he loosed the mail coat and flung it off, and cut the string 25 of the helmet and cast it aside, and behold! there lay before him, in deep sleep, the fairest woman he had ever seen. Gold was her hair as the hoard of Andvari, white