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[Illustration: Then Mimer saw the bear, (see page 4)]
TOLD TO THE CHILDREN SERIES
EDITED BY LOUEY CHISHOLM
STORIES OF
SIEGFRIED
TOLD TO THE CHILDREN BY
MARY MACGREGOR
WITH PICTURES BY
GRANVILLE FELL
LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK
NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
* * * * *
TO
DENIS
* * * * *
Dear Denis,--Here is a story that I found in an old German poem called
the Nibelungenlied. The poem is full of strange adventure, adventure
of both tiny dwarf and stalwart mortal.
Some of these adventures will fill this little book, and already I can
see you sitting in the nursery as you read them.
The door is opened but you do not look up. 'Denis! Denis!' You are
called, but you do not hear, for you are not really in the nursery any
longer.
You have wandered away to Nibelheim, the home of the strange little
people of whom you are reading, and you have ears only for the harsh
voices of the tiny Nibelungs, eyes only for their odd, wrinkled faces.
Siegfried is the merry hero of the Nibelungenlied. I wonder will you
think him as brave as French Roland or as chivalrous as your English
favourite, Guy of Warwick? Yet even should you think the German hero
brave and chivalrous as these, I can hardly believe you will read and
re-read this little book as often as you read and re-read the volumes
which told you about your French and English heroes.--Yours
affectionately,
MARY MACGREGOR.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
Chap. Page
I. Mimer the Blacksmith, 1
II. Siegfried wins the Treasure, 11
III. Siegfried comes home, 18
IV. Kriemhild's Dream, 23
V. Siegfried journeys to Worms, 27
VI. Siegfried's Welcome to Worms, 32
VII. Siegfried's Sojourn at Worms, 42
VIII. Siegfried sees Kriemhild, 59
IX. Siegfried goes to Isenland, 64
X. Siegfried subdues Brunhild, 71
XI. Siegfried goes to the Cave, 80
XII. The Wedding Feast, 87
XIII. Siegfried goes home with Kriemhild, 93
XIV. Siegfried and Kriemhild go to Worms, 99
XV. Siegfried is slain, 106
* * * * *
LIST OF PICTURES
Then Mimer saw the bear, _Frontispiece_
Facing page
'I will kill thee, for in truth thou art an ugly monster', 8
Seizing the magic sword, he cut off their heads, 16
Knighted by the royal hand of Siegmund the King, 20
The heroes entered the streets of Worms, 32
The maiden hurled her spear, 76
Siegfried bent low before the lady Kriemhild, 86
While Siegfried drank of the cool, clear water, Hagen
stabbed him, 114
* * * * *
CHAPTER I
MIMER THE BLACKSMITH
Siegfried was born a Prince and grew to be a hero, a hero with a heart
of gold. Though he could fight, and was as strong as any lion, yet he
could love too and be as gentle as a child.
The father and mother of the hero-boy lived in a strong castle near
the banks of the great Rhine river. Siegmund, his father, was a rich
king, Sieglinde, his mother, a beautiful queen, and dearly did they
love their little son Siegfried.
The courtiers and the high-born maidens who dwelt in the castle
honoured the little Prince, and thought him the fairest child in all
the land, as indeed he was.
Sieglinde, his queen-mother, would ofttimes dress her little son in
costly garments and lead him by the hand before the proud, strong
men-at-arms who stood before the castle walls. Nought had they but
smiles and gentle words for their little Prince.
When he grew older, Siegfried would ride into the country, yet always
would he be attended by King Siegmund's most trusted warriors.
Then one day armed men entered the Netherlands, the country over which
King Siegmund ruled, and the little Prince was sent away from the
castle, lest by any evil chance he should fall into the hands of the
foe.
Siegfried was hidden away safe in the thickets of a great forest, and
dwelt there under the care of a blacksmith, named Mimer.
Mimer was a dwarf, belonging to a strange race of little folk called
Nibelungs. The Nibelungs lived for the most part in a dark little town
beneath the ground. Nibelheim was the name of this little town and
many of the tiny men who dwelt there were smiths. All the livelong day
they would hammer on their little anvils, but all through the long
night they would dance and play with tiny little Nibelung women.
It was not in the little dark town of Nibelheim that Mimer had his
forge, but under the trees of the great forest to which Siegfried had
been sent.
As Mimer or his pupils wielded their tools the wild beasts would start
from their lair, and the swift birds would wing their flight through
the mazes of the wood, lest danger lay in those heavy, resounding
strokes.
But Siegfried, the hero-boy, would laugh for glee, and seizing the
heaviest hammer he could see he would swing it with such force upon
the anvil that it would be splintered into a thousand pieces.
Then Mimer the blacksmith would scold the lad, who was now the
strongest of all the lads under his care; but little heeding his
rebukes, Siegfried would fling himself merrily out of the smithy and
hasten with great strides into the gladsome wood. For now the Prince
was growing a big lad, and his strength was even as the strength of
ten.
To-day Siegfried was in a merry mood. He would repay Mimer's rebukes
in right good fashion. He would frighten the little blacksmith dwarf
until he was forced to cry for mercy.
Clad in his forest dress of deerskins, with his hair as burnished gold
blowing around his shoulders, Siegfried wandered away into the depths
of the woodland.
There he seized the silver horn which hung from his girdle and raised
it to his lips. A long, clear note he blew, and ere the sound had died
away the boy saw a sight which pleased him well. Here was good prey
indeed! A bear, a great big shaggy bear was peering at him out of a
bush, and as he gazed the beast opened its jaws and growled, a fierce
and angry growl.
Not a whit afraid was Siegfried. Quick as lightning he had caught the
great creature in his arms, and ere it could turn upon him, it was
muzzled, and was being led quietly along toward the smithy.
Mimer was busy at his forge sharpening a sword when Siegfried reached
the doorway.
At the sound of laughter the little dwarf raised his head. It was the
Prince who laughed. Then Mimer saw the bear,[1] and letting the sword
he held drop to the ground with a clang, he ran to hide himself in the
darkest corner of the smithy.
[Footnote 1: See frontispiece.]
Then Siegfried laughed again. He was no hero-boy to-day, for next he
made the big bear hunt the little Nibelung dwarf from corner to
corner, nor could the frightened little man escape or hide himself in
darkness. Again and again as he crouched in a shadowed corner,
Siegfried would stir up the embers of the forge until all the smithy
was lighted with a ruddy glow.
At length the Prince tired of his game, and unmuzzling the bear he
chased the bewildered beast back into the shelter of the woodlands.
Mimer, poor little dwarf, all a-tremble with his fear, cried angrily,
'Thou mayest go shoot if so it please thee, and bring home thy dead
prey. Dead bears thou mayest bring hither if thou wilt, but live bears
shalt thou leave to crouch in their lair or to roam through the
forest.' But Siegfried, the naughty Prince, only laughed at the little
Nibelung's frightened face and harsh, croaking voice.
Now as the days passed, Mimer the blacksmith began to wish that
Siegfried had never come to dwell with him in his smithy. The Prince
was growing too strong, too brave to please the little dwarf, moreover
many were the mischievous tricks his pupil played on him.
Prince though he was, Mimer would see if he could not get rid of his
tormentor. For indeed though, as I have told you, Siegfried had a
heart of gold, at this time the gold seemed to have grown dim and
tarnished. Perhaps that was because the Prince had learned to distrust
and to dislike, nay, more, to hate the little, cunning dwarf.
However that may be, it is certain that Siegfried played many pranks
upon the little Nibelung, and he, Mimer, determined to get rid of the
quick-tempered, strong-handed Prince.
One day, therefore, it happened that the little dwarf told Siegfried
to go deep into the forest to bring home charcoal for the forge. And
this Mimer did, though he knew that in the very part of the forest to
which he was sending the lad there dwelt a terrible dragon, named
Regin. Indeed Regin was a brother of the little blacksmith, and would
be lying in wait for the Prince. It would be but the work of a moment
for the monster to seize the lad and greedily to devour him.
To Siegfried it was always joy to wander afar through the woodland.
Ofttimes had he thrown himself down on the soft, moss-covered ground
and lain there hour after hour, listening to the wood-birds' song.
Sometimes he would even find a reed and try to pipe a tune as sweet as
did the birds, but that was all in vain, as the lad soon found. No
tiny songster would linger to hearken to the shrill piping of his
grassy reed, and the Prince himself was soon ready to fling it far
away.
It was no hardship then to Siegfried to leave the forge and the hated
little Nibelung, therefore it was that with right good-will he set out
in search of charcoal for Mimer the blacksmith.
As he loitered there where the trees grew thickest, Siegfried took his
horn and blew it lustily. If he could not pipe on a grassy reed, at
least he could blow a rousing note on his silver horn.
[Illustration: "I will kill thee, for in truth thou art an ugly
monster"]
Suddenly as Siegfried blew, the trees seemed to sway, the earth to
give out fire. Regin, the dragon, had roused himself at the blast, and
was even now drawing near to the Prince.
It was at the mighty strides of the monster that the trees had seemed
to tremble, it was as he opened his terrible jaws that the earth had
seemed to belch out fire.
For a little while Siegfried watched the dragon in silence. Then he
laughed aloud, and a brave, gay laugh it was. Alone in the forest,
with a sword buckled to his side, the hero was afraid of naught, not
even of Regin. The ugly monster was sitting now on a little hillock,
looking down upon the lad, his victim as he thought.
Then Siegfried called boldly to the dragon, 'I will kill thee, for in
truth thou art an ugly monster.'
At those words Regin opened his great jaws, and showed his terrible
fangs. Yet still the boy Prince mocked at the hideous dragon.
And now Regin in his fury crept closer and closer to the lad, swinging
his great tail, until he well-nigh swept Siegfried from his feet.
Swiftly then the Prince drew his sword, well tempered as he knew, for
had not he himself wrought it in the forge of Mimer the blacksmith?
Swiftly he drew his sword, and with one bound he sprang upon the
dragon's back, and as he reared himself, down came the hero's shining
sword and pierced into the very heart of the monster. Thus as
Siegfried leaped nimbly to the ground, the dragon fell back dead.
Regin was no longer to be feared.
Then Siegfried did a curious thing. He had heard the little Nibelung
men who came to the smithy to talk with Mimer, he had heard them say
that whoever should bathe in the blood of Regin the dragon would
henceforth be safe from every foe. For his skin would grow so tough
and horny that it would be to him as an armour through which no sword
or spear could ever pierce.
Thinking of the little Nibelungs' harsh voices and wrinkled little
faces, as they had sat talking thus around Mimer's glowing forge,
Siegfried now flung aside his deerskin dress and bathed himself from
top to toe in the dragon's blood.
But as he bathed, a leaf from off a linden tree was blown upon his
shoulders, and on the spot where it rested Siegfried's skin was still
soft and tender as when he was a little child. It was only a tiny spot
which was covered by the linden leaf, but should a spear thrust, or an
arrow pierce that tiny spot, Siegfried would be wounded as easily as
any other man.
The dragon was dead, the bath was over, and clad once more in his
deerskin, Siegfried set out for the smithy. He brought no charcoal for
the forge; all that he carried with him was a heart afire with anger,
a sword quivering to take the life of the Nibelung, Mimer.
For now Siegfried knew that the dwarf had wished to send him forth to
death, when he bade him go seek charcoal in the depths of the forest.
Into the dusky glow of the smithy plunged the hero, and swiftly he
slew the traitor Mimer. Then gaily, for he had but slain evil ones of
whom the world was well rid, then gaily Siegfried fared through the
forest in quest of adventure.