re champion in the fight.

"'Not eighty thousand marks would buy the hauberk bright.
A sword of mound I'll give thee, Otnit, thou royal knight;
Through armor, both of gold and steel, cuts the weapon keen;
The helmet could its edge withstand ne'er in this world was seen.'"
_Heldenbuch_ (Weber's
tr.).

The king consented, but the moment he set the dwarf free he felt him snatch
the ring his mother had given him off his hand, and saw him mysteriously
and suddenly disappear, his voice sounding tauntingly now on one side, now
on the other. Some parley ensued before the dwarf would restore the ring,
which was no sooner replaced on the hero's hand than he once more found
himself able to see his antagonist.

Alberich now gravely informed Ortnit that in spite of his infantile stature
he was very old indeed, having lived more than five hundred years. He then
went on to tell him that the king, whom Ortnit had until then considered
his father, had no claim to the title of parent, for he had secretly
divorced his wife, and given her in marriage to Alberich. Thus the dwarf
was Ortnit's true father, and declared himself ready now to acknowledge
their relationship and to protect his son.

[Sidenote: Ortnit in Tyre.] After giving Ortnit the promised armor and
sword, and directing him to turn the magic ring if ever he needed a
father's aid, Alberich vanished. Ortnit, returning to town, informed his
mother that he had seen his father; and as soon as the weather permitted he
set sail for Suders (Tyre). Ortnit entered the harbor as a merchant, and
exhibited his wares to the curious people, while Alberich, at his request,
bore a challenge to Machorell, threatening to take Tyre and the castle of
Muntabure unless he were willing to accept Ortnit as son-in-law.

The dwarf acquitted himself nobly of his task, and when Machorell
scornfully dismissed him, he hastened back to Tyre, bidding Ortnit lose no
time in surprising and taking possession of the city. This advice was so
well carried out that Ortnit soon found himself master of the city, and
marching on to Muntabure, he laid siege to the castle, restoring all his
men as soon as they were wounded by a mere touch of his magic ring.
Alberich, whom none but he could see, was allowed to lead the van and bear
the banner, which seemed to flutter aloft in a fantastic way. The dwarf
took advantage of this invisibility t