st upon having this chink
closed up ere they will relinquish Freya, so Wotan is forced to
give up the magic ring. But he draws it from his finger only
when Erda, the shadowy earth goddess, half rises out of the
ground to command the sacrifice of the treasure which Alberich
stole from the Rhine maidens.

As the stipulated ransom has all been paid, the giants release
Freya. She joyfully embraces her kin, and under her caresses
they recover all their former youth and bloom. In the mean
while the giants produce their bags, but soon begin quarrelling
together about the division of the hoard, and appeal to the
gods to decide their dispute. The gods are all too busy to
pay any heed to this request, all except the malicious Loge,
who slyly advises Fafnir to seize the ring and pay no heed to
the rest. As the ring is accursed, Fafnir remorselessly slays
his brother to obtain it; then, packing up all the treasure in
his great bag, he triumphantly departs. To disperse the shadow
hovering over Wotan's brow ever since he has been obliged to
sacrifice the ring, Thor now beats the rocks with his magic
hammer, and conjures a brief storm. The long roll of thunder
soon dies away, and when the fitful play of the lightning
is ended Thor shows the assembled gods a glittering rainbow
bridge of quivering, changing hues, which stretches from the
valley where they are standing to the beautiful portals of the
wondrous palace Walhalla, the home of the gods!

Fascinated by this sight, Wotan invites the gods to follow him
over its lightly swung arch, and as they trip over the rainbow
bridge, the lament of the Rhine-maidens mourning their treasure
falls in slow, pitiful cadences upon their ears:--

'Rhinegold!
Purest gold!
O would that thy light
Waved in the waters below!
Unfailing faith
Is found in the deep,
While above, in delight,
Faintness and falsehood abide!'

[1] See the author's 'Myths of Northern Lands' and 'Legends of
the Rhine.'

[2] All the quotations in the 'Ring' have been taken either
from Dippold's or Forman's admirable translations.

[Illustration: BRUNHILDE DISCOVERING SIEGMUND AND SIEGLINDE.]

THE WALKYRIE.

Wotan--made secretly uneasy by Erda's dark prediction that

'Nothing that is ends not;
A day of gloom
Dawns for the gods;--
Be ruled and waive from the ring'--

relinquishes the ring which he had wrested from Alberich, as
has been seen. His