y fire the rock!
Loge! Loge! Aloft!
Who fears the spike
Of my spear to face,
He will pierce not the planted fire.'

[Illustration: SIEGFRIED AND MIME.]

SIEGFRIED.

Sieglinde, having dragged herself into the depths of the
great untrodden forest, dwelt there in utter solitude until
the time came for her son Siegfried to come into the world.
Sick and alone, the poor woman went about in search of aid,
and finally came to Mime's cavern, where, after giving birth
to her child and intrusting him to the care of the dwarf,
she gently breathed her last.

Here, in the grand old forest, young Siegfried grew up to
manhood, knowing nothing of his parentage except the lie which
Mime, the wily dwarf, chose to tell him, that he was his own
son. Strong, fearless, and unruly, the youth soon felt the utmost
contempt for the cringing dwarf, and, instead of bending over
the anvil and swinging the heavy hammer, he preferred to range
the forest, hunting the wild beasts, climbing the tallest trees,
and scaling the steepest rocks.

As the opera opens, the curtain rises upon a sooty cave, where
the dwarf Mime is alone at work, hammering a sword upon his
anvil and complaining bitterly of the strength and violence of
young Siegfried, who shatters every weapon he makes. In spite of
repeated disappointments, however, Mime the Nibelung works on.
His sole aim is to weld a sword which in the bold youth's hands
will avail to slay his enemy, the giant Fafnir, the owner of the
ring and magic helm, and the possessor of all the mighty hoard.

While busy in his forge, Mime tells how the giant fled with his
treasure far away from the haunts of men, concealed his gold
in the Neidhole, a grewsome den. There, thanks to the magic
helmet, he has assumed the loathsome shape of a great dragon,
whose fiery breath and lashing tail none dares to encounter.

As Mime finishes the sword he has been fashioning, Siegfried,
singing his merry hunting song, dashes into the cave, holding
a bear in leash. After some rough play, which nearly drives
the unhappy Mime mad with terror, Siegfried sets the beast
free, grasps the sword, and with one single blow shatters
it to pieces on the anvil, to Mime's great chagrin. Another
weapon has failed to satisfy his needs, and the youth, after
harshly upbraiding the unhappy smith, throws himself sullenly
down in front of the fire. Mime then cringingly approaches him
with servile offers of food and drin