, and heard the sound of hammers
ringing upon anvils. These things, too, passed them by, and on a
sudden, they found themselves in the midst of a large open space,
formed by a cavern in the rock.

_Scene III_

As they arrived at that place, they heard groans and moans, and
shrieks and wrangling. Presently they saw Alberich bring from a cleft
of the rock a wretched Mime, one of the inhabitants of Nibelheim.

"Ah, thou mischievous imp! I'll pinch thee well if thou forgest me not
the thing I commanded thee," Alberich shouted, at the same time
pinching and poking the miserable little fellow.

"I've finished thy work," the Nibelung screamed, trying to flee from
Alberich's blows.

"Then where is it?" the wretch demanded; as he wrenched open the
Mime's hand in which was concealed a piece of metal called a Tarnhelm.

"Ah, ha! Now thou shalt writhe," Alberich shouted, and setting the
Tarnhelm upon his head he immediately became invisible. Unseen
himself, he pinched and cuffed the Mime so as to make the tortured
little imp cry for mercy.

"I cannot see you," the Mime screamed piteously, trying to dodge the
blows.

"No matter, I am somewhere about," Alberich answered, giving him
another pinch. Then taking the Tarnhelm from his head he stood there
in his own shape.

"Now," shouted the imp of darkness, "Now I can punish thee properly!
If thy work is not well done I can torment thee to death. With this
magic helmet and my ring I can make the whole world smart if I choose.
And I shall choose," he added, reassuringly. "Wait till I get at those
fine Gods up there." He disappeared chuckling, into a crack in the
rock while the Mime crouched down in pain.

Alberich had no sooner gone, than Loge and Wotan came from the
darkness.

"What is wrong with thee, thou merry dwarf?" Wotan asked.

"Only leave me to myself," the Mime sobbed, moving his sore body.

"So we shall, but we shall do more than that; we shall help thee. Only
tell us what ye forged for Alberich which gave him such power over
ye!"

"Oh, it was a ring, made from the Rheingold. Now he has power over all
the Nibelheim, and he will kill us. Till this happened, we wrought at
the forge beautiful trinkets for our women-folks and laughed gaily all
day, but now he has made us his slaves who must dig precious metals
from the earth and turn them into what he commands. There is no more
happiness for us. I thought to keep the Tarnhelm he bade me make, and
learn its pow