urned away, delighted that he had thus left the curse of
Andvari with Hreidmar and his sons, and hastened northward toward
the sea; for he wished to redeem the promise that he had made to the
Ocean-queen, to bring back her magic net, and to decoy the richly laden
ship into her clutches.

No sooner were the strange huntsmen well out of sight than Fafnir and
Regin began to ask their father to divide the glittering hoard with
them.

"By our strength and through our advice," said they, "this great store
has come into your hands. Let us place it in three equal heaps, and then
let each take his share and go his way."

At this the farmer waxed very angry; and he loudly declared that he
would keep all the treasure for himself, and that his sons should not
have any portion of it whatever. So Fafnir and Regin, nursing their
disappointment, went to the fields to watch their sheep; but their
father sat down to guard his new-gotten treasure. And he took in his
hand the glittering serpent-ring, and gazed into its cold ruby eyes:
and, as he gazed, all his thoughts were fixed upon his gold; and there
was no room in his heart for love toward his fellows, nor for deeds
of kindness, nor for the worship of the All-Father. And behold, as he
continued to look at the snaky ring, a dreadful change came over him.
The warm red blood, which until that time had leaped through his veins,
and given him life and strength and human feelings, became purple and
cold and sluggish; and selfishness, like serpent-poison, took hold of
his heart. Then, as he kept on gazing at the hoard which lay before him,
he began to lose his human shape; his body lengthened into many scaly
folds, and he coiled himself around his loved treasures,--the very
likeness of the ring upon which he had looked so long.

When the day drew near its close, Fafnir came back from the fields with
his herd of sheep, and thought to find his father guarding the treasure,
as he had left him in the morning; but instead he saw a glittering
snake, fast asleep, encircling the hoard like a huge scaly ring of gold.
His first thought was that the monster had devoured his father; and,
hastily drawing his sword, with one blow he severed the serpent's head
from its body. And, while yet the creature writhed in the death-agony,
he gathered up the hoard, and fled with it beyond the hills of Hunaland,
until on the seventh day he came to a barren heath far from the homes
of men. There he placed the trea