IDENS AND ALBERICH
WOTAN
HE TUGGED IN VAIN
WALKUERE CARRYING HEROES TO VALHALLA
"EAT HIM, BRUIN," LAUGHED SIEGFRIED
"I AM GOING TO EAT YOU," HISSED THE DRAGON
THREE NORNS CAME TO THE MOUNTAIN CREST TO SPIN

_From drawings by E. Pollak-Ottendorff_

TO THE GIRLS AND BOYS

In these stories you will find some wonderful giants.

You will find beautiful maidens who lived in a river.

You will find a large family of little black dwarfs who lived under the
river, and you will find a splendid hero.

The little children of Germany used to curl up in their mothers' arms,
when bedtime came, and listen to the stories of these strange people.

When these little children grew up, they told the same stories to their
children.

So it went for many, many years.

The stories have been put together by a man named Richard Wagner. He put
them together in such a way that they make one long and wonderful story.

After he had told these stories in words, he told them again in a more
beautiful way. He told them in music.

Sometime you will hear this music, and you will think of beautiful
water-maidens, singing and dancing in the sunshine.

You will think of great giants walking over mountains.

You will think of the little black dwarfs under the river, and you will
hear them hammering, hammering upon their anvils.

OPERA STORIES FROM WAGNER

THE RHINE-GOLD

THE HAPPY RHINE-DAUGHTERS

In the Rhine River there lived three beautiful maidens. They were called
the Rhine-daughters.

They had long, golden hair, which floated upon the waves as they swam
from rock to rock.

When their father went away, he left in their care a great lump of pure
gold.

This gold was on the very top of the highest rock in the river.

Every morning the beautiful Rhine-daughters would dance and sing about
their gold.

They sang a happy song:--

"Heigh-ho! hither, ye waters!
Waver and waft me to sleep on your breast!
Heigh-ho! hither, ye waters!
Weave me sweet dreams on your billowy crest!"

ALBERICH

One morning, when the sun was shining very brightly, the Rhine-daughters
were startled by a strange sound in the depths of the water.

"Look!" whispered one. "What is that scowling at us from the rocks
below?"

There, stealing along the river-bed, they saw a hideous little black
dwarf.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" asked the Rhine-daughters.

"I am Alberich," answered the dwarf as h