so much that almost no sunshine could
get through.

Mimi liked this place. It was soothing to his eyes, so used to the
darkness of the Nibelungs' cavern.

THE DRAGON

Mimi had found the very forest which he sought to find.

This was the one in which the dragon lay guarding the hoard.

The sly dwarf caught a glimpse of the huge monster lying at the door of
its cave.

Its great yawning jaws and sharp teeth filled him with terror.

Mimi darted into the underbrush. How glad he was that the monster had
not seen him.

He shook and trembled with fear as he peeped at the loathsome creature.

Its body was covered with green scales. Poison breath came from its
nostrils.

Its awful snake-like tail twisted and lashed about. In the end of the
tail was a deadly sting.

"Alberich's ring is in that cave," thought Mimi. "Now close to this
forest I must find a good little cavern in which to live.

"Then I can come often to watch the dragon.

"Some day I shall find a hero to slay this fierce monster. Then I shall
slink into the cave and snatch the ring.

"Ho! ho! my brother Alberich! We shall see who shall be master and who
shall be slave!"

A BABY IN THE FOREST

Mimi found a cavern in a rocky cleft. It was just the kind of place he
liked.

In it was just the right kind of rock for a forge.

There he hammered at weapons or chains or whatever happened to be his
need.

Daily he sneaked about in the underbrush, watching the dragon, and daily
he became more anxious to gain the gold.

He was such a coward that he was frightened at almost every animal he
saw in the woods and startled by every sound.

One day, when he had ventured farther from his cave than usual, he was
startled by a strange little cry.

He listened a moment and thought:--

"It sounds like the cry of a little child. I shall run to my cave."

But as he heard the cry again, something made him want to see what it
was.

He slipped cautiously through the bushes, in the direction from which
the sound came.

When he reached the place he found a little baby boy.

This was the same forest to which Brunhilde had fled, bearing the broken
sword to Siegmund's wife.

But now the mother had died, and Siegmund's child was left alone in the
woods.

MIMI AND THE BABY

Mimi was mean and selfish.

He would not even have cared for a little child alone in the woods had
he not thought that by so doing he might gain something for himself.

As he look