Mignon was at first dazzled with the lustre of so much gold and
silver, and sparkling jewels as were there heaped together. But
casting his eyes on a statue that was placed in the middle of the
room, he read on the pedestal, written in very small letters, the
following verses:

Wouldst thou from the rage be free
Of the tyrant's tyranny,
Loose the fillet which is bound
Twice three times my brows around;
Bolts and bars shall open fly,
By a magic sympathy.
Take him in his sleeping hour;
Bind his neck and break his pow'r.
Patience bids, make no delay:
Haste to bind him, haste away.

Mignon's little heart now leapt for joy, that he had found the
means of such a speedy deliverance; and eagerly climbing up the
statue, he quickly unbound the magic fillet; which was no sooner
done, but suddenly the bolts and bars of the brazen gates through
which the giant used to pass to this his treasury, were all
unloosed, and the folding-doors of their own accord flew open,
grating harsh thunder on their massy hinges. At the same instant,
stretched on his iron couch in the room adjoining to the hall, the
giant gave a deadly groan. Here again the little Mignon's
trembling heart began to fail; for he feared the monster was
awakened by the noise, and that he should now suffer the cruellest
torments his wicked malice could invent. Wherefore for a short
space he remained clinging round the statue, till he perceived