cry, 'if we will untie you and let you go?'

"'What must I give you?' he asks.

"'You must give us the whole of your treasure,' they answer; 'we will
not let you go for anything less.'

"That seems a large price, but the dwarf is as crafty as he is wicked,
though his craft seldom does him much good, and he thinks that even if
he gives up all his treasure he can soon pile up as much more, with the
help of the ring. So, by the power of the ring, he calls the dwarfs to
bring him the treasure, and up they come with it, out of the cleft of
the rocks, and they pile it in a great, glittering heap just there
where the new fire is beginning to burn so bright. 'There is the gold,'
cries the dwarf, 'let me go.'

"'Not yet,' says the Father of the Gods; 'give us your ring first, that
belongs to the treasure.'

"At that the dwarf screams and struggles and writhes and curses the
gods, but it is all of no use; the Father of the Gods tears the ring
from his finger, and then they untie him and tell him to take himself
off where he will. And now, as he goes, he lays a terrible curse on the
ring. To every one who shall ever gain it, he swears, shall come ill
luck, misfortune, sorrow, terror, and death; let him rule the world if
he will, never shall he be happy; everyone shall long for the ring, and
to him who gets it, it shall bring misery and ruin. Truly the dwarf has
gained little by stealing the gold from the river nymphs, but the gods
have done wrong as well in stealing it from him, and they are doing
wrong still in not giving it back to the nymphs; so they must suffer