fail, I will make him rue the day."

Then Siegfried went to his task. And for seven days and
seven nights the sparks never stopped flying from his forge;
and the ringing of his anvil, and the hissing of the hot
metal as he tempered it, were heard continuously. On the
eighth day the sword was fashioned, and Siegfried brought it
to Mimer.

The smith felt the razor-edge of the bright weapon, and
said, "This seems, indeed, a fair fire-edge. Let us make a
trial of its keenness."

Then a thread of wool as light as thistle-down was thrown
upon water, and, as it floated there, Mimer struck it with
the sword. The glittering blade cleft the slender thread in
twain, and the pieces floated undisturbed upon the surface
of the liquid.

"Well done!" cried the delighted smith. "Never have I seen a
keener edge. If its temper is as true as its sharpness would
lead us to believe, it will indeed serve me well."

But Siegfried took the sword again, and broke it into many
pieces; and for three days he welded it in a white-hot fire,
and tempered it with milk and oatmeal. Then, in sight of
Mimer and the sneering apprentices, he cast a light ball of
fine-spun wool upon the flowing water of the brook; and it
was caught in the swift eddies of the stream, and whirled
about until it met the bared blade of the sword, which was