and honors, he went out with his earls and fighting-men to
battle against the hosts of King Lyngi the Mighty; and how,
in the midst of the fight, when his sword had hewn down
numbers of the foe, and the end of the strife and victory
seemed near, an old man, one eyed and bearded, and wearing a
cloud-gray cloak, stood up before him in the din, and his
sword was broken in pieces, and he fell dead on the heap of
the slain.[EN#4] And, when Mimer had finished his tale, his
dark face seemed to grow darker, and his twinkling eyes grew
brighter, as he cried out in a tone of despair and hopeless
yearning,--

"Oh, past are those days of old and the worthy deeds of the
brave! And these are the days of the home-stayers, --of the
wise, but feeble-hearted. Yet the Norns have spoken; and it
must be that another hero shall arise of the Volsung blood,
and he shall restore the name and the fame of his kin of the
early days. And he shall be my bane; and in him shall the
race of heroes have an end."[EN#7]

Siegfried's heart was strangely stirred within him as he
hearkened to this story of ancient times and to the fateful
words of the master, and for a long time he sat in silent
thought; and neither he nor Mimer moved, or spoke again,
until the darkness of the night had begun to fade, and the
gray light of morning to steal into the smithy. Then, as if
moved by a sudden impulse, he turned to the master, and
said,--

"You speak of the Norns, dear master, and of their