glittering hoard with them.

"By our strength and through our advice," said they, "this
great store has come into your hands. Let us place it in
three equal heaps, and then let each take his share and go
his way."

At this the farmer waxed very angry; and he loudly declared
that he would keep all the treasure for himself, and that
his sons should not have any portion of it whatever. So
Fafnir and Regin, nursing their disappointment, went to the
fields to watch their sheep; but their father sat down to
guard his new-gotten treasure. And he took in his hand the
glittering serpent-ring, and gazed into its cold ruby eyes:
and, as he gazed, all his thoughts were fixed upon his gold;
and there was no room in his heart for love toward his
fellows, nor for deeds of kindness, nor for the worship of
the All-Father. And behold, as he continued to look at the
snaky ring, a dreadful change came over him. The warm red
blood, which until that time had leaped through his veins,
and given him life and strength and human feelings, became
purple and cold and sluggish; and selfishness, like
serpent-poison, took hold of his heart. Then, as he kept on
gazing at the hoard which lay before him, he began to lose
his human shape; his body lengthened into many scaly folds,
and he coiled himself around his loved treasures,--the very
likeness of the ring upon which he had looked so long.

When the day drew near its close, Fafnir came back from the
fields with his herd of sheep, and thought to find his