dawn of every day to slake his thirst at the river. Do you
dig a pit in this roadway,--a pit narrow and deep,--and hide
yourself within it. In the morning, when Fafnir passes over
it, let him feel the edge of Balmung."

As the man ceased speaking, the boat touched the shore, and
Siegfried leaped out. He looked back to thank his unknown
friend, but neither boat nor boatman was to be seen. Only a
thin white mist rose slowly from the cold surface of the
stream, and floated upwards and away towards the
mountain-tops. Then the lad remembered that the strange
boatman had worn a blue hood bespangled with golden stars,
and that a gray kirtle was thrown over his shoulders, and
that his one eye glistened and sparkled with a light that
was more than human. And he knew that he had again talked
with Odin. Then, with a braver heart than before, he went
forwards, along the river-bank, until he came to Fafnir's
trail,--a deep, wide furrow in the earth, beginning at the
river's bank, and winding far away over the heath, until it
was lost to sight in the darkness. The bottom of the trail
was soft and slimy, and its sides had been worn smooth by
Fafnir's frequent travel through it.

In this road, at a point not far from the river, Siegfried,
with his trusty sword Balmung, scooped out a deep and narrow
pit, as Odin had directed. And when the gray dawn began to
appear in the east he hid himself within this trench, and
waited for the coming of the monster. He had not long to
wait; for no sooner had the sky begun to redden in the light
of the coming sun than the dragon was heard bestirring