He called back to Wotan and Loki: "I will keep Freya until evening. Then
I shall come again, and if you have that glittering Rhine-gold for me,
then you may have your sister. If you do not give me the gold, then
Freya is mine and I will keep her always."


YOUTH OR AGE?

As soon as Freya was gone, the flowers began to droop their heads.

Wotan and his family began to grow old and gray.

It seemed to Wotan like some awful dream.

Suddenly Loki cried out: "We have not eaten Freya's fruit to-day! Now
she is gone, we shall all wither and die!"

Wotan had stood gazing at the ground, trying hard to think what he
could do to save himself and his family.

"Come, Loki," he said. "We must go to the deep dark kingdom of the
Nibelungs. I must have the gold! Let us go by way of the brimstone
gorge. I cannot go by way of the river. I do not want to hear the
wailing of the Rhine-daughters."

Wotan called back to his anxious family: "Only wait till evening and I
promise I shall bring your lost youth back to you."