all the gold in this world! Without her we must all wither and die!"

It was no use to resist. Wotan knew that he dared not lose Freya.

Taking the ring from his finger, he flung it upon the shining heap.


A SLAVE TO GOLD

Fafner gathered up the hoard--the hoard for which he had worked--the
hoard for which he had made so much trouble.

He carried it off to his own country. Now that he had it, he had no
thought of using it.

He wanted it merely for gold's sake; not for the sake of the great, good
things that might be done with it. The only thing he wished to do was to
keep others from getting it.

He heaped it up in a cave in the forest. Then he put on the helmet and
changed himself into a fierce, ugly dragon.

For the love of mere gold he was willing to give up being a splendid
giant, who roamed freely over the beautiful mountains, and to become a
hideous, twisting, squirming monster.

The rest of his life he would lie at the door of the cave and guard the
treasure. The treasure should lie there useless to all the world.

Fafner,--a slave to gold!