Often he said: "No one in this world can make such marvelous swords as
Mimi."

Siegfried urged him to make one sword after another, but as fast as they
were made the boy would shatter them to bits with one blow on the
dwarf's forge.

Then he would cry in disgust: "Nonsense, Mimi. Your swords are mere
toys. Just like little switches.

"Either make me a good strong sword or quit your bragging."

Mimi always kept the pieces of Siegmund's sword carefully hidden.
While Siegfried roamed through the woods, the dwarf would work for hours
trying to mend the magic blade, but its hard steel would never yield
either to his fire or his hammer.

Mimi grew tired and discouraged.

"I can never mend it," he groaned.


A BIG BROWN BEAR

Siegfried grew to be a young man.

Often he saw his reflection in the water, and he said:--

"I am not Mimi's son. The babes in the forest all look like their