"Have you never seen anything that made you shiver from head to foot and
made your heart beat fast?"

"I never have," calmly answered Siegfried. "Take me quickly, Mimi. I am
ready to learn."

At every step Mimi chuckled to himself:--

"The ring is mine! At last the ring is mine! Now all the world shall
kneel at my feet!"

"When he had gone as far as he dared, he pointed out the rest of the way
to Siegfried.

"Just through here," he said. "And I shall go back now. When the dragon
sees you it will be a terrible struggle! I shall wait anxiously for you,
my Siegfried!"

But as Siegfried vanished from sight, he rubbed his black hands together
and laughed:--

"Ah, it will be luck for Mimi if Siegfried and the dragon kill each
other!"


A WOOD-BIRD'S SONG

When Siegfried had gone on a little way, he stretched himself upon a
grassy mound beneath a tree to rest and think.