their gold.

They sang a happy song:--

"Heigh-ho! hither, ye waters!
Waver and waft me to sleep on your breast!
Heigh-ho! hither, ye waters!
Weave me sweet dreams on your billowy crest!"



ALBERICH


One morning, when the sun was shining very brightly, the Rhine-daughters
were startled by a strange sound in the depths of the water.

"Look!" whispered one. "What is that scowling at us from the rocks
below?"

There, stealing along the river-bed, they saw a hideous little black
dwarf.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" asked the Rhine-daughters.

"I am Alberich," answered the dwarf as he tried to climb up on the
slippery rocks. "I came from the kingdom of the Nibelungs, down under
the earth."

"What!" said the Rhine-daughters. "Surely you do not live down in the