was roused, and his breath
then came from his lips in a fiery torrent, scorching his opponent, and
consuming all inflammable articles.

When Dietrich was but five years of age his training was intrusted to
Hildebrand, son of Herbrand, one of the Volsung race; and so well did the
tutor acquit himself of this task that he soon made his pupil as
accomplished a warrior as himself. Their tastes were, moreover, so similar
that they soon became inseparable friends, and their attachment has become
as proverbial among northern nations as that of David and Jonathan, Damon
and Pythias, or Orestes and Pylades.

Hearing that a giant, Grim, and a giantess, Hilde, were committing great
depredations in a remote part of his father's territories, and that no one
had been able to rout or slay them, young Dietrich set out with Master
Hildebrand to attack them. They had not ridden long in the forest before
they became aware of the presence of a tiny dwarf, Alberich (Alferich,
Alpris, or Elbegast), and pouncing upon him, they held him fast, vowing
that he should recover his liberty only upon condition of pointing out the
giants' lurking place.

[Sidenote: The sword Nagelring.] The dwarf not only promised the desired
information, but gave Dietrich the magic sword Nagelring, which alone could
pierce the giants' skin. Then he led both heroes to the cave, where Grim
and Hilde were gloating over a magic helmet they had made and called
Hildegrim. Peering through a fissure of the rock, Hildebrand was the first
to gaze upon them, and in his eagerness to get at them he braced his
shoulder against the huge mass of stone, forced it apart, and thus made a
passage for himself and for his impetuous young pupil.

As Nagelring, the magic sword, had been stolen from him, Grim attacked
Dietrich with a blazing brand snatched from the fire, while Hildebrand and
Hilde wrestled together. The encounter was short and fierce between the
young hero and his gigantic opponent, who soon succumbed beneath
Nagelring's sharp blows. Then Dietrich, turning, came just in time to save
his master from Hilde's treacherous blade. But, although one stroke of
Nagelring cut her in two, the heroes were dismayed to see the severed parts
of her body knit together in a trice, and permit Hilde, whole once more, to
renew the attack.

To prevent a repetition of this magical performance, Dietrich, after again
cutting her in two, placed his sword between the severed parts, and,
knowing