y. "It is because I mean to learn from thee
something of my mother and my father." Siegfried's voice had become
gentle, and full of longing.

"What can I tell thee?" the Mime replied, craftily. "I found thy
mother ill in the wood, and brought her to my cave, where I tended her
till thou wert born. I know nothing of thy father--except one thing."
He paused, considering whether or not he should reveal what he knew
about the good sword, Nothung.

"Well, get on with thy tale. I will know it all," Siegfried
threatened.

"Thy mother carried the fragments of a sword which had been thy
father's, and when she died at thy birth, she named thee Siegfried and
gave to me the pieces, saying if thou couldst reweld the sword, so as
to make it new, it would win thee the world. The sword's name is
Nothung."

"Where are those pieces," Siegfried roared, starting up and menacing
the Mime.

"Do not set upon me so fiercely--I will give them to thee," the Mime
pleaded, and taking the pieces from a cleft in the rock, he gave the
youth a sword in two parts. "It is useless to thee, I tell thee
frankly; I could not make thee the sword. There is no fire hot enough
to fuse the metal, and no arm strong enough to forge it--not even
mine, which has fashioned swords for giants."

Siegfried shouted with joy.

"Thou old thief, have the good sword done ere I return or I will have
the bear swallow thee at a gulp." Leaping with joy he went back into
the forest. The Mime sat down in great trouble. He did not doubt
Siegfried's word--yet he knew that he could never make the sword. He
fell to rocking himself to and fro upon the stone seat, while he
thought of what he should do to excuse himself upon Siegfried's
return.

In the midst of his trouble a strange man entered the cavern, dressed
in a dark blue cloak which nearly hid him. On his head was a great hat
pulled low over his face, but one fierce eye shone from under it. When
the Mime saw him, he felt new fear.

_Scene II_

"Who art thou?" the Mime demanded in an ugly tone, as the Wanderer
stood watching him reflectively.

"I am one who brings wisdom, and whom none who have good hearts turn
away. Only the evil turn from me. The good offer me shelter." The
Mime, seeing only his own cunning and wickedness reflected in the
Wanderer, tried to think how he should rid himself of one he believed
had come to harm him. He thought the Wanderer must be a spy, but in
reality, he was the God Wotan, who h