he could have been heard a mile away. As it
was, he spoke in his loudest voice, although he was sleepy, and
Alberich nearly fainted with terror.

"Thou hast failed with the Dragon, Alberich," the Wanderer said,
smiling, "but I will give thee one word more of advice: Make terms
with the Mime. Attack him; perhaps thou wilt have better luck with thy
kind!" In a flash of lightning, the Wanderer mounted his magic steed
and disappeared. When he had looked after him for a moment, Alberich
slipped into the Dragon's cave, and as he disappeared, the day slowly
dawned, and all the scene grew bright in the morning light.

Just at the dawn of day, Siegfried, and the Mime reached the glade
before the Dragon's cave. The enchanted sword hung at Siegfried's
belt.

_Scene II_

"Now we have arrived where the Dragon lives," the Mime said to
Siegfried.

"Ah?" the youth said, sitting down to rest under a lime tree. He
looked curiously about him. "Is it time to be afraid?" he asked,
anxiously. "Because if so, I feel nothing yet--although maybe I do,
and do not know it?"

"Oh, you'll know it fast enough," the Mime assured him. "In that cave
there lies the Dragon. His great hairy jaws will open and swallow thee
at one gulp." But Siegfried sat under the lime tree and asked if that
were really true. It interested him greatly.

"But one thing I tell thee," he cried: "If this thing which you have
told me be not true, we'll part company at once. I'm not to be
fooled. I have come here to learn something--how to be afraid--and if
I don't learn it as thou hast said, I'll teach thee to stop lying."

"When, out of the Dragon's mouth, a poisoned foam pours, which will
kill thee if any drop gets upon thee, I guess thou wilt shake a
little. Thy body and thy bones would melt if that stuff touched thee."

"Well, I'll give him plenty of room, to be sure," Siegfried replied.

"His great tail will sweep about and if he should catch thy limbs in
it, thy bones would be crushed like glass."

"That sounds very bad; but tell me if this thing has a heart which is
placed where other hearts are placed?"

"Truly--a cold and cruel heart."

"Oh, as to that, I am not concerned, but if he has any heart, Nothung
will slip into it. Now come, old babbler, is this the thing that is to
teach me fear--this thing that spits a bit and lashes about with a
clumsy old tail?"

"Laugh away, laugh away! But I have no mind to stay so near, so I
shall go away and lie do