ely, and life a gladsome thing. And
his heart was big within him as he thought of the days to come, of
the deeds of love and daring, of the righting of many wrongs, of the
people's praise, and the glory of a life well lived. And he wended his
way back again toward the south and the fair lands of the Rhine. He left
the barren moorlands behind him, and the pleasant farms and villages of
the fruitful countryside, and after many days came once more to Regin's
woodland dwelling. For he said to himself, "My old master is very wise;
and he knows of the deeds that were done when yet the world was young,
and my kin were the mightiest of men. I will go to him, and learn what
grievous evil it is that he has so often vaguely hinted at."

Regin, when he saw the lad and the beaming Greyfell standing like
a vision of light at his door, welcomed them most gladly, and led
Siegfried into the inner room, where they sat down together amid the
gold, and the gem-stones, and the fine-wrought treasures there.

"Truly," said the master, "the days of my long waiting are drawing to a
close, and at last the deed shall be done."

And the old look of longing came again into his eyes, and his pinched
face seemed darker and more wrinkled than before, and his thin lips
trembled with emotion as he spoke.

"What is that deed of which you speak?" asked Siegfried.

"It is the righting of a grievous wrong," answered Regin, "and the
winning of treasures untold. Lo, many years have I waited for the coming
of this day; and now my heart tells me that the hero so long hoped for
is here, and the wisdom and the wealth of the world shall be mine."

"But what is the wrong to be righted?" asked Siegfried. "And what is
this treasure that you speak of as your own?"

"Alas!" answered Regin, "the treasure is indeed mine; and yet wrongfully
has it been withheld from me. But listen a while to a tale of the early
days, and thou shalt know what the treasure is, and what is the wrong to
be righted."

He took his harp and swept the strings, and played a soft, low melody
which told of the dim past, and of blighted hopes, and of a nameless,
never-satisfied yearning for that which might have been. And then he
told Siegfried this story:

Regin's Story.

When the earth was still very young, and men were feeble and few, and
the Dwarfs were many and strong, the Asa-folk were wont oft-times
to leave their halls in heaven-towering Asgard in order to visit the
new-fo