d to his side, the hero was afraid of naught, not
even of Regin. The ugly monster was sitting now on a little hillock,
looking down upon the lad, his victim as he thought.

Then Siegfried called boldly to the dragon, "I will kill thee, for in
truth thou art an ugly monster."

At those words Regin opened his great jaws, and showed his terrible
fangs. Yet still the boy Prince mocked at the hideous dragon.

And now Regin in his fury crept closer and closer to the lad, swinging
his great tail, until he well-nigh swept Siegfried from his feet.

[Illustration: THE HERO'S SHINING SWORD PIERCED THE HEART OF THE
MONSTER.]

Swiftly then the Prince drew his sword, well tempered as he knew, for
had not he himself wrought it in the forge of Mimer the blacksmith?
Swiftly he drew his sword, and with one bound he sprang upon the
dragon's back, and as he reared himself, down came the hero's
shining sword and pierced into the very heart of the monster. Thus
as Siegfried leaped nimbly to the ground, the dragon fell back dead.
Regin was no longer to be feared.

Then Siegfried did a curious thing. He had heard the little Nibelung
men who came to the smithy to talk with Mimer, he had heard them
say that whoever should bathe in the blood of Regin the dragon would
henceforth be safe from every foe. For his skin would grow so tough
and horny that it would be to him as an armor through which no sword
could ever pierce.

Thinking of the little Nibelungs' harsh voices and wrinkled little
faces as they had sat talking thus around Mimer's glowing forge,
Siegfried now flung aside his deerskin dress and bathed himself from
top to toe in the dragon's blood.

But as he bathed, a leaf from off a linden tree was blown upon his
shoulders, and on the spot where it rested Siegfried's skin was still
soft and tender as when he was a little child. It was only a tiny spot
which was covered by the linden leaf, but should a spear thrust, or an
arrow pierce that tiny spot, Siegfried would be wounded as easily as
any other man.

The dragon was dead, the bath was over, and clad once more in his
deerskin, Siegfried set out for the smithy. He brought no charcoal for
the forge; all that he carried with him was a heart afire with anger,
a sword quivering to take the life of the Nibelung, Mimer.

For now Siegfried knew that the dwarf had wished to send him forth to
death, when he bade him go seek charcoal in the depths of the forest.

Into the dusky glow of