mercy!" howled Mime, the tears making little furrows down his dirty face. "I haven't got it done yet."
"Yes, you have! What is that you are trying to hide in your hands? Give it to me, I say!"
And Alberich seized the object which Mime had just dropped in terror.
"Ah! just as I thought!" continued the stronger brother. "Here is the magic helmet all complete; and this sly knave thought to keep it for himself. But I shall pay him for his treachery!
"Hark you, rascals!" he continued, turning to all the other dwarfs. "I am your king. Ye must henceforth serve me alone, and pile up all your treasure in the royal vaults. I have this day obtained the powers of magic which make you my servants. At this moment you see me not; but I shall make myself felt among you, I promise you!"
And with this speech he clapped the helmet upon his head and instantly vanished. But in his stead there came a pillar of mist, and out of the mist came his voice sternly commanding them to obey. Then the sharp lashes of a whip were heard right and left; and Mime fell groaning to the ground while the others retreated in terror, seemingly driven along a narrow way on the far side of the cavern. Alberich was beginning his reign with a vengeance!
Meanwhile the two celestial visitors had stood unnoticed in a side passage. While they debated as to the best means of making their presence known, Alberich came back in his true shape, carrying the helmet in his hand, fondling the Ring upon his finger and chuckling with glee. Then he espied the two gods, and his brow wrinkled darkly.
"Why come you to my caverns?" he demanded. "Know you not that I am king here, and that strangers are not welcome?"
"We have but come to see some of the marvels of which we have heard so much," said Wotan pacifically.
"Humph!" said Alberich. "You look quiet enough, but I think I know you both. Yet I fear you not, whether gods or men; for I am master here."
"And what if we are indeed gods, dear Alberich?" said Loki, taking off his mantle. "See, I am the god of fire, and your best friend. Do I not keep all your forges going?"
"Yes, that may be true," retorted Alberich. "But for all that I fear neither you nor Wotan the mighty. With this Ring made from the Rhine-Gold I can defy you all."
Alberich's accustomed low cunning had vanished before his sudden access of power. He was no match for the crafty god Loki.
"Oh, what a beautiful ring!" exclaimed the latter, bending forward admiringly. "Is it really made from the far-famed Rhine-Gold?"
"It is," said Alberich, swelling up. "I made it myself, and its possession gives me everything in the whole world except love."
"But some people think that love is the chief thing," said Loki.
"Pooh! that's because they haven't the gold I have. The two do not go together anyway, and never will. As for me, give me gold and power." And he kissed the Ring.
"But what if someone stole the Ring while you slept," persisted Loki.
"They couldn't," retorted the dwarf quickly. "See this helmet? That silly brother of mine yonder in the corner has just made it for me out of some more of this fine Rhine-Gold. With it I can change myself into any form I choose, and defy the slyest of robbers."
"Oh, that cannot be!" replied Loki. "Only the gods can do such things. Unless I saw such a marvel with my own eyes, I never would believe it."
Alberich looked with scorn upon this doubting fellow; then willing to prove his boast, he put the helmet upon his head and muttered a few words. Instantly he was gone, and in his stead a huge serpent came wriggling along the floor, stretching its hideous jaws toward Wotan and Loki. The latter fled in pretended terror, while Wotan laughed calmly. The snake then disappeared, and the dwarf once more stood before them.
"Now do you doubt my power?" he asked proudly.
"Oh, it was wonderful!" exclaimed Loki, rolling his eyes. "I couldn't have believed it possible! But I should think it would be a great deal harder to turn yourself into something small?"
"Not at all," replied the Nibelung. "Watch this!"
And before the gods were aware, he was gone again. They looked high and low, and there among the small stones a toad came hopping toward them.
"Quick, put your foot on him!" exclaimed Loki.
Wotan put his foot upon the toad, and instantly it was gone, and in its place Alberich lay struggling vainly to get out.
"Let me up! You are crushing me!" screamed the dwarf.
"Not until you give us every bit of the Rhine-Gold, the helmet and the Ring," said Wotan.
"You can have all but the helmet and the Ring; and there's a lot of it—beautiful Gold!" whined Alberich.
"No, all of it!" said Wotan.
"You can have the helmet, too. Ough! you're smashing me!"
"The Ring and all, I tell you! Here, Loki, bind him with that rope!"
"Then take the Gold, the helmet and the Ring!" cried the dwarf despairingly.
They bound him, and let him up. As soon as he could catch his breath, he continued,
"Take the Ring and all! But listen well to what I say. My curse rests upon it for ever. Cursed be he who owns it, whether eating or sleeping or waking. Cursed be he and all his, whether god or devil. Sorrow and unhappiness shall go with this Gold through all the ends of the earth!"
Notwithstanding this dread curse, the gods seized the Ring from off his finger and lost no time in making off with the treasure, leaving the dwarf grovelling upon the floor and muttering fierce words against them. All their care now was to ransom their sister and drive away the mists of old age.
On their way up the mountain height they met the two giants bearing away the struggling Freia in their clutches.
"Hold!" commanded Wotan; "bear her no farther. We have brought the gold to ransom her."
"Is it the far-famed Rhine-Gold?" asked Fafner.
"See for yourselves!" said Loki, casting the glittering heap upon the earth. "In all the world ye will not find its like."
The giants gazed greedily upon the hoard, and drew near to parley.
"'Tis indeed a wonderful treasure," they said; "but the mass must equal in height and breadth the stature of this comely goddess."
"So be it," answered Wo-tan, and he commanded that staves be set upright in the ground and that the Gold be heaped between them. Thor and Fro and others of the gods had now arrived upon the scene—all overjoyed at the prospect of Freia's release; for already the blighting mist was beginning to lift, though it yet concealed the fair towers of Walhalla. Meanwhile Loki had been careful to withhold the Ring and the helmet from the rest of the hoard, which was now quickly heaped up between the upright staves.
At last, just as the Gold was exhausted, the pile rose above the top of Freia's head.
"Here,
