He had a tutor to be with him , and once the tutor bade him go to the King and ask for a horse . ` Choose a horse for yourself , ' said the King ; and Sigurd went to the wood , and there he met an old man with a white beard , and said , ` Come ! help me in horse-choosing . ' Then the old man said , ` Drive all the horses into the river , and choose the one that swims across . ' So Sigurd drove them , and only one swam across . Sigurd chose him : his name was Grani , and he came of Sleipnir 's breed , and was the best horse in the world . For Sleipnir was the horse of Odin , the God of the North , and was as swift as the wind . But a day or two later his tutor said to Sigurd , ` There is a great treasure of gold hidden not far from here , and it would become you to win it . ' But Sigurd answered , ' I have heard stories of that treasure , and I know that the dragon Fafnir guards it , and he is so huge and wicked that no man dares to go near him . ' ` He is no bigger than other dragons , ' said the tutor , ` and if you were as brave as your father you would not fear him . ' ' I am no coward , ' says Sigurd ; ` why do you want me to fight with this dragon ? ' Then his tutor , whose name was Regin , told him that all this great hoard of red gold had once belonged to his own father . And his father had three sons -- the first was Fafnir , the Dragon ; the next was Otter , who could put on the shape of an otter when he liked ; and the next was himself , Regin , and he was a great smith and maker of swords . Now there was at that time a dwarf called Andvari , who lived in a pool beneath a waterfall , and there he had hidden a great hoard of gold . And one day Otter had been fishing there , and had killed a salmon and eaten it , and was sleeping , like an otter , on a stone . Then someone came by , and threw a stone at the otter and killed it , and flayed off the skin , and took it to the house of Otter 's father . Then he knew his son was dead , and to punish the person who had killed him he said he must have the Otter 's skin filled with gold , and covered all over with red gold , or it should go worse with him . Then the person who had killed Otter went down and caught the Dwarf who owned all the treasure and took it from him . Only one ring was left , which the Dwarf wore , and even that was taken from him . Then the poor Dwarf was very angry , and he prayed that the gold might never bring any but bad luck to all the men who might own it , for ever .
Then the otter skin was filled with gold and covered with gold , all but one hair , and that was covered XXXXX the poor Dwarf 's last ring .
For beneath if in into like than that to with