



Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Chris Curnow, Joe Cooper,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
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        [Illustration: Then Mimer saw the bear, (see page 4)]


                     TOLD TO THE CHILDREN SERIES

                       EDITED BY LOUEY CHISHOLM



                              STORIES OF

                              SIEGFRIED



                       TOLD TO THE CHILDREN BY

                            MARY MACGREGOR



                           WITH PICTURES BY

                            GRANVILLE FELL






                      LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK

                     NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.

       *       *       *       *       *




TO

DENIS

       *       *       *       *       *




Dear Denis,--Here is a story that I found in an old German poem called
the Nibelungenlied. The poem is full of strange adventure, adventure
of both tiny dwarf and stalwart mortal.

Some of these adventures will fill this little book, and already I can
see you sitting in the nursery as you read them.

The door is opened but you do not look up. 'Denis! Denis!' You are
called, but you do not hear, for you are not really in the nursery any
longer.

You have wandered away to Nibelheim, the home of the strange little
people of whom you are reading, and you have ears only for the harsh
voices of the tiny Nibelungs, eyes only for their odd, wrinkled faces.

Siegfried is the merry hero of the Nibelungenlied. I wonder will you
think him as brave as French Roland or as chivalrous as your English
favourite, Guy of Warwick? Yet even should you think the German hero
brave and chivalrous as these, I can hardly believe you will read and
re-read this little book as often as you read and re-read the volumes
which told you about your French and English heroes.--Yours
affectionately,

MARY MACGREGOR.

       *       *       *       *       *




CONTENTS


Chap.                                           Page

I.     Mimer the Blacksmith,                      1

II.    Siegfried wins the Treasure,              11

III.   Siegfried comes home,                     18

IV.    Kriemhild's Dream,                        23

V.     Siegfried journeys to Worms,              27

VI.    Siegfried's Welcome to Worms,             32

VII.   Siegfried's Sojourn at Worms,             42

VIII.  Siegfried sees Kriemhild,                 59

IX.    Siegfried goes to Isenland,               64

X.     Siegfried subdues Brunhild,               71

XI.    Siegfried goes to the Cave,               80

XII.   The Wedding Feast,                        87

XIII.  Siegfried goes home with Kriemhild,       93

XIV.   Siegfried and Kriemhild go to Worms,      99

XV.    Siegfried is slain,                      106

       *       *       *       *       *




LIST OF PICTURES


Then Mimer saw the bear,                                _Frontispiece_

                                                          Facing page

'I will kill thee, for in truth thou art an ugly monster',        8

Seizing the magic sword, he cut off their heads,                 16

Knighted by the royal hand of Siegmund the King,                 20

The heroes entered the streets of Worms,                         32

The maiden hurled her spear,                                     76

Siegfried bent low before the lady Kriemhild,                    86

While Siegfried drank of the cool, clear water, Hagen
stabbed him,                                                     114

       *       *       *       *       *




CHAPTER I

MIMER THE BLACKSMITH


Siegfried was born a Prince and grew to be a hero, a hero with a heart
of gold. Though he could fight, and was as strong as any lion, yet he
could love too and be as gentle as a child.

The father and mother of the hero-boy lived in a strong castle near
the banks of the great Rhine river. Siegmund, his father, was a rich
king, Sieglinde, his mother, a beautiful queen, and dearly did they
love their little son Siegfried.

The courtiers and the high-born maidens who dwelt in the castle
honoured the little Prince, and thought him the fairest child in all
the land, as indeed he was.

Sieglinde, his queen-mother, would ofttimes dress her little son in
costly garments and lead him by the hand before the proud, strong
men-at-arms who stood before the castle walls. Nought had they but
smiles and gentle words for their little Prince.

When he grew older, Siegfried would ride into the country, yet always
would he be attended by King Siegmund's most trusted warriors.

Then one day armed men entered the Netherlands, the country over which
King Siegmund ruled, and the little Prince was sent away from the
castle, lest by any evil chance he should fall into the hands of the
foe.

Siegfried was hidden away safe in the thickets of a great forest, and
dwelt there under the care of a blacksmith, named Mimer.

Mimer was a dwarf, belonging to a strange race of little folk called
Nibelungs. The Nibelungs lived for the most part in a dark little town
beneath the ground. Nibelheim was the name of this little town and
many of the tiny men who dwelt there were smiths. All the livelong day
they would hammer on their little anvils, but all through the long
night they would dance and play with tiny little Nibelung women.

It was not in the little dark town of Nibelheim that Mimer had his
forge, but under the trees of the great forest to which Siegfried had
been sent.

As Mimer or his pupils wielded their tools the wild beasts would start
from their lair, and the swift birds would wing their flight through
the mazes of the wood, lest danger lay in those heavy, resounding
strokes.

But Siegfried, the hero-boy, would laugh for glee, and seizing the
heaviest hammer he could see he would swing it with such force upon
the anvil that it would be splintered into a thousand pieces.

Then Mimer the blacksmith would scold the lad, who was now the
strongest of all the lads under his care; but little heeding his
rebukes, Siegfried would fling himself merrily out of the smithy and
hasten with great strides into the gladsome wood. For now the Prince
was growing a big lad, and his strength was even as the strength of
ten.

To-day Siegfried was in a merry mood. He would repay Mimer's rebukes
in right good fashion. He would frighten the little blacksmith dwarf
until he was forced to cry for mercy.

Clad in his forest dress of deerskins, with his hair as burnished gold
blowing around his shoulders, Siegfried wandered away into the depths
of the woodland.

There he seized the silver horn which hung from his girdle and raised
it to his lips. A long, clear note he blew, and ere the sound had died
away the boy saw a sight which pleased him well. Here was good prey
indeed! A bear, a great big shaggy bear was peering at him out of a
bush, and as he gazed the beast opened its jaws and growled, a fierce
and angry growl.

Not a whit afraid was Siegfried. Quick as lightning he had caught the
great creature in his arms, and ere it could turn upon him, it was
muzzled, and was being led quietly along toward the smithy.

Mimer was busy at his forge sharpening a sword when Siegfried reached
the doorway.

At the sound of laughter the little dwarf raised his head. It was the
Prince who laughed. Then Mimer saw the bear,[1] and letting the sword
he held drop to the ground with a clang, he ran to hide himself in the
darkest corner of the smithy.

[Footnote 1: See frontispiece.]

Then Siegfried laughed again. He was no hero-boy to-day, for next he
made the big bear hunt the little Nibelung dwarf from corner to
corner, nor could the frightened little man escape or hide himself in
darkness. Again and again as he crouched in a shadowed corner,
Siegfried would stir up the embers of the forge until all the smithy
was lighted with a ruddy glow.

At length the Prince tired of his game, and unmuzzling the bear he
chased the bewildered beast back into the shelter of the woodlands.

Mimer, poor little dwarf, all a-tremble with his fear, cried angrily,
'Thou mayest go shoot if so it please thee, and bring home thy dead
prey. Dead bears thou mayest bring hither if thou wilt, but live bears
shalt thou leave to crouch in their lair or to roam through the
forest.' But Siegfried, the naughty Prince, only laughed at the little
Nibelung's frightened face and harsh, croaking voice.

Now as the days passed, Mimer the blacksmith began to wish that
Siegfried had never come to dwell with him in his smithy. The Prince
was growing too strong, too brave to please the little dwarf, moreover
many were the mischievous tricks his pupil played on him.

Prince though he was, Mimer would see if he could not get rid of his
tormentor. For indeed though, as I have told you, Siegfried had a
heart of gold, at this time the gold seemed to have grown dim and
tarnished. Perhaps that was because the Prince had learned to distrust
and to dislike, nay, more, to hate the little, cunning dwarf.

However that may be, it is certain that Siegfried played many pranks
upon the little Nibelung, and he, Mimer, determined to get rid of the
quick-tempered, strong-handed Prince.

One day, therefore, it happened that the little dwarf told Siegfried
to go deep into the forest to bring home charcoal for the forge. And
this Mimer did, though he knew that in the very part of the forest to
which he was sending the lad there dwelt a terrible dragon, named
Regin. Indeed Regin was a brother of the little blacksmith, and would
be lying in wait for the Prince. It would be but the work of a moment
for the monster to seize the lad and greedily to devour him.

To Siegfried it was always joy to wander afar through the woodland.
Ofttimes had he thrown himself down on the soft, moss-covered ground
and lain there hour after hour, listening to the wood-birds' song.
Sometimes he would even find a reed and try to pipe a tune as sweet as
did the birds, but that was all in vain, as the lad soon found. No
tiny songster would linger to hearken to the shrill piping of his
grassy reed, and the Prince himself was soon ready to fling it far
away.

It was no hardship then to Siegfried to leave the forge and the hated
little Nibelung, therefore it was that with right good-will he set out
in search of charcoal for Mimer the blacksmith.

As he loitered there where the trees grew thickest, Siegfried took his
horn and blew it lustily. If he could not pipe on a grassy reed, at
least he could blow a rousing note on his silver horn.

[Illustration: "I will kill thee, for in truth thou art an ugly
monster"]

Suddenly as Siegfried blew, the trees seemed to sway, the earth to
give out