The Story of Siegfried Read online

  "Ride back to Regin, the master of masters," answered Gripir. "He willtell thee of a wrong to be righted."

  And the ancient son of the giants withdrew into his lonely abode; andSiegfried, on the shining Greyfell, rode swiftly away towards the south.

  Adventure III. The Curse of Gold.

  Forth then rode Siegfried, upon the beaming Greyfell, out into the broadmid-world. And the sun shone bright above him, and the air was soft andpure, and the earth seemed very lovely, and life a gladsome thing. Andhis heart was big within him as he thought of the days to come, ofthe deeds of love and daring, of the righting of many wrongs, of thepeople's praise, and the glory of a life well lived. And he wended hisway back again toward the south and the fair lands of the Rhine. He leftthe barren moorlands behind him, and the pleasant farms and villages ofthe fruitful countryside, and after many days came once more to Regin'swoodland 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 whatgrievous evil it is that he has so often vaguely hinted at."

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

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

  And the old look of longing came again into his eyes, and his pinchedface seemed darker and more wrinkled than before, and his thin lipstrembled 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 thewinning of treasures untold. Lo, many years have I waited for the comingof this day; and now my heart tells me that the hero so long hoped foris 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 isthis treasure that you speak of as your own?"

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

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

  Regin's Story.

  When the earth was still very young, and men were feeble and few, andthe Dwarfs were many and strong, the Asa-folk were wont oft-timesto leave their halls in heaven-towering Asgard in order to visit thenew-formed mid-world, and to see what the short-lived sons of men weredoing. Sometimes they came in their own godlike splendor and might;sometimes they came disguised as feeble men-folk, with all man'sweaknesses and all his passions. Sometimes Odin, as a beggar, wanderedfrom one country to another, craving charity; sometimes, as a warriorclad in coat of mail, he rode forth to battle for the cause of right; oras a minstrel he sang from door to door, and played sweet music in thehalls of the great; or as a huntsman he dashed through brakes and fens,and into dark forests, and climbed steep mountains in search of game; oras a sailor he embarked upon the sea, and sought new scenes in unknownlands. And many times did men-folk entertain him unawares.

  Once on a time he came to the mid-world in company with Hoenir andLoki; and the three wandered through many lands and in many climes, eachgiving gifts wherever they went. Odin gave knowledge and strength, andtaught men how to read the mystic runes; Hoenir gave gladness andgood cheer, and lightened many hearts with the glow of his comfortingpresence; but Loki had nought to give but cunning deceit and basethoughts, and he left behind him bitter strife and many aching breasts.At last, growing tired of the fellowship of men, the three Asas soughtthe solitude of the forest, and as huntsmen wandered long among thehills and over the wooded heights of Hunaland. Late one afternoon theycame to a mountain-stream at a place where it poured over a ledge ofrocks, and fell in clouds of spray into a rocky gorge below. As theystood, and with pleased eyes gazed upon the waterfall, they saw near thebank an otter lazily making ready to eat a salmon which he had caught.And Loki, ever bent on doing mischief, hurled a stone at the harmlessbeast, and killed it. And he boasted loudly that he had done a worthydeed. And he took both the otter, and the fish which it had caught, andcarried them with him as trophies of the day's success.

  Just at nightfall the three huntsmen came to a lone farmhouse in thevalley, and asked for food, and for shelter during the night.

  "Shelter you shall have," said the farmer, whose name was Hreidmar, "forthe rising clouds foretell a storm. But food I have none to give you.Surely huntsmen of skill should not want for food; since the forestteems with game, and the streams are full of fish."

  Then Loki threw upon the ground the otter and the fish, and said, "Wehave sought in both forest and stream, and we have taken from them atone blow both flesh and fish. Give us but the shelter you promise, andwe will not trouble you for food."

  The farmer gazed with horror upon the lifeless body of the otter, andcried out, "This creature which you mistook for an otter, and which youhave robbed and killed, is my son Oddar, who for mere pastime had takenthe form of the furry beast. You are but thieves and murderers!"

  Then he called loudly for help: and his two sons Fafnir and Regin,sturdy and valiant kin of the dwarf-folk, rushed in, and seized upon thehuntsmen, and bound them hand and foot; for the three Asas, having takenupon themselves the forms of men, had no more than human strength, andwere unable to withstand them.

  Then Odin and his fellows bemoaned their ill fate. And Loki said,"Wherefore did we foolishly take upon ourselves the likenesses ofpuny men? Had I my own power once more, I would never part with it inexchange for man's weaknesses."

  And Hoenir sighed, and said, "Now, indeed, will darkness win: and thefrosty breath of the Reimthursen giants will blast the fair handiwork ofthe sunlight and the heat; for the givers of life and light and warmthare helpless prisoners in the hands of these cunning and unforgivingjailers."

  "Surely," said Odin, "not even the highest are free from obedience toheaven's behests and the laws of right. I, whom men call the Preserverof Life, have demeaned myself by being found in evil company; and,although I have done no other wrong, I suffer rightly for the doings ofthis mischief-maker with whom I have stooped to have fellowship. For allare known, not so much by what they are as by what they seem to be, andthey bear the bad name which their comrades bear. Now I am fallen frommy high estate. Eternal right is higher than I. And in the last Twilightof the gods I must needs meet the dread Fenris-wolf, and in the endthe world will be made new again, and the shining Balder will rule insunlight majesty forever."

  Then the Asas asked Hreidmar, their jailer, what ransom they shouldpay for their freedom; and he, not knowing who they were, said, "I mustfirst know what ransom you are able to give."

  "We will give any thing you may ask," hastily answered Loki.

  Hreidmar then called his sons, and bade them strip the skin from theotter's body. When this was done, they brought the furry hide and spreadit upon the ground; and Hreidmar said, "Bring shining gold and preciousstones enough to cover every part of this otter-skin. When you have paidso much ransom, you shall have your freedom."

  "That we will do," answered Odin. "But one of us must have leave togo and fetch it: the other two will stay fast bound until the morningdawns. If, by that time, the gold is not here, you may do with us as youplease."

  Hreidmar and the two young men agreed to Odin's offer; and, lots beingcast, it fell to Loki to go and fetch the treasure. When he had beenloosed from the cords which bound him, Loki donned his magic shoes,which had carried him over land and sea from the farthest bounds ofthe mid-world, and hastened away upon his errand. And he sped with theswiftness of light, over the
hills and the wooded slopes, and the deepdark valleys, and the fields and forests and sleeping hamlets, until hecame to the place where dwelt the swarthy elves and the cunning dwarfAndvari. There the River Rhine, no larger than a meadow-brook, breaksforth from beneath a mountain of ice, which the Frost giants and blindold Hoder, the Winter-king, had built long years before; for they hadvainly hoped that they might imprison the river at its fountain-head.But the baby-brook had eaten its way beneath the frozen mass, andhad sprung out from its prison, and gone on, leaping and smiling, andkissing the sunlight, in its ever-widening course towards Burgundy andthe sea.

  Loki came to this place, because he knew that here was the home of theelves who had laid up the greatest hoard of treasures ever known in themid-world. He scanned with careful eyes the mountain-side, and the deep,rocky caverns, and the dark gorge through which the little river rushed;but in the dim moonlight not a living being could he see, save a lazysalmon swimming in the quieter eddies of the stream. Any one but Lokiwould have lost all hope of finding treasure there, at least before thedawn of day; but his wits were quick, and his eyes were very sharp.

  "One salmon has brought us into this trouble, and another shall help usout of it!" he cried.

  Then, swift as thought, he sprang again into the air; and the magicshoes carried him with greater speed than before down the Rhine valley,and through Burgundy-land, and the low meadows, until he came to theshores of the great North Sea. He sought the halls of old AEgir, theOcean-king; but he wist not which way to go,--whether across the NorthSea towards Isenland, or whether along the narrow channel betweenBritain-land and the main. While he paused, uncertain where to turn,he saw the pale-haired daughters of old AEgir, the white-veiled Waves,playing in the moonlight near the shore. Of them he asked the way toAEgir's hall.

  "Seven days' journey westward," said they, "beyond the green Isle ofErin, is our father's hall. Seven days' journey northward, on the bleakNorwegian shore, is our father's hall."

  And they stopped not once in their play, but rippled and danced on theshelving beach, or dashed with force against the shore.

  "Where is your mother Ran, the Queen of the Ocean?" asked Loki.

  And they answered,--

  "In the deep sea-caves By the sounding shore, In the dashing waves When the wild storms roar, In her cold green bowers In the northern fiords, She lurks and she glowers, She grasps and she hoards, And she spreads her strong net for her prey."

  Loki waited to hear no more; but he sprang into the air, and the magicshoes carried him onwards over the water in search of the Ocean-queen.He had not gone far when his sharp eyes espied her, lurking near a rockyshore against which the breakers dashed with frightful fury. Half hiddenin the deep dark water, she lay waiting and watching; and she spread hercunning net upon the waves, and reached out with her long greedy fingersto seize whatever booty might come near her.

  When the wary queen saw Loki, she hastily drew in her net, and tried tohide herself in the shadows of an overhanging rock. But Loki called herby name, and said,--

  "Sister Ran, fear not! I am your friend Loki, whom once you served as aguest in AEgir's gold-lit halls."

  Then the Ocean-queen came out into the bright moonlight, and welcomedLoki to her domain, and asked, "Why does Loki thus wander so far fromAsgard, and over the trackless waters?"

  And Loki answered, "I have heard of the net which you spread upon thewaves, and from which no creature once caught in its meshes can everescape. I have found a salmon where the Rhine-spring gushes from beneaththe mountains, and a very cunning salmon he is for no common skill cancatch him. Come, I pray, with your wondrous net, and cast it into thestream where he lies. Do but take the wary fish for me, and you shallhave more gold than you have taken in a year from the wrecks of strandedvessels."

  "I dare not go," cried Ran. "A bound is set, beyond which I may notventure. If all the gold of earth were offered me, I could not go."

  "Then lend me your net," entreated Loki. "Lend me your net, and I willbring it back to-morrow filled with gold."

  "Much I would like your gold," answered Ran; "but I cannot lend my net.Should I do so, I might lose the richest prize that has ever come intomy husband's kingdom. For three days, now, a gold-rigged ship, bearinga princely crew with rich armor and abundant wealth, has been sailingcarelessly over these seas. To-morrow I shall send my daughters and thebewitching mermaids to decoy the vessel among the rocks. And into my netthe ship, and the brave warriors, and all their armor and gold, shallfall. A rich prize it will be. No: I cannot part with my net, even for asingle hour."

  But Loki knew the power of flattering words.

  "Beautiful queen," said he, "there is no one on earth, nor even inAsgard, who can equal you in wisdom and foresight. Yet I promise you,that, if you will but lend me your net until the morning dawns, the shipand the crew of which you speak shall be yours, and all their goldentreasures shall deck your azure halls in the deep sea."

  Then Ran carefully folded the net, and gave it to Loki.

  "Remember your promise," was all that she said.

  "An Asa never forgets," he answered.

  And he turned his face again towards Rhineland; and the magic shoes borehim aloft, and carried him in a moment back to the ice-mountain andthe gorge and the infant river, which he had so lately left. Thesalmon still rested in his place, and had not moved during Loki's shortabsence.

  Loki unfolded the net, and cast it into the stream. The cunning fishtried hard to avoid being caught in its meshes; but, dart which wayhe would, he met the skilfully woven cords, and these drew themselvesaround him, and held him fast. Then Loki pulled the net up out of thewater, and grasped the helpless fish in his right hand. But, lo! as heheld the struggling creature high in the air, it was no longer a fish,but the cunning dwarf Andvari.

  "Thou King of the Elves," cried Loki, "thy cunning has not saved thee.Tell me, on thy life, where thy hidden treasures lie!"

  The wise dwarf knew who it was that thus held him as in a vise; and heanswered frankly, for it was his only hope of escape, "Turn over thestone upon which you stand. Beneath it you will find the treasure youseek."

  Then Loki put his shoulder to the rock, and pushed with all his might.But it seemed as firm as the mountain, and would not be moved.

  "Help us, thou cunning dwarf," he cried,--"help us, and thou shalt havethy life!"

  The dwarf put his shoulder to the rock, and it turned over as if bymagic, and underneath was disclosed a wondrous chamber, whose wallsshone brighter than the sun, and on whose floor lay treasures of goldand glittering gem-stones such as no man had ever seen. And Loki, ingreat haste, seized upon the hoard, and placed it in the magic net whichhe had borrowed from the Ocean-queen. Then he came out of the chamber;and Andvari again put his shoulder to the rock which lay at theentrance, and it swung back noiselessly to its place.

  "What is that upon thy finger?" suddenly cried Loki. "Wouldst keep backa part of the treasure? Give me the ring thou hast!"

  But the dwarf shook his head, and made answer, "I have given thee allthe riches that the elves of the mountain have gathered since the worldbegan. This ring I cannot give thee, for without its help we shall neverbe able to gather more treasures together."

  And Loki grew angry at these words of the dwarf; and he seized the ring,and tore it by force from Andvari's fingers. It was a wondrous littlepiece of mechanism shaped like a serpent, coiled, with its tail in itsmouth; and its scaly sides glittered with many a tiny diamond, and itsruby eyes shone with an evil light. When the dwarf knew that Loki reallymeant to rob him of the ring, he cursed it and all who should everpossess it, saying,--

  "May the ill-gotten treasure that you have seized tonight be your bane,and the bane of all to whom it may come, whether by fair means or byfoul! And the ring which you have torn from my hand, may it entail uponthe one who wears it sorrow and untold ills, the loss of friends, and aviolent death! The Norns have spoken, and thus it must be."

  Loki was pleas
ed with these words, and with the dark curses whichthe dwarf pronounced upon the gold; for he loved wrong-doing, forwrong-doing's sake, and he knew that no curses could ever make his ownlife more cheerless than it always had been. So he thanked Andvarifor his curses and his treasures; and, throwing the magic net upon hisshoulder, he sprang again into the air, and was carried swiftly back toHunaland; and, just before the dawn appeared in the east, he alightedat the door of the farmhouse where Odin and Hoenir still lay bound withthongs, and guarded by Fafnir and Regin.

  Then the farmer, Hreidmar, brought the otter's skin, and spread it uponthe ground; and, lo! it grew, and spread out on all sides, until itcovered an acre of ground. And he cried out, "Fulfil now your promise!Cover every hair of this hide with gold or with precious stones. If youfail to do this, then your lives, by your own agreement, are forfeited,and we shall do with you as we list."

  Odin took the magic net from Loki's shoulder; and opening it, he pouredthe treasures of the mountain elves upon the otter-skin. And Loki andHoenir spread the yellow pieces carefully and evenly over every partof the furry hide. But, after every piece had been laid in its place;Hreidmar saw near the otter's mouth a single hair uncovered; and hedeclared, that unless this hair, too, were covered, the bargain wouldbe unfulfilled, and the treasures and lives of his prisoners would beforfeited. And the Asas looked at each other in dismay; for not anotherpiece of gold, and not another precious stone, could they find in thenet, although they searched with the greatest care. At last Odin tookfrom his bosom the ring which Loki had stolen from the dwarf; for he hadbeen so highly pleased with its form and workmanship, that he had hiddenit, hoping that it would not be needed to complete the payment of theransom. And they laid the ring upon the uncovered hair. And now noportion of the otter's skin could be seen. And Fafnir and Regin, theransom being paid, loosed the shackles of Odin and Hoenir, and bade thethree huntsmen go on their way.