"Twas vain: the loud waves lashed the shore,
Return or aid preventing;

The waters wild went o'er his child,

And he was left lamenting.

-Thomas Campbell

Words: heather-a low flowering shrub; bonny-beautiful, attractive; apace-quickly; water-wraith-spirit of the waters.

Questions: Where is the scene of this poem laid? Which one of the characters do you admire most? Can you suggest a reason for the popularity of this poem? Where was the author born? Do you know other famous authors who were born in the same country?

Who hath ruled in the greenwood long.

Here's health and renown

To his broad green crown
And his fifty arms so strong.
There's fear in his frown
When the sun goes down,

And the fire in the west fades out;

And he showeth his might

On a wild midnight,

When the storms through his branches shout.

Then here's to the oak!

The brave old oak!

Who stands in his pride alone;

And still flourish he,

A hale green tree,

When a hundred years are gone!

-H. F. Chorley

SIEGFRIED* AND THE DRAGON

(The ancient peoples who lived in the countries which are now Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Holland had their herotales just as the Greeks and the Romans did. But the stories of these Northmen or Norsemen are somewhat different from those told by Homer and Virgil. While the Greek and Roman stories often have lightness and humor, and frequently end pleasantly, the Norse stories are all serious and they all end tragically. They are full of great deeds, but the hero always dies. There were no great Norse writers, like Homer or Virgil, to pass the stories along in magnificent verse. The spirit of these stories has perhaps been grasped and expressed best by the German composer Wagner in his great operas Tannhauser, Lohengrin, Rheingold, Die Walkure, and Siegfried.

This selection deals with Siegfried, the greatest of the Norse heroes. He was the son of Sigmund, king of the Volsungs. A short time before Sigmund died in battle, he arranged with the good King of the Danes to care for Siegfried, and train him befitting the son of a king.)

HE wise old king chose for Siegfried a teacher to show

Thim all those things that princes should know, to instruct

*

him in all games of skill, in speech of many languages, in metal work, in woodcraft, and in shipcraft. This teacher was Regin, the master smith. A strange being was he, misshapen yet not a dwarf, silent and grim unto all save only Siegfried; skilled in the lore of many lands, and in metal work, so that the people whispered of his kinship to the underground folk, who have all metals in their keeping. But he was full of evil, and throughout the years of Siegfried's growth he plotted how he might use the lad for his own wicked ends, and be his undoing.

And it came to Siegfried's mind that he should have a horse, and he went to the King and begged a horse of him, and the King said: "Go choose thee one from the herd by Busilwater; they are the best, and all that is mine is thine, brave son."

Siegfried blithely thanked the King, and took his way to the meadow far up the woods, where the Busilwater ran. Оц the way he met an aged man with a long gray beard and one eye, who asked whither he fared.

"To choose me a horse, O Ancient One. If thou art a judge, come with me to help my choice."

And the old man journeyed with him, telling him of his father, Sigmund, and his forefather, Volsung, whom the Aged One had known. Then Siegfried knew that this must be one of the god folk, to have lived so long. As they talked, they came to the green meadow where the horses were, and the old man said, "Now will we drive the horses through the river of roaring water, and watch what will betide."

And the force of the water, rushing down from the mountains, frighted the horses, so that they turned and swam to land again, save one gray horse with a broad, strong chest, who feared naught. He alone swam to the far side, and there landed, neighing and stamping with pride; then plunged into the torrent once more and swam back to the Ancient One and Siegfried.

"This one must I choose: is it not so?" asked the lad; and the old man answered: "Thou choosest well, for he is of the race of Sleipnir,* All-Father's horse, that never tires," and, as he spoke, he vanished away; and Siegfried knew that this must be Odin himself. Then he took the horse, which he named Grane, and went back well pleased.

Now the crafty Regin, seeing that Siegfried was equipped for a long journey, tried to make him greedy for gold, for what purpose you will soon see. He asked, "Where is the treasure of thy father, the Volsung?"

"It is in the treasure-room of my mother," Siegfried replied; "it is a fair treasure, but I have heard of greater, gathered by some kings."

"Why is it not thine?" asked Regin.

Siegfried laughed and said: "What should I, a boy, do with this treasure? It has no magic in it."

"And wouldst thou have a magic treasure?" asked Regin, keenly.

"I know not," answered the lad. "A great hero can I be without gold or magic."

"But if I could help thee to great treasure and glory, wouldst thou refuse?"

"Why, surely, nay," quoth Siegfried; "is it not for glory that the Volsungs live?"

"Come, then, and I will unfold to thee a tale that hitherto no man has known." And the old man and the young laid them down under a spreading oak in the greenwood, and Regin told this wondrous story.

The king of the dwarf folk was my father, and I had two brothers. Fafnir,* the elder, was greedy and grim; ever would he take the best, and all of the best that he could, for he loved gold. Otter was the second, and his will was to be ever fishing, so that our father gave him the power of changing into an otter, and thus he spent most of his life on the river rocks, landing only to bring in fish. I was the third son, a weak, misshapen thing, but, as thou hast seen, with skill in all metal work.

It chanced one day as Otter slumbered beside a half-eaten salmon, that Odin and Loki* passed by. Now, Loki, the wicked one, would ever be at evil, and he caught up a sharp stone and hit Otter, so that he died. Rejoicing, he stripped off Otter's skin, and casting it over his shoulder, went on with Odin to my father's hall—a golden house of beauty that I had built for him. He, knowing the skin for that of Otter, his son, seized the gods and cried: "By the beard of Odin, ye go not forth until ye pay me, for my son, as much gold as will cover his skin inside and out."

"We have no gold," said Loki.

"The worse for thee," said my father.

Loki, the crafty, thought awhile; then he said, "If thou wilt give me leave, I will go take Andvari's gold." Now Andvari* was a dwarf, who lived in Otter's river, under a waterfall that was called Andvari's Fall. He guarded a great treasure that he had stolen long years before, from the Rhine maidens in the

Southern land. For the most part he took the shape of a pike, so that with the greater comfort he might guard his treasure.

My father gave leave, and Loki hurried away, begged a magic net of the sea goddess, and, casting it under the fall, drew forth Andvari, the pike. "What ransom wilt thou, evil one?" cried Andvari in terror.

"All thy ill-gotten gold, O dwarf."

"That shalt thou never have.”

So Loki hung the net of the goddess upon a tree, and sat down to watch the great pike struggling and gasping. At last Andvari said feebly, "Put me back in the stream; thou shalt have my gold." And he brought it forth.

But Loki, as he gathered it up, espied one little gold ring around his fin, and said, "Thy red-gold ring must I have also.

Then Andvari shrieked with rage and threw the ring at him, cursing him and the Rhine gold and all that should own it. "To every man that owns it," said he, "shall it bring woe, until it return to the Rhine daughters." And he plunged into the stream and was seen no more.

Back went Loki to the House Beautiful and cast the gold at my father's feet; but the ring gave he to Odin. Now this ring had the power of making, every ninth night, eight rings equal in weight to itself.

Then was the fur spread out and covered with gold, first on the one side, then on the other, till but one hair remained uncovered. And my father spake, "There is yet one hair showing."

The gods looked upon one another; then Odin drew the ring from his finger and cast it upon the skin, so that the hair was hidden. And the gods departed.

Then Fafnir, my brother, looking covetously on the gold, slew our father for it; and me, being weak, he drove away; and taking it to a secret place in the Desolate Land, he changed himself into an awful dragon, the better to guard it; and there is no serpent like unto him, for he is made up of sin and evil.