Page:Stories of Norse Gods and Heroes.djvu/93

Rh SIEGFRIED WITH THE HORNY SKIN. a great forest lived a blacksmith. With him lived a boy called Siegfried.

No one knew who Siegfried's father and mother were. One day when the smith was returning from a journey, he found a baby lying on a bed of leaves under a tree.

The baby smiled and reached out his little hands, and the smith carried him home. And very pleasant and bright the little boy made the lonely hut for many years, and the smith loved him as his own son.

One day when Siegfried was grown to be a man he went into the forest to hunt. There he found a dragon's trail and followed it until he lost himself in the wood.

As he wandered about, trying to find his way home, he met a dwarf who rode a coal-black horse and wore a glittering crown.

The dwarf told Siegfried that he was near the home of the dragon.

The dragon, he said, had carried away the beautiful Princess Kriemhild and held her captive.

Siegfried forced the dwarf to go with him to