The Story of Siegfried | Page 4

Siegfried was still a young lad, his father sent him to live
with a smith called Mimer, whose smithy was among the hills not far
from the great forest. For in those early times the work of the smith was
looked upon as the most worthy of all trades,--a trade which the gods
themselves were not ashamed to follow. And this smith Mimer was a
wonderful master,--the wisest and most cunning that the world had ever
seen. Men said that he was akin to the dwarf-folk who had ruled the
earth in the early days, and who were learned in every lore, and skilled
in every craft; and they said that he was so exceeding old that no one
could remember the day when he came to dwell in the land of
Siegmund's fathers. And some said, too, that he was the keeper of a
wonderful well, or flowing spring, the waters of which imparted
wisdom and far-seeing knowledge to all who drank of them.
To Mimer's school, then, where he would be taught to work skilfully
and to think wisely, Siegfried was sent, to be in all respects like the
other pupils there. A coarse blue blouse, and heavy leggings, and a
leathern apron, took the place of the costly clothing which he had worn
in his father's dwelling. His feet were incased in awkward wooden
shoes, and his head was covered with a wolf-skin cap. The dainty bed,
with its downy pillows, wherein every night his mother had been wont,
with gentle care, to see him safely covered, was given up for a rude
heap of straw in a corner of the smithy. And the rich food to which he
had been used gave place to the coarsest and humblest fare. But the lad

did not complain. The days which he passed in the smithy were
mirthful and happy; and the sound of his hammer rang cheerfully, and
the sparks from his forge flew briskly, from morning till night.
And a wonderful smith he became. No one could do more work than he,
and none wrought with greater skill. The heaviest chains and the
strongest bolts, for prison or for treasure-house, were but as toys in his
stout hands, so easily and quickly did he beat them into shape. And he
was alike cunning in work of the most delicate and brittle kind.
Ornaments of gold and silver, studded with the rarest jewels, were
fashioned into beautiful forms by his deft fingers. And among all of
Mimer's apprentices none learned the master's lore so readily, nor
gained the master's favor more.[EN#1]
One morning the master, Mimer, came to the smithy with a troubled
look upon his face. It was clear that something had gone amiss; and
what it was the apprentices soon learned from the smith himself. Never,
until lately, had any one questioned Mimer's right to be called the
foremost smith in all the world; but now a rival had come forward. An
unknown upstart--one Amilias, in Burgundy-land--had made a suit of
armor, which, he boasted, no stroke of sword could dint, and no blow
of spear could scratch; and he had sent a challenge to all other smiths,
both in the Rhine country and elsewhere, to equal that piece of
workmanship, or else acknowledge themselves his underlings and
vassals. For many days had Mimer himself toiled, alone and vainly,
trying to forge a sword whose edge the boasted armor of Amilias could
not foil; and now, in despair, he came to ask the help of his pupils and
apprentices.
"Who among you is skilful enough to forge such a sword?" he asked.
One after another, the pupils shook their heads. And Veliant, the
foreman of the apprentices, said, "I have heard much about that
wonderful armor, and its extreme hardness, and I doubt if any skill can
make a sword with edge so sharp and true as to cut into it. The best that
can be done is to try to make another war-coat whose temper shall
equal that of Amilias's armor."

Then the lad Siegfried quickly said, "I will make such a sword as you
want,--a blade that no war-coat can foil. Give me but leave to try!"
The other pupils laughed in scorn, but Mimer checked them. "You hear
how this boy can talk: we will see what he can do. He is the king's son,
and we know that he has uncommon talent. He shall make the sword;
but if, upon trial, it fail, I will make him rue the day."
Then Siegfried went to his task. And for seven days and seven nights
the sparks never stopped flying from his forge; and the ringing of his
anvil, and the hissing of the hot metal as he tempered it, were heard
continuously. On the eighth