The Wagner Story Book | Page 7

can't expect us to believe that.'
"At this the dwarf begins to get a little angry; 'I tell you I can,' he cries;
'I will prove it to you; I can change myself into anything; what shall it
be?'
"'Oh, whatever you like,' says the Fire God, 'only let it be something
big and horrible to show just how much you can do.'
"So, to show what he can do, in a second the dwarf changes himself
into a horrible dragon, with slimy scales and a writhing tail, and eyes
and jaws that look as wicked as the dwarf himself, and twice as savage.
The Fire God pretends to be dreadfully frightened, and when the dwarf
comes back to his own shape again he says: 'That was very good, but
that does not seem so hard, after all. Now, the way for you to hide, it
seems to me, would be to make yourself very small, so that you could
slip into a crack in the rocks. You can puff yourself up like a dragon, of
course, but can you make yourself small as easily? Oh, no, I cannot
believe that.'
"'I can be anything, anything, I tell you,' the dwarf cries, getting still
more angry; 'I will be as small as you like,' and in another second he
has changed himself into a toad, not much bigger than your hand, as
slimy as ever, looking still just as wicked as the dwarf himself, and
almost as ugly.
"'Now is the time--quick!' cries the Fire God, and in an instant the
Father of the Gods stamps his foot upon the toad and has him fast. The
Fire God stoops and pulls the magic helmet off the toad's head, and

instantly he is the dwarf again, but he is still firmly held under the god's
foot, and they tie him with cords and drag him away with them, up
among the rocks from which they came."
"That is just the way Puss in Boots caught the ogre, when he turned
himself into a mouse," said the little girl.
"Yes, to be sure it is, but you know there are only a very few stories in
the world, any way, and we cannot find new ones. The most we can
ever do is to tell the old ones over in different ways, and after all it is
better so, for old things are better than new almost always, as you will
find when you get a little older yourself. But now, with the fire burning
up a little better to help me, we are back above ground. Let us put on
more wood and see if we cannot make it better yet. We are just where
we were before, on the hill by the river and the castle of the gods. And
back now come the two gods from under the ground, dragging the
dwarf with them. 'And what will you give us now,' they cry, 'if we will
untie you and let you go?'
"'What must I give you?' he asks.
"'You must give us the whole of your treasure,' they answer; 'we will
not let you go for anything less.'
"That seems a large price, but the dwarf is as crafty as he is wicked,
though his craft seldom does him much good, and he thinks that even if
he gives up all his treasure he can soon pile up as much more, with the
help of the ring. So, by the power of the ring, he calls the dwarfs to
bring him the treasure, and up they come with it, out of the cleft of the
rocks, and they pile it in a great, glittering heap just there where the
new fire is beginning to burn so bright. 'There is the gold,' cries the
dwarf, 'let me go.'
"'Not yet,' says the Father of the Gods; 'give us your ring first, that
belongs to the treasure.'
"At that the dwarf screams and struggles and writhes and curses the
gods, but it is all of no use; the Father of the Gods tears the ring from
his finger, and then they untie him and tell him to take himself off
where he will. And now, as he goes, he lays a terrible curse on the ring.
To every one who shall ever gain it, he swears, shall come ill luck,
misfortune, sorrow, terror, and death; let him rule the world if he will,
never shall he be happy; everyone shall long for the ring, and to him
who gets it, it shall bring misery and ruin. Truly the dwarf has gained

little by stealing the gold from the river nymphs, but the gods have
done wrong as well in stealing it from him, and they are doing wrong
still in not giving