But Loki quickly tossed the helmet upon the shining heap.
"Take it, then," snarled the dwarf, thinking he could easily, with the power of the ring, force Mimi to make another, "but let me go, I say!"
"Just wait a minute, Alberich," said Wotan. "That ring I saw glittering on your finger,--I must have that too."
"The ring!" Alberich screamed in horror. "No, you shall never have the ring!"
Wotan's face grew stern.
"That ring does not belong to you. You stole its gold from the Rhine-children," he said.
"Think twice, Wotan, before you take this ring from me! I warn you now a curse goes with it."
But Wotan drew the ring from the dwarf's finger, then set him free.
"Farewell, Alberich! Farewell!"
"Ha!" laughed Alberich in scorn. "It will never bring you happiness. Its owner shall always feel its curse of care, sorrow, and unrest."