"When he is grown up I will make him pay me for my care and pains. He shall slay the dragon. Then I will take the ring."
He lifted the little baby as gently as he knew how, and started toward his cave.
Again he heard the same strange voice:--
"Siegfried is his name, and only he who knows no fear can mend the sword."
"Ha! ha!" chuckled Mimi. "That voice does not know what a skillful smith Mimi is.
"I will mend the sword and Siegfried shall use it to slay the dragon."
He folded the baby close in his rough, black little arms.
"A few more years, a few more years," he gurgled in glee, "and Mimi's hands shall clutch the precious gold."