"Ho, ho! Love! When all the world shall be mine!"
Now we have already seen that the nymphs and the dwarfs formed only a part of the strange world, so long ago. At the very time when Alberich was stealing the Gold and preparing to make the Ring of Power down under the earth, there was an unusual happening in the home of the gods far up on the mountains.
For a long time Wotan, the greatest of the gods, had desired a palace large enough to contain his kingly court. But he could find no one strong enough to build it, until on a day two giants from the valleys below came into his presence. Large were they of shoulder and thigh, many times larger than ordinary men.
"We have come to build your palace," they said.
"Who are ye?" asked Wotan, looking piercingly at them with his single eye.
"I am Fafner, the frost-giant," answered one. "I can rend all these rocks asunder and build your palace in a single night, with the aid of my brother Fasolt, here."
Wotan was overjoyed to find someone who would undertake his cherished plan.
"What payment do you desire for this service?" he asked.
"You must give me the hand of your beautiful sister, Freia," answered Fafner.
Wotan frowned. He desired the palace above all things, just then, for it would enforce his visible rule over the world. But Freia was his favourite sister. Moreover, it was she who was the goddess of youth and beauty and who tended the tree of golden apples which kept the gods always young.