"A curse?" he asked. "That makes it interesting! I must hear about this curse."
Then the Rhine-maidens sang,
"Siegfried! Siegfried! Siegfried!
Sorrow dire we foresee:
If thou wardest the Ring,
A curse it will be.
From the Gold of the Rhine
It was craftily wrought,
Then cursed by the dwarf
When its magic he sought.
Whoever shall own it
Is fated to fall;
The dragon thou slewest
Was but one among all.
To-day thou art stricken—
Thy doom we divine—
Unless thou returnest
The Ring to the Rhine!"
Siegfried heard the song through, then placed the Ring tightly on his finger.
"Ah, ye are trying to frighten me into giving up the trinket!" he said. "But ye have sung your song to the wrong ears. I know not what fear is and have been hunting it all my life."
"Beware, Siegfried!" the maidens cried entreatingly, sinking once more into the water's depths.
"Farewell!" he called after them laughingly. "I must hasten to join the hunt."
The sound of a far-away horn was now heard, and he answered it with his bugle, then hastily mounted Grani and rode away. Thanks to his swift steed he soon reached the spot agreed upon for the noontide repast. He greeted the two ladies, the King, Hagen and the retainers, and seated himself between Hagen and Gudrun. Brunhilde sat directly opposite, by the King's side.
As Siegfried had brought no game to the feast, it was jestingly decreed that he should entertain the company by telling some of his past adventures. Hagen passed goblets of wine to each one present, and took the opportunity to pour into Siegfried's cup a few drops of a potion which caused him to remember again some of his past.
So Siegfried began to tell of his early life in the forest with Mime; of how he harnessed the bear to frighten the dwarf; of his Sword of Need and the fight with the dragon.