To Mimer's school, then, where he would be taught to work skilfully and
to think wisely, Siegfried was sent, to be in all respects like the
other pupils there. A coarse blue blouse and heavy leggings and a
leathern apron took the place of the costly clothing which he had worn
in his father's dwelling. On his feet were awkward wooden sandals, and
his head was covered with a wolfskin cap. The dainty bed, with its
downy pillows, wherein every night his mother had been wont, with
gentle care, to see him safely covered, was given up for a rude heap of
straw in a corner of the smithy. And the rich food to which he had
been used gave place to the coarsest and humblest fare. But the lad
did not complain. The days which he passed in the smithy were mirthful
and happy; and the sound of his hammer rang cheerfully, and the sparks
from his forge flew briskly, from morning till night.

And a wonderful smith he became. No one could do more work than he,
and none wrought with greater skill. The heaviest chains and the
strongest bolts, for prison or for treasure house, were but as toys in
his stout hands, so easily and quickly did he beat them into shape.
Cunning also was he in work of the most delicate and brittle kind.
Ornaments of gold and silver studded with the rarest jewels, were
fashioned into beautiful forms by his deft fingers. And among all of
Mimer's apprentices none learned the master's lore so readily, or
gained the master's favor more.

One morning the master, Mimer, came to the smithy with a troubled look
upon his face. It was clear that something had gone amiss; and what it
was the apprentices soon learned from the smith himself. Never, until
lately, had any one questioned Mimer's right to be called the foremost
smith in all the world; but now a rival had come forward. An unknown