Opera Stories from Wagner
By Florence Akin
Siegfried and the Dragon
“I will blow you a song on my silver horn,” said Siegfried to the bird.
“I often blow this little song. It is my call for a comrade. I long for one. None better have ever come to me than the bears and foxes.”
Loudly he blew his horn.
Soon there was a great crackling in the underbrush. The huge dragon came, lashing its deadly tail, gaping its red jaws, and blowing out poison fumes.
“Ho!” laughed Siegfried. “What a fair comrade I have charmed from his cave! You savage brute, are you going to teach me what fear is?”
[Illustration: “I AM GOING TO EAT YOU,” HISSED THE DRAGON]
“I am going to eat you!” hissed the dragon, glaring at Siegfried and thrusting out its long forked tongue.
Siegfried quickly drew his sword.
Snorting fire and smoke from its nostrils, the monster raised to strike a deadly blow.
Siegfried sprang forward; a flash of steel, and his blade sank to the monster’s heart.
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