Opera Stories from Wagner
By Florence Akin
Siegfried and His Friends
Mimi took good care of Siegfried.
When the boy had grown large enough to play about in the woods, Mimi made for him a little silver horn.
Siegfried loved all the birds and the wild animals.
He knew they were his best friends, for something in Mimi’s face always showed him that the dwarf was false.
Siegfried would wander out into the forest with his silver horn swinging from his shoulder.
He would blow his little horn song, and his forest friends would hear the call and come to play with him.
He watched the birds as they built their nests.
He listened to the father bird as he warbled his pretty little love songs.
How sweetly he sang to the mother bird while she sat upon the nest!
And when the little eggs had told their secret, both the father and the mother birds carried food to the babies.
Siegfried saw how tenderly the mother foxes, wolves, and bears cared for their babies.
From these friends in the forest he learned what love is.
Never for all the world would he have stolen one baby from its mother.
But it was when he watched the love-light in the eyes of the mother deer that he would shut his eyes and try to dream that he too had a loving mother.
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