Opera Stories from Wagner

"In these stories you will find some wonderful giants. You will find beautiful maidens who lived in a river. You will find a large family of little black dwarfs who lived under the river, and you will find a splendid hero. The little children of Germany used to curl up in their mothers' arms, when bedtime came, and listen to the stories of these strange people. When these little children grew up, they told the same stories to their children. So it went for many, many years. The stories have been put together by a man named Richard Wagner. He put them together in such a way that they make one long and wonderful story. After he had told these stories in words, he told them again in a more beautiful way. He told them in music. Sometime you will hear this music, and you will think of beautiful water-maidens, singing and dancing in the sunshine. You will think of great giants walking over mountains. You will think of the little black dwarfs under the river, and you will hear them hammering, hammering upon their anvils. "