{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/ron/ron07.htm","path":"neu/ron/ron07.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/ron/ron07.htm","text":"The curtain rises slowly. The scene is the same as at the close of the second day, on the Valkyries' rock; night. In the background, from below, firelight shines. The three Norns, tall women in long, dark, veil-like drapery. The first (eldest) lies in the foreground, to the right, under the spreading pine-tree; the second (younger) is stretched on a shelving rock in front of the cave; the third (youngest) fits in the centre at the back on a rock near the peak. Motionless, gloomy silence.\nThe First Norn\nWhat light glimmers there?\nThe Second Norn\nIs it already dawn?\nThe Third Norn\nLoge's host\n Glows in flame around the rock.\n It is night.\n Why spin we not, singing the while?\n[To the first.]\nWhere for our spinning and singing\n Wilt thou fasten the rope?\n[While she loosens a golden ropes from herself and ties one end of it to a branch of the pine-tree.]\nI sing and wind the rope\n Badly or well, as may be.\n At the world-ash-tree\n Once I wove,\n When from the stem\n There bourgeoned strong\n The boughs of a sacred wood.\n In the shadows cool\n A fountain flowed;\n Wisdom whispered\n Low from its wave;\n Of holy things I sang.\nA dauntless God\n Came to drink at the well;\n For the draught he drank\n He paid with the loss of an eye.\n From the world-ash-tree\n Wotan broke a holy bough;\n From the bough he cut\n And shaped the shaft of a spear.\nAs time rolled on the wood\n Wasted and died of the wound;\n Sere, leafless and barren,\n Wan withered the tree;\n Sadly the flow\n Of the fountain failed;\n Troubled grew\n My sorrowful song.\n And now no more\n At the world-ash-tree I weave;\n I needs must fasten\n Here on the pine-tree my rope.\n Sing, O sister--\n Catch as I throw--\n Canst thou tell us why?\n[Winds the rope thrown to her round a projecting rock at the entrance of the cave.]\nRunes of treaties\n Well weighed and pondered\n Cut were by Wotan\n In the shaft,\n Which wielding, he swayed the world.\n A hero bold\n In fight then splintered the spear,\n The hallowed haft\n With its treaties cleaving in twain.\n Then bade Wotan\n Walhall's heroes\nHew down the world-ash-tree\n Forthwith,\n Both the stem and boughs sere and barren.\n The ash-tree sank;\n Sealed was the fountain that flowed.\n Round the sharp edge\n Of the rock I wind the rope\n Sing, O sister,\n Catch as I throw;\n Further canst thou tell?\n[Catching the rope and throwing the end behind her.]\nThe castle stands\n By giants upreared.\n With the Gods and the holy\n Host of the heroes\n Wotan sits in his hall;\n And round the walls\n Hewn logs are heaped,\n High up-piled,\n Ready for burning:\n The world-ash-tree these were once.\n When the wood\n Flares up brightly and burns,\n In its fire\n Shall the fair hall be consumed.\n And then shall the high Gods' downfall\n Dawn in darkness for aye.\n Know ye yet more,\n Begin anew winding the rope;\n Again I throw it\n Back from the north.\n Spin and sing, O my sister.\n[She throws the rope to the second Norn, and the second throws it to the first, who loosens the rope from the bough and ties it on to another.]\n[Looking towards the back.]\nIs it the dawn,\n Or the firelight that flickers?\n Grief-darkened is my gaze.\n The holy past\n I can scarce remember,\n When Loge burst\n Of old into burning fire.\n Dost thou know how he fared?\n[Winding the rope which has been thrown to her round the rock again.]\nOvercome by Wotan's\n Spear and its magic,\n Loge worked for the God\n Then, to win his freedom\n Gnawed with his tooth\n The solemn runes on the shaft.\n So with the potent\n Spell of the spear-point\n Wotan confined him\n Flaming where Br\u00fcnnhilde slumbered.\n Canst thou tell us the end?\nWith the broken spear's\n Sharp-piercing splinters\n Wotan wounded\n The blazing one deep in the breast;\n Ravening fire\n Springs from the wound,\n And this is thrown\n 'Mid the world-ash-tree's\n Hewn logs heaped ready for burning.\n Would ye know\n When that will be,\n Wind, O sisters, the rope!\n[She throws the rope back; the second Norn winds it up and throws it again to the first.]\n[Fastening the rope again.]\nThe night wanes,\n Dark grows my vision;\n I cannot find\n The threads of the rope;\n The strands are twisted and loose.\n A horrible sight\n Wildly vexes mine eyes:\n The Rhinegold\n That black Alberich stole.\n Knowest thou more thereof?\n[With laborious haste winds the rope round the jagged rock at the mouth of the cave.]\nThe rock's sharp edge\n Is cutting the rope;\n The threads loosen\n Their hold and grow slack;\n They droop tangled and frayed.\n From woe and wrath\n Rises the Nibelung's ring\n A curse of revenge\n Ruthlessly gnaws at the strands:--\n Canst thou the end foretell?\n[Hastily catching the rope which is thrown to her.]\nThe rope is too short,\n Too loose it hangs;\n It must be stretched,\n Pulled straighter, before\n Its end can reach to the north!\n[She pulls hard at the rope, which breaks.]\nIt breaks!\n[They take the pieces of broken rope and bind their bodies together with them.]\nThe Three Norns\nSo ends wisdom eternal!\n The wise ones\n Will utter no more.\n Descend to Erda! Descend!\n[They vanish. The dawn grows brighter; the firelight from the valley gradually fades. Sunrise; then broad daylight.]\n[Siegfried and Br\u00fcnnhilde enter from the cave. He is fully armed; she leads her horse by the bridle.]\nBr\u00fcnnhilde\nBelov\u00e8d hero,\n Poor my love were\n Wert thou thereby\n Kept from new deeds.\n One single doubt\n Yet makes me linger:\n The fear my service\n Has been too small.\n The things the Gods taught me\n I could give:\n All the rich hoard\n Of holy runes;\n But by the hero\n Who holds my heart\n I have been robbed\n Of my maiden valour.\n In wisdom weak,\n Although strong in will;\n In love so rich,\n In power so poor--\n Must thou not scorn\n Her lack of riches\n Who, though so eager,\n Can give nothing more?\nSiegfried\nWonderful woman, more\n Thy gifts than I can guard!\n O chide not if thy teaching\n Has left me still untaught.\n[With fire.]\nThat Br\u00fcnnhilde lives for me--\n To that lore I hold fast;\n And one lesson I have learned--\n Br\u00fcnnhilde to remember!\nIf thou wouldst truly love me,\n Think of thyself alone,\n And of thy deeds of daring!\n The raging fire remember\n That fearless thou didst fare through\n When around the rock it burned--\nThat I might conquer Br\u00fcnnhild'!\nThink too of the shield-hidden maid\n Thou didst find there lapped in slumber,\n And whose helmet hard thou didst break--\nBr\u00fcnnhilde to awaken!\nThose oaths remember\n That unite us;\n The faith and truth\n That are between us,\n And evermore\n The love we live for;\n Br\u00fcnnhilde in thy breast\n Will deeply bum then for aye!\n[She embraces Siegfried.]\nMust I leave thee, O love,\n In thy holy fortress of fire,\n[He has taken Alberich's ring from his finger, and holds it out to Br\u00fcnnhilde.]\nThis ring of mine I give thee;\n Let it pay for thy runes.\n Of whatever deeds I did\n The virtue lies therein.\n By my hand was the dragon grim,\n Who long had guarded it, slain;\n Keep thou the gold and its might\n As token true of my love!\n[Putting on the ring in rapturous delight.]\nI covet it more than all else!\n For the ring take Grane, my horse.\n Through the air with me\n He galloped once boldly,\n But lost with mine\n Was his magic art;\n Upon clouds and storm,\n Through thunder and lightning\n No more\n Gallantly now will he sweep!\n But if thou lead the way,\n Even through fire\n Fearlessly Grane will follow.\n For henceforth, hero,\n Thou art his master!\n Entreat him well;\n He knows thy voice;\n O, greet him often\n In Br\u00fcnnhilde's name!\nThen every deed that I dare\n Will be achieved through thy virtue;\n All my battles thou wilt choose,\n And my victories will be thine.\n Upon thy good horse riding,\n And sheltered by thy shield,\n No longer Siegfried am I,\n But only Br\u00fcnnhilde's arm\nO were but Br\u00fcnnhilde thy soul too!\nThrough her my courage burns high.\nThen wert thou Siegfried and Br\u00fcnnhild'.\nWhere I am, there thy abode is.\n[With animation.]\nThen a waste is my hall of rock?\nMade one, both there abide.\n[Greatly moved.]\nYe Gods, O ye holy\n Race of immortals,\n Feast ye your eyes\n On this love-hallowed pair!\n Apart--who shall divide us?\n Divided--still we are one!\nHail, O Br\u00fcnnhilde,\n Beautiful star!\n Hail, love and its glory!\nHail, O Siegfried,\n Conquering light!\n Hail, life and its glory!\n Hail, conquering light!\nBoth\nHail! Hail! Hail! Hail!\n[Siegfried leads the horse quickly to the edge of the sloping rock, Br\u00fcnnhilde following him. Siegfried disappears with the horse down behind the projecting rock, so that he is no longer visible to the audience. Br\u00fcnnhilde is thus suddenly left standing alone on the edge of the slope, and gazes down into the valley after Siegfried. Her gestures show that Siegfried has vanished from her sight. Siegfried's horn is heard from below. Br\u00fcnnhilde listens, and steps further out on the slope. She catches sight of Siegfried in the valley again, and waves to him joyfully. Her happy smiles seem to reflect the air of the merrily departing hero.]","title":"TWILIGHT OF THE GODS: Prelude","type":"page"}