{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/ron/ron10.htm","path":"neu/ron/ron10.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/ron/ron10.htm","text":"A wild wooded and rocky valley on the Rhine, which flows past a steep cliff in the background. The three Rhine-Maidens, Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flosshilde, rise to the surface and swim and circle as if dancing.\nThe Three Rhine-Maidens\n[Swimming slower.]\nThe sun\n Sends hither rays of glory;\n In the depths is darkness.\n Once there was light,\n When clear and fair\n Our father's gold shone on the billows.\n Rhinegold!\n Gleaming gold!\n How bright was once thy radiance,\n Lovely star of the waters!\n[They sing and again start swimming and circling about. They pause and then, then merrily splash the waters.]\nO sun,\n The hero quickly send us\n Who again our gold shall give us!\n If it were ours,\n We should no longer\n Envy thine eye for its splendour.\n Rhinegold!\n Gleaming gold!\n How glad was thy radiance,\n Glorious star of the waters!\n[A horn is heard.]\nWoglinde\nHark! That is his horn!\n\"O wife betrayed,\n I will avenge\n Thy trust deceived\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 154\nWellgunde\nThe hero comes.\nFlosshilde\nLet us take counsel.\n[They all dive down quickly.]\nSiegfried\n[Appears on the cliff fully armed.]\nSome elf has led me astray\n And lured my feet from the path.\n Hey, rogue! Behind what hill\n Hast suddenly hidden my game?\nSiegfried!\n[Rise to the surface again and swim and circle as in a dance.]\nWhat art thou scolding about?\nWith what elf art thou so wroth?\nHast thou been tricked by some sprite?\nAll Three\nTell us, Siegfried; let us hear!\n[Regarding them with a smile.]\nHave ye, then, hither charmed\n The shaggy-hided fellow\n Whom I have lost?\n Frolicsome maids,\n Ye are welcome to him,\n If he is your love.\n[The maidens laugh.]\nWhat would our guerdon be,\n Siegfried, if we restored him?\nI have caught nothing yet,\n So ask of me what you will.\nA golden ring\n Gleams on thy finger.\nWilt grant it?\nFrom a dragon grim\n I won the ring in fight;\n And think ye for a worthless bear-skin\n I would exchange the gold?\nArt thou so mean?\nIn bargains so hard?\nFree-handed\n Thou with women shouldst be.\nOn you did I waste my goods,\n My wife would have cause to scold.\nIs she a shrew?\nAnd beats thee sore?\nHas the hero felt her hand?\n[They laugh immoderately.]\nThough gaily ye may laugh,\n In grief ye shall be left,\n For, mocking maids, this ring\n Ye ask shall never be yours.\n[The Rhine-Maidens have again join hands for dancing.]\nSo fair!\nSo strong!\nSo worthy love!\nThe Three\nHow sad he should a miser be!\n[They laugh and dive down.]\n[Comes down nearer to the river.]\nWhy should I stand\n Their taunts and blame?\n Why endure their scorn?\n Did they return\n\"Though gaily ye may laugh,\n In grief ye shall be left,\n For, mocking maids, this ring\n Ye ask shall never be yours\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 162\nTo the bank again,\n The ring gladly I'd give them.\n[Calling loudly.]\nHey, hey! ye merry\n Water-maidens,\n Come back; the ring shall be yours.\n[He holds up the ring, which he has taken from his finger.]\n[Rise to the surface again. They appear grave and solemn.]\nNay, hero, keep\n And ward it well,\n Until the harm thou hast felt\n That in the ring lies hid.\n Then wouldst thou fain\n Be freed by us from its curse.\nSing something that ye know!\n[Calmly puts the ring on his finger again.]\nSiegfried! Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Dark our knowledge for thee!\n The ring thou keepest\n To thy own scathe!\n From the gleaming gold\n Of the Rhine 'twas wrought;\n He who cunningly forged it,\n And lost it in shame,\n Laid a curse on it\n Which, for all time,\n The owner thereof\n Dooms to his death.\n As the dragon fell\n So shalt thou too fall,\n And that to-day;\n Thy fate is foretold,\n Wilt thou not give to the Rhine\n The ring to hide in its waters.\nIts waves alone\n Can loose the curse.\nEnough, O ye women\n Full of wiles!\n Was I firm when ye flattered,\n I am firmer now when ye threaten!\nSiegfried! Siegfried!\n Our warning is true:\n Flee, oh, flee from the curse!\n The Norns who weave\n By night have entwined it\n In the rope\n Of Fate's decrees!\nMy sword once shattered a spear;\n And if the Norns\n Have woven a curse\n Into the strands\n Of destiny's rope,\n Nothung will cleave it asunder.\n A dragon once warned me\n Of this dread curse,\n But he could not teach me to fear.\n[He contemplates the ring.]\nThe world's wealth\n Has bestowed on me a ring.\n For the grace of love\n Had it been yours,\n And still for love might it be got,\n But by threats to my life and my limbs--\n Had it not even\n A finger's worth--\n The ring ye never shall gain.\n My limbs and my life--\n\"Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Our warning is true:\n Flee, oh, flee from the curse!\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 164\nLook!--thus\n Freely I fling away!\n[He lifts a clod of earth from the ground, holds it over his head, and with the last words throws it behind him.]\nCome, sisters!\n Fly from the madman!\n Though dauntless and wise\n He seems to himself,\n He is blind and in fetters bound fast.\n[Wildly excited, they swim in wide circles close to the shore.]\nOaths he swore,\n And was false to his word;\n[Moving quickly again.]\nRunes he knows\n That he cannot rede.\n A glorious gift\n Fell to his lot;\n He flung it from him\n Unawares;\n And the ring that deals doom and death\n Alone he will not surrender!\nFarewell, Siegfried!\n A woman proud\n Ere night falls thy wealth shall inherit.\n our cry by her will be heard.\n To her! To her! To her!\n[They turn quickly to their dance, and gradually swim away to the back singing.]\n[Looks after them smiling, one foot on a piece of rock and his chin resting on his hand.]\nAlike on land and water\n I have studied women's ways:\n Still those who mistrust their smiles\n They seek with threats to frighten,\n And, are their threats despised,\nAt once they begin to scold.\n And yet--\n Held I not Gutrun' dear,\n Of these alluring maidens\n One had surely been mine.\n[He looks calmly after the Rhine-Maidens, who have disappeared, and whose voices gradually die away. Horn-calls are then heard. Siegfried starts from a reverie and sounds his horn in answer.]\nHagen's voice\n[Far off.]\nHoiho!\nVassals' voices\nHoiho! Hoiho! Hoiho!\n[Having answered the call with his horn.]\nHoiho! Hoihe!\nHagen\n[Appears on the height, followed by Gunther. He sees Siegfried.]\nSo we have found thee\n Where thou wert hidden!\nCome down all! Here 'tis fresh and cool.\n[The vassals now appear on the height, and come down with Hagen and Gunther.]\nHere let us rest\n And see to the meal.\n[They lay the game in a heap.]\nLay down the booty\n And hand round the wine-skins.\n[Wine-skins and drinking-horns are produced. All lie down.]\nNow be the wonders told us\n Of Siegfried and his hunting\n That chased the game from us.\nSiegfried's death\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 172\nNo meal at all is mine;\n I beg of you\n To share with me your spoil.\nNo luck at all?\nI sought for forest-game,\n But water-fowl only I found;\n Furnished with the right equipment,\n A brood of three wild water-birds\n I had caught and brought you.\n Down there on the Rhine they told me\n That slain to-day I should fall.\n[Gunther starts and looks darkly at Hagen. Siegfried lies down between Gunther and Hagen.]\nA sorry chase were that\n If the luckless hunter fell\n A victim to the quarry!\nThirst plagues me!\n[Whilst he orders a drinking-horn to be filled for Siegfried, and hands it to him.]\nIt has been rumoured, Siegfried,\n That thou canst tell the meaning\n Of what the birds sing:\n Does rumour speak true?\nI have not listened\n For long to their song.\n[He takes the drinking-horn and turns with it to Gunther, to whom he offers it after he has drunk from it.]\nDrink, Gunther, drink!\n Thy brother hands the draught!\nGunther\n[Looks into the horn with horror. Moodily.]\nA pale draught thou hast poured!\n[More gloomily.]\nThy blood alone is there.\n[Laughing.]\nWith thine, then, be it mingled!\n[He pours from Gunther's horn into his own so that it runs over.]\nThus mixed the wine flows over\n To Mother Earth\n May it prove a cordial kind!\n[With a deep sigh.]\nThou over-joyous man!\n[Low, to Hagen.]\nHis cheer Br\u00fcnnhild' has marred.\n[Low, to Siegfried.]\nShe speaks less plain to him\n Than speak the birds to thee!\nSince I have heard women singing,\n The birds I have clean forgot.\nBut thou didst hear them once?\n[Turning with animation to Gunther.]\nHei! Gunther!\n Moody-faced man!\n Come, I will tell thee\n Tales of my boyhood,\n If thou wouldst care to hear them.\n'Twould please me much.\n[They lie down close to Siegfried, who alone fits upright.]\nSing, hero, sing!\nMime was\n A surly old dwarf\n Who because of greed\n Reared me with care,\n That when the child\n Grew sturdy and bold\n He might slay a dragon grim\n That guarded treasure in the wood.\nHe taught me to forge\n And the art of fusing,\n But what the craftsman\n Could not achieve\n The scholar did\n By skill and by daring--\n Out of the splinters of a weapon\n Fashioned featly a sword.\n My father's blade\n Forged was afresh;\n Strong and true\n Nothung was tempered,\n Deemed by the dwarf\n Fit for the fight.\n The wood then we sought, and there\n The dragon Fafner I slew.\nListen and heed\n Well to my tale;\n I have marvels to tell you.\n From the dragon's blood\n My fingers were burning,\n And these I raised to my lips;\n And barely touched\n Was the blood by my tongue,\n When what a bird was saying\n Above me I could hear.\n On a bough it sat there and sang\n \"Hei! Siegfried now owns\n All the Nibelung hoard!\n Oh! could he the hoard\n In the cave but find!\n Tarnhelm, if he could but win it,\n Would help him to deeds of renown;\n And could he discover the ring,\n It would make him the lord of the world!'\nDidst thou take\n The Tarnhelm and ring?\nA Vassal\nWas that the end of the singing?\nHaving taken\n Tarnhelm and ring,\n Once more I listened\n And heard the sweet warbler;\n He sat above me and sang:--\n \"Hei! Siegfried now owns\n Both the helm and the ring!\n Oh I let him not listen\n To Mime, the false,\n For Mime, too, covets the treasure,\n And cunningly watches and spies!\n He is bent on murdering Siegfried\n Be Siegfried wary of Mime!\"\n'Twas well that he warned?\nThe Vassals\nGot Mime due payment?\nA deadly-brewed draught\n He brought me to drink\n But, fear-stricken,\n His tongue stammered truly:\n Nothung stretched him out dead!\n[With a strident laugh.]\nThe steel that he forged not\n Mime soon tasted!\n[He has another drinking-horn filled, and drops the juice of a herb into it.]\nWhat further did the bird tell thee?\nFrom my horn\n Drink, hero, first\n A magical draught is this;\nIt will mind thee of things long forgotten,\n And bring old days to remembrance.\n[He offers the horn to Siegfried, who looks into it thoughtfully and then drinks slowly.]\nIn sorrow I listened,\n Grieving looked up;\n He sat there still and sang.\n \"Hei! Siegfried has slain\n The deceitful dwarf!\n I know for him now\n A glorious bride.\n She sleeps where rugged rocks soar\n Ringed is her chamber by fire.\n Who battles the flames\n Wakens the bride,\n Br\u00fcnnhilde wins as reward!\"\nThe wood-bird's counsel\n Didst thou follow?\nStraight without pause\n I rose and I ran\n[Gunther listens with increasing astonishment.]\nTill I came to the fire-ringed rock.\n I passed through the flames,\n And for prize I found,\n[More and more ecstatic.]\nSleeping, and clad in bright mail,\n A woman lovely and dear.\n The hard helmet\n I loosened with care,\n And waked the maid with my kiss.\n Ah, then the burning, sweet embrace\n Of Br\u00fcnnhild's rapturous arms!\n[Springing up in greatest consternation.]\nWhat says he?\n[Two ravens fly up out of a bush, circle above Siegfried, and then fly away towards the Rhine.]\nDidst understand\n What the ravens there said?\n[Siegfried starts up suddenly, and, turning his back to Hagen, looks after the ravens. Hagen thrusts his spear into Siegfried's back.]\nVengeance--that was the word!\n[Gunther and the vassals rush towards Hagen. Siegfried swings his shield on high with both hands in order to throw it on Hagen; his strength fails him; the shield drops from his grasp backwards, and he falls down upon it.]\nGunther and the Vassals\nHagen, what dost thou?\n[Who have tried to hold Hagen back in vain.]\nDeath to traitors!\n[He turns calmly away, and is seen in the gathering twilight disappearing slowly over the height. Gunther bends over Siegfried in great grief. The vassals stand round the dying man full of sympathy.]\n[Supported by two vassals in a sitting posture, opens radiant eyes.]\nBr\u00fcnnhilde,\n Heaven-born bride,\n Awake! Open thine eyelids!\n Who again\n Has locked thee in sleep\n And bound thee in slumber so fast?\n Lo! he that came\n And kissed thee awake\nAgain breaks the bonds\n Holding thee fettered\n And looks on Br\u00fcnnhild's delight.\n Ah I those dear eyes\n Now open for ever!\n Ah I the soft fragrance\n Borne on her breathing!\n Death, thou art welcome--\n Sweet are thy terrors--\n Br\u00fcnnhild' greets me, my bride!\n[He sinks back and dies. The rest stand round him motionless and sorrowing. Night has fallen. At a silent command from Gunther the vassals raise Siegfried's body and bear it away slowly in a solemn procession over the height. The moon breaks through the clouds, and lights up the funeral procession with increasing clearness as it reaches the top of the hill. A mist has risen from the Rhine which gradually fills the whole stage, on which the funeral procession has become invisible. After a musical interlude the mist divides again, until at length the hall of the Gibichungs, as in Act I., appears with increasing distinctness.]\nIt is night. The moonlight is mirrored in the Rhine. Gutrune comes out of her chamber into the hall.\nGutrune\nWas that his horn?\n [She listens.]\nNo!--he\n Has not returned.\n Troubled was my sleep\n By evil dreams!\n Then wildly neighed his horse;\nBr\u00fcnnhild' laughed,\n And I woke up afraid.\n What woman was it\n I saw go down to the shore?\n I fear this Br\u00fcnnhild'\n Is she within?\n [She listens at the door at the right and calls.]\nBr\u00fcnnhild'! Br\u00fcnnhild'!\n Art awake?\n[She opens the door timidly and looks into the inner room.]\nNo one is there!\n So it was she\n I saw go downwards to the Rhine.\n[A distant horn sounds.]\nWas that his horn?\n No!\n All silent!\n[She looks out anxiously.]\nWould but Siegfried return!\n[Hagen's voice is heard outside coming nearer. When Gutrune hears it she stands for a time transfixed with terror.]\nHoiho! Hoiho!\n Awake! Awake!\n Lights! Ho! lights here!\n Burning torches!\n Home bring we\n Spoils of the chase.\n Hoiho! Hoiho!\n[Increasing light from the torches is seen without. Hagen enters the hall.]\nUp! Gutrun'!\n Give Siegfried greeting,\nFor home to thee\n Thy hero comes.\n[In great fear.]\nWhat is wrong, Hagen?\n I heard not his horn.\n[Men and women with lights and firebrands accompany, in great confusion, the procession returning with Siegfried's body.]\nThe hero pale\n Will blow it no more;\n No more will he ride\n To battle or chase\n Or gaily go wooing fair women.\n[With growing terror.]\nWhat bring they here?\n[The procession reaches the middle of the hall, and the vassals set down the body on a hastily improvised platform.]\n'Tis a wild boar's spoil they bring thee:\n Siegfried, thy husband slain.\n[Gutrune shrieks and falls upon the corpse, General emotion and mourning.]\n[Bends over the fainting Gutrune.]\nGutrun', gentle sister!\n Open thine eyelids!\n Look up and speak!\n[Recovering consciousness.]\nSiegfried--they have slain Siegfried!\n[She pushes Gunther back violently].\nHence! false-hearted brother,\n Thou slayer of my husband!\n Oh, who will help me!\n Woe's me! Woe's me!\n These men have murdered my Siegfried!\nCast not the blame on me;\n 'Tis Hagen who must bear it:\nHe is the accurs\u00e8d wild boar\n That did the hero to death.\nWith me art wroth for that?\nWoe and grief\n For aye be thy portion!\n[Stepping forward with terrible defiance.]\nYes, then, 'tis true that I slew him.\n I--Hagen--\n Did him to death!\n By my spear he falsely swore,\n So by my spear he fell.\n I have the sacred right\n Now to demand my booty,\n And what I claim is this ring.\nAway! Thou shalt not have\n What forfeit falls to me.\nYe vassals, judge of my right!\nThou wouldst seize Gutrune's dower,\n Insolent Niblung son?\n[Draws his sword.]\n'Tis thus\n The Niblung son demands his own.\n[He rushes on Gunther, who defends himself; they fight. The vassals throw themselves between. Gunther falls slain by a stroke from Hagen.]\nMine the ring!\n[He makes a grasp at Siegfried's hand, which raises itself in menace. All stand transfixed with horror.]\nBr\u00fcnnhilde\n[Advances firmly and solemnly from the background to the front. Still at the back.]\nSilence! Your sorrow\n Clamour less loud!\n Now for vengeance his wife comes,\n The woman all have betrayed.\n[As she comes quietly forward.]\nI have heard you whining\n As whine children\n When milk is spilt by their mother;\n But lamentation\n Meet for a hero unmatched\n I have not heard.\n[Raising herself suddenly from the floor.]\nBr\u00fcnnhilde, spite-envenomed!\n Thou art the cause of our woe!\n For, urged by thee, the men have slain him;\n Curs\u00e8d hour that brought thee here!\nPeace, hapless wretch!\n Thou never wert wife of his;\n His leman wert thou,\n Only that.\n But I am his lawful bride;\n To me was the binding oath sworn,\n Before thy face he beheld.\n[Breaking out in sudden despair.]\nAccurs\u00e8d Hagen,\n Why didst thou give the poison\n That stole her husband away?\n O sorrow!\n Mine eyes are opened:\n Br\u00fcnnhild' was the true love\n Whom through the draught he forgot.\n[She turns from Siegfried in shame and fear, and, dying, bends over Gunther's body; remaining motionless in this position until the end. Hagen stands defiantly leaning on his spear and shield, sunk in gloomy thought, on the opposite side. Br\u00fcnnhilde stands alone in the middle. After long and absorbed contemplation of Siegfried she turns with solemn exaltation to the men and women.]\nLet great logs\n Be borne to the shore\n And high by the Rhine be heaped;\n Fierce and far\n Let the flames mount\n That consume to ashes\n Him who was first among men!\n His horse lead to me here,\n That with me his lord he may follow.\n For my body longs\n To have part in his glory\n And share his honour in death.\n Obey Br\u00fcnnhild's behest.\n[The young men, during the following, raise a great pyre of logs before the hall, near the bank of the Rhine; women decorate this with rugs, on which they strew plants and flowers.]\n[Absorbed anew in contemplation of Siegfried's dead face. Her expression brightens and softens as she proceeds.]\nSheer golden sunshine\n Streams from his face;\n None was so pure\n As he who betrayed.\n To wife forsworn,\n To friend too faithful,\n From his own true love--\n His only belov\u00e8d--\n Barred he lay by his sword.\n Never did man\n Swear oaths more honest,\n No one was ever\n Truer to treaties;\n Never was love\n Purer than Siegfried's;\nYet oaths the most sacred,\n Bonds the most binding,\n And true love were never\n So grossly betrayed!\nKnow ye why that was?\n[Looking upward.]\nYe Gods who guard\n All vows that are uttered,\n Look down on me\n In my terrible grief,\n Your guilt never-ending behold!\n Hear my voice accusing,\n Mighty God!\n Through his most valiant deed--\n Deed by thee so desired--\n Thou didst condemn him\n To the doom\n That else upon thee had fallen.\n He, truest of all,\n Must betray me,\n That wise a woman might grow!\nKnow I all thou wouldst learn?\nAll things! All things!\n All I know now:\n All stands plainly revealed.\n Round me I hear\n Thy ravens flapping.\n By them I send thee back\n The tidings awaited in fear.\n Rest in peace now, O God!\n[She signs to the vassals to bear Siegfried's body on to the pyre, at the same time she draws the ring of Siegfried's finger, and regards it musingly.]\nI claim as mine\n What he has left me.\n O gold accurst!\n Terrible ring!\n I now grasp thee\n And give thee away.\n O sisters wise,\n Ye have my thanks\n For your counsel good, ye who dwell\n In the waters deep of the Rhine.\n What ye desire\n I gladly give;\n From out my ashes\n Take ye your treasure;\n The fire by which I am burnt\n Cleanses the ring of its curse.\n Down in the waves\n Wash it away,\n And guard ever pure\n The shining gold\n That stolen was to your grief!\n[She has put the ring on her finger, and now turns to the pile of logs on which Siegfried's body lies stretched. Taking a great firebrand from one of the men, she waves it and points to the background.]\nFly home, ye ravens,\n Tell your lord the tidings\n That ye have heard by the Rhine.\n But fly, as ye go,\n By Br\u00fcnnhild's rock;\n Still Loge flames there;\n Bid him follow to Walhall;\n For the Gods are drawing\n Near to their doom.\nThus--thrown be the brand\n On Walhall's glittering halls!\n[She hurls the brand on to the pile of wood, which quickly breaks into flame. Two ravens fly up from the rock by the shore and vanish in the background. Br\u00fcnnhilde perceives her horse, which has Just been led in by two men.]\nGrane, my horse,\n Be greeted fair!\n[She springs towards him, and, catching hold of him, removes his bridle and bends to wards him affectionately.]\nKnowest thou, my friend,\n To whom we are going?\n Thy lord lies radiant\n There in the fire,\n Siegfried, my hero blest!\n Thou neighest with joy\n To think thou shalt join him?\n Laughing, the flames\n Allure thee to follow?\n Feel thou my bosom,\n Feel how it burns;\n Flames of fire\n Have laid hold on my heart.\n Ah, to embrace him,\n By him be embraced,\n United for ever\n In love without end!\n Heiajoho! Grane!\n Give thy lord greeting!\n[She has swung herself on to the horse, and urges it forward.]\nBr\u00fcnnhilde on Grane leaps on to the funeral pyre of Siegfried\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 182\nSiegfried! Siegfried!\n See! Br\u00fcnnhild' greets thee, thy bride!\n[She urges her horse with one leap into the burning pile of logs. The flames immediately blaze up, so that they fill the whole space in front of the hall and seem to catch hold of the building itself. The terrified men and women press as far to the front as possible. When the whole stage appears to be filled with fire the glow gradually fades, so that there is soon nothing left but a cloud of smoke, which drifts towards the back and hangs there as a dark bank of cloud. At the same time the Rhine overflows and the flood rolls up over the fire. The three Rhine-Maidens swim forward on the waves, and now appear over the spot where the fire was. Hagen, who since the incident of the ring has been watching Br\u00fcnnhilde's behaviour with growing anxiety, is much alarmed by the sight of the Rhine-Maidens. He throws away his spear, shield, and helmet, and dashes into the flood as if mad, crying out, \"Back from the ring!\" Woglinde and Wellgunde fling their arms round his neck and, swimming away, draw him down with them into the depths.. Flosshilde, swimming ahead of the others towards the back, joyously holds up the recovered ring. Through the bank of cloud on the horizon a red glow of increasing brightness breaks forth, and, illumined by this light, the Rhine-Maidens are seen merrily circling about and playing with the ring on the calmer waters of the Rhine, which has gradually retired to its natural bed. From the ruins of the fallen hall the men and. women watch in great agitation the growing gleam of fire in the heavens. When this is at its brightest the hall of Walhall is seen, in which the Gods and heroes sit assembled, as described by Waltraute in the first Act. Bright flames seem to seize on the hall of the Gods. When the Gods are completely hidden by the flames the curtain falls.]\nThe Rhine-Maidens obtain possession of the ring and bear it off in triumph\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 182","title":"TWILIGHT OF THE GODS: The Third Act","type":"page"}