{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_49507/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_49507","id":"gutenberg_49507","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49507","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Plays/Films/Dramas","Opera","Operas -- Librettos"],"text":"SIEGFRIED & THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS\n\nBY RICHARD WAGNER\n\nWITH ILLUSTRATIONS\n\nBY ARTHUR RACKHAM\n\nTRANSLATED BY MARGARET ARMOUR\n\nLONDON WILLIAM-HEINEMANN\n\nNEW YORK DOUBLEDAY PACE & Co\n\n1911\n\n\n\n[Illustration: \"Nothung! Nothung!\n Conquering sword!\"]\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\"Nothung! Nothung!\nConquering sword!\"\n\nMime at the anvil\n\nMime and the infant Siegfried\n\n\"And there I learned\nWhat love was like\"\n\nSiegfried sees himself in the stream\n\nMime finds the mother of Siegfried in the forest\n\n\"In dragon's form\nFafner now watches the hoard\"\n\nMime and the Wanderer\n\nThe forging of Nothung\n\nSiegfried kills Fafner\n\n\"The hot blood burns like fire!\"\n\nThe dwarfs quarrelling over the body of Fafner\n\n\"Magical rapture\nPierces my heart;\nFixed is my gaze,\nBurning with terror;\nI reel, my heart faints and fails!\n\n\"Sun, I hail thee!\nHail, O light!\nHail, O glorious day!\"\n\nBr\u00fcnnhilde throws herself into Siegfried's arms\n\nThe three Norns\n\nThe Norns vanish\n\nSiegfried leaves Br\u00fcnnhilde in search of adventure\n\nSiegfried hands the drinking-horn back to Gutrune, and\ngazes at her with sudden passion\n\nBr\u00fcnnhilde kisses the ring that Siegfried has left with\nher\n\nThe ravens of Wotan\n\n\"The ring upon thy hand--\n... ah, be implored!\nFor Wotan fling it away!\"\n\nThe wooing of Grimhilde, the mother of Hagen\n\n\"Swear to me, Hagen, my son!\"\n\n\"O wife betrayed,\nI will avenge\nThy trust deceived\"\n\n\"Though gaily ye may laugh,\nIn grief ye shall be left,\nFor, mocking maids; this ring\nYe ask shall never, be yours\"\n\n\"Siegfried! Siegfried!\nOur warning is true:\nFlee, oh, flee from the curse!\"\n\nSiegfried's death\n\nBr\u00fcnnhilde on Grane leaps on to the funeral pyre of\nSiegfried\n\nThe Rhine-Maidens obtain possession of the ring and\nbear it off in triumph\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n\nCHARACTERS\n\n SIEGFRIED\n MIME\n THE WANDERER\n ALBERICH\n FAFNER\n ERDA\n BR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nSCENES OF ACTION\n\n ACT I. A CAVE IN A WOOD\n ACT II. DEPTHS OF THE WOOD\n ACT III. WILD REGION AT THE FOOT OF A ROCKY MOUNTAIN;\n AFTERWARDS: SUMMIT OF \"BR\u00dcNNHILDE'S ROCK\"\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST ACT\n\n _A rocky cavern in a wood, in which stands a\n naturally formed smith's forge, with big bellows.\n Mime sits in front of the anvil, busily hammering\n at a sword._\n\nMIME\n\n [_Who has been hammering with a small hammer, stops\n working._\n\n Slavery! worry!\n Labour all lost!\n The strongest sword\n That ever I forged,\n That the hands of giants\n Fitly might wield,\n This insolent urchin\n For whom it is fashioned\nCan snap in two at one stroke,\nAs if the thing were a toy!\n\n [_Mime throws the sword on the anvil\n ill-humouredly, and with his arms akimbo gazes\n thoughtfully on the ground._\n\n There is one sword\n That he could not shatter:\n Nothung's splinters\n Would baffle his strength,\n Could I but forge\n Those doughty fragments\n That all my skill\n Cannot weld anew.\nCould I but forge the weapon,\nShame and toil would win their reward!\n\n [_He sinks further back his head bowed in thought._\n\nFafner, the dragon grim,\nDwells in the gloomy wood;\nWith his gruesome and grisly bulk\n The Nibelung hoard\n Yonder he guards.\nSiegfried, lusty and young,\nWould slay him without ado;\n The Nibelung's ring\n Would then become mine.\nThe only sword for the deed\nWere Nothung, if it were swung\nBy Siegfried's conquering arm;\n And I cannot fashion\n Nothung, the sword!\n\n [_He lays the sword in position again, and goes on\n hammering in deep dejection._\n\n Slavery! worry!\n Labour all lost!\n The strongest sword\n That ever I forged\n Will never serve\n For that difficult deed.\n I beat and I hammer\n Only to humour the boy;\nHe snaps in two what I make,\nAnd scolds if I cease from work.\n\n [_He drops his hammer._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_In rough forester's dress, with a silver horn\n hung by a chain, bursts in boisterously from the\n wood. He is leading a big bear by a rope of bast,\n and urges him towards Mime in wanton fun._\n\n Hoiho! Hoiho!\n\n [_Entering._\n\n Come on! Come on!\n Tear him! Tear him!\n The silly smith!\n\n [_Mime drops the sword in terror, and takes refuge\n behind the forge; while Siegfried, shouting with\n laughter, keeps driving the bear after him._\n\n[Illustration: Mime at the anvil. See p. 2]\n\nMIME\n\n Hence with the beast!\n I want not the bear!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n I come thus paired\n The better to pinch thee;\nBruin, ask for the sword!\n\nMIME\n\n Hey! Let him go!\n There lies the weapon;\n It was finished to-day.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThen thou art safe for to-day!\n\n [_He lets the bear loose and strikes him on the\n back with the rope._\n\n Off, Bruin!\n I need thee no more.\n\n [_The bear runs back into the wood._\n\nMIME [_Comes trembling from behind the forge._\n\n Slay all the bears\n Thou canst, and welcome;\n But why thus bring the beasts\n Home alive?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Sits down to recover from his laughter._\n\nFor better companions seeking\nThan the one who sits at home,\nI blew my horn in the wood,\nTill the forest glades resounded.\n What I asked with the note\n Was if some good friend\nMy glad companion would be.\nFrom the covert came a bear\nWho listened to me with growls,\nAnd I liked him better than thee,\nThough better friends I shall find.\n With a trusty rope\n I bridled the beast,\nTo ask thee, rogue, for the weapon.\n\n [_He jumps up and goes towards the anvil._\n\nMIME\n\n [_Takes up the sword to hand it to Siegfried._\n\nI made the sword keen-edged;\nIn its sharpness thou wilt rejoice.\n\n [_He holds the sword anxiously in his hand;\n Siegfried snatches it from him._\n\nWhat matters an edge keen sharpened,\nUnless hard and true the steel?\n\n [_Testing the sword._\n\n Hei! What an idle,\n Foolish toy!\n Wouldst have this pin\n Pass for a sword?\n\n [_He strikes it on the anvil, so that the splinters\n fly about. Mime shrinks back in terror._\n\n There, take back the pieces,\n Pitiful bungler!\n 'Tis on thy skull\n It should have been broken!\n Shall such a braggart\n Still go on boasting,\n Telling of giants\n And prowess in battle,\n Of deeds of valour,\n And dauntless defence?--\n A sword true and trusty\n Try to forge me,\n Praising the skill\n He does not possess?\n When I take hold\n Of what he has hammered,\n The rubbish crumbles\n At a mere touch!\n Were not the wretch\n Too mean for my wrath,\n I would break him in bits\n As well as his work--\nThe doting fool of a gnome!--\nAnd end the annoyance at once!\n\n [_Siegfried throws himself on to a stone seat in a\n rage. Mime all the time has been cautiously keeping\n out of his way._\n\nMIME\n\n Again thou ravest like mad,\n Ungrateful and perverse.\n If what for him I forge\n Is not perfect on the spot,\n Too soon the boy forgets\n The good things I have made!\n Wilt never learn the lesson\n Of gratitude, I wonder?\n Thou shouldst be glad to obey him\n Who always treated thee well.\n\n [_Siegfried turns his back on Mime in a bad temper,\n and sits with his face to the wall._\n\nThou dost not like to be told that!\n\n [_He stands perplexed, then goes to the hearth in\n the kitchen._\n\nBut thou wouldst fain be fed.\nWilt eat the meat I have roasted,\nOr wouldst thou prefer the broth?\n'Twas boiled solely for thee.\n\n [_He brings food to Siegfried, who, without turning\n round, knocks both bowl and meat out of his hand._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nMeat I roast for myself;\nSup thy filthy broth alone!\n\nMIME [_In a wailing voice, as if hurt._\n\n This is the reward\n Of all my love!\n All my care\n Is paid for with scorn.\n When thou wert a babe\n I was thy nurse,\n Made the mite clothing\n To keep him warm,\n Brought thee thy food,\n Gave thee to drink,\n Kept thee as safe\n As I keep my skin;\n And when thou wert grown\n I waited on thee,\n And made a bed\n For thy slumber soft.\n I fashioned thee toys\n And a sounding horn,\n Grudging no pains,\n Wert thou but pleased.\n With counsel wise\n I guided thee well,\n With mellow wisdom\n Training thy mind.\n Sitting at home,\n I toil and moil;\n To heart's desire\n Wander thy feet.\n Through thee alone worried,\n And working for thee,\n I wear myself out,\n A poor old dwarf!\n\n [_Sobbing._\n\n And for my trouble\n The sole reward is\n By a hot-tempered boy\n\n [_Sobbing._\n\n To be hated and plagued!\n\n[Illustration: Mime and the infant Siegfried See p. 8]\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Has turned round again and has quietly watched\n Mime's face, while the latter, meeting the look,\n tries timidly to hide his own._\n\nThou hast taught me much, Mime,\nAnd many things I have learned;\nBut what thou most gladly hadst taught me\nA lesson too hard has proved--\nHow to endure thy sight.\n When with my food\n Or drink thou dost come,\nI sup off loathing alone;\n When thou dost softly\n Make me a bed,\nMy sleep is broken and bad;\n When thou wouldst teach me\n How to be wise,\nFain were I deaf and dumb.\n If my eyes happen\n To fall on thee,\n I find all thou doest\n Amiss and ill-done;\n When thou dost stand,\n Waddle and walk,\n Shamble and shuffle,\n With thine eyelids blinking,\n By the neck I want\n To take the nodder,\n And choke the life\n From the hateful twitcher.\nSo much, O Mime, I love thee!\n Hast thou such wisdom,\n Explain, I pray thee,\nA thing I have wondered at:\n Though I go roaming\n Just to avoid thee,\nWhy do I always return?\n Though I love the beasts\n All better than thee--\n Tree and bird\n And the fish in the brook,\n One and all\n They are dearer than thou--\nHow is it I always return?\nOf thy wisdom tell me that.\n\nMIME\n\n [_Tries to approach him affectionately._\n\nMy child, that ought to show thee\nThat Mime is dear to thy heart.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nI said I could not bear thee;\nForget not that so soon.\n\nMIME\n\n [_Recoils, and sits down again apart, opposite\n Siegfried._]\n\nThe wildness that thou shouldst tame\nIs the cause, bad boy, of that.\nYoung ones are always longing\nAfter their parents' nest;\nWhat we love we all long for,\nAnd so thou dost yearn for me;\n'Tis plain thou lovest thy Mime,\n And always must love him.\nWhat the old bird is to the young one,\nFeeding it in its nest\nEre the fledgling can flutter,\nThat is what careful, clever Mime\nTo thy young life is,\n And always must be.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nWell, Mime, being so clever,\nThis one thing more also tell me:\n\n [_Simply._\n\n The birds sang together\n So gaily in spring,\n\n[Illustration: \"And there I learned\n What love was like\"\n See p. 11]\n\n [_Tenderly._\n\nThe one alluring the other;\n And thou didst say,\n When I asked thee why,\nThat they were wives with their husbands.\n\n They chattered so sweetly,\n Were never apart;\n They builded a nest\n In which they might brood;\n The fluttering young ones\n Came flying out,\nAnd both took care of the young.\n The roes in the woods, too,\n Rested in pairs,\nThe wild wolves even, and foxes.\n Food was found them and brought\n By the father,\nThe mother suckled the young ones.\n And there I learned\n What love was like;\n A whelp from its mother\n I never took.\n But where hast thou, Mime,\n A wife dear and loving,\nThat I may call her mother?\n\nMIME [_Angrily._\n\n What dost thou mean?\n Fool, thou art mad!\nArt thou then a bird or a fox?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n When I was a babe\n Thou wert my nurse,\n Made the mite clothing\n To keep him warm;\n But tell me, whence\n Did the tiny mite come?\n Could babe without mother\n Be born to thee?\n\nMIME [_Greatly embarrassed._\n\n Thou must always\n Trust what I tell thee.\n I am thy father\n And mother in one.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThou liest, filthy old fright!\nThe resemblance 'twixt child and parent\nI often have seen for myself.\nI came to the limpid brook,\n And the beasts and the trees\n I saw reflected;\n Sun and clouds too,\n Just as they are,\nWere mirrored quite plain in the stream.\n I also could spy\n This face of mine,\n And quite unlike thine\n Seemed it to me;\n As little alike\n As a fish to a toad:\nAnd when had fish toad for its father?\n\nMIME [_Very angrily._\n\nHow canst thou talk\nSuch terrible stuff?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_With increasing animation._\n\n Listen! At last\n I understand\nWhat in vain I pondered so long:\nWhy I roam the woods\nAnd run to escape thee,\nYet return home in the end.\n\n [_He springs up._\n\nI cannot go till thou tell me\nWhat father and mother were mine.\n\nMIME\n\nWhat father? What mother?\nMeaningless questions!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Springs upon Mime, and seizes him by the throat._\n\n To answer a question\n Thou must be caught first;\n Willingly\n Thou never wilt speak;\n Thou givest nothing\n Unless forced to.\n How to talk\n I hardly had learned\n Had it not by force\n Been wrung from the wretch.\n Come, out with it,\n Mangy old scamp!\nWho are my father and mother?\n\n[Illustration: Siegfried sees himself in the stream. See p. 12.]\n\nMIME\n\n [_After makings signs with his head and hands, is\n released by Siegfried._\n\nDost want to kill me outright!\nHands off, and the facts thou shalt hear,\nAs far as known to myself.\n O ungrateful\n And graceless child,\nNow learn the cause of thy hatred!\n Neither thy father\n Nor kinsman I,\nAnd yet thou dost owe me thy life!\n To me, thy one friend,\n A stranger wert thou;\n It was pity alone\n Sheltered thee here;\nAnd this is all my reward.\nAnd I hoped for thanks like a fool!\n\nA woman once I found\nWho wept in the forest wild;\nI helped her here to the cave,\nThat by the fire I might warm her.\nThe woman bore a child here;\nSadly she gave it birth.\nShe writhed about in pain;\nI helped her as I could.\nBitter her plight; she died.\nBut Siegfried lived and throve.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Slowly._\n\nMy poor mother died, then, through me?\n\nMIME\n\nTo my care she commended thee;\n'Twas willingly bestowed.\nThe trouble Mime would take!\nThe worry kind Mime endured!\n \"When thou wert a babe\n I was thy nurse....\"\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThat story I often have heard.\nNow say, whence came the name\n Siegfried?\n\nMIME\n\n 'Twas thus that thy mother\n Told me to name thee,\n That thou mightst grow\n To be strong and fair.\n \"I made the mite clothing\n To keep it warm....\"\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nNow tell me, what name was my mother's?\n\nMIME\n\nIn truth I hardly know.\n \"Brought thee thy food,\n Gave thee to drink....\"\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nMy mother's name thou must tell me.\n\nMIME\n\nHer name I forget. Yet wait!\nSieglinde, that was the name borne\nBy her who gave thee to me.\n \"I kept thee as safe\n As I keep my skin....\"\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_With increasing urgency._\n\nNext tell me, who was my father?\n\nMIME [_Roughly._\n\nHim I have never seen.\n\n[Illustration: Mime finds the mother of Siegfried in the forest.\nSee p. 13]\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nBut my mother told it thee, surely.\n\nMIME\n\n He fell in combat\n Was all that she said.\n She left the fatherless\n Babe to my care.\n \"And when thou wert grown\n I waited on thee,\n And made a bed\n For thy slumber soft\"...\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Still, with thy tiresome\n Starling song!\nThat I may trust thy story,\nConvinced thou art not lying,\nThou must produce some proof.\n\nMIME\n\nBut what proof will convince thee?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nI trust thee not with my ears,\nI trust thee but with mine eyes:\nWhat witness speaks for thee?\n\nMIME\n\n [_After some thought takes from the place where\n they are concealed the two pieces of a broken sword._\n\nI got this from thy mother:\nFor trouble, food, and service\nThis was my sole reward.\nBehold, 'tis a splintered sword!\nShe said 'twas borne by thy father\nIn the fatal fight when he fell.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Enthusiastically._\n\n And thou shalt forge\n These fragments together,\nAnd furnish my rightful sword!\n Up! Tarry not, Mime;\n Quick to thy task!\n If thou hast skill,\n Thy cunning display.\n Cheat me no more\n With worthless trash;\n These fragments alone\n Henceforth I trust.\n Lounge o'er thy work,\n Weld it not true,\n Trickily patching\n The goodly steel,\nAnd thou shalt learn on thy limbs\nHow metal best should be beat!\n I swear that this day\n The sword shall be mine;\nMy weapon to-day I shall win!\n\nMIME [_Alarmed._\n\nWhat wouldst thou to-day with the sword?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Leave the forest\n For the wide world,\nNever more to return.\n Ah, how fair\n A thing is freedom!\nNothing holds me or binds!\nNo father have I here,\nAnd afar shall be my home;\nThy hearth is not my house,\nNor my covering thy roof.\n Like the fish\n Glad in the water,\n Like the finch\n Free in the heavens,\n Off I will float,\n Forth I will fly,\n Like the wind o'er the wood\n Wafted away,\nThee, Mime, beholding no more!\n\n [_He runs into the forest._\n\nMIME [_Greatly alarmed._\n\n Stop, boy! Stop, boy!\n Whither away?\n Hey! Siegfried!\n Siegfried! Hey!\n\n [_He looks after the retreating figure for some\n time in astonishment; then he goes back to the\n smithy and sits down behind the anvil._\n\n He storms away!\n And I sit here:\n To crown my cares\n Comes still this new one;\n My plight is piteous indeed!\n How help myself now?\n How hold the boy here?\n How lead the young madcap\n To Fafner's lair?\n And how weld the splinters\n Of obstinate steel?\n In no furnace fire\n Can they be melted,\n Nor can Mime's hammer\n Cope with their hardness.\n\n [_Shrilly._\n\n The Nibelung's hate,\n Need and sweat\nCannot make Nothung whole,\nNever will weld it anew.\n\n [_Sobbing, he sinks in despair on to a stool behind\n the anvil._\n\nWANDERER (WOTAN)\n\n [_Enters from the wood by the door at the back of\n the cave. He wears a long dark blue cloak, and, for\n staff, carries a spear. On his head is a round,\n broad-brimmed slouched hat._\n\nAll hail, cunning smith!\nA seat by thy hearth\n Kindly grant\n The wayworn guest.\n\nMIME [_Starting up in alarm._\n\n Who seeks for me here\n In desolate woods,\nFinds my home in the forest wild?\n\nWANDERER [_Approaching very slowly step by step._\n\nWanderer names me the world, smith.\nFrom far I have come;\n On the earth's back ranging,\n Much I have roamed.\n\nMIME\n\n If Wanderer named,\n Pray wander from here\nWithout halting for rest.\n\nWANDERER\n\nGood men grudge me not welcome;\nMany gifts I have received.\n By bad hearts only\n Is evil feared.\n\nMIME\n\n Ill fate always\n Dwelt by my side;\nThou wouldst not add to it, surely!\n\nWANDERER [_Slowly coming nearer and nearer._\n\n Always searching,\n Much have I seen;\n Things of weight\n Have told to many;\n Oft have rid men\n Of their troubles,\nGnawing and carking cares.\n\nMIME\n\n Though thou hast searched,\n And though much thou hast found,\nI need neither seeker nor finder.\n Lonely am I,\n And lone would be;\nIdlers I harbour not here.\n\nWANDERER [_Again coming a little nearer._\n\n There were many\n Thought they were wise,\n Yet what they needed\n Knew not at all;\n Useful lore was\n Theirs for the asking,\nWisdom was their reward.\n\nMIME\n\n [_More and more anxious as he sees the Wanderer\n approach._\n\n Idle knowledge\n Some may covet;\nI know enough for my needs.\n\n [_The Wanderer reaches the hearth._\n\n My own wits suffice,\n I want no more,\nSo, wise one, keep on thy way.\n\nWANDERER [_Sitting down at the hearth._\n\n Nay, here at thy hearth\n I vow by my head\nTo answer all thou shalt ask.\n My head is thine,\n 'Tis forfeit to thee,\n Unless I can give\n Answers good,\nDeftly redeeming the pledge.\n\nMIME\n\n [_Who has been staring at the Wanderer\n open-mouthed, now shrinks back; aside, dejectedly._\n\nNow how to get rid of the spy?\nThe questions asked must be artful.\n\n [_He summons up courage for an assumption of\n sternness; aloud._\n\n Thy head for thy\n Lodging pays:\n'Tis pawned; now seek to redeem it.\n Three the questions\n Thou shalt be asked.\n\nWANDERER\n\nThrice then I must answer.\n\nMIME [_Pulls himself together and reflects._\n\n Since, far on the back\n Of the wide earth roving,\nThy feet have ranged o'er the world,\n Come, answer me this:\n Tell me what race\nDwells in the earth's deep gorges.\n\nWANDERER\n\n In the depths of earth\nThe Nibelungs have their home;\nNibelheim is their land.\n Black elves they all are;\n Black Alberich\nOnce was their ruler and lord.\n He subdued the busy\n Folk by a ring\nGifted with magical might;\n And they piled up\n Shimmering gold,\n Precious, fine-wrought,\nTo win him the world and its glory.\n\nProceed with thy questions, dwarf.\n\nMIME\n\n [_Sinks into deeper and deeper meditation._\n\n Thou knowest much,\n Wanderer,\nOf the hidden depths of earth.\n Now, answer me this:\n Tell me what race\nBreathes on earth's back and moves there.\n\nWANDERER\n\n On the earth's broad back\nThe race of the giants arose;\nRiesenheim is their land.\n Fasolt and Fafner,\n The rude folk's rulers,\nEnvied the Nibelung's might.\n So his wonderful hoard\n They won for themselves,\nAnd with it gained the ring too.\n The brothers quarrelled\n About the ring,\n And slain was Fasolt.\n In dragon's form\nFafner now watches the hoard.\n\nOne question threatens me still.\n\nMIME [_Quite lost in thought._\n\n Much, Wanderer,\n Thou dost know\nOf the earth's back rude and rugged.\n Now answer aright:\n Tell me what race\nDwells above in the clouds.\n\nWANDERER\n\n Above in the clouds\n Dwell the Immortals;\nWalhall is their home.\n They are light-spirits;\n Light-Alberich,\nWotan, rules as their lord.\n From the world-ash-tree's\n Holiest bough once\nWotan made him a shaft.\n Though the stem rot,\n The spear shall endure,\n And with that spear-point\nWotan rules the world.\n Trustworthy runes\n Of holy treaties\nDeep in the shaft he cut.\n Who wields the spear\n Carried by Wotan\n The haft of the world\nHolds in his hand.\n Before him kneels\n The Nibelung host;\n The giants, tamed,\n Bow to his will.\nAll must obey, and for ever,\nThe spear's eternal lord.\n\n [_He strikes the ground with the spear as if by\n accident, and a low growl of thunder is heard, by\n which Mime is violently alarmed._\n\nConfess now, cunning dwarf,\nAre not my answers right,\nAnd is not my head redeemed?\n\nMIME\n\n [_After attentively watching the Wanderer with the\n spear, becomes very frightened, seeks in a confused\n manner for his tools, and looks timidly aside._\n\n Both thou hast won,\n Wager and head;\nThy way now, Wanderer, go.\n\nWANDERER\n\n Knowledge useful to thee\n Thou wert to ask for;\nForfeit my head if I failed.\n Forfeit be thine,\n Knowest thou not\nThe thing it would serve thee to know.\n Greeting thou\n Gavest me not;\n My head into thy hand\n I gave\nThat I might rest by thy hearth.\n By wager fair\n Forfeit thy head,\n Canst thou not answer\n Three things when asked;\nSo sharpen well, Mime, thy wits!\n\n[Illustration: \"In dragon's form\n Fafner now watches the hoard\"\n --See p. 21]\n\nMIME\n\n [_Very much frightened, and after much hesitation,\n at last composes himself with timid submission._\n\n Long it is\n Since I left my land;\n Long it seems to me\n Since I was born.\nI saw here the eye of Wotan\nShine, peering into my cave;\n His glance dazes\n My mother-wit.\nBut well were it now to be wise.\nCome then, Wanderer, ask.\nPerhaps fortune will favour\nThe dwarf, and redeem his head.\n\nWANDERER [_Comfortably sitting down again._\n\n Then first, honest dwarf,\n Answer this question:\nTell the name of the race\nThat Wotan treats most harshly,\n\n [_Very softly, but audibly._\n\nAnd yet loves beyond all the rest.\n\nMIME [_With more cheerfulness._\n\n Though unlearn\u00e8d\n In heroes' kinship,\nThis question I answer with ease.\n The W\u00e4lsungs are Wotan's\n Chosen stock,\n By him begotten\n And loved with passion,\nThough they are shown no grace.\n Siegmund and Sieglinde\n Born were to W\u00e4lse,\n A wild and desperate\n Twin-born pair;\nSiegfried had they as son,\nThe strongest shoot from the tree.\n My head, say, is it\n Still, Wanderer, mine?\n\nWANDERER [_Pleasantly._\n\n How well thou knowest\n And namest the race!\nRogue, I see thou art clever.\n The foremost question\n Thou hast solved;\nThe second answer me, dwarf.\n A crafty Niblung\n Shelters Siegfried,\nHoping he will slay Fafner,\nThat the dwarf may be lord of the hoard,\nThe ring being his.\n Say, what sword,\n If Fafner to fall is,\nMust be by Siegfried swung?\n\nMIME\n\n [_Forgetting his present situation more and more,\n rubs his hands joyfully._\n\n Nothung is\n The name of the sword;\n Into an ash-tree's stem\n Wotan struck it;\nOne only might bear it:\nHe who could draw it forth.\n The strongest heroes\n Tried it and failed;\n Only by Siegmund\n Was it done;\nWell he fought with the sword\nTill on Wotan's spear it was split.\n By a crafty smith\n Are the fragments kept,\n For he knows that alone\n With the Wotan sword\nA brave and foolish boy,\nSiegfried, can slay the foe.\n\n [_Much pleased._\n\n A second time\n My head have I saved?\n\n\n[Illustration: Mime and the Wanderer. See p. 17]\n\n\nWANDERER [_Laughing_.\n\n The wisest of wise ones\n Thou must be, surely;\nWho else could so clever be!\n But wouldst thou by craft\n Employ the boy-hero\nAs instrument of thy purpose,\n With one question more\n I threaten thee.\n Tell me, thou artful\n Armourer,\nWhose skill from the doughty splinters\nNothung the sword shall fashion.\n\nMIME [_Starts up in great terror._\n\n The splinters! The sword!\n Alas! my head reels!\n What shall I do?\n What can I say?\n Accurs\u00e8d sword!\n I was mad to steal it!\n A perilous pass\n It has brought me to.\n Always too hard\n To yield to my hammer!\n Rivet, solder--\n Useless are both.\n\n [_He throws his tools about as if he had gone\n crazy, and breaks out in utter despair._\n\n The cleverest smith\n Living has failed;\n And, that being so,\n Who shall succeed?\nHow rede aright such a riddle?\n\nWANDERER [_Has risen quietly from the hearth._\n\nThree things thou wert to ask me;\nThrice was I to reply.\n Thy questions were\n Of far-off things,\nBut what stood here at thy hand--\nNeeded much--that was forgot,\n Now that I guess it,\n Thou goest crazed,\n And won by me\n Is the cunning one's head.\nNow, Fafner's dauntless subduer,\nHear, thou death-doomed dwarf.\n By him who knows not\n How to fear\nNothung shall be forged.\n\n [_Mime stares at him; he turns to go._\n\n So ward thy head\n Well from to-day.\nI leave it forfeit to him\nWho has never learned to fear.\n\n [_He turns away smiling, and disappears quickly\n in the wood. Mime has sunk on to the bench\n overwhelmed._\n\nMIME\n\n [_Stares before him into the sunlit wood, and\n begins to tremble more and more violently._\n\n Accurs\u00e8d light!\n The air is on fire!\n What flickers and flashes?\n What buzzes and whirs?\n What sways there and swings\n And circles about?\n What glitters and gleams\n In the sun's hot glow?\n What rustles and hums\n And rings so loud?\n With roll and roar\n It crashes this way!\n It bursts through the wood,\n Making for me!\n\n [_He rises up in terror._\n\n Its jaws are wide open,\n Eager for prey;\n The dragon will catch me!\n Fafner! Fafner!\n\n [_He sinks shrieking behind the anvil._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Behind the scenes, is heard breaking from the\n thicket._\n\n Ho there! Thou idler!\n Is the work finished?\n\n [_He enters the cave._\n\nQuick, come show me the sword.\n\n [_He pauses in surprise._\n\n Where hides the smith?\n Has he made off?\nHey, there! Mime, thou coward!\nWhere art thou? Where hidest thou?\n\nMIME\n\n [_In a small voice, from behind the anvil._\n\n 'Tis thou then, child?\n Art thou alone?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Laughing._\n\n Under the anvil?\nWhy, what doest thou there?\nWert thou grinding the sword?\n\nMIME [_Comes forward, greatly upset and confused._\n\n The sword? The sword?\n How could I weld it?\n\n [_Half aside._\n\n By him who knows not\n How to fear\nNothung shall be forged.\n Too wise am I\n To attempt such work.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Violently._\n\n Wilt thou speak plainly\n Or must I help thee?\n\nMIME [_As before._\n\nWhere shall I turn in my need?\n My wily head\n Wagered and lost is,\n\n [_Staring before him._\n\nAnd forfeit to him it will fall\nWho has never learned to fear.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Vehemently._\n\n Dost thou by shuffling\n Seek to escape?\n\nMIME [_Gradually recovering himself._\n\n Small need to fly\n Him who knows fear!\nBut that lesson was one never taught thee.\n A fool, I forgot\n The one great thing;\n What thou wert taught\n Was to love me,\nAnd alas! the task proved hard.\nNow how shall I teach thee to fear?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Seizes him._\n\n Hey! Must I help thee?\n What work hast thou done?\n\nMIME\n\n Concerned for thy good,\n In thought I was sitting:\nSomething of weight I would teach thee.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Laughing._\n\n 'Twas under the seat\n That thou wert sitting;\nWhat weighty thing foundest thou there?\n\nMIME\n\n [_Recovering himself more and more._\n\nDown there I learned how to fear,\nThat I might teach thee, dullard.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_With quiet wonder._\n\n This fear then, what is it?\n\nMIME\n\n Thou knowest not that,\n Yet wouldst from the forest\n Forth to the world?\nWhat help in the trustiest sword,\nHadst thou not learned to fear?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Impatiently._\n\n What absurd\n Invention is this?\n\nMIME\n\n [_Approaching Siegfried with more and more\n confidence._\n\n 'Tis thy mother's wish\n Speaking through me.\n I must fulfil\n The promise I gave her:\n That the world and its wiles\n Thou shouldst not encounter\nUntil thou hadst learned how to fear.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Vehemently_\n\n Is it an art?\n Why was I not taught?\nExplain: this fearing, what is it?\n\nMIME\n\n In the dark wood\n Hast thou not felt,\n When shades of dusk\n Fall dim and drear,\n When mournful whispers\n Sigh afar,\n And fierce growling\n Sounds at hand,\n When strange flashes\n Dart and flicker,\n And the buzzing\n And clamour grow--\n\n [_Trembling._\n\nHast thou not felt grim horror\nHold every sense in its clutches?--\n\n [_Quaking._\n\n When the limbs shiver,\n Shaken with terror,\n\n [_With a quivering voice._\n\nAnd the heart, filled with dismay,\nHammers, bursting the breast--\nHast thou not yet felt that,\nA stranger art thou to fear.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Musing._\n\n Wonderful truly\n That must be.\n Steadfast, strong\nBeats my heart in my breast.\n The shiver and shudder,\n The fever and horror,\n Burning and fainting,\n Beating and trembling--\nAh, how glad I would feel them,\n\n [_Tenderly._\n\nCould I but learn this delight!\n But how, Mime,\n Can it be mine?\nHow, coward, could it be taught me?\n\nMIME\n\n Following me,\n The way thou shalt find;\nI have thought it all out.\nI know of a dragon grim\nThat slays and swallows men:\nFear thou wilt learn from Fafner,\n When I lead to where he lies.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Where has he his lair?\n\nMIME\n\n Neidh\u00f6hl'\n Named, it lies east\nTowards the end of the wood.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nIt lies not far from the world?\n\nMIME\n\nThe world is quite close to the cave.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThat I may learn what this fear is,\n Lead me there straightway;\n Then forth to the world!\nMake haste! Forge me the sword.\nIn the world fain I would swing it.\n\nMIME\n\n The sword? Woe's me!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Quick to the smithy!\n Show me thy work!\n\nMIME\n\n Accurs\u00e8d steel!\nUnequal my skill to the task;\n The potent magic\nSurpasses the poor dwarf's strength.\n 'Twere more easily done\n By one who never felt fear.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Artful tricks\n The idler would play me;\n He is a bungler;\n He should confess,\nAnd not seek to lie his way out.\n Here with the splinters!\n Off with the bungler!\n\n [_Coming to the hearth._\n\n His father's sword\n Siegfried will weld:\nBy him shall it be forged.\n\n [_Flinging Mime's tools about, he sets himself\n impetuously to work._\n\nMIME\n\n If thou hadst practised\n Thy craft with care,\nThou wouldst have profited now;\n But thou wert far\n Too lazy to learn,\nAnd now at need canst do nothing.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Where the master has failed\n What hope for the scholar,\nHad he obeyed him in all?\n\n [_He makes a contemptuous grimace at him._\n\n Be off with thee!\n Meddle no more,\nIn case with the steel I melt thee.\n\n [_He has heaped a large quantity of charcoal on the\n hearth, and keeps blowing the fire, while he screws\n up the pieces of the sword in a vice and files them\n to shavings._\n\nMIME\n\n [_Who has sat down a little way off, watches\n Siegfried at work._\n\n Why file it to bits?\n There is the solder\nAll fused, ready to hand.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Off with the pap,\n I need it not;\nWith paste I fashion no sword!\n\nMIME\n\n Now the file is ruined,\n The rasp is useless;\nWhy grind thus the steel to splinters?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n It must be shivered\n And ground into shreds;\nOnly so can splinters be patched.\n\n [_He goes on filing with great energy._\n\nMIME [_Aside._\n\n I see a craftsman\n Is useless here;\nBy his own folly the fool is best served.\n Look how he toils\n With lusty strokes;\n The steel disappears,\n And still he keeps cool.\n\n [_Siegfried has blown the fire to a bright flame._\n\n Though I am as old\n As cave and wood,\nThe like I never yet saw!\n\n [_While Siegfried continues to file the piece of\n the sword impetuously, Mime seats himself a little\n further off._\n\n He will forge the sword--\n I see it plain--\nBoldly weld it anew.\nThe Wanderer was right.\n Where shall I hide\n My luckless head?\nIf nothing teaches him fear,\nForfeit it falls to the boy.\n\n [_Springing up and bending down in growing\n agitation._\n\n But woe to Mime!\n If Siegfried learn fear,\nThe dragon will never be slain;\nAnd, if so, how gain the ring?\n Accurst dilemma!\n Would I escape,\nI must find out some way\nOf subduing the boy for myself.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n\n [_Has now filed down the pieces, and puts the\n filings in a crucible, which he places on the fire._\n\n Hey, Mime! The name!--\n Quick, name the sword\nThat I have pounded to pieces.\n\nMIME [_Starts and turns towards Siegfried._\n\n Nothung, that is\n The name of the sword;\n'Twas mother told me the tale.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_During the following song keeps blowing the fire\n with the bellows._\n\n Nothung! Nothung!\n Conquering sword!\nWhat blow, I wonder, broke thee.\n Thy keen-edged glory\n I chopped to chaff;\nThe splinters now I am melting.\n Hoho! Hoho!\n Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!\n Bellows blow!\n Brighten the flame!\n In the woods\n A tree grew wild;\nIt fell, by my hand hewn down.\n The brown-stemmed ash\n To charcoal I burned;\nNow it lies heaped high on the hearth.\n Hoho! Hoho!\n Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!\n Bellows blow!\n Brighten the flame!\n How bravely, brightly\n The charcoal burns!\nHow clear and fair its fire!\n With showering sparks\n It leaps and glows,--\n Hohei! Hoho! Hohei!--\nDissolving the splintered steel!\n Hoho! Hoho!\n Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!\n Bellows, blow!\n Brighten the flame!\n Hoho! Hoho!\n Hoho, hohei! Hohei!\n Nothung! Nothung!\n Conquering sword!\nThy steel chopped to chaff is fused;\n In thine own sweat\n Thou swimmest now,\n\n[Illustration: The forging of Nothung--See p. 34]\n\n [_He pours the glowing contents of the crucible\n into a mould, which he holds up._\n\nBut soon my sword thou shalt be!\n\nMIME\n\n [_During the pauses in Siegfried's song, still\n aside, sitting at a distance._\n\nThe sword he will forge\n And vanquish Fafner,\nSo much I can clearly foresee;\n Hoard and ring\n The victor will have;\nHow to win them both for myself!\n By wit and wiles\n They shall be captured,\nAnd safe shall be my head.\n\n [_In the foreground, still aside._\n\nAfter the fight, when athirst,\nFor a cooling draught he will crave;\n Of fragrant juices\n Gathered from herbs\nThe draught I will brew for him.\n Let him drink but a drop,\n And in slumber\nSoftly lapped he shall lie:\n With the very sword\n That he fashioned to serve him\nHe shall be cleared from my way,\nAnd treasure and ring made mine.\n\n [_He rubs his hands with satisfaction._\n\n Ha! dull didst hold me,\n Wanderer wise!\n Does my subtle scheming\n Please thee now?\n Have I found\n A path to peace?\n\n [_He springs up joyfully, fetches several vessels,\n shakes spices and herbs from them into a pot, and\n tries to put it on the hearth._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Has plunged the mould into a pail of water. Steam\n and loud hissing ensue as it cools._\n\n In the water flowed\n A flood of fire;\n Furious with hate,\n Grimly it hissed;\n Though scorching it ran,\n In the cooling flood\n No more it flows;\nStiff, stark it became,\nHard is the stubborn steel;\n Yet warm blood\n Shall flow thereby!\n Now sweat once again,\n That swift I may weld thee,\nNothung, conquering sword!\n\n [_He thrusts the steel into the fire, and blows the\n bellows violently. While doing so he watches Mime,\n who, from the other side of the hearth, carefully\n puts his pot on the fire._\n\n What does the booby\n Make in his pot?\n While I melt steel,\n What art thou brewing?\n\nMIME\n\nA smith is put to shame,\nAnd learns from the lad he taught;\nAll the master's lore is useless now;\nHe serves the boy as cook.\nSteel thou dost brew into broth;\n Old Mime boils thee\n Eggs for thy meal.\n\n [_He goes on with his cooking._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Mime, the craftsman,\n Learns to cook now,\nAnd cares no longer to forge;\n I have broken\n All the swords that he made me;\nWhat he cooks my lips shall not touch.\n\n [_During the following he takes the mould from the\n fire, breaks it, and lays the glowing steel on the\n anvil._\n\n To find out what fear is\n Forth he will guide me;\nA far-off teacher shall teach me;\n Even what he does best\n He cannot do well;\nIn everything Mime must bungle!\n\n [_During the forging._\n\n Hoho! Hoho! Hohei!\n Forge me, my hammer,\n A trusty sword.\n Hoho! Hahei!\n Hoho! Hahei!\n Blood-stained was once\n Thy steely blue,\n The crimson trickle\n Reddened thy blade.\nHow cold was thy laugh!\nThe warm blood cooled at thy touch!\n Heiaho! Haha!\n Haheiaha!\n Now red thou comest\n From the fire,\n And thy softened steel\n To the hammer yields.\nAngry sparks thou dost shower\nOn me who humbled thy pride.\n Heiaho! Heiaho!\n Heiahohohohoho!\nHahei! Hahei! Hahei!\nHoho! Hoho! Hohei!\n Forge me, my hammer,\n A trusty sword!\n Hoho! Hahei!\n Hoho! Hahei!\n How I rejoice\n In the merry sparks!\n The bold look best\n When by anger stirred!\nGay thou laughest to me,\nGrimly though thou dost pretend!\nHeiaho, haha, haheiaha!\n Both heat and hammer\n Served me well;\n With sturdy strokes\n I stretched thee straight;\nNow banish thy modest blush,\nBe as cold and hard as thou canst.\n Heiho! Heiaho!\nHeiahohohohoho! Heiah!\n\n [_He swings the blade, plunges it into the pail of\n water, and laughs aloud at the hissing._\n\nMIME\n\n [_While Siegfried is fixing the blade in the hilt,\n moves about in the foreground with the bottle into\n which he has poured the contents of the pot. Aside._\n\nHe forges a sharp-edged sword:\n Fafner, the foe\n Of the dwarf, is doomed;\nI brewed a deadly draught:\n Siegfried must perish\n When Fafner falls.\nBy guile the goal must be reached;\nSoon shall smile my reward!\n For the shining ring\n My brother once made,\n And which with a potent\n Spell he endowed,\n The gleaming gold\n That gives boundless might--\n That ring I have won now,\n I am its lord.\n\n [_He trots briskly about with increasing\n satisfaction._\n\n Alberich even,\n Whom I served,\n Shall be the slave\n Of Mime the dwarf.\n As Nibelheim's prince\n I shall descend there,\n And all the host\n Shall do my will;\n None so honoured as he,\n The dwarf once despised!\n To the hoard will come thronging\n Gods and men;\n\n [_With increasing liveliness._\n\n The world shall cower,\n Cowed by my nod,\n And at my frown\n Shall tremble and fall!\n No more shall Mime\n Labour and toil,\n When others win him\n Unending wealth.\n Mime, the valiant,\n Mime is monarch,\n Prince and ruler,\n Lord of the world!\nHei, Mime! Great luck has been thine!\nHad any one dreamed of this!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_During the pauses in Mime's song has been filing\n and sharpening the sword and hammering it with the\n small hammer. He flattens the rivets of the hilt\n with the last strokes, and now grasps the sword._\n\n Nothung! Nothung!\n Conquering sword!\nOnce more art thou firm in thy hilt.\n Severed wert thou;\n I shaped thee anew,\nNo second blow thy blade shall shatter.\n The strong steel was splintered,\n My father fell;\n The son who now lives\n Shaped it anew.\nBright-gleaming to him it laughs,\nAnd for him its edge shall be keen.\n\n [_Swinging the sword before him._\n\n Nothung! Nothung!\n Conquering sword!\nOnce more to life I have waked thee.\n Dead wert thou,\n In fragments hewn,\nNow shining defiant and fair.\n Woe to all robbers!\n Show them thy sheen!\n Strike at the traitor,\n Cut down the rogue!\nSee, Mime, thou smith;\nThus sunders Siegfried's sword!\n\n [_He strikes the anvil and splits it in two from\n top to bottom, so that it falls asunder with a\n great noise. Mime, who has mounted a stool in great\n delight, falls in terror to a fitting position on\n the ground. Siegfried holds the sword exultantly on\n high. The curtain falls._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration\n\n\nTHE SECOND ACT\n\n\n _A deep forest_\n\n _Quite in the background the entrance to a cave.\n The ground rises towards a flat knoll in the middle\n of the stage, and slopes down again towards the\n back, so that only the upper part of the entrance\n to the cave is visible to the audience. To the left\n a fissured cliff is seen through the trees. It is\n night, the darkness being deepest at the back,\n where at first the eye can distinguish nothing at\n all._\n\nALBERICH\n\n [_Lying by the cliff, gloomily brooding._\n\n In night-drear woods\nBy Neidh\u00f6hl' I keep watch,\n With ear alert,\nKeen and anxious eye.\n Timid day,\n Tremblest thou forth?\n Pale art thou dawning\n Athwart the dark?\n\n [_A storm arises in the wood on the right, and from\n the same quarter there shines down a bluish light._\n\nWhat comes yonder, gleaming bright?\n Nearer shimmers\n A radiant form;\nIt runs like a horse and it shines;\n Breaks through the wood,\n Rushing this way.\nIs it the dragon's slayer?\nCan it mean Fafner's death?\n\n [_The wind subsides; the light vanishes._\n\n The glow has gone,\nIt has faded and died;\n All is darkness.\nWho comes there, shining in shadow?\n\nWANDERER\n\n [_Enters from the wood, and stops opposite Alberich._\n\n To Neidh\u00f6hl'\n By night I have come;\nIn the dark who is hiding there?\n\n [_As from a sudden rent in the clouds moonlight\n streams forth and lights up the Wanderer's figure._\n\nALBERICH\n\n [_Recognises the Wanderer and shrinks back at first\n in alarm, but immediately after breaks out in\n violent fury._\n\n'Tis thou who comest thus?\n What wilt thou here?\n Go, get thee hence!\nBegone, thou insolent thief!\n\nWANDERER [_Quietly._\n\n Schwarz-Alberich\n Wanders here?\nGuardest thou Fafner's house?\n\nALBERICH\n\n Art thou intent\n On mischief again?\n Linger not here!\n Off with thee straightway!\n Has grief enough\nNot deluged the earth through thy guile?\n Spare it further\n Sorrow, thou wretch!\n\nWANDERER\n\n I come as watcher,\n Not as worker.\nThe Wanderer's way who bars?\n\nALBERICH\n\nThou arch, pestilent plotter!\n Were I still the blind,\n Silly fool that I was,\nWhen I was bound thy captive,\n How easy were it\nTo steal the ring again from me!\n Beware! For thy cunning\n I know well,\n\n [_Mockingly._\n\n And of thy weakness\nI am fully aware too.\n Thy debts were cancelled,\n Paid with my treasure;\n My ring guerdoned\n The giants' toil,\nWho raised thy citadel high.\n Still on the mighty\n Haft of thy spear there\nThe runes are written plain\nOf the compact made with the churls;\n And of that\n Which by labour they won\nThou dost not dare to despoil them:\n Thy spear's strong shaft\n Thou thyself wouldst split;\n The staff that makes thee\n Master of all\nWould crumble to dust in thy hand.\n\nWANDERER\n\nBy the steadfast runes of treaties\n Thou hast not,\n Base one, been bound;\nOn thee my spear may spend its strength,\nSo keen I keep it for war.\n\nALBERICH\n\n How dire thy threats!\n How bold thy defiance!\nAnd yet full of fear is thy heart!\n Foredoomed to death\n Through my curse is he\nWho now guards the treasure.\nWhat heir will succeed him?\n Will the hoard all desire\nBelong as before to the Niblung?--\nThat gnaws thee with ceaseless torment.\n For once I have got it\n Safe in my grasp,\nBetter than foolish giants\nWill I employ its spell.\n The God who guards heroes\n Truly may tremble!\n I will storm\nProud Walhall with Hella's hosts,\nAnd rule, lord of the world!\n\nWANDERER [_Quietly._\n\n Thy design I know well,\n But little I care:\n Who wins the ring\n Will rule by its might.\n\nALBERICH\n\nThou speakest darkly,\nBut to me all is plain.\n Thy heart is bold\n Because of a boy,\n\n [_Mockingly._\n\nA hero begot of thy blood.\nHast thou not fostered a stripling\nTo pluck the fruit thou durst not\n\n [_With growing violence._\n\nPluck frankly for thyself?\n\nWANDERER [_Lightly._\n\n With me\n 'Tis useless to wrangle;\nBut Mime thou shouldst beware;\nFor thy brother brings here a boy\nTo compass the giant's doom.\nHe knows not of me;\nHe works for Mime alone.\nAnd so I say to thee,\nDo as seems to thee best.\n\n [_Alberich makes a movement expressive of violent\n curiosity._\n\n Take my advice,\n Be on thy guard:\nThe boy will hear of the ring\nWhen Mime tells him the tale.\n\nALBERICH [_Violently._\n\nWilt thou hold thy hand from the hoard?\n\nWANDERER\n\n Whom I love\nMust fight for himself unaided;\n The lord of his fate,\n He stands or falls:\nAll my hope hangs upon heroes.\n\nALDERICH\n\n Does none but Mime\n Dispute me the ring?\n\nWANDERER\n\n Only thou and Mime\n Covet the gold.\n\nALDERICH\n\nAnd yet it is not to be mine?\n\nWANDERER [_Quietly coming nearer._\n\n A hero comes\n To set the hoard free;\nTwo Nibelungs yearn for the gold.\n Fafner falls,\n He who guards the ring;\nThen a hand, seizing, shall hold it.\n More wouldst thou learn,\n There Fafner lies,\nWho, if warned of his death,\nGladly would give up the toy.\nCome, I will wake him for thee.\n\n [_He goes towards the cave, and, standing on the\n rising ground in front of it, calls towards it._\n\n Fafner! Fafner!\n Wake, dragon! Wake!\n\n\nALBERICH [_With anxious amazement, aside._\n\nDoes the madman mean it?\nAm I to have it?\n\nFAFNER'S VOICE\n\nWho troubles my sleep?\n\nWANDERER [_Facing the cave._\n\n A well-wisher comes\n To warn thee of danger;\nThy doom can be averted,\nIf thou wilt pay the price\nWith the treasure that thou guardest.\n\n [_He leans his ear towards the cave, listening._\n\nFAFNER'S VOICE\n\n What would he?\n\nALBERICH\n\n [_Has come to the Wanderer and calls into the cave._\n\n Waken, Fafner!\n Dragon, awake!\nA doughty hero comes\nTo try his strength against thine.\n\nFAFNER'S VOICE\n\n I want a meal.\n\nWANDERER\n\nBold is the boy and strong; Sharp-edged is his sword.\n\nALBERICH\n\n The ring he seeks,\n Nothing besides.\nGive me the ring, and so\n The strife shall be stayed.\n Still guarding the hoard,\nIn peace shalt thou live long!\n\nFAFNER [_Yawning._\n\n I have and I hold:--\n Let me slumber!\n\nWANDERER\n\n [_Laughs aloud and then turns again to Alberich._\n\nWell, Alberich! That ruse failed,\nBut call me rogue no more.\n This one thing thou shouldst\n Never forget:\nEach according to his kind must act;\nNothing can change him.\n I leave thee the field now;\n Show a bold front,\nAnd try thy luck with thy brother;\nThou knowest his kind perhaps better.\n And things unknown\n Thou also shalt learn!\n\n [_He turns away, and disappears quickly in the\n wood. A storm arises and a bright light breaks\n forth; then both quickly cease._\n\nALBERICH\n\n [_Looks after the Wanderer as he gallops off._\n\n Away on his shining\n Horse he rides,\nAnd leaves me to care and scorn!\n Laugh on! Laugh on,\n Ye light-minded\n And high-spirited\n Race of immortals!\n One day ye shall perish\n And pass!\n Until the gold\n Has ceased to gleam,\n Will wise Alberich watch,\n And his hate shall prevail.\n\n [_He slips into the chasm at the side. The stage\n remains empty. Dawn._\n\n\n_As the day dawns Siegfried and Mime enter. Siegfried carries his sword\nin a sword-belt of rope. Mime examines the place carefully. At last\nhe looks towards the background, which remains in deep shadow, whilst\nthe rising ground in the middle becomes, after a time, more and more\nbrightly illuminated by the sun._\n\nMIME\n\n Our journey ends here;\n Here we halt.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Sits down under the lime-tree and looks about\n him._\n\nSo here I shall learn what fear is?\nA far way thou hast led me;\nWe have wandered lone together\nA whole night long in the woods.\n This is the last\n Of thee, Mime!\n Can I not master\n My lesson here,\nAlone I will push forward\nAnd never see thee again.\n\nMIME\n\n Lad, believe me,\n If thou canst not\nLearn it here and now,\n No other place,\n No other time\nEver will teach thee fear.\n Dost thou see\nThat cavern yawning dark?\n Yonder dwells\nA dragon dread and grim,\n Horribly fierce,\n Enormous in size,\n With terrible jaws\n That threaten and gape;\n With skin and hair,\n All at a gulp,\nThe brute could swallow thee whole.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Still sitting under the lime-tree._\n\n'Twere well to close up his gullet;\nHis fangs I will therefore avoid.\n\nMIME\n\n Poison pours\n From his venomous mouth;\n Were he to spue out\n Spittle on thee,\nThy body and bones would decay.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThat the poison may not consume me,\nI will keep out of its reach.\n\nMIME\n\n A serpent's tail\n Sweeping he swings;\n Were that about thee wound\n And folded close,\nThy limbs would be broken like glass.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThat his swinging tail may not touch me,\nWarily then I must watch.\n But answer me this:\n Has the brute a heart?\n\nMIME\n\nA pitiless, cruel heart.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n It lies, however,\n Where all hearts lie,\nBrute and human alike?\n\nMIME\n\n Of course! There, boy,\n The dragon's lies too.\nAt last thou beginnest to fear?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Who till now has been lying indolently stretched\n out, sits up suddenly._\n\n Nothung into\n His heart I will thrust!\nIs that what is meant by fearing?\n Hey, old dotard!\n Canst thou teach me\n Nothing but this\n With all thy craft,\nLinger no longer by me:\nNo fear is here to be learnt.\n\nMIME\n\n Wait awhile yet!\n What I have told thee\nSeems to thee empty sound;\n When thou hast heard\n And seen him thyself,\nThy senses will swoon, overwhelmed!\n When thine eyes grow dim,\n And when the ground rocks,\n When in thy breast\n Thy heart beats loud,\n\n [_Very friendly._\n\nThou wilt remember who brought thee,\nAnd think of me and my love.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Thy love is not wanted!\n Hast thou not heard?\n Out of my sight with thee;\n Let me alone!\nBegin again talking of love,\nAnd on the instant I go!\n The horrible winking,\n The nods and blinking--\n When shall I see\n The last of them,\nAnd rid be at length of the fool?\n\nMIME\n\n Well, I will off,\nAnd rest there by the spring.\n Thou must stay here,\nAnd as the sun scales the sky\n Watch for the foe:\n From his cave\n He lumbers this way,\n Winds and twists\n Past this spot,\nTo water at the fountain.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Laughs._\n\nLiest thou by the spring,\nUnchecked thither the brute shall go;\n He shall swallow thee\n Down with the water,\n Ere with my sword\n To the heart I stab him!\nSo heed well what I say:\nRest not beside the spring.\n Seek somewhere else\n A far-off spot,\nAnd nevermore return.\n\nMIME\n\n Thou wilt not refuse\n Cooling refreshment\nWhen the fierce fight is over?\n\n [_Siegfried motions him angrily away._\n\n Call on me too\n Shouldst thou need counsel,\n\n [_Siegfried repeats the gesture with more violence._\n\nOr if felled on a sudden by fear.\n\n [_Siegfried rises and drives him away with furious\n gestures._\n\nMIME [_Aside, as he goes away._\n\n Fafner and Siegfried--\n Siegfried and Fafner--\nMight each the other but slay!\n\n [_He disappears in the wood on the right._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Stretches himself at his ease under the\n lime-tree, and looks after Mime as he departs._\n\nHe is no father of mine!\nHow merry of heart I feel!\n Never before\n Seemed the forest fair;\n Never day\n Wore as lovely a smile,\nFor the loathed one has gone at last,\nTo be looked on by me no more.\n\n [_He meditates in silence._\n\nMy father--what was he like?--\nHa! like me, without doubt.\nHad Mime by chance had a son,\n He would have been\n Mime's image:\n Quite as disgusting,\n Filthy and grey,\n Small and bent,\n Hunchbacked and halting,\n With ears long and hanging,\n Rheumy eyes running--\n Off with the fright!\nTo see him makes me sick!\n\n [_He leans further back and looks up through the\n branches of the tree. Deep silence. Woodland\n murmurs._\n\n What could my mother,\n I wonder, be like;\n That is not\n So easy to picture.\n\n [_Very tenderly._\n\nHer clear shining eyes\n Must have been soft,\nAnd gentle like the roe-deer's,\n Only far fairer.\n\n [_Very softly._\n\nIn fear and woe she bore me,\nBut why did she die through me?\nMust then all human mothers\n Thus die on giving\n Birth to a son?\nThat would truly be sad!\n Ah, if I only\n Could see my mother!--\n See my mother,\n A woman once!\n\n [_He sighs softly, and leans still further back.\n Deep silence. Louder murmuring of the wood. His\n attention is at last caught by the song of the\n birds. He listens with growing interest to one\n singing in the branches above him._\n\n O lovely warbler,\n I know not thy note;\nHast thou thy home in this wood?\nIf I could but understand him,\nHis sweet song might say much--\nPerhaps of my mother tell me.\n A surly old dwarf\n Said to me once\n That men might learn\n To follow the sense\nOf birds when they were singing;\nCould it indeed be done?\n Ha! I will sing\n After him,\nOn the reed follow him sweetly.\n Though wanting the words,\n Repeating his measure--\nSinging what is his language--\nPerhaps I shall know what he says.\n\n [_He runs to the neighbouring spring, cuts a reed\n off with his sword, and quickly makes himself a\n pipe out of it. He listens again._\n\n He stops to hear,\n So now for my song!\n\n [_He blows into the pipe, breaks off, and cuts\n it again to improve it. He resumes his blowing,\n shakes his head, and cuts the pipe once more. After\n another attempt he gets angry, presses the pipe\n with his hand, and tries again. He ceases playing\n and smiles._\n\n That rings not right;\n For the lovely tune\nThe reed is not suited at all.\n I fear, sweet bird,\n I am too dull;\nThy song cannot I learn.\n\n [_He hears the bird again and looks up to him._\n\n He listens so roguishly\n There that he shames me;\n\n [_Very tenderly._\n\nHe waits, and nothing rewards him.\n Heida! Come hearken\n Now to my horn;\n\n [_He flings the pipe away._\n\n All I do sounds wrong\n On the stupid reed;\n To a song of the woods\n That I know,\nA merry song, listen now rather.\n I hoped it would bring\n Some comrade to me,\n But wolves and bears\n Were the best that came.\n Now I will see\n Who answers its note:\nWhat comrade will come to its call.\n\n [_He takes the silver hunting-horn and blows on\n it. During the long-sustained notes he keeps his\n eyes expectantly on the bird. A movement in the\n background. Fafner, in the form of a monstrous\n lizard-like dragon, has risen from his lair in the\n cave. He breaks through the underwood and drags\n himself up to the higher ground, so that the front\n part of his body rests on it, while he utters a\n loud sound, as if yawning._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Looks round and gazes at Fafner in astonishment.\n He laughs._\n\n My horn with its note\n Has allured something lovely;\nA jolly companion wert thou.\n\nFAFNER\n\n [_At the sight of Siegfried has paused on the high\n ground, and remains there._\n\n What is that?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n If thou art a beast\n Who can use its tongue,\nPerchance thou couldst teach me something.\n Here stands one\n Who would learn to fear;\nSay, wilt thou be his teacher?\n\nFAFNER\n\n Is this insolence?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Courage or insolence,\n What matter?\nWith my sword I will slay thee,\nWilt thou not teach me to fear.\n\nFAFNER [_Makes a laughing sound._\n\n Drink I came for;\n Now food I find too!\n\n [_He opens his jaws and shows his teeth._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n What a fine set of teeth\n Thou showest me there!\n Sweetly they smile\n In thy dainty mouth!\n'Twere well if I closed up thy gullet;\nThy jaws are gaping too wide!\n\nFAFNER\n\n They were not made\n For idle talk,\n But they will serve\n To swallow thee.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Hoho! Ferocious,\n Merciless churl!\n I have no fancy\n To be eaten.\nBetter it seems to me\nThat without delay thou shouldst die!\n\nFAFNER [_Roaring._\n\n Pruh! Come,\n Boy, with thy boasts!\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Draws his sword._\n\n Beware, growler!\n The boaster comes!\n\n [_He springs towards Fafner and remains defiantly\n confronting him. Fafner drags himself further up\n the knoll and spits at Siegfried from his nostrils.\n Siegfried avoids the poison, springs nearer, and\n stands on one side. Fafner tries to reach him\n with his tail. Siegfried, who is nearly caught,\n springs over Fafner with one bound, and wounds him\n in the tail. Fafner roars, pulls his tail angrily\n away, and raises the front part of his body so\n that he may throw its full weight on Siegfried,\n thus offering his breast to the stroke. Siegfried\n quickly looks to see where his heart is, and\n thrusts his sword into it up to the hilt. Fafner\n raises himself still higher in his pain, and, when\n Siegfried has let go his sword and sprung aside, he\n sinks on the wound._\n\n\n[Illustration: Siegfried kills Fafner--See p. 56]\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nLie there, envious brute! Nothung's point home has speeded!\n\nFAFNER [_In a weaker voice._\n\nWho art thou, boy bold-hearted,\n That hast pierced my breast?\nWho stirred up thy childish soul\n To the murderous deed?\nThy brain schemed not the harm\n Wrought by thy hand.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nNot much have I learned,\nNot even who I am;\nThou thyself with thy taunting\nStirred me to fight and to slay.\n\nFAFNER\n\nO boy bright-eyed,\nWho knowest not yet who thou art,\n Whom thou hast murdered\n Hear from me.\nTwo mighty giants there were,\n Fasolt and Fafner;\nThe brothers now are both fallen.\n For the curs\u00e8d gold\n We got from the Gods\nI did Fasolt to death.\n He who now guards\n The hoard as dragon,\nFafner, the last remaining,\nFalls, by a rosy boy slain.\n Boy in thy bloom,\n Watch and be wary:\nHe who stirred thee blind to this deed\nTakes thought how to compass thy death.\n\n [_Dying._\n\n Mark the ending!\n Think on me!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Who was my father?\n Tell, if thou canst.\n Dying, thou showest,\n Wild one, much wisdom.\nSiegfried my name is; haply\nThat may help thee to guess.\n\nFAFNER\n\n Siegfried!...\n\n [_He raises himself and dies._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThe dead can tell no tidings.\n My living sword, lead!\n Lead onward, my sword!\n\n [_Fafner has rolled to the side in dying. Siegfried\n now draws the sword from his breast. In doing so\n his hand gets sprinkled with the blood; he draws it\n back quickly._\n\n The hot blood burns like fire!\n\n [_Involuntarily he raises his fingers to his mouth\n to suck the blood from them. As he looks musingly\n before him his attention becomes more and more\n attracted by the singing of the birds._\n\n I almost seem\nTo hear the birds speaking to me.\n Is there a spell,\n Perhaps, in the blood?\nThe curious bird up there--\nHark! he sings to me.\n\nVOICE OF THE WOOD-BIRD\n\n [_From the branches of the lime-tree above\n Siegfried._\n\n Hei! Siegfried now owns\n All the Nibelung hoard!\n Oh! could he the hoard\n In the cave but find!\nTarnhelm, if he could but win it,\nWould help him to deeds of renown;\nAnd could he discover the ring,\nIt would make him the lord of the world!\n\n\n[Illustration: \"The hot blood burns like fire!\"--See p 58]\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Has listened holding his breath and beaming with\n delight._\n\n Thanks, bonnie bird,\n For the counsel good:\n I follow the call!\n\n [_He turns towards the back and descends to the\n cave, where he at once disappears._\n\n_Mime steals up, looking about him timidly to assure himself of\nFafner's death. At the same time Alberich comes out of the cleft on the\nopposite side. He observes Mime, rushes on him and bars his way, as the\nlatter turns towards the cave._\n\n\nALBERICH\n\n On what errand\n Furtive and sly,\n Knave, dost thou slink?\n\nMIME\n\n Accurs\u00e8d brother,\n That thou shouldst come!\n What brings thee here?\n\nALBERICH\n\n Rogue, has my gold\n Provoked thy greed?\n Dost covet my goods?\n\nMIME\n\n Get thee gone quickly!\n This corner is mine;\n What huntest thou here?\n\nALBERICH\n\n Have I disturbed thee,\n Thief, at thy work,\n Secret and sly?\n\nMIME\n\n What I have slaved\n And toiled to win\n Shall not escape me.\n\nALBERICH\n\n Who was it robbed\nThe Rhine of gold for the ring?\n And whose cunning wrought\nThe spell of magical might?\n\nMIME\n\n Who made the Tarnhelm,\nChanging its wearer's form?\n Though thou didst want it,\nWas it designed by thee?\n\nALBERICH\n\n And what of thyself\nCouldst aright have fashioned, thou bungler?\n The magic ring\nForced thee to master thy craft.\n\nMIME\n\n And where is the ring?\n'Twas reft from thy clutch by the giants.\n What thou hast lost\nI will gain and keep by my guile.\n\nALBERICH\n\n What the boy has won\nWould the niggard deny him?\n 'Tis not thine; the hero\nWho won it is now its lord.\n\nMIME\n\n I brought him up;\nFor my pains now he shall pay;\n For its reward\nMy trouble has waited too long.\n\nALBERICH\n\n Just for rearing him,\n The old niggardly,\n Beggarly knave,\n Bold as brass,\nA king now would become?\n The ring would befit\n Better a dog\n Than bumpkin like thee.\n Never to thee\nThe magical ring shall fall!\n\nMIME [_Scratches his head._\n\n Well, keep it, then,\n And guard with care\n The gleaming gold;\n Be thou lord,\nBut treat me as a brother;\n Give me against it\n Tarnhelm for toy,\n Fairly exchanged;\n Divided thus,\nThere will be booty for both.\n\n [_He rubs his hands confidingly._\n\nALBERICH [_With a mocking laugh._\n\n Share it with thee?\n And the Tarnhelm too!\n How sly thou art!\n I could never\nSleep for a moment safely.\n\nMIME [_Beside himself._\n\n What! not even\n Strike a bargain!\n I must go bare,\n Beggared of gain!\nThou wouldst leave me with nothing!\n\n [_Shrieking._\n\nALBERICH\n\n Nothing, not so\n Much as a nail,\n Shall fall to thy portion.\n\nMIME [_In a fury._\n\n Neither ring nor Tarnhelm\n Shall thy hand touch, then;\n 'Tis I will not share!\n I will call on Siegfried,\n Summon the aid\n Of his keen-edged sword;\n The lad will make\nShort work, dear brother, of thee!\n\nALBERICH\n\n [_Siegfried having appeared in the background._\n\n Turn and look there!\nFrom the cavern hither he comes.\n\nMIME\n\n He will have chosen\n Trivial toys.\n\nALBERICH\n\n He bears the Tarnhelm!\n\nMIME\n\n Also the ring!\n\nALBERICH\n\nCurst luck! The ring!\n\nMIME [_Laughing maliciously._\n\nGet him to give thee the ring now!\n'Tis I, not thou, who shall win it.\n\nALBERICH\n\n And yet to its lord\nMust it at last be surrendered!\n\n [_He disappears in the cleft._\n\n [_During the foregoing Siegfried, with Tarnhelm and\n ring, has come slowly and meditatively from the\n cave; he regards his booty thoughtfully, and stops\n on the knoll in the middle of the stage._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n I do not know\n Of what use\n Ye are; I chose you\nFrom out the heaped-up hoard\nBecause of friendly advice.\n Meanwhile, of this day\n Be ye worn as witness,\n Recalling to mind\nHow with fallen Fafner I fought,\nAnd yet could not learn how to fear.\n\n [_He hangs the Tarnhelm on his girdle and puts\n the ring on his finger. Silence. His notice is\n involuntarily drawn to the bird again, and he\n listens to him with breathless attention._\n\n\n[Illustration: The dwarfs quarrelling over the body of Fafner. See p.\n59]\n\n\nTHE WOOD-BIRD'S VOICE\n\n Hei! Siegfried now owns\n Both the helm and the ring!\n Oh! let him not listen\n To Mime, the false!\nHe were wise to be wary of\nMime's treacherous tongue.\n He will understand\n Mime's secret intent,\nBecause he has tasted the blood.\n\n [_Siegfried's mien and gestures show that he\n has understood the bird's song. He sees Mime\n approaching, and remains without moving, leaning\n on his sword, observant and self-contained, in his\n place on the knoll till the close of the following\n scene._\n\nMIME\n\n [_Steals forward, and observes Siegfried from the\n foreground._\n\n He weighs in his mind\n The booty's worth;\n Can there by chance\n Have come this way\n A Wanderer wise\n Who talked to the child,\nAnd taught him crafty runes?\n Doubly sly\n Be then the dwarf;\n My snares must be cunning,\n Cleverly set,\n That with cajoling\n And wily falsehoods\nThe insolent boy I may fool.\n\n [_He goes nearer to Siegfried and welcomes him with\n flattering gestures._\n\n Ha! Welcome, Siegfried!\n Say, bold fighter,\nHast thou been taught how to fear?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nA teacher still is to find.\n\nMIME\n\n But the dragon grim\n Has fallen before thee?\nA fell and fierce monster was he.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThough grim and spiteful the brute, I grieve over his death, While\nthere live still, unpunished, Blacker scoundrels than he was! The one\nwho bade me slay I hate far more than the slain.\n\nMIME [_Very friendly._\n\n Have patience! Thou wilt not\n Look on me long.\n\n[_Sweetly._\n\n In endless sleep\nSoon thine eyelids will be sealed.\n Thy uses are over,\n\n [_As if praising him._\n\n Done is the deed;\n The only task left\nFor me is to win the booty.\nMethinks that task will not tax me;\nThou wert always easy to fool.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nTo me thou art plotting harm, then?\n\nMIME [_Astonished._\n\n What makes thee think that?\n\n [_Continuing tenderly._\n\nSiegfried, listen, my own one!\nI have always loathed\nThee and all that are like thee.\n It was not from love\n That I reared thee with care:\nThe gold hid in Fafner's cave\nI worked for as my reward.\n\n [_As if he were promising him something nice._\n\n If thou wilt not yield\n It up to me,\n\n [_As if he were ready to lay down his life for him._\n\n Siegfried, my son,\n Thou plainly must see\n\n [_As if in friendly jest._\n\nI have no choice but to slay thee!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n That I am hated\n Pleases me;\nBut must I lose my life for thy pleasure?\n\nMIME [_Angrily._\n\n I never said that;\n Thou hast made a mistake.\n See, thou art weary\n From stress of strife,\nBurning with fever and thirst;\n Mime, the kind one,\n To cool thy thirst\nBrought a quickening draught.\n While thy blade thou didst melt\n I brewed thee the drink;\n Touch it, and straight\nThy sword shall be mine,\nAnd mine the hoard and Tarnhelm too.\n\n [_Tittering._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n So thou of my sword\n And all it has won me--\nRing and booty--wouldst rob me?\n\nMIME [_Violently._\n\nWhy wilt mistake so my words!\nDo I drivel or dote?\n I use the utmost\n Pains with my speech,\n That what in my heart\n I mean may be hidden;\n And the stupid boy\nMisunderstands what I say!\n Open thy ears, boy,\n And attend to me!\nHear, now, what Mime means.\nTake this: the drink will refresh thee\nAs my drinks oft have done.\n Many a time\n When fretful and bad,\n Though loth enough,\nThe draughts I brought thou hast swallowed.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Of a cooling drink\n I were glad;\nSay, how has this one been brewed?\n\nMIME\n\n [_Jesting merrily, as if describing to him a\n pleasant state of intoxication which the liquor is\n to bring about._\n\n Hei! Just drink it!\n Trust to my skill.\n In mist and darkness\nSoon shall thy senses be sunk;\n None to watch or ward them,\nStark-stretched shall thy limbs be.\n Thou lying thus,\n 'Twere not hard\nTo take the booty and hide it;\n But wert thou to awake,\n Nevermore would\n Mime be safe,\nEven owning the ring.\n So with the sword\n He has made so sharp\n\n [_With a gesture of extravagant joy._\n\n First I will hack\n The child's head off!\nThen I shall have both rest and the ring!\n\n [_Tittering._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThou wouldst, then, slay me when sleeping?\n\nMIME [_Furiously._\n\nDo what, child? Did I say that?\n\n [_He takes pains to assume the utmost tenderness.\n Carefully and distinctly._\n\n I only mean\n To chop off thy head!\n\n [_With the appearance of heartfelt solicitude for\n Siegfried's health._\n\n For even if I\n Had loathed thee less,\n And had not thy scoffs\n And my drudgery shameful\nSo loudly urged to vengeance,\n\n [_Gently._\n\n I should never dare to pause\n Till from my path I thrust thee:\n\n [_Jestingly again._\n\nHow else could I come by the booty,\nWhich Alberich covets as well?\n\n [_He pours the liquid into the drinking-horn, and\n offers it to Siegfried with pressing gestures._\n\n Now, my W\u00e4lsung,\n Wolf-begot,\nDrink the draught and be choked,\nAnd never drink again!\n\n [_Tittering._\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Threatens him with his sword._\n\n Taste thou my sword,\n Loathsome babbler!\n\n [_As if seized by violent loathing, he gives Mime a\n sharp stroke with his sword. Instantly Mime falls\n dead to the ground. Alberich's voice in mocking\n laughter from the cleft._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Looking at Mime on the ground, quietly hangs his\n sword again on his belt._\n\n Envy's wage\n Pays Nothung;\n'Twas for this that I forged him.\n\n [_He picks up Mime's body, carries it to the knoll,\n and throws it into the cave._\n\n In the cavern, there,\n Lie on the hoard;\n With steadfast guile\n The gold thou hast gained:\nNow let it belong to its master!\nAnd a watchman good\nI give thee, that thieves\nNever may enter and steal.\n\n [_With a great effort he pushes the body of the\n dragon in front of the entrance to the cave, which\n it completely stops up._\n\n There lie thou too,\n Dragon grim;\n Along with thy foe\n Greedy of gain\nThou shalt guard the glittering gold:\nSo both at last shall rest in peace.\n\n [_He looks down thoughtfully into the cave for a\n time, and then turns slowly to the front of the\n stage as if tired. He passes his hand over his\n brow._\n\n Hot I feel\n From the heavy toil;\n Fast and furious\n Flows my blood,\nMy hand burns on my head.\nHigh stands the sun in heaven;\n From azure heights\n Falls his gaze\nThrough a cloudless sky on my crown.\nPleasant shadows will cool me under the linden.\n\n [_He stretches himself out under the lime-tree, and\n again looks up through the boughs._\n\nIf only, pretty warbler,\n So long and so\n Rudely disturbed,\nI could once more hear thee singing!\n On a branch I see thee\n Merrily swaying;\n Chirping and chattering,\n Brothers and sisters\nAre happily hovering round.\n\nBut I--I am alone,\nWithout brother or sister;\n My mother died,\n My father fell,\nUnseen by their son!\n The one soul I knew\n Was a loathsome old dwarf;\n\n [_Warmly._\n\n Love he festered not\n By kindness;\n Many a cunning\n Snare did he set me;\nAt last I was forced to slay him.\n\n [_He looks sorrowfully up at the branches._\n\n Bird sweet and friendly,\n I ask thee a boon:\n Wilt thou find for me\n A comrade true?--\nWilt thou choose for me the right one?\n So oft I have called,\n And yet no one has come!\n Thou, my friend,\n Wilt manage it better,\nSo wise thy counsel has been.\n\n [_Softly._\n\nNow sing! I hearken to thy song.\n\nTHE WOOD-BIRD'S VOICE\n\n Hei! Siegfried has slain\n The deceitful dwarf!\n I know for him now\n A glorious bride.\nShe sleeps where rugged rocks soar;\nRinged is her chamber by fire.\n Who battles the flames,\n Wakens the bride,\nBr\u00fcnnhilde wins as reward.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Starts up impetuously from his seat._\n\n O lovely song,\n Flower-sweet breath!\n Thy yearning music\n Burns in my breast!\n Like leaping flame\n It kindles my heart.\n What races so swift\n Through soul and senses?\nSweetest of friends, O say!\n\n [_He listens._\n\nTHE WOOD-BIRD'S VOICE\n\n Grieving yet glad,\n Love I am singing;\n Blissful, from woe\n Weaving my song:\nThey only who yearn understand.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Forth, forth then,\n Swift and rejoicing!\nForth from the wood to the fell!\n Just one thing more\n I would learn, sweet singer:\nSay, shall I break through the fire?\nCan I awaken the bride?\n\n [_He listens again._\n\nTHE WOOD-BIRD'S VOICE\n\n No coward wins\n Br\u00fcnnhild' for bride,\n Or wakes the maid:\nOnly a heart without fear.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Shouting with joy._\n\n The foolish boy\n Who has never learned fear,\nDear bird, that dullard am I!\n To-day I took endless\n Trouble in vain,\nTo find out what fear was from Fafner.\n With longing I burn\n Now from Br\u00fcnnhild' to learn it.\nWhat path soonest leads to the fell?\n\n [_The bird flutters up, circles over Siegfried, and\n flies hesitatingly before him._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThe bird to my goal will guide me.\n Fly where thou wilt,\n I follow thy flight!\n\n [_He runs after the bird, who for a time flies\n uncertainly hither and thither to tease him; at\n last he follows him, when, taking a definite\n direction towards the back, the bird flies away._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE THIRD ACT\n\n\n _A wild spot at the foot of a rocky mountain which\n rises precipitously at the back on the left. Night,\n storm, lightning and violent thunder. The latter\n ceases shortly, but the lightning continues to\n flash from the clouds for some time. The Wanderer\n enters and walks resolutely towards a cavernous\n opening in a rock in the foreground, and takes up\n his position there, leaning on his spear, while he\n calls the following towards the entrance to the\n cave._\n\n\nWANDERER\n\n Waken, Wala!\n Wala! Awake!\n From thy long sleep,\nSlumberer, wake at my call!\n I summon thee forth:\n Arise! Arise!\n From cloud-covered caves\nIn earth's dim abysses, arise!\n Erda! Erda,\n Old as the world!\n From depths dark and hidden\n Rise to the day!\n With song I call thee,\n I sing to wake thee,\n From deep dreams of wisdom\n Bid thee arise.\n All-knowing one!\n Fount of knowledge!\n Erda! Erda,\n Old as the world!\nWaken! Awaken, thou Vala! Awaken!\n\n [_A dim bluish light begins to dawn in the cavern.\n In this light Erda, during the following, rises\n very gradually from below. She appears to be\n covered with hoar-frost, which glitters on her hair\n and garments._\n\nERBA\n\nLoud is the call;\nStrong the spell that summons;\n I have been roused\n From dark and wise dreams:\nWho wakes me from my sleep?\n\nWANDERER\n\n 'Tis I who awake thee\n With song of magic,\n That what in slumber\nWas folded fast may rise.\n The wide earth ranging,\n Far I have roamed,\n Seeking for knowledge,\nWisdom at fountains primeval.\n No one that lives\n Is wiser than thou;\n Thou knowest all\n In the hidden depths,\n What moves on hill,\nDale, in water and air.\n Where life is found,\n There thou art breathing;\n And where brains ponder,\n There is thy thought.\n Men say that all\n Knowledge is thine.\nThat I might ask of thee counsel,\nI have called thee from sleep.\n\nERBA\n\n My sleep is dreaming,\n My dreaming brooding,\nMy brooding wisdom's calm working.\n But while I sleep\n The Norns are wakeful:\n They twine the rope,\nAnd deftly weave what I know.\nThe Norns thou shouldst have questioned.\n\nWANDERER\n\n In thrall to the world\n Sit the Norns weaving;\n They cannot alter\n What ordained is.\n But I would fain\n Be taught of thy wisdom\nHow a wheel on the roll can be stayed.\n\nERBA\n\n Dark and troubled\nMy mind grows through men's deeds.\n A God once subdued\nThe Wala's self to his will.\n A wish-maiden\n I bore to Wotan;\n From fields of battle\nShe brought him slain heroes;\n Bold is she\n And wise to boot:\n Why waken me?\n Why seek not counsel\nFrom Erda's and Wotan's child?\n\nWANDERER\n\n The Valkyrie, Br\u00fcnnhild'?\n Meanest thou her?\nShe flouted the storm-controller,\nWhen, sorely urged, himself he controlled.\n What the swayer and lord\n Of battles longed for,\n What he refrained from\n Against his desire,\n Br\u00fcnnhilde, bold,\n Rash, over-confident,\nWhen the fight was at fiercest,\nStrove for herself to perform.\n War-father\n Punished the maid:\nHe pressed slumber into her eyes,\nOn the flame-girt rock she sleeps.\n The hallowed maid\n Will waken alone,\nThat she may love and wed with a man.\nSmall hope of answer from her.\n\nERBA\n\n Dazed have I felt\n Since I woke;\n Wild, confused\n Seems the world!\n The Valkyrie,\n The Wala's child,\nBound lay, fettered by sleep,\nWhile her all-knowing mother slept!\n Does revolt's teacher\n Chide revolt?\n Does the deed he urged to\n Anger him, done?\n He who guards the right,\n To whom vows are sacred,\n Hinders the right?--\n Reigns through falsehood?\nLet me down to the dark,\nThat my wisdom may slumber!\n\nWANDERER\n\nI will not let thee descend,\nFor a potent magic I wield.\n All-wise one,\n Planted by thee\n The sting of care was\nIn Wotan's dauntless heart;\n For, through thy wisdom,\n Downfall and shameful\n Doom were foretold him;\nMy mind was fettered by fear.\n Now let the world's\n Wisest of women\n Answer and say\nHow a God may conquer his care.\n\nERBA\n\nThou art not\nWhat thou hast said.\nWhy art thou come, wild and wayward,\nTo trouble the Wala's sleep?\n\nWANDERER\n\n Thou art not\n What thou hast dreamed.\n Thy end draws near,\n Mother of wisdom;\n Thy wisdom at war\n With me shall perish.\nKnowest thou Wotan's will?\n\n [_A long silence._\n\n I tell thee\n That thou mayest sleep\nFor evermore unvexed by care.\n That the Gods are doomed,\n No longer dismays me,\nSince I will it so.\nWhat, with myself at war, in anguish,\nDespairing, once I resolved,\n Gaily, gladly,\nWith delight I now do.\nMad with disgust I decreed once\nThe world to the Nibelung's hate,\n But now to the valiant W\u00e4lsung\nI leave it with joy.\n One who never knew me,\n Though chosen by me,\n A boy bold and fearless,\n Helped not by Wotan,\nHas won the Nibelung's ring.\n Blest in love,\n Void of all envy,\n On him shall fall harmless\n Alberich's curse,\nFor no fear does he know.\n Soon thy child and mine,\n Br\u00fcnnhild',\nShall be waked by him;\n And when waked\n Our child shall achieve\nA deed to redeem the world.\n So slumber again,\n Closing thine eyelids;\nDreaming behold my downfall!\n Whatever comes after,\n The God rejoicing\nYields to youth ever young.\n Descend, then, Erda,\n Mother of fear!\n World-sorrow!\n Descend! Descend!\n And sleep for aye!\n\n [_Erda, whose eyes are already closed, and who has\n gradually been sinking deeper, disappears entirely.\n The cavern has become quite dark again._\n\n _Dawn lights up the stage; the storm has ceased.\n The Wanderer has gone close to the cave, and leans\n with his back against it, facing the wings._\n\nWANDERER\n\nLo! Yonder Siegfried comes.\n\n [_He remains where he is without changing his\n position. Siegfried's wood-bird flutters towards\n the foreground. Suddenly the bird stops in his\n direct flight, flutters to and fro in alarm, and\n disappears quickly towards the back._\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Enters and stops._\n\nMy bird has vanished from sight!\n With fluttering wings\n And lovely song\nBlithely he showed me the way,\nAnd then forsook me and fled!\n I must discover\n The rock for myself:\nThe path I followed so far\n'Twere best still to pursue.\n\n [_He goes towards the back._\n\nWANDERER [_Still in the same position._\n\n Boy, pray tell me,\n Whither away?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Halts and turns round._\n\n Did some one speak?\nPerhaps he knows the road.\n\n [_He goes nearer to the Wanderer._\n\n I would find a rock\nThat by flaming fire is surrounded:\n There sleeps a maid\n Whom I would awake.\n\nWANDERER\n\n Who bade thee seek\n This rock flame-circled?--\nTaught thee to yearn for the woman?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n It was a singing\n Woodland bird;\nHe gave me welcome tidings.\n\nWANDERER\n\nA wood-bird chatters idly\nWhat no man understands;\n How then couldst thou tell\n The song's true meaning?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Because of the blood\n Of a dragon grim\nThat fell before me at Neidh\u00f6hl'--\n The burning blood\n Had scarce touched my tongue\nWhen the sense of the singer grew plain.\n\nWANDERER\n\n Who was it urged thee on\n To try thy strength,\nAnd slay this dragon so dread?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n My guide was Mime,\n A faithless dwarf:\nWhat fear is fain he had taught me.\n But 'twas the dragon\n Roused me himself,\nWrathful, to strike the blow;\nFor he threatened me with his jaws.\n\nWANDERER\n\n Who forged the sword\n So hard and keen\nThat it slew the daunting foe?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n I forged it myself\n When the smith was beaten;\nSwordless else I should have been still.\n\nWANDERER\n\n But who made\n The mighty splinters\nFrom which the sword was welded strong?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n What know I of that?\n I only know\nThat the splintered steel was useless\nWere not the sword forged anew.\n\nWANDERER\n\n [_Bursts out laughing with gleeful good-humour._\n\n I fully agree.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Surprised._\n\n At what dost thou laugh?\n Prying greybeard!\n Prithee have done;\nKeep me no longer here talking.\n Speak if thou knowest\n Whither my way lies;\n And hold thy tongue\nUnless thou canst tell.\n\nWANDERER\n\n Good boy, have patience!\n If I seem old,\nMore need to show me due honour.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n What an odd notion!\n My whole life long\n A hateful old man\n Has blocked my pathway;\nHim I at last swept aside.\n Standest thou longer\n Trying here to stay me,\n I warn thee frankly\n\n [_With a significant gesture._\n\nThat thou like Mime shalt fare.\n\n [_He goes still nearer to the Wanderer._\n\n But what art thou like?\n Why wearest thou\n Such a monstrous hat,\nAnd why hangs it so over thy face?\n\nWANDERER [_Still without altering his position._\n\nThat is the way I wear it\nWhen against the wind I go.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Inspecting him still more closely._\n\nBut an eye beneath it is wanting.\n Perchance by some one\n Whose way thou didst\n Too boldly bar\nIt has been struck out.\n Take thyself off,\n Or else very soon\nThe other thou shalt lose also!\n\nWANDERER\n\n I see, my son,\n Where thou art blind,\nAnd hence thy jaunty assurance.\n With the eye that is\n Amissing in me\nThou lookest now on the other\nThat still is left me for sight.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Who has been listening thoughtfully, now bursts\n involuntarily into hearty laughter._\n\nThy foolish talk sets me laughing!\nBut come, this nonsense must finish.\nAt once show me my way;\nThen proceed thou too on thine own;\n For me further\n Use thou hast none:\nSo speak, or off thou shalt pack!\n\nWANDERER [_Gently._\n\n Child, didst thou know\n Who I am,\nThy scoffs I had been spared!\n From one so dear,\nInsult hard to endure is.\n Long have I loved\n Thy radiant race,\n Though from my fury\n In terror it shrank.\n Thou whom I love so,\n All too fair one,\nRouse my wrath not to-day;\nIt would ruin both thee and me.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Still art thou dumb,\n Stubborn old man?\n Stand to one side, then;\n That pathway, I know,\nLeads to the slumbering maid;\n For thither the wood-bird\nWas guiding when he flew off.\n\n [_It suddenly becomes dark again._\n\nWANDERER\n\n [_Breaking out in anger and assuming a commanding\n attitude._\n\nIn fear of its life it fled.\n It knew that here\n Was the ravens' lord;\nDire his plight were he caught!\n The way that it guided\n Thou shalt not go!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Amazed, falls hack and assumes a defiant\n attitude._\n\n Hoho! Interferer!\n Who then art thou\nThat wilt not let me pass?\n\nWANDERER\n\nFear thou the rock's defender!\n My might it is\nHolds the maiden fettered by sleep.\n He who would wake her,\n He who would win her,\nImpotent makes me for ever.\n\n A burning sea\n Encircles the maid,\n Fires fiercely glowing\n Surround the rock;\n He who craves the bride\nThe flames must boldly defy.\n\n [_He points with his spear towards the rocky\n heights._\n\n Look up above!\n That light dost thou see?\n The surging heat,\n The splendour, grows;\n Clouds of fire rolling,\n Tongues of flame writhing,\n Roaring and raging,\n Come ravening down.\n Thy head now\n Is flooded with light;\n\n [_A flickering glow, increasing in brightness,\n appears on the summit of the rock._\n\n The fire will seize thee,\n Seize and devour thee.--\nBack, back, there, foolhardy boy!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nStand back, old babbler, thyself!\nFor where the fire is burning,\nTo Br\u00fcnnhilde yonder I go!\n\n [_He advances; the Wanderer bars his way._\n\nWANDERER\n\nHast thou no fear of the fire,\nThen barred by my spear be thy path!\n I still hold the haft\n That conquers all;\n The sword thou dost wield\nIt shivered long ago:\nUpon my spear eternal\n Break it once more.\n\n [_He stretches out his spear._\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Drawing his sword._\n\n 'Tis my father's foe,\n Found here at last!\n Now, then, for vengeance!\n In luck am I!\n Brandish thy spear:\nMy sword will hew it in twain!\n\n [_With one stroke he hews the Wanderer's spear in\n two pieces. Lightning flashes from the spear up\n towards the rocks, where the light, until now dim,\n begins to flame brighter and brighter. A violent\n thunder-clap, which quickly dies away, accompanies\n the stroke._\n\nWANDERER\n\n [_Quietly picking up the pieces of the spear which\n have fallen at his feet._\n\nFare on! I cannot prevent thee!\n\n [_He suddenly disappears in utter darkness._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nWith his spear in splinters\nVanished the coward!\n\n [_The growing brightness of the clouds of fire,\n which keep sinking down lower and lower, attracts\n Siegfried's eye._\n\nHa! Rapturous fire! Glorious light! Shining my pathway Opens before me.\nIn fiery flames plunging, Through fire I will win to the bride! Hoho!\nHahei! To summon a comrade I call!\n\n [_He sets his horn to his lips and plunges into\n the fiery billows, which, flowing down from the\n heights, now spread over the foreground. Siegfried,\n who is soon lost to view, seems, from the sound\n of his horn, to be ascending the mountain. The\n flames begin to fade, and change gradually into a\n dissolving cloud lit by the glow of dawn._\n\n _The thin cloud has resolved itself into a fine\n rose-coloured veil of mist, which so divides that\n the upper part rises and disappears, disclosing the\n bright blue sky of day; whilst on the edge of the\n rocky height, now becoming visible (exactly the\n same scene as in the third Act of \"The Valkyrie\"),\n a veil of mist reddened by the dawn remains\n hanging, which suggests the magic fire still\n flaming below. The arrangement of the scene is\n exactly the same as at the end of \"The Valkyrie.\"\n In the foreground, under a wide-spreading fir-tree,\n lies Br\u00fcnnhilde in full shining armour, her helmet\n on her head, and her long shield covering her, in\n deep sleep._\n\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Coming from the back, reaches the rocky edge of\n the summit, and at first shows only the upper part\n of his body. He looks round him for a longtime in\n amaze. Softly._\n\n Solitude blissful\n On sun-caressed height!\n\n [_He climbs to the summit, and, standing on a rock\n at the edge of the precipice at the back, gazes at\n the scene in astonishment. He looks into the wood\n at the side and comes forward a little._\n\n What lies in shadow,\n Asleep in the wood?\n A charger\nResting in slumber deep.\n\n [_Approaching slowly he stops in surprise when,\n still at some little distance from her, he sees\n Br\u00fcnnhilde._\n\nWhat radiant thing lies yonder?\n\nThe steel, how it gleams and glints!\n Is it the glare\n That dazzles me still?\n Shining armour?\n Shall it be mine?\n\n [_He lifts up the shield and sees Br\u00fcnnhilde's\n form; her face, however, is for the most part\n hidden by her helmet._\n\nHa! It covers a man!\nThe sight stirs thoughts sweet and strange!\n The helm must lie\n Hard on his head;\n Lighter lay he\n Were it unloosed.\n\n [_He loosens the helmet carefully and removes it\n from the head of the sleeper. Long curling hair\n breaks forth. Tenderly._\n\n Ah! how fair!\n\n [_He stands lost in contemplation._\n\n Clouds gleaming softly\n Fringe with their fleeces\nThis lake of heaven bright;\n Laughing, the glorious\n Face of the sun\nShines through the billowy clouds!\n\n [_He bends lower over the sleeper._\n\n His bosom is heaving,\n Stirred by his breath;\nOught I to loosen the breastplate?\n\n [_He tries to loosen the breastplate._\n\n Come, my sword,\n Cleave thou the iron!\n\n [_He draws his sword and gently and carefully cuts\n through the rings on both sides of the breastplate;\n he then lifts this off along with the greaves,\n so that Br\u00fcnnhilde now lies before him in a soft\n woman's robe. He draws back startled and amazed._\n\n That is no man!\n\n [_He stares at the sleeper, greatly excited._\n\n Magical rapture\n Pierces my heart;\n Fixed is my gaze,\n Burning with terror;\nI reel, my heart faints and fails!\n\n [_He is seized with sudden terror._ #/\n\n\n[Illustration: \"Magical rapture\n Pierces my heart;\n Fixed is my gaze,\n Burning with terror;\n I reel, my heart faints and fails!\"\n See p. 86]\n\n On whom shall I call,\n For aid imploring?\n Mother! Mother!\n Remember me!\n\n [_He sinks as if fainting on to Br\u00fcnnhilde's bosom;\n then he starts up sighing._\n\n How waken the maid,\nCausing her eyelids to open?\n\n [_Tenderly._\n\n Her eyelids to open?\nWhat if her gaze strike me blind!\n How shall I dare\n To look on their light?\n All rocks and sways\n And swirls and revolves;\n Uttermost longing\n Burns and consumes me;\n My hand on my heart,\n It trembles and shakes!\n What ails thee, coward?\n Is this what fear means?\n O mother! Mother!\n Thy dauntless child!\n\n [_Very tenderly._\n\nA woman lying asleep\nHas taught him what fear is at last!\n How conquer my fear?\n How brace my heart?\n That, myself, I waken,\nI must waken the sleeper!\n\n [_As he approaches the sleeping figure again he\n is overcome by tenderer emotions at the light. He\n bends down lower; sweetly._\n\n Softly quivers\n Her flower-sweet mouth!\n Its lovely trembling\n Has charmed my despair!\n Ah! And the fragrant,\nBlissful warmth of her breath!\n\n [_As if in despair._\n\n Awaken! Awaken,\n Maiden divine!\n\n [_He gazes at her._\n\n She hears me not.\n New life from the sweetest\n Of lips I will suck, then,\nEven though kissing I die!\n\n [_He sinks, as if dying, on to the sleeping\n figure, and, closing his eyes, fastens his lips on\n Br\u00fcnnhilde's. Br\u00fcnnhilde opens her eyes. Siegfried\n starts up, and remains standing before her._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Rises slowly to a sitting posture. Raising her\n arms, she greets the earth and sky with solemn\n gestures on her return to consciousness._\n\n Sun, I hail thee!\n Hail, O light!\nHail, O glorious day.\nLong I have slept;\n I am awake.\n What hero broke\n Br\u00fcnnhilde's sleep?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Awed and entranced by her look and her voice,\n stands as if spellbound._\n\n Through the fierce fires flaming\n Round this rock I burst;\nI unloosened thy helmet strong:\n I awoke thee.\n Siegfried am I.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Sitting upright._\n\n Gods, I hail you!\n Hail, O World!\nHail, O Earth, in thy glory!\nMy sleep is over now,\n My eyes open.\n It is Siegfried\n Who bids me wake!\n\n\n[Illustration: \"Sun, I hail thee!\n Hail, O light!\n Hail, O glorious day!\"\n See p. 88]\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Breaking forth in rapturous exaltation._\n\n I hail thee, mother\n Who gave me birth!\n Hail, O Earth,\n That nourished my life\nSo that I see those eyes\nBeam on me, blest among men!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n I hail the mother\n Who gave thee birth!\n Hail, O Earth,\n That nourished thy life!\nNo eye dared see me but thine;\nTo thee alone might I wake!\n\n [_Both remain full of beaming ecstasy, lost in\n mutual contemplation._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n O Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Hero most blest!\n Of life the awaker,\n Conquering light!\n O joy of the world, couldst know\n How thou wert always loved!\n Thou wert my gladness,\n My care wert thou!\n Thy life I sheltered\n Before it was thine;\n My shield was thy shelter\n Ere thou wert born:\nSo long loved wert thou, Siegfried!\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Softly and timidly._\n\nMy mother did not die, then?\nDid the dear one but sleep?\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Smiles and stretches her hand out kindly towards\n him._\n\n Adorable child!\nNevermore thy mother will greet thee!\n Thyself am I,\nIf I be blest with thy love.\n All things I know\n Known not to thee;\n Yet only of my love\nBorn is my wisdom.\n\n O Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Conquering light!\n I loved thee always,\n For I alone\nDivined the thought hid by Wotan:\n Hidden thought I dared not\n So much as utter;\n Thought that I thought not,\n Feeling it only;\n For which I worked,\n Battled and strove,\n Defying even\n Him who conceived it;\n For which in penance\n Prisoned I lay,\n Because thought it was not,\n But felt alone!\n For what the thought was--\n Say, canst thou guess it?--\nWas love of thee, nothing but that!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n How wondrous sounds\n Thy rapturous song!\nBut dark the meaning to me.\n\n [_Tenderly._\n\n Of thine eyes the splendour\n I see plain,\n I can feel thee breathing\n Soft and warm,\n Sweet can hear\n The singing of thy voice,\nBut what thou sayest I strive\nVainly to understand.\n I cannot grasp clearly\n Things so far distant;\n Needed is every sense\nTo feel and behold thee!\n By laming fear\n Fettered am I,\n For how to fear\n Thou hast taught me at last;\n Thou who hast bound me\n In bonds of such power,\nGive me my courage again!\n\n [_He remains in great excitement with his yearning\n gaze fixed on her._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Turns her head gently aside and looks towards the\n wood._\n\n I see there Grane,\n My sacred horse;\n In gladness he grazes\n Who slept with me!\nHe too has by Siegfried been waked.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Without changing his position._\n\n My gaze on a mouth\n Most lovely is feasting;\n My lips are afire\n With passionate yearning\nFor the pasture sweet that I look on!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Points to her armour, which she now perceives._\n\n I see there the shield\n That sheltered heroes;\n And there is the helmet\n That hid my head:\nIt shields, it hides me no more!\n\nSIEGFRIED [_With fire._\n\n By a glorious maid\n My heart has been hurt\n Wounds in my head\n A woman has struck:\nI came without shield or helm!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_With increased sadness._\n\n I see there the breastplate's\n Glittering steel;\n A keen-edged sword\n Sundered the rings,\n From the form of the maiden\n Loosened the mail:\nNor shelter nor shield is left\nTo the weak and sorrowful maid!\n\nSIEGFRIED [_With heat._\n\n Through billows of fire\n I battled to thee,\n No buckler or breastplate\n Sheltered or screened;\n The flames have won\n Their way to my heart;\n My blood hot-surging\n Rushes and leaps;\n A ravening fire\n Is kindled within me:\n The flames that shone\n Round Br\u00fcnnhilde's rock\nAre burning now in my breast!\nO maid, extinguish the fire!\nCalm the commotion and rage!\n\n [_He has embraced her passionately._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Springs up, resists him with the utmost strength\n of terror, and flies to the other side of the\n stage._\n\nNo God's touch have I known!\n With awe the heroes\n Greeted the maiden:\nHoly came she from Walhall.\n Woe's me! Woe's me!\n Woe the affront,\n The bitter disgrace!\n He wounds me sore\n Who waked me from sleep!\nHe has broken breastplate and helm;\nNow I am Br\u00fcnnhild' no more.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Thou art to me\n The dreaming maid still;\n Br\u00fcnnhilde lies\n Lapped still in sleep.\nAwake, be a woman to me!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Bewildered._\n\n Confused are my senses,\n My mind is blank:\nWisdom, dost thou forsake me?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Said not thy song\n Thy wisdom drew\nIts light from thy love of me?\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Staring before her._\n\n Shadows drear-falling\n Darken my gaze;\n Mine eyes see dimly,\n The light dies out,\n Deep is the dark.\n From dread-haunted mists\n Fear in a frenzy\n Comes writhing forth;\n Terror stalks me\n And grows with each stride!\n\n [_She hides her eyes with her hands in violent\n terror._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Gently removing her hands from her eyes._\n\n Dread lies dark\n On eyelids bound;\n With the fetters vanish\nThe fear and gloom;\nRise from the dark and behold:\nBright as the sun is the day.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Much agitated._\n\n Flaunting my shame,\nBright as the sun shines the day!\n O Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Pity my woe!\n I have always\n Lived and shall live--\n Always in sweet,\n Rapturous yearning,\nAnd always to make thee blest!\n\n O Siegfried! Glorious\n Wealth of the world!\n Laughing hero!\n Life of the earth!\n Ah, forbear!\n Leave me in peace!\n Touch me not,\n Mad with delirious frenzy!\n Break me not,\n Bring me not under thy yoke,\nUndo not the loved one so dear!\n\n Hast thou rejoiced\n Thyself to see\nReflected clear in the stream?\n If into wavelets\n The water were stirred,\n And ruffled the limpid\n Calm of the brook,\nThy face would not be there,\nOnly water's rippling unrest.\n So untouched let me stay,\n Trouble me not,\n And thy face\n Mirrored bright in me\n Will smile to thee always,\nGay and merry and glad!\n O Siegfried,\n Radiant child,\n Love thyself\n And leave me in peace;\nO bring not thine own to naught!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n I love thee;\n Didst thou but love me!\n Myself I have lost;\nAh, would thou wert won!\n A fair-flowing flood\n Before me rolls;\n With all my senses\n Nothing I see\nBut buoyant, beautiful billows.\n If it refuse\n To mirror my face,\n Just as I am,\n To assuage my fever,\n Myself I will plunge\n Straight in the stream:--\n If only the billows\n Would blissfully drown me,\nMy yearning lost in the flood!\n Awaken, Br\u00fcnnhilde!\n Waken, O maid!\n Laughing and living,\n Sweetest delight,\nBe mine! Be mine! Be mine!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_With deep feeling._\n\n Thine, Siegfried!\n I was from of old!\n\nSIEGFRIED [_With fire._\n\n What thou hast been\n That be thou still!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Thine I will\n Always be!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n What thou wilt be\n Be thou to-day!\n Clasped in my arms\n And closely embraced,\n Heart upon heart\n Beating in rapture,\n Glances aglow,\n And breath mingled hungrily,\n Eye in eye and\n Mouth on mouth!\n All that thou wert\nAnd wilt be, be thou it now!\nThe fear and the fever would vanish\nWere Br\u00fcnnhild' now mine!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Were I now thine?\n\n Heavenly calm\n Is tossing and raging;\n Light that was pure\n Flames into passion;\n Wisdom divine\n Forsakes me and flies;\n Jubilant love\n Has scared it away!\n\n If I be thine?\n Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Canst thou not see?\n By the blaze of my eyes\n Thou art not struck blind?\n In my arms' embrace\n Thou surely must burn!\n As my blood like a torrent\n Surges and leaps,\n The fire fierce-flaming\n Dost thou not feel?\n Fearest thou, Siegfried?\n Fearest thou not\nThe wild, love-frenzied maid?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_With a shock of joy._\n\n Ha!\nAs the blood swift-surging is kindled,\nAs our eyes devour one another,\nAs our arms cling close in their rapture,\n Dauntless again\n My courage swells,\n And the fear I failed\n For so long to learn,\n The fear that I scarcely\n Learned from thee--\n The stupid boy fears\nThat fear is completely forgot!\n\n [_With the last words he has involuntarily let\n Br\u00fcnnhilde go._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Laughing wildly with joy._\n\n Oh, valorous boy!\n Oh, glorious hero!\n Unwitting source\n Of wonderful deeds!\nLaughing, laughing I love thee;\nLaughing welcome my blindness;\nLaughing let us go doomwards,\nLaughing go down to death!\n\n Farewell Walhall's\n Radiant world,\n Its stately halls\n In the dust laid low!\n Farewell, glittering\n Pomp divine!\n End in bliss,\n O immortal race!\n Norns, rend in sunder\n Your rope of runes!\n Dusk steal darkly\n Over the Gods!\n Night of their downfall\n Dimly descend!\n Now Siegfried's star\n Is rising for me;\n He is for ever\n And for aye,\n My wealth, my world,\n My all in all:\n Love ever radiant,\n Laughing death!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_While Br\u00fcnnhilde repeats the foregoing, beginning\n at \"Farewell Walhall's Radiant world.\"_\n\n Laughing thou wakest,\n Thou my delight!\n Br\u00fcnnhilde lives,\n Br\u00fcnnhilde laughs!\n Hail, O day\n In glory arisen!\n Hail, O Sun\n That shines from on high!\n Hail, O light\n From the darkness sprung!\n Hail, O world\n Where Br\u00fcnnhilde dwells!\n She wakes! She lives!\n She greets me with laughter!\n Splendour streams\n From Br\u00fcnnhilde's star!\n\n[Illustration: Br\u00fcnnhilde throws herself into Siegfried's arms. See p.\n99]\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n She is for ever\n And for aye\n My wealth, my world,\n My all in all,\n Love ever radiant,\n Laughing death!\n\n [_Br\u00fcnnhilde throws herself into Siegfried's arms.\n The curtain falls._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS\n\n\nCHARACTERS\n\n SIEGFRIED\n GUNTHER\n HAGEN\n ALBERICH\n BR\u00dcNNHILDE\n GUTRUNE\n WALTRAUTE\n THE THREE NORNS\n THE RHINE-MAIDENS\n VASSALS\n WOMEN\n\nSCENES OF ACTION\n\n PRELUDE: ON THE VALKYRIES' ROCK\n ACT I. THE HALL OF GUNTHER'S DWELLING ON THE RHINE.\n THE VALKYRIES' ROCK\n ACT II. IN FRONT OF GUNTHER'S HALL\n ACT III. A WOODED REGION ON THE RHINE. GUNTHER'S HALL\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\nPRELUDE\n\n\n _The curtain rises slowly. The scene is the same as\n at the close of the second day, on the Valkyries'\n rock; night. In the background, from below,\n firelight shines. The three Norns, tall women in\n long, dark, veil-like drapery. The first (eldest)\n lies in the foreground, to the right, under the\n spreading pine-tree; the second (younger) is\n stretched on a shelving rock in front of the cave;\n the third (youngest) sits in the centre at the\n back on a rock near the peak. Motionless, gloomy\n silence._\n\n\nTHE FIRST NORN\n\nWhat light glimmers there?\n\nTHE SECOND NORN\n\nIs it already dawn?\n\nTHE THIRD NORN\n\n Loge's host\nGlows in flame around the rock.\n It is night.\nWhy spin we not, singing the while?\n\nTHE SECOND NORN [_To the first._\n\nWhere for our spinning and singing\nWilt thou fasten the rope?\n\nTHE FIRST NORN\n\n [_While she loosens a golden rope from herself and\n ties one end of it to a branch of the pine-tree._\n\nI sing and wind the rope\nBadly or well, as may be.\n At the world-ash-tree\n Once I wove,\n When from the stem\n There bourgeoned strong\nThe boughs of a sacred wood.\n In the shadows cool\n A fountain flowed;\n Wisdom whispered\n Low from its wave;\nOf holy things I sang.\n A dauntless God\n Came to drink at the well;\n For the draught he drank\nHe paid with the loss of an eye.\n From the world-ash-tree\nWotan broke a holy bough;\n From the bough he cut\nAnd shaped the shaft of a spear.\n\nAs time rolled on the wood\nWasted and died of the wound;\nSere, leafless and barren,\nWan withered the tree;\n Sadly the flow\n Of the fountain failed;\n Troubled grew\n My sorrowful song.\n And now no more\nAt the world-ash-tree I weave;\n I needs must fasten\nHere on the pine-tree my rope.\n Sing, O sister--\n Catch as I throw--\nCanst thou tell us why?\n\nTHE SECOND NORN\n\n [_Winds the rope thrown to her round a projecting\n rock at the entrance of the cave._\n\n Runes of treaties\n Well weighed and pondered\n Cut were by Wotan\n In the shaft,\nWhich wielding, he swayed the world.\n A hero bold\nIn fight then splintered the spear,\n The hallowed haft\nWith its treaties cleaving in twain.\n Then bade Wotan\n Walhall's heroes\n Hew down the world-ash-tree\n Forthwith,\nBoth the stem and boughs sere and barren.\n The ash-tree sank;\nSealed was the fountain that flowed.\n Round the sharp edge\nOf the rock I wind the rope:\n Sing, O sister,\n Catch as I throw;\nFurther canst thou tell?\n\nTHE THIRD NORN\n\n [_Catching the rope and throwing the end behind\n her._\n\n The castle stands\n By giants up reared.\n With the Gods and the holy\n Host of the heroes\nWotan sits in his hall;\n And round the walls\n Hewn logs are heaped,\n High up-piled,\n Ready for burning:\nThe world-ash-tree these were once.\n When the wood\nFlares up brightly and burns,\n In its fire\nShall the fair hall be consumed.\nAnd then shall the high Gods' downfall\nDawn in darkness for aye.\n Know ye yet more,\nBegin anew winding the rope;\n Again I throw it\n Back from the north.\nSpin and sing, O my sister.\n\n [_She throws the rope to the second Norn and the\n second throws it to the first, who loosens the rope\n from the bough and ties it on to another._\n\nTHE FIRST NORN\n\n [_Looking towards the back._\n\n Is it the dawn,\n Or the firelight that flickers?\nGrief-darkened is my gaze.\n The holy past\n I can scarce remember,\n When Loge burst\nOf old into burning fire.\nDost thou know how he fared?\n\nTHE SECOND NORN\n\n [_Winding the rope which has been thrown to her\n round the rock again._\n\n Overcome by Wotan's\n Spear and its magic,\nLoge worked for the God;\n Then, to win his freedom,\n Gnawed with his tooth\nThe solemn runes on the shaft.\n So with the potent\n Spell of the spear-point\n Wotan confined him\nFlaming where Br\u00fcnnhilde slumbered.\nCanst thou tell us the end?\n\nTHE THIRD NORN\n\n With the broken spear's\n Sharp-piercing splinters\n Wotan wounded\nThe 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\nHewn logs heaped ready for burning.\n Would ye know\n When that will be,\nWind, O sisters, the rope!\n\n [_She throws the rope back; the second Norn winds\n it up and throws it again to the first._\n\nTHE FIRST NORN\n\n [_Fastening the rope again._\n\n The night wanes,\n Dark grows my vision;\n I cannot find\n The threads of the rope;\nThe strands are twisted and loose.\n A horrible sight\nWildly vexes mine eyes:\n Rhinegold\nThat black Alberich stole.\nKnowest thou more thereof?\n\nTHE SECOND NORN\n\n [_With laborious haste winds the rope round the\n jagged rock at the mouth of the cave._\n\n The rock's sharp edge\n Is cutting the rope;\n The threads loosen\n Their hold and grow slack;\nThey droop tangled and frayed.\n From woe and wrath\nRises the Nibelung's ring;\n A curse of revenge\nRuthlessly gnaws at the strands:--\nCanst thou the end foretell?\n\nTHE THIRD NORN\n\n [_Hastily catching the rope which is thrown to her._\n\n The rope is too short,\n Too loose it hangs;\n It must be stretched,\n Pulled straighter, before\nIts end can reach to the north!\n\n [_She pulls hard at the rope, which breaks._\n\n It breaks!\n\nTHE SECOND NORN\n\n It breaks!\n\nTHE FIRST NORN\n\n It breaks!\n\n [_They take the pieces of broken rope and bind\n their bodies together with them._\n\nTHE THREE NORNS\n\nSo ends wisdom eternal!\n The wise ones\n Will utter no more.\nDescend to Erda! Descend!\n\n [_They vanish. The dawn grows brighter; the\n firelight from the valley gradually fades. Sunrise;\n then broad daylight._\n\n _Siegfried and Br\u00fcnnhilde enter from the cave. He\n is fully armed; she leads her horse by the bridle._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Belov\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?\n\n[Illustration: The Norns vanish--See p. 108]\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nWonderful woman, more\nThy gifts than I can guard!\nO chide not if thy teaching\nHas left me still untaught.\n\n [_With fire._\n\nThat Br\u00fcnnhilde lives for me--\nTo that lore I hold fast;\nAnd one lesson I have learned--\nBr\u00fcnnhilde to remember!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nIf thou wouldst truly love me,\nThink of thyself alone,\nAnd of thy deeds of daring!\nThe raging fire remember\nThat fearless thou didst fare through\nWhen around the rock it burned--\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThat I might conquer Br\u00fcnnhild'!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nThink too of the shield-hidden maid\nThou didst find there lapped in slumber.\nAnd whose helmet hard thou didst break--\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nBr\u00fcnnhilde to awaken!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Those 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;\nBr\u00fcnnhilde in thy breast\nWill deeply burn then for aye!\n\n [_She embraces Siegfried._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nMust I leave thee, O love,\nIn thy holy fortress of fire,\n\n [_He has taken Alberich's ring from his finger, and\n holds it out to Br\u00fcnnhilde._\n\nThis ring of mine I give thee;\nLet it pay for thy runes.\nOf whatever deeds I did\nThe virtue lies therein.\nBy my hand was the dragon grim,\nWho long had guarded it, slain;\nKeep thou the gold and its might\nAs token true of my love!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Putting on the ring in rapturous delight._\n\nI covet it more than all else!\nFor 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\nGallantly now will he sweep!\n But if thou lead the way,\n Even through fire\nFearlessly 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\nIn Br\u00fcnnhilde's name!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThen every deed that I dare\nWill be achieved through thy virtue\nAll my battles thou wilt choose,\nAnd my victories will be thine.\nUpon thy good horse riding,\nAnd sheltered by thy shield,\nNo longer Siegfried am I,\nBut only Br\u00fcnnhilde's arm!\n\n[Illustration: Siegfried leaves Br\u00fcnnhilde in search of adventure See\np. 111]\n\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nO were but Br\u00fcnnhilde thy soul too!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThrough her my courage burns high.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nThen wert thou Siegfried and Br\u00fcnnhild'.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nWhere I am, there thy abode is.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_With animation._\n\nThen a waste is my hall of rock?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nMade one, both there abide.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Greatly moved._\n\n Ye Gods, O ye holy\n Race of immortals,\n Feast ye your eyes\n On this love-hallowed pair!\nApart--who shall divide us?\nDivided--still we are one!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Hail, O Br\u00fcnnhilde,\n Beautiful star!\nHail, love and its glory!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Hail, O Siegfried,\n Conquering light!\nHail, life and its glory!\nHail, conquering light!\n\nBOTH\n\nHail! Hail! Hail! Hail!\n\n [_Siegfried leads the horse quickly to the edge\n of the sloping rock, Br\u00fcnnhilde following him.\n Siegfried disappears with the horse down behind the\n projecting rock, so that he is no longer visible\n to the audience. Br\u00fcnnhilde is thus suddenly left\n standing alone on the edge of the slope, and gazes\n down into the valley after Siegfried. Her gestures\n show that Siegfried has vanished from her sight.\n Siegfried's horn is heard from below. Br\u00fcnnhilde\n listens, and steps further out on the slope. She\n catches sight of Siegfried in the valley again, and\n waves to him joyfully. Her happy smiles seem to\n reflect the air of the merrily departing hero._\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST ACT\n\n\n_The hall of the Gibichungs on the Rhine. This is quite open at the\nback. An open shore stretching to the river occupies the background.\nRocky heights enclose the shore. Gunther and Gutrune on a throne at one\nside, before which stands a table with drinking-vessels on it. In front\nof this Hagen is seated._\n\nGUNTHER\n\n Give ear, Hagen;\n Tell me the truth:\nIs my fame on the Rhine\nWorthy of Gibich's son?\n\nHAGEN\n\n I envy thee\n Thy fame and thy glory;\nThy great renown was foretold\nTo me by Grimhild' our mother.\n\nGUNTHER\n\n I envy thee,\n So envy not me.\nI, as first-born, rule,\nBut the wisdom is thine.\nHalf-brother's feud\nCould scarce be laid better;\nAsking thus of my renown,\n'Tis thy wisdom that I praise.\n\nHAGEN\n\n My words I withdraw,\n Thy fame might be more:\nI know of precious treasures\nThat the Gibichung has not yet won.\n\nGUNTHER\n\n Hide these, and I\n Withdraw my praise.\n\nHAGEN\n\nIn summer's full-ripened glory\nBlooms the Gibich stock,\nThou, Gunther, still unwived,\nThou, Gutrun', still unwed.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nWhom wouldst thou have me woo,\nTo win more wide renown?\n\nHAGEN\n\n One I know of,\n None nobler in the world.\nShe dwells on soaring rocks,\nHer chamber is circled by fire;\nAnd he who would Br\u00fcnnhild' woo\nMust break through the daunting flame.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nSuffices my strength for the task?\n\nHAGEN\n\nFor one stronger still it is decreed.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nWho is that hero unmatched?\n\nHAGEN\n\nSiegfried, the W\u00e4lsung's son;\nHe is the hero bold.\n A twin-born pair,\n Whom fate turned to lovers,\n Siegmund and Sieglinde,\nHad as their offspring this child.\nIn the woods he grew and waxed strong.\n'Tis he that Gutrun' must wed.\n\nGUTRUNE [_Shyly._\n\nTell me what deed of high valour\nMade this hero the first in renown.\n\nHAGEN\n\n At Neidh\u00f6hle\n A huge dragon lay,\nWho guarded the Nibelung's gold.\n He was slain,\n And his horrid jaws closed\nBy Siegfried's invincible sword.\nFrom this colossal deed\nThe fame of the hero dawned.\n\nGUNTHER [_Thoughtfully._\n\nThey say that a priceless treasure\nThe Niblungs had in their hoard.\n\nHAGEN\n\nThe man who could use its spell\nWere lord of the world evermore.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nAnd Siegfried won it in fight?\n\nHAGEN\n\nHe has the Niblungs in thrall.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nAnd Br\u00fcnnhild' no other can win?\n\nHAGEN\n\nTo no other will the flames yield.\n\nGUNTHER [_Rises angrily from his seat._\n\nWhy wake dissension and doubt?\nWhy stir up my desire\n And yearning for joys\n That cannot be won?\n\n [_He walks to and fro much agitated._\n\nHagen\n\n [_Without leaving his seat causes Gunther to pull\n up as he approaches him, by a gesture of mysterious\n import._\n\n Would not Br\u00fcnnhilde\n Be thy bride,\nWere she by Siegfried brought home?\n\nGUNTHER\n\n [_Turns away doubtful and angry._\n\nBut how could I force this man\nTo woo the bride for me?\n\nHagen [_As before._\n\nThy simple prayer would force him,\nGutrun' winning him first.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nThou mockest, cruel Hagen!\nWhat arts have I to bind him?\n The greatest hero\n In all the world\nHas long ere this by the fairest\nWomen on earth been loved.\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Bending confidentially towards Gutrune._\n\nWhat of the drink in the chest?\n\n [_More secretly._\n\nIn me who won it have more faith.\nTo thee in love it will bind\nHim whom thy heart most desires.\n\n [_Gunther has come to the table again, and, leaning\n against it, pays close attention._\n\nHither did Siegfried come,\nAnd taste of this potion of herbs,\nHe would straight forget he had looked\nOn any woman before,\nOr been by woman approached.\n Now answer:\nThink ye my counsel good?\n\nGUNTHER [_Starting up suddenly._\n\n Now Grimhild' be praised,\n Who for brother gave us thee.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nSiegfried fain I would behold!\n\nGUNTHER\n\nBut how can he be found?\n\n [_A horn on the stage, from the background on the\n left, very loud but distant._\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Listens and turns to Gunther._\n\n Merrily hunting\n After renown\n Across the world\n As through a wood,\nBelike in his chase he will come,\nTo the Gibich's realm on the Rhine.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nHeartily welcome were he.\n\n [_A horn on the stage, nearer, but still distant.\n Both listen._\n\nA horn from the Rhine I hear.\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Looks down the river and calls towards the back._\n\nA man and horse on board a boat!\nHis horn how gaily he winds!\n\n [_A horn on the stage sounds nearer. Gunther stops\n half-way listening._\n\n See the leisurely stroke,\n And the indolent arm\n Against the stream\n Urging the boat!\n So skilful a hand\n On the swinging oar\n Can be but his\n Who the dragon slew:--\nIt is Siegfried--surely no other!\n\nGUNTHER\n\n Will he go by?\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Making a trumpet of his hands, calls towards the\n river._\n\nHoiho! Blithe hero,\nWhither bound?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_From the distance._\n\nI seek the son of Gibich.\n\nHAGEN\n\nI bid thee welcome to Gunther's hall.\n\n [_Siegfried in a boat appears at the shore._\n\nThis way! Stop here and land!\n\n _Siegfried brings his boat to the shore. Hagen\n makes it fast with the chain. Siegfried springs\n ashore with his horse. Gunther has come down and\n joined Hagen._\n\nHAGEN\n\nHail, Siegfried, hero bold!\n\n [_Gutrune gazes at Siegfried from the throne\n in astonishment. Gunther prepares to offer him\n friendly greetings. All stand fixed in silent\n mutual contemplation._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Leaning on his horse, remains quietly standing by\n the boat._\n\nWho is Gibich's son?\n\nGUNTHER\n\nI am he thou dost seek.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Thy fame has reached me\n From the Rhine;\n Now fight with me,\n Or be my friend.\n\nGUNTHER\n\n Be thou mine;\n Thou art welcome!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Where stable my horse?\n\nHAGEN\n\n Leave him to me.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Turning to Hagen._\n\n My name thou knowest;\n Where have we met?\n\nHAGEN\n\n I guessed from thy strength\n Who thou must be.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_As he hands over the horse to Hagen._\n\n Be careful of Grane,\n For thou hast never\n Led by the rein\n So noble a steed.\n\n [_Hagen leads the horse away. While Siegfried looks\n thoughtfully after him, Gutrune, obeying a sign of\n Hagen's which Siegfried does not notice, goes to\n her room through a door on the left. Gunther comes\n into the hall with Siegfried, whom he has invited\n to accompany him._\n\nGUNTHER\n\nMy father's ancient hall,\nO hero, greet in gladness!\n All thou beholdest,\n Where'er thou art,\nTreat as thine own henceforward:\n Thine is my kingdom--\n Land and folk;\nBy my body I swear it!\nYea, myself I am thine.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nNor land nor folk have I to give,\nNor father's house nor hall;\n In my body\n Is all my wealth;\nAs I live it grows less.\n But a sword have I\n Which I welded;\nLet my sword be my witness!--\nThat and myself I bestow.\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Who has come back and now stands behind Siegfried._\n\nOf the Nibelungs' treasure\nRumour names thee the lord.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Turning round to Hagen._\n\nI almost forgot the hoard,\nSo lightly I prize its worth.\nI left it lying in a cavern,\nWhere a dragon once held watch.\n\nHAGEN\n\nAnd nothing took at all?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nOnly this, not knowing its use.\n\nHAGEN\n\nIt is the Tarnhelm,\nThe gem of the Nibelung's art;\nIts use, when worn on thy head,\nIs to change thy shape as thou wilt;\nIf fain to be borne afar,\nIn a flash lo! thou art there!\nDidst thou take nothing besides?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nYes, a ring.\n\nHAGEN\n\n Which safe thou dost hold?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Tenderly._\n\n'Tis held by a woman fair.\n\nHAGEN [_Aside._\n\n Br\u00fcnnhild'!\n\nGUNTHER\n\nNay, Siegfried, let us not barter;\nAll I have a bauble poor,\nMatched with thy treasure, would be.\nI will serve thee without reward.\n\n [_Hagen has gone to Gutrune's door, and now opens\n it._\n\nGUTRUNE\n\n [_Enters carrying a full drinking-horn, with which\n she approaches Siegfried._\n\n Welcome, O guest,\n To Gibich's house!\n'Tis his daughter gives thee to drink.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Bows in a friendly manner and takes the horn,\n which he holds thoughtfully before him._\n\n Were all forgot\n Thou gavest to me,\n One lesson\n I will never forget;\n So this first draught\n With love undying,\nBr\u00fcnnhild', I drink to thee!\n\n [_He puts the drinking-horn to his lips and takes\n a long draught; then he hands it back to Gutrune,\n who, ashamed and confused, casts down her eyes.\n Siegfried gazes at her with sudden passion._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n O thou who dost scorch\n And blind with thine eyes,\nWhy sink them abashed by my gaze?\n\n [_Gutrune, blushing, looks up at him._\n\n O lovely maid,\n Lower thine eyes;\n My heart is aflame,\n Burnt by their light;\nThey kindle my blood; it flows\nIn devouring torrents of fire.\n\n [_With a trembling voice._\n\nGunther, what name is thy sister's?\n\nGUNTHER\n\n Gutrune.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Softly._\n\n Can those be good runes\nThat in her eyes I am reading?\n\n [_He ardently seizes Gutrune's hand._\n\nWith thy brother I was fain to serve;\nHis pride my prayer scorned.\nWere I to pray the same of thee,\nWouldst thou like him be proud?\n\n [_Gutrune involuntarily meets Hagen's eye. She bows\n her head humbly, and, expressing her feeling of\n unworthiness with a gesture, leaves the hall with\n faltering steps._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Attentively watched by Hagen and Gunther, gazes\n after Gutrune as if entranced._\n\nGunther, hast thou a wife?\n\nGUNTHER\n\n I am not wed,\n Nor, it would seem,\nLikely to find a wife!\nMy heart on one I have set\nWhom there is no way to win.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Turns with animation to Gunther._\n\n In what canst thou fail\n With me for friend?\n\nGUNTHER\n\nOn rocky heights her home;\nSurrounded by fire her hall;\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Interrupting in wondering haste._\n\n\"On rocky heights her home;\nSurrounded by fire her hall\"...?\n\nGUNTHER\n\nHe only who braves the fire...\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_As if making an intense effort to remember\n something._\n\n\"He only who braves the fire\"...?\n\n\n[Illustration: Siegfried hands the drinking-horn back to Gutrune, and\ngazes at her with sudden passion--See p. 119]\n\n\nGUNTHER\n\nMay Br\u00fcnnhilde's wooer be.\n\n [_Siegfried shows by a gesture that at the mention\n of Br\u00fcnnhilde's name all remembrance of her has\n faded._\n\nI dare not essay the dread mountain;\nThe flames would not fall for me.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Awakes from his dreamy state, and turns to\n Gunther high-spirited and gay._\n\nFor thee I will win her,\nOf fire I have no fear;\n For thy man am I,\n And my strength is thine,\nIf Gutrun' I win as my wife.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nGutrune gladly I grant thee\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThou shalt have Br\u00fcnnhilde then.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nBut how wilt deceive her?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nI will wear the Tarnhelm\nAnd appear in thy form.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nThen let the oath now be sworn!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Blood-brotherhood\n Sworn be by oath!\n\n [_Hagen fills a drinking-horn with fresh wine; he\n holds it out to Siegfried and Gunther, who cut\n their arms with their swords and hold them for a\n short pace over the horn; then they each lay two\n fingers on the horn, which Hagen continues to hold\n between them._\n\nSIEGFRIED and GUNTHER\n\n Quickening blood\n Of blossoming life\nLo! I drop in the horn!\n Bravely mixed\n In brotherly love,\nBloom our blood in the draught!\nTroth I drink to the friend\n Glad and free\n To-day from the bond\nBlood-brotherhood spring!\nBut if broken the bond,\nOr if faithless the friend,\n What in drops to-day\n We drink kindly\nIn torrents wildly shall flow,\nPaying treachery's wage.\nSo--sealed be the bond!\nSo--pledged be my faith!\n\n [_Gunther drinks and hands the horn to Siegfried,\n who finishes the draught, and holds out the empty\n horn to Hagen. Hagen breaks the horn in two with\n his sword. Gunther and Siegfried join hands._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Observes Hagen, who, while the oat was being\n sworn, has stood behind him._\n\nWhy hast not thou plighted thy troth?\n\nHAGEN\n\nMy blood had soured the good draught.\n It flows not pure\n And noble like yours;\n Stubborn and cold,\n Slow it runs,\nMy cheek refusing to redden.\n I hold aloof\n From hot-blooded bonds.\n\nGUNTHER [_To Siegfried._\n\nHeed not him and his spleen.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Puts on his shield again._\n\n Up, then, and off!\n Back to the boat!\nSail swift to the mountain!\n\n [_He steps nearer to Gunther and points at him._\n\n By the bank one night\n On board thou shalt tarry,\nAnd then bring home the bride.\n\n [_He turns to go, and beckons Gunther to follow\n him._\n\nGUNTHER\n\nWilt thou not rest awhile?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nI am eager to be back.\n\n [_He goes to the shore to unmoor the boat._\n\nGUNTHER\n\nThou, Hagen, keep guard o'er the homestead.\n\n [_He follows Siegfried to the shore. Whilst\n Siegfried and Gunther, after laying their arms\n in the boat, are hoisting the sail and making\n ready for departure, Hagen takes up his spear and\n shield. Gutrune appears at the door of her chamber\n just as Siegfried is pushing off the boat, which\n immediately glides into the middle of the stream._\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nSo swiftly whither haste they?\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_While he seats himself comfortably with shield\n and spear in front of the hall._\n\nTo woo Br\u00fcnnhild' for bride.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nSiegfried?\n\nHagen\n\n See how he hastes,\nFor wife seeking to win thee!\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nSiegfried--mine?\n\n [_She returns to her room greatly excited.\n Siegfried has seized an oar and rows the boat\n down-stream, so that it is soon lost to view._\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Sits motionless, his back against the door-post\n of the hall._\n\n On guard here I sit\n Watching the house,\nWarding the hall from the foe:\n Gibich's son\n Is sped by the wind,\nAnd sails away for a wife;\n A hero bold\n Of the helm has charge,\nAnd danger braves for his sake;\n His bride once loved\n He brings to the Rhine;\nWith her he brings me--the ring.\n O merry comrades,\n Freeborn and honoured,\nGaily speed on in your pride!\n Base though ye deem him,\n The Niblung's son\nShall yet be your lord.\n\n [_A curtain which frames the front of the hall is\n drawn, and cuts the stage off from the audience._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n_The curtain is raised again. The rocky height as in the Prelude.\nBr\u00fcnnhilde sits at the entrance to the cave in silent contemplation of\nSiegfried's ring. Moved by blissful memories, she covers the ring with\nkisses. Distant thunder is heard; she looks up and listens. She turns\nto the ring again. A flash of lightning. Again she listens, and looks\ninto the distance, whence a dark thunder-cloud is approaching the rock._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nOn my ear from afar\nFalls an old sound familiar.\n A horse comes flying\n Swift through the air;\n On the clouds it sweeps\n In storm to the rock.\nWho seeks the lonely one here?\n\nWALTRAUTE'S voice [_From the distance._\n\n Br\u00fcnnhilde, sister,\n Wake if thou sleepest!\n\n[Illustration: Br\u00fcnnhilde kisses the ring that Siegfried has left with\nher See p. 124]\n\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Starts from her seat._\n\n Waltraute's call!\n How welcome the sound!\n\n [_Calling to the wing, and then hastening to the\n edge of the rock._\n\n Dost thou, sister,\n Boldly swinging come this way?\n In the wood--\n Still dear to thee--\n Halt and dismount,\nAnd leave thy courser to rest.\n\n [_She runs into the wood, from which a loud sound\n like a thunder-clap is heard. She returns in great\n agitation with Waltraute, and remains joyfully\n excited without noticing the latter's anxious fear._\n\n Art thou so bold\n That thou art come\n Br\u00fcnnhild' to greet,\nThy love unconquered by dread?\n\nWALTRAUTE\n\n Thou alone\n Art cause of my haste!\n\nWALTRAUTE\n\nFor Br\u00fcnnhild's sake War-father's ban\nHast thou thus bravely broken?\n Or perchance--O say!--\n\n [_With some hesitation._\n\n Has he at last\nSoftened to his child?\n When against the God\n I sought to shield Siegmund,\n Vainly--I know it--\nMy deed fulfilled his desire.\n And I know that his anger\n Was assuaged,\nFor albeit in slumber deep\nHere to the rock I was bound,\nDoomed to be thrall to the man\nWho should wake the maid as he passed,\n To my anguished prayer\n He granted grace;\n With ravening fire\n He surrounded the rock,\nTo bar to all cowards the road.\n Bane and chastisement\n Turned so to blessing;\n A hero unmatched\n Has won me as wife;\n Blest by his love,\nIn light and laughter I live.\n\n [_She embraces Waltraute with wild manifestations\n of joy, which the latter tries with anxious\n impatience to repress._\n\nHast thou been lured by my lot,\n And wouldst thou, sister,\n Feast on my gladness,\nSharing in my delight?\n\nWALTRAUTE [_Vehemently._\n\n Sharing the frenzy\nThat has maddened thee, fool!\nFar other the cause why I come,\nDefying Wotan in fear.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Here, for the first time, notices with surprise\n Waltraute's wildly excited state._\n\n Art afraid?\n Anguished with terror?\nSo the stern one does not forgive?\nThou fearest his punishing wrath?\n\nWALTRAUTE [_Gloomily._\n\n Might I but fear it,\nAt an end were my distress.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nI am perplexed and amazed.\n\nWALTRAUTE\n\n Calm thou thy frenzy;\nMark with care what I say!\n The fear that drove me\n Hither to thee\nDrives me back to Walhall again.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Alarmed._\n\nWhat ails, then, the Gods everlasting?\n\nWALTRAUTE\n\nGive earnest heed to what I tell thee!\nSince from thee Wotan parted,\n No more has he sent\n Us to battle;\n Anxious and bewildered\nWe rode to the field.\nShunned are Walhall's bold heroes\n By Warfather;\n Riding alone,\n Without pause or rest\nHe wandered and roamed through the world.\nAt last he returned\n With his spear splintered;\n In his hand the pieces;\nA hero had cleft it asunder.\n With silent sign\n Walhall's heroes\n Then he sent forth\nTo hew down the world-ash-tree.\n He bade them pile\n The logs as they hewed them,\n Until they were heaped\nHigh round the hall of the blest.\n The Gods he next\n Called to a council;\n The high seat\n He solemnly took,\n Bidding them\nWho gathered in fear sit beside him.\n The heroes filled\nThe hall, ranged round in their order.\n So sits he,\n Speaks no word,\n Upon his high seat\n Grave and mute,\n The splintered spear\n Held fast in his hand,\n Holda's apples\n Touching no more.\n Fear and amazement\nHold the Gods fast fettered.\n He has sent his ravens\n Forth to seek tidings;\n If they return\nAnd bring him comforting news,\n Then the God will\n With soul serene\nSmile evermore and be glad.\n Round his knees in sorrow\n Twined lie the Valkyries;\n He heeds not\n Our glances beseeching;\n By terror and wild anguish\nWe all are consumed.\n Against his breast\n Weeping I nestled,\n Then soft grew his gaze:\nHe remembered, Br\u00fcnnhilde, thee.\nHe closed his eyes\n As if dreaming,\n Heavily sighed\n And whispered these words:\n\"If to the deep Rhine's daughters\nShe would restore the ring that was theirs.\n From the grievous curse\nBoth God and world were freed!\"\n Then I took thought,\n And from his side\n Through the silent ranks\n Stole noiselessly forth.\n In haste, unseen,\n I mounted my horse,\nAnd stormed in tumult to thee.\n Grant, O sister,\n The boon I beg;\n What thou canst do,\n Undaunted perform!\nEnd thou the grief of the Gods!\n\n[Illustration: The ravens of Wotan--See p. 128]\n\n [_She has thrown herself down before Br\u00fcnnhilde._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Quietly._\n\nWhat dreadful dream-born fancies,\nSad one, are those thou dost tell?\n The high Gods' holy\n And cloud-paved heaven\nIs no longer my home.\nI grasp not what thou art saying;\n Dark its sense,\n Wild and confused.\n Within thine eyes,\n So over-weary,\nGleams wavering fire;\n With thy wan visage,\n O pale-faced sister,\nWhat wouldst thou, wild one, of me?\n\nWALTRAUTE [_Vehemently._\n\nThe ring upon thy hand--\n'Tis that: ah, be implored!\nFor Wotan fling it away!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nThe ring--away?\n\nWALTRAUTE\n\nTo the Rhine-daughters give it again.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nThe Rhine-daughters--I--the ring?\nSiegfried's love-pledge?\n Hast thou gone crazy?\n\nWALTRAUTE\n\nHear me! Hear my despair!\n On this hangs\nThe world's undoing and woe.\n Throw it from thee\n Into the water;\nEnd the anguish of Walhall;\nThe accurst thing cast in the waves!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nHa! dost thou know what 'twould mean\n How shouldst thou,\n Maid unloving and cold!\nMuch is Walhall's rapture,\nMuch is the fame of the Gods;\n More is my ring.\nOne glance at its shining gold,\nOne flash of its sacred fire\n Is more precious\n Than bliss of all the Gods\nEnduring for aye!\n For Siegfried's dear love\nShines from it bright and bless\u00e8d.\n Love of Siegfried!\nAh, could I but utter the rapture\nBound up in the ring!\n\n Go back to the holy\n Council of Gods;\n Repeat what I have told thee\n Of my ring:\nThat love I will not forswear,\nOf love they never shall rob me;\n Sooner shall Walhall's glory\nPerish and pass!\n\n\n[Illustration: \"The ring upon thy hand--\n ... ah, be implored!\n For Wotan fling it away!\"\n See p. 129]\n\n\nWALTRAUTE\n\n This is thy faith, then?\n To her sorrow\nThus coldly thou leavest thy sister?\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Up and away!\n Swiftly to horse!\nI will not part with the ring.\n\nWALTRAUTE\n\n Woe's me! Woe's me!\n Woe to thee, sister!\nWoe to Walhall's Gods!\n\n [_She rushes away. A storm-cloud immediately rises\n from the wood, accompanied by thunder._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_As she looks after the brightly lit, retreating\n thunder-cloud, which soon vanishes in the distance._\n\n Borne by the wind\n In storm and lightning,\n Haste away, cloud,\nAnd may I see thee no more!\n\n [_Twilight has fallen. The light of the fire\n gradually shines more brightly from below. She\n gazes quietly out on the landscape._\n\n Eventide shadows\n Dim the heavens,\n And more brightly\nThe flames that encircle me glow.\n\n [_The firelight approaches from below.\n Ever-brightening tongues of flame shoot up over the\n edge of the rock._\n\n Why leap so wildly\nThe billows that blaze round the rock?\n Up here to the peak\nSurges the fiery flood!\n\n [_Siegfried's horn is heard from the valley.\n Br\u00fcnnhilde starts up in delight._\n\n Siegfried?\n Siegfried returned?\nWith his horn greeting he sends!\nUp! Out to the welcome!\nSwift to my God's embrace!\n\n [_She hastens joyfully to the edge of the crag.\n Flames leap up, out of which Siegfried springs\n forward on to a high rock, whereupon the flames\n immediately withdraw and again only shine up\n from below. Br\u00fcnnhilde recoils in terror, flies\n to the foreground, and from there, in speechless\n astonishment, stares at Siegfried, who, wearing the\n Tarnhelm, which covers the upper half of his face,\n leaving only his eyes free, appears in Gunther's\n form._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nBetrayed! Who seeks me here?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Remaining on the rock at the back, motionless and\n leaning on his shield, regards Br\u00fcnnhilde. In a\n feigned (harsher) voice._\n\nBr\u00fcnnhild'! A wooer comes\nWhom thy fire did not dismay.\nI want thee for my wife;\nConsent to follow me!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Trembling violently._\n\n What man has done\n This deed undaunted\nThat the boldest only dares?\n\nSIEGFRIED [_As before._\n\nA hero who will tame\nThy pride by force at need.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n A monster stands\n Upon yonder stone;\n An eagle has come\n To rend me in pieces!\nWho art thou, frightful one?\n Art thou a mortal,\n Or dost thou hie\nFrom Hella's dark host?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_As before, beginning with a slightly tremulous\n voice, but continuing with more confidence._ #/\n\n A Gibichung am I,\nAnd Gunther is his name\nWhom thou must follow hence.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Breaking out in despair._\n\n Wotan! Thou cruel,\n Merciless God!\n Woe! Now I see\n How thine anger works!\n To scorn and sorrow\n I am condemned.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Springs down from the stone and approaches._\n\n Night falls apace;\n Within thy cave\nThou must receive thy husband.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Stretching out with a threatening gesture the\n finger on which she wears Siegfried's ring._\n\nStand back! Fear thou this token!\nWhile I am shielded by this,\nThou canst not force me to shame.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nWife it shall make thee to Gunther;\nWith this ring thou shalt be wed.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Stand back, base robber!\n Impious thief!\nNor dare, overbold, to draw near!\n Stronger than steel\n Made by the ring,\nI never will yield!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n That it must be mine\n I learn from thy lips.\n\n [_He presses towards her. There is a struggle.\n Br\u00fcnnhilde wrenches herself free, flies and turns\n round as if to defend herself. Siegfried seizes\n her again. She flies; he reaches her. They wrestle\n violently together. Siegfried catches her hand and\n draws the ring from her finger. She gives a loud\n scream. As she sinks helpless into his arms her\n unconscious look meets Siegfried's eyes. Siegfried\n lays her fainting on the stone bench at the\n entrance to the cave._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Now thou art mine!\nBr\u00fcnnhilde, Gunther's bride,\nLead me the way to thy cave!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Stares, as if fainting, before her; exhausted._\n\n O woman undone,\n Where now thy defence?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Drives her on with a gesture of command.\n Trembling and with tottering steps she goes into\n the cave._\n\nNow, Nothung, witness thou\nThat chastely I have wooed,\nAnd loyal been to my brother;\nLie betwixt me and his bride!\n\n [_He follows Br\u00fcnnhilde. The curtain falls. In his\n natural voice._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SECOND ACT\n\n\n _An open space on the shore in front of the\n Gibichungs' hall; to the right the open entrance to\n the hall, to the left the bank of the Rhine. From\n the latter, crossing the stage and mounting towards\n the back, rises a rocky height, cut by several\n mountain-paths. There an altar-stone to Fricka is\n visible, as well as one, higher up, to Wotan, and\n one at the side to Donner. It is night. Hagen, his\n arm round his spear and his shield by his side,\n fits against one of the pillars of the hall asleep.\n The moon shines out suddenly and throws a vivid\n light on Hagen and his immediate surroundings.\n Alberich is seen crouching in front of him, leaning\n his arms on Hagen's knees._\n\n\nALBERICH [_Softly._\n\nHagen, son, art asleep?\nBetrayed by drowsiness\nAnd rest thou dost not hear?\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Softly, without moving, so that he seems to sleep\n on although his eyes are open._\n\nI hear thee, O baleful Niblung;\nWhat wouldst thou tell me while I slumber?\n\nALBERICH\n\n Remember the might\n Thou art endowed with,\n If thou art valiant\nAs thy mother bore thee to me.\n\nHAGEN [_Still as before:_\n\nThough courage she bestowed,\nI have no cause to thank her\nFor falling under thy spell;\nSoon old, wan and pale,\n Hating the happy,\n Where is my joy?\n\nALBERICH [_As before._\n\n Hagen, my son,\n Hate thou the happy;\n This joyless and\n Sorrow-laden one,\nHim alone thou shalt love.\n Be thou strong\n And bold and wise!\n Those whom with weapons\n Of darkness we fight\nAlready our hate has dismayed.\nAnd he who captured my ring,\nWotan, the ravening robber,\n By one of his sons\n In fight has been vanquished;\n He has lost\nThrough the W\u00e4lsung power and might.\nWith the whole immortal race\nHe awaits in anguish his downfall.\nHim I fear no more:\nHe and all his must perish!\nHagen, son, art asleep?\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Remains motionless as before._\n\n The might of the Gods\n Who then shall wield?\n\nALBERICH\n\n I--and thou!\n The world we shall own,\n If in thy truth\n I rightly trust,\nSharest thou my hate and wrath.\n Wotan's spear\n Was splintered by Siegfried,\n The hero who won\n As booty the ring\nWhen Fafner, the dragon, he slew.\n Power supreme\n He has attained to;\n\n[Illustration: The wooing of Grimhilde, the mother of Hagen. See p. 135]\n\n [_Still mysteriously._\n\nWalhall and Nibelheim bow to his will.\n On this hero undaunted\n My curse falls in vain,\n For he knows not\n The ring's true worth,\n Nor makes use\n Of its wonderful spell;\nLaughing he burns life away,\nCaring only for love.\n Nothing can serve us\n But his undoing!\n\nSleepest, Hagen, my son?\n\nHAGEN [_As before._\n\n Already he speeds\n Through me to his doom.\n\nALBERICH\n\n The golden ring--\n'Tis that that we must capture!\n The W\u00e4lsung\nBy a wise woman is loved.\n If, urged by her,\n To the Rhine's fair daughters\n --Who bewitched me once\n Below in the waves--\nThe stolen ring he restored,\nForever lost were the gold,\nAnd no guile could win it again.\n Wherefore with ardour\n Aim for the ring.\n I gat thee\n A stranger to fear,\n That against heroes\n Thou mightst uphold me.\n I had not the strength,\n Indeed, to despatch,\nLike the W\u00e4lsung, Fafner in fight;\n But I reared Hagen\n To deadly hatred,\nAnd he shall avenge me--\n Shall win the ring,\nPutting W\u00e4lsung and Wotan to scorn!\nSwear to me, Hagen, my son!\n\n [_From this point Alberich is covered by an\n ever-deepening shadow. At the same time day begins\n to dawn._\n\nHAGEN [_Still as before._\n\n The ring shall be mine yet;\n Quietly wait!\n\nALBERICH\n\nSwear to me, Hagen, my son!\n\nHAGEN\n\n To myself swear I;\n Make thy mind easy!\n\nALBERICH\n\n [_Still gradually disappearing, and his voice, as\n he does so, becoming more and more inaudible._\n\nBe true, Hagen, my son!\nTrusty hero, be true!\n Be true!--True!\n\n [_Alberich has quite disappeared. Hagen, who has\n never changed position, looks with fixed eyes and\n without moving towards the Rhine, over which the\n light of dawn is spreading._\n\n\n[Illustration: \"Swear to me, Hagen, my son!\"--See p. 138]\n\n\n _The gradually brightening red of dawn is reflected\n in the Rhine. Siegfried steps out suddenly from\n behind a bush close to the shore. He appears in his\n own shape, but has the Tarnhelm on his head still;\n he takes this off and, as he comes forward, hangs\n it on his girdle._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Hoioh! Hagen!\n Weary man!\n Where is thy welcome?\n\nHAGEN [_Rising in a leisurely fashion._\n\n Hei! Siegfried?\n Swift-footed hero,\n Whence stormest thou now?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n From Br\u00fcnnhilde's rock.\n'Twas there that I drew the breath\nI called to thee with;\nA quick passage I made!\nSlower behind me a pair\nOn board a vessel come.\n\nHAGEN\n\n Hast thou won Br\u00fcnnhild'?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Wakes Gutrune?\n\nHAGEN [_Calling towards the hall._\n\n Hoiho! Gutrune!\n Haste and come!\n Siegfried is here.\n Why dost delay?\n\nSIEGFRIED _Turning to the hall._\n\n How Br\u00fcnnhild' yielded\n Ye shall both be told.\n\n [_Gutrune comes from the hall to meet him._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Give me fair greeting,\n Gibich's child!\nI come to thee with joyful news.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\n Freia greet thee\n To the honour of all women!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n To thy lover glad\n Be gracious;\nFor wife I have won thee to-day.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nComes then Br\u00fcnnhild' with my brother?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nNone ever wooed with more ease.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nWas he not scorched by the fire?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nIt had not burnt him, I trow;\nBut I broke through it instead,\nThat I for wife might win thee.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nAnd no harm didst thou take?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nI laughed 'mid the surge of the flames.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nDid Br\u00fcnnhild' think thee Gunther?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nLike were we to a hair;\nThe Tarnhelm saw to that,\nAs Hagen truly foretold.\n\nHAGEN\n\nI gave thee counsel good.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nAnd so the bold maid was tamed?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nHer pride--Gunther broke.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nDid she give herself to thee?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThrough the night the vanquished\n Br\u00fcnnhild'\nTo her rightful husband belonged.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nFor her husband thou didst pass?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nBy Gutrune sojourned Siegfried.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nBut 'twas Br\u00fcnnhild' lay beside thee.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Pointing to his sword._\n\nFar as north from east and west,\nSo far was Br\u00fcnnhild' removed.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nBut how got Gunther his wife from thee?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThrough the flames of the fire as they faded,\nWhen day dawned, through the mist\nShe followed me down the hill;\n When near the shore,\n None observing,\nI gave Gunther my place,\nAnd by the Tarnhelm's magic\nWished myself straight to thee.\nA strong wind drives the lovers\nMerrily down the Rhine;\nPrepare to greet them with joy.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nSiegfried! Such is thy might,\nI am afraid of thee!\n\nHAGEN [_Calling from the shore._\n\nI can see a sail in the distance.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nNow be the envoy thanked!\n\nGUTRUNE\n\nLet us give her gracious greeting,\nThat glad and gay she here may tarry!\n Thou, Hagen, prithee\n Summon the men\nTo the hall here for the wedding,\nWhile blithe maids\nTo the feast I bid;\nOur joy they will merrily share.\n\n [_As she goes towards the hall she turns round\n again._\n\nWilt thou rest, wicked man?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nHelping thee is rest enough.\n\n [_He gives her his hand and accompanies her into\n the hall._\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Has mounted a rock at the back, and starts\n blowing his cow-horn._\n\nHoiho! Hoiho! Hoho!\n Ye Gibich vassals,\n Up and prepare!\n Woeful tidings!\n Weapons! Weapons!\n Arm through the land!\n Goodly weapons,\n Mighty weapons\n Sharp for strife!\n Dire the strait!\nWoe! Danger! Danger!\nHoiho! Hoiho! Hoho!\n\n [_Hagen remains where he is on the rock. Armed men\n arrive in haste by different paths; first singly,\n and then in larger and larger groups._\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n Why sounds the horn?\n Who calls us to arms?\n We come with our arms?\n We come with our weapons.\n Hagen! Hagen!\n Hoiho! Hoiho!\n Who hath suffered scathe?\n Say, what foe is nigh?\n Who forces war?\n Is Gunther sore pressed?\n We come with our weapons,\n With weapons keen!\n Hoiho! Ho! Hagen!\n\nHAGEN [_Still from the rock._\n\n Come fully armed\n Without delay!\nWelcome Gunther, your lord:\nA wife Gunther has wooed.\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n Is he in straits,\n Pressed by the foe?\n\nHAGEN\n\n A woman hard won\n With him he brings.\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n Her kinsmen and vassals\n Follow for vengeance?\n\nHAGEN\n\n No one follows\n But his bride.\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n Then the peril is past,\n And the foe put to flight?\n\nHAGEN\n\n The dragon-slayer\n Helped him at need;\n Siegfried, the hero,\n Kept him from harm.\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\nHow then can his vassals avail him?\nAnd why hast call\u00e8d us here?\n\nHAGEN\n\n Sturdy oxen\n Ye shall slaughter;\n On Wotan's altar\n Their blood be shed!\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\nAnd after that, Hagen? Say, what next?\n\nHAGEN\n\n After that for Froh\n A boar ye shall fell,\n And a full-grown and strong\n He-goat for Donner;\n But for Fricka\n Sheep ye shall slaughter,\nThat she may smile on the marriage!\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n\n[_With increasing cheerfulness._\n\n What shall we do\n When the beasts we have slain?\n\nHAGEN\n\n The drink-horn take\n That women sweet\n With wine and mead\n Blithely have filled.\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n The drink-horn in hand,\n What task awaits us still?\n\nHAGEN\n\n Gaily carouse\n Until tamed by wine:\nDrink, that the Gods, duly honoured,\nGrace may accord to this marriage.\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n [_Burst into ringing laughter._\n\n Good luck and joy\n Laugh on the Rhine,\n If Hagen, the grim one,\n So merrily jests!\n To wedding-feasts\n Hagen invites;\n His prick the hedge-thorn,\n Hagen, has lost!\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Who has remained very grave, has come down to the\n men, and now stands among them._\n\n Now cease from laughing,\n Doughty vassals!\nReceive Gunther's bride;\nYonder come Br\u00fcnnhild' and he.\n\n [_He points towards the Rhine. Some of the men\n hurry to the height; others range themselves on the\n shore to watch the arrival. Hagen goes up to some\n of the men._\n\n Be to your lady\n Loyal and true;\n Suffers she wrong,\n Swiftly avenge her!\n\n [_He turns slowly aside and moves towards the back.\n The boat arrives with Gunther and Br\u00fcnnhilde. Those\n who have been looking out from the height come down\n to the shore. Some vassals spring into the water\n and pull the boat to land. All press closer to the\n bank._\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n Hail! Hail! Hail!\n Be greeted! Be greeted!\n Welcome, O Gunther!\n Hail! Hail! Hail!\n\n _Gunther steps out of the boat with Br\u00fcnnhilde._\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n [_Range themselves respectfully to receive them._\n\n Welcome, Gunther!\nHealth to thee and to thy bride!\n\n [_They strike their weapons loudly together._\n\nGUNTHER\n\n [_Presenting Br\u00fcnnhilde, who follows him with pale\n face and lowered eyes, to the men._\n\nBr\u00fcnnhild', a peerless bride,\nHere to the Rhine I bring.\n No man ever won\n A nobler woman!\nThe Gods have shown from of old\nGrace to the Gibichung stock.\n To fame unmatched\n Now may it mount!\n\nTHE VASSALS [_Solemnly clash their weapons._\n\nHail! O hail, happy Gibichung!\n\nGUNTHER\n\n [_Leads Br\u00fcnnhilde, who never raises her eyes,\n to the hall, from which Siegfried and Gutrune,\n attended by women, now come forth. Gunther stops\n before the hall._\n\nDear hero, greetings glad!\nI greet thee, fair sister!\nBy him who won thee for wife\nI joyfully see thee stand.\n Two happy pairs\n Here radiant are shining:\n\n [_He draws Br\u00fcnnhilde forward._\n\nBr\u00fcnnhild'--and Gunther,\nGutrun'--and Siegfried.\n\n [_Br\u00fcnnhilde, startled, looks up and sees\n Siegfried. Her eyes remain fixed on him in\n amazement. Gunther, who has released her violently\n trembling hand, shows, as do all present, blank\n astonishment at her behaviour._\n\nTHE VASSALS and WOMEN\n\n What ails her?\n Has she gone mad?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Goes a few steps towards Br\u00fcnnhilde, who has\n begun to tremble._\n\nWhy looks Br\u00fcnnhild' amazed?\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Scarcely able to control herself._\n\nSiegfried ... here? Gutrune....\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nGunther's gentle sister,\n Wed to me\n As thou to him.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_With fearful vehemence._\n\nI? Gunther? 'Tis false.\n\n [_She sways and seems about to fall. Siegfried\n supports her._\n\nLight fades from mine eyes. ..\n\n [_In Siegfried's arms, looking faintly up at him._\n\nSiegfried ... knows me not?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nGunther, see, thy wife is swooning!\n\n [_Gunther comes to them._\n\n Wake, Br\u00fcnnhild', wake!\n Here stands thy husband.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Perceives the ring on Siegfried's outstretched\n finger, and starts up with terrible vehemence._\n\n Ha! The ring\n Upon his hand!\n He ... Siegfried?\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\nWhat's wrong?\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Coming among the vassals from behind._\n\n Now pay good heed\n To the woman's tale.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Mastering her terrible excitement, tries to\n control herself._\n\n On thy hand there\n I beheld a ring.\n 'Twas wrested from me\n By this man here;\n\n [_Pointing to Gunther._\n\n 'Tis not thine.\n How earnest thou by\n The ring thou hast on?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Attentively regarding the ring on his finger._\n\n'Twas not from him\nI got the ring.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_To Gunther._\n\nThou who didst seize the ring\nWith which I wedded thee,\nDeclare to him thy right,\nMake him yield up the pledge!\n\n\nGUNTHER [_In great perplexity._\n\nThe ring? No ring I gave him,\nThough thou dost know it well.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nWhere hast thou hid the ring\nThat thou didst capture from me?\n\n [_Gunther, greatly confused, does not answer._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Breaking out furiously._\n\nHa! He it was\nWho despoiled me of the ring--\nSiegfried, the treacherous thief!\n\n [_All look expectantly at Siegfried, who seems to\n be lost in far-off thoughts as he contemplates the\n ring._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n No woman gave\n The ring to me,\n Nor did I wrest it\n From a woman's grasp.\n This ring, I know,\n Was the booty won\nWhen at Neidh\u00f6hl' boldly I fought,\nAnd the mighty dragon was slain.\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Stepping between them._\n\nBr\u00fcnnhild', dauntless queen,\nKnowest thou this ring well?\nIf it was by Gunther won,\n Then it is his,\nAnd Siegfried has got it by guile.\nFor his guilt must the traitor pay.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Shrieking in terrible anguish._\n\n Betrayed! Betrayed!\n Shamefully betrayed!\n Deceived! Deceived!\n Wrong too deep for revenge!\n\nGUTRUNE\n\n A wrong? To whom?\n\nVASSALS and WOMEN\n\n Deceit? To whom?\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Holy Gods!\n Ye heavenly rulers!\n Whispered ye this\n In councils dark?\n If I must bear\n More than ever was borne,\n Bowed by a shame\n None ever endured,\n Teach me such vengeance\n As never was raved!\n Kindle such wrath\n As can never be calmed!\n Order Br\u00fcnnhild's\n Poor heart to be broken,\n Bring ye but doom\n On him who betrayed!\n\nGUNTHER\n\n Br\u00fcnnhild', dear wife,\n Control thyself!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Away, betrayer!\n Self-betrayed one!\n All of you, hearken!\n Not he,\n But that man there,\n Won me to wife.\n\nVASSALS and WOMEN\n\nSiegfried? Gutrune's lord?\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n He forced delight\n And love from me.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Dost thou so lightly\n Hold thine honour,\nThe tongue that thus defames it\nI must convict of its falsehood.\nHear whether faith I broke!\n Blood-brotherhood\nI have sworn unto Gunther;\nNothung, my trusty sword,\nGuarded the sacred vow;\n'Twixt me and this sad woman distraught\nIts blade lay sharp.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Behold how thou liest,\n Crafty man,\n Vainly as witness\n Citing thy sword!\n Full well I know its keenness,\n And also the scabbard\n Wherein so snugly\n Hung on the wall\nNothung, the faithful friend,\nWhen its lord won the woman he loved.\n\nVASSALS and WOMEN\n\n [_Crowd together in violent indignation._\n\nWhat! Siegfried a traitor?\nHas he stained Gunther's honour?\n\nGUNTHER [_To Siegfried._\n\n Disgraced were I\n And sullied my name,\n Were not the slander\n Cast in her teeth!\n\nGRUTUNE\n\n Siegfried faithless?\n False to his vow?\n Ah, prove thou that worthless\n Is her word!\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n Clear thyself straight;\n If thou art wronged\n Silence the slander;\n Sworn be the oath!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n If I must swear,\n The slander to still,\n Which of you offers\n His sword for the oath?\n\nHAGEN\n\nSwear the oath upon\n The point of my spear;\nBad faith 'twill surely avenge.\n\n [_The vassals form a ring round Siegfried and\n Hagen. Hagen holds out the spear; Siegfried lays\n two fingers of his right hand upon the point._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Shining steel!\n Weapon most holy,\nWitness my oath sworn for ever!\n On this spear's sharp point\n I solemnly swear;\nSpear-point, mark thou my words!\n If weapon must pierce me,\n Thine be the point!\n When by death I am stricken\n Strike thou the blow,\nIf what she tells is true,\nAnd I broke faith with my friend!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Strides furiously into the ring, tears\n Siegfried's hand from the spear, and grasps the\n point with her own._\n\n Shining steel!\n Weapon most holy,\nWitness my oath sworn for ever!\n On this spear's sharp point\n I solemnly swear!\nSpear-point, mark thou my words!\n Devoted be thy might\n To his undoing!\n Be thy sharpness blessed by me,\n That it may slay him!\nFor broken his oaths have been all,\nAnd false is what he has sworn.\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\n Help, Donner!\n Roar with thy thunder\nTo silence this terrible shame!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nGunther, look to this woman\nWho falsely slanders thy name.\nLet her rest awhile,\nThe untamed mountain maid,\nThat the unbridled rage some demon\n In malice has\n Against us roused\nMay have the chance to subside.\nYe vassals, go ye your ways;\nLet the womenfolk scold.\nLike cravens gladly we yield,\nComes it to fighting with tongues.\n\n [_He goes up to Gunther._\n\nThou art not so vexed as I\nThat I beguiled her ill;\nThe Tarnhelm must, I fear,\nBut half have hid my face.\n Still, women's wrath\n Soon is appeased:\nThat I won her for thee\nThankful thy wife will be yet.\n\n [_He turns again to the vassals._\n\nFollow me, men,\nWith mirth to the feast!\n\n [_To the women._\n\n Gaily, women,\n Help at the wedding!\n Joyfully laugh\n Love and delight!\n In hall and grove\n There shall be none\nThis day more merry than I!\n Ye whom love has blessed,\n Like myself light-hearted,\nFollow and share in my mirth!\n\n [_He throws his arm in the highest spirits round\n Gutrune and draws her into the hall. The vassals\n and women follow, carried away by his example. All\n go off, except Br\u00fcnnhilde, Gunther, and Hagen.\n Gunther, in deep shame and dejection, with his\n face covered, has seated himself on one side.\n Br\u00fcnnhilde, standing in the foreground, gazes for\n some time sorrowfully after Siegfried and Gutrune,\n then droops her head._\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Lost in thought._\n\n What dread demon's might\n Moves here in darkness?\n By what wizard's spell\n Worked was the woe?\n How weak is my wisdom\n Faced by this puzzle!\n And where shall I find\n The runes for this riddle?\n Oh, sorrow! Sorrow!\n Woe's me! Woe's me!\n I gave all my wisdom to him;\n\n [_With increasing emotion._\n\n The maid in his power\n He holds.\n Fast in his fetters\n Bound is the booty\nThat, weeping her grievous shame,\nGaily to others he gives!\nWill none of you lend a sword\nWith which I may sever my bonds?\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Going close to Br\u00fcnnhilde._\n\n Leave that to me,\n O wife betrayed;\n I will avenge\n Thy trust deceived.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Looking round dully._\n\n On whom?\n\nHAGEN\n\nOn Siegfried, traitor to thee.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n On Siegfried? Thou?\n\n [_Smiling bitterly._\n\n One single flash\n Of his eye and its lightning--\nWhich streamed in its glory on me\nEven through his disguise--\n And thy heart would fail,\n Shorn of its courage.\n\nHAGEN\n\n But to my spear\n His perjury gives him.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Truth and falsehood--\n What matter words!\n To arm thy spear\n Seek for something stronger,\nStrength such as his to withstand!\n\nHAGEN\n\n Well know I Siegfried's\n Conquering strength:\nHow hard in battle to slay him;\n But whisper to me\n Some sure device\nFor speeding him to his doom.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nUngrateful, shameful return!\n I taught him all\n The arts I know,\nTo preserve his body from harm.\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n\"O wife betrayed,\n I will avenge\n Thy trust deceived\"\n See p. 154\n]\n\n\n He bears unwitting\n A charm\u00e8d life\nAnd safely walks by spells enwound.\n\nHAGEN\n\nThen no weapon forged could wound him?\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nIn battle none;--yet--\nDid the blow strike his back!\n Never--I knew that--\n Would he give way,\nOr turn and fly, the foe pursuing,\nSo there I gave him no blessing.\n\nHAGEN\n\nAnd there shall my spear strike!\n\n [_He turns quickly from Br\u00fcnnhilde to Gunther._\n\n Up, Gunther,\n Noble Gibichung!\nHere stands thy valiant wife.\nWhy hang thy head in grief?\n\nGUNTHER\n\n [_Starting up passionately._\n\n O shame!\n Dishonour!\n Woe is me!\nNo man has known such sorrow!\n\nHAGEN\n\n In shame thou liest--\n That is true.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_To Gunther._\n\n O craven man!\n Falsest of friends!\n Hidden behind\n The hero wert thou\n While won were for thee\n The prize and the glory.\n Low indeed\n The race must have sunk\nThat breeds such cowards as thou!\n\nGUNTHER [_Beside himself._\n\nDeceived am I--and deceiver!\nBetrayed am I--and betrayer!\nMy strength be consumed,\nAnd broken my heart!\n Help, Hagen!\n Help for my honour!\n Help, for my mother was thine--\nThee too she bore!\n\nHAGEN\n\n No help from head\n Or hand will suffice:\n'Tis Siegfried's death we need.\n\nGUNTHER [_Seized with horror._\n\nSiegfried's death?\n\nHAGEN\n\nUnpurged else were thy shame.\n\nGUNTHER [_Staring before him._\n\n Blood-brotherhood\n He and I swore.\n\nHAGEN\n\n Who broke the bond\n Pays with his blood.\n\nGUNTHER\n\n Broke he the bond?\n\nHAGEN\n\n In betraying thee.\n\nGUNTHER\n\n Was I betrayed?\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n He betrayed thee,\nAnd me ye all are betraying!\n If I were just,\n All the blood of the world\nWould not atone for your guilt!\n But the death of one\n Is all I ask for.\n Dying, Siegfried\nAtones for himself and you!\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Turning to Gunther and speaking to him secretly._\n\nHis death would profit thee;\nBoundless were indeed thy might\nIf thou couldst capture the ring,\nWhich, alive, he never will yield.\n\nGUNTHER [_Softly._\n\n Br\u00fcnnhilde's ring?\n\nHAGEN\n\n The ring the Niblung wrought.\n\nGUNTHER [_Sighing deeply._\n\n'Twould be the end of Siegfried.\n\nHAGEN\n\nHis death would serve us all.\n\nGUNTHER\n\n But Gutrun', to whom\n He has been given!\nHow could we look in her face\nIf her husband we had slain?\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE [_Starting up furiously._\n\n What wisdom forewarned of,\n And runes hinted darkly,\n In helpless despair\n Is plain to me now.\n\n [_Passionately._\n\nGutrune is the spell\nThat stole my husband's heart away!\n Woe be her lot!\n\nHAGEN [_To Gunther._\n\nIf this grief we must give her,\nConceal how Siegfried died.\n We go to-morrow\n Merrily hunting;\nThe hero gallops ahead;\nWe find him slain by a boar.\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE and HAGEN\n\n So shall it be!\n Perish Siegfried!\n Purged be the shame\n He brought on me!\n Faith sworn by oath\n He has broken;\n Now with his blood\n Let him atone!\n Avenging,\n All-hearing God!\n Oath-witness,\n And lord of vows!\nWotan, come at my call!\n Send thou thine awful\n Heavenly host\n Hither to hear\n While I vow revenge!\n\nHAGEN\n\n Doomed let him die,\n The hero renowned!\n Mine is the hoard,\n And mine I shall hold it!\n From him the ring\n Shall be wrested!\n\n Niblung father!\n O fallen prince!\n Night warder!\n Nibelung lord!\nAlberich! Hear thou thy son!\n Ruling again\n O'er the Nibelung host,\n Bid them obey thee,\n The ring's dread lord!\n\n [_As Gunther turns impetuously towards the hall\n with Br\u00fcnnhilde they are met by the bridal\n procession coming out. Boys and girls, waving\n flower-wreathed staves, leap merrily in front.\n The vassals are carrying Siegfried on a shield\n and Gutrune on a seat. On the rising ground\n at the back men-servants and maids are taking\n implements and beasts for sacrifice, by the\n various mountain-paths, to the altars, which they\n deck with flowers. Siegfried and the vassals blow\n wedding-calls on their horns. The women invite\n Br\u00fcnnhilde to accompany them to Gutrune's side.\n Br\u00fcnnhilde stares blankly at Gutrune, who beckons\n her with a friendly smile. As Br\u00fcnnhilde is about\n to step back angrily Hagen comes quickly between\n them and presses her towards Gunther, who takes\n her hand again, whereupon he allows himself to be\n raised on a shield by the men. As the procession,\n scarcely interrupted, moves on quickly again\n towards the height, the curtain falls._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE THIRD ACT\n\n\n _A wild wooded and rocky valley on the Rhine,\n which flows past a steep cliff in the background.\n The three Rhine-Maidens, Woglinde, Wellgunde, and\n Flosshilde, rise to the surface and swim and circle\n as if dancing._\n\n\nTHE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS\n\n [_Swimming slower._\n\n The sun\nSends hither rays of glory;\nIn the depths is darkness.\n Once there was light,\n When clear and fair\nOur father's gold shone on the billows.\n Rhinegold!\n Gleaming gold!\nHow bright was once thy radiance,\nLovely star of the waters!\n\n [_They sing and again start swimming and circling\n about. They pause and listen, then merrily splash\n the waters._\n\n O sun,\nThe hero quickly send us\nWho again our gold shall give us!\n If it were ours,\n We should no longer\nEnvy thine eye for its splendour.\n Rhinegold!\n Gleaming gold!\nHow glad was thy radiance,\nGlorious star of the waters!\n\n [_A horn is heard._\n\n\nWOGLINDE\n\nHark! That is his horn!\n\nWELLGUNDE\n\n The hero comes.\n\nFLOSSHILDE\n\n Let us take counsel.\n\n [_They all dive down quickly._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Appears on the cliff fully armed._\n\nSome elf has led me astray\nAnd lured my feet from the path.\nHey, rogue! Behind what hill\nHast suddenly hidden my game?\n\nTHE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS\n\n [_Rise to the surface again and swim and circle as\n in a dance._\n\nSiegfried!\n\nFLOSSHILDE\n\nWhat art thou scolding about?\n\nWELLGUNDE\n\nWith what elf art thou so wroth?\n\nWOGLINDE\n\nHast thou been tricked by some sprite?\n\nALL THREE\n\nTell us, Siegfried; let us hear!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Regarding them with a smile._\n\n Have 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\n [_The maidens laugh._\n\nWOGLINDE\n\nWhat would our guerdon be,\nSiegfried, if we restored him?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n I have caught nothing yet,\nSo ask of me what you will.\n\nWELLGUNDE\n\n A golden ring\n Gleams on thy finger.\n\nTHE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS\n\n Wilt grant it?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n From a dragon grim\nI won the ring in fight;\nAnd think ye for a worthless bear-skin\nI would exchange the gold?\n\nWOGLINDE\n\n Art thou so mean?\n\nWELLGUNDE\n\n In bargains so hard?\n\nFLOSSHILDE\n\n Free-handed\nThou with women shouldst be.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nOn you did I waste my goods,\nMy wife would have cause to scold.\n\nFLOSSHILDE\n\n Is she a shrew?\n\nWELLGUNDE\n\n And beats thee sore?\n\nWOGLINDE\n\nHas the hero felt her hand?\n\n [_They laugh immoderately._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThough gaily ye may laugh,\nIn grief ye shall be left,\nFor, mocking maids, this ring\nYe ask shall never be yours.\n\n [_The Rhine-Maidens have again joined hands for\n dancing._\n\n\nFLOSSHILDE\n\n So fair!\n\nWELLGUNDE\n\n So strong!\n\nWOGLINDE\n\n So worthy love!\n\nTHE THREE\n\nHow sad he should a miser be!\n\n [_They laugh and dive down._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Comes down nearer to the river._\n\n Why should I stand\n Their taunts and blame?\nWhy endure their scorn?\n Did they return\n\n\n[Illustration: \"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 --See p. 162]\n\n\n To the bank again,\nThe ring gladly I'd give them.\n\n [_Calling loudly._\n\n Hey, hey! ye merry\n Water-maidens,\nCome back; the ring shall be yours.\n\n [_He holds up the ring, which he has taken from his\n finger._\n\nTHE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS\n\n [_Rise to the surface again. They appear grave and\n solemn._\n\n Nay, hero, keep\n And ward it well,\nUntil the harm thou hast felt\nThat in the ring lies hid.\nThen wouldst thou fain\nBe freed by us from its curse.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Calmly puts the ring on his finger again._\n\nSing something that ye know!\n\nTHE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS\n\nSiegfried! Siegfried! Siegfried!\nDark 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,\nWilt thou not give to the Rhine\nThe ring to hide in its waters.\n Its waves alone\n Can loose the curse.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Enough, O ye women\n Full of wiles!\nWas I firm when ye flattered,\nI am firmer now when ye threaten!\n\nTHE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS\n\n Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Our warning is true:\nFlee, 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!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\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,\nNothung will cleave it asunder.\n A dragon once warned me\n Of this dread curse,\nBut he could not teach me to fear.\n\n [_He contemplates the ring._\n\n The world's wealth\n Has bestowed on me a ring.\n For the grace of love\n Had it been yours,\nAnd still for love might it be got,\nBut by threats to my life and my limbs--\n Had it not even\n A finger's worth--\nThe ring ye never shall gain.\n My limbs and my life--\n\n\n[Illustration: \"Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Our warning is true:\n Flee, oh, flee from the curse!\"\n --See p. 164]\n\n\n Look!--thus\nFreely I fling away!\n\n [_He lifts a clod of earth from the ground, holds\n it over his head, and with the last words throws it\n behind him._\n\nTHE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS\n\n Come, sisters!\n Fly from the madman!\n Though dauntless and wise\n He seems to himself,\nHe is blind and in fetters bound fast.\n\n [_Wildly excited, they swim in wide circles close\n to the shore._\n\n Oaths he swore,\n And was false to his word;\n\n [_Moving quickly again._\n\n Runes he knows\n That he cannot rede.\n A glorious gift\n Fell to his lot;\n He flung it from him\n Unawares;\nAnd the ring that deals doom and death\nAlone he will not surrender!\n\n Farewell, Siegfried!\n A woman proud\nEre night falls thy wealth shall inherit.\nOur cry by her will be heard.\nTo her! To her! To her!\n\n [_They turn quickly to their dance, and gradually\n swim away to the back singing._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Looks after them smiling, one foot on a piece of\n rock and his chin resting on his hand._\n\nAlike on land and water\nI have studied women's ways:\nStill those who mistrust their smiles\nThey seek with threats to frighten,\nAnd, are their threats despised,\nAt once they begin to scold.\n And yet--\nHeld I not Gutrun' dear,\nOf these alluring maidens\nOne had surely been mine.\n\n [_He looks calmly after the Rhine-Maidens, who have\n disappeared, and whose voices gradually die away.\n Horn-calls are then heard. Siegfried starts from a\n reverie and sounds his horn in answer._\n\nHAGEN'S VOICE [_Far off._\n\n Hoiho!\n\nVASSALS' VOICES\n\nHoiho! Hoiho! Hoiho!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Having first answered the call with his horn._\n\n Hoiho! Hoihe!\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Appears on the height, followed by Gunther. He\n sees Siegfried._\n\n So we have found thee\n Where thou wert hidden!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nCome down all! Here 'tis fresh and cool.\n\n [_The vassals now appear on the height, and come\n down with Hagen and Gunther._\n\nHAGEN\n\nHere let us rest\nAnd see to the meal.\n\n [_They lay the game in a heap._\n\n Lay down the booty\n And hand round the wine-skins.\n\n [_Wine-skins and drinking-horns are produced. All\n lie down._\n\nHAGEN\n\nNow be the wonders told us\nOf Siegfried and his hunting\nThat chased the game from us.\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nNo meal at all is mine;\n I beg of you\n To share with me your spoil.\n\nHAGEN\n\n No luck at all?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nI sought for forest-game,\nBut water-fowl only I found;\nFurnished with the right equipment,\nA brood of three wild water-birds\nI had caught and brought you.\nDown there on the Rhine they told me\nThat slain to-day I should fall.\n\n [_Gunther starts and looks darkly at Hagen.\n Siegfried lies down between Gunther and Hagen._\n\nHAGEN\n\nA sorry chase were that\nIf the luckless hunter fell\nA victim to the quarry!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\nThirst plagues me!\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Whilst he orders a drinking-horn to be filled for\n Siegfried, and hands it to him._\n\n\nIt has been rumoured, Siegfried, That thou canst tell the meaning Of\nwhat the birds sing: Does rumour speak true?\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n\nI have not listened For long to their song.\n\n\n [_He takes the drinking-horn and turns with it to\n Gunther, to whom he offers it after he has drunk\n from it._\n\n\nDrink, Gunther, drink! Thy brother hands the draught!\n\n\nGUNTHER\n\n [_ Looks into the horn with horror. Moodily._\n\nA pale draught thou hast poured!\n\n [_More gloomily._\n\nThy blood alone is there.\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Laughing._\n\nWith thine, then, be it mingled!\n\n [_He pours from Gunther's horn into his own so that\n it runs over._\n\n\nThus mixed the wine flows over To Mother Earth May it prove a cordial\nkind!\n\n\nGUNTHER [_With a deep sigh._\n\nThou over-joyous man!\n\nSIEGFRIED [_Low, to Hagen._\n\nHis cheer Br\u00fcnnhild' has marred.\n\nHAGEN [_Low, to Siegfried._\n\n\nShe speaks less plain to him Than speak the birds to thee!\n\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n\nSince I have heard women singing. The birds I have clean forgot.\n\n\nHAGEN\n\nBut thou didst hear them once?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Turning with animation to Gunther._\n\n Hei! Gunther!\n Moody-faced man!\n Come, I will tell thee\n Tales of my boyhood,\nIf thou wouldst care to hear them.\n\nGUNTHER\n\n'Twould please me much.\n\n [_All lie down close to Siegfried, who alone fits\n upright._\n\nHAGEN\n\nSing, hero, sing!\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Mime was\n A surly old dwarf\n Who because of greed\n Reared me with care,\n That when the child\u00b5\n Grew sturdy and bold\nHe might slay a dragon grim\nThat guarded treasure in the wood.\n He 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--\nOut of the splinters of a weapon\nFashioned 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.\nThe wood then we sought, and there\nThe dragon Fafner I slew.\n\n Listen and heed\n Well to my tale;\nI have marvels to tell you.\n From the dragon's blood\n My fingers were burning,\nAnd these I raised to my lips;\n And barely touched\n Was the blood by my tongue,\nWhen what a bird was saying\nAbove me I could hear.\nOn 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!\nTarnhelm, if he could but win it,\nWould help him to deeds of renown;\nAnd could he discover the ring,\nIt would make him the lord of the world!\"\n\nHAGEN\n\nDidst thou take\nThe Tarnhelm and ring?\n\nA VASSAL\n\nWas that the end of the singing?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Having taken\n Tarnhelm and ring,\n Once more I listened\n And heard the sweet warbler;\nHe sat above me and sang:--\n \"Hei! Siegfried now owns\n Both the helm and the ring!\n Oh! let him not listen\n To Mime, the false,\nFor Mime, too, covets the treasure,\nAnd cunningly watches and spies!\nHe is bent on murdering Siegfried;\nBe Siegfried wary of Mime!\"\n\nHAGEN\n\n'Twas well that he warned?\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\nGot Mime due payment?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n A deadly-brewed draught\n He brought me to drink;\n But, fear-stricken,\n His tongue stammered truly:\nNothung stretched him out dead!\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_With a strident laugh._\n\nThe steel that he forged not\nMime soon tasted!\n\n [_He has another drinking-horn filled, and drops\n the juice of a herb into it._\n\nTHE VASSALS\n\nWhat further did the bird tell thee?\n\nHAGEN\n\n From my horn\n Drink, hero, first:\nA magical draught is this;\nIt will mind thee of things long forgotten,\nAnd bring old days to remembrance.\n\n [_He offers the horn to Siegfried, who looks into\n it thoughtfully and then drinks slowly._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n In sorrow I listened,\n Grieving looked up;\nHe sat there still and sang.\n \"Hei! Siegfried has slain\n The deceitful dwarf!\n I know for him now\n A glorious bride.\nShe sleeps where rugged rocks soar;\nRinged is her chamber by fire.\n Who battles the flames\n Wakens the bride,\nBr\u00fcnnhilde wins as reward!\"\n\nHAGEN\n\n The wood-bird's counsel\n Didst thou follow?\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n Straight without pause\n I rose and I ran\n\n [_Gunther listens with increasing astonishment._\n\nTill I came to the fire-ringed rock.\n I passed through the flames,\n And for prize I found,\n\n [_More and more ecstatic._\n\nSleeping, and clad in bright mail,\nA woman lovely and dear.\n The hard helmet\n I loosened with care,\nAnd waked the maid with my kiss.\nAh, then the burning, sweet embrace\nOf Br\u00fcnnhild's rapturous arms!\n\nGUNTHER\n\n [_Springing up in the greatest consternation._\n\n What says he?\n\n [_Two ravens fly up out of a bush, circle above\n Siegfried, and then fly away towards the Rhine._\n\nHAGEN\n\n Didst understand\nWhat the ravens there said?\n\n [_Siegfried starts up suddenly, and, turning his\n back to Hagen, looks after the ravens. Hagen\n thrusts his spear into Siegfried's back._\n\nHAGEN\n\nVengeance--that was the word!\n\n [_Gunther and the vassals rush towards Hagen.\n Siegfried swings his shield on high with both hands\n in order to throw it on Hagen; his strength fails\n him; the shield drops from his grasp backwards, and\n he falls down upon it._\n\nGUNTHER and VASSALS\n\n [_Who have tried to hold Hagen back in vain._\n\n Hagen, what dost thou?\n\nHAGEN\n\n Death to traitors!\n\n [_He turns calmly away, and is seen in the\n gathering twilight disappearing slowly over the\n height. Gunther bends over Siegfried in great\n grief. The vassals stand round the dying man full\n of sympathy._\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n [_Supported by two vassals in a fitting posture,\n opens radiant eyes._\n\n Br\u00fcnnhilde,\n Heaven-born bride,\nAwake! Open thine eyelids!\n Who again\n Has locked thee in sleep\nAnd bound thee in slumber so fast?\n Lo! he that came\n And kissed thee awake\n\n[Illustration: Siegfried's death--See p. 172]\n\n Again breaks the bonds\n Holding thee fettered\nAnd looks on Br\u00fcnnhild's delight.\n Ah! those dear eyes\n Now open for ever!\n Ah! the soft fragrance\n Borne on her breathing!\n Death, thou art welcome--\n Sweet are thy terrors--\nBr\u00fcnnhild' greets me, my bride!\n\n [_He sinks back and dies. The rest stand round him\n motionless and sorrowing. Night has fallen. At\n a silent command from Gunther the vassals raise\n Siegfried's body and bear it away slowly in a\n solemn procession over the height. The moon breaks\n through the clouds, and lights up the funeral\n procession with increasing clearness as it reaches\n the top of the hill. A mist has risen from the\n Rhine which gradually fills the whole stage, on\n which the funeral procession has become invisible.\n After a musical interlude the mist divides again,\n until at length the hall of the Gibichungs, as in\n Act I. appears with increasing distinctness._\n\n\n_It is night. The moonlight is mirrored in the Rhine. Gutrune comes out\nof her chamber into the hall._\n\nWas that his horn?\n\n [_She listens._\n\n No!--he\n Has not returned.\n Troubled was my sleep\n By evil dreams!\n Then wildly neighed his horse;\n Br\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\n [_She listens at the door at the right and calls._\n\n Br\u00fcnnhild'! Br\u00fcnnhild'!\n Art awake?\n\n [_She opens the door timidly and looks into the\n inner room._\n\n No one is there!\n So it was she\nI saw go downwards to the Rhine.\n\n [_A distant horn sounds._\n\n Was that his horn?\n No!\n All silent!\n\n [_She looks out anxiously._\n\nWould but Siegfried return!\n\n [_Hagen's voice is heard outside coming nearer.\n When Gutrune hears it she stands for a time\n transfixed with terror._\n\nHAGEN\n\n Hoiho! 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\n [_Increasing light from the torches is seen\n without. Hagen enters the hall._\n\n Up! Gutrun'!\n Give Siegfried greeting,\n For home to thee\n Thy hero comes.\n\nGUTRUNE [_In great fear._\n\n What is wrong, Hagen?\n I heard not his horn.\n\n [_Men and women with lights and firebrands\n accompany, in great confusion, the procession\n returning with Siegfried's body._\n\nHAGEN\n\n The hero pale\n Will blow it no more;\n No more will he ride\n To battle or chase\nOr gaily go wooing fair women.\n\nGUTRUNE [_With growing terror._\n\n What bring they here?\n\n [_The procession reaches the middle of the hall,\n and the vassals set down the body on a hastily\n improvised platform._\n\nHAGEN\n\n'Tis a wild boar's spoil they bring thee:\nSiegfried, thy husband slain.\n\n [_Gutrune shrieks and falls upon the corpse.\n General emotion and mourning._\n\nGUNTHER\n\n [_Bends over the fainting Gutrune._\n\nGutrun', gentle sister!\n Open thine eyelids!\n Look up and speak!\n\nGUTRUNE\n\n [_Recovering consciousness._\n\nSiegfried--they have slain Siegfried!\n\n [_She pushes Gunther back violently._\n\nHence! false-hearted brother,\nThou slayer of my husband!\n Oh, who will help me!\n Woe's me! Woe's me!\nThese men have murdered my Siegfried!\n\nGUNTHER\n\nCast not the blame on me;\n'Tis Hagen who must bear it:\nHe is the accurs\u00e8d wild boar\nThat did the hero to death.\n\nHAGEN\n\nWith me art wroth for that?\n\nGUNTHER\n\n Woe and grief\n For aye be thy portion!\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Stepping forward with terrible defiance._\n\nYes, then, 'tis true that I slew him.\n I--Hagen--\n Did him to death!\nBy my spear he falsely swore,\nSo by my spear he fell.\nI have the sacred right\nNow to demand my booty,\nAnd what I claim is this ring.\n\nGUNTHER\n\nAway! Thou shalt not have\nWhat forfeit falls to me.\n\nHAGEN\n\nYe vassals, judge of my right!\n\nGUNTHER\n\nThou wouldst seize Gutrune's dower,\nInsolent Niblung son?\n\nHAGEN\n\n [_Draws his sword._\n\n 'Tis thus\nThe Niblung son demands his own.\n\n [_He rushes on Gunther, who defends himself: they\n fight. The vassals throw themselves between.\n Gunther falls slain by a stroke from Hagen._\n\nHAGEN\n\nMine the ring!\n\n [_He makes a grasp at Siegfried's hand, which\n raises itself in menace. All stand transfixed with\n horror._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Advances firmly and solemnly from the background\n to the front. Still at the back._\n\n Silence! Your sorrow\n Clamour less loud!\n Now for vengeance his wife comes,\nThe woman all have betrayed.\n\n [_As she comes quietly forward._\n\n I have heard you whining\n As whine children\nWhen milk is spilt by their mother;\n But lamentation\n Meet for a hero unmatched\n I have not heard.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\n [_Raising herself suddenly from the floor._\n\nBr\u00fcnnhilde, spite-envenomed!\nThou art the cause of our woe!\nFor, urged by thee, the men have slain him;\nCurs\u00e8d hour that brought thee here!\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\nPeace, hapless wretch!\nThou never wert wife of his;\n His leman wert thou,\n Only that.\nBut I am his lawful bride;\nTo me was the binding oath sworn,\nBefore thy face he beheld.\n\nGUTRUNE\n\n [_Breaking out in sudden despair._\n\n Accurs\u00e8d Hagen,\nWhy didst thou give the poison\nThat stole her husband away?\n O sorrow!\n Mine eyes are opened:\nBr\u00fcnnhild' was the true love\nWhom through the draught he forgot.\n\n [_She turns from Siegfried in shame and fear,\n and, dying, bends over Gunther's body; remaining\n motionless in this position until the end. Hagen\n stands defiantly leaning on his spear and shield,\n sunk in gloomy thought, on the opposite side.\n Br\u00fcnnhilde stands alone in the middle. After long\n and absorbed contemplation of Siegfried she turns\n with solemn exaltation to the men and women._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n Let great logs\n Be borne to the shore\nAnd high by the Rhine be heaped;\n Fierce and far\n Let the flames mount\n That consume to ashes\nHim who was first among men!\nHis horse lead to me here,\nThat with me his lord he may follow.\n For my body longs\n To have part in his glory\nAnd share his honour in death.\nObey Br\u00fcnnhild's behest.\n\n [_The young men, during the following, raise a\n great pyre of logs before the hall, near the bank\n of the Rhine; women decorate this with rugs, on\n which they strew plants and flowers._\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\n\n [_Absorbed anew in contemplation of Siegfried's\n dead face. Her expression brightens and softens as\n she proceeds._\n\n Sheer 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--\nBarred 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;\n Yet oaths the most sacred,\n Bonds the most binding,\n And true love were never\nSo grossly betrayed!\n\nKnow ye why that was?\n\n [_Looking upward._\n\n Ye Gods who guard\n All vows that are uttered,\n Look down on me\n In my terrible grief,\nYour guilt never-ending behold!\n Hear my voice accusing,\n Mighty God!\nThrough his most valiant deed--\nDeed by thee so desired--\n Thou didst condemn him\n To the doom\nThat else upon thee had fallen.\n He, truest of all,\n Must betray me,\nThat wise a woman might grow!\n\nKnow I all thou wouldst learn?\n\n All things! All things!\n All I know now:\nAll stands plainly revealed.\n Round me I hear\n Thy ravens flapping.\nBy them I send thee back\nThe tidings awaited in fear.\nRest in peace now, O God!\n\n [_She signs to the vassals to bear Siegfried's body\n on to the pyre; at the same time she draws the ring\n off Siegfried's singer, and regards it musingly._\n\n I 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\nFor your counsel good, ye who dwell\nIn the waters deep of the Rhine.\n What ye desire\n I gladly give;\n From out my ashes\n Take ye your treasure;\nThe fire by which I am burnt\nCleanses the ring of its curse.\n Down in the waves\n Wash it away,\n And guard ever pure\n The shining gold\nThat stolen was to your grief!\n\n [_She has put the ring on her finger, and now turns\n to the pile of logs on which Siegfried's body lies\n stretched. Taking a great firebrand from one of the\n men, she waves it and points to the background._\n\n Fly home, ye ravens,\n Tell your lord the tidings\nThat ye have heard by the Rhine.\n But fly, as ye go,\n By Br\u00fcnnhild's rock:\n Still Loge flames there;\nBid him follow to Walhall;\n For the Gods are drawing\n Near to their doom.\n\n[Illustration: Br\u00fcnnhilde on Grane leaps on to the funeral pyre of\nSiegfried--See p. 182]\n\nThus--thrown be the brand\nOn Walhall's glittering halls!\n\n [_She hurls the brand on to the pile of wood, which\n quickly breaks into flame. Two ravens fly up from\n the rock by the shore and vanish in the background.\n Br\u00fcnnhilde perceives her horse, which has just been\n led in by two men._\n\n Grane, my horse,\n Be greeted fair!\n\n [_She springs towards him, and, catching hold of\n him, removes his bridle and bends towards him\n affectionately._\n\n Knowest thou, my friend,\n To whom we are going?\n Thy lord lies radiant\n There in the fire,\nSiegfried, 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\n [_She has swung herself on to the horse, and urges\n it forward._\n\n Siegfried! Siegfried!\nSee! Br\u00fcnnhild' greets thee, thy bride!\n\n [_She urges her horse with one leap into the\n burning pile of logs. The flames immediately blaze\n up, so that they fill the whole space in front of\n the hall and seem to catch hold of the building\n itself. The terrified men and women press as far\n to the front as possible. When the whole stage\n appears to be filled with fire the glow gradually\n fades, so that there is soon nothing left but a\n cloud of smoke, which drifts towards the back and\n hangs there as a dark bank of cloud. At the same\n time the Rhine overflows and the flood rolls up\n over the fire. The three Rhine-Maidens swim forward\n on the waves, and now appear over the spot where\n the fire was. Hagen, who since the incident of\n the ring has been watching Br\u00fcnnhilde's behaviour\n with growing anxiety, is much alarmed by the fight\n of the Rhine-Maidens. He throws away his spear,\n shield, and helmet, and dashes into the flood as\n if mad, crying out, \"Back from the ring!\" Woglinde\n and Wellgunde fling their arms round his neck and,\n swimming away, draw him down with them into the\n depths. Flosshilde, swimming ahead of the others\n towards the back, joyously holds up the recovered\n ring. Through the bank of cloud on the horizon a\n red glow of increasing brightness breaks forth,\n and, illumined by this light, the Rhine-Maidens\n are seen merrily circling about and playing with\n the ring on the calmer waters of the Rhine, which\n has gradually retired to its natural bed. From the\n ruins of the fallen hall the men and women watch in\n great agitation the growing gleam of fire in the\n heavens. When this is at its brightest the hall of\n Walhall is seen, in which the Gods and heroes fit\n assembled, as described by Waltraute in the first\n Act. Bright flames seem to seize on the hall of the\n Gods. When the Gods are completely hidden by the\n flames the curtain falls._\n\n[Illustration: The Rhine-Maidens obtain possession of the ring and bear\nit off in triumph.]","title":"Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods: The Ring of the Niblung, part 2","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":30405}