{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_73548/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_73548","id":"gutenberg_73548","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73548","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Operas -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature","Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883 -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"[Transcriber's Note: Anglicized variants of German character names\nhave been retained as they are in the original (e.g., Rhinegold for\nRheingold, Logi for Loge, Friea for Freia). Obvious printer errors have\nbeen corrected without note. Some full-page illustrations have been\nmoved to the nearest paragraph break for better readability.]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n  [Page 58\n\nWOTAN AND BR\u00dcNNHILDE]\n\n\n\n\nTHE\n\nSTORY OF THE RHINEGOLD\n\n(_DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN_)\n\nTold for Young People\n\nBY\n\nANNA ALICE CHAPIN\n\nILLUSTRATED\n\n[Illustration]\n\n  NEW YORK AND LONDON\n  HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS\n  1900\n\n\nCopyright, 1897, by HARPER & BROTHERS.\n\n_All rights reserved._\n\n\n\n\nTO\n\nTHE MASTER\u2019S DAUGHTER\n\nEVA WAGNER\n\nWITH HEARTFELT GRATITUDE\n\nFOR HER KINDNESS AND ENCOURAGEMENT\n\nTHIS BOOK\n\nIs Dedicated\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\n_The Story of the Rhinegold_ contains the four operas of Richard\nWagner\u2019s \u201cNibelungen Ring,\u201d arranged for young people. The \u201cNibelungen\nRing,\u201d or \u201cNibelungen Cycle,\u201d is built upon a colossal foundation:\na number of the great Teutonic myths, welded together with the most\nmasterly skill and consistency. It is evident that Wagner, like\nWilliam Morris and other writers, has taken from the fragmentary\nmythological tales such material as would serve his purpose, adapting\nsuch incidents as he chose and as he considered appropriate to his\nwork. But there are so many different versions of these old stories\nthat it is very difficult to trace Wagner\u2019s plot to its original\nbirthplace. The various tales contained in the ancient sagas are so\nseemingly contradictory that anything connectedly authoritative appears\nimpossible to trace. The one thing which seems to remain the same\nin almost all versions of the stories, ancient and modern, is the\nbackground of mythology, that great, gloomy cycle of gods, with the\never-recurring note of Fate which seems to have impressed all searchers\nin myths alike, and which inspired Wagner when he formed his mystical,\nsolemn Fate motif.\n\nOdin, Wuotan, Wodin, or Wotan, according to the different names given\nhim in the old legends, is the central figure in the framework. If I\nread the story aright, the Norns, or more properly Nornir, are next in\nimportance. They and their mother, the Vala, are the medium through\nwhich the relentless something behind the gods made itself felt in the\nworld. The three sisters are named respectively _Ur\u00f0r_, _Ver\u00f0andi_,\nand _Skuld_\u2014freely translated Past, Present, and Future; or, as they\nwere once styled, as correctly perhaps, Was, Is, and Shall Be. It is a\nquestion whether Erda and Ur\u00f0r, the oldest Norn, might not originally\nhave been identical. Dr. Hueffer speaks of Erda as the \u201cMother of Gods\nand Men,\u201d but though \u201cthe Vala\u201d is often found in mythology, the name\nErda is rarely mentioned, whereas the titles for the three Norns seem\nto be unquestionably correct. The term _Vala_ is usually translated as\nWitch, or Witch-wife, but, though a Vala was indeed a sorceress, she\nwas a prophetess as well.\n\nA step lower than the gods, yet gifted with supernatural power and far\nremoved from the characteristics of human beings, were the dwarfs and\nthe giants. The giants, we are told, were creatures belonging properly\nto the Age of Stone, which explains the fact that there were left but\ntwo representatives of the race at the time of the Golden Age. The\ndwarfs come under the head of elves. They were gifted with the utmost\ncleverness and skill. The giants were stupid and clumsy, and, save for\ntheir superhuman strength and size, entirely inferior to the small, sly\ndwarfs.\n\nThe world was strangely peopled in those days; many of the heroes were\ndemi-gods, that is, descended from some god or goddess, and witches,\ndwarfs, and sorcerers mingled with human beings.\n\nMany mortals, also, had magic power then. Otter, the son of Rodmar,\nchanged himself into the animal for which he was named, and while\nin the shape of the otter he was caught and killed by three of the\ngods who were wandering over the earth in disguise. Rodmar demanded\nweregild,[A] and Loki, with a net, caught Andvari, a rich and malignant\ndwarf, and commanded him to pay a ransom of gold and gems, enough to\ncover the skin of the otter; for such was the weregild demanded by\nRodmar. Andvari, of necessity, gave the gold for his own release, even\nadding a wonderful wealth-breeding Ring to cover up a single hair\nin the skin which the rest of the treasures had left unconcealed.\nThe dwarf cursed the Ring, and the curse attended it through all its\nmanifold ways of magic, to the end of the story.\n\n[Footnote A: _Weregild_ is almost untranslatable. It may mean payment,\ntax, forfeit, or ransom.]\n\nRodmar\u2019s remaining sons, Fafnir and Regin, killed their father and\nfought for the treasure. Fafnir obtained it, and, turning himself into\na monster-worm, went to Glistenheath (sometimes called Glittering\nHearth) to guard his wealth. Regin called upon Sigurd, a young hero,\nto aid him, and, being a master-smith, forged for him a sharp sword\nnamed Gram. Some versions give the forging of the sword to Sigurd,\nbut there are many sides to the story. The sword was sometimes called\nGram, and oftener Baldung, until Wagner gave it the more expressive\nname of Nothung, or Needful. Prompted by Regin, Sigurd slew the Dragon\nat Glistenheath, and, after tasting the blood by accident, was able to\nunderstand the language of birds, and was told by two of Odin\u2019s ravens\nthat Regin was treacherous. After slaying Regin, Sigurd rode away\nwith two bundles of the treasures slung across his horse\u2019s back. He\nfound and awakened Brynhildr, a beautiful woman asleep in a house on a\nhill. (She is known in the different tales in which she has figured as\nBrynhildr, Brunhild, Brunehault, and Br\u00fcnnhilde.) The next part of the\ntale is most clearly set forth in the \u201cNibelungenlied,\u201d an epic poem\nin Middle High German dialect, containing a story\u2014or, more correctly,\na series of stories\u2014which originally belonged to the entire Teutonic\npeople. These have been found in multitudinous poems and sagas, from\nthose written by the ancient Norsemen, and most primitive in form,\nto the modern books, essays, and poems of writers who have been\nimpressed with the interesting and picturesque aspects of the strange,\ncomplicated old story. The \u201cNibelungenlied\u201d itself deals rather with\nthe period of Christianity\u2014with the knights and ladies of the time of\nchivalry\u2014than with the primeval gods and heroes of the Golden Age.\nThe substance of its contents may be found in the \u201cEdda\u201d and in the\n\u201cThidrekssaga\u201d (thirteenth century), and the original manuscripts of\nthe \u201cNibelungenlied\u201d itself date from the thirteenth to the sixteenth\ncentury.\n\nThe story contained in this poem is, briefly told, as follows:\n\nSiegfried, son of Siegmund and Sieglind, woos Kreimhild, the sister of\nKing Gunther, of Burgundy, promising, in return for her hand, to aid\nGunther in winning Brunhild, Queen of Issland (Iceland). Siegfried,\nwith the help of his cloud-cloak, conquers Brunhild for Gunther\u2014first\nin three athletic games, which she makes a test for all suitors; and\nlater when, after the marriage, she proves stormy and untamed. He\ntakes her Ring and girdle, and gives them to his wife, Kreimhild. They\npossess magic properties, and Brunhild, when deprived of them, loses\nher great power and becomes like any ordinary woman. She sees her Ring\non Kreimhild\u2019s hand one day, and, realizing that it is Siegfried,\nand not her husband Gunther, who has conquered her great strength\nand stolen her magic circlets, she tells her wrongs to Hagan, who\npromises revenge. Hagan is the Knight of Trony, and he and his brother\nDankwort are Gunther\u2019s vassals. Hagan entices Kreimhild to reveal to\nhim the secret of her husband\u2019s safety in battle, and she tells him\nthat Siegfried once slew a dragon and bathed in the blood, which made\nhim invulnerable, save in one place, between his shoulders, where a\nleaf fell, protecting the skin from the blood. Kreimhild is entirely\ndeceived by Hagan, and, not suspecting his treachery, she sews a circle\nof silk upon her husband\u2019s vesture over the vulnerable spot, that Hagan\nmay better know how to protect the hero\u2019s one weakness when they are in\nbattle. It is there, where the circle of silk is sewn, that Hagan stabs\nhim.\n\nThere is much more in the \u201cNibelungenlied,\u201d and a character famous in\npoesy and sagas is introduced later in the poem\u2014Atli, or Attila, King\nof the Huns; but he has nothing to do with our story, though some one\nhas drawn a resemblance between his character and that of Hunding.\nThe \u201cNibelungenlied,\u201d after Siegfried\u2019s death, contains very little\nconnected in any way with Wagner\u2019s four operas.\n\nThere are other versions of this tale, as there are of all ancient\nstories. There are many tales of the killing of the Dragon and the\nawakening of Brunhild, and the personality and history of the latter\nhave passed under diverse alterations in color and development. One\nstory says that Brynhildr, the Valkyrie, was made to slumber by her\nfather Odin, who pricked her in the temple with a sleep-thorn. Many\nwriters tell of a fire-circle which surrounded the sleeper and guarded\nher slumbers. She is known as a great queen, a woman gifted with magic\npowers, and a disobedient Walk\u00fcre in different tales; and her character\nchanges as constantly as her history in the various legends where we\nread of her. Sigurd, Siegfried, and Sinfiotli are, in many respects, so\nsimilar that they might safely be termed identical, though sometimes,\nas in William Morris\u2019s \u201cSigurd, the Volsung,\u201d they appear as distinct\ncharacters.\n\nOut of this confused and complicated sea of myths, legends, and old\nNorse stories Wagner has drawn the material for his wonderful cycle.\n\nHis gods and goddesses are taken, with very few changes, directly from\ntheir original place\u2014the Teutonic mythology. His giants and dwarfs are\nalso unaltered as complete races. In his usage of them he differs in\nsome respects from the older stories.\n\nFafnir, the son of Rodmar, becomes the giant Fafner, and his brother\nFasolt is added. Regin is transformed into Mime, the master-smith.\nInstead of Otter, who must be covered by gems, we have the love\ngoddess Friea, and instead of the hair which the Ring must cover in the\nold legend, it is in Wagner\u2019s adaptation one of Friea\u2019s beautiful eyes.\nFafner hides in Hate Hole instead of upon Glistenheath, and is killed\nby Siegfried instead of Sigurd. The lonely Walk\u00fcres\u2019 Rock takes the\nplace of the house on the hill, and instead of being made invulnerable\nby the Dragon\u2019s blood, Siegfried is protected by Br\u00fcnnhilde\u2019s spells\u2014a\nfancy which seems more poetic and beautiful, but which originates, I\nbelieve, entirely with Wagner. Gutrune takes the place of Kreimhild,\nand Hagan is not Gunther\u2019s vassal, but his half-brother. These are,\nafter all, apparently slight changes, yet to Wagner\u2019s cycle a new\npoetry seems to have come. The barbaric aspects of the tale have faded,\nand all the simple beauty of those wild, noble gods and demi-gods has\ngleamed forth as gloriously as the wonderful Rhinegold, which the\nmaster has made next in importance to the gods and the dusk of their\nsplendor.\n\nBefore going further, perhaps it might be well to say a few words of\nexplanation as to the motifs which form the key-notes of Wagner\u2019s great\nmusical dramas.\n\nWhen he set his poem of the Nibelungen Ring to music, he was not\nsatisfied with merely beautiful airs and harmonies linked together with\nno purpose save the lovely sounds. He wished, above all, to have his\nmusic fit his words; and for every character and thought and incident,\nand indeed for almost everything in his operas, he wrote a melody,\nand these descriptive musical phrases are called _motifs_. Each one\nhas its meaning, and when it is played it brings the thought of what\nit describes and represents, and it makes a double language\u2014what the\ncharacters on the stage are saying and what the music is saying, as\nwell. Through the motifs we understand many things which we could not\npossibly comprehend otherwise.\n\nThat Wagner wished to give the impression that Erda was the mother of\nall beings, divine and human, at the beginning of the world, he has\nshown by the fact that the motif of the Primal Element\u2014the commencement\nof all things\u2014is identical with hers, save that where she is indicated\nthe melody takes a minor coloring, denoting her character of mystery\nas well as the gloom in which her prophetic powers must necessarily\nenvelop her. The contrasting, yet harmonizing, elements of earth and\nwater are also shadowed forth, I think, in this motif of the Primal\nElement, which is used for the _Rhine_, and also for the Goddess of\nthe _Earth_. When the Vala\u2019s daughters\u2014the Nornir\u2014are mirrored in the\nmusic, the same melody appears, fraught with the waving, weaving sound\nof their mystic spinning.\n\nThe motifs in Wagner\u2019s operas are, above all, descriptive. For example,\nnote the Walhalla, Nibelung, and Giant motifs.\n\nThe first of these, full of power, substance, and dignity, not only is\ndescriptive of the great palace itself, but also represents the entire\nrace of gods who inhabit it, seemingly secure in their conscious glory\nand sovereignty. To indicate Wotan, the King of the gods and the ruler\nin Walhalla, Wagner has constantly made use of this motif.\n\nIts melody is measured, strong, and simple, and the nobility of those\nworshipped gods of primeval years seems to breathe through it.\n\nThe Nibelungs were so intimately associated with their work that\nthey were scarcely more than living machines\u2014soulless exponents of\nthe art of the forge and the anvil; so when we hear in the music the\nbeat of hammers\u2014the sharp, metallic clang in measured time, our first\nthought is that the hammers are swung by the Nibelungs. How cramped is\ntheir melody, how monotonous and hopeless is the regular fall of the\nhammers! When we hear it hushed and veiled with discords, we seem to\ncome in contact with the narrow, darkened souls of the Nibelungs.\n\nAnd now we come to the motif of the giants.\n\nIt is, like themselves, heavy, lumbering, with a slur that is like\nthe stumbling of heavy feet. Clumsy and ungraceful, it and what it\nrepresents cross the idyllic beauty of the motifs of Friea, Walhalla,\nthe Ring, the Rhinegold, and the rest, with a harsh and disagreeable\nsense of an inharmonious element. How different from the majestic gods,\nand the clever, small-souled Nibelungs, are these great creatures who\nare all bodies and no brains, and who are so ably represented by the\nmusic allotted them in the operas! Yet, in their own way, they and\ntheir motif are extremely picturesque!\n\nIn these three motifs we can see the genius which formed them, and\nso many others, even greater in conception and execution. Scattered\nthroughout _The Story of the Rhinegold_ will be found a few of these\nmotifs\u2014only a few and not the most lovely\u2014but enough I think to help\none, in a small way, to follow the operas with more interest and\nunderstanding than if one did not know them.\n\nOne of the simplest motifs in the book is one of the most important:\nthe Rhinegold motif. It is like the blowing of a fairy horn heralding\nto the world of sprites and elves the magic wonder in the river.\n\nIn the olden days they had a lovely legend of the formation of the\nRhinegold. They said that the sun\u2019s rays poured down into the Rhine\nso brilliantly every day that, through some magic\u2014no one knew exactly\nhow\u2014the glowing reflection became bright and beautiful gold, filled\nwith great mystic powers because of its glorious origin\u2014the sunshine.\n\nAnd that was the beginning of the Rhinegold.\n\n  A.A.C.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  Part I\n\n  THE RHINEGOLD, OR _DAS RHEINGOLD_\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\n  PRELUDE                                                              3\n\n  CHAPTER\n\n  I. THE RHINE MAIDENS                                                 8\n\n  II. FASOLT AND FAFNER                                               13\n\n  III. NIBELHEIM                                                      18\n\n  IV. THE RAINBOW BRIDGE                                              24\n\n\n  Part II\n\n  THE WARRIOR GODDESS, OR _DIE WALK\u00dcRE_\n\n  PRELUDE                                                             33\n\n  CHAPTER\n\n  I. THE HOUSE OF HUNDING                                             37\n\n  II. THE DAUGHTER OF WOTAN                                           45\n\n  III. BR\u00dcNNHILDE\u2019S PUNISHMENT                                        54\n\n\n  Part III\n\n  SIEGFRIED\n\n  PRELUDE                                                             63\n\n  CHAPTER\n\n  I. SIEGFRIED AND MIME                                               67\n\n  II. HATE HOLE                                                       79\n\n  III. THE MOUNTAIN PASS                                              88\n\n  IV. THE WALK\u00dcRES\u2019 ROCK                                              95\n\n\n  Part IV\n\n  THE DUSK OF THE GODS, OR _G\u00d6TTERD\u00c4MMERUNG_\n\n  PRELUDE                                                            103\n\n  CHAPTER\n\n  I. THE HALL OF THE GIBICHUNGS                                      107\n\n  II. THE WALK\u00dcRES\u2019 ROCK ONCE MORE                                   113\n\n  III. THE RHINE CHIEF\u2019S BRIDE                                       118\n\n  IV. ON THE BANKS OF THE RHINE                                      124\n\n  V. THE LAST TWILIGHT                                               133\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  WOTAN AND BR\u00dcNNHILDE                                    _Frontispiece_\n\n  THE GLEAMING TREASURE                                   _Facing p._ 10\n\n  A WARRIOR GODDESS                                                   34\n\n  THE WALK\u00dcRE APPEARS                                                 50\n\n  SIEGFRIED AT THE FORGE                                              76\n\n  THE DEATH OF THE DRAGON                                             82\n\n  BR\u00dcNNHILDE ON THE WALK\u00dcRES\u2019 ROCK                                   104\n\n  GUTRUNE AND SIEGFRIED                                              110\n\n  BR\u00dcNNHILDE AND SIEGFRIED                                           116\n\n  GUNTHER AND BR\u00dcNNHILDE                                             122\n\n  HAGEN AND SIEGFRIED                                                128\n\n  AFTER SIEGFRIED\u2019S DEATH                                            130\n\n\n\n\nPart I\n\nTHE RHINEGOLD, OR _DAS RHEINGOLD_\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the Rhinegold]\n\nPRELUDE\n\nWe have, all of us, read of the Golden Age, when the gods ruled over\nthe world, and giants and dragons, dwarfs and water-fairies inhabited\nthe earth and mingled with mortals. The giants were then a strong,\nstupid race, more rough than cruel, and, as a rule, generous among\nthemselves. They were very foolish creatures, and constantly did\nthemselves and others harm; but their race, even at that time, was\ndying out, and there were left of it only two brothers, Fasolt and\nFafner.\n\nThe dwarfs, or Nibelungs, were entirely different. They were small and\nmisshapen, but very shrewd, and so skilful were their fingers that they\nwere able to do the most difficult work in the finest metals. They\nlived in an underground country called Nibelheim (Home of the Dwarfs),\nwhere they collected hoards of gold and gems, and strange treasures of\nall kinds; and Alberich was one of them. He was a hideous creature,\nso dark and evil-looking, with his small, wicked eyes and his hair and\nbeard the color of ink, that he was always called Black Alberich\u2014a very\nsuitable name.\n\nAs for the dragons, they were rare even in those days, and though we\nshall have to deal with one by-and-by when we are further on in my\nstory, I shall not say much about them now.\n\nThe water-fairies were beautiful spirits who lived in the depths of the\nriver Rhine. They were simple and innocent, as became children of the\nGolden Age, and very lovely to look upon. In the peaceful twilight-land\nunder the water they were perfectly happy, dancing in and out among the\nrocks at the river bottom, and singing soft songs, which, when wafted\nup to the surface of the Rhine, sounded like the faint sighing ripple\nof the river as it rolled onward through the valleys and the woods.\n\nAnd the water-fairies had one great happiness in their quiet, shadowed\nlives. I will tell you what it was: On the top of a tall black rock in\nthe river Rhine there rested a magical treasure, more wonderful than\nany of the Nibelung hoards, or the possessions of the gods themselves\u2014a\nbright, beautiful Gold, the radiance of which was so great that when\nthe sun shone down into the river and touched it the gray-green water\nwas filled with golden light from depth to depth, and the fairies of\nthe Rhine circled about their treasure, singing and laughing with\ndelight.\n\nWhat a wonderful time it must have been\u2014the Golden Age\u2014when such things\nwere possible!\n\nYou smile and say that they were not possible, even then! Remember\nthat this is a fairy tale\u2014a day-dream\u2014such as might come to you while\nwatching the sunlit ripples dancing on the water, and hearing the\nlittle waves lapping on the pebbles\u2014a fairy tale, that is all.\n\nThe Golden Age, as I think of it, seems a period in which anything\nmight have happened. Closing my eyes, I can picture the majestic gods\nmoving, great kings and queens among human beings; great kings and\nqueens made young by Friea\u2019s apples of youth. Friea was the Goddess of\nLove, Youth, and Beauty. She was the same as Venus, the Roman goddess,\ncalled Aphrodite by the Greeks, of whom, perhaps, you have read\nelsewhere. All that I am writing about happened, you know, in Germany;\nand to the people there the gods\u2014or rather men\u2019s ideas of them, and\ntheir names for them\u2014were different from those of other lands.\n\nSo the King God, instead of being Jupiter, or Zeus, or Jove, was\ncalled Wotan, or sometimes Odin. And the Queen Goddess was neither\nJuno nor Hera, but Fricka; and the wild Thunder God was Thor; and the\nGoddess of the Earth Erda, which means the earth. She was the wisest of\nall the gods and goddesses (though Logi, the Fire God, was the quickest\nand cleverest), and she could prophesy strange things about the gods\nand the world, and everything happened just as she prophesied.\n\nShe would sink into the earth and dream, and all her dreams came true.\nShe would tell them to her daughters, the three Norns, or Fates, and\nthey would weave them into a long golden thread, into which they had\nspun the world\u2019s history.\n\nThey spun under a great ash-tree which grew by the Fountain of Wisdom,\nand was called the Tree of the World.\n\nOne day Wotan, the king of the gods, came to the fountain for a draught\nof the Water of Wisdom. He drank, and left one of his eyes in payment.\nHe tore a limb from the World-Ash and made it into a spear; and the\nspear, having strange figures upon it representing Law and Knowledge,\nwas typical of the wisdom and power of the gods, and so long as that\nwisdom and that power endured no sword could break the spear nor could\nremain whole at its touch.\n\nBut the World-Ash, robbed of its branches, withered away and died, and\nthe Fountain of Wisdom became dry.\n\nAnd these things were the beginning of the end of the Golden Age.\nBut wise people say that the Golden Age did not end until men began\nto value gold for its own sake and the love of gain, and to do wrong\nthings to possess it. And now I will tell you how it all happened.\n\n[Music: Motif of the Primal Element, out of which come the Erda, Norn,\nand Rhine Motifs]\n\n\n[Music: Song of the Rhine Maidens\n\n    Weia waga, wavering waters, weaving and whirling!\n    Walala weia!]\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE RHINE MAIDENS\n\nAt the bottom of the river Rhine, about the dark rock where rested the\ninvisible Rhinegold, there swam one morning before sunrise the Gold\u2019s\nfair guardians, the three children of the Rhine. They were beautiful\nmaidens, these three water-spirits, the most lovely of all the river\npeople, and their names were Flosshilde, Woglinde, and Wellgunde. They\nwere singing softly, and glancing constantly up to the rock\u2019s crest,\nwaiting for the appearance of the Rhinegold, which could only be seen\nwhen the sun had risen up above and sent its rays into the water to\ndisclose the treasure. They sang a little rippling refrain that meant\nnothing except laughter and joy, and sounded very like the ripples of\nthe water themselves:\n\n    \u201cWeia waga\u2014\u201d\n\nsang Woglinde,\n\n    \u201cWavering waters, weaving and whirling,\n    Walala weia!\u201d\n\nAnd so they sang on, till their voices mingled so with the ripple that\nboth voices and water became almost one in sound.\n\nNow, while these three lovely maids, seeming almost part of the water\nin their dresses of shimmering blue-green, with pale wreaths of river\nflowers in their hair, and their white arms looking frail as moonbeams\nas they raised them through the water\u2014while they moved about the rock\nsinging and laughing together, a strange, dark little man stood near\nwatching them. He had risen out of a black chasm in one of the rocks,\nand he had come from far Nibelheim, through an underground passage. He\nhad small eyes, his hair and beard were the color of ink, and he looked\nvery wicked. Can you guess who he was?\n\nHe shouted gruffly to the Rhine Maidens, and they, being much amused\nat his ugly appearance, drew near with laughter and mocking words.\nThey led him wild chases in among the rocks, they played with him merry\ngames of hide-and-seek\u2014merry for them, but not at all so for him, for\nhe was clumsy in motion compared with them, and he became very angry\nbecause he could not follow them over the rocks.\n\n\u201cSmooth, slippery, slush and slime,\u201d he grumbled. \u201cThe dampness makes\nme sneeze.\u201d\n\nAt last, just as he had become thoroughly angry, there appeared\nsuddenly a strange brightness at the top of the rock\u2014a wonderful golden\nlight that glowed with ever-increasing brilliance down into the water.\n\n\u201cAh, see, sisters!\u201d cried Woglinde. \u201cThe awakening sun laughs down into\nthe depths.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Wellgunde, with soft delight, \u201cit greets the slumbering\nGold!\u201d\n\n\u201cWith a kiss of light the Gold is aroused!\u201d said Flosshilde. And,\njoining hands, they swam excitedly about the rock, singing in bursts of\ngladness:\n\n    \u201cWeia waga,\n    Weia waga,\n    Rhinegold, Rhinegold,\n    Glorious joy.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou gliders,\u201d questioned Alberich (for it was he), \u201cwhat is this\nthat gleams and glistens over yonder?\u201d\n\n[Illustration: THE GLEAMING TREASURE]\n\nLaughing at his ignorance, the nymphs told him that it was a magical\nGold; that whoever made a Ring from it would have greater power than\nany one else alive; that he could possess all the wealth of the world\nif he wished; and they so described the fairy powers of the treasure\nthat Alberich\u2019s wicked soul began to thrill with desire to have it as\nhis own.\n\nThe sisters further told him that the Gold was safe from thieves,\nbecause it could only be stolen by some one who had made up his mind\nnever to love any one except himself so long as he might live.\n\n\u201cWe have nothing to fear,\u201d said gentle Woglinde, \u201cfor every one who\nlives must love.\u201d\n\nBut Alberich pondered silently. \u201cAll the wealth in the world!\u201d he\nthought. \u201cFor that who would not give up love?\u201d And he sprang wildly up\nthe rocks.\n\n\u201cListen, waves and water-witches!\u201d he shouted, as he reached towards\nthe gleaming treasure. \u201cNever will I, the Dwarf, give love to any\ncreature save myself through all my life.\u201d And while, with wild cries,\nthe Rhine Maidens hastened near to prevent him, Alberich, the Nibelung,\ntore the Rhinegold from the tall, black rock, and fled with it into\nthe black chasm, and so to Nibelheim.\n\nAnd, left behind, the nymphs could only wail for their lost joy with\nsobs and cries of \u201cSorrow, sorrow! Ah\u2014to rescue the Gold!\u201d\n\nBut it was too late. And in the dark hollow chasm, Alberich, fleeing\nwith the treasure, laughed at their despair.\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the Giants]\n\n[Music: Motif of Friea]\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nFASOLT AND FAFNER\n\nOne morning not long afterwards the rising sun shone upon strange\nthings up among the gods.\n\nWotan, and Fricka his wife, waking upon the mountain-top where they\nhad slept that night, gazed up to where, built among the clouds, the\nspires of a wonderful palace glittered in the sunshine\u2014Walhalla, the\nfair, new home of the gods.\n\nIt had been built at Wotan\u2019s command by Fasolt and Fafner, the two\nbrother giants, and they had been promised, in payment, the goddess\nFriea. But Wotan had never intended giving her to them, and so he told\nFricka when she spoke anxiously of the reward promised the giants,\ndeclaring that the goddess was as precious to him as to her.\n\nEven as he spoke Friea rushed wildly in, calling upon him to save her\nfrom the rude giants. In answer, Wotan asked where Logi, the Fire God,\ncould be found, saying that where cunning and craft were needed, Logi\nwas the one most to be sought after. But, look as he might, the wayward\nFire God was nowhere to be seen.\n\nAnd then came the great brothers, bearing huge clubs, and fiercely\nclamoring for a reward for their labors in building Walhalla.\n\n\u201cYou slept while we worked,\u201d they said. \u201cNow claim we our payment.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat price do you demand?\u201d asked Wotan, pretending not to remember any\npromised reward. \u201cWhat will you take as wages?\u201d\n\n\u201cWould you deceive us so?\u201d cried Fasolt, in astonished rage. \u201cFriea\nyou promised us. We worked right heartily to win us so fair a woman.\u201d\n\n\u201cHush!\u201d muttered Fafner. \u201cListen to me! Without Friea\u2019s apples of youth\nthe gods will grow old, and their glory will fade away. They will die\nlike human beings if Friea be taken from them.\u201d\n\nSo the giants talked together, planning how to steal the lovely\ngoddess, who stood aside trembling, fearing that Wotan would refuse to\nprotect her from the two savage workmen.\n\nHe meanwhile merely murmured softly to himself, \u201cLogi is long coming,\u201d\nand gazed expectantly about. But still the Fire God could not be seen.\n\nThor and Froh, two other gods, had appeared. The giants were growing\nmore impatient and Friea more despairing, when Logi at last arrived.\nWhen he did he talked on a variety of subjects before he would pay any\nattention to the affairs that were worrying the other gods and the\ngiants. But at last he set his clever brain to work at some plan by\nwhich his fair sister Friea might be saved. Knowing well the love of\nwealth characteristic of the giants, he told the story of the Rhinegold\nand the stealing of it by the Nibelung. He said that he had heard the\nmaids weeping for their lost treasure, and had promised them that\nWotan, the King God, would return it to them in time. The two giants\nbegan to feel the same desire for it that Alberich had had, and to\nwhisper together concerning it, so vividly did Logi describe its powers.\n\n\u201cIt seems,\u201d muttered Fafner, \u201cthat this Gold is worth even more than\nFriea.\u201d And he cried out suddenly: \u201cListen, Wotan, you wise one! We\nwill give up Friea; but you will instead bestow upon us the Nibelung\u2019s\nGold.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe will hold her meanwhile as ransom!\u201d cried Fasolt. And they dragged\nher away, despite her piteous appeals, to Riesenheim (or Home of the\nGiants), leaving the gods perplexed and sorrowing for their lost\ngoddess.\n\nAs they stood silently together a mist seemed to steal upward from the\nground, and floated between them. A strange shadow rested upon the\nfaces of the gods. They looked pale and wrinkled; their hair was white.\n\n\u201cAlas! What has happened?\u201d wailed Fricka, faintly.\n\nThe gods were growing old.\n\n\u201cSee, then,\u201d said Logi, the shrewd one. \u201cOur Youth Goddess has gone. We\nare old; we are gray. The race of gods will come to an end.\u201d\n\nWotan started and looked about him. His face was pale.\n\n\u201cDown, Logi! Let us go down to Nibelheim!\u201d he cried. \u201cThe Gold shall be\nhad for ransom.\u201d\n\nThe gods called out good wishes after them through the mist, and Wotan,\nthe King God, and his fire-servant, Logi, went down through the hollow,\nshadowy passages under the earth to Nibelheim, the home of the dwarfs.\n\n\n[Music: Ring Motif]\n\n[Music: Nibelung Motif]\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nNIBELHEIM\n\nAlberich had forged a Ring from the Rhinegold, and, wearing it,\npossessed absolute power over the rest of the Nibelungs. He was the\nKing Dwarf, ruler over all Nibelheim, the Land of Gloom. Ah! what a\nland of gloom it was! Through the dark shadows there streamed fitfully\na lurid light from the forges where the dwarfs were working; their\nhammers clanged monotonously on the anvils. Slowly they laid the\nresults of their toil in great heaps, and Alberich laughed at their\nweariness and gloated over the treasures, which he promptly claimed as\nhis own.\n\nAmong the Nibelungs was one particularly crooked and ill-shapen, named\nMime. He was Alberich\u2019s half-brother, and, not unnaturally, hated the\nBlack King with all his strength; for Alberich treated him even more\ncruelly than the others.\n\nMime, at Alberich\u2019s command, made a wonderful cap of darkness out of\nsome of the Rhinegold, which not only had the power of making its\nwearer invisible at will, but could change him into whatever shape he\nwished. This Alberich wore, and changed himself into a column of mist,\nin which shape he found he could move about much faster, and make\nthings much harder for the dwarfs.\n\n\u201cHohei, all you Nibelungs! Kneel to your King! Now he is everywhere,\nall about you, unseen, but felt and heard, you idlers!\u201d\n\nAnd the column of mist drifted off through a rocky passage, leaving\nMime whimpering upon the ground.\n\nNow, with the clang of the hammers there mingled the sound of steps,\nand from the black crevice in the rocks came two figures slowly down to\nNibelheim. One was tall and majestic, with a helmet of gold and steel,\na long cloak with strange designs upon it, and a deep golden beard that\nhung far down over his breast; one of his eyes was missing, and in his\nhand he bore a great spear.\n\nThe other was clothed in brilliant red, his eyes were bright, his step\nswift as a springing flame in dead grass. They were Wotan and Logi\nsearching for the Rhinegold.\n\nLogi accosted Mime in friendly fashion, and asked what was wrong with\nhim.\n\n\u201cThat wretch, my brother!\u201d grumbled the Dwarf. \u201cHe treats us all\ncruelly. Leave me in peace!\u201d\n\n\u201cHow came Alberich by his power?\u201d asked the Fire God.\n\n\u201cFrom the ruddy Rhinegold he made a Ring. With it he rules us. But,\u201d\nasked the Nibelung, staring at them, \u201cwho are you both?\u201d\n\n\u201cFriends that perhaps may free the Nibelung people,\u201d laughed Logi,\nand at the same time Alberich appeared, scolding, screaming, and\nill-treating all who came in his way. Driving Mime away with the rest\nof the dwarfs, he, scowling, asked the two gods what they wished.\n\n\u201cWe heard of the wonders worked by Alberich,\u201d answered Wotan. \u201cWe come\nto behold them.\u201d\n\n\u201cPooh! I know you well,\u201d said the Dwarf King. \u201cSuch notable guests\u201d\u2014and\nhe sneered\u2014\u201ccould only have been led by envy to Nibelheim.\u201d\n\n\u201cSurely you know me,\u201d said Logi. \u201cI have lit your forges, gnome. Cannot\nyou trust me?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo be sure I know you,\u201d grinned Alberich. \u201cAnd I will always trust you\nto be untrustworthy. I don\u2019t fear you.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow brave you are,\u201d said Logi, in pretended admiration.\n\n\u201cDo you see that treasure?\u201d said the Nibelung, proudly pointing to a\ngreat heap of gold and gems.\n\nThe gods assented.\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said Wotan, \u201cwhat good does it do you, here in Nibelheim?\u201d\n\nAlberich glared at him, and then laughed.\n\n\u201cHa! ha! But wait!\u201d he said. \u201cYou gods! You gods! You have looked down\nupon us Nibelungs. Now we, with the help of the Golden Ring, will sway\nthe whole world. We will storm the gates of Walhalla! Beware! Ha! ha!\nDo you hear me? Beware!\u201d\n\nWotan, in anger, started forward, but Logi slipped in front of him.\n\n\u201cMost wonderful are you, O Nibelung!\u201d he said, admiringly. \u201cI salute\nyou as the mightiest creature alive. But tell me one thing, O wise\none. How guard you your Ring from thieves?\u201d\n\n\u201cDoes Logi think that all are as foolish as himself?\u201d asked Alberich.\n\u201cThat danger I provided for. A Cap of Darkness, called the Tarnhelm,\nis mine, to change me into whatever shape I wish, and also to hide me\nat any time. So, my friend, guard I my Ring, sleeping or waking, as I\nwish.\u201d\n\n\u201cWondrous above all it seems!\u201d cried Logi. \u201cProve it, O Dwarf!\u201d\n\n\u201cThat I will. What shape shall I take?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhatever you wish,\u201d answered Logi. \u201cIt is sure to be wonderful.\u201d\n\nAlberich placed the metal cap upon his head and became a great dragon,\nwrithing on the ground.\n\n\u201cWonderful!\u201d cried the gods.\n\n\u201cYet I should again like to behold its magic. Is it possible to become\nsmall as well as large by its aid?\u201d asked Logi. \u201cI beg of you show us\nif you can become small, O great one!\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing easier!\u201d cried Alberich, beginning to enjoy himself. \u201cLook,\nthen, O gods!\u201d He placed the helmet on his head and vanished. A toad\nhopped on the ground in his stead.\n\n\u201cQuick! Hold him!\u201d cried the Fire God; and Wotan firmly held the toad\nwith his foot, while Logi lifted up the Tarnhelm, which still rested\nupon its great head. And behold! Alberich lay at their feet, struggling\nand roaring with rage.\n\nThe Fire God produced a rope, and the two gods bound the Nibelung\nand carried him with them up the dark passage-way through which they\nhad descended, and left behind them the crimson fires, the clanging\nhammers, the gloom, and hopelessness of Nibelheim.\n\n\n[Music: Motif of Alberich\u2019s Spell]\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE RAINBOW BRIDGE\n\nOut of the underground world into the wild, mountainous country above,\nveiled still with the strange gray mist of age, came the two gods and\ntheir captive, Alberich.\n\nHe was snarling and grumbling, being much enraged at being bound by the\nhated gods, and, above all, at having his beloved Tarnhelm in the hands\nof Logi, whom he especially detested. Also, he feared that he would be\nforced to give up the Ring, which he still wore on his finger; and,\npartly to prevent the gods from wishing for this, he soon consented to\ngive them the hoard which his servants, the Nibelungs, had collected\nin Nibelheim. Touching the Ring with his lips, he murmured a command,\nor spell, and from the under-world came the little dark dwarfs bearing\ngreat loads of treasure, which they placed at his feet.\n\nAshamed, and hating that they should see him a captive, Alberich loudly\nordered them off with threats and harsh words, and then demanded that\nthe gods should release him, while the Nibelungs crept back into the\ndark hole that led to Nibelheim.\n\nLogi, casting the Tarnhelm upon the pile, asked if the Dwarf should be\nfreed.\n\n\u201cHe wears a bright Ring,\u201d said the King God. \u201cLet it be added to the\nheap!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Ring!\u201d wildly cried Alberich. \u201cThe Ring! I will never give it up!\nIt is mine!\u201d\n\n\u201cThief! You stole it from the Rhine Children,\u201d said Wotan. \u201cDo you\ncall it, then, yours?\u201d and he tore the Ring from Alberich\u2019s finger and\nplaced it on his own.\n\n\u201cLet him go!\u201d he said to Logi, who obeyed, and the Nibelung was free.\nRising from the ground, he glared horribly at the gods.\n\n\u201cListen to the spell I cast on the Ring!\u201d he said, with a peal of wild\nlaughter. \u201cNone who possess it shall ever through it come to happiness.\nSorrow attends it, and whoever owns it shall know grief. His death\nshall be sad, his life a failure. This doom shall attend the Ring until\nit comes back to my hand. Hear the spell Alberich has placed on the\nGold!\u201d\n\nHe laughed again, and vanished in the dark hole that led to Nibelheim.\n\nWotan stood silently gazing at the Ring on his finger. Logi, looking\noff in the distance, saw Fasolt and Fafner nearing, with Friea. As she\ncame closer, the gray mist began to clear slightly away, though it\nstill hung about in heavy clouds, hiding Walhalla\u2019s spires. Fricka,\nThor, and Froh, quickly drawing near from another direction, spoke of\nthe growing warmth and clearness of the air.\n\n\u201cDear sister, welcome back to us!\u201d cried Fricka, as the giants strode\nout with Friea. But, when the two goddesses started forward to meet\neach other, Fasolt caught hold of his captive and held her fast.\n\n\u201cWait! Wait!\u201d he cried. \u201cWhere is the ransom?\u201d\n\n\u201cBehold it!\u201d said Wotan, pointing to the heap of treasure.\n\nThe giants declared that when a pile of gold had been erected high\nenough to hide the Love Goddess from view, they would return her to the\ngods\u2014but not before. Accordingly, a heap was made which, as it grew\nhigher with added treasure, soon hid Friea entirely, save for a gleam\nof her bright hair, which Fafner\u2019s keen eye descried. The Tarnhelm\nmust go to hide it.\n\nThat accomplished, Fasolt strained his eyes to find an unfilled\ncrevice. Through a tiny space he beheld one of the goddess\u2019s eyes, and\ndemanded the Ring to fill up the chink.\n\n\u201cThe Ring!\u201d exclaimed Wotan, starting back.\n\n\u201cThe Ring!\u201d cried Logi. \u201cNonsense! It is the Rhine Children\u2019s treasure.\nThe King God will return it to them.\u201d\n\n\u201cFoolish you are,\u201d said Wotan, in a low voice. \u201cI shall keep it myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cBad is the prospect for the fulfilment of my promise to the weeping\nRhine Children,\u201d said Logi, softly.\n\n\u201cYour promise does not bind me,\u201d said the King of the Gods. \u201cI shall\nkeep the Ring.\u201d\n\n\u201cHand over the ransom!\u201d cried Fafner, loudly.\n\n\u201cNever!\u201d said Wotan.\n\n\u201cThen Friea is ours!\u201d roared the giants, and they grasped her once more.\n\nThe gods, in chorus, begged Wotan to give the wranglers the treasure,\nbut he was deaf to their entreaties. His eyes were fastened upon the\nbright Ring\u2019s glitter; he was blind to all else.\n\nSuddenly the light seemed to die out from the world. All grew dark.\nFrom a black chasm in the rocks rose a woman\u2019s figure in a strange\nhalo of blue light. Her face was pale, with a look of deepest mystery\nupon it. Lifting her hand, she spoke in low, solemn tones to Wotan:\n\n\u201cHear my warning! Avoid the Ring, with its terrible spell! Heed me, O\nWotan!\u201d\n\n\u201cWho are you who warn me?\u201d asked the god.\n\n\u201cI understand all things; wisest in all the world am I. The witch-wife\nErda, men call me, Mother of the Norns. Listen, listen, listen! A day\nof dusk and gloom is coming for the gods. Beware of the Ring!\u201d\n\nShe sank down into the earth once more. The blue light faded away. As\nshe vanished she spoke again:\n\n\u201cThink well on what I have said!\u201d\n\nShe was gone. Slowly the light came back to the world. Lost in thought,\nWotan stood a moment; then turned quickly to the giants, and tore the\nRing from his finger.\n\n\u201cIt is yours!\u201d he declared; and he tossed it on to the pile. \u201cBack to\nus, Friea!\u201d and the Love Goddess gladly flew back to their midst.\n\nFafner and Fasolt began fighting over the Ring at once, and Alberich\u2019s\ndark spell quickly made itself felt. For Fasolt, seizing the Ring, was\nkilled by his brother, who, with Ring and treasure, fled away to a\nfar cave, named Hate Hole, and there, in the shape of a great dragon,\nguarded his hoard in loneliness for many years. But that is a different\npart of my story.\n\nAfter the death of Fasolt and the flight of Fafner with the treasure,\nthe clouds hanging low over the gods were cleared away by a great\nstorm, and, as Walhalla appeared shining in the sun, a rainbow bridge\nspanned the space between the palace and the gods, who passed over it\nto their new home.\n\n\u201cThese gods\u2014how foolish and blind!\u201d said Logi to himself, as he went\nwith them. \u201cI feel ashamed that I am one of them, bound to share in\ntheir doings.\u201d\n\nThe beautiful palace glittered brightly. The gods smiled as they passed\nover the rainbow bridge. Only from the Rhine below there came a sound\nof wailing.\n\n\u201cO Rhinegold! Rhinegold!\u201d sang the weeping Rhine daughters. \u201cWe long\nfor your light. Trustful are those in the water; false are those above.\u201d\n\n[Music: Walhalla Motif]\n\n\n\n\nPart II\n\nTHE WARRIOR GODDESS, or _DIE WALK\u00dcRE_\n\n\n[Music: Storm Motif]\n\nPRELUDE\n\nI shall now take a long leap in my story, going on to a time when the\ngods had been happy in Walhalla for many years. Wotan alone felt dreary\nforebodings, though, as yet, there were no real signs of any downfall\nof the gods. So heavy were these presentiments that he began to fill\nhis halls with heroes able to defend Walhalla, if Alberich should\never regain the Ring, and, keeping his word, storm the gates of the\ngods\u2019 palace. At Wotan\u2019s command, his nine daughters, the Walk\u00fcres (or\nWarrior Goddesses) watched over all combats between heroes, carrying\nthose who were killed to Walhalla, where Friea\u2019s smiles brought them to\nlife again.\n\nAnd this was not the only strange thing that had come to pass since the\ngods had entered their new palace.\n\nAmong Wotan\u2019s descendants were a race of people called the Volsungs,\nand at the time of which I am writing only two of them were alive,\na boy and a girl, who had been brought up from babyhood almost like\nbrother and sister, and who were very much alike, having the golden\nhair of their ancestor Wotan, and eyes in which there was a curious\nglitter, as bright as that of the snake\u2019s glance.\n\nBoth were as beautiful as the sun, like all the Volsungs; both were\nstrong and warm-hearted and noble, and they loved each other as much as\nthough they had been really brother and sister.\n\nWhile still very young, they became separated for years; for, while the\nboy was out hunting, the girl, Sieglinde, was stolen away by a robber\nnamed Hunding. She led a dreary life as the Robber\u2019s servant, until she\nbecame a woman. But she always felt confident that help would come to\nher in time, because one night, at a feast given by Hunding, a stranger\nhad entered, robed in the rough garb of a wanderer, but with kingly\nbearing. One of his eyes was missing. He had struck a sword into the\ntrunk of a great tree which grew up from the centre of Hunding\u2019s house,\ndeclaring that whoever could draw it out should have it for his own.\nAnd all had tried their best, but the blade would not yield an inch.\n\n[Illustration: A WARRIOR GODDESS]\n\nThen the Wanderer had laughed and departed. But Sieglinde, thinking of\nit dreamily, remembered that, while he had frowned on the others, he\nhad looked kindly on her; and, gazing at the sword, she began to feel,\nafter a while, that whoever could pull it forth would be her rescuer.\nAnd so the years passed.\n\nShe did not know that the Wanderer had been none other than the first\nfather of all the race of Volsungs\u2014Wotan, the king of the gods.\n\nSiegmund, the boy, as he grew to manhood, became a very wolf in\nwildness, but a great warrior, and a stanch hero. He led a roving life,\nwith few friends, and, alas! many enemies. His generous heart brought\nhim into sad dilemmas sometimes; as, for instance, when, at a maiden\u2019s\nrequest, he defended her from her relations, who wished to marry her to\nsome one whom she hated. When, in doing battle for her, he killed one\nof her kinsmen, she had flung herself upon the dead man and accused her\ndefender of cruelty.\n\nHe fought the rude warriors who were pressing up about her until his\nweapons were torn from him, and he was driven away into the woods\nthrough a wild storm which seemed to blow him on with irresistible\nviolence, until he found himself at the door of a house.\n\nUtterly exhausted, he staggered in, filled only with the desire to rest\nand shelter his tired body from the storm. And the house was that of\nHunding, the Robber.\n\n\n[Music: Hunding Motif]\n\n[Music: Volsung Motif]\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE HOUSE OF HUNDING\n\nOutside the storm was raging, the great pines were bending in the wild\ngale, the thunder and lightning were in mad commotion.\n\nInside, rude as the hut was, there were warmth and apparent peace. A\nlarge fire burned on the hearth, and sent its fitful glare from time\nto time flashing about the bare hall; now shining on the sword-hilt in\nthe great oak-tree growing in the centre; now lighting the dark corners\nwith a faint red gleam. A heap of skins was beside the hearth, and upon\nthis Siegmund sank exhausted.\n\nAs he lay there the door opened, and Sieglinde came quickly from an\ninner room. Frightened by the sight of a stranger, she accosted him in\ntrembling tones. Receiving no answer, she came nearer, and, looking\ndown at him, she saw a strong, tall man, with golden hair, and a face\nas beautiful as the sun. Caught over his shoulder was a great black\nbear-skin, and his face was like that of a king among men. His eyes\nwere closed as she bent over him; but, after a moment or two, he opened\nthem and gasped faintly, \u201cWater! Water!\u201d only to sink back once more,\nexhausted, as Sieglinde hastened away to draw him a draught at the\nspring. She was soon back with what he had asked for, and, giving it,\nlooked down kindly as he drank.\n\nWhen he had finished, he gazed up at her and saw a beautiful maiden,\nwith the rough, gray skin of some wild animal worn loosely over her\nlong white robe. She had hair of as deep a gold as his own, and a face\nfull of sweetness and a sympathy that he had never known before.\n\nRising from the hearth, he gently wished her good fortune, and thanked\nher for her kindness to a friendless man, who must now pass on his way\nlest the sorrow which followed his footsteps should come to her; and,\nso saying, was about to leave the house when Sieglinde, who in some\nway felt that this man was to be her rescuer, sprang forward and begged\nhim to stay, saying that as sorrow had dwelt in the house for many days\nshe did not fear its coming. So he consented to remain until Hunding,\nwho was out hunting, should return.\n\nGoing back to the hearth, he stood there quietly looking, in a long\nsilence, towards Sieglinde, and both felt, I think, that it was Fate\nthat he, and none other, should stay and rescue her. So they stood\nsilently waiting for the Robber\u2019s return, and the fire crackled and\nglowed and flickered about the hall.\n\nSuddenly, Sieglinde started; for the sound of hoofs broke the\nstillness, and they could hear the Robber leading his horse to the\nstable. Almost directly afterwards the door opened, and Hunding himself\ncame in. He was not a pleasant-looking creature, for he was very tall\nand very broad-shouldered, and as wild in appearance as a wolf, and\nhis face was dark and angry. His long hair and beard were black and\ntangled, his eyes were fierce, and he wore queer, jangling armor and\nbands of steel on his bare arms.\n\nHe stopped short, and sternly pointed to the stranger, glaring at\nSieglinde in great anger. Reading a fierce question in his look, she\nanswered, quietly:\n\n\u201cI found this man weary upon the hearth. Need drove him into the house.\u201d\n\nHunding relented a little; and, after handing her his shield and\nweapons, said quietly to Siegmund:\n\n\u201cSafe is my hearth! Safe for you is my house!\u201d Then, turning to\nSieglinde, he roughly bade her hasten with the supper. She bore away\nthe heavy weapons and rested them against the tree in the centre of\nthe hall; then went about arranging the evening meal. As they sat down\non the rough seats around the scantily spread table, Hunding asked his\nguest his name, and whence he had come on so stormy a night. Sieglinde\nleaned eagerly forward as the warrior began his tale.\n\nHe told them the story of his life, only calling himself Woful the\nWolfing instead of Siegmund the Volsung. And when he came to the tale\nof the maiden and her kinsmen, and of how he had killed one of them,\nand fought the others until he was disarmed and driven into the forest,\nHunding rose in great anger and stood looking at his guest with wrath\nin his eyes.\n\n\u201cYou win every one\u2019s hate,\u201d he declared. \u201cMy friends sent for me to\nhelp them revenge the shedding of blood. I went to their aid, but it\nwas too late. Now, when I return, I find the enemy himself upon my\nhearth. They were my friends against whom you fought; and, though\nto-night custom makes you safe as a guest in my house, to-morrow you\nshall die, Wolfing! So be prepared!\u201d\n\nSo both the Robber and his servant, the maiden Sieglinde, went away,\nleaving Siegmund alone by the hearth, sad and a little perplexed.\nFor Sieglinde, as she left the hall, had pointed swiftly towards the\nsword-hilt buried in the tree. The fire leaped up wildly as he stood\ngazing towards the oak, and the light touched the bright hilt and\npainted it red for a moment, then died once more. Siegmund dreamily\nwondered if the light on the steel had been left by the glance\nSieglinde had cast towards it. For you see he had fallen in love with\nthis lovely woman, who looked at him so kindly, and whose face was as\nfair and beautiful as the sun.\n\nThe gold and rosy flashes from the fire grew fainter, the shadows\ndeepened, and Siegmund fell asleep.\n\nNow perhaps you wonder why he stayed there instead of going out into\nthe night, where he would be safe. There were three good reasons to\nkeep him.\n\nIn the first place, he was too brave a hero to fly from danger; and, in\nthe second place, he did not want to leave the beautiful maiden alone\nin the Robber\u2019s power; and the third reason was as good a one as either\nof the others. Hunding had said: \u201cCustom makes you safe as a guest in\nmy house,\u201d which meant that it would be both unfair and wrong if he,\nHunding, killed a stranger taking shelter under his roof. This was\ncalled the Law of Hospitality, and the law was never taken advantage of\nby any honorable guest. So, if Siegmund had run away after Hunding had\nso well observed the Law of Hospitality he would have been dishonorable\nas well as cowardly, and it was just as though he had given a promise\nthat he would not go away that night.\n\nIn the meantime Siegmund lay asleep. From an inner room came the\nbeautiful maiden swiftly to his side. Awaking him, she told him to\nhurry away while there was yet time. She said that she had sprinkled\nsome sleep spices into Hunding\u2019s wine, and that he would slumber\nsoundly and long; and she begged the guest to go away quietly into the\nnight and save himself.\n\nFinally, she told him of the Wanderer who had come and struck the sword\ninto the oak-tree, and told him, too, how she had waited in vain for\nsome hero who would draw forth the sword and rescue her.\n\nSiegmund said that he would claim the sword for his own, and drag it\nfrom the tree, and, as he spoke, the door opened wide. Perhaps the good\nfairies unlatched it. Without, it was very still; the storm had ceased,\nand the moon was shining wondrously.\n\nThen Sieglinde, looking in his face, seemed to see there a resemblance\nto some one she had known long ago, and, gazing into his eyes, she\nasked him if he were really a Wolfing.\n\n\u201cNo, a Volsung!\u201d replied the hero, proudly. And she cried out in joy:\n\u201cA Volsung! Are you, too, a Volsung\u2014one of my race? It was for you,\nindeed, that the Wanderer struck the sword into the oak.\u201d\n\nSpringing to the tree, Siegmund laid his hand on the hilt and broke\ninto a wild chant, naming the sword which he had come to, when in such\npressing need, Nothung (or Needful).\n\nWith a mighty wrench he drew it out of the oak\u2019s trunk, and held it\nabove his head.\n\n\u201cI am Siegmund the Volsung!\u201d he shouted, exultantly.\n\nThen he asked her more gently if she would follow him away from the\nhouse of the enemy Hunding, telling her that if she would be his\nwife he would defend her with Nothung, and make her life one long\nspring-tide.\n\n\u201cAs you are Siegmund, I am Sieglinde!\u201d cried she, aloud. \u201cIt is right\nthat the Volsungs should become joined as one.\u201d\n\nAnd into the night they went away together; for the storm had ceased\nand the brightness of the moonlight was most marvellous.\n\n[Music: Sword Motif]\n\n\n[Music: Br\u00fcnnhilde\u2019s Call\n\n\u201cHoyotoho!\u201d]\n\n[Music: Motif of the Volsung\u2019s heroism]\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE DAUGHTER OF WOTAN\n\nUp in the mountains near a rocky gorge, where the wind swept and\nthe wild pines grew, stood Wotan, king of the gods, and before him,\nawaiting his orders, was his favorite daughter, Br\u00fcnnhilde, the Walk\u00fcre.\n\nShe was very beautiful, more beautiful than any woman who ever\nbreathed. Her hair was golden bright, her figure queenly. When she\nmoved, the motion of a bird was not more fleet and graceful, and her\nface was what you might suppose the face of a goddess would be. She\nwore long white robes and glistening armor, and the wings in her bright\nhelmet were like snow. She bore a spear and shield also, for you know\nshe was a goddess of war, and, as her business was to attend the\nbattles of heroes, she arrayed herself accordingly.\n\nShe moved restlessly, and seemed anxious to be off, for at the top of a\nrocky slope was not her horse, Grani, waiting for her to spring on his\nback and gallop away through the clouds?\n\nWotan, whom, of course, you remember, stood leaning on his spear. He\nlooked for the moment glad, for he was very fond of his descendants,\nthe Volsungs, and he also believed that Siegmund would one day kill\nFafner, the Dragon, with the sword which had been placed in the oak for\nthe purpose, and would return to the Rhine Maidens their treasure. When\nthis should come to pass, the gods would have no more fear of Alberich.\n\nWhen Wotan thought of all these possibilities, the dusk of the gods\u2019\nbright day seemed far off. So it was with a thrill of joy in his voice\nthat he spoke to Br\u00fcnnhilde, and bade her make ready to attend the\nfight between Siegmund and Hunding, which, as the Robber was already\nhunting for his guest with fierce hounds, was sure to occur that day.\n\n\u201cAid the Volsung, my brave maiden!\u201d said the King God. \u201cOverthrow\nHunding! Hasten to the battle!\u201d\n\n\u201cHoyotoho!\u201d shouted the Walk\u00fcre, waving her spear as she sprang up the\nrocks. \u201cHoyotoho! Hoyotoho!\u201d\n\nOn a high pinnacle of boulders she paused, and looked down on Wotan\nonce more. \u201cLook well, father! Here comes Fricka. I leave you to her.\u201d\n\nWith a clear burst of laughter she sped on again. Her boisterous\n\u201cHoyotoho!\u201d died away among the echoes.\n\nIn a golden car, drawn by two rams, came Fricka, the queen of the gods.\nShe seemed in great haste, and, springing to the ground, stood in all\nher majesty before the King God, with anger in her eyes.\n\n\u201cI ask for right!\u201d she began, drawing her scarlet draperies about\nher. And she went on to demand vengeance for Hunding; vengeance upon\nSiegmund, the guest, for having taken advantage of the host who had\nobserved so well the Law of Hospitality; vengeance upon him who, from\nthe house of Hunding, had stolen the Robber\u2019s servant, Sieglinde.\n\nAll this made Wotan very unhappy, for he loved Siegmund, and already\nin his heart had forgiven him for what he had done. Yet he knew that\nall wrong must bring punishment, and asked Fricka what she wished him\nto do.\n\n\u201cCall back the Walk\u00fcre!\u201d said the Queen Goddess, and there was a look\nof triumph on her face. \u201cBreak the Volsung\u2019s sword! Promise me!\u201d\n\nThere was a pause.\n\n\u201cI\u2014promise,\u201d said the god, covering his face with his hands.\n\nTriumphant and satisfied, Fricka drove away, and, as she went,\nBr\u00fcnnhilde, who had returned while the King and Queen were talking\ntogether, and had led her horse into a cave near by, came to her\nfather, asking why he seemed so sorrowful.\n\nTenderly drawing her to him, he told her the story you know so well, of\nthe stealing of the Gold, the building of Walhalla, and the prophecy of\nErda. He told her of the day of which the Earth Witch had spoken, when\nthe world would be in twilight and gloom\u2014the Dusk of the Gods.\n\nHe told her, too, the hopes he had had of the great deeds to be done by\nSiegmund. He let her see how it filled him with the deepest sorrow to\noverthrow the Volsung. But the Volsung had taken advantage of the Law\nof Hospitality, and Wotan had promised that he would overthrow him; and\nthe promise must be kept. He bade her vanquish Siegmund in the coming\nbattle and give the victory to Hunding; then, heart-broken, he wended\nhis way among the rocks, and was gone.\n\nSadly Br\u00fcnnhilde gazed after him. Her heart, too, was aching, because,\nthough she loved to carry heroes to Walhalla, she loved still more to\naid them in battle. She went slowly into the cave.\n\nIt was growing darker. Now, from out the gloom that filled the rocky\ngorge came Siegmund and his beautiful wife, Sieglinde, seeking rest in\na sheltered place. Sieglinde was almost exhausted, for the way they\nhad come was long and hard; and, after trying vainly to make her tired\nlimbs carry her farther, she fainted at the young Volsung\u2019s feet.\nTenderly he carried her to a rock near by, and, seating himself upon\nit, gently supported her and stooped down to listen to her breathing.\n\nAs he raised his head, satisfied that she still lived, a grave, sweet\nvoice sounded on his ear. He turned his eyes to where stood a beautiful\nwoman in white and steel, one arm on the neck of her horse. It was the\nWalk\u00fcre, who, according to her custom, came to warn the man who was\nshortly to be killed in battle. It grew still darker.\n\n[Illustration: THE WALK\u00dcRE APPEARS]\n\n\u201cSiegmund,\u201d said the Walk\u00fcre, \u201clook on me! Soon you must follow me!\u201d\n\nSiegmund, wondering, asked who she was.\n\n\u201cOnly those who are shortly to die may see my face,\u201d answered\nBr\u00fcnnhilde. \u201cI bear them away to Wotan, in Walhalla. There you will\nfind innumerable heroes who have died in battle. They will welcome you.\u201d\n\nSiegmund asked if his father, Volse, were among the heroes.\n\nBr\u00fcnnhilde answered \u201cYes.\u201d\n\nQuietly the young warrior asked if his beautiful bride might accompany\nhim.\n\nThe Walk\u00fcre slowly shook her head.\n\n\u201cLonely upon the earth she remains,\u201d she answered. \u201cSiegmund will see\nSieglinde no more.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen greet Walhalla and the heroes for me,\u201d said the Volsung; \u201cfor\nthere I will follow you not.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have looked on the face of the Walk\u00fcre,\u201d said Br\u00fcnnhilde. \u201cYou\nmust die.\u201d\n\nAnd, by degrees, she made him understand that death was awaiting\nhim, that he was doomed to be killed by Hunding. In despair Siegmund\nraised Nothung, the sword, and declared that he would kill his wife and\nhimself, so that they might be together in death. But Br\u00fcnnhilde, who\nhad felt her heart grow more and more tender towards this unhappy pair,\nstarted forward, bidding him hope, and declared that she would help\nhim, instead of Hunding, in the combat, and save both himself and his\nwife.\n\n\u201cI shall be with you in battle,\u201d she promised; and she hurried away,\nleading her horse.\n\nIt grew darker and darker. Storm-clouds were gathering, and the rocky\ngorge was filled with a dense, black shadow. In the distance came the\nsound of Hunding\u2019s horn. Waving his sword, Siegmund sprang up the rocks\nto meet the enemy.\n\nSieglinde, dreaming softly where her husband had left her, was awakened\nby a wild burst of thunder and lightning. She started up frantically,\ntrying to see through the darkness. Clouds were all about her, veiling\nthe rocks on every side. Hunding\u2019s deep horn-call sounded nearer and\nnearer. Finally, from a high rock among the trees on the top of a\nwooded slope she could hear the voices of the combatants and the\nclash of weapons. Suddenly, in a vivid glare of lightning, Br\u00fcnnhilde\nappeared among the clouds, stooping low over Siegmund, and protecting\nhim with outstretched shield. Clear and strong rang out her voice over\nthe tumult:\n\n\u201cBe firm, Siegmund! Strike quickly.\u201d\n\nBut now Sieglinde, staring wildly up through the darkness, paralyzed\nwith fright, saw a fierce crimson light\u2014the light that heralded the\napproach of the angry King God\u2014and Wotan stood revealed in the clouds\nabove Hunding.\n\n\u201cAway from my spear!\u201d he cried, in a terrible voice. \u201cLet the sword be\nsplintered!\u201d And he stretched out his weapon, made from the World-Ash.\nNothung was shivered in pieces upon it, and the Robber Hunding, with\none blow killed Siegmund, the Volsung.\n\nWith a great cry Sieglinde sank to the ground, but through the cloudy\ndarkness came Br\u00fcnnhilde. She lifted the poor woman on her horse, and,\nurging Grani to flight, sped away through the clouds.\n\nWotan, left alone with the Robber, turned towards him in contemptuous\nanger. Before his gaze Hunding sank to the earth in death.\n\nSuddenly the King God burst into supreme wrath.\n\n\u201cBr\u00fcnnhilde, who has disobeyed me, must be punished!\u201d he cried. And,\nleaping upon his war-horse, he was gone through the clouds.\n\n[Music: Motif of Siegmund and Sieglinde\u2019s Love]\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the Walk\u00fcres\u2019 Ride]\n\n[Music: Motif of Br\u00fcnnhilde\u2019s Pleading]\n\n[Music: Slumber Motif]\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nBR\u00dcNNHILDE\u2019S PUNISHMENT\n\nIt was a custom of the Walk\u00fcres to meet every evening after their wild\nrides, at a rock called \u201cThe Walk\u00fcres\u2019 Stone,\u201d and thence go on to\nWalhalla.\n\nUpon the afternoon of the combat which had proved fatal to the Volsung,\nthe Walk\u00fcres arrived one after the other at the rock. Only one was\nmissing\u2014Wotan\u2019s favorite, Br\u00fcnnhilde.\n\nThe maidens sang merrily their Hoyotoho, waved their spears and climbed\nthe rocks, and kept a sharp lookout for Grani\u2019s appearance in the\nclouds. But it was very late before Br\u00fcnnhilde was anywhere to be seen.\nWhen she came, she brought with her Sieglinde, whom she was supporting.\nIn answer to her sisters\u2019 anxious inquiries, the Walk\u00fcre told them of\nher disobedience and Sieglinde\u2019s sorrow, and begged them to protect\nSiegmund\u2019s wife, and herself as well.\n\n\u201cAnd see, O sisters, if Wotan draws nigh!\u201d she begged.\n\n\u201cA thunder-cloud approaches,\u201d called Ortlinde, one of the Walk\u00fcres,\nfrom her high pinnacle of rock.\n\n\u201cThe clouds grow thicker,\u201d cried Waltraute. \u201cOur father comes,\u201d they\nexclaimed in unison.\n\n\u201cShelter this woman,\u201d begged Br\u00fcnnhilde. For she knew that Wotan, in\nhis rage, might kill the wife of the warrior whom he had overthrown.\nBut the maidens feared their father\u2019s anger, and would give no aid.\nSo, at last, Br\u00fcnnhilde told Sieglinde to fly and hide herself in the\nforest, and that she, the Walk\u00fcre, would remain behind to bear the\nbrunt of Wotan\u2019s anger. Br\u00fcnnhilde drew from under her shield the\nsplinters of Nothung, which she had picked up on the battle-field,\nand gave them with words of kindness and comfort to Sieglinde, who,\nmurmuring tender thanks, sped away into the woods and was gone.\n\nThen even Br\u00fcnnhilde\u2019s brave heart began to fail her. A great storm had\narisen, and amid the crash of thunder came Wotan\u2019s voice calling her\nname in tones of anger. Trembling, she took her place in the centre of\nthe group of maidens, concealed from view by them.\n\nSurrounded by red light came Wotan, having left his war-steed snorting\nin the wood.\n\n\u201cWhere is Br\u00fcnnhilde?\u201d he demanded. But the Walk\u00fcres, in trembling\ntones, merely asked the cause of his anger. In growing rage, Wotan\ncommanded Br\u00fcnnhilde to come forward and receive her punishment,\nreproaching her in scornful words for hiding among her sisters.\n\nQuietly the Walk\u00fcre came out from among them, and stood before him. She\nwas quite ready to receive her sentence, whatever it might be, and bent\nher head to listen to her father\u2019s words.\n\nHer punishment, Wotan told her, was to be this: She was to be laid in\nhelpless sleep, at the mercy of the first passer-by who might choose\nto awaken her. Him she must follow as his wife, for, when she was\nawakened from her sleep, she would be a woman\u2014a goddess no longer.\n\nHeart-broken, Br\u00fcnnhilde sank to the ground with a cry. To be made\nmortal seemed to her the most terrible punishment possible. And it\nseemed so to the other Walk\u00fcres as well. They besought the King God to\nhave mercy on their sister, but he was firm.\n\nAmid wails of despair and pity for Br\u00fcnnhilde, the Walk\u00fcres separated\nand rushed wildly out of sight in all directions. Only the echoes of\ntheir cries and the last faint sound of their horses\u2019 hoofs remained as\nthey rode off through the clouds.\n\nThe storm died away. All was quiet now. Slowly Br\u00fcnnhilde rose from\nwhere she lay and pleadingly spoke to her father, asking pardon for her\ndisobedience and begging for some mercy and tenderness. At last, when\nshe found that, though he still loved her as dearly as ever, he was\nfirm in his decision, she asked only one favor of him\u2014a last one\u2014that\nhe should place a circle of flame about the rock where she was to be\nlaid asleep, flame so fierce and high that only a brave man might come\nthrough it and awaken her.\n\nWotan consented, and, overcome by his love for her, drew her into his\narms in a last, sad embrace. He bade her farewell with a tenderness\nthat comforted her even then, and, stooping, kissed her long and\nlovingly.\n\nHer eyes closed. Her head sank back against his shoulder. Laying her on\na rock that made a rude couch, he placed her shield on her arm and her\nspear at her side. He looked down with deepest sorrow on the face of\nthis, his most beautiful child, the War Goddess, and then, raising his\nspear, commanded Logi to light a ring of fire about the rock.\n\nGreat billows of flame spread from left to right, and glowed in a\nbrilliant circle about the sleeping goddess, casting a dim glare on her\nfigure, and lighting up the quiet night-sky.\n\nStanding in the red firelight, Wotan once more stretched out his spear\nin a spell, and pronounced these words:\n\n\u201cOnly he who fears not my spear can pass through this fiery bar.\u201d\n\nAnd, so saying, he passed from out the charmed circle and left behind\nhim the Walk\u00fcre in her long, fire-watched sleep, to be broken only by\none who feared not even the spear of Wotan, the king of the gods.\n\n[Music: The Sleep of the Walk\u00fcre]\n\n\n\n\nPart III\n\nSIEGFRIED\n\n\n[Music: Motif of Mime\u2019s Meditation]\n\nPRELUDE\n\nWhen Sieglinde ran into the woods with the pieces of the broken sword,\nNothung, she took shelter in a cave where a wicked old dwarf lived\nalone. There a little boy was born. But Sieglinde had never thoroughly\nrecovered from the shock of her husband\u2019s death. The way through the\nwoods had been difficult, and she had endured great hardships; so one\nday she called the Dwarf to her and gave him the broken sword, telling\nhim to keep it for her son until he grew old enough to have a weapon of\nhis own, and she told the Dwarf that she was Sieglinde, and that her\nhusband had been Siegmund, the Volsung, and she finally said that she\nwanted the child to be named Siegfried; then she sank back and died.\nAnd so Siegfried, who was a very little baby then, never, really, saw\neither his father or mother.\n\nThe only father he knew, as he grew older, was the Dwarf, who was none\nother than Mime, Alberich\u2019s half-brother. And he could not help knowing\nthat Mime was wicked and sly, though the Dwarf pretended to love his\nfoster-son, and tried to arouse some love in return.\n\nNow, perhaps, you wonder, if Mime was so wicked, why he took care of\nthe boy. I will tell you.\n\nMime, like every one else, wanted the Rhinegold, and could not get\nit, for Fafner, the Dragon, guarded it by night and day at Hate\nHole. And being as sly and evil-minded as the rest of the Nibelungs,\nhe had concocted a plot by which he thought he could obtain it. He\nhoped Siegfried, when he grew older, would slay Fafner with the sword\nNothung, and win the Rhinegold. You see he hoped to accomplish Fafner\u2019s\ndeath through Siegfried, just as Wotan had once tried to do through\nSiegmund. Only, after Siegfried had attained the Gold, Mime hoped to be\nable to poison him and steal from him the treasure.\n\nBut, to accomplish this, the broken sword must be mended, and this Mime\ncould not do. Its splintered edges baffled even him\u2014clever smith as\nhe was. So he set to work forging other swords, and trying to fashion\na blade keen enough to satisfy the boy-Volsung, and also to kill the\nDragon at Hate Hole. But every weapon he made Siegfried broke into\npieces, and demanded a stronger and still stronger sword, until Mime\nwas in despair.\n\nIt angered him terribly, too, that Siegfried, more by instinct than\nanything else, knew how wicked his heart was, and how full of bad,\ncruel thoughts. The little, dark Nibelung could not understand how\nthe boy, beautiful as the sun, golden-haired and keen-eyed, strong of\nlimb and true of heart, loved to roam in the wide forests all the day,\nmerrily blowing his silver horn and making friends with the woodland\ncreatures, only returning to Mime\u2019s cave at night. He could not realize\nthe pleasure that the soft forest voices gave to the youth just growing\ninto manhood; how he loved the wolves and bears better than the\ncringing, evil-eyed, horrible little Dwarf in the cave at home\u2014the only\nhome he knew.\n\nAs for Siegfried, the only thing he wondered at was that he ever went\nback to the cave at all. Why did he not roam away forever into the\nforest, search out that far, strange place called the world, that\nreally seemed as if it must be a different universe from the one in\nwhich he lived? He could not tell. He only knew that a strange,\nirresistible something seemed to draw him back to Mime\u2019s side every\nnight\u2014a something he could not explain or even understand. Meanwhile\ntime passed.\n\n\n[Music: Motif of Forest Life, sometimes called Motif of Love Life]\n\n[Music: Motif of the Forging of Nothung\n\n    \u201cNothung! Nothung! Notable Sword!\u201d]\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nSIEGFRIED AND MIME\n\nThe cave was a dark one, but it was not altogether a bad place in\nwhich to live. It was as lofty as a stately cathedral, and the Dwarf\u2019s\nforge, built on one side, lent a fitful red light and a little warmth\nto the dim, cold atmosphere. Skins of animals gave it a semblance of\ncomfort; and, indeed, to a wild creature like Siegfried, it would have\nbeen a most desirable home had it not been for the continual presence\nof Mime. On the day on which I will open my story, Mime was sitting\non a low stool trying to fashion a sword which would not break in the\nhands of the impetuous young Volsung, who, at that particular moment,\nwas, as usual, out in the woods with his friends, the wild beasts. As\nhe hammered, Mime grumbled crossly because he had to work forever with\nswords that seemed of no use to the crazy boy, who insisted on smashing\nthem all, and racing off to the woods, merely demanding as he went a\nbetter and a stronger weapon.\n\n\u201cThere is a blade that he could not break,\u201d muttered the Nibelung, as\nhe worked. \u201cNothung he would find firm in his hands, but I cannot weld\nthe splinters. Ah! if I could, I should be well repaid.\u201d He paused, and\nthen went on, mysteriously murmuring to himself:\n\n\u201cFafner, the great, wicked worm! Well guards he the Rhinegold. Only\nSiegfried can overthrow him. This can only be done by Nothung, I feel\nsure. And, alas! I cannot shape Nothung, the sword.\u201d\n\nHe began to hammer once more, grumbling continually because Siegfried\ninsisted that he should make swords, and snarling with rage because\nevery weapon he forged fell to pieces in the boy\u2019s strong hands.\n\nSuddenly, from without, came a clear, merry voice, shouting a blithe\n\u201cHoyho!\u201d and the next moment in came Siegfried himself, leading a great\nbear, which he had harnessed with a bit of rope.\n\n\u201cAsk the foolish smith if he has finished the sword, Bruin!\u201d he cried\nto the bear, and, holding back the great creature firmly, he pretended\nto chase Mime, who, springing behind the anvil, cried, savagely:\n\n\u201cTake him away! I don\u2019t want the bear! I have done my best with your\nsword.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood!\u201d laughed the boy. \u201cGood-bye, Bruin; run away,\u201d and he freed the\ngreat creature, sending him lumbering off into the woods again.\n\nThen, turning to the trembling Nibelung, he again asked for the sword,\nand Mime handed it to him. The young Volsung took it into his hands\nquickly, scorn on his handsome face and anger in his eyes. He was\ndressed in a wild forest costume of wolf-skins, and his yellow hair\ncurled over his shoulders. He, indeed, made a great contrast to Mime,\nand one could not wonder that they did not get on well together.\n\n\u201cWhat a toy!\u201d he cried out. \u201cDo you call this a sword?\u201d and, striking\nit on the anvil, he broke the blade into a hundred slivers, and then\nburst into a rage with the smith, who had pretended to give him a sword\nfit for battle, and had shaped him so foolish a switch, as he called\nit. And finally, thoroughly out of breath, he flung himself upon the\nstone couch at one side, and not all Mime\u2019s coaxings could appease his\nanger. He finally confessed that he did not know why he ever returned\nto the cave, because, he said frankly, he could not help detesting the\nDwarf, and was much happier when away from him. And then he broke into\na passionate description of the wood-life he loved so well; the mating\nof the birds in the spring-time, and the way they loved and helped each\nother; the care that the mother deer lavished upon her little ones; the\ntenderness among all the forest creatures that seemed so beautiful and\nmysterious to him.\n\n\u201cI learned watching them,\u201d said Siegfried, almost sorrowfully, \u201cwhat\nlove must be. Mime, where is she whom _I_ may call mother?\u201d\n\n\u201cNonsense!\u201d said Mime, and tried to draw Siegfried\u2019s mind away from\nthe dangerous topic; for he had never told him anything about his\nparents, always calling him his own son. And he feared the boy\u2019s anger\nif he should ever know that he had been deceived.\n\nBut, thoroughly aroused, the young Volsung fiercely demanded the names\nof his father and mother, declaring that he was far too unlike Mime\nto be his son. At last the Nibelung confessed the truth, and told him\nthe story of his mother\u2019s death, and of how she had left her child in\nhis care. And, when the boy asked for proof, he slowly crept away, to\nreturn with the broken sword Nothung, the mending of which was so hard\na riddle even to his sly brain.\n\nWildly excited, Siegfried commanded him to work at it anew and do his\nbest to weld the pieces; and, with a shout of delight and hope, he\nwent merrily away into the woods, leaving Mime in saddest, deepest\nperplexity.\n\nDespairing, he murmured at the hopelessness of the task, which his\nrather unruly young charge had set him, and was sitting, a picture of\ndiscouragement and misery, when from the dark woods came a stranger\nclad as a wanderer, and bearing a great spear. He advanced to the door\nof the cave and asked in slow, grave tones for rest and shelter. Mime\nwas at first frightened, then angry, and finally refused to harbor the\nstrange guest, until the Wanderer made the following proposal: Mime was\nto ask him three questions, and if they were not correctly answered\nthe host should have the privilege of cutting off his guest\u2019s head. To\nthis Mime consented, and, after a little thought, thus chose his first\nquestion:\n\n\u201cTell me what is the race down in the earth\u2019s depths?\u201d\n\nAnd the Wanderer made answer: \u201cIn the earth\u2019s depths dwell the\nNibelungs. Nibelheim is their land. Once they were ruled by Black\nAlberich, who owned a magic Ring by which he possessed untold wealth.\nWhat is the next question?\u201d\n\nAgain Mime pondered.\n\n\u201cNow, Wanderer, since you know so much of the earth\u2019s depths,\u201d he said,\n\u201ctell me what is the race that dwells upon its surface?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe giants dwell upon its surface. Two of them, Fasolt and Fafner,\nfought for Black Alberich\u2019s hoard. Fafner guards it now as a dragon.\nPut your third question!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat race dwells in the sky above?\u201d demanded Mime.\n\nAnd the Wanderer answered, majestically:\n\n\u201cThe gods dwell above in Walhalla. Their King is Wotan, who owns a\nspear made of the World-Ash. With that spear he rules the world.\u201d\n\nAnd, as he spoke, Wotan, the Wanderer, struck the earth with the haft\nhe held, and a peal of thunder crashed suddenly out upon the silence.\n\nAs Mime cowered, terror-stricken, recognizing his guest, the Wanderer\nagain spoke.\n\nHe said it was only fair that he should have the same right he had\ngiven to Mime, and declared that he should ask three questions with the\nprivilege of cutting off the Nibelung\u2019s head if they were not answered\naright.\n\n\u201cTell me, O Dwarf,\u201d he began, \u201cwhat was that race which Wotan loved,\nand yet treated harshly?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Volsungs,\u201d answered Mime, partially recovering from his terror.\n\u201cSiegmund and Sieglinde were descended from the race. Siegfried is\ntheir son\u2014the strongest Volsung who ever lived.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell answered!\u201d said the Wanderer. \u201cNow listen and reply! A sly\nNibelung watches Siegfried, knowing that he is fated to kill Fafner,\nthe Dragon. What sword must he use to kill him?\u201d\n\n\u201cNothung!\u201d cried Mime, eagerly. \u201cNothung is the name of the\nsword. Siegmund once drew it from a great tree. It was broken by\nthe spear of Wotan. Now a clever smith\u201d\u2014and he rubbed his hands\ngleefully\u2014\u201cunderstands all this, and he hoards well the splinters,\nknowing that with these alone can Siegfried kill the Dragon.\u201d\n\nThe Wanderer burst out into laughter.\n\n\u201cBut who will mend the sword?\u201d he asked.\n\nMime sprang to his feet in despair, filled with terror and rage; for\nthat was the one question he could not answer\u2014that was his riddle, his\neverlasting mystery.\n\nQuietly Wotan rose from the hearth where he had been sitting.\n\n\u201cI gave you three chances to ask me the question which I have now asked\nyou. Foolishly, you let them all slip by. Listen while I answer it!\n_Only he who has never felt fear can forge Nothung anew._\u201d\n\nHe strode to the door of the cave, and there paused, looking back.\n\n\u201cGuard well your head, O Dwarf! I leave it to him who knows not fear.\u201d\n\nSmiling quietly, the Wanderer disappeared in the wood\u2019s depths, and\nthunder and lightning followed him as he went.\n\nMime was left\u2014puzzled, despairing, terror-stricken. His vivid\nimagination began to conjure up before him visions of Fafner, the\nDragon, and he had fallen behind the anvil, so great was his fear, when\nSiegfried came hastily in, asking once more for the sword.\n\nMime, creeping out from behind the anvil, could not at once collect his\nscattered wits, and merely muttered:\n\n\u201c_Only he who has never felt fear can forge Nothung anew._ My wits are\ntoo wise for that job.\u201d\n\nFinally, as Siegfried demanded why he had not worked at the sword, he\nsaid, slowly:\n\n\u201cI was fearing for your sake.\u201d\n\n\u201c_Fearing!_\u201d said Siegfried. \u201cWhat do you mean by fearing?\u201d\n\nMime described the tremblings, shudderings, and quakings aroused by\nfear, and Siegfried remarked, as he finished:\n\n\u201cAll that must seem very queer. I rather think I should like to feel\nall that\u2014but how shall I learn?\u201d\n\nMime, delighted, told him of Fafner, and said that the Dragon would\nteach him, or any one else, the art of fearing, and ended by promising\nto lead him to Hate Hole the next day.\n\n\u201cDoes the world lie that way?\u201d asked the boy.\n\n\u201cTo Hate Hole it is close at hand,\u201d responded the wicked little\nNibelung, beginning to feel rapture glow in his heart.\n\nBut, when Siegfried again demanded the sword, the smith fell once more\ninto despair, wailing that he could not shape it, that only one who\nknew not fear could forge it anew.\n\nStraight to the hearth sprang the strong young Volsung with the\nsplinters of Nothung.\n\n\u201cMy father\u2019s blade will I forge!\u201d he cried; and he began to move about\nmerrily, brightening the fire and hunting for the file with which to\nwork on the broken blade.\n\nMime watched him with wondering eyes. So swiftly and well did he work\nthat even the clever smith could not understand. And, as he dragged at\nthe rope of the bellows and blew up the fire in the forge, this is the\nsong that Siegfried sang:\n\n    \u201cNothung, Nothung, notable sword!\n      Who did thy bright steel shiver?\n    To shreds I have shattered the noble blade,\n      In the pot I shall melt each sliver.\n\n          \u201cOho, oho, aha, aha, oho!\n          Bellows blow,\n          Brighten the glow!\n\n    \u201cFar in the woodlands wild and fair,\n      \u2019Mid the thickets, a tree felled I;\n    I have burned the brown ash into coal,\n      On the hearth I have piled it high.\n\n          \u201cOho, oho, aha, aha, oho!\n          Bellows blow,\n          Brighten the glow!\n\n    \u201cThe coal from the tree how bravely it flames!\n      The fire how fierce to see!\n    It sends its wild sparks scattering far,\n      And the steel shreds it smelts for me.\n\n          \u201cOho, oho, aha, aha, oho!\n          Bellows blow,\n          Brighten the glow!\u201d\n\n[Illustration: SIEGFRIED AT THE FORGE]\n\nMeanwhile Mime was busy about something, too. He was preparing a poison\nfor Siegfried, which he did not intend to give him until after he had\nslain the Dragon. Round, round the cave capered the Dwarf, filled with\ndelight at the pleasant prospect he saw before him.\n\nAt last the sword was finished, and Siegfried fitted it into its\nhandle. It was mended anew.\n\nWaving it aloft, he broke into a new verse of his song:\n\n    \u201cNothung, Nothung, new and young!\n      I have given thee life and might!\n    Dead and desolate hast thou lain,\n      Now leapest thou fearless and bright.\n    Show now thy sheen to the cowards all,\n    Shatter deceit, and on falsehood fall.\u201d\n\nHe sprang to the anvil and swung the blade high in the air.\n\n\u201cSee, Mime, so serves Siegfried\u2019s sword!\u201d he shouted, exultantly.\n\nDown came the flashing steel, and the anvil was shattered in pieces.\nMime sank to the ground in terror, but, holding his father\u2019s sword\nabove his head, and filled with absolute joy and triumph, stood young\nSiegfried\u2014he who had never felt fear, and who had forged Nothung anew.\n\n[Music: Siegfried Motif]\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the Niebelungs\u2019 Hate]\n\n[Music: Siegfried\u2019s Horn-call]\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nHATE HOLE\n\nTo Hate Hole, in the dark time before dawn, came the Wanderer, and\nfound Alberich waiting and watching near the entrance. The Dwarf was\nfearfully enraged at the sight of the old god, whom he hated with all\nthe strength of his wicked Nibelung soul. He burst into a torrent of\nabuse and anger as Wotan drew near, speaking of the broken promise of\nthe giants and the deceit by which the Gold had been obtained from the\nNibelungs, and again threatening the downfall of the gods when the Ring\nshould come back to his hands. The Wanderer answered quietly that a\nhero was even then drawing near through the woods\u2014a hero fated to kill\nFafner and obtain the Gold; and, with hidden sarcasm, he bade the Dwarf\nattempt to use the youth for his own ends.\n\nThe King God believed in the workings of Fate. The Norns wove\ncontinually, and all that they wove came to pass. No one could change\nthe histories wound into their golden cord, until the Dusk of the Gods\nhad come, when they also would, in the Last Twilight, be gone forever.\nSo, feeling as he did, it mattered very little whom he aided, whom he\nharmed. He even went so far as to arouse Fafner for Alberich, and ask\nhim to give the Dwarf the Ring. The old Dragon snarled and yawned and\nwent to sleep again. The Wanderer turned to the Nibelung, with a great\nlaugh.\n\n\u201cListen!\u201d he said. \u201cRemember, O Alberich, what I say. All things work\nin nature\u2019s course. You can alter nothing.\u201d\n\nAnd, so saying, he vanished in the dark woods, and a faint, pale\nflicker of lightning shot through the forest as he went. Alberich crept\nhastily into a crevice in the rocks on one side, and the dawn broke\njust as two figures came into the little green glade by Hate Hole.\n\nThe figures were those of Siegfried and Mime; for the Nibelung, true to\nhis word, had led the boy to the place where he was to learn to fear.\n\n\u201cIf you do not hastily discover fear here, my dear boy, you never will\nanywhere,\u201d said the Dwarf, with a chuckle. And he described at great\nlength the means which Fafner would use to teach the art, saying that\nthe Dragon\u2019s breath was fire, and his twisting tail strong enough to\ncrush any hero. But Siegfried merely laughed, and said that he would\nfind the great worm\u2019s heart and strike Nothung into that; and then\nhe bade Mime be gone. The Nibelung crept away out of sight among the\ntrees, and as he went he muttered, in an exasperated undertone:\n\n\u201cFafner and Siegfried! Siegfried and Fafner! Oh, that each might kill\nthe other!\u201d\n\nThe boy, left alone, sat under a linden-tree, looking up through the\nbranches. At first Mime\u2019s figure pervaded his brain, and he could not\nhelp remembering the horrible little creature. But, after a while,\nthoughts of his mother crept in\u2014very vague and formless thoughts\u2014for\nthis forest youth had never in his life seen a woman. Leaning back, he\ngave himself up to the enchantment of the summer-day, dreaming boyish\ndreams, and listening to the forest voices all around him.\n\nHave you ever sat in a great, green wood and watched the soft\nflickering shadows from the little leaves overhead dance back and forth\non the moss? Have you heard the great surge of music made of a thousand\ntiny sounds, the hum of little, unseen insects, the ripple of far-away\nbrooks, the faint sigh of the wind in the tall reeds, the rustling\nof the trees, the melodies that seemed made by the touch of some\nmaster-hand on a great harp? That was what Siegfried saw and heard that\nsummer day when he lay under the linden-tree and dreamed day-dreams.\n\nAfter a while a little bird began to sing in the tree above him, and\nafter listening for a moment, and wondering whether it brought him a\nmessage from his mother, he resolved to try to imitate it, remembering\nthat Mime had once said that some people were able to talk with the\nbirds. So he fashioned a flute out of a reed and tried to play upon\nit the melody that the bird sang. Finally, however, he gave it up in\ndespair, and instead, as he began to feel lonely, he blew a loud blast\non his horn\u2014to bring him a friend, he said to himself.\n\n[Illustration: THE DEATH OF THE DRAGON]\n\nAnd what sort of a friend do you think it brought him?\n\nWell, it waked Fafner, the monster worm; and he dragged his huge scaly\nbody to the door of the cave and peered out, and you may fancy like\nwhat sort of a friend he looked.\n\nSiegfried burst out into laughter when he saw him.\n\n\u201cAt last!\u201d he cried, merrily. \u201cMy call has brought me something truly\nlovely!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is that?\u201d growled Fafner, glaring at him as though he were a\nsmall insect of some sort.\n\n\u201cHey! You can talk, can you?\u201d cried Siegfried. \u201cBeing so wise, you\nshould be able to teach me how to fear. I have come for that.\u201d\n\nFafner laughed, and showed his teeth, bidding the boy come and be eaten.\n\n\u201cI come, growler!\u201d said the young Volsung; and, drawing his sword, he\nsprang boldly at the great, hideous creature at the cave\u2019s opening.\nFafner reared to receive him, and the combat began. It was fierce, but\nnot very long, for the boy was strong and Nothung was sharp, and soon\nAlberich\u2019s spell had again worked its misery; and, indeed, it could be\nsaid of the dying Dragon that his death was sad\u2014his life had been a\nfailure.\n\nBefore he died he told Siegfried to beware of Mime, and then spoke\nslowly and sadly of the race of giants that had come to an end.\n\n\u201cSiegfried,\u201d he began once more\u2014but he never finished, poor old Dragon;\nfor, just at the word, he rolled over and died. And that was the end of\nthe race of giants.\n\nStooping down, the young warrior drew his sword from out the Dragon\u2019s\nheart. In so doing, a drop of blood fell on his hand. It burned like\nthe cruellest fire. He raised it quickly to his mouth to relieve\nthe smarting; and, as the blood touched his lips, a strange thing\nhappened\u2014he could understand the language of birds. Yes, as the same\nlittle singer that he had heard before began to twitter, he could\nunderstand what it was saying to him.\n\n\u201cHey! Siegfried will have now the Nibelung\u2019s hoard! He will find the\nhoard in the hole. The Tarnhelm would aid him through wonderful deeds;\nbut the Ring would give him might over the world.\u201d\n\nWith a laugh and a word of thanks to the little singer, the boy stepped\ninto the cave to look for the treasure. At the same minute Mime crept\nnear from behind the clump of bushes. Alberich sprang out from his\nrocky crevice, and the two little Nibelungs met, snarling, capering,\nand making faces with rage.\n\nEach claimed the Ring, and called the other names, and each proved\nhimself a marvel in wickedness and greed, and they were nearing a point\nwhen blows were not far off when the hero himself stepped out from the\ncave with the Tarnhelm thrust into his belt, and the Rhinegold Ring\nupon his finger. The dwarfs hastened out of sight.\n\nThe heaped-up hoard of the Nibelungs, Siegfried had left, for he knew\nlittle of its use, and he cared nothing for wealth. Indeed, both Helm\nand Ring he had taken only because the bird had so advised him. He\ncould not fancy what good either of them would do him.\n\n\u201cHey! Siegfried has now the Helm and the Ring!\u201d sang the wood-bird in\nthe tree. \u201cTrust not in Mime! The Dragon\u2019s blood will tell Siegfried\nwhat the treacherous Dwarf really means.\u201d\n\nAt this point, Mime himself appeared, smiling and bowing, and holding\nin his hands a horn of wine for Siegfried. He said that it would\nrefresh the boy after his labors, but we know that it was poisoned.\nThanks to the Dragon\u2019s blood, Siegfried knew it too, and read all the\ncruel thoughts that were passing through Mime\u2019s brain, and, in a burst\nof anger, he finally raised his sword and killed the treacherous Dwarf\nwith one blow.\n\nSo that was the end of the Nibelung Mime, the cleverest smith, they\nsay, that ever lived in the world\u2014even though he could not fashion\nNothung, the sword. From a black crevice in the rocks came Alberich\u2019s\nlaugh, loud and mocking\u2014the echo of his own wicked thoughts.\n\nSiegfried turned away wearily, and, seating himself under the linden,\nlistened for the bird\u2019s song again. As it did not come at once, he\nlooked up into the branches and spoke:\n\n\u201cYou seem very happy, flying among your brothers and sisters, birdie.\nBut I am all alone. I have no brothers nor sisters, and my father and\nmother are both dead. Tell me where I may find a loving friend. I have\ncalled one so often, but none ever comes.\u201d He sighed. \u201cSing now, sing,\u201d\nhe begged; and again the bird\u2019s twitter sounded from among the leaves\nabove him.\n\n\u201cHey! Siegfried has slain now the wicked Dwarf. I know where he\u2019ll find\na glorious bride. On a rock she sleeps amid fire. If he passed through\nthe blaze and awakened her, Br\u00fcnnhilde would then be his.\u201d\n\nWild with excitement and joy, Siegfried sprang to his feet and asked\nif he would really be able to do this.\n\n\u201cBr\u00fcnnhilde is won only by him who knows not fear,\u201d said the wood-bird,\nand flew off before him, guiding him through the woods.\n\nIn a transport of joy Siegfried followed, and, shouting with delight,\nhe began his journey to the far-away rock in its circle of flame, where\nthe Walk\u00fcre, in her long penance of sleep, waited for the hero brave\nenough to pass through the fire and awaken her.\n\n[Music: Song of the Wood-Bird\n\n    \u201cHey! Siegfried has slain now the wicked dwarf!\n    I know where he\u2019ll find a glorious bride.\u201d]\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the Wanderer]\n\n[Music: Erda Motif]\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE MOUNTAIN PASS\n\nA wild storm was raging among the mountains. Great winds swept down\nfrom the high peaks and up from the valleys and crashed roaring through\nthe woods. The thunder rumbled, and flashes of blue lightning shot\nacross the dark sky. The heart of the tempest seemed to be at a rocky\npass just below the path that led up to the Walk\u00fcres\u2019 rock.\n\nHere, before a huge black cleft in the side of the mountain, stood the\nWanderer, the wild storm all about him. With outstretched spear he was\nsinging a strange chant, an awakening song, down into the black chasm\nbefore him; singing it to the wise woman of the world, Erda, the Earth\nWitch.\n\nHe called her by name, and bade her rise from her sleep and speak with\nhim; and, as he chanted, a faint blue light glowed in the chasm, and\nErda rose slowly from the black depths. Frost seemed to cling to her\ngarments, and light gleamed all about her. Her face wore the same look\nof mystery as when she came so many years before to warn Wotan against\nthe Ring.\n\nIn slow, dreamy tones she asked what the Wanderer wished, and why he\nhad aroused her from her slumber of wisdom. He answered that he had\ncome to ask her to prophesy once more; to tell him the wonders that she\nhad dreamed.\n\n\u201cI sleep and dream!\u201d answered the Earth Goddess. \u201cI dream and search\nfor wisdom. But, while I sleep, the Norns are awake. They weave their\nrope and spin. Why do you not seek them and ask them your questions?\u201d\n\nThe Wanderer answered that they could only weave the histories of the\nworld, but that she, in her wisdom, could, perhaps, tell him how to\navert coming ill. But Erda shook her head dreamily, as though in a\ntrance, and answered that she could tell him nothing; that the ways of\nthe world bewildered her, and that she longed to return into her dark\nchasm and dream once more.\n\nBut Wotan restrained her. He told her of the Walk\u00fcre\u2019s disobedience and\nhis own wrath. He spoke of the sorrow and grief that weighed heavily\non his mind, of his forebodings, and that the Dusk of the Gods seemed\nnearer and nearer. And, after asking again for counsel, in vain,\nhe said that he had grown to feel very little dread of the Dusk of\nthe Gods. It was destiny, and he almost longed for it. And he spoke\ntenderly of the Volsung, who was even then drawing near to pass through\nthe flame and free the Walk\u00fcre from her chains of sleep.\n\nWhen she was awakened, Wotan said\u2014gifted with the power of prophecy for\na moment\u2014she would, by some deed, release the world from the sadness\nthat it had labored under for so long, and she would expiate the old\nsin of the stealing of the Gold that was the beginning of the end of\nthe Golden Age.\n\n\u201cThen sleep once more!\u201d said the Wanderer. \u201cDream and foresee the end!\nAway, Erda\u2014all-fearing, all-sorrowing; away to eternal sleep!\u201d\n\nSlowly the Goddess of the Earth slipped down into the darkness, and the\nblue light faded away.\n\nThe storm had ceased. Only faint, distant rumbles of thunder sounded\nin the high hills; faint, shivering winds crept through the moaning\nforest-trees, and a little light stole over the mountain pass from the\nrising moon.\n\nFrom the depths of the forest came Siegfried, staring about him and\nlooking in vain for his small feathered guide.\n\nIt had vanished, and he concluded, after a moment, that he had better\ngo on alone, find his way to the fire-circle without a guide, and\nawaken the sleeping maiden. He started up the pass; but, suddenly, a\nvoice said slowly close beside him:\n\n\u201cWhere are you going, boy?\u201d\n\nHe turned and saw the Wanderer.\n\n\u201cPerhaps he can tell me the way,\u201d thought Siegfried; and, aloud, he\nanswered: \u201cI am seeking for a rock surrounded by fire. A woman sleeps\nthere whom I will wake.\u201d\n\nThe Wanderer asked him who suggested such an idea to him, and\nquestioned him closely as to his life and deeds.\n\nSiegfried answered simply and frankly, until, when he spoke of his\ngood sword, the Wanderer burst into a loud peal of laughter.\n\n\u201cWhy do you laugh at me?\u201d asked the boy. \u201cListen, old questioner! Tell\nme the way, or, if you cannot do that, say nothing at all,\u201d for he was\nin a thoroughly bad humor, and in the woods he had never been taught to\naccord old age much honor. So he strode up to the Wanderer and demanded\nthat he should tell him the way, threatening to serve him like Mime if\nhe insisted on barring the pass. For Wotan was standing directly before\nthe rocky way, and, as Siegfried was in great haste, it exasperated him.\n\n\u201cYou will not tell me, then?\u201d he said, finally. \u201cThen get out of my\nway! I will find the rock for myself. My little bird-friend showed me\nin which direction the slumbering woman lies.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe bird!\u201d said Wotan, wrathfully. \u201cIt fled to save its life. The\nKing-Ravens barred its way.\u201d\n\nFor the god had sent his two great birds to turn back the little guide,\njust as he himself intended to attempt to turn back Siegfried.\n\nHe had said in his spell, when he left Br\u00fcnnhilde sleeping on the rock:\n\u201cOnly one who fears not my spear can pass through the fire bar.\u201d Now,\nthis must be the test. Would this strong, beautiful boy recoil before\nthe haft made of the World-Ash, or would the Dusk of the Gods come\nthrough human courage, overthrowing the might of the gods?\n\nThe Wanderer stretched out his great spear, the spear which had strange\nfigures upon it representing Law and Knowledge; the spear which was\ntypical of the wisdom and the power of the gods; the spear upon which\nNothung, the sword, had once been shattered.\n\n\u201cThe weapon you swing,\u201d said the Wanderer, \u201cwas once shivered upon this\nhaft. It will again snap on the Eternal Spear.\u201d\n\nSiegfried drew his sword.\n\n\u201cThen you are my father\u2019s enemy!\u201d he cried. \u201cThen you broke his\ndefence! Stretch out your spear! My sword shall break it in pieces!\u201d\n\nAnd a great peal of thunder crashed among the hills as Nothung broke\nthe Eternal Spear with which Wotan had ruled the world.\n\nThe old god stooped and gathered up the broken pieces of his once\nmighty haft, and, with slow steps, passed out of sight in the forest\ndepths. The Dusk of the Gods seemed, indeed, at hand.\n\nAs Siegfried stood gazing after his retreating figure, he suddenly\nbecame conscious of a great glare that seemed to grow brighter and\nbrighter every moment. Looking up the pass before him, he beheld great\nbillows of flame rolling about a high peak\u2014billows that seemed to surge\ndown towards him as though defying him to conquer them.\n\n\u201cHa! Wonderful glow!\u201d shouted Siegfried. \u201cIn fire will I bathe! In fire\nwill I find my bride!\u201d\n\nAnd blowing a long, clear call on his silver horn, he sprang into\nthe sea of flame, and passed up the steep, fiery way that led to the\nWalk\u00fcres\u2019 rock.\n\n\n[Music: Love Motif]\n\n[Music: Motif of Siegfried the Protector]\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE WALK\u00dcRES\u2019 ROCK\n\nThe fire rolled and surged about him, the great red flames twisted\naround him, and in many colors the vistas opened here and there like\nrainbow avenues. For the colors in fire are more beautiful than those\nin an opal.\n\nAs he passed up the steep way, and trampled the flames and beat them\nback, laughing at their scorching heat, they began to burn lower and\nsank into a narrow, bright circle of fire behind him; unobtrusive and\nnot at all fierce, just, in fact, what they had been until a hero drew\nnear to pass through them. Then they had done their best to keep him\nfrom their fair, sleeping captive; but they were conquered, the wild,\nbright flames; and they died down to almost nothing as the Volsung,\nstill blowing a merry call on his horn, sprang up the rocks to the\nsummit of the mountain.\n\nIt was quiet and calm there, full of deep peace and silence. It seemed\nas if even the trees and flowers were asleep. No sound broke the\nstillness, no leaf moved or insect darted. It was as though Nature were\nlaying her finger on her lip and saying, \u201cHush\u2014hush! This place is\nenchanted.\u201d\n\nIt was broad day, and the blue sky, reaching overhead, seemed to smile\ndown on the young hero as he stood gazing wonderingly about him.\n\nOn one side stretched the dark wood, reaching down the\nmountain-side\u2014the wood into which his mother had run, bearing the\nsplinters of Nothung, so many years before. As he looked into the\ndark depths he was amazed to see a war-horse asleep under the trees.\nIt was Grani, who had fallen under the same spell as his mistress.\nAs Siegfried took a step forward, he suddenly stopped short in\noverpowering surprise. For before him, upon a rock, lay a figure clad\nin brightest steel, with shield and spear and helmet gleaming in the\nsun.\n\n\u201cIs it a warrior?\u201d thought the young Volsung, drawing near\u2014for Mime\nhad described to him the bright armor the great heroes wore in battle.\n\u201cPerhaps,\u201d thought Siegfried, as he bent over the sleeper, \u201che would\nrest better if his helmet were loosened.\u201d And he unfastened it\ncarefully and took it off. Masses of golden curling hair gleamed like\nsunny clouds about the fair face of the Walk\u00fcre.\n\n\u201cAh, how beautiful!\u201d cried Siegfried, softly. \u201cThe face is like that of\nthe sun smiling between mists.\u201d\n\nHe bent down still lower.\n\n\u201cHow heavily he breathes! I would better open his armor,\u201d said the\nboy. Drawing his sword, he cut off the mail in which the sleeper was\narrayed. When the last ring was loosened and he had lifted off the\nsuit of mail-armor, he started erect, filled with a strange, wonderful\nfeeling that he had never known before. The sleeping Walk\u00fcre, no longer\ndressed in steel like a warrior, but in long, white, womanly robes, was\nso marvellous and beautiful that this lion-hearted young Volsung felt\nfear at last in the presence of the first woman he had ever seen.\n\nTimidly he drew near, wondering how he should arouse her.\n\n\u201cAwaken, beautiful woman!\u201d he cried, tremulously. But she did not hear.\nAt last he bent over her and kissed her.\n\nBr\u00fcnnhilde opened her eyes.\n\nStarting up, she lifted both arms towards the sky, and cried, in glad\nthough solemn tones,\n\n\u201cHail, O sun! Hail, O light! Hail, O glorious day! Long was my sleep\u2014I\nam awakened! Where is the hero who awakes me?\u201d\n\nThe young Volsung, drawing timidly near, answered that it was he who\nhad come through the fire and awakened her, and that his name was\nSiegfried; and he said, too, that, as she had first aroused fear in his\nheart, she must bring his courage back to him. Passionately, he told\nher that he loved her; but Br\u00fcnnhilde could not remember that she was\nno longer a Walk\u00fcre, and at first she did not want to be a woman and a\nmortal\u2019s wife\u2014however great that mortal might be.\n\nBut, after a time, with a sudden great rush of passion, she felt in\nsome strange way that she cared no longer for the gods and their glory,\nand loved only Siegfried, and longed to serve him and be his wife.\nSo she promised to marry him, and she said that the Norns might break\ntheir rope of histories, for the Dusk of the Gods drew near.\n\nShe taught Siegfried many strange things and much wisdom\u2014the wisdom of\nthe gods. And she gave him her weapons, forgot that she had ever been a\nWalk\u00fcre, and loved him with all her heart.\n\n[Music: Motif of Peace]\n\n\n\n\nPart IV\n\nTHE DUSK OF THE GODS, OR _G\u00d6TTERD\u00c4MMERUNG_\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the World-Ash-Tree]\n\nPRELUDE\n\nHolding in his hand his broken spear, the king of the gods wended his\nway to Walhalla. He sent forth stanch messengers to hew the World-Ash\ninto a thousand pieces and pile them high about the gods\u2019 palace. Then\nhe assembled round him his heroes and the Walk\u00fcres and the rest of the\ndivinities, and sat in silence awaiting the Dusk of the Gods.\n\nAll the gods, far and wide, knew that the Last Twilight was impending;\nand fate relentlessly led all things to the end. To the Walk\u00fcres\u2019 rock\ncame the Norns in the gray of dawn to spin. From hand to hand passed\nthe golden cord. Each told a history in gloomy, chanting measures.\n\nThe oldest Norn sang of the days when the World-Ash was green and the\nFountain of Wisdom purled softly in the shadow of the wide branches.\nShe sang of Wotan\u2019s coming to the spring and drinking; of the tearing\nof the limb from the World-Ash; of the withering of the great tree. Her\nsong ceased. She flung the cord to her sister.\n\nThe second Norn wound slowly as she sang. Her tale was of the making of\nthe great spear with which Wotan had ruled the world until one stronger\nthan the gods had shivered the haft and overpowered the Ruler. She sang\nof how Wotan had now ordered that the World-Ash should be broken and\npiled about Walhalla. She paused, and the youngest Norn took the rope.\n\nShe sang of the bright palace where Wotan sat among the gods and\nheroes, with the great fagots from the World-Ash heaped around him. She\nsang that, when these fagots should be lighted and Walhalla burned, the\nDusk of the Gods would come.\n\nThey sang of many strange events\u2014these Norns\u2014events of the past, of the\npresent, of the future. They sang of the circle of fire lit by Logi\nabout the rock. They sang of the Rhinegold stolen by Alberich; they\nsang long and sadly of the gods and their king.\n\n\u201cThe web is tangled,\u201d said the first Norn.\n\n\u201cAlberich\u2019s spell tears at the strands,\u201d said the second, and flung it\nto the third.\n\n[Illustration: BR\u00dcNNHILDE ON THE WALK\u00dcRES\u2019 ROCK]\n\n\u201cI cannot reach the rope\u2014it is too short,\u201d said the youngest, putting\nout her hand.\n\nThe cord snapped. It had stretched across the past, but it could not\ntouch the future. It was, indeed, too short.\n\n\u201cIt breaks!\u201d wailed the Norns, crouching in dread, as the faint light\nof day appeared.\n\n\u201cAt an end is our wisdom!\u201d they murmured in chorus, and wound the\nbroken bits of the rope about their gray-shrouded bodies; then fled\nlike mist into the earth, down to their mother, Erda, the all-wise one,\nshe who had first prophesied the Dusk of the Gods.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen she had taught him all the wisdom that she knew, and given him all\nshe had, Br\u00fcnnhilde bade her hero go forth into the world and win fame\nand honor by great deeds. He must journey to the far lands peopled by\nbrave men and high heroes and prove his courage and his strength. She\nwould wait for him patiently, and he would come back to her when he had\nmade all men know and honor him.\n\nShe gave him Grani, her stanch war-horse, and he placed on her finger\nas a parting love-gift the beautiful bright Ring that he had won at\nHate Hole, and then he bade her farewell, and blithely passed down the\nmountain-side, blowing a clear, merry blast on his horn.\n\nBr\u00fcnnhilde stood on the Walk\u00fcres\u2019 rock and gazed yearningly after him,\nand the young hero went forth into far lands to know men and do great\ndeeds, and find at last that strange place called the world.\n\n[Music: Motif of Br\u00fcnnhilde]\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the Gibichungs]\n\n[Music: Motif of Hagen]\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE HALL OF THE GIBICHUNGS\n\nOn the banks of the river Rhine there lived a great warrior named\nGunther, who was one of a valiant race called Gibichungs. He was the\nhead of a great tribe of kinsmen and vassals, and his lands were wide\nand his halls spacious. His sister, Gutrune, was a maiden very fair\nand sweet to look upon, as beautiful as her brother was brave. They\nwere both generous and noble, and would have done nothing but good all\ntheir lives had it not been for the evil influence of their wicked\nhalf-brother Hagen, the son of Alberich, the Nibelung. When their\nfather, the brave Gibich, had died, their mother, Grimhilde, had wedded\nthe Nibelung, and after a while had died herself, leaving wild, dark\nHagen as a brother to Gunther and Gutrune.\n\nHe was a sinister and gloomy warrior, with gleaming black eyes and\nblood that seemed of ice, for never did his cheek flush or his lip\nredden. Pale he was and cold, dark-haired and sad, and his heart was\nblack and cruel. He, too, was working to obtain the Rhinegold.\n\nOne day Gunther, sitting on a high throne beside his sister, asked\nHagen what greater wealth could belong to the Gibichungs; what deed\ntheir chief could do that would aid the good fortune of the race and\nits vassals.\n\nHagen answered that it would be fitting for the head of the Gibichungs\nto wed, and he craftily told Gunther of the fire-encircled rock where\ndwelt the fair maiden, Br\u00fcnnhilde. The fire could only be conquered, he\nsaid, by Siegfried, the Volsung, who would make a fitting husband for\nGutrune.\n\nNow, Hagen knew that Siegfried had already won the Walk\u00fcre; but he was\nlaying a plot, and the plot was wicked and deep. He told Gunther that\nSiegfried would go through the fire and bring Br\u00fcnnhilde to the Rhine\nChief if he could be given a magic-potion\u2014a potion that would make him\nlove Gutrune.\n\nWhile they spoke of these things, a horn was heard, in the distance\nat first, but coming nearer and nearer. Soon a boat came down the\nriver Rhine\u2014a wide barge\u2014holding a horse and a tall man in bright\narmor. Siegfried, in his travels through the world, had heard of the\nGibichungs, and had come to see the great Rhine Chief, Gunther. As the\nboat touched the shore, he sprang from it, and hailed the warrior, in\nloud tones, asking if he would be friend or enemy. In answer, Gunther\nsaid that his house, his lands, his people were all at the service of\nthe hero whose fame had reached even the hall of the Gibichungs; and\nSiegfried offered the strength of his arm and the might of his sword\nfor Gunther\u2019s defence and aid at all times.\n\nSo they made a vow, promising to remain true to each other, as heroes\nand brave men should.\n\n\u201cI have heard that you hold the Nibelungs\u2019 hoard,\u201d said Hagen, when\nGutrune, at a sign from him, had left the hall, and the three warriors\nwere alone.\n\n\u201cI left it in the cavern,\u201d said Siegfried. \u201cI cared nothing for the\nGold. This is all I took\u201d\u2014and he showed the Tarnhelm. \u201cWhat is its\nuse\u2014do you know?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is the most artful of all the Nibelung\u2019s work,\u201d said Hagen. \u201cIt\nwill change you to whatever shape you will, and carry you to the\nfarthest lands in a moment, if it is your wish. Did you take any more\nof the hoard?\u201d\n\nSiegfried answered that he had carried away a Ring, but that it was now\nworn by a beautiful woman.\n\nEven as he spoke, Gutrune, the fair lady of the Gibichungs, came out\nfrom her room at one side of the hall, bearing a drinking-horn, which\nshe offered to Siegfried. It was customary in those days that a maiden\nshould offer wine to a guest coming to the house of her race. So\nSiegfried, without a thought, lifted the horn and drank the mixture,\nsaying softly to himself: \u201cBr\u00fcnnhilde, I drink to you!\u201d\n\nBut, alas! it was not wine that was in the drinking-horn, but the\nlove-potion\u2014the terrible magic potion\u2014which, as it touched the hero\u2019s\nlips, laid a cloud upon his memory and a fire within his heart, so that\nhe straightway forgot Br\u00fcnnhilde and loved only Gutrune, the lady of\nthe Gibichungs.\n\n[Illustration: GUTRUNE AND SIEGFRIED]\n\nAs he gazed passionately upon her, she turned away, filled, perhaps,\nwith momentary regret for what she had done, and left the hall in\nsilence.\n\nWhen she had gone, Siegfried stood looking after her for a moment, and\nthen, arousing himself from his reverie, turned to Gunther, asking if\nhe were married.\n\nThe Rhine Chief replied that he had never wed, because only one bride\nwould satisfy him, and she was out of reach of even his valor; for she\nwas surrounded by fire, and only he who could pass through the blaze\ncould win her.\n\nMerrily, Siegfried replied that he would go through the flame and bring\nthe bride to Gunther if he might have in payment Gutrune for his wife.\n\nAnd the two heroes went through a ceremony, very binding in those days,\nwhich was called the Oath of Brotherhood. It meant that they must\nremain as faithful to each other as though they were really brothers,\nand that should one prove false to his vow the other would have the\nright to kill him.\n\nThen the two entered the boat and went away down the Rhine, Siegfried\nto take Gunther\u2019s shape, with the aid of the Tarnhelm, and go through\nthe fire to win the maiden; Gunther to wait on the banks of the Rhine\nuntil Siegfried brought him the bride, and then took his own shape once\nmore.\n\nHagen, left alone in the hall, mused deeply as night drew near.\n\n\u201cSiegfried, unknowing, brings his own bride to the Rhine. _He brings\nme the Ring!_\u201d He paused, and then continued, in tones of bitter\nscorn: \u201cLittle as I deem you all, you brave partners and happy\ncompanions\u2014small as you are, and as I hold your natures\u2014you still may\nserve the need of the Nibelung\u2019s son!\u201d\n\n[Music: Motif of the Love-Potion]\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the Magic-fire Circle]\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE WALK\u00dcRES\u2019 ROCK ONCE MORE\n\nAs afternoon darkened into evening Br\u00fcnnhilde sat on her high rock\nlooking at the Ring on her finger with loving eyes, and thinking\ntenderly of the hero who had placed it there, and who was perhaps, even\nthen, leaving the paths of men to come to her side once more.\n\nSuddenly a flash of lightning appeared across the sky and a clap of\nthunder sounded far away. Strange sounds broke the stillness, sounds\nwell remembered by her: the hoofs of wind-horses speeding through the\nclouds, the whistling of rushing blasts, the ring of steel armor.\nStarting up in wild excitement, she saw a black thunder-cloud rushing\ntowards the rock.\n\n\u201cBr\u00fcnnhilde! Sister! Are you asleep or awake?\u201d called the clear voice\nof one of the warrior goddesses, as a war-horse sprang to earth from\nthe midst of the clouds.\n\nWith a cry of joy Br\u00fcnnhilde ran to meet the Walk\u00fcre, saying:\n\n\u201cWaltraute, truest sister, welcome!\u201d and asking tenderly about the rest\nof the maidens and her father Wotan.\n\nBut Waltraute was sad and anxious, and seemed in fearful haste. She\ninterrupted Br\u00fcnnhilde\u2019s passionate description of her hero and her\nhappiness in his love by sad words of the gloom that reigned in\nWalhalla. She told the story of the hewing of the World-Ash, the fagots\npiled high about the great palace; of the gods and heroes assembled in\nawe. She spoke of Wotan sitting in silence holding his broken spear in\nhis hand.\n\nShe said that once, and once only, had he spoken, and that he had then\nsaid: \u201cWhen the Rhine daughters gain from Br\u00fcnnhilde the Ring the world\nwill be released from the power of the spell.\u201d\n\nWaltraute begged Br\u00fcnnhilde to give her the Ring, so that she,\nWaltraute, might carry it to the Rhine Maidens.\n\n\u201cIf you wish, you may ward off the shadow of the gods,\u201d said the\nWalk\u00fcre, kneeling at her sister\u2019s feet. But Br\u00fcnnhilde looked at her as\nthough in a trance.\n\n\u201cLike a sorrowful dream it seems\u2014this that you tell me. I do not\nunderstand it. I am no longer one of the gods. You, pale sister\u2014what\nhave you to do with me?\u201d\n\nPassionately, Waltraute asked for the Ring which she wore, but\nBr\u00fcnnhilde replied that it was Siegfried\u2019s love-gift, and that she\nwould never give it up. Again Waltraute besought her, for the sake of\nthe gods, the bright mighty gods, who were going to destruction, to\ngive up the magic circlet.\n\nBr\u00fcnnhilde answered quietly that she prized love more than the welfare\nof all the gods, and that the Ring was dearer to her than the palace of\nWalhalla; and she bade Waltraute be gone, refusing once for all to give\nup Siegfried\u2019s gift.\n\n\u201cWoe! woe!\u201d wailed the Walk\u00fcre, speeding wildly away. \u201cWoe for you,\nsister! Woe for the gods in Walhalla! Woe!\u201d\n\nShe was gone, amid thunder and rushing winds.\n\nSitting again on the rock alone, Br\u00fcnnhilde looked down to where the\nguarding fire-circle burned brighter and brighter. A horn-call sounded\nin the distance.\n\n\u201cSiegfried!\u201d cried Br\u00fcnnhilde, rushing forward.\n\nBut who was that who sprang from out the fire and stood before her? Not\nSiegfried, surely, but some stranger\u2014a stranger with face partly masked\nby a curious helmet of some sort.\n\nNo wonder that she did not recognize her hero in the man before her,\nwho, by the aid of the Tarnhelm, bore the semblance of Gunther, the\nGibichung. He told her that he had come to take her away with him and\nmarry her; and when she ordered him to yield before the strength of the\nmighty Ring on her finger, he caught her hand and tore the circlet from\nit, placing it on his own.\n\n\u201cNow yield to me! You must be my wife,\u201d he commanded; and, weak and\npowerless, Br\u00fcnnhilde was conquered and led away by the warrior, who\nwas none other than Siegfried\u2014had she but known it!\u2014Siegfried, her\nhero, who did not remember her at all, and only looked upon her as the\nbride of his brother-hero Gunther, the bride that must be delivered\nsafely into the real Gibichung\u2019s hand.\n\n[Illustration: BR\u00dcNNHILDE AND SIEGFRIED]\n\nFor Siegfried cared nothing for her himself, and thought only of\nthe fair maiden down in the great hall built upon the shore of the\nRhine\u2014Gutrune, the lady of the Gibichungs.\n\nAnd that was how the Nibelung\u2019s spell again brought sorrow and misery\nto the wearer of the Rhinegold\u2019s Ring.\n\n[Music: Tarnhelm Motif]\n\n\n[Music: Gutrune Motif]\n\n[Music: Motif of Revenge]\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE RHINE CHIEF\u2019S BRIDE\n\nIt was night on the Rhine. Hagen sat asleep before the hall of the\nGibichungs, leaning against a pillar. Before him crouched his Nibelung\nfather, Alberich, who had come to speak with him through his dreams.\n\nThey spoke of the Rhinegold in mysterious undertones, Hagen in the\nvoice of one who talks in sleep. They spoke of the Dusk of the Gods\nwhich drew near so quickly, and of the might which would be theirs when\nthe Ring fell into their hands. And until dawn came they concocted\nplots deep and cruel.\n\nThen the Nibelung\u2019s small, dark figure disappeared in a pale mist,\nand all that was left of him was the echo of his voice, as he called,\nfaintly, while vanishing:\n\n\u201cBe true, Hagen, my son; be true! Be true! True!\u201d The voice died away\ninto silence.\n\nAs the dawn broke and the rising sun was mirrored brightly in the\nRhine, Hagen awoke with a start. At the same moment Siegfried appeared,\nsaying that he had hastened to the hall of the Gibichungs with the aid\nof the Tarnhelm, leaving Gunther and his bride to follow in a barge up\nthe Rhine.\n\nAs Gutrune came out to meet him, he hailed her exultantly, saying that\nhe had won her as wife when he brought the wild mountain-maid to her\nbrother. He told her and Hagen the tale of how he had gone through the\nfire and found the woman within the enchanted circle, and had conquered\nher, and had brought her to Gunther, who had waited at the foot of the\nmountain. The only thing that he did not tell them was that he had torn\nthe Ring from the woman\u2019s finger, and so vanquished her. Strange to\nsay, he had forgotten that as completely as he had forgotten his old\nlove for Br\u00fcnnhilde and his first journey through the fire. Now, when\nhe looked at the bright circlet on his finger, he remembered that it\nwas one which he had obtained at Hate Hole, but had forgotten that it\nhad ever left his hand. So that was the beginning of more sorrow.\n\nSiegfried and Gutrune went into the hall together, and Hagen called\nthe vassals about him from far and wide to welcome the bride to her\nnew home on the Rhine. When the barge came slowly up the river, strong\nwarriors plunged into the water to meet it, and dragged the boat close\nto the shore. From the hall came Gutrune, full of welcome and kindness.\nFor you know she had no idea it was Br\u00fcnnhilde whom she had caused the\nhero to forget, and she was really glad to greet her brother\u2019s bride.\nAt her side walked Siegfried, and they were followed by innumerable\nwomen who had come trooping out to behold the new lady of the\nGibichungs.\n\nBut, as Gunther led his pale, sad bride from the boat, she suddenly\nstood still, trembling and shuddering, and staring with wild,\nbewildered eyes at Siegfried. Her voice shook and her face was as\nwhite as death as she asked how he came there with Gutrune; and when\nhe showed that he had totally forgotten her and looked upon her only\nas Gunther\u2019s bride, she staggered and sank into the young hero\u2019s arms,\nwhispering, faintly and sorrowfully:\n\n\u201cSiegfried knows me not!\u201d\n\nCalling to Gunther to come near, the Volsung pointed to him and bade\npoor Br\u00fcnnhilde arouse herself, for the great chief\u2019s sake. But, as\nSiegfried stretched out his hand, she saw the Ring, and, starting\nwildly up, asked furiously how he came by it\u2014saying that Gunther had\ntorn it from her on the Walk\u00fcres\u2019 rock, and demanding of Gunther why he\nhad given it to Siegfried.\n\nNow, of course, the Rhine Chief had never even seen the Ring, and\nthought, not unnaturally, that Siegfried had taken it from Br\u00fcnnhilde\nand then kept it for himself from a feeling of greed and a desire to\npossess it. The young hero, when questioned, merely answered that it\nwas one he had found at Hate Hole, and that he had won it from no\nwoman, but a monster worm which he had killed. And he thought that he\nwas telling the whole truth, for it was all that he could remember.\n\nBut Br\u00fcnnhilde, who knew nothing of the magic-potion, saw in his words\nthe deepest and most terrible deceit, and she burst into such rage and\ndespair that Siegfried declared that he would try to satisfy her by\nswearing the Spear-Oath.\n\nSo Hagen held out his spear, and Siegfried placed his hand upon the\npoint and declared by the haft of war that he had never harmed the\nwoman, or been for a moment false to Gunther, and bade that very spear\nbring him death if he had.\n\nBreaking into the circle which the warriors made around Siegfried,\nBr\u00fcnnhilde declared him a traitor and deceiver, and called down the\nvengeance of the gods upon his head.\n\nFor her heart was broken, poor Br\u00fcnnhilde! and she hardly knew what\nshe said or did; so that when Siegfried and the others ceased trying\nto pacify her and left her alone with Gunther and Hagen, and when the\nlatter crept up to her and said that he would avenge her wrongs and\nkill the hero who had made her love him and had then deserted her, she\ntold him how to do it. She said that she had placed divine spells of\nprotection upon every part of his body except his back.\n\n\u201cFor I knew,\u201d said Br\u00fcnnhilde, with momentary tenderness, \u201cthat he was\ntoo brave to ever, in flight, turn that to an enemy.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt his back shall my spear-point strike!\u201d said Hagen, exultantly. \u201cIn\nhis back shall he be wounded unto death!\u201d\n\nRaising her arms towards the sky, Br\u00fcnnhilde broke into wild,\npassionate words of revenge. For she had almost lost her reason\nthrough the shock of sorrow at finding Siegfried false to her, and she\ndeclared that that was the sacrifice that was needed to lift the sorrow\noff so many hearts; that was the one great deed that must bring relief\nafter so much misery. Earth and heaven cried aloud for one thing, she\nsaid\u2014Siegfried\u2019s death.\n\n[Illustration: GUNTHER AND BR\u00dcNNHILDE]\n\nAs she stood, almost transfigured by her own words, sounds of joy\nand merriment drew near, and the wedding procession of Siegfried and\nGutrune passed by. Gunther caught Br\u00fcnnhilde\u2019s hand and drew her into\nthe crowd of men and women, and she passed on with the other bridal\ncouple to be married.\n\nLoudly and merrily rang the laughter, and the sounds of festivity rose\nhigh. But Hagen, like a dark, evil spirit, laughed, because he seemed\nat last so near to his desires.\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the Rhine-Maidens\u2019 Prophecy]\n\n[Music: Fate Motif]\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nON THE BANKS OF THE RHINE\n\nWhere the steep rocks led down to the river Rhine, and the low shrubs\ngrew in green luxuriance, where the wildest part of the wild forest\nwas mirrored in the water, came the three water-fairies, Woglinde,\nFlosshilde, and Wellgunde, to sing in the quiet, golden light of the\nlate afternoon. They sang sorrowfully and regretfully of their lost\ntreasure; they circled like wind-ripples upon the surface of the Rhine,\nand tossed the bright drops of water about with a soft, splashing\nsound as of tiny bells. The river murmured like a harp lightly played\nupon by fairy fingers, and the voices of the nymphs were as sweet as\nthe tones of the wind moving through the rushes.\n\nTo this lovely, magic-haunted spot came Siegfried, looking for a bear\nwhich he had wounded during a hunt, and had tracked through the woods.\nThe nymphs began to talk to him, and as he answered merrily they drew\nnearer to the rock where he stood, telling him that they would see that\nhe found his bear if he would, in payment, give them the Ring that he\nwore upon his finger.\n\nLaughingly, he answered that he had slain a dragon before he could\nobtain that Ring, and that it would be foolish to give it up now for\nthe sake of a bear.\n\nAfter a few more merry words the nymphs became suddenly serious. Rising\ntogether to the surface of the water, they raised their arms towards\nhim and spoke solemn words of prophecy. They told him that sadness\nawaited him; that the Ring would bring him nothing but ill-hap; that it\nwas made of the stolen Rhinegold, and that a spell had been laid upon\nit that brought sorrow and death to whoever possessed it.\n\n\u201cAs the monster worm fell,\u201d said the Rhine Maidens, slowly, \u201cso will\nyou fall\u2014and soon! Give it to us, that we may hide it in the river! For\nthat alone can break the spell.\u201d\n\nAnd, as Siegfried laughingly shook his head, they continued to plead\nstill more earnestly. They bade him avoid the spell, saying that its\nhistory had been woven into the Norns\u2019 great rope; that it must be\nshunned and feared. But Siegfried scoffed at the Norns and the rope,\nand said that Fafner had warned him of this danger long ago; that he\nhad no fear of his life, and would freely fling that away.\n\n\u201cFarewell, Siegfried!\u201d said the Rhine Maidens, as they turned to leave\nhim. \u201cA stately woman will soon possess your circlet. She will better\ndo our bidding. Let us go to her!\u201d\n\nThey swam swiftly away, leaving Siegfried laughing on the shore. For he\nthought nothing of their words, believing their prophecies to have been\nthreats because he would not give them what they wished.\n\nLaughing still, he blew a long call on his horn, which was answered on\nall sides by the other hunters, who soon made their appearance, most\nof them carrying game of some sort\u2014bear or deer; and Hagen, who was one\nof the first to come into the little glen down by the Rhine, made sport\nof Siegfried, because he, the best hunter of them all, had no booty to\nshow for his day\u2019s sport.\n\nSiegfried laughingly told them about the three Rhine Maidens who had\nwarned him of his approaching death; and Gunther, moving apart from the\nothers with a curious shadow and sadness on his face, started terribly,\nwhile Hagen merely laughed a harsh, revengeful laugh.\n\nGunther did not forget his Oath of Brotherhood; and, though he believed\nthat Siegfried had deceived him, he hated to harm him, or allow him to\nbe harmed, without better cause. He shuddered and shook his head when\nthe young hero brought him the horn of wine. The rest of the hunters\nflung themselves down under the trees, and drank merrily and rested in\nthe deepening golden light of the afternoon, but Gunther sat apart from\nthem, gloomy and silent, like one who dreamed sad dreams, and could not\narouse himself.\n\nAt last, Siegfried, noticing his depression, said that he would tell\nhim the story of his boyhood, if it would amuse and cheer him.\n\nAnd sitting down on the stump of a great tree, with his shield and\nweapons at his feet, and on all sides the warriors listening eagerly\nto his words, the young Volsung began his tale, and Hagen stood near,\nleaning on his spear, a look of grim expectation on his dark face.\n\nIt was of Mime that Siegfried spoke first, Mime and the life in the\ncave; the forging of Nothung, and finally the journey to Hate Hole, and\nthe slaying of the monster worm, Fafner.\n\nHe told how the Dragon\u2019s blood had given him power to understand the\nlanguage of birds; and, as he spoke, memories of the soft woodland\nvoices and the rustling of the trees passed tenderly across his mind.\nHe told of the winning of the Rhinegold Ring and the Tarnhelm, of the\ntreachery of Mime, and of how he had killed him with Nothung.\n\nThen he paused, for Hagen came up to him with a drinking-horn filled\nwith wine, which he bade him swallow, saying it would help to clear\nhis memory. Siegfried raised it to his lips and drank, and Hagen stood\nnear, leaning on his spear, and smiling grimly. For the wine had in it\nsomething that would, indeed, bring back the young hero\u2019s memory, and\nHagen knew that, when he remembered Br\u00fcnnhilde, he would be as one\ndeaf and blind to all else, and would so prove an easy victim.\n\n[Illustration: HAGEN AND SIEGFRIED]\n\nSiegfried put down the drinking-horn, and, after a moment\u2019s silence,\nresumed his tale, while the memory of the forest sounds passed softly\nand constantly across his brain. He told, in tender tones, how the bird\nhad sung to him of a glorious bride sleeping amid fire far away; and of\nhow he had passed through the enchanted flame-circle, and, with a kiss,\nawakened her from her long sleep; and he spoke her name with such love\nand tenderness that even Hagen\u2019s wicked heart should have been touched\nfor a moment; but he only stood leaning on his spear and smiling\u2014always\nsmiling\u2014as one smiles who has knowledge greater than his fellows.\n\nGunther started up wildly as Siegfried whispered the name of\n\u201cBr\u00fcnnhilde\u201d; for the Rhine Chief understood all now, and realized\nin that short time what deep wickedness it must have been that had\nparted the noble Volsung and his bride. There had been no deceit, no\ntreachery, no broken Oath of Brotherhood\u2014none of the wickedness had\nbeen on the young hero\u2019s side. Gunther dropped his head in horror.\n\nBut Hagen took a step forward.\n\n\u201cSee you those Ravens?\u201d he said, slowly, pointing to two great black\nbirds flying upward from the Rhine. They were Wotan\u2019s King-Ravens,\nwhich had been sent out to bring tidings back to Walhalla, and which\nwere returning there with news that the Dusk of the Gods was at hand.\nSiegfried turned to gaze after them as they flew. It was growing late.\nThe yellow afternoon light was deepening to red gold. The sun was\nsetting. The Ravens flew away, their broad black wings bathed in the\nruddy light, and it was like the light of a great fire.\n\n\u201cThey arouse in me revenge!\u201d cried Hagen, and he raised his spear and\nstabbed the young Volsung in the back. Siegfried staggered wildly; and\nthen, raising his shield, tried to crush Hagen with it. But then even\nhis great strength left him, and he fell back upon the ground, while\nthe warriors drew near with exclamations of horror and faces on which a\ngreat awe had fallen.\n\n\u201cI have been revenged,\u201d said Hagen, and passed up the rocks and out of\nsight amid the growing dusk. The sunset was as red as blood now. There\nwas an ominous look in its lurid light\u2014yet a strange peace also. It lay\non the head and figure of the young hero like a king\u2019s crown and robe.\n\n[Illustration: AFTER SIEGFRIED\u2019S DEATH]\n\nIn the hush that had fallen, Siegfried raised himself upon his arm and\nspoke.\n\nHe spoke of Br\u00fcnnhilde, his bride; again he seemed to be on the\nWalk\u00fcres\u2019 rock; again she lay before him asleep; again he awakened her\nwith a kiss. He seemed to look into her eyes, to hear her voice; she\nwas his once more.\n\nAnd with the words \u201cBr\u00fcnnhilde beckons to me! Greeting!\u201d Siegfried sank\nback and died. And the last light from the setting sun went out of the\nsky.\n\nIt was very dark\u2014very dark and silent. The warriors raised the hero\nupon their shoulders and bore him up the rocks. After a while the moon\nrose, and the pale light touched the helmets of the men and Siegfried\u2019s\narmor as the procession passed up through the shadows. A mist was\nrising from the Rhine, and it was very still.\n\nSiegfried was dead, the last of his race\u2014the noble race of Volsungs. He\nwas the bravest of them all, this son of Siegmund and Sieglinde, who\nhad so loved each other. He had done many great deeds with his good\nsword Nothung. He had been a courageous man and the highest hero in the\nworld, and he had won the love of Br\u00fcnnhilde, the noblest woman ever\nborn. And he was dead\u2014Siegfried, the Volsung.\n\n[Music: Death Motif]\n\n\n[Music: Motif of the Dusk of the Gods]\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE LAST TWILIGHT\n\nAlone through the great hall of the Gibichungs wandered Gutrune,\nawaiting Siegfried\u2019s return from the hunt. Going to Br\u00fcnnhilde\u2019s\nchamber in the hope of finding a companion in her anxiety, she saw that\nthe room was empty, and remembered that she had seen, some time before,\na woman\u2019s figure descend towards the Rhine. As she thought of her\nbrother\u2019s wild, strange bride, Gutrune shuddered. She moved restlessly\nabout the hall, listening for the clear horn-call that always heralded\nthe coming of the Volsung.\n\nSuddenly, Hagen appeared with a look of triumph on his dark, evil face;\nand, directly afterwards, many people came running, in wild confusion,\ncarrying torches, and lamenting the hero\u2019s death. And, finally, came\nthe warriors bearing Siegfried upon a great bier.\n\nWith wails of anguish, Gutrune flung herself on her knees beside her\nhero, and pushed Gunther away wildly when he strove to comfort her,\ncalling him the murderer of her husband.\n\nBut Gunther denied the charge, and pointed to Hagen, accusing him, in\nheart-broken tones, of having slain their hero. Hagen answered, with\ncalm defiance, that he had, indeed, killed Siegfried, and that he now\ndemanded as booty the Ring that gleamed upon the finger of the Volsung.\n\nFiercely, Gunther claimed the circlet for his sister, as widow\u2019s dower.\nHagen sprang forward to attack him, and the half-brothers fought wildly\ntogether for the Rhinegold Ring. At last, with an exultant gesture,\nHagen raised his sword above his head; for, at his feet lay Gunther,\nthe Gibichung\u2014dead.\n\n\u201cThe Ring!\u201d cried the Nibelung\u2019s son, and he sprang to the bier. But,\nere he could touch Siegfried\u2019s hand where gleamed the circlet, it\nraised itself threateningly. And even Hagen started back in terror.\nOn all sides people trembled with fear and horror. Gutrune screamed\nwildly as her eyes encountered her brother\u2019s body on the ground.\n\nInto this place of sorrow and confusion came a tall woman, robed in\nwhite, with a face most beautiful in its gentleness and strength; and\nbefore so calm and tender a gaze the crowd parted, as though in awe, to\nlet the woman pass.\n\nIt was Br\u00fcnnhilde, who had heard from the water-maidens everything\nthat had happened on the shores of the Rhine. She understood all now.\nShe understood that he had never been false, knowingly; that his last\nloving words had been of her\u2014and her alone. And she had come, with her\ngreat wisdom and her great love, to bring peace to the turbulent hearts\ngathered about Siegfried\u2019s bier.\n\nShe stood for a long time gazing down on the face of her hero\u2014\u201cThe\nhighest hero of worlds,\u201d she called him. She looked around her and\nsmiled upon the confusion and sorrow, and, before the tenderness and\nsolemn sweetness of that smile, the confusion seemed to die away and\nthe sorrow seemed but as something too small to be shown.\n\nPiteously, Gutrune sobbed out words of regret for the wrong which had\nbeen done Br\u00fcnnhilde, and reproached Hagen for his share in the plot.\nBut Br\u00fcnnhilde hardly heard.\n\nIn slow, solemn tones, she ordered a funeral pyre to be lighted on the\nbanks of the Rhine, and, bending over Siegfried, she spoke tenderly of\nhis love and of his nobility and truth.\n\nThen, turning away, she raised her arms on high and broke into\nsublime words, in which she reproached Wotan for his wrath, and added\nthat already his Ravens were on their way to Walhalla to carry the\nlong-deferred tidings of the last Twilight\u2014so close at hand.\n\n\u201cRest! Rest! O gods!\u201d she said, softly, and paused. She turned towards\nSiegfried again and drew the Ring from his finger. Then she spoke to\nthe three invisible Rhine children, and told them to take the circlet\nfrom her ashes when she had been burned with her hero.\n\nThe pyre was erected now, and Siegfried\u2019s body had been placed upon it.\nGrani was led in, and Br\u00fcnnhilde laid her arm upon his neck tenderly,\nand spoke of the warrior who was dead and of the leap into the flames\nthey were both about to take. Wildly, she seized a torch and lighted\nthe pyre; and, as the flames rose high, she sprang upon the horse\u2019s\nback and raised him for a leap.\n\n\u201cSiegfried! Siegfried! See!\u201d she cried\u2014and her voice echoed both far\nand near. \u201cGladly greets thee thy bride!\u201d\n\nInto the flames sprang Grani, the stanch war-horse, and the Walk\u00fcre\nwas gone from the eyes of men forever. But, behold! Her deed brought\nrelease from the sin and sorrow of many years.\n\nThe flames, rising high and higher, made a great fiery wall between\nthe earth and sky. The Rhine Maidens swam up to the shore and caught\na bright circlet lying near in the midst of a heap of ashes. Hagen,\nspringing after it, was lost in the Rhine\u2019s rushing waters forever.\n\nBut now a wonderful sight met the gaze of the awe-stricken people\ncrouching in the hall of the Gibichungs.\n\nIn the high heavens, Walhalla\u2019s stately towers appeared in a bright\nring of fire. The fagots made from the World-Ash had at last caught\nfire. Dimly could be seen the great array of gods and heroes awaiting\nthe Last Twilight, and the end.\n\nWildly, and still more wildly, leaped the flames. Walhalla was\nsurrounded with red fire\u2014it could no longer be seen. A fearful light\nglowed upon earth and heaven.\n\nLo! the Dusk of the Gods was come.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd that was how the Last Twilight came to Walhalla, and how Br\u00fcnnhilde\nlifted the spell off the world and expiated the old sins of so many\nyears before.\n\nAnd that was how the Golden Age came to an end, and a better and nobler\nera of truth and happiness reigned upon the earth.\n\nSo the enchanted Rhinegold came back to the hands of its first\nguardians\u2014the maidens of the river; and, after great sorrow and\nturmoil, there was at last peace.\n\n[Music: Motif of Br\u00fcnnhilde\u2019s Expiation]\n\n\nFINIS","title":"The story of the Rhinegold (Der Ring des Nibelungen) told for young people","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":24416}