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Title: The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie

Subtitle: The Ring of the Niblung, part 1

Author: Richard Wagner

Release Date: February 9, 2015 [EBook #48214]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Madeleine Fournier & Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org (Images generously made available by the Internet Archive.)

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ***

THE RING

OF THE NIBLUNG

THE RHINEGOLD: PRELUDE

THE VALKYRIE: FIRST DAY OF THE TRILOGY

SIEGFRIED: SECOND DAY OF THE TRILOGY

THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS:

THIRD DAY OF THE TRILOGY

THE RHINEGOLD & THE VALKYRIE

BY

RICHARD WAGNER

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

BY ARTHUR RACKHAM

TRANSLATED BY MARGARET ARMOUR

LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN

NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY PACE & Co

1910

CONTENTS

THE RHINEGOLD

FIRST SCENE

SECOND SCENE

THIRD SCENE

FOURTH SCENE

THE VALKYRIE

THE FIRST ACT

THE SECOND ACT

THE THIRD ACT

"Raging, Wotan

Rides to the rock!

Like a storm-wind he comes!"

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"Raging, Wotan

Rides to the rock!

.   .   .   .   .   .   .

Like a storm-wind he comes" (Frontispiece)

The frolic of the Rhine-Maidens plate 02

The Rhine-Maidens teasing Alberich plate 03

"Mock away! Mock!

The Niblung makes for your toy!" plate 04

"Seize the despoiler!

Rescue the gold!

Help us! Help us!

Woe! Woe!" plate 05

Freia, the fair one plate 06

"The Rhine's pure-gleaming children

Told me of their sorrow" plate 07

Fasolt suddenly seizes Freia and drags her to one side with Fafner plate 08

The Gods grow wan and aged at the loss of Freia plate 09

Mime, howling. "Ohé! Ohé!

Oh! Oh!" plate 10

Mime writhes under the lashes he receives plate 11

Alberich drives in a band of Niblungs laden with gold and silver treasure plate 12

"Ohé! Ohé!

Horrible dragon,

O swallow me not!

Spare the life of poor Loge! plate 13

"Hey! Come hither,

And stop me this cranny!" plate 14

"Erda bids thee beware" plate 15

Fafner kills Fasolt plate 16

"To my hammer's swing

Hitherward sweep

Vapours and fogs!

Hovering mists!

Donner, your lord, summons his hosts!" plate 17

"The Rhine's fair children,

Bewailing their lost gold, weep" plate 18

"This healing and honeyed

Draught of mead

Deign to accept from me."

"Set it first to thy lips" plate 19

Hunding discovers the likeness between Siegmund and Sieglinde plate 20

Sieglinde prepares Hunding's draught for the night plate 21

"Siegmund the Wälsung

Thou dost see!

As bride-gift

He brings thee this sword" plate 22

Brünnhilde plate 23

Fricka approaches in anger plate 24

Brünnhilde slowly and silently leads her horse down the path to the cave plate 25

"Father! Father!

Tell me what ails thee?

With dismay thou art filling thy child!" plate 26

Brünnhilde stands for a long time dazed and alarmed plate 27

Brünnhilde with her horse, at the mouth of the cave plate 28

"I flee for the first time

And am pursued:

Warfather follows close

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

He nears, he nears, in fury!

Save this woman!

Sisters, your help!" plate 29

"There as a dread

Dragon he sojourns,

And in a cave

Keeps watch over Alberich's ring" plate 30

The ride of the Valkyries plate 31

"Appear, flickering fire,

Encircle the rock with thy flame!

Loge! Loge! Appear!" plate 32

As he moves slowly away, Wotan turns and looks sorrowfully back at Brünnhilde plate 33

The sleep of Brünnhilde plate 34

THE RHINEGOLD

CHARACTERS

GODS: WOTAN, DONNER, FROH, LOGE

NIBELUNGS: ALBERICH, MIME

GIANTS: FASOLT, FAFNER

GODDESSES: FRICKA, FREIA, ERDA

RHINE-MAIDENS: WOGLINDE, WELLGUNDE, FLOSSHILDE

SCENES OF ACTION

I.

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RHINE

II.

OPEN SPACE ON A MOUNTAIN HEIGHT NEAR THE RHINE

III.

THE SUBTERRANEAN CAVERNS OF NIBELHEIM

IV.

OPEN SPACE AS IN SCENE II.

FIRST SCENE

At the bottom of the Rhine

A greenish twilight, lighter above than below. The upper part is filled with undulating water, which streams respectively from right to left. Towards the bottom the waves resolve themselves into a mist which grows finer as it descends, so that a space, as high as a mans body from the ground, appears to be quite free from the water, which floats like a train of clouds over the gloomy stretch below. Steep rocky peaks jut up everywhere from the depths, and enclose the entire stage. The ground is a wild confusion of jagged rocks, no part of it being quite level, and on every side deeper fisures are indicated by a still denser gloom. Woglinde circles with graceful swimming movements round the central rock.

WOGLINDE

Weia! Waga!

Roll, O ye billows,

Rock ye our cradle!

Wagala weia!

Wallala, weiala, weia!

WELLGUNDE [From above.

Woglinde, watchest alone?

WOGLINDE

If Wellgunde came we were two.

WELLGUNDE [Dives down to the rock.

How keepest thou watch?

WOGLINDE [Swimming off, eludes her.

Wary of thee.

[They playfully tease and chase one another.

FLOSSHILDE [From above.

Heiaha weia!

Ho! ye wild sisters!

WELLGUNDE

Flosshilde, swim!

Woglinde flies:

Help me to hinder her flying.

FLOSSHILDE [Dives down between the two at play.

The sleeping gold

Badly ye guard;

Watch with more zeal

The slumberer's bed,

Or dear you'll pay for your sport!

[They swim asunder with merry cries. Flosshilde tries to catch first the one, then the other. They elude her, and then combine to chase her, darting like fish from rock to rock with jests and laughter. Meanwhile Alberich climbs out of a dark ravine on to a rock. He pauses, still surrounded by darkness, and watches the frolic of the Rhine-Maidens with increasing pleasure.

ALBERICH

Hey, hey! ye nixies!

Ye are a lovely,

Lovable folk!

From Nibelheim's night

Fain would I come,

Would ye be kind to me.

[The maidens, as soon as they hear Alberich's voice, stop playing.

WOGLINDE

Hei! Who is there?

WELLGUNDE

A voice! It grows dark!

FLOSSHILDE

Who listens below?

[They dive down and see the Nibelung.

WOGLINDE AND WELLGUNDE

Fie! the loathsome one!

The frolic of the Rhine-Maidens.

FLOSSHILDE [Swimming up quickly.

Look to the gold!

Father warned us

Of such a foe.

[Both the others follow her, and all three gather quickly round the central rock.

ALBERICH

You above there!

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS

What wouldst thou below there?

ALBERICH

Do I spoil sport

By standing and gazing here?

Dived ye but deeper,

Fain the Niblung

Would join in your frolic and play.

WELLGUNDE

He wishes to join us?

WOGLINDE

Is he in jest?

ALBERICH

Ye gleam above me

So glad and fair!

If one would only

Glide down, how close in my arms

Fondly clasped she would be!

FLOSSHILDE

I laugh at my fears:

The foe is in love.

WELLGUNDE

The amorous imp!

WOGLINDE

Let us approach him.

[She sinks down to the top of the rock, whose base Alberich has reached.

ALBERICH

Lo! one of them comes!

WOGLINDE

Climb up to me here!

ALBERICH

[Climbs with gnome-like agility, though with repeated checks, to the summit of the rock. Irritably.

Horrid rock,

So slippery, slimy!

I slide and slip!

My hands and feet vainly

Attempt to hold on

To the slithery surface!

Vapour damp

Fills up my nostrils—

Accursed sneezing!

[He has got near Woglinde.

WOGLINDE [Laughing.

Sneezing tells

That my suitor comes!

ALBERICH

Be thou my love!

Adorable child!

[He tries to embrace her.

WOGLINDE [Escaping from him.

Here thou must woo,

If woo me thou wilt!

[She swims up to another rock.

ALBERICH [Scratching his head.

Alas! not yet caught?

Come but closer!

Hard I found

What so lightly thou didst.

WOGLINDE [Swims to a third rock lower down.

Deeper descend:

Thou'lt certainly seize me!

ALBERICH [Clambers down quickly.

Down there it is better!

WOGLINDE [Darts upwards to a higher rock at the side.

But better still higher!

WELLGUNDE AND FLOSSHILDE [Laughing

Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

ALBERICH

How capture this coy,

Elusive fish?

Wait for me, false one!

[He tries to climb after her in haste.

WELLGUNDE

[Has sunk down to a lower rock on the other side.

Heia! my friend there!

Dost thou not hear?

ALBERICH [Turning round.

What? Didst thou call?

WELLGUNDE

Be counselled by me:

Forsake Woglinde,

Climb up to me now!

ALBERICH

[Climbs hastily over the river-bottom towards Wellgunde.

Thou art more comely

Far than that coy one;

Her sheen is duller,

Her skin too smooth.

But thou must deeper

Dive to delight me!

WELLGUNDE

[Sinking down till she is a little nearer him.

Well, now am I near?

ALBERICH

Not near enough.

Thine arms around me

Tenderly throw,

That I may fondle

Thy neck with my fingers,

And closely may cling

To thy bosom with love and with longing.

WELLGUNDE

Art thou in love?

For love art thou pining?

Approach and show me

Thy face and thy form.

Fie! thou horrible

Hunchback, for shame!

Swarthy, horny-skinned

Rogue of a dwarf!

Find thou a sweetheart

Fonder than I!

ALBERICH

[Tries to detain her by force

I may not be fair,

But fast I can hold!

WELLGUNDE

[Swimming up quickly to the middle rock.

Hold firm, or I will escape!

WOGLINDE AND FLOSSHILDE [Laughing.

Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

ALBERICH [Angrily calling after Wellgunde.

Fickle maid!

Bony, cold-blooded fish!

Fair if I seem not,

Pretty and playful,

Smooth and sleek—

Hei! if I am so loathsome

Give thy love to the eels!

FLOSSHILDE

What ails thee, dwarf?

Daunted so soon?

Though two have been wooed,

Still a third waits thee,

Solace sweet

Fain at a word to grant!

ALBERICH

Soothing song

Sounds in my ear!

'Twas well I found

Three and not one!

The chance is I charm one of many,

Whilst, single, no one would choose me!

Hither come gliding,

And I will believe!

FLOSSHILDE [Dives down to Alberich.

How senseless are ye,

Silly sisters,

Not to see he is fair!

ALBERICH [Hastening towards her.

I well may deem them

Dull and ill-favoured,

Seeing how lovely thou art!

FLOSSHILDE

Sing on! Thy song,

So soft and sweet,

Entrancing sounds in my ear!

ALBERICH [Caressing her with confidence.

My heart burns

And flutters and fails,

Flattered by praises so sweet!

FLOSSHILDE [Gently resisting him.

Thy grace and beauty

Make glad my eye;

And thy smile refreshes

My soul like balm

[She draws him tenderly towards her.

Dearest of men!

ALBERICH

Sweetest of maids!

FLOSSHILDE

Wert thou but mine!

ALBERICH

Wert mine for ever!

FLOSSHILDE [Ardently.

To be pierced by thy glance,

To be pricked by thy beard,

To see and to feel them for aye!

Might thy hair hard as bristles

Flow ever more

Enraptured Flosshilde wreathing!

And thy form like a frog's,

And the croak of thy voice—

O could I, dumb with amaze,

Marvel forever on these!

WOGLINDE and WELLGUNDE

[Dive down close to them and laugh.

Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

ALBERICH [Starting in alarm.

Wretches, dare ye thus scoff?

FLOSSHILDE [Suddenly darting away from him.

A suitable end to the song.

[She swims up quickly with her sisters.

WOGLINDE AND WELLGUNDE [Laughing.

Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

ALBERICH [In a wailing voice.

Woe's me! Ah, woe's me!

Alas! Alas!

The third one, so dear,

Does she too betray?

O sly and shameful

Worthless and dissolute wantons!

Live ye on lies

Alone, O ye false nixie brood?

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS

Wallala! Wallala!

Lalalelai leialalei!

Heia! Heia! ha! ha!

Shame on thee goblin,

Scolding down yonder!

Cease, and do as we bid thee!

Faint-hearted wooer,

Why couldst not hold

The maid, when won, more fast?

True are we,

And troth we keep

With lovers when once caught.

Grasp then and hold;

Away with all fear!

In the waves we scarce can escape.

Wallala!

Lalaleia! Leialalei!

Heia! Heia! Ha hei!

[They swim apart hither and thither, now lower, now higher, to provoke Alberich to give chase.

The Rhine-Maidens teasing Alberich.

ALBERICH

Fiercely within me

Passionate fires

Consume and flame!

Love and fury,

Wild, resistless,

Lash me to frenzy!

So laugh and lie your fill—

One of you I desire,

And one must yield to my yearning!

[He starts chasing them with desperate energy. He climbs with terrible agility, and, springing from rock to rock, tries to catch one maiden after another. They keep eluding him with mocking laughter. He stumbles and falls into the abyss, and clambers up quickly again and resumes the chase. They sink down a little towards him; he almost reaches them, but falls, back again, and once more tries to catch them. At last he pauses out of breath, and, foaming with rage, stretches his clenched fist up towards the maidens.

ALBERICH

If but this fist had one!

[He remains speechless with rage, gazing upwards, when he is suddenly attracted and arrested by the following spectacle. Through the water a light of continually increasing brilliance breaks from above, and, at a point near the top of the middle rock, kindles to a radiant and dazzling golden gleam. A magical light streams from this through the waves.

WOGLINDE

Look, sisters!

The wakener laughs to the deep.

WELLGUNDE

Through the billows green

The blissful slumberer greets.

FLOSSHILDE

He kisses the eyelid,

Making it open;

Bathed in splendour,

Behold it smiles,

Sending, like a star,

Gleaming light through the waves.

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS

[Swimming gracefully round the cliff together.

Heia jaheia!

Heia jaheia!

Wallala la la la leia jahei!

Rhinegold!

Rhinegold!

Radiant delight,

How glorious and glad thy smile,

Over the water

Shooting effulgence afar!

Heia jahei!

Heia jaheia!

Waken, friend!

Wake in joy!

That we may please thee,

Merry we'll play,

Waters afire,

Billows aflame,

As, blissfully bathing,

Dancing and singing,

We dive and encircle thy bed!

Rhinegold!

Rhinegold!

Heia jaheia!

Heia jaheia!

Wallala la la la heia jahei!

[With increasing mirthful abandonment the maidens swim round the rock. The water is filled with a glimmering golden light.

ALBERICH

[Whose eyes, strongly attracted by the radiance, stare fixedly at the gold.

What is it, sleek ones,

That yonder gleams and shines?

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS

Where dost thou hail from, O churl,

Of the Rhinegold not to have heard?

WELLGUNDE

Knows not the elf

Of the famed eye golden

That wakes and sleeps in turn?

WOGLINDE

Of the star resplendent

Down in the depths

Whose light illumines the waves?

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS [Together

See how gaily

We glide in the glory!

Wouldst thou also

Be bathed in brightness,

Come, float and frolic with us!

Wallala la la leia lalei!

Wallala la la leia jahei!

ALBERICH

Has the gold no value

Apart from your games?

It were not worth getting!

WOGLINDE

He would not scoff,

Scorning the gold,

Did he but know all its wonders!

WELLGUNDE

That man surely

The earth would inherit

Who from the Rhinegold

Fashioned the ring

Which measureless power imparts.

FLOSSHILDE

Our father told us,

And strictly bade us

Guard with prudence

The precious hoard

That no thief from the water might steal it.

Be still, then, chattering fools.

WELLGUNDE

O prudent sister,

Why chide and reproach?

Hast thou not heard

That one alone

Can hope to fashion the gold?

WOGLINDE

Only the man

Who love defies,

Only the man

From love who flies

Can learn and master the magic

That makes a ring of the gold.

WELLGUNDE

Secure then are we

And free from care:

For love is part of living;

No one would live without loving.

WOGLINDE

And least of all he,

The languishing elf,

With pangs of love

Pining away.

FLOSSHILDE

I fear him not

Who should surely know,

By his savage lust

Almost inflamed.

"Mock away! Mock away!

The Niblung makes for your toy!"

WELLGUNDE

A brimstone brand

In the surging waves,

In lovesick frenzy

Hissing loud.

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS [Together.

Wallala! Wallaleia la la!

Join in our laughter,

Lovable elf!

In the golden glory

How gallant thy sheen!

O come, lovely one, laugh as we laugh!

Heia jaheia!

Heia jaheia!

Wallala la la la leia jahei!

[They swim, laughing, backwards and forwards in the light.

ALBERICH

[His eyes fixed on the gold, has listened attentively to the sisters rapid chatter.

Could I truly

The whole earth inherit through thee?

If love be beyond me

My cunning could compass delight?

[In a terribly loud voice.

Mock away! Mock!

The Niblung makes for your toy!

[Raging he springs on to the middle rock, and clambers to the top. The maidens scatter, screaming, and swim upwards on different sides.

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS

Heia! Heia!heia jahei!

Save yourselves!

The elf is distraught!

Swirling waters splash

At every leap:

The creature's crazy with love!

Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

ALBERICH

[Reaching the top with a last spring.

Still undismayed?

Go, wanton in darkness.

Water-born brood!

[He stretches his hand out towards the gold.

My hand quenches your light;

I tear the gold from the rock;

Forged be the ring for revenge!

Bear witness, ye floods—

I forswear love and curse it!

[He tears the gold from the rock with terrific force, and immediately plunges with it into the depths, where he quickly disappears. Sudden darkness envelops the scene. The maidens dive down after the robber.

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS

Seize the despoiler!

Rescue the gold!

Help us! Help us!

Woe! Woe!

[The water sinks with them. From the lowest depth Alberich's shrill, mocking laughter rings up. The rocks are hidden by impenetrable darkness. The whole stage from top to bottom is filled with black waves, which for some time appear to sink even lower.

"Seize the despoiler!

Rescue the gold!

Help us! Help us!

Woe! Woe!"

SECOND SCENE

The waves have gradually changed into clouds which, becoming lighter and lighter by degrees, finally disperse in a fine mist. As the mist vanishes upwards in light little clouds an open space on a mountain height becomes visible in the dim light which precedes dawn. At one side Wotan with Fricka beside him both asleep, lie on a flowery bank. The dawning day illumines with increasing brightness a castle with glittering pinnacles which stands on the summit of a cliff in the background. Between this and the foreground a deep valley is visible through which the Rhine flows.

FRICKA

[Awakes; her gaze falls on the castle, which has become plainly visible; alarmed.

Wotan! My lord! Awaken!

WOTAN [Continuing to dream.

The happy hall of delight

Is guarded by gate and door:

Manhood's honour,

Power for aye,

Rise to my lasting renown!

FRICKA [Shakes him.

Up from deceitful

Bliss of a dream!

My husband, wake and consider!

WOTAN

[Awakes and raises himself slightly. His glance is immediately arrested by the view of the castle.

The walls everlasting are built!

On yonder summit

The Gods' abode

Proudly rears

Its radiant strength!

As I nursed it in dream

And desired it to be,

Strong it stands,

Fair to behold,

Brave and beautiful pile!

FRICKA

While thou rejoicest,

Joyless am I.

Thou hast thy hall;

My heart fears for Freia.

Heedless one, hast thou forgotten

The price that was to be paid?

The work is finished,

And forfeit the pledge:

Hast thou then no care for the cost?

WOTAN

My bargain well I remember

With them who built the abode.

'Twas a pact tamed them,

The obstinate race,

So that this hallowed

Hall they have built me.

It stands—the strong ones' doing:—

Fret not thou, counting the cost.

FRICKA

O laughing, insolent lightness!

Mirth how cruel and callous!

Had I but known of thy pact,

The trick had never been played;

But far from your counsels

Ye men kept the women,

That, deaf to us and in peace,

Alone ye might deal with the giants.

So without shame

Ye promised them Freia,

Freia, my beautiful sister,

Proud of playing the thief.

What remains holy

Or precious to men

Once grown greedy of might?

WOTAN [Calmly.

From such greed

Was Fricka then free

Herself when the castle she craved?

FRICKA

I was forced to ponder some means

To keep my husband faithful,

True to me when his fancy

Tempted him far from his home.

Halls high and stately,

Decked to delight thee,

Were to constrain thee

To peaceful repose.

But thou hadst the work designed

Intent on war alone;

It was to add

More to thy might still,

To stir up to tumult still fiercer

That built were the towering walls

WOTAN

Wouldst thou, O Wife!

In the castle confine me,

To me, the god, must be granted,

Faithful at home,

The right to wage war

And conquer the world from without.

Ranging and changing

All men love:

That sport at least thou must leave me.

FRICKA

Cold, hard-hearted,

Merciless man!

For the idle baubles,

Empire and sway,

Thou stakest in insolent scorn

Love and a woman's worth!

WOTAN

When I went wooing, to win thee

I staked ungrudging,

Gladly one of my eyes:

What folly now then to scold!

Women I honour

Beyond thy desire!

I will not abandon

Frei, the fair:

Such never was my intent.

FRICKA

[ Anxiously looking towards a point not on the stage.

Then succour her now:

Defenceless, in fear,

Hither she hastens for help!

FREIA

[Enters as if flying from someone.

Help me, sister!

Shield me, o brother!

From yonder mountain

Menaces Fasolt:

He comes to bear me off captive.

WOTAN

Let him come!

Sawest thou Loge?

FRICKA

To this tricky deceiver

O why wilt thou trust?

He always snares thee anew,

Though from his snares thou hast suffered.

WOTAN

I ask for no aid

Where simple truth suffices;

But to turn the spite

Of foes to profit,

Craft and cunning alone

Can teach, as by Loge employed.

He whose advice I obeyed

Has promised ransom for Freia:

On him my faith I have fixed.

FRICKA

And art left in the lurch.

The giants come.

Lo! hither they stride:

Where lingers now thine ally?

FREIA

Where tarry ye, my brothers,

When help ye should bring me,

Weak and bartered away by my kin?

O help me, Donner!

Hither! Hither!

Rescue Freia, my Froh!

FRICKA

Now the knaves who plotted and tricked thee

Abandon thee in thy need.

[Fasolt and Fafner, both of gigantic stature, enter, armed with stout clubs.

FASOLT

Soft sleep

Sealed thine eyes

While we, both sleepless,

Built the castle walls:

Working hard

Wearied not,

Heaping, heaving

Heavy stones.

Tower steep,

Door and gate

Keep and guard

Thy goodly castle halls.

[Pointing to the castle.

There stands

What we builded,

Shining fair

Beneath the sun.

Enter in

And pay the price!

WOTAN

Name, Workers, your wage.

What payment will appease you?

FASOLT

We made the terms

That seemed to us meet.

Hast thou forgot so soon?

Freia, the fair one,

Holda, the free one—

The bargain is

We bear her away.

WOTAN [Quickly.

Ye must be mad

To moot such a thing!

Ask some other wage;

Freia I will not grant.

FASOLT

Stands for a space speechless with angry surprise.

What is this? Ha!

Wouldest deceive?—

Go back on thy bond?

What thy spear wards

Are they but sport,

All the runes of solemn bargain?

FAFNER

O trusty brother!

Fool, dost now see the trick?

FASOLT

Son of light,

Light, unstable,

Hearken! Have a care!

In treaties keep thou troth!

What thou art

Thou art only by treaties,

For, built on bonds,

There are bounds to thy might.

Though cunning thou,

More clever than we:

Though we once freemen,

Are pledged to peace,

Cursèd be all thy wisdom;—

Peaceful promises perish!—

Wilt thou not open,

Honest and frank

Stand fast by a bargain once fixed.

A stupid giant

Tells thee this:

O wise one, take it from him!

Freia, the fair one

WOTAN

How sly to judge us serious

When plainly we were but jesting!

The beautiful Goddess

Light and bright—

For churls what charm could she have?

FASOLT

Jeerest thou?

Ha! how unjust!

Ye who by beauty rule,

Proud and radiant race!

How foolish, striving

For towers of stone,

Woman's love to pledge—

Price of walls and of halls!

We dolts, despising ease,

Sweating with toil-hardened hands,

Have worked, that a woman

With gentle delight

In our midst might sojourn

And ye call the pact a jest?

FAFNER

Cease thy childish chatter;

No gain look we to get.

Freia's charms

Mean little;

But it means much,

If from the Gods we remove her.

Golden apples

Ripen within her garden;

She alone

Grows the apples and tends them.

The goodly fruit

Gives to her kinsfolk,

Who eat thereof,

Youth everlasting.

Sick and pale,

Their beauty would perish,

Old and weak,

Wasting away,

Were not Freia among them.

[Roughly.

From their midst, therefore, Freia must forth!

WOTAN [Aside.

Loge lingers long!

FASOLT

We wait for thy word!

WOTAN

Ask some other wage!

FASOLT

No other: Freia alone!

FAFNER

Thou there, follow us!

[Fafner and Fasolt press towards Freia. Froh and Donner enter in haste.

FREIA

Help! Help from the harsh ones!

FROH [Clasping Freia in his arms.

To me, Freia!

[To Fafner.

Back, overbold one!

Froh shields the fair one!

DONNER [Confronting the giants.

Fasolt and Fafner,

Have ye not felt

With what weight my hammer falls?

FAFNER

What means thy threat?

FASOLT

What wouldst thou here?

No strife we desire;

We want but our due reward.

DONNER

Oft I've doled out

Giants their due:

Come, your reward is here

Waiting, full measure and more!

[He swings his hammer.

WOTAN

[Stretching out his spear between the combatants.

Hold, thou fierce one!

Nothing by force!

All bonds and treaties

My spear protects;

Spare then thy hammer's haft!

FREIA

Woe's me! Woe's me!

Wotan forsakes me!

FRICKA

Can such be thy thought,

Merciless man?

WOTAN

[Turns away and sees Loge coming.

There comes Loge!

Hot is thy haste

Smoothly to settle

Thy sorry, badly-made bargain!

LOGE

[Has come up out of the valley in the background.

What is this bargain

That I am blamed for?—

The one with the giants

That thou thyself didst decide?

O'er hill and o'er hollow

Drives me my whim;

House and hearth

I do not crave.

Donner and Froh,

They dream but of roof and room:

Wedding, must have

A home in which to dwell,

A stately hall,

A fortress fast.

It was such Wotan wished.

Hall and house,

Castle, court,

The blissful abode

Now stands complete and strong.

I proved the lordly

Pile myself;

In fear of flaws,

Scanning it close.

Fasolt and Fafner

Faithful I found;

Firm-bedded is each stone.

I was not slothful

Like many here:

Who calls me sluggard, he lies!

WOTAN

Cunningly

Thou wouldst escape!

Warned be, and wisely

Turn from attempts to deceive.

Of all the Gods

I alone stood by thee

As thy friend,

In the gang that trusted thee not.

Now speak, and to the point!

For when the builders at first

As wage Freia demanded,

I gave way only,

Trusting thy word

When thou didst solemnly promise

To ransom the noble pledge.

LOGE

Perplexed to puzzle,

Plans to ponder

For its redeeming—

That promise I gave;

But to discover

What cannot be,

What none can do,

No man can possibly promise.

FRICKA

See the treacherous

Rogue thou didst trust!

FROH

Named art Loge,

But liar I call thee!

DONNER

Accursèd flame,

I will quench thy fire!

LOGE

From their shame to shelter,

Foolish folk flout me.

[Donner threatens to strike Loge.

WOTAN

[Stepping between them.

Forbear and let him alone!

Ye wot not Loge's wiles.

His advice,

Given slowly, gains

Both in weight and in worth.

FAFNER

Do not dally;

Promptly pay!

FASOLT

Long waits our reward.

WOTAN

[Turns sternly to Loge.

Speak up surly one!

Fail me not!

How far hast thou ranged and roamed?

LOGE

Still with reproach

Is Loge paid!

Concerned but for thee,

Thorough and swift,

I searched and ransacked

To the ends of the earth

To find a ransom for Freia

Fair to the giants and just.

In vain the search,

Convincing at last

That the world contains

Nothing so sweet

That a man will take it instead

Of woman's love and delight.

[All seem surprised and taken aback.

Where life moves and has being,

In water, earth and air

I questioned,

Asking of all things,

Where weak still is strength,

And germs only stirring,

What men thought dear—

And stronger deemed—

Than woman's love and delight.

But where life moves and has being

My questions met

But with laughter and scorn.

In water, earth and air

Woman and love

Will none forego.

[Varied gestures of amazement.

One man, one only,

I met who, renouncing love,

Prized ruddy gold

Above any woman's grace.

The Rhine's pure-gleaming children

Told me of their sorrow.

The Nibelung,

Night-Alberich,

Wooed for the favour

Of the swimmers in vain,

And vengeance took,

Stealing the Rhinegold they guard.

He thinks it now

A thing beyond price,

Greater than woman's grace.

For their glittering toy

Thus torn from the deep

The sorrowful maids lamented.

They pray, Wotan,

Pleading to thee,

That thy wrath may fall on the robber

The gold too

They would have thee grant them

To guard in the water for ever.

Loge promised

The maidens to tell thee,

And, keeping faith, he has told.

"The Rhine's pure-gleaming children

Told me of their sorrow"

WOTAN

Dull thou must be

Or downright knavish!

In parlous plight myself,

What help have I for others?

FASOLT

[Who has been listening attentively, to Fafner.

The Niblung has much annoyed us;

I greatly grudge him this Rhinegold;

But such his craft and cunning,

He has never been caught.

FAFNER

Other malice

Ponders the Niblung;

Gains he might from gold

Listen, Loge!

Tell us the truth.

What wondrous gift has the gold,

That the dwarf desires it so?

LOGE

A plaything,

In the waves providing

Children with laughter and sport,

It gives, when to golden

Ring it is rounded,

Power and might unmatched;

It wins its owner the world.

WOTAN [Thoughtfully.

Rumours I have heard

Of the Rhinegold;

Runes of riches

Hide in its ruddy glow;

Pelf and power

Are by the ring bestowed.

FRICKA [Softly to Loge.

Could this gaud,

This gleaming trinket

Forged from the gold,

Be worn by a woman too?

LOGE

The wife who wore

That glittering charm

Never would lose

Her husband's love—

That charm which dwarfs are welding,

Working in thrall to the ring.

FRICKA [Coaxingly to Wotan.

O could but my husband

Come by the ring!

WOTAN

[As if falling more and more under the influence of a spell.

Methinks it were wisdom,

Won I the ring to my service.

But say, Loge,

How shall I learn

To forge and fashion it true?

LOGE

A magic rune

Can round the golden ring.

No one knows it,

Yet plain the spell to him

Who happy love forswears.

[Wotan turns away in annoyance.

That suits thee not;

Thou art too late too.

Alberich did not delay;

Fearless he mastered

The potent spell,

[Harshly.

And wrought aright was the ring.

DONNER [To Wotan.

We should all be

Under the dwarf,

Were not the ring from him wrested.

WOTAN

The ring I must capture!

FROH

Lightly now,

Without cursing love it were won.

LOGE [Harshly.

Just so:

Without guile, as in children's games!

WOTAN

Then tell us how.

LOGE

By theft!

What a thief stole

Steal thou from the thief;

How better could object be won?

But with baleful arms

Battles Alberich.

Wary, wise

Must be thy scheming,

If the thief thou wouldst confound,

[With warmth.

And restore the ruddy

And golden toy,

The Rhinegold, to the maidens.

For this they pray and implore.

WOTAN

The river-maidens?

What profit were mine?

FRICKA

Of that billow-born brood

Bring me no tidings,

For they have wooed

To my woe

Full many a man to their caves.

[Wotan stands silent, struggling with himself. The other Gods gaze at him in mute suspense. Fafner, meanwhile, has been consulting aside with Fasolt.

FAFNER [To Fasolt

Worth far more than Freia

Were the glittering gold.

Eternal youth, too, were his

Who could use the charm in its quest.

[Fasolt's gestures indicate that he is being convinced against his will. Fafner and Fasolt approach Wotan again.

FAFNER

Hear, Wotan,

Our word while we wait;

Freia we will restore you,

And will take

Paltrier payment:

The Niblung's red-gleaming gold

Will guerdon us giants rude.

WOTAN

Ye must be mad!

With what I possess not

How can I, shameless ones, pay you?

FAFNER

Hard labour

Went to those walls;

How easy

With fraud-aided force

(What our malice never achieved)

The Niblung to break and bind!

Fasolt suddenly seizes Freia and drags her to one side with Fafner

WOTAN [More quickly.

Why should I make

War on the Niblung?—

Fight, your foe to confound?

Insolent

And greedily grasping

Dolts you grow through my debt!

FASOLT

[Suddenly seizes Freia and drags her to one side with Fafner.

Maiden, come!

We claim thee ours!

As pledge thou shalt be held

Till the ransom is paid.

FREIA [Screaming.

Woe's me! Woe's me! Woe!

FAFNER

From your midst

We bear her forth!

Till evening—mark it well!—

As a pledge she is ours.

We will return then.

But when we come,

If the Rhinegold be not ready,

The Rhinegold bright and red—

FASOLT

The respite is ended,

Freia is forfeit

And bides among us for aye!

FREIA

Sister! Brothers!

Save me! Help!

[The giants hasten off, dragging Freia with them.

FROH

Up! Follow fast!

DONNER

Fall now the heavens!

[They look inquiringly at Wotan.

FREIA [In the distance.

Save me! Help!

LOGE [Looking after the giants.

Downward over stock and stone

Striding they go;

Through the ford across the Rhine

Wade now the robbers.

Sad at heart

Hangs Freia,

Thrown rudely over rough shoulders!

Heia! hei!

The louts, how they lumber along!

Through the Rhine valley they reel.

Not till Riesenheim's march

Is reached will they rest!

[He turns to the Gods.

How darkly Wotan doth dream!

What ails the high, happy Gods?

[A pale mist, gradually increasing in density, fills the stage. Seen through it the Gods look more and more wan and aged. All stand in dismay and apprehension regarding Wotan, whose eyes are fixed broodingly on the ground.

LOGE

Does a mist mock me?

Tricks me a dream?

Dismayed and wan,

How swiftly ye fade!

Lo! the bloom forsakes your cheeks,

And quenched is the light of your eyes!

Courage, Froh!

Day's but begun!

From thy hand, Donner,

The hammer is falling!

And why frets Fricka?

Sees she with sorrow

That Wotan's hair, growing grey,

Has made him gloomy and old?

FRICKA

Woe's me! Woe's me!

What does it mean?

The Gods grow wan and aged at the loss of Freia.

DONNER

My hand sinks down.

FROH

My heart stands still.

LOGE

I have it: hear what ye lack!

Of Freia's fruit

Ye have not partaken to-day.

The golden apples

Within her garden

Restored you your strength and your youth,

Ate ye thereof each day.

The garden's guardian

In pledge has been given.

On the branches dries

And droops the fruit,

To drop soon and decay.

My loss is lighter,

For still did Freia,

Stingy to me,

Stint the delectable fruit.

Not half as godlike

Am I, ye high ones, as you!

[Freely, but quickly and harshly.

But ye trusted solely

To the fruit that makes young,

As well both the giants wist.

Your life they played for,

Plotted to take;

Contrive so that they fail.

Lacking the apples,

Old and worn,

Grey and weary,

Wasting, the scoff of the world,

The Gods must pine and pass.

FRICKA [Anxiously

Wotan, alas!

Unhappy man!

See what thy laughing

Lightness has brought us—

Scoff and scorn for all!

WOTAN [Coming to a sudden resolve, starts up.

Up, Loge,

And follow me!

To Nibelheim hastening downward,

I go in search of the gold.

LOGE

The Rhine-daughters

Thy aid invoked:

Not vainly they hoped for thy help then?

WOTAN [Angrily.

Fool, be silent!

Freia, the fair one—

Freia's ransom we go for.

LOGE

Where thou wouldst go

Gladly I lead.

Shall we dive

Sheer through the depths of the Rhine?

WOTAN

Not through the Rhine.

LOGE

Then swift let us swing

Through this smoky chasm.

Together, come, creep we in!

[He goes in front and vanishes at the side through a cleft, from which, immediately afterwards, sulphurous vapour streams forth.

WOTAN

Ye others wait

Till evening here;

The golden ransom

When got will again make us young.

[He descends after Loge into the chasm. The sulphurous vapour which rises from it spreads over the whole stage and quickly fills it with thick clouds. Those who remain behind are soon hidden.

DONNER

Fare thee well, Wotan!

FROH

Good luck! Good luck!

FRICKA

O come back soon

To thy sorrowing wife!

[The sulphurous vapour darkens till it becomes a black cloud, which rises upwards from below. This then changes to a dark, rocky cavern which keeps rising, so that the stage seems to sink deeper and deeper into the earth.

THIRD SCENE

From various points in the distance ruddy lights gleam out. An increasing clamour, as of smiths at work, is heard on all sides. The clang of the anvils dies away. A vast subterranean chasm becomes visible which seems to open into narrow gorges on all sides. Alberich drags the screaming Mime out of a side cleft.

ALBERICH

Héhé! Héhé!

Come here! Come here!

Mischievous dwarf!

Prettily pinched

Promptly thou'lt be

Hast thou not ready,

Wrought to my wish,

The dainty thing I desire!

MIME [Howling.

Ohé! Ohé!

Oh! Oh!

Let me alone!

It is forged;

Heeding thy hest

I laboured hard

Till it was done!

Take but thy nails from my ear!

ALBERICH

Then why this delay

To show thy work?

MIME

I feared that something

Might still be wanting.

MIME, howling.

"Ohé! Ohé!

Oh! Oh!"

ALBERICH

What is there to finish?

MIME [Embarrassed.

Here—and there——

ALBERICH

How here and there?

Hand me the thing!

[He tries to catch hold of his ear again. In his terror Mime drops a piece of metal-work which he has been clutching convulsively. Alberich picks it up hastily and examines it with care.

Rogue, observe!

See how all wrought is

Well finished and feat,

Done as desired!

The simpleton wants

Slyly to trick me

And keep by cunning

The wonderful work,

Though all his skill

Came alone from my craft.

Thou art discovered, thief.

[He puts the Tarnhelm on his head.

The helmet fits the head;

But will the spell prosper too?

[Very softly.

"Night and darkness,

Seen of none!"

[He vanishes, and a pillar of cloud takes his place.

Brother, canst see me?

MIME [Looks round in amaze.

Where art thou? I see no one.

ALBERICH [Invisible.

Then feel me instead,

Thou lazy scamp!

Take that for thy thievish thoughts!

MIME

[Writhes under the lathes he receives, the sound of which is heard without the whip being seen.

Ohé! Ohé!

Oh! Oh! Oh!

ALBERICH [Invisible and laughing.

Ha! ha! ha!

Ha! ha! ha!

I thank thee, blockhead;

Thy work has stood the test.

Hoho! Hoho!

Nibelungs all

Bow now to Alberich!

For he is everywhere,

Waiting and watching;

Peace and rest

Are past for ever;

Ye must all serve him,

Though see him can none;

Where he cannot be spied

Look out for his coming;

None shall escape from his thraldom!

[Harshly.

Hoho! hoho!

Hearken, he nears:

The Nibelung's lord!

[The pillar of cloud disappears in the background. Alberich's scolding voice is heard more and more faintly. Mime lies huddled up in pain. Wotan and Loge come down through a cleft in the rock.

LOGE

Nibelheim here.

Through pale mists gleaming,

How bright yonder fiery sparks glimmer!

MIME

Oh! Oh! Oh!

WOTAN

I hear loud groans.

Who lies on the ground?

Mime writhes under the lashes he receives.

LOGE [Bends over Mime.

Why all this whimpering noise?

MIME

Ohé! Ohé!

Oh! Oh!

LOGE

Hei, Mime! Merry dwarf!

Who beats and bullies thee so?

MIME

Leave me in peace, pray.

LOGE

So much is certain,

And more still. Hark!

Help I promise thee, Mime!

[He raises him with difficulty.

MIME

What help for me?

To do his bidding

My brother can force me,

For I am bound as his slave.

LOGE

But, Mime, how has he

Thus made thee his thrall?

MIME

By evil arts

Fashioned Alberich

A yellow ring,

From the Rhinegold forged,

At whose mighty magic

Trembling we marvel;

This spell puts in his power

The Nibelung hosts of night.

Happy we smiths

Moulded and hammered,

Making our women

Trinkets to wear—

Exquisite Nibelung toys—

And lightly laughed at our toil.

The rogue now compels us

To creep into caverns,

For him alone

To labour unthanked.

Through the golden ring

His greed can divine

Where untouched treasure

In hidden gorge gleams.

We still must keep spying,

Peering and delving:

Must melt the booty,

Which, molten, we forge

Without pause or peace,

To heap up higher his hoard.

LOGE

Just now, then, an idler

Roused him to wrath?

MIME

Poor Mime, ah!

My lot was the hardest.

I had to work,

Forging a helmet,

With strict instructions

How to contrive it;

And well I marked

The wondrous might

Bestowed by the helm

That from steel I wrought.

Hence I had gladly

Held it as mine,

And, by its virtue

Risen at last in revolt:

Perchance, yes, perchance

The master himself I had mastered,

And, he in my power, had wrested

The ring from him and used it

That he might serve me, the free man,

[Harshly

As now I must serve him, a slave!

LOGE

And wherefore, wise one,

Sped not the plan?

MIME

Ah! though the helm I fashioned,

The magic that lurks therein

I foolishly failed to divine.

He who set the task

And seized the fruits—

From him I have learnt,

Alas I but too late!

All the helmet's cunning craft.

From my sight he vanished,

But, viciously lashing,

Swung his arm through unseen.

[Howling and sobbing.

This, fool that I am,

Was all my thanks!

[He rubs his back. Wotan and Loge laugh.

LOGE [To Wotan.

Confess, our task

Will call for skill.

WOTAN

Yet the foe will yield,

Use thou but fraud.

MIME [Observes the Gods more attentively.

Who are you, ye strangers

That ask all these questions?

LOGE

Friends to thee,

Who from their straits

Will free all the Nibelung folk.

MIME [Shrinking back in fear when he hears Alberich returning.

Hark! Have a care!

Alberich comes!

[He runs to and fro in terror.

WOTAN

We'll wait for him here.

[He sits down calmly on a stone. Alberich, who has taken the Tarnhelm from his head and hung it on his girdle, is brandishing his scourge and driving before him a band of Nibelungs from the gorges below. These are laden with gold and silver treasure, which, urged on by Alberich, they pile up so as to form a large heap.

ALBERICH

Hither! Thither!

Héhé! Hoho!

Lazy herd!

Haste and heap

Higher the hoard.

Up with thee there!

On with thee here!

Indolent dolts,

Down with the treasure!

Need ye my urging?

Here with it all!

[He suddenly perceives Wotan and Loge.

Hey! Who are they

That thus intrude?

Mime! Come here!

Rascally rogue!

Gossiping art

With the pilgriming pair?

Off, thou idler!

Back to thy bellows and beating!

[Lashing Mime, he chases him into the crowd of Nibelungs.

Hey! to your labour!

Get ye all hence now!

Swing ye down swift!

From the virgin gorges

Get me the gold!

This whip will follow,

Delve ye not fast!

That labour ye shirk not

Mime be surety,

Or surely the lash

Of my whip will find him;

That where no one would guess

I watch and I wander,

None knows it better than he.

Loitering still?

Lingering there?

Alberich drives in a band of Nibelungs laden with gold and silver treasure.

[He pulls the ring from his finger, kisses it and stretches it out in menace.

Fear ye and tremble,

O fallen host,

And obey

The ring's dread lord!

[Howling and shrieking, the Nibelungs, among them Mime, scatter, and creep down into the clefts in all directions.

ALBERICH

[Looks long and distrustfully at Wotan and Loge.

What seek ye here?

WOTAN

From Nibelheim's gloomy realm

Strange tidings have travelled up,

Tales of wonders

Worked here by Alberich;

And, greedy of marvels,

Hither came we as guests.

ALBERICH

By envy urged,

Hither ye hie.

Such doughty guests

I do not mistake.

LOGE

Since I am known,

Ignorant elf,

Say then, with growling

Whom dost thou greet?

In caverns cold

Where once thou didst crouch,

Who gave thee light

And fire for thy comfort,

Had Loge not smiled on thee?

Or what hadst thou fashioned

Had not I heated thy forge?

I am thy kinsman

And once was kind:

Lukewarm, methinks, are thy thanks!

ALBERICH

On light-born elves

Laughs now Loge,

The crafty rogue:

Art thou, false one, their friend

As my friend thou wert once,

Haha! I laugh!

No harm from such need I fear.

LOGE

No cause then for thy distrust.

ALBERICH

I can trust thy falsehood,

Not thy good faith!

[Taking up a defiant attitude.

Yet I dare you all unflinching.

LOGE

'Tis thy might

That makes thee so bold;

Grimly great

Groweth thy power.

ALBERICH

Seest thou the hoard

Yonder heaped

High by my host?

LOGE

A richer one never was seen.

ALBERICH

A wretched pile

Is this to-day, though.

Boldly mounting,

'Twill be bigger henceforward.

WOTAN

But what is gained by the hoard

In joyless Nibelheim,

Where wealth finds nothing to buy?

ALBERICH

Treasure to gather

And treasure to garner—

Thereto Nibelheim serves.

But with the hoard

In the caverns upheaped

Wonders all wonder surpassing

Will I perform

And win the whole world and its fairness.

WOTAN

But, my friend, how compass that goal?

ALBERICH

Ye who live above and breathe

The balmy, sweet airs,

Love and laugh:

A hand of gold

Ere long, O ye Gods, will have gripped you!

As I forswore love, even so

No one alive

But shall forswear it;

By golden songs wooed,

For gold alone will his greed be.

On hills of delight

Your home is, where gladness

Softly lulls;

The dark elves

Ye despise, O deathless carousers!

Beware!

Beware!

For first your men

Shall bow to my might;

Then your women fair

Who my wooing spurned

The dwarf will force to his will,

Though frowned on by love.

[Laughing savagely.

Ha! ha! ha! ha!

Mark ye my word?

Beware!

Beware of the hosts of the night,

When rise shall the Nibelung hoard

From silent depths to the day!

WOTAN [Furiously.

Avaunt, impious fool!

ALBERICH

What says he?

LOGE [Stepping between them.

Cease from thy folly!

[To Alberich.

Who would gaze not in wonder,

Beholding Alberich's work?

If only thy skill can achieve

Everything hope has promised,

Almighty I needs must acclaim thee!

For moon and stars

And the sun in his glory,

Forced to do thee obeisance,

Even they must bow down.

But what would seem of most moment

Is that they who serve thee,

The Nibelung hosts,

Bow and bear no hate.

When thy hand held forth a ring

Thy folk were stricken with fear.

But in thy sleep

A thief might slip up

And steal slyly the ring.

Say, how wouldst thou save thyself then?

ALBERICH

Most shrewd to himself seems Loge;

Others always

Figure as fools.

If I had to ask for

Advice or aid

On bitter terms,

How happy the thief would be!

This helmet that hides

I schemed for myself,

And chose for its smith

Mime, finest of forgers.

I am now able

Swift to assume

Any form that I fancy,

Through the helm.

No one sees me,

Search as he will;

Though everywhere hidden,

I always am there.

So, fearing nothing,

Even from thee I am safe,

Most kind, careful of friends!

LOGE

I have met

Full many a marvel,

But one so wondrous

Have never known.

Achievement so matchless

Scarce can I credit.

Were this possible, truly

Thy might indeed were eternal.

ALBERICH

Dost thou believe

I lie, as would Loge?

LOGE

Till it is proved

I must suspect thy word.

ALBERICH

Puffed up with wisdom,

The fool will explode soon:

Of envy then die!

Decide to what I shall change;

In that form I shall stand.

LOGE

Nay, choose for thyself,

But strike me dumb with amaze.

ALBERICH [Puts the Tarnhelm on his head.

"Dragon dread,

Wreathe thou and wriggle!"

[He immediately disappears. An enormous serpent writhes on the floor in his place. It rears and threatens Wotan and Loge with its open jaws.

LOGE [Pretends to be terrified.

Ohé!

ALBERICH [Laughing.

Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

LOGE

Ohé! Ohé!

Horrible dragon,

O swallow me not!

Spare the life of poor Loge!

WOTAN

Good, Alberich!

Well done, rascal!

How swiftly grew

The dwarf to the dragon immense!

[The dragon disappears and, in its stead, Alberich is again seen in his own shape.

ALBERICH

He he! Ye scoffers,

Are ye convinced?

"Ohé! Ohé!

Horrible dragon,

O swallow me not!

Spare the life of poor Loge!"

LOGE [In a trembling voice.

My trembling tells thee how truly.

A giant snake

Thou wert in a trice.

Having beheld,

I just credit the wonder.

Couldest thou turn

To something quite tiny

As well as bigger?

Methinks that way were best

For slyly slipping from foes;

That, though, I fear were too hard!

ALBERICH

For thee, yes;

Thou art so dull!

How small shall I be?

LOGE

The most cramped of crannies must hold thee

That hides the timorous toad.

ALBERICH

Nothing simpler!

Look at me now!

[He puts the Tarnhelm on his head again.

"Crooked toad,

Creep and crawl there!"

[He vanishes. The Gods see a toad on the rocks creeping towards them.

LOGE [To Wotan.

Quick and catch it!

Capture the toad!

[Wotan sets his foot on the toad. Loge makes a dash at its head and holds the Tarnhelm in his hand.

ALBERICH

[Is suddenly seen in his own shape writhing under Wotan's foot.

Ohé! I'm caught!

My curse upon them!

LOGE

Hold him fast

Till he is bound.

[Loge binds his hands and feet with a rope.

Now swiftly up!

Then he is ours.

[Both seize hold of the prisoner, who struggles violently, and drag him towards the shaft by which they descended. They disappear mounting upwards.

FOURTH SCENE

The scene has changed as before, only in reverse order. Open space on mountain heights. The prospect is veiled by pale mist as at the end of the second scene. Wotan and Loge climb up out of the cavern, bringing with them Alberich bound.

LOGE

Here, kinsman,

Thou canst sit down!

Friend, look round thee;

There lies the world

That was thine for the winning, thou fool!

What corner, say,

Wilt give to me for my stall?

[He dances round Alberich, snapping his fingers.

ALBERICH

Infamous robber!

Thou knave! Thou rogue!

Loosen the rope,

Set me at large,

Or dear for this outrage shalt answer!

WOTAN

My captive art thou,

Caught and in fetters.

As thou hadst fain

Subdued the world

And all that the world containeth,

Thou liest bound at my feet,

And, coward, canst not deny it.

A ransom alone

Shall loose thee from bondage.

ALBERICH

Ah, the dolt,

The dreamer I was,

To trust blindly

The treacherous thief!

Fearful revenge

Shall follow this wrong!

LOGE

Vain talk this of vengeance

Before thy freedom is won.

To a man in bonds

No free man expiates outrage.

If vengeance thou dreamest,

Dream of the ransom

First without further delay!

[He shows him the kind of ransom by snapping his fingers.

ALBERICH

Declare then your demands.

WOTAN

The hoard and thy gleaming gold.

ALBERICH

Pack of unscrupulous thieves!

[Aside.

If I only can keep the ring,

The hoard I can lightly let go,

For anew I could win it

And add to its worth

By the powerful spell of the ring.

If as warning it serves

To make me more wise,

The warning will not have been lost,

Even though lost may be the gold.

WOTAN

Wilt yield up the hoard?

ALBERICH

Loosen my hand

To summon it here.

[Loge frees his right hand.

ALBERICH

[Touches the ring with his lips and secretly murmurs the command.

Behold the Nibelungs

Hither are called;

I can hear them coming,

Bid by their lord,

With the hoard from the depths to the day.

Now loosen these burdensome bonds.

WOTAN

Nay, first in full thou must pay.

[The Nibelungs come up out of the cleft laden with the objects of which the hoard is composed.

ALBERICH

O bitter disgrace

That my shrinking bondsmen

Should see me captive and bound!

[To the Nibelungs.

Lay it down there,

As ye are bid!

In a heap

Pile up the hoard.

Must I aid, idlers?

No spying at me!

Haste there! Haste!

Then get ye gone quickly.

Hence to your work.

Home to your gorges!

Let the sluggards beware,

For I follow hard at your heels!

[He kisses the ring and holds it out with an air of command. As struck with a blow, the Nibelungs press terrified and cowering towards the cleft, down which they hastily disappear.

ALBERICH

The price is paid;

Let me depart!

And that helm of mine

Which Loge still holds,

That also pray give me again!

LOGE

[Throwing the Tarnhelm on to the heap.

The plunder must pay for the pardon.

ALBERICH

Accursed thief!

But patience! Calm!

He who moulded the one

Makes me another;

Still mine is the might

That Mime obeys.

Loath indeed

Am I to leave

My cunning defence to the foe!

Nothing Alberich

Owns at all now;

Unbind, ye tyrants, his bonds!

LOGE [To Wotan.

Ought I to free him?

Art thou content?

WOTAN

A golden ring

Girdles thy finger:

Hearest, elf?

That also belongs to the hoard.

ALBERICH [Horrified.

The ring?

WOTAN

The ring must also

Go to the ransom.

ALBERICH [Trembling.

My life—but the ring: not that!

WOTAN [With greater violence.

The ring I covet;

For thy life I care not at all.

ALBERICH

But if my life I ransom

The ring I must also rescue

Hand and head,

Eye and ear

Are not mine more truly

Than mine is the ruddy ring!

WOTAN

The ring thou claimest as thine?

Impudent elf, thou art raving.

Tell the truth;

Whence was gotten the gold

To fashion the glittering gaud?

How could that be

Thine which reft was,

Thou rogue, from watery deeps?

To the Rhine's fair daughters

Down and inquire

If the gold

Was as gift to thee given

That thou didst thieve for the ring!

ALBERICH

Vile double-dealing!

Shameless deceit!

Wouldst thou, robber,

Reproach in me

The sin so sweet to thyself?

How fain thou hadst

Bereft the Rhine of its gold,

If it had been

As easy to forge as to steal!

How well for thee,

Thou unctuous knave,

That the Nibelung, stung

By shameful defeat,

And by fury driven,

Was fired into winning the spell

That now alluringly smiles!

Shall I, bliss debarred,

Anguish-burdened

Because of the

Curse-laden deed,

My ring as a toy

Grant to princes for pleasure,

My ban bringing blessing to thee?

Have a care,

Arrogant God!

My sin was one

Concerning myself alone:

But against all that was,

Is and shall be

Thou wouldst wantonly sin,

Eternal one, taking the ring.

WOTAN

Yield the ring!

Thy foolish talk

Gives no title to that.

[He seizes Alberich and draws the ring from his finger by force.

ALBERICH [With a frightful cry.

Woe! Defeated! Undone!

Of wretches the wretchedest slave!

WOTAN [Contemplating the ring.

I own what makes me supreme,

The mightiest lord of all lords!

[He puts on the ring.

LOGE [To Wotan.

Shall he go free?

WOTAN

Loose his bonds.

LOGE [Sets Alberich quite free.

Slip away home,

For no fetter binds thee!

Fare forth, thou art free!

ALBERICH [Raising himself with furious laughter.

Am I now free,

Free in truth?

My freedom's first

Greeting take, for it is thine!

As a curse gave me the ring,

My curse go with the ring!

As its gold

Gave measureless might,

May now its magic

Deal death evermore!

No man shall gain

Gladness therefrom;

May ill-fortune befall him

On whom it shines.

Fretted by care

Be he who shall hold it,

And he who doth not,

By envy be gnawed!

All shall covet

And crave its wealth,

Yet none shall it profit

Or pay when won.

Those who guard it nothing shall gain,

Yet shall murder go where they go.

The coward, death-doomed,

By fetters of fear shall be bound;

His whole life long

He shall languish to death—

The ring's proud lord

And its poorest slave—

Till again I have

In my hand the gold I was robbed of.

So blesses

The Nibelung

The ring in bitter despair!

Hold fast to it!

[Laughing.

Keep it with care;

[Grimly.

From my curse none shall escape!

[He vanishes quickly through the cleft. The thick mist in the foreground gradually clears away.

LOGE

Hadst thou ears

For his fond farewell?

WOTAN [Left in contemplation of the ring.

Grudge him not vent to his spleen!

[It keeps growing lighter.

LOGE [Looking to the right.

Fasolt and Fafner

Come from afar

Bringing Freia again.

[Through the vanishing mist Donner, Froh, and Fricka appear, and hasten towards the foreground.

FROH

The giants return.

DONNER

Be greeted, brother!

FRICKA [Anxiously to Wotan.

Dost bring joyful tidings?

LOGE [Pointing to the hoard.

By fraud and by force

We have prevailed:

There Freia's ransom lies.

DONNER

From the giant's grasp

Freed comes the fair one.

FROH

How sweetly the air

Fans us again!

Balmy delights

Steal soft through each sense!

Sad, forlorn had our lot been,

For ever severed from her

Who gives us youth everlasting,

And bliss triumphant o'er pain.

[Fasolt and Fafner enter, leading Freia between them. Fricka hastens joyfully towards her sister. The foreground has become quite bright again, the light restoring to the aspect of the Gods its original freshnesh. The background, however, is still veiled by the mist so that the distant castle remains invisible.

FRICKA

Sweetest of sisters!

Lovely delight!

Once more for mine have I won thee!

FASOLT [Keeping her off

Hold! Touch her not yet!

Freia still is ours.

On Riesenheim's

Rampart of rock

Resting we stayed.

The pledge we held

In our hands we used

Loyally.

With deep regret,

I bring her back now

In case ye brothers

Can ransom her.

WOTAN

Prepared lies the ransom;

Mete out the gold,

Giving generous measure.

FASOLT

In truth it grieves me

Greatly the woman to lose;

And that my heart may forget her

Ye must heap the hoard,

Pile it so high

That it shall hide

The blossom-sweet maid from mine eyes!

WOTAN

Be Freia's form

The gauge of the gold.

[Freia is placed in the middle by the two giants, who then stick their staves into the ground in front of her so that her height and breadth is indicated.

FAFNER

Our staves give the measure

Of Freia's form;

Thus high now heap ye the hoard.

WOTAN

On with the work:

Irksome I find it!

LOGE

Help me, Froh!

FROH

I will end

Freia's dishonour.

[Loge and Froh heap up the treasure hastily between the staves.

FAFNER

Let the pile

Less loosely be built;

Firm and close

Pack ye the gauge!

[He presses down the treasure with rude strength; he bends down to look for gaps.

I still can see through;

Come, fill up the crannies!

LOGE

Hands off, rude fellow!

Touch nothing here!

FAFNER

Come here! This gap must be closed!

WOTAN [Turning away angrily.

Deep in my breast

Burns the disgrace!

FRICKA

See how in shame

Beautiful Freia stands;

For release she asks,

Dumb, with sorrowful eyes.

Heartless man!

The lovely one owes this to thee!

FAFNER

Still more! Pile on still more.

DONNER

My patience fails;

Mad is the wrath

Roused by this insolent rogue!

Come hither, hound!

Measure must thou?

Thy strength then measure with mine!

FAFNER

Softly, Donner!

Roar where it serves;

Thy roar is impotent here.

DONNER [Lunging out at him.

It will crush thee to thy cost, rogue.

WOTAN

Calm thyself!

Methinks that Freia is hid.

LOGE

The hoard is spent.

FAFNER

[Measures the hoard carefully with his eye, and looks to see if there are any crevices.

Still shines to me Holda's hair.

Yonder thing, too,

Throw on the hoard!

LOGE

Even the helm?

FAFNER

Make haste! Here with it!

WOTAN

Let it go also!

LOGE [Throws the Tarnhelm on the heap.

At last we have finished.

Have ye enough now?

FASOLT

Freia, the fair,

Is hidden for aye!

The price has been paid.

Ah, have I lost her?

[He goes up to the hoard and peers through it.

Sadly shine

Her eyes on me still,

Like stars they beam

Softly on me;

Still through this chink

I look on their light.

[Beside himself.

While her sweet eyes I behold thus,

From the woman how can I part?

FAFNER

Hey! Come hither,

And stop me this cranny!

LOGE

Greedy grumblers!

Can ye not see

The gold is all gone?

FAFNER

Not the whole, friend!

On Wotan's finger

Shines a golden ring still;

Give that to close up the crevice!

WOTAN

What! Give my ring?

LOGE

Be ye counselled!

The Rhine-Maidens

Must have the gold;

Wotan will give them what theirs is.

FAFNER.

"Hey! Come hither,

And stop me this cranny!"

WOTAN

What nonsense is this?

The ring I won so hardly,

Undismayed I hold and will keep.

LOGE

Broken then

Must be the promise

I gave the maidens who grieved.

WOTAN

By thy promise I am not bound;

As booty mine is the ring.

FAFNER

Not so. The ring

Must go with the ransom.

WOTAN

Boldly ask what ye will:

It shall be granted;

But not for all

The world would I give you the ring.

FASOLT [Furious, pulls Freia from behind the hoard.

All is off!

The bargain stands:

Fair Freia ours is for ever!

FREIA

Help me! Help me!

FRICKA

Heartless God,

Grant it! Give way!

FROH

Keep not the gold back!

DONNER

Give them the ring too!

WOTAN

Let me alone!

I hold to the ring.

[Fafner stops Fasolt as he is hastening off. All stand dismayed; Wotan turns from them in anger. The stage has grown dark again. From a cleft in the rock on one side issues a bluish flame in which Erda suddenly becomes visible, rising so that her upper half is seen.

ERDA [Stretching out a warning hand towards Wotan.

Yield it, Wotan! Yield it!

Flee the ring's dread curse!

Awful

And utter disaster

It will doom thee to.

WOTAN

What woman woe thus foretells?

ERDA

All things that were I know,

And things that are;

All things that shall be

I foresee.

The endless world's

Ur-Wala,

Erda, bids thee beware.

Ere the earth was,

Of my womb born

Were daughters three;

And my knowledge

Nightly the Norns tell to Wotan.

Now summoned by

Danger most dire,

I myself come.

Hearken! Hearken! Hearken!

All things will end shortly;

And for the Gods

Dark days are dawning!

Be counselled; keep not the ring!

[Erda sinks slowly as far as the breast, while the bluish light grows fainter.

WOTAN

A mystic might

Rang in thy words.

Tarry, and tell me further.

ERDA [Disappearing.

Thou hast been warned;

Enough dost know;

Weigh my words with fear!

[She vanishes completely.

"Erda bids thee beware"

WOTAN

If thus doomed to foreboding—

I must detain thee

Till all is answered!

[Wotan is about to follow Erda in order to detain her. Froh and Fricka throw themselves in his way and prevent him.

FRICKA

What meanest thou, madman?

FROH

Go not, Wotan!

Fear thou the warner,

Heed her words well!

[Wotan gazes thoughtfully before him.

DONNER [Turning to the giants with a resolute air.

Hark, ye giants!

Come back and wait still!

The gold we give you also.

FRICKA

Ah, dare I hope it?

Deem ye Holda

Worthy of such a price?

[All look at Wotan in suspense; he, rousing himself from deep thought, grasps his spear and swings it in token of having come to a bold decision.

WOTAN

To me, Freia,

For thou art free!

Bought back for aye,

Youth everlasting, return!

Here, giants, take ye the ring!

[He throws the ring on the hoard. The giants release Freia; she hastens joyfully to the Gods, who caress her in turns for a space, with every manifestation of delight.

FASOLT [To Fafner.

Hold there, greedy one!

Grant me my portion!

Honest division

Best for both is.

FAFNER

More on the maid than the gold

Thou wert set, love-sick fool,

And much against

Thy will the exchange was.

Sharing not, Freia

Thou wouldst have wooed for thy bride;

Sharing the gold,

It is but just

That the most of it should be mine.

FASOLT

Infamous thief!

Taunts? And to me!

[To the Gods.

Come judge ye between us;

Halve ye the hoard

As seems to you just!

[Wotan turns away in contempt.

Let him have the treasure;

Hold to what matters: the ring!

FASOLT

[Falls upon Fafner, who has meanwhile been steadily packing up the treasure.

Back, brazen rascal!

Mine is the ring.

I lost for it Freia's smile.

[He snatches haply at the ring.

Off with thy hands!

The ring is mine.

[There is a struggle. Fasolt tears the ring from Fafner.

FASOLT

I hold it. It is mine now!

FAFNER

Hold fast, lest it should fall!

[Lunging out with his stave, he fells Fasolt to the ground with one blow; from the dying man he then hastily tears the ring.

Now feast upon Freia's smile:

No more shalt thou touch the ring!

[He puts the ring into the sack and tranquilly continues to pack up the rest of the hoard. All the Gods stand horrified. A solemn silence.

Fafner kills Fasolt.

WOTAN

Dread indeed

I find is the curse's might.

LOGE

Unmatched, Wotan,

Surely thy luck is!

Great thy gain was

In getting the ring;

But the gain of its loss

Is gain greater still:

There thy foemen, see,

Slaughter thy foes

For the gold thou hast let go.

WOTAN

Dark forebodings oppress me!

Care and fear

Fetter my soul;

Erda must teach me,

Tell how to end them:

To her I must descend.

FRICKA [Caressing and coaxing him.

Why linger, Wotan?

Beckon they not,

The stately walls,

Waiting to offer

Welcome kind to their lord?

WOTAN [Gloomily.

With wage accurst

Paid was their cost.

DONNER [Pointing to the background, which is still

enveloped in mist.

Heavily mists

Hang in the air;

Gloomy, wearisome

Is their weight!

The wan-visaged clouds

Charged with their storms I will gather,

And sweep the blue heavens clean.

[Donner mounts a high rock on the edge of the precipice, and swings his hammer; during what follows the mists gather round him.

Hey da! Hey da! Hey do!

To me, O ye mists!

Ye vapours, to me!

Donner, your lord,

Summons his hosts!

[He swings his hammer.

To my hammer's swing

Hitherward sweep

Vapours and fogs!

Hovering mists!

Donner, your lord, summons his hosts!

Hey da! Hey da! Hey do!

[Donner disappears completely in a thunder-cloud which has been growing darker and denser. The stroke of his hammer is heard falling heavily on the rock. A vivid flash of lightning comes from the cloud, followed by a loud clap of thunder. Froh has also disappeared in the cloud.

DONNER [Invisible.

Brother, to me!

Show them the way by the bridge!

[Suddenly the clouds roll away. Donner and Froh become visible. A rainbow of dazzling radiance stretches from their feet across the valley to the castle, which is gleaming in the light of the setting sun.

FROH

[Who, with outstretched hand, indicates to the Gods that the bridge is the way across the valley.

Lo, light, yet securely,

Leads the bridge to your halls.

Undaunted tread;

Without danger the road!

[Wotan and the other Gods stand speechless, lost in contemplation of the glorious sight.

"To my hammer's swing

Hitherward sweep

Vapours and fogs!

Hovering mists!

Donner, your lord, summons his hosts!"

WOTAN

Smiling at eve

The sun's eye sparkles;

The castle ablaze

Gleams fair in its glow.

In the light of morning

Glittering proudly,

It stood masterless,

Stately, tempting its lord.

From dawn until sundown

No little toil

And fear have gone to the winning!

From envious night,

That now draws nigh

Shelter it offers us.

[Very firmly, as if struck by a great thought.

So greet I my home,

Safe from dismay and dread.

[He turns solemnly to Fricka.

Follow me, wife!

In Valhall sojourn with me.

FRICKA

What means the name Valhall?

I never seem to have heard it.

WOTAN

That which, conquering fear,

My fortitude brought

Triumphant to birth—

Let that explain the word!

[He takes Fricka's hand and walks slowly with her towards the bridge. Froh, Freia, and Donner follow.

LOGE [Remaining in the foreground and looking

after the Gods.

They are hasting on to their end,

They who dream they are strong and

enduring.

I almost blush

To be of their number;

A fancy allures me

And wakes in me longing

Flaming fire to become:

To waste and burn them

Who tamed me of old,

Rather than perish,

Blind with the blind—

Yes, even if godlike the Gods were—

More wise were it, perhaps!

I must consider:

The outcome who knows!

[With a show of carelessness he goes to the Gods.

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS [From the valley. Invisible.

Rhinegold!

Rhinegold!

Rhinegold pure!

How radiant and clear

Once thou didst shine on us!

For thy lost glory

We are grieving.

Give us the gold!

Give us the gold!

O give us the Rhinegold again!

WOTAN [About to set his foot on the bridge, pauses and turns round.

What wailing sound do I hear?

LOGE [Looks down into the valley.

The Rhine's fair children,

Bewailing their lost gold, weep.

WOTAN

Accursèd nixies!

Bid them tease us no more!

LOGE [Calling down towards the valley.

Ye in the water,

Why wail ye to us?

List to Wotan's decree.

Ye have seen

The last of the gold;

In the Gods' increase of splendour

Bask and sun yourselves now.

"The Rhine's fair children,

Bewailing their lost gold, weep"

[The Gods laugh and cross the bridge during what follows.

THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS

Rhinegold!

Rhinegold!

Rhinegold pure!

Oh, if in the waves

There but shone still our treasure pure!

Down in the deeps

Can faith be found only:

Mean and false

Are all who revel above!

[As the Gods cross the bridge to the castle the curtain falls.

THE VALKYRIE

CHARACTERS

WOTAN HUNDING

FRICKA SIEGMUND

SIEGLINDE

BRÜNNHILDE, Valkyrie

EIGHT OTHER VALKYRIES:

Gerhilde, Ortlinde, Waltraute,

Schwertleite, Helmwige, Siegrune,

Grimgerde, Rossweisse

SCENES OF ACTION

ACT I. THE INTERIOR OF HUNDING'S DWELLING

ACT II. A WILD ROCKY MOUNTAIN

ACT III. ON THE TOP OF A ROCKY MOUNTAIN

(BRÜNNHILDE'S ROCK)

THE FIRST ACT

The interior of a dwelling-place built of wood, with the stem of a mighty ash-tree as its centre; to the right, in the foreground, is the hearth, and behind this the store-room. At the back is the large entrance door; to the left, far back, steps lead up to an inner chamber; on the same side, nearer the front, stands a table with a broad bench behind it, fixed to the wall, and with stools in front. The stage remains empty for a space. Outside a storm is just subsiding. Siegmund opens the entrance door from without, and enters. With his hand on the latch he surveys the room. He seems overwhelmed with fatigue; his dress and appearance indicate that he is in flight. He shuts the door behind him when he sees nobody, walks to the hearth with the final effort of an utterly exhausted man, and throws himself down on a bearskin rug.

SIEGMUND

I rest on this hearth,

Heedless who owns it.

[He sinks back and remains stretched out motionless. Sieglinde enters from the inner chamber; she thinks her husband has returned. Her grave look changes to one of surprise when she sees the stranger stretched out on the hearth.

SIEGLINDE [Still at the back.

A stranger here!

He must be questioned.

[Coming nearer.

What man came in

And lies on the hearth?

[As Siegmund does not move, she draws nearer still and looks at him.

Way-worn, weary

He seems and spent.

Faints he from weariness?

Can he be sick?

[She bends over him, and listens.

He breathes still, his eyelids

Are sealed but in slumber.

Worthy, valiant his mien,

Though so worn he rests.

SIEGMUND [Suddenly raising his head.

A drink! A drink!

SIEGLINDE

I go to fetch it.

[She takes a drinking-horn and hurries out. She returns with it full, and offers it to Siegmund.

Lo, the water

Thy thirsting lips longed for:

Water brought at thy wish!

[Siegmund drinks, and hands her back the horn. As he signifies his thanks with a movement of the head, he gazes at her with growing interest.

SIEGMUND

Welcome the water!

Quenched is my thirst.

My weary load

Lighter it makes;

New courage it gives;

Mine eyes that slept

Re-open glad on the world.

Who soothes and comforts me so?

SIEGLINDE

This house and this wife

Belong to Hunding.

Stay thou here as his guest;

Tarry till he comes home.

SIEGMUND

Shelter he surely

Will grant a worn,

Wounded, weaponless stranger.

SIEGLINDE [With anxious haste.

Quick, show me! Where are thy wounds?

SIEGMUND

[Shakes himself and springs up briskly to a sitting posture.

My wounds are slight,

Scarce worthy remark;

My limbs are well knit still,

Whole and unharmed.

If my spear and shield had but been

Half so strong as my arm is,

I had vanquished the foe;

But in splinters were spear and shield.

The horde of foemen

Harassed me sore;

Through storm and strife

Spent was my force;

But, faster than I from foemen,

All my faintness has fled;

Darkness fell deep on my lids,

But now the sun again laughs.

SIEGLINDE

[Goes to the storeroom, fills a horn with mead, and proffers it to Siegmund with friendly eagerness.

This healing and honeyed

Draught of mead

Deign to accept from me.

SIEGMUND

Set it first to thy lips.

[Sieglinde sips from the horn and hands it back to him. Siegmund takes a long draught, regarding Sieglinde with increasing warmth. Still gazing, he takes the horn from his lips and lets it sink slowly, while his features express strong emotion. He sighs deeply, and lowers his gaze gloomily to the ground.

SIEGMUND [In a trembling voice.

Thou hast tended an ill-fated one!

May all evil

Be turned from thee!

[He starts up quickly, and goes towards the the back.

I have been solaced

By sweet repose:

Onward now I must press.

SIEGLINDE [Turning round quickly.

Who pursues thee so close at thy heels?

SIEGMUND [Stops.

Bad luck pursues me,

Everywhere follows;

And where I linger

Trouble still finds me:

Be thou preserved from its touch!

I must not gaze but go.

[He strides hastily to the door and lifts the latch.

SIEGLINDE [Forgetting herself calls impetuously after him.

Then tarry here!

Misfortune thou canst not bring

To those who abide with it!

SIEGLINDE

"This healing and honeyed

Draught of mead

Deign to accept from me."

SIEGMUND

"Set it first to thy lips."

SIEGMUND

[Deeply moved, remains standing; he looks searchingly at Sieglinde, who, ashamed and sad, lowers her eyes. Returning, he leans against the hearth, his gaze fixed on Sieglinde, who continues silently embarrassed.

Wehwalt named I myself:

Hunding here will I wait for.

Sieglinde starts, listens and hears Hunding outside leading his horse to the stable. She hurries to the door and opens it. Hunding, armed with shield and spear, enters, but, perceiving Siegmund, pauses on the threshold. Hunding turns with a look of stern inquiry to Sieglinde.

SIEGLINDE [In answer to Hunding's look.

On the hearth

Fainting I found

One whom need drove here.

HUNDING

Hast succoured him?

SIEGLINDE

I gave him, as a guest,

Welcome and a drink.

SIEGMUND [Regarding Hunding firmly and calmly.

Drink she gave,

Shelter too:

Wouldst therefore chide the woman?

HUNDING

Sacred is my hearth:

Sacred hold thou my house.

[To Sieglinde, as he takes off his armour and hands it to her.

Set the meal for us men!

[Sieglinde hangs up the arms on the stem of the ash-tree, fetches food and drink from the store-room and sets supper on the table. Involuntarily she turns her gaze on Siegmund again.

HUNDING

[Examining Siegmund's features keenly and with amaze, compares them with Sieglinde's. Aside.

How like to the woman!

In his eye as well

Gleams the guile of the serpent.

[He conceals his surprise, and turns with apparent unconcern to Siegmund.

Far, I trow,

Must thou have fared;

The man who rests here

Rode no horse:

What toilsome journey

Made thee so tired?

SIEGMUND

Through wood and meadow,

Thicket and moor,

Chased by the storm

And peril sore,

I ran by I know not what road.

I know as little

What goal it led to,

And I would gladly be told.

HUNDING [At table, inviting Siegmund to be seated.

'Tis Hunding owns

The roof and room

Which have harboured thee.

If to the westward

Thou wert to wend,

In homesteads rich

Thou wouldst find kinsmen

Who guard the honour of Hunding.

May I ask of my guest

In return to tell me his name?

[Siegmund, who has taken his seat at the table, looks thoughtfully before him. Sieglinde, who has placed herself beside Hunding and opposite Siegmund, gazes at him with evident sympathy and suspense.

Hunding discovers the likeness between Siegmund and Sieglinde.

HUNDING [Watching them both.

If thou wilt not

Trust it to me,

To this woman tell thy secret:

See, how eagerly she asks!

SIEGLINDE [Unembarrassed and interested.

Gladly I'd know

Who thou art.

SIEGMUND [Looks up and, gazing into her eyes, begins gravely.

Not for me the name Friedmund;

Frohwalt fain were I called,

But forced was I to be Wehwalt.

Wölfe they called my father;

And I am one of twins:

With a sister twin I was born.

Soon lost were

Both mother and maid;

I hardly knew

Her who gave me my life,

Nor her with whom I was born.

Warlike and strong was Wölfe,

And never wanting for foes.

A-hunting oft

Went the son with the father.

One day we returned

Outworn with the chase

And found the wolf's nest robbed.

The brave abode

To ashes was burnt,

Consumed to dust

The flourishing oak,

And dead was the mother,

Dauntless but slain.

No trace of the sister

Was ever found:

The Neidungs' heartless horde

Had dealt us this bitter blow.

My father fled,

An outlaw with me;

And the youth

Lived wild in the forest

With Wölfe for many years.

Sore beset and harried were they,

But boldly battled the pair of wolves.

[Turning to Hunding.

A Wölfing tells thee the tale,

And a well-known Wölfing, I trow.

HUNDING

Wondrous and wild the story

Told by thee, valiant guest:

Wehwalt—the Wölfing!

I think that dark rumours anent

This doughty pair have reached me,

Though unknown Wölfe

And Wölfing too.

SIEGLINDE

But tell me further, stranger:

Where dwells thy father now?

SIEGMUND

The Neidungs, starting anew,

Hounded and hunted us down;

But slain by the wolves

Fell many a hunter;

They fled through the wood,

Chased by the game:

Like chaff we scattered the foe.

But trace of my father I lost;

Still his trail grew fainter

The longer I followed;

In the wood a wolf-skin

Was all I found;

There empty it lay:

My father I had lost.—

In the woods I could not stay;

My heart longed for men and for women.—

By all I met,

No matter where,

If friend I sought,

Or woman wooed,

Still I was branded an outlaw;

Ill-luck clung to me;

Whatever I did right,

Others counted it wrong;

What seemed evil to me

Won from others applause.

Grim feuds arose

Wherever I went;

Wrath met me

At every turn;

Longing for gladness,

Woe was my lot:

I called myself Wehwalt therefore,

For woe was all that was mine.

[He looks at Sieglinde and marks her sympathetic gaze.

HUNDING

Thou wert shown no grace by the Norns

That cast thy grievous lot;

No one greets thee as guest

With gladness in his home.

SIEGLINDE

Only cowards would fear

A weaponless, lonely man!—

Tell us, O guest,

How in the strife

At last thy weapon was lost!

SIEGMUND

A sorrowful child

Cried for my help;

Her kinsmen wanted

To wed the maiden

To one whom her heart did not choose.

To her defence

Gladly I hied;

The heartless horde

Met me in fight:

Before me foemen fell.

Fordone and dead lay the brothers.

The slain were embraced by the maid,

Her wrongs forgotten in grief.

She wept wild streams of woe,

And bathed the dead with her tears;

For the loss of her brothers slain

Lamented the ill-fated bride.

Then the dead men's kinsmen

Came like a storm,

Vowing vengeance,

Frantic to fall on me;

Foemen on all sides

Rose and assailed me.

But from the spot

Moved not the maid;

My shield and spear

Sheltered her long,

Till spear and shield

Were hewn from my hand.

Standing weaponless, wounded,

I beheld the maid die:

I fled from the furious host—

She lay lifeless on the dead.

[To Sieglinde with a look of fervent sorrow.

The reason now I have told

Why none may know me as Friedmund.

[He rises and walks to the hearth. Pale and deeply moved, Sieglinde looks on the ground.

HUNDING [Rises.

I know a wild-blooded breed;

What others revere

It flouts unawed:

All hate it, and I with the rest.

When forth in haste I was summoned,

Vengeance to seek

For my kinsmen's blood,

I came too late,

And now return home

To find the impious wretch

In haven under my roof.—

My house holds thee,

Wölfing, to-day;

For the night thou art my guest.

But wield to-morrow

Thy trustiest weapon.

I choose the day for the fight:

Thy life shall pay for the dead.

[To Sieglinde, who steps between the two men with anxious gestures; harshly.

Forth from the hall!

Linger not here!

Prepare my draught for the night,

And wait until I come.

[Sieglinde stands for a while undecided and thoughtful. Slowly and with hesitating steps she goes towards the store-room, There she pauses again, lost in thought, her face half averted. With quiet resolution she opens the cupboard, fills a drinking-horn, and shakes spices into it out of a box. She then turns her eyes on Siegmund, in order to meet his gaze, which he never removes from her. She perceives that Hunding is watching, and proceeds immediately to the bed-chamber. On the steps she turns once more, looks yearningly at Siegmund, and indicates with her eyes, persistently and with speaking plainness, a particular spot in the stem of the ash-tree. Hunding starts, and drives her off with a violent gesture. With a last look at Siegmund, she disappears into the bed-chamber, and shuts the door behind her.

HUNDING [Taking his weapons from the tree-stem.

With weapons man should be armed.

We meet to-morrow then Wölfing.

My word thou hast heard;

Ward thyself well!

[He goes into bed-chamber. The shooting of the bolt is heard from within.

[Siegmund alone. It has grown quite dark. All the light in the hall comes from a dull fire on the hearth. Siegmund sinks down on to a couch beside the fire and broods forsome time silently in great agitation.

SIEGMUND

My father said when most wanted

A sword I should find and wield.

Swordless I entered

My foeman's house,

As a hostage here

I remain.

I saw a fair

Woman and sweet,

And bliss and dread

Consume my heart.

The woman for whom I long—

She whose charm both wounds and

delights—

In thrall is held by the man

Who mocks a weaponless foe.

Wälse! Wälse!

Where is thy sword?—

The trusty sword

To be swung in battle,

When from my bosom should burst

The fury that fills my heart?

[The fire collapses. From the flame which leaps up a bright light falls on the spot in the ash-tree's stem indicated by Sieglinde's look, and on which the hilt of a sword is now plainly visible.

Sieglinde prepares Hunding's draught for the night

What can that be

That shines so bright?

What a ray streams

From the ash-tree's stem!

My eyes that saw not

See the bright flash;

Gay as laughter it gleams.

How the radiant light

Illumes my heart!

Is it the look

That lingered behind,

Yonder clinging,

When forth from the hall

The lovely woman went?

[From this point the fire gradually goes out.

Darkly the shadows

Covered my eyes,

Till her shining glance

Over me gleamed,

Bringing me warmth and day.

Gay and splendid

The sun appeared,

And blissfully circled

With glory my head—

Till by the hills it was hid.

[The fire flickers up faintly again.

But once more, ere it set,

Bright it shone upon me,

And the ancient ash-tree's stem

Was lit by its golden glow.

The splendour passes,

The light grows dim,

Shadowy darkness

Falls and enshrouds me;

Deep in my bosom's fastness

Glimmers still faintly the flame!

[The fire goes out altogether. Total darkness. The door of the bed-chamber opens noiselessly. Sieglinde comes out in a white garment and advances softly but quickly towards the hearth.

SIEGLINDE

Art asleep?

SIEGMUND [Joyfully surprised.

Who steals this way?

SIEGLINDE [With stealthy haste.

'Tis I: listen to me!

In sleep profound lies Hunding;

The draught that I mixed him I drugged.

Use to good purpose the night!

SIEGMUND [Ardently interrupting.

Thou here, all is well!

SIEGLINDE

I have come to show thee a weapon;

O couldst thou make it thine!

I then might call thee

First among heroes,

For only by him

Can it be won.

O hearken: heed what I tell thee!

Here Hunding's kinsmen

Sat in the hall,

Assembled to honour his wedding.

He took as his wife,

Against her will,

One who was bartered by thieves.

Sad I sat there

Through their carousing.

A stranger entered the hall,

An old and grey-coated man.

So slouched was his hat

That one of his eyes was hidden;

But the other flashed

So that all feared it:

Overwhelming

Its menace they found;

I alone

Suffered, when looked on,

Sweet pain, sad delight,

Sorrow and solace in one.

On me glancing,

He scowled at the others,

As he swung a sword in his hands.

This sword he plunged

In the ash-tree's stem,

To the hilt driving it home.

The weapon he gains in guerdon

Who draws it from its place.

Though sore they struggled,

Not one of the heroes

Could win the weapon for his;

Coming, going,

The guests essayed it,

The strongest tugged at the steel;

Not an inch it stirred in the stem;

In silence yonder it cleaves.

I knew then who he was

That in sorrow greeted me.

I know too

Now for whom

The sword was stuck in the tree.

O might I to-day

Find here the friend

Brought from afar

By a woman's woe!

Then all I have suffered

In sorrow untold,

All scorn and all shame

In anger endured—

All would avenged be,

Sweetly atoned for—

Regained fully

The good I had lost;

For mine I should win

All I had wept for,

Could I but find the dear friend,

And clasp him close in my arms!

SIEGFRIED [Embracing Sieglinde with passionate ardour.

Dear woman, that friend

Holds thee at last,

Both woman and sword are his.

Here in my breast

Burns hot the oath

That welds us twain into one.

For all that I sought

I see now in thee,

In thee all

That once failed me I find.

Thou wert despised,

My portion was pain;

I was an outlaw,

Dishonoured wert thou;

Sweet revenge beckons,

Bids us be joyful;

I laugh

From sheer fulness of joy,

Holding thee, love, in my arms thus,

Feeling the beat of thy heart!

[The outer door swings open.

SIEGLINDE [With a start of alarm tears herself away.

Ha, who went? Who entered there?

[The door remains open. Outside a glorious spring night. The full moon shines in, throwing its bright light on the pair, so that they can suddenly see one another quite plainly.

SIEGMUND [In soft ecstasy.

No one went—

But one has come:

Laughing the spring

Enters the hall!

[He draws Sieglinde with tender force on to the couch, so that she sits beside him. The moon shines more and more brightly.

Winter storms have yielded

To May's sweet moon,

And mild and radiant

Sparkles the spring.

On balmy breezes

Light and lovely,

Weaving wonders,

Soft she sways.

Through field and forest

She is breathing;

Wide and open

Laughs her eye;

When blithe the birds are singing

Sounds her voice;

Fragrant odours

She exhales;

From her warm blood blossom flowers

Welcome and joyous.

Shoot and bud,

They wax by her aid.

With tender weapons armed,

She conquers the world.

Winter and storm yield

To the strong attack.

No wonder that, beaten boldly,

At last the door should have opened,

Which, stubborn and stiff,

Was keeping her out.

To find her sister

Hither she came;

By love has spring been allured;

Within our bosoms

Buried she lay;

Now glad she laughs to the light.

The bride who is sister

Is freed by the brother;

In ruin lies

What held them apart.

Loud rejoicing,

They meet and greet;

Lo! Love is mated with spring!

SIEGLINDE

Thou art the spring

That I used to pine for,

When pinched by the winter frost;

My heart hailed thee friend

With bliss and with fear,

When thy first glance fell on me sweetly

All I had seen appeared strange;

Friendless were my surroundings;

I never seemed to have known

Any one who came nigh.

Thee, however,

Straightway I knew,

And I saw thou wert mine

When I beheld thee:

What I hid in my heart,

All I am,

Clear as the day

Dawned to my sight

Like tones to the ear

Echoing back,

When, upon my frosty desert,

My eyes first beheld a friend.

[She hangs enraptured on his neck, and looks him close in the face.

SIEGMUND [Transported.

O rapture most blissful!

Woman most blest!

SIEGLINDE [Close to his eyes.

O let me, closer

And closer clinging,

Discern more clearly

The sacred light

That from thine eyes

And face shines forth,

And so sweetly sways every sense!

SIEGMUND

The May-moon's light

Falls on thy face

Framed by masses

Of waving hair.

What snared my heart

'Tis easy to guess:

My gaze on loveliness feasts.

SIEGLINDE

[Pushing the hair back from his brow, regards him with astonishment.

How broad and open

Is thy brow!

Blue-branching the veins

In thy temples entwine.

I hardly can endure

My burden of bliss.—

Of something I am reminded:—

The man I first saw to-day

Already I have seen!

SIEGMUND

A dream of love

I too recall;

I saw thee there

And yearned for thee sore!

SIEGLINDE

The stream has shown me

My imaged face—

Again I see it before me;

As in the pool it arose

It is reflected by thee.

SIEGMUND

Thine is the face

I hid in my heart.

SIEGLINDE [Quickly averting her gaze.

O hush! That voice!

O let me listen!

These tones as a child

Surely I heard—

But no! I heard the sound lately,

When, calling in the wood,

My voice re-echoing rang.

SIEGMUND

To sweet and melodious

Music I listen!

SIEGLINDE [Gazing into his eyes again.

And ere now thy glowing

Eye have I seen:

The old man whose glance

Solaced my grief,

When he greeted me had that eye—

I knew him

Because of his eye,

And almost addressed him as father.

[After a pause.

Art thou Wehwalt in truth?

SIEGMUND

If dear to thee,

Wehwalt no more;

My sway is o'er bliss not sorrow!

SIEGLINDE

And Friedmund does not

Fit with thy fortunes.

SIEGMUND

Choose thou the name

Thou wouldst have me be known by:

Thy choice will also be mine!

SIEGLINDE

The name of thy father was Wölfe?

SIEGMUND

A wolf to the fearful foxes!

But he whose eye

Shone with the brightness

Which, fairest one, shines in thine own,

Was named—Wälse of old.

SIEGLINDE [Beside herself.

Was Wälse thy father,

And art thou a Wälsung?—

Stuck was for thee

His sword in the stem?—

Then let my love call thee

What it has found thee;

Siegmund

Shall be thy name.

SIEGMUND [Springs up.

Siegmund call me

For Siegmund am I!

Be witness this sword

I grasp without shrinking!

That I should find it

In sorest need

Wälse foretold.

I grasp it now!

Love the most pure

In utmost need,

Passionate love,

Consuming desire

Burning bright in my breast,

Drive to deeds and death!

Nothung! Nothung!

That, sword, is thy name.

Nothung! Nothung!

Conquering steel!

Show me thy sharp

And sundering tooth:

Come forth from thy scabbard to me!

[He draws the sword with a violent effort from the stem of the tree and shows it to the amazed and enraptured Sieglinde.

Siegmund the Wälsung

Thou dost see!

As bride-gift

He brings thee this sword;

With this he frees

The woman most blest;

He bears thee

From the house of his foe.

Far from here

Follow thou him:

Forth to the laughing

House of the spring;

Thy shield be Nothung, the sword,

When Siegmund is captive to love!

[He throws his arm round her so as to draw her forth with him.

SIEGLINDE [Delirious with excitement, tears herself

away and stands before him.

Art thou Siegmund

Standing before me,

Sieglinde am I

Who longed for thee;

Thy own twin-sister

As well as the sword thou hast

won!

[She throws herself on his breast.

SIEGMUND

Bride and sister

Be to thy brother—

So Wälsungs shall flourish for aye!

[He draws her to him with fervent passion. The curtain falls quickly.

THE SECOND ACT

A wild, mountainous spot. In the background a gorge rises from below to a high ridge of rocks, from which the ground slopes down again towards the front. Wotan, in full armour, carrying his spear. Before him Brünnhilde as a Valkyrie, also fully armed.

WOTAN

Go bridle thy steed,

Valorous maid!

Bitter strife

Soon will break forth;

Brünnhilde, storm to the fray

And cause the Wälsung to win!

Hunding choose for himself

Where to bide:

No place in Walhall has he.

So up and to horse!

Haste to the field!

BRÜNNHILDE [Ascends the height on the right, shouting

and springing from rock to rock.

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Heiaha!

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Heiaha!

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Hojoho!

"Siegmund the Wälsung

Thou dost see!

As bride-gift

He brings thee this sword"

[She pauses on a high peak, looks down into the gorge and calls back to Wotan.

I warn thee, Father,

See to thyself;

Stern the strife

That is in store:

Here comes Fricka, thy wife,

Drawn hither in her car by her rams,

Swinging the golden

Scourge in her hand!

The wretched beasts

Are groaning with fear;

And how the wheels rattle!

Hot she hastes to the fray.

Such strife as this

No strife is for me,

Though I love boldly waged

Strife 'twixt men.

The battle alone thou must brave;

I go; thou art left in the lurch!

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Heiaha!

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Heiaha!

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Ha!

[She disappears behind the mountain peak at the side. Fricka, in a car drawn by a pair of rams, has driven up the gorge to the mountain ridge, where she suddenly stops, alights and strides angrily towards Wotan in the foreground.

WOTAN [Aside, when he sees Fricka approaching.

The usual storm!

The usual strife!

But I must act with firmness

FRICKA [Moderating her pace as she approaches, and

confronting Wotan with dignity.

All alone among the hills

I seek thee, where thou dost hide

Fearing the eyes

Of thy wife,

That help in need thou may'st promise.

WOTAN

Let Fricka tell

Her trouble in full.

FRICKA

I have heard Hunding's cry,

For vengeance calling on me;

As wedlock's guardian

I gave ear:

My word passed

To punish the deed

Of this impious pair

Who boldly wrought him the wrong.

WOTAN

Have this pair then

Done such harm,

Whom spring united in love?

'Twas love's sweet magic

That lured them on;

None pays for love's might to me.

FRICKA

How dull and how deaf thou wouldst seem!

As though thou wert not aware

That it is wedlock's

Holy oath

Profaned so rudely I grieve for.

WOTAN

Unholy

Hold I the bond

That binds unloving hearts;

Nor must thou

Imagine that I

Will restrain by force

What transcends thy power;

For where bold natures are stirring

I urge them frankly to strife.

Brünnhilde

FRICKA

Deeming thus laudable

Wedlock's breach,

Pray babble more nonsense

And call it holy

That shame should blossom forth

From bond of a twin-born pair!

I shudder at heart,

My brain reels and whirls.

Sister embraced

As bride by the brother—

Who has ever heard

Of brother and sister as lovers?

WOTAN

Thou hearest it now!

Be taught by this

That a thing may be

Which has never befallen before.

That those two are lovers

Thou must admit;

So take advice and be wise!

Thy blessing surely

Will bring to thee gladness,

If thou wilt, laughing on love,

Bless Siegmund and Sieglinde's bond.

FRICKA [With a burst of deep indignation.

Then nothing to thee

Are the gods everlasting

Since the wild Wälsungs

Won thee for father?

I speak plainly—

Is that thy thought?

The holy and high

Immortals are worthless;

And all that once

Was esteemed is thrown over;

The bonds thou didst bind

By thyself now are broken;

Heaven's hold

Is loosed with a laugh,

That this twin-born pair, unimpeded,

The fruit of thy lawless love,

May in wantonness flourish and rule!

But why wail over

Wedlock and vows,

Since by thee the first they are scorned!

The faithful wife

Betrayed at each turn,

Lustfully longing

Wander thy glances;

Thine eyes scan

Each hollow and height

As thy fickle fancy allures thee,

While grief is gnawing my heart.

Heavy of soul

I had to endure it,

When to the fight

With the graceless maidens

Born out of wedlock,

Forth thou hast fared;

For, thy wife still holding in awe,

Thou didst give her as maids

The Valkyrie band

To obedience bound,

Even Brünnhilde, bride of thy Wish.

But now that new names

Afford thee new pleasure,

And Wälse, wolfish, in

Forests has wandered;

Now that to bottomless

Shame thou hast stooped,

And a pair of mortals

Hast vilely begotten—

Now thy wife at the feet

Of whelps of a wolf thou dost fling!

Come finish thy work!

Fill the cup full!

Mock and trample now the betrayed one!

Fricka approaches in anger.

WOTAN [Quietly.

Thou couldst not learn,

Though I might teach thee;

To thee there is nothing plain

Till day has dawned on the deed,

Wonted things

Thou alone canst conceive,

Whereas my spirit broods

On things not yet brought forth.

Listen, woman!

Some one we need,

A hero gods have not shielded,

And who is not bound by their law.

So alone

Were he fit for the deed

Which no god can accomplish,

Yet which must be done for the gods.

FRICKA

With sayings dark

Thou fain wouldst deceive me!

What deed by hero

Could be accomplished

That was beyond the strength of the gods,

By whose grace alone he is strong?

WOTAN

Then his own heart's courage

Counts not at all?

FRICKA

Who breathed their souls into men?

Who opened their eyes, that they see?

Behind thy shield

Strong they appear;

With thee to goad them,

Upward they strive;

Those men that thou praisest,

'Tis thou who spurrest them on.

With falsehoods fresh

Thou wouldst fain delude me,

With new devices

Thou wouldst evade me;

Thou shalt not shelter

The Wälsung from me;

He lives only through thee,

And is bold through thee alone.

WOTAN [With emotion.

He grew unaided

In grievous distress;

My shield sheltered him not.

FRICKA

Then shield him not to-day;

Take back the sword

That thou hast bestowed.

WOTAN

The sword?

FRICKA

Yes, the sword,

The magic sword

Sudden and strong

That thou gavest to thy son.

WOTAN [Unsteadily.

Nay, Siegmund won it

Himself in his need.

[From here Wotan's whole attitude expresses an ever-deepening uneasiness and gloom.

FRICKA [Continuing passionately.

Both conquering sword

And the need came from thee.

Wouldst thou deceive me

Who, day and night,

At thy heels follow close?

For him thou didst strike

The sword in the stem;

Thou didst promise him

The peerless blade.

Canst thou deny

That thy cunning it was

Which led him where it lay hid?

[Wotan makes a wrathful gesture. Fricka goes on more and more confidently as she sees the impression produced on him.

The Gods

Do not battle with bondsmen;

The free but punish transgressors.

Against thee, my peer,

Have I waged war,

But Siegmund is mine as my slave.

[Another violent gesture from Wotan, who then seems to succumb to the feeling of his own powerlessness.

Shall thy eternal

Consort obey one

Who calls thee master

And bows as thy slave?

What! Shall I be

Despised by the basest,

To the lawless a spur,

A scoff to the free?

My husband cannot desire me,

A goddess, to suffer such shame!

WOTAN [Gloomily.

What then wouldst thou?

FRICKA

Shield not the Wälsung.

WOTAN [In a muffled voice.

His way let him go.

FRICKA

Thou wilt grant him no aid,

When to arms the avenger calls?

WOTAN

I shield him no more.

FRICKA

Seek not to trick me;

Look in my eyes!

The Valkyrie turn from him too.

WOTAN

The Valkyrie free shall choose.

FRICKA

Not so; she but acts

To accomplish thy will;

Give order that Siegmund die.

WOTAN [After a violent internal struggle.

Nay, slay him I cannot,

He found my sword!

FRICKA

Remove thou the magic,

And shatter the blade:

Swordless let him be found.

BRÜNNHILDE [Is heard calling from the heights.

Heiaha! Heiaha!

Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Heiaha!

Heiohotojo! Hotojoha!

FRICKA

Thy valorous maiden comes;

Shouting, hither she rides.

WOTAN

For Siegmund I called her to horse.

[Brünnhilde appears with her horse on the rocky path to the right. When she sees Fricka she stops abruptly and, during the following, slowly and silently leads her horse down the path. She then puts it in a cave.

FRICKA

By her shield to-day

Be guarded the honour

Of thy eternal spouse!

Derided by men,

Shorn of our power,

Perish and pass would the Gods

If thy valiant maid

Avenged not to-day

My sacred and sovereign right.

The Wälsung falls for my honour.

Does Wotan now pledge me his oath?

WOTAN [Throwing himself on to a rocky seat in terrible dejection.

Take the oath!

[Fricka strides towards the back, where she meets Brünnhilde and halts for a moment before her.

FRICKA

Warfather

Waits for thee;

He will instruct thee

How the lot is decreed!

[She drives off quickly.

BRÜNNHILDE

[Comes forward anxious and wondering to Wotan, who leaning back on his rocky seat, is brooding gloomily.

Ill closed

The fight, I fear;

Fricka laughs at the outcome!

Father, what news

Hast thou to tell me?

Sad thou seemest and troubled!

WOTAN [Dropping his arm helplessly and sinking his head on his breast.

By self-forged fetters

I am bound,

I, least free of all living!

BRÜNNHILDE

I know thee not thus:

What gnaws at thy heart?

WOTAN

[His expression and gestures working up, from this point, to a fearful outburst.

O sacrilege vile!

O grievous affront!

Gods' despair!

Gods' despair!

Infinite wrath!

Woe without end!

Most sorrowful I of all living!

BRÜNNHILDE

[Alarmed, throws her shield, spear and helmet from her and kneels with anxious affection at his feet.

Father! Father!

Tell me what ails thee?

With dismay thou art filling thy child!

Confide in me

For I am true;

See, Brünnhilde begs it!

[She lays her head and hands with tender anxiety on his knees and breast.

WOTAN

[Looks long in her eyes, then strokes her hair with involuntary tenderness. As if coming out of a deep reverie, he at last begins, very softly.

What if, when uttered,

Weaker it made

The controlling might of my will?

BRÜNNHILDE [Very softly.

To Wotan's will thou speakest

When thou speakest to me?

What am I

If I am not thy will?

Brünnhilde slowly and silently leads her horse down the path to the cave

WOTAN [Very softly.

What never to any was spoken

Shall be unspoken now and for ever.

Myself I speak to,

Speaking to thee.

[In a low, muffled voice.

When young love grew

A waning delight,

'Twas power my spirit craved;

By rash and wild

Desires driven on,

I won myself the world.

Unknown to me

Dishonest my acts were;

Bargains I made

Wherein hid mishap,

Craftily lured on by Loge,

Who straightway disappeared.

Yet I could not leave

Love altogether;

When grown mighty still I desired it.

The child of night,

The craven Nibelung,

Alberich, broke from its bond.

All love he forswore,

And procured by the curse

The gleaming gold of the Rhine,

And with it measureless might.

The ring that he wrought

I stole by my cunning,

But I restored it not

To the Rhine;

It paid the price

Of Walhall's towers:

The home the giants had built me,

From which I commanded the world.

She who knows all

That ever was,

Erda, the holy,

All-knowing Wala,

Warned me touching the ring:

Prophesied doom everlasting.

Of this doom I was fain

To hear further,

But silent she vanished from sight.

Then my gladness of heart was gone,

The god's one desire was to know.

To the womb of the earth

Downward then I went:

By love's sweet magic

Vanquished the Wala,

Troubled her wisdom proud,

And compelled her tongue to speak.

Tidings by her I was told;

And with her I left a fair pledge:

The world's wisest of women

Bore me, Brünnhilde, thee.

With eight sisters

Fostered wert thou,

That ye Valkyries

Might avert the doom

Which the Wala's

Dread words foretold:

The gods' ignominious ending.

That foes might find us

Strong for the strife,

Heroes I got ye to gather.

The beings who served us

As slaves aforetime,

The men whose courage

Aforetime we curbed:

Who through treacherous bonds

And devious dealings

Were bound to the gods

In blindfold obedience—

To kindle these men

To strife was your duty,

To drive them on

To savage war,

That hosts of dauntless heroes

Might gather in Walhall's hall.

BRÜNNHILDE

And well filled surely thy halls were;

Many a one I have brought.

We never were idle,

So why shouldst thou fear?

"Father! Father!

Tell me what ails thee?

With dismay thou art filling thy child!"

WOTAN [His voice muffled again.

Another ill—

Mark what I say—

Was by the Wala foretold!

Through Alberich's hosts

Doom may befall us;

A furious grudge

Alberich bears me;

But now that my heroes

Make victory certain

I defy the hosts of the night.

Only if he won

The ring again from me,

Walhall were forfeit for ever.

Used by him alone

Who love forswore

Could the runes of the ring

Bring doom

To the mighty gods,

And shame without end.

My heroes' valour

He would pervert,

Would stir to strife

The bold ones themselves,

And with their strength

Wage war upon me.

So, alarmed, I resolved

To wrest the ring from the foeman.

[In a low voice.

I once paid Fafner,

One of the giants,

With gold accurst

For work achieved.

Fafner guards now the hoard

For which his own brother he slew.

The ring I must needs recover

With which his work I rewarded.

But I cannot strike one

By treaties protected;

Vanquished by him

My valour would fail.

These are the bonds

That bind my power;

I, who by treaties am lord,

To my treaties also am slave.

But what I dare not

One man may dare—

A hero never

Helped by my favour,

To me unknown

And granted no grace,

Unaware,

Bidden by none,

Constrained thereto

By his own distress—

He could achieve

What I must not do:

The deed I never urged,

Though it was all my desire.

But, alas! how to find

One to fight me, the god,

For my good—

Most friendly of foes!

How fashion the free one

By me unshielded,

In his proud defiance

Most precious to me?

How get me the other

Who, not through me,

But of himself

Will perform my will?

O woe of the gods!

Horrible shame!

Soul-sick am I

Of seeing myself

In all I ever created.

The other whom I so long for,

That other I never find.

The free by themselves must be fashioned,

All that I fashion are slaves!

BRÜNNHILDE

But the Wälsung, Siegmund,

Works for himself.

WOTAN

Wild I roamed

In the woodland with him,

Ever against the gods

Goading him to rebel.

[Slowly and bitterly.

Now, when the gods seek vengeance,

Shield he has none but the sword

Given to him

By the grace of a god.

Why did I try

To trick myself vainly?

How easily Fricka

Found out the fraud!

She read my inmost

Heart to my shame.

I must bend my will to her wishes.

BRÜNNHILDE

Of victory wouldst Siegmund deprive?

WOTAN

I have handled Alberich's ring,

Loth to let the gold go.

The curse that I fled

Is following me:

I must always lose what I love most,

Slay what my heart holds dearest,

Basely betray

All those who trust.

[His gestures, at first those of terrible grief end by expressing despair.

Pale then and pass

Glory and pomp,

Godhead's resplendent,

Glittering shame!

In ruins fall

The fabric I built!

Ended is my work;

I wait but one thing more:

The downfall—

The downfall!

[He pauses thoughtfully.

And for the downfall

Schemes Alberich!

Now I see

The sense hidden

In the strange, wild words of the Wala:

"When the gloomy foe of love

Gets a son in his wrath,

The high gods' doom

Shall be at hand!"

Not long ago

A rumour I heard

That the dwarf had won a woman,

By gold gaining her grace.

A woman bears

Hate's bitter fruit;

The child of spite

Grows in her womb;

This marvel befell

The man who loved not;

But I, the loving wooer,

Have never begotten the free.

[Rising in bitter wrath.

Accept thou my blessing,

Nibelung son!

I leave to thee

What I loathe with deep loathing:

The hollow pomp of the gods.

Consume it with envious greed!

BRÜNNHILDE [Alarmed.

O say! tell me

What task is thy child's?

WOTAN [Bitterly.

Fight, faithful to Fricka;

Wedlock and vows defend!

What she desires

Is also my choice,

For what does my own will profit,

Since it cannot fashion a free one?

For Fricka's slaves

Do battle henceforth!

BRÜNNHILDE

Ah repent,

And take back thy word!

Thou lovest,

And fain, I know,

Wouldst have me shelter the Wälsung.

WOTAN

Siegmund thou shalt vanquish,

And fight so that Hunding prevails.

Ward thyself well

And doughtily do,

Bring all thy boldness

To bear on the field;

A strong sword

Swings Siegmund;

Undismayed he will fight!

BRÜNNHILDE

He whom thou still

Hast taught me to love,

He whose courage high

To thy heart was so precious—

I will shield him in spite of

Thy wavering word!

WOTAN

Ha, daring one!

Floutest thou me?

Who art thou—who but the choiceless,

Blind slave of my will?

I have sunk so low

By showing my mind,

That the creature made by me

Holds me in scorn.

Dost thou, child, know my wrath?

If ever its awful

Lightning struck thee

Then quail wouldst thou indeed!

Within my bosom

Burns enough rage

To lay waste

In dread ruin a world

That once wore nothing but smiles.

Woe to him whom it strikes!

Dear the price he would pay!

So be advised,

Call it not forth

But carry out my commands.

Cut down Siegmund!

That is the Valkyrie's task.

[He storms away and disappears among the rocks to the left.

Brünnhilde stands for a long time dazed and alarmed

BRÜNNHILDE [Stands for a long time dazed and alarmed.

Warfather

Oft have I seen

Enraged, but never once like this!

[She stoops down sadly, takes up her armour and puts it on again.

How heavy

My armour feels!

And it felt so light

When gladly I fought!

I fight afraid.

Evil is my cause!

[She gazes thoughtfully before her.

Woe! My Wälsung!

With sorrow sore

Must the faithful one falsely forsake thee!

[She turns slowly towards the back.

[On reaching the rocky pass, Brünnhilde, looking down into the gorge, perceives Siegmund and Sieglinde. She watches them for a moment, then turns into the cave where her horse is, so that she is completely hidden from the audience. Siegmund and Sieglinde appear on the pass, Sieglinde hurrying in front. Siegmund tries to stop her.

SIEGMUND

Wait here and rest;

Tarry a while!

SIEGLINDE

Farther! Farther!

SIEGMUND [Embraces her with tender force, straining

her to him.

No farther now!

O linger, woman most sweet!

From bliss when most blissful

Breaking away,

In headlong haste

Far thou hast fled,

So fleet that I lagged behind:

Through wood and field,

Over cliff and scaur,

Voiceless, silent,

Speeding along,

Thy foot stopped for no call.

[Sieglinde stares wildly before her.

Tarry a while!

Say but a word,

Ending this speechless dread!

See, thy brother

Holds thee, his bride:

Siegmund's comrade art thou!

SIEGLINDE

[Gazes into his eyes with growing rapture, throws her arms passionately round his neck and remains so for some time. She then starts up in wild terror.

Away! Away!

Fly the profaned one!

Unholy

The clasp of her arm;

In shame, dishonoured,

This body died.

Fling it from thee,

Flee from the corpse!

The winds scatter her dust—

The foul one who loved one so fair!

When in his loving embrace

She rested in rapture pure,

And all the love of the man

Was hers who loved him alone—

When on holiest height,

When bliss was at sweetest,

And sense and soul

Were steeped in delight,

Hatred and loathing

Of hideous dishonour

Shook the disgraced one,

Filled her with fear—

The thought she once had obeyed.

Bridegroom unloving, unloved.

Leave the accurst one,

Far let her fly!

An outcast she is,

Bereft of grace!

Ah, I must leave

The purest of heroes;

I cannot be thine,

To sully thy glory:

Scorn to bring on the brother,

Shame to the rescuing friend!

SIEGMUND

For the shame and dishonour,

Pay the transgressor's blood!

No farther, then, flying,

Here let us wait him;

Here—here I shall slay him:

When Nothung's point

Shall pierce his heart,

All thy wrongs will be avenged!

SIEGLINDE [Starts up and listens.

Hark! The bugles!

Dost thou not hear?

All around,

Angry and shrill,

From wood and vale

Clamour their calls.

Hunding has wakened

From slumber deep;

Kinsmen and hounds

He summons together;

How the dogs howl,

Urged on hotly,

Loud-baying to heaven

Of the vows and the wedlock profaned!

[Gazes before her as if gone crazed.

Where art thou, Siegmund?

Art thou still here,

Fervently loved one,

Beautiful brother?

Let thine eyes like stars

Shine again on me softly;

Turn not away

From the outcast woman's kiss!

[She throws herself sobbing on his breast, and presently starts up in terror again.

Hark! O hark!

That is Hunding's horn!

With his hounds full force,

In haste he comes.

No sword helps

When the dogs attack:—

Throw it down, Siegmund!

Siegmund, where art thou?

Ha, there! I see thee now!

Horrible sight!

Eager-fanged

Are the bloodhounds for flesh;

Ah, what to them

Is thy noble air!

By the feet they seize thee

With terrible teeth;

Alas!

Thou fallest with splintered sword:—

The ash-tree sinks—

The trunk is rent!

Brother! My brother!

Siegmund—ha!

[She falls fainting into his arms.

Brünnhilde with her horse, at the mouth of the cave

SIEGMUND

Sister! Belovèd!

[He listens to her breathing, and, when convinced that she still lives, lets her slide down so that, as he himself sinks into a sitting posture, her head rests upon his knees. In this position both remain till the end of the following scene. A long silence, during which Siegmund bends over Sieglinde with tender concern, and presses a long kiss on her brow.

[Brünnhilde, leading her horse, comes out of the cave and walks slowly and solemnly towards the front. She pauses and watches Siegmund from a distance, then advances slowly again and stops when she gets nearer. In one hand she carries her shield and spear, the other rest on her horse's neck, and thus she gravely stands looking at Siegmund.

BRÜNNHILDE

Siegmund!

Look on me

Whom thou

Must follow soon!

SIEGMUND [Looking up at her.

Who art thou, say,

That dost stand so fair and so stern?

BRÜNNHILDE

Death-doomed are they

Who look upon me;

Who sees me

Bids farewell to the light of life.

On the battle-field only

Heroes view me;

He whom I greet

Is chosen and must go.

SIEGMUND

[Looks into her eyes with a long steadfast and searching gaze, then bows his head in thought and finally turns resolutely to her again.

When thou dost lead,

Whither follows the hero?

BRÜNNHILDE

I lead thee

To Wotan;

The lot he has cast:

To Walhall must thou come.

SIEGMUND

In Walhall's hall

Wotan alone shall I find?

BRÜNNHILDE

A glorious host

Of heroes slain

Will greet thee there

With love holy and high.

SIEGMUND

Say if in Walhall

Sojourns my father, Wälse.

BRÜNNHILDE

His father there

Will the Wälsung find.

SIEGMUND [Tenderly.

Will any woman

Welcome me there?

BRÜNNHILDE

Wishmaidens

Serve there serene:

Wotan's daughter

Wine will bring for thy cup.

SIEGMUND

High art thou

And holy of aspect,

O Wotan's child:

But one thing tell me, divine one!

The sister and bride,

Shall she follow the brother?

Will Siegmund find Sieglinde there?

BRÜNNHILDE

Air of earth

Still she must breathe here;

Siegmund will find no Sieglinde there!

SIEGMUND

[Bends tenderly over Sieglinde, kisses her softly on the brow, and turns again quietly to Brünnhilde.

Then greet for me Walhall,

Greet for me Wotan,

Greet for me Wälse

And all the heroes,

Wishmaidens lovely

Greet thou also,

And tell them I will not come!

BRÜNNHILDE

Nay, having looked

On the Valkyrie's face,

Thou must follow her forth!

SIEGMUND

Where Sieglinde dwells

In weal or woe,

There will Siegmund dwell also;

My face grew not pale

When I beheld thee:

Thou canst not force me to go!

BRÜNNHILDE

Force thee can none

While thou dost live;

Fool, what will force thee is death

Warning of death

Is what I bring.

SIEGMUND

What hero to-day

Shall hew me down?

BRÜNNHILDE

Hunding's hand in the fight.

SIEGMUND

Use threats more baleful

Than blows from Hunding!

Lurkest thou here

Longing for strife,

Fix on him for thy prey.

I think it is he who will fall!

BRÜNNHILDE

Nay, Wälsung,

Doubt not my word;

Thine is the death decreed.

SIEGMUND

Knowest this sword?

Who gave the sword

Gave triumph sure:

With this sword I laugh at thy threats.

BRÜNNHILDE [In a loud voice.

He whose it was

Now dooms thee to death,

For the magic spell he withdraws!

SIEGMUND [Vehemently.

Hush! Alarm not

The slumberer here!

[In an outburst of grief he bends tenderly over Sieglinde.

Woe! Woe!

Woman most sweet!

Most sad and ill-starred of all true ones!

Against thee rages

The whole world in arms,

And I who was all thy defence,

For whom thou the world hast defied—

To think I cannot

Shield thee, but, beaten

In battle, thy trust must betray!

O shame on him

Who bestowed the sword,

And triumph now turns to scorn!

If I must fall thus,

I fare to no Walhall—

Hella hold me for aye!

[He bends low over Sieglinde.

BRÜNNHILDE [Moved.

So little prizest thou

Life everlasting?

[Slowly and with hesitation.

All thy care

Is thy helpless wife

Who, sad and weary,

Heavily hangs in thy arms?

Precious only is she?

SIEGMUND [Looking up at her bitterly.

Though young and fair

Thou shinest to me,

In my heart I know thee

Cruel and cold!

Canst thou do nothing

But mock me, begone,

Malicious, merciless maid!

Or if thou must gloat

Upon my distress,

Then gloat and feast thyself full!

With my woe

Solace thy envious soul:—

But of Walhall's loveless raptures

Nothing more let me hear!

BRÜNNHILDE

I see the distress

That is tearing thy heart;

The doomed hero's holy

Sorrow I feel.

Siegmund, thy wife be my charge,

Protected safely by me.

SIEGMUND

No other than I

While my wife is living shall guard her.

If death be my lot

I will slay the slumberer first!

BRÜNNHILDE [With increasing emotion.

Wälsung! Madman!

Listen to me!

Entrust her to me

For the pledge's sake

That she carries of thee and thy love!

SIEGMUND [Drawing his sword.

This sword

That a true man received from a false—

This sword

That fails me when facing the foe;

Worthless when turned on the foe,

Will serve me when turned on the friend.

[He points the sword at Sieglinde.

Two lives now

Laugh to thee here:

Take them, Nothung,

Envious steel!

Take them with one fell stroke!

BRÜNNHILDE [With a passionate outburst of sympathy.

Forbear, Wälsung!

Listen to me!

Sieglinde spare thou,

And Siegmund too shall be spared!

'Tis thus decreed,

Recast the lot is!

Thou, Siegmund,

Shalt be blest and prevail!

[Horns are heard in the distance.

Hark to the horn!

Prepare for the fray;

Trust to the sword

And strike without fear:

Thy sword shall prove strong

Thee the Valkyrie faithfully shields!

Farewell, Siegmund,

Hero most blest!

On the field again I shall find thee.

[She rushes away and disappears with her horse down a gorge on the right. Siegmund gazes after her joyful and exultant. The stage has gradually grown dark. Heavy storm-clouds have gathered in the background, and hide the cliffs, gorge, and rocky pass completely from view.

SIEGMUND [Bending over Sieglinde, listens to her breathing.

Charmèd slumber

Softly soothes

The dear one's pain and grief.

When the Valkyrie came, perchance

She brought her this blissful repose;

Else would the grimly fought fight

Have terrified one in such woe.

Lifeless seems she,

And yet she lives;

The sad one by smiling

Dreams is caressed.

In slumber lie soft

Till the fight is won

And peace shall end thy pain!

[He lays her gently on the rocky seat and kisses her brow in farewell. Then, hearing Hunding's horn sound, he starts up with resolution.

Thou who dost call,

Arm for the fray;

Thy dues in full

Thou shalt have:

[He draws his sword.

Nothung pays him his debt.

[He hastens to the back and, on reaching the pass, immediately disappears in a dark thunder-cloud, from which, the next instant, a flash of lightning breaks.

SIEGLINDE [Begins to move uneasily in her dreams.

Would but my father come back!

With the boy he still roams in the wood.

Mother! Mother!

I am afraid—

The strangers seem

So harsh and unfriendly!

Fumes that stifle—

Dense and black smoke—

Fierce are the flames,

And closer they flare—

On fire the house!

O help us, brother!

Siegmund! Siegmund!

[She starts up. Violent thunder and lightning.

Siegmund! Ha!

[She stares about her in growing terror. Almost the whole of the stage is veiled by black thunder-clouds. Hunding's horn is heard close at hand.

HUNDING'S VOICE [From the mountain pass in the background.

Wehwalt! Wehwalt!

Stand there and fight,

Or with the hounds I will hold thee!

SIEGMUND'S VOICE [From farther back in the gorge.

Where hidest thou,

That I have missed thee thus?

Halt, that I may find thee!

SIEGLINDE [Listening in terrible fear.

Hunding—Siegmund—

Could I but see them!

HUNDING

Come hither, impious wooer!

Here by Fricka be slain!

SIEGMUND [Also from the pass now.

Thou thinkest me weaponless,

Coward, still.

Threat not with women!

Thyself now fight me,

Lest Fricka fail thee at need!

For see, from the tree

That grows by thy hearth

I drew undaunted the sword;

Come and try the taste of its steel!

SIEGLINDE [With all her strength.

Hold your hands, ye men there!

Strike me dead first!

[She rushes towards the pass, but is suddenly dazzled by a light which flashes forth from above the combatants to the right, and staggers aside as if blinded.

BRÜNNHILDE'S VOICE

Strike him, Siegmund!

Trust to the sword!

[Brünnhilde appears in the glare of light, floating above Siegmund, and protecting him with her shield. Just as Siegmund is aiming a deadly blow at Hunding a glowing red light breaks through the clouds from the left, in which Wotan appears, standing over Hunding and holding his spear across in front of Siegmund.

WOTAN'S VOICE

Back! Back from the spear!

In splinters the sword!

[Brünnhilde with her shield recoils in terror before Wotan; Siegmund's sword breaks in splinters on the outstretched spear. Hunding plunges his sword into the disarmed man's breast. Siegmund falls down dead, and Sieglinde, who has heard his death-sigh, sinks to the ground as if lifeless. With Siegmund's fall the lights on both sides disappear. Dense clouds shroud all but the foreground in darkness. Through these Brünnhilde is dimly seen turning in wild haste to Sieglinde.

BRÜNNHILDE

To horse, that I may save thee!

[She lifts Sieglinde up quickly on to her horse, which is standing near the side ravine, and immediately disappears. Thereupon the clouds divide in the middle, so that Hunding, who has just drawn his sword out of Siegmund's breast, is distinctly seen. Wotan, surrounded by clouds, stands on a rock behind, leaning on his spear and gazing sorrowfully on Siegmund's body.

WOTAN [To Hunding.

Begone, slave!

Kneel before Fricka;

Tell her that Wotan's spear

Has slain what mocked her might.

Go! Go!

[Before the contemptuous wave of his hand Hunding falls dead to the ground. Suddenly breaking out in terrible anger.

But Brünnhilde!

Woe to the guilty one!

Woe to her

As soon as my horse

Shall overtake her in flight!

[He vanishes with thunder and lightning. The curtain falls quickly.

THE THIRD ACT

On the top of a rocky mountain

On the right the stage is bounded by a pine-wood. On the left is the entrance to a cave, above which the rock rises to its highest point. At the back the view is quite open. Rocks of varying heights form the edge of the precipice. Clouds fly at intervals past the mountain peak as if driven by storm. Gerhilde, Ortlinde, Waltraute, and Schwertleite have taken up their position on the rocky peak above the cave. They are in full armour.

GERHILDE

[On the highest point, calling towards the background, where a dense cloud is passing.

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Heiaha!

Helmwige! Here!

Guide hither thy horse!

HELMWIGE'S VOICE [At the back.

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha!

[A flash of lightning comes from the cloud, showing a Valkyrie on horseback, on whose saddle hangs a slain warrior. The apparition, approaching the cliff, passes from left to right.

GERHILDE, WALTRAUTE AND SCHWERTLEITE [Calling to her as she draws near.

Heiaha! Heiaha!

[The cloud with the apparition vanishes to the right behind the wood.

ORTLINDE [Calling into the wood.

Thy stallion make fast

By Ortlinde's mare;

Gladly my grey

Will graze by thy chestnut!

WALTRAUTE [Calling towards the wood.

Who hangs at thy saddle?

HELMWIGE [Coming out of the wood.

Sintolt the Hegeling!

SCHWERTLEITE

Fasten thy chestnut

Far from the grey then;

Ortlinde's mare

Carries Wittig, the Irming!

GERHILDE [Descending a little towards the others.

And Sintolt and Wittig

Always were foemen!

ORTLINDE [Springs up and runs to the wood.

Heiaha! Heiaha!

The horse is kicking my mare!

GERHILDE [Laughing aloud with HELMWIGE AND SCHWERTLEITE.

The heroes' feud

Makes foes of the horses!

HELMWIGE [Calling back into the wood.

Quiet, Brownie!

Pick not a quarrel.

WALTRAUTE

[On the highest point, where listening towards the right she has taken Gerhilde's place as watcher, calling towards the right-hand side of the background.

Hoioho! Hoioho!

Siegrune, come!

What keeps thee so long?

SIEGRUNE'S VOICE [From the back on the right.

Work to do.

Are the others all there?

THE VALKYRIES

[In answer, their gestures, as well as a bright light behind the wood, showing that Siegrune has just arrived there.

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Heiaha!

GRIMGERDE'S AND ROSSWEISSE'S VOICES [From the back on the left.

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha!

WALTRAUTE [Towards the left.

Grimgerd' and Rossweisse!

GERHILDE

Together they ride.

[In a cloud which passes across the stage from the left, and from which lightning flashes, Rossweisse and Grimgerde appear, also on horseback, each carrying a slain warrior on her saddle.

HELMWIGE, GERLINDE AND SIEGRUNE

[Have come out of the wood and wave their hands from the edge of the precipice to Rossweisse and Grimgerde, who disappear behind the wood.

We greet you, valiant ones!

Rossweiss' and Grimgerde!

ROSSWEISSE'S AND GRIMGERDE'S VOICES

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha!

ALL THE OTHER VALKYRIES

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha! Heiaha!

GERHILDE [Calling into the wood.

Your horses lead into

The wood to rest!

ORTLINDE [Also calling into the wood.

Lead the mares far off

One from the other,

Until our heroes'

Anger is laid!

HELMWIGE [The others laughing.

The grey has paid

For the heroes' anger.

ROSSWEISSE AND GRIMGERDE [Coming out of the wood.

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

THE VALKYRIES

Be welcomed! Be welcomed!

SCHWERTLEITE

Went ye twain on one quest?

GRIMGERDE

No, singly we rode,

And met but to-day.

ROSSWEISSE

If we all are assembled

Why linger longer?

To Walhall let us away,

Bringing to Wotan the slain.

HELMWIGE

We are but eight;

Wanting is one.

GERHILDE

By the brown-eyed Wälsung

Brünnhilde tarries.

WALTRAUTE

Until she joins us

Here we must wait;

Warfather's greeting

Grim were indeed

If we returned without her!

SIEGRUNE [On the look-out, calling towards the back.

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

This way! This way!

[To the others.

In hottest haste riding,

Hither she comes.

THE VALKYRIES [All hasten to the look-out.*

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha!

Brünnhilde, hei!

[They watch her with growing astonishment.

WALTRAUTE

See, she leads woodward

Her staggering horse.

GRIMGERDE

From swift riding

How Grane pants!

ROSSWEISSE

No Valkyrie's flight

Ever so fast was.

ORTLINDE

What lies on her saddle?

HELMWIGE

That is no man!

SIEGRUNE

'Tis a woman, see!

GERHILDE

Where found she the maid?

SCHWERTLEITE

Has she no greeting

For her sisters?

WALTRAUTE [Calling down very loudly.

Heiaha! Brünnhilde!

Dost thou not hear?

ORTLINDE

From her horse

Let us help our sister.

[Helmwige and Gerhilde run to the wood, followed by Siegrune and Rossweisse.

THE VALKYRIES

Hojotoho! Hojotoho!

Heiaha!

WALTRAUTE [Looking into the wood.

To earth has sunk

Grane the strong one!

GRIMGERDE

From the saddle swift

She snatches the maid.

THE OTHER VALKYRIES [Running into the wood.

Sister! Sister!

What has occurred?

[The Valkyries all return to the stage; Brünnhilde accompanies them, leading and supporting Sieglinde.

Turns and looks

out anxiously,

then comes back.

BRÜNNHILDE [Breathless.

Shield me and help

In dire distress!

THE VALKYRIES

Whence rodest thou hither,

Hasting so hard?

Thus ride they only who flee.

BRÜNNHILDE

I flee for the first time

And am pursued:

Warfather follows close.

THE VALKYRIES [Terribly alarmed.

Hast thou gone crazy?

Speak to us! What?

Pursued by Warfather?

Flying from him?

BRÜNNHILDE [Turns and looks out anxiously, then comes back.

O sisters, spy

From the rocky peak!

Look north and tell me

If Warfather nears!

[Ortlinde and Waltraute spring up the peak to the look-out.

Quick! Is he in sight?

ORTLINDE

A storm from the north

Is nearing.

WALTRAUTE

Darkly the clouds

Congregate there.

THE VALKYRIES

Warfather, riding

His sacred steed, comes!

BRÜNNHILDE

The wrathful hunter,

He rides from the north;

He nears, he nears, in fury!

Save this woman!

Sisters your help!

BRÜNNHILDE

*       "I flee for the first time

And am pursued:

Warfather follows close.

.....................

He nears, he nears, in fury!

Save this woman!

Sisters, your help!"

THE VALKYRIES

What threatens the woman?

BRÜNNHILDE

Hark to me quickly!

Sieglinde this is,

Siegmund's sister and bride.

Wotan his fury

Against the Wälsungs has turned.

He told me

That to-day I must fail

The brother in strife;

But with my shield

I guarded him safe,

Daring the God,

Who slew him himself with his spear.

Siegmund fell;

But I fled,

Bearing his bride.

To protect her

And from the stroke

Of his wrath to hide,

I hastened, O my sisters, to you!

THE VALKYRIES [Full of fear.

O foolish sister,

How mad thy deed!

Woe's me! Woe's me!

Brünnhilde, lost one!

Mocked, disobeyed

By Brünnhilde

Warfather's holy command!

WALTRAUTE [On the look-out.

Darkness comes

From the north like the night.

ORTLINDE [On the look-out.

Hither steering,

Rages the storm.

ROSSWEISSE, GRIMGERDE, AND SCHWERTLEITE

Wildly neighs

Warfather's horse!

HELMWIGE, GERHILDE, AND SIEGRUNE

Panting, snorting it comes!

BRÜNNHILDE

Woe to the woman

If here she is found,

For Wotan has vowed

The Wälsungs shall perish!

The horse that is swiftest

Which of you lends,

That forth the woman may fly?

SIEGRUNE

Wouldst have us too

Madly rebel?

BRÜNNHILDE

Rossweisse, sister,

Wilt lend me thy racer!

ROSSWEISSE

The fleet one from Wotan

Never yet fled.

BRÜNNHILDE

Helmwige, hear me!

HELMWIGE

I flout not our father.

BRÜNNHILDE

Waltraute! Gerhilde!

Give me your horse!

Schwertleite! Siegrune!

See my distress!

Stand by me now

Because of our love:

Rescue this woman in woe!

SIEGLINDE

[Who until now has been staring gloomily and coldly before her, starts up with a repellent gesture as Brünnhilde encircles her with a warm, protective embrace.

Concern thyself not about me;

Death is all that I crave.

From off the field

Who bade thee thus bear me?

For there perchance

By the selfsame weapon

That struck down Siegmund

I too had died,

Made one with him

In the hour of death.

Far from Siegmund—

Siegmund, from thee!

O cover me, Death,

From the sorrow!

Wouldst thou not have me

Curse thee for flying?

Thou must hearken, maid, to my prayer:

Pierce thou my heart with thy sword!

BRÜNNHILDE [Impressively.

Live for the sake

Of thy love, O woman!

Rescue the pledge

Thou has gotten from him:

The Wälsung's child thou shalt bear!

SIEGLINDE

[Gives a violent start; suddenly her face beams with sublime joy.

Save me, ye bold ones!

Rescue my child!

Shelter me, maidens,

And strong be your shield!

[An ever-darkening thunderstorm nears from the back.

WALTRAUTE [On the look-out.

The storm has drawn nigh.

ORTLINDE

Fly, all who fear it!

THE VALKYRIES

Hence with the woman;

Here she is lost:

The Valkyries dare not

Shield her from doom!

SIEGLINDE [On her knees before Brünnhilde.

Save me, O maid!

Rescue the mother!

BRÜNNHILDE [Raising Sieglinde with sudden resolve.

Away then, and swiftly!

Alone thou shalt fly.

I—stay in thy stead,

Victim of Wotan's anger.

I will hold here

The God in his wrath,

Till I know thee past reach of his rage.

SIEGLINDE

Say, whither shall my flight be?

BRÜNNHILDE

Which of you, sisters,

Eastward has journeyed?

SIEGRUNE

A forest stretches

Far in the east;

The Nibelung's hoard

By Fafner thither was borne.

SCHWERTLEITE

There as a dread

Dragon he sojourns,

And in a cave

Keeps watch over Alberich's ring.

GRIMGERDE

'Tis uncanny there

For a woman's home.

BRÜNNHILDE

And yet from Wotan's wrath

Shelter sure were the wood;

For he both fears

And keeps far from the place.

"There as a dread

Dragon he sojourns,

And in a cave

Keeps watch over Alberich's ring."

WALTRAUTE [On the look-out.

Raging, Wotan

Rides to the rock!

THE VALKYRIES

Brünnhilde, hark!

Like a storm-wind he comes!

BRÜNNHILDE [Urgently.

Flee then swiftly,

Thy face to the east!

Boldly enduring,

Defy every ill—

Hunger and thirst,

Briar and stone;

Laugh, whether gnawed

By anguish or want!

For one thing know

And hold to always—

The world's most glorious hero

Hideth, O woman, thy sheltering womb!

[She takes the pieces of Siegmund's sword from under her breast-plate and gives them to Sieglinde.

The splintered sword's pieces

Guard securely;

From the field where slain was

His father I brought them.

And now I name

Him who one day

The sword new-welded shall swing—

"Siegfried" rejoice and prevail!

SIEGLINDE [Greatly moved.

Sublimest wonder!

Glorious maid!

From thee high solace

I have received!

For him whom we loved

I save the beloved one.

May my thanks one day

Sweet reward bring!

Fare thou well!

Be blest by Sieglind' in woe!

[She hastens away to the right in front. The rocky peak is surrounded by black thunder-clouds. A fearful storm rages from the back. A fiery glow increases in strength to the right.

WOTAN'S VOICE

Stay, Brünnhilde!

ORTLINDE AND WALTRAUTE [Coming down from the look-out.

The rock is reached

By horse and rider!

[Brünnhilde, after following Sieglinde with her eyes for a while, goes towards the background, looks into the wood, and comes forward again fearfully.

THE VALKYRIES

Woe, Woe! Brünnhilde!

Vengeance he brings!

Ah, sisters, help!

My courage fails!

His wrath will crush me

Unless ye ward off its weight.

THE VALKYRIES

[Fly towards the rocky point in fear, drawing Brünnhilde with them.

This way, then, lost one!

Hide from his sight!

Cling closely to us,

And heed not his call!

[They hide Brünnhilde in their midst and look anxiously towards the wood, which is now lit up by a bright fiery glow, while in the background it has grown quite dark.

Woe! Woe!

Raging, Wotan

Swings from his horse!

Hither hastes

His foot for revenge!

WOTAN

[Comes from the wood in a terrible state of wrath and excitement and goes towards the Valkyries on the height, looking angrily for Brünnhilde.

Where is Brünnhilde?

Where is the guilty one?

Would ye defy me

And hide the rebel?

THE VALKYRIES

Fearful and loud thy rage is!

By what misdeed have thy daughters

Vexed and provoked thee

To terrible wrath?

WOTAN

Fools, would ye flout me?

Have a care, rash ones!

I know: Brünnhilde

Fain ye would hide.

Leave her, the lost one

Cast off for ever,

Even as she

Cast off her worth!

THE VALKYRIES

To us fled the pursued one,

In her need praying for help,

Dismayed and fearful,

Dreading thy wrath.

For our trembling sister

Humbly we beg

That thy first wild rage be calmed.

WOTAN

Weak-hearted

And womanish brood!

Is this your valour,

Given by me?

For this have I reared you

Bold for the fight,

Made you relentless

And hard of heart

That ye wild ones might weep and whine

When my wrath on a faithless one falls?

Learn, wretched whimperers,

What was the crime

Of her for whom

Ye are shedding those tears.

No one but she

Knew what most deeply I brooded;

No one but she

Pierced to the source of my being;

Through her deeds

All, I wished to be, came to birth.

This sacred bond

So completely she broke

That she defied me,

Opposing my will,

Her master's command

Openly mocked,

And against me pointed the spear

That she held from me alone.

Hearest, Brünnhilde?

Thou who didst hold

Thy helm and spear,

Grace and delight,

Life and name as my gift!

Hearing my voice thus accusing,

Dost hide from me in terror,

A coward who shirks her doom?

BRÜNNHILDE

[Steps out from the band of Valkyries, and humbly but with a firm step descends from the rocky peak until within a short distance from Wotan.

Here I am, Father,

Awaiting thy sentence!

WOTAN

I—sentence thee not;

Thou hast shaped thy doom for thyself.

Through my will only

Wert thou at all,

Yet against my will thou hast worked;

Thy part it was

To fulfil my commands,

Yet against me thou hast commanded;

Wish-maid

Thou wert to me,

Yet thy wish has dared to cross mine;

Shield-maid

Thou wert to me,

Yet against me raised was thy shield;

Lot-chooser

Thou wert to me:

Against me the lot thou hast chosen;

Hero-rouser

Thou wert to me:

Thou hast roused up heroes against me.

What once thou wert

Wotan has told thee:

What thou art now,

Demand of thyself!

Wish-maid thou art no more;

Valkyrie thou art no longer:—

What now thou art

For aye thou shalt be!

BRÜNNHILDE [Greatly terrified.

Thou dost cast me off?

Ah, can it be so?

WOTAN

No more shall I send thee from Walhall

To seek upon fierce

Fields for the slain;

With heroes no more

Shalt thou fill my hall:

When the high Gods sit at banquet,

No more shalt thou pour

The wine in my horn;

No more shall I kiss

The mouth of my child.

Among heaven's hosts

Numbered no longer,

Outcast art thou

From the kinship of Gods;

Our bond is broken in twain,

And from my sight henceforth thou now

art banned.

THE VALKYRIES

[Leave their places in the excitement, and come a little farther down the rocks.

Woe's me! Woe!

Sister! O sister!

BRÜNNHILDE

All that thou gavest

Thou dost recall?

WOTAN

Conquering thee, one shall take all!

For here on the rock

Bound thou shalt be,

Defenceless in sleep,

Charmed and enchained;

The man who chances this way

And awakes her, shall master the maid.

THE VALKYRIES

[Come down from the height in great excitement, and in terrified groups surround Brünnhilde, who lies half kneeling before Wotan.

O stay, Father!

The sentence recall.

Shall the maiden droop

And be withered by man?

O dread one, avert thou

The crying disgrace:

For as sisters share we her shame.

WOTAN

Have ye not heard

Wotan's decree?

From out your band

Shall your traitorous sister be banished,

No more to ride

Through the clouds her swift steed to the

battle;

Her maidenhood's flower

Will fade away;

Her grace and her favour

Her husband's will be;

Her husband will rule her

And she will obey;

Beside the hearth she will spin,

To all mockers a mark for scorn.

The ride of the Valkyries

[Brünnhilde sinks with a cry to the ground. The Valkyries, horror-stricken, recoil from her violently.

Fear ye her fate?

Then fly from the lost one!

Swiftly forsake

And flee from her far!

Let one but venture

Near her to linger,

Seek to befriend her,

Defying my will—

The fool shall share the same doom:

I warn you, ye bold ones, well!

Up and away!

Hence, and return not!

Get ye gone at a gallop,

Trouble is rife else for you here!

THE VALKYRIES [Separate with a wild cry and rush into the wood.

Woe! Woe!

[Black clouds settle thickly on the cliff; a rushing sound is heard in the wood. From the clouds breaks a vivid flash of lightning, by which the Valkyries are seen packed closely together, and riding wildly away with loose bridles. The storm soon subsides; the thunder-clouds gradually disperse. In the following scene the weather becomes fine again and twilight falls, followed at the close by night.

[Wotan and Brünnhilde, who lies stretched at his feet, remain behind alone. A long solemn silence.

BRÜNNHILDE

[Begins to raise her head a little, and, commencing timidly, gains confidence as she proceeds.

Was the offence

So shameful and foul

That to such shame the offender should be

doomed?

Was what I did

So base and so vile

That I must suffer abasement so low?

Was the dishonour

Truly so deep

That it must rob me of honour for aye?

[She raises herself gradually to a kneeling posture.

O speak, Father!

In my eye looking,

Calming thy rage,

Taming thy wrath,

Explain why so dark

This deed of mine

That in thy implacable anger

It costs thee thy favourite child!

WOTAN [His attitude unchanged, gravely and gloomily.

Ask of thy deed,

And that will show thee thy guilt!

BRÜNNHILDE

I but fulfilled

Wotan's command.

WOTAN

By my command

Didst thou fight for the Wälsung?

BRÜNNHILDE

Yea, lord of the lots,

So ran thy decree.

WOTAN

But I took back

The order, changed the decree!

BRÜNNHILDE

When Fricka had weaned

Thy will from its purpose;

In yielding what she desired

Thou wert a foe to thyself.

WOTAN [Softly and bitterly.

I thought thou didst understand me,

And punished thy conscious revolt;

But coward and fool

I seemed to thee!

If I had not treason to punish

Thou wouldst be unworthy my wrath.

BRÜNNHILDE

I am not wise,

But I knew well this one thing—

That thy love was the Wälsung's;

I knew that, by discord

Drawn two ways,

This one thing thou hadst forgotten.

The other only

Couldst thou discern—

What so bitterly

Wounded thy heart:

That Siegmund might not be shielded.

WOTAN

And yet thou didst dare

To shield him, knowing 'twas so?

BRÜNNHILDE [Beginning softly.

Because I the one thing

Had kept in my eye,

While by twofold desire

Divided wert thou,

Blindly thy back on him turning!

She who wards thy back

From the foe in the field,

She saw alone

What thou sawest not:—

Siegmund I beheld.

Bringing him doom

I approached;

I looked in his eyes,

Gave ear to his words.

I perceived the hero's

Bitter distress;

Loud the lament

Of the brave one resounded;

Uttermost love's

Most terrible pang,

Saddest of hearts

Defying all odds—-

With my ear I heard,

My eye beheld

That which stirred the heart in my breast

With trouble holy and strange.

Shamed, astonished,

Shrinking I stood.

Then all my thought

Was how I could serve him;

Triumph and death

To share with Siegmund—

That seemed, that only,

The lot I could choose!

Faithful to him

Who taught my heart this love,

And set me

By the Wälsung's side as friend—

Most faithful to him—

Thy word I disobeyed.

WOTAN

So thou hast done

What I yearned so greatly to do—

What a twofold fate

Withheld from my desire!

So easy seemed to thee

Heart's delight in the winning,

When burning woe

In my heart flamed fierce,

When terrible anguish

Wrung my soul,

When, to save the world

That I loved, love's spring

In my tortured heart I imprisoned?

Against my own self

When I turned, to my torment,

From swooning pain

Arose in a frenzy,

When a wild longing

Burning like fire

The fearful design in me woke

In the ruins of my own world

My unending sorrow to bury,

[Somewhat freely.

Thy heart was lapped

In blissful delight.

Trembling with rapture,

Drunken with joy,

Thy lips drank laughing

The draught of love,

While I drank of divine woe

Mixed with wormwood and gall.

[Dryly and shortly.

By thy lightsome heart

Henceforth be guided:

From me thou hast turned away!

I must renounce thee;

Together no more

Shall we two whisper counsel;

Apart our paths lie,

Sundered for ever,

And so long as life lasts

I, the God, dare nevermore greet thee!

BRÜNNHILDE [Simply.

Unfit was the foolish

Maid for thee,

Who, dazed by thy counsel,

Grasped not thy mind

When, to her, one counsel

Alone appeared plain—

To love what was loved by thee.

If I must forth

Where I shall not find thee,

If the fast-woven bond

Must be loosed,

And half thy being

Far from thee banished—

A half once thine and thine only,

O God, forget not that!—

Thy other self

Thou wilt not dishonour,

Dealing out shame

That will shame thee too;

Thine own honour were lowered,

Were I a target for scorn!

WOTAN

The lure of love

Thou hast followed fain:

Follow the man

Who shall wield its might!

BRÜNNHILDE

If I must go from Walhall,

No more in thy work be a sharer,

And if as my master

A man I must serve,

I braggart base

Abandon me not!

Not all unworthy

Be he who wins!

WOTAN

With Wotan no part hast thou—

He cannot fashion thy fate.

BRÜNNHILDE

By thee has been founded a race

Too glorious to bring forth a coward

One day must a matchless hero

From Wälsung lineage spring.

WOTAN

Name not the Wälsungs to me!

Renouncing thee,

Them too I renounced;

Through envy they came to naught.

BRÜNNHILDE

She who turned from thee

Rescued the race;

[With an air of secrecy.

Sieglinde bears

Fruit holy and high;

In pain and woe

Beyond woe known to woman

She will bring forth

What in fear she hides!

WOTAN

No shelter for her

Seek at my hand,

Nor for fruit that she may bear.

BRÜNNHILDE

The sword she has kept

That thou gavest Siegmund.

WOTAN [Violently.

And that I splintered with my spear.

Strive not, O maid,

My spirit to trouble!

Await thou the lot

Cast and decreed;

I cannot choose it or change!

But now I must forth,

Fare from thee far;

Too long I stay by thy side.

I must turn from thee,

As thou didst from me;

I must not even

Know thy desire;

Thy doom alone

I must see fulfilled!

BRÜNNHILDE

And what is the doom

That I must suffer?

WOTAN

In slumber fast

Thou shalt be locked;

Wife thou shalt be to the man

Who finds and wakes thee from sleep!

BRÜNNHILDE [Falls on her knees.

If fettering sleep

Fast must bind me,

An easy prey

To the basest coward,

This one thing that in deep anguish

I plead for thou must accord!

O shield thou the sleeper

With soul-daunting terrors,

[Firmly.

That by a dauntless

Hero alone

Here on the rock

I may be found!

WOTAN

Too much thou askest—

Too big a boon!

WOTAN.

"Appear, flickering fire,

Encircle the rock with thy flame!

Loge! Loge! Appear!"

BRÜNNHILDE [Clasping his knees.

This one thing

Grant me, O grant me!

The child that is clasping

Thy knees crush dead;

Tread down thy dear one

And shatter the maid;

Let her body perish,

Pierced by thy spear,

But, cruel one, expose her not

To this crying shame!

[With wild ecstasy.

O cause a fire

To burn at thy bidding,

With flame fiercely flaring

Girdle the rock,

And may its tongue lick,

And may its tooth eat

The coward who, daring, rashly

Approaches the terrible spot!

WOTAN

[Overcome and deeply stirred, turns quickly towards Brünnhilde, raises her from her knees and looks into her eyes with emotion.

Farewell, thou valiant,

Glorious child!

Thou the most holy

Pride of my heart,

Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!

[Passionately.

Must we be parted?

Shall I never more

Give thee love's greeting?

Must thou no longer

Gallop beside me,

Nor bring me mead at banquet?

If I must lose thee,

Whom I have loved so,

The laughing delight of my eyes,

For thee there shall burn

A bridal fire brighter

Than ever yet burned for a bride!

Fiercely the flames

Shall flare round thy bed,

Flames dreadful, devouring,

Daunting all cowards;

Let cravens flee

From Brünnhilde's rock!

One only shall set the bride free,

One freer than I, the God!

[Moved and enraptured, Brünnhilde sinks on the breast of Wotan, who holds her in a long embrace; then she throws back her head again, and, still embracing him, gazes into his eyes with emotion and awe.

Those eyes so lovely and bright

That oft with smiles I caressed,

Thy valour

With a kiss rewarding

When, sweetly lisped

By thy childlike mouth,

The praise of heroes I heard:

Those eyes so radiant and fair

That oft in storm on me shone,

When hopeless yearning

My heart was wasting,

And when the joy

Of the world I longed for,

While fears thronged thick around me—

Once more to-day

Gladdening me,

Let them take this kiss

Of fond farewell!

On happier mortal

May they yet shine;

On me, hapless immortal,

Must they close, and for ever!

[He takes her head in both hands.

'Tis thus that the God

From thee turns:

He kisses thy Godhead away!

As he moves slowly away, Wotan turns and looks sorrowfully back at Brünnhilde.

[He kisses her long on the eyes, and with these closed she sinks back softly into his arms, unconscious. He carries her gently to a low mossy mound, and lays her there beneath the broad-spreading pine-tree which overshadows it. He gazes at her and closes her helmet; his eyes then rest on the form of the sleeper, which he completely covers with the great steel shield of the Valkyries. Having done so, he moves slowly away, turning to take one more sorrowful look. Then he strides with solemn resolve to the middle of the stage, and points his sword towards a large rock.

Loge, hear!

Hark to my word!

I who found thee at first

A fiery flame,

And from whom thou didst vanish

In wandering fire,

I, who once bound,

Bid thee break forth!

Appear, flickering fire,

Encircle the rock with thy flame!

[He strikes the rock three times with his spear during the following.

Loge! Loge! Appear!

[A gleam of fire issues from the stone and gradually becomes a fiery glow; then flickering flames break forth. Soon wild, shooting flames surround Wotan, who, with his spear, directs the sea of fire to encircle the rock. It spreads towards the background, so that the mountain is surrounded by flame.

Let none who fears

The spear of Wotan

Adventure across this fire!

[He stretches out his spear as a ban, looks sorrowfully back at Brünnhilde, then moves slowly away, turning his head for a farewell gaze. Finally he disappears through the fire. The curtain falls.

The sleep of Brünnhilde

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Table of Contents

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie, by Richard Wagner

THE RING OF THE NIBLUNG

THE RHINEGOLD: PRELUDE THE VALKYRIE: FIRST DAY OF THE TRILOGY SIEGFRIED: SECOND DAY OF THE TRILOGY THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS: THIRD DAY OF THE TRILOGY

THE RHINEGOLD & THE VALKYRIE

RICHARD WAGNER

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARTHUR RACKHAM

TRANSLATED BY MARGARET ARMOUR

THE RHINEGOLD

FIRST SCENE

SECOND SCENE

THIRD SCENE

FOURTH SCENE

THE VALKYRIE

THE FIRST ACT

THE SECOND ACT

THE THIRD ACT

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE