The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie. The Ring of the Niblung, part 1

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

What is this bargainThat I am blamed for?—The one with the giantsThat thou thyself didst decide?O'er hill and o'er hollowDrives me my whim;House and hearthI do not crave.Donner and Froh,They dream but of roof and room:Wedding, must haveA home in which to dwell,A stately hall,A fortress fast.It was such Wotan wished.Hall and house,Castle, court,The blissful abodeNow stands complete and strong.I proved the lordlyPile myself;In fear of flaws,Scanning it close.Fasolt and FafnerFaithful I found;Firm-bedded is each stone.I was not slothfulLike many here:Who calls me sluggard, he lies!

WOTAN

CunninglyThou wouldst escape!Warned be, and wiselyTurn from attempts to deceive.Of all the GodsI alone stood by theeAs thy friend,In the gang that trusted thee not.Now speak, and to the point!For when the builders at firstAs wage Freia demanded,I gave way only,Trusting thy wordWhen thou didst solemnly promiseTo ransom the noble pledge.

LOGE

Perplexed to puzzle,Plans to ponderFor its redeeming—That promise I gave;But to discoverWhat cannot be,What none can do,No man can possibly promise.

FRICKA

See the treacherousRogue 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, gainsBoth 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 reproachIs Loge paid!Concerned but for thee,Thorough and swift,I searched and ransackedTo the ends of the earthTo find a ransom for FreiaFair to the giants and just.In vain the search,Convincing at lastThat the world containsNothing so sweetThat a man will take it insteadOf woman's love and delight.

[All seem surprised and taken aback.

Where life moves and has being,In water, earth and airI 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 beingMy questions metBut with laughter and scorn.In water, earth and airWoman and loveWill none forego.

[Varied gestures of amazement.

One man, one only,I met who, renouncing love,Prized ruddy goldAbove any woman's grace.The Rhine's pure-gleaming childrenTold me of their sorrow.The Nibelung,Night-Alberich,Wooed for the favourOf the swimmers in vain,And vengeance took,Stealing the Rhinegold they guard.He thinks it nowA thing beyond price,Greater than woman's grace.For their glittering toyThus torn from the deepThe sorrowful maids lamented.They pray, Wotan,Pleading to thee,That thy wrath may fall on the robberThe gold tooThey would have thee grant themTo guard in the water for ever.Loge promisedThe 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 beOr 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 malicePonders the Niblung;Gains he might from goldListen, Loge!Tell us the truth.What wondrous gift has the gold,That the dwarf desires it so?

LOGE

A plaything,In the waves providingChildren with laughter and sport,It gives, when to goldenRing it is rounded,Power and might unmatched;It wins its owner the world.

WOTAN [Thoughtfully.

Rumours I have heardOf the Rhinegold;Runes of richesHide in its ruddy glow;Pelf and powerAre by the ring bestowed.

FRICKA [Softly to Loge.

Could this gaud,This gleaming trinketForged from the gold,Be worn by a woman too?

LOGE

The wife who woreThat glittering charmNever would loseHer husband's love—That charm which dwarfs are welding,Working in thrall to the ring.

FRICKA [Coaxingly to Wotan.

O could but my husbandCome 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 learnTo forge and fashion it true?

LOGE

A magic runeCan round the golden ring.No one knows it,Yet plain the spell to himWho happy love forswears.

[Wotan turns away in annoyance.

That suits thee not;Thou art too late too.Alberich did not delay;Fearless he masteredThe potent spell,

[Harshly.

And wrought aright was the ring.

DONNER [To Wotan.

We should all beUnder 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 stoleSteal thou from the thief;How better could object be won?But with baleful armsBattles Alberich.Wary, wiseMust be thy scheming,If the thief thou wouldst confound,

[With warmth.

And restore the ruddyAnd 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 broodBring me no tidings,For they have wooedTo my woeFull 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 FreiaWere the glittering gold.Eternal youth, too, were hisWho 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 takePaltrier payment:The Niblung's red-gleaming goldWill guerdon us giants rude.

WOTAN

Ye must be mad!With what I possess notHow can I, shameless ones, pay you?

FAFNER

Hard labourWent to those walls;How easyWith 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 makeWar on the Niblung?—Fight, your foe to confound?InsolentAnd greedily graspingDolts 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 heldTill the ransom is paid.

FREIA [Screaming.

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

FAFNER

From your midstWe 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 forfeitAnd 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 stoneStriding they go;Through the ford across the RhineWade now the robbers.Sad at heartHangs Freia,Thrown rudely over rough shoulders!Heia! hei!The louts, how they lumber along!Through the Rhine valley they reel.Not till Riesenheim's marchIs 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 sorrowThat 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 fruitYe have not partaken to-day.The golden applesWithin her gardenRestored you your strength and your youth,Ate ye thereof each day.The garden's guardianIn pledge has been given.On the branches driesAnd 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 godlikeAm I, ye high ones, as you!

[Freely, but quickly and harshly.

But ye trusted solelyTo 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 laughingLightness 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-daughtersThy 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 goGladly I lead.Shall we diveSheer through the depths of the Rhine?

WOTAN

Not through the Rhine.

LOGE

Then swift let us swingThrough 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 waitTill evening here;The golden ransomWhen 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 soonTo 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 pinchedPromptly thou'lt beHast 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 hestI laboured hardTill it was done!Take but thy nails from my ear!

ALBERICH

Then why this delayTo show thy work?

MIME

I feared that somethingMight 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 isWell finished and feat,Done as desired!The simpleton wantsSlyly to trick meAnd keep by cunningThe wonderful work,Though all his skillCame 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 allBow now to Alberich!For he is everywhere,Waiting and watching;Peace and restAre past for ever;Ye must all serve him,Though see him can none;Where he cannot be spiedLook 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 biddingMy brother can force me,For I am bound as his slave.

LOGE

But, Mime, how has heThus made thee his thrall?

MIME

By evil artsFashioned AlberichA yellow ring,From the Rhinegold forged,At whose mighty magicTrembling we marvel;This spell puts in his powerThe Nibelung hosts of night.Happy we smithsMoulded and hammered,Making our womenTrinkets to wear—Exquisite Nibelung toys—And lightly laughed at our toil.The rogue now compels usTo creep into caverns,For him aloneTo labour unthanked.Through the golden ringHis greed can divineWhere untouched treasureIn hidden gorge gleams.We still must keep spying,Peering and delving:Must melt the booty,Which, molten, we forgeWithout pause or peace,To heap up higher his hoard.

LOGE

Just now, then, an idlerRoused him to wrath?

MIME

Poor Mime, ah!My lot was the hardest.I had to work,Forging a helmet,With strict instructionsHow to contrive it;And well I markedThe wondrous mightBestowed by the helmThat from steel I wrought.Hence I had gladlyHeld it as mine,And, by its virtueRisen at last in revolt:Perchance, yes, perchanceThe master himself I had mastered,And, he in my power, had wrestedThe ring from him and used itThat 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 thereinI foolishly failed to divine.He who set the taskAnd 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 taskWill call for skill.

WOTAN

Yet the foe will yield,Use thou but fraud.

MIME [Observes the Gods more attentively.

Who are you, ye strangersThat ask all these questions?

LOGE

Friends to thee,Who from their straitsWill 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 heapHigher 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 theyThat thus intrude?Mime! Come here!Rascally rogue!Gossiping artWith 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 gorgesGet me the gold!This whip will follow,Delve ye not fast!That labour ye shirk notMime be surety,Or surely the lashOf my whip will find him;That where no one would guessI 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 obeyThe 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 realmStrange tidings have travelled up,Tales of wondersWorked here by Alberich;And, greedy of marvels,Hither came we as guests.

ALBERICH

By envy urged,Hither ye hie.Such doughty guestsI do not mistake.

LOGE

Since I am known,Ignorant elf,Say then, with growlingWhom dost thou greet?In caverns coldWhere once thou didst crouch,Who gave thee lightAnd fire for thy comfort,Had Loge not smiled on thee?Or what hadst thou fashionedHad not I heated thy forge?I am thy kinsmanAnd once was kind:Lukewarm, methinks, are thy thanks!

ALBERICH

On light-born elvesLaughs now Loge,The crafty rogue:Art thou, false one, their friendAs 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 mightThat makes thee so bold;Grimly greatGroweth thy power.

ALBERICH

Seest thou the hoardYonder heapedHigh by my host?

LOGE

A richer one never was seen.

ALBERICH

A wretched pileIs this to-day, though.Boldly mounting,'Twill be bigger henceforward.

WOTAN

But what is gained by the hoardIn joyless Nibelheim,Where wealth finds nothing to buy?

ALBERICH

Treasure to gatherAnd treasure to garner—Thereto Nibelheim serves.But with the hoardIn the caverns upheapedWonders all wonder surpassingWill I performAnd win the whole world and its fairness.

WOTAN

But, my friend, how compass that goal?

ALBERICH

Ye who live above and breatheThe balmy, sweet airs,Love and laugh:A hand of goldEre long, O ye Gods, will have gripped you!As I forswore love, even soNo one aliveBut shall forswear it;By golden songs wooed,For gold alone will his greed be.On hills of delightYour home is, where gladnessSoftly lulls;The dark elvesYe despise, O deathless carousers!Beware!Beware!For first your menShall bow to my might;Then your women fairWho my wooing spurnedThe 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 hoardFrom 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 achieveEverything hope has promised,Almighty I needs must acclaim thee!For moon and starsAnd the sun in his glory,Forced to do thee obeisance,Even they must bow down.But what would seem of most momentIs that they who serve thee,The Nibelung hosts,Bow and bear no hate.When thy hand held forth a ringThy folk were stricken with fear.But in thy sleepA thief might slip upAnd steal slyly the ring.Say, how wouldst thou save thyself then?

ALBERICH

Most shrewd to himself seems Loge;Others alwaysFigure as fools.If I had to ask forAdvice or aidOn bitter terms,How happy the thief would be!This helmet that hidesI schemed for myself,And chose for its smithMime, finest of forgers.I am now ableSwift to assumeAny 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 metFull many a marvel,But one so wondrousHave never known.Achievement so matchlessScarce can I credit.Were this possible, trulyThy might indeed were eternal.

ALBERICH

Dost thou believeI lie, as would Loge?

LOGE

Till it is provedI 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 grewThe 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 snakeThou wert in a trice.Having beheld,I just credit the wonder.Couldest thou turnTo something quite tinyAs well as bigger?Methinks that way were bestFor 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 theeThat 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.