Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods. The Ring of the Niblung, part 2

The sword? The sword?How could I weld it?

[Half aside.

By him who knows notHow to fearNothung shall be forged.Too wise am ITo attempt such work.

SIEGFRIED [Violently.

Wilt thou speak plainlyOr must I help thee?

MIME [As before.

Where shall I turn in my need?My wily headWagered and lost is,

[Staring before him.

And forfeit to him it will fallWho has never learned to fear.

SIEGFRIED [Vehemently.

Dost thou by shufflingSeek to escape?

MIME [Gradually recovering himself.

Small need to flyHim who knows fear!But that lesson was one never taught thee.A fool, I forgotThe one great thing;What thou wert taughtWas to love me,And alas! the task proved hard.Now how shall I teach thee to fear?

SIEGFRIED [Seizes him.

Hey! Must I help thee?What work hast thou done?

MIME

Concerned for thy good,In thought I was sitting:Something of weight I would teach thee.

SIEGFRIED [Laughing.

'Twas under the seatThat thou wert sitting;What weighty thing foundest thou there?

MIME

[Recovering himself more and more.

Down there I learned how to fear,That I might teach thee, dullard.

SIEGFRIED [With quiet wonder.

This fear then, what is it?

MIME

Thou knowest not that,Yet wouldst from the forestForth to the world?What help in the trustiest sword,Hadst thou not learned to fear?

SIEGFRIED [Impatiently.

What absurdInvention is this?

MIME

[Approaching Siegfried with more and more confidence.

'Tis thy mother's wishSpeaking through me.I must fulfilThe promise I gave her:That the world and its wilesThou shouldst not encounterUntil thou hadst learned how to fear.

SIEGFRIED [Vehemently

Is it an art?Why was I not taught?Explain: this fearing, what is it?

MIME

In the dark woodHast thou not felt,When shades of duskFall dim and drear,When mournful whispersSigh afar,And fierce growlingSounds at hand,When strange flashesDart and flicker,And the buzzingAnd clamour grow—

[Trembling.

Hast thou not felt grim horrorHold every sense in its clutches?—

[Quaking.

When the limbs shiver,Shaken with terror,

[With a quivering voice.

And the heart, filled with dismay,Hammers, bursting the breast—Hast thou not yet felt that,A stranger art thou to fear.

SIEGFRIED [Musing.

Wonderful trulyThat must be.Steadfast, strongBeats my heart in my breast.The shiver and shudder,The fever and horror,Burning and fainting,Beating and trembling—Ah, how glad I would feel them,

[Tenderly.

Could I but learn this delight!But how, Mime,Can it be mine?How, coward, could it be taught me?

MIME

Following me,The way thou shalt find;I have thought it all out.I know of a dragon grimThat slays and swallows men:Fear thou wilt learn from Fafner,When I lead to where he lies.

SIEGFRIED

Where has he his lair?

MIME

Neidhöhl'Named, it lies eastTowards the end of the wood.

SIEGFRIED

It lies not far from the world?

MIME

The world is quite close to the cave.

SIEGFRIED

That I may learn what this fear is,Lead me there straightway;Then forth to the world!Make haste! Forge me the sword.In the world fain I would swing it.

MIME

The sword? Woe's me!

SIEGFRIED

Quick to the smithy!Show me thy work!

MIME

Accursèd steel!Unequal my skill to the task;The potent magicSurpasses the poor dwarf's strength.'Twere more easily doneBy one who never felt fear.

SIEGFRIED

Artful tricksThe idler would play me;He is a bungler;He should confess,And not seek to lie his way out.Here with the splinters!Off with the bungler!

[Coming to the hearth.

His father's swordSiegfried will weld:By him shall it be forged.

[Flinging Mime's tools about, he sets himself impetuously to work.

MIME

If thou hadst practisedThy craft with care,Thou wouldst have profited now;But thou wert farToo lazy to learn,And now at need canst do nothing.

SIEGFRIED

Where the master has failedWhat hope for the scholar,Had he obeyed him in all?

[He makes a contemptuous grimace at him.

Be off with thee!Meddle no more,In case with the steel I melt thee.

[He has heaped a large quantity of charcoal on the hearth, and keeps blowing the fire, while he screws up the pieces of the sword in a vice and files them to shavings.

MIME

[Who has sat down a little way off, watches Siegfried at work.

Why file it to bits?There is the solderAll fused, ready to hand.

SIEGFRIED

Off with the pap,I need it not;With paste I fashion no sword!

MIME

Now the file is ruined,The rasp is useless;Why grind thus the steel to splinters?

SIEGFRIED

It must be shiveredAnd ground into shreds;Only so can splinters be patched.

[He goes on filing with great energy.

MIME [Aside.

I see a craftsmanIs useless here;By his own folly the fool is best served.Look how he toilsWith lusty strokes;The steel disappears,And still he keeps cool.

[Siegfried has blown the fire to a bright flame.

Though I am as oldAs cave and wood,The like I never yet saw!

[While Siegfried continues to file the piece of the sword impetuously, Mime seats himself a little further off.

He will forge the sword—I see it plain—Boldly weld it anew.The Wanderer was right.Where shall I hideMy luckless head?If nothing teaches him fear,Forfeit it falls to the boy.

[Springing up and bending down in growing agitation.

But woe to Mime!If Siegfried learn fear,The dragon will never be slain;And, if so, how gain the ring?Accurst dilemma!Would I escape,I must find out some wayOf subduing the boy for myself.

SIEGFRIED

[Has now filed down the pieces, and puts the filings in a crucible, which he places on the fire.

Hey, Mime! The name!—Quick, name the swordThat I have pounded to pieces.

MIME [Starts and turns towards Siegfried.

Nothung, that isThe name of the sword;'Twas mother told me the tale.

SIEGFRIED

[During the following song keeps blowing the fire with the bellows.

Nothung! Nothung!Conquering sword!What blow, I wonder, broke thee.Thy keen-edged gloryI chopped to chaff;The splinters now I am melting.Hoho! Hoho!Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!Bellows blow!Brighten the flame!In the woodsA tree grew wild;It fell, by my hand hewn down.The brown-stemmed ashTo charcoal I burned;Now it lies heaped high on the hearth.Hoho! Hoho!Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!Bellows blow!Brighten the flame!How bravely, brightlyThe charcoal burns!How clear and fair its fire!With showering sparksIt leaps and glows,—Hohei! Hoho! Hohei!—Dissolving the splintered steel!Hoho! Hoho!Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!Bellows, blow!Brighten the flame!Hoho! Hoho!Hoho, hohei! Hohei!Nothung! Nothung!Conquering sword!Thy steel chopped to chaff is fused;In thine own sweatThou swimmest now,

[He pours the glowing contents of the crucible into a mould, which he holds up.

But soon my sword thou shalt be!

MIME

[During the pauses in Siegfried's song, still aside, sitting at a distance.

The sword he will forgeAnd vanquish Fafner,So much I can clearly foresee;Hoard and ringThe victor will have;How to win them both for myself!By wit and wilesThey shall be captured,And safe shall be my head.

[In the foreground, still aside.

After the fight, when athirst,For a cooling draught he will crave;Of fragrant juicesGathered from herbsThe draught I will brew for him.Let him drink but a drop,And in slumberSoftly lapped he shall lie:With the very swordThat he fashioned to serve himHe shall be cleared from my way,And treasure and ring made mine.

[He rubs his hands with satisfaction.

Ha! dull didst hold me,Wanderer wise!Does my subtle schemingPlease thee now?Have I foundA path to peace?

[He springs up joyfully, fetches several vessels, shakes spices and herbs from them into a pot, and tries to put it on the hearth.

SIEGFRIED

[Has plunged the mould into a pail of water. Steam and loud hissing ensue as it cools.

In the water flowedA flood of fire;Furious with hate,Grimly it hissed;Though scorching it ran,In the cooling floodNo more it flows;Stiff, stark it became,Hard is the stubborn steel;Yet warm bloodShall flow thereby!Now sweat once again,That swift I may weld thee,Nothung, conquering sword!

[He thrusts the steel into the fire, and blows the bellows violently. While doing so he watches Mime, who, from the other side of the hearth, carefully puts his pot on the fire.

What does the boobyMake in his pot?While I melt steel,What art thou brewing?

MIME

A smith is put to shame,And learns from the lad he taught;All the master's lore is useless now;He serves the boy as cook.Steel thou dost brew into broth;Old Mime boils theeEggs for thy meal.

[He goes on with his cooking.

SIEGFRIED

Mime, the craftsman,Learns to cook now,And cares no longer to forge;I have brokenAll the swords that he made me;What he cooks my lips shall not touch.

[During the following he takes the mould from the fire, breaks it, and lays the glowing steel on the anvil.

To find out what fear isForth he will guide me;A far-off teacher shall teach me;Even what he does bestHe cannot do well;In everything Mime must bungle!

[During the forging.

Hoho! Hoho! Hohei!Forge me, my hammer,A trusty sword.Hoho! Hahei!Hoho! Hahei!Blood-stained was onceThy steely blue,The crimson trickleReddened thy blade.How cold was thy laugh!The warm blood cooled at thy touch!Heiaho! Haha!Haheiaha!Now red thou comestFrom the fire,And thy softened steelTo the hammer yields.Angry sparks thou dost showerOn me who humbled thy pride.Heiaho! Heiaho!Heiahohohohoho!Hahei! Hahei! Hahei!Hoho! Hoho! Hohei!Forge me, my hammer,A trusty sword!Hoho! Hahei!Hoho! Hahei!How I rejoiceIn the merry sparks!The bold look bestWhen by anger stirred!Gay thou laughest to me,Grimly though thou dost pretend!Heiaho, haha, haheiaha!Both heat and hammerServed me well;With sturdy strokesI stretched thee straight;Now banish thy modest blush,Be as cold and hard as thou canst.Heiho! Heiaho!Heiahohohohoho! Heiah!

[He swings the blade, plunges it into the pail of water, and laughs aloud at the hissing.

MIME

[While Siegfried is fixing the blade in the hilt, moves about in the foreground with the bottle into which he has poured the contents of the pot. Aside.

He forges a sharp-edged sword:Fafner, the foeOf the dwarf, is doomed;I brewed a deadly draught:Siegfried must perishWhen Fafner falls.By guile the goal must be reached;Soon shall smile my reward!For the shining ringMy brother once made,And which with a potentSpell he endowed,The gleaming goldThat gives boundless might—That ring I have won now,I am its lord.

[He trots briskly about with increasing satisfaction.

Alberich even,Whom I served,Shall be the slaveOf Mime the dwarf.As Nibelheim's princeI shall descend there,And all the hostShall do my will;None so honoured as he,The dwarf once despised!To the hoard will come throngingGods and men;

[With increasing liveliness.

The world shall cower,Cowed by my nod,And at my frownShall tremble and fall!No more shall MimeLabour and toil,When others win himUnending wealth.Mime, the valiant,Mime is monarch,Prince and ruler,Lord of the world!Hei, Mime! Great luck has been thine!Had any one dreamed of this!

SIEGFRIED

[During the pauses in Mime's song has been filing and sharpening the sword and hammering it with the small hammer. He flattens the rivets of the hilt with the last strokes, and now grasps the sword.

Nothung! Nothung!Conquering sword!Once more art thou firm in thy hilt.Severed wert thou;I shaped thee anew,No second blow thy blade shall shatter.The strong steel was splintered,My father fell;The son who now livesShaped it anew.Bright-gleaming to him it laughs,And for him its edge shall be keen.

[Swinging the sword before him.

Nothung! Nothung!Conquering sword!Once more to life I have waked thee.Dead wert thou,In fragments hewn,Now shining defiant and fair.Woe to all robbers!Show them thy sheen!Strike at the traitor,Cut down the rogue!See, Mime, thou smith;Thus sunders Siegfried's sword!

[He strikes the anvil and splits it in two from top to bottom, so that it falls asunder with a great noise. Mime, who has mounted a stool in great delight, falls in terror to a fitting position on the ground. Siegfried holds the sword exultantly on high. The curtain falls.

THE SECOND ACT

A deep forest

Quite in the background the entrance to a cave. The ground rises towards a flat knoll in the middle of the stage, and slopes down again towards the back, so that only the upper part of the entrance to the cave is visible to the audience. To the left a fissured cliff is seen through the trees. It is night, the darkness being deepest at the back, where at first the eye can distinguish nothing at all.

ALBERICH

[Lying by the cliff, gloomily brooding.

In night-drear woodsBy Neidhöhl' I keep watch,With ear alert,Keen and anxious eye.Timid day,Tremblest thou forth?Pale art thou dawningAthwart the dark?

[A storm arises in the wood on the right, and from the same quarter there shines down a bluish light.

What comes yonder, gleaming bright?Nearer shimmersA radiant form;It runs like a horse and it shines;Breaks through the wood,Rushing this way.Is it the dragon's slayer?Can it mean Fafner's death?

[The wind subsides; the light vanishes.

The glow has gone,It has faded and died;All is darkness.Who comes there, shining in shadow?

WANDERER

[Enters from the wood, and stops opposite Alberich.

To Neidhöhl'By night I have come;In the dark who is hiding there?

[As from a sudden rent in the clouds moonlight streams forth and lights up the Wanderer's figure.

ALBERICH

[Recognises the Wanderer and shrinks back at first in alarm, but immediately after breaks out in violent fury.

'Tis thou who comest thus?What wilt thou here?Go, get thee hence!Begone, thou insolent thief!

WANDERER [Quietly.

Schwarz-AlberichWanders here?Guardest thou Fafner's house?

ALBERICH

Art thou intentOn mischief again?Linger not here!Off with thee straightway!Has grief enoughNot deluged the earth through thy guile?Spare it furtherSorrow, thou wretch!

WANDERER

I come as watcher,Not as worker.The Wanderer's way who bars?

ALBERICH

Thou arch, pestilent plotter!Were I still the blind,Silly fool that I was,When I was bound thy captive,How easy were itTo steal the ring again from me!Beware! For thy cunningI know well,

[Mockingly.

And of thy weaknessI am fully aware too.Thy debts were cancelled,Paid with my treasure;My ring guerdonedThe giants' toil,Who raised thy citadel high.Still on the mightyHaft of thy spear thereThe runes are written plainOf the compact made with the churls;And of thatWhich by labour they wonThou dost not dare to despoil them:Thy spear's strong shaftThou thyself wouldst split;The staff that makes theeMaster of allWould crumble to dust in thy hand.

WANDERER

By the steadfast runes of treatiesThou hast not,Base one, been bound;On thee my spear may spend its strength,So keen I keep it for war.

ALBERICH

How dire thy threats!How bold thy defiance!And yet full of fear is thy heart!Foredoomed to deathThrough my curse is heWho now guards the treasure.What heir will succeed him?Will the hoard all desireBelong as before to the Niblung?—That gnaws thee with ceaseless torment.For once I have got itSafe in my grasp,Better than foolish giantsWill I employ its spell.The God who guards heroesTruly may tremble!I will stormProud Walhall with Hella's hosts,And rule, lord of the world!

WANDERER [Quietly.

Thy design I know well,But little I care:Who wins the ringWill rule by its might.

ALBERICH

Thou speakest darkly,But to me all is plain.Thy heart is boldBecause of a boy,

[Mockingly.

A hero begot of thy blood.Hast thou not fostered a striplingTo pluck the fruit thou durst not

[With growing violence.

Pluck frankly for thyself?

WANDERER [Lightly.

With me'Tis useless to wrangle;But Mime thou shouldst beware;For thy brother brings here a boyTo compass the giant's doom.He knows not of me;He works for Mime alone.And so I say to thee,Do as seems to thee best.

[Alberich makes a movement expressive of violent curiosity.

Take my advice,Be on thy guard:The boy will hear of the ringWhen Mime tells him the tale.

ALBERICH [Violently.

Wilt thou hold thy hand from the hoard?

WANDERER

Whom I loveMust fight for himself unaided;The lord of his fate,He stands or falls:All my hope hangs upon heroes.

ALDERICH

Does none but MimeDispute me the ring?

WANDERER

Only thou and MimeCovet the gold.

ALDERICH

And yet it is not to be mine?

WANDERER [Quietly coming nearer.

A hero comesTo set the hoard free;Two Nibelungs yearn for the gold.Fafner falls,He who guards the ring;Then a hand, seizing, shall hold it.More wouldst thou learn,There Fafner lies,Who, if warned of his death,Gladly would give up the toy.Come, I will wake him for thee.

[He goes towards the cave, and, standing on the rising ground in front of it, calls towards it.

Fafner! Fafner!Wake, dragon! Wake!

ALBERICH [With anxious amazement, aside.

Does the madman mean it?Am I to have it?

FAFNER'S VOICE

Who troubles my sleep?

WANDERER [Facing the cave.

A well-wisher comesTo warn thee of danger;Thy doom can be averted,If thou wilt pay the priceWith the treasure that thou guardest.

[He leans his ear towards the cave, listening.

FAFNER'S VOICE

What would he?

ALBERICH

[Has come to the Wanderer and calls into the cave.

Waken, Fafner!Dragon, awake!A doughty hero comesTo try his strength against thine.

FAFNER'S VOICE

I want a meal.

WANDERER

Bold is the boy and strong;Sharp-edged is his sword.

ALBERICH

The ring he seeks,Nothing besides.Give me the ring, and soThe strife shall be stayed.Still guarding the hoard,In peace shalt thou live long!

FAFNER [Yawning.

I have and I hold:—Let me slumber!

WANDERER

[Laughs aloud and then turns again to Alberich.

Well, Alberich! That ruse failed,But call me rogue no more.This one thing thou shouldstNever forget:Each according to his kind must act;Nothing can change him.I leave thee the field now;Show a bold front,And try thy luck with thy brother;Thou knowest his kind perhaps better.And things unknownThou also shalt learn!

[He turns away, and disappears quickly in the wood. A storm arises and a bright light breaks forth; then both quickly cease.

ALBERICH

[Looks after the Wanderer as he gallops off.

Away on his shiningHorse he rides,And leaves me to care and scorn!Laugh on! Laugh on,Ye light-mindedAnd high-spiritedRace of immortals!One day ye shall perishAnd pass!Until the goldHas ceased to gleam,Will wise Alberich watch,And his hate shall prevail.

[He slips into the chasm at the side. The stage remains empty. Dawn.

As the day dawns Siegfried and Mime enter. Siegfried carries his sword in a sword-belt of rope. Mime examines the place carefully. At last he looks towards the background, which remains in deep shadow, whilst the rising ground in the middle becomes, after a time, more and more brightly illuminated by the sun.

MIME

Our journey ends here;Here we halt.

SIEGFRIED

[Sits down under the lime-tree and looks about him.

So here I shall learn what fear is?A far way thou hast led me;We have wandered lone togetherA whole night long in the woods.This is the lastOf thee, Mime!Can I not masterMy lesson here,Alone I will push forwardAnd never see thee again.

MIME

Lad, believe me,If thou canst notLearn it here and now,No other place,No other timeEver will teach thee fear.Dost thou seeThat cavern yawning dark?Yonder dwellsA dragon dread and grim,Horribly fierce,Enormous in size,With terrible jawsThat threaten and gape;With skin and hair,All at a gulp,The brute could swallow thee whole.

SIEGFRIED

[Still sitting under the lime-tree.

'Twere well to close up his gullet;His fangs I will therefore avoid.

MIME

Poison poursFrom his venomous mouth;Were he to spue outSpittle on thee,Thy body and bones would decay.

SIEGFRIED

That the poison may not consume me,I will keep out of its reach.

MIME

A serpent's tailSweeping he swings;Were that about thee woundAnd folded close,Thy limbs would be broken like glass.

SIEGFRIED

That his swinging tail may not touch me,Warily then I must watch.But answer me this:Has the brute a heart?

MIME

A pitiless, cruel heart.

SIEGFRIED

It lies, however,Where all hearts lie,Brute and human alike?

MIME

Of course! There, boy,The dragon's lies too.At last thou beginnest to fear?

SIEGFRIED

[Who till now has been lying indolently stretched out, sits up suddenly.

Nothung intoHis heart I will thrust!Is that what is meant by fearing?Hey, old dotard!Canst thou teach meNothing but thisWith all thy craft,Linger no longer by me:No fear is here to be learnt.

MIME

Wait awhile yet!What I have told theeSeems to thee empty sound;When thou hast heardAnd seen him thyself,Thy senses will swoon, overwhelmed!When thine eyes grow dim,And when the ground rocks,When in thy breastThy heart beats loud,

[Very friendly.

Thou wilt remember who brought thee,And think of me and my love.

SIEGFRIED

Thy love is not wanted!Hast thou not heard?Out of my sight with thee;Let me alone!Begin again talking of love,And on the instant I go!The horrible winking,The nods and blinking—When shall I seeThe last of them,And rid be at length of the fool?

MIME

Well, I will off,And rest there by the spring.Thou must stay here,And as the sun scales the skyWatch for the foe:From his caveHe lumbers this way,Winds and twistsPast this spot,To water at the fountain.

SIEGFRIED [Laughs.

Liest thou by the spring,Unchecked thither the brute shall go;He shall swallow theeDown with the water,Ere with my swordTo the heart I stab him!So heed well what I say:Rest not beside the spring.Seek somewhere elseA far-off spot,And nevermore return.

MIME

Thou wilt not refuseCooling refreshmentWhen the fierce fight is over?

[Siegfried motions him angrily away.

Call on me tooShouldst thou need counsel,

[Siegfried repeats the gesture with more violence.

Or if felled on a sudden by fear.

[Siegfried rises and drives him away with furious gestures.

MIME [Aside, as he goes away.

Fafner and Siegfried—Siegfried and Fafner—Might each the other but slay!

[He disappears in the wood on the right.

SIEGFRIED

[Stretches himself at his ease under the lime-tree, and looks after Mime as he departs.

He is no father of mine!How merry of heart I feel!Never beforeSeemed the forest fair;Never dayWore as lovely a smile,For the loathed one has gone at last,To be looked on by me no more.

[He meditates in silence.

My father—what was he like?—Ha! like me, without doubt.Had Mime by chance had a son,He would have beenMime's image:Quite as disgusting,Filthy and grey,Small and bent,Hunchbacked and halting,With ears long and hanging,Rheumy eyes running—Off with the fright!To see him makes me sick!

[He leans further back and looks up through the branches of the tree. Deep silence. Woodland murmurs.

What could my mother,I wonder, be like;That is notSo easy to picture.

[Very tenderly.

Her clear shining eyesMust have been soft,And gentle like the roe-deer's,Only far fairer.

[Very softly.