[After attentively watching the Wanderer with the spear, becomes very frightened, seeks in a confused manner for his tools, and looks timidly aside.

 
Both thou hast won,
Wager and head;
Thy way now, Wanderer, go.
 

WANDERER

 
Knowledge useful to thee
Thou wert to ask for;
Forfeit my head if I failed.
Forfeit be thine,
Knowest thou not
The thing it would serve thee to know.
Greeting thou
Gavest me not;
My head into thy hand
I gave
That I might rest by thy hearth.
By wager fair
Forfeit thy head,
Canst thou not answer
Three things when asked;
So sharpen well, Mime, thy wits!
 

MIME

[Very much frightened, and after much hesitation, at last composes himself with timid submission.

 
Long it is
Since I left my land;
Long it seems to me
Since I was born.
I saw here the eye of Wotan
Shine, peering into my cave;
His glance dazes
My mother-wit.
But well were it now to be wise.
Come then, Wanderer, ask.
Perhaps fortune will favour
The dwarf, and redeem his head.
 

WANDERER [Comfortably sitting down again.

 
Then first, honest dwarf,
Answer this question:
Tell the name of the race
That Wotan treats most harshly,
 

[Very softly, but audibly.

 
And yet loves beyond all the rest.
 

MIME [With more cheerfulness.

 
Though unlearnèd
In heroes' kinship,
This question I answer with ease.
The Wälsungs are Wotan's
Chosen stock,
By him begotten
And loved with passion,
Though they are shown no grace.
Siegmund and Sieglinde
Born were to Wälse,
A wild and desperate
Twin-born pair;
Siegfried had they as son,
The strongest shoot from the tree.
My head, say, is it
Still, Wanderer, mine?
 

WANDERER [Pleasantly.

 
How well thou knowest
And namest the race!
Rogue, I see thou art clever.
The foremost question
Thou hast solved;
The second answer me, dwarf.
A crafty Niblung
Shelters Siegfried,
Hoping he will slay Fafner,
That the dwarf may be lord of the hoard,
The ring being his.
Say, what sword,
If Fafner to fall is,
Must be by Siegfried swung?
 

MIME

[Forgetting his present situation more and more, rubs his hands joyfully.

 
Nothung is
The name of the sword;
Into an ash-tree's stem
Wotan struck it;
One only might bear it:
He who could draw it forth.
The strongest heroes
Tried it and failed;
Only by Siegmund
Was it done;
Well he fought with the sword
Till on Wotan's spear it was split.
By a crafty smith
Are the fragments kept,
For he knows that alone
With the Wotan sword
A brave and foolish boy,
Siegfried, can slay the foe.
 

[Much pleased.

 
A second time
My head have I saved?
 

WANDERER [Laughing.

 
The wisest of wise ones
Thou must be, surely;
Who else could so clever be!
But wouldst thou by craft
Employ the boy-hero
As instrument of thy purpose,
With one question more
I threaten thee.
Tell me, thou artful
Armourer,
Whose skill from the doughty splinters
Nothung the sword shall fashion.
 

MIME [Starts up in great terror.

 
The splinters! The sword!
Alas! my head reels!
What shall I do?
What can I say?
Accursèd sword!
I was mad to steal it!
A perilous pass
It has brought me to.
Always too hard
To yield to my hammer!
Rivet, solder—
Useless are both.
 

[He throws his tools about as if he had gone crazy, and breaks out in utter despair.

 
The cleverest smith
Living has failed;
And, that being so,
Who shall succeed?
How rede aright such a riddle?
 

WANDERER [Has risen quietly from the hearth.

 
Three things thou wert to ask me;
Thrice was I to reply.
Thy questions were
Of far-off things,
But what stood here at thy hand—
Needed much—that was forgot,
Now that I guess it,
Thou goest crazed,
And won by me
Is the cunning one's head.
Now, Fafner's dauntless subduer,
Hear, thou death-doomed dwarf.
By him who knows not
How to fear
Nothung shall be forged.
 

[Mime stares at him; he turns to go.

 
So ward thy head
Well from to-day.
I leave it forfeit to him
Who has never learned to fear.
 

[He turns away smiling, and disappears quickly in the wood. Mime has sunk on to the bench overwhelmed.

MIME

[Stares before him into the sunlit wood, and begins to tremble more and more violently.

 
Accursèd light!
The air is on fire!
What flickers and flashes?
What buzzes and whirs?
What sways there and swings
And circles about?
What glitters and gleams
In the sun's hot glow?
What rustles and hums
And rings so loud?
With roll and roar
It crashes this way!
It bursts through the wood,
Making for me!
 

[He rises up in terror.

 
Its jaws are wide open,
Eager for prey;
The dragon will catch me!
Fafner! Fafner!
 

[He sinks shrieking behind the anvil.

SIEGFRIED

[Behind the scenes, is heard breaking from the thicket.

 
Ho there! Thou idler!
Is the work finished?
 

[He enters the cave.

 
Quick, come show me the sword.
 

[He pauses in surprise.

 
Where hides the smith?
Has he made off?
Hey, there! Mime, thou coward!
Where art thou? Where hidest thou?
 

MIME

[In a small voice, from behind the anvil.

 
'Tis thou then, child?
Art thou alone?
 

SIEGFRIED [Laughing.

 
Under the anvil?
Why, what doest thou there?
Wert thou grinding the sword?
 

MIME [Comes forward, greatly upset and confused.

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

[Half aside.

 
By him who knows not
How to fear
Nothung shall be forged.
Too wise am I
To attempt such work.
 

SIEGFRIED [Violently.

 
Wilt thou speak plainly
Or must I help thee?
 

MIME [As before.

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

[Staring before him.

 
And forfeit to him it will fall
Who has never learned to fear.
 

SIEGFRIED [Vehemently.

 
Dost thou by shuffling
Seek to escape?
 

MIME [Gradually recovering himself.

 
Small need to fly
Him who knows fear!
But that lesson was one never taught thee.
A fool, I forgot
The one great thing;
What thou wert taught
Was 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 seat
That 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 forest
Forth to the world?
What help in the trustiest sword,
Hadst thou not learned to fear?
 

SIEGFRIED [Impatiently.

 
What absurd
Invention is this?
 

MIME

[Approaching Siegfried with more and more confidence.

 
'Tis thy mother's wish
Speaking through me.
I must fulfil
The promise I gave her:
That the world and its wiles
Thou shouldst not encounter
Until 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 wood
Hast thou not felt,
When shades of dusk
Fall dim and drear,
When mournful whispers
Sigh afar,
And fierce growling
Sounds at hand,
When strange flashes
Dart and flicker,
And the buzzing
And clamour grow—
 

[Trembling.

 
Hast thou not felt grim horror
Hold 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 truly
That must be.
Steadfast, strong
Beats 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 grim
That 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 east
Towards 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 magic
Surpasses the poor dwarf's strength.
'Twere more easily done
By one who never felt fear.
 

SIEGFRIED

 
Artful tricks
The 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 sword
Siegfried will weld:
By him shall it be forged.
 

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

MIME

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

SIEGFRIED

 
Where the master has failed
What 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 solder
All 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 shivered
And ground into shreds;
Only so can splinters be patched.
 

[He goes on filing with great energy.

MIME [Aside.

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

[Siegfried has blown the fire to a bright flame.

 
Though I am as old
As 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 hide
My 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 way
Of 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 sword
That I have pounded to pieces.
 

MIME [Starts and turns towards Siegfried.

 
Nothung, that is
The 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 glory
I chopped to chaff;
The splinters now I am melting.
Hoho! Hoho!
Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!
Bellows blow!
Brighten the flame!
In the woods
A tree grew wild;
It fell, by my hand hewn down.
The brown-stemmed ash
To charcoal I burned;
Now it lies heaped high on the hearth.
Hoho! Hoho!
Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!
Bellows blow!
Brighten the flame!
How bravely, brightly
The charcoal burns!
How clear and fair its fire!
With showering sparks
It 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 sweat
Thou 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 forge
And vanquish Fafner,
So much I can clearly foresee;
Hoard and ring
The victor will have;
How to win them both for myself!
By wit and wiles
They 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 juices
Gathered from herbs
The draught I will brew for him.
Let him drink but a drop,
And in slumber
Softly lapped he shall lie:
With the very sword
That he fashioned to serve him
He 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 scheming
Please thee now?
Have I found
A 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 flowed
A flood of fire;
Furious with hate,
Grimly it hissed;
Though scorching it ran,
In the cooling flood
No more it flows;
Stiff, stark it became,
Hard is the stubborn steel;
Yet warm blood
Shall 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 booby
Make 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 thee
Eggs 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 broken
All 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 is
Forth he will guide me;
A far-off teacher shall teach me;
Even what he does best
He 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 once
Thy steely blue,
The crimson trickle
Reddened thy blade.
How cold was thy laugh!
The warm blood cooled at thy touch!
Heiaho! Haha!
Haheiaha!
Now red thou comest
From the fire,
And thy softened steel
To the hammer yields.
Angry sparks thou dost shower
On 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 rejoice
In the merry sparks!
The bold look best
When by anger stirred!
Gay thou laughest to me,
Grimly though thou dost pretend!
Heiaho, haha, haheiaha!
Both heat and hammer
Served me well;
With sturdy strokes
I 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 foe
Of the dwarf, is doomed;
I brewed a deadly draught:
Siegfried must perish
When Fafner falls.
By guile the goal must be reached;
Soon shall smile my reward!
For the shining ring
My brother once made,
And which with a potent
Spell he endowed,
The gleaming gold
That 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 slave
Of Mime the dwarf.
As Nibelheim's prince
I shall descend there,
And all the host
Shall do my will;
None so honoured as he,
The dwarf once despised!
To the hoard will come thronging
Gods and men;
 

[With increasing liveliness.

 
The world shall cower,
Cowed by my nod,
And at my frown
Shall tremble and fall!
No more shall Mime
Labour and toil,
When others win him
Unending 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 lives
Shaped 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.