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 woods
By Neidhöhl' I keep watch,
With ear alert,
Keen and anxious eye.
Timid day,
Tremblest thou forth?
Pale art thou dawning
Athwart 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 shimmers
A 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-Alberich
Wanders here?
Guardest thou Fafner's house?

ALBERICH

Art thou intent
On mischief again?
Linger not here!
Off with thee straightway!
Has grief enough
Not deluged the earth through thy guile?
Spare it further
Sorrow, 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 it
To steal the ring again from me!
Beware! For thy cunning
I know well,

[Mockingly.

And of thy weakness
I am fully aware too.
Thy debts were cancelled,
Paid with my treasure;
My ring guerdoned
The giants' toil,
Who raised thy citadel high.
Still on the mighty
Haft of thy spear there
The runes are written plain
Of the compact made with the churls;
And of that
Which by labour they won
Thou dost not dare to despoil them:
Thy spear's strong shaft
Thou thyself wouldst split;
The staff that makes thee
Master of all
Would crumble to dust in thy hand.

WANDERER

By the steadfast runes of treaties
Thou 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 death
Through my curse is he
Who now guards the treasure.
What heir will succeed him?
Will the hoard all desire
Belong as before to the Niblung?—
That gnaws thee with ceaseless torment.
For once I have got it
Safe in my grasp,
Better than foolish giants
Will I employ its spell.
The God who guards heroes
Truly may tremble!
I will storm
Proud 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 ring
Will rule by its might.

ALBERICH

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

[Mockingly.

A hero begot of thy blood.
Hast thou not fostered a stripling
To 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 boy
To 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 ring
When Mime tells him the tale.

ALBERICH [Violently.

Wilt thou hold thy hand from the hoard?

WANDERER

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

ALDERICH

Does none but Mime
Dispute me the ring?

WANDERER

Only thou and Mime
Covet the gold.

ALDERICH

And yet it is not to be mine?

WANDERER [Quietly coming nearer.

A hero comes
To 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 comes
To warn thee of danger;
Thy doom can be averted,
If thou wilt pay the price
With 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 comes
To 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 so
The 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 shouldst
Never 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 unknown
Thou 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 shining
Horse he rides,
And leaves me to care and scorn!
Laugh on! Laugh on,
Ye light-minded
And high-spirited
Race of immortals!
One day ye shall perish
And pass!
Until the gold
Has 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 together
A whole night long in the woods.
This is the last
Of thee, Mime!
Can I not master
My lesson here,
Alone I will push forward
And never see thee again.

MIME

Lad, believe me,
If thou canst not
Learn it here and now,
No other place,
No other time
Ever will teach thee fear.
Dost thou see
That cavern yawning dark?
Yonder dwells
A dragon dread and grim,
Horribly fierce,
Enormous in size,
With terrible jaws
That 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 pours
From his venomous mouth;
Were he to spue out
Spittle 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 tail
Sweeping he swings;
Were that about thee wound
And 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 into
His heart I will thrust!
Is that what is meant by fearing?
Hey, old dotard!
Canst thou teach me
Nothing but this
With all thy craft,
Linger no longer by me:
No fear is here to be learnt.

MIME

Wait awhile yet!
What I have told thee
Seems to thee empty sound;
When thou hast heard
And seen him thyself,
Thy senses will swoon, overwhelmed!
When thine eyes grow dim,
And when the ground rocks,
When in thy breast
Thy 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 see
The 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 sky
Watch for the foe:
From his cave
He lumbers this way,
Winds and twists
Past this spot,
To water at the fountain.

SIEGFRIED [Laughs.

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

MIME