der ring des nibelungen - Fantasy Castle Books

find I not finished
fitly and well
at once the work that I fixed!
MIME (howling),
Oho! Oho! Oh! Oh!
Let me alone!
Ready it lies!
Rightfully wrought,
with sores and sweat
not to be named;
off with thy nail from my ear!
ALBERICH (loosing him).
Why saunter so long to let me see?
MIME.
It struck me something might still beseem it.
ALBERICH.
What stays to be settled?
MIME (confused) .
This . . . and that . . .
ALBERICH.
What "that and this"? Hither the whole!
(He seeks to seize him again by the ear: in fright Mime lets
fall a piece of metal-work that he held convulsively in his
hands. Alberich instantly ticks it up and examines it with
care.)
So thou rogue! See it is ready,
and finished as most fits to my mind!
So fancied the sot slyly to foil me,
and take the masterly toy that he made
only by help of a hint of my own?
Thoughtless and hasty thief!
(He puts the work as "Tarn-helm" on his head.)
The helm sets to my head;
see, if the wonder will work?
"Night and darkness, know me none!"
(His figure disappears; in his place a pillar of cloud is
seen.)
See'st thou me, brother?
MIME (looks wonderingly about).
What bars thee? I see thee no bit.
ALBERICH'S (voice),
Then feel me instead, thou standing fool!
Be weaned from thy stealthy whims!
(Mime screams and writhes under the strokes of a whip
whose fall is heard, without the -whip itself being visible.)
ALBERICH'S (voice, laughing).
Thanks, thou thinker,
for wise and thorough work. Hoho! Hoho!
Nibelungs all, kneel now to Alberich!
Everywhere waits he and watches his workmen;
rest and room are you bereft of;
now you must serve him
though not in your sight;
when he seems to be far he fully besets you;
under him all are for ever! Hoho! Hoho!
Lo he is near, the Nibelungs' lord!
(The pillar of cloud disappears towards the background;
Alberich's angry scolding is heard gradually farther and
farther off; from the lower clefts he is answered by howls
and cries, the sound of which by degrees dies out in the
further distance. Mime for pain has fallen to the ground;
his whimpering and groaning are heard by Wotan and
Loge who descend by a cleft from above.)
LOGE.
Nibelheim here;
through hindering film
what a sputter of fiery sparkles!
WOTAN.
Who groans so loud; what lies on the ground?
LOGE (bends down to Mime).
Who is the whimperer here?
MIME.
LOGE.
MIME.
LOGE.
Oho! Oho! Oh! Oh!
Hi, Mime! merry dwarf!
What frets and forces thee down?
Mind not the matter!
Such is my meaning; and more, behold;
help I have for thee, Mime!
MIME (raising himself a little).
Who sides with me?
I serve the mastering son of my mother,
who bound me safely in bonds.
LOGE.
if in a trice thou
forgest me not
the work as I did command.
Mime (howling).
Ohe! Ohe! Au! Au!
Let me alone!
Forged it is,
as thou did'st bid,
with moil and toil
all is now done:
take but thy nails from my ear!
Alberich (letting him go).
Why waitest thou then, and shew'st it not?
Mime.
I only faltered lest aught were failing.
Alberich.
What, then, was not finished?
Mime (embarassed).
Here — and there —
Alberich.
What here and there? Give me the thing!
He tries to catch his ear again. MIME, in his terror, lets
fall a piece of metal work which he held convulsively in his
band. ALBERICH picks it up quickly and examines it
carefully.
See, thou rogue! All has been forged
as I gave my command, finished and fit.
Ah, would then the dolt cunningly trick me?
and keep the wonderful work for himself,
that my craft alone taught him to forge?
Known art thou, foolish thief?
(He places the "Tarnhelm" on his head.)
The helm fitteth the head:
now will the spell also speed?
"Night and darkness — Nowhere seen!"
(His form vanishes; in its place a column of mist is seen.)
Seest thou me, brother?
Mime (looks about him in astonishment).
Where art thou? I see thee not.
Alberich (invisible).
Then feel me instead, thou lazy rogue!
Take that for thy thievish thought!
(Mime writhes under the blows he receives, whose sound is
heard without the scourge being seen).
Alberich (laughing, invisible).
I thank thee, blockhead,
thy work is true and fit! Hoho! Hoho!
Nibelungs all, bow ye to Alberich!
Everywhere over you waits he and watches;
peace and rest now have departed;
aye must ye serve him,
unseen though he be;
unaware he is nigh ye still shall await him!
Thrall to him are ye for ever! Hoho! Hoho!
hear him, he nears: the Nibelungs' lord!
The column of vapour disappears in the background. The
sounds of ALBERICH's scolding become fainter in the
distance. — MIME cowers down in pain. — WOTAN and
LOGE come down from a cleft in the rock.
Loge.
Wotan.
Nibelheim here.
Through pallid vapours
there glisten bright sparks from the smithies.
One groans aloud: what lies on the ground?
Loge (bends over Mime).
Say, wherefore moanest thou here?
Mime.
Loge.
Mime.
Loge.
Ohe! Ohe! Au! Au!
Hei, Mime! merry dwarf!
What plagues and pinches thee so?
Leave me in quiet!
That will I surely, and more yet, hark!
help I promise thee, Mime.
Mime (he raises him with difficulty to his feet).
What help for me!
I must obey the behests of my brother,
who makes me bondsman to him.
Loge.
Nibelheim, the home of mist or darkness—of the Edda is the
subterranean domain of Hel, the Goddess of Death; a realm of gloom
and sadness, inhabited by the souls of those whose unhappy fate
has forbidden them to fall in battle, and thereby to deserve the joys of
Walhall, and the companionship of Odin and the Aesir. In the
Nibelungen Lied the land of the NIbelungs is a terrestrial region,
populated, like other lands, by ordinary mortals, and the Nibelung
Hoard is simply a vast treasure, the property of its King Nibelung, and
guarded by his servant, Alberich the Dwarf. Now the dwarfs of the
Edda are beings whose work it is to penetrate the hidden recesses of
the earth, and to forge the metals contained therein. The treasure
produced by them is the Nibelung’s Hoard, the measureless wealth
preserved in a dark cavern by its owners, the Children of the Mist;
and Wagner has therefore fairly identified these Nebelungs with the
dwarfs, and given the name of Nibelheim to the subterranean home
of the latter. Again, the dwarfs of the Edda belong to a class of
elementary beings—the Elves—who are broadly divided into two
kinds, Light-Elves and Dark-Elves or Dwarfs. Of the latter Wagner
makes Alberich the ruler; his name Alberich, or Elberich, signifies
simply King of the Elves, and is connected etymologically with a
name well known to us—Shakespeare’s Oberon. The Light-Elves
properly are the dwellers in Elfhome, the abode of the Sun-God Freyr
(Froh). But as the entire Northern mythology, roughly speaking, is in
some sense a record of the contest between light and darkness,
Wagner has applied the appellation of Light-Elves to the whole race
of the Gods, and in one passage speaks of Odin (Wotan) as their
ruler by the name of Light-Alberich, in opposition to Black-Alberich,
the King of the Black-Elves or Dwarfs (Siegfried, Act I, sc. 2).
With Wagner, I believe, the Nibelungs are an embodiment of the
entirely material and sensual part of humanity. By the virtue of the
Ring, Alberich has become their prince, and at his bidding they “rifle
the bowels of their mother Earth for treasures, better hid;” and forge
therefrom, with unceasing labour, the baneful Hoard of the Nibelung.
Or, leaving the language of mythology—by the power of selfishness
the Spirit of Evil turns to its own ends every base and carnal instinct
of human nature; while by the Hoard are symbolized the paltry
objects of worldly covetousness, with special reference to the greed
of gold. (3)
18. The Tarnhelm Motive
At the beginning of the third scene we hear again the measures
heard when Alberich chased the Rhine daughters. Alberich
enters from a side cleft, dragging after him the shrieking
Mime. The latter lets fall the helmet which Alberich at once
seizes. It is the tarnhelmet, made of Rhinegold, the wearing of
which enables the owner to become invisible or assume any
shape. As alberich closely examines it, the MOTIVE OF THE
TARNHELM its motive is heard. To test its power Alberich puts
it on and changes into a column of vapor. He asks Mime if he
is visible, and when Mime answers in the negative Alberich
cries out shrilly, “Then feel me instead,” at the same time
making poor Mime writhe under the blows of a visible
scourge. Alberich then departs—still in the form of a vaporous
column—to announce to the Nibelungs that they are
henceforth his slavish subjects. Mime cowers down in fear and
pain. (1)
We find Alberich, when the cavern glimmers into sight, brutally
handling his crumb of a gnome brother. Mime, like Alberich, wins
some part of our heart on first acquaintance, which he later ceases to
deserve; but in the case of Mime I think it is never wholly withdrawn,
even when he is shown to be an unmitigated wretch; he is, to begin
with, so little, and he has a funny, fetching twist or quaver in his voice,
indicated by the notes themselves of his rather mean little sing-song
melodies. Alberich's nominal reason for indulging his present passion
for hurting—he is haling Mime by the ear—is that the latter is
overslow with certain piece of work which, with minute instructions,
he has been ordered to do. Mime, under pressure, produces the
article, which he had in truth been trying to keep for his own,
suspecting in it some mysterious value. It is the “Tarnhelm,” a curious
cap of linked metal. Its uncanny character is confided to us even
before we see it at work, by the motif which first appears with its
appearance: a motif preparing for some unearthly manifestation the
mind pricked to disquieted attention by the weirdness of the air.
Alberich places it upon his head, utters a brief incantation, and
disappears from sight. A column of vapour stands in his place.
"Do you see me?" asks Alberich's disembodied voice. Mime looks
around, astonished. "Where are you? I see you not!" "Then feel me!"
cries the power-drunken tyrant, and Mime winces and cowers under
blows from an unseen scourge, while Alberich's voice laughs. Out of
measure exhilarated by his successful new device for ensuring
diligence and inspiring fear, he storms out of hearing with the terrible
words, "Nibelungs all, bow to Alberich!... He can now be everywhere
at once, keeping watch over you. Rest and leisure are done and over
with for you! For him you must labour.... His conquered slaves are
you forever!" The moment of his overtaking the Nibelungs is indicated
by their sudden distant outcry. (4)
As Alberich seizes the miraculous Tarnhelm, bestowing
invisibility, we hear the Tarnhelm Motive. Note its vague,
mysterious character, with its ending on the open fifth. We
hear Loge’s flickering chromatics, and know that the
adventurers from the upper world are approaching. They find
Mime moaning from his brother’s blows, and ask him what his
trouble is; and his reflections on the subject are accompanied
by the motive thereto appropriate. (2)
Wotan and Loge enter from one of the upper shafts. Mime tells
them how Alberich has become all-powerful through the ring
and the Tarnhelmet made of the Rhinegold. The motives
occurring in Mime’s narrative are the Nibelung, Servitude and
Ring Motives, the latter in the terse, malignantly powerful
form in which it occurred just before the opening of the third
scene. (1)
The Tarn-helm—literally Helmet of Concealment, from an old German
verb tarnen, to conceal—which Mime forges for Alberich, is used in
our poem as an emblem of deceit. In the Eddas and the Volsunga
Saga mention is made of a “helm of terror,” which Siegfried (Sigurd)
discovered in Fafner’s hoard, after the slaying of the latter; but no
further reference to it occurs. In the Nibelungen Lied, however, the
Tarnkappe, or cloak of darkness, plays an important part. Here also it
forms one of the treasures of the Nibelung’s Hoard which comes into
the possession of Siegfried, and here, as in Wagner’s poem, it is
employed by Siegfried in the winning of Brünnhilde for Gunther. It