der ring des nibelungen - Fantasy Castle Books

have fall'n to my might,
shall your frisking women
who failed to be wooed,
though dead is love to the dwarf,
feed under force his delight.
Hahahaha!
Hear you not how? Have heed!
Have heed of the night and her host,
when Niblungs heave up the hoard
from depth and dark into day!
WOTAN (vehemently).
The false, slandering fool!
ALBERICH.
What says he?
LOGE (stepping between them).
Thy senses see to!
(To Alberich.)
Who of wonder is empty,
that haps on Alberich's work?
If half thou would'st meet from the hoard
should come as means it thy cunning,
of all I must own thee most mighty;
for moon and stars
and the sun in the middle
would, like everything other,
work but under thy will.
But weighty holds it my wisdom,
that the hoard's upheavers
the Nibelungs' host
hold thee not in hate.
Thou hast raised fiercely a ring,
and fear rose on thy folk;
but say, in sleep a thief on thee slipped
and reft slily the ring,
in safety would ward thee thy wits?
ALBERICH.
The longest of head is Loge;
others holds he always unhinged;
if he were but wanted to help my work
for heavy thanks,
how high were his thievish heart!
The safening helm I hit on myself,
the heedfullest smith,
Mime, had it to hammer;
ably to alter whither I aim,
to be held for another,
helps me the helm;
neighbours see me not
when they search;
but everywhere am I,
unsighted by all.
So at my ease
I settle at even thy side,
my fond unslackening friend!
LOGE.
Life I have looked on, much have been led to,
but such a wonder not once I have seen.
The helm to believe in hardly I hasten;
if thou hast told me truly,
for thy might is there no measure.
ALBERICH.
Deem'st thou I lie and drivel like Loge?
LOGE.
Weight it with work,
or, dwarf, I must doubt thy word.
ALBERICH.
The blockhead with wind
of his wisdom will burst;
now grip thee thy grudge!
For say, in what kind of a shape
shall I come to thy sight?
LOGE.
The most to thy mind;
but dumb must make me the deed!
ALBERICH (has put on the helm).
"Wheeling worm wind and be with him!"
(He immediately disappears; in his place an enormous
snake is seen winding on the ground; it rears and stretches
its open jaws towards Wotan and Loge.)
LOGE (pretends to be seized with fear).
Oho! Oho!
Snap not so fiercely,
thou fearful snake!
Leave my life to me further!
WOTAN (laughs).
Right, Alberich!
Right, thou rascal!
How deftly waxed
the dwarf to the width of the worm!
(The snake disappears, and in its place Alberich
immediately is seen again in his real form)
ALBERICH.
How now! you doubters,
did I enough?
LOGE.
shall bow to my might,
then your winsome women,
who my wooing despised,
shall yield to Alberich's force,
though love be his foe!
Hahahaha !
Hear ye my word? Beware!
Beware! of the hosts of the night,
when rises the Niblung hoard
from silent deeps to the day!
Wotan (violently).
Away, impious wretch!
Alberich.
What says he?
Loge (stepping between them).
Lose not thy senses!
(To ALBERICH.)
Who were not seized with wonder,
beholding Alberich's work?
If only thy craft can achieve
all thou dost hope of the treasure:
the mightiest then must I call thee,
for moon and stars
and the sun in his splendour,
could not then withstand thy power,
they too must be thy slaves.
Yet, well 'twould seem before all things
that the host of the Niblungs
who heap up thy hoard
should serve thee free from spite.
When thy hand held forth a ring,
then trembling cowered thy folk :
but, in thy sleep a thief might slink by
and steal slyly the ring —
how, crafty one, then wouldst thou speed?
Alberich.
The deepest one Loge deems him;
others takes he ever for fools:
that e'er I should need him,
and dearly pay for word and aid,
that fain would the thief now hear!
This covering helm myself I conceived;
the cunningest smith,
Mime, forced I to forge it:
swiftly to change me, into all shapes
at my will to transform me,
serves the helm.
None can see me,
though he may seek;
yet ev'ry-where am I,
though hidden from sight.
So, free from care
not even thy craft need I fear,
thou kind, provident friend!
Loge.
Many wonders oft have I looked on,
but such a marvel ne'er met my eyes.
This work without equal, none would believe in;
couldst thou but work this wonder,
thy might then were unending!
Alberich.
Think'st thou I lie and boast me like Loge?
Loge.
Till it is proved
I trust not, dwarf, thy word.
Alberich.
Art puffed up with prudence,
fool, well nigh to bursting !
Then envy me now!
Command, and say in what shape
I shall presently stand?
Loge.
Be shaped as thou wilt;
but make me dumb with amaze!
Alberich (puts the Tarnhelm on his head).
"Dragon dread, wind thee and coil thee!"
He immediately disappears: in his place a huge serpent
writhes on the floor; it lifts its head and stretches its open
jaws toward WOTAN and LOGE.
Loge (pretends to be seized with terror).
Ohe! Ohe!
Terrible dragon,
oh, swallow me not!
Spare his life but to Loge!
Wotan (laughing).
Good, Alberich!
Good, thou rascal!
How quickly grew
the dwarf to the dragon so dread!
The dragon disappears and immediately ALBERICH is
seen in his place.
Alberich,
Hehe! ye doubters!
trust ye me now?
Loge.
Wagner, in his drama, brings into sharp relief the fatal effects of
the desire of gold, and yet triumphantly proclaims it less powerful
and less enduring than love, he is but expressing a thought which,
from the first, was a vital and integral part of the legend.
Whence, then, came this gold, here represented as reft from, and
returning to, the bosom of the waters? The versions of the legend
give varying accounts; in the Volsunga-saga, as we see, it was
originally the property of the dwarf, Andvari, a dweller in the
waters, and is taken from him by Loke, who hands it over to
Hreidmar, and Sigurd wins it from Hreidmar’s sons; the final
destination of the Hoard, too, is the Rhine - thus it comes from,
and returns to, the water. In the Thidrek-saga, on the other hand,
there is no account of the original home of the Hoard; we learn
casually that Sigfrid won it form the dragon; but how Regin, who
is here the dragon, came into possession of it we are not told. Of
the final fate of the Treasure we have an explicit account: it is
hidden in a mountain-cave, where it remains concealed forever
from the sight of men. When we come to the Nibelungen-lied, we
find that the Treasure is originally brought forth from a cave, and
that Siegfried wins it from two brothers, Schilbung and Nibelung,
though we are not told how they became possessed of it; its final
destination is again the Rhine.
A popular version of the Siegfried story, the Siegfrieds-lied, gives
a different but analogous account of the Treasure. Kriemhild has
been carried off by a dragon and imprisoned in a cave on the
Drachenfels; Siegfried slays, not only the dragon, but the giant
Kuperan, who guards the mountain, and rescues the princess. Near
at hand, in a cave, the dwarf Eugel and his brothers have hidden
the Treasure of their father, Niblung, who died of grief when his
mountain was captured by the giant. Siegfried finds the Treasure,
and, thinking it the Hoard of the dragon, carries it off; but as
Eugel has foretold that he shall have but a short life, he reflects that
the gold will be of little use ot him, and when he comes to the
Rhine he throws it into the waters.
We have here four versions of the winning and the hiding of
the Treasure; in one instance we find it comes from the water, in
two from the earth (being found in a cave); the fourth, the
Thidrek-saga, gives no explicit account of its home. The three first
all agree in making its final resting-place the Rhine, but the
Thidrek-saga again differs from them, and represents it as hidden
in a cave, i.e. it returns to the earth, and not to the water.
Now, in every case it is noticeable, that it is the version, either
purely German in development, or avowedly based upon German
tradition, which knows of the cave; the distinctively Northern
variant only knows of the water. It is perfectly true that this
Northern version as a whole is the more archaic in form, and more
suggestive of the mythic character underlying the legend; but the
original source is, as before said, German, and therefore, where the
versions differ as decidedly as is here the case, it is necessary to
examine more closely into the story before deciding that the
Northern is, as a matter of course, the nearest to the original form.
An inquiry as to who were the original owners of the Treasure
is necessary before we can solve the difficulty; and here we find
that, in three out of the four versions, a dwarf is closely connected
with it. In the Volsunga-saga it is taken from Andvari, and is his
rightful property; in the Nibelungen-lied it is guarded by Alberich
as the servant, first of the Nibelung brothers, then of Seigfried; in
the Siegfrieds-lied it is the property of Eugel and his brothers.
Further, in two out of these three instances a giant is also
connected with it; in the Nibelungen-lied twelve giants help the
Nibelungs to defend the Hoard, and a giant assists Alberich to
guard the Treasure for Siegfried. Though the Volsunga-saga
mentions no giant, yet the description of Fafnir as “the greatest and
grimmest of Hreidmar’s sons, who would have all things according
to his will,” is distinctly suggestive of his giant origin; and when
Wagner in the drama represented him as a giant, he probably, as
we shall see is often the case, instinctively reverted to the true form
of the story.
If we turn to Northern mythology, we shall find that dwarf and
giant alike are closely connected with each other and with the
earth; the world itself was said to be formed out of the flesh of the
giant Ymir, the first father of the race; and according to the Edda
the dwarfs were the maggots which bred in the flesh of the giant,
and were endowed by the gods with the shape and mind of men;
another account represents them as formed directly out of the earth.
Their dwelling is in rocks and in the earth, and from it they make
gold.
It is, of course, true that the sea-dwellers, mermen and maidens
and their kings, are also held to possess great treasures; but even
there the gold is heaped up in caves, and belongs rather to the bed
of the sea than the sea itself, to the earth rather than the water. On
the whole, it seems more in accordance with the indications of the
legend to believe that originally the home of the Nibelungen
Hoard was a mountain-cave, and its owner a dwarf, who most
probably entrusted the guardianship of the Treasure to a giant, by
whose death it was won; the dwarf himself does not seem to have
been slain. (5)
21. The Dragon Motive (Serpent Motive)
Tempted by Loge to show his power, he puts on the Tarnhelm
(the motive comes forth), and turns himself into a dragon. The
description is wonderfully vivid. Having trapped him into
becoming a toad, the two visitors seize him and his tarnhelm
and drag him up to the earth’s surface. (2)
To put Loge's incredulity to shame, Alberich, Tarnhelm on head, turns
himself into a dragon, drawing its cumbersome length across the
stage to a fearsome tune which gives all of its uncouthness, and
never fails to call forth laughter, like the giants' tread. As a further
exhibition of his power, after full measure of flattery in Loge's
pretended fright, he at the prompting of the same changes himself
into a toad, which has but time for a hop or two, before Wotan places
his calm foot upon it. Loge snatches the Tarnhelm off its head and
Alberich is seen in his own person writhing under Wotan. Loge binds
him fast, and the gods, with their struggling prey between them, hurry
off through the pass by which they came. (4)
Loge cunningly flatters Alberich, and when the latter tells him
of the Tarnhelmet feigns disbelief of Alberich’s statements.
Alberich, to prove their truth, puts on the helmet and
transforms himself into a huge serpent. THE SERPENT MOTIVE
expresses the windings and writhings of the monster. The
serpent vanishes and Alberich reappears. When Loge doubts if
Alberich can transform himself into something very small, the
Nibelung changes into a toad. Now is Loge’s chance. He calls