der ring des nibelungen - Fantasy Castle Books

say whence thou hadst
the gold for the glimmering hoop?
Ere thou torest it to thee under
the water, was it thy own?
From the river's daughters
rightfully draw whether the gold
was so willingly given
from which the ring thou hast wrenched.
ALBERICH.
Sputtering slander! Slovenly spite!
Me to blot with the blame thy mind
so much was set on itself!
How long wouldst thou
have wished to leave them their wealth,
hadst thou not held
the wisdom to weld it too hard?
And well, thou feigner, fell it that once,
when the Niblung here was gnawed to the heart
at a nameless harm,
on the harrowing wonder he happed,
whose work now laughs to thy look!
By woe seized upon, searched and wildered,
a deed of crowded curses I did
and dreadly to-day
shall the fruit of it deck thee,
my curse to befriend thee be called?
Guard thyself more, masterful god!
Wrought I amiss, I wrecked but a right of mine;
but on all that will be, is and was,
god, thou raisest a wrong,
if got from my grasp is the ring!
WOTAN.
Off with the ring!
No right to it takest thou out of thy tongue.
(With, impetuous force he pulls the ring from Alberich's
finger.)
ALBERICH (with horrible shrieks).
So! Uprooted! and wrecked!
Of wretches the wretchedest slave!
WOTAN (has put the ring on his finger and gazes on it
with satisfaction).
And lo what makes me at last
of masters the mastering lord!
LOGE.
Leave has he got?
WOTAN.
Let him go!
LOGE (unfastens Alberich's bands).
Haste to thy home!
Not a link withholds thee;
fare freely below!
ALBERICH
(raising himself from the ground, with raging laughter).
So am I free? Safely free?
Then fast and thickly
my freedom's thanks shall flow!
As by curse I found it first,
a curse rest on the ring!
Gave its gold to me measureless might,
now deal its wonder death where it is worn!
No gladness grows where it has gone,
and with luck in its look it no more shall laugh;
care to his heart who has it shall cleave,
and who holds it not shall the need of it gnaw!
All shall gape for its endless gain;
but wield it shall none from now as wealth;
by its lord without thrift it shall lie,
but shall light the thief to his throat!
To death under forfeit,
faint in its dread he shall feel;
though long he live day by day he shall die,
and serve the ring that he seems to rule;
till again its gold
I shall find and fill with my finger!
Such blessing in blackest need
the Nibelung has for his hoard!
Withhold it now, next to thy heart;
till my curse catches thee home!
(He disappears quickly into the cleft.)
LOGE.
So he leaves us and sends his love!
WOTAN (lost in contemplation of the ring).
Losing his spittle in spite!
(The mist in the foreground gradually becomes clearer.)
LOGE (looking towards the right).
Fasolt and Fafner haste from afar;
Freia follows their heels.
(From the other side come in Fricka, Donner, and Froh.)
FROH.
So back they are brought.
DONNER.
Be welcome, brother.
from which the bright trinket was shaped.
Was't thine own, then,
which thou, rogue,
from the Rhines deep waters hast reft?
To the maidens hie thee,
ask thou of them if their gold
for thine own they have given,
which thou hast robbed for the ring!
Alberich.
Infamous tricksters! Shameful deceit!
Thief, dost cast in my teeth the crime,
so dearly wished for by thee?
How fain wert thou
to steal the gold for thyself,
were but the craft
to forge it as easily gained?
How well, thou knave, it works for thy weal
that the Niblung, I, from shameful defeat,
and by fury driven,
the terrible magic did win
whose work laughs cheerly on thee!
Shall this hapless and anguish-torn one's
curseladen, fearfullest deed
but serve now to win thee
this glorious toy?
shall my ban bring a blessing on thee?
Heed thyself, o'erweening god!
If I have sinned, I sinned but against myself:
but against all that was, is and shall be
sinn'st, eternal one, thou,
if rashly thou seizest my ring!
Wotan.
Yield the ring!
No right to that can all thy prating e'er win.
(He seizes ALBERICH, and with violence draws the ring
from his finger.)
Alberich (with a horrible cry).
Ha! Defeated! Destroyed!
Of wretches the wretchedest slave!
Wotan
(contemplating the ring. He puts the ring on).
This ring now lifts me on high,
the mightiest lord of all might.
Loge.
Wotan.
Shall he go free?
Set him free!
Loge (sets ALBERICH entirely free).
Slip away home!
Not a fetter holds thee:
free, fare thou now hence!
Alberich
(raising himself, laughing with rage).
Am I now free? Free in sooth?
Thus greets you then
this my freedom's foremost word!
As by curse came it to me,
accurst be aye this ring!
As its gold gave measureless might,
let now its magic deal death to its lord!
Its wealth shall yield pleasure to none,
to gladden none shall its lustre laugh!
Care shall consume aye him who doth hold it,
and envy gnaw him who holdeth it not!
All shall lust after its delights,
yet nought shall it boot him who wins the prize!
To its lord no gain let it bring;
yet be murder drawn in its wake!
To death devoted,
chained be the craven by fear:
his whole life long daily wasting away,
the treasure's lord as the treasure's slave!
Till again once more
in my hand regained I shall hold it!
So — blesses, in sorest need,
the Nibelung now his ring I —
Then, hold it fast, ward it with heed!
But my curse canst thou not flee.
(He vanishes quickly in the cleft.)
Loge.
Didst thou listen to love's farewell?
Wotan (sunk in contemplation of the ring on his hand).
Let him give way to his wrath!
The thick mist in the foreground gradually clears away.
Loge (looking to the right).
Fasolt and Fafner hitherward fare:
Freia bring they to us.
(Through the dispersing mist DONNER, FROH and
FRICKA appear and hasten towards the foreground.)
Froh.
Donner.
See, they have returned!
Now welcome brother!
Wotan, absorbed in the contemplation of the ring, has heard the
curse with the same degree of interest he might have bestowed upon
the trickle of a brook. He replies magnanimously, "Grudge him not the
luxury of railing!" (4)
As to the final destination of the Treasure, the legend which
represents it as being cast into the Rhine is probably correct; to
throw it into the water would be the speediest means of restoring it
to the powers of the underworld, to whom it undoubtedly
belonged. That the Thidrek-saga gives a different version is easily
to be accounted for by the fact that the compiler knew, and
followed, both Northern and German tradition; having followed
the Volsunga-saga by making Siegfried win the gold from the
dragon, he preserved the German version by altering its ultimate
fate; such instances of transposition are not unusual. On the whole,
the evidence seems to point to the fact that Wagner’s version,
poetical as it undoubtedly is, does not represent the true origin of
the Hoard, and that the Rhine was not the cradle, though it was
the final resting place, of the fatal gold.
But leaving the baleful Treasure, let us now turn to the
consideration of the feud between the gods and the giants, so
vividly depicted in the drama. All students of German mythology
know that the giants were the first of the unearthly races to come
into existence, that their character and influence are represented as
distinctly evil, and that they are the deadly enemies of the Asas, the
gods who dwell in Asgard, who have overcome the giants and
succeeded to their power. The story of the building of Walhalla, as
given in the Rhine-Gold, is based upon the myth of Swadilfari,
which runs as follows:
After the gods had built Midgard and Walhalla (which according
to mythology, they built themselves) a certain master-builder came
to them, and offered to build them a Burg which should serve as
defence against the giants, asking as reward the goddess Freyja, and
the sun and moon. The gods held counsel together, and at Loke’s
advice, promised to give him what he asked, provided that the
Burg was built within the winter months, and that no man should
aid him; were one stone lacking on the first summer day, he should
forfeit all reward. The builder consented to the terms on condition
that he might have the aid of his horse, Swadilfari, to which the
gods readily agreed; but they were astonished when they saw the
size of the blocks which the horse bare to the building, and how it
did half as much work again as the man, and as the winter passed
on and the Burg grew taller and taller, they became fearful of the
ending of the matter. At last it wanted but three days to summer,
and the Burg was finished all but the doorway; then the gods
called upon Loke to aid them, since it was by his counsel they had
made the contract. So Loke changed himself into a mare, and
when the builder led his horse in the evening to collect stones for
the next day’s work, the mare ran out of the wood and neighed to
the horse; and when the horse Swadilfari heard it, it brake the
halter and ran into the wood after the mare, and the builder must
needs chase the horse all night, and could not catch it, so he
gathered together no stones, and the next day he did no work, and
the Burg could not be finished in time. So when the builder saw
this he flew into a great rage, and the gods knew that this was one
of their foes, the mountain-giants who had tried to betray them;
and they called on Thor, and he came with his hammer and struck
the giant on the head and slew him, and he fell down to Niflheim.
With this myth Wagner has apparently connected another, which
tells how Loke, having fallen into the power of the giant Thjasse,
wins his freedom by promising to betray the goddess Idun and her
apples of youth into Thjasse’s hands. This he does, and the gods
discover the loss of Idun by finding themselves grow old and greyheaded.
They inquire into the matter, and find out that Loke is, as
usual, the source of the mischief, and therefore order him, on pain
of death, to bring back Idun. This he promises to do if Freyja will
lend him her falcon-dress, in which disguise he flees to Jötunheim,
the abode of the giants, and carries off Idun in the shape of a nut
or a swallow (there are two accounts).
The form of Freyja’s ransom from the giants, is, of course, based
upon the account of Loke’s ransom in the Volsunga-saga, which,
alone of all the versions, directly connects the gods with the
Nibelungen Hoard, though in the legend, having promptly given
up gold and ring, they are in no way affected by the curse. Still,
as mythology distinctly connects the fall of the gods, the
Götterdämmerung and Weltenuntergang (from which catastrophe,
however, gods and men alike are to rise renewed, purified, and
restored to their original innocence), with the love of gold.
Wagner can hardly be deemed to have exercised too much poetical
license in representing them as closely concerned in the fate of the
Treasure, and following with the keenest interest the fortunes of
the race destined to win it from its evil possessors. But inasmuch as
these mythological events form no part of the original legend, it is
unnecessary to examine them critically in order to see whether the
version given by Wagner does or does not represent the original
form of the story; it is sufficient for the comprehension of the
drama to indicate the sources from which they are drawn. (5)
The mist begins to rise. It grows lighter. The Giant Motive and
the Motive of Eternal Youth are heard, for the giants are
approaching with Freia. Donner, Froh and Fricka hasten to
greet Wotan. Fasolt and Fafner enter with Freia. It has grown
clear, except that the mist still hides the distant castle. Freia’s
presence seems to have restored youth to the gods. While the
Motive of the Giant Compact resounds, Fasolt asks for the
ransom for Freia. Wotan points to the hoard. With staves the
giants measure off a space of the height and breadth of Freia.
That space must be filled out with treasure. Loge and Froh pile
up the hoard, but the giants are not satisfied even when the
Tarn-helmet has been added. They wish also the ring to fill out
a crevice. Wotan turns in anger away from them. (1)
The sky brightens; the giants are bringing back Freia. The
rhythm of their motive is heard in the bass, and the Freia
Motive above it. The exchange of Freia for the gold is about to
be made, and the Compact Motive sounds, but Fasolt demands
that the treasure be piled so high (motive of the Rising Hoard)
that it shall hide the fair maid from his sight – and the motive
of Renunciation comes, with the Freia Motive and the Smithy
Motive, welded together in a wonderful art. (2)