[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
