anvil?Why, what doest thou there?
Wert thou grinding the sword?
MIME [Comes forward, greatly upset and confused.
The sword? The sword?
How could I weld it?
[Half aside.
By him who knows not
How to fear
Nothung shall be forged.
Too wise am I
To attempt such work.
SIEGFRIED [Violently.
Wilt thou speak plainly
Or must I help thee?
MIME [As before.
Where shall I turn in my need?
My wily head
Wagered and lost is,
[Staring before him.
And forfeit to him it will fall
Who has never learned to fear.
SIEGFRIED [Vehemently.
Dost thou by shuffling
Seek to escape?
MIME [Gradually recovering himself.
Small need to fly
Him who knows fear!
But that lesson was one never taught thee.
A fool, I forgot
The one great thing;
What thou wert taught
Was to love me,
And alas! the task proved hard.
Now how shall I teach thee to fear?
SIEGFRIED [Seizes him.
Hey! Must I help thee?
What work hast thou done?
MIME
Concerned for thy good,
In thought I was sitting:
Something of weight I would teach thee.
SIEGFRIED [Laughing.
'Twas under the seat
That thou wert sitting;
What weighty thing foundest thou there?
MIME
[Recovering himself more and more.
Down there I learned how to fear,
That I might teach thee, dullard.
SIEGFRIED [With quiet wonder.
This fear then, what is it?
MIME
Thou knowest not that,
Yet wouldst from the forest
Forth to the world?
What help in the trustiest sword,
Hadst thou not learned to fear?
SIEGFRIED [Impatiently.
What absurd
Invention is this?
MIME
[Approaching Siegfried with more and more confidence.
'Tis thy mother's wish
Speaking through me.
I must fulfil
The promise I gave her:
That the world and its wiles
Thou shouldst not encounter
Until thou hadst learned how to fear.
SIEGFRIED [Vehemently
Is it an art?
Why was I not taught?
Explain: this fearing, what is it?
MIME
In the dark wood
Hast thou not felt,
When shades of dusk
Fall dim and drear,
When mournful whispers
Sigh afar,
And fierce growling
Sounds at hand,
When strange flashes
Dart and flicker,
And the buzzing
And clamour grow—
[Trembling.
Hast thou not felt grim horror
Hold every sense in its clutches?—
[Quaking.
When the limbs shiver,
Shaken with terror,
[With a quivering voice.
And the heart, filled with dismay,
Hammers, bursting the breast—
Hast thou not yet felt that,
A stranger art thou to fear.
SIEGFRIED [Musing.
Wonderful truly
That must be.
Steadfast, strong
Beats my heart in my breast.
The shiver and shudder,
The fever and horror,
Burning and fainting,
Beating and trembling—
Ah, how glad I would feel them,
[Tenderly.
Could I but learn this delight!
But how, Mime,
Can it be mine?
How, coward, could it be taught me?
MIME
Following me,
The way thou shalt find;
I have thought it all out.
I know of a dragon grim
That slays and swallows men:
Fear thou wilt learn from Fafner,
When I lead to where he lies.
SIEGFRIED
Where has he his lair?
MIME
Neidhöhl'
Named,
