Chapter 2

"Seize the despoiler!Rescue the gold!Help us! Help us!Woe! Woe!"

The waves have gradually changed into clouds which, becoming lighter and lighter by degrees, finally disperse in a fine mist. As the mist vanishes upwards in light little clouds an open space on a mountain height becomes visible in the dim light which precedes dawn. At one side Wotan with Fricka beside him both asleep, lie on a flowery bank. The dawning day illumines with increasing brightness a castle with glittering pinnacles which stands on the summit of a cliff in the background. Between this and the foreground a deep valley is visible through which the Rhine flows.

FRICKA

[Awakes; her gaze falls on the castle, which has become plainly visible; alarmed.

Wotan! My lord! Awaken!

WOTAN[Continuing to dream.The happy hall of delightIs guarded by gate and door:Manhood's honour,Power for aye,Rise to my lasting renown!FRICKA[Shakes him.Up from deceitfulBliss of a dream!My husband, wake and consider!WOTAN

[Awakes and raises himself slightly. His glance is immediately arrested by the view of the castle.

The walls everlasting are built!On yonder summitThe Gods' abodeProudly rearsIts radiant strength!As I nursed it in dreamAnd desired it to be,Strong it stands,Fair to behold,Brave and beautiful pile!FRICKAWhile thou rejoicest,Joyless am I.Thou hast thy hall;My heart fears for Freia.Heedless one, hast thou forgottenThe price that was to be paid?The work is finished,And forfeit the pledge:Hast thou then no care for the cost?WOTANMy bargain well I rememberWith them who built the abode.'Twas a pact tamed them,The obstinate race,So that this hallowedHall they have built me.It stands—the strong ones' doing:—Fret not thou, counting the cost.FRICKAO laughing, insolent lightness!Mirth how cruel and callous!Had I but known of thy pact,The trick had never been played;But far from your counselsYe men kept the women,That, deaf to us and in peace,Alone ye might deal with the giants.So without shameYe promised them Freia,Freia, my beautiful sister,Proud of playing the thief.What remains holyOr precious to menOnce grown greedy of might?WOTAN[Calmly.From such greedWas Fricka then freeHerself when the castle she craved?FRICKAI was forced to ponder some meansTo keep my husband faithful,True to me when his fancyTempted him far from his home.Halls high and stately,Decked to delight thee,Were to constrain theeTo peaceful repose.But thou hadst the work designedIntent on war alone;It was to addMore to thy might still,To stir up to tumult still fiercerThat built were the towering wallsWOTANWouldst thou, O Wife!In the castle confine me,To me, the god, must be granted,Faithful at home,The right to wage warAnd conquer the world from without.Ranging and changingAll men love:That sport at least thou must leave me.FRICKACold, hard-hearted,Merciless man!For the idle baubles,Empire and sway,Thou stakest in insolent scornLove and a woman's worth!WOTANWhen I went wooing, to win theeI staked ungrudging,Gladly one of my eyes:What folly now then to scold!Women I honourBeyond thy desire!I will not abandonFrei, the fair:Such never was my intent.FRICKA

[Anxiously looking towards a point not on the stage.

Then succour her now:Defenceless, in fear,Hither she hastens for help!FREIA

[Enters as if flying from someone.

Help me, sister!Shield me, o brother!From yonder mountainMenaces Fasolt:He comes to bear me off captive.WOTANLet him come!Sawest thou Loge?FRICKATo this tricky deceiverO why wilt thou trust?He always snares thee anew,Though from his snares thou hast suffered.WOTANI ask for no aidWhere simple truth suffices;But to turn the spiteOf foes to profit,Craft and cunning aloneCan teach, as by Loge employed.He whose advice I obeyedHas promised ransom for Freia:On him my faith I have fixed.FRICKAAnd art left in the lurch.The giants come.Lo! hither they stride:Where lingers now thine ally?FREIAWhere tarry ye, my brothers,When help ye should bring me,Weak and bartered away by my kin?O help me, Donner!Hither! Hither!Rescue Freia, my Froh!FRICKANow the knaves who plotted and tricked theeAbandon thee in thy need.

[Fasolt and Fafner, both of gigantic stature, enter, armed with stout clubs.

FASOLTSoft sleepSealed thine eyesWhile we, both sleepless,Built the castle walls:Working hardWearied not,Heaping, heavingHeavy stones.Tower steep,Door and gateKeep and guardThy goodly castle halls.

[Pointing to the castle.

There standsWhat we builded,Shining fairBeneath the sun.Enter inAnd pay the price!WOTANName, Workers, your wage.What payment will appease you?FASOLTWe made the termsThat seemed to us meet.Hast thou forgot so soon?Freia, the fair one,Holda, the free one—The bargain isWe bear her away.WOTAN[Quickly.Ye must be madTo moot such a thing!Ask some other wage;Freia I will not grant.FASOLT

Stands for a space speechless with angry surprise.

What is this? Ha!Wouldest deceive?—Go back on thy bond?What thy spear wardsAre they but sport,All the runes of solemn bargain?FAFNERO trusty brother!Fool, dost now see the trick?FASOLTSon of light,Light, unstable,Hearken! Have a care!In treaties keep thou troth!What thou artThou art only by treaties,For, built on bonds,There are bounds to thy might.Though cunning thou,More clever than we:Though we once freemen,Are pledged to peace,Cursèd be all thy wisdom;—Peaceful promises perish!—Wilt thou not open,Honest and frankStand fast by a bargain once fixed.A stupid giantTells thee this:O wise one, take it from him!

Freia, the fair one

WOTANHow sly to judge us seriousWhen plainly we were but jesting!The beautiful GoddessLight and bright—For churls what charm could she have?FASOLTJeerest thou?Ha! how unjust!Ye who by beauty rule,Proud and radiant race!How foolish, strivingFor towers of stone,Woman's love to pledge—Price of walls and of halls!We dolts, despising ease,Sweating with toil-hardened hands,Have worked, that a womanWith gentle delightIn our midst might sojournAnd ye call the pact a jest?FAFNERCease thy childish chatter;No gain look we to get.Freia's charmsMean little;But it means much,If from the Gods we remove her.Golden applesRipen within her garden;She aloneGrows the apples and tends them.The goodly fruitGives to her kinsfolk,Who eat thereof,Youth everlasting.Sick and pale,Their beauty would perish,Old and weak,Wasting away,Were not Freia among them.

[Roughly.

From their midst, therefore, Freia must forth!WOTAN[Aside.Loge lingers long!FASOLTWe wait for thy word!WOTANAsk some other wage!FASOLTNo other: Freia alone!FAFNERThou there, follow us!

[Fafner and Fasolt press towards Freia. Froh and Donner enter in haste.

FREIAHelp! Help from the harsh ones!FROH[Clasping Freia in his arms.To me, Freia!

[To Fafner.

Back, overbold one!Froh shields the fair one!DONNER[Confronting the giants.Fasolt and Fafner,Have ye not feltWith what weight my hammer falls?FAFNERWhat means thy threat?FASOLTWhat wouldst thou here?No strife we desire;We want but our due reward.DONNEROft I've doled outGiants their due:Come, your reward is hereWaiting, full measure and more!

[He swings his hammer.

WOTAN

[Stretching out his spear between the combatants.

Hold, thou fierce one!Nothing by force!All bonds and treatiesMy spear protects;Spare then thy hammer's haft!FREIAWoe's me! Woe's me!Wotan forsakes me!FRICKACan such be thy thought,Merciless man?WOTAN

[Turns away and sees Loge coming.

There comes Loge!Hot is thy hasteSmoothly to settleThy sorry, badly-made bargain!LOGE

[Has come up out of the valley in the background.

What is this bargainThat I am blamed for?—The one with the giantsThat thou thyself didst decide?O'er hill and o'er hollowDrives me my whim;House and hearthI do not crave.Donner and Froh,They dream but of roof and room:Wedding, must haveA home in which to dwell,A stately hall,A fortress fast.It was such Wotan wished.Hall and house,Castle, court,The blissful abodeNow stands complete and strong.I proved the lordlyPile myself;In fear of flaws,Scanning it close.Fasolt and FafnerFaithful I found;Firm-bedded is each stone.I was not slothfulLike many here:Who calls me sluggard, he lies!WOTANCunninglyThou wouldst escape!Warned be, and wiselyTurn from attempts to deceive.Of all the GodsI alone stood by theeAs thy friend,In the gang that trusted thee not.Now speak, and to the point!For when the builders at firstAs wage Freia demanded,I gave way only,Trusting thy wordWhen thou didst solemnly promiseTo ransom the noble pledge.LOGEPerplexed to puzzle,Plans to ponderFor its redeeming—That promise I gave;But to discoverWhat cannot be,What none can do,No man can possibly promise.FRICKASee the treacherousRogue thou didst trust!FROHNamed art Loge,But liar I call thee!DONNERAccursèd flame,I will quench thy fire!LOGEFrom their shame to shelter,Foolish folk flout me.

[Donner threatens to strike Loge.

WOTAN

[Stepping between them.

Forbear and let him alone!Ye wot not Loge's wiles.His advice,Given slowly, gainsBoth in weight and in worth.FAFNERDo not dally;Promptly pay!FASOLTLong waits our reward.WOTAN

[Turns sternly to Loge.

Speak up surly one!Fail me not!How far hast thou ranged and roamed?LOGEStill with reproachIs Loge paid!Concerned but for thee,Thorough and swift,I searched and ransackedTo the ends of the earthTo find a ransom for FreiaFair to the giants and just.In vain the search,Convincing at lastThat the world containsNothing so sweetThat a man will take it insteadOf woman's love and delight.

[All seem surprised and taken aback.

Where life moves and has being,In water, earth and airI questioned,Asking of all things,Where weak still is strength,And germs only stirring,What men thought dear—And stronger deemed—Than woman's love and delight.But where life moves and has beingMy questions metBut with laughter and scorn.In water, earth and airWoman and loveWill none forego.

[Varied gestures of amazement.

One man, one only,I met who, renouncing love,Prized ruddy goldAbove any woman's grace.The Rhine's pure-gleaming childrenTold me of their sorrow.The Nibelung,Night-Alberich,Wooed for the favourOf the swimmers in vain,And vengeance took,Stealing the Rhinegold they guard.He thinks it nowA thing beyond price,Greater than woman's grace.For their glittering toyThus torn from the deepThe sorrowful maids lamented.They pray, Wotan,Pleading to thee,That thy wrath may fall on the robberThe gold tooThey would have thee grant themTo guard in the water for ever.Loge promisedThe maidens to tell thee,And, keeping faith, he has told.

"The Rhine's pure-gleaming childrenTold me of their sorrow"

WOTANDull thou must beOr downright knavish!In parlous plight myself,What help have I for others?FASOLT

[Who has been listening attentively, to Fafner.

The Niblung has much annoyed us;I greatly grudge him this Rhinegold;But such his craft and cunning,He has never been caught.FAFNEROther malicePonders the Niblung;Gains he might from goldListen, Loge!Tell us the truth.What wondrous gift has the gold,That the dwarf desires it so?LOGEA plaything,In the waves providingChildren with laughter and sport,It gives, when to goldenRing it is rounded,Power and might unmatched;It wins its owner the world.WOTAN[Thoughtfully.Rumours I have heardOf the Rhinegold;Runes of richesHide in its ruddy glow;Pelf and powerAre by the ring bestowed.FRICKA[Softly to Loge.Could this gaud,This gleaming trinketForged from the gold,Be worn by a woman too?LOGEThe wife who woreThat glittering charmNever would loseHer husband's love—That charm which dwarfs are welding,Working in thrall to the ring.FRICKA[Coaxingly to Wotan.O could but my husbandCome by the ring!WOTAN

[As if falling more and more under the influence of a spell.

Methinks it were wisdom,Won I the ring to my service.But say, Loge,How shall I learnTo forge and fashion it true?LOGEA magic runeCan round the golden ring.No one knows it,Yet plain the spell to himWho happy love forswears.

[Wotan turns away in annoyance.

That suits thee not;Thou art too late too.Alberich did not delay;Fearless he masteredThe potent spell,

[Harshly.

And wrought aright was the ring.DONNER[To Wotan.We should all beUnder the dwarf,Were not the ring from him wrested.WOTANThe ring I must capture!FROHLightly now,Without cursing love it were won.LOGE[Harshly.Just so:Without guile, as in children's games!WOTANThen tell us how.LOGEBy theft!What a thief stoleSteal thou from the thief;How better could object be won?But with baleful armsBattles Alberich.Wary, wiseMust be thy scheming,If the thief thou wouldst confound,

[With warmth.

And restore the ruddyAnd golden toy,The Rhinegold, to the maidens.For this they pray and implore.WOTANThe river-maidens?What profit were mine?FRICKAOf that billow-born broodBring me no tidings,For they have wooedTo my woeFull many a man to their caves.

[Wotan stands silent, struggling with himself. The other Gods gaze at him in mute suspense. Fafner, meanwhile, has been consulting aside with Fasolt.

FAFNER[To FasoltWorth far more than FreiaWere the glittering gold.Eternal youth, too, were hisWho could use the charm in its quest.

[Fasolt's gestures indicate that he is being convinced against his will. Fafner and Fasolt approach Wotan again.

FAFNERHear, Wotan,Our word while we wait;Freia we will restore you,And will takePaltrier payment:The Niblung's red-gleaming goldWill guerdon us giants rude.WOTANYe must be mad!With what I possess notHow can I, shameless ones, pay you?FAFNERHard labourWent to those walls;How easyWith fraud-aided force(What our malice never achieved)The Niblung to break and bind!

Fasolt suddenly seizes Freia and drags her to one side with Fafner

WOTAN[More quickly.Why should I makeWar on the Niblung?—Fight, your foe to confound?InsolentAnd greedily graspingDolts you grow through my debt!FASOLT

[Suddenly seizes Freia and drags her to one side with Fafner.

Maiden, come!We claim thee ours!As pledge thou shalt be heldTill the ransom is paid.FREIA[Screaming.Woe's me! Woe's me! Woe!FAFNERFrom your midstWe bear her forth!Till evening—mark it well!—As a pledge she is ours.We will return then.But when we come,If the Rhinegold be not ready,The Rhinegold bright and red—FASOLTThe respite is ended,Freia is forfeitAnd bides among us for aye!FREIASister! Brothers!Save me! Help!

[The giants hasten off, dragging Freia with them.

FROHUp! Follow fast!DONNERFall now the heavens!

[They look inquiringly at Wotan.

FREIA[In the distance.Save me! Help!LOGE[Looking after the giants.Downward over stock and stoneStriding they go;Through the ford across the RhineWade now the robbers.Sad at heartHangs Freia,Thrown rudely over rough shoulders!Heia! hei!The louts, how they lumber along!Through the Rhine valley they reel.Not till Riesenheim's marchIs reached will they rest!

[He turns to the Gods.

How darkly Wotan doth dream!What ails the high, happy Gods?

[A pale mist, gradually increasing in density, fills the stage. Seen through it the Gods look more and more wan and aged. All stand in dismay and apprehension regarding Wotan, whose eyes are fixed broodingly on the ground.

LOGEDoes a mist mock me?Tricks me a dream?Dismayed and wan,How swiftly ye fade!Lo! the bloom forsakes your cheeks,And quenched is the light of your eyes!Courage, Froh!Day's but begun!From thy hand, Donner,The hammer is falling!And why frets Fricka?Sees she with sorrowThat Wotan's hair, growing grey,Has made him gloomy and old?FRICKAWoe's me! Woe's me!What does it mean?

The Gods grow wan and aged at the loss of Freia.

DONNERMy hand sinks down.FROHMy heart stands still.LOGEI have it: hear what ye lack!Of Freia's fruitYe have not partaken to-day.The golden applesWithin her gardenRestored you your strength and your youth,Ate ye thereof each day.The garden's guardianIn pledge has been given.On the branches driesAnd droops the fruit,To drop soon and decay.My loss is lighter,For still did Freia,Stingy to me,Stint the delectable fruit.Not half as godlikeAm I, ye high ones, as you!

[Freely, but quickly and harshly.

But ye trusted solelyTo the fruit that makes young,As well both the giants wist.Your life they played for,Plotted to take;Contrive so that they fail.Lacking the apples,Old and worn,Grey and weary,Wasting, the scoff of the world,The Gods must pine and pass.FRICKA[AnxiouslyWotan, alas!Unhappy man!See what thy laughingLightness has brought us—Scoff and scorn for all!WOTAN[Coming to a sudden resolve, starts up.Up, Loge,And follow me!To Nibelheim hastening downward,I go in search of the gold.LOGEThe Rhine-daughtersThy aid invoked:Not vainly they hoped for thy help then?WOTAN[Angrily.Fool, be silent!Freia, the fair one—Freia's ransom we go for.LOGEWhere thou wouldst goGladly I lead.Shall we diveSheer through the depths of the Rhine?WOTANNot through the Rhine.LOGEThen swift let us swingThrough this smoky chasm.Together, come, creep we in!

[He goes in front and vanishes at the side through a cleft, from which, immediately afterwards, sulphurous vapour streams forth.

WOTANYe others waitTill evening here;The golden ransomWhen got will again make us young.

[He descends after Loge into the chasm. The sulphurous vapour which rises from it spreads over the whole stage and quickly fills it with thick clouds. Those who remain behind are soon hidden.

DONNERFare thee well, Wotan!FROHGood luck! Good luck!FRICKAO come back soonTo thy sorrowing wife!

[The sulphurous vapour darkens till it becomes a black cloud, which rises upwards from below. This then changes to a dark, rocky cavern which keeps rising, so that the stage seems to sink deeper and deeper into the earth.

From various points in the distance ruddy lights gleam out. An increasing clamour, as of smiths at work, is heard on all sides. The clang of the anvils dies away. A vast subterranean chasm becomes visible which seems to open into narrow gorges on all sides. Alberich drags the screaming Mime out of a side cleft.

ALBERICHHéhé! Héhé!Come here! Come here!Mischievous dwarf!Prettily pinchedPromptly thou'lt beHast thou not ready,Wrought to my wish,The dainty thing I desire!MIME[Howling.Ohé! Ohé!Oh! Oh!Let me alone!It is forged;Heeding thy hestI laboured hardTill it was done!Take but thy nails from my ear!ALBERICHThen why this delayTo show thy work?MIMEI feared that somethingMight still be wanting.

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