Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods. The Ring of the Niblung, part 2

WANDERER

Lo! Yonder Siegfried comes.

[He remains where he is without changing his position. Siegfried's wood-bird flutters towards the foreground. Suddenly the bird stops in his direct flight, flutters to and fro in alarm, and disappears quickly towards the back.

SIEGFRIED [Enters and stops.

My bird has vanished from sight!With fluttering wingsAnd lovely songBlithely he showed me the way,And then forsook me and fled!I must discoverThe rock for myself:The path I followed so far'Twere best still to pursue.

[He goes towards the back.

WANDERER [Still in the same position.

Boy, pray tell me,Whither away?

SIEGFRIED [Halts and turns round.

Did some one speak?Perhaps he knows the road.

[He goes nearer to the Wanderer.

I would find a rockThat by flaming fire is surrounded:There sleeps a maidWhom I would awake.

WANDERER

Who bade thee seekThis rock flame-circled?—Taught thee to yearn for the woman?

SIEGFRIED

It was a singingWoodland bird;He gave me welcome tidings.

WANDERER

A wood-bird chatters idlyWhat no man understands;How then couldst thou tellThe song's true meaning?

SIEGFRIED

Because of the bloodOf a dragon grimThat fell before me at Neidhöhl'—The burning bloodHad scarce touched my tongueWhen the sense of the singer grew plain.

WANDERER

Who was it urged thee onTo try thy strength,And slay this dragon so dread?

SIEGFRIED

My guide was Mime,A faithless dwarf:What fear is fain he had taught me.But 'twas the dragonRoused me himself,Wrathful, to strike the blow;For he threatened me with his jaws.

WANDERER

Who forged the swordSo hard and keenThat it slew the daunting foe?

SIEGFRIED

I forged it myselfWhen the smith was beaten;Swordless else I should have been still.

WANDERER

But who madeThe mighty splintersFrom which the sword was welded strong?

SIEGFRIED

What know I of that?I only knowThat the splintered steel was uselessWere not the sword forged anew.

WANDERER

[Bursts out laughing with gleeful good-humour.

I fully agree.

SIEGFRIED [Surprised.

At what dost thou laugh?Prying greybeard!Prithee have done;Keep me no longer here talking.Speak if thou knowestWhither my way lies;And hold thy tongueUnless thou canst tell.

WANDERER

Good boy, have patience!If I seem old,More need to show me due honour.

SIEGFRIED

What an odd notion!My whole life longA hateful old manHas blocked my pathway;Him I at last swept aside.Standest thou longerTrying here to stay me,I warn thee frankly

[With a significant gesture.

That thou like Mime shalt fare.

[He goes still nearer to the Wanderer.

But what art thou like?Why wearest thouSuch a monstrous hat,And why hangs it so over thy face?

WANDERER [Still without altering his position.

That is the way I wear itWhen against the wind I go.

SIEGFRIED [Inspecting him still more closely.

But an eye beneath it is wanting.Perchance by some oneWhose way thou didstToo boldly barIt has been struck out.Take thyself off,Or else very soonThe other thou shalt lose also!

WANDERER

I see, my son,Where thou art blind,And hence thy jaunty assurance.With the eye that isAmissing in meThou lookest now on the otherThat still is left me for sight.

SIEGFRIED

[Who has been listening thoughtfully, now bursts involuntarily into hearty laughter.

Thy foolish talk sets me laughing!But come, this nonsense must finish.At once show me my way;Then proceed thou too on thine own;For me furtherUse thou hast none:So speak, or off thou shalt pack!

WANDERER [Gently.

Child, didst thou knowWho I am,Thy scoffs I had been spared!From one so dear,Insult hard to endure is.Long have I lovedThy radiant race,Though from my furyIn terror it shrank.Thou whom I love so,All too fair one,Rouse my wrath not to-day;It would ruin both thee and me.

SIEGFRIED

Still art thou dumb,Stubborn old man?Stand to one side, then;That pathway, I know,Leads to the slumbering maid;For thither the wood-birdWas guiding when he flew off.

[It suddenly becomes dark again.

WANDERER

[Breaking out in anger and assuming a commanding attitude.

In fear of its life it fled.It knew that hereWas the ravens' lord;Dire his plight were he caught!The way that it guidedThou shalt not go!

SIEGFRIED

[Amazed, falls hack and assumes a defiant attitude.

Hoho! Interferer!Who then art thouThat wilt not let me pass?

WANDERER

Fear thou the rock's defender!My might it isHolds the maiden fettered by sleep.He who would wake her,He who would win her,Impotent makes me for ever.A burning seaEncircles the maid,Fires fiercely glowingSurround the rock;He who craves the brideThe flames must boldly defy.

[He points with his spear towards the rocky heights.

Look up above!That light dost thou see?The surging heat,The splendour, grows;Clouds of fire rolling,Tongues of flame writhing,Roaring and raging,Come ravening down.Thy head nowIs flooded with light;

[A flickering glow, increasing in brightness, appears on the summit of the rock.

The fire will seize thee,Seize and devour thee.—Back, back, there, foolhardy boy!

SIEGFRIED

Stand back, old babbler, thyself!For where the fire is burning,To Brünnhilde yonder I go!

[He advances; the Wanderer bars his way.

WANDERER

Hast thou no fear of the fire,Then barred by my spear be thy path!I still hold the haftThat conquers all;The sword thou dost wieldIt shivered long ago:Upon my spear eternalBreak it once more.

[He stretches out his spear.

SIEGFRIED [Drawing his sword.

'Tis my father's foe,Found here at last!Now, then, for vengeance!In luck am I!Brandish thy spear:My sword will hew it in twain!

[With one stroke he hews the Wanderer's spear in two pieces. Lightning flashes from the spear up towards the rocks, where the light, until now dim, begins to flame brighter and brighter. A violent thunder-clap, which quickly dies away, accompanies the stroke.

WANDERER

[Quietly picking up the pieces of the spear which have fallen at his feet.

Fare on! I cannot prevent thee!

[He suddenly disappears in utter darkness.

SIEGFRIED

With his spear in splintersVanished the coward!

[The growing brightness of the clouds of fire, which keep sinking down lower and lower, attracts Siegfried's eye.

Ha! Rapturous fire!Glorious light!Shining my pathwayOpens before me.In fiery flames plunging,Through fire I will win to the bride!Hoho! Hahei!To summon a comrade I call!

[He sets his horn to his lips and plunges into the fiery billows, which, flowing down from the heights, now spread over the foreground. Siegfried, who is soon lost to view, seems, from the sound of his horn, to be ascending the mountain. The flames begin to fade, and change gradually into a dissolving cloud lit by the glow of dawn.

The thin cloud has resolved itself into a fine rose-coloured veil of mist, which so divides that the upper part rises and disappears, disclosing the bright blue sky of day; whilst on the edge of the rocky height, now becoming visible (exactly the same scene as in the third Act of "The Valkyrie"), a veil of mist reddened by the dawn remains hanging, which suggests the magic fire still flaming below. The arrangement of the scene is exactly the same as at the end of "The Valkyrie." In the foreground, under a wide-spreading fir-tree, lies Brünnhilde in full shining armour, her helmet on her head, and her long shield covering her, in deep sleep.

SIEGFRIED

[Coming from the back, reaches the rocky edge of the summit, and at first shows only the upper part of his body. He looks round him for a longtime in amaze. Softly.

Solitude blissfulOn sun-caressed height!

[He climbs to the summit, and, standing on a rock at the edge of the precipice at the back, gazes at the scene in astonishment. He looks into the wood at the side and comes forward a little.

What lies in shadow,Asleep in the wood?A chargerResting in slumber deep.

[Approaching slowly he stops in surprise when, still at some little distance from her, he sees Brünnhilde.

What radiant thing lies yonder?The steel, how it gleams and glints!Is it the glareThat dazzles me still?Shining armour?Shall it be mine?

[He lifts up the shield and sees Brünnhilde's form; her face, however, is for the most part hidden by her helmet.

Ha! It covers a man!The sight stirs thoughts sweet and strange!The helm must lieHard on his head;Lighter lay heWere it unloosed.

[He loosens the helmet carefully and removes it from the head of the sleeper. Long curling hair breaks forth. Tenderly.

Ah! how fair!

[He stands lost in contemplation.

Clouds gleaming softlyFringe with their fleecesThis lake of heaven bright;Laughing, the gloriousFace of the sunShines through the billowy clouds!

[He bends lower over the sleeper.

His bosom is heaving,Stirred by his breath;Ought I to loosen the breastplate?

[He tries to loosen the breastplate.

Come, my sword,Cleave thou the iron!

[He draws his sword and gently and carefully cuts through the rings on both sides of the breastplate; he then lifts this off along with the greaves, so that Brünnhilde now lies before him in a soft woman's robe. He draws back startled and amazed.

That is no man!

[He stares at the sleeper, greatly excited.

Magical rapturePierces my heart;Fixed is my gaze,Burning with terror;I reel, my heart faints and fails!

[He is seized with sudden terror.

On whom shall I call,For aid imploring?Mother! Mother!Remember me!

[He sinks as if fainting on to Brünnhilde's bosom; then he starts up sighing.

How waken the maid,Causing her eyelids to open?

[Tenderly.

Her eyelids to open?What if her gaze strike me blind!How shall I dareTo look on their light?All rocks and swaysAnd swirls and revolves;Uttermost longingBurns and consumes me;My hand on my heart,It trembles and shakes!What ails thee, coward?Is this what fear means?O mother! Mother!Thy dauntless child!

[Very tenderly.

A woman lying asleepHas taught him what fear is at last!How conquer my fear?How brace my heart?That, myself, I waken,I must waken the sleeper!

[As he approaches the sleeping figure again he is overcome by tenderer emotions at the light. He bends down lower; sweetly.

Softly quiversHer flower-sweet mouth!Its lovely tremblingHas charmed my despair!Ah! And the fragrant,Blissful warmth of her breath!

[As if in despair.

Awaken! Awaken,Maiden divine!

[He gazes at her.

She hears me not.New life from the sweetestOf lips I will suck, then,Even though kissing I die!

[He sinks, as if dying, on to the sleeping figure, and, closing his eyes, fastens his lips on Brünnhilde's. Brünnhilde opens her eyes. Siegfried starts up, and remains standing before her.

BRÜNNHILDE

[Rises slowly to a sitting posture. Raising her arms, she greets the earth and sky with solemn gestures on her return to consciousness.

Sun, I hail thee!Hail, O light!Hail, O glorious day.Long I have slept;I am awake.What hero brokeBrünnhilde's sleep?

SIEGFRIED

[Awed and entranced by her look and her voice, stands as if spellbound.

Through the fierce fires flamingRound this rock I burst;I unloosened thy helmet strong:I awoke thee.Siegfried am I.

BRÜNNHILDE [Sitting upright.

Gods, I hail you!Hail, O World!Hail, O Earth, in thy glory!My sleep is over now,My eyes open.It is SiegfriedWho bids me wake!

SIEGFRIED

[Breaking forth in rapturous exaltation.

I hail thee, motherWho gave me birth!Hail, O Earth,That nourished my lifeSo that I see those eyesBeam on me, blest among men!

BRÜNNHILDE

I hail the motherWho gave thee birth!Hail, O Earth,That nourished thy life!No eye dared see me but thine;To thee alone might I wake!

[Both remain full of beaming ecstasy, lost in mutual contemplation.

BRÜNNHILDE

O Siegfried! Siegfried!Hero most blest!Of life the awaker,Conquering light!O joy of the world, couldst knowHow thou wert always loved!Thou wert my gladness,My care wert thou!Thy life I shelteredBefore it was thine;My shield was thy shelterEre thou wert born:So long loved wert thou, Siegfried!

SIEGFRIED [Softly and timidly.

My mother did not die, then?Did the dear one but sleep?

BRÜNNHILDE

[Smiles and stretches her hand out kindly towards him.

Adorable child!Nevermore thy mother will greet thee!Thyself am I,If I be blest with thy love.All things I knowKnown not to thee;Yet only of my loveBorn is my wisdom.O Siegfried! Siegfried!Conquering light!I loved thee always,For I aloneDivined the thought hid by Wotan:Hidden thought I dared notSo much as utter;Thought that I thought not,Feeling it only;For which I worked,Battled and strove,Defying evenHim who conceived it;For which in penancePrisoned I lay,Because thought it was not,But felt alone!For what the thought was—Say, canst thou guess it?—Was love of thee, nothing but that!

SIEGFRIED

How wondrous soundsThy rapturous song!But dark the meaning to me.

[Tenderly.

Of thine eyes the splendourI see plain,I can feel thee breathingSoft and warm,Sweet can hearThe singing of thy voice,But what thou sayest I striveVainly to understand.I cannot grasp clearlyThings so far distant;Needed is every senseTo feel and behold thee!By laming fearFettered am I,For how to fearThou hast taught me at last;Thou who hast bound meIn bonds of such power,Give me my courage again!

[He remains in great excitement with his yearning gaze fixed on her.

BRÜNNHILDE

[Turns her head gently aside and looks towards the wood.

I see there Grane,My sacred horse;In gladness he grazesWho slept with me!He too has by Siegfried been waked.

SIEGFRIED

[Without changing his position.

My gaze on a mouthMost lovely is feasting;My lips are afireWith passionate yearningFor the pasture sweet that I look on!

BRÜNNHILDE

[Points to her armour, which she now perceives.

I see there the shieldThat sheltered heroes;And there is the helmetThat hid my head:It shields, it hides me no more!

SIEGFRIED [With fire.

By a glorious maidMy heart has been hurtWounds in my headA woman has struck:I came without shield or helm!

BRÜNNHILDE [With increased sadness.

I see there the breastplate'sGlittering steel;A keen-edged swordSundered the rings,From the form of the maidenLoosened the mail:Nor shelter nor shield is leftTo the weak and sorrowful maid!

SIEGFRIED [With heat.

Through billows of fireI battled to thee,No buckler or breastplateSheltered or screened;The flames have wonTheir way to my heart;My blood hot-surgingRushes and leaps;A ravening fireIs kindled within me:The flames that shoneRound Brünnhilde's rockAre burning now in my breast!O maid, extinguish the fire!Calm the commotion and rage!

[He has embraced her passionately.

BRÜNNHILDE

[Springs up, resists him with the utmost strength of terror, and flies to the other side of the stage.

No God's touch have I known!With awe the heroesGreeted the maiden:Holy came she from Walhall.Woe's me! Woe's me!Woe the affront,The bitter disgrace!He wounds me soreWho waked me from sleep!He has broken breastplate and helm;Now I am Brünnhild' no more.

SIEGFRIED

Thou art to meThe dreaming maid still;Brünnhilde liesLapped still in sleep.Awake, be a woman to me!

BRÜNNHILDE [Bewildered.

Confused are my senses,My mind is blank:Wisdom, dost thou forsake me?

SIEGFRIED

Said not thy songThy wisdom drewIts light from thy love of me?

BRÜNNHILDE [Staring before her.

Shadows drear-fallingDarken my gaze;Mine eyes see dimly,The light dies out,Deep is the dark.From dread-haunted mistsFear in a frenzyComes writhing forth;Terror stalks meAnd grows with each stride!

[She hides her eyes with her hands in violent terror.

SIEGFRIED

[Gently removing her hands from her eyes.

Dread lies darkOn eyelids bound;With the fetters vanishThe fear and gloom;Rise from the dark and behold:Bright as the sun is the day.

BRÜNNHILDE [Much agitated.

Flaunting my shame,Bright as the sun shines the day!O Siegfried! Siegfried!Pity my woe!I have alwaysLived and shall live—Always in sweet,Rapturous yearning,And always to make thee blest!O Siegfried! GloriousWealth of the world!Laughing hero!Life of the earth!Ah, forbear!Leave me in peace!Touch me not,Mad with delirious frenzy!Break me not,Bring me not under thy yoke,Undo not the loved one so dear!Hast thou rejoicedThyself to seeReflected clear in the stream?If into waveletsThe water were stirred,And ruffled the limpidCalm of the brook,Thy face would not be there,Only water's rippling unrest.So untouched let me stay,Trouble me not,And thy faceMirrored bright in meWill smile to thee always,Gay and merry and glad!O Siegfried,Radiant child,Love thyselfAnd leave me in peace;O bring not thine own to naught!

SIEGFRIED

I love thee;Didst thou but love me!Myself I have lost;Ah, would thou wert won!A fair-flowing floodBefore me rolls;With all my sensesNothing I seeBut buoyant, beautiful billows.If it refuseTo mirror my face,Just as I am,To assuage my fever,Myself I will plungeStraight in the stream:—If only the billowsWould blissfully drown me,My yearning lost in the flood!Awaken, Brünnhilde!Waken, O maid!Laughing and living,Sweetest delight,Be mine! Be mine! Be mine!

BRÜNNHILDE [With deep feeling.

Thine, Siegfried!I was from of old!

SIEGFRIED [With fire.

What thou hast beenThat be thou still!

BRÜNNHILDE

Thine I willAlways be!

SIEGFRIED

What thou wilt beBe thou to-day!Clasped in my armsAnd closely embraced,Heart upon heartBeating in rapture,Glances aglow,And breath mingled hungrily,Eye in eye andMouth on mouth!All that thou wertAnd wilt be, be thou it now!The fear and the fever would vanishWere Brünnhild' now mine!

BRÜNNHILDE

Were I now thine?Heavenly calmIs tossing and raging;Light that was pureFlames into passion;Wisdom divineForsakes me and flies;Jubilant loveHas scared it away!If I be thine?Siegfried! Siegfried!Canst thou not see?By the blaze of my eyesThou art not struck blind?In my arms' embraceThou surely must burn!As my blood like a torrentSurges and leaps,The fire fierce-flamingDost thou not feel?Fearest thou, Siegfried?Fearest thou notThe wild, love-frenzied maid?

SIEGFRIED [With a shock of joy.

Ha!As the blood swift-surging is kindled,As our eyes devour one another,As our arms cling close in their rapture,Dauntless againMy courage swells,And the fear I failedFor so long to learn,The fear that I scarcelyLearned from thee—The stupid boy fearsThat fear is completely forgot!

[With the last words he has involuntarily let Brünnhilde go.

BRÜNNHILDE [Laughing wildly with joy.

Oh, valorous boy!Oh, glorious hero!Unwitting sourceOf wonderful deeds!Laughing, laughing I love thee;Laughing welcome my blindness;Laughing let us go doomwards,Laughing go down to death!Farewell Walhall'sRadiant world,Its stately hallsIn the dust laid low!Farewell, glitteringPomp divine!End in bliss,O immortal race!Norns, rend in sunderYour rope of runes!Dusk steal darklyOver the Gods!Night of their downfallDimly descend!Now Siegfried's starIs rising for me;He is for everAnd for aye,My wealth, my world,My all in all:Love ever radiant,Laughing death!

SIEGFRIED

[While Brünnhilde repeats the foregoing, beginning at "Farewell Walhall's Radiant world."

Laughing thou wakest,Thou my delight!Brünnhilde lives,Brünnhilde laughs!Hail, O dayIn glory arisen!Hail, O SunThat shines from on high!Hail, O lightFrom the darkness sprung!Hail, O worldWhere Brünnhilde dwells!She wakes! She lives!She greets me with laughter!Splendour streamsFrom Brünnhilde's star!

SIEGFRIED

She is for everAnd for ayeMy wealth, my world,My all in all,Love ever radiant,Laughing death!

[Brünnhilde throws herself into Siegfried's arms. The curtain falls.

THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

CHARACTERS

SIEGFRIED

GUNTHER

HAGEN

ALBERICH

BRÜNNHILDE

GUTRUNE

WALTRAUTE

THE THREE NORNS

THE RHINE-MAIDENS

VASSALS

WOMEN

SCENES OF ACTION

PRELUDE: ON THE VALKYRIES' ROCK

I. THE HALL OF GUNTHER'S DWELLING ON THE RHINE. THE VALKYRIES' ROCK

II. IN FRONT OF GUNTHER'S HALL

III. A WOODED REGION ON THE RHINE. GUNTHER'S HALL

PRELUDE

The curtain rises slowly. The scene is the same as at the close of the second day, on the Valkyries' rock; night. In the background, from below, firelight shines. The three Norns, tall women in long, dark, veil-like drapery. The first (eldest) lies in the foreground, to the right, under the spreading pine-tree; the second (younger) is stretched on a shelving rock in front of the cave; the third (youngest) fits in the centre at the back on a rock near the peak. Motionless, gloomy silence.

THE FIRST NORN

What light glimmers there?

THE SECOND NORN

Is it already dawn?

THE THIRD NORN

Loge's hostGlows in flame around the rock.It is night.Why spin we not, singing the while?

THE SECOND NORN [To the first.

Where for our spinning and singingWilt thou fasten the rope?

THE FIRST NORN

[While she loosens a golden rope from herself and ties one end of it to a branch of the pine-tree.

I sing and wind the ropeBadly or well, as may be.At the world-ash-treeOnce I wove,When from the stemThere bourgeoned strongThe boughs of a sacred wood.In the shadows coolA fountain flowed;Wisdom whisperedLow from its wave;Of holy things I sang.A dauntless GodCame to drink at the well;For the draught he drankHe paid with the loss of an eye.From the world-ash-treeWotan broke a holy bough;From the bough he cutAnd shaped the shaft of a spear.As time rolled on the woodWasted and died of the wound;Sere, leafless and barren,Wan withered the tree;Sadly the flowOf the fountain failed;Troubled grewMy sorrowful song.And now no moreAt the world-ash-tree I weave;I needs must fastenHere on the pine-tree my rope.Sing, O sister—Catch as I throw—Canst thou tell us why?

THE SECOND NORN

[Winds the rope thrown to her round a projecting rock at the entrance of the cave.

Runes of treatiesWell weighed and ponderedCut were by WotanIn the shaft,Which wielding, he swayed the world.A hero boldIn fight then splintered the spear,The hallowed haftWith its treaties cleaving in twain.Then bade WotanWalhall's heroesHew down the world-ash-treeForthwith,Both the stem and boughs sere and barren.The ash-tree sank;Sealed was the fountain that flowed.Round the sharp edgeOf the rock I wind the rope:Sing, O sister,Catch as I throw;Further canst thou tell?

THE THIRD NORN

[Catching the rope and throwing the end behind her.

The castle standsBy giants up reared.With the Gods and the holyHost of the heroesWotan sits in his hall;And round the wallsHewn logs are heaped,High up-piled,Ready for burning:The world-ash-tree these were once.When the woodFlares up brightly and burns,In its fireShall the fair hall be consumed.And then shall the high Gods' downfallDawn in darkness for aye.Know ye yet more,Begin anew winding the rope;Again I throw itBack from the north.Spin and sing, O my sister.

[She throws the rope to the second Norn and the second throws it to the first, who loosens the rope from the bough and ties it on to another.

THE FIRST NORN

[Looking towards the back.

Is it the dawn,Or the firelight that flickers?Grief-darkened is my gaze.The holy pastI can scarce remember,When Loge burstOf old into burning fire.Dost thou know how he fared?

THE SECOND NORN

[Winding the rope which has been thrown to her round the rock again.