“Siegfried” by Richard Wagner libretto (English)

Contents: Characters; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Glossary

Act One

Prelude and Scene One

(The curtain rises.)
(A rocky cavern in a forest containing a naturally
formed smith’s forge with large bellows. Mime sits at
the anvil in front, busily hammering at a sword.)

Mime (stops working)
Heart-breaking bondage! Toil without end!
The strongest sword that ever I forged
for the hands of giants fit would be found:
but he it was made for, the insolent boy there,
he strikes and snaps it to bits,
as though I toiled for his sport!
(Mime throws the sword on the anvil in ill humor,
puts his arms akimbo, and gazes meditatively on the
ground.)
There is a sword that he could not shatter:
Nothung’s fragments he would not defy
if I could forge the mighty pieces
that all my craft knows not how to weld!
Could I but shape the weapon,
I should win the wage of my shame!
(He sinks further back and bends his head in thought.)
Fafner, the dragon grim,
dwelleth in darksome lair;

with his mighty and monstrous bulk
the Nibelung’s gold there doth he hold.
Siegfried’s childish strength
right well would lay Fafner low:
the Nibelung’s ring I trow then were mine.
But one sword boots for the blow;
’tis Nothung serveth my need,
in Siegfried’s conquering hand:
and I cannot forge it,
Nothung, the sword!
(He has taken up the sword again and goes on
hammering it in the deepest dejection.)
Heart-breaking bondage! Toil without end!
The strongest sword that ever I forged
will never serve for the one only deed!
I tinker and hammer only
because he commands;
he strikes and snaps it to bits,
and scolds me, work as I will!
(He drops the hammer.)
(Siegfried, in a rough forester’s dress, with a silver
horn hung by a chain, comes in boisterously from the
wood. He leads a large bear by a rope of bast, and
drives him in wanton merriment toward Mime.)

Siegfried (still outside) Hoiho!
(entering) Hoiho! come on! come on!
Tear him! tear him, the tinkersmith!
(Mime drops the sword in terror and flies behind
the forge. Siegfried drives the bear everywhere after
him.)
(laughing) Hahaha hahaha
hahaha hahaha hahaha ha!

Mime Hence with the beast! I want not the bear!

Siegfried I come double, the better to catch thee:
Bruin! ask for the sword!

Mime Hey! let him go! There lies the weapon;
finished was it today.

Siegfried Today then goest thou free!
(He lets the bear loose and gives him a stroke on
the back with the rope.)
Off, Bruin! I want thee no more.
(The bear runs back to the wood; Mime comes
trembling from behind the forge.)

Mime I give thee leave the bears to slaughter,
but why dost bring me the beasts alive?
(Siegfried sits down to recover from his laughter.)

Siegfried For better companions seeking
than the one who sits at home,
in forest glades with my horn-calls
I set the echoes ringing:
if perchance they would find me a faithful
friend,
I sought with sounding tones!
From the bushes came a bear,
who growling gave ear to me;
and he pleased me better than thou,
but better yet shall I find!
With the trusty rope I bridled him there,
to ask thee, rogue, for the weapon.
(He springs up and goes toward the anvil.)
(Mime takes up the sword to give it to Siegfried.)

Mime I made the weapon sharp,
and its edge will gladden thy heart.
(He holds the sword timidly in his hand; Siegfried
violently snatches from him.)

Siegfried What matters how sharp the weapon,
if not hard and true the steel?
(testing the sword)
Hei! what an idle toy is here!
This paltry pin call’st thou a sword?
(He strikes it on the anvil so that the splinters fly
about. Mime shrinks with fear.)
There hast thou the pieces, basest of bunglers!
Would that the blade on thy skull had broken!
Shall such a boaster brag to me longer?
Prat’st thou of giants and boldness in battles,
of valiant deeds and of dauntless defense?
Wouldst fashion me weapons,
swords wouldst weld me;
lauding thy craft as though it were true?
yet, if I handle what thou hast hammered,
a single handgrip crushes the trash!
Were not the wretch too vile for my wrath,
I would fling in the fire
the smith and his work,
the doting half-witted imp!
My loathing would then have an end!
(Siegfried in a rage throws himself on a stone seat.
Mime has cautiously kept out of his way.)

Mime Again thou ravest like mad:
how thankless, child, art thou!
If for the graceless boy
all I do be not the best,
the goodly things I gave
at once are all forgot!

Wilt thou then ne’er remember
how boys should aye be thankful?
Right gladly shouldst thou obey him
who always shewed thee such love.
(Siegfried ill-humoredly turns his back on Mime,
remaining with his face to the wall.)
Now thou again will not hear me!
(He stands perplexed, then goes to the hearth.)
But hungry must thou be!
Come try the meat I have roasted:
or wilt thou not taste the broth?
For thee all has been cooked.
(He brings food to Siegfried who, without turning
around, strikes both bowl and meat from his hand.)

Siegfried Meat I roast for myself:
and thy pap go drink alone!

Mime (in a wailing voice)
This is now my love’s most grievous wage!
this the shameful pay for my pains!
A whimpering babe, brought I thee up,
warmly I clothed the tiny mite:
food, too, and drink gave I to thee,
sheltered thee safe as my very self.
As then thou didst grow I waited on thee,
and soft for thy slumber I made thy bed.
I forged for thee toys and a sounding horn;
aye for thy good gladly I worked:
my crafty counsels sharpened thy wits,
my shining wisdom lightened thine eyes.
Sitting at home I moil and toil,
to heart’s content roam’st thou abroad:
for thee aye in trouble, in pain but for thee,
I wear myself out, a poor old dwarf!

(sobbing)
And for my worry is this all my wage,
that the passionate boy only hates me
and scolds?
(Siegfried has turned around again and has
steadily watched Mime’s face. Mime meets Siegfried’s
look and tries to hide the fear in his own.)

Siegfried Much hast taught to me, Mime,
and many things have I learned;
but what thou most fain hadst taught me,
that lesson I ne’er could learn:
how to endure thy sight.
When with my food and drink thou dost come,
my loathing feeds me alone;

when for my sleep thou makest my bed,
no slumber comes to me there;
if from thy teaching wisdom be won,
fain were I deaf and dull.
If with my eyes I but look on thee,
too evil appeareth whatever thou dost.
I see thee stand, shamble and slink,
crawling and nodding,
with thine eyelids blinking:
by the throat I long to catch the crawler
and crush thy life out, thou loathsome nodder!
So learned I, Mime, to love thee.
Hast thou such wisdom? give me to know then
a thing that in vain I sought:
in the woods roaming, seeking to shun thee,
how comes it I ever return?
All the beasts to me are dearer than thou:
trees and birds and the fish in the brook,
truly I love them far better than thee:
how comes it I ever return?
Art thou wise, then tell me this.

Mime (attempts to approach him confidingly)
My child, that shews thee clearly how dear to thy
heart I have grown.

Siegfried I cannot bear to see thee,
forget not that so soon.
(Mime goes back and again sits apart, opposite
Siegfried.)

Mime That comes from thy froward heart,
which the boy should try to tame.
Young ones are ever longing
after their parents’ nest;
love begetteth the longing:
so yearnest thou too for me,
so too dost thou love thy Mime,
so must thou aye love him!
All that mother-bird is to birdling,
when in the nest it lies,
ere the fledgling can flutter:
such to thee, childish mite,
is clever, careful old Mime,
such must he, too, be!

Siegfried Ei, Mime, art thou so clever,
then let thy wisdom yet teach me!
(simply)
The birdlings were singing so gladly in spring,
(tenderly) the one was luring the other,

thou saidst thyself, when I asked thee there,
that they were wives with their husbands.
They chattered so fondly, and ne’er flew apart;
they built them a nest, and brooded therein:

then fluttered the weak little fledglings out,
and both took care of the brood.
So lay in the woods the roe-deer in pairs,
e’en savage wolves and foxes:
food was brought to the lair by the father,
the mother suckled the young ones:
and there I learned what love must be:
I ne’er took the whelps from the mother’s care.
Where has thou now, Mime,
the wife whom thou lovest,
that I may call her mother?

Mime (angrily)
What dost thou ask, fool that thou art?
Art thou either wood-fowl or fox?

Siegfried A whimpering child,
brought’st thou me up,
warmly thou clothed’st the tiny mite:
whence came to thee then the childish mite?
A motherless babe hast thou made alone?

Mime (in great embarrassment)
Thou must trust whatever I tell thee:
I am thy father and mother in one.

Siegfried Thou liest, thou loathsomest imp!
How all young ones are like the parents,
right well have I seen for myself.
I came to the limpid stream:
there I looked on the trees and forest creatures;
sun and shadows, e’en as they are,
I saw there below in the brook.
And there in the stream I saw my face;
but not like to thine looked it to me:
so like to a toad were a glittering fish;
yet fish ne’er had toad for a father.

Mime (much vexed)
Pitiful nonsense pratest thou there!

Siegfried (with growing animation)
Look thou, I grasp myself the thing
that so oft I pondered in vain:
when through woods afar I roam to escape thee,
why to thee still I return.
(He springs up.)
’Tis thou alone who canst tell me
what father and mother are mine!

Mime What father? What mother?
Idlest of questions!
(Siegfried springs upon Mime and seizes him by
the throat.)

Siegfried Then so must I grip thee,
knowledge to gain me:

nought tellest thou me from goodwill!
All thus by blows must I win from thee:
even speech I ne’er should have learned,
had I wrung it not by force from the wretch!
Now tell me, thou rascally rogue!
Who are my father and mother?

Mime (who is released by Siegfried, after making
signs with his head and his hands)
Almost hast killed me outright!
Let go! and of what thou dost ask,
I’ll tell thee all that I know.
0 hard-hearted and thankless boy!
now hear, wherefor thou dost hate me!
Father I am not, nor kin to thee,
and yet thou dost owe me thy life!
A stranger to me, thy one only friend;
thro’ my pity alone sheltered wert thou:
and now thou pay’st me my wage!
Fool was I to hope for reward.
1 found once in the wood
a woman who lay in tears:
I helped her thence to the cave:
and warmed her here at the fire.
A child bore she in secret;
sadly she gave it birth;
she writhed her to and fro,
I helped as best I could:
strong was the stress!
She died: but Siegfried came to life

Siegfried So died my mother through me?

Mime To my charge she gave o’er the child:
(Siegfried stands thinking.)
I gladly sheltered thee.
What care did Mime bestow!
what worry his goodness endured!
A whimpering babe, brought I thee up...

Siegfried Full oft hast thou told me that tale!
Now say: why call’st thou me Siegfried?

Mime Thy mother commanded
so should I call thee;
as “Siegfried” shouldst thou grow strong and fair.
And warmly I clothed the tiny mite...

Siegfried Now tell me,
what name was my mother’s?
Mime Her name I hardly know!
Food, too, and drink gave I to thee...

Siegfried (with animation)
The name I bid thee to tell me!

Mime I trow ’tis forgot. Yet stay!
Sieglinde ’twas, I bethink me,
who grieving gave thee to me.
I sheltered thee safe as my very self...

Siegfried (with increasing urgency)
I ask, then, who was my father?

Mime (roughly) His face I ne’er have seen!

Siegfried But his name my mother hath spoken?

Mime He fell in fighting was all that she said;
she left thee, fatherless babe, here to me:
as then thou didst grow, I waited on thee;
and soft for thy slumber I made thy bed...

Siegfried Still, with thy endless starling-song!
If I may trust thy story,
if aught but lies thou speakest,
then let a proof be shewn!

Mime What proof then can I shew thee?

Siegfried I trust thee not with my ears,
I trust thee but with my eyes:
what witness speaks for thee?
(After some thought Mime fetches the two pieces
of a broken sword.)

Mime This once thy mother gave me:
for trouble, food and service,
this was my sorry wage.
Look thou, ’tis a broken sword!
Thy father, said she, had borne it,
when at last in fight he was slain.

Siegfried (with enthusiasm)
And now these fragments straight shalt thou
forge me:
then won were my rightful sword!
Up! Hasten thee, Mime! Quickly to work!
Master art thou? then shew me thy craft!
Cheat me no more with bootless trash:
these fragments alone henceforth I trust!
If I should find flaw in thy work,
if thou play tricks with the trusty steel,
with blows thy limbs all shall ache
and learn what burnishing means!
This day, I swear,
mine shall yet be the sword;
the weapon I win me today!

Mime (alarmed)
What wouldst thou today with the sword?

Siegfried From the wood forth will I wander:
nevermore to return!
Gladness fills me for my freedom,
nothing binds me nor holds.
My father art thou not;
far away I seek my home;
thy hearth is not my house,
nor my roof thy rocky cave.
As the fish fleetly in flood swims,
as the finch freely in sky soars:
so hence I fly, floating away,
like the wind o’er the woods wafted afar;
thee, Mime, I ne’ermore will see!
(He runs into the forest.)

Mime (in great alarm) Siegfried!
Whither? Whither? Stay here!
(With greatest exertion he calls toward the wood.)
Hey! Siegfried! Siegfried! Hey!
(He looks after Siegfried for a time in astonish-
ment.)
(He returns to the smithy and seats himself behind
the anvil.)
There storms he hence! And I sit here:
to all old cares comes yet a new one;
now fairly caught am I fast!
How help myself now? How hold him by me?
How lead this young madcap to Fafner’s lair?
How forge me the splinters of spiteful steel?
No furnace fire serves me to fuse them,
nor can Mime’s hammer conquer their
hardness:
(shrilly) the Nibelung’s hate,
need and sweat cannot make Nothung whole,
weld not the sword
(sobbing) e’er anew!
(He sinks in despair onto a stool behind the anvil.)

Scene Two

(The Wanderer comes in from the forest by the
door at the back of the cave. He wears a long, dark
blue cloak and carries a spear as a staff. On his head
is a hat with a broad, round brim which hangs low
down.)

The Wanderer All hail, worthy smith!
To way-wearied guest
grant thou grace of house and hearth!

Mime (starting up in alarm)
Who is’t that doth seek me here in the woods?
Who pursues me in forest wastes?

Wanderer (coming nearer, step by step)
“Wand’rer”, so am I called;
far led me my way:
on the earth’s broad back full long have I roamed.

Mime Then take thyself hence and tarry not here,
if thou “Wand’rer” art called!

Wanderer Good men ever gave me welcome,
gifts from many have I gained:
for evil hearts only fear ill-fate.

Mime Ill-fate dwelleth always with me:
wouldst bring yet more to the Niblung?

Wanderer (coming nearer, step by step)
Ever seeking, full much I found:
oft my words have taught men wisdom,
oft they lightened weary sorrows,
gnawing of heart’s distress.

Mime Well hast thou sought,
and full much hast thou found;
I want neither seeker nor finder.
Lonely am I and lone would be,
loiterers harbor not here.

Wanderer (again coming a little nearer)
Many weened that wisdom was theirs,
yet all their need they never have known;
when they questioned, freely I answered:
wisdom came with my word.

Mime (getting more and more anxious as he sees the
Wanderer approach)
Idle knowledge many seek for:
I know enough for myself;
(The Wanderer reaches the hearth.)
and my wits are good, I want no more,
so, wise one, wend now thy way!

Wanderer (sitting at the hearth)
I sit at thy hearth and wager my head
as stake in strife of our wits.
My head is thine, won fairly by thee,
if, when thou dost ask all thy want,
I free it not by my word.
(Mime, who has been staring at the Wanderer
with open mouth, now shrinks back.)

Mime (aside, faint-heartedly)

How can I be rid of the spy?
Right crafty must be my questions.
(He tries to collect his courage.)
(aloud) Thy head stak’st thou for the hearth:

give heed by cunning to save it!
Thrice my questions freely I ask!

Wanderer Thrice then must I answer.

Mime (sets himself to meditation)
Full long on this earth’s rugged back hast wandered,
and far hast walked o’er the world:
now tell me in sooth: what is the race
dwelling in earth’s deep caverns?

Wanderer In the earth’s deep caverns
dwelleth the Niblung race:
Nibelheim is their land.
Black elves all are they;
Black-Alberich ruled o’er them once as their lord!
By a magic ring’s all-powerful spell
tamed were the hard-toiling folk:
richest treasure, shimmering gold
heaped they on high,
to win him the world as his kingdom.
what further, dwarf, wouldst thou ask?

Mime (sinks into deeper meditation)
Much, Wanderer, knowest thou
and canst tell of earth’s deep caves:
now say to me straight, what is the race
dwelling on earth’s wide surface?

Wanderer On the earth’s wide surface
dwelleth the giants’ race:
Riesenheim is their land,
Fasolt and Fafner, the giants’ rulers,
envied the Nibelung’s might,
and his far-famed hoard
they won for themselves,
thereto they gained them the ring.
Between the brothers the ring brought strife;
struck down was Fasolt: in dragon’s shape
Fafner now guardeth the hoard.
One question threatens me yet.

Mime (quite absorbed in thought)
Much, Wanderer, knowest thou
of the earth and all her dwellers.
Now true be thy word! tell me what race
dwells on cloud-hidden heights?

Wanderer On cloud-hidden heights
dwell the Eternals: Walhall is their home.
Light spirits are they;

Light-Alberich, Wotan, commandeth their band.
From the world-ash-tree’s hallowed branches
once he shaped him a shaft:
fades the stem, never faileth the spear;

and with the spear-point rules Wotan the world.
Holiest treaties’ truthful runes
deep in the shaft he cut.
He holds the world’s haft in his hand,
who the spear wields
that Wotan’s fingers grasp:
now kneels to him the Niblung host;
the giants’ race bow to his will:
ever they all must obey him,
the spear’s all-potent lord.
(He strikes the spear as if by accident on the
ground. A low sound of thunder is heard at which
Mime is violently startled.)
Now tell me, crafty dwarf,
found are the answers true?
And may now my head go free?
(Mime, after attentively watching the Wanderer
with the spear, now falls into a state of terror, seeks in
confusion for his tools, and looks nervously aside.)

Mime Wager and head well hast thou won:
now, Wand’rer, go on thy way!

Wanderer What it boots thee to know,
shouldst thou have asked me:
gage for my word was my head.
Yet of thy need thou knewest nought;
I therefore claim thine now as pledge.
Greeting fair grantedst thou me not;
my head into thy hand I gave
to gain me rest at thy hearth.
By wager’s law, lost is thine own,
shouldst thou not answer thrice what I ask.
So waken now, Mime, thy wits!

Mime (very timidly and hesitatingly, at length
composing himself, with nervous submission)
Long since left I my fatherland,
long since came I from my mother’s womb:
on me lightened the eye of Wotan,
and peered here into my cave:
his glance wilders my mother-wit.
But now let my wisdom be tried,
Wand’rer, ask what thou wilt!
Good luck haply may help me;
the dwarf may save his head.

Wanderer (again leisurely seating himself)
Now, worthiest dwarf, answer me truly.
Tell the name of the race
that Wotan harshly handles

(very softly, but audibly)
and yet holds most dear in the world.

Mime (becoming more cheerful)
Much I know not of heroes’ kinship;
that riddle yet lightly I read.
The Wälsungs should be the chosen race
that Wotan fostered and loved so dearly,
scant tho’ the grace he grants.
Siegmund and Sieglind’, children of Wälse,
a wild and desperate twin-born pair:
Siegfried to them was born,
the Wälsungs’ mightiest son.
Now have I, Wand’rer, for once saved my head?

Wanderer (pleasantly)
Right well thou knowest and namest the race!
hard, thou rogue, ’tis to catch thee.
The foremost question hast thou solved;
once more I ask thee now, dwarf!
A wily Niblung wardeth Siegfried,
Fafner’s destined destroyer,
that the dwarf the ring may win him,
and make hismself lord of the gold.
Say, what sword, when Siegfried shall wield it,
serveth for Fafner’s death?

Mime (forgetting more and more his present
situation, joyfully rubs his hands)
Nothung is the name of a sword,
into an ash tree once struck by Wotan;
one only might bear it,
he who could draw it forth.
What strongest heroes could not achieve
Siegmund the bold alone performed;
well the weapon he bore
till on Wotan’s spear it broke.
Now the bits are saved by a crafty smith;
for he knows
that alone with the Wotan-sword
a dauntless, foolish boy,
Siegfried, shall slay the foe.
(much pleased)
Now twice the dwarf has rescued his head?

Wanderer (laughing) Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!
The wittiest art thou surely of wise ones;
in cunning where lives thy peer?
But if thou by craft wouldst win to thy service
the childish arm of the hero,
with one question still I threaten thee!
Tell me, thou wily armorsmith:
whose hand from the mighty splinters
Nothung the sword shall fashion?

Mime (starts up in extreme terror)
(crying out) The splinters! The sword!
Alas! what ails me?

What shall I do? What can I say?
Accursed steel! Would I ne’er had seen it!
My thieving has brought me but pain and care!
Ever too hard, my hand cannot weld it;
heat and hammer help me not here!
The wisest of smiths fails in the task!
(As though crazy, he flings his tools about and
breaks out in despair.)
Who forges the sword
I cannot forge?
That marvel who shall discover?

Wanderer (has risen quietly from the hearth)
Thrice ’twas thine to ask questions,
thrice I stood at thy hest:
but empty knowledge soughtest thou;
the want that lies at thy door,
thy own need, knowest thou not;
now when I find it, dazed are thy wits;
and won by me is the crafty one’s head!
Now, Fafner’s dauntless undoer,
hear, thou fallen dwarf:
He who the force of fear ne’er felt
Nothung shall he forge.
(Mime stares at him: he turns to depart.)
Thy wily head ward from today:
I leave it forfeit to him
who has never learned to fear!
(He turns away smiling and disappears quickly in
the forest. Mime has sunk, as if overwhelmed, onto
the seat.)

Scene Three

(Mime stares before him into the sunlit forest and
gradually gives way to violent trembling.)

Mime Accursed light! The air is aflame?
What flickers and flashes,
what flutters and whirs,
what floats there and flies, and hovers around?
It glistens and gleams in the sunlight’s glow!
What hisses and hums and shrills so loud?
It growls and roars, comes crashing along!
It breaks through the wood, rushes on me!
(He rises up in terror.)
Its threatening jaws yawn at me there.
The dragon will catch me! Fafner! Fafner!
(He sinks down shrieking behind the anvil.)
(Siegfried breaks from the forest thicket. Siegfried,
still behind the scenes, is heard breaking through the

bushes.)

Siegfried Heda! Thou idler!
Say, hast thou finished?
(He enters the cave.)
Quick, how is’t with the sword?
(He pauses in surprise.)
Where hides the smith? Stolen away? Hey-hey!
Mime, thou coward!
Where art thou? where hidest thou?

Mime (in a feeble voice, from behind the anvil)
’Tis thou then, child! Com’st thou alone?

Siegfried (laughing) Under the anvil?
Say, what there was thy work?
Wert thou grinding the sword?

Mime (coming forward greatly disturbed and
confused)
The sword? The sword?
How can I forge it?
(half aside) He who the force of fear ne’er felt,
Nothung shall he forge.
Too wise the dwarf is to do such work!

Siegfried (vehemently)
Wilt thou not speak then? or must I help thee?

Mime (as before)
Whence cometh help in my need?
My wily head lost I by wager:
(staring before him)
and forfeit to him will it fall
who has never learned to fear.

Siegfried (impetuously) Ha! dost thou flout me?
Me wouldst thou fly?

Mime (gradually regaining his self-command)
Him would I fly who knoweth fear!
But that have I not set me to teach thee;
I fool-like forgot the one good thing.
How thou shouldst love me was thy lesson;
but alas, no luck was mine!
How now shall I teach thee to fear?

Siegfried (seizes him) Hey! must I help thee?
What wrought’st thou today?

Mime In care for thy good,
sunk was I in brooding
what things of weight I might shew thee.

Siegfried (laughing)
Down under the seat sunk wert thou surely:
what things there of weight didst thou find?

Mime (recovering himself more and more)
What fear is learned I for thee,

that I, thou dunce, might teach thee.

Siegfried (with quiet wonder)
What is then this fearing?

Mime That ne’er hast thou felt,
and wouldst from the wood
go forth to the world?
What booteth the trustiest sword,
were to thee fear not known.

Siegfried (impatiently)
Foolish redes alone hast thou found?

Mime (approaching Siegfried with increasing
confidence)
All thy mother’s redes come from my mouth;
what I have promised must I now tell thee:
to the world full of guile
thou shouldst not betake thee,
until to thee fear has been taught.

Siegfried (vehemently) Is it a craft,
why know I it not?
Now tell! What is then this fearing?

Mime Hast thou not felt in forest gloom,
as gloaming falls on darksome dells,
when comes a whisper, hum and hiss;
savage growling sounds anear,
dazzling flashes round thee flicker,
whirring waxes and fills thine ears:
(trembling) hast thou not felt then grisly horrors
that grip thee and (quaking) hold thee?
Glaring terror shakes all thy senses;
in thy breast
(with quivering voice) trembling and weak,
bursting hammers thy heart?
Hast thou not yet felt that,
then fear is stranger to thee.

Siegfried (meditating)
Wonderful surely must that be!
Yet my heart steadfast beats my breast.
The shivers and shakings,
the glowing and sinking,
burning and fainting,
beating and quaking:
fain my heart is to feel them,
longing to learn this delight!
But how might it, Mime, be mine?

How couldst thou, coward, e’er teach me?

Mime Follow thou me, the way I know well:
brooding brought it to mind.
I know of a dragon grim,
who slays and feeds on men:

fear I trow teacheth Fafner,
follow me to where he lies.

Siegfried Where then is his lair?

Mime Neidhöle, so is it named:
t’ward east, at end of the wood.

Siegfried Not far then ’tis from the world?

Mime Right near to the world is his cave.

Siegfried My guide shalt thou be to Fafner:
fear shall he teach me, then forth to the world!
Now quick! Forge me the sword:
in the world fain would I wield it.

Mime The sword? Alas!

Siegfried Swift, to the smithy!
Shew me thy work!

Mime Accursed steel!
My craft will not serve for the task:
the mighty magic
no dwarf hath the strength to sway.
He who fear doth not know,
might find more surely the art.

Siegfried So by tricks this idler would cheat me!
nought but a bungler aye will he be!
now seeks he to fool me with lies!
Here with the splinters, off with the bungler!
(coming to the hearth)
My father’s blade yields but to me:
by me forged be the sword!
(Flinging Mime’s tools about, he sets himself
impetuously to work.)

Mime Hadst thou been careful to learn thy craft,
now mightst thou reap thy reward;
but lazy wert thou aye at thy task:
then see how idleness serves thee!

Siegfried Where the master has failed
would scholar succeed
although he had always obeyed?
(He makes a long nose at him.)
Now go thy ways, meddle not here,
lest thou with the steel be melted.
(He has made a large pile of charcoal on the

hearth and blows the fire, while he screws the pieces
of the sword in a vise and files them up.)
(Mime, who has seated himself a little aside,
watch es Siegfried at work.)

Mime What dost thou then there?
Take but the solder;
’tis fused ready for thee.

Siegfried Out on the stuff, I want it not;
with pap I weld not a sword!

Mime But the file is finished;
the rasp is ruined!
Wilt crumble the steel to splinters?

Siegfried In shivers must it be, ground into shreds:
what is broken so must I mend.
(He goes on filing with great energy.)

Mime ( aside) Here helps no craftsman,
I see that well: the fool’s own folly
alone serves his need.
See how he toils with mighty strokes!
The steel is in shreds,
yet he is not warm!
(Siegfried has fanned the fire into bright flame.)
Now I am as old as cave and wood,
yet aught like this I ne’er saw!
(While Siegfried continues filing the sword with
impetuous energy, Mime seats himself a little farther
off.)
He will forge the sword, I see full well:
fearless will he succeed.
The Wand’rer’s word was true.
Where now to hide my fearful head?
To the dauntless boy it will fall
if nought will teach him to fear!
(springing up and bending low with growing restlessness)
But woe to Mime!
The dragon were safe,
if fear he could bring to the boy.
How could then the ring be mine?
Accursed fortune! Caught fast am I!
Whence will come counsel good,
that this boy may be bent to my will?
(Siegfried has now filed the pieces to powder and
caught it in a crucible which he puts on the fire.)

Siegfried Hey, Mime!
(Mime starts and turns toward Siegfried.)
Now tell the weapon’s name,
that I have pounded to pieces?

Mime Nothung, that is the name of the sword:
from thy mother heard I the tale.
(During the following song Siegfried blows the fire
with the bellows.)

Siegfried Nothung! Nothung! conquering sword!
What blow has served to break thee?
To shreds I shattered thy shining blade;
the fire has melted the splinters.
Hoho! Hoho! Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!
Bellows blow! Brighten the glow!
Wild in woodlands waxed a tree
that I in the forest felled:
the ash tree’s stem to charcoal I burned,
on the hearth now lies it heaped.
Hoho! Hoho! Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!
Bellows blow! Brighten the glow!
The blackened ash bole, how bravely it burns;
how bright and fair the flames!
With showering sparks they shoot aloft:
hohei, hohei, hohei!
and fuse me the splintered steel.
Hoho! hoho! Hohei! Hohei! Hoho!
Bellows blow! Brighten the glow!

Mime (still aside, sitting at a distance)
The sword will be forged and Fafner vanquished:
so much I can clearly foresee.
Hoard and ring will fall to the boy:
how shall I then win me the prize?
By craft and guile shall both be captured,
and so my head be saved.

Siegfried (again at the bellows)
Hoho! Hoho! Hoho, hohei! Hohei!

Mime (in the foreground, aside)
Siegfried the dragon will slay,
and will straight be athirst with his toil:
from roots and flowers culled by my hand,
a draught will I brew for him;
let him drink but a drop of the potion,
sleeping soon will he lie.
With the self-same weapon that yonder he forges
shall he be cleared from my path,
and mine will be ring and hoard.
(He rubs his hands with delight.)

Siegfried Nothung! Nothung! conquering sword!
Now melteth thy splintered steel!
In thine own sweat now swimmest thou.
(He pours the glowing contents of the crucible into
a mold and holds it on high.)

Mime Hei, wisest Wand’rer!
Deem’st thou me dull?
Say, how lik’st thou now my crafty wit?
Have I found the path to peace?

Siegfried Soon shalt thou serve as my sword!

(He plunges the mold into the pail of water. Steam
and the loud hiss of its cooling ensue.)
In the water flowed a fiery flood:
anger and hate hissed from it there!
Though scorching it flowed, in the water stream
no more it flows. Stark lies it and stiff,
stubborn and hard the steel.
Ardent blood soon from thee shall flow.
(He thrusts the steel into the fire and violently pulls
the bellows.)
(Mime has sprung up, delighted; he fetches several
vessels, shakes from them spices and herbs into a
cooking pot and tries to put it on the hearth.)
Now sweat once again
that so I may shape thee!
Nothung, conquering sword!
(During his work he observes Mime, who carefully
places his pot on the fire from the other side of the
hearth.)
What makes the booby there with his pot?
While steel I melt, what mess art brewing?

Mime A smith has come to shame,
and learns from a boy his craft:
from the master now his art is gone,
as cook he serves the child.
Thou makest broth of the steel;
old Mime boileth eggs for thy soup.
(He goes one with his cooking.)

Siegfried Mime the craftsman now learns cooking,
his art delights him no more.
All the swords he made I shivered to splinters:
what he cooks shall ne’er touch my lips!
(During the following Siegfried draws the mold
from the fire, breaks it, and lays the glowing steel on
the anvil.)
This fearing to learn now would Mime lead me;
afar there dwelleth a teacher:
e’en what best he can do, that cannot he teach,
for nought can he be but a bungler!
(during the forging)
Hoho! Hoho! Hohei!
Forge me, my hammer, a trusty sword!
Hoho! Hahei! Hoho! Hahei!
Blood once did stain thy steely blue;
its ruddy trickling reddened thy blade:
cold then was thy laugh;
the warm blood licked’st thou cool!
Heiaho! Haha! Haheiaha!
Now burned with fire thou blushest red;

to the hammer yieldeth thy softened steel:
angry sparks thou dost shower
on me who tamed thy pride.
Heiaho! Heiaho! Heiaho hoho hoho!
Hahei! Hahei! Hahei!

Mime (aside)
He shapes him a sharp-edged sword,
Fafner to vanquish, the Niblungs’ foe;
I brewed a deadly draught;
so shall I slay him when Fafner falls.
My guile must gain me the prize;
so my wage must be won!
(He busies himself during the following in pouring
the contents of the pot into a bottle.)

Siegfried Hoho! Hoho! Hoho! Hohei!
Forge me, my hammer, a trusty sword!
Hoho! Hahei! Hoho! Hahei!
These merry sparks, how they cheer my heart;
the brave look fairest by anger fired:
Gaily laugh’st thou to me,
yet wouldst look grisly and grim!
Heiaho, haha, haheiaha!
With heat and hammer luck is mine;
with sturdy strokes I stretched thee straight:
now banish thy blushing shame
and be cold and hard as thou canst.
Heiaho! Heiaho! Heiaho hoho hoho! Heiah!
(He swings the blade and plunges it into the pail of
water. He laughs aloud at the hissing.)
(While Siegfried fixes the sword blade in its hilt,
Mime moves about in the foreground with the
bottle.)

Mime Now the shining ring my brother once made,
wherein he worked a mighty spell,
the glist’ning gold that o’ermasters all,
won is it by Mime, I hold it mine!
(He trots briskly about with increasing delight.
Sieg fried works with the small hammer. He files and
sharp ens the sword.)
Alberich, thou who once wert lord
shalt now be forced to serve me as thrall;
as Nibelheim’s prince yonder I’ll hie me,
and all the host to me shall bow.
(Siegfried hammering again.)
To the dwarf so despised all living shall kneel.
To the hoard will throng gods and heroes all.
(with increasing liveliness)
The world shall cower at my command,
and all will tremble under my wrath!

(Siegfried flattens the rivets of the hilt with the last
strokes, and now grasps the sword.)

Siegfried Nothung! Nothung! conquering sword!
Now cleav’st thou once more in thy hilt.

Mime For truly Mime no more shall toil.

Siegfried Severed in twain,
made one by my hand;
no stroke again thy steel shall shatter.

Mime For him shall others win endless wealth.

Siegfried The dying father
once broke thy blade:
the living son shaped it anew:
to him now its luster laughs,
and for him its edge shall be keen.

Mime Mime the valiant, Mime is ruler,
prince of Niblungs, lord of the world.

Siegfried (swinging the sword before him)
Nothung! Nothung! conquering sword!
Again to life have I woke thee.
Dead lay’st thou in splinters here,
now shin’st thou defiant and fair.

Mime Hei! Mime, how met thee such luck!

Siegfried Shew to all miscreants now thy sheen!

Mime Who could believe this of thee?

Siegfried Strike at the traitor, cut down the knave!
See, Mime, thou smith:
(He brandishes the sword.)
So sunders Siegfried’s sword!
(He strikes the anvil, which splits in two pieces
from top to bottom so that it falls asunder with a
great noise. Mime, who has jumped onto a stool in
great delight, falls in terror to the ground in a sitting
position. Siegfried holds the sword on high in
exultation.)
(The curtain falls.)

libretto by Frederick Jameson

Contents: Characters; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Glossary