“Siegfried” by Richard Wagner libretto (English)

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

Act Two

Prelude and Scene One

(The curtain rises. A deep forest. Quite in the
background the entrace to a cave. The ground rises
toward the middle of the stage to a small flattened
knoll, sinking again toward the back, so that only the
upper part of the opening is visible to the audience.
To the left, a fissured cliff is seen through the trees.)
(Night. The darkness is deepest at the back, where

the eye at first can distinguish nothing.)

Alberich (lying by the rocky cliff, in gloomy
brooding)
In forest gloom
at Fafner’s cave I watch:
with ear alert, keenly peers mine eye.
Fateful day, breakest thou now?
Pale dost thou dawn from the darkness there?
(In the wood on the right a storm arises; a bluish
light shines thence.)
What light glittereth there?
Nearer shimmers a radiant glow:
it runs like a fiery steed,
breaks through the wood, rushing to me.
Cometh the dragon’s slayer?
neareth now Fafner’s fate?
(The wind subsides. The light vanishes.)
The light dies out, the glow
sinks from my sight: Darkness falleth.
(The Wanderer enters from the wood and stops
opposite Alberich.)
Who comes there, shining in shadow?

Wanderer To Neidhöl’ by night I am come:
who doth lurk in the darkness there?
(The moonlight breaks forth as from a suddenly
dissolving cloud and lights up the Wanderer’s figure.
Alberich recognizes the Wanderer, shrinks back
alarmed, but immediately breaks out in violent
anger.)

Alberich ’Tis thou shew’st thyself here?
What wouldst thou then? Hence from my path!
Hie onward, shameless thief!

Wanderer (quietly)
Black-Alberich, roam’st thou here?
Guardest thou Fafner’s house?

Alberich Goads thee thy greed to new evil deeds?
Tarry not here, take thyself onward!
Enough distress the world by thy guile has
endured;
therefore, traitor, let it now free!

Wanderer As witness came I, not as worker:
who barreth the Wand’rer’s way?

Alberich Thou false, treacherous trickster!
Were I now the dullard that once thou found’st
me,
when thou didst bind the blind one,
how easy were it again the (furious) ring to
ravish!

Beware! all thy wiles know I full well;
(mockingly) but where thou failest,
that is not hidden from me:
my stolen treasure freed thee from treaties,
my ring paid for the giants’ toil,
who raised thee Walhall on high.
What to the churls thy word once has promised
in runes is writ this day
on the mighty shaft of thy spear:
thou dar’st not ever take back by force
the wage the giants have won them;
thy weapon’s shaft thou thyself wouldst break;
in thine own hand the staff of thy sway,
so mighty, would fall into dust!

Wanderer Its eternal runes of treaties
bound thee not, base one, to me:
by might it bends thy will to mine:
for strife I ward it them well.

Alberich In boastful strength
how proudly thou threat’nest,
and yet what dismay fills thy heart!
Foredoomed through my curse,
the treasure’s lord soon shall surely perish:
who then shall inherit?
Will the glittering hoard
belong once again to the Niblung?
That gnaws thee with endless torment!
For if once again it come to my hand,
not like the foolish giants
will I use its magic spell:
now tremble thou godly guardian of heroes!
I will vanquish Walhall with Hella’s host:
the world then shall be mine.

Wanderer (quietly) Thy intent well I know,
yet care frets me not.
Its lord is he who winneth the ring.

Alberich How darkly speak’st thou
what so surely I know!
On heroes’ kin thy boldness doth hang,
(mockingly)
whose sons blossomed forth from thy blood.
Hast thou not fostered a stripling,
that he the fruit may win thee
(with growing violence)
that thou dar’st not pluck off?

Wanderer Taunt me not, wrangle with Mime;
(lightly) for danger hither he brings:
to this place he leadeth a boy
who Fafner for him shall slay.
Nought knows he of me;

for Mime works he alone.
I say to thee in sooth,
freely work for thy ends!
(Alberich makes a violent move of curiosity.)
Heed thou my words! be on thy guard!
The boy knows nought of the ring;
till Mime tells him the tale.

Alberich (violently)
From the hoard wilt thou hold thy hand?

Wanderer Whom I love well,
ever I leave unholpen:
he stands or he falls, his lord is he;
help to me comes but from heroes.

Alberich Will no one fight me but he for the ring?

Wanderer He alone beside thee covets the gold.

Alberich Yet shall I not make it my own?

Wanderer (quietly coming nearer)
A hero nears to set free the hoard;
two Nibelungs long for the gold;
Fafner falls who doth guard the ring:
he whose hand grasps it has won it.
Wouldst thou know more? There Fafner lies:
(He turns to the cave.)
If thou warn’st him of death,
fain will he grant thee the toy,
I now will wake him for thee.
(He stands on the rising ground in front of the
cave and calls toward it.)
Fafner! Fafner! Thou dragon, wake!

Alberich (with anxious surprise, aside)
What means the madman? Mine is it truly?
(From the gloomy depth at back is heard Fafner’s
voice through a powerful speaking trumpet.)

Fafner Who wakes me from sleep?

Wanderer (facing the cave)
Here standeth a friend to warn thee of danger;
thy life shall be thy guerdon
if thou wilt grant to him
all the treasure that thou guardest?
(He bends his head toward the cave, listening.)

Fafner What would he?

Alberich (has come to the Wanderer and calls into the cave)
Waken, Fafner! Dragon, awake!
A valiant hero comes,
to match him with thy might.

Fafner Then food is near.

Wanderer Bold is his boyish heart,
sharp-edged is his sword.

Alberich The golden ring seeks he alone:
grant thou the ring to me,
the fight shall be stayed;
the hoard thou shalt hold,
and long shalt live in peace.

Fafner I have and I hold:
(yawning) let me slumber!
(The Wanderer laughs aloud and then turns again
to Alberich.)

Wanderer Now, Alberich! That stroke failed.
Yet call me no more rogue!
This rede I give thee; heed thou it well!
(approaching him confidingly)
All things go their wonted way:
their kind canst thou not alter.
Alone here I leave thee, be on thy guard:
contend with Mime, thy brother;
for his kind, perchance, know’st thou better.
(turning to go) Things strange to thee
now too wilt thou learn!
(He disappears quickly in the wood. A storm arises,
a bright glow breaks out: then both quickly cease.
Alberich looks after the Wanderer as he rides swiftly
away.)

Alberich There rides he away on lightning steed
and leaves me in care and shame.
Yet laugh ye on, ye light-spirited,
self-worshipping clan of eternals!
One day shall I see you all fade!
For while the gold in sunlight gleams
keeps a wise one his watch:
surely worketh his spite!
(He slips into the cleft at the side. The stage
remains empty. Morning twilight.)

Scene Two

(As the day breaks, Siegfried and Mime enter.
Siegfried carries a sword hung in a girdle of rope.
Mime carefully examines the place; he looks at last
toward the background, which remains in deep
shadow while the rising ground in the middle
becomes later gradually more brightly illuminated by
the sun.)

Mime Our road is ended; stay thou here.

Siegfried (sits down under the lime tree and looks
around him)
Here shall then this fear be taught me?
Long hast thou been my leader;

for a livelong night in woodlands dark
we two have wandered alone.
Mime, now straight shalt thou leave me!
If here I learn not what thou wouldst teach,
alone shalt thou fare onward:
free shall I then be from thee!

Mime Truly, comrade,
if today and here thou learn’st it not,
no other place, no other time
ever will teach thee fear.
Seest thou there the darksome cavern mouth?
Therein dwells a dragon fierce and grim:
fearfully grisly is he and big,
with threatening jaws wide open he yawns;
with skin and hair, all in one gulp,
the brute will swallow thee whole.

Siegfried (still sitting under the lime tree)
’Twere well to close up his gullet:
so, clear of his jaws will I keep.

Mime Poisoned foam from his mouth poureth out:
if upon thee a drop should but fall,
thy body and bones would melt.

Siegfried That the poisoned foam my not hurt me,
free will I leave him his path.

Mime A serpent’s tail sweeps he around:
if that should catch thee fast and fold thee close,
thy limbs would be broken like glass!

Siegfried From his twisting tail to preserve me,
well will I hold him in sight.
But this let me know: has the brute a heart?

Mime A merciless, cruel heart.

Siegfried And lies it there where all hearts do beat,
hearts of men or of beasts?

Mime Be sure, stripling, there find’st thou it too.
Now feel’st thou no fear in thine own?
(Siegfried, who has till now lain indolently, sits up
suddenly.)

Siegfried Nothung into his heart will I thrust!
Is that what thou callest fearing?
Hey! Old babbler! Is that lesson
all that thy crafty guile can teach?

Hence on thy way fare onward:
no fearing here shall I learn.

Mime Wait but a while! What I have told thee
deem’st thou but empty sound:
the dragon must thou hear and see,
and then will thy senses grow faint.

When thine eyes are dim
and falt’ring thy feet,
when quaking beats thy heart in thy breast:
(very friendly)
then thank thou him who has led thee,
and think on Mime’s love.

Siegfried Thou shalt not love me!
Hast thou not heard?
Take thee afar from me! Leave me alone;
if longer thou pratest of love,
I will endure it no more.
The nodding and slinking, with eyelids blinking
when shall I never see them more,
(impatiently) when shall I be free from the fool?

Mime I leave thee now,
at the spring there lay me down;
stand thou but here:
soon, when the sun is on high,
look for thy foe:
from the cavern hither he comes,
past this place winds along,
to water at the fountain.

Siegfried (laughing) Mime, wait at the stream,
and there (more animatedly)
the dragon straight shall go:
Nothung first in his heart shall be planted,
when with his draught
thou too shalt be swallowed.
So heed well what I say
if thou wouldst take thy rest,
far from the stream then lay thee down,
and ne’er come back to me!

Mime When faint with the fight
thou wouldst refresh thee,
then were a draught right welcome.
(Siegfried turns away violently.)
Call thou on me, shouldst thou need counsel.
(Siegfried repeats the gesture more violently.)
Or if fear perchance comes to thy heart?
(Siegfried raises himself and drives Mime away
with furious gestures.)
(as he goes away, aside)
Fafner and Siegfried, Siegfried and Fafner:
Would each the other might slay.
(He disappears in the wood on the right. Siegfried
stretches himself comfortably under the lime tree,
and looks after Mime as he departs.)
Siegfried No son of Mime am I!
That fills all my heart with joy.

Now first to me is the forest fair;
now first laugheth the gladdening day,
as the loathed one leaves me here,
nevermore to oppress my sight.
(He falls into silent meditation.)
How looked my father’s face?
Ha! full sure, like my own!
For had but Mime a son,
would he not bear Mime’s likeness?
Even so gruesome, grizzled and gray,
cramped and crooked,
hunchbacked and halting,
with ugly ears hanging, bleary eyes running?
Off with the imp!
I ne’er would see him more!
(He leans farther back and looks up through the
branches. Deep silence. Forest murmurs.)
Might I but know what my mother was like!
That will not my thought ever tell me!
(very tenderly) Her eyes’ tender light
surely did shine like the soft eyes of the roe-deer!
Only far fairer!
(very softly) In anguish deep she bore me,
but why did she die through me?
Must then all mothers perish
thus when their children come to the world?
Sad the world would be then!
Ah, mother, might I but look upon thee!
On my mother, who lived on earth!
(He sighs softly and leans still farther back. Deep silence.)
(Growing forest murmurs. Siegfried’s attention is
at length caught by the song of the woodbird.)
(He listens with growing interest to a woodbird in
the branches above him.)
Thou gracious birdling, strange art thou to me:
here in the wood is thy home?
Ah, would I could take thy meaning!
Thy song something would say,
perchance a loving mother!
A surly old dwarf said to me once
that song of birds was only their speech,
and men might find the meaning.
How could one learn the way?
(He reflects. His eyes fall on a reed bush, not far from the lime tree.)
Ha! I will try; sing his notes;
on the reed echo his warblings:
the tones I will catch, tho’ words may escape me;
while his speech I am singing

perchance I shall know what he says.
(He runs to the neighboring spring, cuts off a reed
with his sword, and quickly makes a pipe out of it.)
(He listens again.)
He stops, and waits:
then I will begin.
(He blows into the pipe. He stops and cuts the pipe
again. He blows again. He shakes his head and again
cuts the pipe. He tries it. He gets angry, presses the
pipe with his hands and tries again.)
(He ceases playing and smiles.)
That sounds not right;
on the reed the blithesome melody may not be caught.
Birdling, methinks I am but dull;
from thee nought can I learn.
(He hears the bird again, and looks up to it.)
Now shamefast am I at the roguish list’ner;
he looks, (very tenderly) yet vainly he listens.
Heida! Then hearken now to my horn.
(He flings the pipe away.)
With the foolish reed I am all unskilled.
To a wood-song then lend me thine ear,
a blithesome one now will I blow thee:
for comrades to love me long have I called:
nought better came yet than wolf and bear.
Now let me see who comes to my call:
if comrade or friend will appear.
(He takes the silver hunting horn and blows on it.
During the long-sustained notes Siegfried looks
expec tantly at the bird.)
(A movement in the background. Fafner, in the
shape of a huge lizard-like dragon, has risen from his
lair in the cave. He breaks through the underwood
and drags himself up to the higher ground until the
front part of his body rests upon it, when he utters a
loud sound as if yawning. Siegfried looks around and
fixes his eyes on Fafner in astonishment.)
(Fafner, at the sight of Siegfried, has stopped on
the knoll and now remains there.)
Ha ha! At last then my lay
has allured something lovely!
What a pretty playmate wert thou!

Fafner What is there?

Siegfried Ei, art thou a beast
that can speak to me?

Perchance something thou may’st teach me.
One here knows not what fearing is:
say, canst thou be his master?

Fafner Art thou over-bold?

Siegfried Bold or over-bold, I know not!
If fear thou canst not teach me,
surely my sword shalt thou feel.

Fafner (makes a sound like a laugh)
Drink I came for, now too I find food!
(He opens his jaws and shows his teeth.)

Siegfried All thy teeth I see glisten laughing to me;
fair is the picture thou shew’st me there!
Well were it to close up the cavern;
thy gullet opens too wide.

Fafner For senseless talking ill it serves;
yet to devour thee fits it well.
(He threatens with his tail.)

Siegfried Hoho! Thou cruel, merciless brute!
No mind have I to stay thy hunger.
Meeter it were, meseems,
that my sword should feed on thy heart.

Fafner (roaring) Pruh! Come, boastful boy!

Siegfried Give heed, growler! The boaster comes!
(He draws his sword, spring toward Fafner, and
remains defiantly standing. Fafner drags himself
farther up the knoll and spits from his nostrils at
Siegfried. Siegfried avoids the steam, springs nearer,
and stands on one side. Fafner tries to reach him with
his tail. Siegfried, who has nearly struck Fafner,
springs over him at one bound and wounds him in
the tail. Fafner roars, pulls his tail away, and raises
the front part of his body, in order to throw its full
weight on Siegfried, and so offers his breast to his
stroke. Siegfried quickly seeks the place of his heart,
and thrusts his sword into it up to the hilt. Fafner
raises himself still higher in pain, and sinks on the
wound as Siegfried lets go of his sword and springs
aside.)
Lie there, merciless brute!
Nothung now hath o’erthrown thee!

Fafner (in a weaker voice)
Who art thou, valiant stripling,
that hast pierced my breast?
Who stirred up thy childish heart
to this murderous deed?
In thy brain was not born
what thou has wrought.

Siegfried Much have I not learned;
I know not who I am:

to this combat so deadly
didst thou thyself stir my heart.

Fafner Thou fair, bright-eyed stripling,
strange e’en to thyself,
whom thou hast murdered hear from me.
The giant rulers of earth,
Fasolt and Fafner the brothers,
both are now fallen.
For the cursed gold we gained from the gods
death to Fasolt I dealt:
in dragon shape, the treasure guarding,
Fafner, the last of the giants,
falls by the hand of a boy.
Heed thyself well, blossoming hero!
He who stirred thee blind to this deed
designs now full surely thy death.
Mark the ending! (dying) Think on me!

Siegfried Who was my father say to me now;
wise dost thou seem, thou wild one, in dying:
haply my name will tell thee,
Siegfried, so am I called.

Fafner Siegfried!..
(He raises himself and dies.)

Siegfried The dead can tell no tidings.
Then lead me henceforth my living sword!
(Fafner has rolled to the side in dying. Siegfried
now draws the sword from his breast; in doing so his
hand becomes sprinkled with the blood: he draws it
quicly back.)
Like fire burns the blood!
(He involuntarily carries his fingers to his mouth to
suck the blood from them. As he looks meditatively
before him his attention becomes suddenly attracted
by the bird’s song.)
Almost it seems
as woodbirds were speaking to me.
Is it a spell that lay in the blood?
The stranger woodbird there?
Hark! he sings to me.

Woodbird (from the branches of the lime tree above
Siegfried)
Hei! Siegfried now owns all the Nibelung’s
hoard;
if hid in the cavern the hoard he finds!
Let him but win him the Tarnhelm,
’twill serve him for deeds of renown:
but could he discover the ring,
it would make him the lord of the world!
(Siegfried has listened, holding his breath withdelight.)

Siegfried (softly and with emotion)
Thanks, dearest birdling, for counsel good!
I follow thy call.
(He turns toward the back and descends into the
cave, where he disappears.)

Scene Three

(Mime steals on, timidly looking around to assure
himself of Fafner’s death. At the same time Alberich
comes forward from a cleft on the opposite side; he
observes Mime attentively. As the latter turns toward
the cave, Alberich rushes on him and stops him.)

Alberich What wouldst, slinking hasty and sly,
slippery knave?

Mime Accursed brother, I want thee not!
What brings thee here?

Alberich Tell me, thou rogue, wouldst rob my gold?
Dost covet my goods?

Mime Off get thee gone now!
The place here is mine:
what seekest thou here?

Alberich Slinking so slyly here to thy work,
art thou now caught?

Mime What I have won with toil and pain
shall not escape me.

Alberich Was it then thou
who robbed the gold from the Rhine?
Was thine then the hand
that worked the spell in the ring?

Mime Who shaped the helm
that hides and changes all?
Though thine the want,
was the hand that worked it thine?

Alberich What work couldst thou, bungler,
ever have known to fashion?
The magic ring taught to the Niblung his craft.

Mime Where hast thou the ring?
The giants have stolen it from thee.
What thou hast lost
I will gain by guile for my own.

Alberich What the boy has won
would the miser lay hands on?
Not to thee belongs it,
the hero himself is its lord.

Mime I brought him up;
for my pains now shall he pay:
my toil and care
have waited full long for their wage.

Alberich For the baby’s care
would the beggarly, miserly knave
make himself so great? king would he be?
To scurviest hound
rather the ring should go than to thee!
ne’er shalt thou gain, thou dullard, its mighty gold!

Mime (scratches his head)
Then hold it thou, and ward it well,
the shining ring;
be thou lord, but yet treat me as brother!
and for the Tarnhelm, fruit of my toil,
take thou the gold; then both are paid;
so shall the booty be shared.
(He rubs his hands confidently.)

Alberich (with mocking laughter)
Share it with thee? And the Tarnhelm too?
How sly thou art!
Never safe in sleep were I from thy cunning!

Mime (beyond himself)
Not e’en share it? Not e’en bargain?
Bare shall I go? Reft of reward?
(whining) Nothing wilt thou then leave me?

Alberich Not a trinket!
Not e’en a nailhead shalt thou lay hands on.

Mime (in fury)
Neither ring nor Tarnhelm shalt thou then win
thee; ’tis I will not share!
For against thee Siegfried now will I call with his
biting sword; his ready hand
shall pay thee, brother of mine.
(Siegfried appears in the background.)

Alberich Turn thee but round!
From the cavern hither he comes.

Mime Trinkets and toys full surely he found.

Alberich The Tarnhelm holds he.

Mime Aye, and the ring.
Alberich Accurst! the ring?

Mime (laughing maliciously)
Haply the ring will he give thee!
Yet soon I ween shall I win it.
(Mime with these words slips away into the wood.)

Alberich And yet to its lord
shall it at last be surrendered.
(He disappears in the cleft.)
(Siegfried, with Tarnhelm and ring, has during the
last dialogue come slowly and meditatively from the
cave: he regards his booty thoughtfully and stops on
the knoll in the middle of the stage.)

Siegfried How ye may serve know I not;
I chose you out from the hoard of heaped-up gold
because good counsel I heard.
The booty will serve as the battle’s witness;
these toys shall approve
that I slaughtered Fafner in fight,
but yet fearing came not to me.
(He puts the Tarnhelm in his girdle and the ring on
his finger. Silence. Siegfried’s attention is again
drawn to the bird, and he listens to him with bated breath.)

Woodbird Hei! Siegfried has won him the helm and the ring!
O! let him not trust to the falsest of friends!
Let but Siegfried now hearken to Mime’s treacherous tongue!
What at heart he means,
that must Mime make known:
thereto boots the taste of the blood.
(Siegfried’s mien and gestures express that he has
understood all. He sees Mime coming and remains
without moving, leaning on his sword, observing and
self-contained, in his place on the knoll till the end of
the following scene.)
(Mime creeps forward and observes Siegfried from
the foreground.)

Mime He broods and weighs the booty’s worth:
Here has perchance a Wand’rer wise been roaming around
to counsel the boy with crafty runes and redes?
Doubly sly be now the dwarf;
my cunningest lures for him must be laid,
that I with coaxing and wily words may be fool
the wits of the boy.
(He advances nearer to Siegfried and welcomes
him with flattering gestures.)
Be welcome, Siegfried! Say, my hero,
hast thou, perchance, learned to fear?

Siegfried The teacher have I not found.

Mime But the dragon grim,
say, hast thou then slain him?

Right fell was the monster, I trow!

Siegfried Though fierce and spiteful he was,
his death grieves me in sooth,
when far banefuller scoundrels live their lives
yet unpunished.
He who led me here to fight
I hate yet more than my foe!

Mime (very friendly) Now gently!
Not long wilt look on my face:
(sweetly) in endless slumber
soon thine eyes shall be closed.
What I from thee wanted
(as if praising him) hast thou fulfilled;
nought else now for me is left
but to win the booty;
methinks that task will not foil me,
thou wert always easy to fool.

Siegfried Then seek’st thou how thou may’st harm me?

Mime (astonished) What? said I then so?
(continuing tenderly) Siegfried!
Hear me, my comrade! Thee and all thy kind
from my heart I ever hated;
(tenderly)
from fondness, thou burden, I fostered thee not:
the hoard hid in Fafner’s cave,
the gold alone I worked to win.
(as though he were promising him pleasant things)
If thou wilt not give all to me now,
(as thou he were ready to give him his life)
Siegfried, my son, thou seest for thyself
(with friendly humor)
thy life then needs must thou yield me.

Siegfried That thou dost hate me gives me joy:
yet must my life to thee too be yielded?

Mime (crossly) I have not said that?
Thou hear’st not aright!
(He feels for his bottle.)
See, thou art weary from heavy toil.
Fever doth burn in thy blood;
therefore to cheer thee with quickening drink
Mime has not delayed:
while thy blade thou didst melt
I mixed thee some broth;
now if thou drink,
I win me thy trusty sword,
and helm and hoard as well.
(tittering) Hi hi hi hi hi hi!

Siegfried So then of my sword
and all I have won me,
ring and booty, wouldst rob me?

Mime (violently)
How thou mistakest my words!
Tell me, speak I not clear?
The greatest pains I take with my speech,
by treacherous lying seeking to trap thee,
and thou canst not, booby, take my meaning aright!
Open thine ears then! And attend to me!
Hear thou what Mime means.
(again very friendly, with evident pains)
Take this and drink for thy comfort;
my draught freshened thee oft:
when thou wert fretful, froward to boot,
all that I brought, though surly,
still hast thou swallowed.

Siegfried Of a goodly drink were I glad:
say, how has this one been brewed?

Mime (merrily jesting, as if describing a pleasant
intoxication which the potion is to bring about)

Hei! Then drink it, trust to my craft!
In night and darkness
soon shall thy senses be laid;
without force or feeling,
stark stretched will thy limbs be.
There as thou liest
light then were the task to win me the booty:
but if e’er thou shouldst wake,
nowhere safe should I be from thee,
though the ring were my own.
Then with the sword
thou hast made so sharp,
(with a gesture of exuberant joy)
off will I hack thy head, my child:
then shall I have won rest and the ring!
(tittering) Hi hi hi!...

Siegfried In slumber wouldst thou then slay me?

Mime (very angrily)
What would I? Said I then so?
(He takes pains to take the tenderest tone.)
Thy childish head shall thy sword
(with the most careful clearness) hack off!
(with the appearance of heart-felt solicitude for
Siegfried’s health)
For, were not my hate for thee so deep,
and did not thy scoffs
and my shameful labor

so loudly call for vengeance,
(gently) yet from out my path to fling thee
still I dare not falter:
(again jesting)
how else could I come by the booty,
for Alberich covets it too?
(He pours the draught into the drink-horn and
offers it to Siegfried with pressing gestures.)
Now, my Wälsung! Wolf-son thou?
Drink and choke thee to death!
No drop more shalt thou drink.
Hi hi hi hi hi!

Siegfried (threatens him with the sword)
Taste thou my sword, loathsome babbler!
(As if seized by violent loathing he gives Mime a
sharp stroke with his sword. Mime falls at once dead
to the ground.)

Alberich (from the cleft, laughing in mockery)
Ha ha ha!...
(As he looks at Mime on the ground, Siegfried puts
his sword back in his belt.)

Siegfried Envy’s wage pays Nothung:
therefor serveth its sharpness.
(He picks Mime’s body up, carries it to the knoll in
front of the cave, and throws it down in there.)
In the cavern there lie on the hoard!
With steadfast guile thou soughtest the gold;
now may’st thou be lord of thy treasure!
and a trusty guardian, too, shalt thou have:
safe so from thieves shalt thou be.
(With great exertion he pushes the body of the
dragon in front of the entrance to the cave so as to
stop it completely up.)
There lie thou too, dragon grim!
The glittering hoard guard thou at once
with thy booty-coveting foe:
so shall ye both now find your rest.
(He looks thoughtfully down into the cave for a
time and then turns slowly to the front, as if tired. It is
midday. He passes his hand over his brow.)
Hot am I from the heavy toil.
Rushing flows my ardent blood!
My hand burns on my head.
High stands the sun in heaven;
from brightest blue shineth down
on my head his glorious light.

Rest and shelter beneath the tree shall refresh
me.
(He stretches himself on the ground under the lime
tree and again looks up through the branches.)
Yet once more, dearest birdling,
whom we so long here have disturbed,
might I hear again thy warbling!
On a branch I see thee swaying so blithely;
chirping and chattering,
brothers and sisters
fly round thee in gladness and love.
But I am so alone,
have nor brother nor sister:
my mother died, my father fell:
ne’er seen by their son.
One comrade was mine, a foul pestilent dwarf:
(warmly) love was ne’er constrained by kindness:
craftiest lures he laid out to catch me,
at last I was forced to slay him.
(With painful emotion he again looks up at the
branches.)
Friendliest birdling, I come to thee now.
Wouldst for me but find a comrade true!
Let thy rede now guide me rightly.
So oft I have called and yet no one has come.
Friend, thou surely better wouldst find him,
so right were ever thy redes.
Now sing! I hearken to thy song.
Woodbird Hei! Siegfried has struck down the evil
dwarf!
Now know I for him a glorious bride:
on rocky fastness she sleeps,
guarded by fire is her home:
who fighteth the flames, wakens the maid,
Brünnhilde wins for his own.

Siegfried (starts up impetuously from his seat)
O song of joy! Gladdening strain!
Its burning sense glows hot in my breast;
like flame it pierces, kindling my heart!
What so swiftly flies through heart and senses?
Say to me, sweetest friend! (He listens.)
Woodbird Gladsome in grief, I sing of love,
weaving from woe, joy in my song:
heart-longing alone hears aright.

Siegfried Hence I hie me, shouting with rapture,
forth from the wood to the fell!
Yet once more speak to me, lovely singer;
say, shall I break through the fire?
Can I awaken the bride?
(He listens again.)

Woodbird Who Brünnhild’ awakes,
winning the bride, no craven shall be:
he only who fear has not felt!

Siegfried (shouting with joy) The foolish boy,
he who fear has not felt,
my birdling, why that am I!
Today in vain I have tried with my might
from Fafner the dragon to learn it:
my longing doth burn
now from Brünnhild’ to know it!
How find I the way to the fell?
(The bird flutters up, circles over Siegfried, and flies
hesitatingly before him.)
So shall then the path be pointed:
where’er thou flyest follows my foot!
(He runs after the bird, who for a time teases him,
by leading him hither and thither; at length, when
the bird takes a definite direction toward the back,
Siegfried follows.)
(The curtain falls.)

libretto by Frederick Jameson

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