Chapter IV: Act I: appears with increasing distinctness

_It is night. The moonlight is mirrored in the Rhine. Gutrune comes out of her chamber into the hall._

Was that his horn?

[_She listens._

No!--he
Has not returned.
Troubled was my sleep
By evil dreams!
Then wildly neighed his horse;
Brünnhild' laughed,
And I woke up afraid.
What woman was it
I saw go down to the shore?
I fear this Brünnhild'!
Is she within?

[_She listens at the door at the right and calls._

Brünnhild'! Brünnhild'!
Art awake?

[_She opens the door timidly and looks into the
inner room._

No one is there!
So it was she
I saw go downwards to the Rhine.

[_A distant horn sounds._

Was that his horn?
No!
All silent!

[_She looks out anxiously._

Would but Siegfried return!

[_Hagen's voice is heard outside coming nearer.
When Gutrune hears it she stands for a time
transfixed with terror._

HAGEN

Hoiho! Hoiho!
Awake! Awake!
Lights! Ho! lights here!
Burning torches!
Home bring we
Spoils of the chase.
Hoiho! Hoiho!

[_Increasing light from the torches is seen
without. Hagen enters the hall._

Up! Gutrun'!
Give Siegfried greeting,
For home to thee
Thy hero comes.

GUTRUNE [_In great fear._

What is wrong, Hagen?
I heard not his horn.

[_Men and women with lights and firebrands
accompany, in great confusion, the procession
returning with Siegfried's body._

HAGEN

The hero pale
Will blow it no more;
No more will he ride
To battle or chase
Or gaily go wooing fair women.

GUTRUNE [_With growing terror._

What bring they here?

[_The procession reaches the middle of the hall,
and the vassals set down the body on a hastily
improvised platform._

HAGEN

'Tis a wild boar's spoil they bring thee: Siegfried, thy husband slain.

[_Gutrune shrieks and falls upon the corpse.
General emotion and mourning._

GUNTHER

[_Bends over the fainting Gutrune._

Gutrun', gentle sister!
Open thine eyelids!
Look up and speak!

GUTRUNE

[_Recovering consciousness._

Siegfried--they have slain Siegfried!

[_She pushes Gunther back violently._

Hence! false-hearted brother, Thou slayer of my husband! Oh, who will help me! Woe's me! Woe's me! These men have murdered my Siegfried!

GUNTHER

Cast not the blame on me; 'Tis Hagen who must bear it: He is the accursèd wild boar That did the hero to death.

HAGEN

With me art wroth for that?

GUNTHER

Woe and grief
For aye be thy portion!

HAGEN

[_Stepping forward with terrible defiance._

Yes, then, 'tis true that I slew him. I--Hagen-- Did him to death! By my spear he falsely swore, So by my spear he fell. I have the sacred right Now to demand my booty, And what I claim is this ring.

GUNTHER

Away! Thou shalt not have What forfeit falls to me.

HAGEN

Ye vassals, judge of my right!

GUNTHER

Thou wouldst seize Gutrune's dower, Insolent Niblung son?

HAGEN

[_Draws his sword._

'Tis thus
The Niblung son demands his own.

[_He rushes on Gunther, who defends himself: they
fight. The vassals throw themselves between.
Gunther falls slain by a stroke from Hagen._

HAGEN

Mine the ring!

[_He makes a grasp at Siegfried's hand, which
raises itself in menace. All stand transfixed with
horror._

BRÜNNHILDE

[_Advances firmly and solemnly from the background
to the front. Still at the back._

Silence! Your sorrow
Clamour less loud!
Now for vengeance his wife comes,
The woman all have betrayed.

[_As she comes quietly forward._

I have heard you whining
As whine children
When milk is spilt by their mother;
But lamentation
Meet for a hero unmatched
I have not heard.

GUTRUNE

[_Raising herself suddenly from the floor._

Brünnhilde, spite-envenomed! Thou art the cause of our woe! For, urged by thee, the men have slain him; Cursèd hour that brought thee here!

BRÜNNHILDE

Peace, hapless wretch! Thou never wert wife of his; His leman wert thou, Only that. But I am his lawful bride; To me was the binding oath sworn, Before thy face he beheld.

GUTRUNE

[_Breaking out in sudden despair._

Accursèd Hagen, Why didst thou give the poison That stole her husband away? O sorrow! Mine eyes are opened: Brünnhild' was the true love Whom through the draught he forgot.

[_She turns from Siegfried in shame and fear,
and, dying, bends over Gunther's body; remaining
motionless in this position until the end. Hagen
stands defiantly leaning on his spear and shield,
sunk in gloomy thought, on the opposite side.
Brünnhilde stands alone in the middle. After long
and absorbed contemplation of Siegfried she turns
with solemn exaltation to the men and women._

BRÜNNHILDE

Let great logs
Be borne to the shore
And high by the Rhine be heaped;
Fierce and far
Let the flames mount
That consume to ashes
Him who was first among men!
His horse lead to me here,
That with me his lord he may follow.
For my body longs
To have part in his glory
And share his honour in death.
Obey Brünnhild's behest.

[_The young men, during the following, raise a
great pyre of logs before the hall, near the bank
of the Rhine; women decorate this with rugs, on
which they strew plants and flowers._

BRÜNNHILDE

[_Absorbed anew in contemplation of Siegfried's
dead face. Her expression brightens and softens as
she proceeds._

Sheer golden sunshine
Streams from his face;
None was so pure
As he who betrayed.
To wife forsworn,
To friend too faithful,
From his own true love--
His only belovèd--
Barred he lay by his sword.
Never did man
Swear oaths more honest,
No one was ever
Truer to treaties;
Never was love
Purer than Siegfried's;
Yet oaths the most sacred,
Bonds the most binding,
And true love were never
So grossly betrayed!

Know ye why that was?

[_Looking upward._

Ye Gods who guard
All vows that are uttered,
Look down on me
In my terrible grief,
Your guilt never-ending behold!
Hear my voice accusing,
Mighty God!
Through his most valiant deed--
Deed by thee so desired--
Thou didst condemn him
To the doom
That else upon thee had fallen.
He, truest of all,
Must betray me,
That wise a woman might grow!

Know I all thou wouldst learn?

All things! All things!
All I know now:
All stands plainly revealed.
Round me I hear
Thy ravens flapping.
By them I send thee back
The tidings awaited in fear.
Rest in peace now, O God!

[_She signs to the vassals to bear Siegfried's body
on to the pyre; at the same time she draws the ring
off Siegfried's singer, and regards it musingly._

I claim as mine
What he has left me.
O gold accurst!
Terrible ring!
I now grasp thee
And give thee away.
O sisters wise,
Ye have my thanks
For your counsel good, ye who dwell
In the waters deep of the Rhine.
What ye desire
I gladly give;
From out my ashes
Take ye your treasure;
The fire by which I am burnt
Cleanses the ring of its curse.
Down in the waves
Wash it away,
And guard ever pure
The shining gold
That stolen was to your grief!

[_She has put the ring on her finger, and now turns
to the pile of logs on which Siegfried's body lies
stretched. Taking a great firebrand from one of the
men, she waves it and points to the background._

Fly home, ye ravens,
Tell your lord the tidings
That ye have heard by the Rhine.
But fly, as ye go,
By Brünnhild's rock:
Still Loge flames there;
Bid him follow to Walhall;
For the Gods are drawing
Near to their doom.

Thus--thrown be the brand On Walhall's glittering halls!

[_She hurls the brand on to the pile of wood, which
quickly breaks into flame. Two ravens fly up from
the rock by the shore and vanish in the background.
Brünnhilde perceives her horse, which has just been
led in by two men._

Grane, my horse,
Be greeted fair!

[_She springs towards him, and, catching hold of
him, removes his bridle and bends towards him
affectionately._

Knowest thou, my friend,
To whom we are going?
Thy lord lies radiant
There in the fire,
Siegfried, my hero blest!
Thou neighest with joy
To think thou shalt join him?
Laughing, the flames
Allure thee to follow?
Feel thou my bosom,
Feel how it burns;
Flames of fire
Have laid hold on my heart.
Ah, to embrace him,
By him be embraced,
United for ever
In love without end!
Heiajoho! Grane!
Give thy lord greeting!

[_She has swung herself on to the horse, and urges
it forward._

Siegfried! Siegfried!
See! Brünnhild' greets thee, thy bride!

[_She urges her horse with one leap into the
burning pile of logs. The flames immediately blaze
up, so that they fill the whole space in front of
the hall and seem to catch hold of the building
itself. The terrified men and women press as far
to the front as possible. When the whole stage
appears to be filled with fire the glow gradually
fades, so that there is soon nothing left but a
cloud of smoke, which drifts towards the back and
hangs there as a dark bank of cloud. At the same
time the Rhine overflows and the flood rolls up
over the fire. The three Rhine-Maidens swim forward
on the waves, and now appear over the spot where
the fire was. Hagen, who since the incident of
the ring has been watching Brünnhilde's behaviour
with growing anxiety, is much alarmed by the fight
of the Rhine-Maidens. He throws away his spear,
shield, and helmet, and dashes into the flood as
if mad, crying out, "Back from the ring!" Woglinde
and Wellgunde fling their arms round his neck and,
swimming away, draw him down with them into the
depths. Flosshilde, swimming ahead of the others
towards the back, joyously holds up the recovered
ring. Through the bank of cloud on the horizon a
red glow of increasing brightness breaks forth,
and, illumined by this light, the Rhine-Maidens
are seen merrily circling about and playing with
the ring on the calmer waters of the Rhine, which
has gradually retired to its natural bed. From the
ruins of the fallen hall the men and women watch in
great agitation the growing gleam of fire in the
heavens. When this is at its brightest the hall of
Walhall is seen, in which the Gods and heroes fit
assembled, as described by Waltraute in the first
Act. Bright flames seem to seize on the hall of the
Gods. When the Gods are completely hidden by the
flames the curtain falls._