THE RHINEGOLD
GODS: WOTAN, DONNER, FROH, LOGE
NIBELUNGS: ALBERICH, MIME
GIANTS: FASOLT, FAFNER
GODDESSES: FRICKA, FREIA, ERDA
RHINE-MAIDENS: WOGLINDE, WELLGUNDE, FLOSSHILDE
I. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RHINE
II. OPEN SPACE ON A MOUNTAIN HEIGHT NEAR THE RHINE
III. THE SUBTERRANEAN CAVERNS OF NIBELHEIM
IV. OPEN SPACE AS IN SCENE II.
FIRST SCENE
A greenish twilight, lighter above than below. The upper part is filled with undulating water, which streams respectively from right to left. Towards the bottom the waves resolve themselves into a mist which grows finer as it descends, so that a space, as high as a mans body from the ground, appears to be quite free from the water, which floats like a train of clouds over the gloomy stretch below. Steep rocky peaks jut up everywhere from the depths, and enclose the entire stage. The ground is a wild confusion of jagged rocks, no part of it being quite level, and on every side deeper fisures are indicated by a still denser gloom. Woglinde circles with graceful swimming movements round the central rock.
WOGLINDE
Weia! Waga!
Roll, O ye billows,
Rock ye our cradle!
Wagala weia!
Wallala, weiala, weia!
WELLGUNDE [From above.
Woglinde, watchest alone?
WOGLINDE
If Wellgunde came we were two.
WELLGUNDE [Dives down to the rock.
How keepest thou watch?
WOGLINDE [Swimming off, eludes her.
Wary of thee.
[They playfully tease and chase one another.
FLOSSHILDE [From above.
Heiaha weia!
Ho! ye wild sisters!
WELLGUNDE
Flosshilde, swim!
Woglinde flies:
Help me to hinder her flying.
FLOSSHILDE [Dives down between the two at play.
The sleeping gold
Badly ye guard;
Watch with more zeal
The slumberer's bed,
Or dear you'll pay for your sport!
[They swim asunder with merry cries. Flosshilde tries to catch first the one, then the other. They elude her, and then combine to chase her, darting like fish from rock to rock with jests and laughter. Meanwhile Alberich climbs out of a dark ravine on to a rock. He pauses, still surrounded by darkness, and watches the frolic of the Rhine-Maidens with increasing pleasure.
ALBERICH
Hey, hey! ye nixies!
Ye are a lovely,
Lovable folk!
From Nibelheim's night
Fain would I come,
Would ye be kind to me.
[The maidens, as soon as they hear Alberich's voice, stop playing.
WOGLINDE
Hei! Who is there?
WELLGUNDE
A voice! It grows dark!
FLOSSHILDE
Who listens below?
[They dive down and see the Nibelung.
WOGLINDE AND WELLGUNDE
Fie! the loathsome one!
The frolic of the Rhine-Maidens.
FLOSSHILDE [Swimming up quickly.
Look to the gold!
Father warned us
Of such a foe.
[Both the others follow her, and all three gather quickly round the central rock.
ALBERICH
You above there!
THE THREE RHINE-MAIDENS
What wouldst thou below there?
ALBERICH
Do I spoil sport
By standing and gazing here?
Dived ye but deeper,
Fain the Niblung
Would join in your frolic and play.
WELLGUNDE
He wishes to join us?
WOGLINDE
Is he in jest?
ALBERICH
Ye gleam above me
So glad and fair!
If one would only
Glide down, how close in my arms
Fondly clasped she would be!
FLOSSHILDE
I laugh at my fears:
The foe is in love.
WELLGUNDE
The amorous imp!
WOGLINDE
Let us approach him.
[She sinks down to the top of the rock, whose base Alberich has reached.
ALBERICH
Lo! one of them comes!
WOGLINDE
Climb up to me here!
ALBERICH
[Climbs with gnome-like agility, though with repeated checks, to the summit of the rock. Irritably.
Horrid rock,
So slippery, slimy!
I slide and slip!
My hands and feet vainly
Attempt to hold on
To the slithery surface!
Vapour damp
Fills up my nostrils—
Accursed sneezing!
[He