He who set the task
And seized the fruits—
From him I have learnt,
Alas I but too late!
All the helmet's cunning craft.
From my sight he vanished,
But, viciously lashing,
Swung his arm through unseen.
[Howling and sobbing.
This, fool that I am,
Was all my thanks!
[He rubs his back. Wotan and Loge laugh.
LOGE [To Wotan.
Confess, our task
Will call for skill.
WOTAN
Yet the foe will yield,
Use thou but fraud.
MIME [Observes the Gods more attentively.
Who are you, ye strangers
That ask all these questions?
LOGE
Friends to thee,
Who from their straits
Will free all the Nibelung folk.
MIME [Shrinking back in fear when he hears Alberich returning.
Hark! Have a care!
Alberich comes!
[He runs to and fro in terror.
WOTAN
We'll wait for him here.
[He sits down calmly on a stone. Alberich, who has taken the Tarnhelm from his head and hung it on his girdle, is brandishing his scourge and driving before him a band of Nibelungs from the gorges below. These are laden with gold and silver treasure, which, urged on by Alberich, they pile up so as to form a large heap.
ALBERICH
Hither! Thither!
Héhé! Hoho!
Lazy herd!
Haste and heap
Higher the hoard.
Up with thee there!
On with thee here!
Indolent dolts,
Down with the treasure!
Need ye my urging?
Here with it all!
[He suddenly perceives Wotan and Loge.
Hey! Who are they
That thus intrude?
Mime! Come here!
Rascally rogue!
Gossiping art
With the pilgriming pair?
Off, thou idler!
Back to thy bellows and beating!
[Lashing Mime, he chases him into the crowd of Nibelungs.
Hey! to your labour!
Get ye all hence now!
Swing ye down swift!
From the virgin gorges
Get me the gold!
This whip will follow,
Delve ye not fast!
That labour ye shirk not
Mime be surety,
Or surely the lash
Of my whip will find him;
That where no one would guess
I watch and I wander,
None knows it better than he.
Loitering still?
Lingering there?
Alberich drives in a band of Nibelungs laden with gold and silver treasure.
[He pulls the ring from his finger, kisses it and stretches it out in menace.
Fear ye and tremble,
O fallen host,
And obey
The ring's dread lord!
[Howling and shrieking, the Nibelungs, among them Mime, scatter, and creep down into the clefts in all directions.
ALBERICH
[Looks long and distrustfully at Wotan and Loge.
What seek ye here?
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