Fritz— If we are the hand,
For the hand strikes.
Rudolph— Without the head? No, Fritz;
We must delay our battle with the beast.
A new shield we will shape us on the heights;
Temper it in the flashes of the sky
And boss it with the terror of the grave.
Of mountain metal on the mountain tops,
New armor we will forge. Let the old shield
Lie here upon the plain, covering the dead.
Let the leaves cover it. And for the sword
That broken lies between the dragon's paws,
Val-father will reach down and put the hilt
Of some great Fafnir's-bane in Canzler's hand,
Canzler, in turn, in Oswald's when he weds,
And Oswald and the girl will pass it on
Down to the hand of that child—
Fritz— Canzler go?
Rudolph—Whom Woden shall bid seek the dragon's den,
And Siegfried of the North shall slay the snake.
Fritz—Canzler will not go. Canzler!
Rudolph— He will go.
Fritz—Canzler will lay him in the grave first.
Rudolph— Fritz,
Who calls the fairies?
Fritz— What of that?
Rudolph— Witchcraft.