PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 3, No. 24, SERIAL No. 100
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
WOTAN’S FAREWELL (Die Walküre)—From the painting by K. Dielitz
The Ring of the Nibelung
DIE WALKÜRE
Monograph Number Four in The Mentor Reading Course
Wotan and the rest of the gods were in a serious dilemma. They must not get back the cursed ring, for its possession would bring ruin. And yet if they left it with the giant Fafner, Alberich might recover it and make the gods his slaves. There was only one way out of the dilemma. The ring must go to someone whom the gods need not fear. As long as no enemy had the ring, the gods were safe enough in their new citadel. This was guarded by the Valkyr Maidens, nine of them, all daughters of Wotan and Erda. Their mission was to follow mortals in combat and to carry the fallen heroes on their horses to Walhall to form its guard. Having provided for present safety, Wotan looked to the future. He went to the earth and, uniting himself with a mortal woman, under the name of Wälse, meaning “wolf,” he founded the formidable race of the Wälsungs—Siegmund and Sieglinde—on whom he set his hopes.
Sieglinde, grown to maturity, was carried off and married against her will to the rough hunter, Hunding. One night to the hut where Hunding and Sieglinde were living came Siegmund, a fugitive, wearied with conflict, and battered by the storm. He had been fighting with Hunding, and had entered the very home of his enemy. Sieglinde came in and found him lying exhausted by the hearth. She gave him a refreshing draught. Then came Hunding, to whom Siegmund told his story, thereby revealing himself as his host’s foe. Hunding would not fight him in his own home, but challenged him to combat the next day.