ALBERICH
The price is paid;
Let me depart!
And that helm of mine
Which Loge still holds,
That also pray give me again!
LOGE
[Throwing the Tarnhelm on to the heap.
The plunder must pay for the pardon.
ALBERICH
Accursed thief!
But patience! Calm!
He who moulded the one
Makes me another;
Still mine is the might
That Mime obeys.
Loath indeed
Am I to leave
My cunning defence to the foe!
Nothing Alberich
Owns at all now;
Unbind, ye tyrants, his bonds!
LOGE [To Wotan.
Ought I to free him?
Art thou content?
WOTAN
A golden ring
Girdles thy finger:
Hearest, elf?
That also belongs to the hoard.
ALBERICH [Horrified.
The ring?
WOTAN
The ring must also
Go to the ransom.
ALBERICH [Trembling.
My life—but the ring: not that!
WOTAN [With greater violence.
The ring I covet;
For thy life I care not at all.
ALBERICH
But if my life I ransom
The ring I must also rescue
Hand and head,
Eye and ear
Are not mine more truly
Than mine is the ruddy ring!
WOTAN
The ring thou claimest as thine?
Impudent elf, thou art raving.
Tell the truth;
Whence was gotten the gold
To fashion the glittering gaud?
How could that be
Thine which reft was,
Thou rogue, from watery deeps?
To the Rhine's fair daughters
Down and inquire
If the gold
Was as gift to thee given
That thou didst thieve for the ring!
ALBERICH
Vile double-dealing!
Shameless deceit!
Wouldst thou, robber,
Reproach in me
The sin so sweet to thyself?
How fain thou hadst
Bereft the Rhine of its gold,
If it had been
As easy to forge as to steal!
How well for thee,
Thou unctuous knave,
That the Nibelung, stung
By shameful defeat,
And by fury driven,
Was fired into winning the spell
That now alluringly smiles!
Shall I, bliss debarred,
Anguish-burdened
Because of the
Curse-laden deed,
My ring as a toy
Grant to princes for pleasure,
My ban bringing blessing to thee?
Have a care,
Arrogant God!
My sin was one
Concerning myself alone:
But against all that was,
Is and shall be
Thou wouldst wantonly sin,
Eternal one, taking the ring.
WOTAN
Yield the ring!
Thy foolish talk
Gives no title to that.
[He seizes Alberich and draws the ring from his finger by force.
ALBERICH [With a frightful cry.
Woe! Defeated! Undone!
Of wretches the wretchedest slave!
WOTAN [Contemplating the ring.
I own what makes me supreme,
The mightiest lord of all lords!
[He puts on the ring.
LOGE [To Wotan.
Shall he go free?
WOTAN
Loose his bonds.
LOGE [Sets Alberich quite free.
Slip away home,
For no fetter binds thee!
Fare forth, thou art free!
ALBERICH [Raising himself with furious laughter.
Am I now free,
Free in truth?
My freedom's first
Greeting take, for it is thine!
As a curse gave me the ring,
My curse go with the ring!
As its gold
Gave measureless might,
May now its magic
Deal death evermore!
No man shall gain
Gladness therefrom;
May ill-fortune befall him
On whom it shines.
Fretted by care
Be he who shall hold it,
And he who doth not,
By envy be gnawed!
All shall covet
And crave its wealth,
Yet none shall it profit
Or pay when won.
Those who guard it nothing shall gain,
Yet shall murder go where they go.
The coward, death-doomed,
By fetters of fear shall be bound;
His whole life long
He shall languish to death—
The ring's proud lord
And its poorest slave—
Till again I have
In my hand the gold I was robbed of.
So blesses
The Nibelung
The ring in bitter despair!
Hold fast to it!
[Laughing.
Keep it with care;
[Grimly.