SIEGLINDE
Art asleep?
SIEGMUND [Joyfully surprised.
Who steals this way?
SIEGLINDE [With stealthy haste.
'Tis I: listen to me!
In sleep profound lies Hunding;
The draught that I mixed him I drugged.
Use to good purpose the night!
SIEGMUND [Ardently interrupting.
Thou here, all is well!
SIEGLINDE
I have come to show thee a weapon;
O couldst thou make it thine!
I then might call thee
First among heroes,
For only by him
Can it be won.
O hearken: heed what I tell thee!
Here Hunding's kinsmen
Sat in the hall,
Assembled to honour his wedding.
He took as his wife,
Against her will,
One who was bartered by thieves.
Sad I sat there
Through their carousing.
A stranger entered the hall,
An old and grey-coated man.
So slouched was his hat
That one of his eyes was hidden;
But the other flashed
So that all feared it:
Overwhelming
Its menace they found;
I alone
Suffered, when looked on,
Sweet pain, sad delight,
Sorrow and solace in one.
On me glancing,
He scowled at the others,
As he swung a sword in his hands.
This sword he plunged
In the ash-tree's stem,
To the hilt driving it home.
The weapon he gains in guerdon
Who draws it from its place.
Though sore they struggled,
Not one of the heroes
Could win the weapon for his;
Coming, going,
The guests essayed it,
The strongest tugged at the steel;
Not an inch it stirred in the stem;
In silence yonder it cleaves.
I knew then who he was
That in sorrow greeted me.
I know too
Now for whom
The sword was stuck in the tree.
O might I to-day
Find here the friend
Brought from afar
By a woman's woe!
Then all I have suffered
In sorrow untold,
All scorn and all shame
In anger endured—
All would avenged be,
Sweetly atoned for—
Regained fully
The good I had lost;
For mine I should win
All I had wept for,
Could I but find the dear friend,
And clasp him close in my arms!
SIEGFRIED [Embracing Sieglinde with passionate ardour.
Dear woman, that friend
Holds thee at last,
Both woman and sword are his.
Here in my breast
Burns hot the oath
That welds us twain into one.
For all that I sought
I see now in thee,
In thee all
That once failed me I find.
Thou wert despised,
My portion was pain;
I was an outlaw,
Dishonoured wert thou;
Sweet revenge beckons,
Bids us be joyful;
I laugh
From sheer fulness of joy,
Holding thee, love, in my arms thus,
Feeling the beat of thy heart!
[The outer door swings open.
SIEGLINDE [With a start of alarm tears herself away.
Ha, who went? Who entered there?
[The door remains open. Outside a glorious spring night. The full moon shines in, throwing its bright light on the pair, so that they can suddenly see one another quite plainly.
SIEGMUND [In soft ecstasy.
No one went—
But one has come:
Laughing the spring
Enters the hall!
[He draws Sieglinde with tender force on to the couch, so that she sits beside him. The moon shines more and more brightly.
Winter storms have yielded
To May's sweet moon,
And mild and radiant
Sparkles the spring.
On balmy breezes
Light and lovely,
Weaving wonders,
Soft she sways.
Through field and forest
She is breathing;
Wide and open
Laughs her eye;
When blithe the birds are singing
Sounds her voice;
Fragrant odours
She exhales;
From her warm blood blossom flowers
Welcome and joyous.
Shoot and bud,
They wax by her aid.
With tender weapons armed,
She conquers the world.
Winter and storm yield
To the strong attack.
No wonder that, beaten boldly,
At last the door should have opened,
Which, stubborn and stiff,
Was keeping her out.
To find her sister
Hither she came;
By love has spring been allured;
Within our bosoms
Buried she lay;
Now glad she laughs to the light.
The bride who is sister
Is freed by the brother;
In ruin lies
What held them apart.
Loud rejoicing,
They meet and greet;
Lo! Love is mated with spring!
SIEGLINDE
Thou art the spring
That I used to pine for,
When pinched by the winter frost;
My heart hailed thee friend
With bliss and with fear,
When thy first glance fell on me sweetly
All I had seen appeared strange;
Friendless were my surroundings;
I never seemed to have known
Any one who came nigh.
Thee, however,
Straightway I knew,
And I saw thou wert mine
When I beheld thee:
What I hid in my heart,
All I am,
Clear as the day
Dawned to my sight
Like tones to the ear
Echoing back,
When, upon my frosty desert,
My eyes first beheld a friend.
[She hangs enraptured on his neck, and looks him close in the face.
SIEGMUND [Transported.
O rapture most blissful!
Woman most blest!
SIEGLINDE [Close to his eyes.
O let me, closer
And closer clinging,
Discern more clearly
The sacred light
That from thine eyes
And face shines forth,
And so sweetly sways every sense!
SIEGMUND
The May-moon's light
Falls on thy face
Framed by masses
Of waving hair.
What snared my heart
'Tis easy to guess:
My gaze on loveliness feasts.
SIEGLINDE
[Pushing the hair back from his brow, regards him with astonishment.