pherd calls his flocks. They come at his summons; and he and the
castle are hidden by their black legions. Froh, the Rainbow god, hastens
to his side. At the stroke of Donner's hammer the black murk is riven in
all directions by darting ribbons of lightning; and as the air clears,
the castle is seen in its fullest splendor, accessible now by the
rainbow bridge which Froh has cast across the ravine. In the glory
of this moment Wotan has a great thought. With all his aspirations
to establish a reign of noble thought, of righteousness, order, and
justice, he has found that day that there is no race yet in the world
that quite spontaneously, naturally, and unconsciously realizes his
ideal. He himself has found how far short Godhead falls of the thing
it conceives. He, the greatest of gods, has been unable to control his
fate: he has been forced against his will to choose between evils, to
make disgraceful bargains, to break them still more disgracefully, and
even then to see the price of his disgrace slip through his fingers.
His consort has cost him half his vision; his castle has cost him his
affections; and the attempt to retain both has cost him his honor. On
every side he is shackled and bound, dependent on the laws of Fricka and
on the lies of Loki, forced to traffic with dwarfs for handicraft and
with giants for strength, and to pay them both in false coin. After all,
a god is a pitiful thing. But the fertility of the First Mother is not
yet exhausted. The life that came from her has ever climbed up to a
higher and higher organization. From toad and serpent to dwarf, from
bear and elephant to giant, from dwarf and giant to a god with thoughts,
with comprehension of the world, with ideals. Why should it stop there?
Why should it not rise from the god to the Hero? to the creature in whom
the god's unavailing thought shall have become effective will and life,
who shall make his way straight to truth and reality over the laws of
Fricka and the lies of Loki with a strength that overcomes giants and a
cunning that outwits dwarfs? Yes: Erda, the First Mother, must travail
again, and breed him a race of heroes to deliver the world and himself
from his limited powers and disgraceful bargains. This is the vision
that flashes on him as he turns to the rainbow bridge and calls his wife
to come and dwell with him in Valhalla, the home of the gods.

They are all overcome with Valhalla's glory except Loki. He is behind
the scenes of