restlessness however daily increases, until
at last he penetrates in disguise into the dark underground
world and woos the fair earth goddess. So successfully does
he plead his cause, that she receives him as her spouse and
bears him eight lovely daughters. She also reveals to him the
secrets of the future, when Walhalla's strong walls shall fall,
and the gods shall perish, because they have resorted to fraud
and lent a willing ear to Loge, prince of evil.

Notwithstanding this fatal prediction Wotan remains
undismayed. Instead of yielding passively to whatever fate may
befall him, he resolves to prepare for a future conflict, and to
defend Walhalla against every foe. As the gods are few in number,
he soon decides to summon mortals to his abode, and in order
to have men trained to every hardship and accustomed to war,
he flings his spear over the world, and kindles unending strife
between all the nations. His eight daughters, the Walkyries,
are next deputed to ride down to earth every day and bear away
the bravest among the slain. These warriors are entertained
at his table with heavenly mead, and encouraged to keep up
their strength and skill by cutting and hewing each other,
their wounds healing magically as soon as made.

But, in spite of these preparations, Wotan is not yet
satisfied. He still remembers the all-powerful ring which he has
given to the giants, and which is still in the keeping of Fafnir.
In case this ring again falls into the hands of the revengeful
Alberich, he knows the gods cannot hope to escape from his
wrath. He himself cannot snatch back a gift once given, so he
decides to beget a son, who will unconsciously be his emissary,
and who will, moreover, oppose the offspring which Erda has
predicted that Alberich will raise merely to help him avenge
his wrongs. Disguised as a mortal named Waelse, or Volsung, Wotan
takes up his abode upon earth, and marries a mortal woman, who
bears him twin children, Siegmund and Sieglinde. These children
are still very young when Hunding, a hunter and lover of strife,
comes upon their hut in the woods, and burns it to the ground,
after slaying the elder woman and carrying off the younger as
his captive.

On their return from the forest, Waelse and Siegmund behold
with dismay the destruction of their dwelling, and vow constant
warfare against their foes. This vow they faithfully keep until
Siegmund grows up and his father suddenly and mysteriously
disappears, l