Brunhilde bids her lover farewell,
telling him that she will not restrain his ardour, for she knows
it is a hero's part to journey out into the world and perform
the noble tasks which await him. But her strength and martial
fury have entirely departed since she has learned to love, and
she repeatedly adjures him not to forget her, promising to await
his homecoming behind her flickering barrier of flame, and to
think constantly of him while he is away. Siegfried reminds her
that she need not fear he will forget her as long as she wears
the Nibelung ring, the seal of their troth, and gladly accepts
from her in exchange the steed Grane. Although it can no longer
scurry along the paths of air, this horse is afraid of nothing,
and is ready to rush through water and fire at his command.

As Siegfried goes down the hill leading his steed, Brunhilde
watches him out of sight, and it is only when the last echoes of
his hunting horn die away in the distance that the curtain falls.

The next scene is played at Worms on the Rhine. Gunther and
his sister Gutrune are sitting in their ancestral hall, with
their half-brother Hagen. He is the son of Alberich, and has
been begotten with the sole hope that he will once help his
father to recover the Nibelung ring. Hagen advises Gunther to
remember the duty he owes his race, and to marry as soon as
possible, and recommends as suitable mate the fair Brunhilde,
who is fenced in by a huge barrier of living flame.

Gunther is not at all averse to matrimony, and is anxious to
secure the peerless bride proposed, yet he knows he can never
pass through the flames, and asks how Brunhilde is to be won.
Hagen, who as a Nibelung knows the future, foretells that
Siegfried, the dauntless hero, will soon be there, and adds
that, if they can only efface from his memory all recollection
of past love by means of a magic potion, they can soon induce
him to promise his aid in exchange for the hand of Gutrune.

As he speaks, the sound of a horn is heard, and Hagen, looking
out, sees Siegfried crossing the river in a boat, and goes
down to the landing with Gunther to bid the hero welcome.
Hagen leads the horse away, but soon returns, while Gunther
ushers Siegfried into the hall of the Gibichungs, and enters
into conversation with him. As Siegfried's curiosity has been
roused by the strangers calling him by name, he soon inquires
how they knew him, and Hagen declares that the mere sight of
the tarn-cap ha