c are very
effective, full of action, fascinating the hearer and heightening his
interest from act to act. In the second act, especially in the
dialogues between Luise and Hans Kraft, are sufficient proofs of
Siegfried's genius, and the conclusion is truly grand.

The scene is laid in Bavaria, in the country around Bayreuth, during
the time of the Thirty Years war.

The first act takes place in a village in the Hummelgau. The soldiers
are first returning after a long period of war to their native village,
and are received enthusiastically by the inhabitants. Hans Kraft, the
hero of the drama, looks in vain for his old mother and at last learns
that sorrow and anxiety about her absent son have caused her death
three years ago; she is already forgotten, and so is her son, who find
himself alone and forsaken. He is rudely repulsed by the peasants who
will not even give him a night's lodging in their cottages. Full of
wrath and despair he turns into the forest where he is accosted by a
wild looking being who laughs at his impotent rage and offers his help.
Hans, perceiving the cloven hoof and the horns, at once recognizes the
Devil in this queer fellow, and is at first unwilling to follow his
advice; but the Devil is artful and insinuating, and at last Hans is
induced to make an agreement with him by which he engages himself as
Stoker {391} in the infernal regions; he has to keep the fire burning
under the caldron in which poor lost souls are being roasted. When he
has served the devil for one year Hans will be free to go wherever he
likes. In the next scene Hans has already arrived at his new
quarters--hell--and, after having explained to Hans his new duties, the
Devil leaves him. Hans now begins to stir the fire, but is soon
arrested by a wailing voice which he recognizes as that of the old
sergeant who so often tormented him on earth, and who now vainly
entreats him to let him escape.

While Hans is gaily feeding the flames, a Stranger enters; his name is
Peter the doorkeeper, (of course St. Peter,) who skilfully entices him
to play at dice. He proposes that Hans should stake some years of his
own life. Hans refuses to do so. The Stranger next proposes that Hans
should stake the salvation of his soul, but without success. At last
it is agreed that Hans shall win ten Florins if he throws the highest
cast, and the Stranger shall win two souls out of the caldron if he
wins. They play, and Hans loses time aft