tive woman, as a right. Fairly
vanquished, she must accept the fate of battle,--no dignity, as no
success, would pertain to further struggle. When with a gesture
of command he points her to her stone chamber, trembling and with
faltering step she obeys. Siegfried, following, draws his sword
and in his natural voice again, smooth and happy, addresses it:
"Now, Nothung, do you bear witness to the restraint which marks
my wooing. Guarding my truth to my brother, divide me from his
bride!"

II

The Hall of the Gibichungen once more, seen from the outside. It
is night. Hagen sits as we left him, in guard over the hall. He
sleeps leaning against a pillar of the portal. A burst of moonlight
shows Alberich crouching before him. "Are you asleep, Hagen, my
son? Are you asleep and deaf to my voice, whom sleep and rest have
forsaken?" "I hear you, harassed spirit; what message have you
for my sleep?" Remember! remember! is the burden of Alberich's
communication. Be true to the task for the purpose of which you
were created. The old enemy, Wotan, is no longer to be feared;
he has been made powerless by one of his own race. The object now
singly to be kept in view is the destruction of this latter, and
capture of the Ring in his possession. Quickly it must be done,
for "a wise woman there is, living for love of the Waelsung; were
she to bid him restore the Ring to the Rhine-daughters, for ever
and ever lost were the gold!" "The Ring I will have!" Hagen quiets
the care-ridden Nibelung, "rest in peace!" "Do you swear it to me,
Hagen, my hero?" "I swear it to myself!" Dawn has been creeping
over the sky. The form of Alberich fades in the growing light and
his voice dies on the ear: "Be faithful, Hagen, my son, be
faithful--faithful!" Hagen sits alone in the broadening day, seemingly
asleep, yet with eyes wide open. He starts. Flushed with the
morning-red, Siegfried strides up from the river-bank, uttering
his joyful "Hoiho!" "Siegfried, winged hero, whence do you come so
fast?" "From Bruennhilde's rock. I there took in the breath which I
put forth in calling you,--so rapid was my journey. A couple follows
me more slowly. Their journey is by boat. Is Gutrune awake?"

"Now make we welcome, Gibich's-child!" he greets her, as at Hagen's
call she comes hurrying out to him. "I bring good tidings!" In
exuberantly good spirits he tells them the story of his bad action.
The magic draught administered to him had more than destroyed his
memo