ing_,
those--if there are any now alive--who are unfamiliar with the work
may have no desire to see it, whilst those who know it may imagine
that I am purposely misrepresenting it. I beg both classes of readers
to be patient. If this were the whole _Ring_ it would indeed be a
barren, bleak and desolate affair. This is nothing more than the frame
which contains the dramas which make the _Ring_ the great work it
is--the dramas with their wealth of passion and colour, their hundred
varied emotions and scenes of love and tragedy. Before proceeding to
deal with them separately, let me again mention one point. There is
the flat contradiction between the Wotan who knows that when the
moment arrives his reign must automatically end, and the Wotan who
hopes to go on reigning by getting possession of the Ring through the
agency of a fearless hero who has struck no bargain with the powers
who are stronger than the gods. That contradiction is inherent in the
saga, and had Wagner been able to eliminate it--as he tried by diving
through the saga and to the myth behind--the very essence and
atmosphere of the drama would have been eliminated also. The idea of
predetermined destiny colours that drama throughout; the whole thing
might be the old Scandinavian way of stating a problem older than
Scandinavia, that of free-will and predestination.

III

The curtain rises, and we are in the depths of the Rhine; water-nymphs
sport about; Alberich, an evil being of the river, tries in vain to
catch them. The water grows brighter with the rising of the sun, and
the Rhinegold is seen to glow on the summit of a high rock. Defeated
in his attempts to capture a nymph, Alberich scales the rock, seizes
the gold and makes off with it. The silly creatures have told him that
their innocent toy, shaped into a ring, would confer upon its
possessor power to rule the whole world, on condition that he
surrendered love; and love being something Alberich is incapable of
understanding, though he is amorous enough, he willingly pays the
price for the sake of the power--that is, the power costs him nothing.
The light-giving gold being raped, darkness falls on the river.

The next scene is on a plateau; beyond it lies the valley of the
Rhine; further off is a mountain; light mists hover over the summit;
and, as they clear away in the early morning sunshine, a gorgeous
castle, Valhalla, gradually becomes visible. Wotan and Fricka his
wife lie in slumber. Frick