As in the dark he feels his way along,
To beat the rhythm of his pace for him.
In measured intervals, as from the glass
Trickles the sand, and as the shadow long
Creeps on the dial, so there follow now
The mountain cock, the blackbird and the thrush,
And none disturbs the other as by day,
Nor coaxes him to warble ere his time.
I've watched it oft myself.

SIEGFRIED.

I too.--My brother,
Thou art not happy.

GUNTHER.

But I am!

SIEGFRIED.

Oh, no!
I have seen people at a wedding feast,
And following a bier, and so I know
How different they look. Now let us do
As strangers might, who'd never met before
Until by accident within the wood
They meet, and one has this, the other that,
And so they put together all they have,
And thus with joy receive and also give.
'Tis well! For I bring meat of every kind,
And I will give to you a mountain bull,
Five boars and thirty, even forty stags,
And pheasants too, as many as you will,
Not mentioning the lion and the bear,
All this for one small beaker of cool wine.

DANKWART.

Alas!

SIEGFRIED.

What's Wrong?

HAGEN.

The wine has been forgotten.

SIEGFRIED.

Yes, I'll believe it. That may well befall
A hunter who is resting from the chase
And has a red hot coal for his own tongue
Inside his mouth. Well, I must seek myself,
Although I cannot scent it like a, hound--
But let it be--I'll never spoil your sport!

[_He seeks._]

There is none here, nor here! Where is the cask?
I pray thee, minstrel, save me, else I'll lose
The tongue that has till now been wagging so.

HAGEN.

And that may happen, for--there is no wine.

SIEGFRIED.

The devil and his fiends may take your hunt
If I am not to have a hunter's fare!
Whose duty was it to provide the drink?

HAGEN.

Mine! Yet I did not know where we should be,

[Illustration: Schnorr von Carolsfeld KRIEMHILD FINDS THE SLAIN
SIEGFRIED]

And sent the wine to Spessart, where it seems
There are no thirsty men.

SIEGFRIED.

Give thanks who will!
But have we then no water? Must a man
Be satisfied with evening dew, and lap
The drops from off the leaves?

HAGEN.

But hold thy tongue!
Thine ear will bring thee comfort!

SIEGFRIED (_listens_).

Hark, a spring!
Oh welcome stream! 'Tis true I love thee more
When thou, instead of welling from the stone
S