er the name of
Volse, unites himself with a mortal woman, who bears him the Volsung
twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde. Bound by his oath to Fafner, Wotan may
not openly assist Siegmund in the enterprise, but he dwells with him on
the earth, and trains him in all manly exercises. Sieglinde is carried
off by enemies and given as wife to Hunding, and Siegmund returning one
day from the chase finds his father gone, and nothing but an empty
wolf-skin left in the hut. Alone he has to wage continual war with the
enemies who surround him. One day, in defending a woman from wrong, he
is overpowered by numbers, and losing his sword, has to fly for his
life. With this 'Die Walkuere' opens. A violent storm is raging when
Siegmund reaches Hunding's hut. Exhausted by fatigue, he throws himself
down by the hearth, and is soon fast asleep. Sieglinde entering offers
him food and drink. Soon Hunding appears, and, after hearing his guest's
name and history, discovers in him a mortal foe. Nevertheless the rights
of hospitality are sacred. He offers Siegmund shelter for the night, but
bids him be ready at dawn to fight for his life. Left alone, Siegmund
muses in the dying firelight on the promise made him by his father, that
at the hour of his direst need he should find a sword. His reverie is
interrupted by the entrance of Sieglinde, who has drugged Hunding's
night draught, and now urges Siegmund to flee. Each has read in the
other's eyes the sympathy which is akin to love, and Siegmund refuses to
leave her. Thereupon she tells him of a visit paid to the house upon the
day of her marriage to Hunding by a mysterious stranger, who thrust a
sword into the stem of the mighty ash-tree which supports the roof,
promising it to him who could pull it out. Siegmund draws the sword
(which he greets with the name of Nothung) in triumph from the tree, and
the brother and sister, now united by a yet closer tie, fall into each
other's arms as the curtain falls.

The scene of the next act is laid in a wild, mountainous region. Wotan
has summoned his favourite daughter, the Valkyrie Bruennhilde, and
directs her to protect Siegmund in the fight with Hunding which is soon
to take place. Bruennhilde departs with her wild Valkyrie cry, and Fricka
appears in a car drawn by two rams. She is the protectress of marriage
rites, and come to complain of Siegmund's unlawful act in carrying off
Sieglinde. A long altercation ensues between the pair. In the end Fricka
is tri