Operas Every Child Should Know Part 60

"Peace! Thy rage means naught to me," the Wanderer replied. "Listen, and I will tell thee what thou wouldst like to know. The Mime brings. .h.i.ther a boy who shall kill the Dragon. The Mime plans to win the gold and the ring. I may not help the boy: I may not serve those whom I love; but if thou wouldst warn the Dragon, very likely he would give thee the treasure for thy reward. I'll call the Dragon to thee," he said, and stepped to the mouth of the cave.

"Fafner, Fafner, awake, thou Dragon!" Alberich trembled with fear when an awful voice roared in answer:

"Who wakes me from my sleep?"

"A friend," Wotan, the Wanderer, replied, bending his head toward the cave and listening.

Alberich, taking courage, listened too, and called:

"A foe is near who comes to s.n.a.t.c.h the Rheingold and the ring from thee."

"Then food is near at hand," the Dragon roared in his softest voice.

"Listen," Alberich persisted. "If thou wilt give the ring to me, I will help thee." The Dragon yawned terrifically:

"Don't trouble yourself. I will look after my h.o.a.rd and my ring."

Even if he had whispered, he could have been heard a mile away. As it was, he spoke in his loudest voice, although he was sleepy, and Alberich nearly fainted with terror.

"Thou hast failed with the Dragon, Alberich," the Wanderer said, smiling, "but I will give thee one word more of advice: Make terms with the Mime. Attack him; perhaps thou wilt have better luck with thy kind!" In a flash of lightning, the Wanderer mounted his magic steed and disappeared. When he had looked after him for a moment, Alberich slipped into the Dragon's cave, and as he disappeared, the day slowly dawned, and all the scene grew bright in the morning light.

Just at the dawn of day, Siegfried, and the Mime reached the glade before the Dragon's cave. The enchanted sword hung at Siegfried's belt.

_Scene II_

"Now we have arrived where the Dragon lives," the Mime said to Siegfried.

"Ah?" the youth said, sitting down to rest under a lime tree. He looked curiously about him. "Is it time to be afraid?" he asked, anxiously. "Because if so, I feel nothing yet--although maybe I do, and do not know it?"

"Oh, you'll know it fast enough," the Mime a.s.sured him. "In that cave there lies the Dragon. His great hairy jaws will open and swallow thee at one gulp." But Siegfried sat under the lime tree and asked if that were really true. It interested him greatly.

"But one thing I tell thee," he cried: "If this thing which you have told me be not true, we'll part company at once. I'm not to be fooled. I have come here to learn something--how to be afraid--and if I don't learn it as thou hast said, I'll teach thee to stop lying."

"When, out of the Dragon's mouth, a poisoned foam pours, which will kill thee if any drop gets upon thee, I guess thou wilt shake a little. Thy body and thy bones would melt if that stuff touched thee."

"Well, I'll give him plenty of room, to be sure," Siegfried replied.

"His great tail will sweep about and if he should catch thy limbs in it, thy bones would be crushed like gla.s.s."

"That sounds very bad; but tell me if this thing has a heart which is placed where other hearts are placed?"

"Truly--a cold and cruel heart."

"Oh, as to that, I am not concerned, but if he has any heart, Nothung will slip into it. Now come, old babbler, is this the thing that is to teach me fear--this thing that spits a bit and lashes about with a clumsy old tail?"

"Laugh away, laugh away! But I have no mind to stay so near, so I shall go away and lie down beside a stream to sleep. Watch thou there, and have a care for thyself." So saying the Mime went off a little way and laid himself down. When he had gone, Siegfried stretched himself beneath the lime tree to listen to the birds' song. He cut himself a reed and tried to answer the birds, but could not. As he rested there in the bright day, he had lonely thoughts of his mother and his father, and longed for some one whom he could love. While in the midst of these musings, he looked up and there, with his frightful head resting upon the knoll, was Fafner, the Dragon. He was giving vent to a terrific yawn, and made such an awful sound that Siegfried regarded him in amazement, but suddenly burst out laughing.

"h.e.l.lo! Are you the beauty who is to teach me to be afraid? Well, well!" and he laughed again. The Dragon ceased to yawn and stared hard at Siegfried.

"You are a pretty plaything," Siegfried continued. "Such a nice, rosy little mouth. I fancy you must be the fellow who was to scare me to death. Thou art a beauty, surely!"

"Who is it?" the Dragon roared suddenly.

"Ho! And a sweet voice--like the birds," Siegfried grinned.

"Since my mouth is so rosy, let me see how my teeth will feel when set in a juicy morsel like you," said the Dragon and he spouted venomous vapours, stretching his horrid jaws, while Siegfried nimbly sprang to one side to avoid the poisonous steam. Standing watchful, with his sword, he tried to thrust it at the Dragon's tail, but Fafner roared and swished his tail away, and prepared to strike with his body; but to do this he had to raise himself upon high, and in so doing exposed his breast. Instantly Siegfried plunged Nothung into his heart, and the Dragon rolled over upon his side with a groan which shook the trees to their very roots. Siegfried left his sword in the wound and sprang to one side.

"Oh," groaned the Dragon, with a sigh like a weary earthquake. His blood spouted upon Siegfried and burnt his hand like fire. As the blood soused him, a little bird sang.

"It is almost as if that little bird was speaking to me," he said, pausing and looking up into the trees. "Can it be the Dragon's burning blood has some virtue which makes me understand the bird's song?"

"Siegfried now owns all the Nibelung's h.o.a.rd which lies hidden in the cave. There will be found the Tarnhelm and the ring, which will give him power over all the earth," so the bird sang, and Siegfried understood.

"I thank thee, dear birdling, for thy counsel. I shall follow thy call." He turned toward the cave and entered it in search of the treasures. At that moment, the Mime came into the glade, and Alberich, in the dark of the cavern's mouth, slipped out past Siegfried, and the Mime and he came face to face, while the dead Dragon lay between them.

_Scene III_

"Thou sly and slippery knave," Alberich began pleasantly to address the Mime; "thou wouldst have the ring and the gold, eh?" He glared viciously at the little imp of Nibelheim.

The Mime tried to pacify the evil creature, but Alberich, who had waited long, would listen to nothing. Before they could fall a-fighting, however, Siegfried came from the cave bearing the ring and the Tarnhelm.

He slipped the ring upon his finger and hung the Tarnhelm at his belt.

"I know not what these things are for," he murmured to himself, "but I have taken them because the little bird gave me that advice." Unseen behind him, Alberich slipped into the cave to fetch the treasure. At that same moment the little bird sang:

"Let Siegfried wait to see what the Mime will do. Listen and learn and have a care."

"Good!" the youth cried. "I am the one to take advice." As the Mime approached him, Siegfried stood steadily, one foot upon the knoll where the Dragon had lain, and watched the imp.

"Ah, my lovely boy, hast thou now learned to fear?" he said, in an ingratiating tone.

"Not yet, Mime!" Siegfried said, seriously.

"Well, at least thou art weary, so drink of this and rest a while,"

and the Mime drew forth his bottled broth. "It will give thee new courage." But Siegfried, filled with loathing for the little man, felled him with a single stroke of his sword. Thus the Mime was slain, as Wotan had said, by one who knew no fear.

After that, the youth picked up the Mime's body and threw it into the cave where the treasure lay still, and with a great effort he tugged at the Dragon's body till he had rolled it near, and in turn he dumped the Dragon into the cavern. After looking down into the darkness, he sighed and turned back to the green glade.

"I am truly tired," he said. "I think I can now stretch myself beneath this tree and rest." So saying he laid himself down and turned his face to the sky.

"Ah, little birdling," he said, "Here am I, so lonely, without father nor mother nor any one to love me. I wish thy clear voice would speak again to me and tell me of some fond friend." The bird trilled:

[Music]

"Thou hast great treasure and power from this time forth; still thou art not happy without love and one to share thy fortune. I will tell thee then of a lovely bride who lies guarded round by fire in a rocky forest fastness. She sleeps and waits for one who shall dare the flames for love. The glorious maiden's name is Brunnhilde."

"Oh, song of joy," Siegfried cried, starting up. "Now indeed thou hast made me happy."