Читать книгу The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie. The Ring of the Niblung, part 1 - Рихард Вагнер - Страница 4

THE RHINEGOLD
THIRD SCENE

Оглавление

From various points in the distance ruddy lights gleam out. An increasing clamour, as of smiths at work, is heard on all sides. The clang of the anvils dies away. A vast subterranean chasm becomes visible which seems to open into narrow gorges on all sides. Alberich drags the screaming Mime out of a side cleft.

ALBERICH

Héhé! Héhé!

Come here! Come here!

Mischievous dwarf!

Prettily pinched

Promptly thou'lt be

Hast thou not ready,

Wrought to my wish,

The dainty thing I desire!


MIME [Howling.

Ohé! Ohé!

Oh! Oh!

Let me alone!

It is forged;

Heeding thy hest

I laboured hard

Till it was done!

Take but thy nails from my ear!


ALBERICH

Then why this delay

To show thy work?


MIME

I feared that something

Might still be wanting.


MIME, howling.

"Ohé! Ohé!

Oh! Oh!"


ALBERICH

What is there to finish?


MIME [Embarrassed.

Here—and there–


ALBERICH

How here and there?

Hand me the thing!


[He tries to catch hold of his ear again. In his terror Mime drops a piece of metal-work which he has been clutching convulsively. Alberich picks it up hastily and examines it with care.

Rogue, observe!

See how all wrought is

Well finished and feat,

Done as desired!

The simpleton wants

Slyly to trick me

And keep by cunning

The wonderful work,

Though all his skill

Came alone from my craft.

Thou art discovered, thief.


[He puts the Tarnhelm on his head.

The helmet fits the head;

But will the spell prosper too?


[Very softly.

"Night and darkness,

Seen of none!"


[He vanishes, and a pillar of cloud takes his place.

Brother, canst see me?


MIME [Looks round in amaze.

Where art thou? I see no one.


ALBERICH [Invisible.

Then feel me instead,

Thou lazy scamp!

Take that for thy thievish thoughts!


MIME

[Writhes under the lathes he receives, the sound of which is heard without the whip being seen.

Ohé! Ohé!

Oh! Oh! Oh!


ALBERICH [Invisible and laughing.

Ha! ha! ha!

Ha! ha! ha!

I thank thee, blockhead;

Thy work has stood the test.

Hoho! Hoho!

Nibelungs all

Bow now to Alberich!

For he is everywhere,

Waiting and watching;

Peace and rest

Are past for ever;

Ye must all serve him,

Though see him can none;

Where he cannot be spied

Look out for his coming;

None shall escape from his thraldom!


[Harshly.

Hoho! hoho!

Hearken, he nears:

The Nibelung's lord!


[The pillar of cloud disappears in the background. Alberich's scolding voice is heard more and more faintly. Mime lies huddled up in pain. Wotan and Loge come down through a cleft in the rock.


LOGE

Nibelheim here.

Through pale mists gleaming,

How bright yonder fiery sparks glimmer!


MIME

Oh! Oh! Oh!


WOTAN

I hear loud groans.

Who lies on the ground?


Mime writhes under the lashes he receives.


LOGE [Bends over Mime.

Why all this whimpering noise?


MIME

Ohé! Ohé!

Oh! Oh!


LOGE

Hei, Mime! Merry dwarf!

Who beats and bullies thee so?


MIME

Leave me in peace, pray.


LOGE

So much is certain,

And more still. Hark!

Help I promise thee, Mime!


[He raises him with difficulty.


MIME

What help for me?

To do his bidding

My brother can force me,

For I am bound as his slave.


LOGE

But, Mime, how has he

Thus made thee his thrall?


MIME

By evil arts

Fashioned Alberich

A yellow ring,

From the Rhinegold forged,

At whose mighty magic

Trembling we marvel;

This spell puts in his power

The Nibelung hosts of night.

Happy we smiths

Moulded and hammered,

Making our women

Trinkets to wear—

Exquisite Nibelung toys—

And lightly laughed at our toil.

The rogue now compels us

To creep into caverns,

For him alone

To labour unthanked.

Through the golden ring

His greed can divine

Where untouched treasure

In hidden gorge gleams.

We still must keep spying,

Peering and delving:

Must melt the booty,

Which, molten, we forge

Without pause or peace,

To heap up higher his hoard.


LOGE

Just now, then, an idler

Roused him to wrath?


MIME

Poor Mime, ah!

My lot was the hardest.

I had to work,

Forging a helmet,

With strict instructions

How to contrive it;

And well I marked

The wondrous might

Bestowed by the helm

That from steel I wrought.

Hence I had gladly

Held it as mine,

And, by its virtue

Risen at last in revolt:

Perchance, yes, perchance

The master himself I had mastered,

And, he in my power, had wrested

The ring from him and used it

That he might serve me, the free man,


[Harshly

As now I must serve him, a slave!


LOGE

And wherefore, wise one,

Sped not the plan?


MIME

Ah! though the helm I fashioned,

The magic that lurks therein

I foolishly failed to divine.

He who set the task

And seized the fruits—

From him I have learnt,

Alas I but too late!

All the helmet's cunning craft.

From my sight he vanished,

But, viciously lashing,

Swung his arm through unseen.


[Howling and sobbing.

This, fool that I am,

Was all my thanks!


[He rubs his back. Wotan and Loge laugh.


LOGE [To Wotan.

Confess, our task

Will call for skill.


WOTAN

Yet the foe will yield,

Use thou but fraud.


MIME [Observes the Gods more attentively.

Who are you, ye strangers

That ask all these questions?


LOGE

Friends to thee,

Who from their straits

Will free all the Nibelung folk.


MIME [Shrinking back in fear when he hears Alberich returning.

Hark! Have a care!

Alberich comes!


[He runs to and fro in terror.


WOTAN

We'll wait for him here.


[He sits down calmly on a stone. Alberich, who has taken the Tarnhelm from his head and hung it on his girdle, is brandishing his scourge and driving before him a band of Nibelungs from the gorges below. These are laden with gold and silver treasure, which, urged on by Alberich, they pile up so as to form a large heap.


ALBERICH

Hither! Thither!

Héhé! Hoho!

Lazy herd!

Haste and heap

Higher the hoard.

Up with thee there!

On with thee here!

Indolent dolts,

Down with the treasure!

Need ye my urging?

Here with it all!


[He suddenly perceives Wotan and Loge.

Hey! Who are they

That thus intrude?

Mime! Come here!

Rascally rogue!

Gossiping art

With the pilgriming pair?

Off, thou idler!

Back to thy bellows and beating!


[Lashing Mime, he chases him into the crowd of Nibelungs.

Hey! to your labour!

Get ye all hence now!

Swing ye down swift!

From the virgin gorges

Get me the gold!

This whip will follow,

Delve ye not fast!

That labour ye shirk not

Mime be surety,

Or surely the lash

Of my whip will find him;

That where no one would guess

I watch and I wander,

None knows it better than he.

Loitering still?

Lingering there?


Alberich drives in a band of Nibelungs laden with gold and silver treasure.


[He pulls the ring from his finger, kisses it and stretches it out in menace.

Fear ye and tremble,

O fallen host,

And obey

The ring's dread lord!


[Howling and shrieking, the Nibelungs, among them Mime, scatter, and creep down into the clefts in all directions.

The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie. The Ring of the Niblung, part 1

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