Читать книгу Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods. The Ring of the Niblung, part 2 - Рихард Вагнер - Страница 3

In night-drear woods

By Neidhöhl' I keep watch,

With ear alert,

Keen and anxious eye.

Timid day,

Tremblest thou forth?

Pale art thou dawning

Athwart the dark?

What comes yonder, gleaming bright?

Nearer shimmers

A radiant form;

It runs like a horse and it shines;

Breaks through the wood,

Rushing this way.

Is it the dragon's slayer?

Can it mean Fafner's death?

The glow has gone,

It has faded and died;

All is darkness.

Who comes there, shining in shadow?

To Neidhöhl'

By night I have come;

In the dark who is hiding there?

'Tis thou who comest thus?

What wilt thou here?

Go, get thee hence!

Begone, thou insolent thief!

Schwarz-Alberich

Wanders here?

Guardest thou Fafner's house?

Art thou intent

On mischief again?

Linger not here!

Off with thee straightway!

Has grief enough

Not deluged the earth through thy guile?

Spare it further

Sorrow, thou wretch!

I come as watcher,

Not as worker.

The Wanderer's way who bars?

Thou arch, pestilent plotter!

Were I still the blind,

Silly fool that I was,

When I was bound thy captive,

How easy were it

To steal the ring again from me!

Beware! For thy cunning

I know well,

And of thy weakness

I am fully aware too.

Thy debts were cancelled,

Paid with my treasure;

My ring guerdoned

The giants' toil,

Who raised thy citadel high.

Still on the mighty

Haft of thy spear there

The runes are written plain

Of the compact made with the churls;

And of that

Which by labour they won

Thou dost not dare to despoil them:

Thy spear's strong shaft

Thou thyself wouldst split;

The staff that makes thee

Master of all

Would crumble to dust in thy hand.

By the steadfast runes of treaties

Thou hast not,

Base one, been bound;

On thee my spear may spend its strength,

So keen I keep it for war.

How dire thy threats!

How bold thy defiance!

And yet full of fear is thy heart!

Foredoomed to death

Through my curse is he

Who now guards the treasure.

What heir will succeed him?

Will the hoard all desire

Belong as before to the Niblung?—

That gnaws thee with ceaseless torment.

For once I have got it

Safe in my grasp,

Better than foolish giants

Will I employ its spell.

The God who guards heroes

Truly may tremble!

I will storm

Proud Walhall with Hella's hosts,

And rule, lord of the world!

Thy design I know well,

But little I care:

Who wins the ring

Will rule by its might.

Thou speakest darkly,

But to me all is plain.

Thy heart is bold

Because of a boy,

A hero begot of thy blood.

Hast thou not fostered a stripling

To pluck the fruit thou durst not

Pluck frankly for thyself?

With me

'Tis useless to wrangle;

But Mime thou shouldst beware;

For thy brother brings here a boy

To compass the giant's doom.

He knows not of me;

He works for Mime alone.

And so I say to thee,

Do as seems to thee best.

Take my advice,

Be on thy guard:

The boy will hear of the ring

When Mime tells him the tale.

Wilt thou hold thy hand from the hoard?

Whom I love

Must fight for himself unaided;

The lord of his fate,

He stands or falls:

All my hope hangs upon heroes.

Does none but Mime

Dispute me the ring?

Only thou and Mime

Covet the gold.

And yet it is not to be mine?

A hero comes

To set the hoard free;

Two Nibelungs yearn for the gold.

Fafner falls,

He who guards the ring;

Then a hand, seizing, shall hold it.

More wouldst thou learn,

There Fafner lies,

Who, if warned of his death,

Gladly would give up the toy.

Come, I will wake him for thee.

Fafner! Fafner!

Wake, dragon! Wake!

Does the madman mean it?

Am I to have it?

Who troubles my sleep?

A well-wisher comes

To warn thee of danger;

Thy doom can be averted,

If thou wilt pay the price

With the treasure that thou guardest.

What would he?

Waken, Fafner!

Dragon, awake!

A doughty hero comes

To try his strength against thine.

I want a meal.

Bold is the boy and strong;

Sharp-edged is his sword.

The ring he seeks,

Nothing besides.

Give me the ring, and so

The strife shall be stayed.

Still guarding the hoard,

In peace shalt thou live long!

I have and I hold:—

Let me slumber!

Well, Alberich! That ruse failed,

But call me rogue no more.

This one thing thou shouldst

Never forget:

Each according to his kind must act;

Nothing can change him.

I leave thee the field now;

Show a bold front,

And try thy luck with thy brother;

Thou knowest his kind perhaps better.

And things unknown

Thou also shalt learn!

Away on his shining

Horse he rides,

And leaves me to care and scorn!

Laugh on! Laugh on,

Ye light-minded

And high-spirited

Race of immortals!

One day ye shall perish

And pass!

Until the gold

Has ceased to gleam,

Will wise Alberich watch,

And his hate shall prevail.

Our journey ends here;

Here we halt.

So here I shall learn what fear is?

A far way thou hast led me;

We have wandered lone together

A whole night long in the woods.

This is the last

Of thee, Mime!

Can I not master

My lesson here,

Alone I will push forward

And never see thee again.

Lad, believe me,

If thou canst not

Learn it here and now,

No other place,

No other time

Ever will teach thee fear.

Dost thou see

That cavern yawning dark?

Yonder dwells

A dragon dread and grim,

Horribly fierce,

Enormous in size,

With terrible jaws

That threaten and gape;

With skin and hair,

All at a gulp,

The brute could swallow thee whole.

'Twere well to close up his gullet;

His fangs I will therefore avoid.

Poison pours

From his venomous mouth;

Were he to spue out

Spittle on thee,

Thy body and bones would decay.

That the poison may not consume me,

I will keep out of its reach.

A serpent's tail

Sweeping he swings;

Were that about thee wound

And folded close,

Thy limbs would be broken like glass.

That his swinging tail may not touch me,

Warily then I must watch.

But answer me this:

Has the brute a heart?

A pitiless, cruel heart.

It lies, however,

Where all hearts lie,

Brute and human alike?

Of course! There, boy,

The dragon's lies too.

At last thou beginnest to fear?

Nothung into

His heart I will thrust!

Is that what is meant by fearing?

Hey, old dotard!

Canst thou teach me

Nothing but this

With all thy craft,

Linger no longer by me:

No fear is here to be learnt.

Wait awhile yet!

What I have told thee

Seems to thee empty sound;

When thou hast heard

And seen him thyself,

Thy senses will swoon, overwhelmed!

When thine eyes grow dim,

And when the ground rocks,

When in thy breast

Thy heart beats loud,

Thou wilt remember who brought thee,

And think of me and my love.

Thy love is not wanted!

Hast thou not heard?

Out of my sight with thee;

Let me alone!

Begin again talking of love,

And on the instant I go!

The horrible winking,

The nods and blinking—

When shall I see

The last of them,

And rid be at length of the fool?

Well, I will off,

And rest there by the spring.

Thou must stay here,

And as the sun scales the sky

Watch for the foe:

From his cave

He lumbers this way,

Winds and twists

Past this spot,

To water at the fountain.

Liest thou by the spring,

Unchecked thither the brute shall go;

He shall swallow thee

Down with the water,

Ere with my sword

To the heart I stab him!

So heed well what I say:

Rest not beside the spring.

Seek somewhere else

A far-off spot,

And nevermore return.

Thou wilt not refuse

Cooling refreshment

When the fierce fight is over?

Call on me too

Shouldst thou need counsel,

Or if felled on a sudden by fear.

Fafner and Siegfried—

Siegfried and Fafner—

Might each the other but slay!