Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods. The Ring of the Niblung, part 2. Рихард Вагнер
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СКАЧАТЬ anvil?

      Why, what doest thou there?

      Wert thou grinding the sword?

      MIME [Comes forward, greatly upset and confused.

      The sword? The sword?

      How could I weld it?

      [Half aside.

      By him who knows not

      How to fear

      Nothung shall be forged.

      Too wise am I

      To attempt such work.

      SIEGFRIED [Violently.

      Wilt thou speak plainly

      Or must I help thee?

      MIME [As before.

      Where shall I turn in my need?

      My wily head

      Wagered and lost is,

      [Staring before him.

      And forfeit to him it will fall

      Who has never learned to fear.

      SIEGFRIED [Vehemently.

      Dost thou by shuffling

      Seek to escape?

      MIME [Gradually recovering himself.

      Small need to fly

      Him who knows fear!

      But that lesson was one never taught thee.

      A fool, I forgot

      The one great thing;

      What thou wert taught

      Was to love me,

      And alas! the task proved hard.

      Now how shall I teach thee to fear?

      SIEGFRIED [Seizes him.

      Hey! Must I help thee?

      What work hast thou done?

      MIME

      Concerned for thy good,

      In thought I was sitting:

      Something of weight I would teach thee.

      SIEGFRIED [Laughing.

      'Twas under the seat

      That thou wert sitting;

      What weighty thing foundest thou there?

      MIME

      [Recovering himself more and more.

      Down there I learned how to fear,

      That I might teach thee, dullard.

      SIEGFRIED [With quiet wonder.

      This fear then, what is it?

      MIME

      Thou knowest not that,

      Yet wouldst from the forest

      Forth to the world?

      What help in the trustiest sword,

      Hadst thou not learned to fear?

      SIEGFRIED [Impatiently.

      What absurd

      Invention is this?

      MIME

      [Approaching Siegfried with more and more confidence.

      'Tis thy mother's wish

      Speaking through me.

      I must fulfil

      The promise I gave her:

      That the world and its wiles

      Thou shouldst not encounter

      Until thou hadst learned how to fear.

      SIEGFRIED [Vehemently

      Is it an art?

      Why was I not taught?

      Explain: this fearing, what is it?

      MIME

      In the dark wood

      Hast thou not felt,

      When shades of dusk

      Fall dim and drear,

      When mournful whispers

      Sigh afar,

      And fierce growling

      Sounds at hand,

      When strange flashes

      Dart and flicker,

      And the buzzing

      And clamour grow—

      [Trembling.

      Hast thou not felt grim horror

      Hold every sense in its clutches?—

      [Quaking.

      When the limbs shiver,

      Shaken with terror,

      [With a quivering voice.

      And the heart, filled with dismay,

      Hammers, bursting the breast—

      Hast thou not yet felt that,

      A stranger art thou to fear.

      SIEGFRIED [Musing.

      Wonderful truly

      That must be.

      Steadfast, strong

      Beats my heart in my breast.

      The shiver and shudder,

      The fever and horror,

      Burning and fainting,

      Beating and trembling—

      Ah, how glad I would feel them,

      [Tenderly.

      Could I but learn this delight!

      But how, Mime,

      Can it be mine?

      How, coward, could it be taught me?

      MIME

      Following me,

      The way thou shalt find;

      I have thought it all out.

      I know of a dragon grim

      That slays and swallows men:

      Fear thou wilt learn from Fafner,

      When I lead to where he lies.

      SIEGFRIED

      Where has he his lair?

      MIME

      Neidhöhl'

      Named, СКАЧАТЬ