Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods. The Ring of the Niblung, part 2. Рихард Вагнер
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СКАЧАТЬ it lies east

      Towards the end of the wood.

      SIEGFRIED

      It lies not far from the world?

      MIME

      The world is quite close to the cave.

      SIEGFRIED

      That I may learn what this fear is,

      Lead me there straightway;

      Then forth to the world!

      Make haste! Forge me the sword.

      In the world fain I would swing it.

      MIME

      The sword? Woe's me!

      SIEGFRIED

      Quick to the smithy!

      Show me thy work!

      MIME

      Accursèd steel!

      Unequal my skill to the task;

      The potent magic

      Surpasses the poor dwarf's strength.

      'Twere more easily done

      By one who never felt fear.

      SIEGFRIED

      Artful tricks

      The idler would play me;

      He is a bungler;

      He should confess,

      And not seek to lie his way out.

      Here with the splinters!

      Off with the bungler!

      [Coming to the hearth.

      His father's sword

      Siegfried will weld:

      By him shall it be forged.

      [Flinging Mime's tools about, he sets himself impetuously to work.

      MIME

      If thou hadst practised

      Thy craft with care,

      Thou wouldst have profited now;

      But thou wert far

      Too lazy to learn,

      And now at need canst do nothing.

      SIEGFRIED

      Where the master has failed

      What hope for the scholar,

      Had he obeyed him in all?

      [He makes a contemptuous grimace at him.

      Be off with thee!

      Meddle no more,

      In case with the steel I melt thee.

      [He has heaped a large quantity of charcoal on the hearth, and keeps blowing the fire, while he screws up the pieces of the sword in a vice and files them to shavings.

      MIME

      [Who has sat down a little way off, watches Siegfried at work.

      Why file it to bits?

      There is the solder

      All fused, ready to hand.

      SIEGFRIED

      Off with the pap,

      I need it not;

      With paste I fashion no sword!

      MIME

      Now the file is ruined,

      The rasp is useless;

      Why grind thus the steel to splinters?

      SIEGFRIED

      It must be shivered

      And ground into shreds;

      Only so can splinters be patched.

      [He goes on filing with great energy.

      MIME [Aside.

      I see a craftsman

      Is useless here;

      By his own folly the fool is best served.

      Look how he toils

      With lusty strokes;

      The steel disappears,

      And still he keeps cool.

      [Siegfried has blown the fire to a bright flame.

      Though I am as old

      As cave and wood,

      The like I never yet saw!

      [While Siegfried continues to file the piece of the sword impetuously, Mime seats himself a little further off.

      He will forge the sword—

      I see it plain—

      Boldly weld it anew.

      The Wanderer was right.

      Where shall I hide

      My luckless head?

      If nothing teaches him fear,

      Forfeit it falls to the boy.

      [Springing up and bending down in growing agitation.

      But woe to Mime!

      If Siegfried learn fear,

      The dragon will never be slain;

      And, if so, how gain the ring?

      Accurst dilemma!

      Would I escape,

      I must find out some way

      Of subduing the boy for myself.

      SIEGFRIED

      [Has now filed down the pieces, and puts the filings in a crucible, which he places on the fire.

      Hey, Mime! The name!—

      Quick, name the sword

      That I have pounded to pieces.

      MIME [Starts and turns towards Siegfried.

      Nothung, that is

      The name of the sword;

      'Twas mother told me the tale.

      SIEGFRIED

      [During the following song keeps blowing the fire with the bellows.

      Nothung! Nothung!

      Conquering sword!

      What blow, I wonder, broke thee.

      Thy keen-edged glory

      I chopped to chaff;

      The splinters now I am melting.

      Hoho! Hoho!

      Hohei! СКАЧАТЬ