ALBERICH [With a frightful cry.
Woe! Defeated! Undone!
Of wretches the wretchedest slave!
WOTAN [Contemplating the ring.
I own what makes me supreme,
The mightiest lord of all lords!
[He puts on the ring.
LOGE [To Wotan.
Shall he go free?
WOTAN
Loose his bonds.
LOGE [Sets Alberich quite free.
Slip away home,
For no fetter binds thee!
Fare forth, thou art free!
ALBERICH [Raising himself with furious laughter.
Am I now free,
Free in truth?
My freedom's first
Greeting take, for it is thine!
As a curse gave me the ring,
My curse go with the ring!
As its gold
Gave measureless might,
May now its magic
Deal death evermore!
No man shall gain
Gladness therefrom;
May ill-fortune befall him
On whom it shines.
Fretted by care
Be he who shall hold it,
And he who doth not,
By envy be gnawed!
All shall covet
And crave its wealth,
Yet none shall it profit
Or pay when won.
Those who guard it nothing shall gain,
Yet shall murder go where they go.
The coward, death-doomed,
By fetters of fear shall be bound;
His whole life long
He shall languish to death—
The ring's proud lord
And its poorest slave—
Till again I have
In my hand the gold I was robbed of.
So blesses
The Nibelung
The ring in bitter despair!
Hold fast to it!
[Laughing.
Keep it with care;
[Grimly.
From my curse none shall escape!
[He vanishes quickly through the cleft. The thick mist in the foreground gradually clears away.
LOGE
Hadst thou ears
For his fond farewell?
WOTAN [Left in contemplation of the ring.
Grudge him not vent to his spleen!
[It keeps growing lighter.
LOGE [Looking to the right.
Fasolt and Fafner
Come from afar
Bringing Freia again.
[Through the vanishing mist Donner, Froh, and Fricka appear, and hasten towards the foreground.
FROH
The giants return.
DONNER