|
|
I won myself the world.
- Unknown to me
- Dishonest my acts were;
- Bargains I made
- Wherein hid mishap,
Craftily lured on by Loge,
Who straightway disappeared.
- Yet I could not leave
- Love altogether;
When grown mighty still I desired it.
- The child of night,
- The craven Nibelung,
Alberich, broke from its bond.
- All love he forswore,
- And procured by the curse
The gleaming gold of the Rhine,
And with it measureless might.
- The ring that he wrought
- I stole by my cunning,
- But I restored it not
- To the Rhine;
- It paid the price
- Of W lhall’s towers:
The home the giants had built me,
From which I commanded the world.
- She who knows all
- That ever was,
- Erda, the holy,
- All-knowing Wala,
Warned me touching the ring:
Prophesied doom everlasting.
- Of this doom I was fain
- To hear further,
But silent she vanished from sight.
Then my gladness of heart was gone,
The god’s one desire was to know.
|
