Page:MU KPB 001 The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie - Illustrated by Artur Rackham.pdf/59

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The Rhinegold
Fricka
Of that billow-born brood
Bring me no tidings,
For they have wooed
To my woe

Full many a man to their caves.

[Wotan ſtands ſilent, ſtruggling with him­self. The other Gods gaze at him in mute suspense. Fafner, meanwhile, has been consulting aſide with Fasolt.
Fafner
To Fasolt
Worth far more than Freia
Were the glittering gold.
Eternal youth, too, were his
Who could use the charm in its quest.
[Fasolt's geſtures indicate that he is being convinced againſt his will. Fafner and Fasolt approach Wotan again.
Fafner
Hear, Wotan,
Our word while we wait;

Freia we will restore you,

And will take
Paltrier payment:

The Niblung’s red-gleaming gold
Will guerdon us giants rude.

Wotan
Ye must be mad!
With what I possess not

How can I, shameless ones, pay you?

Fafner
Hard labour
Went to those walls;
How easy
With fraud-aided force

(What our malice never achieved)
The Niblung to break and bind!

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