While he is in the
shape of the latter, Wotan sets his foot upon him, Loge snatches the
Tarnhelm from his head, and together they bind him and carry him off to
the upper air. When he has conveyed his prisoner in safety to the
mountain-top, Wotan bids him summon the dwarfs to bring up his treasures
from Nibelheim. Alberich reluctantly obeys. His treasure is torn from
him, his Tarnhelm, and last of all the ring with which he hoped to rule
the world. Bereft of all, he utters a terrible curse upon the ring,
vowing that it shall bring ruin and death upon every one who wears it,
until it returns to its original possessor. The giants now appear to
claim their reward. They too insist upon taking the whole treasure.
Wotan refuses to give up the ring until warned by the goddess Erda, the
mother of the Fates, who rises from her subterranean cavern, that to
keep it means ruin. The ring passes to the giants, and the curse at once
begins to work. Fafner slays Fasolt in a quarrel for the gold, and
carries off the treasure alone. Throughout this scene the clouds have
been gathering round the mountain-top. Donner, the god of thunder, now
ascends a cliff, and strikes the rock with his hammer. Thunder rolls and
lightning flashes, the dark clouds are dispelled, revealing a rainbow
bridge thrown across the chasm, over which the gods solemnly march to
Valhalla, while from far below rise the despairing cries of the
Rhine-maidens lamenting their lost treasure.
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