is ring, the symbol of all earthly power, was at the same time to
bring a curse upon all who possessed it. Wotan, of the race of the
gods, covetous of power and heedless of the curse which follows it,
obtained the ring from Alberich by force and cunning, and soon found
himself involved in calamity from which there was no apparent escape.
He himself could not expiate the wrong he had done, nor could he avert
the impending doom, the "twilight" of the gods, which was slowly and
surely approaching. Only a free will, independent of the gods, and
able to take upon itself the fault, could make reparation for the
deed. At last he yields to despair. His will is broken, and instead of
fearing the inevitable doom he courts it. In this sore emergency the
hero appears. He belongs to an heroic race of men, the Volsungs. The
unnatural union of the twins, Siegmund and Sieglinde, born of this
race, produces the real hero, Siegfried. The parents pay the penalty
of incest with their lives; but Siegfried remains, and Wotan watches
his growth and magnificent development with eager interest. Siegfried
recovers the ring from the giants, to whom Wotan had given it, by
slaying a dragon which guarded the fatal treasure. Bruennhilde, the
Valkyr, Wotan's daughter, contrary to his instructions, had protected
Siegmund in a quarrel which resulted in his death, and was condemned
by the irate god to fall into a deep sleep upon a rock surrounded by
flames, where she was to remain until a hero should appear bold enough
to break through the wall of fire and awaken her. Siegfried rescues
her. She wakens into the full consciousness of passionate love, and
yields herself to the hero, who presents her with the ring, but not
before it has worked its curse upon him, so that he, faithless even in
his faithfulness, wounds her whom he deeply loves, and drives her from
him. Meanwhile Gunther, Gutrune, and their half-brother Hagen conspire
to obtain the ring from Bruennhilde and to kill Siegfried. Through the
agency of a magic draught he is induced to desert her, after once more
getting the ring. He then marries Gutrune. The curse soon reaches its
consummation. One day, while traversing his favorite forests on a
hunting expedition, he is killed by Hagen, with Gunther's connivance.
The two murderers then quarrel for the possession of the ring, and
Gunther is slain. Hagen attempts to wrest it from the dead hero's
finger, but shrinks back terrified as the hand is raised