em together
again will have power to conquer all before him. Mime had long tried
to forge a sword for Siegfried, but they were all too brittle, nor had
he the skill to weld together the fragments of Siegmund's sword,
Nothung. The only one who can perform that task is the hero without
fear. One day Siegfried returns from a hunting expedition and
undertakes it himself. He files the fragments into dust and throws it
into the crucible, which he places on the fire of the forge. Then
while blowing the bellows he sings a triumphant song ("Nothung!
Nothung! neidliches Schwert"), which anticipates the climax towards
which all the previous scenes have led. As he sings at his work Mime
cogitates how he shall thwart his plans and get possession of the
sword. He plots to have him kill Fafner, the giant, who has changed
himself into a dragon, for the more effectual custody of the
Rhine-treasure and the ring. Then when Siegfried has captured the
treasure he will drug him with a poisoned broth, kill him with the
sword, and seize the gold. Siegfried pours the melted steel into a
mould, thrusts it into the water to cool, and then bursts out into a
new song, accompanied by anvil blows, as he forges and tempers it, the
motive of which has already been heard in the "Rhinegold" prelude,
when Alberich made his threat. While Mime quietly mixes his potion,
Siegfried fastens the hilt to his blade and polishes the sword. Then
breaking out in a new song, in which are heard the motives of the
fire-god and the sword, he swings it through the air, and bringing it
down with force splits the anvil in twain. The music accompanying this
great scene, imitating the various sounds of the forge, the flutter of
the fire, the hissing of the water, the filing of the sword, and the
blows upon the anvil, is realism carried to the very extreme of
possibilities.

The great exploit has been successful, and Siegfried at last has
Siegmund's sword. Mime takes him to the cave where Fafner, the
giant-dragon, guards the gold. Siegfried slays the monster, and laughs
over the ease of the task. His finger is heated with the dragon's
blood, and as he puts it to his lips to cool it he tastes the blood,
and thus learns the language of the birds. He cares nought for the
treasure, and takes only the ring and a magic helmet, which enables
the wearer to assume any form. After the contest he throws himself at
the foot of a tree in the forest and dreamily listens to the
"Waldweben,