sted. May I ask your name?

MIMI. I am Mimi.

GER. Mimi! Mimi, the smith? And may I ask... are you real, or is this a
dream?

MIMI. Is not life a dream?

GER. Yes... but...

MIMI. It is a story. You have to pretend that it is true.

GER. I see!

MIMI. You pretend that it is true... and then you see what happens! It
is very interesting!

GER. Yes... I have no doubt. [Peers at him.] And just to help me
straighten things out... would you mind telling me... are you old or
young?

MIMI. I am young.

GER. How young?

MIMI. Nine hundred years young.

GER. Oh! And why did you come for me?

MIMI. The king commanded it.

GER. The king? And who may this king be?

MIMI. King Alberich.

GER. Alberich. [Stares at the king.] And is this he?

MIMI. It is he.

GER. And may I speak to him?

MIMI. You may.

ALB. Let the earth-man advance. Hail!

GER. Good evening, Alberich.

MIMI. [At his elbow.] Your majesty!

GER. Good evening, your majesty.

ALB. [After along gaze.] You play our music. Where did you learn it?

GER. Why... it's in Wagner's operas. He composed it.

ALB. Humph... composed it!

GER. [Aghast.] You mean he came and copied it!

ALB. Of course!

GER. Why... why... we all thought it was original!

ALB. Original! It is indeed wonderful originality! To listen in the
Rhine-depths to the song of the maidens, to dwell in the forest and
steal its murmurs, to catch the crackling of the fire and the flowing
of the water, the galloping of the wind and the death march of the
thunder... and then write it all down for your own! To take our story
and tell it just as it happened... to take the very words from our lips,
and sign your name to them! Originality!

GER. But, your majesty, one thing at least. Even his enemies granted him
that! He invented the invisible orchestra!

ALB. [Laughing.] Have you seen any orchestra here?

[Siegfried motive sounds.]

GER. I hadn't realized it! Do you mean that everything here happens to
music?

ALB. If you only had the ears to hear, you would know that the whole
world happens to music.

GER. [Stands entranced.] Listen! Listen!

ALB. It is very monotonous, when one is digging out the gold. It keeps
up such a wheezing, and pounding.

[Stopped trumpets from orchestra.]

GER. Ah, don't speak of such things! [Gazes about; sees cup.] What is
this?

ALB. That is the coronation cup.

GER. The coronation cup?

ALB. One of the greatest of our treasures.