I had hoped that in a good Christian home...

HAGEN. [Laughing.] No, no, Gerald! I let you talk that sort of thing
to me in the beginning. It sounded fishy even then, but I didn't say
anything... I wanted to get my bearings. But I hadn't been twenty-four
hours in that good Christian home before I found out what a kettleful of
jealousies and hatreds it was. The head master was an old sap-head; and
the boys!... I was strange and ugly, and they thought they could torment
and bully me; but I fought 'em... by the Lord, I fought 'em day and
night, I fought 'em all around the place! And when I'd mastered 'em, you
should have seen how they cringed and toadied! They hated the slavery
they lived under, but not one of them dared raise his hand against it.

GER. Well, you've seen the world in your own way. Now are you ready to
go back to Nibelheim?

HAGEN. Good God, no!

GER. You know it's my duty to send you back.

HAGEN. Oh, say! My dear fellow!

GER. You know the solemn promise I made to King Alberich.

HAGEN. Yes... but you can't carry it out.

GER. But I can!

HAGEN. How?

GER. I could invoke the law, if need be. You know you are a minor...

HAGEN. My dear boy, I'm over seven hundred years old!

GER. Ah, but that is a quibble. You know that in our world that is only
equal to about eighteen...

HAGEN. I have read up the law, but I haven't found any provision for
reducing Nibelung ages to your scale.

GER. But you can't deny...

HAGEN. I wouldn't need to deny. The story's absurd on the face of it.
You know perfectly well that there are no such things as Nibelungs!
[GERALD gasps.] And besides, you're a poet, and everybody knows you're
crazy. Fancy what the newspaper reporters would do with such a yarn!
[Cheerfully.] Come, old man, forget about it, and let's be friends.
You'll have a lot more fun watching my career. And besides, what do you
want? I've come back, and I'm ready to follow your advice.

GER. How do you mean?

HAGEN. You told me to stay in school until I'd got my bearings in the
world. And then I was to have a career. Well, I've got my education for
myself... and now I'm ready for the career. [After a pause.] Listen,
Gerald. I said I'd be a self-made man. I said I'd conquer the world for
myself. But of late I've come to realize how far it is to the top, and I
can't spare the time.

GER. I see.

HAGEN. And then... besides that... I've met a woman.

GER. [Startled.] Good heavens!

HAGEN. Yes.