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Updated: June 7, 2025
The cloak is the cloud cloak of Alberich, king of the old Teutonic dwarfs, the cap is found in many tales of Fairyland, the shoes are like the sandals of Hermes, the sword is like Arthur's Excalibur, or like the sword forged for Sigurd, or that which was made by the horse-smith, Velent, the original of Wayland Smith, of old English legends.
Wotan himself, when the danger is no longer to be averted of a dishonoured end, if Alberich, that is, shall regain possession of the Ring, will plunge the splinters of his defeated spear deep into Loge's breast and himself set the World-Ash ablaze. As night begins to yield to dawn, confusion falls on the minds of the Norns; their visions, they complain, are dim.
"A very pretty plaything it is," said Alberich. "Yes," replied the careless sisters, "it is magic gold. Who moulds this gold into a ring shall have all power upon the earth, save love." Alberich muttered to himself: "What do I care for love if I have all the gold I want?" Then he sprang upon the slippery rock and snatched the gold. With one wild leap he plunged into the depths below.
Of course, Alberich guessed very quickly for what purpose his brother had gone. And how Alberich must have raged when he thought of what a sad day it would be for him should Mimi become owner of that ring! Mimi was strangely clever. He said to himself: "That ring is hidden somewhere in the forest. I will go there and search until I know who has it. Then I will find some way of getting it."
It was as dark as night down in the kingdom of the Nibelungs, except for the light which flared from the smoking torches, or glowed in the coals upon the anvils. The family of dwarfs were skilled blacksmiths and metal-workers. From every little niche and corner came the sound of clinking anvils. Before Alberich stole the gold, the Nibelungs often sang as they worked.
The same is true of the second act. After the beginning at Hate Hole, the slaying of the dragon which is always comic and the squabble of Alberich and Mime, we have scarcely anything but sustained beauty to the end.
Alberich, the bold, a savage dwarf, heard the fierce struggle through the mountain. He armed him quick and ran to where he found the noble stranger, as he bound the mighty giant. Full wroth was Alberich and strong enow. On his body he bare helmet and rings of mail and in his hand a heavy scourge of gold. Swift and hard he ran to where Siegfried stood.
All else being equal, he had a little rather strengthen Mime's chances of getting the Ring, through Siegfried, than inactively see it fall to the inveterate enemy, Alberich. At the greeting he speaks from the threshold to the "wise smith," Mime starts up in affright: "Who is it, pursuing me into the forest wilderness?" "Wanderer is the world's name for me.
As for the draught of forgetfulness itself, it cannot be explained as symbolical of anything; it must be accepted as we accept the Tarnhelm and the Rhinemaidens and black Alberich. In the Second Act the scene is again the Gibichungs' hall.
It is to me as if the "Ring" had closed on the music of Neid-höhle with the squabblings of Alberich and Mime. The powers that make for evil and destruction have won; one knows that Parsifal is eternally damned; he has listened and succumbed, even as Wagner himself did, to the eastern sirens' song of the ease and delight of a life of slothful renunciation, self-abnegation, and devotion to "duty."
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