Page:The Spirit of French Music.djvu/181

 to make amends for the iniquity accomplished; reparation can now only come from the race of men. But the god does not trust himself to the powers of an ordinary man for the re-establishment of the order which his divine follies have destroyed. Though it is hardly playing fair (but is he not a cheat by nature?) he thinks it well to have a hand in the business. He unites himself to a mortal in order to give the earth a breed of exceptional men, of heroes. These are called the Wälsungen. Wotan leaves them to their own resources, and their fate is hard. These sons of heaven and of the light are pursued by the hate of Alberich and his ugly kinsmen and brood, which comprises all beings who are led by cupidity and servile instincts and is consequently very numerous. One of them, Siegmund, finding in the wife of the wicked and brutal Hunding his sister Sieglinde, from whom he was separated while still a child, and who has been married by force, frees her and woos her. This deed of high emprise seems to promise others; for Siegmund is possessor of a wonderful sword, which Wotan (who cannot make up his mind to play straight) had planted in the trunk of a certain ash tree, knowing that his descendant alone would be strong enough to wrench it out. Moreover Siegmund is protected by the Valkyr Brünnhilde, her father's favourite, who is admitted to the secret of his wishes and intimate thoughts. She prepares to support him in his coming fight with Hunding, whose defeat is therefore certain.

But while these things are happening on earth, there are storms in heaven. Strife is muttering in the household of the gods. Wotan has to endure the reproaches of his wife Fricka (the Juno to his Jupiter) a narrow and harsh personality, who asks him if he