The First Norn

[Fastening the rope again.]

The night wanes,

Dark grows my vision;

I cannot find

The threads of the rope;

The strands are twisted and loose.

A horrible sight

Wildly vexes mine eyes:

The Rhinegold

That black Alberich stole.

Knowest thou more thereof?

The Second Norn

[With laborious haste winds the rope round the jagged rock at the mouth of the cave.]

The rock's sharp edge

Is cutting the rope;

The threads loosen

Their hold and grow slack;

They droop tangled and frayed.

From woe and wrath

Rises the Nibelung's ring

A curse of revenge

Ruthlessly gnaws at the strands:--

Canst thou the end foretell?

The Third Norn

[Hastily catching the rope which is thrown to her.]

The rope is too short,

Too loose it hangs;

It must be stretched,

Pulled straighter, before

Its end can reach to the north!

[She pulls hard at the rope, which breaks.]

It breaks!

The Second Norn

It breaks!

The Third Norn

It breaks!

[They take the pieces of broken rope and bind their bodies together with them.]

The Three Norns

So ends wisdom eternal!

The wise ones

Will utter no more.

Descend to Erda! Descend!

[They vanish. The dawn grows brighter; the firelight from the valley gradually fades. Sunrise; then broad daylight.]