OPERA STORIES FROM WAGNER ***
Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
OPERA STORIES FROM WAGNER
BY
FLORENCE AKIN
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
1915
[Illustration: SIEGFRIED]
NOTE: The verses printed in this book are quoted from Dr. Oliver Huckel's translations of _The Rhine-Gold_, _The Walkuere_, _Siegfried_, and _Goetterdaemmerung_, by the kind permission of the publishers, Messrs. Thomas Y. Crowell & Company. An occasional sentence in several of the stories is borrowed from the same source.
CONTENTS
THE RHINE-GOLD THE HAPPY RHINE-DAUGHTERS ALBERICH THE CARELESS RHINE-DAUGHTERS THE THEFT THE SAD RHINE-DAUGHTERS A CASTLE ON THE RHINE THE MORNING THE PAYMENT LOKI YOUTH OR AGE? NIBELHEIM THE BEST SMITH IN NIBELHEIM THE MASTER THE BOASTER THE WISHING-CAP THE TRICK THE CURSE THE GREEDY FAFNER A SLAVE TO GOLD THE BEAUTIFUL VALHALLA
THE WALKUERE A MATCHLESS SWORD THE VALIANT SIEGMUND HUNDING'S WIFE HUNDING THE WAR-MAIDENS WOTAN'S WIFE WOTAN AND BRUNHILDE OFF TO THE BATTLEFIELD THE FLIGHT THE PUNISHMENT THE SLEEP THE MAGIC FIRE
SIEGFRIED THE MISSING MIMI THE DRAGON A BABY IN THE FOREST MIMI AND THE BABY SIEGFRIED AND HIS FRIENDS THE BROKEN SWORD A BIG BROWN BEAR SIEGFRIED AND MIMI SIEGFRIED MENDS HIS FATHER'S SWORD SIEGFRIED GOES TO FIGHT THE DRAGON A WOOD-BIRD'S SONG SIEGFRIED AND THE DRAGON A CHANGE COMES OVER SIEGFRIED MIMI HAS A SURPRISE MIMI AND ALBERICH STOP TO QUARREL TOO LONG SIEGFRIED REACHES THE MOUNTAIN SIEGFRIED LEARNS WHAT FEAR IS THE AWAKENING
GOETTERDAEMMERUNG A SONG OF THE PAST A SONG OF THE PRESENT A SONG OF THE FUTURE A PLEDGE OF LOVE THE DOOM OF VALHALLA LOVE
MORE ABOUT THE STORIES
ILLUSTRATIONS
SIEGFRIED THE RHINE-MAIDENS AND ALBERICH WOTAN HE TUGGED IN VAIN WALKUERE CARRYING HEROES TO VALHALLA "EAT HIM, BRUIN," LAUGHED SIEGFRIED "I AM GOING TO EAT YOU," HISSED THE DRAGON THREE NORNS CAME TO THE MOUNTAIN CREST TO SPIN
_From drawings by E. Pollak-Ottendorff_
TO THE GIRLS AND BOYS
In these stories you will find some wonderful giants.
You will find beautiful maidens who lived in a river.
You will find a large family of little black dwarfs who lived under the river, and you will find a splendid hero.
The little children of Germany used to curl up in their mothers' arms, when bedtime came, and listen to the stories of these strange people.
When these little children grew up, they told the same stories to their children.
So it went for many, many years.
The stories have been put together by a man named Richard Wagner. He put them together in such a way that they make one long and wonderful story.
After he had told these stories in words, he told them again in a more beautiful way. He told them in music.
Sometime you will hear this music, and you will think of beautiful water-maidens, singing and dancing in the sunshine.
You will think of great giants walking over mountains.
You will think of the little black dwarfs under the river, and you will hear them hammering, hammering upon their anvils.
