Richard Wagner's Ring of the Niblung

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.]