hut.  Exhausted by fatigue, he throws himself down by the hearth, and is soon fast asleep.  Sieglinde entering offers him food and drink.  Soon Hunding appears, and, after hearing his guest’s name and history, discovers in him a mortal foe.  Nevertheless the rights of hospitality are sacred.  He offers Siegmund shelter for the night, but bids him be ready at dawn to fight for his life.  Left alone, Siegmund muses in the dying firelight on the promise made him by his father, that at the hour of his direst need he should find a sword.  His reverie is interrupted by the entrance of Sieglinde, who has drugged Hunding’s night draught, and now urges Siegmund to flee.  Each has read in the other’s eyes the sympathy which is akin to love, and Siegmund refuses to leave her.  Thereupon she tells him of a visit paid to the house upon the day of her marriage to Hunding by a mysterious stranger, who thrust a sword into the stem of the mighty ash-tree which supports the roof, promising it to him who could pull it out.  Siegmund draws the sword (which he greets with the name of Nothung) in triumph from the tree, and the brother and sister, now united by a yet closer tie, fall into each other’s arms as the curtain falls.

The scene of the next act is laid in a wild, mountainous region.  Wotan has summoned his favourite daughter, the Valkyrie Bruennhilde, and directs her to protect Siegmund in the fight with Hunding which is soon to take place.  Bruennhilde departs with her wild Valkyrie cry, and Fricka appears in a car drawn by two rams.  She is the protectress of marriage rites, and come to complain of Siegmund’s unlawful act in carrying off Sieglinde.  A long altercation ensues between the pair.  In the end Fricka is triumphant.  She extorts an oath from Wotan that he will not protect Siegmund, and departs satisfied.  Bruennhilde again appears, and another interminable scene follows between her and Wotan.  The father of the gods is weighed down by the sense of approaching annihilation.  He now realises that the consequences of his lawless lust of power are beginning to work his ruin.  He tells Bruennhilde the whole story ot his schemes to avert destruction by the help of Siegmund and the Valkyries, ending by commanding her, under dreadful penalties, to leave the Volsung hero to his fate.  Siegmund and Sieglinde now appear, flying from the vengeful Hunding.  Sieglinde’s strength is almost spent, and she sinks exhausted in a death-like swoon.  While Siegmund is tenderly watching over her, Bruennhilde advances.  She tells Siegmund of his approaching doom, and bids him prepare for the delights of Valhalla.  He refuses to leave Sieglinde, and, rather than that they should be separated, he is ready to plunge his sword into both their hearts.  His noble words melt Bruennhilde’s purpose, and, in defiance of Wotan’s commands, she promises to protect him.  Hunding’s horn is now heard in the distance, and Siegmund leaves Sieglinde still unconscious and rushes to the encounter.