This curse uttered, he disappears, and while mist invades the place the scene changes, and Loge and Wotan stand once more on the grassy slopes, where Fricka, Donner, and Fro hasten to welcome them, and to inquire concerning the success of their enterprise.  Almost at the same moment, the giants Fasolt and Fafnir also appear, leading Freya, whom Fricka would fain embrace, but who is withheld from her longing arms.  The grim giants vow that no one shall even touch their fair captive until they have received a pile of gold as high as their staffs, which they drive into the ground, and wide enough to screen the goddess entirely.  Thus admonished, Loge and Fro pile up the gleaming treasure, which is surmounted by the glittering helmet, whose power the giants do not know.  Freya is entirely hidden, and only a chink remains through which the giants can catch a glimpse of her golden hair.  They insist upon having this chink closed up ere they will relinquish Freya, so Wotan is forced to give up the magic ring.  But he draws it from his finger only when Erda, the shadowy earth goddess, half rises out of the ground to command the sacrifice of the treasure which Alberich stole from the Rhine maidens.

As the stipulated ransom has all been paid, the giants release Freya.  She joyfully embraces her kin, and under her caresses they recover all their former youth and bloom.  In the mean while the giants produce their bags, but soon begin quarrelling together about the division of the hoard, and appeal to the gods to decide their dispute.  The gods are all too busy to pay any heed to this request, all except the malicious Loge, who slyly advises Fafnir to seize the ring and pay no heed to the rest.  As the ring is accursed, Fafnir remorselessly slays his brother to obtain it; then, packing up all the treasure in his great bag, he triumphantly departs.  To disperse the shadow hovering over Wotan’s brow ever since he has been obliged to sacrifice the ring, Thor now beats the rocks with his magic hammer, and conjures a brief storm.  The long roll of thunder soon dies away, and when the fitful play of the lightning is ended Thor shows the assembled gods a glittering rainbow bridge of quivering, changing hues, which stretches from the valley where they are standing to the beautiful portals of the wondrous palace Walhalla, the home of the gods!

Fascinated by this sight, Wotan invites the gods to follow him over its lightly swung arch, and as they trip over the rainbow bridge, the lament of the Rhine-maidens mourning their treasure falls in slow, pitiful cadences upon their ears:—­

   ’Rhinegold! 
    Purest gold! 
    O would that thy light
    Waved in the waters below! 
    Unfailing faith
    Is found in the deep,
    While above, in delight,
    Faintness and falsehood abide!’

[1] See the author’s ‘Myths of Northern Lands’ and ’Legends of
    the Rhine.’

[2] All the quotations in the ‘Ring’ have been taken either
    from Dippold’s or Forman’s admirable translations.