THE GOLDEN RING AND ITS CURSE - PART FOUR

PROLOGUE

This is the final part of our story, "The Golden Ring and its Curse" Over the many millenia that have passed since our story ended much change has taken place in the Tucson basin where the story is situated. Let me remind you that should you wish to copy the four parts of the story, please feel free to do so. My only limitation on your copying is that you make no changes whatsoever to the story. Now sit back and once again let your mind drift back to the time many millenia ago and the story that took place here. I hope you have enjoyed it.

PART FOUR

It was a beautiful clear day with all the neighboring mountain ranges we know so well clearly visible above the flickering, hot flames – the mighty Catalinas to the North, the Rincons and Whetstones to the east, the Sierritas to the west and beyond them the Boboquiveri range where one day another God would live and reign (Iitoi, chief God of the Tohono O’odham tribe) and the rugged Tucsons to the northwest to name a few. Of course these mountains were known by other names in those ancient days long since forgotten.

Several months had passed and Siegfried was becoming restless for new experiences. Brunhilde understood how he felt. After all, Siegfried had lived all of his life deep in a forest with Littmann as his only human companion. Up until this point Siegfried had known only three people. At Brunhilde’s suggestion Siegfried decided to take Brunhilde’s horse Grane on a cruise down the river we know as the San Pedro and visit people who lived along the river. Siegfried left, but not before Brunhilde cast a few spells for Siegfried’s protection. Importantly, she failed to protect Siegfried’s back knowing that he would never intentionally turn his back to an enemy. At the river’s edge, Siegfried built a raft for he and Grane and they were shortly off to see the world.

Some distance down the San Pedro there was a castle on its eastern shore belonging to Hatvil and his beautiful sister Sorrolade. Grimmann, the evil half brother to Hatvil also lived with them. Grimmann’s father was Albdak and apparently at some point Albdak’s wife left him and married the man who became father to Hatvil and Sorrolade. Grimmann, through Albdak, knew all that had been going on with Siegfried and expected that sooner or later Siegfried would come calling at Hatvil’s castle.

Grimmann was right. Siegfried had made good time moving down the San Pedro and soon saw Hatvil’s castle. Grimmann saw Siegfried approaching and called out to him to stop and invited him to visit for awhile. Neither Hatvil nor Sorrolade had married and their servants were beginning to wonder if they ever would since they had both passed the age where young people would normally have married. As a scheme intended to ultimately recover the Ring, the evil Grimmann developed a plot to convince Siegfried to win Brunhilde as Hatvil’s bride and for Siegfried to marry Sorrolade. It would be necessary for Siegfried to win Brunhilde for Hatvil as Hatvil was not capable of going through the magic fire that protected Brunhilde.

Siegfried arrived and Grimmann offered him food and drink. The drink given to Siegfried contained a magic potion designed to make Siegfried forget all about Brunhilde and fall in love with Sorrolade. The potion did its dirty work and Siegfried was soon madly in love with Sorrolade and he asked Hatvil if Sorrolade could be his wife. This was agreed to immediately and Hatvil and Siegfried drank a cup of wine in a little ceremony of swearing “blood brotherhood” together. This was a sort of mutual protection pledge where each would automatically become the enemy of the other’s enemies.

Now they discussed the problem of finding a good wife for Hatvil. Not just any woman would do, for Hatvil was Lord of all the surrounding lands – a sort of mini kingdom. Grimmann told Hatvil of a remarkable woman living at the top of a mountain not far away and who was protected by a magic fire. This woman Brunhilde, Grimmann said, would be a perfect wife for Lord Hatvil. Hatvil asked how he was supposed to get through this magic fire, but Grimmann had the answer. Hanging on Siegfried’s belt was the alterhelm and, thanks to Albdak, Grimmann knew all about the alterhelm and its magic powers to change the shapes of people. Siegfried could, with the alterhelm’s help, assume the shape of Hatvil, pass through the fearfull fire as Hatvil, woo Brunhilde and bring her back to Hatvil’s castle.

Having forgotten all about Brunhilde Siegfried agreed to do this for his new blood brother and the two immediately set off for the base of Brunhilde’s mountain leaving Grimmann thinking bad thoughts on the patio of the castle facing the river.

Meanwhile back at Brunhilde’s mountain top, Brunhilde had a visitor. One of her former Valkyrie sisters, Waltraute. Waltraute told how Vodin had cut down the world’s ash tree, surrounded Valhalla with its branches and sat gloomily awaiting the end of the Gods. He knew that if the Ring was not returned to the River maidens soon the end of the Gods would happen. Waltraute tried hard to persuade Brunhilde to give up the Ring, but the Ring had become the symbol of Siegfried’s love for her and she was not about to give it back to the river maidens. Waltraute flew off to give the bad news to Vodin.

Not long after this Siegfried, now in Hatvil’s shape, arrived much to Brunhilde’s distress who wondered how anyone but Siegfried could make it safely through the fierce fire. A brief struggle ensued as Siegfried forced Brunhilde to accompany him back to the base of the mountain where Hatvil awaited his bride. During the struggle Siegfried tore the Ring off of Brunhilde’s finger and took it as his prize for having won Brunhilde for Hatvil. When they arrived at the boat to take them back to Hatvil’s castle, Siegfried and Hatvil managed to switch places without Brunhilde noticing and Hatvil himself escorted Brunhilde home while Siegfried traveled by another route. It was now nighttime and the switch was easily accomplished.

Back at Hatvil’s castle Grimmann, still awaiting the return of Siegfried and Hatvil, had a visitor. It was his father, Albdak. Albdak was concerned about Grimmann’s loyalty to him and tried to persuade Grimmann to be true to him and not try to take the Ring – and eventually all the gold – for himself. Grimmann neither agreed nor disagreed and Albdak left.

Shortly after sunrise, Grimmann was surprised by the early arrival of Siegfried who had made faster time returning than Hatvil. Siegfried, eager to see Sorrolade, entered the castle while Grimmann waited to see Hatvil’s raft approaching. His wait was not long and as soon as Hatvil and Brunhilde were in sight, Grimmann summoned the servants and told them to prepare for a double marriage feast. There would be a double wedding with Siegfried and Sorrolade together with Hatvil and Brunhilde. The servants were delighted at the news that Hatvil would finally be marrying. To them this meant that Hatvil’s family line would continue once Hatvil and Brunhilde had children – preferably sons since, in those days, women could not inherit the title of Lord or the estates belonging to the Lord of the land.

The raft now on shore, Hatvil led a very unhappy Brunhilde to the castle to introduce her to his servants. Hatvil was cheerful and proud at having obtained such a wife as Brunhilde, but in contrast to Hatvil, Brunhilde was gloomy and downcast. The servants wondered what was wrong.

Siegfried and Sorrolade now appeared. Brunhilde immediately noticed the Ring on Siegfried’s finger and immediately accused him of breaking his vows to her. Siegfried, still under the influence of the drug Grimmann had given him, could not understand her anger and why this woman he believed he had never met would make such claims. He told the assembled people that he had won the Ring following a battle in which he had killed the dragon Fafnir. Brunhilde, of course, had no knowledge of the fact that Siegfried had been drugged in order to forget all about her and their previous marriage vows. She called for a swearing on a spear. This meant that Siegfried and Brunhilde would both swear with their hands on the same spear that they each had told the truth. Tradition said that the one who lied would soon die.

Siegfried and Sorrolade then returned to the castle to prepare for their wedding leaving Brunhilde, Hatvil and Grimmann to make plans. Grimmann said that there was only one thing to be done. Siegfried must be killed. Brunhilde scoffed at this knowing Siegfried’s great strength. But then she remembered that she had not protected Siegfried’s back with the protective spells she had cast for him before he left her on the fire protected mountain top. She advised Grimmann that this was the only way in which he would be able to kill Siegfried, like a coward, from behind. The three of them then went into the castle to prepare for the wedding.

Several days later Grimmann proposed that he, Hatvil and Siegfried along with the servants go on a hunt. During the hunt Siegfried separated from the rest of the hunting party, eventually coming out of the woods on the shore of the river. The river maidens saw him immediately and began trying to persuade him to join them in the depths of the river and give them back their Ring. Siegfried refused saying that he had won this in a fair fight and it therefore belonged to him. Siegfried had no knowledge of the Ring’s history, power and the curse it carried for whoever owned it. The rest of the hunting party finally arrived and the river maidens disappeared into the deep water.

Hatvil was in an unhappy mood. He realized that he had not won his wife fairly. By this time Brunhilde, knowing all about the alterhelm, had figured out what must have happened and had criticized Hatvil for his cowardice. Once the servants had prepared a camp for the night, Siegfried, in an effort to cheer Hatvil up, began to tell everyone there about his early life. When he reached the point of telling them about killing the dragon, Grimmann gave him another drugged drink. This drug cleared Siegfried’s mind of the earlier drug and he now remembered all about Brunnhilde and their marriage on the mountain top. He told everyone about this episode of his life in glowing detail and all were shocked at what they heard. Siegfried was standing as he told his story. The evil Grimmann, spear in hand, sneaked around to Siegfried’s back side and plunged his spear into Siegfried’s heart. Siegfried’s last words before he died were of Brunhilde.

The hunting party immediately broke camp and returned to the castle carrying Siegfried’s body. Arriving at the castle, Grimmann attempted to tell Sorrolade that Siegfried had been killed by a wild boar. Hatvil, however, insisted that Sorrolade hear the truth and as he told her what had really happened the evil Grimmann aimed his spear at Hatvil and killed Hatvil instantly.

Grimmann then reached for the Ring on Siegfried’s finger. Altwoman, having made herself invisible, arrived just in time to make Siegfried’s arm raise threateningly and Grimmann fell back frightened by this act of a dead man. At this point Brunhilde entered the hall and took command of the situation. She told everyone of Siegfried’s history and lineage going back to Vodin. This done she ordered that a huge funeral fire be built and called for her horse, Grane. Siegfried’s body was placed upon the firewood and the fire lit. Once the fire was burning fiercely it set fire to the castle and Brunhilde rode Grane into the fire prefering to die with Siegfried rather than to live without him.

At this point a wall of water roared down the river from out of the mountains and the castle was flooded. Grimmann made one last effort to go for the Ring but the three river maidens together drowned him in the flood. They then retrieved the Ring, its curse lifted now that it was back in the possession of its rightful owners.

In the distance, high in the mountains, Valhalla was also seen to be burning. Vodin had set fire to the logs and branches of the world’s ash tree which he had placed around Valhalla. The funeral fire, now controlled by Logy, spread to Hatvil’s castle joining the fire Vodin had set and all the Gods, awaiting their end inside, were consumed by the flames.

All of the other rivers had flooded all the land in the area as well and when the waters finally retreated back into their normal channels, the land had been cleansed of all of the evil that had taken place among the peoples and the Gods. It was now ready for a new and better start to be made by those fortunate ones who had survived the terrible flood and fires.


EPILOGUE

This story has been adapted from the story told in a series of four operas by Richard Wagner called in German “Der Ring des Nibelungen” or “The Ring of the Nibelung” in English. Wagner in turn took much of his story from ancient Norse (Scandinavians – Vikings - from what is now Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland) legends. I have changed somewhat Wagner’s telling of the story and have also used some of the material from the Norse legends in this adaptation. Writing this for but not limited to young readers in the southwest I have re-set the story in the area of the Tucson, Arizona basin of many millennia past. The characters in the opera have German names, some of which are taken from the original Norse legends. I have kept the German names for some of the main characters and have given new names to all the others. An aid to proper pronunciation of some of the German names will be found below.



The four operas are:

Das Rheinegold (The Rhinegold)
Die Walkure (The Valkyrie)
Siegfried
Gotterdaemmerung (The Death of the Gods)

PRONUNCIATION

Brunhilde - Bruhn-hill-duh
Frija – Fri-yah
Grane - Gray-nuh
Logy - Lo-geh
Siegfried - Zeeg-freed
Sieglinde - Zeeg-lin-duh
Siegmund - Zeeg-mund
Sorrolade – Saw-ro-la-deh
Valhalla - Val-hal-luh
Valkyries - Val-ker-ees
Waltraute – Vaul-trout-eh
Richard Wagner – Vahg-ner

- end -

Andrew Swanson is also the author of "The Grantor". This is the fictional biography of a wealthy man, Arthur Jacobson, whose family money started a foundation and which Jacobson eventually became its director. The book tells of the many incidents which took place over Jacobson's long life. See the blog devoted to this book which sumarizes the book as well as providing ordering information.

Swanson is also an independent representative of the Shaklee Corp. The story of a remarkable life extending product manufactured by Shaklee is told in the blog "My Experience with Vivix. Ordering information for this and other Shaklee products is provided in this blog.