Page:MU KPB 001 The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie - Illustrated by Artur Rackham.pdf/19

Weligunde	Flosshilde, swim! Woglinde flies: Help me to hinder her flying.
Flosshilde Dives down between the two at plat	The sleeping gold Badly ye guard; Watch with more zeal The slumberer’s bed, Or dear you’ll pay for your sport!
	[They swim asunder with merry cries, Floſshilde tries to catch firſt the one, then the other. They elude her, and then combine to chase her, darting like fiſh from rock to rock with jeſts and laughter, Meanwhile Alberich climbs out of a dark ravine on to a rack. He pauses, fill surrounded by darkneſs, and watches the frolic of the Rhine-Maidens with increaſing pleasure.
Alberich	Hey, hey! ye nixies! Ye are a lovely, Lovable folk! From Nibelheim’s night Fain would I come, Would ye be kind to me.
	[The maidens, as soon as they hear Alberich's voice, ſtop playing.
Woglinde	Hei! Who is there?
Wellgunde	A voice! It grows dark!
Flosshilde	Who listens below?
	[They dive down and see the Nibelung.
Woglinde and Wellgunde	Fie! the loathsome one!

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