Scene 2
(a different place in the forest)

Mime: Well, here we are!

Siegfried: This is where you're going to teach me what fear is? We've been walking all night to get here! Well, I want you to leave me alone now, Mime. If I don't learn about fear here, then at least I don't have much farther to go to get on with my life. I'll leave you behind, and go on by myself!

Mime: Oh, believe me, you'll learn what fear is! If you don't, there's nowhere else I can think of that you'd do any better to try. You see that cave over there? There's a huge dragon that lives there. He's the meanest, hungriest, scariest thing I know of. He'd be able to eat you alive with one gulp!

Siegfried: Then I'll stop up his throat, and he won't be able to swallow me.

Mime: His saliva is poisonous! If one drop gets on you, it'll melt you, skin and bones!

Siegfried: I'll just have to stay off to one side of him, then.

Mime: Watch out for his tail! If he gets hold of you with it, he'll shatter your bones like glass!

Siegfried: OK, I'll watch out for that, too. But tell me, does he have a heart?

Mime: A terrible, cold, cruel heart.

Siegfried: Is it in the same place as every other animal's?

Mime: Well, yes, sure, right there on the left side if his chest. But, is all this frightening you yet?

Siegfried: I'll stick Nothung right up into that heart! I guess if you call that "fear"…. Really, Mime, is this the best you can do? There's nothing for me to learn here; you might as well go now.

Mime: Just a minute! You don't think I'm telling you the truth here. Just wait till you see this dragon. Then maybe you'll listen to me. When your eyes blur at the sight of him, when your legs won't even hold you up, when your heart explodes in your chest, then you'll thank me for caring about you enough to bring you here.

Siegfried: I've told you over and over, I don't want you to care about me! Get out of here! Leave me alone, or I'll just leave you here to face him alone! That face of yours, those eyes, they nauseate me! I can't wait till I don't ever have to look at them again!

Mime: OK. I'll leave you. I'll just go lie down by that spring over there. You stay here, and when the sun is high in the sky, watch for the dragon. He'll come out of his cave to go drink at the river.

Siegfried: Mime, if you're at the river, I'll be glad to follow the dragon there. I'll kill him after he's eaten you for lunch! You'd be better off to just go back home, get as far away from me as you can, and don't ever come back!

Mime: After you've killed your dragon, wouldn't you at least want me to bring you something to drink? Surely you'll be tired and thirsty by then. And remember, you can always call on me if you need any advice, anything at all. (to himself, as he leaves) Fafner and Siegfried, Siegfried and Fafner - wouldn't it be great if they'd both kill each other!

Siegfried: I'm so glad he's not my father! Well, at least it's daylight now, and I love being alone in the woods like this. I never have to look at that miserable little excuse for a man ever again! (reflecting) But I wonder what my real father looked like? Ha! He must've looked a lot like me! I mean, if Mime had a son, wouldn't the poor boy look like Mime? Ugly and haggard, slimy and grungy, stooped over, hunch-backed, malformed, with big ears, drooping eyes, and - oh, enough about him! I don't ever want to see him again! (reflecting again) But…what did my mother look like? I can't even imagine that at all. I'm sure she was beautiful, with eyes like a young doe, only prettier! Why did she have to die having me? Does every son kill his mother like that? That would be terrible! I wish I could see my mother, see what she looked like. She must've been a real woman! (A bird sings in the treetops.) What a pretty bird! I've never seen you before; do you live in this forest? If only I could understand what it's saying to me, maybe it could tell me something about my mother? That dwarf told me no one could understand the birds, that it would never be possible. But I can try! Maybe if I play its song on my pipe here, I'll be speaking its language, and maybe then I can understand a little bit of what it's trying to say. It stopped singing. Maybe it's waiting to hear what I have to say to it. Here goes! (Plays the bird's song on his pipe; it sounds terrible.) That doesn't sound quite right; I can't make this pipe sound as sweet as the bird. Oh, maybe I'm just too stupid. I can't learn anything from a bird! It looks confused, too. It can hear me, but I must not be saying anything back to it. Well, maybe I can't play the pipe very well, but I can play my horn! Listen, bird! There's a song I can play for you, that's always brought me good luck in the past. Wolves and bears always come when I play it. Let's see if it'll work today, to call something here to me. (Plays his own tune on the horn, very well. The dragon wakes up at the sound of it.) Ha ha! So, someone has come out to play with me! Come on, dragon, I'd like for you to be my friend!

Fafner: Who's there?

Siegfried: You can talk? Well, maybe I can learn something from you. See, I don't know what "fear" is. Can you teach it to me?

Fafner: What?? You dare ask me something like that!!

Siegfried: Daring, bravery, I don't know exactly what to call it. But you'll teach me, or I'll carve you up like a turkey.

Fafner: I just wanted to get a drink, but now I've found something to eat as well!

Siegfried: You have such a pretty mouth, with dainty little teeth all in a row inside it! You should close it now, though, at least if you don't want my sword stuck in it!

Fafner: My mouth isn't used to idle talk, but my throat is definitely used to swallowing fools like you!

Siegfried: Ho ho! You're the fool, to think I'd let you get me in there! I think it's time I killed you just for your bad attitude!

Fafner: Hah! Bring it on, little boy!

Siegfried: Look out! Here comes your "little boy"!

(they fight, and Fafner is stabbed through the heart)

Siegfried: That's it, just lie there. You can be friends with my sword now!

Fafner: Who are you? You killed me! You couldn't possibly have thought of doing this on your own. Who put you up to it?

Siegfried: There's a lot that I don't know yet. I really don't even know who I am exactly. But you're the one who egged me on to fight.

Fafner: You naïve little boy! I'll tell you exactly what you've done. The mightiest of all the giants - Fasolt and Fafner - both of the brothers!…are dead now. I killed Fasolt, because I was cursed by all that Gold. Now, even though I took the form of a dragon to protect myself, a young boy comes along and kills me. Be careful, my young friend. Whoever brought you here to do this to me is now waiting to kill you himself. Remember! Mark my words!

Siegfried: You sound like you know what you're talking about. Maybe you can tell me where I came from. If I tell you my name, you should know. It's "Siegfried".

Fafner: (moaning as he dies) Siegfried!!

Siegfried: He can't tell me anything now. Oh well, my sword will lead me to what I want to know! (he pulls the sword out of Fafner's chest, and some blood spills on him.) His blood burns like fire! (He sucks the blood off his hand.) That's weird - it sound like the birds are talking to me now. Oh my gosh, I can understand them! Was that blood magic or something? What's that bird there saying to me?

Forest Bird: The Nibelung's treasure belongs to Siegfried now. He'll find it in the cave. He should use the Tarnhelm for its wonderful magic, but if he finds the Ring as well, he'll be master of the whole world.

Siegfried: Thanks for the advice! I'll go look for them right now.