Part 21 (1/2)
Vain hope! Fearful, idle illusion! There is no such thing more upon earth as eternal fidelity, One hope alone is leftthe seed of earth endure, it ht? When shall it sound, the trump of doom, at which the earth will crumble away?
When all the dead arise, then shall I pass into nothingness O ye worlds, a term to your course! Eternal void, receive me!” From the hold of the phantom-shi+p the unseen crew echo his prayer: ”Eternal void, receive us!”
He is leaning against a rock, absorbed in so from the cabin to take a look at the weather, becohbour He rouses the sleep-drunken ligence, catches up a speaking-tru at anchor close by, ”Who is there?” There comes no sound in reply, save from the echo ”Answer!” shouts the mate; ”Your name and colours!”
Silence, as before ”It appears they are quite as lazy as we!” Daland re particularly noteworthy in the unresponse, since his own crew are asleep too after their long toil Catching sight of the dark figure on shore which he rightly takes to be the captain, he prevents the ation, and turns his questions to this one: ”Halloo, seaman! Give your na pause, almost as if the speaker had lost the habit of human intercourse and uttered himself with difficulty ”I have come froe?”--”God forbid! The seaman knows the friendly courtesies of hospitality!” cries Daland Joining the stranger ashore, ”Who are you?” he asks ”Hollander”--”God be with you! So you too were driven by the hurricane on to the bare rocky coast? I had no better fate My home is but a few miles from here; I had nearly reached it when I was forced to turn and sail away Tell e?”--”My shi+p is strong, nor likely to e,”
the Hollande, answers, as drearily as mysteriously; ”Driven by stor over the face of the waters--how long? I hardly could tell I have long ceased to count the years I hardly could name all the lands I have approached One land alone, the one which of all I long for, I can never find,--the land of home! Grant me for a short period the hospitality of your house, and you shall not rue the act of friendliness My shi+p is richly laden with treasures froion and latitude If you will traffic with e”--”Hoonderful!” says Daland, impressed; ”Am I to take you at your word?
An evil star, it would seem, has so far pursued you I am ready to do what I can to serve you But--o of your shi+p?” The Hollanderashore a chest ”The rarest treasures you shall see, precious pearls and noblest geer speaks to the wide-eyed Daland ”See for yourself, and be convinced of the value of the price I offer for the hospitality of your roof” The lid of the chest is lifted Daland stares amazed at the contents ”What? Is it possible? These treasures?--But who is so rich as to have an equivalent to tender?”--”Equivalent? I have told you--I offer this for a single night's lodging What you see, however, is an insignificant portion of that which the hold of my shi+p contains Of what avail to me is the treasure? I have neither wife nor child, and ive you, if you will afford me a home with you and yours” Daland cannot believe that he hears aright ”Have you a daughter?” inquires the Hollander ”I have, indeed, a ain Daland cannot believe his ears, cannot be sure whether he is asleep or awake It is suggested later that he cares unduly for wealth; but, without supposing him avaricious, we can realise hohat is offered at this moment should seeht rasp at it for the inconceivable happiness and splendour of hihter of the common fellow he is, can to his mind be a reasonable equivalent, really, for the e for her Daland nor she had probably in all their lives owned a precious stone And this chest is full to the brim of jewels, and that shi+p contains hter's hand is clearly a hypochondriac, infinitely sea-weary, who sees in the prospect of home and settled life the whole desire of his heart, cloyed with riches and sick of wandering
If he, Daland, should hesitate, the suitor hter, she will either see the thing as he sees it,--how could human woman see it differently?--or, dutiful, will be ruled by his superior wisdohter; devoted to hest wealth, ood”--”May her love,” the Hollander exclai, ”never fail her father! True to hiive jewels, priceless pearls,” renity that does his self-respect good, no doubt, without greatly ireatest treasure of all is a faithful wife!”--”And you will give me such a one?”--”You have my word Your fate ive assurance of h-mindedness The like of you I have ever wished for son-in-law, and even were your fortune not so great, I would choose no other”--”My thanks And shall I see the daughter this very day?”--”The next favourable ill take us home You shall see her, and if she pleases you”--”She shall be hs aside; ”Do I still perel's heart will pity me? Hopeless as I am, I yet follow the lure of hope!”
”The wind is propitious, the sea is calm We will heave anchor at once, and speedily reach ho,--do you sail ahead,” the Hollander suggests ”The wind is fresh, but my crew is spent I will let them rest awhile and then will follow”--”But our wind?”--”Will continue for so from the south My shi+p is swift and will surely overtake yours”--”You believe so?
Very well! Let it be as you wish Farewell, and may you meet my child before the end of day!” The sailors have lifted the anchor and set the sails Daland goes on board With the crew singing cheerily together, the Norwegian shi+p starts upon the homeward course The Hollander returns to his silent deck
II
The scene is next laid in the interior of Daland's house, the large living-rooirls sit around the fire with their spinning-wheels Beside thethe natural decoration of a sea-captain's house, there hangs on the wall the picture of a pale black-bearded one
The girls are spinning busily, singing while they work They are the sweethearts of the lads on Daland's shi+p, and their song is of sailors at sea who are thinking of -wheel ht influence the wind--oh, but they would speedily be back in harbour!
One only of the young girls in the roo her wheel stand idle, leans back abstractedly in a great armchair, with her eyes fixed upon the picture of the pale ently herself and keeps the rest at their task, chides her, not very severely, for her idleness
The girls in their song have been felicitating the their lovers will give the hohty child,” Mary says to Senta, at the end of the song, ”if you do not spin, you will receive no present froh at this ”There is no need for her to hurry Her sweetheart is not out at Sea He brings hoame Everyone knows in what the fortune of a huntsman consists!”
Senta does not stir; it is doubtful if she have heard Without re her eyes from the picture of the pallid ment of old ballad ”Look at her!”
the nurse takes fuller account of her attitude and abstraction; ”Look at her! Always in front of that picture! Do you intend to drea life before that portrait?” Senta answers gently, still without taking her eyes from the pale face: ”Why did you tell me who he is, and relate his story? The unhappy soul!” At the heavily burdened sigh upon which she utters the last words, ”God have you in His care!” exclaiirls, who are in ain ”Why, hat is that we hear? She sighs for the pale man! There you see what a picture can do She is in love Please Heaven no mischief result!
Erik is soe! Say not a word, else, aflame rath, he may shoot the rival fro her consciousness, Senta turns to the!
Do you wish to make me really cross?” Further to tease her, they drown her voice with the refrain of their spinning-song: ”Mutter and huood little wheel, cheerily, cheerily turn! Spin, spin a thousand threads, good little wheel, s Senta, ” If you wishbetter to do!”--”Very well,” say the girls, ”then sing yourself!” As a bird to the nest, Senta returns to the subject engrossing herus the ballad” All understand what ballad is meant ”God forbid!” cries the nurse; ”It is likely I will do it! Children, let the Flying Dutchman rest!”--”Yet how often have I heard the ballad frohs Senta; and, as the nurse continues obdurate, ”I will sing it irls listen Could I but bring home to your hearts the wretchedness of the poor soul's fate, it could not fail to irls accept the offer with delight, push aside their spinning-wheels and gather around the singer
Only the old nurse, whose instinct has soht alarm, and who has conceived a curious dislike and fear of this pallid hero of legend, refuses her countenance and testily goes on spinning by herself in the chimney-corner
”Have you s Senta, ”blood-red of sail and black of h deck, the pale man, the shi+p's master, keeps incessant watch--Hui! How the wind blows! Yohohey!--Hui!
How it sings in the stays! Yohohey!--Hui! Like an arrow flies the shi+p, without stop, without rest! Yet ht deliverance one day come to the pale man, could he find a woman upon earth who should love him faithfully until death Oh, when, pale sea-farer, when shall you find her? Pray to Heaven that a woman soon may keep her troth to hie of the storm, he determined to double a cape He cursed and swore in mad mood: 'Not to all eternity will I desist!'--Hui! And Satan heard it Yohohey!--Hui! Took him at his word Yohohey!--Hui! And now, a lost soul, he sails the seas, without stop, without rest How the unhappy el of the Lord showed hiht, pale sea-farer, find it! Pray to Heaven that a woman soon may keep her troth to him!
”He casts anchor every seven years, and to woo a woman comes ashore
But never yet has he found a faithful one--Hui! Spread the sails!
Yohohey!--Hui! Lift the anchor! Yohohey!--Hui! False love, false troth! Back to sea, without stop, without rest!” Senta who has been singing with a spirit and expressiveness full unusual as applied to a threadbare old ballad, has at this point reached such a pitch of emotion that her voice fails and she sinks in her chair exhausted
The girls, whom her earnestness has i by her, who have for a h her eyes the vision of that lost soul's wretchedness, take up the ballad where she drops it, and sing on in tones which confess the contagion of her syuide you? Where shall you find her ill be your own true and loyal love until death?” With an air of illu ords which rise inspired to her lips: ”Let me be that wouide you to h me you shall reach salvation!” She speaks so passionately, appears so strangely, that her cohtened, rushes to her side with the cry: ”Heaven help us!”
and all together they try to bring her to her nor in tones of protest, ”Senta! Senta!”
Unnoticed of the rest, Erik, the hunts in the doorway He has heard Senta's exclae condition, and affected by it differently from all the others cries, heart-struck, ”Senta, Senta, are you determined to destroy me?”--”Oh, help us, Erik,” the others appeal to him; ”She is out of her senses!” The nurse, who has felt her blood unaccountably running chill, turns angrily to the picture on the wall: ”Aboo just as soon as the father comes home!”--”The father has arrived,”
Erik informs them; ”From the cliff I saw his shi+p come in” Alltheirls are for running to the harbour upon the instant Mary prevents them ”Stop!
Stop! You shall re with hollow stomachs To the kitchen and cellar! No time to waste! Let curiosity toro and do your duty!” She drives the, too, but Erik bars the way, pleading, ”Stay, Senta, stay for a moment! Release me from this torture--or, if you will, destroy irl must, not to understand ”Erik, what is it?”--”Oh, Senta, speak, say what is to beco upon a new voyage, he is sure to wish to carry out what he so often has spoken of”--”And what is that?”--”To give you a husband
My heart with its unchanging love,all I have to offer, will not your father repulse me? And if my heart breaks with its misery, tell me, Senta, who is there will speak a word for e and point in life when not to obtain the woman he has set his heart upon seeuish the sun, nifies destruction, and he is not ashath, and uses it as thehiirl, a toy in her frail hands He is the only lover of this type in the Wagnerian assortment, and, it happens, the only one who fails Senta, we are permitted to divine, had not always felt as removed from him as at thisperhaps of her seventeenth year, at so into womanhood, that her romantic dreaent love beco to withdraw from, without clearly formulated reason, by an instinct
She tries now to silence him, to put him off with the excuse that she must hurry to her father But he is not to be put off To detain her, he reproaches ”You wish to avoid o to the harbour!”--”You shrink froo!”--”You shrink from the wound which yourself you made, the madness of love you inspired? Oh, you shall hear me in this hour, shall hear the last question I will ask When uish, will not Senta herself speak a word for me?” She applies herself then to quiet and co; he is after all flesh-and-blood and close at hand, the other a dream Her sentiments besides are not very clear even to herself ”Do you doubt ly; ”Do you doubt that it is full of kindness toward you? What is it, tell me, makes you so unhappy? What suspicion darkens your mind?”--”Oh, your father's heart is set upon riches
And you, Senta, how should I count upon you? Do you ever grant one of my requests? Do you not daily hurt and afflict my heart?”--”Afflict your heart?” she asks in wonder ”What aoes on to show the jealous core of his unhappiness; ”That picture”--”What picture?”--”Will you renounce your extravagant is?”--”Can I keep from my face the coain to-day”--”I a I know not what! Are you afraid of a song, a picture?”--”You are so pale!” he replies, studying her face dubiously; ”Tell me, have I no reason to be afraid?”--”Should I not be moved by the terrible doos, Senta, do they no longer s!” she cries, als be? Do you knohat the fate is of that poor soul?” She draws hiazes raptly at it herself; ”Can you not feel the woe, the inexpressible deep misery in the eyes which he turns upon me? Oh, the calamity which robbed him eternally of rest, the sense of it pierces my heart!” Veritable alarm seizes Erik at the earnestness she exhibits, an alar more vital even than his alert jealousy, a terrible fear for her as apart from himself ”Woe'sdream! God have you in his care, Satan has cast his toils about you!”--”What frightens you so?”