Of all my wisdom must I go lacking,
For all my knowledge to thee had I lent:
What from me thou took’st, thou usedst not, --
To thy mettlesome mood thou trustedst alone!
But now thou’rt gone, hast given it free,
To me my lore cometh back,
The runes of the Ring unravel.
The Norn’s old saying know I now too,
Their meaning can unriddle … .” [385W-{10-11/48} Siegfried’s Death: PW Vol. VIII, p. 50] [See also 381W]
One of the most enlightening aspects of this passage from Siegfried’s Death is that Bruennhilde says, to the now dead Siegfried, that though she lent him her knowledge and wisdom (i.e., Wotan’s hoard of runes), he did not use this conceptual knowledge, but depended instead on his mood, or feelings. And another interesting detail is that by cross-referencing we can identify what Bruennhilde describes above as the “runes of the Ring,” and the “Norn’s old saying” (which is tantamount to Erda’s knowledge, which Erda imparted to Wotan, and he imparted in turn to Bruennhilde in his confession), with the hoard of runes which the gods (and by gods Bruennhilde means Wotan) taught her, and which she gave to Siegfried. But Siegfried does not use this hoard of knowledge. It would be more accurate to say, he is not conscious of the use he makes of this knowledge, because it is his hidden source of inspiration. Similarly, Siegfried will tell Gunther in T.1.1 that he left Alberich’s Hoard of Treasure unused in Fafner’s cave. But in point of fact Siegfried, following the Woodbird’s subliminal directive, took the essence of Alberich’s Hoard of Treasure, the Ring (the power of the human mind) and the Tarnhelm (the imagination). For Dark-Alberich’s and Light-Alberich’s (Wotan’s) Hoard of knowledge is now embodied by Alberich’s Ring, which Siegfried wears on his finger.
On one occasion, Wagner said that Bruennhilde sends Siegfried off to perform new deeds after teaching him secret lore which, interestingly, includes a warning about the deceit and treachery he will meet in the outer world (recalling Mime’s pretended pretext for teaching Siegfried fear):
“ … he [Siegfried] marries her [Bruennhilde] with Alberich’s ring, which he places on her finger. When the longing spurs him to new deeds, she gives him lessons in her secret lore, warns him of the dangers of deceit and treachery: they swear each other vows, and Siegfried speeds forth.” [378W-{6-8/48} The Nibelungen Myth: PW Vol. VII, p. 304]
Clearly, Siegfried is wholly oblivious to any warnings which Bruennhilde has taught him subliminally, because he will fall into every trap the world sets for him from the time he leaves Bruennhilde, until his tragic end in T.3.2.
Bruennhilde, noting (accompanied by #149) that she is bereft of both wisdom and strength, yet rich in love and filled with desire, begs Siegfried not to despise her. But – accompanied now by both #150 and #149 - Siegfried declares that the wondrous Bruennhilde has given him more than he knows how to cherish (i.e., keep, or guard), and he asks her not to chide him if her teaching (now accompanied by #150) has left him untaught. Siegfried has not only unwittingly described himself
