It is finely combined with the Giant Motive at _Fafner's_ words:
"Let her forthwith be torn from them all."
_Froh_ and _Donner_, _Freia's_ brothers, enter hastily to save their sister. _Froh_ clasps her in his arms, while _Donner_ confronts the giants, the Motive of Eternal Youth rings out triumphantly on the horns and wood-wind. But _Freia's_ hope is short-lived. For though _Wotan_ desires to keep _Freia_ in Walhalla, he dare not offend the giants. At this critical moment, however, he sees his cunning adviser, _Loge_, approaching. These are _Loge's_ characteristic motives:
_Wotan_ upbraids _Loge_ for not having discovered something which the giants would be willing to accept as a substitute for _Freia_. _Loge_ says he has travelled the world over without finding aught that would compensate man for the renunciation of a lovely woman. This leads to _Loge's_ narrative of his wanderings. With great cunning he tells _Wotan_ of the theft of the Rhinegold and of the wondrous worth of a ring shaped from the gold. Thus he incites the listening giants to ask for it as a compensation for giving up _Freia_. Hence Wagner, as _Loge_ begins his narrative, has blended, with a marvellous sense of musical beauty and dramatic fitness, two phrases: the Freia Motive and the accompaniment to the _Rhinedaughters'_ Shout of Triumph in the first scene. This music continues until _Loge_ says that he discovered but one person (_Alberich_) who was willing to renounce love. Then the Rhinegold Motive is sounded tristly in a minor key and immediately afterward is heard the Motive of Renunciation.
_Loge_ next tells how _Alberich_ stole the gold. He has already excited the curiosity of the giants, and when _Fafner_ asks him what power _Alberich_ will gain through the possession of the gold, he dwells upon the magical attributes of the ring shaped from Rhinegold.
_Loge's_ diplomacy is beginning to bear results. _Fafner_ tells _Fasolt_ that he deems the possession of the gold more important than _Freia_. Notice here how the Freia motive, so prominent when the giants insisted on her as their compensation, is relegated to the bass and how the Rhinegold Motive breaks in upon the Motive of Eternal Youth, as _Fafner_ and _Fasolt_ again advance toward _Wotan_, and bid him wrest the gold from _Alberich_ and give it to them as ransom for _Freia_. _Wotan_ refuses, for he himself now lusts for the ring made of Rhinegold. The giants having proclaimed that they will give _Wotan_ until evening to determine upon his course, seize _Freia_ and drag her away. Pallor now settles upon the faces of the gods; they seem to have grown older. They are affected by the absence of _Freia_, the Goddess of Youth, whose motives are but palely reflected by the orchestra. At last _Wotan_ proclaims that he will go with _Loge_ to Nibelung and wrest the entire treasure of Rhinegold from _Alberich_ as ransom for _Freia_.