“Then sleep once more!” said the Wanderer. “Dream and foresee the end! Away, Erda—all-fearing, all-sorrowing; away to eternal sleep!”
Slowly the Goddess of the Earth slipped down into the darkness, and the blue light faded away.
The storm had ceased. Only faint, distant rumbles of thunder sounded in the high hills; faint, shivering winds crept through the moaning forest-trees, and a little light stole over the mountain pass from the rising moon.
From the depths of the forest came Siegfried, staring about him and looking in vain for his small feathered guide.
It had vanished, and he concluded, after a moment, that he had better go on alone, find his way to the fire-circle without a guide, and awaken the sleeping maiden. He started up the pass; but, suddenly, a voice said slowly close beside him:
“Where are you going, boy?”
He turned and saw the Wanderer.
“Perhaps he can tell me the way,” thought Siegfried; and, aloud, he answered: “I am seeking for a rock surrounded by fire. A woman sleeps there whom I will wake.”
The Wanderer asked him who suggested such an idea to him, and questioned him closely as to his life and deeds.
Siegfried answered simply and frankly, until, when he spoke of his good sword, the Wanderer burst into a loud peal of laughter.