The Valkyries

by E. F. Benson; Richard Wagner

"But who changed the mind that erst was in thee?" said she. "Of thyself thou didst not change it, but Fricka inclined thee to her will, breaking asunder the resolve that thou hadst made. Her whim it was that swayed thy mind; nor was I the first foe to thy will, but thou thyself, when the unalterable word that thou hadst spoken was changed and twisted and made of nought because so the whim of Fricka would have it."

Then was Wotan even more sore at heart, for he had thought that Brunnhilde had known his will to the full, but with open eyes had disobeyed it. Yet this was worse, in that she thought him infirm of purpose and easily swayed, and here lay treason to him.

But she, though no word came from him, yet fathomed his thought, and to that unspoken thought made reply.

"Father, I am not wise as thou art," she said, "but this I knew, that thou didst love the Wolsung who sprang from thy loins, and I thought that thy strife of words with Fricka had blinded thy mind and bewildered thy sense, so that in that moment thou wast unmindful of him. And it was a bitter thing to my heart to see Siegmund stand unprotected and outside the range of thy protecting arm, for thou didst ever love him, and in nought had he disobeyed thy word; though to Fricka's mind he had done amiss."

But Wotan's face still gloomed above her.

"Ah, thou didst know, thou didst know what way my choice had gone, and that which determined me concerned thee not," he said; "and knowing that, thou wert at Siegmund's side with the guard and shelter of thy shield, thou didst range thyself against me and against the word that had gone forth from my lips."

Then Brunnhilde knew there was only one thing left as yet unspoken by her by which might the doom that he had decreed upon her be averted. So that last arrow left in her sheaf she drew. For ever Wotan had been a friend to love, whether among the gods or among the race of men whom his might sustained and his pity upheld. So now, since for the first time the comprehension of love had reached her, when that morning she saw Siegmund recked nought of what might be done to him, but considered—only that he might not be bereft of his wife Sieglinde, and thus thought scorn of Walhalla's blisses, if so be she was not there to share them with him, so Brunnhilde thought that even now at the last Wotan might perchance pity her for that which he knew so well, for the sake of the love to which he was ever friend.

"It is true, it is true," she said, "but there is yet one thing thou dost not know. For when at thy bidding I first drew near to Siegmund bearing swift death for him, and having no thought in my mind of pity for him or of disobedience to thy word, my soul was melted when I saw how it was with him, and heard him speak. Then knew I that he was a hero, for no fear at all was his, neither of swift bright-eyed death, nor even of Hella itself, and knew I also that one overmastering need beset his soul, and that was his love for Sieglinde. And my heart made obeisance to his love, and reverenced it, and hence was pity born. Behold, his tongue was a trumpet, and the grief that was his he blared forth, and none heard him but I. The splendid sorrow of love that reached as high as the heavens had in his heart its everlasting seat, and that love throned; there thought scorn of all else, and to the terrors with which I threatened him his ear was utterly deaf. These things, father, I heard and saw, and as I hearkened and beheld, the might of that defenceless man shook the fortress walls that until then had ever girded my heart, and they tottered and fell, and lo! I was open to the invader. Thy godhead and thy nature that is mine, died, and as a maiden of mortal birth and human sufferings I stood before him, lost in one thought, how could I help him."

Again she made pause and drew closer to Wotan's knee.

"Father, who had given me the love that then burned in my breast?" she whispered. "Was it not thy will, thy will which had bade me guard the Wolsung? Indeed, so it seemed to me, it was thy will, and, even though it agreed not with the word that thou didst give me, was it not thy will that even then directed me against thy word?"