Svanhild [eagerly].
Exactly: what’s the use of spreading sail
When there is not a breath of wind astir?
Falk [ironically].
Yes, what’s the use of plying whip and spur
When there is not a penny of reward
For him who tears him from the festal board,
And mounts, and dashes headlong to perdition?
Such doing for the deed’s sake asks a knight,
And knighthood’s now an idle superstition.