[Looks inquiringly at her.] When—?
When we dead awaken.
[Shakes his head mournfully.] What do we really see then?
We see that we have never lived.
[She goes towards the slope and descends.
[The SISTER OF MERCY makes way for her and follows her.
PROFESSOR RUBEK remains sitting motionless beside the brook.
[Is heard singing triumphantly among the hills.]
I am free! I am free! I am free!
No more life in the prison for me!
I am free as a bird! I am free!
ACT THIRD.
[A wild riven mountain-side, with sheer precipices at the back.
Snow-clad peaks rise to the right, and lose themselves in drifting
mists. To the left, on a stone-scree, stands an old, half-ruined
hut. It is early morning. Dawn is breaking. The sun has not
yet risen.
[MAIA comes, flushed and irritated, down over the stone-scree on the
left. ULFHEIM follows, half angry, half laughing, holding her
fast by the sleeve.