The Valkyrie, Brünnhild'?
Meanest thou her?
She flouted the storm-controller,
When, sorely urged, himself he controlled.
What the swayer and lord
Of battles longed for,
What he refrained from
Against his desire,
Brünnhilde, bold,
Rash, over-confident,
When the fight was at fiercest,
Strove for herself to perform.
War-father
Punished the maid:
He pressed slumber into her eyes,
On the flame-girt rock she sleeps.
The hallowed maid
Will waken alone,
That she may love and wed with a man.
Small hope of answer from her.
ERBA
Dazed have I felt
Since I woke;
Wild, confused
Seems the world!
The Valkyrie,
The Wala's child,
Bound lay, fettered by sleep,
While her all-knowing mother slept!
Does revolt's teacher
Chide revolt?
Does the deed he urged to
Anger him, done?
He who guards the right,
To whom vows are sacred,
Hinders the right?—
Reigns through falsehood?
Let me down to the dark,
That my wisdom may slumber!
WANDERER
I will not let thee descend,
For a potent magic I wield.
All-wise one,
Planted by thee
The sting of care was
In Wotan's dauntless heart;
For, through thy wisdom,
Downfall and shameful
Doom were foretold him;
My mind was fettered by fear.
Now let the world's
Wisest of women
Answer and say
How a God may conquer his care.
ERBA
Thou art not
What thou hast said.
Why art thou come, wild and wayward,
To trouble the Wala's sleep?
WANDERER
Thou art not
What thou hast dreamed.
Thy end draws near,
Mother of wisdom;
Thy wisdom at war
With me shall perish.
Knowest thou Wotan's will?