[Come down from the height in great excitement, and in terrified groups surround Brünnhilde, who lies half kneeling before Wotan.
O stay, Father!
The sentence recall.
Shall the maiden droop
And be withered by man?
O dread one, avert thou
The crying disgrace:
For as sisters share we her shame.
WOTAN
Have ye not heard
Wotan's decree?
From out your band
Shall your traitorous sister be banished,
No more to ride
Through the clouds her swift steed to the
battle;
Her maidenhood's flower
Will fade away;
Her grace and her favour
Her husband's will be;
Her husband will rule her
And she will obey;
Beside the hearth she will spin,
To all mockers a mark for scorn.
The ride of the Valkyries
[Brünnhilde sinks with a cry to the ground. The Valkyries, horror-stricken, recoil from her violently.
Fear ye her fate?
Then fly from the lost one!
Swiftly forsake
And flee from her far!
Let one but venture
Near her to linger,
Seek to befriend her,
Defying my will—
The fool shall share the same doom:
I warn you, ye bold ones, well!
Up and away!
Hence, and return not!
Get ye gone at a gallop,
Trouble is rife else for you here!
THE VALKYRIES [Separate with a wild cry and rush into the wood.
Woe! Woe!
[Black clouds settle thickly on the cliff; a rushing sound is heard in the wood. From the clouds breaks a vivid flash of lightning, by which the Valkyries are seen packed closely together, and riding wildly away with loose bridles. The storm soon subsides; the thunder-clouds gradually disperse. In the following scene the weather becomes fine again and twilight falls, followed at the close by night.
[Wotan and Brünnhilde, who lies stretched at his feet, remain behind alone. A long solemn silence.