Sieglinde bears
Fruit holy and high;
In pain and woe
Beyond woe known to woman
She will bring forth
What in fear she hides!
WOTAN
No shelter for her
Seek at my hand,
Nor for fruit that she may bear.
BRÜNNHILDE
The sword she has kept
That thou gavest Siegmund.
WOTAN [Violently.
And that I splintered with my spear.
Strive not, O maid,
My spirit to trouble!
Await thou the lot
Cast and decreed;
I cannot choose it or change!
But now I must forth,
Fare from thee far;
Too long I stay by thy side.
I must turn from thee,
As thou didst from me;
I must not even
Know thy desire;
Thy doom alone
I must see fulfilled!
BRÜNNHILDE
And what is the doom
That I must suffer?
WOTAN
In slumber fast
Thou shalt be locked;
Wife thou shalt be to the man
Who finds and wakes thee from sleep!
BRÜNNHILDE [Falls on her knees.
If fettering sleep
Fast must bind me,
An easy prey
To the basest coward,
This one thing that in deep anguish
I plead for thou must accord!
O shield thou the sleeper
With soul-daunting terrors,
[Firmly.
That by a dauntless
Hero alone
Here on the rock
I may be found!
WOTAN
Too much thou askest—
Too big a boon!
WOTAN.
"Appear, flickering fire,
Encircle the rock with thy flame!
Loge! Loge! Appear!"
BRÜNNHILDE [Clasping his knees.
This one thing
Grant me, O grant me!
The child that is clasping
Thy knees crush dead;
Tread down thy dear one
And shatter the maid;
Let her body perish,
Pierced by thy spear,
But, cruel one, expose her not
To this crying shame!
[With wild ecstasy.