BRÜNNHILDE [Starts from her seat.
Waltraute's call!
How welcome the sound!
[Calling to the wing, and then hastening to the edge of the rock.
Dost thou, sister,
Boldly swinging come this way?
In the wood—
Still dear to thee—
Halt and dismount,
And leave thy courser to rest.
[She runs into the wood, from which a loud sound like a thunder-clap is heard. She returns in great agitation with Waltraute, and remains joyfully excited without noticing the latter's anxious fear.
Art thou so bold
That thou art come
Brünnhild' to greet,
Thy love unconquered by dread?
WALTRAUTE
Thou alone
Art cause of my haste!
WALTRAUTE
For Brünnhild's sake War-father's ban
Hast thou thus bravely broken?
Or perchance—O say!—
[With some hesitation.
Has he at last
Softened to his child?
When against the God
I sought to shield Siegmund,
Vainly—I know it—
My deed fulfilled his desire.
And I know that his anger
Was assuaged,
For albeit in slumber deep
Here to the rock I was bound,
Doomed to be thrall to the man
Who should wake the maid as he passed,
To my anguished prayer
He granted grace;
With ravening fire
He surrounded the rock,
To bar to all cowards the road.
Bane and chastisement
Turned so to blessing;
A hero unmatched
Has won me as wife;
Blest by his love,
In light and laughter I live.
[She embraces Waltraute with wild manifestations of joy, which the latter tries with anxious impatience to repress.
Hast thou been lured by my lot,
And wouldst thou, sister,
Feast on my gladness,
Sharing in my delight?
WALTRAUTE [Vehemently.
Sharing the frenzy
That has maddened thee, fool!
Far other the cause why I come,
Defying Wotan in fear.
BRÜNNHILDE
[Here, for the first time, notices with surprise Waltraute's wildly excited state.
Art afraid?
Anguished with terror?
So the stern one does not forgive?
Thou fearest his punishing wrath?
WALTRAUTE [Gloomily.
Might I but fear it,
At an end were my distress.
BRÜNNHILDE
I am perplexed and amazed.
WALTRAUTE
Calm thou thy frenzy;
Mark with care what I say!
The fear that drove me
Hither to thee
Drives me back to Walhall again.
BRÜNNHILDE [Alarmed.