"Aye," she answered--"And Wish-maidens to fill thy drinking cup and to cheer thee. It is the home where heroes dwell, forever and forever."

Siegmund's face glowed with hope.

"And Sieglinde?" he cried.

"Ah, not she. She must stay yet a while behind thee."

Then a terrible change came upon Siegmund and he frowned at the Valkyrie.

"Begone! Thinkest thou I go to thy Walhall without Sieglinde? Begone!

What do you of the G.o.ds know of love such as ours. Walhall is not for me. I carry the enchanted sword given by Wotan. This day I kill Hunding, and live my life in peace with Sieglinde."

Brunnhilde could no longer let him deceive himself.

"The enchantment of thy sword is gone!" Siegmund started. "Wotan deserts thee. To-day thou must go hence with me. Hunding will kill thee." For a moment Siegmund regarded the Valkyrie, then drawing his sword, he turned to where Sieglinde was lying, still unconscious.

"What wouldst thou do?" Brunnhilde cried.

"Kill Sieglinde, to save her from Hunding's wrath."

"Leave her to me," Brunnhilde entreated, moved with pity. "I swear to thee I will preserve her. Leave her with me."

"With thee--when Wotan himself has tricked me? Nay. The G.o.ds are no longer trustworthy," he said, bitterly, turning again to Sieglinde.

Brunnhilde, overcome with pity and admiration for such devotion between mortals--a love more steadfast than the promises of the G.o.ds themselves--sprang forward to stay him.

"Do not! I will preserve thee--thee and thy Sieglinde. I am here to guard Hunding, but it shall not be so. I will shield thee in the fight. I will brave the wrath of Wotan for such love as thine and Sieglinde's. If the magic of thy sword is destroyed, the power of my shield is not. I will guard thee through the fight. Up! Renew thy courage. The day is thine, and the fight is at hand." Mounting her horse, Grane, the Valkyrie flew over the mountain tops and disappeared. Siegmund's despair was turned to joy and again hearing Hunding's horn, he turned to go, leaving Sieglinde to sleep till the fight was over. The storm-clouds gathered, and all the scene became hidden.

_Scene V_

Lightning flashed and thunder rolled ominously. Siegmund bent to kiss Sieglinde and disappeared in the blackness of the storm. All the heavens and earth spoke of war and death. The air grew thick with vapours, and lightning cleft the hills. Siegmund called through the darkness to Hunding to face him for the fight, and at the sound of his voice and the horns and the shouting of battle, Sieglinde awoke. She could see naught, but could hear the sounds of war. Her fear for Siegmund returned. She shrieked and ran toward the storm-shrouded mountain. The skies were rent, and high upon the rocky peak, Hunding and Siegmund stood forth in battle.

"The G.o.ddess Fricka is with me!" Hunding shouted.

"Away with thy G.o.ddess! It is the G.o.ds who support me" Siegmund answered, bravely swinging his sword. Instantly Brunnhilde floated above the warriors. She interposed her burnished shield between Siegmund and the sword of Hunding, and cried:

"Thrust, Siegmund! Thy sword shall preserve thee!" Instantly the whole earth was filled with a dazzling fire, in which Wotan appeared, foaming with rage. He thrust his spear to catch the blow of the wolfling's sword, which broke in half upon it; while Hunding's point pierced Siegmund's breast. Brunnhilde fell at Wotan's feet, while with a shriek Sieglinde in the glade below fell as if dead. While Wotan faced Hunding, Brunnhilde rushed down the mountain to save Sieglinde.

Taking her in her arms she sprang upon Grane and flew for the rock of the Valkyries.

"Now go, thou miserable being," Wotan thundered at Hunding, and waving his spear at him, the man fell dead.

"Now Brunnhilde, for thee! and for thy punishment!" he cried in an awful voice, and amidst the crashing of Donner's hammer against the sides of the universe and flames from heaven, Wotan disappeared.

ACT III

Away on a far mountain, the Valkyries were waiting for Brunnhilde's coming. They were her sisters: Gerhilde, Ortlinde, Waltraute and Schwertleite, seated upon a high place, dressed in their armour. From time to time they gave the cry of the Valkyries:

"Ho-jo-to-ho! Ho-jo-to-ho! Heia-ha, heia-ha, heia-ha!" Soon this call was answered by Helmwige, who could be seen coming on her horse, with a slain warrior tied to her saddle.

The Valkyries were arriving from the four quarters of the earth--each bearing a slain warrior. At last, all but Brunnhilde had come.

"We cannot go to Wotan without her," they said among themselves. "She is his favourite and she brings to him those heroes he most desires.

We must not start for Walhall till she has come." Thus they talked among themselves, now and then sounding their cry and laughing over the misfortunes of mortals. At last one called:

"Look! Brunnhilde is coming in wildest haste. Look, look! Her pace is so furious that the horse staggers. What lies on her saddle?" All peered in amazement into the vale below.

"It is no man," one cried.

"It is a maid," shouted another.

"She does not greet us." They ran to help her from her horse, shouting their war-cry as they went, and returned supporting Sieglinde, while they surrounded Brunnhilde and questioned her wildly.

"Shield us!" she cried to them. "I am pursued. The war-father is coming after me. He is foaming with rage. Hide us, shield us." All looked at her in consternation.

"What hast thou done?" they questioned.

"Who can shield thee from our father's wrath, Brunnhilde?" one cried.

"I see him not," one who was on the look-out called. "But a fearful storm gathers."

"It is Wotan. Our father rides upon the storm. Oh, shield this poor wife," Brunnhilde called.

"Alas! the storm increases."

"Then he is near. His anger increases as he comes," Brunnhilde cried in terror. "Now who will lend me a horse to put this poor wife upon?"

None dared brave the wrath of the G.o.d.

"All of you are silent," she said at last, in despair. Turning to the fainting Sieglinde, she cried:

"Up! Take the way to the east. There dwells the dragon, Fafner, and near him Alberich also watches. That is the only place in the world Wotan avoids. Go thou, and I will detain the Father till thou art far and safe. Take these pieces of the magic sword. I s.n.a.t.c.hed them when Siegmund fell. Give them to thy son and Siegmund's, and that son shall be named Siegfried. With these sword-pieces again made whole, the sword shall win the world for that son of thine." With these words she turned Sieglinde's face toward the east, while she herself stood waiting.

Sieglinde was no sooner gone than the storm grew more fierce, and Wotan called with a loud voice from the clouds:

"Brunnhilde!" Full of fear she sought to hide herself in the midst of her sisters.

"He is coming, sister," they shouted. All the forest about them was lighted up with a lurid fire, and Wotan came raging through the midst of it.

_Scene II_

Striding from the wood he called again:

"Come forth! Naught can save thee from thy punishment." Without hope, Brunnhilde came from the company of her sisters and threw herself on her knees before Wotan. He looked at her in pity because he loved her dearly.

"For thy treason to the Eternals and to me, I doom thee to roam the earth as a mortal woman. I take thy glory from thee. Walhall shall know thee no more. Thou art forever cast out from us. Henceforth thy fate shall be to spin the flax, to sit by the hearth, a slave to man."

He could not look upon her because he loved her so.