"Helmwige!" "Here!" "Hither bring your horse!" "Tether your stallion next to my mare: your bay will be glad to graze by my grey." "Who is hanging from your saddle?" "Sintolt the Hegeling." "Then fasten your bay far from my grey:" "Ortlinde's mare carries Wittig, the Irming." "I always saw Sintolt and Wittig only at enmity." "The stallion is kicking at my mare." "The warriors' hostility even alienates their horses!" "Quiet, bay!" "Don't breach the peace!" "Siegrune, where have you lingered so long?" "There was work to do." "Are the others already here?" "Grimgerde and Rossweisse!" "They are riding abreast." "Greetings, you riders" "Rossweisse and Grimgerde!" "Into the wood, for your steeds to graze and rest!" "Keep the mares far apart until our heroes' hatred has subsided." "My grey has already paid for the heroes' anger." "Welcome!" "Welcome!" "Were you two intrepid girls working together?" "We were riding separately and met only today." "If we are all assembled, then wait no longer." "Let us set out for Valhalla to bring Wotan his warriors." "There are only eight of us:" "one of us is still missing." "Brünnhilde is still waiting with the swarthy Wälsung." "We must wait here for her:" "the father of battles would give us a grim greeting if he saw us arrive without her." "Hither, this way!" "Brünnhilde is galloping here, riding furiously." "Brünnhilde!" "Heh!" "Towards the firs she is heading her faltering horse." "How Grane is panting from such speed!" "I never saw Valkyries galloping so furiously." "What is she holding on her saddle?" "That is no hero." "She's carrying a woman." "How did she find the woman?" "She gives no greeting to her sisters!" "Brünnhilde, don't you hear us?" "Help our sister down from her horse!" "Powerful Grane has sunk to the ground." "She hastily lifts the woman from the saddle." "Sister, sister, what has happened?" "Protect me, and help me in my sorest need!" "From where have you ridden in such headlong haste?" "Only a fugitive flees like that." "For the first time I am fleeing and am being pursued:" "the father of battles is hunting me down." "Have you lost your senses?" "Speak!" "Tell us!" "What?" "The father of hosts pursuing you?" "Are you fleeing from him?" "O sisters, look out from the mountain peak!" "Look northward whether Wotan is near!" "Quick!" "Can you see him yet?" "A thunderstorm threatens from the north." "Heavy clouds are massing there." "The father of battles is riding his sacred steed!" "The raging hunter who wrathfully pursues me is coming, coming from the north!" "Shield me, sisters!" "Save this woman!" "But who is this woman?" "Hear me in haste." "This is Sieglinde, Siegmund's sister and bride." "Wotan is towering with rage against the Wälsungs." "Today Brünnhilde was to have withheld victory from her brother." "But I sheltered Siegmund in defiance of the god who smote him with his spear." "Siegmund fell, but I fled far away with his wife." "To save her I have hurried to you to plead for you to protect me too, in my fear, from the blows of punishment." "Deluded sister, what have you done?" "Woe, woe to you, Brünnhilde!" "Have you deliberately disobeyed the father of hosts' command?" "Darkness draws near from the north." "A raging storm steers hither." "Wildly neighs the father of battles' horse, fearfully snorting as it comes!" "Woe to this poor woman if Wotan finds her:" "he threatens all the Wälsungs with destruction!" "Which of you will lend me your swiftest steed that would speedily spirit the woman away." "Are you urging us to open defiance?" "Rossweisse, sister, lend me your courser!" "He has never fled from the father of battles." "Helmwige, hear me!" "I obey our father." "Grimgerde!" "Gerhilde!" "Give me your horse!" "Schwertleite!" "Siegrune!" "See my distress!" "Stand by me as I have stood by you:" "save this wretched woman!" "Do not concern yourself over me:" "death is all I ask." "Maid, who bade you bear me forth from battle?" "In the storm there, had I been struck by the same weapon that slew Siegmund" "I should have met my end united with him!" "Far from you, Siegmund," "Siegmund, from you!" "Death overwhelms me at the thought." "If I am not to curse you, maid, for your care then hear my solemn entreaty:" "thrust your sword into my heart." "Live, woman, for love's sake!" "Save the pledge you received from him:" "a Wälsung is growing in your womb." "Save me, fearless one!" "Save my child!" "Shelter me, you maidens, with utmost protection!" "The storm is approaching." "Fly, all who fear it!" "Away with the woman!" "Danger threatens." "No Valkyrie dares protect her." "Save me, maid!" "Save a mother!" "Then flee at once, and flee alone." "I will remain behind and brave Wotan's vengeance." "I will detain the angry god with me while you escape his rage." "Which way shall I turn?" "Which of you, sisters, ranged east?" "Far to the east stretches a forest into which Fafner carried off the Nibelung treasure." "In fury he assumed the form of a dragon." "In a cave he keeps watch over Alberich's ring." "It is a forbidding place for a helpless woman." "And yet the wood would surely shelter her from Wotan's wrath." "The mighty one shuns it and avoids the place." "Wotan is galloping furiously to the rock!" "Brünnhilde, hark to the thunder of his approach!" "Hurry away eastward, then." "Boldly defiant, endure all dangers, hunger, thirst, thorns and stones." "Laugh if want or weakness wears you down." "For know this one thing and safeguard it ever:" "in the shelter of your womb, woman, you carry the world's most wondrous hero." "For him preserve the fragments of the mighty sword." "Fortunately I brought them from his father's battlefield." "He who forges the sword anew shall one day wield it." "Let him take his name from me:" "Siegfried, joy in victory!" "O marvellous miracle!" "Most glorious maid!" "I thank you for your loyalty and blessed comfort." "For him whom we loved I will save the beloved child." "May the reward of my gratitude one day smile at you!" "Farewell!" "Sieglinde's woe blesses you!" "Stay, Brünnhilde!" "Horse and rider have reached the rock." "Woe, Brünnhilde!" "Vengeance blazes forth!" "Ah, sisters, help!" "My heart fails me!" "His rage will shatter me if your defence does not deflect him." "Come here, hapless one!" "Keep out of sight!" "Huddle among us and stay silent when he calls!" "Woe!" "Wotan leaps from his horse in fury." "Hither he hastens, breathing revenge!" "Where is Brünnhilde?" "Where is the guilty one?" "Do you dare to hide the miscreant from me?" "Your roars of wrath fill us with fear!" "Father, what have your daughters done to provoke you to this paroxysm of rage?" "Do you mean to mock me?" "Take care, insolent ones," "I know you are hiding Brünnhilde." "Recoil from her:" "she is cast off for ever, as she has cast off her honour." "From pursuit she fled to us, imploring our protection." "In fear and trembling she roused your wrath." "For our anguished sister's sake we now beg you" "to curb your initial fury." "Relent towards her and calm your rage." "Weak-willed womanish brood!" "Did you inherit such spineless spirit from me?" "Did I rear you to be bold and ride into battle, did I make your hearts hard and harsh so that you wild ones now weep and whine when my wrath punishes perfidy?" "Then learn, you whimperers, her offence, she for whom you quail and shed tears!" "None but she knew my inmost thoughts." "None but she knew the source of my resolve." "She herself was my will's creative womb." "And now she has broken the sacred bond, disloyally defied my desires, openly flouted her father's command and turned against me the weapon my will alone made her!" "Do you hear, Brünnhilde, you to whom I granted breastplate, helmet and spear, delight and affection, name and life?" "Do you hear me make this charge, and yet faint-heartedly hide from your accuser, whose punishment you cravenly evade?" "Here I am, father." "Pronounce my sentence!" "The sentence does not stem from me:" "you brought punishment on yourself." "My will alone brought you into being but you have set your will against it." "You could carry out my orders only but you have given counter-orders." "You were my wish's maid but your wishes have thwarted mine." "You were my shield-bearer but you raised that shield against me." "You were my arbiter of fate but you chose to frustrate me." "You were my rouser of heroes but you roused them against me." "Wotan has told you what you once were:" "tell yourself what you are now." "No longer are you my wish's agent:" "you have been a Valkyrie." "Henceforth be what you are now!" "Would you disown me?" "Do I understand your meaning?" "Never again will I send you from Valhalla, never again indicate heroes in battle to you," "never again will you bring victors into my hall." "At the gods' festive banquets never again will you be privileged to pass me my drinking-horn." "Never again will I kiss my child's mouth." "From the assembly of the gods you are cut off, expelled from the race of the immortals." "Our bond is broken." "You are banished from my sight." "Woe!" "Woe!" "Sister, ah, sister!" "Do you take from me all you once gave?" "He who masters you will take it from you." "Here to this mountain I banish you." "I will lock you tight in defenceless sleep." "Let the man then capture the maid who finds her on his way and wakes her." "O father, retract your curse!" "Must the maid be wasted and withered by a man?" "Hear our plea!" "Terrible god, spare this dreadful disgrace." "We should share in her shame, which would fall on us too." "Did you not hear what I decreed?" "Your disloyal sister is banished from your band." "No longer shall she ride her horse with you through the air." "The flower of her beauty will wither from the maid." "A husband will win her feminine favours." "Henceforth she shall belong to this masterful man, sit and spin by the fire, the butt and sport of all mockers." "Does her fate appal you?" "Then flee the lost one!" "Shrink from her and keep well away." "Should any of you dare to linger with her and sustain the stricken one despite me, that fool shall share her fate." "Of this I warn you, rash venturers!" "Away with you now!" "Keep away from this rock!" "Quickly, ride away now or calamity will befall you here." "Woe!" "Woe!" "Was my offence so shameful that you punish my misdeed with such shame?" "Was what I did to you so base that you create such deep debasement for me?" "Was what I did so dishonourable that my dereliction now robs me of honour?" "Oh, speak, father!" "Look me in the eyes." "Silence your wrath," "curb your rage and make clear to me the hidden guilt" "which forces you inflexibly and obstinately to repudiate your favourite child." "Ask what you did: it will explain your guilt to you!" "I carried out your command." "Did I command you to fight for the Wälsung?" "As ruler of battles, that was your command to me." "But that order I revoked." "When Fricka had turned your own intention against you, when you resigned yourself to her will you were your own enemy." "I fancied that you understood me, and castigated conscious defiance." "But you thought me cowardly and foolish." "So did I not need to avenge treason, though you were too slight for my wrath?" "I am not wise, but one thing I know:" "that you loved the Wälsung." "I knew the inner conflict that compelled you to erase this from your mind." "You alone had to see the alternative, though the bitter sight grieved your heart," "that you should deny Siegmund your defence." "You knew that this was so, and yet dared to defend him?" "Because for you I kept in sight the one thing which, faced by the alternative's painful dilemma, you turned your back on in perplexity." "She who in war guarded Wotan's back now saw the one thing you could not see." "I had to see Siegmund." "I appeared before him to warn him of death." "I looked into his eyes, I heard his words," "I understood the hero's holy distress." "The brave man's laments rang in my ears, the fearful despair of boundless love," "the dauntless defiance of the saddest of souls." "In my ears was echoed, in my eyes reflected what, deep in my breast, filled my heart with noble throbbing." "Shy, astonished, I stood in shame." "I could think only of helping him, of sharing victory or death with Siegmund." "I knew that this alone was the lot to choose." "He who breathed this love into my heart," "whose will had bound me to the Wälsung, to him I was inwardly loyal" "though I disobeyed your command." "So you did what I so longed to do yet which necessity doubly forced me not to?" "So you thought love's bliss could lightly be gained when burning woe had broken my heart, when direst need had roused my wrath, and for love of the world I dammed up the love in my heart?" "While in torment I had turned against myself, goaded to fury by the frustration of impotence, driven by angry longing to the dread decision to end my interminable sorrow in the ruins of my own world," "then blissful delight was sweetly enfolding you." "Intoxicated with blissful emotion you laughingly drank the draught of love" "while, for me, bitter gall was blended with divine distress." "Then follow your foolish instinct." "You have broken with me." "I must shun you." "Never again can I share secret counsels with you." "We are separated and can no more work closely together." "While life and breath endure, the god must never see you again." "Unfit for you was the foolish maid who, stunned by your order, did not understand you." "My own view counselled one thing only:" "to love what you had loved." "If then I must leave you and timorously avoid you, if you must sever what once linked us and cut off from yourself a half" "that once belonged wholly to you, do not forget that, O god!" "You cannot dishonour what will always be a part of you, cannot wish for a disgrace that debases you." "You would let yourself be demeaned if you saw me mocked and derided." "You happily followed the power of love." "Now follow him whom you must love!" "If I must depart from Valhalla, no longer to work and act with you, and belong henceforth to a man as master, do not give me as prize to some cowardly boaster." "Let whoever wins me not be worthless." "You flouted the father of battles:" "now he cannot choose for you." "You begot a noble race." "No coward can disgrace it." "The most dedicated of heroes, I know, will spring from Wälsung stock." "Do not speak to me of the Wälsung race!" "In flinging you off, I have flung it off too." "My grudge had to destroy it." "She who tore herself from you saved it." "Sieglinde is carrying the holiest fruit." "In grief and pain such as no woman suffered, she will bear what she is uneasily hiding." "Never seek protection for the woman from me, nor for the fruit of her womb!" "She guards the sword you made for Siegmund." "And that I broke in pieces!" "Child, do not seek to upset my decision." "Await your fate whatever befall." "I cannot choose for you!" "But now I must go, betake me far away." "I have already stayed here too long." "As you turned from me, I must turn from you." "What you wish for yourself I may not know." "I must only see your punishment enforced." "What have you decreed that I must suffer?" "I shall enclose you in a deep sleep." "Whoever finds the weaponless maid" "shall awaken her and win her as wife." "If fetters of sleep are to bind me fast as easy booty to any faint-heart," "this one thing you must grant, for which I plead in utmost anguish:" "surround my sleep by fearsome terrors so that only the freest fearless hero will one day find me on the rock!" "You ask too much, too great a favour." "This one thing you must grant." "Annihilate your child who clasps your knees, trample your favourite under foot, crush the maid, let your spear suppress all trace of her body," "but do not condemn her, cruel one, to this gross degradation!" "At your command let flames flare up." "Let their fiery glow engirdle the rock." "Let their tongues lick, their teeth devour any coward who rashly ventures" "to approach the dread rock." "Farewell, you valiant glorious child, you, the holiest pride of my heart!" "Farewell!" "Farewell!" "Farewell!" "If I must keep away from you and may not again lovingly give you my greeting," "if you may no more ride beside me or bring me mead at my meal, if I must lose you, whom I loved," "you, the laughing delight of my eyes, then a bridal fire shall now burn for you as never has burned for a bride." "Let the glow of fierce flames encircle the rock." "Let it strike devouring fear into the faint-hearts." "Cowards shall flee from Brünnhilde's rock!" "Only one shall win the bride," "one freer than I, the god!" "Those radiant eyes" "that, smiling, I often kissed" "when the joy of battle won you an embrace, when the praise of heroes flowed in childish chatter from your sweet lips," "those sparkling eyes" "that often shone on me in storms" "when hopeless yearning seared my heart, when, amid wildly weaving alarm, my wish longed for worldly pleasures," "for the last time let them delight me today with their last farewell kiss." "On a more fortunate man let their star shine." "For the hapless immortal they must close for ever." "For so does the god now turn from you!" "So does he kiss the godhead from you!" "Loge, hear me!" "Come hither and hearken!" "As first I found you, a fiery glow, as then once you escaped me, a wandering flame, as I bound you, so today I summon you!" "Arise, flickering flame!" "Ring the rock with fire!" "Loge!" "Loge!" "Appear!" "He who fears my spear point" "shall never penetrate the fire!"