clouds beneath,
  As overhead.  My maidens prattle still. 
  I call them—­Are ye blind?  Do ye see naught? 
  We float in empty space!  They are amazed,
  They shake their heads in silence, while they press
  About me closer.  Frigga whispers me: 
  And has thine hour come?  Ah, now I see! 
  The solid earth is crystal to my gaze,
  And what I deemed were clouds were but the web
  Of gold and silver threads that, glistening,
  Lay tangled in the depths.

  FRIGGA.

  Thy triumph comes!

  BRUNHILDA.

  An evening comes.  All’s changed, and lingering
  We sit here late together.  Suddenly,
  As they were dead, the maidens fall; their words
  Are frozen on their lips.  I needs must go
  Upon the tower, for above me rings
  The sep’rate music of each farthest star. 
  At first ’tis only music to mine ear,
  But with the dawn I murmur as in sleep: 
  The King will die ere nightfall and his son
  Will never see the daylight, for he dies
  Within his mother’s womb!  The others say
  That so I told my tale, but I know naught
  Of how I learned it.  Soon I understand,
  And swift the rumor flies from pole to pole
  And distant people flock as now to me,
  But not with swords to battle with me here—­
  Nay, humbly come they, laying by their crowns,
  To hear my dreams and strive to understand
  The meaning of my murmurings.  For my eyes
  Can see the future, in my hands I hold
  The key to all the treasures of this world. 
  Far above all I rule, untouched by fate,
  And yet the fates I know.  But I forget. 
  That even more is promised me.  There roll
  Whole centuries away—­millenniums—­
  I feel them not!  Yet finally I ask: 
  Where then is death?  My tresses answer me—­
  I see them in the mirror—­they are black,
  The snow has never touched them, and I say: 
  This is the third gift.  Death comes not to me.

  [She sinks back, and the maidens support
  her.]

  FRIGGA.

  Why fear I still?  For were it[1] Balmung’s lord,
  She hath a shield that will protect her now. 
  He’ll fall, e’en if she loves but yet resists,
  And she will struggle, since her fate she knows.

  BRUNHILDA (rising again).

  I spoke!  What said I?

  FRIGGA.

  Take thy bow, my child. 
  Thy dart will fly today as ne’er before,
  All else may wait!

  BRUNHILDA (to the knights).

  Come on!

  SIEGFRIED (to BRUNHILDA).

  Thou swear’st
  To follow us if thou art overcome?

  BRUNHILDA (laughs).

  I swear!

  SIEGFRIED.

  ’Tis well!  And I’ll prepare the ship!

  BRUNHILDA (while going away addresses FRIGGA).

  Go now into the trophy hall and drive
  The nail that will be needed.