y a beam of blinding light shoots
down through the dome and falls upon the cup, which 'glows with
an increased purple lustre,' while Amfortas holds it above his
head, and gently waves it to and fro, so that its mystic light
can be seen by all the knights and squires, who have sunk to
their knees.

Titurel hails the sight with a pious ejaculation, and when
Amfortas has replaced the vessel in the shrine the beam of
light disappears, daylight again fills the hall, and knights
and squires begin to partake of the bread and wine before
them, a feast to which Gurnemanz invites the amazed Parsifal
by a mute gesture. The youth is too astonished to accept;
he remains spellbound, while the invisible choir resume their
chant, which is taken up first by the youths' voices, and then
by the knights, and ends only as the meal draws to a close, and
Amfortas is borne out, preceded by the Holy Grail and followed
by the long train of knights and squires.

Gurnemanz and Parsifal alone remain. The Fool, though guileless,
has not been enlightened by pity to inquire the cause of
Amfortas's wound. He has thus missed his opportunity to cure
him, and Gurnemanz, indignant at his boundless stupidity, opens
a side door, and thrusts him out into the forest, uttering a
contemptuous dismissal.

'Thou art then nothing but a Fool!
Come away, on thy road be gone
And put my rede to use:
Leave all our swans for the future alone
And seek thyself, gander, a goose.'

The second act represents the inner keep of Klingsor's castle,
the magician himself being seated on the battlement. He is
gazing intently into the magic mirror, wherein all the world
may be seen, and comments with malicious glee upon Parsifal's
ejection from the temple of the Holy Grail and his approach to
his enchanted ground.

Laying aside his magic mirror, Klingsor then begins one of
his uncanny spells, and in the midst of a bluish vapor calls up
Kundry from the enchanted sleep into which his art has bound her.
He tells her that, although she has succeeded in escaping his
power for a short time, and has gone over to the enemy whom
she has done all in her power to serve, he now requires her to
exercise all her fascinations to beguile Parsifal away from
the path of virtue, as she once lured Amfortas, the king and
guardian of the Holy Grail.

In vain the half awakened Kundry struggles and tries to resist
his power, Klingsor has her again in his toils, and once more