t was to seduce the Knights of the
Grail. One of these women, a mysterious creature of wonderful
fascinations, Kundry by name, had beguiled Amfortas, who thus fell
into the power of Klingsor. He lost his spear, and received from it a
wound which will never heal so long as it remains in the hands of the
magician. In a vision he has been told to wait for the one who has
been appointed to cure him. A voice from the Grail tells him the
following mystery:--

"Durch Mitleid wissend,
Der reine Thor,
Harre sein'
Den ich erkor."

["Let a guileless fool only, knowing by compassion, await him whom I
have chosen."]

Meanwhile, as the shield-bearers are carrying Amfortas towards the
lake, the savage, mysterious Kundry is seen flying over the fields.
She overtakes Gurnemanz and gives him a balm, saying that if it will
not help the King, nothing in Arabia can, and then, refusing to accept
thanks or reveal her identity, sinks to the ground in weariness. The
King takes the drug with gratitude; but she scorns thanks, and sneers
at those about her with savage irony. Gurnemanz's companions are about
to seize her, but the old Knight warns them that she is living
incarnate to expiate the sins of a former life, and that in serving
the Order of the Grail she is purchasing back her own redemption. As
Gurnemanz concludes, cries are heard in the wood, and two knights,
approaching, announce that a swan, the bird sacred to the Grail, which
was winging its way over the lake, and which the King had hailed as a
happy omen, has been shot. Parsifal, the murderer, is dragged in, and
when questioned by Gurnemanz, is unaware that he has committed any
offence. To every question he only answers he does not know. When
asked who is his mother, Kundry answers for him: "His mother brought
him an orphan into the world, and kept him like a fool in the forest,
a stranger to arms, so that he should escape a premature death; but he
fled from her and followed the wild life of nature. Her grief is over,
for she is dead." Whereupon Parsifal flies at her and seizes her by
the throat; but Gurnemanz holds him back, and Kundry sinks down
exhausted. Parsifal answers to the "Thor," but it remains to be seen
whether he is the "reine Thor." Gurnemanz conducts him to the temple
where the holy rites of the Grail are to be performed, hoping he is
the redeemer whom the Grail will disclose when the love-feast of the
Saviour is celebrated.

The scene chang