gained the
world-knowledge. She flies to him again, and passionately exclaims,
"The gift of my love would make thee divine. If this hour has made
thee the redeemer, let me suffer forever, but give me thy love." He
spurns her again, and cries, "To all eternity thou wouldst be damned
with me, if for one hour I should forget my mission," but says he will
save her too, and demands to know the way to Amfortas. In rage she
declares he shall never find it, and summons the help of Klingsor, who
hurls the sacred lance at Parsifal. The weapon remains suspended over
his head. He seizes it and makes the sign of the Cross. The gardens
and castle disappear. Parsifal and Kundry are alone in a desert. She
sinks to the ground with a mournful cry, and turning from her, his
last words are, "Thou knowest where only thou canst see me again."

In the third act we are again in the land of the Grail. Parsifal has
wandered for years trying to find Monsalvat, and at last encounters
Gurnemanz, now a very old man, living as a hermit near a forest
spring, and the saddened Kundry is serving him. It is the Good Friday
morning, and forests and fields are bright with flowers and the
verdure of spring. Gurnemanz recognizes him, and in reply to his
question what makes the world so beautiful, the aged knight makes
answer:--

"The sad repentant tears of sinners
Have here with holy rain
Besprinkled field and plain,
And made them glow with beauty.
All earthly creatures in delight
At the Redeemer's trace so bright,
Uplift their prayers of duty.
And now perceive each blade and meadow flower,
That mortal foot to-day it need not dread."

Kundry washes "the dust of his long wanderings" from his feet, and
looks up at him with earnest and beseeching gaze. Gurnemanz recognizes
the sacred spear, hails him as the King of the Grail and offers to
conduct him to the great hall where the holy rites are once more to be
performed. Before they leave, Parsifal's first act as the redeemer is
to baptize Kundry with water from the spring. The sound of tolling
bells in the distance announces the funeral of Titurel, and the scene
changes to the hall where the knights are carrying the litter upon
which Amfortas lies, awaiting the funeral procession approaching to
the strains of a solemn march. The knights demand he shall again
uncover the Grail, but he refuses, and calls upon them to destroy him
and then the Grail will shine brightly for the