A and FRIGGA from opposite sides._

BRUNHILDA.

From whence so early? Dewy is thy hair
And blood-stained are thy garments.

FRIGGA.

I have made
A sacrifice unto the ancient gods,
Before the moon was gone.

BRUNHILDA.

The ancient gods!
The cross rules now, and Thor and Odin dwell
As devils in deep hell.

FRIGGA.

And dost thou fear
Them less for that? Their curses still may fall
Upon us, though their blessings are withheld,
And willingly I sacrificed the ram.
Oh, wouldst thou kill one too! Thy need is great
Above all others.

BRUNHILDA.

Mine?

FRIGGA.

Another time.
I long had meant to tell thee, and today
At last the hour has come.

BRUNHILDA.

I've always thought
That at thy death the hour would come to me,
So did not importune thee.

FRIGGA.

Mark me now!
From our volcano came there suddenly
An aged man and left with me a child,
A tablet, too, with runes.

[Illustration: Peter Cornelius Title Page of the Nibelungenlied]

BRUNHILDA.

'Twas in the night?

FRIGGA.

How dost thou know?

BRUNHILDA.

When on thee falls the moonlight--On
thy face, thou speakest oft aloud,
Betraying much.

FRIGGA.

And thou didst harken to me?
At midnight we were watching with our dead--Our
beauteous Queen. The old man's hair was white,
And longer than a woman's. Like a cloak
It hung about him, flowing softly down.

BRUNHILDA.

The spirit of the mountain!

FRIGGA.

Naught know I!--
No syllable he spoke. The little maid
Reached forth her hands and grasped the golden crown
That glittered brightly o'er the dead Queen's brow.
We marveled that it fitted her.

BRUNHILDA.

The child?

FRIGGA.

The little maid; and it was none too large,
Nor later did it bind her.

BRUNHILDA.

'Twas like mine!

FRIGGA.

Like thine it was! And, yet more wonderful.
The child was like the maid that lay there dead
Within the mother's arms and disappeared
As had it ne'er existed--yes, so like
That only by the breathing could we know
The living from the dead. It seemed to us
That nature must have formed one body twice,
With life for one child only.

BRUNHILDA.

Had the Queen
A new-born baby in her arms?

FRIGGA.

Her life
She gave to bear her child, and with her died
The little maid.

BRUNHILDA.

Thou didst not tell me that.