e body._]

SCENE III

_KRIEMHILD'S room. Deep night._

KRIEMHILD.

'Tis far too early yet. It is my blood
That wakened me, and not the cock I heard,
Or seemed to hear.

[_She goes to the window and opens it partly._]

The stars are shining still,
It surely is an hour yet till mass.
Today I long to go to church and pray.

SCENE IV

_Enter UTE softly._

UTE.

Already up, Kriemhild?

KRIEMHILD.

I am amazed
That thou art up, for thou hast always slept
More soundly after dawn and claimed thy right
To have thy daughter wake thee, as thou her
So long ago.

UTE.

Today I could not sleep,
I heard strange sounds.

KRIEMHILD.

And didst thou mark them too?

UTE.

It was like people trying to be still.

KRIEMHILD.

So I was right?

UTE.

They seemed to hold their breath,
Yet dropped a sword that clanged! On tiptoe walked,
And yet upset the brazier! Hushed the dog,
Yet trod upon his paw.

KRIEMHILD.

They have perhaps
Returned.

UTE.

The hunters?

KRIEMHILD.

Once it seemed to me
That some one softly crept up to my door.
I thought it must be Siegfried.
UTE. Didst thou make
Some sign that thou wast wakeful?

KRIEMHILD.

No.

UTE.

Indeed
It might then have been Siegfried, but 'twould be
Almost too soon.

KRIEMHILD.

To me it seems so too!
And then he did not knock.

UTE.

The hunt was not,
Or so I think, to bring us game for food;
They wanted our poor farmers to have peace,
Who have been threatening to burn their ploughs
Because the wild boar harvests where they sow!

KRIEMHILD.

Was that it?

UTE.

Child, thou art already dressed,
Yet hast not any maid with thee?

KRIEMHILD.

I thought
That I would learn who woke the first of all.
Besides, it was a pastime.

UTE.

Each in turn,
My candle in my hand, I gazed upon.
For each year brings a different kind of sleep.
Fifteen and sixteen sleep like five and six,
But seventeen brings dreams, and eighteen, thoughts,
And nineteen brings desires--

SCENE V

_A Chamberlain cries out before the door._

CHAMBERLAIN.

Almighty God!

UTE.

What is it? What is wrong?

CHAMBERLAIN (_enters_).

I almost fell.

UTE.

And that was why you called?

CHAMBERLAIN.

Some one is dead!

UTE.

W