ies, carrying off the
woman with her on her war-horse; and Wotan, in terrible wrath,
slays Hunding with a wave of his hand, and starts in pursuit of his
disobedient daughter.

The Third Act

On a rocky peak, four of the Valkyries are waiting for the rest. The
absent ones soon arrive, galloping through the air with slain heroes,
gathered from the battle-field, hanging over their saddles. Only,
Brynhild, who comes last, has for her spoil a live woman. When her eight
sisters learn that she has defied Wotan, they dare not help her; and
Brynhild has to rouse Sieglinda to make an effort to save herself, by
reminding her that she bears in her the seed of a hero, and must
face everything, endure anything, sooner than let that seed miscarry.
Sieglinda, in a transport of exaltation, takes the fragments of the
sword and flies into the forest. Then Wotan comes; the sisters fly in
terror at his command; and he is left alone with Brynhild.

Here, then, we have the first of the inevitable moments which Wotan did
not foresee. Godhead has now established its dominion over the world by
a mighty Church, compelling obedience through its ally the Law, with its
formidable State organization of force of arms and cunning of brain.
It has submitted to this alliance to keep the Plutonic power in
check--built it up primarily for the sake of that soul in itself which
cares only to make the highest better and the best higher; and now here
is that very soul separated from it and working for the destruction
of its indispensable ally, the lawgiving State. How is the rebel to be
disarmed? Slain it cannot be by Godhead, since it is still Godhead's own
very dearest soul. But hidden, stifled, silenced it must be; or it will
wreck the State and leave the Church defenseless. Not until it passes
completely away from Godhead, and is reborn as the soul of the hero,
can it work anything but the confusion and destruction of the existing
order. How is the world to be protected against it in the meantime?
Clearly Loki's help is needed here: it is the Lie that must, on the
highest principles, hide the Truth. Let Loki surround this mountain top
with the appearance of a consuming fire; and who will dare penetrate to
Brynhild? It is true that if any man will walk boldly into that fire,
he will discover it at once to be a lie, an illusion, a mirage through
which he might carry a sack of gunpowder without being a penny the
worse. Therefore let the fire seem so terrib