vision of
prayer and ecstasy, flooding the soul with overpowering thoughts of the
divine sacrifice and the mystery of unfathomable love.

* * * * *

The hall of Montsalvat empties. Gurnemanz strides excitedly up to
Parsifal, who stands stupefied with what he has seen--

"Why standest thou silent?
Knowest thou what thine eyes have seen?"

The "guileless one" shakes his head. "Nothing but a fool!" exclaims
Gurnemanz, angrily; and, seizing Parsifal by the shoulder, he pushes him
roughly out of the hall, with:

"Be off! look after thy geese,
And henceforth leave our swans in peace."

The Grail vision had, then, taught the "guileless one" nothing. He could
not see his mission--he was as yet unawakened to the deeper life of the
spirit; tho blameless and unsullied, he was still the "natural man."
Profound truth! that was not first which was spiritual, but that which
was natural; before Parsifal wins a spiritual triumph, he must be
spiritually tried; his inner life must be deepened and developed, else
he can never read aright the message of the Grail.

The life of God in the spirit comes only when the battle for God in the
heart has been fought and won.

Fare forth, thou guileless one! thou shalt yet add to the simplicity of
the dove the wisdom of the serpent. Thou art innocent because ignorant;
but thou shalt be weighed anon in the balance and not be found wanting;
and then shalt thou reconquer the holy spear lost in Sin, rewon in
Purity and Sacrifice, and be to the frail Amfortas the chosen savior for
whom he waits.

* * * * *

The foregoing events occupied about an hour and a quarter. When the
curtain fell the vast audience broke up in silence.

The air outside was cool and balmy. In the distance lay the city of
Bayreuth, with the tower of the Alte Schloss and the old church standing
up gray against the distant Bavarian hills. All around us lay the pine
woods, broken by the lawns and avenues that encircle the theater and
embower it in a secluded world of its own--even as the Palace of the
Grail was shut off from the profane world. Here, indeed, is truly the
Montsalvat of the modern drama--a spot purified and sacred to the
highest aims and noblest manifestations of Art.

In about an hour the Spear motive was the signal blown on the wind
instruments outside, and I took my seat for the second act.

Act II

A restless, passio