human frame is fitted to endure,
and he is again swooning, as at the evil news in the first act.
Kundry hurries with water from the cell, but Gurnemanz stops her;
he has in thought larger purifications for the pilgrim in whom
his prophetic mind discerns one ordained to fulfill this very day
a sacred office. "So let him be made clean of all stain, let the
dust be washed from him of his long wandering." They ease him upon
the moss beside the consecrated spring, remove his greaves and
coat of mail. As he revives a little, he asks faintly: "Shall I
be taken to-day to Amfortas?" Gurnemanz assures him that he shall,
for on this day the burial of Titurel takes place, which Gurnemanz
must attend, and Amfortas has pledged himself, in honour of his
father, to uncover once more the Grail. Kundry during this, on
her knees, has been bathing the pilgrim's feet. He watches her,
at her devoted lowly task, in wonder: "You have washed my feet,"
he speaks; "let now the friend pour water on my head!" Gurnemanz
obeys, besprinkling him with a baptismal intention. Kundry takes
from her bosom a golden phial, and, having poured ointment on his
feet, dries them, in the custom of the day when she was Herodias,
with her long hair; by this repetition of a famous act intending
perhaps to signify that she is a sinner and that he has raised
her from sin. "You have anointed my feet," speaks Parsifal again;
"let now the brother-at-arms of Titurel anoint my head, for on this
day he shall hail me as king." Whereupon Gurnemanz anoints him
as king. Kundry has been gazing with a devout hushed face. There
is no sign that he recognises her, but, as if his soul recognised
some quality of her soul, as if some need in her called to him,
he dips water from the sacred well and sprinkles her head: "My
first ministration shall be this: I baptize thee! Have faith in the
Redeemer!" And Kundry, the curse being lifted which had dried up
in her the fountain of tears, bows to the earth abundantly weeping.

At this point it is that the vague waftures of sweetness which have
been fitfully soliciting us all through these scenes, concentrate
themselves and make their call irresistible. Parsifal becomes aware
of it. With his sense of the absolution from sin for both of them,
in baptism, invaded by deep peace, he gazes around him in soft
enchantment: "How more than usual lovely the meadows appear to
me to-day! True, I have known wonder-flowers, clasping me with
eager tendrils