Gurnemanz tells the young esquires the story of the
Grail, and together they repeat the prophecy which promises relief to
their suffering King:--
Wise through pity,
The sinless fool.
Look thou for him
Whom I have chosen.
Their words are interrupted by loud cries from without, and several
knights and esquires rush in, dragging with them Parsifal, who has slain
one of the sacred swans with his bow and arrow. Gurnemanz protects
Parsifal from their violence, and seeing that the youth, who has lived
all his life in the woods, is as innocent as a child, leads him up to
the castle of the Grail, in the hope that he may turn out to be the
sinless fool of the prophecy. In the vast hall of the Grail the knights
assemble, and fulfil the mystic rites of the love-feast. Amfortas, the
one sinner in that chaste community, pleads to be allowed to forgo his
task of uncovering the Grail, the source to him of heartburning remorse
and anguish; but Titurel, speaking from the tomb where he lies between
life and death, sustained only by the miraculous power of the Grail,
urges his son to the duty. Amfortas uncovers the Grail, which is
illumined with unearthly light, and the solemn ceremony closes in peace
and brotherly love. Parsifal, who has watched the whole scene from the
side, feels a strange pang of sympathy at Amfortas's passionate cry, but
as yet he does not understand what it means.
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