"Heiho! hoyotoho! heiho!"
And a battle-maiden came in sight.
Brunhilde was very happy to see her sister again, but the battle-maiden
looked sad.
She brought bad news from Valhalla.
She and Brunhilde sat down upon the rock, and the battle-maiden told the
sad story of the last days of the giants.
"Brunhilde," she said, "Wotan does not know that I have come. Valhalla
is in deepest gloom.
"Wotan has never sent us to a battlefield since that day when we last
saw you.
"Not long ago he came home with his magic spear broken into splinters.
He sat down and buried his face in his hands, and there he sits day
after day.
"He tell us the giants are passing from the earth. A little while and
Valhalla shall be no more.
"He refuses all of Freya's golden fruit. He has grown very old and very
sad.
"Yesterday I heard him say, 'Oh! if Brunhilde would only give the ring
back to the Rhine-daughters, and release the world from the terrible
curse of gold!'
"And, Brunhilde, I have come to beg of you, will you not give the ring
back to the Rhine-daughters?"
Brunhilde clasped the ring close to her breast.
"Give the ring to the Rhine-daughters?" she cried.
Then she looked far away toward the valley----and Siegfried.
"This ring of mine is Siegfried's pledge of love!"