Part 5

“Listen, oh, knights,” he began. “The time has come when I must leave you. Before I go, it is right that you should know that I am Lohengrin, son of Parsifal, the great king. I was sent hither by the Holy Grail, to save your princess, Elsa, from Frederick of Telramund. Now the Holy Vessel calls me and I must go. Ere I depart, I ask you to watch faithfully over my little ones and to wipe away their mother’s tears. Farewell!”

Then in the midst of the silence which followed these words, while he held Elsa in a last fond embrace, the low strains of the sweet music again came floating down the Rhine. A moment later the swan appeared.

Slowly Lohengrin tore himself away from Elsa’s trembling arms. He sprang down the steps and into the waiting swan boat. Away it glided to the strains of sad music, and bore him out of sight forever.

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Transcriber’s note:

Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.