_Titurel_ now summons _Amfortas_ to perform his sacred office--to uncover the Grail. At first, tortured by contrition for his sin, of which the agony from his wound is a constant reminder, he refuses to obey his aged father's summons. In anguish he cries out that he is unworthy of the sacred office. But again ethereal voices float down from the dome. They now chant the prophecy of the "guileless fool" and, as if comforted by the hope of ultimate redemption, _Amfortas_ uncovers the Grail. Dusk seems to spread over the hall. Then a ray of brilliant light darts down upon the sacred vessel, which shines with a soft purple radiance that diffuses itself through the hall. All are on their knees save the youth, who has stood motionless and obtuse to the significance of all he has heard and seen save that during _Amfortas's_ anguish he has clutched his heart as if he too felt the pang. But when the rite is over--when the knights have partaken of communion--and the glow has faded, and the _King_, followed by his knights, has been borne out, the youth remains behind, vigorous, handsome, but to all appearances a dolt.
"Do you know what you have witnessed?" _Gurnemanz_ asks harshly, for he is grievously disappointed.
"Just a fool, after all," exclaims the old knight, as he opens a side door to the hall. "Begone, but take my advice. In future leave our swans alone, and seek yourself, gander, a goose!" And with these harsh words he pushes the youth out and angrily slams the door behind him.
This jarring break upon the religious feeling awakened by the scene would be a rude ending for the act, but Wagner, with exquisite tact, allows the voices in the dome to be heard once more, and so the curtains close, amid the spiritual harmonies of the Prophecy of the Guileless Fool and of the Grail Motive.
Act II. This act plays in _Klingsor's_ magic castle and garden. The _Vorspiel_ opens with the threatful Klingsor motive, which is followed by the Magic and Contrition Motives, the wild Kundry Motive leading over to the first scene.
In the inner keep of his tower, stone steps leading up to the battlemented parapet and down into a deep pit at the back, stands _Klingsor_, looking into a metal mirror, whose surface, through his necromancy, reflects all that transpires within the environs of the fastness from which he ever threatens the warders of the Grail. Of all that just has happened in the Grail's domain it has made him aware; and he knows that of which _Gurnemanz_ is ignorant--that the youth, whose approach the mirror divulges, once in his power, vain will be the prophecy of the "guileless fool" and his own triumph assured. For it is that same "guileless fool" the old knight impatiently has thrust out.