"Balsam--for the king!" There is a savagery in her manner that seems designed to ward off thanks, when _Gurnemanz_ asks her whence she has brought the flask, and she replies: "From farther away than your thought can travel. If it fail, Arabia bears naught else that can ease his pain. Ask no further. I am weary."
Throwing herself upon the ground and resting her face on her hands, she watches the _King_ borne in, replies to his thanks for the balsam with a wild, mocking laugh, and follows him with her eyes as they bear him on his litter toward the lake, while _Gurnemanz_ and four _Esquires_ remain behind.
_Kundry's_ rapid approach on her wild horse is accompanied by a furious gallop in the orchestra.
Then, as she rushes upon the stage, the =Kundry Motive=--a headlong descent of the string instruments through four octaves--is heard.
_Kundry's_ action in seeking balsam for the _King's_ wound gives us insight into the two contradictory natures represented by her character. For here is the woman who has brought all his suffering upon _Amfortas_ striving to ease it when she is free from the evil sway of _Klingsor_. She is at times the faithful messenger of the Grail; at times the evil genius of its defenders.
When _Amfortas_ is borne in upon a litter there is heard the =Motive of Amfortas's Suffering=, expressive of his physical and mental agony. It has a peculiar heavy, dragging rhythm, as if his wound slowly were sapping his life.
A beautiful idyl is played by the orchestra when the knights bear _Amfortas_ to the forest lake.
One of the youths, who has remained with _Gurnemanz_, noting that _Kundry_ still lies where she had flung herself upon the ground, calls out scornfully, "Why do you lie there like a savage beast?"
"Are not even the beasts here sacred?" she retorts, but harshly, and not as if pleading for sufferance. The other _Esquires_ would have joined in harassing her had not _Gurnemanz_ stayed them.
"Never has she done you harm. She serves the Grail, and only when she remains long away, none knows in what distant lands, does harm come to us." Then, turning to where she lies, he asks: "Where were you wandering when our leader lost the Sacred Spear? Why were you not here to help us then?"