The Queen Welcomes Her Friend
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Die Königin bewillkommte ihre neue Freundin und stieg mit ihren und ihren übrigen Gespielinnen in den Altar hinab, indeß der König in der Mitte der beiden Männer nach der Brücke hinsah und aufmerksam das Gewimmel des Volks betrachtete.
The Queen welcomed her new friend and descended with her and her remaining playmates into the altar, while the King, in the middle of the two men, looked over toward the bridge and attentively observed the swarming of the people.
The Queen (Lily) welcomes the renewed wife and descends into the altar with her attendants, while the King surveys the crowd on the bridge.
<p>Lily is now simply the Queen, and her first royal act is hospitality: she welcomes the renewed wife as a friend and takes her down into the altar with the attendants. The German splits the sentence with indess, while, so that two movements happen at once. The women go inward and downward; the King stays above, flanked by the man with the lamp and the ferryman, and looks outward at the bridge.</p><p>The undercurrent is a division of offices rather than a ranking. The text has been insisting that the bridge is the point of everything, and the King's attention to the crowd crossing it is the first sign that he understands what ruling means here. The word Gewimmel, swarming, carries no contempt; it is the life the bridge exists to carry, and he watches it attentively.</p>
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