Mother! Mother!
Remember me!
"Can this be fearing?
Oh, mother! Mother!
Thy dauntless child!
A woman lieth asleep:—
And she now has taught him to fear!
"Awaken! Awaken!
Holiest maid!
Then life from the sweetness of lips
Will I win me—
E'en tho' I die in a kiss."
In the duet which follows the mother is invoked:
"O mother, hail!
Who gave thee thy birth!"
The confession of Brunhilde is especially characteristic:
"O knewest thou—joy of the world,
How I have ever loved thee!
Thou wert my gladness,
My care wert thou!
Thy life I sheltered;
Or ere it was thine,
Or ere thou wert born,
My shield was thy guard."[135]
The pre-existence of the hero and the pre-existence of Brunhilde as his wife-mother are clearly indicated from this passage.
Siegfried says in confirmation:
"Then death took not my mother?
Bound in sleep did she lie?"
