Page:Psychology of the Unconscious (1916).djvu/494

 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?"