The wildness that thou shouldst tame
Is the cause, bad boy, of that.
Young ones are always longing
After their parents' nest;
What we love we all long for,
And so thou dost yearn for me;
'Tis plain thou lovest thy Mime,
And always must love him.
What the old bird is to the young one,
Feeding it in its nest
Ere the fledgling can flutter,
That is what careful, clever Mime
To thy young life is,
And always must be.
SIEGFRIED
Well, Mime, being so clever,
This one thing more also tell me:
[Simply.
The birds sang together
So gaily in spring,
"And there I learned
What love was like"
See p. 11