Kundry tells him she learned it from his mother ("Ich sah das Kind an seiner Mutter Brust"), who had loved him and tried to shield him from his father's fate, the mother he had abandoned and who had finally died of grief.
Kundry fortæller ham, at hun fik det at vide af hans mor ("Ich sah das Kind an seiner Mutter Brust"), som havde elsket ham og forsøgt at skærme ham mod at lide samme skæbne som hans far; moderen havde han opgivet, og hun var til sidst død af sorg.