Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär’

Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär’ is a well-known romantic folksong cited in the book’s notes as the source of a parody. Its imagined bird, given wings and able to fly to the beloved, makes longing into a conditional fantasy of escape and reunion. The note identifies the song’s words with Johann Gottfried Herder and its music with Johann Friedrich Reichardt.

Source and Attribution

The note gives the song’s words as dating from 1778–79 and its music as dating from about 1784. It presents the lyric’s opening as a wish: if the singer were a little bird with two little wings, the singer would fly to the beloved. The bird’s imagined mobility sets distance against desire, while the conditional phrasing makes the flight a fantasy rather than an accomplished journey.

Use as a Parodic Reference

The book’s note characterizes the relevant passage as a parody of this familiar romantic song. That identification establishes the folk lyric as a recognizable source, but the note does not supply the parody’s wording or specify how it alters the original. The reference therefore connects the passage to a conventional image of yearning—wings carrying a lover toward the beloved—without supporting further claims about the parody’s precise target or effect.