mersiowsky - 5-12-2014 at 04:37 PM
(From: Storche)
Translated by Ed Bernthal
The Polish King went out to war.
He went with nine of his youths.
But only the tenth one he left behind.
He was to guard the new castle,
The new castle and the young princess,
The young princess and her little child.
The youth went around in the courtyard,
And combed his hair.
The princess looked out of the window.
She wanted to lure him to come in.
‘You, are you not cold, might you be thirsty?
You can come in to warm yourself by me.’
“I am not cold and I am not thirsty
I may not come in to get warm by you.
I may not come in to get warm by you.”
“I am very much afraid of a ghost,
Especially if I fail my young master.
Especially if I fail my young master.”
‘Don’t be afraid of a ghost
Nor from failing your young master.
Nor from failing your young master.’
‘I will excuse everything so well,
That you will not be blamed for it.’
But the youth was a faithful servant.
The Polish King came home from the war.
The young princess ran to meet him.
The young princess ran to meet him.
‘My dear, my young, my only lord,
I have a complaint for you
About your care-taker youth.’
‘Even about your faithful servant.
What a drunkard and playboy he is,
And what a slovenly spendthrift he is.’
‘The first night he drank and played.
The next night he sang and danced.
The third night he wanted to come in to the princess.’
The lord was aroused to very great anger,
And pulled his shining sword out of the sheath,
And wanted to cut off the head of the youth.
“Now choose for yourself the death you want.
Do you want to be cut apart with the sword
Or run over by a horse?”
As the youth rode out of the courtyard
He gave both of them a farewell greeting.
But he said to himself in his heart:
“Now goodnight, good night, my lord!
Very false is your young princess,
And she is also a great [Censored].”
“Now good night, good night my princess!
You lied very cleverly to your lord
With words of which nothing was true.”
“Does it go so badly for anyone
As it goes for me, O God, in this world?
As it goes for me, O God, in this world?”
“And might I look, wherever I would look,
And might I look here and there,
I see only falsehood in every place.”
“And might I go, wherever I would go,
And might I go in and out,
I would still be after all alone.”
“But there is for no one anything better for him
As for a free youth in the world
Who is always welcome, and is appreciated.”
Attachment: Badly Rewarded Faithfulness.mp3 (1.1MB)
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