The landlord's daughter filled their cups, Then sat they all so calm and still, And spake not one rude word. But, when the maid departed, A Swabian raised his hand, And cried, all hot and flushed with wine, "The greatest kingdom upon earth With all the stout and hardy men "Ha!" cried a Saxon, laughing, And dashed his beard with wine; "I had rather live in Lapland, Than that Swabian land of thine! "The goodliest land on all this earth, It is the Saxon land! There have I as many maidens As fingers on this hand!" "Hold your tongues! both Swabian and Saxon!" A bold Bohemian cries; "If there's a heaven upon this earth, In Bohemia it lies. "There the tailor blows the flute, And the cobbler blows the horn, And the miner blows the bugle, Over mountain gorge and bourn." And then the landlord's daughter Up to heaven raised her hand, THE BIRD AND THE SHIP. And they no longer feel, Here, where all gladness flies! And, by the cypresses Until the Angel Calls them, they slumber! 66 THE BIRD AND THE SHIP. FROM THE GERMAN OF MÜLLER. THE rivers rush into the sea, By castle and town they go; "The clouds are passing far and high, "I greet thee, bonny boat! Whither, or whence, With thy fluttering golden band?”— "I greet thee, little bird! To the wide sea I haste from the narrow land. "Full and swollen is every sail; I see no longer a hill, I have trusted all to the sounding gale, "And wilt thou, little bird, go with us? Thou mayest stand on the mainmast tall, For full to sinking is my house With merry companions all.". |