LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,114)
  • Text Authors (19,495)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866)
Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Irrlichter, die Knaben
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG
    Irrlichter, die Knaben,
Die laufen und traben,
Mit Luft sich beschuhend,
Nichtsnutziges thuend,
Besprechen sich gerne
Beim Schein der Laterne.
    Was hast du getan?
O sage mir an.
    Es sah mit dem Rumpfe
Ein Frosch aus dem Sumpfe;
Das hat mich verdrossen,
Ich brannt ihm zum Possen
Die Schnauze mit Feuer,
Er quakt' ungeheuer.
    So sage mir nun,
Was war denn dein Thun?
    Ein Hirsch kam mit Zacken,
Ich setzt auf den Nacken
Mich zwischen die Hörner,
Da fuhr er durch Dörner
Mit Schnauben und Rasen;
Ich fiel auf die Nasen.
    Nun sage du schnell,
Was thatst du, Gesell?
    Es trugen die Winde
Mich gar zu geschwinde;
Eh' ich mich's versehen,
Ein Dorf sah ich stehen;
Da bellten die Hunde,
Da wich ich zur Stunde.
    Nun du, zu gut Nacht,
Was hast du gemacht?
    Ein Wandrer, der Wege
Nicht kannte noch Stege,
Ersah mich zum Leuchter,
Mir nach immer keucht' er,
Da löscht' ich die Funken,
Da war er versunken.
    Und aus ist das Wort,
Dann hüpfen sie fort.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with Gesammelte Gedichte von Friedrich Rückert, Zweiter Theil, Frankfurt am Main: Druck und Verlag von Johann David Sauerländer, 1843, pages 151-152.


Text Authorship:

  • by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866), "Gespräch der Irrlichter" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "Irrlichter", op. 62, Heft 1 no. 6 (1837) [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "Will-o'-the-wisps", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: John Versmoren , Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 40
Word count: 170

Will‑o'‑the‑wisps
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
    Will-o'-the-wisps, the lads,
They run and tramp,
They are shod with air,
Doing useless mischief,
They like to discuss their doings with each other
By the glow of the lantern.
    What did you do?
Oh tell me.
   A frog's torso
Was peeking from out a swamp;
That annoyed me,
For a joke I burned
His snout with fire,
He croaked tremendously.
    So tell me now,
What was it that you did?
    A stag with antlers came along,
I sat myself upon his neck
Between his horns,
At that he raced through the thorns
With a snorting and a hurtling,
I fell on my nose.
    Now you tell me quickly
What did you do, comrade?
    The winds carried
Me far too swiftly;
Before I knew it
I saw a village;
The dogs barked there,
I immediately took myself off.
    And now, for a good night,
What did you do?
    A wanderer who knew
Neither roads nor pathways,
Chose me as his guiding light,
He kept following me, panting,
Then I extinguished my little spark,
And he was sunk.
    And the conversation is over
Then they hop off.

English poem title: The conversation of the will-o'-the-wisps
English song title (Loewe): Will-o'-the-wisps

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2014 by Sharon Krebs, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866), "Gespräch der Irrlichter"
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2014-02-13
Line count: 40
Word count: 187

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris