LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,119)
  • Text Authors (19,527)
  • 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 Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941)
Translation © by Bertram Kottmann

I had gone a‑begging from door to door...
Language: English  after the Bangla (Bengali) 
Our translations:  GER
I had gone a-begging from door to door in the village path, 
when thy golden chariot appeared in the distance 
like a gorgeous dream and I wondered
who was this King of all kings!

My hopes rose high and methought 
my evil days were at an end,
and I stood waiting for alms to be given unasked
and for wealth scattered on all sides in the dust.

The chariot stopped where I stood.
Thy glance fell on me 
and thou camest down with a smile.
I felt that the luck of my life had come at last. 
Then of a sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand 
and say `What hast thou to give to me?'

Ah, what a kingly jest was it 
to open thy palm to a beggar to beg!
I was confused and stood undecided, 
and then from my wallet I slowly took out 
the least little grain of corn 
and gave it to thee.

But how great my surprise when at the day's end 
I emptied my bag on the floor to find 
a least little gram of gold among the poor heap.
I bitterly wept and wished 
that I had had the heart to give thee my all.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 50, first published 1912 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 50 [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

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

    [ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Dutch (Nederlands), a translation by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist ; composed by Jan Pouwels.
    • Go to the text. [Note: the text is not in the database yet.]
  • Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Marie Luise Gothein (1863 - 1931) , first published 1914 ; composed by Stefan Wolpe.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-11-13
Line count: 25
Word count: 204

Als Bettler ging am Dorfweg ich von Tür...
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Als Bettler ging am Dorfweg ich von Tür zu Tür,
als in der Ferne mir erschien dein goldner Wagen
gleich einem herrlich schönen Traum. Ich fragte mich,
wer dieser König aller Kön’ge sei.

Hoch flog die Hoffnung mir,
dass meine Unglückszeit vorüber.
So stand ich, wartete auf milde Gaben, die unerbeten mir zuteil,
und Reichtum, Fülle rings im Staub verstreut.

Der Wagen hielt, dort wo ich stand.
Es fiel dein Blick auf mich
und lächelnd stiegest du herab.
Ich spürte, endlich sei mein Lebensglück gekommen.
Dann hieltest plötzlich du die Rechte mir entgegen
und sprachst: „Hast du denn etwas,   m i r   zu geben?“

O welch ein königlicher Scherz war dies,
dem Bettler bettelnd deine Hand zu halten hin!
Ich war verwirrt, stand unentschlossen.
Aus meinem Beutel kramte langsam ich das allerkleinste Korn 
und gab es dir.

Wie groß jedoch am Abend mein Erstaunen,
als ich den Beutel ausgeleert
und in der dürft’gen Habe fand
ein kleines Korn aus Gold.
Ich weinte bitterlich. Ach hätt'
ich doch das Herz gehabt, dir alles hinzugeben.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from English to German (Deutsch) copyright © 2014 by Bertram Kottmann, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you must ask the copyright-holder(s) directly for permission. If you receive no response, you must consider it a refusal.

    Bertram Kottmann.  Contact: BKottmann (AT) t-online.de

    If you wish to commission a new translation, please contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in English by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in Gitanjali, no. 50, first published 1912
    • Go to the text page.

Based on:

  • a text in Bangla (Bengali) by Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941), no title, appears in গীতাঞ্জলি (Gitanjali), no. 50 [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2014-06-13
Line count: 25
Word count: 173

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