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by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866)
Translation © by George Chaldezos

Der betrogene Teufel
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG
Die Araber hatten ihr Feld bestellt,
Da kam der Teufel herbei in Eil;
Er sprach: Mir gehört die halbe Welt,
Ich will auch von eurer Ernt mein Teil.

Die Araber aber sind Füchse von Haus;
Sie sprachen: Die untere Hälfte sei dein!
Der Teufel will allzeit oben hinaus:
"Nein," sprach er, "es soll die obere sein!"

Da bauten sie Rüben an einem Strich,
Und als es nun an die Teilung ging,
Die Araber nahmen die Wurzeln für sich,
Der Teufel die gelben Blätter empfing.

Und als es wiederum ging in's Jahr,
Da sprach der Teufel in hellem Zorn:
"Nun will ich die untere Hälfte fürwahr!"
Da bauten die Araber Weiz und Korn.

Und als es wieder zur Teilung kam,
Die Araber nahmen den Ährenschnitt,
Der Teufel die leeren Stoppeln nahm
Und heizte der Hölle Ofen damit.

Text Authorship:

  • by Friedrich Rückert (1788 - 1866) [author's text not yet checked 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 Heinrich August Marschner (1795 - 1861), "Der betrogene Teufel", op. 87 (4 Gesänge) no. 1, published 1834 [ voice and piano ], Hannover, B. und Nagel [sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (George Chaldezos) , "The devil deceived", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: George Chaldezos

This text was added to the website: 2009-04-16
Line count: 20
Word count: 136

The devil deceived
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
The Arabs had prepared their field,
When the devil came up in haste;
He said: I own half the world,
I want my portion of your harvest. 

The Arabs, though, are clever like foxes;
They said: The bottom half is yours!
The devil always wants to come on top:
"No," he said, "it should be the top!" 

They planted a line of sugar beet,
And as it then came to the share,
The Arabs took the roots for themselves,
The Devil got the yellow leaves. 

And when the year came round again,
The devil said, with glowing anger
"Now I want the lower half definitely!"
Then the Arabs planted wheat and corn. 

And when it came back to the share,
The Arabs took the ears of corn,
The devil took the barren stubble
And heated the furnace of hell with it.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2010 by George Chaldezos, (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)
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2010-12-26
Line count: 20
Word count: 141

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