A young and merry lass
asked me once
where love could be bought;
"Hey, stupid," I said,
"why buy it,
when thou canst have it from me?
It will cost you not a penny,
I guarantee that!"
Quoth the lass: "From thee? No,
I'll not buy in thy shop!
If thou givest it thus cheap,
then there's not much to it!"
So that's how the bargain goes?
Well, well, I thought,
then I'll increase the price,
I'll not give it as a gift!
So I increased the price
and presented it as something special,
and now it was too expensive -
that's what you get!
My dear boy, with lasses
it is difficult to deal;
for some of them you do too little,
for others you do too much.
It is a real pity
that I always fail
and am never able to guess
how they really like it!