The lad dreamed that they sent him forth
With thirty thalers to the heath,
  He was murdered for the money along the way
  And yet he had not walked slowly or dawdled.

Lying in his bed bathed in sweat from his fear, he is shaken
By his master who tells him to get dressed
  And places the money upon his blanket
  And asks him why he is so startled.

"Ah master, [my]1 master, they will kill me,
The sun is as red as blood!"
  "It is not red for you alone,
  Hurry up, or I will see to it that you get a move on!"

"Ah master, my master, that's how you spoke before,
That was your expression, your gaze, the sound of your voice,
  Now you will take up" - the stick, he wants to say,
  He does not say it, he is already being beaten.

"Ah master, my master, I'm going, I'm going,
Make my last farewells to my mother!
  And if she searches the four corners of the world,
  She will find me by the willow tree!"

Out of the city!  And there it stretches,
The heath, foggy, ghostly,
  The wind rushing over it.
  "Ah, if only one step here could be a thousand!"

And everything so still and everything so mute,
One looks in vain for anything living,
  Only hungry birds dive
  Out of the clouds to skewer worms.

He comes to a lonely shepherd's cottage,
The old shepherd is just peering out,
  The lad's fear has grown even greater
  That he will be left dead at the side of the road.

"Ah, shepherd, you are of a pious nature,
I have saved four good pennies,
  Lend me your servant to walk at my side
  And accompany me to the village!

I will give them to him, he may spend them
On some good beer next Sunday.
  The money here, I carry it with trembling,
  In my dream I was killed for it!"

The shepherd beckoned to the tall servant,
He was just cutting himself a staff,
  Now he stepped forward - how the lad
  Shuddered when he saw him!

"Ah, Master Shepherd, ah no, ah no,
It will be better if I go alone!"
  With a grin, the tall one remarks to the old one:
  He wants to keep his four pennies.

"Here are the four pennies!"  He throws them down
And hurries away, his mind distraught.
  Ahead he can already see the willow;
  Then the servant claps him on the back.

"You can't keep up this pace, you are walking too quickly,
More haste, less speed; you are still a child,
  And the money must weigh you down,
  Who could deny you some rest!

Come sit down under the willow tree
And there tell me about the nasty dream.
  I too dreamed - may God damn me
  If my dream doesn't coincide with yours!"

He grabs the lad tightly by the hand,
He does not resist anymore,
  The leaves are whispering so eerily,
  The brooklet trickles so sadly!

Now speak, you dreamed - "There was a man-"
Was it I? Look at me more closely,
  I think, it was I whom you saw!
  Go on now, how did it happen?"

"He drew a knife! " - Was it like this one?
"Oh yes, oh yes!" - He drew it? - "And stabbed -"
  He sliced your throat like this?
  What's the use of my torturing you!

And if you would know what else happened?
Ask the two birds who sat and watched;
  The raven lingered quite merrily,
  The dove could not go on!

The raven tells what else the villain did,
And also, how the hangman [got wind of it]2.
  The dove tells how the lad
  Cried and prayed.