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by Emanuel von Geibel (1815 - 1884)
Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Melusine
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Es wohnt das Mädchen Wunderhold
Mitten im Walde;
Was da webet und grünt und blüht,
Gehorcht ihr balde.

Und tritt sie früh aus ihrer Thür
Auf leichten Füßen,
Flattern die Vögel um sie her,
Die blauen Blumen grüßen.

Das fleckige Rehlein hält ihr still,
Lässet sich streicheln mit Nicken;
Sie hat gezähmt den jungen Wolf
Mit ihren holdseligen Blicken.

Singend über das tauige Moos
Schreitet die Holde,
Die Morgensonne wirft ihr um
Den Mantel von Golde.

O wär' ich dann der klare Brunn,
Den sie zum Spiegel wählet!
Sie lacht hinein mit rotem Mund,
Wenn ihr Haar sie strählet.

Sie lacht hinein und singt dazu:
"O lustig Schweifen!
Mein Sinn ist wie der Wind, Wind, Wind,
Wer kann ihn greifen!

Und wie ein Schrein so ist mein Herz,
Nur fester, feiner.
Wo liegt der Schlüssel? ich weiß es wohl,
Doch find't ihn keiner."

View text with all available footnotes

Confirmed with Juniuslieder von Emanuel Geibel, Zehnte Auflage, Stuttgart und Tübingen: J.G. Cotta'scher Verlag, 1854, pages 43-44.


Text Authorship:

  • by Emanuel von Geibel (1815 - 1884), "Melusine", appears in Juniuslieder, in Lieder [author's text checked 2 times against a primary source]

Go to the general view


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Sharon Krebs [Senior Associate Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2011-07-23
Line count: 28
Word count: 144

Melusine
NOTE: the footnotes have been removed from this text; return to general view
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
The maiden Wunderhold lives
In the middle of the forest;
All that moves and grows green and blooms,
Quickly obeys her.

And when she steps out of her door in the early morning
Upon light feet,
The birds flutter about her,
The blue flowers greet her.

The spotted fawn holds still for her,
With nodding, it submits to her stroking;
She has tamed the young wolf
With her fair glances.

Over the dewy moss with singing
Strides the lovely one,
The morning sun casts about her
A mantle of gold.

Oh, were I then the clear well
That she chooses as her mirror!
She laughs into it with her red lips
When she combs her hair.

She laughs into it and sings the while:
"Oh merry rambling!
My spirit is like the wind, wind, wind,
Who can catch it!

And my heart is like a shrine,
Only more secure, more fine.
Where lies the key? I know it well,
But no one shall find it."

View text with all available footnotes

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2025 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 Emanuel von Geibel (1815 - 1884), "Melusine", appears in Juniuslieder, in Lieder
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general view


This text was added to the website: 2025-03-09
Line count: 28
Word count: 166

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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

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