A little water-mosquito
Swam along upon a lake,
But a stickleback, full of malice,
Simply got into the mosquito’s way.

To snap up the mosquito
It opened its little mouth wide,
But a pike, looking to catch the stickleback out,
Knocked straight into it.

And the pike would have devoured the stickleback, too,
Before it snapped up the mosquito,
If a stork had not come a-gliding
And nabbed the pike.

But when at that very moment 
The stork dived down upon our pike,
A Sunday hunter in turn took aim 
At the stork, and his aim was good.

Surely he would have shot
The long-legged creature,
But he, too, was the victim of a prank,
Before the shot left the barrel of the gun. 

For just as he took aim
At the heart of the pike-predator,
His sister came a-leaping and played
Her jest upon her brother the hunter.

Namely, with her hands she quickly
Held his eyes shut.
Everything now had to turn about:
You guess what happened!

By I perchance just came along
As she covered up his eyes,
And I quickly took her into an embrace,
She, whose kiss I sweetly enjoyed.