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by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832)
Translation by Adam Storck (1780 - 1822)

The heath this night must be my bed
Language: English 
Our translations:  ITA
The heath this night must be my bed,
The bracken curtain for my head,
My lullaby the warder's tread,
  Far, far, from love and thee, Mary;
To-morrow eve, more stilly laid,
My couch may be my bloody plaid,
My vesper song, thy wail, sweet maid!
  It will not waken me, Mary!

I may not, dare not, fancy now
The grief that clouds thy lovely brow,
I dare not think upon thy vow,
  And all it promised me, Mary.
No fond regret must Norman know;
When bursts Clan-Alpine on the foe,
His heart must be like bended bow,
  His foot like arrow free, Mary.

A time will come with feeling fraught!
For, if I fall in battle fought,
Thy hapless lover's dying thought
  Shall be a thought on thee, Mary.
And if returned from conquered foes,
How blithely will the evening close,
How sweet the linnet sing repose,
  To my young bride and me, Mary!

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Lady of the Lake. A Poem. By Walter Scott, Esq. The fourth edition. Edinburgh: Printed for John Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and W. Miller, London. 1810, pages 127-128.


Text Authorship:

  • by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832), "Song", appears in The Lady of the Lake, in 3. Canto Third. The Gathering., no. 23, first published 1810

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

  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "Il canto di Norman", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 154

Normans Gesang
 (Sung text for setting by F. Schubert)
 See original
Language: German (Deutsch)  after the English 
Our translations:  CAT DUT ENG FRE
Die Nacht bricht bald herein, dann leg' ich mich zur Ruh',
Die Heide ist mein Lager, das Farrnkraut deckt mich zu,
Mich lullt der Wache Tritt wohl in den Schlaf hinein:
Ach, muß so weit von dir, Maria, Holde, seyn!

Und wird es morgen Abend, und kommt die trübe Zeit,
Dann ist vielleicht mein Lager der blutigrothe Plaid,
Mein Abendlied verstummet, du schleichst dann trüb und bang.
Maria,  ...  mich wecken kann nicht dein Todtensang.

So mußt' ich von dir scheiden, du holde süße Braut?
Wie magst du nach mir rufen, wie magst du weinen laut!
Ach, denken darf ich nicht an deinen herben Schmerz,
Ach, denken darf ich nicht an dein getreues Herz.

Nein, zärtlich treues Sehnen darf hegen Norman nicht,
Wenn in den Feind Clan-Alpine wie Sturm und Hagel bricht,
Wie ein gespannter Bogen sein muthig Herz dann sey,
Sein Fuß, Maria, wie der Pfeil so rasch und frei!

Wohl wird die Stunde kommen, wo nicht die Sonne scheint,
Du wankst zu deinem Norman, dein holdes Auge weint.
Doch fall' ich in der Schlacht, hüllt Todesschauer mich,
O, glaub', mein letzter Seufzer, Maria, ist für dich.

Doch kehr' ich siegreich wieder aus kühner Männerschlacht,
Dann grüßen wir so freudig das Nahn der stillen Nacht,
Das Lager ist bereitet, uns winkt die süße Ruh.
Der Hänfling singt Brautlieder, Maria, hold uns zu.

Composition:

    Set to music by Franz Peter Schubert (1797 - 1828), "Normans Gesang", op. 52 (Sieben Gesänge aus Walter Scotts Fräulein Vom See) no. 5, D 846 (1825), published 1826 [ voice, piano ], Matthias Artaria, VN 814, Wien

Text Authorship:

  • by Adam Storck (1780 - 1822), "Sang", appears in Das Fräulein vom See, in 3. Dritter Gesang. Das Aufgebot., first published 1819

Based on:

  • a text in English by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832), "Song", appears in The Lady of the Lake, in 3. Canto Third. The Gathering., no. 23, first published 1810
    • Go to the text page.

See other settings of this text.

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

  • CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • ENG English (Malcolm Wren) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Peter Rastl [Guest Editor] , Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2003-11-07
Line count: 24
Word count: 226

Gentle Reminder

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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