Through the forest the boy wends all day long:
For there he has heard such a wonderful song. 
He carved him a flute of the willow-tree, 
And tried what the tune within it might be. 
The tune came out of it sad and gay; 
But while he listen'd it pass'd away.
He fell asleep, and once more it sung,
And over his forehead it lovingly hung.
He thought he would catch it, and wildly woke;
And the tune in the pale night faded and broke.
"O God! my God! take me up to Thee! 
For the tune Thou hast made is consuming me."
And the Lord God said: "'Tis a friend divine,
Though never one hour shalt thou hold it thine.
Yet all other music is poor and thin
By the side of this which thou never shalt win!"

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with English Verse edited by W. J. Linton and R. H. Stoddard: Translations, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1883, pages 192-193.

Text Authorship:

• by Edmund William Gosse (1849 - 1928), "The boy and the flute" [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

• a text in Norwegian (Bokmål) by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832 - 1910), "Tonen", appears in Arne
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Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, Sir (1883 - 1953), "The Flute (Ideala)", 1907, published 1923 [ voice and piano ], London, Murdoch &​ Murdoch [sung text not yet checked]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Edmund Lobedanz (1820 - 1882) , no title, appears in Björnstjerne Björnson's Bauernnovellen, Hildburghausen, Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, p. 102, first published 1865 ; composed by Ernst Paul Flügel.
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2014-02-13
Line count: 16
Word count: 139