Who would have thought? | A beggar, a tattered fellow, one day, being in rage

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by Anton Bittner (1820 - 1880)

Translation © by Johann Winkler

Wer hätt' es geahnt?

Language: German (Upper Austrian)

Our translations: ENG

A Bettler, a Z'riss'ner, der hat einst im Zorn,
weil er wo nix kriagt hat, an Ellbog'n verlor'n.
A Bua, ganz a klaner, der hebt'n glei auf,
denn er sucht g'rad Lumpen zum Lumpenverkauf.
Und nach a paar Woch'n, ma weiß gar nit, wia,
is unser Ellbog'n schon's feinste Papier.
D'rum wandert er g'schwind ins Münzamt hinaus,
Da machen's aus ihm glei an Tausender d'raus.
Jetzt frag' i: 
Wer ahnt's, und wer wird's an dem Tausender g'wahr,
dass er einst der Rock von an Bettelmann war?

Text Authorship:

by Anton Bittner (1820 - 1880), appears in Der fidele Christel [posse] [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Benedikt Randhartinger (1802 - 1893), "Wer hätt' es geahnt?" [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Johann Winkler) , "Who would have thought?", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2023-02-25
Line count: 11
Word count: 86

Who would have thought?

Language: English after the German (Upper Austrian)

A beggar, a tattered fellow, one day, being in rage
for begging unsuccessfully, lost an elbow [patch].
A little boy picked it up,
since he was just in search for rags to sell them.
Several weeks later - there's no telling how -
our elbow [patch] has become a sheet of quite fine paper.
Therefore it goes directly to the mint
where immediately it is converted into a thousand crown note.
Now my question is:
Who could have foreseen that, and who would have thought
that once that thousand crown note had been [part of] a beggar's cloak?

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Upper Austrian) to English copyright © 2023 by Johann Winkler, (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.
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Based on:

a text in German (Upper Austrian) by Anton Bittner (1820 - 1880), appears in Der fidele Christel [posse]
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2023-02-25
Line count: 11
Word count: 96