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by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo (1856 - 1912)

King Stephen was a worthy peer
Language: English  after the English 
King Stephen [was]1 a worthy peer,
His breeches cost him but a crown;
He held them sixpence all too dear,
With that he called the tailor lown.
He was a wight of high renown.
And thou art but of low degree:
'Tis pride that pulls the country down;
Then take thine auld cloak about thee.

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
1 in some versions of Shakespeare, "was and"

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act II, Scene 3 [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , Scottish ballad
    • Go to the text page.

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

  • by Elizabeth Maconchy (1907 - 1994), "King Stephen", 1965 [ voice and piano ], from Four Shakespeare Songs, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890 - 1960) ; composed by Georgiy Vasil'yevich Sviridov.
    • Go to the text.

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

  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
  • SPA Spanish (Español) (Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo) , no title


Researcher for this page: Maurice Hodges

This text was added to the website: 2007-08-17
Line count: 8
Word count: 56

Hubo un rey, noble y caballero, que se...
Language: Spanish (Español)  after the English 
Hubo un rey, noble y caballero, que se llamaba Estéban:
las calzas le costaban un doblon, 
y se enojaba de gastar tanto dinero, 
y llamaba al sastre ladron. 
Si esto hacia el que era tan gran monarca, 
¿qué has de hacer tú, pobre pechero? 
¡ A cuántos perdió el subirse á mayores!

About the headline (FAQ)

Note: this is a prose text. The line breaks were added arbitrarily.


Text Authorship:

  • by Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo (1856 - 1912), no title [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, Act II, Scene 3 [an adaptation]
    • Go to the text page.

Based on:

  • a text in English from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , Scottish ballad
    • Go to the text page.

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

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-05-07
Line count: 7
Word count: 52

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