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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation © by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)

Lügenmärchen
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG
Ich will euch singen und will nicht lügen:
Ich sah drei gebratene Hühner fliegen,
Sie flogen also schnelle,
Sie hatten die Bäuche gen Himmel gekehrt,
Den Rücken nach der Hölle.

Ein Ambos und ein Mühlenstein,
Die schwammen zusammen über den Rhein,
Sie schwammen also leise.
Da fraß ein Frosch einen glühenden Pflug
Zu Pfingsten auf dem Eise.

Es wollten drei Kerls einen Hasen fangen,
Sie kamen auf Krücken und Stelzen gegangen;
Der Eine konnt' nicht hören,
Der Andre was blind, der Dritte stumm,
Der Vierte konnt' sich nicht rühren.

Nun will ich euch singen, wie es geschah:
Der Blinde zuerst den Hasen sah
Im Feld geschwind hertraben.
Der Stumme rief dem Lahmen zu,
Da faßt ihn der beim Kragen.

Es segelten etliche über Land,
Die Segel hatten sie in den Wind gespannt,
Und segelten auf den Feldern.
Sie segelten auf einen hohen Berg:
Da ertranken sie all' in dem Wäldern.

Es ging ein Krebs auf die Hasenjagd:
Die Wahrheit kommt heraus mit Macht
Und bleibt nicht lang' verschwiegen.
Es lag eine Kuhhaut auf dem Dach,
Die war da hinaufgestiegen.

Hiemit will ich mein Lied beschließen,
Sollt' es die Leute gleich verdrießen,
Und will nicht länger lügen,
In meinem Land sind die Fliegen so groß
Als hier zu Land die Ziegen.

Text Authorship:

  • by Anonymous / Unidentified Author, first published c1800 [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 Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Lügenmärchen", 2001 [baritone and piano (or orchestra)] [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

  • ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "A liar's tale", copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-05-13
Line count: 35
Word count: 210

A liar's tale
Language: English  after the German (Deutsch) 
I will sing to you and will not dissemble:
I saw three roasted chickens fly,
they flew so quickly,
they had their bellies turned towards the heavens,
their backs towards hell.
 
An anvil and a mill stone,
they swam together over the Rhine,
swimming so easily.
Then a frog gobbled up a red-hot plough
on Whitsunday on the ice.
 
There were three chaps who caught a hare,
that came by on crutches and stilts;
The first couldn't hear,
the other was blind, the third mute,
and the fourth couldn't move.
 
Now I will sing to you, what was seen:
The blind one first saw the hare
trotting quickly in the fields.
The mute one called to the cripple,
to grasp it by the collar.
 
Sailing several times over the land,
the sail had become taut in the wind,
and sailed over the fields.
They sailed up into a high mountain:
There it drowned its sorrows in the forests.
 
A crab went along on the rabbit hunt:
truth came along with strength
and didn't stay silent long.
A cow skin lay on the roof,
up to where it had climbed.
 
Herewith I will close off my song,
so that it will no longer irritate folks,
and not further lie...
in my country the flies are as big as
the goats here in this land.

Text Authorship:

  • by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "A liar's tale", copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , first published c1800
    • Go to the text page.

 
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-11
Line count: 35
Word count: 223

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