The fly and the bug | The fly had said to the bug

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by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz

Translation © by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)

Fliege und Wanze

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Die Fliege hat zur Wanze gesprochen:
"Leih' mir doch eine Maß Blut,
Ich habe den Bürgermeister gestochen. - -

Aber der roch nicht gut,
Und ich habe sein Blut, ohne was zu sagen,
In die Nase von seiner Frau übertragen
Und gab auch der Tochter und dem Sohn
Eine kleine Portion.
Und nun riecht die ganze Familie
Nach Quecksilber und Petersilie
Und ist voller Pickel und Flecke,
Und es ist ein Vergnügen, von der Decke
Aus zuzugucken, wie sie sich jucken."

Die Wanze tat etwas fremd
Und brummte: "Ach, Bagatelle!"
Und kroch dabei einem Kutscher ins Hemd.
Dort war derzeit ihre Quelle.

Text Authorship:

by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz, "Fliege und Wanze", appears in Kuttel-Daddeldu, first published 1924 [author's text checked 1 time 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), "Fliege und Wanze", 2006 [medium voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "The fly and the bug", copyright © 2006, (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: 17
Word count: 100

The fly and the bug

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

The fly had said to the bug:
"Lend me a little bit of blood,
I have pricked the mayor.

But he didn't smell good,
And so I have the blood, without saying anything,
Passed it on into his wife's nose
And gave also the daughter and son
A little bit.
And now the whole family smells
Of mercury and parsley
And is full of pimples and spots,
And it is a joy, from the ceiling
To watch how everyone itches.

The bug did something strange
And buzzed: "Oh, bagatelle!"
And crawled then into the shirt of a coach driver.
That was there at the moment his source [of supply].

Text Authorship:

by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The fly and the bug", copyright © 2006, (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 Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), as Joachim Ringelnatz, "Fliege und Wanze", appears in Kuttel-Daddeldu, first published 1924
- Go to the text page.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-03-13
Line count: 17
Word count: 109