Do you? | Without rushing, a man can traverse

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by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934)

Translation © by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947)

Weißt du's?

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: ENG

Der Mensch braucht -- ohne sich zu sputen --
Zum Kilometer zwölf Minuten.
Die Wanderratte läuft so weit
In ungefähr derselben Zeit.
Da nun genannte Wanderratte
Bis dato stets vier Beine hatte,
Wie schnell läuft da ein Tausendfuss? -- --
Ich weiss es wirklich nicht. Weisst du's?

Text Authorship:

by Hans Bötticher (1883 - 1934), "Weißt du's?", appears in Die Schnupftabacksdose - Stumpfsinn in Versen, first published 1912 [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), "Weißt du's?", 2009 [ medium voice and piano ], from Ringelnatz in dreiviertel Takt, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]

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

ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , "Do you?", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-02-02
Line count: 8
Word count: 43

Do you?

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Without rushing, a man can traverse
In twelve minutes perhaps a kilometer.
A scurrying brown rat is not much averse
To the same, per its brown rat odometer.
The little brown rat, we have agreed,
Usually has four legs, as a clue.
How quickly runs then a millipede? -- --
I don't really know. Do you?

Text Authorship:

by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Do you?", copyright © 2009, (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), "Weißt du's?", appears in Die Schnupftabacksdose - Stumpfsinn in Versen, first published 1912
- Go to the text page.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-02-02
Line count: 8
Word count: 54