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Es war ein Kind, das wollte nie Zur Kirche sich bequemen, Und sonntags fand es stets ein Wie, Den Weg ins Feld zu nehmen. Die Mutter sprach: die Glocke tönt, Und so ist dir's befohlen, Und hast du dich nicht hingewöhnt, Sie kommt und wird dich holen. Das Kind, es denkt: die Glocke hängt Da droben auf dem Stuhle. Schon hat's den Weg ins Feld gelenkt, Als lief' es aus der Schule. Die Glocke, Glocke tönt nicht mehr, Die Mutter hat gefackelt. Doch welch ein Schrecken hinterher! Die Glocke kommt gewackelt. Sie wackelt schnell, man glaubt es kaum; Das arme Kind im Schrecken, Es läuft, es rennt, als wie im Traum; Die Glocke wird es decken. Doch nimmt es richtig seinen Husch Und mit gewandter Schnelle, Eilt es durch Anger, Feld und Busch Zur Kirche, zur Kapelle. Und jeden Sonn- und Feiertag Gedenkt es an den Schaden, Läßt durch den ersten Glockenschlag Nicht in Person sich laden.
Text Authorship:
- by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Die wandelnde Glocke" [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 Carl Loewe (1796 - 1869), "Die wandelnde Glocke", op. 20 no. 3 (1832) [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Arnold Mendelssohn (1855 - 1933), "Die wandelnde Glocke", published 1900 [ voice and piano ], from Lieder und Gesänge, no. 20, Berlin, Ries & Erler [sung text not yet checked]
- by Friedrich Niggli (1875 - 1959), "Die wandelnde Glocke", op. 24 no. 1 [ voice, piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), "Die wandelnde Glocke", op. 79 no. 17[18] (1849), published 1849 [ voice and piano ], from Liederalbum für die Jugend, no. 17[18], Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Margarete Schweikert (1887 - 1957), "Die wandelnde Glocke", op. 11 (Vier Gedichte von Goethe) no. 2 (1916?), published 1918 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La campana movedissa", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- DUT Dutch (Nederlands) [singable] (Lau Kanen) , "De wandelende kerkklok", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Emily Ezust) , "The wandering bell", copyright ©
- FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "La cloche baladeuse", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ITA Italian (Italiano) (Amelia Maria Imbarrato) , "La campana che cammina", copyright © 2006, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 157
There was a boy who never wanted to deign to go to church; and Sundays always found a way to go out into the field. His mother said: the bell is tolling and so you are ordered, and if you won't make it your habit, it will come and fetch you. The child, it thought: the bell hangs high up there in the belfry. And already he was off to the field, as if he had just been let out of school. The bell, the bell chimed no longer, Mother was just stalling him. But what a horror behind him! The bell was coming waddling after him. It waddled quickly, one could hardly believe it; the poor child was in terror. He ran and ran as if in a nightmare; the bell was going to swallow him whole. But he makes a good dart for it, and with agile speed, hurries through meadow, field and bush to the church, to the chapel. And every Sunday and Holiday he thinks about his misdeed, and at the first toll of the bell, he does not allow it to summon him in person.
Text Authorship:
- Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © by Emily Ezust
Emily Ezust permits her translations to be reproduced without prior permission for printed (not online) programs to free-admission concerts only, provided the following credit is given:
Translation copyright © by Emily Ezust,
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Based on:
- a text in German (Deutsch) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832), "Die wandelnde Glocke"
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 28
Word count: 190