LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,110)
  • Text Authors (19,487)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

×

Attention! Some of this material is not in the public domain.

It is illegal to copy and distribute our copyright-protected material without permission. It is also illegal to reprint copyright texts or translations without the name of the author or translator.

To inquire about permissions and rates, contact Emily Ezust at licenses@email.lieder.example.net

If you wish to reprint translations, please make sure you include the names of the translators in your email. They are below each translation.

Note: You must use the copyright symbol © when you reprint copyright-protected material.

by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914)
Translation © by Pierre Mathé

Ein Werwolf eines Nachts entwich
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  ENG FRE
Ein Werwolf eines Nachts entwich
von Weib und Kind und sich begab
an eines Dorfschullehrers Grab
und bat ihn: "Bitte, beuge mich!"

Der Dorfschulmeister stieg hinauf
auf seines Blechschilds Messingknauf
und sprach zum Wolf, der seine Pfoten
geduldig kreuzte vor dem Toten:

"Der Werwolf" - sprach der gute Mann,
"des Weswolfs, Genitiv sodann,
dem Wemwolf, Dativ, wie man's nennt,
den Wenwolf, - damit hat's ein End."

Dem Werwolf schmeichelten die Fälle,
er rollte seine Augenbälle.
"Indessen," bat er, "füge doch
zur Einzahl auch die Mehrzahl noch!"

Der Dorfschulmeister aber mußte
gestehn, dass er von ihr nichts wußte,
Zwar Wölfe gäb's in großer Schar,
doch "Wer" gäb's nur im Singular.

Der Wolf erhob sich tränenblind -
er hatte ja doch Weib und Kind!!
Doch da er kein Gelehrter eben,
so schied er dankend und ergeben.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914), "Der Werwolf", appears in Galgenlieder [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), "Der Werwolf", 2010 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Richard Farber (b. 1945), "Der Werwolf", from Galgenlieder, no. 60 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Timothy Hoekman , "Der Werwolf Rag", 2007, published 2012 [ bass and piano ], from Drei Legenden, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
  • by Peter Visser (b. 1939), "Der Werwolf", 1978, from Galgenlieder, no. 8 [sung text not yet checked]

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

  • ENG English (Gary Bachlund) , rhymed paraphrase, copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Le loup-garou", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-10-23
Line count: 24
Word count: 131

Le loup‑garou
Language: French (Français)  after the German (Deutsch) 
Une nuit un loup-garou s'échappa
de chez sa femme et ses enfants et se rendit
sur la tombe d'un maître d'école de village
et l'implora : « S'il te plait, décline-moi ! »

Le maître d'école de village se leva
sur le bouton de laiton de sa plaque de métal,
et dit au loup qui patiemment
avait croisé ses pattes devant le mort :

« Le loup-garou -- dit le brave homme,
du loup-garou, génitif, ensuite
au loup-garou, datif, comme on dit,
le loup-garou,  pour en finir. »

Les cas flattaient le loup,
et il roulait ses yeux comme des billes.
Il lui demanda « En attendant, ajoute
donc aussi le pluriel au singulier ! »

Mais le maître d'école de village dut
convenir qu'il n'en savait rien.
Sûr, il y a de grandes meutes de loups,
mais on ne trouve que garou au singulier ;

Le loup se leva, aveuglé par les larmes --
il avait pourtant bien femme et enfant !!
Mais comme il n'était pas un savant,
alors il prit congé avec d'humbles remerciements.

Text Authorship:

  • Translation from German (Deutsch) to French (Français) copyright © 2011 by Pierre Mathé, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
    Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

  • a text in German (Deutsch) by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914), "Der Werwolf", appears in Galgenlieder
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2011-07-23
Line count: 24
Word count: 169

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris