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

Der Papagei
Language: German (Deutsch) 
Our translations:  FRE
Es war einmal ein Papagei,
der war beim ersten Schöpfungsakt dabei
und lernte gleich am rechten Ort
des ersten Menschen erstes Wort.

Des Menschen erstes Wort war A
und hieß fast alles was er sah,
z.B. Fisch, z.B. Brot,
z.B. Leben oder Tod.

Erst nach Jahrhunderten voll Schnee
erfand der Mensch zum A das B
und dann das L und dann das Q
und schließlich noch das Z dazu.

Gedachter Papagei indem
ward älter als Methusalem,
bewahrend treu in Brust und Schnabel
die erste menschliche Vokabel.

Zum Schlusse starb auch er am Zips.
Doch heut noch steht sein Bild in Gips,
geschmückt mit einem grünen A
im Staatsschatz zu Ekbatana.

Text Authorship:

  • by Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914), "Der Papagei", appears in Nachlese zur Galgenpoesie [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 Ernest Vietor (fl. 1905-1930), "Der Papagei", op. 8 no. 3 (1930-1). [
     text not verified 
    ]

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

  • FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , title 1: "Le perroquet", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2004-07-10
Line count: 20
Word count: 110

Le perroquet
Language: French (Français)  after the German (Deutsch) 
Il y avait une fois un perroquet
qui était par là au premier acte de la création
et qui en temps et en lieu apprenait simultanément
le premier mot du premier homme..

Le premier mot du premier homme était A
et signifiait presque tout ce qu'il voyait,
ex : Poisson, ex : Pain,
ex : Vie, ex : Mort.

Seulement après des siècles de neige,
l'homme, après le A imagina le B
et ensuite le L et ensuite le Q
et finalement il en vint au Z.

Entre-temps, le perroquet penseur
était devenu plus vieux que Mathusalem,
gardant fidèlement en son cœur et son bec
le premier vocable humain.

Finalement, lui aussi mourut, de pépie,
On peut voir encore aujourd'hui sa statue de gypse,
agrémentée d'un A vert
dans le trésor d'état de Ecbatane.

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 Papagei", appears in Nachlese zur Galgenpoesie
    • Go to the text page.

 

This text was added to the website: 2011-10-22
Line count: 20
Word count: 130

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

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