The colourful cows | Three colourful cows at peace

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by Gustav Falke (1853 - 1916)

Translation © by Sharon Krebs

Die bunten Kühe

Language: German (Deutsch)

Our translations: CAT ENG FRE

Drei bunte Kühe in guter Ruh
Und des Nachbarn Hanne dazu,
  Traf ich heute in der Früh,
  Junghanne und ihre bunten Küh.

Das gab einen guten, glücklichen Tag.
Die Sonne auf allen Wiesen lag,
  Die ganze Welt war so bunt und blank.
  Der Hanne und ihren Kühen Dank!

Was glaubt ihr, trifft man in der Früh,
Statt der drei bunten drei schwarze Küh
  Und statt der Hanne die alte Gret?
  Der ganze Tag ist verwünscht und verweht.

Confirmed with Hohe Sommertage. Neue Gedichte von Gustav Falke, Hamburg: Alfred Janssen, 1902, page 51.

Text Authorship:

by Gustav Falke (1853 - 1916), "Die bunten Kühe", appears in Hohe Sommertage. Neue Gedichte [author's text checked 2 times 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 Max Reger (1873 - 1916), "Die bunten Kühe", op. 70 (Siebzehn Gesänge) no. 4 (1902-3) [sung text checked 1 time]

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

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Sharon Krebs) , "The colourful cows", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Les vaches bariolées", copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Sharon Krebs [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 77

The colourful cows

Language: English after the German (Deutsch)

Three colourful cows at peace
And the neighbour's Hannah with them,
 Today early in the morning, I met
 Young Hannah and her colourful cows.

That made for a good, happy day.
There was sunshine on all the meadows,
 The whole world was so colourful and shiny
 Thanks to Hannah and her cows!

What do you think, if in the morning one met
Instead of the three colourful ones, three black cows
 And instead of Hannah, old Gretel?
 The whole day would be cursed and wasted.

Text Authorship:

Translation from German (Deutsch) to English copyright © 2013 by Sharon Krebs, (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 Gustav Falke (1853 - 1916), "Die bunten Kühe", appears in Hohe Sommertage. Neue Gedichte
- Go to the text page.

This text was added to the website: 2013-08-15
Line count: 12
Word count: 85