Up there on the mountain,
in the high house,
in the house!
There peers out a fine, dear maiden!
There is not her home!
She is the innkeeper’s daughter!
She lives on the green heath!
My heart has a wound!
Come, sweetheart, make it well!
Your dark brown little eyes,
they have wounded me!
Your rosy mouth
makes hearts well.
It makes young people rational,
brings the dead back to life,
makes the ill healthy,
yes, healthy.
Who then thought up this pretty, pretty little song?
Three geese have brought it over the water!
Two grey and one white!
And whoever cannot sing this little song,
to him they will whistle it!
Yes –
‘Mother, oh mother, I’m hungry!
Give me some bread or I shall die!’
‘Just wait! Just wait, my dear child!
Tomorrow we shall hurry to harvest!’
And when the grain was harvested,
the child still cried out:
‘Mother, oh mother, I’m hungry!
Give me some bread or I shall die!’
‘Just wait! Just wait, my dear child!
Tomorrow we shall hurry and go threshing!’
And when the grain was threshed,
the child still cried out:
‘Mother, oh mother, I’m hungry!
Give me some bread or I shall die!’
‘Just wait! Just wait, my dear child!
Tomorrow we shall hurry and bake!’
And when the bread was baked,
the child lay on the funeral bier!
Now I mow by the Neckar,
now I mow by the Rhine;
now I have a sweetheart,
now I’m alone!
What good is mowing
if the sickle doesn’t cut;
what good is a sweetheart,
if he/she doesn’t stay with me!
So should I then mow
by the Neckar, by the Rhine,
then I will throw
my little gold ring in.
It will float in the Neckar
and float in the Rhine,
it shall swim right down
into the deep sea.
And when it swims, the little ring,
then a fish will eat it!
The fish will land
on the king’s table!
The king would ask,
whose ring can it be?
Then my sweetheart would say:
‘The ring belongs to me!’
My sweetheart would spring
up hill and down hill,
would bring back to me
my fine little gold ring!
You can mow by the Neckar,
you can mow by the Rhine!
You can always toss in
your little ring to me!
O little red rose!
Man lies in greatest need!
Man lies in greatest pain!
Even more would I rather be in heaven!
There I came upon a broad path.
There came an angel and wanted to turn me away.
Ah no, I would not be turned away!
Ah no, I would not be turned away:
I am from God and want to return to God!
The loving God will give me a little of the light,
will illuminate me into the eternal blessed life!