Anonymous translation from the German A FAMOUS hen ’s my story’s theme, Which ne’er was known to tire Of laying eggs, but then she ’d scream So loud o’er every egg, ’t would seem The house must be on fire. A turkey-cock, who ruled the walk, A wiser bird and older, Could bear ’t no more, so off did stalk Right to the hen, and told her: “Madam, that scream, I apprehend, Adds nothing to the matter; It surely helps the egg no whit; Then lay your egg, and done with it! I pray you, madam, as a friend, Cease that superfluous clatter! You know not how ’t goes through my head.” “Humph! very likely!” madam said, Then proudly putting forth a leg,— “Uneducated barnyard fowl! You know, no more than any owl, The noble privilege and praise Of authorship in modern days— I ’ll tell you why I do it: First, you perceive, I lay the egg, And then—review it.”
The Hen
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Anonymous translation from the German A FAMOUS hen ’s my story’s theme, Which ne’er was known to tire Of laying eggs, but then she ’d scream So loud o’er every egg, ’t would seem The house must be on fire. A turkey-cock, who ruled the walk, A wiser bird and older, Could bear ’t no more, so... |
From the German by Charles Timothy Brooks A Song to Be Sung behind the Stove OLD Winter is the man for me— Stout-hearted, sound, and steady; Steel nerves and bones of brass hath he: Come snow, come blow, he ’s ready! If ever man was well, ’t is he; He keeps no fire in his chamber, And yet... |
’s ist Krieg! ’s ist Krieg! O Gottes Engel wehre, Was sollt’ ich machen, wenn im Schlaf mit Grämen, |
hinter’m Ofen zu singen. Der Winter ist ein rechter Mann, War je ein Mann gesund, ist er’s; |
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Sie machen vom Phythagoras viel Wesen, |