He wears on his neck a chain of gold,
And a hat of straw doth he wear.
If scorn 'tis vain to seek to repel,
On me let the scorn be thrown.
I know him well, and he knows me well,
And to God, too, all is known.
Sir Parson and Sir Bailiff, again,
I pray you, leave me in peace!
My child it is, my child 'twill remain,
So let your questionings cease!
1815.*
-----
THE PAGE AND THE MILLER'S DAUGHTER.
PAGE.
WHERE goest thou? Where?
Miller's daughter so fair!
Thy name, pray?--
MILLER'S DAUGHTER.
'Tis Lizzy.
PAGE.
Where goest thou? Where?
With the rake in thy hand?
MILLER'S DAUGHTER.
Father's meadows and land
To visit, I'm busy.
PAGE.
Dost go there alone?
MILLER'S DAUGHTER.
By this rake, sir, 'tis shown
That we're making the hay;
And the pears ripen fast
In the garden at last,
So I'll pick them to-day.
PAGE.
Is't a silent
thicket I yonder view?
MILLER'S DAUGHTER.
Oh, yes! there are two;
There's one on each side.
PAGE.
I'll follow thee soon;
When the sun burns at noon
We'll go there, o'urselves from his rays to hide,
And then in some glade all-verdant and deep--
MILLER'S DAUGHTER.
Why, people would say--
PAGE.
Within mine arms thou
gently wilt sleep.
MILLER'S DAUGHTER.
Your
pardon, I pray!
Whoever is kiss'd by the miller-maid,
Upon the spot must needs be betray'd.
'Twould give me distress
To cover with white
Your pretty dark dress.
Equal with equal! then all is right!
That's the motto in which I delight.
I am in love with the miller-boy;
He wears nothing that I could destroy.
1797.
-----
THE YOUTH AND THE MILLSTREAM.
[This sweet Ballad, and the one entitled The Maid of the Mill's
Repentance, were written on the occasion of a visit paid by Goethe
to Switzerland. The Maid of the Mill's Treachery, to which the
latter forms the sequel, was not written till the following year.]
YOUTH.
SAY, sparkling streamlet, whither thou
Art going!
With
joyous mien thy waters now
Are flowing.
Why seek the vale so hastily?
Attend for once, and answer me!
MILLSTREAM.
Oh youth, I was a brook indeed;
But lately
My bed they've deepen'd, and my speed
Swell'd greatly,
That I may haste to yonder mill.
And so I'm full and never still.
YOUTH.
The mill thou seekest in a mood
Contented,
And know'st not how my
youthful blood
'S tormented.
But doth the miller's daughter fair
Gaze often on thee kindly there?
MILLSTREAM.
She opes the shutters soon as light
Is gleaming;
And comes to bathe her features bright
And beaming.
So full and snow-white is her breast,--
I feel as hot as steam suppress'd.
YOUTH.
If she in water can inflame
Such ardour,
Surely, then, flesh and blood to tame
Is harder.
When once is seen her
beauteous face,
One ever longs her steps to trace.
MILLSTREAM.
Over the wheel I, roaring, bound,
All-proudly,
And ev'ry spoke whirls
swiftly round,
And loudly.
Since I have seen the miller's daughter,
With greater
vigour flows the water.
YOUTH.
Like others, then, can grief, poor brook,
Oppress thee?
"Flow on!"--thus she'll, with smiling look,
Address thee.
With her sweet
loving glance, oh say,
Can she thy flowing current stay?
MILLSTREAM.
'Tis sad, 'tis sad to have to speed
From yonder;
I wind, and slowly through the mead
Would wander;
And if the choice remain'd with me,
Would
hasten back there presently.
YOUTH.
Farewell, thou who with me dost prove
Love's sadness!
Perchance some day thou'lt breathe of love
And gladness.
Go, tell her straight, and often too,
The boy's mute hopes and wishes true.
1797.
-----
THE MAID OF THE MILL'S TREACHERY.
[This Ballad is introduced in the Wanderjahre, in a tale called
The Foolish Pilgrim.]
WHENCE comes our friend so hastily,
When
scarce the Eastern sky is grey?
Hath he just ceased, though cold it be,
In yonder holy spot to pray?
The brook appears to hem his path,
Would he
barefooted o'er it go?
Why curse his orisons in wrath,
Across those heights beclad with snow?
Alas! his warm bed he bath left,
Where he had look'd for bliss, I ween;
And if his cloak too, had been reft,
How
fearful his
disgrace had been!
By yonder
villainsorely press'd,
His
wallet from him has been torn;
Our
hapless friend has been undress'd,
Left well nigh naked as when born.
The reason why he came this road,
Is that he sought a pair of eyes,
Which, at the mill, as
brightly glow'd
As those that are in Paradise.
He will not soon again be there;
From out the house he quickly hied,
And when he gain'd the open air,
Thus
bitterly and loudly cried
"Within her gaze, so dazzling bright,
No word of
treachery I could read;
She seem'd to see me with delight,
Yet plann'd e'en then this cruel deed!
Could I, when basking in her smile,
Dream of the
treason in her breast?
She bade kind Cupid stay awhile,
And he was there, to make us blest.
"To taste of love's sweet ecstasy
Throughout the night, that endless seem'd,
And for her mother's help to cry
Only when morning
sunlight beam'd!
A dozen of her kith and kin,
A very human flood, in-press'd
Her cousins came, her aunts peer'd in,
And uncles, brothers, and the rest.
"Then what a
tumult,
fierce and loud!
Each seem'd a beast of prey to be;
The maiden's honour all the crowd,
With
fearful shout, demand of me.
Why should they, madmen-like, begin
To fall upon a
guiltless youth?
For he who such a prize would win,
Far nimbler needs must be, in truth.
"The way to follow up with skill
His freaks, by love
betimes is known:
He ne'er will leave, within a mill,
Sweet flowers for sixteen years alone.--
They stole my clothes away,--yes, all!
And tried my cloak besides to steal.
How strange that any house so small
So many rascals could conceal!
"Then I
sprang up, and raved, and swore,
To force a passage through them there.
I saw the
treacherous maid once more,
And she was still, alas, so fair
They all gave way before my wrath,
Wild outcries flew about pell-mell;
At length I managed to rush forth,
With voice of
thunder, from that hell.
"As maidens of the town we fly,
We'll shun you maidens of the village;
Leave it to those of quality
Their
humble worshippers to pillage.