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BALLAD Of the Banished and Returning Count. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethe’s Works, vol. 1 (Poems) [1885]

Edition used:

Goethe’s Works, illustrated by the best German artists, 5 vols. (Philadelphia: G. Barrie, 1885). Vol. 1.

Part of: Goethe’s Works, 5 vols.

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Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


BALLAD

Of the Banished and Returning Count.

    • OH, enter, old minstrel, thou time-honor’d one!
    • We children are here in the hall all alone,
    • The portals we straightway will bar.
    • Our mother is praying, our father is gone
    • To the forest, on wolves to make war.
    • Oh, sing us a ballad, the tale then repeat,
    • ’Till brother and I learn it right;
    • We long have been hoping a minstrel to meet,
    • For children hear tales with delight.
    • “At midnight, when darkness its fearful veil weaves,
    • His lofty and stately old castle he leaves,
    • But first he has buried his wealth.
    • What figure is that in his arms one perceives,
    • As the Count quits the gateway by stealth?
    • O’er what is his mantle so hastily thrown?
    • What bears he along in his flight?
    • A daughter it is, and she gently sleeps on:”—
    • The children they hear with delight.
    • “The morning soon glimmers, the world is so wide,
    • In valleys and forests a home is suppli’d,
    • The bard in each village is cheer’d.
    • Thus lives he and wanders, while years onward glide,
    • And longer still waxes his beard;
    • But the maiden so fair in his arms grows amain,
    • ’Neath her star all-protecting and bright,
    • Secur’d in the mantle from wind and from rain”—
    • The children they hear with delight.
    • “And year upon year with swift footstep now steals,
    • The mantle it fades, many rents it reveals,
    • The maiden no more it can hold.
    • The father he sees her, what rapture he feels!
    • His joy cannot now be controll’d.
    • How worthy she seems of the race whence she springs,
    • How noble and fair to the sight!
    • What wealth to her dearly-lov’d father she brings!”—
    • The children they hear with delight.
    • “Then comes there a princely knight galloping by,
    • She stretches her hand out, as soon as he’s nigh,
    • But alms he refuses to give.
    • He seizes her hand, with a smile in his eye:
    • ‘Thou art mine!’ he exclaims, ‘while I live!’
    • ‘When thou know’st,’ cries the old man, ‘the treasure that’s there,
    • A princess thou’lt make her of right;
    • Betroth’d be she now, on this spot green and fair’ ”—
    • The children they hear with delight.
    • “So she’s bless’d by the priest on the hallowed place,
    • And she goes with a smiling but sorrowful face,
    • From her father she fain would not part.
    • The old man still wanders with ne’er-changing pace,
    • He covers with joy his sad heart.
    • So I think of my daughter, as years pass away,
    • And my grandchildren far from my sight;
    • I bless them by night, and I bless them by day”—
    • The children they hear with delight.
    • He blesses the children: a knocking they hear,
    • The father it is! They spring forward in fear,
    • The old man they cannot conceal—
    • “Thou beggar, would’st lure, then, my children so dear?
    • Straight seize him, ye vassals of steel!
    • To the dungeon most deep, with the fool-hardy knave!”
    • The mother from far hears the fight;
    • She hastens with flatt’ring entreaty to crave—
    • The children they hear with delight.
    • The vassals they suffer the Bard to stand there,
    • And mother and children implore him to spare,
    • The proud prince would stifle his ire,
    • ’Till driven to fury at hearing their prayer,
    • His smouldering anger takes fire:
    • “Thou pitiful race! Oh, thou beggarly crew!
    • Eclipsing my star, once so bright!
    • Ye’ll bring me destruction, ye sorely shall rue!”—
    • The children they hear with affright.
    • The old man still stands there with dignified mien,
    • The vassals of steel quake before him, I ween,
    • The Count’s fury increases in power;
    • “My wedded existence a curse long has been,
    • And these are the fruits from that flower!
    • ’Tis ever denied, and the saying is true,
    • That to wed with the base-born is right;
    • The beggar has borne me a beggarly crew,”—
    • The children they hear with affright.
    • “If the husband, the father, thus treats you with scorn,
    • If the holiest bonds by him rashly are torn,
    • Then come to your father—to me!
    • The beggar may gladden life’s pathway forlorn,
    • Though aged and weak he may be.
    • This castle is mine! thou hast made it thy prey,
    • Thy people ’twas put me to flight;
    • The tokens I bear will confirm what I say”—
    • The children they hear with delight.
    • “The king who erst govern’d returneth again,
    • And restores to the Faithful the goods that were ta’en,
    • I’ll unseal all my treasures the while;
    • The laws shall be gentle, and peaceful thereign.”
    • The old man thus cries with a smile—
    • “Take courage, my son! all hath turn’d out for good,
    • And each hath a star that is bright,
    • Those the princess hath borne thee are princely in blood,”—
    • The children they hear with delight.
lf0841-01_figure_039

artist: ernst roeber.

THE BALLAD OF THE BANISHED COUNT.