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THE ERL-KING. - 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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THE ERL-KING.

    • WHO rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
    • The father it is, with his infant so dear;
    • He holdeth the boy tightly clasp’d in his arm,
    • He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.
    • “My son, wherefore seek’st thou thy face thus to hide?”
    • “Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!
    • Dost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?”
    • “My son, ’tis the mist rising over the plain.”
    • “Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh, come thou with me!
    • Full many a game I will play there with thee;
    • On my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,
    • My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold.”
    • “My father, my father, and dost thou not hear
    • The words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?”
    • “Be calm, dearest child, ’tis thy fancy deceives;
    • ’Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves.”
    • “Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?
    • My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care;
    • My daughters by night their glad festival keep,
    • They’ll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep.”
    • “My father, my father, and dost thou not see,
    • How the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me?”
    • “My darling, my darling, I see it aright,
    • ’Tis the aged gray willows deceiving thy sight.”
    • “I love thee, I’m charm’d by thy beauty, dear boy!
    • And if thou’rt unwilling, then force I’ll employ.”
    • “My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
    • Full sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last.”
    • The father now gallops, with terror half wild,
    • He grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child;
    • He reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread,—
    • The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.
lf0841-01_figure_040 lf0841-01_figure_041

artist: a. baur.

JOANNA SEBUS.