THE MAID OF THE MILL'S TREACHERY. - Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[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 villain sorely 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.
Yet if ye are of practised skill,

And of all tender ties afraid,
Exchange your lovers, if ye will,

But never let them be betray'd."

Thus sings he in the winter-night,

While not a blade of grass was green.
I laugh'd to see his piteous plight,

For it was well-deserved, I ween.
And may this be the fate of all,

Who treat by day their true loves ill,
And, with foolhardy daring, crawl

By night to Cupid's treacherous mill!

1798.