Ballad from the nettle bush
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The ballad from the nettle bush is a love ballad by Börries von Münchhausen from 1910.
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A prince and his mistress Maleen swear eternal love on a heather hill overgrown with nettles . These nettles by the roadside should always remind them of their love and their oath. Time goes by and the king's son marries a king's daughter. On the hunt, nettles remind him of maleen. When the queen asks him why he is melancholy, he is silent. But a few days later she meets a maid who bears the name she had previously heard from the king. She suspects the connection and plunges into the sea. The king and Maleen can no longer find each other. Maleen rejects the king and the poem ends with the following verses:
Love asked love: "Say why are you crying?"
Whispered love to love: "Today is no longer like it used to be!"
Love complained to love: "Isn't it like before?"
Spoke to love love: "Never - never more."
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The ballad deals with the theme of the fate of two lovers who could not come together. The sworn loyalty lasted only a short time.
It is apparently based on the fairy tale Jungfrau Maleen , perhaps also The Mermaid in the Pond .
literature
Edgar Neis: “Interpretations of 66 ballads, moritos and chansons”. Analysis and Comments. Hollfeld: Bange-Verlag, 1978. ISBN 3-8044-0590-8