The royal children
The royal children is considered to be the oldest complete folk ballad . It was written by an unknown author. The exact year of publication is not known. It was first recorded in print by Valentin Fuhrmann around 1563.
construction
The ballad consists of 20 stanzas with 4 verses each.
action
The plot of the poem takes place in the Middle Ages, since there is talk of a "noble gentleman" (Str. 1), a knight (Str. 16) and a "Junckfraw" (virgin) (Str. 2). In addition, the "Junckfraw" and the "noble gentleman" live in a castle (Str. 1, 2,). The ballad is about a sad story of a "Junckfraw" and a "noble knight". The “noble knight” desires the “Junckfraw” and wants to cross the lake that lies between the two castles, “Between two castles / there is a deep lake; … ”) (Str. 1), swim over to her,“ There he wrote jr over, / he announced he wanted to swim… ”(Str. 3). However, he does not succeed and he drowned in the lake, "the noble knight went / the water in his mouth" (Str. 8). One day, while the Junckgfraw was going for a walk, she met a fisherman and asked him to cast his fishing rod at the drowned knight, "Oh fisherman, dear fisherman, and hit your hoe to ground! / it drowned himself late nights / a knight handsome and young. ”(Str. 16). When the fisherman pulled the “young knight” out of the water, the “Junckfraw” was very sad and poured tears over the dead knight. She took off her golden ring and said to the fisherman: "... look, fisherman journeyman, / this should be yours." (Str. 19). Then she also jumps into the lake so that no young knight should die because of her, “I jump into the lake too; / es sol vmb for my sake / don't drown a knight mee! ”(Str. 20).
content
The royal children
Between two castles
there is a deep lake;
on the one castle
there sits a noble gentleman.
On the other castle
do a Junckfraw would be fine;
they like to be together,
oh God, let it be!
Then he wrote over,
he wanted to swim,
and asked her back if
she wanted to ignite him.
Then she wrote
a friendly greeting
to jm and offered jm back that
she would like to do it.
She went in quick eyle,
because she found a candlestick,
she even stuck it miraculously
on a stone.
If I set it too high for you, the wind will
extinguish it for me;
If I deny it to you,
then you will delete your child .
A wonderful, wicked woman notices this:
"That doesn't make me look good;
I fear that our daughter will
not be protected.
She took it from the wall
and put it off at the same time;
the noble knight's
mouth filled with water.
Oh mother, dear mother,
allow me to go to the lake for
a little while,
my little head will do me a little.
Oh daughter, dear daughter,
if
you want to go to the lake
now,
your youngest sister
will take you to the lake!
Mother, dear mother,
my sister is still a child;
she breaks off the red steeds that
are on the heyden.
Oh
my father, my father, allow me to go to the lake for
a little while,
my little head will do me little.
Oh daughter, dear daughter,
do your little head,
so take your youngest brother
with you to spacing out at the lake!
Oh dear, dear dad,
my brother is still a child;
he shuns the little forest birds that
are on the heyden.
The Junckfraw was
nimble,
she was going astray, she ran even marvelously
when a fisherman found her.
Oh fisherman, dear fisherman,
and hit your chopping ground!
A knight, handsome and young,
drowned himself late at night
.
The fisherman was agile,
he did what was called;
he struck the noble knight with
the heel in his feet.
He
named jn in the middle, he lied jrn in the lap;
they
cast
off the knight with hot tears.
What did she pull off the hand?
A finger of gold:
look, fellow fisherman,
this should be yours.
Now bless you, father and mother,
I'll jump into the lake too;
it sol vmb for my sake
no knight drown mee!
literature
- The royal children . In: Lutz Röhrich and Rolf Wilhelm Brednich (eds.): German folk songs. Texts and melodies. Vol. 1: Schwann, Düsseldorf 1965.
- The royal children . In: Valentin Fuhrmann (Ed.): Ein Hüpsch New Lied .: Printed in Nuremberg, 1563.
- The royal children . In: Wilhelm Heiske (Ed.): Yearbook for Folk Song Research , Vol. 3: Königskinder und Elsleinstrophe (1932) pp. 35–53