W. Müller: “The Huntsman’s Joy”

Excerpt, “The Book of German Songs from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century.” Translated and Edited by H. W. Dulcken. 1856.

hunting song2

THE HUNTSMAN’S JOY

Long live on earth whatever
The mantle green doth grace ;
The woodland and the meadow,
The huntsman and the chase !
‘Tis merry in the greenwood,
Where stag and hind do spring ;
When loudly sounds the bugle,
When rifles flash and ring.
Trara ! Trara !

What though with swarthy powder
I’ve scorched my eyelid o’er ?
I care not, for my maiden
Will love me as before.
My pointer and my maiden
Are ever true to me ;
What need have I to care, then,
For world or vanity ?
Trara ! Trara !

In woods am I the monarch,—
The wood is God’s abode !
I hear his mighty breathing
For ever borne abroad.
And I will be a huntsman
So long the breeze doth blow ;
And I will kiss my maiden
So long her lips do glow.
Trara ! Trara !

Come to the free wild forest,
My child, and dwell with me ;
Of boughs that never wither
I’ll build a hut for thee !
Not in the cold, gray village,
A resting-place I’ll crave ;
The wildwood is my dwelling,
And there shall be my grave !
Trara ! Trara !