Justinus Kerner: “The Wealthiest Prince”

Excerpt, “Ballads From The German.”   Translator:  Henry Inglis.  1864.

 

THE WEALTHIEST PRINCE

At Worms, one day, a princely band,

In the height of their content,

And pride of ancestry and land,

Held high boastful argument.

.

“Glorious,” cried the Saxon king,

“Are the riches of my land!

The silver ore lies glistering

Through the rock and river strand.”

.

“Ours is the fabled Grecian horn,”

Said the ruler of the Rhine;

“Our vales wave with golden corn;

On our mountains grows the vine.”

.

“We have our cities red with gold,”

Quoth the Bairisch monarch proud;

“We have our monasteries old,

With the wealth of kings endowed.”

,

Then up spake Württemberg so bold;

His beard of the darkest dye:

“Nor Vintages, nor grain, nor gold,

Nor convents, nor towns have I.

.

“But I can roam our forests deep,

When the sun has sunk to rest;

And I can lay my head in sleep

Upon the wanderer’s breast.”

.

Then Saxon, Bairisch, and Rhine

Proclaimed through the Kaiser’s hall:

“Graf of the beard, the palm is thine;

Thy treasure is best of all.”