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Translated by R. Harrison
IN ancient times, beside the Rhine, a king sat on his throne, | |
| And all his people called him “good,”—no other name is known. | |
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| Seven hills and seven old castles marked the land beneath his sway; | |
| His children all were beautiful and cheerful as the day. | |
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| Oft, clad in simple garments, he travelled through the land, | 5 |
| And to the poorest subject there he gave a friendly hand. | |
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| Now when this good old king believed his latest hour was nigh, | |
| He bade his servants bear him to a neighboring mountain high: | |
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| Below he saw the pleasant fields in cloudless sunlight shine, | |
| While through the valleys, brightly green, flowed peacefully the Rhine; | 10 |
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| And pastures, gayly decked with flowers, extended far away; | |
| While round them stood the mighty hills in darkly-blue array; | |
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| And on the hills along the Rhine seven noble castles frown, | |
| Stern guardians! on their charge below forever looking down. | |
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| Long gazed the king upon that land; his eyes with tears o’erflow,— | 15 |
| He cries, “My own loved country! I must bless thee ere I go! | |
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| “O fairest of all rivers! my own, my noble Rhine! | |
| How beauteous are the pastures all that on thy margin shine. | |
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| “To leave thee, O my land! wakes my bosom’s latest sigh, | |
| Let me spend my breath in blessing thee, and so, contented, die. | 20 |
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| “My good and loving people all! my land! farewell forever! | |
| May sorrow and oppression come within your borders never! | |
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| “May people, land, and river, all, in sure protection lie | |
| Forever ’neath the guardianship of the Almighty’s eye!” | |
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| Soon as the blessing was pronounced, the good old king was dead, | 25 |
| And the halo of the setting sun shone all around his head. | |
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| That king was always called “the good,”—no other name is known; | |
| But his blessing still is resting on the land he called his own. | |
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