Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79. | | | | Kyffhäuser Mountains | | Barbarossa | | Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866) |
| | Translated by H. W. Dulcken
THE ANCIENT Barbarossa | |
| By magic spell is bound,— | |
| Old Frederic the Kaiser, | |
| In castle underground. | |
| |
| The Kaiser hath not perished, | 5 |
| He sleeps an iron sleep; | |
| For, in the castle hidden, | |
| He ’s sunk in slumber deep. | |
| |
| With him the chiefest treasures | |
| Of empire hath he ta’en, | 10 |
| Wherewith, in fitting season, | |
| He shall appear again. | |
| |
| The Kaiser he is sitting | |
| Upon an ivory throne; | |
| Of marble is the table | 15 |
| His head he resteth on. | |
| |
| His beard it is not flaxen, | |
| Like living fire it shines, | |
| And groweth through the table | |
| Whereon his chin reclines. | 20 |
| |
| As in a dream he noddeth, | |
| Then wakes he, heavy-eyed, | |
| And calls, with lifted finger, | |
| A stripling to his side. | |
| |
| “Dwarf, get thee to the gateway, | 25 |
| And tidings bring, if still | |
| Their course the ancient ravens | |
| Are wheeling round the hill. | |
| |
| “For if the ancient ravens | |
| Are flying still around, | 30 |
| A hundred years to slumber | |
| By magic spell I ’m bound.” | | | | |
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