Elfenlied

by Eduard Mörike

The poem Bei Nacht im Dorf der Wächter rief: Elfe! Ein ganz kleines Elfchen im Walde schlief wohl um die Elfe! Und meint, es rief ihm aus dem Tal bei seinem Namen die Nachtigall, oder Silpelit hätt' ihm gerufen. Reibt sich der Elf' die Augen aus, begibt sich vor sein Schneckenhaus und ist als wie ein trunken Mann, sein Schläflein war nicht voll getan, und humpelt also tippe tapp durch's Haselholz in's Tal hinab, schlupft an der Mauer hin so dicht, da sitzt der Glühwurm Licht an Licht. Was sind das helle Fensterlein? Da drin wird eine Hochzeit sein: die Kleinen sitzen bei'm Mahle, und treiben's in dem Saale. Da guck' ich wohl ein wenig 'nein!« Pfui, stößt den Kopf an harten Stein! Elfe, gelt, du hast genug? Gukuk!

Translation: At night in the village the watchman cried "Eleven!"[1] A very small elf was asleep in the wood just around Eleven! And he thinks that the nightingale must have called him by name from the valley, or Silpelit might have sent for him. [2] So the elf rubs his eyes, comes out of his snail-shell house, and is like a drunken man, his nap was not finished; and he hobbles down, tip tap, through the hazel wood into the valley, slips right up to the wall; there sits the glow-worm, light on light. "What are those bright windows? There must be a wedding inside; the little people are sitting at the feast, and fooling around in the ballroom. So I'll just take a peep in!" Shame! he hits his head on hard stone! Well, elf, had enough, have you? Cuckoo!

Notes

^1 In German elf also means "eleven", "wohl um die Elfe" => "just at eleven"
^2 Silpelit is a female elf in "Mörike's private mythology". Both the character and the poem were incorporated into "Der letzte König von Orplid" ("The last King of Orplid"), an interlude in Mörike's novel "Maler Nolten" ("Painter Nolten"). Eric Sams, The Songs of Hugo Wolf (2011), no. 28.