14. The Hunter

Quick

What, then, does the hunter seek at the mill-brook here?
Remain, presumptuous hunter, in your own hunting-grounds!
Here there is no game for you to hunt;
Here dwells only a little doe, a tame one, for me.
And if you wish to see the tender doe,
Then leave your guns in the woods,
And leave your barking dogs at home,
And stop the horn from blowing and hooting,
And clip from your chin your shaggy hair;
Otherwise the doe will hide itself away in the garden.

Or better yet, remain in the forest
And leave the mills and the miller in peace!
What use are fishes in green branches?
What would the squirrel want in a blue pond?
Therefore stay, presumptuous hunter, in the meadow,
And leave me with my three wheels alone!
And if you would like to make yourself liked by my sweetheart,
Then know, friend, what troubles her heart:
The boars, they come at night from the grove
And break into her cabbage-garden
And tread and wallow around in the field.
The boars - shoot them, you hunter-hero.

Die schone Mullerin by Wilhelm Muller
music by Franz Schubert Op. 25