The Legend of the Heinze

STORY

Die Heinzelmännchen von Köln
von August Kopisch
The Little Men of Cologne ©
Übersetzung Anita Schönborn 2015
The Heinzelmen of Cologne ©
überarbeitet  2016

In old Cologne, long time ago,
they told a story of their town:

If one was lazy,
one didn’t work, one just went to lie down.

And then at night real secretly
Heinzelmen came, and happily

they jumped and hopped
and brushed and scrubbed,

they rolled and lifted
and pushed and shifted.

And before some lazybones woke up,
all work was done from bottom to top !

The carpenters laid down to rest,
Heinzelmen tried to do their best.

They sawed the wood
nicely and good,

they fixed the beam
real neat and clean,

used hammer and nail,
and tried not to fail.

And when the carpenters woke up,
the house was finished up to the top.


The lazy bakersmen indeed
put up their feet
and fell asleep.

Heinzelmen instead
started to make the bread.

They lifted with power
the sacks of flour,

they kneaded the dough
a long time slow

to fix and bake  bread an cake
                                                                                      

And while the bakers still snored along –
their work was finished and done.




The butcher also fell asleep –
but, who took care of the meat ?

Heinzelmen with knife and fork,
started to cut the pork

                      in pieces and slices
and mixed it with spices.

They fixed the sausages well
to be placed in the store to sell.



Down in the cellar
there was the winemaker.

He took care of the barrels of wine
and there he drank from time to time

- till he fell asleep by the barrel.
Heinzelmen worked without a quarrel:

                      they hauled and shifted
they rolled and lifted,

they filled
and spilled

and poured the wine
into the bottles so fine.



There once was a worrying tailor
about sewing a coat for the Mayor!

But soon he went to bed.
Heinzelmen instead --

they all came with pleasure
and started to measure.

They cut it to fold it,
put pins to hold it,

they sewed the seams
and fixed the hem,

and when they finished on time
everything seemed fine....



But --- the tailor’s wife got curious
and she was getting furious - ! -
She scattered peas the following night.

Heinzelmen came ---
--- she put on light
oh - what a sight !

They rolled and skipped
and fell and slipped,



cried out with fears,
bounced down the stairs,
 
rushed out of the door
and were not seen anymore.


Oh dear - now they are gone -
no-one can be a lazybone !

All have their worries,
everyone hurries

and runs und rushes,
scrubs and brushes,

rolls and lifts,
moves and shifts,

cooks and bakes,
mixes and shakes

Oh - if only times could be
as easygoing and happily -

but this will never be  !
                                                  


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