Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/266

 254 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE pended, to a great extent, on the musical accompani- ment for its popularity and its survival. It was not alone by the modulations of the voice that the full meaning of the folk-songs was expressed. The movement of the dance was often so contrived as to emphasise the poetic sense. Many of our present rustic dances probably originated in these popular songs. The authors of such songs are unknown. Some- times it is ' The gay hunter singing to the woods the echoes of his heart,' sometimes 'A shepherd com- muning with the flowers,' or, again, 'The miners' •drinking song ' : Und der uns diesen Reihen sang, So wohl gesungen hat, Das haben gethan zwei Hauer Zu Freiburg in der Stadt. Sie haben so wohl gesungen Bei Meth und kiihlem Wein, Dabei da ist gesessen Der Wirthin Tochterlein. And he who sang this song, So well has he sung it, All about what was done By two miners from Freiburg. With mead and cool wine full Right merrily they sang, "While by them sits The host's fair young daughter. Sometimes it is a pious knight who sings while he rides through the lands, or a maiden who bewails her absent lover. This gift of song was not common to the masses, but was the possession of a favoured few, who ' voiced forth the feelings of the people.' They were less the creators than the discoverers of the voices of joy and