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Laid aside the veils all silken;

Let us see thy cherished marten,

Whom for five long years thou wooed’st,

And for eight years thou hast longed for.

“Hast thou brought whom thou hast wished for,

Hast thou brought with thee the cuckoo,

From the land a fair one chosen,

Or a rosy water-maiden?

“But I see without my asking,

Comprehend without inquiry,

Thou has really brought the cuckoo,

Hast the blue duck in thy keeping;

Greenest of the topmost branches,

Thou hast brought from out the greenwood,

Freshest of the cherry-branches,

From the freshest cherry-thickets.”

On the floor there sat an infant,

From the floor spoke out the infant:

“O my brother, what thou bringest,

Is a tar-stump void of beauty,

Half as long as a tar-barrel,

And as tall as is a bobbin.

“Shame, O shame, unhappy bridegroom,

All thy life thou hast desired,

Vowed to choose from hundred maidens,

And among a thousand maidens,

Bring the noblest of the hundred,

From a thousand unattractive;

From the swamp you bring a lapwing,

From the hedge you bring a magpie,

From the field you bring a scarecrow,

From the fallow field a blackbird.

“What has she as yet accomplished,

In the summer just passed over,

If the gloves she was not weaving,

Nor begun to make the stockings?

Empty to the house she cometh,

To our household brings no presents,

Mice are squeaking in the baskets,

Long-eared mice are in the coppers.”