Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/242

 236 Williams GRUNWALDS SONG, "GUT GESELL UND DU MUST WANDERN" A name in the history of German secular song which excited no little romantic enthusiasm in the editors of Des Knaben W under horn and in Uhland himself was that of Griinwald. The former reprinted (from Wickram's Rollwagenbuchlein) in their dedication to Goethe the story and the song of the merry, improvident musician, Griinenwald, at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. Uhland republished Griinenwald's poem in his collec- tion of Volkslieder (No. 238) and called attention to several song texts of the 16th century in which apparently a conscious effort had been made to mention 'der grime Wald.' Such songs Uhland regarded likewise as productions of the same Griinwald and wrote the following words of appreciation: "Aus dem griinen Wald stammt die alte, naturtreue Volksdichtung, der letzte Sanger dieser Weise geht in den griinen Wald wieder auf, " and added later, "Man kann sich im griinen Wald verirren, aber Jorg Griinewald ist ein Name, der seine Stellung in der Geschichte des deutschen Liederwesens anzusprechen hat." 1 Long after Uhland, in the more accurate but prosier period of Volkslied investigation, three of the best scholars in this field, Arthur Kopp, Joh. Bolte and A. Gotze, devoted careful attention to Griinwald, or rather to the Griinwalds, for others of the name became known and we are uncertain whether the extant Griinwald songs were by 'der gute schlemmer' of the Rollwagenbuchlein, by the Anabaptist shoemaker beheaded in 1530, by an instrumentalist mentioned in 1581, or possibly by some other Griinwald. Kopp was the first to recognize that the first letters of the stanzas of several 16th century songs spell the name GRVN- WALD or at least show plain traces of such an acrostic. One text of nine stanzas, however, caused him considerable trouble. It was evidently by Griinwald but the defective acrostic GRVLBASSA proved a very corrupt text. 2 In the rare Lieder- 1 Schriflen 3, 456 and 549. 2 Archiv f.d.St. der neueren Sprachen 107, 10 ff.