VII. A counterpart to the former. In the spring season there is frequently such a dearth that the peasants are obliged to fodder their cattle with the half-rotten straw of their thatched roofs. This is necessary for me to premise, for rendering intelligible the second line.
For the elucidation of the fourth line it must be remarked that the boor has no chimney in his thatch, but the smoke, after curling round his room, at length finds its way out at the door. Only the German houses have the luxury of chimnies. "Ever since the chimnies came into the village," is the same as to say. Ever since the Germans settled themselves in the country.
The lord may take as many people as he pleases, and what people from the farm, to be domestics in his house—and this explains the last line.
I must not leave it unnoticed, that the tributes paid to the lord are called "righteousnesses." This makes the meaning of the seventh line clear.
This is the cause that the country is ruined,
And the straw of the thatch is eaten away,
The gentry are come to live in the land.
Chimnies between the village,
And the proprietor upon the white floor!
The sheep brings forth a lamb with a white forehead.
This is paid to the lord for a righteousness sheep:
The sow farrows pigs,
They go to the spit of the lord:
The hen lays eggs,
They go into the lord's frying-pan:
The cow drops a male calf,
That goes into the lord's herd as a bull:
The mare foals a horse-foal.
That must be for my lord's nag:
The boor's wife has sons,
They must go to look after my lord's poultry.
Can one desire a more just and lively display of the wretched situation of these poor people in regard to their lords than this ballad, the result of their feelings and their woful experience?
VIII. To whomever has been present with a woman in labour, has been witness to her agonies, has heard her groans in bringing forth, how just will the following images appear! The sympathising feel-
