On the Death of a Drunkard
Do henn si mer a Maa vergrabe
`sisch Schad für sini bsundre Gabe
Gang wo de witt, suëch no so ei
sel is verbei; de findsch mer kei.

Er isch e Himmelsglehrte gsi;
In alle dörfere her und hi
Se het er gluëgt vo Huus z' Huus
"Hängt nienen echt e Sterne-n-uus?"

Er isch e freche Ritter gsi
In alle dörfere her und hi
Se het er gfroogt enandernoo
Sin Leue-n-oder Bäre do?

E Guëte Christ, sel isch er gsi;
In alle dörfere her und hi
se het er unter Tags und Nacht
zuem Chrütz si stille Buessgang gmacht.

Sy Name-n-isch in Stadt und Land
By grossi Herri wohlbekannt;
Syn alleliebste Kumpani
Sin allewyl d'drei König gsi.

Jetzt schloft er und wüsst nüt dervo;
`S chunnt e Zyt goht's alles so.

Johann Peter Hebel
(I'm not entirely sure about the orthography: Allemannisch orthography has changed a bit since Hebel's day, and in any case Hebel's dialect is slightly different from the dialect of the City of Basel that I am used to and in which i tend to remember this poem. [Baseldütsch would have `kunnt' not `chunnt' and generally `k' for the chi sound passim]. I put two dots over several `e's that follow `u's (for example in `suech' in the first verse) to make clear that it's a diphthong not a fronted pure `u'. This is not standard allemannisch orthography! To a certain extent this is from memory so i may have got the text wrong as well!).

Actually my friend Roger Paulin (a later holder of the Chair in German at Cambridge that my father held) has recently given me a copy of the Penguin Book of German verse (edited by my father) which must be where i first encountered this poem. I shall correct the spelling when i get round to it.

Translation follows:

    We have just buried a man. It was a shame about his gifts: go where you will, you shall not see his like again.
    He knew all about the skies. Up and down all the villages he would say "Has anyone seen any sign of a star"?
    He was a brave knight too. Up and down all the villages he would say "Has anyone seen any sign of a Bear or a Lion?"
    And a good Christian. Up and down all the villages he could be seen making his daily and nightly pilgrimage to the Cross.
    He was well connected with the gentry, both in town and country. The Three Kings were his favourite company.
    Now he's dead and oblivious to all that. One day we will all be like him.

The Drei König was still there a century later when I used to visit Basel in my youth and it is probably still there now: no mere pub but a large hotel—on the left bank overlooking the river just downstream of the Münsterberg. For some reason the name emblazoned on it is in French: Hotel des trois Rois. Perhaps it was an important hostelry in Hebel's day too. After all, the poem's hero was well-connected with the gentry. I have recently discovered that it was the first port of call for Liszt and Marie d'Agoult when they eloped. Clearly a place to be seen—or perhaps not seen!

I have always thought of Hebel as a kind of Swiss Chaucer. In English Social History G.M. Trevelyan described Chaucer as the first artist in whom we recognize the english temper "Three parts cynical and one part kindly". Like Chaucer, Hebel sees humanity's faults clearly but does not judge us too harshly. And—again like Chaucer—he is wonderfully funny. Have a look at I can't understand you !!

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