Der Jäger
The Hunter

Die Schöne Müllerin The Miller's pretty Daughter

Müller

Why’s that hunter by the stream again?
Stay, bold, hunter, on your own terrain.
There’s no game for you here, d’you see,
Just a gentle doe, and she’s for me.
And if you want to come and take a look,
Put down your guns there by the brook,
And leave behind your yelping hounds
And mute your horn’s ear-splitting sounds,
And trim your beard – Oh, what a sight!
Else you will give my doe a fright.

But better still, stay in the woods,
Ignore the miller and his goods.
What would a fish do in a tree?
What would a squirrel want in a pond?
So, headstrong hunter, stay where you are,
Admire my mill-wheels from afar.
And if you want to win my darling’s favour,
Here’s what upsets her, heroic neighbour;
The wild boar leave the wood by night,
Break into the garden with their great might
And root and trample her well-tended crops.
Shoot the boar, make sure the damage stops!