Songs

The Huntsman

by Franz Schubert From The Fair Maid of the Mill (1823) D795 (Op. 25)

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Text

The Huntsman
English source: Jeremy Sams

So what are you hunting for down by the mill
There's nothing to stalk and there’s nothing to kill
There's only one creature who's drawing you here
And she is my darling and she is my deer

This mill and this village want nothing from you
Your hounds and your horns and your hullabaloo
And if you come crashing in here with your gun
My timorous angel will turn and she’ll run

The sight of your beard will frighten your prey
The fawn in the garden will hurry away
Your scrabbly stubbble will only dismay
The fawn in the garden, who’ll hurry away

So stay in the forest, I humbly request
Give hardworking farmers and millers a rest
Or maybe try fishing for novelty’s sake
Go stand in a river, or jump in a lake

So stay in the forest, stay right where you are
And gaze if you have to but gaze from afar

Or you could do something more useful instead?
Like maybe policing her strawberry bed
Wild boars come at night and they scoff all the fruit
So why not shoot them if you need to shoot?
Wild boars come at night and they eat the fruit
So why not shoot them if you have to shoot?

Composer

Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert was an late Classical and early Romantic composer. He produced a vast oeuvre during his short life, composing more the 600 vocal works (largely Lieder), and well as several symphonies, operas, and a large body of piano music. He…

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