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The Hexli

I whittled at a stick one day.
'T was just to pass the time away:
A little girl came tipping by,
With rosy look and witching eye.

With artless smile and simple grace,
She looked me sweetly in my face,
And said: 'That knife is sharp, I ween,
Another thing will cut as keen'

And then she laughed and said 'Good day',
And like a dream had flown away;
The voice, the look, was with me still,
When all at once I felt me ill.

I could not work, I could not play;
I saw and heard her all the day.
That witching eye was sharp, I ween;
O, that was what would cut so keen. 
 

  I saw and heard her day and night,
Her voice so soft, her eye so bright;
When others lay in slumber sweet,
I heard the clock each hour repeat.

I could not stay and linger so:
Like one entranced, away I go;
Through field and forest, far and wide,
I seek if there the witch doth hide.

By bush and brake, by rock and hill,
Where'er I go, I see her still:
The little girl, with witching eye,
Is ever, ever tripping by.

  Through town and village, too, I stray;
At every house I call and say,
'O, can you tell me where to find
The little girl that witched my mind?'

I've sought her many a weary mile;
Methought I saw her all the while:
Ah! If I can't the witch obtain,
I never shall be well again.

Johann Peter Hebel (1760-1826)

Traduit par James Gates Percival