Warm up your yodeling chords, break out your Alphen Horns and Swiss Cow Bells, and gather round while I (loosely) translate a funny poem I heard a long time ago, while serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Zurich, Switzerland mission.
The poem deals with, of course, the story of Wilhelm Tell, the famous patriot who found against the Habsburg (Austrian) empire and their evil representative, Gessler. I don’t know who the poem is by — having lost my copy of a copy of a cassette tape decades ago — but the funniest part of the poem, as I remember it, goes like this:
Sein Sohn rief
“Komm schiess
mir doch ein Apfel von die Birne!”
Der Pfeil traff toedlich …
einen Wurm,
der in den Apfel wohnte.
Erst still,
dann brach ein Sturm des Jubels los!
“Ein HOCH zu Dir, Willy Tell!
Jetzt geh’n wir ein trinken, gel?!?!!”
Roughly translated:
His son called
“Come on! Shoot
the apple from my head.”
The arrow was deadly …
to a worm
that lived in the apple.
At first, it was quiet,
then broke forth a storm of jubilation!
“Three cheers for Willy Tell!
What do you think!?!?
Three cheers! Now let’s go get a drink!”
What strange twist of fate reminded me of this poem? Well, first, it’s Swiss Independence Day (More Cowbell!) Second, as I was peeling and slicing my free freestone peaches (refer to my other videos and articles about the peaches and what I’ve learned here on NaturesGuy.com, and then this fruity article, and then this article on experiential writing on IdeaMarketers.com (since it has to do with writing and creativity), I discovered small worms in the center of the peaches. Yes, I cut them out. (At least I hope I did!) But that’s what reminded me of the phrase “der Pfeil traff toedlich/einen Wurm, der in den Apfel wohnte.”
Hopp Schwyz!
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