The Story of Schlauraffen Land

In the time of Schlauraffen I went there, and saw Rome and the Lateran hanging by a small silken thread, and a man without feet who outran a swift horse, and a keen sharp sword that cut through a bridge. 

 

There I saw a young ass¹ with a silver nose which pursued two fleet hares, and a lime-tree that was very large, on which hot cakes were growing. There I saw a lean old goat which carried about a hundred cart-loads of fat on his body, and sixty loads of salt. Have I not told enough lies? There I saw a plough ploughing without horse or cow, and a child of one year threw four millstones from Ratisbon to Treves, and from Treves to Strasburg, and a hawk² swam over the Rhine, which he had a perfect right to do. 

 

There I heard some fishes begin to make such a disturbance³ with each other, that it resounded⁴ as far as heaven, and sweet honey flowed like water from a deep valley at the top of a high mountain, and these were strange things. There were two crows which were mowing⁵ a meadow, and I saw two gnats⁶（蠓虫，琐事） building a bridge, and two doves tore a wolf to pieces; two children brought forth⁷ two kids, and two frogs threshed corn together. 

 

There I saw two mice consecrating⁸ a bishop⁹, and two cats scratching out a bear's tongue. Then a snail¹⁰ came running up and killed two furious lions. There stood a barber and shaved a woman's beard off; and two sucking-children bade their mother hold her tongue. There I saw two greyhounds which brought a mill out of the water; and a sorry old horse was beside it, and said it was right. And four horses were standing¹¹ in the yard threshing corn with all their might, and two goats were heating the stove, and a red cow shot the bread into the oven. 

 

Then a cock crowed, Cock-a- doodle-doo! The story is all told,--Cock-a-doodle-doo!

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