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 ass 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 hawk swam over the Rhine, which he had a perfect right
to do. There I heard some fishes begin to make such a disturbance with
each other, that it resounded 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 mowing a meadow,
and I saw two gnats building a bridge, and two doves tore a wolf to
pieces; two children brought forth two kids, and two frogs threshed
corn together. There I saw two mice consecrating a bishop, and two cats
scratching out a bear's tongue. Then a snail 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
standing 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!
