_From the east a breeze arises,_ _Trembling over hill and vale;_ _The moaning of the woods, their noise and crashing ceases;_ _The game flees, the birds scream;_ _Everything tells us, everything shows_ _That the night has vanished._ _Above us the morning star has disappeared,_ _For into the distance it has vanished,_ _Hastily retiring behind the hills._ _It does not stop,_ _It wishes to rise higher._ _It is time for us, my beloved, to take leave._ _The heart of my beloved was aggrieved_ _When, rising, she perceived the daybreak;_ _Then spake my beloved:_ _'Why have we two slept so long?_ _Hasten, my beloved,_ _Lest disgrace may overtake us.'_ _Clear daylight is here, I know;_ _The sky appears light blue,_ _The splendour of the sun is rising,_ _Therefore my heart is in fear._ _Almighty Lord God,_ _Deign Thou to guard us two._ _Oh, my beloved, listen to my advice:_ _When you are with your lover, hope in your heart_ _That thy pleasure and mine may not be changed to grief_ _Because of the malice of the evil gossip,_ _For no one knows what his intentions are;_ _Therefore it befits us to be on our guard._ _The gossip is fair to all in his speech,_ _But his heart is full of evil, false craft._ _I should wish that maidens and matrons_ _Would always hate the gossip._ _And that man shall be my comrade_ _Who will never be at peace with such a one (as the gossip)._ _For in this world there is nothing more difficult_ _Than to beware of gossips;_ _For he is friendly with you to your face,_ _But, like a snake, he bites you from the back;_ _His speech is sweet as honey_ _And his heart is as cruel poison._ _Dear God, do not grant success_ _To him who troubles the comfort of lovers,_ _As his heart is endeavouring (to find)_ _Where the two lovers live together._ _Almighty Lord God,_ _Deign Thou to guard these two._" It will be noticed that the refrain "Almighty Lord God," &c. (slightly varying in the middle of the poem), recurs three times. It has been conjectured that these _Songs at Daybreak_, which were discovered in the archives of Bohemian castles, were the works of knights or nobles, men somewhat similar to the "Minnesänger" of Germany. By the song which I have translated it will be seen that these songs are tainted with the peculiar views concerning conjugal fidelity which characterise so large a part of chivalrous literature, where Tristram is so often the hero and King Mark so often the knave.