Farewell, ye green meadows, Farewell, sunny shore, The herdsman must leave you, The summer is o'er. We go to the hills, but you'll see us again, When the cuckoo is calling, and wood-notes are gay, When flowerets are blooming in dingle and plain, And the brooks sparkle up in the sunshine of May. Farewell, ye green meadows, Farewell, sunny shore, The herdsman must leave you, The summer is o'er. CHAMOIS HUNTER (appearing on the top of a cliff). Second Variation of the Ranz des Vaches. On the heights peals the thunder, and trembles the bridge, The huntsman bounds on by the dizzying ridge, Undaunted he hies him O'er ice-covered wild, Where leaf never budded, Nor spring ever smiled; And beneath him an ocean of mist, where his eye No longer the dwellings of man can espy; Through the parting clouds only The earth can be seen, Far down 'neath the vapor The meadows of green. [A change comes over the landscape. A rumbling, cracking noise is heard among the mountains. Shadows of clouds sweep across the scene. [RUODI, the fisherman, comes out of his cottage. WERNI, the huntsman, descends from the rocks. KUONI, the shepherd, enters, with a milk pail on his shoulders, followed by SERPI, his assistant. RUODI. Bestir thee, Jenni, haul the boat on shore. The grizzly Vale-king [1] comes, the glaciers moan, The lofty Mytenstein [2] draws on his hood, And from the Stormcleft chilly blows the wind; The storm will burst before we are prepared. KUONI. 'Twill rain ere long; my sheep browse eagerly, And Watcher there is scraping up the earth. WERNI. The fish are leaping, and the water-hen Dives up and down. A storm is coming on. KUONI (to his boy). Look, Seppi, if the cattle are not straying. SEPPI. There goes brown Liesel, I can hear her bells. KUONI. Then all are safe; she ever ranges farthest. RUODI. You've a fine yoke of bells there, master herdsman. WERNI. And likely cattle, too. Are they your own? KUONI. I'm not so rich. They are the noble lord's Of Attinghaus, and trusted to my care. RUODI. How gracefully yon heifer bears her ribbon! KUONI. Ay, well she knows she's leader of the herd, And, take it from her, she'd refuse to feed. RUODI. You're joking now. A beast devoid of reason. WERNI. That's easy said. But beasts have reason too-- And that we know, we men that hunt the chamois. They never turn to feed--sagacious creatures! Till they have placed a sentinel ahead, Who pricks his ears whenever we approach, And gives alarm with clear and piercing pipe. RUODI (to the shepherd). Are you for home? KUONI. The Alp is grazed quite bare. WERNI. A safe return, my friend! KUONI. The same to you? Men come not always back from tracks like yours. RUODI. But who comes here, running at topmost speed? WERNI. I know the man; 'tis Baumgart of Alzellen.