Walter von der Vogelweide (1170–1228)

GIVE me welcome all with cheer!

Harken, what my tidings fair shall be.

All that you were wont to hear

Is a very trifle: now ask me.

But give me my reward!

Then, if that be good,

I shall tell what you will hear with joyful mood.

Take care, and honours fit accord!

To German ladies I shall say

Such happy tidings as will please them well,

And bring the world beneath their sway;

For no great thanks my tale I’ll tell.

Ah, what should I ask?

They’re too great, I find.

So I am but modest, pray that they be kind:

Gracious welcome be their task.

In many countries I have fared,

I have seen the best with eager eye.

Woe betide me if I dared

Force my heart that it should ever try

Other lands to love

For their foreign ways.

Should I lie, what profit were false praise?

German manners all above!

From the Elbe to the Rhine,

Back unto Hungarian ground,

There, I wot, the noblest shine

That upon the world are found.

If looks and bearings fair

My eyes can judge aright,

Any woman here surpasses in my sight

High-born ladies fine elsewhere!

German men are nobly bred,

Angels are the women of the land.

He who chides them is misled.

Other truth I cannot understand.

He who on his way

Seeketh virtue, loving chaste,

Come into our land, for there is joy to waste.

May I live there long, I pray!