From The Book of German Songs translated and edited by Henry William Dulcken (London: Ward and Lock, 1856)

THE MAN IN THE CELLAR.
(Der Mann im Keller.)

In the cool cellar, here, you see
I'm on a wine-cask seated,
In joyous guise, while unto me
The best of wine is meted;
The cooper fills the goblet up
When he beholds me winking.
I hold aloft the brimming cup
I'm drinking, drinking, drinking.

The spectre Thirst possesses me;
In order, then, to lay him,
I shake my wine-glass lustily—
With Rhine wine I will slay him.
Now through a veil of rosy hue
At all the world I'm blinking,
No wrong would I to any do,—
I'm drinking, drinking, drinking.

But, oh! my thirst will grow apace
With ev'ry cup I swallow;
In each true Rhine wine-drinker's case
This fact is sure to follow;
But I've some comfort still, though fast
From cask to floor I'm sinking,
I've done no wrong, from first to last,
While drinking, drinking, drinking.