This wonderful song deserves a translation. Judging from the first line, Freiligrath's rendering seems to be closer to the original than Herder's and Arnim's. Although I am fluent in German and have some knowledge of Dutch, I asked a friend about a couple of words, believing him to be an expert in historical German language. To my disappointment, he frankly declared himself incompetent for Low German.

The following is as literal as possible, to my best knowledge:

1. I saw my lord of Falkensteen [Falcon Castle] ride up to his castle, carrying a shield beside him, and a blank sword at his side.


2. "God greet you, Lord Falkensteen; are you the lord of this land? Oh, so give me back my prisoner, by all the Virgins's honour [or: by all virgins' honour]!"


3. "The prisoner I have caught has become troublesome to me. He lies at Falkensteen in the tower [dungeon], in which he must rot."


4. "Must he then, in the tower of Falkensteen, must he rot in there? Oh, so I will well step towards the wall and help my darling mourn."


5. And as she stepped towards the wall, she heard good darling inside. [She answered:] "I should help you? That I cannot do, which takes away my wit and senses."


6. "Go home, go home, my tender maid, and console your poor orphans. Take yourself another husband in a year [after my death], who can help you mourn."


7. "If I take another husband in a year, I would have to sleep with him. So I would not end my mourning either, if he thrashed my poor orphans.


8. Oh, so I wish I had a palfrey, and that all girls rode [were allowed to ride]. Then I would fight with Lord Falkensteen for my darling."


9. [Lord F.:] "Oh no, oh no, my tender maid, about that I would bear shame. Take your darling well by your hand, trek with him out of this domain."


10. "Out of your domain I shall not trek just like that, unless you give me a writing, when I now come to a foreign land, that I can stay there." -


11. Well, when she came to a large heath [where nobody could hear her], well, she would sing loudly: "Now I can overmaster Lord Falkensteen with my words!"


12. "Since I cannot speak this out, I will write it down, that I could overmaster Lord Falkensteen with my words!"

Verse 6 looks a bit strange. We'd expect "Go home, my wife, and console our children, who will soon be semi-orphans." Instead, he calls her Jungfrou, which usually means virgin, and talks about "your orphans". - In Freiligrath's time, widows were expected to wait a year before remarrying, which would have been economically impossible in earlier times.

There are many castles, villages, and gentry families called Falkenstein or similar, since falconry was a key attribute of nobility.