The Nasobame
Das Nasobēm, usually translated into English as The Nasobame, is a short nonsense poem by German writer Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914). It was written around 1895 and published in his book Galgenlieder (1905).[1]
| Auf seinen Nasen schreitet | "Striding on its noses |
| einher das Nasobēm, | there comes the Nasobame, |
| von seinem Kind begleitet. | with its young in the tow. |
| Es steht noch nicht im Brehm. | It isn't yet in Brehm's |
| Es steht noch nicht im Meyer. | It isn't yet in Meyer's |
| Und auch im Brockhaus nicht. | And neither in Brockhaus' |
| Es trat aus meiner Leyer | It trotted out of my lyre |
| zum ersten Mal ans Licht. | when it came first to light. |
| Auf seinen Nasen schreitet | Striding on its noses |
| (wie schon gesagt) seitdem, | thereon (as I've said above), |
| von seinem Kind begleitet, | with its young in the tow, |
| einher das Nasobēm. | there goes the nasobame." |
This poem is notable for, among other things, having inspired zoologist Gerolf Steiner to write in 1961 an extremely popular mock-scientific treatise on the fictitious animal order of the Rhinogradentia, also called "nasobames" or "snouters", whose nasal appendages had evolved in many amazing ways.[2] Poetic translations of this poem (by Robert Weill - French, G.G. Simpson - English and L. Chadwick - English) can be found in his 1988 sequel .[3]
References
- ↑ Christian Morgenstern (1905): Galgenlieder. Bruno Cassirer Verlag, Berlin.
- ↑ Harald Stümpke [=Gerolf Steiner] (1967): The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades. Translated by Leigh Chadwick. The University of Chicago Press.
- ↑ Karl D.S. Geeste [=Gerolf Steiner] (1988): Stümpke's Rhinogradentia: Versuch einer Analyse. Gustav Fischer Verlag.