Mörder Guss Reims: The Gustav Leberwurst Manuscript, translated and annotated by John Hulme, 5/5

Inspired by Mots d’Heures: Gousses, Rames, these German verses sound, when read aloud, like Mother Goose rhymes being spoken in accented English.

You can give it a try if you’re in private (or not easily embarrassed):

Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn’t know where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they will come home,
Bringing their tails behind them.

Liesel Bopp hieb es Schloss der schieb
An Dutzend Noor, wer zu Feind dem,
Lief dem Aal ohn’ an Tee willkomm Ohm;
Brenken der Teil Spee ein dem.

Compared to the French version of this concept, I found the rhymes much easier to recognize in German.  I also liked that this edition had all the English verses in the back, so I didn’t have to resort to Google for translations nearly as often.

Why I read it: while researching Mots d’Heures, I learned about this book and bought a copy immediately.  I sing in German a lot (in fact, this weekend I’m performing in Bach’s St. John Passion), so this is great practice and fun.