Part 232 (2/2)

Air.--Variation of the Ranz des Vaches.

Farewell, ye green meadows, Farewell, sunny sh.o.r.e, The herdsman must leave you, The summer is o'er.

We go to the hills, but you'll see us again, When the cuckoo is calling, and wood-notes are gay, When flowerets are blooming in dingle and plain, And the brooks sparkle up in the suns.h.i.+ne of May.

Farewell, ye green meadows, Farewell, sunny sh.o.r.e, The herdsman must leave you, The summer is o'er.

CHAMOIS HUNTER (appearing on the top of a cliff).

Second Variation of the Ranz des Vaches.

On the heights peals the thunder, and trembles the bridge, The huntsman bounds on by the dizzying ridge, Undaunted he hies him O'er ice-covered wild, Where leaf never budded, Nor spring ever smiled; And beneath him an ocean of mist, where his eye No longer the dwellings of man can espy; Through the parting clouds only The earth can be seen, Far down 'neath the vapor The meadows of green.

[A change comes over the landscape. A rumbling, cracking noise is heard among the mountains. Shadows of clouds sweep across the scene.

[RUODI, the fisherman, comes out of his cottage. WERNI, the huntsman, descends from the rocks. KUONI, the shepherd, enters, with a milk pail on his shoulders, followed by SERPI, his a.s.sistant.

RUODI.

Bestir thee, Jenni, haul the boat on sh.o.r.e.

The grizzly Vale-king [1] comes, the glaciers moan, The lofty Mytenstein [2] draws on his hood, And from the Stormcleft chilly blows the wind; The storm will burst before we are prepared.

KUONI.

'Twill rain ere long; my sheep browse eagerly, And Watcher there is sc.r.a.ping up the earth.

WERNI.

The fish are leaping, and the water-hen Dives up and down. A storm is coming on.

KUONI (to his boy).

Look, Seppi, if the cattle are not straying.

SEPPI. There goes brown Liesel, I can hear her bells.

KUONI.

Then all are safe; she ever ranges farthest.

RUODI.

You've a fine yoke of bells there, master herdsman.

WERNI.

And likely cattle, too. Are they your own?

KUONI.

I'm not so rich. They are the n.o.ble lord's Of Attinghaus, and trusted to my care.

RUODI.

How gracefully yon heifer bears her ribbon!

KUONI.

Ay, well she knows she's leader of the herd, And, take it from her, she'd refuse to feed.

RUODI.

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