Bleibach, The peasant

The peasant

Death to the peasant
Zuem Baur. O, Baur, ich hilff dir aus deiner noth, Hast vil schuldten und raues brodt, Man thueth dich täglich Exequieren, Komb, deine schuldten will quitieren.	To the Peasant Oh, pesant, I help you out of your troubles: You have a lot of debts and rough bread. You are foreclosed(1) daily: Come, I want to free you from your debts.
The peasant
Antwort. Wann schon zu Haus mir's übel geht Hab viel Schulden und schlechtes Bett; Meine Schulden will ich schon quittieren. Zum tanzen mußt mich noch nicht führen.	Answer. Even though things are bad for me at home - I have a lot of debts and a bad bed - I want to pay off my debts. You must not not lead me to the dance yet.

Footnotes: (1)

»Exequieren . . .:« The start of the word is written with Latin letters. The word derives from "ex" (out) and "sequis" (follow) and means to carry out or perform, e.g. when a computer executes a program.

Today "to execute" often means to kill, but if the peasant had been killed every day, Death would be arriving far too late.

An older meaning of the word "Exekution" in German is to collect debts through foreclosure and by seizing property.