Bleibach, The old woman

The old woman

Death to the old woman
Zuem alten Weib. Du altes Weib der runtzlen voll, Komb zuem tantz thuet dir noch woll, hättest nit gehuestet, und still gesessen, hätt ybel thuen, man dich vergessen.	To the Old Woman. You old woman full of wrinkles, Come to the dance, it'll still do you good. If you hadn't coughed and had sat still, it would have been bad: you would have been forgotten.
The old woman
Antwort. Weil ich jetzt bin der Runzeln voll, Das Tanzen mir nicht mehr thut wohl; Laß mich nur hinterm Ofen sitzen. Mir wird dann wohl, wenn ich kann schwitzen.	Answer. Because I am now full of wrinkles, the dancing no longer does me any good; Let me just sit behind the stove. I feel good when I can sweat.

The old woman is the last participant. Above her head, to the right is a message to those of the visitors who hasn't learned to read.

Wer doch nit lessen kan,
beschau den tantz nur an,
wie der tott all augenblickh,
den menschen hat an seinem strickh.(1)

Anyone who cannot read:
Just consider the dance,
how Death every moment
has man in his noose.(1)

At the very end — at the end of the east wall — is a kind of "parchment scroll", but I have chosen to consider this to be the introduction to the dance.

Footnotes: (1)

strickh / noose . . .: the king in Basel says: »Nun bin ich in deß Todtes Banden, / Verstricket sehr in seinen Handen« ("Now I am in Death's bands, / deeply entangled in his hands.").