The Cooper

Götz: Cooper

Kruspe: Cooper

The cooper is in the process of tightening a hoop on the barrel. Kruspe's drawing shows another hoop lying on the ground.

A finished barrel is being toasted in the background. In Kruspe's drawing an assistant keeps watch over the fire. Kruspe lets Death stop the cooper's hand in the middle of the blow.

Der Tod zum Böttcher:
Wie sieht's mein Böttcher nun mit deiner Arbeit aus?
Leg' deine Fässer hin, du musst ins Todtenhaus.
Mit Triebeln(1) hast du sonst die Reife angeschlagen,
Weil du zum Tode reif, wirst du zur Gruft getragen.

Death to the Cooper:
How is your work going now, my cooper?
Lay down your barrels, you must go to the death house.
You have fastened the hoops with drivers.(1)
Because you are ripe(2) for death, you will be carried to the grave.

Der Böttcher:
Die Fässer frisst der Wurm, mich aber frisst die Zeit,
Und Alle müssen fort aus dieser Sterblichkeit!
Im Binden liess ich mich hier unermüdet finden,
Nunmehr will ich mich im Tod mit Gott verbinden.

The Cooper:
The worm eats the barrels, but time eats me,
and everyone must leave this mortality!
I found myself here tirelessly binding.(3)
Now I want to unite myself with God in death.

Footnotes: (1) (2) (3)

drivers . . .: The cooper hammers on a wooden wedge, a hoop driver (German: Treiber, Fausttreiber, Triebel), in order to tighten the hoops on the barrel.

There seems to be a pun here with "Reife" (German for "barrel hoop") and "reif (German for "ripe").

binden . . .: another pun. A cooper is also called "Binder" or even "Fassbinder" in German. The word is probably related to English "bend", for a machine to bend the hoops is called a "Bindtemaskine" in Danish and a "bending machine" in English.

Now, the "binder" wants to be united / bound with God.