Copenhagen's Dance of Death, Part 28, Merchant and Young Nobleman

Copenhagen's Dance of Death, Part 28

Huad gaffner nu din Rigdom dig,
Du maat alt strax nu følge mig.

Kiøbmanden Suarer

Ach, haffde jeg vdi min tid,
Tienet Gud met saa stor en flid.
Som jeg monne effter Pendinge fige,
At mine Børn kunde bliffue Rige.
Da haffde jeg icke saa stor fare,
For Dieffuelen oc hans onde Skare.
Døden giør mig sorg oc vee,
Jeg kand støt huercken høre eller see.
Jeg haffuer hørt megit got om Christ,
Oc troer hannem vel, hand hielper mig vist.

Døden Suarer

Her skal end bliffue en anden rey,
Wi skulle nu færdis en anden vey.

Døden taler til Junckeren

Leve Juncker, du passer ey paa mig,
Dog er jeg ligevel kommen til dig.
Du skalt mig følge foruden skæmt,
Eya, huor nær haffde jeg dig glæmt.

Junckeren suarer

Lad mig end leffue nogen tid
at ieg motte bruge en anden id
End ieg haffuer giort til denne stund
I synd oc ondskaff mange lund
Met slemmen oc demmen(2) i offuerflødighz

What good does your riches do for you now?
You must at once follow me now.

The Merchant Answers

Alas, if I had in my time
served God with as great diligence
as I have craved for money
that my children could become rich,
then I wouldn't be in such great danger
from the Devil and his evil band.
Death gives me sorrow and pain.
I can almost neither hear nor see.
I have heard a lot of good about Christ,
and believe well in him. He'll certainly help me.

Death Answers

Here shall yet be another dance,
we shall now travel along another road.

Death speaks to the Young Nobleman

Dear Young Nobleman, you're not looking out for me.
Yet I have come to you anyway.
You shall follow me without any jest,
Eya,(1) how close I came to forgetting you.

The Young Nobleman answers

Let me still live some time
that I might do another deed
than I have done until this hour:
In many kinds of sin and evilness
with slemmen and demmen(2) in abundance …

This is what the young nobleman looked like in Des dodes dantz and Dodendantz.

One leaf is missing in Copenhagen's Dance of Death, so the text on the left side (in red letters) has been taken from Dødedantz.

Click the little picture to the right to see the original page.

Notice that the woodcut of the young nobleman is the same as that of the duke. The picture to the left shows how the young nobleman looked in Des Dodes Dantz and Dodendantz. Let's see if a table can clear it up:

	Dodendantz (1520)	Copenhagen's dance of death
Duke
Young nobleman
Journeyman	(No illustration)	(Missing page)

Footnotes: (1) (2)

eya . . .: exclamation of surprise.

slemmen and demmen . . .: Low German words for boozing and gluttony.