German Folk Song

Author Unknown

The nightingale among them
Sang sweet and loud and long,
Until a greater voice than hers
Rang out above her song.

For suddenly, among the crags,
Along the narrow vale,
The echoes of a hunting horn
Came clear upon the gale.

The hunter stood beside me
Who blew that mighty horn
I saw that he was hunting
The gentle unicorn --

The Unicorn is noble;
He knows his gentle birth,
He knows that God has chosen him
Above all beasts of earth.

The Unicorn is noble;
He keeps him safe and high
Upon a narrow path and steep
Climbing to the sky.

And there no man can take him,
He scorns the hunter's dart.
And only a virgin's magic power
Shall tame his haughty heart.

What would be now the state of us
But for this Unicorn,
And what would be the fate of us,
Poor sinners, lost, forlorn?

Oh, may He lead us on and up,
Unworthy though we be,
Into His Father's kingdom,
To dwell eternally.