I finished reading my book of Friedrich Schiller’s poems. The last section is of fragments, and one struck me as having a perfect ending, without even a punctuation mark. It looks like rough notes for something he never got around to writing. My translation:
Bianca, a rich and noble countess of ***, had been married three times, and each time the groom was found dead the following morning. It was generally said that a spirit, which lived in the town and could not be escaped, had done this. No other free man wished to present himself, however beautiful, rich, and noble the countess was, and no matter how inclined her father might be to approve the match. She had loved none of the three men and had only followed the will of her father.
A young nobleman, brave and in love, heard this story. He saw the bride and was enchanted, and determined to try his luck.
Some tried to scare him away, but he scorned the superstition and applied to her father.
He pleased the father extraordinarily, but for that reason itself the father refused his permission.
Don Leiva turned then to the beauty herself, who felt for him her first love, but for that reason itself shied from granting her hand, because she considered him hopelessly lost.
Nevertheless, in the end he brought her to agree to the marriage, led her to the altar and felt himself the happiest man in possession of his beautiful love.
The night approached
I spent no more than five minutes making this translation,
so don’t trust the details too much!
Original version, September 2010.
Updated and added here November 2011.