C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Joseph Viktor von Scheffel (1826–1886)

Translation of Charles Godfrey Leland

IN the Black Whale at Ascalon

A man drank day by day,

Till, stiff as any broom-handle,

Upon the floor he lay.

In the Black Whale at Ascalon

The landlord said, “I say,

He’s drinking of my date-juice wine

Much more than he can pay!”

In the Black Whale at Ascalon

The waiters brought the bill,

In arrow-heads on six broad tiles,

To him who thus did swill.

In the Black Whale at Ascalon

The guest cried out, “O woe!

I spent in the Lamb at Nineveh

My money long ago!”

In the Black Whale at Ascalon,

The clock struck half-past four,

When the Nubian porter he did pitch

The stranger from the door.

In the Black Whale at Ascalon

No prophet hath renown;

And he who there would drink in peace

Must pay the money down.