Stories in Three Winter Voices

Frau Holle:

If you're a brave enough girl to jump into the well,
I'll send you back home with a story to tell
About what it's like, life with me here below:
How we tended the hearth, and tended the bread,
And saw to the orchard, and changed the bed,
And shook out the bedding to bring down the snow.
You can tell how you loved me, who is fearsome and old.
When you're ready to leave, you'll go laden with gold.

Tomte:

The tomte comes, the tomte comes!
Set out the porridge, warm up your drums,
And dance at your leisure on this, my own land.
Be merry at Christmas with pudding and plums,
Set aside your old hardships--the tomte comes!

The tomte comes! The tomte is here!
I'll fatten your pigs and help brew your beer,
I'll see to your mares, your best stablehand.
Let go of your worries before the new year:
Though winter is frightful, the tomte is here!

Knecht Ruprecht

Always remember how quickly I can
Get into your house that dark winter's night,
With ashes above me and ashes below,
With ashes to cover me, I creep in
And can see who's good, who's not, and who might,
Most benefit from getting a birch-rod blow...

Which brings me to my stick.

It's a curious thing, how that magical stick
Can show me the whole year just gone away,
And whether a child has been good or not,
Whether he's earned a gift, and the right to stay
In his bed, in his home. But if not...?

Well, and that brings me to my sack.

You see how it's empty, spun of rough cloth,
And I only use it to carry off
The worst of the worst, those who have stayed bad all year.
(If that is not you, you have nothing to fear.)
Heed well the Knight Rupert, heed well Ashen Nick!