Fasting and feasting are both welcome; he is as
gay as a Zouave.[11] To be maimed is a slight matter: if he loses an
arm, he bilks the Swiss of a glove; if his leg goes, he can creep, or a
wooden leg will serve his purpose:--
It harms me not a mite,
A wooden stump will make all right;
And when it is no longer good,
Some spital knave shall get the wood.
But if a ball my bosom strikes,
On some wide field I lie,
They'll take me off upon their pikes,--
A grave is always nigh;
Pumerlein Pum,--the drums shall say
Better than any priest,--Good day!
[Footnote 11: Who besings himself thus, in a song from the Solferino
campaign:--
"Quand l'zouzou, coiffe de son fez,
A par hasard queuqu' goutt' sous l'nez,
L'tremblement s'met dans la cambuse;
Mais s'il faut se flanquer des coups,
Il sait rendre atouts pour atouts,
Et gare dessous,
C'est l'zouzou qui s'amuse!
Des coups, des coups, des coups,
C'est l'zouzou qui s'amuse."]
There is a very characteristic piece, without date or name of the
writer, but which, to judge from the German, was written after the time
of Luther. Nothing could better express the feeling of a people who
have been saved by martial and religious enthusiasm, and brought
through all the perils of history.
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