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“The Shepherd Rides on a Donkey” by Sándor Petőfi 🇭🇺 (1 Jan 1823 – 31 Jul 1849)
Translated from the Hungarian by Peter Zollman
The shepherd rides in donkey-back
The shepherd rides in donkey-back,
His feet are dangling wide,
The guy is big, but bigger still
His bitterness inside.
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He played his flute, he grazed his flock
Upon the grassy hill
When he was told his sweetheart girl
Was desperately ill.
​
He rides his donkey in a flash
And races to her bed,
But by the time he reached the house
His precious one was dead.
​
The lad was bitter, hoped to die,
But what he did instead:
He took a stick and struck a blow
Upon the donkey’s head.