# Die Bettler · The Beggars

Neue Gedichte · Rainer Maria Rilke · New Poems: The Other Part

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/die-bettler. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/die-bettler.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Du wußtest nicht, was den Haufen  
You did not know what makes the heap
> Second-person past of wissen: wußtest is the second-person singular past of wissen, 'to know a fact', spelled with ß in the old orthography; modern German writes wusstest. wissen is irregular: present du weißt, past du wußtest.

**2** ausmacht. Ein Fremder fand  
it up. A stranger found
> Separable verb kept together in a clause: ausmacht completes was den Haufen ausmacht, 'what makes up the heap'. ausmachen is separable, and its prefix aus- normally moves to the clause end; in this was-clause the finite verb stays whole at that position.

**3** Bettler darin. Sie verkaufen  
beggars in it. They are selling
> Pronominal adverb for in it: darin fuses da-, 'there', with the preposition in, meaning 'in it, inside that'. German uses darin rather than in ihm when referring to a thing rather than a person, here the Haufen, 'heap'.

**4** das Hohle aus ihrer Hand.  
the hollow out of their hand.
> Adjective turned into a noun: das Hohle is the adjective hohl, 'hollow, empty', turned into a neuter noun by adding -e and capitalizing it: 'the hollow thing, the emptiness'. German makes nouns from adjectives this way freely.


**5** Sie zeigen dem Hergereisten  
They show the one who has travelled here
> Participle noun for a traveler: Hergereisten comes from herreisen, 'to travel here'. Its past participle, hergereist, is made into a noun, der Hergereiste, 'the man who has journeyed here', shown here in the dative, dem Hergereisten. The prefix her- marks motion toward the speaker.

**6** ihren Mund voll Mist,  
their mouth full of filth,
> Noun for dung with no article: Mist means 'dung, muck, refuse'. voll Mist, 'full of muck', takes no article after voll. The phrase is the second object of Sie zeigen, 'they show', from the line above.

**7** und er darf (er kann es sich leisten)  
and he may (he can afford it)
> Idiom for being able to afford: sich etwas leisten können is the fixed idiom 'to be able to afford something'. sich is dative, 'for oneself', and es is the accusative object. darf, from dürfen, 'to be allowed to', means 'may'.

**8** sehn, wie ihr Aussatz frißt.  
to see how their leprosy devours.
> Animal verb applied to disease: frißt, modern frisst, is the third-person form of fressen, the verb for an animal eating, 'to devour'. Applied to Aussatz, 'leprosy', it makes the disease the thing feeding. sehn is the clipped poetic form of sehen, 'to see'.


**9** Es zergeht in ihren zerrührten  
It melts away in their stirred-up
> Verb for dissolving: zergehen means 'to dissolve, to melt away, to come apart'. The prefix zer- signals breaking into pieces. The subject is sein fremdes Gesicht, 'his foreign face', named two lines further down.
> Coined participle for clouded eyes: zerrührt is the participle of zerrühren, 'to stir up until broken apart', again with the disintegrating prefix zer-. It describes ihre Augen, 'their eyes', as churned and clouded.

**10** Augen sein fremdes Gesicht;  
eyes his unfamiliar face;
> fremd spans foreign and strange: fremd covers 'foreign', 'strange', and 'belonging to someone else'. sein fremdes Gesicht means 'his unfamiliar face'. Augen here completes in ihren zerrührten Augen, 'in their stirred-up eyes', carried over from the previous line.

**11** und sie freuen sich des Verführten  
and they take joy in the one led astray
> sich freuen with a genitive object: sich freuen normally takes über or auf; the literary construction sich einer Sache freuen instead uses the genitive, meaning 'to take joy in something'. des Verführten is genitive; der Verführte is the past participle of verführen, 'to lead astray', used as a noun.

**12** und speien, wenn er spricht.  
and spit, when he speaks.
> Strong verb for spitting: speien is a strong, old verb for spitting or spewing, harsher than everyday spucken. wenn er spricht means 'when he speaks'; speien is coordinated with freuen from the line before.

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Source text: public domain (Rainer Maria Rilke, died 1926; Neue Gedichte published 1907 and 1908), from Wikisource. English translation and notes: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC. Narration: synthesized for this edition.