# Legende von den drei Lebendigen und den drei Toten · Legend of the Three Living and the Three Dead

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

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/legende-von-den-drei-lebendigen-und-den-drei-toten. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/rilke/legende-von-den-drei-lebendigen-und-den-drei-toten.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/rilke/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Drei Herren hatten mit Falken gebeizt  
Three lords had been hawking with falcons
> To hunt with hawks: beizen is the falconer's verb for hunting with a trained bird of prey. mit Falken gebeizt means 'hunted with falcons'. hatten gebeizt is the past perfect, the auxiliary hatten plus the participle gebeizt, showing the hunt already finished before the scene opens.

**2** und freuten sich auf das Gelag.  
and were looking forward to the feast.
> Looking forward with auf: sich freuen auf means 'to look forward to' something still ahead, unlike sich freuen über, 'to be glad about' something already present. auf takes the accusative here, auf das Gelag, because it points to an event not yet happened. Gelag is a drinking feast.

**3** Da nahm sie der Greis in Beschlag  
Then the old man took them in hand
> Fixed idiom for taking hold: in Beschlag nehmen is a set phrase, 'to seize, take possession of'. Da nahm sie der Greis in Beschlag puts the verb nahm second and the subject der Greis after it, the normal order once a sentence opens with da.

**4** und führte. Die Reiter hielten gespreizt  
and led. The riders halted, legs splayed,
> A verb with no object: führen, 'to lead', usually takes an accusative object, but the line ends und führte with none stated. The verb stands alone, meaning 'and led on'. gespreizt is the participle of spreizen, 'to spread apart', describing the riders' splayed legs.

**5** vor dem dreifachen Sarkophag,  
before the threefold sarcophagus,


**6** der ihnen dreimal entgegenstank,  
which stank up at them three times over,
> Separable prefix stays fused: entgegenstinken joins stinken, 'to stink', with the prefix entgegen, 'toward'. It governs the dative ihnen, 'stink toward them'. Here it stays one word, entgegenstank, because the relative pronoun der sends the verb to the end of its clause.

**7** in den Mund, in die Nase, ins Sehn;  
into the mouth, into the nose, into the sight;
> Seeing used as a noun: Sehn is a shortened form of Sehen, the infinitive sehen used as a neuter noun meaning 'the seeing' or 'sight'. ins contracts in plus das. It follows Mund and Nase in the same list, all objects of in.

**8** und sie wußten es gleich: da lagen lang  
and at once they knew it: there lay, long,
> Old spelling of wussten: wußten is the simple past of wissen, 'to know a fact'. The ß reflects spelling before the 1996 reform; current German writes wussten, since the vowel is short. es gleich wissen means 'to know it at once'.

**9** drei Tote mitten im Untergang  
three dead men in the midst of decay
> Going under as decay: Untergang literally means 'a going under', used for a sunset, a shipwreck, or ruin. mitten im Untergang, 'in the midst of going under', applies the word to the three corpses, naming their decay as still in progress rather than finished.

**10** und ließen sich gräßlich gehn.  
and let themselves go, hideously.
> To let oneself go: sich gehen lassen is an idiom meaning 'to let oneself go', to stop holding oneself together. ließen sich gräßlich gehn puts gräßlich, 'hideously', as an adverb modifying the infinitive gehn, which depends on ließen.


**11** Und sie hatten nur noch ihr Jägergehör  
And all they still had was their hunter's hearing
> Only still left: nur noch means 'only still' or 'nothing but left', marking what remains after everything else is gone. Jägergehör is a compound of Jäger, 'hunter', and Gehör, 'hearing', naming the one sense that stays with them.

**12** reinlich hinter dem Sturmbandlör;  
kept clean behind the chin-strap's ear-flap;
> An invented rhyme word: Sturmbandlör is not a standard German word. Sturmband is a helmet's chin strap; the ending is bent to rhyme with Gehör in the line before. It names the area of the ear covered by that strap, reinlich meaning 'cleanly'.

**13** doch da zischte der Alte sein:  
but then the old man hissed his:
> Adjective used as a noun: der Alte takes the adjective alt, 'old', and uses it as a masculine noun, 'the old man', matching der Greis from the first stanza. sein is a possessive, 'his', left standing before the colon that follows on the next line.

**14** –Sie gingen nicht durch das Nadelöhr  
–They did not pass through the needle's eye

**15** und gehen niemals–hinein.  
and never will go–in.
> Separable prefix held back: hinein, meaning 'in, inward, away from the speaker', is the separable part of hineingehen, 'to go in'. A dash sets it apart from gehen niemals, so it lands after a pause: they never go in.


**16** Nun blieb ihnen noch ihr klares Getast,  
Now there still remained to them their clear sense of touch,
> Touch named as a noun: Getast comes from tasten, 'to feel, to grope', with the Ge- prefix that forms a collective noun, here 'the sense of touch'. blieb ihnen uses the dative ihnen, 'to them', in the construction jemandem bleibt etwas, 'something is left to someone'.

**17** das stark war vom Jagen und heiß;  
which was strong from the hunting, and hot;
> An infinitive used as a noun: Jagen is the infinitive jagen, 'to hunt', used as a neuter noun, 'the hunting'. vom contracts von dem and marks cause, 'strong from the hunting'. das is a relative pronoun referring back to Getast, the subject of war.

**18** doch das hatte ein Frost von hinten gefaßt  
but a frost had seized it from behind
> To grip, in the pluperfect: fassen means 'to grasp, seize, take hold of'. hatte gefaßt is the past perfect, with the older spelling gefaßt for gefasst. The object das comes before the subject ein Frost, giving 'a frost had seized it from behind'.

**19** und trieb ihm Eis in den Schweiß.  
and drove ice into its sweat.
> Dative marking who is affected: treiben means 'to drive, force'. The dative ihm marks the thing affected by the action, not the subject: 'drove ice into its sweat'. Eis is the accusative object and Schweiß, 'sweat', follows the preposition in.

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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.