Three dull men walking all day
Saw a bear along the way
Pretty scared climbing the glen
To take refuge in its den.
“Let us catch it!” one did yell
“To a gypsy we’ll then sell”.
“But how can we” asked the other,
“From his den to get him, brother?”
“This is how” explained the third
While beginning to un-gird,
“Quickly give your belts, you lot,
Make a chain, this is our plot
You will tie me by my feet
Holding strong and do not cheat
While I enter in the den
You will hold and count to ten
When I get hold of the bear
You will drag us from its lair
When we’ll have it in our hand
We will do as we have planned.”
And they followed in this vein
Made their belts up in a chain
By his feet they tied the strap
In the den they pushed him up.
But then as he reached right in
To seize the beast by its chin
The bear grabs him by his head
Gulps it like a piece of bread.
While still squirming in its claws
His mates dragged him from the jaws
And they wondered with deep dread
Seeing that he had no head.
Asking: “Did he have - dear me! -
Vlad a head, perhaps, you see?”
Said the other: “Can’t remember
If Vlad ever had such member.”
They couldn’t tell for dear life,
Thus, they went to ask his wife.
So, they left the dead to lie
Went to her without delay
Asking: “Stana, tell us please
As we cannot stand this tease,
Had your husband - him that was,
Before entering the bear’s jaws -
With a head, like us, been blessed?
Or was not? for you know best.”
She stopped briefly to demure
And she answered: “I’m not sure
But for Easter, at the fair
He bought a hat and cut his hair.”
(from the volume Testament - 400 de ani de poezie românească - 400 Years of Romanian Poetry - Daniel Ionita - editor and principal translator, assisted by Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster - Minerva Publishing- 2019)
Translator: Daniel Ioniță
see more poems written by: Anton Pann
