From 'Carmina Burana,' a collection of these songs in
Latin and German preserved in a MS. of the thirteenth
century; edited by J. A. Schmeller, Breslau, 1883. This song
is page 181 ff., in German, 'Nu Suln Wir Alle Froeude Han.'

The steps of the dance are not remote; and the same echo haunts
another song of the sort:--

Dance we now the measure,
Dance, lady mine!
May, the month of pleasure,
Comes with sweet sunshine.

Winter vexed the meadow
Many weary hours:
Fled his chill and shadow,--
Lo, the fields are laughing
Red with flowers.[6]

[6] Ibid., page 178: 'Springe wir den Reigen.'

Or the song at the dance may set forth some of the preliminaries, as
when a girl is supposed to sing:--

Care and sorrow, fly away!
On the green field let us play,
Playmates gentle, playmates mine,
Where we see the bright flowers shine,
I say to thee, I say to thee,
Playmate mine, O come with me!

Gracious Love, to me incline,
Make for me a garland fine,--
Garland for the man to wear
Who can please a maiden fair.
I say to thee, I say to thee,
Playmate mine, O come with me![7]

[7] Ibid., page 213: 'Ich wil Truren Varen lan.'

The greeting from youth to maiden, from maiden to youth, was doubtless
a favorite bit of folk-song, whether at the dance or as independent
lyric. Readers of the 'Library' will find such a greeting incorporated
in 'Child Maurice'[8]; only there it is from the son to his mother,
and with a somewhat eccentric list of comparisons by way of detail,
instead of the terse form known to German tradition:--

Soar, Lady Nightingale, soar above!
A hundred thousand times greet my love!

[8] Article in 'Ballads,' Vol. iii., page 1340.

The variations are endless; one of the earliest is found in a charming
Latin tale of the eleventh century, 'Rudlieb,' "the oldest known
romance in European literature." A few German words are mixed with the
Latin; while after the good old ballad way the greeting is first given
to the messenger, and repeated when the messenger performs his
task:--"I wish thee as much joy as there are leaves on the trees,--and
as much delight as birds have, so much love (_minna_),--and as much
honor I wish thee as there are flowers and grass!" Competent critics
regard this as a current folk-song of greeting inserted in the
romance, and therefore as the oldest example of _minnesang_ in German
literature. Of th