In England Christian Morgenstern‘s Werwolf should have become Was-Wolf in singular and Were-Wolves in plural, but our hero speaks only German.
Ein Werwolf eines Nachts entwich
von Weib und Kind und sich begab
an eines Dorfschullehrers Grab
und bat ihn: Bitte, beuge mich!
A werewolf ran away one night from his wife and child and came to the grave of the village schoolmaster asking him: “Please, decline me!”
All of them, Rainer Maria Rilke, Paul Celan, Georg Heym, Christian Morgenstern, felt that something terrible was looming. One hundred percent German and Austrian feeling of the early 20th century.
But Morgenstern was able to drive this fright away. Black humor poetry may always help us.
Zwar Wölfe gäb’s in großer Schar,
doch „Wer” gäb’s nur im Singular.
Although there are so many wolves, but “who” exists only in singular.
English title: Christian Morgenstern “Werewolf”
Original title (German): Christian Morgenstern “Werewolf”
First published in the Levinarium Telegram Channel (now closed and deleted)