Yesterday, I turned within and asked what the topic for the next post should be. Instead of straightforward answer, a German children’s song kept playing in my mind:
‘Auf de Schwäb’sche Eisebahne’ (On the Swabian Railway).
I had to google the lyrics. Apparently, as a child I never got past the third verse of the song. I was completely unaware of its story.
It is about a farmer who wants to take the Swabian train. He takes his goat to the train and binds it to the rear end of it. Probably, he assumes that the train won’t be faster than one of those oxcarts which he is used to. The he gets on the train.
At the next station, he gets off and wants to untie the goat from the train, but he finds only its head and the leash dangling there.
The farmer gets very upset. He grabs the head of the goat, throws it against the porter and yells,
“For the damage you must pay, you drove much too fast today.”
(There is even an English translation on the web http://germanrail.fr.yuku.com/topic/832/Auf-de-schwbsche-Eisebahne-On-the-Swabian-Railway#.VKl0nmd0zuo )
That could mean two things:
Either, I should not complain when the metaphorical train I have boarded is going much faster than expected.
Or I should write another post about forgiveness. ACIM style, of course.