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B's 🔥Ξdu Ғueㄥ🔥

The poem „Dunkel war’s, der Mond schien helle“ (“It was dark, the moon was shining bright”) comes from an unknown author and was first written down in 1898 in „Volksthümliches aus dem Königreich Sachsen“ (“Folklore from the Kingdom of Saxony”) by Oskar Dähnhardt, though it’s likely much older. It’s part of a genre known as nonsense poetry and is full of contradictions and paradoxes—starting with the title itself, which is a total contradiction.

Over time, tons of versions have popped up. The characters and objects in the poem—like the rabbit that got shot, the green box (later a bench), or the buttered bread—also change in color, shape, and description depending on the version.

The version here is one of the older but already slightly modified ones. It spread widely through word of mouth and school lessons, and today it’s considered a classic piece of German nonsense poetry.