83. Of the character of the Feuerreiter, a creation of Mörike, only this much is clear: he fights fire and has often used sinfully ( freventlich ) holy means ( des heil'gen Kreuzes Span ) to charm fire. Finally, however, he becomes a victim of the infernal powers.
21. DER ROTE HAHN, the symbol of fire.
26. FEIND, Satan.
40. As the refrain in the preceding stanzas has depicted the tolling of the bell, so the sudden break here depicts the ceasing.
42. MÜßEN, old weak dative.
84. In its beautiful simplicity this song has become a folksong, Since it presents many metrical irregularities, the following scansion may be found useful. A dot is used to indicate pitch accent.[*]
[* Transcriber's note: Here represented by 'Y'.]
X — X — X — — XX — X — XX — XX — X — XX — X Y — X — X — X — X — X — X — X — X X — X — X Y — X — X — — XX — X — X — XX — X — XX — X X — X — — X — X — X — X — X — X X — X — X
86. Mörike found the name Rohtraut by chance in an old German lexicon. The full vowel coloring appealed to him and called forth this ballad.
5. TUT etc., dialectic periphrastic conjugation = fischt und jagt.