Der König in Thule [German ballade][+English translation]

“Der König in Thule“ (“The King in Thule“) is a German poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, written in 1774. Goethe wrote the poem “Geistesgruß“ as a precursor of “Der König in Thule“, while he was travelling to Lahneck Castle on the river Lahn in July 1774. Under Herder’s influence, the setting was changed to the mythical island kingdom Thule, which was thought to be the northernmost place Greek seafarers ventured in antiquity. Goethe used it later in his tragedy Faust (part I, lines 2759–82) as Gretchen’