Weiß wie Schnee [English translation]

They gave me so many names

Perchta1, Gode2, Hel3 and Frigg4

I give life and I kill

Both with a single glance

Your children know me as Frau Holle5

What's derived from Hold and Holle6

The good make my heart rejoice

But the lazy are doomed

You believe I live on clouds

Just like in the song the good fairy

And a feather falls from the pillow

It's dancing down to earth like snow

White as snow is my hair

White as snow appears my robe

White as snow deathly cold falls

in rough nights on the land

White as snow

White as snow

White as snow, deathly cold falls

In rough nights on the land

Twelve nights in the twelfth month

I go on the Wild Hunt7

At my side Knecht Ruprecht 8

Who'll ask every child

Whether they behaved or were lazy

The past year

The dark servant punishes you with the rod9

But I devour lazy children

White as snow is my hair

White as snow appears my robe

White as snow deathly cold falls

in rough nights on the land

White as snow

White as snow

White as snow, deathly cold falls

In rough nights on the land

My castle is cold and dark

located at the base of the Tree of Life10

In my kingdom, there are no heroes11

Only the end of a dream

White as snow is my hair

White as snow appears my robe

White as snow deathly cold falls

in rough nights on the land

White as snow

White as snow

White as snow, deathly cold falls

in rough nights on the land

1. goddess in Alpine paganism, commonly depicted with white hair2. more commonly spelled as Wode or Wōden, is the Anglo-Saxon god of hunting3. in Norse mythology the goddess of the underworld4. a goddess in Norse mythology, the wife of Odin5. a German fairy tale and related to the goddess Perchta6. Frau Holle is also known as Frau Hold or Frau Holda7. reference to Gode/Wode/Wōden8. Saint Nicholas' companion in German folklore9. Knecht Ruprecht wears a black robe and punishes kids with a rod when they misbehaved10. the tree of life, or Yggdrasill, is in Norse mythology/cosmology the tree that connects the nine worlds, including Niflheimr, a realm of primordial ice and cold, and Helheimr, the place where all the souls go that cannot go to Valhalla/Niflheimr11. this seems to be a reference to Jötunheimr, home of the Jötnar. The Jötnar are creatures refused by the Æsir (a member of the principal pantheon in Norse religion, this pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr and Týr) to enter their world, Asgard (home of the gods and heroes).