"Elfenlied" is a poem written in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 by Eduard Mörike

Eduard Mörike

Eduard Friedrich Mörike was a German Romantic poet.-Biography:Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg. His father was Karl Friedrich Mörike , a district medical councilor; his mother was Charlotte Bayer...

 that was adapted into a lied

Lied

is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...

 by Hugo Wolf

Hugo Wolf

Hugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...

.

The poem

In German

Bei Nacht im Dorf der Wächter rief: Elfe!

Ein ganz kleines Elfchen im Walde schlief

wohl um die Elfe!

Und meint, es rief ihm aus dem Tal

bei seinem Namen die Nachtigall,

oder Silpelit hätt' ihm gerufen.

Reibt sich der Elf' die Augen aus,

begibt sich vor sein Schneckenhaus

und ist als wie ein trunken Mann,

sein Schläflein war nicht voll getan,

und humpelt also tippe tapp

durch's Haselholz in's Tal hinab,

schlupft an der Mauer hin so dicht,

da sitzt der Glühwurm Licht an Licht.

Was sind das helle Fensterlein?

Da drin wird eine Hochzeit sein:

die Kleinen sitzen bei'm Mahle,

und treiben's in dem Saale.

Da guck' ich wohl ein wenig 'nein!«

Pfui, stößt den Kopf an harten Stein!

Elfe, gelt, du hast genug?

Gukuk!

Translation

At night in the village the watchman cried "Elf!"(english meaning "elf" like a fairy or sprite)

A very small elf was asleep in the wood –

just around the eleven! –

And he thinks that the nightingale

must have called him by name from the valley,

or Silpelit might have sent for him.

So the elf rubs his eyes,

comes out of his snail-shell house,

and is like a drunken man,

his nap was not finished;

and he hobbles down, tip tap,

through the hazel wood into the valley,

slips right up to the wall;

there sits the glow-worm, light on light.

"What are those bright windows?

There must be a wedding inside;

the little people are sitting at the feast,

and fooling around in the ballroom.

So I'll just take a peep in!"

Shame! he hits his head on hard stone!

Well, elf, had enough, have you?

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

Elfen Lied

The majority of the song or poem entitled "Lilium" is included within the opening theme of the successful anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series Elfen Lied

Elfen Lied

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Lynn Okamoto. A thirteen-episode anime television series adaptation was produced by the studio ARMS and broadcast on TV Tokyo from July to October 2004. The anime was later licensed in North America on DVD by ADV Films...

 but is a Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 song, not to be confused with this German poem.

A sung version of this poem ("Elfenlied") appears in the original manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

; however, no reference to the Latin "Lilium" is made.