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Excerpts from The Ship of Fools
(Narrenschiff)
by Sebastian Brant 1494

Who knowingly goes into fire,
Or enters wells in full attire,
Deserves his fate should he expire.

45. Of Courting Misfortune

Some fools will worship every day
And, as they think, sincerely pray
And call to God with loud appeal:
"O help me, God, my folly heal!"
But still their dunce's cap they don
And every day they put it on
And think that God is saying no,
Yet what they want they never know.
Who leaps into a well through whim
And fearing death that threatens him
Shouts: "Throw a rope, O see my plight!",
Hears neighbors say: "It serves him right,
No one 'Jump in' commanded him,
He could have stayed upon the rim."

Who, lacking merit, seeks a prize
And on a fragile reed relies,
His plans go backward lobster-wise.

57. Predestination of God

God will not let a sinner lie
Unless He knows the reason why,
If everything were once equated
Alone the rose would be created,
But God desired the thistles too,
Justice for all, for me and you.
He'd be a slave of jealous whim
Who'd think the Lord unjust to him
Because He gave him meagerly
And with another one was free.
If you're a slave of indolence,
Then God bestows no recompense,
But many righteous men on earth
Will suffer bitter want and dearth
And God will treat them, every one,
As though a grievous wrong they'd done,
But idiots you will often find
Who have good luck of every kind

And in their sins are frank and free,
As though they lived in sanctity.
God's ways are all mysterious,
Their cause is known to none of us,
The deeper into this we pry,
The less we know the reason why.
And even men who dream and hope
To know the reason merely grope.
The why of such things men are spared
Before to tother world they've fared,
Wherefore let God's predestination
And all His prudent dispensation
Stand undefiled, be dutiful,
For God is good and merciful.
Let God know everything He knows,
Do right, see how your guerdon grows,
Be steadfast, then I'll guarantee
That down in hell you'll never be.

The world is full of superstition,
Men prophesy by stars' position
And every fool deems this his mission.

65. Of Attention to the Stars

Fool he who'd promise more than he
Can keep with full propriety,
More e'en than he'd desire to do.
Physicians well may promise you
But many fools will promise more
Than all the world could hold in store.
For future things one feels a bent,
What stars and what the firmament
And what the planets' course proclaims
And God's wise providential aims.
They wish to know and would discuss
Th' Almighty's plans for all of us,
As though the stars prescribed to you
What you should do and should not do,
As though our Lord were not much higher,
Not guided by His own desire,
And letting even Saturn-born
Be good and pure as is the morn,

While Sun and Jupiter have had
Some children that are very bad.
A Christian true should never heed
Base heathen arts of any creed:
One can't by scanning planets say
If this be our propitious day
For business, war, or marrying,
For friendship or for anything
Whate'er we've done, where'er we've trod,
Our conduct should rely on God.
He lacks a faith in God's creation
Who trusts in any constellation,
Believing certain things are good
And so propitious that we should
Start things of moment only then,
And if they're not accomplished when
The stars are lucky, then delay,
Since that's an unpropitious day...

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