Idylle vom Bodensee

Idylle vom Bodensee, an idyllic poem in seven cantos of classical hexameters (c.1, 500 lines) written by E. Mörike 1845-6, and published in 1846. The basis of the poem is the story of the boatman Tone, who, jilted by his sweetheart Gertrud, finds a better choice in the shepherdess Margarete. The youths of the village play a prank on Gertrud and her bridegroom, the rich but dull-witted son of the miller of Barnau, by unloading their household goods in the middle of a wood. This story is framed (see Rahmen) in the account of a trick, which Martin, the fisherman of the village, plays on the village tailor, leading him to try to make off with and sell a non-existent church bell.

The most attractive feature of the poem is the evocation of the fertile landscape around Lake Constance.