Written about 27 January 1865.
["Der Social-Demokrat", No. 18, 5 February 1865]

Early in the morning, when day broke,
Lord Tidmann dressed before the bed,
And he put on his shirt so fine.
That praise all the Southland folk.

He put on his shirt so fine,
His silken coat was lordly and green,
Buckskin boots he laced on his leg.
That praise all the Southland folk.

Buckskin boots he laced on his leg,
Gilded spurs he buckled on,
So he fared to the Süderharde Thing.
That praise all the Southland folk.

So he fared to the Süderharde Thing,
The tax he demanded of every Edeling;
Seven bushels of rye from every man’s plough.
That praise all the Southland folk.

Seven bushels of rye from every man’s plough,
The fourth swine from the mast forest –
Up then stood the old man.
That praise all the Southland folk.

Up then stood the old man:
“None of us can give that,
And ere we pay the tax” –
That praise all the Southland folk.

“And ere we pay the tax,
Every man stays here at the Thing –
You Süderharde peasants, stand together in a ring!”
That praise all the Southland folk.

“You Süderharde peasants, stand together in a ring,
Lord Tidmann shall not come alive from the Thing!”
The first blow the old man struck.
That praise all the Southland folk.

The first blow the old man struck,
Lord Tidmann he struck down to the ground,
There lies Lord Tidmann, the blood runs from him.
That praise all the Southland folk.

There lies Lord Tidmann, the blood runs from him,
But free goes the plough in the black ground,
Free go the swine in the mast forest.
That praise all the Southland folk.

This piece of medieval peasant war takes place in the Süderharde (Harde is a judicial district) north of Aarhus in Jutland. At the Thing, the judicial assembly of the district, not only judicial but also tax and administrative matters were dealt with, and as with the rise of the nobility the latter confronted the Edelings, i.e. the free peasants, the song shows just as much as the way in which the peasants knew how to set bounds to aristocratic arrogance. In a country like Germany, where the possessing class contains as much feudal nobility as bourgeoisie and the proletariat as many or more agricultural proletarians as industrial workers, the sturdy old peasant song will be altogether in place.

Friedrich Engels