There’s a rock on the plain,
from beneath it water flows,
And written on the rock is a sign:
"Who goes to the right
Will find nothing at all,
Who goes straight ahead
Will get nowhere at all,
And who leftward goes will
Understand Nothing at all
And is lost and will perish in trying."

Not one horse or sword is there
among three who stand and stare
Is it worth it to go, they think.
One was mad at that sight
And he went to the right,
Went alone to the right
And found nothing at all,
Neither village nor wall;
Back he went and returned home to drink.

No path straight ahead there,
and you will get nowhere,
But one didn’t believe in that spell.
He tucks his shirt in and goes
Straight to follow his nose
He went straight, walking tall,
And came nowhere at all,
And he turned and he came back as well.
 

Third one was a fool, they say,
he knew nothing anyway,
And went merrily left without fear.
Long he walked where he could,
Not a thing he understood,
Not a thing he understood,
Not a thing he understood
So he walked all his life as he would -
And didn’t perish, and lived well and good.