How do you do, Our dear spectators, Our severe critics! You will see a film About the last real swindler. Swindlers - Are dishonest people - They play dirty tricks, And for that they are kept in houses, Which are called prisons. Prisons - Are strong buildings, Windows, doors are with grilles, - They can better be looked at, It is better only to look at them. This film - Is no parting words for lads, And much less for girls, This is simply a play, And what a play. Swindlers - We meet sometimes, - It’s true, considerately less often, Less often than at the tsar Or shall we say, in America. Don’t consider this film As a decision: All of it is a joke and fictions, This is simply a play, And what a play.
© Elisabeth Jelinek. Translation, 2018