If you want to see a beautiful tree,
And what I tell you is true,
Then you should go to that little spot
There by the Hessenweg.
When that tree first began to grow,
No one really knows,
But if it could speak today,
This is the song you would hear.
Chorus.
I know, I’ll find you by the lime tree,
Known to every Aalten resident,
Then the lime tree sang, mind how I bind
Those two together, as I have done with many a pair.
It was already a long time ago,
Back in the olden days,
When merchants could be seen here again,
Coming from far away.
Travel was still slow then,
And when they were tired and weary,
They gladly rested here for a while,
And this was heard beneath the tree.
Chorus.
Many a plan has been thought up there,
Out on the Aalten Es,
And many fine hours have been spent,
Lying there in the grass.
You can rest there well when you are tired,
From work or after the dance,
The old folk knew that too,
They thought the same back then.
Chorus.
When summer comes and many a couple
Again goes courting gladly,
They know very well — and no surprise —
Where that lime tree stands.
When the tree is in full leaf,
They can sit there at ease,
And then that song sounds especially fine
Beneath the green canopy of leaves.
Chorus.
