"Elfenlied" by Eduard Mörike

At night in the village the watchman cried "Elf!"

A very small elf was asleep in the wood –

just around the eleven! 

And he thinks that the nightingale

must have called him by name from the valley,

or Silpelit might have sent for him.

So the elf rubs his eyes,

comes out of his snail-shell house,

and is like a drunken man,

his nap was not finished;

and he hobbles down, tip tap,

through the hazel wood into the valley,

slips right up to the wall;

there sits the glow-worm, light on light.

"What are those bright windows?

There must be a wedding inside;

the little people are sitting at the feast,

and fooling around in the ballroom.

So I'll just take a peep in!"

Shame! he hits his head on hard stone!

Well, elf, had enough, have you?

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

*The poem is a direct inspiration for Elfen Lied, a Japanese manga—and concurrently anime—series created by Lynn Okamoto. A sung version of "Elfenlied" appears in the manga. Also, the term "Silpelit" is used in the series to describe a category of Diclonius, which refers to an evolved subspecies of humans to which the main character belongs... From Wikipedia..