Special Dossier: DEATH - DANSE MACABRE I

Generally, a short dialog is attached to each victim in which Death is summoning him or her to dance, and the summoned is moaning about the near death. In the first printed Totentanz textbook (Anon.: Vierzeiliger oberdeutscher Totentanz, Heidelberger Blockbuch, approx. 1460), Death addresses e.g. the emperor:

Emperor, your sword won’t help you out
Sceptre and crown are worthless here
I’ve taken you by the hand
For you must come to my dance

At the bottom end of the Totentanz Death calls e.g. the peasant to dance and he answers:

I had to work very much and very hard
The sweat was running down my skin
I’d like to escape death nontheless
But here I won’t have any luck