Walter Meyer wrote:

>>Well, we only have the guy's half of the story.  He tells us (in Die
>>Wetterfahne) that he has been shunned because some other guy promises to
>>be a wealthier son-in-law.
>
>You're probably right.  Although it seems unlikely that the girl would ave
>attracted a rich suitor while the narrator was still a guest sleeping her
>house.  I wonder if that last line "Ihr Kind ist eine reiche Braut" ("Her
>child is a wealthy bride") isn't simply a masochistic fantasy.

The whole case is very complicated because the guy himself constantly
wavers between different feelings against his beloved: one time he is
furious, then he is full of tenderness.  Maybe it wasn't all her fault
(as it is the Schoene Muellerin's fault).  It was very often the case
that the parents were the matchmakers against the children's wishes.

Robert Peters