Jos Janssen wrote:

>Der Papa im Gahn tut sich walze     Daddy in the boat starts to dance to it
>Und jubelt vor Freude juchhee.      And cries out in joy "Juchhee"

tun sich walze - IMHO nothing to do with waltz!  Means slapping his thighs!
(Old meaning of walz or waltz - to thump, or beat iron, or children, or
slap thighs in Platt!!)

And a gahn is a flat-bottomed boat like a big punt, so this must be the
upper reaches of the Elbe ...  so how they could tip over I do not know
...

There is another version which I have to drag out of memory of nearly 35
years ago ...

   "Papi hn summt'na entgiggn,
   soo graetlick det Froekn tuot sing't
   Familie gickt sckreklick v'wiggen
   van Maedle g'sing gonz g'senkt"

   (Father swims towards her,
   so graciously sings the girl,
   the family goes completely to pot
   by the siren's song sunk)

That has to be further north, but to my mind seems older.  Alliterative
poetry comes from an earlier age and we inherited some of it in early
English.

but I am coming round to his Thuringian version. Saxon seems more dubious.
Will consult my oracles!!

Christopher Rosevear