aus Jost Ammans Ständebuch, VI

In court, if I defend a crook,

He usually gets off the hook.

My arguments are super-slick;

I never miss a legal trick

To fool the jury. Even so,

What comes around around must go.

But till my ways catch up with me,

I grow rich when my clients walk free.

aus Jost Ammans Ständebuch, V

I’ll make you clocks that ring and chime,
And accurately tell the time,
From brass and glass and tiny gears.
They won’t lose time for several years.
I’ll also make the outer case
And paint the numbers on the face.
I’ll pour my care and effort in it,
So that you’ll know the hour and minute.

aus Jost Ammans Ständebuch, IV

A good tradesman, I’m hardly poor,
With sundry wares stocked in my store:
Spices, cloth (both wool and flax),
Velvet and silk, honey and wax,
And foreign goods——I’ve got all sorts——
That I ship home from foreign ports,
With worry and painstaking care,
For danger’s lurking everywhere.

aus Jost Ammans Ständebuch, III

I’m a ship’s captain on the sea.
This compass here will show to me
Where on the ocean we are bound;
But when we hear the thunder sound,
And winds are high, and waves are steep,
We’ll plunge the anchor in the deep.
So that the ship will stay secure
Until cruel Fortune smiles once more.

aus Jost Ammans Ständebuch, II

I practice Carpentry, the trade

You need if you need buildings made.

I'll build a house; I'll build a mill;

I'll build a castle on a hill,

Or barracks for the military.

I'll build a bridge; I'll build a ferry.
I'll build good ships and solid rafts;

Daedalus taught me all his crafts.

aus Jost Ammans Ständebuch, I

I cast type for the printer's trade;
Of tin and lead my type is made.
I keep proportions in alignment,
Designing forms with all refinement:
Both Roman and Italic faces
With Greek for extra-special places
And capitals and punctuation.
The press depends on my vocation.