Maria durch ein Dornwald ging

"Mary walked amid a thorny wood" is a "macaronic" verse, a tradition in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, where different languages were mixed in poetic contexts to achieve a humorous effect. This seven-stanza piece in German and Greek was originally published in 1850. Other traditional macaronic carols like "In dulci jubilo" and "There is no rose of such virtue"  inspired the composer Aberg to this piece.