Lyrks
Lyrks
Lyrks
Cover Art

A Chinese Puzzle Lyrics by Franz Kafka

1961

Once there was a Chinese puzzle, a cheap simple toy, not much bigger than a pocket watch and without any sort of surprising contrivances. Cut into the flat wood, which was painted reddish-brown, there were some blue labyrinthine paths, which all led into a little hole. The ball, which was also blue, had to be got into one of the paths by means of tilting and shaking the box, and then into the hole. Once the ball was in the hole, the game was over, and if one wanted to start all over again, one had to first shake the ball out of the hole. The whole thing was covered over with a strong, convex glass, one could put the puzzle in one's pocket and carry it about with one, and wherever one was, one could take it out and play with it.
If the ball was unemployed, it spent most of the time strolling to and fro, its hands clasped behind its back, on the plateau, avoiding the paths. It held the view that it was quite enough bothered with the paths during the game and that it had every right to recuperate on the open plain when no game was going on. Sometimes it would look up at the vaulted glass, but merely out of habit and quite without any intention of trying to make out anything up there. It had a rather straddling gait and maintained that it was not made for those narrow paths. That was partly true, for indeed those paths could hardly contain it, but it was also untrue, for the fact was that it was very carefully made to fit the width of the paths exactly, but the paths were certainly not meant to be comfortable for it, or else it would not have been a puzzle at all.
Credits
Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka

About “A Chinese Puzzle” by Franz Kafka

Read the complete lyrics to "A Chinese Puzzle" by Franz Kafka in 1961. On Lyrks you can follow along with the full text, explore the artist's discography, and discover related songs. The track is often categorized under Non-Music, Literature.

"A Chinese Puzzle" is performed by Franz Kafka. in 1961 This page provides the full lyric text for fans who want to sing along, study the songwriting, or compare versions across releases. Lyrks organizes lyrics by artist and song slug so you can bookmark and share a stable URL. Music lyrics help listeners connect with emotion, narrative, and rhythm in a track. Whether you are learning English, researching a favorite chorus, or preparing for karaoke, having accurate line breaks and section labels (verse, chorus, bridge) makes the experience easier. We link to the official artist profile on Lyrks where available, including biography snippets, top songs, and chart placements when we have that data. If you enjoy "A Chinese Puzzle", explore more songs by Franz Kafka using the links below. Chart and trending pages on Lyrks highlight what listeners are searching for this week. For copyright or correction requests, see our DMCA and contact pages.

View all songs and biography for Franz Kafka · Trending lyrics · Billboard Hot 100

Frequently asked questions

"A Chinese Puzzle" is credited to Franz Kafka. Songwriting credits may include additional writers listed on the release; check the credits section on this page for linked collaborators.

Album information for "A Chinese Puzzle" is not available in our database yet. You can still read the full lyrics on this page.

Visit the Franz Kafka artist page at /artist/franz-kafka for biography, popular tracks, and links to more lyric pages.