The lines from Goethe's poem that Shade includes in his own come from a literal translation of the original German words. In the seventh stanza of the poem, the boy's fear of the erlking makes him unwilling (or unable, this is ambiguous) to continue on the journey home. The father gets frustrated at what he thinks is simply his son's overgrown imagination and exclaims that he will use force to make his son come home. The literal translation reads:
"I love you, your beautiful form entices me;
And if you're not willing, then I will use force."
This wording implies something that is so far off from the rest of the poem that it is almost laughable. Nothing else in the poem hints at rape, abuse, or any other maltreatment of any kind. A mistranslation very similar to this appears in Kinbote's note to lines 433-434. Disa writes a letter - in English - to Charles the Beloved stating, among other things, "I want you to know that no matter how much you hurt me, you cannot hurt my love." Between her translation to English, the translation of that into Zemblan by a Hindu member of the Extremist party, and a retranslation back into English for the reader, this sentence somehow turns into: "I desire you and love when you flog me." Again, this wording implies something that is so far off from the rest of the story that it is almost laughable. Thus, we see again the reflection of 'The Erlking' in Pale Fire.
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