Tand, Tand / Ist das Gebilde von Menschenhand! Trinkets, trinkets, is the work of human hands! Theodor Fontane wrote Die Brück’ am Tay about the railway bridge in Scotland that collapsed in a storm on 28 December 1879. The ballad appeared in January 1880. It is often read in German schools.
In the poem the bridge is a pride. Und unser Stolz ist unsre Brück. And our pride is our bridge. The engine is trusted to win against the storm. Ein fester Kessel, ein doppelter Dampf, / Die bleiben Sieger in solchem Kampf. A sturdy boiler, a double steam, they will win such a fight. Three voices, the witches of Macbeth, destroy the bridge, and they have the last word.
A ballad that many German pupils read about a great work of engineering warns against trusting it too much.