Dunkel war's, der Mond schien helle

My dad recently reminded me of this poem, which I used to love when I was a kid. Unfortunately, there's no real English translation, so I will probably try to translate it - but be warned; it won't be half as good in English as it is in German, because this poem lives through its paradoxes, some of which are really hard to translate into English (especially if I attempt to keep the rhythm of it, which I'm not sure I will - let me direct you to this post about the problems of translating).
The author of the poem is unknown, and one great thing about it is that it has evolved throughout time. The earliest known version is from the 19th century (according to wikipedia) and since then, stanzas have been added or words changed (for example Wagen (coach) is now sometimes Auto (car)). Nowadays there are versions with sixteen stanzas! However, I will only post the first four stanzas, as they are the ones that are normally kept fairly the same, probably because this is the 'most famous' version as children's author James Krüss used it in the 1960s I believe. So, until I have completed the translation (if I ever will), here's the German one for those of you able to understand it:

Dunkel war’s, der Mond schien helle,
schneebedeckt die grüne Flur,
als ein Wagen blitzeschnelle,
langsam um die Ecke fuhr.

Drinnen saßen stehend Leute,
schweigend ins Gespräch vertieft,
Als ein totgeschoss’ner Hase
Auf der Sandbank Schlittschuh lief.

Und ein blondgelockter Jüngling
mit kohlrabenschwarzem Haar
saß auf einer grünen Kiste,
die rot angestrichen war.

Neben ihm ’ne alte Schrulle,
zählte kaum erst sechzehn Jahr,
in der Hand ’ne Butterstulle,
die mit Schmalz bestrichen war.