GENERAL.
| Who wants to put his faith in nations,
|
| no matter what you’ve done for them?
|
| For with the people just as with a woman
|
| the prize goes always to the young.
|
MINISTER.
4080
| They have abandoned all that’s good these days.
|
| Bring me back the older generation;
|
| for when we better men held sway
|
| it was a happy, golden age.
|
PARVENU.
| We were not altogether stupid either;
|
| here and there we made some tricky deals.
|
| But now the world is topsy-turvy,
|
| just when we meant to keep the status quo.
|
AUTHOR.
| Who would want to read these days
|
| a work of any depth and compass?
|
4090
| As for the touted younger generation,
|
| I never saw one more irreverent.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES
(
who suddenly looks very old
)
.
| Now that I scale this magic hill a final time,
|
| I feel that men are ripe for Judgment Day;
|
| and since my keg is running dry,
|
| the world has reached the edge of time.
|
PEDDLER-WITCH.
| Gentlemen, pray give me some attention!
|
| Don’t pass up this golden opportunity!
|
| Pay close attention to my wares.
|
| Some curious things are on display.
|
4100
| You’ll find no single object in my shop—
|
| the like of which you never saw on earth—
|
| that has not caused at least on one occasion
|
| some splendid hurt to man and nature.
|
| No dagger here from which no blood has spurted,
|
| no cup from which corrosive poison
|
| has not flowed into a healthy body;
|
| no gem that did not trip a lovely maiden,
|
| no sword that did not slash through sacred trusts
|
| or pierce an adversary from behind.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
4110
| Cousin, you are way behind the times.
|
| What’s done is past! What’s past is done!
|
| You should go in for novelties!
|
| Something new is what we want.
|
FAUST.
| If only I could keep my mind from snapping,
|
| I’d call this fair a fair to end all fairs!
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| There is an upward swirl and jostle here;
|
| he who’s pushed imagines that he’s pushing.
|
FAUST.
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| Observe her very closely!
|
| She is Lilith.
|
FAUST.
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| The first of Adam’s wives.
52
|
4120
| Be on guard against her lovely hair,
|
| against adornments that outshine all others.
|
| When a man is tangled in its toils,
|
| Lilith will not lightly let him go.
|
FAUST.
| Two sit over there, one old and haggard and one young;
|
| both have danced and whirled about, it seems.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| Today there is no rest for you;
|
| the dance resumes. Let’s get into the fray.
|
FAUST
(
dancing with the
YOUNG WITCH
)
.
| Once I fell to pleasant dreaming:
|
| I saw a sturdy apple tree
|
4130
| With two apples on it gleaming
53
|
| I climbed it, for they tempted me.
|
PRETTY WITCH.
| You want apples of a pleasing size;
|
| You’ve looked for them since paradise.
|
| I am thrilled with joy and pleasure,
|
| For my garden holds such treasure.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES
(
dancing with the
OLD WITCH
)
.
| Once I had a savage dream:
|
| I saw an ancient, cloven tree
|
| In which a giant hole did gleam;
|
| Big as it was, it suited me.
|
OLD WITCH.
4140
| Let me salute and welcome you;
|
| The cloven hoof shows through your shoe!
|
| A giant stopper will ensure
|
| That you can fill the aperture.
54
|
PROCTOPHANTASMIST
.
55
| Shameless mob! What on earth is this?
|
| Has it not been proven long ago:
|
| Spirits do not walk on solid ground?
|
| Now you presume to dance like one of us!
|
PRETTY WITCH
(
dancing
)
.
| What could he be doing at our ball?
|
FAUST
(
dancing
)
.
| You may find him anywhere, my dear.
|
4150
| When others dance, he’s got to criticize,
|
| and if he fails to criticize a step,
|
| that step might just as well have not been taken.
|
| His chagrin grows most severe when we move forward.
|
| If we would only spin around in circles,
|
| the way he grinds his ancient mill,
|
| he may at best abstain from censure,
|
| especially if you loudly sing his praises.
|
PROCTOPHANTASMIST.
| You are still here! Incredible, such insolence!
|
| Clear out! We are enlightened, don’t you know?
|
4160
| The devil’s pack ignores all rules and standards.
|
| We are so smart, but still the ghosts haunt Tegel.
56
|
| How I have worked to clear the air of superstition!
|
| But—such insolence—the folly still clings everywhere.
|
PRETTY WITCH.
| Now go away, you’re boring us to tears!
|
PROCTOPHANTASMIST.
| I must tell you, spirits, to your face:
|
| I won’t accept your spectral impositions
|
| because they can’t be classified.
|
| (
The dancing continues
.)
|
| Right now it seems that I can do but little,
|
| but I am always pleased to take a trip.
57
|
4170
| Before I take my final step,
|
| I’ll vanquish both the devils and the poets.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| Now he will squat upon the nearest puddle—
|
| in this manner he relieves his trouble;
|
| and when the leeches gorge themselves on his behind
|
| he will be cured of spirits and of mind.
|
| (
To
FAUST
,
who has left his dancing partner and stands alone
.)
|
| Why did you ditch your dancing partner
|
| who sang so sweetly to the music?
|
FAUST.
| Ah, right in the middle of her melody
|
| a scarlet mouse sprang from her lips.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
4180
| That’s nothing much. You need not be alarmed;
|
| the mouse was after all not gray.
|
| Who’d ask questions in so sweet an hour?
|
FAUST.
MEPHISTOPHELES.
FAUST.
| Mephisto, do you see
|
| a pale and lovely child, far away and quite alone?
|
| She is gliding slowly from her place;
|
| she appears to move with fettered feet.
|
| I must confess, it seems to me
|
| that she resembles my dear Gretchen.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| Leave that be! It bodes no good to anyone.
|
4190
| It is a lifeless magic shape, an idol;
|
| it is unwise to meet it anywhere.
|
| Its rigid stare congeals the blood of men
|
| so that they nearly turn to stone.
|
| You’ve heard of the Medusa, I suppose.
|
FAUST.
| Now I see a dead girl’s eyes
|
| which were never closed by loving hands.
|
| That is the breast which Gretchen yielded me,
|
| the blessed body I enjoyed.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| You are too gullible, you fool! It’s make-believe!
|
4200
| To all she seems their own beloved.
|
FAUST.
| What ecstasy! What anguish and despair!
|
| I cannot turn my eyes away.
|
| How strange a single crimson thread,
|
| no broader than a razor’s edge,
|
| would look upon her lovely throat.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| Quite right. Now I can see it too. What’s more,
|
| she also holds her head beneath her arm,
|
| since Perseus struck it from her trunk.
58
|
| Must you always hanker after phantoms?
|
4210
| Climb up that little hill with me;
|
| it is as lively as the Prater
59
there.
|
| And unless I’m totally bewitched,
|
| I see a ready stage and curtain.
|
| What are they doing?
|
SERVIBILIS
.
60
| They will resume in just a moment.
|
| Another piece, the last of seven pieces.
|
| It is the custom here to show a lot.
|
| An amateur composed the play,
|
| and amateurs make up the cast.
|
| Allow me, sirs, to disappear
|
4220
| and be an amateurish curtain-raiser.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| I am glad to find you on the Brocken,
|
| for that’s the proper place for you.
|
WALPURGIS-NIGHT’S DREAM
or
OBERON AND TITANIA’S GOLDEN WEDDING
61
Intermezzo
THEATER MANAGER.
| Let us rest today for once,
|
|
my excellent sons of Mieding.
62
|
| “Ancient hill and greening vale”
|
| is all the scenery required.
|
