Part 8
MEPHISTOPHELES. Quite right! I see it too. She can carry her head beneath her arm as well, For Perseus cut it off from her. Only always this lust for delusion! Come now up to this little hill, Here it is as merry as the Prater And though no one has done me a favor, I truly see a theater. What is there then?
SERVIBILIS. They'll begin again at once. A new play, the last of seven. To give so many is the custom here, A dilettante wrote it And dilettantes act it too. Forgive me, sirs, if I vanish— I'm a dilettante at drawing the curtain.
MEPHISTOPHELES. If I find you on the Blocksberg, I'll like that well; for there you belong.
Walpurgis Night's Dream
or Oberon and Titania's Golden Wedding Intermezzo
THEATER DIRECTOR. Today we rest awhile, Mieding's worthy sons. Old mountain and damp valley, That is the whole scene!
HERALD. That the wedding be golden, Fifty years must have passed; But if the strife is ended, The golden pleases me better.
OBERON. If you are spirits, where I am, Show it in these hours; King and Queen Are newly bound again.
PUCK. Puck comes and turns askew And drags his foot in the dance; A hundred follow behind, To rejoice with him too.
ARIEL. Ariel moves the song In heavenly pure tones; Many masks his sound lures, Yet he lures the fair ones too.
OBERON. Spouses who would be reconciled, Learn it from us two! If two are to love, One need only part them.
TITANIA. If the man sulks and the wife is whimsical, Then seize her quickly, Lead her to me after noon, And him to the north's end.
ORCHESTRA TUTTI (Fortissimo). Fly-snout and gnat-nose With their relations, Frog in the leaf and cricket in the grass, Those are the musicians!
SOLO. See, there comes the bagpipe! It is the soap bubble. Hear the snail's snick-snack Through his blunt nose.
SPIRIT, JUST TAKING FORM. Spider-foot and toad-belly And little wings for the mite! True, no beast there is, Yet there is a little poem.
A PAIR. Little step and high leap Through honey-dew and scents; Though you trip enough for me, Yet we rise not into the air.
CURIOUS TRAVELER. Is this not mockery of the masque? Shall I trust my eyes, Oberon, the beautiful god, To see here today as well?
ORTHODOX. No claws, no tail! Yet it remains beyond doubt. As the gods of Greece, So too is he a devil.
NORTHERN ARTIST. What I grasp today Is surely but in sketches; Yet I prepare in time For the Italian journey.
PURIST. Alas! my misfortune brings me here. How they revel here! And of the whole witch-host Only two are powdered.
YOUNG WITCH. The powder is like the gown For old and gray dames, Therefore I sit naked on my goat And show a sturdy bodice.
MATRON. We have too much breeding To scold here with you! Yet I hope, should you young and tender As you are, rot away.
CONDUCTOR. Fly-snout and gnat-nose Do not swarm around the naked one! Frog in the leaf and cricket in the grass, Now keep the beat too!
WEATHERVANE (to one side). Company, as one could wish. Truly all brides! And bachelors, man for man, The most hopeful folk!
WEATHERVANE (to the other side). And if the ground should not open To swallow them all, Then I with nimble run Will leap straight into hell.
XENIEN. As insects we are here, With small sharp shears, Satan, our father sir, To honor as he deserves.
HENNINGS. See how in crowded throng They naively jest together! In the end they'll even say They have good hearts.
MUSAGET. I'd gladly lose myself In this witch-host; For surely these I'd sooner know Than lead as Muses.
CI-DEVANT GENIUS OF THE AGE. With right folk one gets somewhere. Come, grasp my hem! The Blocksberg, like the German Parnassus, Has quite a broad summit.
CURIOUS TRAVELER. Tell me, what is the stiff man called? He walks with proud steps. He sniffs whatever he can sniff. "He scents for Jesuits."
CRANE. In clear water I like to fish, And in muddy too; Therefore you see the pious sir Mix also with devils.
CHILD OF THE WORLD. Yes, for the pious, believe me, All is a vehicle, They form here on the Blocksberg Many a conventicle.
DANCER. There comes perhaps a new chorus? I hear distant drums. "Only undisturbed! in the reed Are the unison bitterns."
DANCE MASTER. How each lifts his legs! Draws himself out as he can! The crooked jumps, the clumsy hops And asks not how it looks.
FIDDLER. The rabble hates itself hard, And would gladly give the rest; The bagpipe unites them here, As Orpheus' lyre the beasts.
DOGMATIST. I'll not be led astray by cries, Nor by criticism nor doubt. The devil must yet be something; Else how were there devils?
IDEALIST. The fancy in my mind Is this time all too lordly. Truly, if I am all this, Then I am mad today.
REALIST. The essence is quite my torment And must vex me sore; I stand here for the first time Not firm on my feet.
SUPERNATURALIST. With much pleasure I am here And rejoice with these; For from the devils I can Infer good spirits.
SKEPTIC. They track the little flames And think themselves near the treasure. On devil the doubt alone rhymes; There am I in my place.
CONDUCTOR. Frog in the leaf and cricket in the grass, Accursed dilettantes! Fly-snout and gnat-nose, You are yet musicians!
THE AGILE. Sanssouci, so is called the host Of merry creatures; On feet one goes no more, Therefore we go on our heads.
THE CLUMSY. Else we snatched many a bite, Now but commended to God! Our shoes are danced through, We run on naked soles.
WILL-O'-THE-WISPS. From the swamp we come, Whence we first arose; Yet we are straight in the round here, The shining gallants.
SHOOTING STAR. From the height I shot down In star- and fire-glow, Now lie crosswise in the grass; Who helps me to my feet?
THE MASSIVE. Room and room! and all around! So go the little grasses down. Spirits come, spirits too, They have clumsy limbs.
PUCK. Tread not so bulky Like elephant-calves, And the clumsiest on this day Be Puck, the sturdy, himself.
ARIEL. Gave loving nature, Gave the spirit you wings, Follow my light trace, Up to the rose-hill!
ORCHESTRA (Pianissimo). Cloud-drift and mist-veil Grow light from above. Air in the leaf and wind in the reed, And all is scattered.
Dull Day. Field
Faust. Mephistopheles.
FAUST. In misery! Despairing! Pitifully astray on earth long, and now imprisoned! As a malefactress in the dungeon shut for horrible torments, the sweet unhappy creature! Thus far! thus far!—Treacherous, base spirit, and this you hid from me!—Stand still, stand! roll the devilish eyes raging in your head! Stand and defy me with your intolerable presence! Imprisoned! In irretrievable misery! Given over to evil spirits and to judging, unfeeling mankind! And meanwhile you rock me in insipid distractions, hide from me her growing woe, and let her perish helpless!
MEPHISTOPHELES. She is not the first.
FAUST. Hound! abominable brute!—Change him, you infinite spirit! change the worm back into his dog-shape, as he liked oft by night to trot before me, to roll in front of the harmless wanderer's feet and to hang on the shoulders of the falling one. Change him back into his favorite form, that he may creep on his belly in the sand before me, that I may trample him with my feet, the outcast!—"Not the first!"—Misery! misery! not to be grasped by any human soul, that more than one creature sank into the depth of this misery, that not the first atoned for the guilt of all the rest in her writhing death-agony before the eyes of the eternally Forgiving! It tears through marrow and life in me, the misery of this single one; you grin calmly over the fate of thousands!
MEPHISTOPHELES. Now we are again at the limit of our wit, where with you humans the sense snaps. Why did you make common cause with us if you cannot carry it through? Would fly and are not safe from dizziness? Did we force on you, or you on us?
FAUST. Do not bare your ravenous teeth at me so! I am sickened!—Great, glorious spirit, who deigned to appear to me, who knowest my heart and my soul, why chain me to the infamous fellow who feeds on harm and feasts on ruin?
MEPHISTOPHELES. Have you finished?
FAUST. Save her! or woe to you! The most horrible curse over you for millennia!
MEPHISTOPHELES. I cannot loose the bonds of the avenger, cannot open his bolts.—"Save her!"—Who was it that plunged her into ruin? I or you? (Faust looks wildly about.) Do you reach for the thunder? Well that it was not given to you miserable mortals! To shatter the innocently opposing, that is the way of tyrants, to vent themselves in embarrassments.
FAUST. Take me there! She shall be free!
MEPHISTOPHELES. And the danger to which you expose yourself? Know, still lies on the city blood-guilt from your hand. Over the place of the slain hover avenging spirits and lie in wait for the returning murderer.
FAUST. Still this from you? Murder and death of a world over you, monster! Lead me there, I say, and free her.
MEPHISTOPHELES. I lead you, and what I can do, hear! Have I all power in heaven and on earth? The jailer's senses will I becloud, seize the keys and lead her out with human hand! I watch, the magic horses are ready, I carry you off. That I can do.
FAUST. Up and away!
Night, open field
Faust, Mephistopheles, rushing up on black horses.
FAUST. What are they weaving there around the raven-stone?
MEPHISTOPHELES. Know not what they cook and craft.
FAUST. Hover up, hover down, incline, bow.
MEPHISTOPHELES. A witch-guild.
FAUST. They strew and consecrate.
MEPHISTOPHELES. Past! Past!
Dungeon
Faust with a bunch of keys and a lamp, before an iron little door.
A long-unwonted shudder seizes me, All humanity's whole woe seizes me. Here she dwells behind this damp wall And her crime was a good delusion. You hesitate to go to her! You fear to see her again! Away! your trembling delays death. (He grasps the lock. It sings within.) My mother, the whore Who murdered me! My father, the knave Who ate me! My little sister Took up the bones In a cool place; There I became a fair forest-bird; Fly away, fly away! FAUST (unlocking). She suspects not that the beloved listens, Hears the chains clink, the straw that rustles. (He steps in.)
MARGARET (hiding on the bed). Woe! Woe! They come. Bitter death!
FAUST (softly). Hush! Hush! I come to free you.
MARGARET (rolling toward him). Are you a man, then feel my need.
FAUST. You will wake the guards with crying! (He grasps the chains, to unlock them.)
MARGARET (on her knees). Who gave you, executioner, this power Over me! You fetch me already at midnight. Have mercy and let me live! Is tomorrow morning not early enough? (She stands up.) I am yet so young, so young! And shall already die! I was fair too, and that was my ruin. Near was the friend, now he is far; Torn lies the wreath, the flowers scattered. Seize me not so violently! Spare me! What have I done to you? Let me not plead in vain, Surely I never saw you in my days!
FAUST. Shall I endure this woe!
MARGARET. I am now wholly in your power. Only let me first nurse the child yet. I hugged it this whole night; They took it from me, to vex me, And say now I murdered it. And never shall I be glad again.. They sing songs of me! It is evil of the people! An old tale ends so, Who bade them interpret it?
FAUST (throws himself down). A lover lies at your feet, To unlock the servitude of misery.
MARGARET (throws herself to him). O let us kneel, to call on the saints! See! under these steps, Under the threshold Boils hell! The evil one, With fearful rage, Makes a noise!
FAUST (loud). Gretchen! Gretchen!
MARGARET (attentive). That was the friend's voice! (She springs up. The chains fall off.) Where is he? I heard him call. I am free! none shall hinder me. To his neck will I fly, On his breast lie! He called Gretchen! He stood on the threshold. Through the howling and clapping of hell, Through the grim, devilish scorn I knew the sweet, the loving tone.
FAUST. I am he!
MARGARET. You are he! O say it once more! (Grasping him.) He is he! He is he! Where is all pain? Where the anguish of the dungeon? the chains? You are he! Come, to save me. I am saved! Already the street is there again Where I saw you the first time And the cheerful garden Where I and Martha waited for you.
FAUST (striving onward). Come with me! Come with me!
MARGARET. O tarry I tarry so gladly where you tarry. (Caressing.)
FAUST. Hurry! If you hurry not, We must dearly atone for it.
MARGARET. How? you can kiss no more? My friend, so short removed from me And have unlearned kissing? Why is it so anxious at your neck for me? When else from your words, your glances A whole heaven overflowed me And you kissed me as would you stifle me. Kiss me! Else I kiss you! (She embraces him.) O woe! your lips are cold, Are mute. Where is your love Gone? Who brought me thereof? (She turns from him.)
FAUST. Come! Follow me! Dear, take heart! I hug you with thousandfold glow Only follow me! I beg you but this!
MARGARET (turned to him). And are you he then? And are you surely he?
FAUST. I am he! Come with me!
MARGARET. You loose the fetters, Take me again into your lap. How comes it that you fear not before me? And know you then, my friend, whom you free?
FAUST. Come! come! already recedes the deep night.
MARGARET. My mother have I murdered, My child have I drowned. Was it not given to you and me? To you too.—You are he! I scarce believe it. Give your hand! It is no dream! Your dear hand!—Ah, but it is wet! Wipe it off! As methinks, Is blood thereon. Ah God! what have you done! Put the sword in, I beg you! FAUST. Let the past be past, You undo me.
MARGARET. No, you must remain! I will describe the graves to you, For those must you care Tomorrow at once; Give the mother the best place, My brother straightway beside her, Me a little aside, Only not too far! And the little one on my right breast. None else shall lie by me!— To snuggle at your side, That was a sweet, a lovely bliss! But it will no more succeed for me; It is as must I force myself to you, As thrust you me back from you; And yet you are he and look so good, so pious.
FAUST. Feel that I am he, then come!
MARGARET. Out there?
FAUST. Into the open.
MARGARET. Is the grave outside, Lurks death, then come! From here into the eternal resting-bed And no further step— You go now away? O Henry, could I with!
FAUST. You can! So only will! The door stands open!
MARGARET. I may not go; for me is naught to hope. What helps it, flee? They lie in wait for me yet. It is so wretched, to have to beg And that with evil conscience! It is so wretched, to roam in strangeness And they will yet seize me!
FAUST. I stay with you.
MARGARET. Quick! Quick! Save your poor child! Away! always the path Up the brook, Over the plank, Into the wood, Left, where the board stands, In the pond. Seize it straightway! It wants to rise, It yet twitches! Save! save!
FAUST. Consider yet! But one step, so are you free!
MARGARET. Were we but past the hill! There sits my mother on a stone, It grips me cold by the forelock! There sits my mother on a stone And waggles with the head She waves not, she nods not, the head is heavy to her, She slept so long, she wakes no more. She slept, that we might rejoice. It were happy times!
FAUST. Helps here no pleading, helps no saying, Then I dare carry you away.
MARGARET. Let me! No, I suffer no force! Seize me not so murderously! Else had I done all to please you.
FAUST. The day breaks! Dear! Dear!
MARGARET. Day! Yes, it becomes day! the last day enters; My wedding-day should it be! Tell no one that you were already with Gretchen. Woe my wreath! It is just happened! We shall see each other again; But not at the dance. The crowd presses, one hears them not. The square, the lanes Can not contain them. The bell calls, the staff breaks. How they bind and pack me! To the blood-stool am I already borne. Already twitches at every neck The edge that twitches at mine. Mute lies the world like the grave!
FAUST. O were I never born!
MEPHISTOPHELES (appears outside). Up! or you are lost. Useless trembling! Hesitating and chatting! My horses shudder, The morning dawns.
MARGARET. What rises from the ground up? That one! that one! Send him away! What wants he at the holy place? He wants me!
FAUST. You shall live!
MARGARET. Judgment of God! to you have I given myself!
MEPHISTOPHELES (to Faust). Come! come! I leave you in the lurch with her.
MARGARET. Yours am I, Father! Save me! You angels! you holy hosts, Range around, to guard me! Henry! I shudder before you.
MEPHISTOPHELES. She is judged!
VOICE (from above). Is saved!
MEPHISTOPHELES (to Faust). Here to me! (Vanishes with Faust.)
VOICE (from within, dying away). Henry! Henry!
“Stories of the world, in your language.”