Goethe's Faust Sixth section
WALPURGIS NIGHT
HARZ MOUNTAINS. THE REGION OF SHIERKE AND ELEND. FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES
MEPHISTOPHELES
Now wouldn’t you prefer a broomstick pole?
I wish I had the best of goats- for we
Are far still, on this pathway, from our goal.
FAUST
As long as I feel fresh upon these limbs, to hold
This knotted staff’s enough for me.
Why speed our course with other things?
To steal through labyrinthine valley ways,
Then scale rock heights, where sparkling sprays
Of never-failing waterfalls are fed from springs;
These are the joys that such a journey brings!
Sweet spring frees birch trees with its spell,
Already fir trees feel its power-
Why shouldn't it infuse our limbs as well?
MEPHISTOPHELES
In truth, I do not feel that now!
I’m wintery within the gloom.
I wish the snow and frost upon my way.
And look, how sadly shines the half-full moon;
Its red disc, reeking but a tardy ray,
Gives poor, dim light; at each step there’s a risk
Of running up against a rock or tree.
Just let me call a will-o’-the-wisp.
I see one there that’s burning merrily.
Hey there, my friend! Your company I claim.
Why squander such a brilliant flame?
Please light our upward pathway with its force.
WILL-O’-THE-WISP
I hope that my respect will help control
My very light and flighty soul-
For normally we trace a zigzag course.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Oh, ho! You’re thinking to ape humankind!
Go straight now by the devil’s sign!
Or I shall blow your brilliant flicker out.
WILL-O’-THE-WISP
You’re master of the house; without a doubt,
I’ll do my best to serve you nicely;
But note this please, the mountain’s magic-mad tonight,
And if a will-o’-the-wisp is now your leading light ,
Don’t take his pointers too precisely.
FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES, WILL-O’-THE WISP
(IN ALTERNATING SONG)
We, it seems, have come into
Spheres of magic and of dreams.
Lead us well, show noble gleams,
So that soon we move on through,
Through these wide and wasted spaces.
Row on row the trees change places,
Slip beneath our swift-borne flight;
And the crags bow down their might;
And each long and rocky nose,
How it snorts, and how it blows!
Past the stones and grasses flows
Each small stream, each hurries on.
Is that babbling? Is that song?
Love’s most gracious, lost lament,
Voice of heaven’s days now spent?
What we hope? What we adore?
And the echo, testament,
Times from old, sounds forth once more.
Oohoo! Shoohoo! Near us play
Screech owl, lapwing and the jay,
They are still awake, are they?
Are those newts in bush and hedge?
Bellied-big with long, thin legs!
Roots like serpents wind and creep
All around the rocks and sands,
Stretching like strange, eerie bands,
Try to scare us, catch our feet;
Out of sturdy, living gnarls
Fibres reach like giant squid arms
After wanderers. Mice all throng,
Thousand-hued and swarm along
Through the moss and through the heather!
Fireflies mass in a crowd,
Hordes and hordes all swarm together-
As bewildering escorting cloud.
Tell me, are we standing still,
Are we rushing on past places?
All appears to whirl until
Rocks and trees are making faces,
Will-o’-the-wisps swirl through the spaces,
Swell and multiply at will.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Grip my mantle with all your might!
Here upon this mid-peak’s height,
You can wonder at the show,
Gaze on Mammon’s mountain glow.
FAUST
How through the mountain bases spreads
A strange and troubled, dawn-like sheen!
And even from the deepest chasms sheds
A rising light in each ravine.
Here vapours rise, there cloud forms spread,
Here gleams a glow through mist and haze,
There creeps along a slender thread,
Then gushes forth, a spring before our gaze.
It shifts and winds on for a stretch
Through valleys with a hundred veins,
Then pressed into a corner cleft
Becomes a single strand again.
And nearby sparks strew forth and fall,
Out-sprayed like dazzling, golden sand,
Just look! the height of rocky wall
Is kindled to a flaming brand.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Does not Lord Mammon with magnificence
Illuminate the palace for the feast?
You’re fortunate to witness these events;
I sense already the rowdy guests.
FAUST
Oh, how the gale now rages through the air!
It blasts my neck like blows from fists!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Grip to the ancient ribs of rock, beware-
Don’t be down-hurled into this tomb abyss.
Mist thickens night. Just hear
The crashing in the forest there!
Frightened off, the owls are flying.
Pillars of wild-sighing,
Ever-green palaces shatter.
Branches creak and crack and clatter!
The trunks are groaning mightily!
The roots gape, grating noisily!
In a terrifying-tangled fall
Down they crash, each onto all;
And through the debris-strewn abyss,
The wild winds howl and hiss.
Do you hear voices here on high?
In the distance, closer by?
On the mountain, all along
Streams a fury now of magic song!
WITCHES (IN CHORUS)
The witches ride to Brocken’s scene,
The stubble is yellow, corn is green.
And there a great crowd’s gathering,
Lord Urian sits over them.
So we go over dale and hill,
The witches fart, the he-goats smell.
VOICE
Old Balbo’s coming here alone,
Upon a farrowing fat sow she’s flown.
CHORUS
Give honour now, when honour's due!
Dame Balbo forward! to lead the crew!
A mother on a good, sound swine;
The whole witch horde will ride behind.
VOICE
Which way now did you come?
VOICE
Over Ilstenstein I flew!
I peeped into an owl’s nest passing through.
It made great eyes at me.
VOICE
Oh, go to hell!
Why ride so fast, pray tell?
VOICE
She took some of my skin,
Just see my wounded limbs!
WITCHES’ CHORUS
The way is broad, the way is long,
Then why this pointless, maddened throng?
The broomsticks scratch, the pitchforks poke-
If the mother bursts, the child will choke.
HALF CHORUS OF WITCH-MASTERS
We creep like shell-bound snails, we’re sure
The women are all far before.
For going to foul evil’s door,
They go a thousand steps before.
THE OTHER HALF
That doesn’t bother us, indeed
The women can fly on with speed;
For let her hurry without stop,
A man can do it in one hop.
VOICE (FROM ABOVE)
Come up, come up from rock-bound lake!
VOICE (FROM BELOW)
We’d like to be on your poetic height.
We wash until we shine from head to toe
Yet we’re unfruitful, even so.
BOTH CHORUSES
The wind is still, the starlight flies,
The troubled moon is glad to hide.
Now whizzing by, the magic choir
Sprays many thousand sparks of fire.
VOICE (FROM BELOW)
Stop, I’m left!
VOICE (FROM ABOVE)
Who calls from rocky clefts?
VOICE (FROM BELOW)
Take me too! Oh, take me!
I’ve climbed three centuries
Already, yet cannot reach the peak.
And my own kind is all I wish to seek.
BOTH CHOIRS
The broom or stick will carry you,
The billy goat or pitchfork too;
Those who can’t lift themselves tonight
Are doomed forever to their plight.
HALF-WITCH (FROM BELOW)
For such a time I’ve tripped behind,
The rest are far ahead I find!
I had no peace in my own place,
Yet here I can’t keep up the pace.
CHORUS OF WITCHES
The salve gives courage to the witches,
Sails can be made with rags and stitches;
Any trough can make a ship. We say
You’ll never fly if not today.
BOTH CHOIRS
And when we sweep and fly around
The peak, then swoop down near the ground,
We cover heath land, far and wide,
With swarms from witch-hood’s wild night ride.
THEY SETTLE DOWN
MEPHISTOPHELES
They press and push, they rustle and rattle!
They swish and swirl, they tussle and tattle!
It shines and sparkles, stinks and burns-
The real witch element returns!
Just stick with me! or we’ll be parted soon.
Where are you?
FAUST (IN THE DISTANCE)
Here!
MEPHISTOPHELES
What! Separated already now?
I must use my domestic power.
Room! Squire Voland comes. Room! Lovely rabble, room!
Here, doctor, cling to me! Now in one leap we’ll zoom
Away from crowds of company.
It’s too mad, even for the likes of me.
There near us something gleams with quite a special glow,
It draws me towards that shrubbery.
Come, come! we’ll slip in there, let’s go.
FAUST
You may as well lead on, you spirit of contradiction!
Yet still I think that this is really bright-
We travel to the Brocken on Walpurgisnight,
Then set about to end in isolation.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Just see there, multi-coloured flames
Have made a cheerful club. It’s plain,
In little groups one’s not alone.
FAUST
Yet I’d prefer that higher zone.
I see the fires; smoke-swirls swell.
The crowd streams towards the evil one;
There many riddles would be undone.
MEPHISTOPHELES
And many new evolved as well.
Just let the great world whizz on by,
Let us dwell here in peace, say I.
It has, in fact, long been related
That in the greater world, the smaller are created.
I see young witches in a naked state,
And older, who are cleverly well-dressed.
Be friendly, that’s my only wish;
The effort’s small, the fun is great.
The sounding of some instruments I hear.
Damn din. One must get used to it, I fear.
Come on! Come on! There’s nothing for it but
For me to go and take you to this lot
And thus bind you anew. Now go
And tell me, isn’t this some space, my friend?
Just look out there, you barely glimpse the end,
A hundred fires burning in a row.
They dance, they chat, they cook and drink, embrace;
Now tell me where is there a better place!
FAUST
But when you introduce me at the revel,
Will you appear as sorcerer or devil?
MEPHISTOPHELES
I’m used to going incognito, as you know,
But on a gala day one lets one’s order show.
It’s not a garter that shows my due,
But here the cloven foot is held in honour true.
You see the snail there? Towards us it comes creeping,
With tentative and groping face;
It’s sensed I’m something out of keeping.
For even if I wished, I can’t hide in this place.
Come then! We’ll visit each fire, see what’s brewing;
I’ll do the courting, you the wooing.
TO SOME WHO ARE SITTING AROUND GLOWING COALS
Old sirs, why are you at the end down here?
I’d praise you now if you were nicely in the middle,
Engulfed by bustle and youthful hustle,
One is alone enough at home, I fear.
GENERAL
Who'd trust the nations, for although
One has already done so much for them,
The people will, like women, don't you know,
Forever like the younger men.
MINISTER OF STATE
Now all has strayed far from the line;
I praise the good, old-timer days;
When we all mattered, I must say,
That truly was the golden time.
PARVENU
And truly we weren’t total clots,
And often did, what we should not;
Now everything is topsy-turvy,
Just when we wished to keep it steady.
AUTHOR
Who, after all, now wants to read a work
That’s balanced and intelligent!
And what concerns our dear young folk,
It’s never been just so impertinent.
MEPHISTOPHELES
(WHO ALL AT ONCE APPEARS VERY OLD)
I feel that folk are ripe for doom's last day,
This is my last climb to the Blocksberg’s crown;
As my small cask runs low, I say
The world itself is running down.
JUNK SHOP WITCH
Do not rush by, sirs! I must mention
This great, new opportunity!
Just give all of the great variety
Of my fine wares some close attention.
There’s nothing in this shop of mine-
(Each is unmatched on all this earth)
That’s not done hearty harm, some time,
To humans or the world's true worth.
No dagger that’s not made blood flow, no cup
That hasn’t poured a hot and poisoned wine,
Consuming so some healthy chap;
No gem that hasn’t led astray a kind
And charming girl; no sword not used to snap
A bond, or maybe stab a rival from behind.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Old aunt! poor is your grasp of these new days.
Done and happened! Happened, done!
Just shift your gaze to novel ways!
For only novelty draws everyone.
FAUST
I must keep focused, self-aware!
For this is what I call a fair!
MEPHISTOPHELES
The swirling mass strives upward here;
You think you push, yet you’re pushed from the rear.
FAUST
Who’s that?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Just watch her with great care.
That’s Lilith.
FAUST
Who?
MEPHISTOPHELES
First wife of Adam. But beware,
Of her most beautiful, long hair,
It is her gem: unique and single snare.
When she has got the young man in its boon,
It won't let go again too soon.
FAUST
A young witch and an old sit there. No doubt,
They are already quite danced out.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Tonight, you know, all know no rest.
A new dance starts. Come on, we’ll take them on with zest.
FAUST (DANCING WITH THE YOUNG ONE)
Now once the fairest dream I dreamed,
I saw an apple tree that seemed
To have two apples, shining fair-
They tempted me, I climbed it there.
THE FAIR ONE
For apples you’ve a great desire,
Since Paradise it’s been on fire.
I feel a stirring of delight
That in my garden too they’re bright.
MEPHISTOPHELES (DANCING WITH THE OLD ONE)
Now once a vulgar dream I dreamed,
I saw a cloven tree; it seemed
That it possessed a great big split,
Big as it was, I fancied it.
THE OLD ONE
I give best greeting now- my dear
Knight of the cloven hoof is here!
And if your branch is big, then you
Won’t fear a slit that’s quite large too.
PROKTOPHANTASMIST
Damn rotten lot! how dare you cross my seeing?
Have you not long ago had proofs complete
That spirits never stand on normal feet?
And now you dance- like other human beings!
THE FAIR ONE (DANCING)
What is he doing at our fair?
FAUST (DANCING)
That one! You’ll find him anywhere.
What others dance, he must inspect,
If he can’t criticize each step,
For him it may as well have not occurred.
Indeed, he’s angered most when we go forward.
But if you turn in circles set apart,
As he does in his dull and ancient mill,
He would, perhaps, not take it ill,
Especially if you acknowledged him to start.
PROKTOPHANTASMIST
You’re still here? This won’t do in any way.
So vanish! We’ve enlightened you away!
This fiendish rabble knows no rules. We’re most
Intelligent, yet Tegel castle has its ghost.
Although I’ve spent so long on sweeping out illusion,
It’s never clean- it’s just beyond all reason!
THE FAIR ONE
Just listen here, stop boring us to bits!
PROKTOPHANTASMIST
You spirits all, just get this clear,
I’ll not stand spirit despotism here;
My spirit can’t rule over it.
THE DANCING CONTINUES
I see today there’s nothing I can do;
Still I am always ready for another trip,
And hope, before I take my final step,
To so subdue all fiends and poets too.
MEPHISTOPHELES
He’ll sit in any puddle he can find,
That’s how he gets relief below;
For when the leeches latch themselves on his behind,
He’s rid of spirits and of spirit in one go.
TO FAUST, WHO HAS STEPPED OUT OF THE DANCE
Why do you leave that beauty now alone?
So lovely was the way she sang.
FAUST
A little reddish mouse just sprang
From her mouth as she was singing now.
MEPHISTOPHELES
O, that’s all right! Don’t worry so, I say.
It is enough it wasn’t grey.
Who questions such things in a lover’ s hour?
FAUST
Then I saw-
MEPHISTOPHELES
What?
FAUST
Mephisto, see that place,
That beautiful, pale girl, alone and far away?
She drags herself but slowly through the space,
It seems her feet are both chained in some way.
I must confess, I fancy she
Seems like fair Gretchen now to me.
MEPHISTOPHELES
That does no good. Leave it! Beware!
It is a magic image; lifeless idol there.
Best to avoid her. Understand!
That frozen gaze can freeze the blood of man,
Turn you to stone upon the spot;
You’ve heard of the Medusa, have you not?
FAUST
In truth, they are the eyes of one that’s dead,
Not closed by loving hand. That breast
Is hers, on which she let me lay my head;
That’s her sweet body that I caressed.
MEPHISTOPHELES
You easily-led fool! That is the sorcery!
She seems to each his love. Now don't you see?
FAUST
What bliss! What grief! I have to stay,
I cannot draw my eyes away.
How strange that her fair neck should be adorned
With just a single, thin, red line,
No broader than a thin knife’s back.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Quite so! I see it too. Be warned,
She takes it in her arms when she’s inclined,
For Perseus cut it with one hack.
This fondness for illusion still!
Come on, just climb this little hill!
Here it’s as jolly as the Prater;
And if I’m not bewitched, I’m sure
I actually see a theatre.
What’s on, my friend?
SERVIBILIS
We’re starting now once more,
The last of seven things, a new release;
It’s custom here to put lots in our brew.
A dilettante wrote the piece,
And dilettantes act it too.
Excuse, good sirs, I’ll slip from sight;
For I must dilettante up the curtain.
MEPHISTOPHELES
To find you on the Blocksberg’s height
Is good, for that’s where you belong for certain.
(A NOTE ON WALPURGIS NIGHT DREAM
The Walpurgis Night Dream -a sort of amateur pageant, possibly being watched by Faust and Mephistopheles, adds to the surreal atmosphere. The little verses are satires or comments on various people and things. Mieding was a stage manager and scene painter. Oberon, Puck and Titania are "fairies" from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream while Ariel , the airy spirit, is from The Tempest. The Northern Artist relates to Goethe himself whose views were enriched by his own Italian Journey. Xenien are the satiric verses in the style of the Roman poet Martial. Hennings portrayed as a sort of literary snob, published a journal called The Genius of the Age that had attacked Schiller (poet and playwright and Goethe's friend). His book of poems was called Musagent (leader of the muses). Ci-Devant possible refers to the name change of the journal at 1800 to Genius of the 19th Century. Orpheus could calm the beasts with music. An Idealist is a philosopher who lays great emphasis on the mind's role in creating reality. The realist emphasises observation of a world regarded as wholly external. "Flames" are supposed to lead the sensitive to treasure. The Nimble Ones who are sans- souci (without care) change their allegiances easily and have reversed so much they walk on their heads, while the Useless have ended up with bare feet. The massive are the masses (particularly in this case in the French Revolution). )
WALPURGIS NIGHT DREAM
or
OBERON AND TITANIA’S GOLDEN WEDDING
Intermezzo
THEATRE MANAGER
So today for once we rest,
Brave sons of painter Mieding.
Ancient crag and valley mist.
That’s all the scenery’s needing.
HERALD
A wedding is a golden one
With fifty years in store ;
But when the quarrelling is done,
I love that gold much more..
OBERON
If you spirits are around
Reveal yourselves to view;
Here the king and queen are bound
To now be bound anew.
PUCK
Puck now comes and cuts across,
And slides his feet in line;
And a hundred follow this,
To share a joyful time.
ARIEL
Ariel is moved to song,
In heaven tones so true;
Bringing quite a frightful throng,
But beauty’s offspring too.
OBERON
Couples wish to get along,
So learn what we impart.
Two can stay in love for long-
They only need to part.
TITANIA
He is sulking, she has whims,
So grab them both with haste.
Send her off to southern lands,
He to far northern waste.
ORCHESTRA, TUTTI (FORTISSIMO)
Nose of mosquito, snout of fly,
With relatives around,
Frog in leaf, grass cricket’s cry,
All make our music sound.
SOLO
How the bagpipe with its sack
Is big soap bubble swelling;
Hear how skirling snicker-snack
From its blunt nose is welling.
SPIRIT (WHICH IS FORMING ITSELF FOR THE FIRST TIME)
Spider’s foot, toad-belly features,
With small wings of a sprite,
These will not make up some creatures,
Just lines that come out right.
A LITTLE COUPLE
Little steps and leaps so high
Through scents and honey dew;
Though fleet enough for me are you,
We never really fly.
INQUISITIVE TRAVELLER
Is this some masquerade’s disguise?
Trust I what seems so clear?
Is Oberon, the fair god, here
Today before my eyes?
ORTHODOX
There’s no claws and no tail piece,
Yet I’ve no doubt it’s true,
Just like the ancient gods of Greece,
That he’s a devil too.
NORTHERN ARTIST
All that I’m doing still today
Are only sketches really.
Still I get set for when I may
Take my Italian journey.
PURIST
Oh, my bad luck brings me such places!
Such goings-on won’t do!
In all this witch horde only two
Are wearing powder on their faces.
YOUNG WITCH
Such powder, like a petticoat,
Suits grannies, grey and worn.
But I sit naked on my goat
And show my strapping form.
MATRON
We’re too well-mannered to engender
Fault-finding with your lot.
Yet as you are, still young and tender,
I hope you start to rot.
ORCHESTRA LEADER
Nose of mosquito, snout of fly,
Keep off that naked girl!
Frog in leaf, grass cricket’s cry,
Just keep in time as well!
WEATHERVANE (TURNING TO ONE SIDE)
The best companions you could wish;
Each girl- a bride to be;
And young friends, man for man, make this
Most promising to see!
WEATHERVANE ( TURNING TO THE OTHER SIDE)
And if the ground won’t open wide
And swallow them inside;
Then I’ll take to my heels, pell-mell,
And leap straight into hell.
XENIEN
As little insects we are here
With sharp, small nippers ready,
To becomingly revere
Lord Satan who is our daddy.
HENNINGS
Oh, how they crowd, swarm to the fray,
Naively joke together;
And in the end they’ll dare to say
They were good-hearted ever .
MUSAGET
I love to lose myself within
This host of witches, for
I’ve far more chance of leading them
Than muses- that’s for sure!
CI-DEVANT GENIUS OF THE AGE (“Musagetes- the genius of the age”)
The proper people get you places.
Come, grab on to my coat.
The Blocksberg like our German Parnassus
Has a very long, broad top.
INQUISITIVE TRAVELLER
Tell me, who’s that stiff-backed man,
Who strides with such proud steps?
He noses round now where he can,
“He sniffs out Jesuits.”
CRANE
Yes, in the clear I like to fish,
But also in the murky waters.
That’s why the pious sir can mix
Quite well here in the devil's quarters.
CHILD OF THE WORLD
Believe me, for the pious lot
All things can serve their goals.
They make up, here on Blocksberg’s top,
Lots of conventicles.
DANCER
Is that another chorus song?
I hear a distant drumming.
Don’t fret! In reeds there swarms a throng
Of philosophic bitterns booming.
DANCING MASTER
How each one lifts his limbs, gets by
By hook or else by crook-
The bent ones leap, plump hop up high,
Not asking how they look.
FIDDLER
They hate each other, rotten rabble,
Each wants the rest deceased;
The bagpipe unifies the babble,
As Orpheus did beast.
DOGMATIST
I won’t be muddled by the shouters-
The critics or the doubters;
The devil must be real, you see,
Or else how could this devil be?
IDEALIST
Within my sight, imagination
Rules with too strong a grip;
In truth, if I’m all this creation,
Today I am a twit.
REALIST
This is a trial, the real- a dream...
So vexed by all I meet;
This is the first time that I’ve been
Unsteady on my feet.
SUPERNATURALIST
I’m in a really happy mood,
I find all this just bliss;
For from the devils I conclude
Good spirits must exist.
SKEPTIC
They follow little flames, not great;
Think they track near the treasure.
As devil and doubt alliterate,
I find this place a pleasure.
ORCHESTRAL LEADER
Nose of mosquito, snout of fly,
Damn dilettante crew!
Leaf-frog, grass-born cricket’s cry,
Stay musicians, will you!
THE NIMBLE ONES
Sans-souci, that’s our troop of sweet,
Bright creatures- it is said.
We go no longer on our feet,
So we go on our heads.
THE USELESS ONES
We used to wheedle many a bite;
God help us, but time rolls!
We danced right through our shoes at night,
And now we run on naked soles.
WILL O’ THE WISPS
From reeking swamps we come,
Where we arose in swarms,
But once we join the fun,
We’re glittering, gallant forms.
SHOOTING STAR
From the height I shot, a flower
Of fire and star flight,
Lying in the grasses now,
Who’ll help me get upright?
THE MASSIVE (the masses)
Make room, make room! Give way all you!
Small grass gets trampled flat.
Spirits come, but spirits too
Have limbs both strong and fat.
PUCK
Do not tread your massive way
Like calves of elephants;
May the sturdiest on this day
Be weighty Puck’s advance.
ARIEL
If fair, living nature’s grace
Or spirit gave you wings,
Follow my light, airy trace
Up the hill of rose-fair rings.
ORCHESTRA (PIANISSIMO)
Clouds that trail and mist that weaves
Dawn-gleams light overhead.
Wind flows through the reeds and leaves
And everything has fled.
TROUBLED DAY- FIELD
FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES
FAUST
In misery! Despairing! Long and pitifully astray upon the earth and now imprisoned! With terrible torments shut up like an evil-doer in a dungeon, that beautiful, unhappy creature! Things have gone so far! So far! Treacherous, vile, abominable spirit; this you have kept secret from me! Just stand there, stand! In rage roll your devilish eyes around in your head! Stand and defy me with your intolerable presence! Shut away! In irretrievable misery! Given over to evil spirits and judging, unfeeling humankind! While you lulled me with insipid diversions you concealed her growing grief from me and left her to perish helplessly!
MEPHISTOPHELES
She is not the first.
FAUST
Dog! Detestable monster and abomination! Transform him, You Infinite Spirit! Transform this worm back into his canine shape. Change him back to that in which he was pleased to trot before me during a nightly break, rolling himself at the feet of the harmless wanderer and clinging onto the shoulders of any who had fallen. Change him back to his favourite shape so that he may crawl, cringing before me, on the sand and there I may kick and trample him with my feet, Vile outcast of all! Not the first! Grief! Oh, grief! Beyond the grasp of the human soul to think that more than one creature has sunk to the depths of such misery, that the first did not go through enough in writhing death agony for all the others in the eyes of the eternally-forgiving One! I’m stirred and agitated right through to my very marrow, my life’s core, by the need and misery of this one person- you grin, composed and calm, over the fate of thousands!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Now here we are already, once more at our wit’s border, where your human sense and understanding snap. Why did you form bonds of companionship with us, if you cannot go through with it? Did we press ourselves on you, or you on us?
FAUST
Don’t snarl and bare your greedy teeth like that at me! It fills me with disgust! Great and glorious Spirit, you who found me worthy enough to appear before me, you who know my heart and know my soul, why chain me to this infamous companion who gloats over grievous harm and relishes destruction?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Are you finished?
FAUST
Save her! Or all grief be upon you! The most gruesome of curses be upon you for thousands of years!
MEPHISTOPHELES
I cannot loosen the avenger’s fetters, nor open his bolted bars. Save her! Who was it who plunged her to destruction? I or you?
FAUST LOOKS AROUND WILDLY
Are you grasping after thunder? It’s well that it wasn’t given to you miserable mortals! To smash to pieces the innocent objector, that is the manner of the tyrant, that is his method for getting relief from his embarrassment.
FAUST
Take me to her! She shall be freed!
MEPHISTOPHELES
And the danger to which you will expose yourself? Know that blood-guilt from your hand still lies over the town. For over the places of slayings hover avenging spirits that lurk waiting for the returning murderer.
FAUST
That too from you? The death and murder of a whole world fall on you, you monster! Lead me to her, I say, and set her free!
MEPHISTOPHELES
I’ll lead you there and as for the rest of what I can do- listen! Do you think I have all the power of heaven and earth? I’ll surround the gaoler’s senses with mist, then you seize hold of the keys and lead her out by human hand! I'll stand watch! The enchanted horses are ready... I carry you both away. That much can I do.
FAUST
Up and away!
NIGHT OPEN FIELD
FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES STORM ACROSS ON BLACK HORSES
FAUST
What are they weaving round the Ravenstone?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Don’t know what they’re brewing and making?
FAUST
Floating up, floating down, bending and bowing.
MEPHISTOPHELES
A witches’ guild.
FAUST
They strew and hallow.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Pass by! Pass by!
DUNGEON
FAUST (WITH A BUNCH OF KEYS AND A LAMP, BEFORE A SMALL IRON DOOR)
I gasp with long-forgotten horror's breath,
I'm seized by every human sorrowing.
She lives behind dank walls and slime.
A fair delusion her only crime!
You hesitate to go within.
You fear to see her once again!
Forward! Weak wavering advances death.
HE SEIZES THE LOCK. SOUND OF SINGING FROM WITHIN
My mother, the whore,
Took life from me!
My father, the rogue,
Has eaten me!
My small sister alone
Has buried my bones
Down in a cool, cool place.
I've changed into a beautiful bird;
Fly away, fly apace!
FAUST (UNLOCKING)
She doesn’t dream her love can hear the raw,
Rough clink of chains, the rustling of the straw.
HE ENTERS
MARGARET (HIDING ON HER PALLET)
Oh! They are coming. Bitter death!
FAUST (SOFTLY)
Ssh! Ssh! I’ve come to set you free.
MARGARET ( TURNING OVER TO FACE HIM)
If you are human, feel my misery!
FAUST
Your cries will rouse the night guards from their rest.
HE SEIZES THE CHAINS TO UNLOCK THEM
MARGARET (ON HER KNEES)
Who gave you, hangman, heavy
Power over me!
At midnight now you’re taking me already.
Have mercy, let me live, let be!
Is dawn not soon enough for you to come?
SHE STANDS UP
I’m still so young, so young!
Yet I must die!
I once was beautiful, and that was my
Downfall. My friend, once near, is far off now;
The wreath lies ripped and scattered are the flowers.
Don’t grip as strongly as you do!
Spare me! What have I done to you?
Don’t let me plead and beg in vain;
I do not even know your name!
FAUST
How shall I bear this grief, this pain!
MARGARET
I am now wholly in your power.
Just let me feed my child first now.
All night heart-close I held it, then
To grieve me they took it away;
I murdered it- that’s what they say.
I never shall have joy again.
They sing these songs about me! It’s wicked that they do!
An old folk tale has such an end,
Who says that it is true?
FAUST (CASTING HIMSELF DOWN)
A lover lies here at your feet,
To break the chains of pain and grief.
MARGARET
Oh, let us kneel, and call on holy ones on high!
See! under these stone steps, close by,
Beneath this threshold, swell
Legions from hell!
There evil’s king,
With fear-filling fury,
Makes a hideous din!
FAUST (LOUDLY)
Gretchen! Gretchen!
MARGARET (ATTENTIVE)
That was the voice of my friend.
SHE LEAPS UP. THE CHAINS FALL OFF
Where is he? I heard him call! I’m free!
And none shall keep him now from me.
I’ll hang upon his neck, and I…
Close on his breast I’ll lie!
Gretchen! he called me from the threshold stone-
Through all of hell’s howling and clattering storm,
Through all of the fury of devilish scorn,
I knew his sweet and loving tone.
FAUST
I’m here!
MARGARET
You’re here! O say it once again!
SEIZING HIM
He is! He is! Where is my fear and pain?
Where is the fear of prison? The chains?
You’ve come! Come to rescue me!
And I am free!-
Again I see the street where I
Saw you at first, at first while passing by,
And the cheerful garden too,
Where I and Martha walked with you.
FAUST (PUSHING TOWARD THE DOOR)
Come on! Come on!
MARGARET
Stay here! Stay here!
For I am happiest while you are near!
CARESSING HIM
FAUST
Hurry! Fly!
If you don’t fly
We will pay dearly for all this!
MARGARET
What! You can no longer kiss?
My friend, so short a time gone missing,
To so unlearn your kissing?
Why do I fear to hang upon your neck? Once it would be
That from your words, your glance, would spread
A whole, fair heaven overhead-
You kissed as if you’d smother me.
Kiss me now!
Then I’ll kiss you!
SHE EMBRACES HIM
Ah me! Your lips are cold-
Are mute.
Where is your love,
My love?
Who broke love’s hold?
FAUST
Come! Follow me! My love, be brave again!
I’ll fill your heart with a thousand times more flame!
Just follow me! That’s all I beg of you!
MARGARET
And is it you? And is it really you?
FAUST
It’s truly me! Come on!
MARGARET
You loose my chains,
You take me in your arms again.
But why do you not shrink from me?
Do you not know, my friend, whom you are setting free?
FAUST
Come! Already night yields up its power!
MARGARET
I have killed my mother. I have drowned
My child. Wasn’t it to be
A gift, a gift to you and me?
You too.- It’s you! I scarce believe it yet.
Give me your hand! It’s not a dream!
Your dearest hand!- Ah! but it is wet!
Wipe it clean now!- Clean! - it seems
It’s blood.
Oh God! What have you done!
Put up your sword, put up,
I beg you- please!
FAUST
Oh! Let what now has gone be gone,
You’re killing me.
MARGARET
No! you must live! I shall
Describe to you the graves.
And you must tend them all,
Tomorrow, right away;
So give the best place to my mother,
And right beside her lay my brother;
Me, a bit to the side,
Not too far aside!-
No one else will lie by me!
Nestling by you once would be
A sweet and gracious happiness.
But that’s now something I can’t do;
Seems I must force myself on you,
As if pushed back. Nonetheless,
It’s you- so good, so pious is your gaze.
FAUST
You feel it’s so- then come, oh, come!
MARGARET
Out there?
FAUST
Into free air.
MARGARET
If there’s the grave,
If death’s in wait- then come will you!
From here to an everlasting bed of rest
And further- not one step!
You’re going? O Heinrich, would I could go too!
FAUST
You can! Just will it so! The door is free.
MARGARET
I may not go; no hope is left for me.
They’d track me down. What use is it to flee?
To have to beg is agony,
And with a guilty heart as well!
To roam strange realms is misery,
And they’d still catch me- I can tell!
FAUST
I’ll stay by you.
MARGARET
Go quickly! Quick, I pray!
Save your poor child! Away!
Just stay on the track
That runs by the brook,
Across the small bridge
And into the forest,
Left, where the planks still reach
Into the pond.
Quickly, grab on!
It wants to surface,
Still struggles- see!
Save it! Save it!
FAUST
Grip onto your sanity!
It’s but one step, and you are free!
MARGARET
If only we were past the mountain! Alone,
My mother sits there on a stone-
An icy grip seizes my hair!
My mother sits there on a stone;
Her head is wagging there-
She doesn’t wave, she doesn’t beckon, her head is heavy for
She slept so long, she wakes no more.
She slept so that we would have our bliss.
They were such times of happiness!
FAUST
No word, no pleading is enough,
So I must dare to bear you off.
MARGARET
No, leave me, leave! I'll not put up with force!
Don’t grip like murder; for it's true:
I have done all the rest for love of you.
FAUST
The day dawns! Love! my love!
MARGARET
Day! Yes, day is dawning. The last day dawns in gray!
It was to be my wedding day!
Tell no one you’ve already been with Gretchen.
My wreath- oh grief!
But what is done is done!
We’ll yet meet once
But not to dance.
No noise is heard, although crowds throng.
Square, street, and alley
Cannot hold the rally.
They break the wand, the bell has rung,
They seize and bind me! I’m led
Already to the block. It’s time.
And each neck feels the dread
Of that sharp blade that's drawn for mine.
Mute lies the world like the grave!
FAUST
Oh, would I’d never been born!
MEPHISTOPHELES (APPEARING OUTSIDE)
Up! Or you’re lost; be warned.
This stalling and chattering! Needless wavering!
My horses are shivering,
The sky is flushed with light.
MARGARET
What rose from the ground to my sight?
Him! Him! Oh, send him off!
Oh, why is he in this holy spot?
He wants me!
FAUST
You shall live!
MARGARET
Judgement of God! To You I give myself!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Come! Come! I’ll leave you both forever lost.
MARGARET
Thine am I, Father! Save me now!
Your angels! Your holy host,
Cluster around me, guard me with your power!
Heinrich! I fear for you.
MEPHISTOPHELES
She is condemned!
VOICES (FROM ABOVE)
She is saved!
MEPHISTOPHELES (TO FAUST)
Come here to me!
(HE VANISHES WITH FAUST)
VOICE (FROM WITHIN, DYING AWAY)
Heinrich! Heinrich!
THE END OF PART ONE
HARZ MOUNTAINS. THE REGION OF SHIERKE AND ELEND. FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES
MEPHISTOPHELES
Now wouldn’t you prefer a broomstick pole?
I wish I had the best of goats- for we
Are far still, on this pathway, from our goal.
FAUST
As long as I feel fresh upon these limbs, to hold
This knotted staff’s enough for me.
Why speed our course with other things?
To steal through labyrinthine valley ways,
Then scale rock heights, where sparkling sprays
Of never-failing waterfalls are fed from springs;
These are the joys that such a journey brings!
Sweet spring frees birch trees with its spell,
Already fir trees feel its power-
Why shouldn't it infuse our limbs as well?
MEPHISTOPHELES
In truth, I do not feel that now!
I’m wintery within the gloom.
I wish the snow and frost upon my way.
And look, how sadly shines the half-full moon;
Its red disc, reeking but a tardy ray,
Gives poor, dim light; at each step there’s a risk
Of running up against a rock or tree.
Just let me call a will-o’-the-wisp.
I see one there that’s burning merrily.
Hey there, my friend! Your company I claim.
Why squander such a brilliant flame?
Please light our upward pathway with its force.
WILL-O’-THE-WISP
I hope that my respect will help control
My very light and flighty soul-
For normally we trace a zigzag course.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Oh, ho! You’re thinking to ape humankind!
Go straight now by the devil’s sign!
Or I shall blow your brilliant flicker out.
WILL-O’-THE-WISP
You’re master of the house; without a doubt,
I’ll do my best to serve you nicely;
But note this please, the mountain’s magic-mad tonight,
And if a will-o’-the-wisp is now your leading light ,
Don’t take his pointers too precisely.
FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES, WILL-O’-THE WISP
(IN ALTERNATING SONG)
We, it seems, have come into
Spheres of magic and of dreams.
Lead us well, show noble gleams,
So that soon we move on through,
Through these wide and wasted spaces.
Row on row the trees change places,
Slip beneath our swift-borne flight;
And the crags bow down their might;
And each long and rocky nose,
How it snorts, and how it blows!
Past the stones and grasses flows
Each small stream, each hurries on.
Is that babbling? Is that song?
Love’s most gracious, lost lament,
Voice of heaven’s days now spent?
What we hope? What we adore?
And the echo, testament,
Times from old, sounds forth once more.
Oohoo! Shoohoo! Near us play
Screech owl, lapwing and the jay,
They are still awake, are they?
Are those newts in bush and hedge?
Bellied-big with long, thin legs!
Roots like serpents wind and creep
All around the rocks and sands,
Stretching like strange, eerie bands,
Try to scare us, catch our feet;
Out of sturdy, living gnarls
Fibres reach like giant squid arms
After wanderers. Mice all throng,
Thousand-hued and swarm along
Through the moss and through the heather!
Fireflies mass in a crowd,
Hordes and hordes all swarm together-
As bewildering escorting cloud.
Tell me, are we standing still,
Are we rushing on past places?
All appears to whirl until
Rocks and trees are making faces,
Will-o’-the-wisps swirl through the spaces,
Swell and multiply at will.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Grip my mantle with all your might!
Here upon this mid-peak’s height,
You can wonder at the show,
Gaze on Mammon’s mountain glow.
FAUST
How through the mountain bases spreads
A strange and troubled, dawn-like sheen!
And even from the deepest chasms sheds
A rising light in each ravine.
Here vapours rise, there cloud forms spread,
Here gleams a glow through mist and haze,
There creeps along a slender thread,
Then gushes forth, a spring before our gaze.
It shifts and winds on for a stretch
Through valleys with a hundred veins,
Then pressed into a corner cleft
Becomes a single strand again.
And nearby sparks strew forth and fall,
Out-sprayed like dazzling, golden sand,
Just look! the height of rocky wall
Is kindled to a flaming brand.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Does not Lord Mammon with magnificence
Illuminate the palace for the feast?
You’re fortunate to witness these events;
I sense already the rowdy guests.
FAUST
Oh, how the gale now rages through the air!
It blasts my neck like blows from fists!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Grip to the ancient ribs of rock, beware-
Don’t be down-hurled into this tomb abyss.
Mist thickens night. Just hear
The crashing in the forest there!
Frightened off, the owls are flying.
Pillars of wild-sighing,
Ever-green palaces shatter.
Branches creak and crack and clatter!
The trunks are groaning mightily!
The roots gape, grating noisily!
In a terrifying-tangled fall
Down they crash, each onto all;
And through the debris-strewn abyss,
The wild winds howl and hiss.
Do you hear voices here on high?
In the distance, closer by?
On the mountain, all along
Streams a fury now of magic song!
WITCHES (IN CHORUS)
The witches ride to Brocken’s scene,
The stubble is yellow, corn is green.
And there a great crowd’s gathering,
Lord Urian sits over them.
So we go over dale and hill,
The witches fart, the he-goats smell.
VOICE
Old Balbo’s coming here alone,
Upon a farrowing fat sow she’s flown.
CHORUS
Give honour now, when honour's due!
Dame Balbo forward! to lead the crew!
A mother on a good, sound swine;
The whole witch horde will ride behind.
VOICE
Which way now did you come?
VOICE
Over Ilstenstein I flew!
I peeped into an owl’s nest passing through.
It made great eyes at me.
VOICE
Oh, go to hell!
Why ride so fast, pray tell?
VOICE
She took some of my skin,
Just see my wounded limbs!
WITCHES’ CHORUS
The way is broad, the way is long,
Then why this pointless, maddened throng?
The broomsticks scratch, the pitchforks poke-
If the mother bursts, the child will choke.
HALF CHORUS OF WITCH-MASTERS
We creep like shell-bound snails, we’re sure
The women are all far before.
For going to foul evil’s door,
They go a thousand steps before.
THE OTHER HALF
That doesn’t bother us, indeed
The women can fly on with speed;
For let her hurry without stop,
A man can do it in one hop.
VOICE (FROM ABOVE)
Come up, come up from rock-bound lake!
VOICE (FROM BELOW)
We’d like to be on your poetic height.
We wash until we shine from head to toe
Yet we’re unfruitful, even so.
BOTH CHORUSES
The wind is still, the starlight flies,
The troubled moon is glad to hide.
Now whizzing by, the magic choir
Sprays many thousand sparks of fire.
VOICE (FROM BELOW)
Stop, I’m left!
VOICE (FROM ABOVE)
Who calls from rocky clefts?
VOICE (FROM BELOW)
Take me too! Oh, take me!
I’ve climbed three centuries
Already, yet cannot reach the peak.
And my own kind is all I wish to seek.
BOTH CHOIRS
The broom or stick will carry you,
The billy goat or pitchfork too;
Those who can’t lift themselves tonight
Are doomed forever to their plight.
HALF-WITCH (FROM BELOW)
For such a time I’ve tripped behind,
The rest are far ahead I find!
I had no peace in my own place,
Yet here I can’t keep up the pace.
CHORUS OF WITCHES
The salve gives courage to the witches,
Sails can be made with rags and stitches;
Any trough can make a ship. We say
You’ll never fly if not today.
BOTH CHOIRS
And when we sweep and fly around
The peak, then swoop down near the ground,
We cover heath land, far and wide,
With swarms from witch-hood’s wild night ride.
THEY SETTLE DOWN
MEPHISTOPHELES
They press and push, they rustle and rattle!
They swish and swirl, they tussle and tattle!
It shines and sparkles, stinks and burns-
The real witch element returns!
Just stick with me! or we’ll be parted soon.
Where are you?
FAUST (IN THE DISTANCE)
Here!
MEPHISTOPHELES
What! Separated already now?
I must use my domestic power.
Room! Squire Voland comes. Room! Lovely rabble, room!
Here, doctor, cling to me! Now in one leap we’ll zoom
Away from crowds of company.
It’s too mad, even for the likes of me.
There near us something gleams with quite a special glow,
It draws me towards that shrubbery.
Come, come! we’ll slip in there, let’s go.
FAUST
You may as well lead on, you spirit of contradiction!
Yet still I think that this is really bright-
We travel to the Brocken on Walpurgisnight,
Then set about to end in isolation.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Just see there, multi-coloured flames
Have made a cheerful club. It’s plain,
In little groups one’s not alone.
FAUST
Yet I’d prefer that higher zone.
I see the fires; smoke-swirls swell.
The crowd streams towards the evil one;
There many riddles would be undone.
MEPHISTOPHELES
And many new evolved as well.
Just let the great world whizz on by,
Let us dwell here in peace, say I.
It has, in fact, long been related
That in the greater world, the smaller are created.
I see young witches in a naked state,
And older, who are cleverly well-dressed.
Be friendly, that’s my only wish;
The effort’s small, the fun is great.
The sounding of some instruments I hear.
Damn din. One must get used to it, I fear.
Come on! Come on! There’s nothing for it but
For me to go and take you to this lot
And thus bind you anew. Now go
And tell me, isn’t this some space, my friend?
Just look out there, you barely glimpse the end,
A hundred fires burning in a row.
They dance, they chat, they cook and drink, embrace;
Now tell me where is there a better place!
FAUST
But when you introduce me at the revel,
Will you appear as sorcerer or devil?
MEPHISTOPHELES
I’m used to going incognito, as you know,
But on a gala day one lets one’s order show.
It’s not a garter that shows my due,
But here the cloven foot is held in honour true.
You see the snail there? Towards us it comes creeping,
With tentative and groping face;
It’s sensed I’m something out of keeping.
For even if I wished, I can’t hide in this place.
Come then! We’ll visit each fire, see what’s brewing;
I’ll do the courting, you the wooing.
TO SOME WHO ARE SITTING AROUND GLOWING COALS
Old sirs, why are you at the end down here?
I’d praise you now if you were nicely in the middle,
Engulfed by bustle and youthful hustle,
One is alone enough at home, I fear.
GENERAL
Who'd trust the nations, for although
One has already done so much for them,
The people will, like women, don't you know,
Forever like the younger men.
MINISTER OF STATE
Now all has strayed far from the line;
I praise the good, old-timer days;
When we all mattered, I must say,
That truly was the golden time.
PARVENU
And truly we weren’t total clots,
And often did, what we should not;
Now everything is topsy-turvy,
Just when we wished to keep it steady.
AUTHOR
Who, after all, now wants to read a work
That’s balanced and intelligent!
And what concerns our dear young folk,
It’s never been just so impertinent.
MEPHISTOPHELES
(WHO ALL AT ONCE APPEARS VERY OLD)
I feel that folk are ripe for doom's last day,
This is my last climb to the Blocksberg’s crown;
As my small cask runs low, I say
The world itself is running down.
JUNK SHOP WITCH
Do not rush by, sirs! I must mention
This great, new opportunity!
Just give all of the great variety
Of my fine wares some close attention.
There’s nothing in this shop of mine-
(Each is unmatched on all this earth)
That’s not done hearty harm, some time,
To humans or the world's true worth.
No dagger that’s not made blood flow, no cup
That hasn’t poured a hot and poisoned wine,
Consuming so some healthy chap;
No gem that hasn’t led astray a kind
And charming girl; no sword not used to snap
A bond, or maybe stab a rival from behind.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Old aunt! poor is your grasp of these new days.
Done and happened! Happened, done!
Just shift your gaze to novel ways!
For only novelty draws everyone.
FAUST
I must keep focused, self-aware!
For this is what I call a fair!
MEPHISTOPHELES
The swirling mass strives upward here;
You think you push, yet you’re pushed from the rear.
FAUST
Who’s that?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Just watch her with great care.
That’s Lilith.
FAUST
Who?
MEPHISTOPHELES
First wife of Adam. But beware,
Of her most beautiful, long hair,
It is her gem: unique and single snare.
When she has got the young man in its boon,
It won't let go again too soon.
FAUST
A young witch and an old sit there. No doubt,
They are already quite danced out.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Tonight, you know, all know no rest.
A new dance starts. Come on, we’ll take them on with zest.
FAUST (DANCING WITH THE YOUNG ONE)
Now once the fairest dream I dreamed,
I saw an apple tree that seemed
To have two apples, shining fair-
They tempted me, I climbed it there.
THE FAIR ONE
For apples you’ve a great desire,
Since Paradise it’s been on fire.
I feel a stirring of delight
That in my garden too they’re bright.
MEPHISTOPHELES (DANCING WITH THE OLD ONE)
Now once a vulgar dream I dreamed,
I saw a cloven tree; it seemed
That it possessed a great big split,
Big as it was, I fancied it.
THE OLD ONE
I give best greeting now- my dear
Knight of the cloven hoof is here!
And if your branch is big, then you
Won’t fear a slit that’s quite large too.
PROKTOPHANTASMIST
Damn rotten lot! how dare you cross my seeing?
Have you not long ago had proofs complete
That spirits never stand on normal feet?
And now you dance- like other human beings!
THE FAIR ONE (DANCING)
What is he doing at our fair?
FAUST (DANCING)
That one! You’ll find him anywhere.
What others dance, he must inspect,
If he can’t criticize each step,
For him it may as well have not occurred.
Indeed, he’s angered most when we go forward.
But if you turn in circles set apart,
As he does in his dull and ancient mill,
He would, perhaps, not take it ill,
Especially if you acknowledged him to start.
PROKTOPHANTASMIST
You’re still here? This won’t do in any way.
So vanish! We’ve enlightened you away!
This fiendish rabble knows no rules. We’re most
Intelligent, yet Tegel castle has its ghost.
Although I’ve spent so long on sweeping out illusion,
It’s never clean- it’s just beyond all reason!
THE FAIR ONE
Just listen here, stop boring us to bits!
PROKTOPHANTASMIST
You spirits all, just get this clear,
I’ll not stand spirit despotism here;
My spirit can’t rule over it.
THE DANCING CONTINUES
I see today there’s nothing I can do;
Still I am always ready for another trip,
And hope, before I take my final step,
To so subdue all fiends and poets too.
MEPHISTOPHELES
He’ll sit in any puddle he can find,
That’s how he gets relief below;
For when the leeches latch themselves on his behind,
He’s rid of spirits and of spirit in one go.
TO FAUST, WHO HAS STEPPED OUT OF THE DANCE
Why do you leave that beauty now alone?
So lovely was the way she sang.
FAUST
A little reddish mouse just sprang
From her mouth as she was singing now.
MEPHISTOPHELES
O, that’s all right! Don’t worry so, I say.
It is enough it wasn’t grey.
Who questions such things in a lover’ s hour?
FAUST
Then I saw-
MEPHISTOPHELES
What?
FAUST
Mephisto, see that place,
That beautiful, pale girl, alone and far away?
She drags herself but slowly through the space,
It seems her feet are both chained in some way.
I must confess, I fancy she
Seems like fair Gretchen now to me.
MEPHISTOPHELES
That does no good. Leave it! Beware!
It is a magic image; lifeless idol there.
Best to avoid her. Understand!
That frozen gaze can freeze the blood of man,
Turn you to stone upon the spot;
You’ve heard of the Medusa, have you not?
FAUST
In truth, they are the eyes of one that’s dead,
Not closed by loving hand. That breast
Is hers, on which she let me lay my head;
That’s her sweet body that I caressed.
MEPHISTOPHELES
You easily-led fool! That is the sorcery!
She seems to each his love. Now don't you see?
FAUST
What bliss! What grief! I have to stay,
I cannot draw my eyes away.
How strange that her fair neck should be adorned
With just a single, thin, red line,
No broader than a thin knife’s back.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Quite so! I see it too. Be warned,
She takes it in her arms when she’s inclined,
For Perseus cut it with one hack.
This fondness for illusion still!
Come on, just climb this little hill!
Here it’s as jolly as the Prater;
And if I’m not bewitched, I’m sure
I actually see a theatre.
What’s on, my friend?
SERVIBILIS
We’re starting now once more,
The last of seven things, a new release;
It’s custom here to put lots in our brew.
A dilettante wrote the piece,
And dilettantes act it too.
Excuse, good sirs, I’ll slip from sight;
For I must dilettante up the curtain.
MEPHISTOPHELES
To find you on the Blocksberg’s height
Is good, for that’s where you belong for certain.
(A NOTE ON WALPURGIS NIGHT DREAM
The Walpurgis Night Dream -a sort of amateur pageant, possibly being watched by Faust and Mephistopheles, adds to the surreal atmosphere. The little verses are satires or comments on various people and things. Mieding was a stage manager and scene painter. Oberon, Puck and Titania are "fairies" from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream while Ariel , the airy spirit, is from The Tempest. The Northern Artist relates to Goethe himself whose views were enriched by his own Italian Journey. Xenien are the satiric verses in the style of the Roman poet Martial. Hennings portrayed as a sort of literary snob, published a journal called The Genius of the Age that had attacked Schiller (poet and playwright and Goethe's friend). His book of poems was called Musagent (leader of the muses). Ci-Devant possible refers to the name change of the journal at 1800 to Genius of the 19th Century. Orpheus could calm the beasts with music. An Idealist is a philosopher who lays great emphasis on the mind's role in creating reality. The realist emphasises observation of a world regarded as wholly external. "Flames" are supposed to lead the sensitive to treasure. The Nimble Ones who are sans- souci (without care) change their allegiances easily and have reversed so much they walk on their heads, while the Useless have ended up with bare feet. The massive are the masses (particularly in this case in the French Revolution). )
WALPURGIS NIGHT DREAM
or
OBERON AND TITANIA’S GOLDEN WEDDING
Intermezzo
THEATRE MANAGER
So today for once we rest,
Brave sons of painter Mieding.
Ancient crag and valley mist.
That’s all the scenery’s needing.
HERALD
A wedding is a golden one
With fifty years in store ;
But when the quarrelling is done,
I love that gold much more..
OBERON
If you spirits are around
Reveal yourselves to view;
Here the king and queen are bound
To now be bound anew.
PUCK
Puck now comes and cuts across,
And slides his feet in line;
And a hundred follow this,
To share a joyful time.
ARIEL
Ariel is moved to song,
In heaven tones so true;
Bringing quite a frightful throng,
But beauty’s offspring too.
OBERON
Couples wish to get along,
So learn what we impart.
Two can stay in love for long-
They only need to part.
TITANIA
He is sulking, she has whims,
So grab them both with haste.
Send her off to southern lands,
He to far northern waste.
ORCHESTRA, TUTTI (FORTISSIMO)
Nose of mosquito, snout of fly,
With relatives around,
Frog in leaf, grass cricket’s cry,
All make our music sound.
SOLO
How the bagpipe with its sack
Is big soap bubble swelling;
Hear how skirling snicker-snack
From its blunt nose is welling.
SPIRIT (WHICH IS FORMING ITSELF FOR THE FIRST TIME)
Spider’s foot, toad-belly features,
With small wings of a sprite,
These will not make up some creatures,
Just lines that come out right.
A LITTLE COUPLE
Little steps and leaps so high
Through scents and honey dew;
Though fleet enough for me are you,
We never really fly.
INQUISITIVE TRAVELLER
Is this some masquerade’s disguise?
Trust I what seems so clear?
Is Oberon, the fair god, here
Today before my eyes?
ORTHODOX
There’s no claws and no tail piece,
Yet I’ve no doubt it’s true,
Just like the ancient gods of Greece,
That he’s a devil too.
NORTHERN ARTIST
All that I’m doing still today
Are only sketches really.
Still I get set for when I may
Take my Italian journey.
PURIST
Oh, my bad luck brings me such places!
Such goings-on won’t do!
In all this witch horde only two
Are wearing powder on their faces.
YOUNG WITCH
Such powder, like a petticoat,
Suits grannies, grey and worn.
But I sit naked on my goat
And show my strapping form.
MATRON
We’re too well-mannered to engender
Fault-finding with your lot.
Yet as you are, still young and tender,
I hope you start to rot.
ORCHESTRA LEADER
Nose of mosquito, snout of fly,
Keep off that naked girl!
Frog in leaf, grass cricket’s cry,
Just keep in time as well!
WEATHERVANE (TURNING TO ONE SIDE)
The best companions you could wish;
Each girl- a bride to be;
And young friends, man for man, make this
Most promising to see!
WEATHERVANE ( TURNING TO THE OTHER SIDE)
And if the ground won’t open wide
And swallow them inside;
Then I’ll take to my heels, pell-mell,
And leap straight into hell.
XENIEN
As little insects we are here
With sharp, small nippers ready,
To becomingly revere
Lord Satan who is our daddy.
HENNINGS
Oh, how they crowd, swarm to the fray,
Naively joke together;
And in the end they’ll dare to say
They were good-hearted ever .
MUSAGET
I love to lose myself within
This host of witches, for
I’ve far more chance of leading them
Than muses- that’s for sure!
CI-DEVANT GENIUS OF THE AGE (“Musagetes- the genius of the age”)
The proper people get you places.
Come, grab on to my coat.
The Blocksberg like our German Parnassus
Has a very long, broad top.
INQUISITIVE TRAVELLER
Tell me, who’s that stiff-backed man,
Who strides with such proud steps?
He noses round now where he can,
“He sniffs out Jesuits.”
CRANE
Yes, in the clear I like to fish,
But also in the murky waters.
That’s why the pious sir can mix
Quite well here in the devil's quarters.
CHILD OF THE WORLD
Believe me, for the pious lot
All things can serve their goals.
They make up, here on Blocksberg’s top,
Lots of conventicles.
DANCER
Is that another chorus song?
I hear a distant drumming.
Don’t fret! In reeds there swarms a throng
Of philosophic bitterns booming.
DANCING MASTER
How each one lifts his limbs, gets by
By hook or else by crook-
The bent ones leap, plump hop up high,
Not asking how they look.
FIDDLER
They hate each other, rotten rabble,
Each wants the rest deceased;
The bagpipe unifies the babble,
As Orpheus did beast.
DOGMATIST
I won’t be muddled by the shouters-
The critics or the doubters;
The devil must be real, you see,
Or else how could this devil be?
IDEALIST
Within my sight, imagination
Rules with too strong a grip;
In truth, if I’m all this creation,
Today I am a twit.
REALIST
This is a trial, the real- a dream...
So vexed by all I meet;
This is the first time that I’ve been
Unsteady on my feet.
SUPERNATURALIST
I’m in a really happy mood,
I find all this just bliss;
For from the devils I conclude
Good spirits must exist.
SKEPTIC
They follow little flames, not great;
Think they track near the treasure.
As devil and doubt alliterate,
I find this place a pleasure.
ORCHESTRAL LEADER
Nose of mosquito, snout of fly,
Damn dilettante crew!
Leaf-frog, grass-born cricket’s cry,
Stay musicians, will you!
THE NIMBLE ONES
Sans-souci, that’s our troop of sweet,
Bright creatures- it is said.
We go no longer on our feet,
So we go on our heads.
THE USELESS ONES
We used to wheedle many a bite;
God help us, but time rolls!
We danced right through our shoes at night,
And now we run on naked soles.
WILL O’ THE WISPS
From reeking swamps we come,
Where we arose in swarms,
But once we join the fun,
We’re glittering, gallant forms.
SHOOTING STAR
From the height I shot, a flower
Of fire and star flight,
Lying in the grasses now,
Who’ll help me get upright?
THE MASSIVE (the masses)
Make room, make room! Give way all you!
Small grass gets trampled flat.
Spirits come, but spirits too
Have limbs both strong and fat.
PUCK
Do not tread your massive way
Like calves of elephants;
May the sturdiest on this day
Be weighty Puck’s advance.
ARIEL
If fair, living nature’s grace
Or spirit gave you wings,
Follow my light, airy trace
Up the hill of rose-fair rings.
ORCHESTRA (PIANISSIMO)
Clouds that trail and mist that weaves
Dawn-gleams light overhead.
Wind flows through the reeds and leaves
And everything has fled.
TROUBLED DAY- FIELD
FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES
FAUST
In misery! Despairing! Long and pitifully astray upon the earth and now imprisoned! With terrible torments shut up like an evil-doer in a dungeon, that beautiful, unhappy creature! Things have gone so far! So far! Treacherous, vile, abominable spirit; this you have kept secret from me! Just stand there, stand! In rage roll your devilish eyes around in your head! Stand and defy me with your intolerable presence! Shut away! In irretrievable misery! Given over to evil spirits and judging, unfeeling humankind! While you lulled me with insipid diversions you concealed her growing grief from me and left her to perish helplessly!
MEPHISTOPHELES
She is not the first.
FAUST
Dog! Detestable monster and abomination! Transform him, You Infinite Spirit! Transform this worm back into his canine shape. Change him back to that in which he was pleased to trot before me during a nightly break, rolling himself at the feet of the harmless wanderer and clinging onto the shoulders of any who had fallen. Change him back to his favourite shape so that he may crawl, cringing before me, on the sand and there I may kick and trample him with my feet, Vile outcast of all! Not the first! Grief! Oh, grief! Beyond the grasp of the human soul to think that more than one creature has sunk to the depths of such misery, that the first did not go through enough in writhing death agony for all the others in the eyes of the eternally-forgiving One! I’m stirred and agitated right through to my very marrow, my life’s core, by the need and misery of this one person- you grin, composed and calm, over the fate of thousands!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Now here we are already, once more at our wit’s border, where your human sense and understanding snap. Why did you form bonds of companionship with us, if you cannot go through with it? Did we press ourselves on you, or you on us?
FAUST
Don’t snarl and bare your greedy teeth like that at me! It fills me with disgust! Great and glorious Spirit, you who found me worthy enough to appear before me, you who know my heart and know my soul, why chain me to this infamous companion who gloats over grievous harm and relishes destruction?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Are you finished?
FAUST
Save her! Or all grief be upon you! The most gruesome of curses be upon you for thousands of years!
MEPHISTOPHELES
I cannot loosen the avenger’s fetters, nor open his bolted bars. Save her! Who was it who plunged her to destruction? I or you?
FAUST LOOKS AROUND WILDLY
Are you grasping after thunder? It’s well that it wasn’t given to you miserable mortals! To smash to pieces the innocent objector, that is the manner of the tyrant, that is his method for getting relief from his embarrassment.
FAUST
Take me to her! She shall be freed!
MEPHISTOPHELES
And the danger to which you will expose yourself? Know that blood-guilt from your hand still lies over the town. For over the places of slayings hover avenging spirits that lurk waiting for the returning murderer.
FAUST
That too from you? The death and murder of a whole world fall on you, you monster! Lead me to her, I say, and set her free!
MEPHISTOPHELES
I’ll lead you there and as for the rest of what I can do- listen! Do you think I have all the power of heaven and earth? I’ll surround the gaoler’s senses with mist, then you seize hold of the keys and lead her out by human hand! I'll stand watch! The enchanted horses are ready... I carry you both away. That much can I do.
FAUST
Up and away!
NIGHT OPEN FIELD
FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES STORM ACROSS ON BLACK HORSES
FAUST
What are they weaving round the Ravenstone?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Don’t know what they’re brewing and making?
FAUST
Floating up, floating down, bending and bowing.
MEPHISTOPHELES
A witches’ guild.
FAUST
They strew and hallow.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Pass by! Pass by!
DUNGEON
FAUST (WITH A BUNCH OF KEYS AND A LAMP, BEFORE A SMALL IRON DOOR)
I gasp with long-forgotten horror's breath,
I'm seized by every human sorrowing.
She lives behind dank walls and slime.
A fair delusion her only crime!
You hesitate to go within.
You fear to see her once again!
Forward! Weak wavering advances death.
HE SEIZES THE LOCK. SOUND OF SINGING FROM WITHIN
My mother, the whore,
Took life from me!
My father, the rogue,
Has eaten me!
My small sister alone
Has buried my bones
Down in a cool, cool place.
I've changed into a beautiful bird;
Fly away, fly apace!
FAUST (UNLOCKING)
She doesn’t dream her love can hear the raw,
Rough clink of chains, the rustling of the straw.
HE ENTERS
MARGARET (HIDING ON HER PALLET)
Oh! They are coming. Bitter death!
FAUST (SOFTLY)
Ssh! Ssh! I’ve come to set you free.
MARGARET ( TURNING OVER TO FACE HIM)
If you are human, feel my misery!
FAUST
Your cries will rouse the night guards from their rest.
HE SEIZES THE CHAINS TO UNLOCK THEM
MARGARET (ON HER KNEES)
Who gave you, hangman, heavy
Power over me!
At midnight now you’re taking me already.
Have mercy, let me live, let be!
Is dawn not soon enough for you to come?
SHE STANDS UP
I’m still so young, so young!
Yet I must die!
I once was beautiful, and that was my
Downfall. My friend, once near, is far off now;
The wreath lies ripped and scattered are the flowers.
Don’t grip as strongly as you do!
Spare me! What have I done to you?
Don’t let me plead and beg in vain;
I do not even know your name!
FAUST
How shall I bear this grief, this pain!
MARGARET
I am now wholly in your power.
Just let me feed my child first now.
All night heart-close I held it, then
To grieve me they took it away;
I murdered it- that’s what they say.
I never shall have joy again.
They sing these songs about me! It’s wicked that they do!
An old folk tale has such an end,
Who says that it is true?
FAUST (CASTING HIMSELF DOWN)
A lover lies here at your feet,
To break the chains of pain and grief.
MARGARET
Oh, let us kneel, and call on holy ones on high!
See! under these stone steps, close by,
Beneath this threshold, swell
Legions from hell!
There evil’s king,
With fear-filling fury,
Makes a hideous din!
FAUST (LOUDLY)
Gretchen! Gretchen!
MARGARET (ATTENTIVE)
That was the voice of my friend.
SHE LEAPS UP. THE CHAINS FALL OFF
Where is he? I heard him call! I’m free!
And none shall keep him now from me.
I’ll hang upon his neck, and I…
Close on his breast I’ll lie!
Gretchen! he called me from the threshold stone-
Through all of hell’s howling and clattering storm,
Through all of the fury of devilish scorn,
I knew his sweet and loving tone.
FAUST
I’m here!
MARGARET
You’re here! O say it once again!
SEIZING HIM
He is! He is! Where is my fear and pain?
Where is the fear of prison? The chains?
You’ve come! Come to rescue me!
And I am free!-
Again I see the street where I
Saw you at first, at first while passing by,
And the cheerful garden too,
Where I and Martha walked with you.
FAUST (PUSHING TOWARD THE DOOR)
Come on! Come on!
MARGARET
Stay here! Stay here!
For I am happiest while you are near!
CARESSING HIM
FAUST
Hurry! Fly!
If you don’t fly
We will pay dearly for all this!
MARGARET
What! You can no longer kiss?
My friend, so short a time gone missing,
To so unlearn your kissing?
Why do I fear to hang upon your neck? Once it would be
That from your words, your glance, would spread
A whole, fair heaven overhead-
You kissed as if you’d smother me.
Kiss me now!
Then I’ll kiss you!
SHE EMBRACES HIM
Ah me! Your lips are cold-
Are mute.
Where is your love,
My love?
Who broke love’s hold?
FAUST
Come! Follow me! My love, be brave again!
I’ll fill your heart with a thousand times more flame!
Just follow me! That’s all I beg of you!
MARGARET
And is it you? And is it really you?
FAUST
It’s truly me! Come on!
MARGARET
You loose my chains,
You take me in your arms again.
But why do you not shrink from me?
Do you not know, my friend, whom you are setting free?
FAUST
Come! Already night yields up its power!
MARGARET
I have killed my mother. I have drowned
My child. Wasn’t it to be
A gift, a gift to you and me?
You too.- It’s you! I scarce believe it yet.
Give me your hand! It’s not a dream!
Your dearest hand!- Ah! but it is wet!
Wipe it clean now!- Clean! - it seems
It’s blood.
Oh God! What have you done!
Put up your sword, put up,
I beg you- please!
FAUST
Oh! Let what now has gone be gone,
You’re killing me.
MARGARET
No! you must live! I shall
Describe to you the graves.
And you must tend them all,
Tomorrow, right away;
So give the best place to my mother,
And right beside her lay my brother;
Me, a bit to the side,
Not too far aside!-
No one else will lie by me!
Nestling by you once would be
A sweet and gracious happiness.
But that’s now something I can’t do;
Seems I must force myself on you,
As if pushed back. Nonetheless,
It’s you- so good, so pious is your gaze.
FAUST
You feel it’s so- then come, oh, come!
MARGARET
Out there?
FAUST
Into free air.
MARGARET
If there’s the grave,
If death’s in wait- then come will you!
From here to an everlasting bed of rest
And further- not one step!
You’re going? O Heinrich, would I could go too!
FAUST
You can! Just will it so! The door is free.
MARGARET
I may not go; no hope is left for me.
They’d track me down. What use is it to flee?
To have to beg is agony,
And with a guilty heart as well!
To roam strange realms is misery,
And they’d still catch me- I can tell!
FAUST
I’ll stay by you.
MARGARET
Go quickly! Quick, I pray!
Save your poor child! Away!
Just stay on the track
That runs by the brook,
Across the small bridge
And into the forest,
Left, where the planks still reach
Into the pond.
Quickly, grab on!
It wants to surface,
Still struggles- see!
Save it! Save it!
FAUST
Grip onto your sanity!
It’s but one step, and you are free!
MARGARET
If only we were past the mountain! Alone,
My mother sits there on a stone-
An icy grip seizes my hair!
My mother sits there on a stone;
Her head is wagging there-
She doesn’t wave, she doesn’t beckon, her head is heavy for
She slept so long, she wakes no more.
She slept so that we would have our bliss.
They were such times of happiness!
FAUST
No word, no pleading is enough,
So I must dare to bear you off.
MARGARET
No, leave me, leave! I'll not put up with force!
Don’t grip like murder; for it's true:
I have done all the rest for love of you.
FAUST
The day dawns! Love! my love!
MARGARET
Day! Yes, day is dawning. The last day dawns in gray!
It was to be my wedding day!
Tell no one you’ve already been with Gretchen.
My wreath- oh grief!
But what is done is done!
We’ll yet meet once
But not to dance.
No noise is heard, although crowds throng.
Square, street, and alley
Cannot hold the rally.
They break the wand, the bell has rung,
They seize and bind me! I’m led
Already to the block. It’s time.
And each neck feels the dread
Of that sharp blade that's drawn for mine.
Mute lies the world like the grave!
FAUST
Oh, would I’d never been born!
MEPHISTOPHELES (APPEARING OUTSIDE)
Up! Or you’re lost; be warned.
This stalling and chattering! Needless wavering!
My horses are shivering,
The sky is flushed with light.
MARGARET
What rose from the ground to my sight?
Him! Him! Oh, send him off!
Oh, why is he in this holy spot?
He wants me!
FAUST
You shall live!
MARGARET
Judgement of God! To You I give myself!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Come! Come! I’ll leave you both forever lost.
MARGARET
Thine am I, Father! Save me now!
Your angels! Your holy host,
Cluster around me, guard me with your power!
Heinrich! I fear for you.
MEPHISTOPHELES
She is condemned!
VOICES (FROM ABOVE)
She is saved!
MEPHISTOPHELES (TO FAUST)
Come here to me!
(HE VANISHES WITH FAUST)
VOICE (FROM WITHIN, DYING AWAY)
Heinrich! Heinrich!
THE END OF PART ONE
posted by Mark Scrivener | 2:48 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home