Faust Read Online

What is the gentleman’s pleasure?

MEPHISTOPHELES (softly to MARTHA).

	I know now who you are, that is enough for me;
	I see you’re with a lady of high standing.
	Forgive my bold demeanor,
	I will return this afternoon.

MARTHA (aloud).

	Just think, my dear, for heaven’s sake!
	He took you for a noble lady!

MARGARET.

	I’m just a poor young girl;
	I’m afraid the gentleman is much too kind.
	These gems and spangles don’t belong to me.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

2910	Ah, but it is not the jewelry alone;
	it is the lady’s presence and commanding eye!
	I am so pleased that I may stay awhile.

MARTHA.

What brings you here? Please be so kind—

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	I wish I had some better news.
	I only hope you won’t be cross with me.
	Your husband’s dead and sends his greetings.

MARTHA.

	Is dead? The faithful heart! Alas!
	My husband’s dead! Ah, how I suffer!

MARGARET.

Dear friend, dear neighbor, don’t despair!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

2920	Here is my sorrowful report!

MARGARET.

	I should never want to be in love;
	a loss would make me die of grief.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

With joy goes sorrow, and with sorrow, joy.

MARTHA.

Please tell me of his final hours.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	His grave was dug in Padua,
	the city of Saint Anthony.30
	He lies in consecrated ground,
	a cool eternal resting place.

MARTHA.

And have you nothing else for me?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

2930	Oh yes, a grave and serious request;
	he wants three hundred masses for his soul.
	Apart from that, my hands are empty.

MARTHA.

	What? No token? Not one piece of jewelry?
	Every craftsman stows away a thing or two
	deep in his satchel as a souvenir
	and would sooner starve and beg than lose it.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	It grieves me very much,
	but your husband did not squander money.
	He regretted all his errors too,
2940	and his misfortunes even more.

MARGARET.

	Ah, why are people so unhappy!
	Yes, I will gladly offer him some requiems.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	You ought to marry right away,
	you’re such a kindly and endearing creature.

MARGARET.

Ah no, it would never do, not yet.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	If not a husband, then perhaps a lover.
	It would be among the greatest gifts from heaven,
	to embrace a lovely woman like yourself.

MARGARET.

That is not the custom hereabouts.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

2950	Custom or no custom. It can be arranged.

MARTHA.

But please, continue your report.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	His deathbed, where I stood,
	was not exactly horse manure,
	but rotted straw; but still and all he died a Christian.
	He found he left a number of unsettled scores.
	“How deeply must I hate myself,” he cried,
	“I left my wife and my profession!
	Alas, the memory will do me in.
	I crave her pardon while I still draw breath.”

MARTHA (crying).

The dear good man. Long since I have forgiven him.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

2960	“And yet, God knows, she was much more to blame than I.”

MARTHA.

The liar! What! He lied with one foot in the grave!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	I think he raved a bit before he breathed his last,
	if I’m but half a connoisseur;
	“I had no time,” he said, “for fun or recreation:
	First the children, then their daily bread,
	and bread in all its broadest meaning;
	I could hardly ever eat in peace.”

MARTHA.

	Then all my love and loyalty meant nothing,
	nor the drudgery by day and night.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

2970	Not so! His heart was deeply touched by it.
	He said: “When I embarked in Malta’s harbor
	I prayed for wife and children ardently;
	and so the heavens smiled on us
	and let us catch a Turkish merchant ship
	which had a Sultan’s treasure in its hold.
	Then valor got its just reward
	and, as is only right and proper,
	I received my well-apportioned share.”

MARTHA.

Oh really? Where? Has he buried it somewhere?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

2980	Who knows; it could be anywhere.
	A pretty girl took him in tow
	when all alone he walked the streets of Naples;
	she gave him so much love and loyalty,
	he felt the consequences to his dying day.

MARTHA.

	The dirty thief! The robber of his children!
	All our misery and dire need did not suffice
	to draw his shameful life from sin.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Well spoken, and for that, you see, he’s dead.
	But now, if I were in your place,
2990	I’d spend a year in decent mourning
	while angling for a new prospective swain.

MARTHA.

	Oh my! To find another one quite like my first
	will be no easy undertaking in this world.
	He was the sweetest little pickle-herring.
	But he liked too much to roam about—
	foreign wine and foreign women,
	and worst of all, those cursed dice.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Oh, well, all this might yet have been just fine,
	had he been smart enough to overlook
3000	the things you overlooked in him.
	I swear to you, except for this condition,
	I would myself exchange my ring with yours.

MARTHA.

The gentleman seems pleased to jest with me.

MEPHISTOPHELES (aside).

	I’d better run while I’m still able,
	or else she’d hold the devil by his word.
	(To GRETCHEN.)
	And may I ask about your heart, young lady?

MARGARET.

What does the gentleman mean?

MEPHISTOPHELES (aside).

	You innocent, sweet thing!
	(Aloud.)
	Ladies, farewell!

MARGARET.

Farewell!

MARTHA.

	Oh, one more thing about my husband.
	I should like to have a document to show
3010	the when, the how and why of his demise.
	I always was a friend of law and order
	and want to see him dead in our local paper.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Why yes, by two attested statements
	the truth is always well confirmed;
	I have an excellent companion
	whom I will ask to make a deposition.
	I’ll bring him here.

MARTHA.

Oh yes, please do.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	And our maiden here will then be present?—
	A gallant youth! Has traveled much;
3020	shows every courtesy to the ladies.

MARGARET.

I would blush before a gentleman like that.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

Before no king on earth!

MARTHA.

	Behind the house, there in the garden
	we will await the both of you tonight.

A STREET

Faust, Mephistopheles.

FAUST.

How is it? Will it work? Are we ready?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Bravo! Do I find you all afire?
	It won’t be long, and Gretchen will be yours.
	Tonight you’ll see her at her neighbor’s house.
	The woman there is without peer
3030	in gypsy deals and pimping.

FAUST.

Good!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

But something of a quid pro quo will be required.

FAUST.

Well, one good turn deserves another.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	All we do is make a proper deposition:
	To wit, her husband’s limp cadaver rests
	in peace in Padua’s consecrated ground.

FAUST.

That’s wise! We’ll have to make the journey first.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

Sancta Simplicitas! That is beside the point; just testify, don’t make a fuss.

FAUST.

If you’ve got nothing better, our plan is null and void.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

3040	You holy man! You image of a saint!
	Is this the only instance in your life
	that you have borne false witness?
	Have you not shown imposing power
	defining God, the world, and every moving thing,
	as well as man and all his inward stirrings,
	with brazen face and swollen chest?
	But if you probe the matter to the core,
	you must confess you’ve never known much more
	than now you know of brother Schwerdtlein’s death.

FAUST.

3050	You’ll always be a sophist and a liar.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	True enough; except I’ve peered a little deeper.
	For will you not, in words of great propriety
	befog poor Gretchen,31 come tomorrow,
	and swear your heart and soul belong to her?

FAUST.

And that with all my heart!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	That’s good of you!
	And then you’ll speak of faith and love eternal,
	of a single, overpowering urge—
	will that flow so easily from your heart?

FAUST.

	Enough, I say it will.—When I am deeply stirred
3060	and through the raging tumult seek
	and grope in vain for name and speech,
	sweep through the world with all my senses,
	reach for the highest words that come to me,
	and the ardor in which I burn
	I call infinite, eternal fire—
	can that be called a devil’s game of lies?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

All the same, I’m right.

FAUST.

	Listen now! Mark this well,
	I beg of you, and let me save my breath—
	Anyone intent on winning,
3070	if he but use his tongue, will win.
	But come, I’m tired of this idle chatter,
	for you have won your point, since what I do, I must.

MARTHA’S GARDEN

Margaret on Faust’s arm. Martha and

Mephistopheles walking up and down.

MARGARET.

	I’m sure, sir, you’re only being kind.
	You condescend and make me feel unworthy.
	A traveler becomes accustomed
	to be content with what he finds.
	My simple words could never entertain
	a gentleman of your experience.

FAUST.

	One glance from you, a single word, holds more
3080	than all the wisdom of this world.
	(He kisses her hand.)

MARGARET.

	Don’t trouble yourself—how can you kiss my hand?
	It is a rough and ugly hand!
	Think of all the work that I have done.
	My mother is so very fussy.
	(They pass on.)

MARTHA.

And you, sir, do you travel all the time?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Ah yes, our trade and duty keep us on the move.
	With deep regret one leaves some charming place—
	but once for all, one cannot stay and rest!

MARTHA.

	It is all right, when one is young and gay,
3090	to roam the whole wide world at will;
	but a bachelor who falls on evil days
	and drags his person to the grave alone
	is never truly happy and at peace.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

I shudder when I look at it that way.

MARTHA.

	Hence, worthy sir, take counsel in good time.
	(They pass on.)

MARGARET.

	Yes, out of sight is out of mind!
	Your courtesy is second nature;
	you have friends in many places
	who are much cleverer than I.

FAUST.

3100	What the world calls cleverness, my dearest,
	is really narrowness and rank conceit.

MARGARET.

How’s that?

FAUST.

	Why should simplicity and innocence
	be unaware of self and of their sacred worth?
	Why are humility and lowliness the finest gifts
	of a loving, bounteous Nature—

MARGARET.

	Think of me for just a little moment’s time,
	I shall have a lot of time to think of you!

FAUST.

Then you are much alone?

MARGARET.

	Yes, our household’s rather small,
3110	but still it needs much looking after.
	We keep no maid, so I must cook and sweep and knit,
	and sew and run, from morning until late at night.
	And mother is so finicky
	with every little chore!
	Not that she needs to skimp with downright everything;
	we’re still much better off than many others:
	My father left us quite a nice estate,
	a house, a little garden just outside the town.
	But of late I’ve had some rather quiet days;
3120	my brother is a soldier;
	my little sister’s dead.
	I spent some trying moments with the child,
	but I would gladly take on twice the trouble;
	she was so very dear to me.

FAUST.

An angel if she resembled you.

MARGARET.

	I brought her up. She loved me dearly too.
	My father died before she came into the world.
	My mother we had given up for lost,
	her condition was so desperate,
	but she recovered slowly, step by step.
3130	After that, she could not even think of trying
	to nurse the little mite herself,
	and so I reared it all alone
	with milk and water.—She became my own.
	In my arms and on my knee
	she grinned and wriggled and grew strong.

FAUST.

You must have felt the purest bliss.

MARGARET.

	But many fretful hours too.
	At night I placed the little creature’s cradle
	beside my bed, and if she stirred the slightest bit,
3140	I was awake immediately.
	I would feed her—or would place her next to me,
	or else, to quiet her, I’d leave my bed
	and rock her gently as I paced the room,
	and bright and early I would do the wash,
	then off to market, then stoke the kitchen range,
	and on and on, tomorrow like today.
	One does not always feel like smiling, sir,
	but then the food tastes good, and sleep tastes even better.
	(They pass on.)

MARTHA.

	We women get the worst of everything;
3150	a bachelor is difficult to sway.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	It would depend on women like yourself
	to teach me what is better.

MARTHA.

	Be frank, dear sir, you never found the real thing?
	You haven’t tied your heart to anyone?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	The proverb says: A hearth, a goodly woman of one’s own,
	are worth their weight in pearls and gold.

MARTHA.

What I meant was: Did you ever feel inclined?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

Everywhere I’ve been politely treated.

MARTHA.

I mean, were your intentions ever serious?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

3160	One should never trifle with the ladies.

MARTHA.

Ah, you do not grasp my meaning.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	I’m sincerely pained,
	but I can grasp—that you are very good to me.
	(They pass on.)

FAUST.

	You knew me, little angel, right away,
	when I entered through your garden door?

MARGARET.

Didn’t you see? I cast down my eyes.

FAUST.

	Will you forgive the liberty I took,
	the impertinence and my brazen words,
	when you were coming out of church?

MARGARET.

	I was upset. I could not cope with such a thing.
3170	No one till now found fault with me.
	Could he have seen in me—I thought—
	brazenness and a lack of modesty?
	He showed no qualm or hesitation
	to strike a bargain with a wench.
	Let me confess! I could not fathom why
	I felt a sudden stirring in your favor.
	And surely, I was angry with myself
	because I was not angrier with you.

FAUST.

My sweet love.

MARGARET.

	Wait awhile.
	(She picks a daisy and plucks the petals, one by one.)

FAUST.

What is it? A bouquet?

MARGARET.

No, it’s just a game.

FAUST.

A what?

MARGARET.

3180	Go away, you’ll laugh at me.
	(She plucks petals, murmuring to herself.)

FAUST.

What are you murmuring?

MARGARET (half aloud).

He loves me … loves me not.

FAUST.

You countenance of Heaven!

MARGARET (continues).

	Loves me—Not—Loves me—Not—
	(Plucking the last petal, radiant with joy.)
	He loves me!

FAUST.

	Yes, my sweet! Oh, let this flower’s word
	be the pronouncement of the gods. He loves you!
	Can you feel the word’s profundity? He loves you!
	(He grasps both her hands.)

MARGARET.

I tremble so.

FAUST.

	Oh, do not tremble. Look into my eyes;
	let my hands which press your hands convey to you
3190	the inexpressible:
	to give oneself completely and to feel an ecstasy
	which must be everlasting!
	Everlasting!—the end would be despair.
	No—no end! no end!
	(MARGARET clasps his hands, frees herself, and runs off. FAUST stands for a moment in deep thought, then follows her.)

MARTHA (coming forward).

The sky is darkening.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

We must be on our way.

MARTHA.

	I would prefer to have you stay awhile,
	but our town is mean and petty.
	People here can think of nothing better
	than spying on their neighbor’s every move.
3200	For this they’ll gladly set aside their daily chores
	and gossip if they’re given half a chance.
	And what of our little couple?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Flew up the garden path.
	The willful birds of summer!

MARTHA.

He seems to like her well.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

And she likes him. The world keeps spinning.

A SUMMER CABIN

Margaret rushes in and hides behind the door, puts her finger to her lips and peeps through a crack.

MARGARET.

He’s coming!

FAUST.

	Oh, you rascal, you’re teasing me!
	I’ve caught you!
	(He kisses her.)

MARGARET (clasps him and returns his kiss).

Dearest man! With all my heart I love you so! (MEPHISTOPHELES knocks.)

FAUST (stamping his foot).

Who’s there?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

A friend!

FAUST.

A beast!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

I think it’s time for us to leave.

MARTHA (entering).

Yes indeed, good sir, it’s getting late.

FAUST.

May I not see you to your home?

MARGARET.

My mother would—Farewell!

FAUST.

	If I must really leave you then—
	Farewell!

MARTHA.

Adieu!

MARGARET.

3210	Until we meet again!
	(FAUST and MEPHISTOPHELES exit.)

MARGARET.

	Dear God! The many thoughts and weighty matters
	to which this man can put his mind!
	All I can do is stand abashed
	and nod my “yes” to everything.
	I’m such a silly child and cannot grasp
	whatever he may find in me.
	(Exits.)

FOREST AND CAVERN

FAUST (alone).

	Sublime Spirit,32 you gave me everything,
	gave me all I ever asked. Not in vain
	you turned your fiery countenance on me.
3220	You gave me glorious Nature for my kingdom,
	the strength to feel and to enjoy Her. You gave me
	more than a visit merely of cold wonderment;
	you granted that I peer into Her boundless depths
	as I peer into a friendly heart.
	And you pass the ranks of living creatures
	before me, and you acquaint me with my brothers
	in silent bush, in airy heights and water.
	When the winds roar in and rattle,
	and giant spruces break and topple,
3230	crushing neighbors and obstructing limbs,
	and the hill responds with inward thunder—
	then you lead me to the sheltered cavern,
	and show me to myself, and then reveal
	to me profundities within my breast.
	And when the pure moon rises
	soothingly before my gaze,
	the silver phantoms of a bygone age
	drift toward me from rocky walls and dew-soaked bushes
	and temper meditation’s austere pleasure.

3240	That nothing perfect ever can accrue to Man
	I know deeply now. With all my bliss
	which brought me close and closer to the gods,
	you gave me the companion which I even now
	can no longer do without; though cold and insolent,
	he humbles me before myself, and by a single breath
	he transforms your gifts to nothingness,
	and busily he fans within my bosom
	a seething fire for that radiant image.
	I stagger from desire to enjoyment,
3250	and in its throes I starve for more desire.
	(MEPHISTOPHELES enters.)

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Are you not done yet with this kind of life?
	How can you enjoy it for so long?
	A taste of it is well and good,
	but then come on, try something new!

FAUST.

	I wish that you had other things to do
	than to plague me with your presence.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Well, well; I should be glad to let you be,
	if you should ask for it in earnest.
	The loss of such a mad and hostile fellow
3260	is but a trifling business for me;
	I’ve got my hands full day and night;
	there is no telling by his nose and bearing
	what pleases him and what repels him at the moment.

FAUST.

	This is just the tone I needed!
	Demanding gratitude for boring me.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	How would you, miserable son of earth,
	have lived your life without my help?
	I think I cured you for some time to come
	from the claptrap of your fantasy.
3270	Except for me you would have made your exit
	from this globe some time ago.33
	What is the point of cowering like an owl
	in fissured rocks and dismal mountain caves?
	Why, toadlike, do you swill your nourishment
	from soggy moss and dripping stones?
	A darling way to pass the time!
	The doctor’s in your belly still!

FAUST.

	Can you conceive what new and vital power
	I draw from living in the wilderness?
3280	If you could, I think you’d be
	devilish enough to envy me my happiness.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	What supernatural delight!
	To lie in nightly dew on mountain heights,
	to encompass earth and heaven in a rapture
	and inflate one’s being to a godlike state,
	to burrow to the core, inflamed by premonition,
	to feel six days of God’s creation in your bosom,
	enjoy in pride and strength I know not what,
	and flooding all in loving ecstasy,
3290	the son of earth is canceled out—
	then comes the lofty intuition—
	(Makes an obscene gesture.)
	to end in … Well, I’ll keep it to myself.

FAUST.

You pig!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	I see that this is hardly to your liking.
	You may say “pig” in all propriety.
	One must not say to chaste and modest ears
	what chaste hearts can never do without.
	Once for all, you are most welcome to the fun
	of self-delusion now and then;
	you cannot keep it up for very long;
3300	you’re driven on before you know,
	and should it last, you’re ground to bits
	by madness, torment, or sheer horror.
	Enough of this, your sweetheart sits at home,
	and to her the world seems close and dreary.
	You live forever in her mind.
	An overwhelming love for you has seized her soul.
	At first your passion rose and overflowed
	as when a brook will swell from melting snow;
	you poured it all into her bosom—
3310	and now the brook runs dry again.
	I think, instead of playing king in forest groves,
	the gentleman might well see fit
	to give the squirming little creature
	a gift in gratitude for loving him.
	The time hangs heavy on her hands;
	she stands and sees the clouds pass by her window
	as they drift above the city walls.
	“If I were just a little bird”—so goes her song
	throughout the day and half the night.
3320	Now she’s cheerful, but mostly she is sad,
	now her tears are streaming down,
	and then she’s calm again, it seems,
	and always, always loving you.

FAUST.

You snake! You snake!

MEPHISTOPHELES (aside).

Here now! So I’ve trapped you!

FAUST.

	Get away from me, you cursed fiend,
	and never speak her blessèd name!
	Lash not again my tortured senses
	to lust for her whom I adore.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

3330	Then why the fuss? She thinks that you have left her,
	and more or less, that is what did occur.

FAUST.

	I’m near her always, even when I’m far away;
	I never can forget nor lose her.
	I even grudge the Body of the Lord
	when her lips approach to touch the Host.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	That’s good, my friend! I’ve often envied you
	the pair of roes that feeds among the lilies.34

FAUST.

Get out, you pimp!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	How nice! You rail away and I must laugh.
	The God who fashioned boys and girls,
3340	seeing quickly what was wanting,
	gave them their chance and opportunity.
	But come. Why all this fussing?
	You’re going to your sweetheart’s chamber
	and not at all to death and doom.

FAUST.

	When in her arms, I need no joys of Heaven.
	The warmth I seek is burning in her breast.
	Do I not every moment feel her woe?
	Am I not the fugitive, the homeless roamer,
	an aimless, rootless, monstrous creature,
3350	roaring like a cataract from crag to crag,
	madly racing for the final precipice?
	And she along the banks with childlike, simple sense,
	there in her cabin on an alpine meadow,
	with all the homey enterprises
	encompassed by her tiny world.
	And I whom God abhors,
	I was not satisfied
	to seize the rocks,
	and crush them into pieces.
3360	It was her life, her peace I had to ruin.
	You, Satan, claimed this sacrifice!
	Help, Satan, help abridge the time of fear!
	What has to happen, let it happen now!
	Let her fate come crashing down on mine,
	let us both embrace perdition!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	How you burn and seethe again!
	Go in and comfort her, you fool.
	When you pinheads find no place to go,
	you think at once, “It is the end!”
3370	Long live he who stands his ground courageously!
	Till now I’d thought you pretty well en-deviled.
	I can think of nothing tawdrier in the world
	than a devil who despairs.

GRETCHEN’S ROOM

GRETCHEN (alone at the spinning wheel).

	My peace is gone,
	My heart is sore;
	I’ll find it never
	And nevermore.

	To be without him
	Is like the grave;
3380	The sweet world all
	Is turned to gall.

	Ah, my poor head
	Is so distraught;
	Ah, my poor mind
	Can think no thought.

	My peace is gone,
	My heart is sore;
	I’ll find it never
	And nevermore.

3390	I stand by my window,
	I seek only him.
	I run from my door
	To be but with him.

	His noble gait,
	Lofty and wise;
	The smile on his lips,
	The force of his eyes.

	In the flow of his words,
	Is magical bliss.
3400	The clasp of his hand
	Ah, what bliss!

	My peace is gone,
	My heart is sore;
	I’ll find it never
	And nevermore.

	My heart is yearning
	To be at his side,
	To clasp and enfold him
	And hold him tight.

3410	To love and to kiss,
	To murmur and sigh,
	And under his kiss
	To melt and to die!35

MARTHA’S GARDEN

Margaret, Faust.

MARGARET.

Promise me, Heinrich!

FAUST.

Whatever I can!

MARGARET.

	Then tell me: How do you stand on religion?
	You are a dear and warmhearted man,
	but I don’t believe you care for it.

FAUST.

	Let it be, my child. You know how dear you are to me.
	For those I love I’d give my blood and life;
3420	I grant to everyone his feelings and his church.

MARGARET.

That’s not enough. One must have faith.

FAUST.

One must?

MARGARET.

	Oh, if my words had some effect on you!
	You have no reverence for the Sacrament.

FAUST.

I honor it, I do.

MARGARET.

	But you lack desire.
	When were you last at mass or at confession?
	Do you believe in God?

FAUST.

	My darling, who can really say:
	I believe in God!
	Ask any priest or sage,
	and their answer seems but mockery
	of him who asks the question.

MARGARET.

3430	Then you don’t believe?

FAUST.

	Do not mistake me, sweetest light!
	Who may name Him,
	who profess:
	I believe in Him?
	Who dare think,
	who take the risk to say:
	I do not believe in Him?
	The All-Enfolding,
	All-Sustaining,
3440	does He not uphold and keep
	you, me, Himself?
	Do you not see the vaulted skies above?
	Is our earth not firmly set below?
	Do not everlasting stars rise up
	to show their friendly light?
	Is my gaze not deeply locked in yours,
	and don’t you feel your being
	surging to your head and heart,
	weaving in perennial mystery
3450	invisibly and visibly in you?
	Fill your heart to overflowing,
	and when you feel profoundest bliss,
	then call it what you will:
	Good fortune! Heart! Love! or God!
	I have no name for it!
	Feeling is all;
	the name is sound and smoke,
	beclouding Heaven’s glow.

MARGARET.

	All this is very well and good;
3460	the priest says pretty much the same as you;
	though he says it differently.

FAUST.

	They say it everywhere,
	all hearts beneath the skies,
	each in his tongue and way;
	why not I in mine?

MARGARET.

	When you say it so, it seems all right,
	and yet there’s something wrong;
	you have no proper Christian faith.

FAUST.

Dear child!

MARGARET.

	I’ve long been sick at heart
3470	to see you go about with your companion.

FAUST.

How so?

MARGARET.

	That person whom you have with you—
	I hate him from the bottom of my soul;
	nothing has in all my days
	wounded me as deeply in my heart
	as that repulsive person’s horrid face.

FAUST.

My pet, be not afraid of him.

MARGARET.

	His presence makes my blood run cold
	—and yet I usually like everyone.
	I yearn to feast my eyes on you,
3480	but for him I feel a nameless terror,
	and consider him a scoundrel too.
	God forgive me if I do him an injustice.

FAUST.

One comes across queer ducks sometimes.

MARGARET.

	I would not want to live near such a type!
	When he steps inside the door,
	he peers about so sneeringly
	and hatefully.
	One can see he’s cold as ice;
	and by his brow one quickly knows
3490	that he loves no one in the world.
	I feel so good when I’m in your arms,
	so free, so warm, so yielding,
	but his mere presence chokes me up inside.

FAUST.

You foreboding angel, you.

MARGARET.

	I am so overcome by this,
	whenever he comes near I feel
	as if I’d fallen out of love with you.
	Nor can I ever pray when he’s about;
	he poisons and corrodes my heart.
3500	And, Heinrich, surely you must feel the same.

FAUST.

There, there, it’s just a strong antipathy.

MARGARET.

Now I must go.

FAUST.

	Oh, shall I never
	hang upon your bosom one short hour,
	pressing breast on breast, my soul into your soul?

MARGARET.

	Oh, if I only slept alone,
	I should gladly leave the door unlatched tonight,
	but my mother’s slumber is not deep,
	and if she ever found us there together,
	I should die in terror on the spot.

FAUST.

3510	My angel, there is really no impediment.
	I have this little flask. A mere three drops
	from it put in her glass will gently lull
	her nature into heavy sleep.

MARGARET.

	What would I not do for you?
	It will not harm her in the least, I hope.

FAUST.

Would I suggest it then, my sweet?

MARGARET.

	Dearest man, when I but look at you
	I do not know what drives me to your will.
	Already I have done so much for you
3520	that little else remains undone.
	(Exits.)
	(MEPHISTOPHELES enters.)

MEPHISTOPHELES.

The little monkey! Has she gone?

FAUST.

Did you spy on me again?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	I took in every small detail;
	now Herr Doktor has been catechized—
	I hope it will agree with you.
	Those girls are always out to know
	if you’re devout according to tradition.
	They think, “If he but yields a little, we’ve got him all the way.”

FAUST.

	You, monster, fail to see
	how this trusting, loving soul,
3530	imbued with her religion—
	her one and only road to beatitude—
	torments herself in holy fear
	lest her belov’d be lost and damned forever.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	You more than sensual, sensual lover,
	the little girl has tied a string to you.

FAUST.

You scum, you misbegotten filth and fire!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	And she’s quite an expert in physiognomy.
	When I am there, she feels a vague constriction.
	She reads a hidden sense behind the face I show
3540	and is convinced I am a genius of sorts,
	and possibly the very devil.
	Well, and tonight—?

FAUST.

What is that to you?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

I feel the keenest pleasure!

AT THE WELL

Gretchen and Lieschen, with earthen jugs.

LIESCHEN.

What’s the news from Barbara?

GRETCHEN.

Not a word. I don’t get out a lot, you know.

LIESCHEN.

	It’s true, Sibylle told me so today!
	She’s finally been taken in.
	So much for giving oneself airs!

GRETCHEN.

What do you mean?

LIESCHEN.

	It stinks!
	Now she must eat and drink for two.

GRETCHEN.

3550

Oh.

LIESCHEN.

	At last she’s got what she’s been looking for.
	She’s been fawning on that fellow all this time.
	All that promenading,
	to the village and to dancing places;
	she—first in line on all occasions,
	he—plying her with cakes and wine,
	and she parading her good looks.
	She was brazen, had no sense of shame,
	accepting all his presents.
3560	They kissed and coddled once too often,
	and now her flower has been plucked.

GRETCHEN.

Poor thing!

LIESCHEN.

	You have pity on her yet?
	While girls like us were spinning at the wheel,
	and our mothers never let us out at night,
	she was cooing with her lover,
	on a bench or in a darkened alley;
	the time seemed never long to them.
	Now it’s her turn to duck and hide
	and do penance in a sinner’s shirt.

GRETCHEN.

3570	Surely he will take her for his wife.

LIESCHEN.

	He’d be a fool! A smart young fellow
	will look around for different air to breathe.
	Well, anyway, he’s gone.

GRETCHEN.

But that is terrible!

LIESCHEN.

	If she hooks him after all, she won’t fare well.
	The boys will tear her wreath from her
	and scatter chaff before the door.36
	(Exits.)

GRETCHEN (returning home).

	How once I felt so high and mighty
	when some poor girl would go astray;
	a stream of words flowed from my busy tongue
3580	to rail at someone else’s sins.
	When it seemed black, I blackened it some more.
	I could never make it black enough,
	and blessed myself with head held high,
	and now it’s me who’s steeped in sin.
	Yet—everything that drove me to this pass
	was good, my God!—and ah, so sweet!

BY THE RAMPARTS

In a niche of the city wall, a shrine with a picture of the Mater Dolorosa. Earthen jugs filled with flowers stand before it.

GRETCHEN (placing fresh flowers in the jugs).

	Incline,
	O Merciful,
	Thy grieving countenance to me!

3590	With sword in heart—
	A thousandfold pain—
	Thy gaze rests on His death.

	Thine eyes seek Our Father.
	Thy sighs ascend
	For His grief and Thine.

	How they rage
	Deep in my marrow,
	The pangs of my heart!
	Who can gauge and who assuage
3600	My pain and my tears?
	Thou, oh, Thou alone!

	Wherever I go,
	Such woe! Such woe! Such woe
	I feel in my breast!

	No sooner alone,
	I weep, I weep, I weep;
	My heart is pierced within.

	The flowers in my window,
	I quenched them with my weeping;
3610	I gathered them this morning
	And placed them for Thy keeping.

	When the early morning sun
	Shone brightly in my room,
	I had risen from my pillow,
	Deep in the grip of doom.

	Help me! Save me from my shame and death!
	Incline,
	O Merciful,
	Thy grieving countenance to me!

NIGHT

Street before Gretchen’s door.

VALENTINE (a soldier, GRETCHEN’s brother).

3620	When I and my companions were carousing
	and we all saw fit to boast a little,
	and would proudly raise our glasses
	to the choicest women in our town,
	the others drenched their praises deep in wine,
	with their elbows planted on the table,
	and I sat quietly and unconcerned,
	took in the swaggering and the noisy babble
	and stroked my beard and smiled in satisfaction.
	And with my hand around the brimming glass
3630	I said: “To each his own, my boys!
	But tell me of a single maiden in our land
	who can measure up to Gretel, my dear sister,
	who can hold a candle to the girl?”
	And “clink!” and “clank!” “That’s so!” It made the round,
	and some exclaimed: “I think he’s right.
	She is the flower of all womankind!”
	And all the braggarts bit their lips.
	And now!—Oh, I could tear my hair
	and dash my head against the wall!—
3640	The sneers and needlings I must bear!
	Any scamp can thumb his nose at me!
	And I must take it like a bankrupt gambler,
	sweating blood at every casual allusion.
	I’d smash them all to kingdom come
	if I could call them liars to their faces.

	What’s moving there? Who’s sneaking up the alley?
	That’s two of them, I think.
	If he’s the one, I’ll break his neck!
	He’ll never leave this place alive!
	(FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES.)

FAUST.

3650	How from the window of the sacristy
	the flickering flame of the eternal light
	grows weak and weaker on this side
	and darkness presses in about us—
	and night is spreading in my bosom.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	And I feel like a lonesome cat
	that prowls about the fire ladders
	and brushes stealthily along the walls;
	I feel quite virtuous at that,
	a little thievish, somewhat lecherous to boot.
3660	Even now the glorious spirit of Walpurgis Night37
	is spooking through my bone and marrow.
	Two nights from now will be the happy time
	when insomnia is delightful and worthwhile.

FAUST.

	The treasure I see glimmering over there—
	will it rise above the ground?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Very soon you will be pleased
	to raise the little pot yourself.
	Just recently I took a squint
	and beheld some splendid Lion-Dollars.38

FAUST.

3670	And did you see some jewelry, some gems,
	that might adorn my sweetheart’s bosom?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Yes, I saw a thing like that among the stuff,
	something like a string of precious pearls.

FAUST.

	That’s excellent! I should be very sorry
	to go to her without some presents.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	You ought not feel such great distaste if now and then
	you can enjoy your pleasures free of charge.
	Now that the heavens glow with many stars,
	listen to my latest composition:
3680	I will sing for her this moral ditty
	to make her putty in your hands.
	(Sings accompanying himself on the zither.)
	Why are you here
	When daylight’s near,
	My little Catherine dear,
	Before your lover’s door?
	He lets you in,
	You enter a maid,
	You slip through the door,
	A maid no more.

3690	If you don’t run,
	It will be done;
	Your virtue gone,
	You poor, poor thing!
	There will be grief,
	His love is brief;
	Don’t love the thief,
	Except with a ring on your finger.39

VALENTINE (coming forward).

	What are you piping? Hell and fire!
	Damn the Hamlin Piper! Blast your hide!
3700	To the devil with your zither first,
	and then to hell with you, you troubadour!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

The zither’s smashed; so much for that, my friend.

VALENTINE.

And now I’ll split your head wide open!

MEPHISTOPHELES (to FAUST).

	Don’t flinch, professor! At him now!
	Stay close by me and follow as I lead.
	Whip out your trusty feather duster
	and thrust it home! I’ll parry his attack.

VALENTINE.

Then parry that!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

Why not?

VALENTINE.

And that!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

Gladly. Any more, my friend?

VALENTINE.

	I think you
	are the devil’s own disciple!
3710	What’s that? My hand is growing lame!

MEPHISTOPHELES (to FAUST).

Thrust home!

VALENTINE (falls).

Ah!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Now the lout is tame!
	Come away. It’s time to disappear;
	there’ll be a murderous hue and cry.
	I can handle the police quite well;
	the blood-ban,40 though, is quite a different matter.

MARTHA (at the window).

Come out! Come out!

GRETCHEN (at the window).

Quickly, a light!

MARTHA (as above).

There’s cursing and scuffling. It’s a brawl!

THE CROWD.

Someone’s lying there, dead!

MARTHA (coming out).

The murderers—did they get away?

GRETCHEN (coming out).

Who is lying there?

THE CROWD.

3720	Your mother’s son.

GRETCHEN.

Almighty God! What horror!

VALENTINE.

	I die. That’s quickly said
	and accomplished even quicker.
	Why do you women weep and wail?
	Come close and hear me to the end:
	(All gather about him.)
	My dear Gretchen, look, you are still young;
	you do not use your brains as yet,
	and now you’ve really made a mess of things.
	I’ll tell you in strict confidence:
3730	You are a whore—you always were,
	and that’s all right with me.

GRETCHEN.

My brother! God! What’s all this?

VALENTINE.

	Leave the Good Lord out of this!
	What has happened cannot be undone.
	It’s sad, but things will take their course.
	Since you started on the sly with one,
	there will be others soon to follow,
	and when a dozen get a taste of you,
	all the town will taste you soon enough.

3740	When Disgrace first issues from the womb,
	her birth takes place in secrecy.
	A veil of night and furtive shadow
	is quickly drawn about her head and ears,
	and one would like to murder her.
	And if she grows and throws her weight about,
	she’ll walk stark naked in the sun,
	but her looks have not improved one bit.
	The uglier her face becomes,
	the more she seeks the light of day.

3750	Even now I see the time
	when all the decent people of this town
	will turn, as from a festering cadaver,
	away from you, you slut!
	May your heart convulse in you
	when they look into your eyes!
	You shall no longer wear your golden chain,
	nor pray to God before the altar,
	nor seek your pleasures at a dance
	decked out in lace and finery.
3760	You will hide in dismal nooks and corners
	among the cripples and the beggars,
	and even if our God forgives you in the end,
	you’ll still be damned on earth until you die!

MARTHA.

	Commend your soul to God Almighty!
	Do not add blasphemy to your sins.

VALENTINE.

	If I could smash your withered body,
	you miserable pimping woman!
	I would expect that all my sins
	might yet be pardoned in full measure.

GRETCHEN.

3770	My brother! Oh, what hellish pain!

VALENTINE.

	I tell you, stop your useless tears!
	Once you said farewell to honor,
	you dealt my heart a heavy blow.
	I go to God through death’s deep slumber
	as a soldier, true and brave.
	(He dies.)

CATHEDRAL

Mass in progress, organ, choir. Gretchen among the congregation. The Evil Spirit behind Gretchen.

EVIL SPIRIT.

	How different, Gretchen, was it once for you when you came to kneel before this altar,
	pure and innocent,
	and you lisped your prayers
3780	from the worn and fingered little book,
	half in childlike play,
	with God in your heart!
	Gretchen!
	What has happened to you?
	What misdeed
	is lodged in your heart?
	Do you pray for the soul of your mother,
	who through your doing passed to never-ending sleep?
	Whose blood stains your doorstep?—
3790	Is something not stirring and swelling
	beneath your heart,
	making itself and you afraid
	with stark foreboding?

GRETCHEN.

	Oh, God!
	I wish that I could free myself
	from terrible thoughts
	marshaled against me!

CHOIR.

	Dies irae, dies illa
	Solvet saeclum in favilla.41
	(Organ tone.)

EVIL SPIRIT.

3800	Despair seizes you!
	The trumpet sounds!
	Sepulchers quake!
	And your heart
	from ashen sleep
	arises, new,
	trembling and throbbing,
	to fiery torture.

GRETCHEN.

	Oh, to escape!
	I feel the sound
3810	throttling my breath,
	and the chants melting
	my inmost heart.

CHOIR.

	Judex ergo cum sedebit,
	Quidquid latet adparebit,
	Nil inultum remanebit.42

GRETCHEN.

	It’s closing in!
	The walls and pillars
	imprison me!
	The vaulted ceiling
3820	crushes me!—Air!

EVIL SPIRIT.

	Hide! Hide! Yet sin and shame
	will not remain concealed.
	Air? Light?
	Woe to you!

CHOIR.

	Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
	Quem patronum rogaturus?
	Cum vix justus sit securus.43

EVIL SPIRIT.

	From you
	the blessed turn their faces.
3830	The pure recoil
	from offering their hand.
	Woe!

CHOIR.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?

GRETCHEN.

	Good neighbor! Please, your smelling salts!—
	(She faints.)

WALPURGIS NIGHT44

The Harz Mountains. Region in the vicinity of

Schierke and Elend.

Faust, Mephistopheles.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Don’t you want a broomstick to convey you hence?
	As for me, I’d like the toughest billy goat.
	By this road our goal is very distant still.

FAUST.

	While my legs feel fresh and strong,
	the knotted stick will serve me well.
3840	Why should I want to shorten the excursion?
	To creep along the labyrinthine valleys,
	then to scale this sudden towering cliff,
	eternal source of spurting, plunging waters—
	those are the joys and seasonings of the trail!
	Already Spring is weaving through these birches;
	the fir itself is touched by it;
	should Spring not quicken our limbs as well?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Myself I notice no such thing.
	I feel the winter in my belly
3850	and wish for snow and frost to line my path.
	How sadly the unfinished, lunar disk
	rises with belated, ruddy glow,
	giving sparse illumination, and at every turn
	one stumbles into trees and boulders.
	Let me call upon a will-o’-the-wisp!
	I see one over there that’s burning merrily.
	Hi there! My friend! Please join us over here!
	Why cast your flickering flame for nothing?
	Be good enough to shine your light up here!

WILL-O’-THE-WISP.

3860	My reverence for you, I hope, will help control
	my inborn instability;
	we are accustomed to a zigzag way of life.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Well, well! It’s man you aim to imitate.
	Now in the devil’s name, go straight!
	Or else I’ll snuff the fluttering life right out of you.

WILL-O’-THE-WISP.

	I see you are the lord and master in this house;
	I’ll do my best to keep you satisfied.
	But keep in mind, the mountain is magic-mad today,
	and since you’re asking me to light the way,
3870	do not expect too much precision.

FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES, WILL-O’-THE-WISP.

	(singing alternately).
	We have arrived, so it appears,
	In a sphere of magic dreams.
	Lead us on and show no fears,
	So we may move to further stations
	Over broad and barren regions!

	See the forest like a legion
	Flitting past us as we go;
	And the cliffs inclining low,
	Reaching for the forest floor,
3880	Blow their noses, sneeze, and snore.

	Through meadows and by rocks we soar,
	By brooks and reeds to which we cling;
	Do they babble? Do they sing?
	Are those ancient lovers’ lays,
	Languid voices out of blissful days?
	We love and hope, and hope and love!
	And the echo, like an age-old secret tale,
	Rings below and sings above.

	To-whit! To-whoo! Not far away
3890	Are the plover, owl, and jay.
	Have they all remained awake?
	Are there newts behind the reeds?
	Skinny legs and swollen glands!
	Here a root and there a snake,
	Coiling through the roots and sands,
	Sending strange and dewy threads
	To frighten us and hold us here.
	From living burls on crooked trees
	They wind their fibrous polyp-tether
3900	To trap the wanderer. And the mice
	Of myriad colors, far and near,
	Scuttle through the moss and heather.
	Glowworms gleaming in a crowd
	Conjure up a sparkling cloud,
	A shimmering escort of confusion.

	But tell me if we stand and stay,
	Or if we move along the way.
	It all appears to turn and sway;
	Rocks and trees are making faces,
3910	Will-o’-the-wisps flit by
	And swell their teeming races.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Seize my coattail with a steady hand;
	we’re flying by a central peak
	where we can marvel at the sight
	of Mammon glowing deep within.

FAUST.

	How strangely does the dawnlike, murky light
	seep through the trees and bushes.
	How it pries and even penetrates
	into ravines and gaping chasms.
3920	Here fumes arise, here vapors hover,
	a fire glows from mists below;
	now it flickers like a tender thread,
	now it gushes in a bursting spring.
	Here it winds a crooked path
	through the valley in a hundred veins;
	there it crowds into a corner,
	only sparkling now and then.
	Suddenly there is a geyser
	of sparks like incandescent grains of sand.
3930	And look! The mountain wall from top to bottom
	ignites and seems on fire.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Has not Sir Mammon lighted splendidly
	the palace for this great occasion?
	You are lucky to have seen the spectacle;
	some boisterous guests are fast approaching.

FAUST.

	How the wind-hag races through the air!
	How she slaps my shoulders with her blast!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	You must grasp these ancient ribs of rock,
	or else she’ll hurl you down headlong.
3940	A mist is thickening the night.
	Hear how the timbers creak and moan;
	frightened owls are streaking through the trees.
	Hear through the palaces of evergreen
	the towering pillars crack and shatter,
	the squeal and crash of tumbling branches!
	The hollow thunder of the trunks!
	The groaning of the roots below!
	With a furious roar and rumble
	they fall into a tangled heap;
3950	the madly howling blasts careen
	through the wreckage-strewn ravine.
	Do you hear the voices high above?
	Far away and close at hand?
	The entire mountainside has come alive
	with frenzied chants of sorcery.

WITCHES (in chorus).

	The witches ride to Blockberg’s45 top.
	The stubble is yellow; green the crop.
	On top of the cackling horde
	Sits Urian46 presiding as lord.
3960	Over rubble and stubble they stream in blustery weather,
	Witches and billy goats stinking and leaping together.

VOICE.47

	Our ancient Baubo48 rides alone
	with a mother sow beneath her buttocks.

CHORUS.

	We like to cheer when cheers are due!
	Let Lady Baubo lead the crew.
	With mother on a strapping swine
	The other hags will stay in line.

VOICE.

How did you fly?

VOICE.

	By way of Ilsenstein.49
	I peeked at the owl in her nest.
	Oh, how she stared at me!

VOICE.

3970	Oh, go to hell!
	Why must you gallop at such a pace?

VOICE.

	The pig has flailed my buttocks;
	just look at all my grievous sores.

WITCHES (in chorus).

	The way is broad, the way is long,
	Then why this wild and crazy throng?
	The broom has scratched, the fork has poked,
	Mother bursts, the child is choked.

WIZARDS (half-chorus).

	Like snails in their house we glide and we slither;
	The women are all in a dither.
3980	They race to the house of the Evil One
	To enjoy their advantage before they are done.

OTHER HALF-CHORUS.

	We do not make astonished faces
	If the women lead by a thousand paces.
	Let them race and scramble without stop,
	We the men can make it in one hop.

VOICE (from above).

Come here, come up, leave Rocky Lake behind!

VOICE (from below).

	We’d like to be where you are now;
	we are scrubbed and polished to the bone
	but forever parched and sterile.50

BOTH CHORUSES.

3990	The wind is still, the stars go by,
	The murky moon hides in the sky.
	But a roaring, magic choir
	Spews a million sparks of fire.

VOICE (from below).

Now wait! Please wait for me!

VOICE (from above).

Who clamors from the gorge below?

VOICE (from below).

	Take me along! Take me with you!
	I’ve been scaling for three centuries
	and could never reach the summit,
	yet I’d like to be among my peers.

BOTH CHORUSES.

4000	The broom can fly, the stick’s for you,
	A pitchfork and a goat will do;
	Who cannot raise himself today
	Is ever lost and doomed to stay.

HALF-WITCH (below).

	I stumble and straggle and cannot see
	how the others got ahead of me.
	Back home the children kept me busy;
	now the mountain makes me dizzy.

CHORUS OF WITCHES.

	The salve puts courage in a hag;
	For a sail we use a rag;
4010	A trough will make a splendid scow;
	You’ll never fly if grounded now.

BOTH CHORUSES.

	Approach the peak and fly around,
	Sweeping close along the ground!
	Take to the heath and fill the ditches
	With your cackling swarm of witches!
	(They settle down.)

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	They crowd and crush, they squeal and they clatter!
	They hiss and whirl, they pull and they chatter!
	They spew and sparkle, burn and stink;
	this is the proper sphere of witches!
4020	Keep close to me, or we’ll be separated.
	Where are you?

FAUST (in the distance).

Here!

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	What! Carried out so far already?
	I must invoke my old prerogatives.
	Squire Voland51 has arrived! Sweet rabble, let him through.
	Now, Doctor, seize my coat! We will escape
	in one leap to safer ground;
	this is too crazy even for the likes of me.
	Over there I see a very special glimmer,
	something draws me to that clump of bushes.
	Come, come, let us crawl in for now.

FAUST.

4030	You spirit of contradiction! Move along and I will follow.
	It seems to me we managed very cleverly so far:
	We travel to the Brocken on Walpurgis Night,
	to observe at will the magical proceedings.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Just watch those varicolored flames below.
	A lively club appears to be in session;
	in smaller circles one is not alone.

FAUST.

	But I prefer that higher region
	where even now I see a smoky, churning glow,
	and crowds advancing to the Evil One;
4040	many riddles may be answered there.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	But other riddles will be knotted.
	Let the great world go to blazes
	while we breathe and eat in peace.
	It is an old transmitted custom
	that little worlds are spawned within the great.
	I see the younger witches go stark naked
	and older ones more shrewdly veiled.
	Be courteous now, if only for my sake;
	the cost is small, the fun is great.
4050	I hear the blaring of some instruments!
	Horrid twanging! I guess one finally gets used to it.
	Come along! We cannot change the matter.
	I will go and take you in with me
	and bind you to me once again.
	What say you, friend? The space is not so little.
	Just look! You scarcely see the end of it.
	One hundred fires burning in a row;
	they dance, they chat, they cook and drink and kiss.
	Can you tell me where one offers something better?

FAUST.

4060	Will you effect our introduction
	in a wizard’s or a devil’s role?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Though as a rule I go incognito,
	one likes to show one’s medals on a gala day.
	A garter is too dull and undistinguished,
	but cloven hooves are greatly honored here.
	Watch the snail! It’s slowly crawling our way,
	and with its probing snout and feelers
	it has already sniffed me out.
	I could not hide here even if I tried my best.
4070	But come! We’ll move along the line of fires.
	I’ll do the wooing, and you can be the squire.
	(Addressing some who are sitting around the dying embers.)
	Good sirs, why dawdle on the outer fringes?
	You should be sitting snugly in the middle,
	engulfed by youthful zest and clamor;
	at home you each have solitude enough.

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.

Who’s that girl?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	Observe her very closely!
	She is Lilith.

FAUST.

Who?

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 gleaming53
	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.

And then I saw—

MEPHISTOPHELES.

What?

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.