These creatures,
These frantic gestures and distorted features,
And all the crazy, juggling fluff,
I've known and loathed it long enough!
These frantic gestures and distorted features,
And all the crazy, juggling fluff,
I've known and loathed it long enough!
Faust, a Tragedy by Goethe
A right good glassful of the well-known juice!
And pray you, let it be the oldest;
Age makes it doubly strong for use.
_The witch_. Right gladly! Here I have a bottle,
From which, at times, I wet my throttle;
Which now, not in the slightest, stinks;
A glass to you I don't mind giving;
[_Softly_. ]
But if this man, without preparing, drinks,
He has not, well you know, another hour for living.
_Mephistopheles_.
'Tis a good friend of mine, whom it shall straight cheer up;
Thy kitchen's best to give him don't delay thee.
Thy ring--thy spell, now, quick, I pray thee,
And give him then a good full cup.
[_The_ WITCH, _with strange gestures, draws a circle, and places singular
things in it; mean-while the glasses begin to ring, the kettle to sound
and make music. Finally, she brings a great book and places the monkeys in
the circle, whom she uses as a reading-desk and to hold the torches. She
beckons_ FAUST _to come to her_. ]
_Faust [to Mephistopheles_].
Hold! what will come of this?
These creatures,
These frantic gestures and distorted features,
And all the crazy, juggling fluff,
I've known and loathed it long enough!
_Mephistopheles_. Pugh! that is only done to smoke us;
Don't be so serious, my man!
She must, as Doctor, play her hocus-pocus
To make the dose work better, that's the plan.
[_He constrains_ FAUST _to step into the circle_. ]
THE WITCH
[_beginning with great emphasis to declaim out of the book_]
Remember then!
Of One make Ten,
The Two let be,
Make even Three,
There's wealth for thee.
The Four pass o'er!
Of Five and Six,
(The witch so speaks,)
Make Seven and Eight,
The thing is straight:
And Nine is One
And Ten is none--
This is the witch's one-time-one! [24]
_Faust_. The old hag talks like one delirious.
_Mephistopheles_. There's much more still, no less mysterious,
I know it well, the whole book sounds just so!
I've lost full many a year in poring o'er it,
For perfect contradiction, you must know,
A mystery stands, and fools and wise men bow before it,
The art is old and new, my son.
Men, in all times, by craft and terror,
With One and Three, and Three and One,
For truth have propagated error.
And pray you, let it be the oldest;
Age makes it doubly strong for use.
_The witch_. Right gladly! Here I have a bottle,
From which, at times, I wet my throttle;
Which now, not in the slightest, stinks;
A glass to you I don't mind giving;
[_Softly_. ]
But if this man, without preparing, drinks,
He has not, well you know, another hour for living.
_Mephistopheles_.
'Tis a good friend of mine, whom it shall straight cheer up;
Thy kitchen's best to give him don't delay thee.
Thy ring--thy spell, now, quick, I pray thee,
And give him then a good full cup.
[_The_ WITCH, _with strange gestures, draws a circle, and places singular
things in it; mean-while the glasses begin to ring, the kettle to sound
and make music. Finally, she brings a great book and places the monkeys in
the circle, whom she uses as a reading-desk and to hold the torches. She
beckons_ FAUST _to come to her_. ]
_Faust [to Mephistopheles_].
Hold! what will come of this?
These creatures,
These frantic gestures and distorted features,
And all the crazy, juggling fluff,
I've known and loathed it long enough!
_Mephistopheles_. Pugh! that is only done to smoke us;
Don't be so serious, my man!
She must, as Doctor, play her hocus-pocus
To make the dose work better, that's the plan.
[_He constrains_ FAUST _to step into the circle_. ]
THE WITCH
[_beginning with great emphasis to declaim out of the book_]
Remember then!
Of One make Ten,
The Two let be,
Make even Three,
There's wealth for thee.
The Four pass o'er!
Of Five and Six,
(The witch so speaks,)
Make Seven and Eight,
The thing is straight:
And Nine is One
And Ten is none--
This is the witch's one-time-one! [24]
_Faust_. The old hag talks like one delirious.
_Mephistopheles_. There's much more still, no less mysterious,
I know it well, the whole book sounds just so!
I've lost full many a year in poring o'er it,
For perfect contradiction, you must know,
A mystery stands, and fools and wise men bow before it,
The art is old and new, my son.
Men, in all times, by craft and terror,
With One and Three, and Three and One,
For truth have propagated error.
