Authors: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Faust (8 page)

BOOK: Faust

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	Look at the handsome boys!
	What a shame, when they might move
	in the very best society
	and instead are chasing after servant girls!

SECOND STUDENT
(
to the first
).

	Wait a moment! Two of them are coming over here;
	they are done up so prettily,
	and one of them’s my neighbor;
	she always did appeal to me.
840	Both walk so primly and so unconcerned—
	perhaps they’ll let us go along with them.

	Brother, no! It’s too much trouble.
	Hurry! Don’t let our quarry get away.
	The hand that wields the broom on Saturdays
	is best for Sunday’s sweet caresses.

	The burgomaster goes against my grain!
	Since he is in, his pride grows every day.
	And what’s he done for our town?
	Conditions go from bad to worse!
850	He wants obedience from us all,
	while taxes climb to untold heights.

BEGGAR
(
sings
)
.

	Fine gentlemen and ladies,
	Decked out so well and rosy-cheeked,
	If it please you, look at me,
	Please look and ease my poverty.
	Don’t let me grind my tune in vain.
	Content is he who likes to give.
	This is a holiday for all the world.
	Let it be a harvest day for me.

860	On Sunday or on holidays I know of nothing better
	than to converse of war and battle clamor,
	when far away, perhaps on Turkish fields,
	the nations maul each other zealously.
	We stand by the window and we sip a glass
	and see the painted ships glide down the river.
	Then in the evening we go home content
	and bless both Peace and peaceful times.

	Neighbor, I agree with you, yes indeed I do.
	Let them crack their skulls for all I care,
870	let everything go topsy-turvy
	while nothing changes here at home.

OLD WOMAN
(
to the
burgher’s daughters)
.

	Eh, how sweet they look! The gay young blood!
	Who would not fall for you at a first glance?—
	Don’t be stuck-up! There’s no harm in what I say!
	You always end up with the thing you want.

	Agatha, come along, I say we should avoid
	the company of such a witch in public,
	although it’s true that on St. Andrew’s Night ¹⁰
	she let me see my future sweetheart in the flesh—

880	I saw my own within her crystal ball,
	soldierlike and in the company of daring men.
	I look about and seek him everywhere,
	and yet he won’t turn up for me.

	Streams and brooks are freed of ice
	by the reviving gracious eye of Spring;
	Hope’s greenery grows in the valley.
	Ancient Winter’s feeble self
	has fallen back into the rugged mountains.
	From there he sends in fitful flight
	impotent showers of ice
910	in streaks across the greening fields,
	but the sun will suffer no white;
	all stirs with shaping and striving,
	he endows each thing with his hue.
	But in this region flowers are scarce,
	the land is speckled with gay-colored people instead.
	Turn about and from these heights
	cast your glance back to the town.
	Out from the hollow, gloomy gate
	a motley crowd is surging today,
920	eager for the rays of the sun. They celebrate
	the resurrection of the Lord,
	for they themselves have arisen
	from their glum quarters and tight little houses,
	from bondage to their trade and labor,
	from their oppressive roofs and gables,
	from the crush of narrow alleyways,
	and from the solemn night of churches;
	they have all been brought into the light.
	Look! Look, how nimbly the crowd
930	sallies and scatters through gardens and fields,
	how the river moves its many skiffs
	happily down its winding way,
	and how the last of all these drifting barges
	is over-brimming with its merry load.
	And even from the mountain’s far-off trails
	comes the glitter of bright garments.
	Now I hear the hum and bustle of the village.
	This is the people’s proper paradise;
	they shout and revel—great and small:
940	I’m human here, here I can be!

	To stroll about with you, O master,
	brings me much honor and much gain;
	yet I should never come up here alone,
	because I hate all forms of vulgar entertainment.
	The fiddling, the shrieking, the rolling bowling balls,
	all this is hateful noise to me.
	The people rage as if the fiend possessed them
	and then they call it happiness and song.
	( PEASANTS under the Linden Tree .)
	A Song and a Dance
	In jacket, ribbon, fancy vest,
950	The shepherd boy was at his best
	And joined the crowd to dance.
	Beneath the linden tree they whirled;
	Round and round they jumped and twirled;
	Hurray, hurrah,
	Tralala, hop-ho!
	So went the fiddle bow.

	He thrust himself into the crush
	And with his elbow he did touch
	The maiden with his knee.
960	The jolly girl was not so coy
	And said to him, “You silly boy!”
	Hurray, hurrah,
	Tralala, hop-ho,
	“Don’t be so fresh with me.”

	And in a circle went the race,
	To right and left at quickened pace,
	The petticoats a-flying.
	Their faces flushed, their cheeks were warm,
	They rested panting, arm in arm.
970	Hurray, hurrah,
	Tralala, hop-ho,
	Their bodies were aglow.

	“You’re much too intimate with me!
	In you and all the rest I see
	How men deceive their women.”
	But off he whirled her to the side
	Amidst the shouting far and wide.
	Hurray, hurrah,
	Tralala, hop-ho,
980	So went the fiddle bow.

	Doctor, it is good of you
	not to disdain us on this day
	and as a deeply learned man
	walk with us in this jostling crowd.
	Please accept this handsome pitcher
	filled this day for you to quaff.
	I say, for everyone to hear,
	“May it more than quench your thirst.
	May the sum of drops contained therein
990	be added to your days.”

	I accept this wholesome drink
	and thank you kindly for your wishes.
	( The people form a circle around him .)

	We think it very fine of you
	to be with us this festive day;
	I remember how in times of trouble
	you always proved a friend to us.
	Many of us live today
	because your father snatched us in the nick of time
	from the fever’s burning rage
1000	when he stayed the plague at last.
	And you, then still a youngish man,
	entered every stricken home,
	and though they buried many bodies,
	you always came out whole and well.
	You overcame the harshest trials;
	our helper’s help came from the Lord in Heaven.