Faust (trans. Bayard Taylor)/V Auerbachs Cellar
VI.
WITCHES’ KITCHEN.83
[Upon a low hearth stands a great caldron, under which a fire
is burning. Various figures appear in the vapors which
rise from the caldron. An ape sits beside it, skims it, and
watches lest it boil over. The he-ape, with the young ones,
sits near and warms himself. Ceiling and walls are covered
with the most fantastic witch-implements.]
Faust. Mephistopheles.
Faust.
THESE crazy signs of witches’ craft repel me!
I shall recover, dost thou tell me,
Through this insane, chaotic play?
From an old hag shall I demand assistance?
And will her foul mess take away
Full thirty years from my existence?84
Woe’s me, canst thou naught better find!
Another baffled hope must be lamented:
Has Nature, then, and has a noble mind
Not any potent balsam yet invented?
I shall recover, dost thou tell me,
Through this insane, chaotic play?
From an old hag shall I demand assistance?
And will her foul mess take away
Full thirty years from my existence?84
Woe’s me, canst thou naught better find!
Another baffled hope must be lamented:
Has Nature, then, and has a noble mind
Not any potent balsam yet invented?
Mephistopheles.
Once more, my friend, thou talkest sensibly.
There is, to make thee young, a simpler mode and apter;
But in another book ’t is writ for thee,
And is a most eccentric chapter.
There is, to make thee young, a simpler mode and apter;
But in another book ’t is writ for thee,
And is a most eccentric chapter.
Faust.
Yet will I know it.
Yet will I know it.
Mephistopheles.
Good! the method is revealed
Without or gold or magic or physician.
Betake thyself to yonder field,
There hoe and dig, as thy condition;
Restrain thyself, thy sense and will
Within a narrow sphere to flourish;
With unmixed food thy body nourish;
Live with the ox as ox, and think it not a theft
That thou manur’st the acre which thou reapest;—
That, trust me, is the best mode left,
Whereby for eighty years thy youth thou keepest!
Without or gold or magic or physician.
Betake thyself to yonder field,
There hoe and dig, as thy condition;
Restrain thyself, thy sense and will
Within a narrow sphere to flourish;
With unmixed food thy body nourish;
Live with the ox as ox, and think it not a theft
That thou manur’st the acre which thou reapest;—
That, trust me, is the best mode left,
Whereby for eighty years thy youth thou keepest!
Faust.
I am not used to that; I cannot stoop to try it—
To take the spade in hand, and ply it.
The narrow being suits me not at all.
To take the spade in hand, and ply it.
The narrow being suits me not at all.
Mephistopheles.
Then to thine aid the witch must call.
Faust.
Wherefore the hag, and her alone?
Canst thou thyself not brew the potion?
Canst thou thyself not brew the potion?
Mephistopheles.
That were a charming sport, I own:
I ’d build a thousand bridges meanwhile, I’ve a notion.
Not Art and Science serve, alone;
Patience must in the work be shown.
Long is the calm brain active in creation;
Time, only, strengthens the fine fermentation.
And all, belonging thereunto,
Is rare and strange, howe’er you take it
The Devil taught the thing, ’t is true,
And yet the Devil cannot make it.
(Perceiving the Animals.)
I ’d build a thousand bridges meanwhile, I’ve a notion.
Not Art and Science serve, alone;
Patience must in the work be shown.
Long is the calm brain active in creation;
Time, only, strengthens the fine fermentation.
And all, belonging thereunto,
Is rare and strange, howe’er you take it
The Devil taught the thing, ’t is true,
And yet the Devil cannot make it.
(Perceiving the Animals.)
See, what a delicate race they be!
That is the maid! the man is he!
That is the maid! the man is he!
(To the Animals.)
It seems the mistress has gone away?
The Animals.
Carousing, to-day!
Off and about,
By the chimney out!
Off and about,
By the chimney out!
Mephistopheles.
What time takes she for dissipating?
The Animals.
While we to warm our paws are waiting.
Mephistopheles. (to Faust).
How findest thou the tender creatures?
Faust.
Absurder than I ever yet did see.
Mephistopheles.
Why, just such talk as this, for me,
Is that which has the most attractive features!
Is that which has the most attractive features!
(To the Animals.)
But tell me now, ye curséd puppets,
Why do ye stir the porridge so?
Why do ye stir the porridge so?
The Animals.
We’re cooking watery soup for beggars.85
Mephistopheles.
Then a great public you can show.
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