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    "endpoint": "/api/sources/goethe-works/faust/faust-i/09-scene-6-witches-kitchen.json"
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  "work": {
    "slug": "faust-i",
    "name": "Faust I (1808)"
  },
  "parents": [
    {
      "slug": "goethe-works",
      "name": "Works of Goethe",
      "url": "/sources/goethe-works/"
    },
    {
      "slug": "faust",
      "name": "Faust (Parts I and II)",
      "url": "/sources/faust/"
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  ],
  "chapter": {
    "num": 9,
    "slug": "09-scene-6-witches-kitchen",
    "title": "Scene VI — Witches' Kitchen",
    "of": 28,
    "words": 2414,
    "text": "[Upon a low hearth stands a great caldron, under which a fire is\nburning. Various figures appear in the vapors which rise from the\ncaldron. An ape sits beside it, skims it, and watches lest it boil\nover. The he-ape, with the young ones, sits near and warms him-\nself. Ceiling and walls are covered with the most fantastic witch-\n\nimplements. |\n\nFaust. MEPpHISTOPHELES.\n\nFaust.\n\niB Fawn: crazy signs of witches' craft repel me!\nI shall recover, dost thou tell me,\n\nThrough this insane, chaotic play?\n\nFrom an old hag shall I demand assistance?\n\nAnd will her foul mess take away\n\nFull thirty years from my existence ? °4\n\nWoe's me, canst thou naught better find!\n\nAnother baffled hope must be lamented :\n\nHas Nature, then, and has a noble mind\n\nNot any potent balsam yet invented?\n\n140 Faust.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nOnce more, my friend, thou talkest sensibly.\nThere is, to make thee young, a simpler mode and apter ;\nBut in another book 't is writ for thee,\n\nAnd is a most eccentric chapter.\n\n. Faust.\nYet will I know it.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nGood ! the method is revealed\nWithout or gold or magic or physician.\nBetake thyself to yonder field,\nThere hoe and dig, as thy condition ;\nRestrain thyself, thy sense and will\nWithin a narrow sphere to flourish ;\nWith unmixed food thy body nourish ;\nLive with the ox as ox, and think it not a theft\nThat thou manur'st the acre which thou reapest ; —\nThat, trust me, is the best mode left,\nWhereby for eighty years thy youth thou keepest !\n\nFaust.\n\nI am not used to that; I cannot stoop to try it —\n\nScene VI. 141\n\n—\n\nTo take the spade in hand, and ply it.\n\nThe narrow being suits me not at all.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES. ~\n\nThen to thine aid the witch must call.\n\nFaust.\n\nWherefore the hag, and her alone?\nCanst thou thyself not brew the potion ?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nThat were a charming sport, I own:\n\nI '°d build a thousand bridges meanwhile, I ve a notion.\nNot Art and Science serve, alone ;\n\nPatience must in the work be shown.\n\nLong is the calm brain active in creation ;\n\nTime, only, strengthens the fine fermentation.\n\nAnd all, belonging thereunto,\n\nIs rare and strange, howe'er you take it :\n\nThe Devil taught the thing, 't is true,\n\nAnd yet the Devil cannot make it.\n\n(Perceiving the Animals.)\n\nSee, what a delicate race they be!\n\nThat is the maid! the man is he! |\n\n142 Faust.\n\n(To the Animals.)\n\nIt seems the mistress has gone away?\n\nTue ANIMALS.\n\nCarousing, to-day |\nOff and about,\nBy the chimney out!\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nWhat time takes she for dissipating ?\n\nTHE ANIMALS.\n\nWhile we to warm our paws are waiting.\n\nMEPpHISTOPHELES (fo Faust).\n\nHow findest thou the tender creatures ?\n\nFaust.\n\nAbsurder than I ever yet did see.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nWhy, just such talk as this, for me,\n\nIs that which has the most attractive features !\n\nScene VI. 143\n\n(To the Animals.)\n\nBut tell me now, ye curséd puppets,\n\nWhy do ye stir the porridge so?\n\nTue ANIMALS.\n\nWe 're cooking watery soup for beggars.*s\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nThen a great public you can show.\n\nTue He-Ape\n(comes up and fawns on MEPHISTOPHELES. )\nO cast thou the dice!\nMake me rich in a trice,\nLet me win in good season !\nThings are badly controlled,\nAnd had I but gold,\n\nSo had I my reason.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\nHow would the ape be'sure his luck enhances,\n\nCould he but try the lottery's chances !\n\n(In the mean time the young apes have been playing with a large ball,\nwhich they now roll forward. )\n\n144 Faust\n\nTue HeE-Aper.\n\nThe world 's the ball:\nDoth rise and fall,\nAnd roll incessant :\nLike glass doth ring,\nA hollow thing, —\nHow soon will 't spring,\nAnd drop, quiescent ?\nHere bright it gleams,\nHere brighter seems:\nI live at present !\nDear son, I say,\n\nKeep thou away!\nThy doom is spoken!\n\"T is made of clay,\nAnd will be broken.\n\n- MEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nWhat means the sieve?\n\nTue He-Ape (taking it down).\n\nWert thou the thief,*\nI'd know him and shame him.\n\n(He runs to the Sus-Ape, and lets her look through it.)\n\nScene VI. 145\n\nLook through the sieve!\nKnow'st thou the thief,\n\nAnd darest not name him?\n\nMepuisToPHELEs (approaching the fire).\n\nAnd what 's this pot?\n\nHe-APE AND SHE-APE.\n\nThe 'ol knows it not!\nHe knows not the pot,\nHe knows not the kettle!\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\nImpertinent beast !\nTue HeE-ApeE.\n\nTake the brush here, at least,\nAnd sit down on the settle !\n\n(He invites MEPHISTOPHELES #0 sit down.)\n\nFaust\n\n(who during all this time has been standing before a mirror, now ap.\nproaching and now retreating from it).\n\nWhat do I see? What heavenly form revealed *\"\n\nShows through the glass from Magic's fair dominions !\n\n146 faust.\n\nO lend me, Love, the swiftest of thy pinions,\n\nAnd bear me to her beauteous field !\n\nAh, if I leave this spot with fond designing,\n\nIf I attempt to venture near,\n\nDim, as through gathering mist, her charms appear ! —\nA woman's form, in beauty shining !\n\nCan woman, then, so lovely be?\n\nAnd must I find her body, there reclining,\n\nOf all the heavens the bright epitome?\n\nCan Earth with such a thing be mated?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nWhy, surely, if a God first plagues Himself six days,\n\nThen, self-contented, Bravo! says,\n\nMust something clever be created.\n\nThis time, thine eyes be satiate!\n\nI'll yet detect thy sweetheart and ensnare her,\n\nAnd blest is he, who has the lucky fate,\n\nSome day, as bridegroom, home to bear her.\n\n(Faust gazes continually in the mirror, MEPHISTOPHELES, stretch-\ning himself out on the settle, and playing with the brush, continues\nto speak.)\n\nSo sit I, like the King upon his throne:\n\nI hold the sceptre, here, — and lack the crown alone.\n\nScene VI. 147\n\nTHe ANIMALS\n\n(who up to this time have been making all kinds of fantastic move-\nments together, bring @ crown to MEPHISTOPHELES with great\nnoise).\n\nO be thou so good,\nWith sweat and with blood\nThe crown to belime!\n(They handle the crown awkwardly and break it into two pieces, with\nwhich they spring around.)\n'T is done, let it be!\nWe speak and we see,\n\nWe hear and we rhyme! *\n\nFaust (defore the mirror).\n\nWoe's me! I fear to lose my wits.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES ( pointing to the Animals).\n\nMy own head, nov, is really nigh to sinking.\n\nTHe ANIMALS.\n\nIf lucky our hits,\nAnd everything fits,\n\"T is thoughts, and we're thinking !\n\n148 faust.\n\nFaust (as above),\n\nMy bosom burns with that sweet vision ;\n\nLet us, with speed, away from here!\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES (in the same attitude).\n\nOne must, at least, make this admission —\nThey 're poets, genuine and sincere.\n\n(The caldron, which the Sue-Ape has up to this time neglected to\nwatch, begins to boil over: there ensues a great flame, which blazes\nout the chimney. The Wircu comes careering down through the\n\nflame, with terrible cries.)\n\nTue WIitTcH.\n\nOw! ow! ow! ow!\nThe damnéd beast — the curséd sow!\nTo leave the kettle, and singe the Frau!\n\nAccurséd fere!\n\n(Perceiving Faust and MEPHISTOPHELES.)\n\nWhat is that here?\nWho are you here?\nWhat want you thus?\nWho sneaks to us?\n\nScene VI. 149\n\nThe fire-pain\n\nBurn bone and brain!\n\n_ (She plunges the skimming-ladle into the caldron, and scatters flames\ntowards Faust, MEPHISTOPHELES, and the Animals. The Ani-\n\nmals whimper.)\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES\n\n(reversing the brush, which he has been holding in his hand, and\n\nstriking among the jars and glasses).\n\nIn two! in two!\nThere lies the brew!\nThere lies the glass!\nThe joke will pass,\nAs time, foul ass!\n\nTo the singing of thy crew.\n(As the Wircu starts back, full of wrath and horror :)\n\nHa! know'st thou me? Abomination, thou!\nKnow'st thou, at last, thy Lord and Master?\nWhat hinders me from smiting now\n\nThee and thy monkey-sprites with fell disaster ?\nHast for the scarlet coat no reverence?\n\n. Dost recognize no more the tall cock's-feather *\n\n150 faust.\n\nHave I concealed this countenance ? —\n\nMust tell my name, old face of leather?\n\nTHe WItTcuH.\n\nO pardon, Sir, the rough salute !\nYet I perceive no cloven foot;\n\nAnd both your ravens, where are they now?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES,\n\nThis time, I'll let thee 'scape the debt ;\n\nFor since we two together met,\n\nT is verily full many a day now.\n\nCulture, which smooth the whole world licks,\nAlso unto the Devil sticks.\n\nThe days of that old Northern phantom now are over:\nWhere canst thou horns and tail and claws discover ?\nAnd, as regards the foot, which I can't spare, in truth,\n\"\"T would only make the people shun me;\n\nTherefore I've worn, like many a spindly youth,\n\nFalse calves these many years upon me.\n\nTue Witcu (dancing).\n\nReason and sense forsake my brain,\n\nSince I behold Squire Satan here again !\n\nScene VI. \" 1S]\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nWoman, from such a name refrain!\n\nTue WitcuH.\nWhy so? What has it done to thee?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nIt 's long been written in the Book of Fable; %\nYet, therefore, no whit better men we see:\n\nThe Evil One has left, the evil ones are stable.\nSir Baron call me thou, then is the matter good ;\nA cavalier am I, like others in my bearing.\nThou hast no doubt about my noble blood:\n\nSee, here 's the coat-of-arms that I am wearing!\n\n(He makes an indecent gesture.)\n\nTue Witcu (laughs immoderately).\n\nHa! ha! That's just your way, I know:\n\nA rogue you are, and you were always so.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES (fo Faust).\n\nMy friend, take proper heed, I pray !\n\nTo manage witches, this is just the way.\n\n152 faust.\n\nTHe WitTcu.\n\nWherein, Sirs, can I be of use?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nGive us a goblet of the well-known juice!\nBut, I must beg you, of the oldest brewage;\nThe years a double strength produce.\n\nTHe WItTcH.\n\nWith all my heart! Now, here's a bottle,\nWherefrom, sometimes, I wet my throttle,\nWhich, also, not the slightest, stinks ;\n\nAnd willingly a glass 1°] fill him.\n\n(Whispering. )\n\nYet, if this man without due preparation drinks,\n\nAs well thou know'st, within an hour 't will kill him.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nHe is a friend of mine, with whom it will agree,\nAnd he deserves thy kitchen's best potation :\nCome, draw thy circle, speak thine adjuration,\n\nAnd fill thy goblet full and free!\n\nScene VE. 153\n\nTHe WirtcuH\n\n(with fantastic gestures draws a circle and places mysterious articles\ntherein; meanwhile the glasses begin to ring, the caldron to sound,\nand make a musical accompaniment. Finally she brings a great\nbook, and stations in the circle the Apes, who are obliged to serve\n\nas reading-desk, and to hold the torches. She then beckons Faust\nto approach).\n\nFaust (to MEPHISTOPHELES). .\nNow, what shall come of this? the creatures antic,\n\"The crazy stuff, the gestures frantic, —\nAll the repulsive cheats 1 view, —\n\nAre known to me, and hated, too.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\nO, nonsense! That's a thing for laughter ;\nDon't be so terribly severe!\nShe juggles you as doctor now, that, after,\nThe beverage may work the proper cheer.\n\n(He persuades Faust to step into the circle.)\n\nTHe Witcu\n(Legins to declaim, with much emphasis, from the book).\n\nSee, thus it's done!\n\nMake ten of one,\n\nzo\n\n154 faust.\n\nAnd two let be,\n\nMake even three,\nAnd rich thou 'It be.\nCast o'er the four!\nFrom five and six\n(The witch's tricks)\nMake seven and eight,\n\"T is finished straight!\nAnd nine is one,\n\nAnd ten is none.\n\nThis is the witch's Once-one's-one! 9°\n\nFaust.\n\nShe talks like one who raves in fever.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nThou 'It hear much more before we leave her.\n\n\"T is all the same: the book I can repeat,\n\nSuch time I 've squandered o'er the history :\n\nA contradiction thus complete 9!\n\nIs always for the wise, no less than fools, a mystery.\nThe art is old and new, for verily\n\nAll ages have been taught the matter, —\n\nBy Three and One, and One and Three,\n\nScene VI. 155\n\nError instead of Truth to scatter.\n\nThey prate and teach, and no one interferes ;\nAll from the fellowship of fools are shrinking.\nMan usually believes, if only words he hears,\n\nThat also with them goes material for thinking!\n\nTue Witcu (continues).\n\nThe lofty skill\n\nOf Science, still\n\nFrom all men deeply hidden:\nWho takes no thought,\n\nTo him 't is brought,\n\n°T is given unsought, unbidden |\n\nFaust.\n\nWhat nonsense she declaims before us!\nMy head is nigh to split, I fear:\nIt seems to me as if I hear\n\nA hundred thousand fools in chorus.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nO Sibyl excellent, enough of adjuration !\nBut hither bring us thy potation,\nAnd quickly fill the beaker to the brim!\n\n156 faust.\n\nThis drink will bring my friend no inguries ;\nHe is a man of manifold degrees,\n\nAnd many draughts are known to him.\n\n(The Witcu, with many ceremonies, pours the drink into a cup; as\n\nFaust sets it to his lips, a light flame arises.)\n\nDown with it quickly! Drain it off!\n\n'T will warm thy heart with new desire:\nArt with the Devil hand and glove,\n\nAnd wilt thou be afraid of fire?\n\n(The Witcu breaks the circle: Faust steps forth.)\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nAnd now, away! Thou dar'st not rest.\n\nTue WItTcH.\n\nAnd much good may the liquor do thee!\n\nMepuisTopHeELts (fo the WitcH).\nThy wish be on Walpurgis Night expressed ;\nWhat boon I have, shall then be given unto thee.\nTHe WItTcH.\n\nHere is a song, which, if you sometimes sing,\n\nYou Il find it of peculiar operation.\n\nScene VI. hee\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES (fo Faust).\n\nCome, walk at once! A rapid occupation\n\nMust start the needful perspiration, .\n\nAnd through thy frame the liquor's potence fling.\n\nThe noble indolence I 'l] teach thee then to treasure,9\"\nAnd soon thou 'It be aware, with keenest thrills of pleasure,\n\nHow Cupid stirs and leaps, on light and restless wing.\n\nFaust.\n\nOne rapid glance within the mirror give me\n\nHow beautiful that woman-form!\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nNo, no! The paragon of all, believe me,\n\nThou soon shalt see, alive and warm.\n( Aside.)\n\nThou 'It find, this drink thy blood compelling,\n\nEach woman beautiful as Helen!\n\n158 Faust.\n\nVII.\nA STREET.\nFaust. Marcaret ( passing by).",
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}