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  "work": {
    "slug": "faust-ii",
    "name": "Faust II (1832)"
  },
  "parents": [
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      "name": "Works of Goethe",
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      "slug": "faust",
      "name": "Faust (Parts I and II)",
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  "chapter": {
    "num": 10,
    "slug": "10-act-v-open-country-philemon-and-baucis",
    "title": "Act V — Open Country (Philemon and Baucis)",
    "of": 12,
    "words": 2269,
    "text": "WANDERER.\n\nES! 't is they, the dusky lindens ;\nThere they stand in sturdy age:\n\nAnd again shall I behold them, )\nAfter such a pilgrimage?\n\"T is the ancient place, the drifted\nDowns, the hut that sheltered me,\nWhen the billow, storm-uplifted,\nHurled me shoreward from the sea!\nHere with blessing would I greet them,\nThey, my hosts, the helpful pair, —\nOld, indeed, if now I meet them,\nSince they then had hoary hair.\nPious folk, from whom I parted!\n\nBe my greeting here renewed,\n\n374 Faust.\n\nIf ye still, as open-hearted,\nTaste the bliss of doing good!\n\nBaucis '5? (4 little woman, very old).\n\nGently, stranger! lest thou cumber\nRest, whereof my spouse hath need!\nHe but gains from longest slumber\n\nStrength for briefest waking deed.\n\nWANDERER.\nTell me, mother, art thou even\nShe, to whom my thanks I bear, —\nI, the youth, whose life was given\nBy your kind, united care?\nArt thou Baucis, who the coldly\n\nFading mouth refreshment gave?\n( The Husband appears.)\nThou, Philemon, who so boldly\n\nDrew my treasure from the wave?\nFrom your fire, so quickly burning,\nFrom your silver-sounding bell,\nChanged my doom, to fortune turning,\nWhen the dread adventure fell.\n\nForth upon the sand-hills stealing,\n\nAct V. 375\n\nLet me view the boundless sea!\nLet me pray, devoutly kneeling,\nTill my burdened heart be free!\n(He walks forward upon the downs.)\n\nPuiLemon (/o Baucis).\n\nHaste, and let the meal be dighted\n'Neath the garden's blooming trees!\nLet him go, and be affrighted !\nHe 'll believe not what he sees.\n\n(Follows, and stands beside the WANDERER.)\nWhere the savage waves maltreated\nYou, on shores of breaking foam,\nSee, a garden lies completed,\nLike an Eden-dream of home!\nOld was I, no longer eager,\nHelpful, as the younger are:\nAnd when I had lost my vigor,\nAlso was the wave afar.\nWise lords set their serfs in motion,\nDikes upraised and ditches led,\nMinishing the rights of Ocean,\nLords to be in Ocean's stead.\n\nSee the green of many a meadow,\n\n376 faust.\n\nField and garden, wood and town!\nCome, our table waits in shadow!\nFor the sun is going down.\n\nSails afar are gliding yonder;\nNightly to the port they fare:\n\nTo their nest the sea-birds wander,\nFor a harbor waits them there.\nDistant now, thou hardly seést\nWhere the Sea's blue arc is spanned, 53 —\nRight and left, the broadest, freest\nStretch of thickly-peopled land.\n\nAct V. a7)\n\nII.\nIN THE LITTLE GARDEN.\n\nTue THREE AT THE | ABLE.\n\n| Baucis (to the Stranger).\nRT thou dumb? Of all we've brought here,\nIn thy mouth shall nothing fall?\n\nPHILEMON.\n\nHe would know the marvel wrought here:\n\nFain thou speakest: tell him all!\n\nBaucis.\n°T was a marvel, if there's any!\nAnd the thought disturbs me still :\nIn a business so uncanny\n\nSurely helped the Powers of III.\n\nPatino:\nCan the Emperor's soul be perilled,\nWho on him the strand bestowed ?\n\n378 Faust.\n\nGave the mandate not the herald,\nTrumpeting, as on he rode?\n\nNear our downs, all unexpected,\nWas the work's beginning seen,\nTents and huts !— but, soon erected,\n\nRose a palace o'er the green.\n\nBavclis.\n\nKnaves in vain by day were storming,'s4\nPlying pick and spade alike;\nWhere the fires at night were swarming,\nStood, the following day, a dike.\nNightly rose the sounds of sorrow,\n- Human victims there must bleed :\nLines of torches, on the morrow,\nWere canals that seaward lead.\nHe would seize our field of labor,\nHut and garden, godlessly :\nSince he lords it as our neighbor,\n\nWe to him must subject be.\n\nPHILEMON,\n\nYet he bids, in compensation,\n\nFair estate of newer land.\n\nAc YV.\n\nBauclis.\n\nTrust not watery foundation |\n\nKeep upon the hill thy stand!\n\nPHILEMON.\n\nLet us, to the chapel straying,\n\nEre the sunset-glow has died,\n\nChime the vespers, kneel, and, praying,\nStill in our old God confide!\n\n380 faust.\n\nIII.\nPALACE,\nSpacious PLeasuRE-GARDEN: BROAD, STRAIGHTLY-CUT CANAL.\nFaust (in extreme old age, walking about, meditative).\n\nLynceus, THE WARDER\n(through the speaking-trumpet).\n\nShaws sun goes down, the ships are veering\n\nTo reach the port, with song and cheer:\nA heavy galley, now appearing\nOn the canal, will soon be here.\nThe gaudy pennons merrily flutter,\nThe masts and rigging upward climb:\nBlessings on thee the seamen utter,\nAnd Fortune greets thee at thy prime. 7\n\n(The little bell rings on the downs.)\n\nFaust (starting).\nAccurséd chime! As in derision\nIt wounds me, like a spiteful shot:\n\nMy realm is boundless to my vision,\n\nAct V. 381\n\nYet at my back this vexing blot!\n\nThe bell proclaims, with envious bluster,\nMy grand estate lacks full design : \"55\nThe brown old hut, the linden-cluster,\nThe crumbling chapel, are not mine.\n\nIf there I wished for recreation,\nAnother's shade would give no cheer:\n\nA thorn it is, a sharp vexation, —\n\nWould I were far away from here!\n\nU\n\nWarbDER (from above).\nWith evening wind and favoring tide,\nSee the gay galley hither glide!\nHow richly, on its rapid track,\nTower chest and casket, bale and sack !\n\n(A splendid Galley, richly and brilliantly laden with the productions\nof Foreign Countries.) .\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES. THE THREE Micuty Men.\n\nCuorus.\nHere we have landed:\nFurl the sail!\nHail to the Master,\nPatron, hail!\n(They disembark: the goods are brought ashore.)\n\n\\\n\n382 Faust.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nWe 've proved our worth in many ways,\nDelighted, if the Patron praise!\n\nWe sailed away with vessels twain,\nWith twenty come to port again.15®\n\nOf great successes to relate,\n\nWe only need to show our freight.\n\nFree is the mind on Ocean free:\n\nWho there can ponder sluggishly ?\n\nYou only need a rapid grip:\n\nYou catch a fish, you seize a ship;\n\nAnd when you once are lord of three,\nThe fourth is grappled easily ;\n\nThe fifth is then in evil plight ;\n\nYou have the Power, and thus the Right.\nYou count the What, and not the How:\nIf I have ever navigated,\n\nWar, Trade and Piracy, I vow,\n\nAre three in one, and can't be separated !\n\nTue TuHree Micuty Men.\nNo thank and hail?\nNo hail and thank ?\nAs if our freight\n\nAct V. 383\n\nTo him were rank!\nHe makes a face\nOf great disgust ;\nThe royal wealth\n\nDisplease him must.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\nExpect no further\nAny pay;\n\nYour own good share\n\nYe took away.\n\nTue Micuty Men.\nWe only took it\nFor pastime fair;\nWe all demand\nAn equal share.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\nFirst, arrange them\nIn hall on hall, —\nThe precious treasures,\nTogether all !\nIf such a splendor\nMeets his ken,\nAnd he regards it\n\n384 : Faust.\n\nMore closely then,\n\nA niggard he\n\nWon't be, at least :\n\nHe'll give our squadron\n\nFeast on feast.\n\nTo-morrow the gay birds hither wend,\"57\nAnd I can best to them attend.\n\n(The cargo is removed.)\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES (fo Faust).\nWith gloomy gaze, with serious brow,\nOf this great fortune hearest thou.\nCrowned is thy wisest industry,\nAnd reconciled are shore and sea;\nAnd from the shore, to swifter wakes,\nThe willing sea the vessels takes.\nSpeak, then, that here, from thy proud seat,\nThine arm may clasp the world complete.\nHere, on this spot, the work was planned;\nHere did the first rough cabin stand ;\nA little ditch was traced, a groove,\nWhere now the feathered oar-blades move.\nThy high intent, thy servants' toil,\nFrom land and sea have won the spoil.\n\nFrom here —\n\nAc V.\n\nFaust.\n\n| Still that accursed Here /\nTo me a burden most severe.\nTo thee, so clever, I declare it, —\nIt gives my very heart a sting ;\nIt is impossible to bear it!\nYet shamed am I, to say the thing.\nThe old ones, there, should make concession ;\nA shady seat would I create:\nThe lindens, not my own possession,\nDisturb my joy in mine estate.\nThere would I, for a view unbaffled,\nFrom bough to bough erect a scaffold,\nTill for my gaze a look be won\nO'er everything that I have done, —\nTo see. before me, unconfined,\nThe masterpiece of human mind,\n_ Wisely asserting to my sense\nThe people's gain of residence.\nNo sorer plague can us attack,\nThan rich to be, and something lack ! 58\nThe chiming bell, the lindens' breath,\nOppress like air in vaults of death:\nMy force of will, my potence grand,\n\n386 faust.\n\nIs shattered here upon the sand.\nHow shall I ban it from my feeling!\n\nI rave whene'er the bell is pealing.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n'T is natural that so great a spite\nThy life should thus imbitter quite.\nWho doubts it? Every noble ear,\nDisgusted, must the jangle hear ;\nAnd that accurséd bim-bam-booming,\nThrough the clear sky of evening glooming,\nIs mixed with each event that passes,\nFrom baby's bath to burial-masses,\nAs if, between its dam and dim,\n\nLife were a dream, in memory dim.\n\nFaust.\nTheir obstinate, opposing strain\nDarkens the brightest solid gain,\nTill one, in plague and worry thrust,\n\nGrows tired, at last, of being just.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\nWhy be annoyed, when thou canst well despise them?\n\nWouldst thou not long since colonize them?\n\nAd V. 387\n\nFaust.\nThen go, and clear them out with speed !\nThou knowest the fair estate, indeed,\n\nI chose for the old people's need.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\nWe 'll set them down on other land;\nEre you can look, again they 'll stand:\nWhen they 've the violence outgrown,\nTheir pleasant dwelling shall atone.\n(He whistles shrilly.)\n\nTue THure—e enter.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES,\n\nCome, as the Master bids, and let\n\nThe fleet a feast to-morrow get |\n\nTHe THREE.\nReception bad the old Master gave:\n\nA jolly feast is what we crave.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES\n(ad spectatores).\nIt happens as it happed of old:\nStill Naboth's vineyard we behold! 159\n\n388 Faust.\n\nIV.\nDEAD OF NIGHT.\n\nLynceus, THE WARDER\n(singing on the watch-tower of the Palace),\n\n| ate seeing intended,\nEmployed for my sight,\n\nThe tower 's my dwelling,\n\nThe world my delight.\n\nI gaze on the Distant,\n\nI look on the Near, —\n\nThe moon and the planets,\n\nThe forest and deer,\n\nSo see I in all things\n\nThe grace without end, |\n\nAnd even as they please me,\n\nMyself I commend.\n\nThou fortunate Vision,\n\nOf all thou wast 'ware,\n\nWhatever it might be,\n\nYet still it was fair!\n\nAct V. 389\n\nPause.\n\nNot alone that I delight me,\n\nHave I here been stationed so: —\nWhat a horror comes, to fright me,\nFrom the darksome world below!\nSparks of fire I see outgushing\nThrough the night of linden-trees ;\nStronger yet the glow is flushing,\nFanned to fury by the breeze.\n\nAh! the cabin burns, unheeded,\nDamp and mossy though it stand:\nQuick assistance here is needed,\n\nAnd no rescue is at hand!\n\nAh, the good old father, mother,\n\nElse so careful of the fire,\n\nDoomed amid the smoke to smother ! —\nThe catastrophe how dire!\n\nNow the blackening pile stands lonely\nIn the flames that redly swell:\n\nIf the good old folk be only\n\nRescued from the burning hell!\nDazzling tongues the crater launches\nThrough the leaves and through the branches ;\nWithered boughs, at last ignited,\n\n390 Faust.\n\nBreak, in burning, from the tree:\nWhy must I be thus far-sighted ?\nWitness such calamity ?\n\nNow the little chapel crashes'\n\"Neath a branch's falling blow ;\n\nSoon the climbing, spiry flashes\n\nSet the tree-tops in a glow.\n\nDown to where the trunks are planted\nBurn they like a crimson dawn.\n\nLong pause. Chant.\nWhat erewhile the eye enchanted\n\nWith the centuries is gone.\n\nFaust\n(on the balcony, towards the downs).\n\nAbove, what whining lamentation?\nThe word, the tone, too late I heed.\nMy warder wails: I feel vexation\n\nAt heart, for this impatient deed.\n\nYet be the lindens extirpated,\n\nTill half-charred trunks the spot deface,\nA look-in-the-land is soon created,\nWhence I can view the boundless space.\n\nThence shall I see the newer dwelling\n\nAct V. 391\n\nWhich for the ancient pair I raise,\nWho, my benign forbearance feeling,\nShall there enjoy their latter days.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES AND THE THREE (Jdelow).\nWe hither come upon the run!\nForgive! not happily 't was done.'®©\nWe knocked and beat, but none replied,\nAnd entrance ever was denied ;\nOf jolts and blows we gave good store,\nAnd broken lay the rotten door ;\nWe called aloud, with direst threat\nBut still no hearing could we get.\nAnd, as it haps, with such a deed,\nThey would not hear, they would not heed;\nBut we began, without delay,\nTo drive the stubborn folks away.\nThe pair had then an easy lot:\nThey fell, and died upon the spot.\nA stranger, who was there concealed,\nAnd fought, was left upon the field;\nBut in the combat, fierce and fast,\nFrom coals, that round about were cast,\nThe straw took fire. Now merrily\n\nOne funeral pile consumes the three.\n\nFaust.\n\nFaust.\n\nDeaf unto my commands were ye!\nExchange I meant, not robbery.\nThe inconsiderate, savage blow\n\nIcurse! Bear ye the guilt, and go!\n\nCuorus.\n\nThe proverb old still runs its course:\nBend willingly to greater force!\nIf you are bold, and face the strife,\nStake house and home, and then — your life!\n[ Exeunt.\nFaust (on the balcony).\n\nThe stars conceal their glance and glow,\nThe fire sinks down, and flickers low;\nA damp wind fans it with its wings,\nAnd smoke and vapor hither brings.\nQuick bidden, and too quick obeyed ! —\nWhat hovers hither like a shade?\n\nAct V. 393\n\nV.\nMIDNIGHT.161\nFour Gray Women enter.",
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