WITCH’S KITCHEN
ON A LOW HEARTH A BIG KETTLE STANDS OVER A FIRE. IN THE
STEAM THAT RISES FROM IT VARIOUS SHAPES REVEAL THEMSELVES. A FEMALE
MONKEY SITS BY THE KETTLE SKIMMING IT AND MAKING SURE IT DOESN’T
OVERFLOW. THE MALE MONKEY , WITH THE LITTLE ONES, SITS NEAR HER,
WARMING HIMSELF. THE WALLS AND CEILINGS ARE DECORATED WITH THE
STRANGEST IMPLEMENTS OF WITCHCRAFT.
FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES ENTER
FAUST
I’ve set against this mad-brewed magic thing!
You pledge I’ll be restored now in
This chaos of insanity?
Do I desire help from this old wife?
Shall her froth-slopping cookery
Take thirty years from off my life?
I'm lost if you have nothing with more merit.
All hope's already vanishing.
But hasn't nature or some noble spirit
Come up with balm or some such thing?
MEPHISTOPHELES
You’re talking sense once more. Now look,
One way is naturally rejuvenating;
But it is written in a different book,
A curious chapter for your taking.
FAUST
I’d like to know it.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Good! A means
that needs no gold
Or quacks or sorcery- just go,
Get out there in the field and fold
And start to learn to dig and hoe.
And hold yourself and your thoughts in
A sphere thus strictly limiting;
There live with beasts as beast, don’t feel it as a
loss
To dress the fields you harvest with your dung!
Believe, the best way known is this,
For eighty years you’ll keep quite young!
FAUST
I am not used to that and I can’t bring myself
To take a spade in hand for health.
A narrow life like that is not my style.
MEPHISTOPHELES
So we still need the witch’s wiles.
FAUST
But why this old wife? Don’t you think
That you yourself could brew the drink?
MEPHISTOPHELES
A splendid pastime! I could make
A thousand bridges in the time it takes.
Not only science, skill and art,
But also patience plays a part.
A quiet spirit works for years- this course
Gives time to give the fermentation force.
And all that goes into the brew;
Quite wonderful things they are! I own
The devil taught her how, that’s true,
But he can’t make it all alone.
NOTICING THE ANIMALS
It seems your mistress isn't home.
ANIMALS
At banquet,
Out from home,
Through chimney alone.
MEPHISTOPHELES
How long’s she normally outdoors?
ANIMALS
As long as we shall warm our paws.
MEPHISTOPHELES (TO FAUST)
How do you find these tender beasts?
FAUST
I’ve never seen anything more ridiculous.
MEPHISTOPHELES
Oh, no, a little chat like this
Is just the thing that I like best.
TO THE ANIMALS
Explain to me, cursed puppet group,
What are you stirring in that stew?
ANIMALS
We’re cooking thinned-out beggar’s soup.
MEPHISTOPHELES
You will have many for that brew.
MALE MONKEY (APPROACHING MEPHISTOPHELES
AND FAWNING)
O let the dice roll,
And give me the gold
And let me win all!
How bad in our place,
Much gold would increase
My wit now as well!
MEPHISTOPHELES
This ape would prize his luck could he
Just get into the lottery!
MEANWHILE THE YOUNG MONKEYS HAVE BEEN PLAYING WITH A
BALL WHICH THEY NOW ROLL FORWARD
MALE MONKEY
The world's like this;
Goes up and down,
Rolls endlessly;
It rings like glass-
Breaks easily!
Has hollow sound.
Here it shines lightly,
And here more brightly:
Alive am I!
Dear son, I say,
Stay right away!
You needs must die!
It’s made of clay,
Its pieces fly.
MEPHISTOPHELES (POINTING)
So why the sieve?
MALE MONKEY (GETTING IT DOWN)
Were you a thief,
I’d know it straight away.
HE RUNS TO THE FEMALE MONKEY AND LETS HER LOOK THROUGH
IT
Look through it, be brief,
You know who’s the thief,
Don’t you, but dare not say?
MEPHISTOPHELES (NEARING THE FIRE)
What of this pot?
MALE AND FEMALE
The stupid clot!
He knows not the pot,
He knows not the kettle!
MEPHISTOPHELES
Rude, beastly pair!
THE MALE MONKEY
Now sit in big chair,
Take duster and settle!
HE FORCES MEPHISTOPHELES TO SIT
FAUST
(WHO
DURING THIS TIME HAS BEEN STANDING BEFORE A MIRROR, NOW STEPPING
CLOSER TO IT, NOW STEPPING AWAY AGAIN)
What
do I see? What sight in heaven's gleam
Is
shown within this magic mirror's sheen!
O,
love, lend me your swiftest, wide-winged power
And
guide me to her presence now!
But
if I don’t stay put; yes, if I dare
To
venture near, if I persist,
She
starts to vanish in a mist-
A
woman’s fairest image there!
Yet
could it be? Could woman be so fair?
In
this reclining figure do I see
The
quintessential heavenly?
Could
such a one be found on earth?
MEPHISTOPHELES
Of
course, if a god has struggled six full days
And
at the end sings his own praise,
He’s
brought some clever thing to birth.
So
gaze till filled up for this while;
I've ways to find a small pearl of your own,
And
happy’s he who sees fair fortune smile,
And
as her bridegroom leads her home.
FAUST IS STILL GAZING INTO THE MIRROR. MEPHISTOPHELES
STRETCHES OUT IN THE ARMCHAIR
AND, PLAYING WITH THE DUSTER, CONTINUES SPEAKING
Well, here I sit, a king enthroned. Indeed,
I have the sceptre here, the crown is all I need.
THE ANIMALS (WHO SO FAR HAVE BEEN MAKING STRANGE
MOVEMENTS AROUND ONE ANOTHER, BRING MEPHISTOPHELES A CROWN WITH
GREAT CLAMOURING)
O just be so good,
With sweat and blood,
This crown now to lime!
(THEY TAKE THE CROWN CLUMSILY, BREAKING IT IN TWO. THEN THEY JUMP AROUND WITH THE PIECES.)
It’s done now, let be.
We chatter and see,
We hear and we rhyme-
FAUST (AT THE MIRROR)
O grief! I'm sure I'll lose my mind.
MEPHISTOPHELES (POINTING TO THE ANIMALS)
My head is nearly reeling at their sports.
ANIMALS
And if we have luck,
And if our rhymes tuck,
Why- then we have thoughts!
FAUST (AS ABOVE)
My heart is starting to catch flame!
Oh, let us flee from here at once!
MEPHISTOPHELES (AS IN ABOVE POSITION)
As poets, one thing they can claim:
Theirs is a very candid stance.
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