Faust. Mephisto, see'st thou there A pale yet lovely girl, in lonely distance fare? From place to place she moveth slow; With shackled feet she seems to go; I must confess, she has a cast Of Margaret, when I saw her last. Mephistopheles. Let that alone! it brings thee certain harm; It is bewitched, a bloodless, breathless form, For men to look upon it is not good. Its fixèd gaze hath power to freeze the blood, And petrify thee stark and stiff. Of course I need not ask you if You've heard of the Medusa's head. Faust. In truth I see the eyes of one that's dead, On which no closing hand of love was laid. That is my Margaret's kindly breast, That the sweet body I caressed. Mephistopheles. There lies the witchcraft o't, thou fool! A phantom takes thy wit to school: She is the love of every lover's brain. Faust. What ecstasy! and yet what pain! I cannot leave it for my life. How strangely this most lovely neck A single streak of red doth deck, No broader than the back o' a knife! Mephistopheles. Quite right! I see it, just as well as you. Sometimes her head beneath her elbow too She wears; for Perseus cut it off, you know. What! will you still a-dreaming go? Come, let us mount the hillock--there We shall have noble sport, believe me; For, unless mine eyes deceive me, They have got up a theatre. What make you here? A Servant. You are just come in time. 'Tis a new piece, the last of all the seven, For such the number that with us is given. A dilettante 'twas that wrote the rhyme, And dilettanti are the actors too. Excuse me, sirs,--no disrespect to you, If I seem curt: I am the dilettante To draw the curtain; and our time is scanty. Mephistopheles. Just so; I only wish you were so clever To know your home; Then from the Blocksberg you would never Have lust to roam! Scene II. _Intermezzo._[*n15] Walpurgis-Night's Dream; or Oberon and Titania's Golden Hightide. Director of the Theatre. We players here may take our ease; For all we need for scenery Is mount and mead, and trees, and seas Of Nature's leafy greenery. Herald. The golden high-tide is it then, When fifty years pass over; But doubly golden is it when All brawls and strifes they cover. Oberon. Ye spirits, who obey my law, Are to this feast invited, When Oberon and Titania In love are reunited. Puck. Puck comes in first, and turns athwart, His merry circles wheeling; And hundreds more behind him dart, Loud shouts of laughter pealing. Ariel. I fill the air with thrilling song Of virtue quite enchanting; Though ugly imps I lure along, The fair are never wanting! Oberon. When man and wife begin to strive, Just give them length of tether! They will learn in peace to live, When not too much together.