The Faust-Legend and Goethe's 'Faust' Part 5

MEPH. Wilt thou grasp after a thunderbolt? 'Tis well that it was not given to you miserable mortals!...

FAUST. Take me to her! She _shall_ be free!... Take me to her, I say, and liberate her!

MEPH. I will take thee to her--and do what I _can_ do.

Listen! Have I all power in heaven and on earth?--I will becloud the jailer's senses. Then do thou get possession of the keys, and lead her forth with human hand. I will keep watch.--The magic steeds will be at hand ... I will carry you off. So much lies in my power.

_Night. The open country. FAUST and MEPHISTOPHELES galloping past on black horses. They pa.s.s a group of witches busy round their cauldron. They reach the prison.

Within is heard the voice of GRETCHEN singing an old plaintive ballad. FAUST listens:_

'She dreams not' (he says) 'that her loved one is listening, and hears her chains rattle and the straw as it rustles.'

[_He unlocks the prison door and steps in._

GRETCHEN (_crouching into her bed of straw_). Woe, woe--they are coming! Bitter death!

FAUST. Hus.h.!.+ hus.h.!.+ I am come to free thee.

GRETCHEN (_grovelling before him_). If thou art a man, O pity my distress!

FAUST. Thou wilt awaken the watchmen with thy cries. [_He seizes her chain to unlock it._

GRETCHEN (_kneeling_). Who has given you, heads-man, this power over me? You have come for me already at midnight.

Pity me, and let me live! Is to-morrow morning not soon enough? And I am still so young--and I must die! Fair was I too, and that was my ruin. Pity me! What harm have I ever done to thee! I never saw thee before in all my life.

FAUST. Can I endure this misery?

GRETCHEN. I am wholly in your power. But let me first suckle my child. I held it in my bosom all the night. They took it from me, to vex me, and _now_ they say I've killed it....

And I shall never be happy any more!

FAUST (_kneels beside her_). He that loves thee kneels before thee.

GRETCHEN. O let us kneel and call upon the saints. But ...

ah!... Look!... Under those steps, under the threshold, h.e.l.l is flaming. The Evil One is raging there so furiously.

Listen, how he roars and thunders!

FAUST. Gretchen! Gretchen!

GRETCHEN (_listening_). That was the voice of my friend!

Where is he? I heard him call.... Right through the howling and uproar of h.e.l.l, through the horrid laughter of the devils, I recognized that sweet loving tone.

FAUST. It is I.

GRETCHEN. Thou!... O say it once more! (_Clasping him._) It is! it is he! Where is now all my pain? Where is the anguish of the dungeon and the chain?

FAUST. Come! Come with me!

GRETCHEN. O stay!... I am so happy at thy side.... What! not one kiss!... Ah, woe, thy lips are cold. Where is all thy love? Who has stolen it from me?

FAUST. Come! Follow!... Be courageous, loved one! Come with me!

GRETCHEN. Thou art loosening my chain.... Know'st thou, my friend, _whom_ thou art releasing?

FAUST. Come, come! Night is already on the wane.

GRETCHEN. My mother I have killed. I have drowned my child.

Was it not given to thee and to me? Yes, to thee too.... And thou art really here! Thou! I can scarce believe it. Give me thy hand--thy dear hand! _Ah_, but it is wet. Wipe it, wipe it! It looks like blood upon it. O G.o.d, what hast thou done!

Put up thy sword, I beg thee! Put it away!

FAUST. Let the past be past. Thou art killing me.

GRETCHEN. No--_thou_ must live!... I will tell thee about the graves that thou must provide to-morrow. Give mother the best place, and brother close to her--and me a little on one side ... only not too far away. And lay the little one in my bosom.... No one else shall lie with me. To cling to thy side, that was once such sweet blissful joy ... but I seem no longer able ... as if I had to force myself, and as if thou didst thrust me back.... And yet it _is_ thou, and thou look'st so kind and good.

FAUST. If thou feel'st that it is I, then come!

GRETCHEN. Out _there_?

FAUST. To freedom!

GRETCHEN. I dare not. For me there is no hope more. What is the use to flee? They are lurking after me.... It's so wretched to have to beg, and that too with a bad conscience.

It's so wretched to wander about in strange lands ... and they'll catch me all the same.

FAUST. I shall be with thee.

GRETCHEN. _Quick! Quick!_ Save it! Save my child!... Onward!

Right up that path alongside the stream ... over the bridge ... there!... into the wood.... There! to the left! there, where the plank lies--in the pond! Catch hold of it! Catch it! It's rising!... It's struggling! Save it! save it!

FAUST. Bethink thyself! One step and thou art free!

GRETCHEN. If only we were over that hill!... There's mother sitting there on a stone. (Ah! what was that, like an icy hand, grasping my hair?) ... She sits and wags with her head--she does not beckon or nod to us ... her head droops so heavily. Yes, she slept so long, and she will wake no more. She slept that we might have joy. Ah, those were happy times!

FAUST. No entreaty avails--no words are of use. I shall have to carry thee away. [_Seizes hold of her._

GRETCHEN. _Let me go!_ I will not suffer violence. Seize not hold of me so murderously. All _else_ I did for _love_ of thee.

FAUST. The day is dawning! Dearest! dearest!

GRETCHEN. _Day?_ Yes--the day is coming! The last day is dawning! It was to have been my wedding day. Woe to my wreath! But what is, must be! We shall see each other again ... but not at the dance! The crowd is thronging.... One hears no word.... The square, the streets, cannot contain them.... The bell is tolling--the staff is broken.... They seize me! They bind me fast! I am being dragged already to the block! Each feels the axe at his own neck as its keen blade flashes down on _mine_ ... and the world lies dark and silent as the grave.

FAUST. O that I never had been born!

MEPH. (_appears at the door_). Come! or you are lost!...

Foolish, useless hesitation--delaying and gossiping! My horses are shuddering and the morning twilight breaks.

GRETCHEN (_seeing MEPHISTOPHELES_). What is this that rises from the ground? He! _He!_ Send him away! What does _he_ want at this holy spot?

MEPH. (_to FAUST_). Come! come! or I shall leave you in the lurch.