B00ARI2G5C EBOK (18 page)

Scuttling busily about,

Hither and thither, in and out.

Dwarves are like us, they’re our close kin.

Rock surgery we specialize in:

We bleed the lofty mountains’ veins,

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And out pours treasure for our pains.

We pile up metals we have struck,

With miners’ greetings wishing luck.

All this is thoroughly well meant;

Good men deserve our good intent.

But we bring gold up so that they

May steal and whore, for that’s their way;

With iron weapons we supply

The proud man for whom thousands die.

The three
thou shalt nots
men ignore

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Soon have them flouting many more.

All this is not our fault, and you

Must still have patience, as we do.

GIANTS
. Here are the Wild Men, that’s our name,

The Wild Men of Harz Mountains fame.

Natural-naked in full strength,

Each with his club a pinetree’s length,

We come as giants big and tall

And thickly girdled one and all

With leaves and branches bound like thatch.

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No Pope has bodyguards to match!

NYMPHS IN CHORUS
[
surrounding
GREAT PAN]
.

Great Pan is here!

In him is shown,

In him alone,

The great world’s sphere.

You happy nymphs, surround him now,

Flitting and dancing round him now;

He’s serious but benevolent

And a friend of merriment.

And he’d be wakeful all day too

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Under the heaven’s tent of blue,

But by the breezes he’s caressed

And streamlets murmur him to rest.

And when he is asleep at noon

No leaf or twig will stir too soon;

Life-giving plants are growing there,

Their fragrance fills the soundless air;

No nymph dare stay awake, we fall

Asleep still standing. But his call,

His sudden cry of fearful power,

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When it rings out in that same hour

Like thunder or the roaring sea,

Then none knows where to stand or flee,

Brave armies quail, the hero quakes

Hearing such tumult as Pan wakes.

So let us praise this lord who brought

Us here, and hail him as we ought!

A DEPUTATION OF GNOMES
[
to
GREAT PAN]
.

Though the glinting treasures thread

Richly through the mountain’s heart,

Only the diviner’s art

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To that labyrinth is led.

Troglodytically living

In dark caves we hide away:

Yours the gold for gracious giving

In the purer airs of day.

Now this other spring divined

Most conveniently close by

Will miraculously supply

All we scarcely hoped to find.

You can bring this to completion:

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Take it, lord, and care for it;

Any wealth in your possession

Is the whole world’s benefit.

PLUTUS
[
to
THE HERALD]
.

We must be high in spirit, we must face

With resignation what will now take place;

And indeed you are valiant, as I know.

All will deny, even posterity

Will disbelieve this dire calamity,

But in your written record it must show.

THE HERALD
[
grasping the staff which
PLUTUS
continues to hold]
.

The Dwarves, with Great Pan following,

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Approach with care the fiery spring;

It boils up from its source, and then

Sinks down into the depths again;

Now dark it stands, the open jaw,

Till glowing broth spews out once more.

Great Pan, whom this strange toy amazes,

In high good humour stands and gazes,

As pearly foam from each side blazes.

Shall he believe his eyes? And low

He stoops, to see if it is so.

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But his beard drops into the vat!
*
—

Whose beard? And whose bare chin is that?

His hand conceals it. Now, alas!

A great misfortune comes to pass:

The beard bursts into flames, blows back,

Wreath, head and breast the flames attack,

And our rejoicing turns to grief.

All rush to quench, to bring relief,

But none escapes the leaping fire;

The more they smack and smite, the higher

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The inferno rages. An entire

Tangle of masqueraders, wrapped

In flames, by burning death are trapped.

But what is this report I hear,

From mouth to mouth, from ear to ear?

Oh ever wretched fatal night

That brings us to this dreadful plight!

What none can bear to hear or say

Will be proclaimed this coming day;

And now from loud cries I am learning:

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‘It was
the Emperor
who was burning!’

Oh if it only were not true!

He burns, and his attendants too.

That cursed rout seduced his mind

And came with resinous twigs entwined

To bellow their wild song: now all

Into this general ruin fall.

Oh youth, youth, can you not constrain

Your joy into its purer measures?

Oh majesty, will you never reign

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All-powerful, yet with prudent pleasures?

And now the arbours are alight;

The pointed tongues lick upwards, right

Into the coffered ceiling. Why,

We’ll all be burnt now, we’ll all die!

Alas, I fear it will be so.

Who’ll save us from this general woe?

One night, and the imperial state

Lies burnt to ash and desolate.

PLUTUS
. Come now, that’s enough alarm!

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You shall all be saved from harm.

With our staff now strike the ground,

Let its sacred power resound.

Let the wide air at our will

Now with cooling fragrance fill.

Come, you trails of drifting, sliding

Mist, enveloping and hiding

All this fiery chaos; curl,

Fleecy cloudlets, trickle, swirl,

Breathe your vapours, gently gliding!

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You can quench, you can assuage,

You can damp this false fire’s rage:

Do so, and it all shall seem

But the summer lightning’s gleam.—

Thus, when spirit-power assails us,

Magic’s ancient art avails us.

[
Morningsunlight
,
THE EMPEROR
and
COURTIERS, FAUST
and
MEPHISTOPHELES,
dressed in a becoming manner, fashionable but unostentatious; both kneeling
.]

FAUST
. Sire, for the pyrotechnics we apologize.

THE EMPEROR
[
motioning them to rise]
.

It was most entertaining; pray devise

Such sport more often! Suddenly it seemed

That I was Pluto, and a great sphere gleamed

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And burned about me. A dark rocky pit

Glowed as with fiery coals, and from the depths of it

And of the other, blazed wild flickering flame

Of many thousand tongues, which all became

A single vault, a supreme temple: higher

It rose, forming, unforming out of fire.

Whole peoples moved through the vast colonnade

All round me that the twisting flame-tongues made:

They thronged towards me, circling far and near,

And all, as hitherto, paid homage here.

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I recognized my court among these wonders;

I was prince of a thousand salamanders.
*

MEPHISTOPHELES
. And so you are, Sire, for the elements

All recognize your high pre-eminence.

The submission of fire you have seen first;

Plunge now into the sea at its wild worst,

And scarcely will you touch the pearl-strewn floor

Than a great dome will shape itself once more:

The mobile waves, light green and purple-fringed,

Into a kingly dwelling shall be changed

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Round you, its central point. Go where you please,

Each step you take, you take your palaces

Along with you. That globe’s live walls will swarm

With flickering things all darting to and fro;

Sea-monsters, nuzzling at its strange mild glow,

Approach, but none can pierce the magic form;

Gold-squamous coloured dragons play, the wide-

Jawed shark lunges: you mock him, safe inside.

Your thronging court here takes delight in you,

But such a throng as that you never knew.

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Nor are you there debarred from sweetest wishes:

For curious Nereids (young and keen as fishes

Yet shy, or older and more circumspect)

Swim up, your deep-sea lodging to inspect

In its eternal lustre; Thetis too will wed

This modern Peleus and take him to her bed.

Next, high Olympus and the kingdoms there—

THE EMPEROR
. Thank you: you may omit the upper air.

One mounts that throne quite soon enough, we’re told.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. And, Sire, the earth you already have
   and hold.

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THE EMPEROR
.

What lucky chance has brought you here, straight out

Of the Arabian Nights? You need not doubt,

If you can match Scheherazade’s skill

In story-telling, that I will

Grant you high favour. Let me count on you

When the day’s doings bore me, as they often do.

THE STEWARD
[
entering hurriedly]
.

Your Majesty! I never would have thought

I’d one day bring the news I now have brought

Of such good fortune to you! Here I bow

Before you with such joy! For how

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Can it be true? The bills are paid,

The usurers’ rage has been allayed

And from their hellish claws I’m free!

Can heaven offer such felicity?

THE ARMY COMMANDER
[
quickly following him]
.

The army debt has been half settled,

The oath resworn, the troops refettled,

Their mercenary morale restored,

Landlords all rich, the men all whored.

THE EMPEROR
. How light of heart you both seem now,

The wrinkles vanished from your brow,

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A quicker step, and cast-off cares!

THE TREASURER
[
who has also arrived]
.

Sire, you must ask these two, the work was theirs.

FAUST
. It is the Chancellor’s office to explain.

THE CHANCELLOR
[
approaching slowly]
.

I am glad not to have lived so long in vain!

Hear then and see this fateful paper, which

Has changed our poverty and made us rich.

[
He reads
.]

‘To whom it may concern: hereby be advised and told,

The present note is worth a thousand crowns in gold.

This sum secured and covered in full measure

By Imperial land’s abundant buried treasure;

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The same to serve as its equivalent

Upon recovery, as is Our intent.’

THE EMPEROR
. My lords, this is some fraud, some vast deceit!

Who dared to sign my name in counterfeit?

Has no one yet been punished for this crime?

THE TREASURER
. You wrote it, Sire, yourself; at Carnival time,

Last night! You were Great Pan, you will recall;

The Chancellor approached, as did we all,

Beseeching you: ‘A few strokes of your pen

Will crown the feast and mend the realm again!’

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You signed: and thanks to prestidigitation

The night sufficed for ample duplication.

And in this general boon, to ensure fair play,

We printed the whole series straight away:

Tens, thirties, fifties, hundreds—all are ready.

See how the people all rejoice already!

This town, half mouldy-dead of late, now thriving,

Swarming with life, its appetites reviving!

Your name has blessed the world for many a year,

But never was so gladly read as here.

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The remaining alphabet grows valueless,

For in this sign all now find happiness.

THE EMPEROR
. My people think it’s gold? Well now, that’s funny.

The court, the army, treat this as sound money?

Astonishing. But now what can I do?

THE STEWARD
. No one could catch them, and away they flew;

It spread like lightning. Now on every side

The money-changers’ doors are open wide;

They’re honouring every note, both small and large,

With gold and silver, though of course they charge

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Commission. Butchers, bakers, landlords—good

Money for them! Half the world just wants food

And drink, the rest want fine new clothes to strut

About in; tailors stitch, cloth-merchants cut;

Meanwhile plates clatter, meats are stewed and roasted

In taverns, and ‘The Emperor!’ is toasted.

MEPHISTOPHELES
. Walk then alone along the terraces:

See, a fair lady all in fineries,

Covering one eye with her proud peacock fan,

Come-hithering with the other any man

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Who bears this paper passport to her heart,

Which outpersuades all wit and wooer’s art!

No need to lug a purse around; the best

Place for such
billets
is a lover’s breast,