Pages 98 and 99

Doctor Faust got out first and threw himself down
And cried, sniveling, "I'm back on solid ground!"

And the Wandering Jew followed and yelled:
"My dear counselor, what is your bidding?"

But the devil spoke grimly, sneering:
"This is foolish! There's no job for us here!"

"On the contrary!" cried the counselor, "there certainly is!
Excepting you, of course,
because you're a creature that terrifies us --
You, however, worthy Herr Doctor Faust,
I'd like to offer you a life of science
and studies in an academic life.
Of course - I must deny you the chairmanship
of philosophy, much as I hate to, -
Because your ideas are a bit too modern for us --
But I'm happy to appoint you to
to a private professorship in chemistry!"

Doctor Faust ruminated for a moment
Then stroked his ample beard and spoke:
"Man errs as long as he doth strive!"
And his next sentence was remembered forevermore:
"I'm like any man who greedily digs toward riches,
and who's happy when he simply finds earthworms!"¹
And then he accepted the job.

For his part, Don Juan danced a promenade
with a royal maiden
And he looked with happiness upon her full corset
And cried: "I've finally found it again here!
This is truly the meaning of life,
Searching for it up there was silly!"


1: "Wie nur dem Kopf nicht alle Hoffnung schwindet,
Der immerfort an schalem Zeuge klebt,
Mit gier'ger Hand nach Schätzen gräbt,
Und froh ist, wenn er Regenwürmer findet!"
Faust, 602-605

Page 97

And he snatched at the gearbox with fevered hand,
A rip - and a jolt - and the motor stopped -
And we suddenly began to plummet downward into ruin!

---

But the devil cannot die,
And Hope didn't let us go.

She hovered under us, momentous
And bore us with a gigantic swing,
Until, gradually, the motor
was returned to working order.
It delayed the impact. The machine sank
very slowly and landed soft and flat
not too far from -- Halberstadt.

A balloon race had just taken place there.
And as the spectators saw with their instruments
How high we'd ascended,
These admirers surrounded us in droves,
and greeted us with jubilant compliments,

it helped drive away our bitter emotions a bit.

A government representative approached,
And after a survey of the apparatus
Called to us: "I'd like to buy your machine
for the Royal Prussian Air Force!" -
Here the drama unfolded like a satire:

Pages 95 and 96

"Give me your hand, my loves,
Come to my castle with me,

There's no strife there,
It's not far from here!"

Lo and behold, Hope and Falsehood,
Their eyes averted by his look and the sound of his voice,
Stared, enthralled at his manly traits -

Satan, snatching with his hand
Seized the box in a fevered frenzy,
Ripped and yanked the lock back and forth --

And then something terrible happened:

The lid sprang open, and the box was - empty!

Empty! Empty! Empty!! Empty!!!
And bleakness and darkness surrounded us on all sides --
And within us, doubt and stupefying horror!
Crushed were all our hopes and ambitions,
No purpose, no meaning, no life's worth ---
And the devil cried out shrilly:
"Now, gentlemen, who's been proven right?
There's no design! No great plan!
We've senselessly labored, slaved away -
Now we're free from every commitment!
Now comes the comedy's last act:
'The meaning of life is -- annihilation!!'

Page 94

So we flew across deep space.

Heavenly bodies darted past,
The ball we call earth slowly sank,
And we all found ourselves in feverish anticipation.

We climbed silently through the night ---

Then, finally, as the morning was still gray,
A shimmering splendor glimmered far away,
And the devil yelled tremulously: "Look!
Look and grasp it!
We've reached our goal!" And the screws piped,
And the airship hurdled like a bolt
toward the box with screaming might --

But the devil, in his hastiness,
hadn't thought of the two women:
Hope and Falsehood, I mean.
Who were holding true in their watch of the box.
With swords of flame and a magical look
They banished our airship,
And from whichever side we approached,
Their watchfulness held us back,
And the devil began to doubt our chances...

Then Don Juan cried suddenly with proud confidence:
"Here, let me do it! They're women, after all!"
And he pulled his mandolin forth
and belted out in a bright, clear tenor:

Page 93

"We'll see about that!" said the devil and laughed, then fell silent.

And he sat in the cockpit, and the airship climbed.
And he pulled the lever, and faster and faster
The propeller whizzed and roared.

Page 92

And whoever manages to unlock this shrine,
Then, for him, the secret meaning of life,
the big "why," the "where to," the "where from,"
all these questions will be unsealed.
He'd become be almost omniscient and omnipotent,
and there, gentlemen -- is where we're going!!!"

And a shudder ran through our souls.
"Oh, the horror!" yelled the eternal Jew, "the horror!
Stop, stop, I'm getting out!"
It made our throats tighten.

But the king of evil just laughed devilishly,
He bent over the machine
And spoke, as if it were a living being:
"Up, my sweet cloudwalker, up!
Up, up, ascend through the heavens,
The higher the flight, the greater the fall,
Up, my sweet, up!

We'll see unfathomable things,
Despair and conquering misery will be combined.
The world will be scattered in the gray of night!
Now say, gentlemen, how do you like the flight?
Speak, Faust, why do you hide your face so anxiously?

But Faust spoke calmly: "I'm not afraid!
Whatever it is guarding the magic shrine,
Must be something so gigantic, immortal,
that space will pluck your poisonous claws from you -
In the end, you've been duped!"

Page 91

And spoke with proud and wide satisfaction:
"You'll never attain it unless you know the feeling!"¹

But Don Juan yelled, scoffing, "Oh, come on!"
And tipsily emptied his tenth glass,
"The meaning of life? The wise say this:
'Go throw a party, lively and hearty, till all their heads are heated with wine!'²
Even small girls agree!
'And in Spain it was a thousand and three!'"

But the eternal Jew blanched and spoke:
"I don't ponder such things at all:
We live, we die, we're buried --
Everything has its place!"

With that, we saw flames in the eyes of the fiend,
And his mouth and nose twitched as he sneered:
"Phrases," he yelled, "nothing but phrases!
You'll never solve the riddle so.
But I too haven't figured it out,
Despite it plaguing me for ten thousand years --
But soon you'll all become experts!
Because I know now, where we'll find the answer.

Listen! In the middle of space
Hovers a box of pure crystal.
It's surrounded by the sun's rays,
Guarded by Hope and by Falsehood,
It sparkles like a star through the night.
There, locked away, lies the secret!

1: Faust (I, 1, 182)
2: "Finch'han del Vino" - Don Giovanni, Act I, Scene XV

Page 90

And the Wandering Jew spoke: "For two thousand years
I have traveled through the world
And I've seen all lands, large and small,
Except Russia, where they won't let me in!
And it's supposed to be a beautiful place.
However, this time I'll surely succeed,
Because in a airship, you don't need a passport --
Good sir from Hades,
Couldn't you bring me over the border?"

But the devil tauntingly raised his brow.
"No," he spoke, "we're not going there,
We're flying into the dark, into the unknown!"

"Into the unknown?" spoke Faust, "that makes no sense,
And everything in life must eventually
lead toward sense and a destination!"

"Really?" Satan threw down, sneering,
"Then, tell me, just for example,
This long, eternal trip we call Life:
what kind of sense does it make? -
Give me an answer to this question,
you philosophers and wise gentlemen,
Then I will, and gladly,
Take your to all your destinations!"

And they all fell silent again. A little while passed,
then Faust collected himself and cleared his throat

Pages 88 and 89

"Indeed," spoke the devil, "my good men,
Where would you like to go?"

"I'd like," spoke Faust, "to go to Greece,
Where whispers of the classic legends wisp about,
The modern is perfectly combined with the antique,
And where I bonded myself with the ghost of Helen!

"God save me from your ghost!"
yelled Don Juan, laughing,
"You're a romantic!
I've had enough of this stony guest.
I'd far rather fly to Spain
To Donna Anna and Elvire --
I'd love to seduce them once more!"

[This isn't the first time Faust and Don Juan have met. In 1828, Christian Dietrich Grabbe wrote a play called Don Juan und Faust, wherein the two legends meet. At the core of the story is the conflict of ideas between the two. This meeting is certainly a reference to the play. Source: Wikipedia.]

Pages 86 and 87

So we climbed into the sea of air.

And the earth became small. And we climbed and climbed,
And our hearts became full, and we were all silent.
The eternal Jew became somewhat nervous.

"Satan, good sir," he spoke, "please don't get angry,
I apologize if I seem overly curious,
But -- where are we actually going?"

Pages 84 and 85

The Flight

"My dear sir," said the Devil and stroked his beard,
"I've created an airplane.
We're starting here in the next few seconds.
Accompany me on my flight!"

Four passengers entered the gondola.
In the pilot's seat sat the devil, roaring in the wind,
Then followed these strange passengers:

The first was - Doctor Faust.

And next to him, lounging long across the seats,
Sat Don Juan with a comfortable countenance.
In one arm, a flask of champagne,
in the other, his mandolin.

I hunkered down like a stowaway
in a corner. And next to me
Sat the eternal Wandering Jew.

Page 80

And he must first have some time to think it over!

And the mother said,

I was a moral ruffian,

And the daughter said,

I was an idiot,
And within a day I'd be written off,
Because, as anyone could see from my actions,
I didn't have a trace of character!

--

And so, once more, I remained single.

(End of Chapter 3: Character.)

Page 79

"Herr Rideamus, is this true?"

"Indeed!" I called, "it's true, good sir,
As true as I wrote in the play!
And now, now, please tell me:
Do I have character or what?
And may I now hope for your blessing?"

Here the father spoke and became very pale:
"But you're always suddenly so... unbelievable!"

Page 78

"Yes," I spoke sullenly, "today I'm free,
I've ripped the girl out of my soul,
And this morning I left her!"

The father said that was very noble,
Because I'd been through a moral dilemma
for my ambitions!
Not just on the stage, no, but also in life!

"Do you really mean that?" I yelled, joyously,
"And should I do nothing for the girl?"

"Well now!" yelled the father pacifyingly, "well now!"
And then he spoke in a jesting tone:
"You have, after all, your half million!"

But I responded with a mischievous expression:
"Well, that's just it! I don't really have it!

Because of my character, you see,
That was ignited in the flames of the heart!
You'll be amazed! Listen:

The girl was poor and destitute.
And to assuage her pain,
And so she wouldn't be beset with poverty,
I gave her, with my bleeding heart,
All of my royalties!"

Here the father spoke with ruffled hair:

Page 77

It cost me a lot personally, lovely gentlemen,
I wrote it though blood, sweat, and tears,
It's a play full of soul that pulls on your heartstrings,
because, the story - I lived it all!" -

"It can't be!" said the daughter, excited,
"Are you a lieutenant too?"

"No," I said, "I'm not, sadly, not yet,
But the rest is true:
I also loved a girl of the common class!"

"Stop!" said the father,

"That has no place here!"

But the daughter said it wasn't a problem for her
because I was, after all, a poet.
She just wanted to know one thing,
"Whether it was over and done with?"

Pages 75 and 76

Just once more from behind, quietly, almost silently,
Sounds "Bubi and Schatzi," in a heartwarming manner,
And then falls the curtain, and that is the end!

--

Here I stopped. And the whole circle was silent.
And a voice, deeply touched, quietly, almost silently,
Flew thew the room -
"A genius."

Finally, the stunned father broke
the stunned silence
with a thunderous exclamation: - "Good God!
Good God, what a play!
It's an absolutely delightful work!
It's even better than 'Old Heidelberg!'"

And now it came from all sides.
The father said, "you're a giant!"
Then he spoke shrewdly to the publisher:
"That is art, Herr Schmidt, you can't dispute it!"

But the publisher screamed, exasperated, "What?!
You call this art and poetry?!
Oh, no!" he cried, and snatched my notebook,
"This is more than a work of art! This is a business!!
This is a business! This will play
easily on over 300 stages!!
This will bring maybe half a million!!!"

"Great Scott!" yelled the father in a screeching tone,
"You could live like a noble!
I wouldn't even need to pay a dowry!
Is this possible!?!" - However, I responded coolly:
"Don't you think that's going a little far?

Pages 73 and 74

And he dresses himself, and stands at the window,
And from above, he yells:

"Ignoble traitors!"

And from under, the crowd cries:
"The high Kasimir Peter!"

And suddenly, the revolution comes to an end.
Flames of excitement reach to the heavens,
And Prince Kasimir takes the throne! -

The girl, however, breaks down, sobbing.

Page 72

What use is a proud destiny?"

She sings it quietly, she sings it from her heart,
And afterward, she sings "Bubi, Schatzi!"
With that, the prince opens his eyes
and asks with a broken voice, "where am I?"

But barely after recognizing his beloved,
He shouts, "No one will call me a liar!"
And he tries to rip the fresh bandages
from his bloody wound.

Mathilde, however, cannot endure it.
She cries, "You belong to the fatherland,
I'm just a mere common girl,
Be free, my love! I relinquish thee!"

And she kisses him once more with quivering mouth.