thy work aids the welfare of mankind
And leads as well to thine own happiness.
Thy mother’s beauty and thy child’s own life
Will blossom for thee in a loftier way,
When one day in the souls and hearts of men,
New spirit-powers shall seed and fructify.
Felicia:
What must I do?
Spirit:
What must I do? Mankind thou hast inspired
Full often with thy words. Inspire then now
The spirits of the rocks: in this same hour
Thou must bring forth from out thy treasured store
Of fairy pictures some one tale to give
Those beings who do serve me in my work.
Felicia:
So be it then:—A being once did live
Who flew from East to West, as runs the sun.
He flew o’er lands and seas, and from this height
He looked upon the doings of mankind.
He saw how men did one another love,
And, how in hatred they did persecute.
Yet naught could stay this being in his flight,
For love and hatred none the less bring forth
Full many thousand times the same results.
Yet o’er one house—there must the being stay;
For therein dwelt a tired and weary man,
Who pondered on the love of humankind,
And pondered also over human hate.
His contemplations had already graved
Deep furrows on his brow; his hair was white.
And, grieving o’er this man, the being lost
His sun-guide’s leadership, and stayed with him
Within his room e’en when the sun went down.
And when the sun arose again, once more
The being joined the spirit of the sun;
And once again he saw mankind pass through
The cycle of the earth in love and hate.
But when he came, still following the sun,
A second time above that selfsame house,
His gaze did fall upon a man quite dead.
(Germanus, invisible behind the rock, speaks. As he speaks, he gradually drags his unwieldy size on to the stage; his feet like clogs are almost earth-bound.)
Germanus:
A man once lived, who went from East to West:
Whose eager thirst for knowledge lured him on
O’er land and sea; and with his wisdom’s sight
He looked upon the doings of mankind.
He saw how men did one another love,
And, how in hatred they did persecute;
And at each turn of life the man did note
How blind was wisdom’s eye to probe its depths.
For, though the world is ruled by love and hate,
Yet could he not combine them into law.
A thousand single cases wrote he down
Yet still he lacked the comprehending eye.
This dull, dry seeker after truth once met
Upon his path a being formed of light;
Who found existence fraught with heaviness
Since it must live in constant combat with
A darksome being formed of shadows black.
‘Who art thou then?’ the dry truth-seeker asked.
‘Love,’ said the one; the other answered, ‘Hate.’
But these two beings’ words fell on deaf ears;
The man heard not, but wandered blindly on
In his dry search for truth from East to West.
Felicia:
And who art thou, who thus against my wish
Dost parody my words in his own way
Until they sound a very mockery?
Germanus:
Only a dwarf-like image of me lives
In man, and therein many things are thought,
That are but mockery of their own selves.
When I do show them in the actual size,
In which they do appear within my brain.
Felicia:
And therefore dost thou also mock at me?
Germanus:
I must right often ply this trade of mine;
Yet mostly men do hear me not, so now
I seized for once this opportunity
To speak as well where men can hear my words.
Johannes (out of his meditation):
This was the man, who of himself did say
That spirit-light grew of its own accord
Within his brain; and Dame Felicia came,
Just like her husband, as she is in life.
