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scholar, Dr. Faust, and his assistant, Wagner, go for an excursion
in the countryside at Easter. As the day ends, they encounter
a strange stray dog. |
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sketch
by Moritz Retzsch, here in an engraving by Henry Moses
(London, 1820)
(click on the image to enlarge it)
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"Vor
dem Tor. Erscheinen des Pudels"
Before the Gate. The Appearance of the Poodle
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WAGNER
[...]
But let us hence! Grey eve doth all things blend,
The air grows chill, the mists descend!
'Tis in the evening first our home we prize—
Why stand you thus, and gaze with wondering eyes?
What in the gloom thus moves you?
FAUST Yon black hound
See'st thou, through corn and stubble scampering round?
WAGNER I've mark'd him long, naught strange in him
I see!
FAUST Note him! What takest thou the brute to be?
WAGNER But for a poodle, whom his instinct serves
His master's track to find once more.
FAUST Dost mark how round us, with wide spiral curves,
He wheels, each circle closer than before?
And, if I err not, he appears to me
A line of fire upon his track to leave.
WAGNER Naught but a poodle black of hue I see;
'Tis some illusion doth your sight deceive.
FAUST Methinks a magic coil our feet around,
He for a future snare doth lightly spread.
WAGNER Around us as in doubt I see him shyly bound,
Since he two strangers seeth in his master's stead.
FAUST
The circle narrows, he's already near!
WAGNER A dog dost see, no spectre have we here;
He growls, doubts, lays him on his belly, too,
And wags his tail—as dogs are wont to do.
FAUST Come hither, Sirrah! join our company!
WAGNER A very poodle, he appears to be!
Thou standest still, for thee he'll wait;
Thou speak'st to him, he fawns upon thee straight;
Aught thou mayst lose, again he'll bring,
And for thy stick will into water spring.
FAUST Thou'rt right indeed; no traces now I see
Whatever of a spirit's agency. 'Tis training—nothing
more.
WAGNER A dog well taught
E'en by the wisest of us may be sought.
Ay, to your favour he's entitled too,
Apt scholar of the students, 'tis his due!
(They enter the gate of the town.)
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(read
the German version )
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| Faust
returns to his study with the dog, who keeps interrupting
him in his contemplation. Finally, just as he orders the dog
to behave or leave, it begins to undergo a startling transformation. |
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"Beschwörung
des Pudels"
Exorcism of the Poodle
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engraving
after sketch by Moritz Retzsch
(click on the image to enlarge it)
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FAUST
Am I with thee my room to share,
Poodle, thy barking now forbear,
Forbear thy howling!
Comrade so noisy, ever growling,
I cannot suffer here to dwell.
One or the other, mark me well,
Forthwith must leave the cell.
I'm loath the guest-right to withhold;
The door's ajar, the passage clear;
But what must now mine eyes behold!
Are nature's laws suspended here?
Real is it, or a phantom show?
In length and breadth how doth my poodle grow!
He lifts himself with threat'ning mien,
In likeness of a dog no longer seen!
What spectre have I harbour'd thus!
Huge as a hippopotamus,
With fiery eye, terrific tooth!
Ah! now I know thee, sure enough!
For such a base, half-hellish brood,
The key of Solomon is good.
SPIRITS (without)
Captur'd there within is one!
Stay without and follow none!
Like a fox in iron snare,
Hell's old lynx is quaking there,
But take heed! |
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(read
the German version)
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Of
course, the spirit about to be released from the dog is
none other than Mephistopheles—the Devil.
Further
reading in Faust:
—
Faust,
Part I, tr. Anna Swanwick
—See also The
Tragical History of Dr. Faustus (c. 1588) by Christopher
Marlowe (1564-93)(great literature, but alas, no poodles)
both versions from The
Harvard Classics,
(NY: P.F. Collier & Son, Company, 1909Á14), vol. 19,
online version by Bartleby.com
—German:
Faust,
Part I (publ. 1808); Faust,
Part II (publ. 1833); online edition by Projekt
Gutenberg
•
Ghostly and Demonic Dogs
—Ghostly
Black Dogs
— Black
dogs folklore
— Apparitions
of Black Dogs
— Our
local Black Dog (of Hanging Hills or Meriden;Connecticut
apparition)
"If
a man shall meet the Black Dog once, it shall be for joy;
and if twice, it shall be for sorrow; and the third time,
he shall die."
(1)
(2)
(3)
•
The
Dog Hause Superstitions (about dogs and animals in general)
• Theodore Ziolkowski, "Talking Dogs: The Caninization
of Literature," in his Varieties of Literary Thematics
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), pp. 86-122.
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