of course as in his great poem. So it is quite
right to make Lynceus speak in rime. Helen of course has never heard
rime before, and she turns to Faust and asks him what it is that sounds
so strange and beautiful in this song of Lynceus; and she wants to know
how _she_ too can learn the art. So Faust tells her just to try and the
rimes will come of their own accord. But I will quote the passage, for
it is very pretty; and I will add a rough translation.

Doch wuenscht' ich Unterricht warum die Rede
Des Manns mir seltsam klang, seltsam und freundlich--
Ein Ton scheint sich dem and'ren zu bequemen;
Und hat ein Wort zum Ohre sich gesellt,
Ein andres kommt, dem ersten liebzukosen....
So sage denn, wie spraech' ich auch so schoen.

FAUST. Das ist gar leicht--es muss vom Herzen geh'n.
Und wenn die Brust von Sehnsucht ueberfliesst
Man sieht sich um, und fragt....

HELEN. wer mitgeniesst.

FAUST. Nun schaut der Geist nicht vorwaerts, nicht zurueck--
Die Gegenwart allein ...

HELEN. ist unser Glueck--

FAUST. Schatz ist sie, Hochgewinn, Besitz und Pfand.
Bestaetigung, wer gibt sie?

HELEN. Meine Hand.

(HELEN. I fain would ask thee why the watchman's song
So strangely sounded--strange but beautiful.
Tones seemed to link themselves in harmony.
One word would come and nestle in the ear,
Then came another and caressed it there.
But say--how can I also learn the art?

FAUST. Quite easily--one listens to one's heart,
And when its longings seem too great to bear
We look around for one ...

HELEN. our joy to share.

FAUST. Not past nor future loving hearts can bless,
The _present_--

HELEN. is alone our happiness.

FAUST. Before the prize of beauty, lo I stand,
But who assures the prize to me?

HELEN. My hand!)

In the midst of this life of chivalrous love and romance Faust and Helen
pass a period of ecstatic bliss. But, as Goethe himself found, such
ecstasies are only a passing phase. The end comes inevitably and
suddenly. A son is born to them, Euphorion by name (the name of the
winged son of Helen and Achilles, according to one legend). He is no
common human child. As a butterfly from its chrysalis he bursts at once
into fully developed existence. He is of enchanting beauty but wild and