FIRST PALLBEARER

Who it'll be you can't say.

SECOND PALLBEARER

_I_ always say the same: we're here to-day----

THIRD PALLBEARER

(_Cutting in jealousy and humorously._) And to-morrow we ain't here.

(_A subdued and sinister snicker. It is followed by sudden silence.
There is a shuffling of feet in the front room, and whispers. Necks are
craned. The pallbearers straighten their backs, hitch their coat collars
and pull on their black gloves. The clergyman has arrived. From above
comes the sound of weeping._)

_II.--FROM THE PROGRAMME OF A CONCERT_

_II.--From The Programme of a Concert_

_"Ruhm und Ewigkeit" (Fame and Eternity), a symphonic poem in B
flat minor, Opus 48, by Johann Sigismund Timotheus Albert Wolfgang
Kraus (1872-)._

Kraus, like his eminent compatriot, Dr. Richard Strauss, has gone to
Friedrich Nietzsche, the laureate of the modern German tone-art, for his
inspiration in this gigantic work. His text is to be found in
Nietzsche's _Ecce Homo_, which was not published until after the poet's
death, but the composition really belongs to _Also sprach Zarathustra_,
as a glance will show:

I

_Wie lange sitzest du schon
auf deinem Missgeschick?
Gieb Acht! Du bruetest mir noch
ein Ei,
ein Basilisken-Ei,
aus deinem langen Jammer aus._

II

_Was schleicht Zarathustra entlang dem Berge?--_

III

_Misstrauisch, geschwuerig, duester,
ein langer Lauerer,--
aber ploetzlich, ein Blitz,
hell, furchtbar, ein Schlag
gen Himmel aus dem Abgrund:
--dem Berge selber schuettelt sich
das Eingeweide...._

IV

_Wo Hass und Blitzstrahl
Eins ward, ein Fluch,--
auf den Bergen haust jetzt Zarathustra's Zorn,
eine Wetterwolke schleicht er seines Wegs._

V

_Verkrieche sich, wer eine letzte Decke hat!
In's Bett mit euch, ihr Zaertlinge!
Nun rollen Donner ueber die Gewoelbe,
nun zittert, was Gebaelk und Mauer ist,
nun zucken Blitze und schwefelgelbe Wahrheiten--
Zarathustra flucht ...!_

For the following faithful and graceful translation the present
commentator is indebted to Mr. Louis Untermeyer:

I

How long brood you now
On thy disaster?
Give heed! You hatch me soon
An egg,
From your long lamentation out of.

II

Why prowls Zarathustra among the mountains?

III