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LEGEND. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethe’s Works, vol. 1 (Poems) [1885]

Edition used:

Goethe’s Works, illustrated by the best German artists, 5 vols. (Philadelphia: G. Barrie, 1885). Vol. 1.

Part of: Goethe’s Works, 5 vols.

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LEGEND.

  • THERE liv’d in the desert a holy man
  • To whom a goat-footed Faun one day
  • Paid a visit, and thus began
  • To his surprise: “I entreat thee to pray
  • That grace to me and my friends may be given,
  • That we may be able to mount to heaven,
  • For great is our thirst for heav’nly bliss.”
  • The holy man made answer to this:
  • “Much danger is lurking in thy petition,
  • Nor will it be easy to gain admission;
  • Thou dost not come with an angel’s salute;
  • For I see thou wearest a cloven foot.”
  • The wild man paus’d, and then answer’d he:
  • “What doth my goat’s foot matter to thee?
  • Full many I’ve known into heaven to pass
  • Straight and with ease, with the head of an ass!”