Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 9.djvu/259

Rh My inward feelings all revolt. A creature such as thou! a dolt! Pipi, a squirrel able nuts to crack! I bristle up my shaggy back, Unused a slave to be. I'm laughed at by each trim and upstart tree To scorn. The bowling green I fly, With neatly-mown and well-kept grass; The box makes faces as I pass,— Into the darkest thicket hasten I, Hoping to 'scape from the ring, Over the palings to spring!

Vainly I leap and climb; I feel a leaden spell That pinions me as well, And when I'm fully wearied out in time, I lay me down beside some mock-cascade, And roll myself half dead, and foam, and cry, And, ah! no Oreads hear my sigh, Excepting those of china made!

But, ah, with sudden power, In all my members blissful feelings reign! 'Tis she who singeth yonder in her bower! I hear that darling, darling voice again. The air is warm, and teems with fragrance clear, Sings she perchance for me alone to hear? I haste, and trample down the shrubs amain; The trees make way, the bushes all retreat, And so—the beast is lying at her feet.

She looks at him: "The monster's droll enough! He's, for a bear, too mild, Yet, for a dog, too wild, So shaggy, clumsy, rough!" Up in his back she gently strokes her foot; He thinks himself in Paradise.