Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 9.djvu/293

Rh Our master dear was after this, On nature thinking, full of bliss, When toward him, from the other side He saw an aged woman glide; The name she bears, Historia, Mythologia, Fabula; With footstep tottering and unstable She dragged a large and wooden carved table. Where, with wide sleeves and human mien, The Lord was catechising seen; Adam, Eve, Eden, the Serpent's seduction, Gomorrah and Sodom's awful destruction, The twelve illustrious women, too, That mirror of honour brought to view; All kinds of bloodthirstiness, murder, and sin, The twelve wicked tyrants also were in, And all kinds of goodly doctrine and law; Saint Peter with his scourge you saw, With the world's ways dissatisfied, And by our Lord with power supplied. Her train and dress, behind and before. And e'en the seams, were painted o'er With tales of worldly virtue and crime,— Our master viewed all this for a time; The sight right gladly he surveyed, So useful for him in his trade, Whence he was able to procure Example good and precept sure, Recounting all with truthful care, As though he had been present there. His spirit seemed from earth to fly, He ne'er had turned away his eye, Did he not just behind him hear A rattle of bells approaching near.

And now a fool doth catch his eye. With goat and ape's leap drawing nigh,