and the Devil himself...

and the Devil himself...

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Walpurgis Night, Fantasia - Night on Bald Mountain


I

Tonight is Walpurgis night, the night witches were said to fly to the mountains to dance with the Devil. In some traditions it is as significant a holiday as Christmas Eve, with May Day equiv. to Christmas.

Mephistopheles takes Faust to the Brocken to dance with the witches in Goethe's play:

The witches t'ward the Brocken strain.
When the stubble yellow, green the grain.
The rabble rushes - as is meet -
To Sir Urien's lordly seat.
O'er stick and stone we come, by jinks!
The witches f... the he goat s...

The broomstick caries, so does the stock;
the pitchfork carries, so does the buck;
who cannot rise on them tonight,
remains for eye a luckless wight.

More Walpurgis Night, Ogden Nash's Thirteenth Floor

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