Stage 1. Scene 1. (Cards Do Not Lie)

Among the hills a winding way

I am going to meet my education

be it a patch of my gaps

from happiness already turns red the face !

The way of knowledge is full of thorns

how to separate grain from chaff ?

A castle tower welcomes me from far

with its copper battlement.

Already a good piece of walk behind me

behold, a wooden Gasthaus there,

and the inscription says "ZUM SPIRITUS"

- its very name so nicely sounds !

My luggage here being so heavy

and full of books,

please, take them up

I want to sleep in the attic...

And do quickly serve the table

I ate in Prague for the last time

and some sort of Spirits too,

which would raise the humour !

Who is taking seat beside me ?

Greeting me by my name ?

Maybe a hundred years old woman

- that makes me feeling shocked !

And suddenly I see cards spread out

on a little table here

in a room filled with smoke

of pure hemp !

My supreme consternation

about her knowing my past

however, I want to know perfectly

what will give the future to me ?

[the fortune-teller:]

"Here the king and next the knave."

[Atrament:]

"What does it mean ?"

"A high born gentleman will lick your back."

"And what comes next ?"

"Ha, ha, if you order brandy, we hear in no time

whether you shall have your head on the log,

or a good fortune on your knees !"

Old hag, I am fed up with your talks,

I am an occultist !

Thought not seeing through the cards,

but I know how to do with life:

And in the bar a vermilion notice:

ET ZUM SPIRITUS TUO

I shall prefer to sing a duet

with my own tumbler !

As a flash from the clean sky

struck by the phantom of

a beautiful gril

in my eyes there sticks

the glance of her eyes

and those clear forms of her hips

We spent in waking all the night

and the bed empty in the morning

when the little Table bestowed

at the exorcising right enough!