EMPEROR
For this time thou thy words may'st spare!
This is no place for riddles, friend;
They are these gentlemen's affair,—
Solve them! an ear I'll gladly lend.
My old fool's gone, far, far away, I fear;
Take thou his place, come, stand beside me here!
[MEPHISTOPHELES ascends and places himself at the
EMPEROR'S left.]
Murmur of the Crowd
Here's a new fool—for plague anew!
Whence cometh he?—How passed he through?
The old one fell—he squander'd hath.—
He was a tub—now 'tis a lath.—