“But I’m not ungrateful,” continued Mark, “and to prove it, I studied hard and established the identity of the fatherlandish author whom both Vienna and Berlin admired (though nobody reads him, of course): Goethe.”
“Goethe was Englished before I tackled him, but I happened on a passage in Faust that, it seemed to me, was not done justice to. So I summoned the family to a powwow and between us, and a heap of dictionaries, we rendered the disputed and immortal lines ‘thus classic’:
“‘What hypocrites and such can’t do without—
Cheese it—ne’er mention it aloud.’
“Bayard” (Taylor) “would have burst with envy if he had lived long enough to see how happily I interpreted Goethe without itching for translator’s laurels or royalties.”
“Let’s see the original, Mark.”
“Here it is:
“‘Man darf es nicht vor keuschen Ohren nennen,
Was keusche Hertzen nicht entbehren können.’
“Vers libre with a vengeance, eh?” chuckled Mark. “And why in thunder shouldn’t that mean verse liberally handled?”