Give ear! and with full swell sonorous,
Let each and all ring forth the chorus!
[He sings.] In a pantry-hole there lived a rat,
On bacon and on butter,
It had a paunch as round and fat
As Doctor Martin Luther.
The cook placed poison in its way,
It felt as straitened all the day,
As if it had love in its body.
Chorus. [shouting]
As if it had love in its body.
Brander.
It ran within, it ran without,
And sipped in every puddle;
And scratched and gnawed, but bettered not
The fever of its noddle.
With many a twinge it tossed and tossed,
Seemed ready to give up the ghost,
As if it had love in its body.
Chorus.
As if it had love in its body.
Brander.
It left its hole for very pain,
Into the kitchen crawling,
And snuffling there with might and main,
Upon the earth lay sprawling.
The cook she laughed when she saw it die;
“It squeaks,” quoth she, “with its latest sigh,
As if it had love in its body.”
Chorus.
As if it had love in its body.
Siebel.
How the hard-hearted boys rejoice!
As if it were a trade so choice
To teach the rats and mice to die!
Brander.
Rats find great favor in your eyes.
Altmayer.
The oily paunch! the bald pate! he
Has eyes of sorrow for the creature:
For why? he could not fail to see
In the swoll’n rat his own best feature!
Scene II.
Enter Faust and Mephistopheles.
Mephistopheles.
First thing of all I bring you here,
Into a company of jolly cheer,
That you may learn how men contrive
Without much thought or care to live.
These fellows feast their lives away
