Scene XX - At the Fountain.

Lisbeth and Gretchen.   

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LISBETH:
Have you not heard from Barbara? [...] It stinks!
She’s feeding two when she eats and drinks.
Serves her right then, finally.
She clung to that fellow, oh so tightly!
That was a fine to-ing and fro-ing,
Round the village, and dance-going,
Ahead of us all, they had to shine,
Him treating her always to cakes and wine:
She the picture of loveliness, oh so fine,
So low after all, then, and so shameless,
And the gifts she took from him, nameless.
It was all kissing and carrying on:
But now the flower is gone!
[...] Why are you so pitying?
When each of us was at our spinning,
When mother never let us out,
She and her lover hung about:
On the bench, in a dark alley,
Forgetting the time, he and she.
She can’t raise her head again,
In a sinner’s shift now, penitent.
[Will he take her for his wife?]
He’d be a fool! A lively fellow
Can ply his trade elsewhere, and so - He’s gone.
[...] LisbethIf she gets him, she’ll reap ill in a trice,
The lads will tear at her wreath, what’s more
We’ll scatter chaffin front of her door!
(She exits.)