Annele Balthasar

First performed in 1924, Annele Balthasar is a poetic drama set in the time of the witch hunts which raged in Europe for two centuries. Nathan Katz (1892-1981), the author, is considered to be "the most original Alsatian poet since the Middle-Ages." This book contains translations in English and in German of the play, as well as the original text in Alemannic.

There were never more "witches" burned than in the time of Descartes.
Jacob Rogozinski

ANNELE
Seven judges sit at court... years pass by... years are gone... Seven skulls rot underground...

PRESIDENT
You must answer what you are asked!...

ANNELE
But I am but a poor maiden from Willer... And now you want to hurt me... with you rough hands!

PRESIDENT
When did the Evil Spirit come to you? Now, answer!

ANNELE
He came to the little window... Don't be so wild, you bad boy... what if you break a windowpane... what then!
But don't be so wild, I say!... - You've stolen a little carnation from the windowsill!... Oh, you're so sly, you!... You only wanted to make me come outside, to scold after you!... I knew it!

PRESIDENT
You went sometimes to the witches' dance?

ANNELE
I had no more peace, day or night!... He screamed for me! He whinnied above the barn roofs! He has torn apart trees! I was lying so warm under the bedcover!... I was awake... when he sometimes whispered sweet things from outside, as if a breeze were going through a thicket of peonie stalks!... I heard him the whole night! I cried in my pillows!...

PRESIDENT
You have gone with them onto the Fuchsberg!

ANNELE
Juchu! Juchu!! We rode through the night... out through the chimney... on the broomstick! Like the wind! Juchu!... Riding over the churchyards... over the woods, over the villages! - - At Old Ferrette, we have danced around the gallows! As fast as the wind! Just like the wind! - - Isn't that a merrymaking, my sweetheart, my betrothed... Haha! Over the woods, over the dells, over the dark villages, all over!... Naked we danced under the pines! The little owls were shrieking for us... The dogs whined... After that, someone died in the village.