The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume Iv Part 84

Go! I wish The Prince of Homburg hither brought from prison.

[_Exit footman._]

He will instruct you, be a.s.sured of that, What discipline and what obedience be!

He sent me words, at least, of other pitch Than this astute idea of liberty You have rehea.r.s.ed here like a boy to me.

[_He stands by the table again reading._]

KOTTWITZ (_amazed_).

Fetch whom? Call whom?

HENNINGS. Himself?

TRUCHSZ. Impossible!

[_The officers group themselves, disquieted, and speak with one another._]

ELECTOR. Who has brought forth this other doc.u.ment?

HOHENZOLL. I, my liege lord!

ELECTOR (_reading_).

"Proof that Elector Frederick The Prince's act himself--"--Well, now, by heaven, I call that nerve!

What! You dare say the cause of the misdeed The Prince committed in the fight, am I!

HOHENZOLL. Yourself, my liege; I say it, Hohenzollern.

ELECTOR. Now then, by G.o.d, that beats the fairy-tales!

One man a.s.serts that _he_ is innocent, The other that the guilty man am _I_!-- How will you demonstrate that thesis now?

HOHENZOLL. My lord, you will recall to mind that night We found the Prince in slumber deeply sunk Down in the garden 'neath the plantain trees.

He dreamed, it seemed, of victories on the morrow, And in his hand he held a laurel-twig, As if to test his heart's sincerity.

You took the wreath away, and smilingly Twined round the leaves the necklace that you wore, And to the lady, to your n.o.ble niece, Both wreath and necklace, intertwining, gave.

At such a wondrous sight, the Prince, aflush, Leaps to his feet; such precious things held forth By such a precious hand he needs must clasp.

But you withdraw from him in haste, withdrawing The Princess as you pa.s.s; the door receives you.

Lady and chain and laurel disappear, And, solitary, holding in his hand A glove he ravished from he knows not whom-- Lapped in the midnight he remains behind.

ELECTOR. What glove was that?

HOHENZOLLERN. My sovereign, hear me through!

The matter was a jest; and yet, of what Deep consequence to him I learned erelong.

For when I slip the garden's postern through, Coming upon him as it were by chance, And wake him, and he calls his senses home, The memory flooded him with keen delight.

A sight more touching scarce the mind could paint.

The whole occurrence, to the least detail, He recapitulated, like a dream; So vividly, he thought, he ne'er had dreamed, And in his heart the firm a.s.surance grew That heaven had granted him a sign; that when Once more came battle, G.o.d would grant him all His inward eye had seen, the laurel-wreath, The lady fair, and honor's linked badge.

ELECTOR. Hm! Curious! And then the glove?

HOHENZOLLERN. Indeed!

This fragment of his dream, made manifest, At once dispels and makes more firm his faith.

At first, with large, round eye he looks at it: The color's white, in mode and shape it seems A lady's glove, but, as he spoke with none By night within the garden whom, by chance, He might have robbed of it--confused thereto In his reflections by myself, who calls him Up to the council in the palace, he Forgets the thing he cannot comprehend, And off-hand in his collar thrusts the glove.

ELECTOR. Thereupon?

HOHENZOLLERN. Thereupon with pen and tablet He seeks the Castle, with devout attention To take the orders from the Marshal's lips.

The Electress and the Princess, journey-bound, By chance are likewise in the hall; but who Shall gauge the uttermost bewilderment That takes him, when the Princess turns to find The very glove he thrust into his collar!

The Marshal calls again and yet again 'The Prince of Homburg!' 'Marshal, to command!'

He cries, endeavoring to collect his thoughts; But he, ringed round by marvels--why, the thunders Of heaven might have fallen in our midst--

[_He pauses._]

ELECTOR. It was the Princess' glove?

HOHENZOLLERN. It was, indeed!

[_The_ ELECTOR _sinks into a brown study._]

A stone is he; the pencil's in his hand, And he stands there, and seems a living man; But consciousness, as by a magic wand, Is quenched within him; not until the morrow, As down the lines the loud artillery Already roars, does he return to life, Asking me: Say, what was it Dorfling said Last night in council, that applied to me?

MARSHAL. Truly, my liege, that tale I can indorse.

The Prince, I call to mind, took in no word Of what I said; distraught I've seen him oft, But never yet in such degree removed From blood and bone, never, as on that night.

ELECTOR. Now then, if I make out your reasoning, You pile your climax on my shoulders thus: Had I not dangerously made a jest Of this young dreamer's state, he had remained Guiltless, in council had not roamed the clouds, Nor disobedient proved upon the field.

Eh? Eh? Is that the logic?

HOHENZOLLERN. My liege lord, I trust the filling of the gaps to you.

ELECTOR. Fool that you are, you addlepate! Had you Not called me to the garden, I had not, Following a whim of curiosity, Made harmless fun of this somnambulist.

Wherefore, and quite with equal right, I hold The cause of his delinquency were you!-- The delphic wisdom of my officers!

HOHENZOLL. Enough, my sovereign! I am a.s.sured, My words fell weightily upon your heart.

SCENE VI

_An officer enters. The others as before._

OFFICER. My lord, the Prince will instantly appear.

ELECTOR. Good, then! Let him come in.

OFFICER. Two minutes, sir!

He but delayed a moment on the way To beg a porter ope the graveyard gate.

ELECTOR. The graveyard?

OFFICER. Ay, my sovereign.