NATALIA: Oh, my dearest mother.
FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING: Oh, heavens!
ELECTRESS: Continue! Continue!
MÖRNER: The Prince, seeing this horrifying spectacle, was seized with anguish beyond words. Bursting with fury like a wild bear and driven by revenge, he charged toward the Swedish trenches, taking us with him. Thus he stormed the enemy’s fortifications, scattered and destroyed their troops on the battlefield, and brought back as booty all the cannons, flags, and drums and standards . . . in a word, the entire Swedish military equipment. And if it had not been for the bridgehead on the Rhyn, not a single Swedish soldier would have been left alive to sit at his hearth and tell his children how he saw the heroic Elector of Brandenburg fall near Fehrbellin!
ELECTRESS: This victory of ours was purchased at too dear a price, and I don’t want it. Give me back the price you paid. [She faints.]
FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING: Help! She’s fainted.
[Natalia weeps.]
SCENE 6
[The Prince of Homburg enters. The above.]
PRINCE: Oh, my dearest Natalia! [With deep emotion, he places her hand upon his heart.]
NATALIA: So, it’s true then?
PRINCE: Oh, if I could only say it is not true. If I could only bring him back to life again with the blood of my own loyal heart.
NATALIA [drying her tears]: Has his body been found yet?
PRINCE: Until this moment, all my energies went into taking revenge against Wrangel. Where was I to find time for this other task? However, I’ve just now sent out a detachment of men to find our Sovereign on the field of death. I have no doubt the body will be returned to us before the sun goes down.
NATALIA: Who will now hold back the Swedish army in this monstrous war? Who will protect us from the whole world of enemies which his fame and good fortune have roused against us?
PRINCE [taking her hand]: I, dear Lady, will take on the responsibility. Like an angel with a flaming sword, I will stand beside your throne now deserted by His Majesty’s death. The Elector intended to free Brandenburg before the end of this year. Very well! I shall be the executor of his last wish.
NATALIA: My dear and noble cousin! [She withdraws her hand.]
PRINCE: Natalia . . . [He pauses a moment.] How do you picture your future now?
NATALIA: Oh, what am I to do now that this storm has destroyed the ground beneath my feet? My father and my dearest mother are resting in their graves in Amsterdam while Dortrecht, my ancestral home, lies destroyed in ashes and in ruins. Maurice of Orange, my cousin, who is himself hard pressed by the Spanish tyrant’s armies, scarcely knows how he is to rescue his own children from destruction. And now, the last support to my flowering hope has crumbled. Today I have been orphaned for the second time.
PRINCE [putting his arm around her]: My dear friend! Were the hour not consecrated to mourning, I would say: wind your fragrant branches around this heart which has beaten all these years in solitude, yearning for nothing but the sweet scent of your flowers.
NATALIA: My dear, good cousin.
PRINCE: Will you? Will you?
NATALIA: Will you allow me to take root in your deepest self? [She leans upon him.]
PRINCE: What? What was that you said?
NATALIA: Leave me!
PRINCE [continuing to hold her]: Yes, into the innermost core of my being, Natalia, into the inmost depths of my heart. [He kisses her; she breaks away.] Oh, God! If only he were here now, the man we mourn, to witness this union of ours. If only we could kneel to him in prayer and ask: Father, give us your blessings! [He covers his face with his hands. Natalia turns back to the Electress.]
SCENE 7
[A sergeant rushes in. The above.]
SERGEANT: My Prince, by the living God above us, I scarcely dare to report to you the rumor that is spreading: the Elector is alive.
PRINCE: He is alive?
SERGEANT: Count Sparren is coming with the news.
NATALIA: My God, mother, did you hear? [She throws herself down before the Electress and embraces her.]
PRINCE: No! Tell me . . . who’s coming? . . .
SERGEANT: Count George von Sparren, who with his own eyes saw the Elector alive and well among Truchss’s troops in Hackelwitz.
PRINCE: Quickly! Run, old man! Bring him here to me.
[The sergeant leaves.]
SCENE 8
[Count von Sparren and the sergeant enter. The above.]
ELECTRESS: Oh, do not plunge me a second time into the abyss!
NATALIA: No, my dear mother!
ELECTRESS: Friedrich is alive?
NATALIA [supporting her with both hands]: Now you may stand once again upon life’s most joyous peaks.
SERGEANT [stepping forward]: Here is the officer.
PRINCE: Count von Sparren! So you’ve seen His Majesty alive and well in Hackelwitz with Truchss’s troops?
SPARREN: Yes, my noble Prince, in the parson’s courtyard where, surrounded by his staff, he was giving orders to bury the dead of both armies.
LADIES-IN-WAITING [embracing]: Oh, God!
ELECTRESS: My beloved daughter!
NATALIA: Such joy is almost too much to bear. [She buries her head in her aunt’s lap.]
PRINCE: Didn’t I myself from where I was standing at the head of my troops see him fall along with his horse? Wasn’t he shattered by a rain of cannon shot?
SPARREN: It’s true, the horse did fall along with its rider. But the man who rode it, my Prince, was not His Majesty.
PRINCE: Not him? Not His Majesty?
NATALIA: Oh, how wonderful! [She rises and stands beside the Electress.]
PRINCE: Speak! Tell us everything. Your words weigh heavy like gold upon my chest.
SPARREN: Listen to the most touching story you’ve ever heard. His Majesty, our leader, deaf to every warning once again insisted upon riding his gleaming white stallion–you know, the one which Froben recently brought back to him from England. And as usual, it was the target of all the enemy’s bullets, so that not even one of those who belonged to his suite could get within a hundred paces of him. Bullets whizzed and grenades and shrapnel flew toward him like a veritable river of death, forcing everyone who was still alive to retreat beyond the borders of this destructive tide. Only he, the bold swimmer, did not waiver in his course and, nodding to his friends, he rowed calmly toward the heights from which this deadly river flowed.
PRINCE: Yes, indeed, it was a grisly sight!
SPARREN: Froben, the Elector’s groom, who was the first to follow him, told me as he rode by: “Today I curse the brilliant gleam of this white horse, bought recently for so much gold in London. How gladly I’d give fifty ducats if I could hide it with a coat of mouselike gray.” He approached him, feverish with worry, and said: “Majesty, your horse is nervous; you must permit me to take him back for further training!” With these words, Froben got off his own horse and took hold of the stallion’s reigns, whereupon the Elector too dismounted and said with a quiet smile: “The tricks you wish to teach this horse, old fellow, cannot be learned as long as daylight lasts. I beg you, take him far away behind those hills where the enemy won’t notice his defects!” Then the Elector mounted Froben’s chestnut horse and returned to the duties which were calling him. But Froben had hardly mounted the white stallion when a murderous shot from the trenches brought him down–both horse and rider sank. And so he fell, a victim of his loyalty, and no one heard a further sound from him.
[Short pause.]
PRINCE: He’s been well paid. If I’d been given ten lives, I couldn’t use them for a better purpose.
NATALIA: Brave Froben.
ELECTRESS: Excellent man.
NATALIA: A far less deserving man would still be worthy of our tears.
[They weep.]
PRINCE: Enough of this. Now to business. Where is the Elector? Has he set up headquarters in Hackelwitz?
SPARREN: I beg your pardon, Prince. His Majesty has gone to Berlin and has requested the e
ntire general staff to follow.
PRINCE: What? To Berlin? Is the battle over, then?
SPARREN: Good heavens, I’m amazed you don’t know all of this. Count Horn, the Swedish envoy, has arrived and a ceasefire was called in all the camps. If I understood Field Marshal Dörfling correctly, negotiations have already begun from which peace itself could easily follow.
ELECTRESS: Oh, God! How wonderfully everything is turning out. [She rises.]
PRINCE: Come, let’s follow him immediately to Berlin! Could you make room for me in your carriage to expedite my journey? I only have to write a word or two to Kottwitz, and then I’ll join you in a moment. [He sits down and writes.]
ELECTRESS: Of course, I can. With all my heart.
PRINCE [He folds the letter and gives it to the sergeant, then turns to the Electress while placing his arm gently about Natalia.]: I still have one wish to confess to you and, shy though I feel about it, I would like to unburden myself to you on the trip.
NATALIA [moving away from him]: Bork! Quickly! My scarf, I beg you!
ELECTRESS: You? Have a request to make of me?
FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING: You are wearing the scarf, Princess, around your neck.
PRINCE [to the Electress]: What? Can’t you guess?
ELECTRESS: No. Nothing.
PRINCE: Really? Not the slightest inkling?
ELECTRESS [interrupting him]: It doesn’t matter! Today I couldn’t deny a request from anyone on earth, no matter what it was. Least of all could I say no to you, the victor of today’s battle. Let us go.
PRINCE: Oh, mother. How happy your words have made me. May I interpret them as I like?
ELECTRESS: Let’s go, I say. We’ll speak more of this in the carriage.
PRINCE: Come, give me your arm. Oh, divine Caesar! I shall attach my ladder to your star.
[He leads the ladies away. Everyone follows.]
SCENE 9
Scene: Berlin. A pleasure garden in front of the old castle. In the background, the castle church with a front staircase. Bells are ringing. The church is brightly illuminated. Froben’s body is being carried past and placed on a magnificent catafalque.
[The Elector, Field Marshal Dörfling, Colonel Hennings, Count Truchss, and a few other colonels and officers enter. Several officers with dispatches enter from the opposite side. People of every age and sex are gathered in the church and on the square.]
ELECTOR: Whoever it was who led the cavalry on the day of battle and arbitrarily advanced before I gave him orders to attack, forcing the enemy to retreat before Colonel Hennings was able to destroy the bridges . . . whoever it may be, I say, he has incurred the penalty of death, and I command that he appear before a court-martial. The Prince of Homburg did not lead the troops, you say?
TRUCHSS: No, Your Majesty.
ELECTOR: Who can confirm this?
TRUCHSS: Various cavalrymen who assured me of this even before the battle started. The Prince, it seems, had a fall from his horse and suffered serious injuries to his head and legs. The men themselves saw his wounds being treated in a church.
ELECTOR: Well, it doesn’t matter. Today’s victory was brilliant, and I will thank God for it tomorrow at the altar. But even if it had been ten times greater, it would not exonerate the person who procured it by mere chance. I have many more battles than this one to win and demand obedience to the law. Whoever it was who led the troops into battle, I repeat it once again, has forfeited his head, and I hereby summon him to appear before a military court. Now, my friends, follow me into the church!
SCENE 10
[The Prince of Homburg enters carrying three Swedish flags. He is followed by Colonel Kottwitz with two flags, Count Hohenzollern, Cavalry Captain Goltz, and Count Reuss, each with a flag. Several other officers, corporals, and cavalrymen enter, all with flags. There are many drums and standards. The above.]
DÖRFLING [as soon as he catches sight of the Prince]: The Prince of Homburg. Truchss!? What have you done?
ELECTOR [amazed]: Where have you come from, Prince?
PRINCE [advancing a few steps]: From Fehrbellin, my Lord, and bring you these trophies of victory.
[He lays the flags down in front of the Elector. The officers, corporals, and cavalrymen follow suit, each with their own flags.]
ELECTOR [taken aback]: I heard you were wounded . . . dangerously so, isn’t that true? Count Truchss!
PRINCE [cheerfully]: I beg your pardon?
TRUCHUSS: By heaven, I’m amazed.
PRINCE: My horse fell at the beginning of the battle but this hand here, which the field surgeon bound, does not deserve to be called wounded.
ELECTOR: So, you led the cavalry then?
PRINCE [looking at him]: I? Of course! Do you have to hear this from me? I’ve just placed the proof at your feet.
ELECTOR: Take his sword. He is under arrest.
FIELD MARSHAL [shocked]: Whose sword?
ELECTOR [stepping among the flags]: Greetings, Kottwitz!
TRUCHSS [to himself]: Damn it!
KOTTWITZ: By God, I am utterly . . .
ELECTOR [looking at him]: What did you say? See how this harvest has increased our fame and glory. This flag here belongs to the Swedish body guard, does it not? [He picks up a flag, unfurls it, and contemplates it.]
KOTTWITZ: Your Majesty?
FIELD MARSHAL: My Lord?
ELECTOR: Yes, indeed! and from King Gustave Adolf’s time. What does the inscription say?
KOTTWITZ: I believe . . .
FIELD MARSHAL: Per aspera ad astra.
ELECTOR: These words did not prove true at Fehrbellin.
[Pause.]
KOTTWITZ [shyly]: Your Majesty, grant me a word.
ELECTOR: What is it? Take everything . . . the flags, drums, and standards and hang them on the columns of the church. I plan to use them tomorrow for the victory celebration.
[The Elector turns to the couriers, takes their dispatches, breaks open the seals, and reads them.]
KOTTWITZ [to himself]: By the living God, he’s pushing this a little too far.
[Kottwitz, after some hesitation, picks up his two flags; the other officers and troops follow suit. At last, since the Prince’s three flags remain on the floor, Kottwitz picks them up as well so that he now carries five.]
OFFICER [stepping before the Prince]: Prince, your sword, please.
HOHENZOLLERN [with his flag, stepping to the Prince’s side]: Stay calm, my friend!
PRINCE: Am I dreaming? Am I awake? Do I live? Am I in my right mind?
GOLTZ: Prince, I advise you to hand over your sword and say nothing.
PRINCE: I, a prisoner?
HOHENZOLLERN: Yes, you are.
GOLTZ: You heard him.
PRINCE: May one know why?
HOHENZOLLERN [with emphasis]: Not now. As we told you from the start, you plunged into battle prematurely. The order was not to move from the spot until commanded.
PRINCE: Help me, my friends, help! I’m going mad.
GOLTZ [interrupting]: Be quiet, don’t say a word!
PRINCE: Have our troops been beaten, then?
HOHENZOLLERN [stamping his foot]: That’s beside the point. The law must be obeyed.
PRINCE [bitterly]: So! That’s it. So, so!
HOHENZOLLERN [leaving him]: It won’t cost you your life.
GOLTZ [likewise]: Perhaps you’ll have your freedom by tomorrow.
[The Elector folds the letters together and returns to the circle of officers.]
PRINCE [after unbuckling his sword]: My cousin Friedrich wants to play the role of Brutus and already sees himself seated on the Roman throne as in a painting: the Swedish flags are in the foreground and on the table the Brandenburg articles of war. By God, he shall not find in me the son who will admire him from underneath the executioner’s ax. I have a German heart of the old-fashioned kind which is used to generosity and love. If he can now approach me only like a rigid figure from antiquity, I am sorry for him and he has earned my pity. [He gives h
is sword to the officer and leaves.]
ELECTOR: Bring him to headquarters at Fehrbellin, and there convene the court-martial that will judge him.
[The Elector goes into the church followed by officers with their flags. The flags are then placed on columns while the Elector, together with his retinue, kneels in prayer at the side of Froben’s coffin. Funeral music is heard.]
CURTAIN
Act III
SCENE 1
Scene: Fehrbellin. A prison.
[The Prince of Homburg. In the rear, two cavalrymen stand guard. Count Hohenzollern enters.]
PRINCE: Ah, it’s you, Heinrich. I’m glad to see you, my friend. Well, have I been released at last?
HOHENZOLLERN [astonished]: Oh, for heaven’s sake!
PRINCE: What did you say?
HOHENZOLLERN: Released? Has he returned your sword to you?
PRINCE: To me? No!
HOHENZOLLERN: He hasn’t?
PRINCE: No!
HOHENZOLLERN: Then what makes you think you’re free?
PRINCE [after a pause]: I thought that you . . . that you were bringing me my freedom. Well, it doesn’t matter!
HOHENZOLLERN: I have no news.
PRINCE: It doesn’t matter, don’t you hear? It doesn’t matter! He’ll send someone else to tell me. [He turns around and brings some chairs.] Have a seat! Come, now, tell me what’s new. Has the Elector returned from Berlin?
HOHENZOLLERN [distracted]: Yes, yesterday evening.
PRINCE: Did the victory celebration take place there as planned? But, of course, it did! Was the Elector present in the church?
HOHENZOLLERN: Yes, with the Electress and Natalia. The church was illuminated with appropriate dignity and throughout the service of thanksgiving one could hear the cannon from the castle square resound in solemn splendor. The Swedish flags and standards fluttered like trophies on all the church’s pillars. And, at the Elector’s express command, your name was mentioned from the pulpit as the victorious hero of the battle.
Prince Friedrich of Homburg Page 5