NATHAN
I beg your pardon, all my subjects are very tame.
KING
But you must live confoundedly far away. I can't get a clear idea of it yet.
NATHAN
The geography of my country is still not exactly fixed; I expect to discover more every day; and then it may easily come about that we shall even become neighbors in the end.
KING
That will be splendid! And if, after all, a few countries still stand in our way, I will help you in your discoveries. My neighbor is not a good friend of mine, so to speak, and he has a fine country; all the raisins come from there; why, I should be only too glad to have it! But another thing; do tell me, how, living so far away, can you speak our language so fluently!
NATHAN
Hush!
KING
What?
NATHAN
Hush! hush!
KING
I do not understand.
NATHANIEL, (softly to him).
Do be quiet about it, pray, for otherwise the audience down there will surely notice that it is really very unnatural.
KING
It doesn't matter. They clapped before and so I can afford to take a chance.
NATHAN
You see, it is only for the sake of the drama that I speak your language; for otherwise, of course, the matter is incomprehensible.
KING
Ah, so! Well, come, Prince, the table is set!
[The PRINCE escorts the princess out, the KING precedes.]
FISCHER
Cursed improbabilities there are in this play!
SCHLOSS
And the king doesn't remain at all true to his character.
LEUTNER
Why, nothing but the natural should ever be presented on the stage! The prince should speak an altogether unknown language and have an interpreter with him; the princess should make grammatical errors, since she herself admits that she writes incorrectly.
MÜLLER
Of course! Of course! The whole thing is unquestionable nonsense; the author himself is always forgetting what he has said the moment before.
The scene is laid in front of a tavern.
LORENZ, KUNZ, MICHEL are sitting on a bench. The HOST
LORENZ
I shall have to be going again soon! I still have a long way home.
HOST
You are a subject of the king, aren't you?
LORENZ
Yes, indeed; what do you call your good ruler?
HOST
He is just called Bugbear.
LORENZ
That is a foolish title. Why, has he no other name?
HOST
When he has edicts issued, they always read: For the good of the public, the Law demands—hence I believe that is his real name. All petitions, too, are always laid before the Law. He is a fearful man.
LORENZ
Still, I should rather be under a king; why, a king is more dignified. They say the Bugbear is a very ungracious master.
HOST