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The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 04
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GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING.
The highest lady in the land, no less.
Her coach broke down outside the village gates,
And since we hear the victory is won
There'll be no need for farther journeying.
BOTH (rising).
The victory won? Heaven!
GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. What! You haven't heard?
The Swedish army's beaten hip and thigh;
If not forever, for the year at least
The Mark need fear no more their fire and sword!—
Here comes the mother of our people now.
SCENE IV
The ELECTRESS, pale and distressed, enters with the PRINCESS NATALIE, followed by various ladies-in-waiting. The others as before.
ELECTRESS (on the threshold).
Bork! Winterfeld! Come! Let me have your arm.
NATALIE (going to her).
Oh, mother mine!
LADIES-IN-WAITING. Heavens, how pale! She is faint.
[They support her.]
ELECTRESS. Here, lead me to a chair, I must sit down.
Dead, said he—dead?
NATALIE. Mother, my precious mother!
ELECTRESS. I'll see this bearer of dread news myself.
SCENE V
CAPTAIN VON MÖRNER enters, wounded, supported by two troopers. The others.
ELECTRESS. Oh, herald of dismay, what do you bring?
MÖRNER. Oh, precious Madam, what these eyes of mine
To their eternal grief themselves have seen!
ELECTRESS. So be it! Tell!
MÖRNER. The Elector is no more.
NATALIE. Oh, heaven
Shall such a hideous blow descend on us?
[She hides her face in her hands.]
ELECTRESS. Give me report of how he came to fall—
And, as the bolt that strikes the wanderer,
In one last flash lights scarlet-bright the world,
So be your tale. When you are done, may night
Close down upon my head.
MÖRNER (approaching her, led by the two troopers).
The Prince of Homburg,
Soon as the enemy, hard pressed by Truchsz,
Reeling broke cover, had brought up his troops
To the attack of Wrangel on the plain;
Two lines he'd pierced and, as they broke, destroyed,
When a strong earthwork hemmed his way; and thence
So murderous a fire on him beat
That, like a field of grain, his cavalry,
Mowed to the earth, went down; twixt bush and hill
He needs must halt to mass his scattered corps.
NATALIE (to the ELECTRESS).
Dearest, be strong!
ELECTRESS. Stop, dear. Leave me alone.
MÖRNER. That moment, watching, clear above the dust,
We see our liege beneath the battle-flags
Of Truchsz's regiments ride on the foe.
On his white horse, oh, gloriously he rode,
Sunlit, and lighting the triumphant plain.
Heart-sick with trepidation at the sight
Of him, our liege, bold in the battle's midst,
We gather on a hillock's beetling brow;
When of a sudden the Elector falls,
Horseman and horse, in dust before our eyes.
Two standard-bearers fell across his breast
And overspread his body with their flags.
NATALIE. Oh, mother mine!
FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING. Oh, heaven!
ELECTRESS. Go on, go on!
MÖRNER. At this disastrous spectacle, a pang
Unfathomable seized the Prince's heart;
Like a wild beast, spurred on of hate and vengeance,
Forward he lunged with us at the redoubt.
The highest lady in the land, no less.
Her coach broke down outside the village gates,
And since we hear the victory is won
There'll be no need for farther journeying.
BOTH (rising).
The victory won? Heaven!
GENTLEMAN-IN-WAITING. What! You haven't heard?
The Swedish army's beaten hip and thigh;
If not forever, for the year at least
The Mark need fear no more their fire and sword!—
Here comes the mother of our people now.
SCENE IV
The ELECTRESS, pale and distressed, enters with the PRINCESS NATALIE, followed by various ladies-in-waiting. The others as before.
ELECTRESS (on the threshold).
Bork! Winterfeld! Come! Let me have your arm.
NATALIE (going to her).
Oh, mother mine!
LADIES-IN-WAITING. Heavens, how pale! She is faint.
[They support her.]
ELECTRESS. Here, lead me to a chair, I must sit down.
Dead, said he—dead?
NATALIE. Mother, my precious mother!
ELECTRESS. I'll see this bearer of dread news myself.
SCENE V
CAPTAIN VON MÖRNER enters, wounded, supported by two troopers. The others.
ELECTRESS. Oh, herald of dismay, what do you bring?
MÖRNER. Oh, precious Madam, what these eyes of mine
To their eternal grief themselves have seen!
ELECTRESS. So be it! Tell!
MÖRNER. The Elector is no more.
NATALIE. Oh, heaven
Shall such a hideous blow descend on us?
[She hides her face in her hands.]
ELECTRESS. Give me report of how he came to fall—
And, as the bolt that strikes the wanderer,
In one last flash lights scarlet-bright the world,
So be your tale. When you are done, may night
Close down upon my head.
MÖRNER (approaching her, led by the two troopers).
The Prince of Homburg,
Soon as the enemy, hard pressed by Truchsz,
Reeling broke cover, had brought up his troops
To the attack of Wrangel on the plain;
Two lines he'd pierced and, as they broke, destroyed,
When a strong earthwork hemmed his way; and thence
So murderous a fire on him beat
That, like a field of grain, his cavalry,
Mowed to the earth, went down; twixt bush and hill
He needs must halt to mass his scattered corps.
NATALIE (to the ELECTRESS).
Dearest, be strong!
ELECTRESS. Stop, dear. Leave me alone.
MÖRNER. That moment, watching, clear above the dust,
We see our liege beneath the battle-flags
Of Truchsz's regiments ride on the foe.
On his white horse, oh, gloriously he rode,
Sunlit, and lighting the triumphant plain.
Heart-sick with trepidation at the sight
Of him, our liege, bold in the battle's midst,
We gather on a hillock's beetling brow;
When of a sudden the Elector falls,
Horseman and horse, in dust before our eyes.
Two standard-bearers fell across his breast
And overspread his body with their flags.
NATALIE. Oh, mother mine!
FIRST LADY-IN-WAITING. Oh, heaven!
ELECTRESS. Go on, go on!
MÖRNER. At this disastrous spectacle, a pang
Unfathomable seized the Prince's heart;
Like a wild beast, spurred on of hate and vengeance,
Forward he lunged with us at the redoubt.
