Prince Friedrich of Homburg Page 4

  PRINCE: What are my Field Marshal’s orders? [He picks, up his notebook and pen again. The Field Marshal casts a brief questioning look at him.]

  GOLTZ [after having finished writing]: “is not to move from the place assigned to him . . .”

  FIELD MARSHAL [continuing]: . . . until the moment when, pressed by Hennings and Truchss . . .

  PRINCE [whispering to Goltz while looking at the notebook]: Who? Goltz, my dear fellow! What? I?

  GOLTZ: You, yes! Of course, who else?

  PRINCE: I’m not to move from the place assigned . . . ?

  GOLTZ: Exactly!

  FIELD MARSHAL: Well? Do you have it?

  PRINCE [aloud]: “is not to move from the place assigned to him . . .” [He writes.]

  FIELD MARSHAL: . . . until the moment when . . . [He pauses.] . . . the enemy’s left flank has been dispersed by Hennings and Truchss and forced upon its own right wing so that the entire Swedish army can only totter backward toward the plains. In accordance with the battle plan, it is there, in the ditch-riddled swamps, that the Swedes are to be annihilated.

  ELECTOR: Pages, light the way! My arm, ladies! [He leaves with the Electress and the Princess.]

  FIELD MARSHAL: At that moment, the Elector will sound a fanfare.

  ELECTRESS [to a few officers who bow to her]: Goodbye, gentlemen! Don’t let us disturb you.

  [The Field Marshal also bows.]

  ELECTOR [stopping suddenly]: Look! The Princess’s glove. Quickly, it’s lying over there!

  COURTIER: Where?

  ELECTOR: At the feet of our cousin, the Prince of Homburg!

  PRINCE [gallantly]: At my feet? What? Is that your glove? [He picks it up and brings it to the Princess.]

  NATALIA: I thank you, noble Prince.

  PRINCE [confused]: Is that your glove?

  NATALIA: Yes, it’s mine, the one I lost. [She takes it and puts it on.]

  ELECTRESS [to the Prince as she leaves]: Farewell, farewell! Good luck and God be with you! See to it that we’ll be reunited soon.

  [The Elector leaves with the two ladies, followed by ladies-in-waiting, courtiers, and pages.]

  PRINCE [He stands still for a moment as if struck by lightning, then strides back triumphantly and returns to the circle of officers.]: “At that moment, the Elector will sound a fanfare.” [He pretends to write.]

  FIELD MARSHAL [looking at his orders]: At that moment, the Elector will sound a fanfare. However, in order to prevent a premature attack upon the enemy through some misunderstanding . . .

  GOLTZ [writing]: “a premature attack upon the enemy through some misunderstanding . . .”

  PRINCE [In a state of great agitation, he whispers to Hohenzollern.]: Oh, Heinrich!

  HOHENZOLLERN [annoyed]: Well, what is it? What do you want now?

  PRINCE: What? Did you see nothing?

  HOHENZOLLERN: No, nothing! Be still, damn it all!

  FIELD MARSHAL [continuing]: His Majesty, the Elector, will send an officer from his suite to bring you an express order to attack. Now note this carefully, the fanfare will not be sounded before the messenger has arrived.

  [The Prince stands daydreaming.]

  FIELD MARSHAL: Have you written that down?

  GOLTZ [writing]: “The fanfare will not be sounded before the messenger has arrived.”

  FIELD MARSHAL [raising his voice]: Your Highness, have you written that down?

  PRINCE: Excuse me, Field Marshal?

  FIELD MARSHAL: Have you written that down?

  PRINCE: About the fanfare?

  HOHENZOLLERN [whispering in annoyance and with emphasis]: Fanfare be damned! Not until the messenger . . .

  GOLTZ: Not until he . . .

  PRINCE [interrupting them]: Yes, of course! Not until . . . but then he’ll let the fanfare sound. [He writes. Pause.]

  FIELD MARSHAL: Baron Goltz, please write this down. I would like to speak to Colonel Kottwitz personally before the beginning of the battle, if it is at all possible.

  GOLTZ [comprehending the Field Marshal’s meaning]: I will see to it, rest assured.

  [Pause.]

  ELECTOR [returning]: Well, my generals and officers. The dawn is breaking. Have you finished taking notes?

  FIELD MARSHAL: We have finished, Your Majesty. Your battle plan has been conveyed to all your officers point for point.

  ELECTOR [taking his hat and gloves]: Prince of Homburg, to you I must urge calmness and composure. In the recent past, as you well know, you have already cost me two battles along the banks of the Rhine. So keep yourself in check and see to it that you don’t cause me to lose a third one today. For nothing less than my throne and realm depend on this battle’s outcome. [To the officers] Follow me! Hey, Franz!

  GROOM [entering]: Here!

  ELECTOR: Quickly, bring my horse! I want to be on the battlefield before the sun is up.

  [The Elector leaves, followed by generals, colonels, and other officers.]

  SCENE 6

  PRINCE [stepping into the foreground]: Now, roll on, oh mighty wheel of fortune! As a breath of wind billows out the sails of ships, oh goddess, lift back your veils for me! Smiling, you have already touched me once today and, passing by, threw me a pledge of favor from your horn of plenty. I will look for you today, oh fickle daughter of the gods, and I will catch you on the field of battle. There I will turn your cornucopia upside down and spread its blessings at my feet. And even if you should be bound with seven iron chains to the Swedish chariots of victory, I shall possess you! [He leaves.]

  CURTAIN

  Act II

  SCENE 1

  Scene: The battlefield near Fehrbellin.

  [Colonel Kottwitz, Count Hohenzollern, Cavalry Captain von der Goltz, and other officers arrive at the head of the cavalry.]

  KOTTWITZ [from off stage]: Halt the cavalry here and dismount!

  HOHENZOLLERN AND GOLTZ [entering]: Halt! Halt!

  KOTTWITZ [from off stage]: Which of my friends will help me to dismount?

  HOHENZOLLERN AND GOLTZ: I will, old comrade, I will. [They leave the stage again.]

  KOTTWITZ [from off stage]: Thank you! Uff! A plague on these old bones. I hope that some day when you are falling apart you’ll have a noble son to help you as you’ve helped me. [He enters followed by Hohenzollern, Goltz, and others.] Ah, yes! Seated on my horse I feel full of youthful vigor. But when I get off, a raging battle starts inside me as if my body and soul were wrenching themselves apart. [He looks around.] Where is our commander, His Highness, the Prince of Homburg?

  HOHENZOLLERN: The Prince will be with you shortly.

  KOTTWITZ: Where is he?

  HOHENZOLLERN: He rode into the village that lay hidden behind the bushes to the side of the road. He’ll be back right away.

  OFFICER: I hear he took a tumble from his horse last night.

  HOHENZOLLERN: Yes, I believe that’s true.

  KOTTWITZ: He fell?

  HOHENZOLLERN: It was nothing serious. His horse shied at a windmill, but the Prince slid gently off to the side and didn’t injure himself in the least. It’s not worth a second thought.

  KOTTWITZ [going up a small hill]: It is a truly beautiful day, by heaven! A day created by God, the great Ruler of the Universe, for gentler things than war. As the sun glimmers red behind the clouds, one’s feelings soar joyously upward, like the lark, into the calm and fragrant skies.

  GOLTZ: Have you met up with Marshal Dörfling yet?

  KOTTWITZ [stepping forward]: Damn it, no! What does His Excellency expect? Am I an arrow, a bird, a thought that he can shoot me across the whole battlefield? First I was with the advance guard on the heights of Hackelberg, and then I rode back to bring up the rear as we marched through the Hackel Valley. But the one person I could not find was the Field Marshal himself! So I looked for my own troops and rejoined them.

  GOLTZ: He will be very sorry to have missed you. Apparently he had something important to confide in you.

  OFFICER: Here comes His Highness, the Prince,
our commander.

  SCENE 2

  [Enter the Prince of Homburg with his left hand bandaged in a black cloth.]

  KOTTWITZ: Greetings, my young and noble Prince. Take a look and see how I have deployed the cavalry along the valley road while you were in the village. I think you’ll be satisfied with me.

  PRINCE: Good morning, Kottwitz. Good morning, friends. You know I always approve of everything you do.

  HOHENZOLLERN: Arthur, what have you been doing in the village? You look so serious.

  PRINCE: I? . . . I was in the chapel which I saw glittering in the sunlight, half hidden behind the village hedges. As we were passing by, the bells were ringing for morning prayers, and I was seized by an urge to throw myself upon my knees before the altar.

  KOTTWITZ: A pious young man, I must say! Believe me, a task that begins with prayers will be crowned with blessings, fame, and victory.

  PRINCE: I wanted to ask you something, Heinrich . . . [He walks forward a few steps with Count Hohenzollern.] What was it again that Dörfling read out at last night’s general staff meeting about my orders for today?

  HOHENZOLLERN: You were distracted. I certainly noticed that.

  PRINCE: Distracted . . . divided, I don’t know what was wrong with me. I get confused when I have to take dictation.

  HOHENZOLLERN: Fortunately, there wasn’t much for you to note. Truchss and Hennings who are in command of the foot soldiers have been assigned to attack the enemy. You have been ordered to remain here in the valley, holding the cavalry in readiness until you’ve been sent an order to attack.

  PRINCE [after a pause, in which he appears to have fallen into a daydream]: A strange occurrence!

  HOHENZOLLERN: What is, my friend? [He looks at him. A cannon shot is heard.]

  KOTTWITZ: Hurray, my Lords, hurray! Mount your horses! That was Hennings, and the battle has begun.

  [They all climb a hill.]

  PRINCE: Who is it? What?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Colonel Hennings, Arthur, who has crept in behind Wrangel’s rear guard. Just come along, you can watch everything from the hilltop.

  GOLTZ [standing on the hill]: See how formidable our troops look spread out along the Rhyn.

  PRINCE [shading his eyes with his hand]: Is that Hennings over there near our right wing?

  FIRST OFFICER: Yes, Your Excellency!

  PRINCE: What does this mean, damn it! His position yesterday was to the left.

  [Cannon shot is heard in the distance.]

  KOTTWITZ: Damn it all! Wrangel’s now directed all twelve of his cannon at Hennings’ soldiers.

  FIRST OFFICER: The Swedes are well entrenched, I must say!

  SECOND OFFICER: By God, their fortifications rise nearly as high as the spire of the village church behind them.

  [Shots are heard nearby.]

  GOLTZ: That is Truchss.

  PRINCE: Truchss?

  KOTTWITZ: Yes, Truchss. He’s coming to Hennings’ aid from the front.

  PRINCE: How come Truchss has ended up in the center today?

  [Violent cannon shots]

  GOLTZ: Good God, look! I think the town has caught on fire!

  THIRD OFFICER: It is burning!

  FIRST OFFICER: It’s burning! It’s burning! The flames have already reached the tower.

  GOLTZ: My God, the Swedish couriers are flying right and left!

  SECOND OFFICER: The troops are retreating.

  KOTTWITZ: Where?

  FIRST OFFICER: On the right flank.

  THIRD OFFICER: Yes, their columns are moving. Three regiments of men! It looks like they want to strengthen the left flank.

  SECOND OFFICER: So it seems. And the cavalry is advancing to cover the new deployment of the right wing.

  HOHENZOLLERN [laughing]: Ha! How they will go running from the field again when they catch sight of us lying hidden here in the valley!

  [Musket fire]

  KOTTWITZ: Look, comrades, look!

  SECOND OFFICER: And listen!

  FIRST OFFICER: It’s musket fire!

  THIRD OFFICER: Our troops have met the enemy at the trenches!

  GOLTZ: By God. I’ve never in all my life heard such cannon thunder.

  HOHENZOLLERN: Shoot! Shoot! Make the womb of the earth split open and may the scar serve as a monument to your dead!

  [Pause. A cry of victory is heard in the distance.]

  FIRST OFFICER: Thanks be to God who’s granted us this victory! Wrangel is already retreating.

  HOHENZOLLERN: No, it cannot be!

  GOLTZ: Yes, my friends, he’s leaving! Look at the left flank. He’s taking the cannon and abandoning the fortifications.

  ALL: Triumph! Triumph! Triumph! The victory is ours!

  PRINCE [coming down the hill]: Come, Kottwitz, follow me!

  KOTTWITZ: Be calm, my children, be calm!

  PRINCE: Let’s go! Sound the fanfare! Follow me!

  KOTTWITZ: Be calm, I tell you!

  PRINCE [wildly]: Heaven, earth, and hell!

  KOTTWITZ: At the general staff meeting yesterday, His Highness gave us orders not to move until commanded. Goltz, read this gentleman the orders.

  PRINCE: Wait until commanded? Oh, Kottwitz, are you such a slow rider then? Haven’t you ever received orders from your heart?

  KOTTWITZ: Orders?

  HOHENZOLLERN: I beg you, gentlemen!

  KOTTWITZ: From my heart?

  HOHENZOLLERN: Listen to reason, Arthur!

  GOLTZ: Listen, my Colonel.

  KOTTWITZ [offended]: Oho! So that’s the way I strike you, my young master! Well, should it come to it, I could drag your horse behind me by the tail. On the march, gentlemen! Trumpeters, sound the fanfare! On to battle! To battle! Kottwitz is here!

  GOLTZ [to Kottwitz]: No, absolutely not, my Colonel. Absolutely not!

  SECOND OFFICER: Hennings has not yet reached the Rhyn.

  FIRST OFFICER: Take his sword.

  PRINCE: My sword? [He shoves him back.] You impertinent boy! Don’t you even know the ten commandments of the Brandenburg army yet? It’s your sword I’ll take, together with its sheath! [He tears the sword from the officer’s side along with its belt.]

  FIRST OFFICER [reeling]: My Prince, your action, by God . . . !

  PRINCE [striding toward him]: You dare to open your mouth?

  HOHENZOLLERN [to the officer]: Be quiet! Are you crazy?

  PRINCE [giving the sword to another officer]: Orderlies! Take this man away to prison at our headquarters! [To Kottwitz and the other officers] And now, gentlemen, here are your new orders! A soldier who does not follow his general into battle is a cowardly scoundrel! Well . . . and which of you are staying behind?

  KOTTWITZ: You heard my answer. Why are you getting so upset?

  HOHENZOLLERN [soothingly to the Prince]: They were only giving you advice.

  KOTTWITZ: I’ll follow you, but be it on your own head!

  PRINCE [calmed]: Let it be upon my head. Follow me, my brothers!

  [They all leave.]

  SCENE 3

  Scene: Room in a village house.

  [A courtier in boots and spurs enters. A peasant and his wife are seated at a table, working.]

  COURTIER: Greetings, good people! Do you have room in your house for a few guests?

  PEASANT: Of course, gladly.

  PEASANT’S WIFE: May one know for whom?

  COURTIER: For the first lady of the land, no less. The axle of her coach broke at the village gate, and since we’ve learned that the battle is already over, we no longer need to continue on our way.

  BOTH [standing up]: The battle is over?

  COURTIER: You didn’t know that? The Swedish army has been defeated and Brandenburg is safe from sword and fire . . . if not forever, then at least for one year’s time. But look! Here comes Her Majesty herself.

  SCENE 4

  [The Electress, pale and distraught; Princess Natalia and several ladies follow. The others.]

  ELECTRESS [standing on the threshold]: Bork! Winterfeld! Come,
give me your arm!

  NATALIA [hurrying toward her]: My dearest mother!

  LADIES-IN-WAITING: God! She’s turning white. She’s fainting! [They support her.]

  ELECTRESS: Find me a chair, I must sit down. Dead, did he say, dead?

  NATALIA: My dearest mother!

  ELECTRESS: I want to speak with the messenger of doom myself!

  SCENE 5

  [Cavalry Captain von Mörner, who is wounded, enters on the arm of two cavalrymen. The above.]

  ELECTRESS: What news do you bring me, dreadful messenger?

  MÖRNER: Unfortunately, only what my eyes themselves have seen, dear Lady, to my eternal grief.

  ELECTRESS: Let me hear it all.

  MÖRNER: The Elector is no more.

  NATALIA: Oh, God! Must such a terrible blow strike us now? [She covers her face.]

  ELECTRESS: I want to know exactly how he fell. So let your report be like a flash of lightning that illuminates the world in one last purple glow as it strikes the wanderer in his path. And after you have spoken, may night come crashing down upon my head.

  MÖRNER [Accompanied by the two cavalrymen, he steps in front of her.]: The Prince of Homburg had advanced against Wrangel on the plains as soon as the Swedish position began to weaken under attack by Truchss. He had just managed to break through two enemy lines with his cavalry and destroy the troops in flight when he stumbled upon Swedish field artillery. He was pounded by such a murderous rain of shells that his men went down like wheat beneath a storm, and he had to halt between some hills and bushes to reassemble his scattered forces.

  NATALIA [to the Electress]: Oh, my dearest! Take courage!

  ELECTRESS: Let me be, my dear!

  MÖRNER: Just then we saw our Sovereign emerging from a cloud of dust and ride toward the enemy, surrounded by Colonel Truchss’s battle standards. Radiantly, he sat there on his horse bathed in the sun’s brilliant rays as if lighting up our path to victory. Regrouping ourselves on a hilltop, we were most distraught to see him in the middle of the bombardment. And then, before our very eyes, His Majesty, both horse and rider, collapsed and fell to the ground. Two standard bearers threw themselves over him and covered him with their flags.