Chapter 26

_The_ PRINCE OF HOMBURG _enters. The others as before._

THE PRINCE (_throwing himself at the feet of the_ ELECTRESS). Oh, mother!

ELECTRESS. Prince! What are you doing here?

THE PRINCE. Oh, let me clasp your knees, oh, mother mine!

ELECTRESS (_with suppressed emotion_). You are a prisoner, Prince, and you come hither? Why will you heap new guilt upon the old?

THE PRINCE (_urgently_). Oh, do you know what they have done?

ELECTRESS. Yes, all. But what can I do, helpless I, for you?

THE PRINCE. You would not speak thus, mother mine, if death Had ever terribly encompassed you As it doth me. With potencies of heaven, You and my lady, these who serve you, all The world that rings me round, seem blest to save. The very stable-boy, the meanest, least, That tends your horses, pleading I could hang About his neck, crying: Oh, save me, thou! I, only I, alone on God's wide earth Am helpless, desolate, and impotent.

ELECTRESS. You are beside yourself! What has occurred?

THE PRINCE. Oh, on the way that led me to your side, I saw in torchlight where they dug the grave That on the morrow shall receive my bones! Look, Aunt, these eyes that gaze upon you now, These eyes they would eclipse with night, this breast Pierce and transpierce with murderous musketry. The windows on the Market that shall close Upon the weary show are all reserved; And one who, standing on life's pinnacle, Today beholds the future like a realm Of faery spread afar, tomorrow lies Stinking within the compass of two boards, And over him a stone recounts: _He was_.

[_The_ PRINCESS, _who until now has stood in the background supporting herself on the shoulder of one of the ladies-in-waiting, sinks into a chair, deeply moved at his words, and begins to weep._]

ELECTRESS. My son, if such should be the will of heaven, You will go forth with courage and calm soul.

THE PRINCE. God's world, O mother, is so beautiful! Oh, let me not, before my hour strike, Descend, I plead, to those black shadow-forms! Why, why can it be nothing but the bullet? Let him depose me from my offices, With rank cashierment, if the law demands, Dismiss me from the army. God of heaven! Since I beheld my grave, life, life, I want, And do not ask if it be kept with honor.

ELECTRESS. Arise, my son, arise! What were those words? You are too deeply moved. Control yourself!

THE PRINCE. Oh, Aunt, not ere you promise on your soul, With a prostration that shall save my life Pleading to go before the sovereign presence. Hedwig, your childhood friend, gave me to you, Dying at Homburg, saying as she died: Be you his mother when I am no more. Moved to the depths, kneeling beside her bed, Over her spent hand bending, you replied: Yea, he shall be to me as mine own child. Now, I remind you of the vow you made! Go to him, go, as though I were your child, Crying, I plead for mercy! Set him free! Oh, and return to me, and say: 'Tis so!

ELECTRESS (_weeping_). Belovèd son! All has been done, erewhile. But all my supplications were in vain.

THE PRINCE. I give up every claim to happiness. And tell him this, forget it not, that I Desire Natalie no more, for her All tenderness within my heart is quenched. Free as the doe upon the meads is she, Her hand and lips, as though I'd never been, Freely let her bestow, and if it be The Swede Karl Gustaf, I commend her choice. I will go seek my lands upon the Rhine. There will I build and raze again to earth With sweating brow, and sow and gather in, As though for wife and babe, enjoy alone; And when the harvest's gathered, sow again, And round and round the treadmill chase my days Until at evening they sink down, and die.

ELECTRESS. Enough! Now take your way home to your prison-- That is the first demand my favor makes.

THE PRINCE (_rises and turns toward the_ PRINCESS). Poor little girl, you weep! The sun today Lights all your expectations to their grave! Your heart decided from the first on me; Indeed, your look declares, that, true as gold, You ne'er shall dedicate your heart anew. Oh, what can I, poor devil, say to comfort? Go to the Maiden's Chapter on the Main, I counsel you, go to your cousin Thurn. Seek in the hills a boy, light-curled as I, Buy him with gold and silver, to your breast Press him, and teach his lips to falter: Mother. And when he grows to manhood, show him well How men draw shut the eyelids of the dead. That is the only joy that lies your way!

NATALIE (_bravely and impressively, as she rises and lays her hand in his_). Return, young hero, to your prison walls, And, on your passage, imperturbably Regard once more the grave they dug for you. It is not gloomier, nor more wide at all Than those the battle showed a thousand times. Meanwhile, since I am true to you till death, A saving word I'll chance, unto my kin. It may avail, perhaps, to move his heart And disenthrall you from all misery.

[_Pause._]

THE PRINCE (_folding his hands, as he stands lost in contemplation of her_). An you had pinions on your shoulders, maid, Truly I should be sure you were an angel! Dear God, did I hear right? You speak for me? Where has the quiver of your speech till now Lain hid, dear child, that you should dare approach The sovereign in matters such as this? Oh, light of hope, reviving me once more!

NATALIE. The darts that find the marrow God will hand me! But if the Elector cannot move the law's Outspoken word, cannot--so be it! Then Bravely to him the brave man will submit. And he, the conqueror a thousand times, Living, will know to conquer too in death!

ELECTRESS. Make haste! The favorable hour flies by!

THE PRINCE. Now may all holy spirits guard your way! Farewell, farewell! Whate'er the outcome be, Grant me a word to tell me how you fared.

[_Exeunt omnes._]