<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">Siegesallee Fantasia</h1><span class="stage" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">The Avenue of Hohenzollerns near Berlin. Enter, in full fig, his scabbard dragging at his heels, the KAISER, talking to himself:</span><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"></p><p class="line">I'LD like to pack these ancestors of mine</p><p class="line">To Königsberg or somewhere over-Rhine</p><p class="line">Where they could not keep watch upon me! How,</p><p class="line">With them about me, can I face the now</p><p class="line">Obvious fact I need not specify?</p><p class="line">Old William with his grandpaternal look</p><p class="line">Seems always to be calling me to book:--</p><p class="line">Bismarck made fun of him: why cannot I?</p><p class="line">And these huge Fredericks in a double row,</p><p class="line">Electors, kings and what-nots: I could go</p><p class="line">Crazy, seeing them stand, week after week</p><p class="line">Glaring at me ! I've got a mind to tweak</p><p class="line">That Frederick-William's beard, and make him speak,</p><p class="line">Pompous old marble idiot! If they'ld only</p><p class="line">Say what they mean, I shouldn't feel so lonely</p><p class="line">Among them.--But nobody ever said</p><p class="line"><em>That</em> to me.--Well, he would have lost his head</p><p class="line">For his fool's trouble!--But suppose, suppose</p><p class="line">Someone had spoken truth to me! Who knows--?</p><p class="line">I <em>might</em> have listened. One in whose aspect</p><p class="line">My Prussian-eagle eye could not detect</p><p class="line">Any self-interest or any fear.</p><p class="line">For once I should have relished not to hear</p><p class="line">My All-highness spoken of. If, let us say</p><p class="line">Some Roosévelt, fresh from America</p><p class="line">Had flouted all my favourites, confronted</p><p class="line">Flattery with stark fact: relentless, hunted</p><p class="line">Down the deception that we practise, under</p><p class="line">My very eyes; with lightning to my thunder</p><p class="line">Had answered like a good Republican:</p><p class="line">Had made me wrestle with him, man to man,</p><p class="line">Bound only by the hard rules of the Ring--</p><p class="line">And he the better man because no king.</p><p class="line">Would I have taken a drubbing from him? Well</p><p class="line">That is a thing I'll argue out in Hell</p><p class="line">When we make nights of it around the blaze</p><p class="line">To keep away the memory of these days.</p><p class="line">I've had twenty-eight years of Kaisering</p><p class="line">And, good God, it's enough! But how to fling</p><p class="line">The bauble from me with these looking on!</p><p class="line">My spirit might be an automaton</p><p class="line">For all they care, and not like Alexander's</p><p class="line">Hungry for worlds to conquer, that I can't,</p><p class="line">Since first I made a mess of it in Flanders.</p><p class="line">The thing is plain. Since other worlds I want</p><p class="line">I'll have to look for them where I can find them.</p><p class="line">The screens of death are solid. But behind them</p><p class="line">here must be what I am in search of--</p><p class="line">Change,</p><p class="line">And room for my ambition's farthest range!.</p><span class="stage">(<em>He glances impatiently at his wrist watch</em>)</span><p class="line">Now Where's Our Old Ally? The fellow's late,</p><p class="line">Confound him! But here comes old honest pate.</p><span class="stage" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><em>Enter old</em><span class="smallcaps">Michael</span>,<em> a gardener with harrow and besom. He is dressed in a tasseled cap, leather jacket, and knee-breeches. Seeing the Kaiser, he salutes with military gesture.</em></span><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kaiser</span><span class="stage">(<em>benevolent to an ancient retainer</em>).</span></p><p class="line">Good morning to you, Michael.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Michael</span><span class="stage">(shaking his head).</span></p><p class="line"> It's a sad</p><p class="line">Dark morning. Master, as we ever had.</p><p class="line">Beg pardon. It is better where you be</p><p class="line">Up yonder, but it's bad for such as we.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">I am surprised, old friend, to hear you grumble.</p><p class="line">Whatever grief may fall upon the humble</p><p class="line">Remember heavier falls on Us: We bear</p><p class="line">The burden of the Empire. None may share</p><p class="line">What We must carry.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Mich.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:35%">Hearken now, All-Highest!</p><p class="line">When you go reckoning up the chaps you've got</p><p class="line">I'm "old man Michael," ain't I? Toughest, dryest,</p><p class="line">Stubbornest, old curmudgeon of the lot?</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai. </span></p><p class="line">What's in your head this morning, out with it.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Mich.</span></p><p class="line">I've been a soldier and I've done my bit:</p><p class="line">Sergeant I was under the old king here;</p><p class="line">And "our Fritz," him, your father. It's a queer</p><p class="line">Thing that I'm telling you, but it's a true:</p><p class="line">Soldiering's done with.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:35%">Long ago, for you! . .</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Mich.</span></p><p class="line">It isn't that way you can save the folk:</p><p class="line">And it needs saving, for our hearts are broke,</p><p class="line">So that we can't so much as go to church.</p><p class="line">So, Master, if you leave us in the lurch,</p><p class="line">As you might say, we're perished.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:40%"> When did we</p><p class="line">Hohenzollerns, desert our peasantry</p><p class="line">Of the Mark? Since five full centuries ago</p><p class="line">Led by the voice that we have come to know</p><p class="line">For God's own Word within us, Frederick first</p><p class="line">Left his rich lands to redeem one accurst,</p><p class="line">Converting its mere sand into a rock</p><p class="line">Of bronze against which all the nations shock</p><p class="line">Their enviousness in vain. This miracle</p><p class="line">To God's praise we have wrought: unto His Will</p><p class="line">We've shaped the stubborn metal of this folk,</p><p class="line">Till in our hands it is a living sword:</p><p class="line">And now the Mark toils in the easy yoke</p><p class="line">Of a divinely led and loving Lord.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Mich.</span></p><p class="line">That's just where you mistake, Master. This people</p><p class="line">Is a lost people. Each young man's a cripple</p><p class="line">That's not a corpse. But there's worse still than that,</p><p class="line">For each new child they get's a devil's brat</p><p class="line">Marked for damnation. People of the Mark,</p><p class="line">Ay, of the Devil's Mark--that's us!--And hark,</p><p class="line">Master, there's nary good that we can do</p><p class="line">Ourselves, there's only one can save us . . .you.</p><p class="line">Not by the sword, but yet the sword's a sign</p><p class="line">Grasped by the blade, as often I've held mine</p><p class="line">And seen it was a Cross, and wondered when</p><p class="line">There would be found some Holy One again</p><p class="line">To hang there and redeem us with his passion.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span><span class="stage">(<em>severely</em>).</span></p><p class="line">Old man, you should not rant in heathen fashion</p><p class="line">Of what you do not understand. The price</p><p class="line">Of our salvation is not asked for twice.</p><p class="line">God paid it once for all. Each German man,</p><p class="line">Woman and child He bought out of the ban</p><p class="line">That lies upon the world because of sin.</p><p class="line">Are you a Brandenburger and begin</p><p class="line">Speaking to us of a lost people? We</p><p class="line">Hold the salvation of our Germany</p><p class="line">Secure within our care: to doubt of it</p><p class="line">Is the sure symptom of a crazy wit.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Mich.</span></p><p class="line">Ay, Master, you're our pledge, and God be praised</p><p class="line">For that! But my old wife at home she's crazed;</p><p class="line">Sits in the chimney-corner all a-dodder</p><p class="line">Muttering "Give me again my cannon-fodder"</p><p class="line">(Her twenty grandsons that she doted on)</p><p class="line">And sits and curses God. To look upon</p><p class="line">You'd say she was a saint. I gets me gone</p><p class="line">Out of my little mad-house, every day</p><p class="line">Comes here and works among my kings. It's they</p><p class="line">As comfort me. Wonderful thoughts do keep</p><p class="line">A-running through my noddle while I sweep</p><p class="line">The leaves up that are always falling down:</p><p class="line">Strange high thoughts that belong under a crown</p><p class="line">And not a <em>zipfelhaube!</em> Mark my word,</p><p class="line">Master. The whisperings I have overheard</p><p class="line">Were meant for you, but as you were not near</p><p class="line">They said "This is a good old harmless fool</p><p class="line">As never saw the insides of a school,</p><p class="line">If we can only make old Michael hear</p><p class="line">He'll take our message to the Emperor."</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">We cannot listen to you any more.</p><p class="line">Go now, get to your sweeping-------</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Mich.</span><span class="stage">(<em>sweeping</em>)</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:60%">What they said</p><p class="line">Day in, day out, rings in old Michael's head:</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"Tell him: the soldier's day is done,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Another better day's begun</p><p class="line">With a new glory in it!"</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">Go further from us there!--But, stay a minute,</p><p class="line">What's this about new glory?</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Mich.</span><span class="stage">(<em>as before</em>)</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:60%">And they said--</p><p class="line">Day in, day out, it runs in Michael's head--</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">"Tell him: there shines a glory on</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">The cross that is not on the crown,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Would he reach up and win it,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">Tell him: the world would now repent</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">And live again the life it's meant</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:%">To live, would he begin it."</p><span class="stage" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">[<span class="smallcaps">Our Old Ally</span>, <em>who has been sitting</em> perdu <em>behind the statue of the Emperor William, here makes himself seen and catches the</em> KAISER'S <em>eye, who promptly dismisses</em> Michael.]</span><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Our Old Ally</span><span class="stage">(<em>looking curiously like Dr.Dryander, advances from amid the dead Hohenzollerns</em>)</span></p><p class="line">Our scourge! Our Attila!--</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span><span class="stage">(<em>saluting</em>).</span></p><p class="line">Our Old Ally!</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">Whenever you're in trouble We are by.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">We sought You on this Path of Victory</p><p class="line">In the august company that is fitting . . .</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span><span class="stage">(<em>with an inclusive gesture</em>).</span></p><p class="line">For Us.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">Amid our sovereign Family</p><p class="line">We sought you.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">We were waiting for you, sitting</p><p class="line">Beside your grandfather the Emperor</p><p class="line">And our first William, our good simple friend.</p><p class="line">We both have many things to thank him for.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span><span class="stage">(<em>impatiently</em>)</span></p><p class="line">Yes, yes! but We have little time to spend</p><p class="line">And weightiest matters . . .</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:40%">Upon us depend</p><p class="line">Whenever care weighs heavy on your shoulders.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">Spare us your rhetoric!--</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span><span class="stage">(<em>admiringly</em>).</span></p><p class="line">You're more imperious</p><p class="line">Each time we meet. What an impatience smoulders</p><p class="line">Within those royal orbits: something serious</p><p class="line">Must have befallen. Have We somewhere hurt</p><p class="line">Your delicate majesty with zeal mistaken?</p><p class="line">To each his manners! We too, can be curt.--</p><p class="line">The pledge we made each other stands unshaken:</p><p class="line">Still We supply the Power that still you want.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">This power of yours that was so loud a vaunt</p><p class="line">We have tried and found it insufficient for</p><p class="line">The task we have begun.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:40%">You can have more,</p><p class="line">There still is plenty: it calls out for using.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">You are pleased to jest!</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">You too, become amusing!</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">What good to Us is power of the wrong kind?</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">Ah, yes, we know the tool's always the wrong one</p><p class="line">Of a Monday morning!--Presently you'll find</p><p class="line">It's still the German Sword, the trusty, strong one,</p><p class="line">That rattles so divinely!</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:40%">Even Our Sword</p><p class="line">Has failed to make this hand of ours adored.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">It seems our power is the wrong kind of power</p><p class="line">Because it is unkind! So you've turned Giaour</p><p class="line">From the True Faith!</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:40%">You mock me in your beard!</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">Indeed, no!--</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span><span class="stage">(<em>expanding</em>).</span></p><p class="line">I am sick of being feared,</p><p class="line">I am tired of all this avenue of kings:</p><p class="line">Weary of pulling all the silly strings</p><p class="line">Of this great puppet-show! O I am done</p><p class="line">With navies and with places in the sun.</p><p class="line">I have had all too much of power, too much</p><p class="line">Of Germany. I swear I loathe the touch</p><p class="line">Even of my sword, and to tell truth, I'ld die</p><p class="line">Rather than go on being your Ally</p><p class="line">Another day. I have had Michael here--</p><p class="line">Not the Archangel, my plain German</p><p class="line">Michael,--</p><p class="line">We've talked together, and it's all come clear.</p><p class="line">I have been living in another cycle</p><p class="line">Of the world--think of it!--and an off-cast one!</p><p class="line">When here's a new, beginning:--O a vast one</p><p class="line">Beyond those tales you entertained me with.</p><p class="line">Already I see my old self as a myth</p><p class="line">Of the forgotten days of Grail and Joust!</p><p class="line">Farewell! I go to greet the new!</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span><span class="stage">(<em>aside</em>)</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:60%">Faust! Faust!</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span><span class="stage">(<em>returning</em>)</span></p><p class="line">But I forgot: there are things to be arranged!</p><p class="line">In this to-morrow's world Our part is changed.</p><p class="line">We shall put by the sword and give release</p><p class="line">To our armed host, and become Prince of Peace.</p><p class="line">We feel the War-lord grows anachronistic.</p><p class="line">At bottom We have always been a mystic.</p><p class="line">We foreknew when We stood on Olivet</p><p class="line">And wept over Jerusalem, that yet</p><p class="line">We too, should suffer: We too, should redeem</p><p class="line">The erring nations from the fond false dream</p><p class="line">Wherein they dwell: in Us, also, the power</p><p class="line">Of Gospel-love should find its passion-flower:</p><p class="line">We should be lifted up and all would see</p><p class="line">Our body broken for Humanity.</p><p class="line">For this We claim your help. To you, We feel</p><p class="line">How mightily our purpose must appeal.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span><span class="stage">(<em>hesitating</em>)</span></p><p class="line">A new part for a Hohenzollern, eh!</p><p class="line">I wonder what the Family will say.</p><p class="line">And what henceforth you'll do with your right hand</p><p class="line">When no hilt's handy to it?--But command!</p><p class="line">We will fulfil your orders as of old.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">The change is good to us because it's bold.</p><p class="line">Half-measures do not catch the public eye.</p><p class="line">Once it is understood that We shall die</p><p class="line">A willing sacrifice for all men's good . . .</p><p class="line">Do you not see, <em>when it is understood</em></p><p class="line">We shall have superadded to the story</p><p class="line">Of our tremendous House another glory</p><p class="line">Such as will swallow up the rest and hold</p><p class="line">The imagination of the world for ever.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">We will so match your deed with our endeavour</p><p class="line">No one shall tell the gilding from the gold.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">No word of yours to-day but is discordant</p><p class="line">With our high mood! Your wit that once was mordant</p><p class="line">Is now a clown's. Can no occasion oust</p><p class="line">This ribald habit?</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:35%">My good worthy Faust!</p><p class="line">To-day you really seem to have grown blind,</p><p class="line">Hypnotised not to see what lies behind</p><p class="line">This cardboard Siegesallee puppet-show</p><p class="line">Wherein you play the Kaiser!--But you know</p><p class="line">Me very well--the spirit that affirms</p><p class="line">The proper half of truth, which is far better</p><p class="line">Than like a pedant, to spell every letter</p><p class="line">Where some of them, being unfamiliar terms,</p><p class="line">Inevitably raise misunderstanding!</p><p class="line">The whole of truth is like a flight of stairs</p><p class="line">That's far too slow to climb: at unawares</p><p class="line">I leap the people up, landing by landing!</p><p class="line">My better part of truth is like a lift,</p><p class="line">It gets them to the top without the trouble:</p><p class="line">Half though it be, it is worth more than double</p><p class="line">To any ruler, taken as a gift.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span><span class="stage">(<em>doubtfully</em>)</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:60%">A gift?</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">Oh, as for that, I have my wages,</p><p class="line">Though on my tongue the old-fashioned word sound odd.</p><p class="line">A Hohenzollern now for several ages</p><p class="line">I've valeted as his familiar god.</p><p class="line">(What other house can boast a deity</p><p class="line">As practical as yours, Vulcan or Venus</p><p class="line">Or Mars?) It's simply understood between us,</p><p class="line">The royal Us signifies you and me.</p><p class="line">Between us only, but for all the rest</p><p class="line">My part, as you may say, is a dead letter.</p><p class="line">Acknowledged, but as good as unexpressed.</p><p class="line">For here, as always, the half-truth's the better.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">Come now, to work! Your words are all too plenty.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">With pleasure: shall I call up four and twenty</p><p class="line">Brand-new, fully munitioned, army corps,</p><p class="line">And let old Hindenburg wind up the war?</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">No, that is not the way the war shall cease.</p><p class="line">We've had enough of playing Goth and Vandal:</p><p class="line">Now We'll be recognised as Prince of Peace.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">You really think the game is worth the candle?</p><p class="line">Your mind is set on it?</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:35%">Our mind is set</p><p class="line">On this new title that We have not yet.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">We've but to whistle Peace and she'll arrive</p><p class="line">In her tremendous car. A Juggernaut</p><p class="line">Over obsequious nations you shall drive,</p><p class="line">Vishnu's avatar!</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:30%">You mistake our thought.</p><p class="line">We will be lifted up that We may draw</p><p class="line">The eyes of all men to Ourself with awe</p><p class="line">Of this that never Hohenzollern did</p><p class="line">Before Us.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:10%">Your great deed shall not be hid!</p><p class="line">We'll have it filmed for the ages yet to be</p><p class="line">When all the universe is Germany.</p><p class="line">But now before we call her--in my ear,</p><p class="line">Whisper--what is it you have grown to fear</p><p class="line">More than the last of terrors, for I think</p><p class="line">You know the kind of cup you'll have to drink--</p><p class="line">Unless of course the whole thing is a bluff.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">We Germans fear God only..</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:60%">O enough</p><p class="line">Of that! We Germans understand each other!</p><p class="line">We're not a Bonn <em>festkommers</em>, but a brother</p><p class="line">Orator. Come now. What is this you dread</p><p class="line">So much you'd rather be a ghost instead</p><p class="line">And lodge with me for ever?</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:60%">As for you</p><p class="line">We have no terror of what you can do.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">Not if I turned old Michael's heart away.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span><span class="stage">(<em>startled, but recovering himself</em>)</span></p><p class="line">You daren't do that, for then he'd cease to pay,</p><p class="line">Honour as well to you. You can afford</p><p class="line">As ill as I not to be Michael's lord.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">There's no denying what you hint is true,</p><p class="line">Though I have other subjects--more than you.</p><p class="line">However, I'll concede It. It was partly</p><p class="line">Because it's mine I guessed your dread so smartly.</p><p class="line">What you dread is to lose the simple thing</p><p class="line">Without which nobody could be a king.</p><p class="line">And what I dread--a little less, maybe--</p><p class="line">Is to cease being feared in Germany.</p><p class="line">An uncrowned king and an ungodded devil</p><p class="line">Sink at a single stroke below the level</p><p class="line">Of consciousness: and that we cannot. No,</p><p class="line">We must hold on together even though</p><p class="line">The price be the uncomfortable Cross</p><p class="line">(For you!)--It <em>will</em> secure us both from loss.</p><p class="line">You're positive of that? <span class="stage">(Kai. <em>nods</em>.)</span> Well, let us trust</p><p class="line">The actuaries are right.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:40%">It will. It must.</p><p class="line">There is no other way for Us at all.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span><span class="stage">(<em>considering</em>)</span></p><p class="line">A Hohenzollern couldn't learn to crawl</p><p class="line">As a poor devil might?</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:40%">Certainly not.</p><p class="line">We'll set it here upon this very spot.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">Then, hang it all!--the crosses must be got.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">Crosses? There is but one: and that shall stand</p><p class="line">Heaven high.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line">But you will have on either hand . . .</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">Nor Pope nor Sultan shall with Us divide</p><p class="line">This signal glory.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:30%">No, but malefactors. . . .</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">Kai.</span></p><p class="line">Sirrah! upon this stage there are no actors</p><p class="line">But the All-highest.</p><p class="speech" xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><span class="speaker">O.O.A.</span></p><p class="line" style="text-indent:35%">We'll not be denied!</p><span class="stage">(<em>He produces a scroll with the inscription:</em></span><p class="line">"It was to save Our people that We died!"</p></body></html> · Great War