PRINCE ERIC. [Enters] Father!
KING. Croak away, raven!
ERIC. Our last hope is gone! The sloop has dragged its anchor and gone ashore.
KING. [In desperation] And lightning has struck the nursery, and the grasshoppers have eaten the crops, and the waters are rising, and....
ERIC. The Dalecarlians are negotiating with the palace guards, and they are awfully drunk.
KING. [Sitting down] Come on, death!
ERIC. [Listening] I can hear their wooden shoes on the garden stairs! [He goes to the balustrade.
KING. [Counting on his fingers] Anders Persson, Mons Nilsson, Master John.
ERIC. [Drawing his sword] Now he is here!
He can be seen following somebody on the other side of the balustrade with his eyes.