"Well, you can stand here until you become a pillar of salt, like your great-grandmother of old," cried another voice.
"This is Knobelsdorf," said Frederick.
"The idea is good," said the first voice, "but it is not I who will become a pillar of salt, but others will from fright and terror, when I come with my avenging sword; for justice I will have, and if I do not obtain it here, I shall go and demand it of the king."
"From the king! you do not know, then, that his majesty is dying?"
"Not so, not so! if that were so, I would not be here; I would have waited quietly for that justice from the new king which I demanded in vain from the prince royal. The king is recovering; I saw him in his arm-chair in the garden; for this reason I insist on speaking to the prince."
"But if I tell you his royal highness is still asleep?"
"I would not believe you, for I heard him playing on his flute."
"That was Quantz."
"Quantz! he is not capable of playing such an adagio; no, no, it could only have been the prince royal."
"Ah! this man wishes to bribe me with his flattery," said the prince, smiling, "and make me believe I am an Orpheus. Orpheus tamed lions and tigers with his music, but my flute is not even capable of taming a creditor."