“Make an effort to die,” said the king, gayly; “you will find it is not so easy to do as you imagine. But I will torture you no longer. You ask what we are going to do. Well, we are going to amuse ourselves and seek adventures. You ask where we are going. Ask that question of the sparrow that sits on the house-top—ask where it is going, and what is the aim of its journey. It will reply, the next bush, the nearest tree, the topmost bough of a weeping willow, which stands on a lonely grave; the mast of a ship, sailing on the wide sea; or the branch of a noble beech, waving before the window of a beautiful maiden. I am as incapable of telling you the exact aim and end of our journey, friend, as that little bird would be. We are as free as the birds of the air. Come! come! let us fly, for see, the little sparrow has flown—let us follow it.”
And with a beaming smile illuminating his countenance, like a ray of the morning sun, the king took the arm of his friend, and followed by his servant and cabinet-hussar, Deesen, left the pavilion.
As they stood at the little gate of the garden, the king said to Deesen,
“You must be for us the angel with the flaming sword, and open the gates of paradise, but not to cast us out.”
Deesen opened the gate, and our adventurers entered “the wide, wide world.”
“Let us stand here a few moments,” said the king, as his glance rested upon the green fields spread far and wide around him. “How great and beautiful the world appears to-day! Observe Nature’s grand silence, yet the air is full of a thousand voices, and the white clouds wandering dreamily in the blue heavens above, are they not the misty veils with which the gods of Olympus conceal their charms?”
“Ah! sire,” said Balby, with a loving glance at the king’s hand some face—“ah, sire, my eyes have no time to gaze at Nature’s charms, they are occupied with yourself. When I look upon you, I feel that man is indeed made in the image of God.”
“Were I a god, I should not be content to resemble this worn, faded face. Come, now, let us be off! Give me your instrument, Deesen, I will carry it. Now I look like a travelling apprentice seeking his fortune. The world is all before him where to choose his place of rest, and Providence his guide. I envy him. He is a free man!”
“Truly, these poor apprentices would not believe that a king was envying them their fate,” said Balby, laughing.
“Still they are to be envied,” said the king, “for they are free. No, no, at present I envy no one, the world and its sunshine belong to me. We will go to Amsterdam, and enjoy the galleries and museums.”