The king seemed greatly surprised by these words.
“Do you divine my thoughts, Louisa?” he asked. “Do you know my soul has been with him all the morning—that I thus conversed with him and repeated to myself every thing he said to me one day in a great and solemn hour. Oh, it was indeed a sacred hour, and never have I spoken of it to anybody, for every word would have looked to me like a desecration. But you, my noble wife, you can only consecrate and sanctify the advice I received in that momentous hour; and as I am telling you to-day about my most glorious reminiscences, you shall hear also what Frederick the Great once said to me.”
The queen nodded approvingly, raising her head from his shoulder and folding her hands on her lap as if she were going to pray.
The king paused for a moment, and seemed to reflect.
“In 1785,” he then said, “on a fine, warm summer day, I met the king in the garden at Sans-Souci. I was a youth of fifteen years at that time, strolling carelessly through the shrubbery and humming a song, when I suddenly beheld the king, who was seated on the bench under the large beech-tree, at no great distance from the Japanese palace. He was alone; two greyhounds were lying at his feet, in his hands he held his old cane, and his head reposed gently on the trunk of the beech-tree. A last beam of the setting sun was playing on his face, and rendered his glorious eyes even more radiant. I stood before him in reverential awe, and he gazed upon me with a kindly smile. Then he commenced examining me about my studies, and finally he drew a volume of La Fontaine’s ‘Fables’ from his pocket, opened the book and asked me to translate the fable on the page he showed me. I did so—but when he afterward was going to praise me for the skill with which I had rendered it, I told him it was but yesterday that I had translated the same fable under the supervision of my teacher. A gentle smile immediately lighted up his face, and tenderly patting my cheeks, he said to me, in his sonorous, soft voice: ‘That is right, my dear Fritz, always be honest and upright. Never try to seem what you are not—always be more than what you seem!’ I never forgot that exhortation, and I have always abhorred falsehood and hypocrisy.”
The queen gently laid her hand upon his heart. “Your eye is honest,” she said, “and so is your heart. My Frederick is too proud and brave to utter a lie. And what did you say to your great ancestor?”
“I? He spoke to me—I stood before him and listened. He admonished me to be industrious, never to believe that I had learned enough; never to stand still, but always to struggle on. After that he arose and, conversing with me all the time, slowly walked down the avenue leading to the garden gate. All at once he paused, and leaning upon his cane, his piercing eyes looked at me so long and searchingly, that his glance deeply entered into my heart. ‘Well, Fritz,’ he said, ‘try to become a good man, a good man par excellence. Great things are in store for you. I am at the end of my career, and my task is about accomplished. I am afraid that things will go pell-mell when I am dead. A portentous fermentation is going on everywhere, and the sovereigns, especially the King of France, instead of calming it and extirpating the causes that have produced it, unfortunately are deluded enough to fan the flame. The masses below commence moving already, and when the explosion finally takes place, the devil will be to pay. I am afraid your own position one day will be a most difficult one. Arm yourself, therefore, for the strife!—be firm!—think of me! Watch over our honor and our glory! Beware of injustice, but do not permit any one to treat you unjustly!’ He paused again, and slowly walked on. While deeply moved and conscious of the importance of the interview, I inwardly repeated every word he had said, in order to remember them as long as I lived. We had now reached the obelisk, near the gate of Sans-Souci. The king here gave me his left hand, and with his uplifted right hand he pointed at the obelisk. ‘Look at it,’ he said, loudly and solemnly; ‘the obelisk is tall and slender, and yet it stands firm amid the most furious storms. It says to you: Ma force est ma droiture. The culmination, the highest point overlooks and crowns the whole; it does not support it, however, but is supported by the whole mass underlying it, especially by the invisible foundation, deeply imbedded in the earth. This supporting foundation is the people in its unity. Always be on the side of the people, so that they will love and trust you, as they alone can render you strong and happy.’ He cast another searching glance upon me, and gave me his hand. When I bent over it in order to kiss it, he imprinted a kiss on my forehead. ‘Don’t forget this hour,’ he said kindly, nodding to me. He turned around, and accompanied by his greyhounds, slowly walked up the avenue again. [Footnote: The king’s own account to Bishop Eylert, in the latter’s work, vol. i., p. 466.] I never forgot that hour, and shall remember it as long as I live.”
“And the spirit of the great Frederick will be with you and remain with you,” said the queen, deeply moved.
“Would to God it were so!” sighed the king. “I know that I am weak and inexperienced; I stand in need of wise and experienced advisers; I—”
A rap at the door interrupted the king, and on his exclaiming, “Come in!” the door was opened and the court marshal appeared on the threshold.