Wrangel generally rode a white horse, a fact which the enemy soon noticed. When the officers of his suite drew his attention to it and asked him to ride another horse, to be less exposed to danger, he answered with his customary calmness:
“Why shouldn’t I ride a white horse, gentlemen? They shoot at me, but they hit you.”
Could Not Whistle For Laughing
Wrangel was once walking with the Crown Prince, later Emperor Frederick, “unter den Linden” in Berlin, when they met a shoemaker’s apprentice merrily whistling. As they came near, he stopped, grinned all over his face, and pulled off his cap.
“Now your Royal Highness can see what fine fellows these boys are,” said Wrangel; “they are all delighted to see a member of the Royal Family.”
“Wrangel,” cried the Crown Prince, laughing, “you just ask that boy, why he stopped whistling.”
“Say, sonny,” called Wrangel, “why did you stop whistling?”
“When I see you, I have to laugh, so I can’t whistle,” was the reply. The answer pleased the Crown Prince immensely.
Under the Weather Vane
When Wrangel returned from the war with Holstein, he ordered a weather-vane for the roof of his palace, just like one he had seen during the campaign, an Uhlan with his lance at rest.