Beware!
(Uproar, and running to and fro. Horses neigh. Sound of trumpets—sometimes here, sometimes there. People appear on the street. Terrible fear is depicted upon their pitiful faces.)
People on the Street.
The bird is crowing! Get up!
Saddle your fleet horses!
Quickly! The enemy does not wait.
He will trample down the cornfields
And burn the villages.
Polkan
(running in).
Our King! Father of the people!