ELECTRESS. So be it! Tell!
MÖRNER. The Elector is no more.
NATALIE. Oh, heaven
Shall such a hideous blow descend on us?
[She hides her face in her hands.]
ELECTRESS. Give me report of how he came to fall—
And, as the bolt that strikes the wanderer,
In one last flash lights scarlet-bright the world,
So be your tale. When you are done, may night
Close down upon my head.
MÖRNER (approaching her, led by the two troopers).
The Prince of Homburg,
Soon as the enemy, hard pressed by Truchsz,
Reeling broke cover, had brought up his troops
To the attack of Wrangel on the plain;
Two lines he'd pierced and, as they broke, destroyed,
When a strong earthwork hemmed his way; and thence
So murderous a fire on him beat
That, like a field of grain, his cavalry,
Mowed to the earth, went down; twixt bush and hill
He needs must halt to mass his scattered corps.
NATALIE (to the ELECTRESS).
Dearest, be strong!
ELECTRESS. Stop, dear. Leave me alone.
MÖRNER. That moment, watching, clear above the dust,
We see our liege beneath the battle-flags
Of Truchsz's regiments ride on the foe.
On his white horse, oh, gloriously he rode,
Sunlit, and lighting the triumphant plain.
Heart-sick with trepidation at the sight
Of him, our liege, bold in the battle's midst,
We gather on a hillock's beetling brow;
When of a sudden the Elector falls,
Horseman and horse, in dust before our eyes.
Two standard-bearers fell across his breast
And overspread his body with their flags.
NATALIE. Oh, mother mine!