KING (aside).

Take notice, Grumbkow, he’s pricked.  On with the attack.

GRUMBKOW.

Eversmann, have the newest Dutch journals arrived?

EVERSMANN.

Yes, Your Excellency; full of lies, as usual.

KING.

Lies?  Then, according to the proverb, that explains why our beer is so sour.

GRUMBKOW.

Tell me, Eversmann, is there no news from Ansbach in the journals?

HOTHAM (aside to PRINCE).

Arm yourself.

EVERSMANN (impertinently).

Why should there be news from such a little country?

KING.

Be quiet!  Prussia also was once a little country.  Tell me rather, what do the Dutch write about Prussia?

EVERSMANN.

Outrageous things.  They say that many deserters have again fled from
Potsdam.

KING.

That’s not a lie, unfortunately.

PRINCE.

But they express themselves with more politeness in Holland.

KING.

How then, Prince?

PRINCE.

They say that Your Majesty’s Guards consist mostly of men who suffer from an abnormal growth.  These giants, so they say, have periods where they shoot up to such an extent that they grow and grow beyond the tree-tops and disappear altogether from human ken.

KING.

Ha, ha!  Wittily expressed.  But drink, Prince, drink.

GRUMBKOW.

I imagined that Your Highness read only French journals.

PRINCE.

I would rather read Prussian newspapers.  But, thanks to General von
Grumbkow’s policies, no newspaper dare appear in Prussia.

KING.

Ha, ha!  There you have it! [Aside.] See, see, he’s not afraid to speak his mind.  ’Twill be a merry night.

HOTHAM (aside to PRINCE).

Not too sharp—­be milder at first.

GRUMBKOW (aside).

Seckendorf, it’s time to exercise your wit.

SECKENDORF (aside).

Hush—­I’m getting something ready.  I will choose my own time.

KING.

But you’re not drinking, Prince.  You’re expected to drink here. [Aside.] Eversmann, keep his glass well filled—­

HOTHAM (aside).

They want to make you drunk.  Push your tankard nearer my place.

KING.

You know the old Dessauer, Prince?

PRINCE (surprised).

Why, Your Majesty—­

KING.

But do you know for what great invention mankind is indebted to the old
Dessauer?

PRINCE (aside).

Do you know that, Hotham?

HOTHAM.

Damn their cross questioning—­say it was gaiters.

PRINCE.

Your Majesty wishes to know what—­what the old Dessauer invented?

KING.

Yes, what did the old Dessauer invent?