ildren
too, Rathenow?'

CAPTAIN. "'Yes, your Majesty. My sons are in the service,' soldiering;
'and these are my daughters.'

KING. "'Well, I am glad of that (NUN, DAS FREUT MICH). Fare HE well.
Fare He well.'

"The road now went upon Fehrbellin; and Forster," Forester, "Brand, as
woodkeeper for the King in these parts, rode along with us. When we came
upon the patch of Sand-knolls which lie near Fehrbellin, his Majesty
cried:--

"'Forester, why aren't these sand-knolls sown?'

FORESTER. "'Your Majesty, they don't belong to the Royal Forest; they
belong to the farm-ground. In part the people do sow them with all
manner of crops. Here, on the right hand, they have sown fir-cones
(KIENAPFEL)'.

KING. "'Who sowed them?'

FORESTER. "'The Oberamtmann [Fromme] here.'

THE KING (TO ME). "'Na! Tell my Geheimer-Rath Michaelis that the
sand-patches must be sown.'--[TO THE FORESTER] 'But do you know how
fir-cones (KIENAPFEL) should be sown?'

FORESTER. "'O ja, your Majesty.'

KING. "'Na! [a frequent interjection of Friedrich's and his Father's],
how are they sown, then? From east to west, or from north to south?'
["VAN MORGEN GEGEN ABEND, ODER VAN ABEND GEGEN MORGEN?" so in ORIG.
(p. 22);--but, surely, except as above, it has no sense? From north to
south, there is but one fir-seed sown against the wind; from east to
west, there is a whole row.]

FORESTER. "'From east to west.'

KING. "'That is right. But why?'

FORESTER. "'Because the most wind comes from the west.'

KING. "'That's right.'

"Now his Majesty arrived at Fehrbellin; spoke there with Lieutenant
Probst of the Ziethen Hussar regiment, [Probst is the leftmost figure
in that Chodowiecki Engraving of the famous Ziethen-and-Friedrich
CHAIR-scene, five years after this. (Supra. 374 n.)] and with the
Fehrbellin Postmeister, Captain von Mosch. So soon as the horses were
to, we continued our travel; and as his Majesty was driving close by my
Big Ditches," GRABEN, trenches, main-drains, "which have been made in
the Fehrbellin LUCH at the King's expense, I rode up to the carriage,
and said:--

ICH. "'Your Majesty, these now are the two new Drains, which by your
Majesty's favor we have got here; and which keep the Luch dry for us.'

KING. "'So, so; that I am glad of!--Who is He (are you)?'

FROMME. "'Your Majesty, I am the Beamte here of Fehrbellin.'

KING. "'What 's your name?'

ICH. "'Fromme.'

KING. "'Ha, ha! you are a son of the Landrath Fromme's