I don't want whole colonies at once; but wherever there are two
or three families of them, I say apply to that man about it.'

ICH. "'It shall be done, your Majesty.'

KING. "'Can't I see Wusterau,' where old Ajax Ziethen lives, 'from
here?'

ICH. "'Yes, your Majesty; there to the right, that is it.' It BELONGS to
General von Ziethen; and terrible BUILDING he has had here,--almost all
his life!

KING. "'Is the General at home?'

ICH. "'Ja.'

KING. "'How do you know?'

ICH. "'Your Majesty, the Rittmeister von Lestock lies in my village on
GRAZING service; and last night the Herr General sent a letter over to
him by a groom. In that way I know it.'

KING. "'Did General von Ziethen gain, among others, by the draining of
the Luch?'

ICH. "'O ja; the Farm-stead there to the right he built in consequence,
and has made a dairy there, which he could not have done, had not the
Luch been drained.'

KING. "'That I am glad of!--What is the Beamte's name in Alt-Ruppin?'
[Old Ruppin, I suppose, or part of its endless "RUPPIN or RHYN MERE,"
catches the King's eye.]

ICH. "'Honig.'

KING. "'How long has he been there?'

ICH. "'Since Trinity-term.'

KING. "'Since Trinity-term! What was he before?'

ICH. "'Kanonious' [a canon].

KING. "'Kanonicus? Kanonicus? How the Devil comes a Kanonicus to be a
Beamte?'

ICH. "'Your Majesty, he is a young man who has money, and wanted to have
the honor of being a Beamte of your Majesty.'

KING. "'Why did n't the old one stay?'

ICH. "'Is dead.'

KING. "'Well, the widow might have kept his AMT, then!'

ICH. "'Is fallen into poverty.'

KING. "'By woman husbandry!'

ICH. "'Your Majesty's pardon! She cultivated well, but a heap of
mischances brought her down: those may happen to the best husbandman.
I myself, two years ago, lost so many cattle by the murrain, and got no
remission: since that, I never can get on again either.'

KING. "'My son, to-day I have some disorder in my left ear, and cannot
hear rightly on that side of my head' (!).

ICH. "'It is a pity that Geheimer-Rath Michaelis has got the very same
disorder!'--I now retired a little back from the carriage; I fancied his
Majesty might take this answer ill.

KING. "'Na, Amtmann, forward! Stay by the carriage; but TAKE CARE OF
YOURSELF, THAT YOU DON'T GET HURT. SPEAK LOUD, I UNDERSTAND VERY WELL.'
These words marked in Italics [capitals] his Majesty repeated at least
ten times in the course of the journey. 'Te