Three Rule on Earth
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Die Alte eilte weg, und in dem Augenblick erschien das Licht der aufgehenden Sonne an dem Kranze der Kuppel, der Alte trat zwischen den Jüngling und die Jungfrau und rief mit lauter Stimme: Drey sind die da herrschen auf Erden: die Weisheit, der Schein und die Gewalt. Bei dem ersten Worte stand der goldne König auf, bei dem zweyten der silberne und bei dem dritten hatte sich der eherne langsam empor gehoben, als der zusammengesetzte König sich plötzlich ungeschickt niedersetzte.
The old woman hurried away, and at that moment the light of the rising sun appeared on the ring of the dome; the old man stepped between the youth and the maiden and cried with a loud voice: Three there are who rule on earth: wisdom, appearance and force. At the first word the golden king stood up, at the second the silver, and at the third the bronze one had slowly raised himself up, when the composite king suddenly sat down clumsily.
At sunrise the old man steps between the lovers and names the three powers; the gold, silver and bronze kings rise while the composite king slumps.
<p>This is the tale's one explicit creed, and it is spoken at the exact instant the sunrise reaches the ring of the dome, so that doctrine and daylight arrive together. Drey sind die da herrschen auf Erden: wisdom, appearance and force. They are no abstractions here; each power has a metal and a body, and each rises on its name like a witness called to stand, gold at the first word, silver at the second, bronze slowly at the third.</p><p>The comedy is in the fourth king. He is made of all three metals badly mixed, and at the roll-call that should include him he suddenly sits down, ungeschickt, clumsily, the tale's one purely physical verdict on him. Goethe's undercurrent is political and dry: mixed, unprincipled power does not fall in a dramatic crash. It simply cannot hold itself upright at the moment the real powers are named.</p>
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