The Prince's Lament
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Er hob sogleich das natürliche Kunstwerk aus dem Korbe und nahm den Mops, der sanft zu ruhen schien, in seine Arme. Glückliches Thier! rief er aus, du wirst von ihren Händen berührt, du wirst von ihr belebt werden, anstatt daß lebendige vor ihr fliehen, um nicht ein trauriges Schicksal zu erfahren. Doch was sage ich traurig! ist es nicht viel betrübter und bänglicher durch ihre Gegenwart gelähmt zu werden, als es seyn würde von ihrer Hand zu sterben! Sieh mich an, sagte er zu der Alten; in meinen Jahren, welch einen elenden Zustand muß ich erdulden. Diesen Harnisch, den ich mit Ehren im Kriege getragen, diesen Purpur, den ich durch eine weise Regierung zu verdienen suchte, hat mir das Schicksal gelassen, jene als eine unnöthige Last, diesen als eine unbedeutende Zierde. Krone, Scepter und Schwert sind hinweg, ich bin übrigens so nackt und bedürftig, als jeder andere Erdensohn, denn so unselig wirken ihre schönen blauen Augen, daß sie allen lebendigen Wesen ihre Kraft nehmen, und daß diejenigen, die ihre berührende Hand nicht tödtet, sich in den Zustand lebendig wandelnder Schatten versetzt fühlen.
He at once lifted the natural work of art out of the basket and took the pug, which seemed to rest gently, in his arms. Happy creature! he cried, you will be touched by her hands, you will be brought to life by her, whereas living things flee before her so as not to suffer a sad fate. Yet why do I say sad! Is it not far more grievous and more fearful to be paralysed by her presence than it would be to die by her hand! Look at me, he said to the old woman; at my age, what a wretched condition I must endure. This armour, which I wore with honour in war, this purple, which I sought to earn by wise rule, fate has left me, the one as a needless burden, the other as a meaningless ornament. Crown, sceptre and sword are gone, I am otherwise as naked and needy as any other son of earth, for her beautiful blue eyes work so banefully that they take their strength from all living beings, and that those whom her touching hand does not kill feel themselves transported into the state of living, walking shadows.
Holding the onyx pug, the prince envies it and explains what the fair Lily's touch and gaze have done to him.
<p>The prince's lament gives the first full statement of Lily's paradox. Her hand kills whatever lives, so the onyx pug, already dead, is the one creature her touch can bless, and he envies it openly: 'Glückliches Thier!', happy creature. His own inventory follows. The armour worn with honour and the purple he sought to earn by wise rule remain; crown, sceptre and sword are gone; he is as naked and needy as any other son of earth.</p><p>The phrase that carries the undercurrent is his last: those her hand does not kill feel themselves turned into 'lebendig wandelnder Schatten', living, walking shadows. It echoes the giant on the riverbank, a body whose force lives only in its shadow, and it names the prince's own condition, presence without effect. He would rather die completely than persist as an outline of himself. That is the wretchedness he asked the old woman to look at, and Lily's beautiful blue eyes made it.</p>
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