The Complete Stories (forword by John Updike)

PRINCE (putting Warden back on divan): No one's going to take your job from you. How could I get along without your experience? But I'll appoint another Warden, then you'll become Head Warden.

WARDEN: Am I not good enough? Have I ever let anyone pass?

PRINCE: Into the Friedrichspark?

WARDEN: No, out of the park. Who'd want to come in? If ever anyone stops at the railing I beckon to him from the window and he runs away. But out! Everyone wants to get out. After midnight you can see all the voices from the grave assembled around my house. I think it's only because they are so closely packed together that the whole lot of them don't burst through my narrow window. If it gets too bad, however, I grab the lantern from under my bed, swing it high, and with laughter and moaning these incredible creatures scatter in all directions. Then I can hear them rustling even in the farthest bush at the end of the park. But they soon gather together again.

PRINCE: And do they tell you what they want?

WARDEN: First they give orders. Especially Duke Friedrich. No living being could be so confident. Every night for thirty years he has been expecting me to give in.

PRINCE: If he has been coming for thirty years it can't be Duke Friedrich, for he has been dead only fifteen years. On the other hand, he is the only one of that name in the tomb.

WARDEN (too carried away by his story}: That I don't know, your Highness, I never went to school. I only know how he begins. 'Old dog,' he begins at the window, 'the gentlemen are knocking and you just stay in your filthy bed.' They have a particular grudge against beds, by the way. And now every night we have the same conversation, he outside, I opposite him, my back to the door. I say: 'I'm only on day duty.' The Duke turns and shouts into the park: 'He's only on day duty.' Whereupon all the assembled aristocracy burst out laughing. Then the Duke says to me again: 'But it is day.' I say curtly: 'You're wrong.' The Duke: 'Night or day, open the door.' I: 'That's against my orders.' And with my pipe I point at a notice on the door. The Duke: 'But you're our Warden.' I: 'Your Warden, but employed by the reigning Prince.' He: 'Our Warden, that's the main thing. So open up, and be quick about it.' I: 'No.' He: 'Idiot, you'll lose your job. Prince Leo has invited us for today.'

PRINCE (quickly): I?

WARDEN: You.

Pause.

WARDEN: When I hear your name I lose my firmness. That's why I have always taken care to lean against the door which is almost the only thing that holds me up. Outside, everyone's singing your name. 'Where's the invitation?' I ask weakly. 'Bedbug!' he shouts, 'you doubt my ducal word?' I say: 'I have no orders, so I won't open, I won't open, I won't open!' — 'He won't open!' shouts the Duke outside. 'So come on, all of you, the whole dynasty! At the door! We'll open it ourselves.' And a moment later there's nothing under my window.

Pause.

PRINCE: Is that all?

WARDEN: All? My real service begins only now. I rush out of the door, around the house, and promptly run into the Duke and there we are, locked in combat. He so big, I so small, he so broad, I so thin, I can fight only with his feet, but now and again he lifts me up in the air and then I fight up there, too. All his comrades stand around in a circle and make fun of me. One, for instance, cuts open my trousers behind and they all play with the tail of my shirt while I'm fighting. Can't understand why they laugh, as until now I've always won.

PRINCE: How is it possible for you to win? Have you any weapons?

WARDEN: I carried weapons only during the first years. What good could they be against him? They only hampered me. We just fight with our fists, or rather with the strength of our breath. And you're in my thoughts all the time.

Pause.

WARDEN: But I never doubt my victory. Only sometimes I'm afraid the Duke will let me slip through his fingers and forget that he's fighting.

PRINCE: And when do you win?

WARDEN: At dawn. Then he throws me down and spits at me. That's his confession of defeat. But I have to go on lying there for an hour before I can get my breath back properly.

Pause.

PRINCE (standing up): But tell me, don't you know what they really want?

WARDEN: To get out of the park.

PRINCE: