The Warden of the Tomb
PRINCE
CHAMBERLAIN: I cannot recommend it, your Highness.
PRINCE: Why?
CHAMBERLAIN: I can't quite formulate my objections at the moment. I'm expressing only a fraction of what's on my mind when I quote the universal saying: Let the dead rest in peace.
PRINCE: That's my opinion, too.
CHAMBERLAIN: In that case I haven't properly understood.
PRINCE: So it seems.
PRINCE: Perhaps the only thing that disconcerts you is that instead of going ahead with the arrangement, I announced it to you first.
CHAMBERLAIN: The announcement certainly burdens me with a great responsibility which I must endeavor to live up to.
PRINCE: Don't speak of responsibility!
PRINCE: Let's see. Hitherto the tomb in the Friedrichspark has been guarded by a warden who lives in a lodge at the park's entrance. Was there anything wrong with this?
CHAMBERLAIN: Certainly not. The tomb is more than four hundred years old and has always been guarded in this way.
PRINCE: It could be an abuse. But it isn't an abuse, is it?
CHAMBERLAIN: It is a necessary arrangement.
PRINCE: All right then, a necessary arrangement. I've been here in the castle quite some time now, have gained some insight into details which hitherto have been entrusted to strangers — they manage fairly well — and I've come to this conclusion: the Warden up there in the park is not enough. There must also be a guard down in the tomb. It probably won't be a pleasant job. But experience has proved that willing and suitable people can be found for any job.
CHAMBERLAIN: Needless to say, any orders issued by your Highness will be carried out, even if the necessity of the order is not fully understood.
PRINCE
CHAMBERLAIN: Formality it is, but a necessary one. A demonstration of reverence for the illustrious dead.
PRINCE: And what about the guard in the tomb itself?
CHAMBERLAIN: In my opinion this would have a police connotation. It would mean a real guarding of unreal things beyond the human sphere.
PRINCE:
For my family this tomb represents the frontier between the Human and the Other, and it's on this frontier that I wish to post a guard. As for the police connotation, as you call it, we can question the Warden himself. I've sent for him.
CHAMBERLAIN: He's a confused old man, if I may say so, already quite out of hand.
PRINCE: If that's so, all the more reason for strengthening the guard in the way I've suggested.
PRINCE: The Warden of the tomb!
PRINCE: Put him on the divan!
PRINCE
WARDEN
PRINCE: Try to pull yourself together. We're waiting.
CHAMBERLAIN
WARDEN: Not to bed — still strong — fairly — can still hold my end up.
PRINCE: So you should. You've only just turned sixty. Granted, you look very weak.
WARDEN: I'll pick up in no time — feel better in a minute.
PRINCE: It wasn't meant as a reproach. I'm only sorry you aren't feeling well. Have you anything to complain about?