The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch: A Grotesque Tale of Horror by Ladislav Klíma

Author:Ladislav Klíma
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Novel, Fiction
ISBN: 9788086264684
Publisher: Twisted Spoon Press
Published: 2011-04-08T18:30:00+00:00

(*The publisher of these memoirs, unable to compose in rhyme, presents this poem in the original.)

“Dear Helmut, have you ever seen such an improvisateur?” he then added, flushed from the effort and perhaps also with a panicked embarrassment.

But I had gone white as chalk. There would surely be at least 200 of these photographs! And do you know what that meant for me? The obligation to fall into ecstasy 200 times! I, who had just been enraged by the throwing away of 20 million! If I failed to become ecstatic even once, I would fall into disfavor. For he considered the photographs he was about to show me to be his faithful likeness and works of art from first to last, since they had been praised by Him; it was impermissible to say even: This does not compare to the original ... If I were not to be captivated by even one of them, he would interpret that to mean: that I deplored his taste and, in addition, that I considered him a hideous creature.

Well, I fell into an unbroken chain of ecstasies for about two hours. The photographs numbered at least 500.

I had two-hundred ecstasies to go and was ready to die. But merciful nature came to the rescue. The emperor tottered on his chair such that he would have rolled onto the floor if I had not caught him. – “Ha!” he cried out, “Morpheus has embraced the Kaiser. Nothing doing, my little louse, I must deprive you of further pleasures; so much the better this way, and may there be uncommon delights reserved for you tomorrow as well ... Well then – let’s put ourselves to bed!”

I took off his Bolivian general’s uniform. He nodded for me to lie down next to him – –. Fortunately, a minute later he began to snore. I looked at his open, smelly mouth, his stiff, comical features, grotesque in spite of all their grandezza ... There was nothing more ridiculous than his face – if only it did not belong to the emperor – –

You miserable crackpot! O miserable nation! The ancient Greek military leader Chabrias said: “A herd of deer led by a lion can accomplish more than a herd of lions led by a deer.” And I would say: “Would that, instead of 80 million Germans, there were only 8 million of them – and over them – a Lion, rather than – –

In some kind of dark, awful premonition I wept on that night, for You, Germania ...

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