_The Kaiser._ Not very much. Lots of other people have had ultimatums and
haven't been one pfennig the worse for them.

_The King._ Oh, but this is the very last thing in ultimatums. It's a
regular ultimatissimum.

_The Kaiser._ What do they want you to do?

_The King._ All sorts of disagreeable things. For instance, I am to move my
troops to the Peloponnese, so as to get them out of harm's way.

_The Kaiser._ Well, move them. What are troops for except to be moved
about? You can always move them back again, you know. I keep on moving
troops forward and backward all the time. It's a mere nothing when you once
get accustomed to it. Just you try it and see. Anything more?

_The King._ Yes; I'm to release from prison the followers of the
pestilential VENIZELOS.

_The Kaiser._ That's unpleasant, of course, for a patent Greek War-Lord;
but I should do it if I were you, and then you can let me know how it
feels.

_The King._ Look here, William, I don't know what's the matter with you,
but I wish you wouldn't try to be so funny. You seem to think the whole
affair's a sort of German joke. So it is, by Zeus--that's to say it's no
joke at all.

_The Kaiser._ Manners, TINO, manners.