BEHIND, with woodman before? GOTT WEISS! "In Dechau his Majesty got
sight of Rittmeister von Ziethen," old Ajax Ziethen's son, "to whom
Dechau belongs; and took him into the carriage along with him, till
the point where the Dechau boundary is. Here there was again change
of horses. Captain von Rathenow, an old favorite of the King's, to
whom the property of Karvesee in part belongs, happened to be here
with his family; he now went forward to the carriage:--

CAPTAIN VON RATHENOW. "'Humblest servant, your Majesty!'
[UNTERTHANIGSTER KNECHT, different from the form of ending letters,
but really of the same import].

KING. "'Who are you?'

CAPTAIN. "'I am Captain von Rathenow from Karvesee.'

KING (clapping his hands together). "'Mein Gott, dear Rathenow, are
you still alive! ["LEBT ER NOCH, is HE still alive?"--way of
speaking to one palpably your inferior, scarcely now in use even to
servants; which Friedrich uses ALWAYS in speaking to the highest
uncrowned persons: it gives a strange dash of comic emphasis often
in his German talk:] I thought you were long since dead. How goes
it with you 7 Are you whole and well?"

CAPTAIN. "'O ja, your Majesty.'

KING. "'Mein Gott, how fat He has (you are) grown!'

CAPTAIN. "'Ja, your Majesty, I can still eat and drink; only the
feet get lazy' [won't go so well, WOLLEN NICHT FORT].