he remained incapacitated until late the next morning
when the doctor arrived from Luckau and he recovered
to some degree, but nevertheless showed decisive
symptoms of an approaching nervous fever.
As soon as he had regained his senses he half sat up
in bed, and his first question was: ‘Where is Kohlhaas?’
Misunderstanding the question, the chamberlain said as
he took the elector’s hand that he should calm down
about this dreadful man, who, by his directive following
that strange and incomprehensible incident, had
remained behind in the farmhouse at Dahme under the
Brandenburg guard. Assuring the elector of his warmest
sympathy and protesting that he had reproached his wife
most bitterly for her irresponsible recklessness in bring-
ing him in contact with this man, he asked what there
was in the conversation with Kohlhaas that had taken
him aback him so strangely and colossally.
The elector said he must confess that it was the sight
of a trivial scrap of paper the man carried on him in a
leaden locket that was to blame for the whole unpleas-
ant accident that befell him. He added a number of
details by way of explaining this circumstance, which
the chamberlain did not understand; and suddenly,
clasping the chamberlain’s hands in his own, voiced that
it was of the utmost importance to him to have posses-
sion of this paper, and bid him to mount forthwith, ride
to Dahme and buy the paper from Kohlhaas at any price.
The chamberlain, struggling to conceal his embar-
rassment, assured him that if this slip of paper meant
any value to him, nothing in the world would be more
necessary than to conceal this fact from Kohlhaas; for if
he should become aware of it through some careless
utterance, all the elector’s wealth would not suffice to
prize it out of the hands of that grim fellow, whose lust
for vengeance was insatiable. He added, to calm his
fears, that they must think of some other means and that
it might perhaps be possible by cunning, using a third
party, someone wholly indifferent, to obtain possession
of the paper that meant so much to him, given that the
villain was in all likelihood not very attached to it.
The elector, wiping away perspiration from his brow,
asked whether to that end word could be sent to Dahme
at once to delay the further transport of the horse dealer
for a while until the paper, by whatever means, was
secured. The chamberlain, who could hardly believe
what he was hearing, replied that unfortunately the
horse dealer must in all probability have left Dahme and
already over the border on Brandenburg soil, where any
attempt to impede his removal or, worse, to call it off
would bring about the most unpleasant and far-reaching
difficulties, indeed such difficulties as it might be
impossible to overcome.
When the elector, with a gesture of utter despair,
sank back in silence on the pillow, the chamberlain
asked him what was in the paper and by what strangeand inexplicable accident did he become aware that the
contents concerned him.
But to this the elector did not reply, merely casting
ambiguous glances at the chamberlain, whose compli-
ance he distrusted in this instance. He lay there stiffly,
his heart pounding, and he stared down at the top of the
handkerchief that, lost in thought, he held between his
hands; and abruptly asked him to call into the room the
hunting squire von Stein, a young, sprightly and clever
gentleman whom he had often employed to undertake
secret matters, under the pretext that he had some other
business to discuss with him.
After explaining the matter to the squire and inform-
ing him of the importance of the slip of paper in
Kohlhaas’ hands, he asked if the gentleman was willing
to earn an eternal privilege to his friendship by getting
him this paper before Kohlhaas reached Berlin. As soon
as the squire to some extent grasped the situation,
strange as it was, he declared that he was entirely at the
elector’s service, whereupon the latter charged him with
pursuing Kohlhaas, who being unlikely to be swayed
with money, to offer him in a cleverly arranged parley
his freedom and his life in exchange for the piece of
paper; indeed, if he insisted on it, to give him direct
assistance, albeit cautiously, with horses, men and
money to escape from the hands of Brandenburg troop-
ers transporting him.T
he hunting squire, having asked for a written note of
authority in the elector’s own hand, immediately set
out with several servants and, not sparing the horses,
was fortunate to come upon Kohlhaas at a border village
where with his five children he was at a midday meal
with Knight von Malzahn in the open air outside the
door of a house. The knight von Malzahn, to whom the
squire introduced himself as a foreigner who, travelling
through, wished to take a close look at the singular man
in his company, at once courteously urged him to sit
down and join the table, acquainting him with
Kohlhaas. And as the knight came and went from the
table busily preparing for their departure, with the
riders having their meal at a table on the other side of
the house, the occasion soon presented itself for squire
to reveal who he was to the horse dealer and disclose his
special assignment.
The horse dealer, who already knew the name and
rank of the person who had fainted in the farmhouse in
Dahme at the sight of the locket in question and who,
to crown the tumult into which this discovery had
thrown him, was said to need nothing more than an
insight into the secrets of the paper, which for many
reasons he was determined not to reveal out of mere
curiosity, and mindful of the ignoble and ungentle-
manly treatment he was made to experience in Dresden
in spite of his utter willingness to make every possiblePearl • August 2019 33he remained incapacitated until late the next morning
when the doctor arrived from Luckau and he recovered
to some degree, but nevertheless showed decisive
symptoms of an approaching nervous fever.
As soon as he had regained his senses he half sat up
in bed, and his first question was: ‘Where is Kohlhaas?’
Misunderstanding the question, the chamberlain said as
he took the elector’s hand that he should calm down
about this dreadful man, who, by his directive following
that strange and incomprehensible incident, had
remained behind in the farmhouse at Dahme under the
Brandenburg guard. Assuring the elector of his warmest
sympathy and protesting that he had reproached his wife
most bitterly for her irresponsible recklessness in bring-
ing him in contact with this man, he asked what there
was in the conversation with Kohlhaas that had taken
him aback him so strangely and colossally.
The elector said he must confess that it was the sight
of a trivial scrap of paper the man carried on him in a
leaden locket that was to blame for the whole unpleas-
ant accident that befell him. He added a number of
details by way of explaining this circumstance, which
the chamberlain did not understand; and suddenly,
clasping the chamberlain’s hands in his own, voiced that
it was of the utmost importance to him to have posses-
sion of this paper, and bid him to mount forthwith, ride
to Dahme and buy the paper from Kohlhaas at any price.
The chamberlain, struggling to conceal his embar-
rassment, assured him that if this slip of paper meant
any value to him, nothing in the world would be more
necessary than to conceal this fact from Kohlhaas; for if
he should become aware of it through some careless
utterance, all the elector’s wealth would not suffice to
prize it out of the hands of that grim fellow, whose lust
for vengeance was insatiable. He added, to calm his
fears, that they must think of some other means and that
it might perhaps be possible by cunning, using a third
party, someone wholly indifferent, to obtain possession
of the paper that meant so much to him, given that the
villain was in all likelihood not very attached to it.
The elector, wiping away perspiration from his brow,
asked whether to that end word could be sent to Dahme
at once to delay the further transport of the horse dealer
for a while until the paper, by whatever means, was
secured. The chamberlain, who could hardly believe
what he was hearing, replied that unfortunately the
horse dealer must in all probability have left Dahme and
already over the border on Brandenburg soil, where any
attempt to impede his removal or, worse, to call it off
would bring about the most unpleasant and far-reaching
difficulties, indeed such difficulties as it might be
impossible to overcome.
When the elector, with a gesture of utter despair,
sank back in silence on the pillow, the chamberlain
asked him what was in the paper and by what strange
and inexplicable accident did he become aware that the
contents concerned him.
But to this the elector did not reply, merely casting
ambiguous glances at the chamberlain, whose compli-
ance he distrusted in this instance. He lay there stiffly,
his heart pounding, and he stared down at the top of the
handkerchief that, lost in thought, he held between his
hands; and abruptly asked him to call into the room the
hunting squire von Stein, a young, sprightly and clever
gentleman whom he had often employed to undertake
secret matters, under the pretext that he had some other
business to discuss with him.
After explaining the matter to the squire and inform-
ing him of the importance of the slip of paper in
Kohlhaas’ hands, he asked if the gentleman was willing
to earn an eternal privilege to his friendship by getting
him this paper before Kohlhaas reached Berlin. As soon
as the squire to some extent grasped the situation,
strange as it was, he declared that he was entirely at the
elector’s service, whereupon the latter charged him with
pursuing Kohlhaas, who being unlikely to be swayed
with money, to offer him in a cleverly arranged parley
his freedom and his life in exchange for the piece of
paper; indeed, if he insisted on it, to give him direct
assistance, albeit cautiously, with horses, men and
money to escape from the hands of Brandenburg troop-
ers transporting him.T
he hunting squire, having asked for a written note of
authority in the elector’s own hand, immediately set
out with several servants and, not sparing the horses,
was fortunate to come upon Kohlhaas at a border village
where with his five children he was at a midday meal
with Knight von Malzahn in the open air outside the
door of a house. The knight von Malzahn, to whom the
squire introduced himself as a foreigner who, travelling
through, wished to take a close look at the singular man
in his company, at once courteously urged him to sit
down and join the table, acquainting him with
Kohlhaas. And as the knight came and went from the
table busily preparing for their departure, with the
riders having their meal at a table on the other side of
the house, the occasion soon presented itself for squire
to reveal who he was to the horse dealer and disclose his
special assignment.
The horse dealer, who already knew the name and
rank of the person who had fainted in the farmhouse in
Dahme at the sight of the locket in question and who,
to crown the tumult into which this discovery had
thrown him, was said to need nothing more than an
insight into the secrets of the paper, which for many
reasons he was determined not to reveal out of mere
curiosity, and mindful of the ignoble and ungentle-
manly treatment he was made to experience in Dresden
in spite of his utter willingness to make every possiblePearl • August 2019 33