was to be seen. My master lay on his couch,
groaning, breathing heavily, and evidently under the influence of bad
dreams. I, therefore, took the liberty to awaken him. 'Ah,' said he,
heaving a deep sigh, 'I am glad you awakened me; I had a weird, terrible
dream, and I will relate it to you. I dreamed I was standing on the
terrace of Sans-souci, and around me I beheld my state and all my
palaces close together, and behind them I thought I could descry the
whole world, with all its cities and countries; it was spread out before
my eyes like a painting of wondrous beauty, and I was rapturously gazing
at it. All at once the sky grew dark; black clouds passed over it;
profound darkness covered the beautiful world, and dreadful shrieks and
groans resounded through the air. But from the midst of the black clouds
a bright, dazzling star burst like a rocket, and set fire to every
thing, until all countries were in ruins, and all cities burned down.
And as I saw that, I cried in my anguish, "Fire! fire!" Fortunately, you
came and awakened me.' That, sire," said the castellan, drawing a deep
breath, "that was the dream. The king went on to say: 'The dream, I am
sure, is a portentous one, and some remarkable event will doubtless
happen in the course of this night. Write down every thing I told you,
and remember the date and year!' I did as his majesty ordered me; I
wrote down the date, the year, and even the hour in which the dream
occurred."

"Was the dream really a portentous one? Did any remarkable event occur
in that night?"

"Yes, sire, a very remarkable event occurred in that night, but his
majesty did not hear of it; he died too early."

"When did he have that dream?" asked Napoleon, fixing his eyes on the
old man, who composedly bore the searching gaze.

A pause ensued. The castellan replied: "Sire, Frederick the Great had
that dream on the 15th of August, 1769."

"On my birthday!" ejaculated Napoleon.

"On the 15th of August, 1769," repeated the old man, "at three o'clock
in the morning."

"The hour of my birth," muttered the emperor to himself. After a short
pause he turned again toward the castellan, and a strange, sarcastic
smile played on his lips.

"The star fell from the sky, and set fire to all the palaces and
countries?" he asked.

The castellan nodded.

"And you believed that the dream referred to me, and that I am the
fallen star?"

"Sire, I only related what the king had dreamed, and in what nigh