e.

The King. The whole thing was a novelty to me, and a solemn one. I was
overcome with emotion. Seeing that, my father whispered to me: "Come
farther forward, my boy! The people must see their future king praying."
That finished it! I was not born to be a king; my soul was still too
unsullied, and I spurned such falsehood with the deepest loathing. Just
think of it!--to come back from three years at sea, and begin my life in
that way--as if perpetually in front of a mirror! I won't dwell on it.
But when my father died and I became king, I had become so accustomed to
the atmosphere of falsehood I lived in that I no longer recognised
truth when I saw it. The constitution prescribed my religion for me--and
naturally I had none. And it was the same with everything--one thing
after another! What else could you expect? The only tutor I valued--you,
Koll--had been dismissed; they considered you to be too freethinking.

Koll (smilingly). Oh, yes!

The King. The only real friend that dated from my happier days--you,
Harald, had been sent to the right about; you were a republican. It was
while I was in despair over that loss that I fell really in love for the
first time--with your sister, Harald. Banishment, again. What then?
Why, then the craving that every healthy youth feels--the desire for
love--was turned into dissolute channels. (Drinks.)

Gran. I understand, well enough.

The King. Well, put all those things together. That was what my life
was--until just lately. Because lately something happened, my dear
friends. And now you must help me! Because, to make a long story short,
either I mean to be the chief official in my country in a peaceful,
citizenlike, genuine way, or--as God is above me--I will no longer be
king! (Gets up, and the others do so.)

Koll. Ah, we have got it at last!

The King. Do you think I don't know that our republican friend there
spoke what is every thoughtful man's verdict upon me? (They are silent.)
But how could I possibly undertake my task, as long as I believed
everything to be make-believe and falsehood, without exception? Now I
know the root of the falsehood! It is in our institutions; he was quite
right. And one kind of falsehood begets another. You cannot imagine how
ludicrous it appeared to me--who up till then had led such a sinful,
miserable existence--when I saw honourable men pretending that I was a
being of some superior mould! I! (Walks up and down, then stops.) It is
the st