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"In Great Poland126 there was then peace, as there is now in

Lithuania; suddenly the tidings spread abroad of a fearful

battle; a messenger from Pan Todwen rushed up to us. Grabowski

read the letter and cried: 'Jena! Jena!127 The Prussians are

smitten hip and thigh; victory!' Dismounting from my horse, I

immediately fell on my knees to thank the Lord God. We rode back

to the city as if on business, as if we knew nothing of the

matter; there we saw that all the landraths, hofraths,

commissioners and all similar rubbish were bowing low to us; they

all trembled and turned pale, like those cockroaches we call

Prussians, when one pours boiling water on them. Laughing and

rubbing our hands we asked humbly for news, and inquired what

they had heard from Jena. Thereupon terror seized them, they were

astonished that we already knew of that disaster. The Germans

cried, 'Ach Herri Gott! O Weh!' and, hanging their heads, they

ran into their houses, and then pell-mell out of their houses

again.