Emilie Oui?

Friedrich Francais, bon. Je parle un petit peu. J’ai un petite fille. Gisa. Ma fille est Gisa. Tu est? … Qu’elle est ça nom? … Ist egal. [No matter.] C’est pas important. Topthorn, Joey, have you said hello to the little French girl?

Enter Paulette.

Paulette Emilie!

Paulett protects Emilie from Friedrich while fearfully offering her papers.

Friedrich C’est pas un problem, madame. Les animaux et mois aime le petite filles.

Exit Paulette and Emilie.

Oh well. Can’t blame her too much, eh boys? We have invaded their country and made it part of ours – part of mine, that is. But only because they were about to attack us.

But oh, boys, that little girl reminds me so much of my daughter, Gisa … Look, here I am. Friedrich Muller, aged thirty-nine, not yet a ghost, photograph of wife, and daughter, Gisa …

Shall I tell you a secret? When I was fighting, I didn’t know what I was doing. My bowels opened. I was terrified. No – there’s a place beyond terrified, and I was in it. Three years training in the cavalry, five years in the reserve, all my life preparing to serve the Kaiser, riding my big, beautiful horse into battle and I was useless …

I fear that I’m a coward! Please, please do not tell anyone I said that. Please! But I don’t want to die like my Siegfried. I want to see my little Gisa again. Is that cowardice?

You could come home with me, you horses – you want to come to Germany? Back to Schleiden – it is not far, just the other side of Belgium. When this is over?

I wish it were over now. I might rather kill myself than go into the fighting again. How stupid is that? Dying like these men is so awful that I might rather kill myself? You heard the wounded men, you heard the noises they made before they died. I’ll be fighting again tomorrow.

There’s no one about, there’s no one watching me – I tell you, in the army, someone is always watching you, someone always knows where you are, but just at this moment no one does! When I rejoin the cavalry someone will always know where I am again.

So, shall I – what about this for a plan – shall I stay with you? That’s a good plan, ja? We’ve done good with this ambulance cart, haven’t we? And we could do more! It’s an important job, ja? What use am I in the fighting if I’m a coward? Cavalry is no use in this war – not with machine guns and barbed wire and trenches. We can win the war without useless me.

He takes succour from the fact that the horses don’t contradict him.

Look, my uniform, it is all battered about. I need a new one, don’t I? This poor man (Stein) – he’s about my size, ja?

Again, the horses don’t disagree.