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AN
- Nay, my good Prince Peer!
PEER
- Let me go! You're mad,
- or else doting. Off to the hospital with you!
THE OLD MAN
- Oh, that is exactly what I'm in search of.
- But, as I told you, my grandson's offspring
- have become overwhelmingly strong in the land,
- and they say that I only exist in books.
- The saw says: One's kin are unkindest of all;
- I've found to my cost that that saying is true.
- It's cruel to count as mere figment and fable
PEER
- My dear man, there are others who share the same fate.
THE OLD MAN
- And ourselves we've no Mutual Aid Society,
- no alms-box or Penny Savings Bank;-
- in the Ronde, of course, they'd be out of place.
PEER
- No, that cursed: To thyself be enough was the word there!
THE OLD MAN
- Oh, come now, the Prince can't complain of the word.
- And if he could manage by hook or by crook-
PEER
- My man, you have got on the wrong scent entirel
