The lion sometimes, in a spirit of undignified vengeance, did
not scorn to scratch like a cat.
Still, in those years, he learned something useful too--the strict
spirit of economy with which his father's narrow but able mind cared
for the welfare of his country and his household. When, to please the
king, he had to draw up leases, and took pains to increase the yield
of a domain by a few hundred thalers; or even entered unduly into the
hobbies of the king and proposed to him to kidnap a tall shepherd of
Mecklenburg as a recruit--these doings were at first, to be sure, only
a tedious means of propitiating the king, for he asked Grumbkow to
procure for him a man to make out the lists in his stead; the officers
in public and private service informed him where a surplus was to be
made, here and there, and he continued to ridicule the giant soldiers
whenever he could with impunity. Gradually, however, the new world
into which he had been transplanted, and the practical interests of
the people and of the State, became attractive to him. It was easy to
see that even his father's turn for economy was often tyrannical and
whimsical. The king was always convinced that he wished nothing but
the best for his country, and therefore took the liberty to interfere,
in the most arbitrary manner, even in the details of the property and
business of private persons. He ordered, for instance, that no he-goat
should run with the ewes; that all colored sheep, gray, black, or
piebald, should be completely disposed of within three years, and only
fine white wool be tolerated; he prescribed exactly how the copper
standard measures of the Berlin bushel, which he had sent all over the
country (at the expense of his subjects) should be preserved and kept
locked up so as to get no dents.
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