"Sire, I was afraid of you," said the trembling captive.
"Fear me! fear me, do you?" exclaimed the king in a rage, lashing his
riding-whip across the man's shoulders with every word. "You dog! I'll
teach you to love me!"
[Illustration: STATUE OF FREDERICK THE GREAT, UNTER DEN LINDEN,
BERLIN.]
It was in some such fashion that he sought to make his son love him, and
with much the same result. In fact, he seemed to entertain a bitter
dislike for the beautiful and delicate boy whom fortune had sent him as
an heir, and treated him with such brutal severity that the unhappy
child grew timid and fearful of his presence. This the harsh old despot
ascribed to cowardice, and became more violent accordingly.
On one occasion when young Frederick entered his room, something having
happened to excite his rage against him, he seized him by the hair,
flung him violently to the floor, and caned him until he had exhausted
the strength of his arm on the poor boy's body. His fury growing with
the exercise of it, he now dragged the unresisting victim to the
windows, seized the curtain cord, and twisted it tightly around his
neck.
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