Seitz-Bunau

“Seitz-Bunau”

I stared at the lad. “I’m sorry?” My father laughed at him. 

“I’m the prince of Seitz-Bunau.” he reiterated crossly. “And sure enough you’ll take it no more seriously than anyone else on this god forsaken island, but I am a Leftenant in the King’s navy also, and that should be worth at least the delivery of a service paid for.” 

“You don’t look like a prince.” said my father. I jabbed him with my elbow. 

“You do look like a navy man.” I said. He did. 

He didn’t respond to that. Maybe he liked being called a navy man enough that not being called a prince didn’t bother him. I still wonder about that. 

Anyway I went and got him his beer, and my father fed him like he would anyone else, and I made sure he didn’t give the boy any of the bad potatoes. After that he left. 

When he put on his hat though, I asked him “Are you really a prince?.” 

“We’ll see.” he said. I thought that was very odd then, but I guess it makes sense now. 

---

The boy was about 20 when he came to me. This must have been 1812, and we were still waiting for the news out of Russia. 

“What sort of posting do you expect?” I asked him. I’d seen enough German “princes” and wanted to see his attitude. 

“A Leftenant’s posting certainly.” was his answer. Not what I’d feared, but tragically humorless. Of course as I talked to him his good humor showed itself, and even if it hadn’t, it was a relief just to have a princeling that didn’t demand himself a whole squadron. 

“How did you find your previous posting?” I asked him. “The good captain hasn’t corrupted you with loose women has he?” I was very stern about it. 

He was shocked at first, but very quickly he laughed. Anyone who knew his old captain could only have laughed. His English was very German when he spoke, but I think he took the meaning of what was said to him very naturally. 

“The good captain is, perhaps, too in love with the sea.” he said, chuckling. I liked that, so I decided to take him as my leftenant then and there. His previous captain had recommended him highly, and as odd a fellow as that captain was he was a good judge of character. I told him that, and what he asked me then struck me most of all. 

“Does your ship see much action against the French sir? Or will it?” he asked. Of course my first thought was, this boy is chasing prize money! But I think it was more than that.

“We’ll be joining the Channel Fleet.” I told him. “It’s hard, long, dull work. But when the French move we’re the first ones to fight them.” 

He seemed delighted, in a solid, German kind of way. 

---

A man in his mid 20s in an unusual uniform stepped out of the usual coach, a bit sharper than most of the soldiers that had gone through. I thought he must have been Austrian because his German was very good, but Elke told me it was an English uniform. He didn’t look like the Englishman we’d seen, but I found out later he was a sailor.

And his German was very good! Better than the Prussians we saw every day. He asked us if he was in Seitz-Bunau, and that surprised us! We told him, “There’s no such place anymore!” 

“I know.” he said, “But I want to visit all the same.” 

“Why?” I asked. I couldn’t think of what else to say. It had been such a small place to begin with, we didn’t think anyone from outside would care, or even remember us!

“Well of course, this is all Prussia now.” I said “But yes, this used to be Seitz. Bunau is just over the hill.”

This got him animated. He’d had a very serious manor before that, but he crumpled his fancy hat up in his hands grinning and asked “Where is the castle?” 

“There’s no castle I told him.” He looked troubled at that. 

“Destroyed in the war?” he asked. 

“No, there was never any castle near Seitz-Bunau.” I said, and he was shocked. “There’s the manor house on the hill in Bunau, but it’s changed hands too many times since the wars started I’m not even sure it’s still there.”

Elke had something to say about that. “Yanik says it’s still there. The Prussians are using it as a Barracks.” There was only one thing to say to that. “Whose Yanik?” 

The boy laughed. “Thank you, that’s exactly what I was looking for I think. It’s been a long journey already though, and I’m very tired. Could I arrange transport tomorrow if I stay here for the night?” 

“Nothing would be easier!” I told him. “And you’ll be wanting a meal as well.” 

The boy took a beer with his meal, but only a small one. Based on his German I’d expected him to drink more, but instead he asked for Rum! We didn’t have any. 

---

In Bunau there is a road that winds up the hill from the main street to an old manor house, now a barracks. It once was paved, but some of the pavement was damaged during the war and so we took all the stones out and used them elsewhere. At the time, that was still in progress, so there were paving stones along some parts and on other parts it was just the dirt. 

I was working to pry up some of these stones and stack them in a cart when the man came to us. “Is this the way to the manor house?” he asked us. 

I told him. “It’s just the barracks up there now. Do you have business there?” He seemed worried by that, and he told me “No.” pretty directly. 

“There’s guards posted and they won’t let you in except on military business.” I told him. I was surprised. His German was pretty good, but he was dressed in an English navy uniform. I’d expected him to be carrying some message for the coalition, if there was still such a thing. 

He thanked me and made to leave. He’d come half way up that hill, and judging by his uniform far out of his way to get there, just to turn back because I told him to! I’d think nothing of it normally, but I knew some men in the English Navy. I think I owe them all some debt after the way things went on the Black Sea. 

“If you want to see the barracks we can put you up there.” I told him. “You’re an ally judging by your uniform, and it’s much too big for the garrison now that the army’s all gone home.” 

I don’t think he’d have taken me up on it, but he was surprised enough to stop in his tracks. “Only help us finish this first.” I told him. 

Well, he helped us! Hung his coat on the cart and took to the stones with as much energy as the rest of us. He seemed to enjoy it. 

“Who are you exactly?” I asked him when we were finished and made to haul the cart up the hill to the barracks. 

“I’m prince... I’m leftenant Princeton.” he said. He had to think about it.

I had fought my way through enough little kingdoms to see through him. Well, Leftenant Princeton stayed with us that night. There were no officers there so he stayed with the rest of us, and drank with us and taught us how to say some things in English. Then he left the next morning. I asked him before he left “What brought you here? Visiting your old home perhaps?” 

He told me “No, I’ve never seen this place before.” 

That was a sad thing to hear. He seemed decent, and he certainly didn’t deserve that. He had that English uniform though. It was less than some of the lucky ones had, but much more than some of the unlucky ones. He was lucky to have that, at least.