Ludwig Tieck

“ I am no longer Hanswurst, but rather an individual addressing the audience, an individual who is not a part of the theatrical illusion but is, as it were, outside the illusion: removed, rational, independent, untouched by the absurdity of art. ”

“ Hanswurst
on the other side
Your taste? Now you see how jealous he is — and yet you have all just declared that my taste and your taste were both cast in the same mould.
Playwright
I only wished, by means of the present play, to prepare you for still more extravagant products of my imagination.
Everyone in the pit
Eh? — What's he saying?
Playwright
For only by degrees can the mind be taught to love the fantastic and the humorous.
Hanswurst
The humorous! He talks big, but it's just a load of hot air. ”

“ Hanswurst
Naturally, that which hardly becomes a king is all the more appropriate for a fool; his majesty, therefore, has declined to appear before you, and so it falls to me to make this important announcement. ”