[From King Albert's Book.]
I have translated many books of Maeterlinck's; I have wandered with him
among the canals of Bruges and the fragrant gardens of Ghent; I have
seen the places where he dreamed of Pelléas and Mélisande, and the hives
of the bees he loved. Through him I learned to know Belgium, today all
the world knows. Her cities are laid waste now and her people scattered,
but her people will return and rebuild the cities, and the enemy will be
dust. The day will come when the war will be far distant, a thing of the
past, remote, forgotten, but never, while men endure or heroism counts,
will it be forgotten what the Belgians did for Liberty's sake and for
the sake of Albert, their King.