Who's there?

The watch.

Which?

The first.

Stand, watch. Corporal, step forward! Present arms!

Sentinel, look well to your post. Maybe the Prince himself will go the rounds. See to it that be not found asleep on watch; otherwise it might cost you the best head on your shoulders.

Oh! Even if the whole company were here, not a man amongst them would sleep at his post. I must be relieved, or I'll run for it at the risk of hanging tomorrow on the highest gallows.

And why is that?

Oh, honored sir, a ghost appears here in this place every quarter of an hour, which unsettles me so much that I might fancy I was set down still alive in Purgatory.

The first sentinel, who was relieved in the last hour, has just told me the same story.

Ay, wait but a little while; it will not stay long away.

Upon my life, it is a ghost, and it looks extremely like the late King of Denmark!

He bears himself sadly, and seems to want to say something.

There is some mystery beneath this.