Many stories of doubtful veracity were circulated with regard to these theatre evenings. French, Russian, and American journalists depicted them in fantastic colours. The American humorist Mark Twain wrote amusingly of them; and his accounts won general credence on both sides of the Atlantic! "The opera concluded, and the artists having washed the paint off their faces, they are frequently ordered to re-dress, and singers and orchestra have to go through the opera a second time for the King," he writes in one of his books. "There is in the great Hof Theater an apparatus which, in case of fire, can put the whole stage under water. A violent storm was represented at one of these private performances. The theatre tempest howled, the thunder rolled. In a loud voice Ludwig shouted from his box: 'Good, very good! But I want real rain. Let the water flow!' The scene-shifter ventured to demur, representing that the decorations, no less than the silk and velvet curtains, would be destroyed. 'Never mind,' said the King; 'do as I bid you!' The water poured out over the stage, over the artificial flowers and houses. The singers were drenched; they put a bold face on it, and sang away bravely. The King applauded, and shouted 'Bravo! More thunder, more lighting!' he ordered. 'Bad luck to him who dares to leave the stage!'" Needless to say, Mark Twain's story was entirely the creation of his own brain; Ludwig laughed heartily when the description was read aloud to him. And yet the citizens of Munich were no less credulous on this point than the American public. They thought, among other things, that the King wrote his own plays; and they declared that his private performances raised the taxation of the country. CHAPTER XXIX King Ludwig and his Palaces Ludwig I. sacrificed millions of guldens in order to beautify his capital with structures in the antique and Renaissance styles. Ludwig II. inherited his grandfather's love of building. Writing to his son, King Otto of Greece, at Christmas 1852, Ludwig I. says: "When the Christmas presents were distributed, Ludwig was given some wooden bricks with which to construct a triumphal arch. I saw buildings by him which were excellent. I find a striking likeness between the future Ludwig II. and the politically defunct Ludwig I.!" He was at that time only seven years of age. At eleven he drew the plan of a hunting-box, which was to be built at Hintersee, in the vicinity of Berchtesgaden. The lodge was not built; but both his grandfather and Queen Maria were astonished at his early-developed gift. This drawing was given a place in his mother's album. Until he had completed his eighteenth year Ludwig had never any money in his hands: a few months after his eighteenth birthday he became the possessor of a yearly income of many millions of guldens. His riches appeared inexhaustible to him, and he thought it an easy matter to realise all his dreams.