Ernst and Falk: Dialogues for Freemasons

Ernst.

That is good! — It occurs to me that I have wanted to ask you something for a long time now.

Falk.

Then go ahead and ask.

Ernst.

Is it true, friend, that you are a Freemason? Freemasonry was a topic of intense intellectual debate during the Enlightenment; Lessing himself was a member of the order.

Falk.

That is the question of someone who is not one. original: "Die Frage ist eines der keiner ist." Falk implies that the very act of asking reveals Ernst's status as an outsider to the organization.

Ernst.

Certainly! — But answer me more directly. — Are you a Freemason?

The original manuscript includes a vocabulary list at the bottom: Ernst, Falk, Freemason, Dialogue, Lessing.