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diff --git a/40004-0.txt b/40004-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..006f93f --- /dev/null +++ b/40004-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12797 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40004 *** + + THE LEGEND OF ULENSPIEGEL + + And Lamme Goedzak, and their Adventures + Heroical, Joyous and Glorious + in the Land of Flanders and Elsewhere + + By + CHARLES DE COSTER + + Translated by + F. M. Atkinson + + + + Vol. II + + + + 1922 + + London: William Heinemann + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Page + + Book III 1 + Book IV 197 + Book V 305 + + + + + + + + THE LEGEND OF ULENSPIEGEL AND LAMME GOEDZAK + + AND THEIR ADVENTURES HEROICAL, JOYOUS, + AND GLORIOUS IN THE LAND OF + FLANDERS AND ELSEWHERE. + + +BOOK III + + +I + +He goes away, the Silent One, God guideth him. + +The two counts have been seized already; Alba promises the Silent +One lenity and pardon if he will present himself before him. + +At this news, Ulenspiegel said to Lamme: "The Duke summons, at the +instance of Dubois, the procurator general, the Prince of Orange, +Ludwig his brother, De Hoogstraeten, Van den Bergh, Culembourg, +de Brederode, and other friends of the Prince's, to appear before +him within thrice fourteen days, promising them good justice and +grace. Listen, Lamme, and hearken: One day a Jew of Amsterdam summoned +one of his enemies to come down into the street; the summoner was on +the pavement and the summoned at a window. + +"'Come down, then,' said the summoner to the summoned, 'and I will +give thee such a cuff on the head with my fist that it will tumble +into thy breast, and thou shalt look through thy ribs like a thief +through the bars of his prison.' + +"The summoned replied: 'Even if thou wast to promise me an hundredfold +more, I would not come down even then.' And so may Orange and the +others answer." + +And they did so, refusing to appear. Egmont and de Hoorn did not follow +their example. And weakness in duty evokes the hour of God and fate. + + + + + +II + +At this time were beheaded on the Horse Market at Brussels the sires +d'Andelot, the sons of Battemberg and other renowned and valiant lords, +that had wished to seize Amsterdam by surprise. + +And while they were going to execution, being eighteen in number, +and singing hymns, the drummers drummed before and behind, all along +the way. + +And the Spanish troopers escorting them and carrying blazing torches +burned their bodies with them all over. And when they writhed because +of the pain, the troopers would say: "What now, Lutherans, does that +hurt then to be burned so soon?" + +And he that had betrayed them was called Dierick Slosse, who brought +them to Enkhuyse, that was still Catholic, to hand them over to the +duke's catchpolls. + +And they died valiantly. + +And the king inherited. + + + + + +III + +"Didst thou see him go by?" said Ulenspiegel, clad as a woodman, +to Lamme similarly accoutred. "Didst thou see the foul duke with his +forehead flat above like an eagle's, and his long beard like a rope end +dangling from a gallows? May God strangle him with it! Didst thou see +that spider with his long hairy legs that Satan vomiting spat out upon +our country? Come, Lamme, come; we will fling stones into his web...." + +"Alas!" said Lamme, "we shall be burned alive." + +"Come to Groenendal, my dear friend; come to Groenendal, there is a +noble cloister whither His Spiderly Dukishness goes to pray to the God +of peace to allow him to perfect his work, which is to rejoice his +black spirits wallowing in carrion. We are in Lent, and it is only +blood from which His Dukishness has no mind to fast. Come, Lamme, +there are five hundred armed horsemen roundabout the house of Ohain; +three hundred footmen have set out in little bands and are entering +the forest of Soignes. + +"Presently, when Alba is at his devotions, we shall run out upon him, +and having taken him, we shall put him in a good iron cage and send +him to the prince." + +But Lamme, shivering in anguish: + +"A great risk, my son," he said to Ulenspiegel. "A great risk! I would +follow you in this emprise were not my legs so weak, if my belly was +not so blown out by reason of the thin sour beer they drink in this +town of Brussels." + +This discourse was held in a hole dug in the earth in a wood, in the +middle of the undergrowth. Suddenly, looking through the leaves as +though out of a burrow, they saw the yellow and red coats of the +Duke's troopers, whose weapons glittered in the sun and who were +going afoot through the wood. + +"We are betrayed," said Ulenspiegel. + +When he saw the troopers no more, he ran at top speed as far as +Ohain. The troopers let him pass without noticing him, because of +his woodcutter's clothes and the load of wood he carried on his +back. There he found the horsemen waiting; he spread the news, all +scattered and escaped except the sire de Bausart d'Armentières who +was taken. As for the footmen that were coming from Brussels, they +could not find a single one. + +And it was a cowardly traitor in the regiment of the Sieur de Likes +that betrayed them all. + +The Sire de Bausart paid cruelly for the others. + +Ulenspiegel went, his heart beating wildly with anguish, to see his +cruel punishment in the Cattle Market at Brussels. + +And poor d'Armentières, put upon the wheel, received thirty-seven +blows of an iron bar on legs, arms, feet, and hands, which were +broken to pieces one by one, for the murderers desired to see him +suffer terribly. + +And he received the thirty-seventh on the breast, and of that one +he died. + + + + + +IV + +On a June day, bright and sweet, there was erected at Brussels, +on the marketplace in front of the City Hall, a scaffold covered +with black draperies, and hard by two tall stakes with iron spiked +ends. Upon the scaffold were two black cushions and a little table +on which there was a silver crucifix. + +And on this scaffold were put to death by the sword the noble counts +of Egmont and of Hoorn. And the king inherited. + +And the ambassador of François, the first of that name, said, speaking +of Egmont: + +"I have just seen the head cut from off the man that twice caused +France to tremble." + +And the heads of the counts were set on the iron spikes. + +And Ulenspiegel said to Lamme: + +"The bodies and the blood are covered with black cloth. Blessed be +they that shall hold their heart high and the sword straight in the +black days that are at hand!" + + + + + +V + +At this time the Silent One gathered an army and invaded the Low +Countries from three sides. + +And Ulenspiegel said at a meeting of Wild Beggars at Marenhout: + +"Upon the advice of the Inquisitors, Philip, the king, has declared +each and every inhabitant of the Low Countries guilty of treason +through heresy, both for adherence to it and for not having opposed +it, and in consideration of this execrable crime, condemns them all, +without respect to sex or age, excepting those that are expressly +noted by name, to the penalties attached to such misdemeanours; +and that without hope of grace. The king inherits. Death is reaping +throughout the wide rich lands that border on the Northern Sea, +the country of Emden, the river Amise, the countries of Westphalia, +of Clèves, of Juliers and of Liége, the bishoprics of Cologne and +of Trèves, the countries of Lorraine and of France. Death is reaping +over a land of three hundred and forty leagues, in two hundred walled +cities, in a hundred and fifty villages holding city rights, in the +countryside in bourgs and plains. The king inherits. + +"It is nowise too much," he went on, "eleven thousand butchers to +do the work. Alba calls them soldiers. And the land of our fathers +has become a charnel house whence the arts are taking flight, which +the trades abandon, whence industries are departing to go and enrich +foreigners, who allow them in their land to worship the God of the +free conscience. Death and Ruin are reaping. The king inherits. + +"The countries had acquired their privileges by dint of money given +to needy princes; these privileges are confiscated. They had hoped, in +accordance with the contracts entered upon and passed between them and +the sovereigns, to enjoy riches as the fruit of their labours. They +are deceived: the mason builds for the fire, the worker toils for +the thief. The king inherits. + +"Blood and tears! death reaps at the stake; upon the trees that serve +as gallows all along the highways; in the open graves wherein poor +girls are thrown alive; in the judicial drownings of the prisons, +in the circles of blazing faggots within which the victims burn by +slow fire, in the wrappings of burning straw in which the victims +die in flame and smoke. The king inherits. + +"So has willed the Pope in Rome. + +"The cities are bursting with spies waiting for their share of the +victims' goods. The richer a man is, the guiltier he is. The king +inherits. + +"But the valiant men of the countries will not suffer themselves to be +slain like lambs. Among those that flee there are armed men that take +shelter in the woods. The monks had denounced them that they might be +slain and their goods seized. And so by night, by day, by bands, like +wild beasts they rush upon the cloisters, and take back from thence the +money stolen from the poor people, in the shape of candelabra, gold +and silver shrines, pyxes, patens, precious vases. Is not that so, +good fellows? They drink from them the wine the monks were keeping +for themselves. The vases melted down or pledged will serve for the +holy war. Long live the Beggars!" + +"They harass the king's soldiers, slay them and strip them, and then +they flee into their dens. Day and night fires are seen lighted and +extinguished, changing place incessantly. They are the fires of our +feastings. For us the game, both fur and feather. We are lords. The +peasants give us bread and bacon when we want it. Lamme, look at +them. Raggedy, fierce, resolute, and proud eyed, they wander about +the woods with their hatchets, halberds, long swords, daggers, pikes, +lances, crossbows, arquebuses, for all weapons are good to them, +and they will never march under ensigns. Long live the Beggars! + +And Ulenspiegel sang: + + + "Slaet op den trommele van dirre dom deyne + Slaet op den trommele van dirre doum, doum. + Beat upon the drum! van dirre dom deyne, + Beat upon the drum of war. + + "Let them tear out his bowels from the Duke! + Let them lash his face with them! + Slaet op den trommele, beat upon the drum + Cursed be the Duke! Death to the murderer. + + "Let him be thrown to dogs! Death to the + Butcher! Long live the Beggars! + Let him be hanged by the tongue + And by the arm, by the tongue that orders, + And by the arm that signs the sentence of death. + + Slaet op den trommele. + Beat upon the war drum. Long live the Beggar! + + "Let the Duke be shut up alive with his victims' bodies! + In the noisome stench + Let him die of the corpse plague! + Beat upon the war drum. Long live the Beggar! + + "Christ from on high look on thy soldiers, + Risking the fire, the rope, + The sword for thy word's sake. + They will deliverance for the land of their fathers. + Slaet op den trommele, van dirre dom deyne. + Beat upon the war drum. Long live the Beggar!" + + +And all set to drinking and shouting: + + + "Long live the Beggar!" + + +And Ulenspiegel, drinking from the gilt tankard of a monk, looked +proudly round on the valiant faces of the Wild Beggars. + +"Wild men," said he, "ye are wolves, lions, and tigers. Eat the dogs +of the bloody king." + +"Long live the Beggar!" said they, singing: + + + "Slaet op den trommele van dirre dom deyne; + Slaet op den trommele van dirre dom dom: + Beat upon the war drum. Long live the Beggar!" + + + + + +VI + +Ulenspiegel, being at Ypres, was recruiting soldiers for the Prince: +pursued by the Duke's catchpolls, he offered himself as beadle to the +provost of Saint Martin. There he had for his companion a bellringer +called Pompilius Numan, a coward of the deepest dye, who at night +took his own shadow for the devil and his shirt for a ghost. + +The provost was fat and plump as a hen fattened just ripe for the +spit. Ulenspiegel soon saw on what grass he grazed to make himself +so much pork. According to what he heard from the bellringer and +saw with his own eyes, the provost dined at nine and supped at four +by the clock. He stayed in bed until half-past eight; then before +dinner he went walking in his church to see if the poor-boxes were +well filled. And the half he put into his own pouch. At nine o'clock +he dined on a bowl of milk, half a leg of mutton, a little heron pie, +and emptied five tankards of Brussels wine. At ten, sucking a few +prunes and washing them down with Orleans wine, he prayed God never to +bring him in the way of gluttony. At noon, he ate, to pass the time, +a wing and rump of a chicken. At one o'clock, thinking of his supper, +he drained a big draught of Spanish wine; then stretching himself +out on his bed, refreshed himself with a little nap. + +Awaking, he would eat a little salted salmon to whet his appetite, +and drink a great tankard of dobbel-knol of Antwerp. Then he would +go down into the kitchen, sit down before the chimney place and the +noble wood fire that flamed in it. There he watched roasting and +browning for the abbey monks a big piece of veal or a well-scalded +little pigling, that he would have eaten more gladly than a piece of +bread. But his appetite was a little wanting. And he would study the +spit, which turned by itself like a miracle. It was the work of Peter +van Steenkiste the smith, who lived in the castellany of Courtrai. The +provost paid him fifteen Paris livres for one of these spits. + +Then he would go up again to his bed, and dozing upon it through +fatigue, he would wake up about three o'clock to gulp in a little +pig jelly washed down with wine of Romagna at two hundred and forty +florins the hogshead. At three he would eat a fledgling chick with +Madeira sugar and empty two glasses of malvoisie at seventeen florins +the keg. At half-past three, he took half a pot of preserves and +washed it down with hydromel. Being now well awaked, he would take +one foot in his hand and rest in meditation. + +The moment of supper being come, the curé of Saint Jean would often +arrive to visit him at this succulent hour. They sometimes disputed +which could eat most fish, poultry, game, and meat. The one that +was quickest filled must pay a dish of carbonadoes for the other, +with three hot wines, four spices, and seven vegetables. + +Thus drinking and eating, they talked together of heretics, being +of opinion anyhow that it was impossible to do away with too many of +them. And then they never fell into any quarrel, except only when they +were discussing the thirty-nine ways of making good soups with beer. + +Then drooping their venerable heads upon their priestly paunches, they +would snore. Sometimes half waking, one of them would say that life in +this world is very sweet and that poor folk are very wrong to complain. + +This was the saintly man whose beadle Ulenspiegel became. He served +him well during mass, not without filling the flagons three times, +twice for himself and once for the provost. The ringer Pompilius +Numan helped him at it on occasion. + +Ulenspiegel, who saw Pompilius so flourishing, paunchy, and full +cheeked, asked him if it was in the provost's service he had laid up +for himself this treasure of enviable health. + +"Aye, my son," replied Pompilius, "but shut the door tight for fear +that one might listen to us." + +Then speaking in a whisper: + +"You know," said he, "that our master the provost loveth all wines +and beers, all meats and fowl, with a surpassing love. And so he locks +his meats in a cupboard and his wines in a cellar, the keys of which +are ever in his pouch. And he sleeps with his hand on them.... By +night when he sleeps I go and take his keys from his pouch and put +them back again, not without trembling, my son, for if he knew my +crime he would have me boiled alive." + +"Pompilius," said Ulenspiegel, "it needs not to take all that trouble, +but the keys one time only; I shall make keys on this pattern and we +shall leave the others on the paunch of the good provost." + +"Make them, my son," said Pompilius. + +Ulenspiegel made the keys; as soon as he and Pompilius judged +about eight of the clock in the evening that the good provost was +asleep they would go down and take what they chose of meats and +bottles. Ulenspiegel would carry two bottles and Pompilius the meats, +because Pompilius always was trembling like a leaf, and hams and legs +of mutton do not break in falling. They took possession of fowl more +than once before they were cooked, which brought about the accusation +of several cats belonging to the neighbourhood, which were done to +death for the crime. + +They went thereafter into the Ketel-straat, which is the street of +the bona robas. There they spared nothing, giving liberally to their +dears smoked beef and ham, saveloys and poultry, and gave them wine +of Orleans and Romagna to drink, and Ingelsche bier, which they called +ale on the other side of the sea, and which they poured in floods down +the fresh throats of the pretty ladies. And they were paid in caresses. + +However, one morning after dinner the provost sent for both of +them. He had a formidable look, sucking a marrow bone in soup, not +without anger. + +Pompilius was trembling in his shoes, and his belly was shaken with +fear. Ulenspiegel, keeping quiet, felt at the cellar keys in his +pocket with pleased satisfaction. + +The provost, addressing him, said: + +"Someone is drinking my wine and eating my fowl, is it thou, my son?" + +"No," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"And this ringer," said the provost, pointing to Pompilius, "hath not +he dipped his hands in this crime, for he is pallid as a dying man, +assuredly because the stolen wine is poison to him." + +"Alas! Messire," answered Ulenspiegel, "you wrongly accuse your ringer, +for if he is pale, it is not from having drunk wine, but for want +of drinking enough, from which cause he is so loosened that if he is +not stopped his very soul will escape by streams into his shoes." + +"The poor we have always with us," said the provost, taking a deep +draught of wine from his tankard. "But tell me, my son, if thou, +who hast the eyes of a lynx, hast not seen the robbers?" + +"I will keep good watch for them, Messire Provost," replied +Ulenspiegel. + +"May God have you both in his joy, my children," said the provost, +"and live soberly. For it is from intemperance that many evils come +upon us in this vale of tears. Go in peace." + +And he blessed them. + +And he sucked another marrow bone in soup, and drank another great +draught of wine. + +Ulenspiegel and Pompilius went out from him. + +"This scurvy fellow," said Ulenspiegel, "would not have given you a +single drop of his wine to drink. It will be blessed bread to steal +more from him still. But what ails you that you are shivering?" + +"My shoes are full of water," said Pompilius. + +"Water dries quickly, my son," said Ulenspiegel. "But be merry, +to-night there will be flagon music in the Ketel-straat. And we will +fill up the three night watchmen, who will watch the town with snores." + +Which was done. + +However, they were close to Saint Martin's day: the church was adorned +for the feast. Ulenspiegel and Pompilius went in by night, shut the +doors close, lit all the wax candles, took a viol and bagpipe, and +began to play on these instruments all they might. And the candles +flared like suns. But that was not all. Their task being done, they +went to the provost, whom they found afoot, in spite of the late hour, +munching a thrush, drinking Rhenish wine and opening both eyes to +see the church windows lit up. + +"Messire Provost," said Ulenspiegel to him, "would you know who eats +your meats and drinks your wines?" + +"And this illumination," said the provost, pointing to the windows +of the church. "Ah! Lord God, dost thou allow Master Saint Martin +thus to burn, by night and without paying, poor monks' wax candles?" + +"He is doing something besides, Messire Provost," said Ulenspiegel, +"but come." + +The provost took his crozier and followed with them; they went into +the church. + +There, he saw, in the middle of the great nave, all the saints come +down from their niches, ranged round and as it seemed commanded +by Saint Martin, who out-topped them all by a head, and from the +forefinger of his hand, outstretched to bless, held up a roast +turkey. The others had in their hands or were lifting to their mouths +pieces of chicken or goose, sausages, hams, fish raw and cooked, +and among other things a pike weighing full fourteen pounds. And +every one had at his feet a flask of wine. + +At this sight the provost, losing himself wholly in anger, became +so red and his face was so congested, that Pompilius and Ulenspiegel +thought he would burst, but the provost, without paying any heed to +them, went straight up to Saint Martin, threatening him as if he would +have laid the crime of the others to his charge, tore the turkey away +from his finger and struck him such heavy blows that he broke his arm, +his nose, his crozier, and his mitre. + +As for the others, he did not spare them bangs and thumps, and more +than one under his blows laid aside arms, hands, mitre, crozier, +scythe, axes, gridirons, saw, and other emblems of dignity and of +martyrdom. Then the provost, his belly shaking in front of him, +went himself to put out all the candles with rage and speed. + +He carried away all he could of hams, fowl, and sausages, and bending +beneath the load he came back to his bedchamber so doleful and angry +that he drank, draught upon draught, three great flasks of wine. + +Ulenspiegel, being well assured that he was sleeping, took away to +the Ketel-straat all the provost thought he had rescued, and also +all that remained in the church, not without first supping on the +best pieces. And they laid the remains and fragments at the feet of +the saints. + +Next day Pompilius was ringing the bell for matins; Ulenspiegel went +up into the provost's sleeping chamber and asked him to come down +once more into the church. + +There, showing him the broken pieces of saints and fowls, he said +to him: + +"Messire Provost, you did all in vain, they have eaten all the same." + +"Aye," replied the provost, "they have come up to my sleeping chamber, +like robbers, and taken what I had saved. Ah, master saints, I will +complain to the Pope about this." + +"Aye," replied Ulenspiegel, "but the procession is the day after +to-morrow, the workmen will presently be coming into the church: if +they see there all these poor mutilated saints, are you not afraid +of being accused of iconoclasm?" + +"Ah! Master Saint Martin," said the provost, "spare me the fire, +I knew not what I did!" + +Then turning to Ulenspiegel, while the timid bellringer was swinging +to his bells: + +"They could never," said he, "between now and Sunday, mend Saint +Martin. What am I to do, and what will the people say?" + +"Messire," answered Ulenspiegel, "we must employ an innocent +subterfuge. We shall glue on a beard on the face of Pompilius; it is +always respectable, being always melancholic; we shall dight him up +with the Saint's mitre, alb, amice, and great cloak; we shall enjoin +upon him to stand well and fast on his pedestal, and the people will +take him for the wooden Saint Martin." + +The provost went to Pompilius who was swaying on the ropes. + +"Cease to ring," said he, "and listen to me: would you earn fifteen +ducats? On Sunday, the day of the procession, you shall be Saint +Martin. Ulenspiegel will get you up properly, and if when you are borne +by your four men you make one movement or utter one word, I will have +you boiled alive in oil in the great caldron the executioner has just +had built on the market square." + +"Monseigneur, I give you thanks," said Pompilius; "but you know that +I find it hard to contain my water." + +"You must obey," replied the provost. + +"I shall obey, Monseigneur," said Pompilius, very pitifully. + + + + + +VII + +Next day, in bright sunshine, the procession issued forth from the +church. Ulenspiegel had, as best he could, patched up the twelve saints +that balanced themselves on their pedestals between the banners of +the guilds, then came the statue of Our Lady; then the daughters of +the Virgin all clad in white and singing anthems; then the archers +and crossbowmen; then the nearest to the dais and swaying more than +the others, Pompilius sinking under the heavy accoutrements of Master +Saint Martin. + +Ulenspiegel, having provided himself with itching powder, had himself +clothed Pompilius with his episcopal costume, had put on his gloves and +given him his crozier and taught him the Latin fashion of blessing the +people. He had also helped the priests to clothe themselves. On some +he put their stole, on others their amice, on the deacons the alb. He +ran hither and thither through the church, restoring the folds of +doublet or breeches. He admired and praised the well-furbished weapons +of the crossbowmen, and the formidable bows of the confraternity of +the archers. And on everyone he poured, on ruff, on back or wrist, +a pinch of itching powder. But the dean and the four bearers of Saint +Martin were those that got most of it. As for the daughters of the +Virgin, he spared them for the sake of their sweetness and grace. + +The procession went forth, banners in the wind, ensigns displayed, +in goodly order. Men and women crossed themselves as they saw it +passing. And the sun shone hot. + +The dean was the first to feel the effect of the powder, and scratched +a little behind his ear. All, priests, archers, crossbowmen, were +scratching neck, legs, wrists, without daring to do it openly. The +four bearers were scratching, too, but the bellringer, itching worse +than any, for he was more exposed to the hot sun, did not dare even +to budge for fear of being boiled alive. Screwing up his nose, he +made an ugly grimace and trembled on his tottery legs, for he nearly +fell every time his bearers scratched themselves. + +But he did not dare to move, and let his water go through fear, +and the bearers said: + +"Great Saint Martin, is it going to rain now?" + +The priests were singing a hymn to Our Lady. + + + "Si de coe ... coe ... coe ... lo descenderes + O sanc ... ta ... ta ... ta ... Ma ... ma ... ria." + + +For their voices shook because of the itching, which became excessive, +but they scratched themselves modestly and parsimoniously. Even so +the dean and the four bearers of Saint Martin had their necks and +wrists torn to pieces. Pompilius stayed absolutely still, tottering +on his poor legs, which were itching the most. + +But lo on a sudden all the crossbowmen, archers, deacons, +priests, dean, and the bearers of Saint Martin stopped to scratch +themselves. The powder made the soles of Pompilius's feet itch, +but he dared not budge for fear of falling. + +And the curious said that Saint Martin rolled very fierce eyes and +showed a very threatening mien to the poor populace. + +Then the dean started the procession going again. + +Soon the hot sun that was falling straight down on all these +processional backs and bellies made the effect of the powder +intolerable. + +And then priests, archers, crossbowmen, deacons, and dean were seen, +like a troop of apes, stopping and scratching shamelessly wherever +they itched. + +The daughters of the Virgin sang their hymn, and it was as the angels' +singing, all those fresh pure voices mounting towards the sky. + +All went off wherever and however they could: the dean, still +scratching, rescued the Holy Sacrament; the pious people carried the +relics into the church; Saint Martin's four bearers threw Pompilius +roughly on the ground. There, not daring to scratch, move, or speak, +the poor bellringer shut his eyes devoutly. + +Two lads would have carried him away, but finding him too heavy, they +stood him upright against a wall, and there Pompilius shed big tears. + +The populace assembled round about him; the women had gone to fetch +handkerchiefs of fine white linen and wiped his face to preserve his +tears as relics, and said to him: "Monseigneur, how hot you are!" + +The bellringer looked at them piteously, and in spite of himself, +made grimaces with his nose. + +But as the tears were rolling copiously from his eyes, the women said: + +"Great Saint Martin, are you weeping for the sins of the town of +Ypres? Is not that your honoured nose moving? Yet we have followed the +counsel of Louis Vivès and the poor of Ypres will have wherewithal to +work and wherewithal to eat. Oh! the big tears! They are pearls. Our +salvation is here." + +The men said: + +"Must we, great Saint Martin, pull down the Ketel-straat in our +town? But teach us above all ways of preventing poor girls from going +out at night and so falling into a thousand adventures." + +Suddenly the people cried out: + +"Here is the beadle!" + +Ulenspiegel then came up, and taking Pompilius round the body, carried +him off on his shoulders followed by the crowd of devout men and women. + +"Alas!" said the poor ringer, whispering in his ear, "I shall die of +itch, my son." + +"Keep stiff," answered Ulenspiegel; "do you forget that you are a +wooden saint?" + +He ran on at full speed and set down Pompilius before the provost +who was currying himself with his nails till the blood came. + +"Bellringer," said the provost, "have you scratched yourself like us?" + +"No, Messire," answered Pompilius. + +"Have you spoken or moved?" + +"No, Messire," replied Pompilius. + +"Then," said the provost, "you shall have your fifteen ducats. Now +go and scratch yourself." + + + + + +VIII + +The next day, the people, having learned from Ulenspiegel what had +happened, said it was a wicked mockery to make them worship as a +saint a whining fellow who could not hold in his water. + +And many became heretics. And setting out with all their goods, +they hastened to swell the prince's army. + +Ulenspiegel returned towards Liége. + +Being alone in the wood he sat down and pondered. Looking at the +bright sky, he said: + +"War, always war, so that the Spanish enemy may slay the poor people, +pillage our goods, violate our wives and daughters. And all the while +our goodly money goes, and our blood flows in rivers without profit +to any one, except for this royal churl that would fain add another +jewel of authority to his crown. A jewel that he imagines glorious, +a jewel of blood, a jewel of smoke. Ah! if I could jewel thee as I +desire, there would be none but flies to desire thy company." + +As he thought on these things he saw pass before him a whole herd of +stags. There were some among them old and tall, with their dowcets +still, and proudly wearing their antlers with nine points. Graceful +brockets, which are their squires, trotted alongside them seeming all +prepared to give them succour with their pointed horns. Ulenspiegel +knew not where they were going, but judged that it was to their lair. + +"Ah!" said he, "old stags and graceful brockets, ye are going, merry +and proud, into the depths of the woodland to your lair, eating +the young shoots, snuffling up the balmy scents, happy until the +hunter-murderer shall come. Even so with us, old stags and brockets!" + +And the ashes of Claes beat upon Ulenspiegel's breast. + + + + + +IX + +In September, when the gnats cease from biting, the Silent One, with +six field guns and four great cannon to talk for him, and fourteen +thousand Flemings, Walloons, and Germans, crossed the Rhine at +Saint Vyt. + +Under the yellow-and-red ensigns of the knotty staff of Burgundy, a +staff that bruised our countries for long, the rod of the beginning of +servitude that Alba wielded, the bloody duke, there marched twenty-six +thousand five hundred men, and rumbled along seventeen field pieces +and nine big guns. + +But the Silent One was not to have any good success in this war, +for Alba continually refused battle. + +And his brother Ludwig, the Bayard of Flanders, after many cities +won, and many ships held to ransom on the Rhine, lost at Jemmingen +in Frisia to the duke's son sixteen guns, fifteen hundred horses, +and twenty ensigns, all through certain cowardly mercenary troops, +who demanded money when it was the hour of battle. + +And through ruin, blood, and tears, Ulenspiegel vainly sought the +salvation of the land of our fathers. + +And the executioners throughout the countries were hanging, beheading, +burning the poor innocent victims. + +And the king was inheriting. + + + + + +X + +Going through the Walloon country, Ulenspiegel saw that the prince +had no succour to hope for thence, and so he came up to the town +of Bouillon. + +Little by little he saw appearing on the road more and more hunchbacks +of every age, sex, and condition. All of them, equipped with large +rosaries, were devoutly telling their beads on them. + +And their prayers were as the croakings of frogs in a pond at night +when the weather is warm. + +There were hunchback mothers carrying hunchback children, whilst +other children of the same brood clung to their skirts. And there were +hunchbacks on the hills and hunchbacks in the plains. And everywhere +Ulenspiegel saw their thin silhouettes standing out against the +clear sky. + +He went to one and said to him: + +"Whither go all these poor men, women, and children?" + +The man replied: + +"We are going to the tomb of Master Saint Remacle to pray him that +he will grant what our hearts desire, by taking from off our backs +his lump of humiliation." + +Ulenspiegel rejoined: + +"Could Master Saint Remacle give me also what my heart desireth, +by taking from off the back of the poor communes the bloody duke, +who weighs upon them like a leaden hump?" + +"He hath not charge to remove humps of penance," replied the pilgrim. + +"Did he remove others?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +"Aye, when the humps are young. If then the miracle of healing takes +place, we hold revel and feasting throughout all the town. And every +pilgrim gives a piece of silver, and oftentimes a gold florin to the +happy one that is cured, becomes a saint thereby and with power to +pray with efficacy for the others." + +Ulenspiegel said: + +"Why doeth the wealthy Master Saint Remacle, like a rascal apothecary, +make folk pay for his cures?" + +"Impious tramp, he punishes blasphemers!" replied the pilgrim, +shaking his hump in fury. + +"Alas!" groaned Ulenspiegel. + +And he fell doubled up at the foot of a tree. + +The pilgrim, looking down on him, said: + +"Master Saint Remacle smites hard when he smites." + +Ulenspiegel bent up his back, and scratching at it, whined: + +"Glorious saint, take pity. It is chastisement. I feel between my +shoulder bones a bitter agony. Alas! O! O! Pardon, Master Saint +Remacle. Go, pilgrim, go, leave me here alone, like a parricide, +to weep and to repent." + +But the pilgrim had fled away as far as the Great Square of Bouillon, +where all the hunchbacks were gathered. + +There, shivering with fear, he told them, speaking brokenly: + +"Met a pilgrim as straight as a poplar ... a blaspheming pilgrim +... hump on his back ... a burning hump!" + +The pilgrims, hearing this, they gave vent to a thousand joyful +outcries, saying: + +"Master Saint Remacle, if you give humps, you can take them away. Take +away our humps, Master Saint Remacle!" + +Meanwhile, Ulenspiegel left his tree. Passing through the empty suburb, +he saw, at the low door of a tavern, two bladders swinging from a +stick, pigs' bladders, hung up in this fashion as a sign of a fair +of black puddings, panch kermis as they say in the country of Brabant. + +Ulenspiegel took one of the two bladders, picked up from the ground +the backbone of a schol, which the French call dried plaice, drew +blood from himself, made some blood run into the bladder, blew it +up, sealed it, put it on his back, and on it placed the backbone of +the schol. Thus equipped, with his back arched, his head wagging, +and his legs tottering like an old humpback, he came out on the square. + +The pilgrim that had witnessed his fall saw him and cried out: + +"Here is the blasphemer!" + +And pointed to him with his finger. And all ran to see the afflicted +one. + +Ulenspiegel nodded his head piteously. + +"Ah!" said he, "I deserve neither grace nor pity; slay me like a +mad dog." + +And the humpbacks, rubbing their hands, said: + +"One more in our fraternity." + +Ulenspiegel, muttering between his teeth: "I will make you pay for +that, evil ones," appeared to endure all patiently, and said: + +"I will neither eat nor drink, even to fortify my hump, until Master +Saint Remacle has deigned to heal me even as he has smitten me." + +At the rumour of the miracle the dean came out of the church. He was +a tall man, portly and majestic. Nose in wind, he clove the sea of +the hunchbacks like a ship. + +They pointed out Ulenspiegel; he said to him: + +"Is it thou, good fellow, that the scourge of Saint Remacle has +smitten?" + +"Yea, Messire Dean," replied Ulenspiegel, "it is indeed I his humble +worshipper who would fain be cured of his new hump, if it please him." + +The dean, smelling some trick under this speech: + +"Let me," said he, "feel this hump." + +"Feel it, Messire," answered Ulenspiegel. + +And having done so, the dean: + +"It is," said he, "of recent date and wet. I hope, however, that +Master Saint Remacle will be pleased to act pitifully. Follow me." + +Ulenspiegel followed the dean and went into the church. The humpbacks, +walking behind him, cried out: "Behold the accursed! Behold the +blasphemer! What doth it weigh, thy fresh hump? Wilt thou make a bag +of it to put thy patacoons in? Thou didst mock at us all thy life +because thou wast straight: now it is our turn. Glory be to Master +Saint Remacle!" + +Ulenspiegel, without uttering a word, bending his head, still +following the dean, went into a little chapel where there was a tomb +all marble covered with a great flat slab also of marble. Between +the tomb and the chapel wall there was not the space of the span of +a large hand. A crowd of humpbacked pilgrims, following one another +in single file, passed between the wall and the slab of the tomb, +on which they rubbed their humps in silence. And thus they hoped to +be delivered. And those that were rubbing their humps were loath to +give place to those that had not yet rubbed theirs, and they fought +together, but without any noise, only daring to strike sly blows, +humpbacks' blows, because of the holiness of the place. + +The dean bade Ulenspiegel get up on the flat top of the tomb, +that all the pilgrims might see him plainly. Ulenspiegel replied: +"I cannot get up by myself." + +The dean helped him up and stationed himself beside him, bidding +him kneel down. Ulenspiegel did so and remained in this posture, +with head hanging. + +The dean then, having meditated, preached and said in a sonorous voice: + +"Sons and brothers of Jesus Christ, ye see at my feet the greatest +child of impiety, vagabond, and blasphemer that Saint Remacle hath +ever smitten with his anger." + +And Ulenspiegel, beating upon his breast, said: "Confiteor." + +"Once," went on the dean, "he was straight as a halberd shaft, and +gloried in it. See him now, humpbacked and bowed under the stroke of +the celestial curse." + +"Confiteor, take away my hump," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Yea," went on the dean, "yea, mighty saint, Master Saint Remacle, +who since thy glorious death hast performed nine and thirty miracles, +take away from his shoulders the weight that loads them down. And may +we, for this boon, sing thy praises from everlasting to everlasting, +in saecula saeculorum. And peace on earth to humpbacks of good will." + +And the humpbacks said in chorus: + +"Yea, yea, peace on earth to humpbacks of good will: humpbacks' peace, +truce to the deformed, amnesty of humiliation. Take away our humps, +Master Saint Remacle!" + +The dean bade Ulenspiegel descend from the tomb, and rub his hump +against the edge of the slab. Ulenspiegel did so, ever repeating: +"Mea culpa, confiteor, take away my hump." And he rubbed it thoroughly +in sight and knowledge of those that stood by. + +And these cried aloud: + +"Do ye see the hump? it bends! see you, it gives way! it will melt away +on the right"--"No, it will go back into the breast; humps do not melt, +they go down again into the intestines from which they come"--"No, +they return into the stomach where they serve as nourishment for +eighty days"--"It is the saint's gift to humpbacks that are rid of +them"--"Where do the old humps go?" + +Suddenly all the humpbacks gave a loud cry, for Ulenspiegel had just +burst his hump leaning hard against the edge of the flat tomb top. All +the blood that was in it fell, dripping from his doublet in big drops +upon the stone flags. And he cried out, straightening himself up and +stretching out his arms: + +"I am rid of it!" + +And all the humpbacks began to call out together: + +"Master Saint Remacle the blessed, it is kind to him, but hard to +us"--"Master, take away our humps, ours too!"--"I, I will give +thee a calf."--"I, seven sheep."--"I, the year's hunting."--"I, +six hams."--"I, I will give my cottage to the Church"--"Take away +our humps, Master Saint Remacle!" + +And they looked on Ulenspiegel with envy and with respect. One would +have felt under his doublet, but the dean said to him: + +"There is a wound that may not see the light." + +"I will pray for you," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Aye, Pilgrim," said the humpbacks, speaking all together, "aye, +master, thou that hast been made straight again, we made a mock of +thee; forgive it us, we knew not what we did. Monseigneur Christ +forgave when on the cross; give us all forgiveness." + +"I will forgive," said Ulenspiegel benevolently. + +"Then," said they, "take this patard, accept this florin, permit us +to give this real to Your Straightness, to offer him this cruzado, +put these carolus in his hands...." + +"Hide up your carolus," said Ulenspiegel, whispering, "let not your +left hand know what your right hand is giving." + +And this he said because of the dean who was devouring with his eyes +the humpbacks' money, without seeing whether it was gold or silver. + +"Thanks be unto thee, sanctified sir," said the humpbacks to +Ulenspiegel. + +And he accepted their gifts proudly as a man of a miracle. + +But greedy ones were rubbing away with their humps on the tomb without +saying a word. + +Ulenspiegel went at night to a tavern where he held revel and feast. + +Before going to bed, thinking that the dean would want to have his +share of the booty, if not all, he counted up his gain, and found more +gold than silver, for he had in it fully three hundred carolus. He +noted a withered bay tree in a pot, took it by the hair of its head, +plucked up the plant and the earth, and put the gold underneath. All +the demi-florins, patards, and patacoons were spread out upon the +table. + +The dean came to the tavern and went up to Ulenspiegel. + +The latter, seeing him: + +"Messire Dean," said he, "what would you of my poor self?" + +"Nothing but thy good, my son," replied he. + +"Alas!" groaned Ulenspiegel, "is it that which you see on the table?" + +"The same," replied the dean. + +Then putting out his hand, he swept the table clean of all the money +that was upon it and dropped it into a bag destined for it. + +And he gave a florin to Ulenspiegel, who pretended to groan and whine. + +And he asked for the implements of the miracle. + +Ulenspiegel showed him the schol bone and the bladder. + +The dean took them while Ulenspiegel bemoaned himself, imploring him +to be good enough to give him more, saying that the way was long from +Bouillon to Damme, for him a poor footpassenger, and that beyond a +doubt he would die of hunger. + +The dean went away without uttering a word. + +Being left alone, Ulenspiegel went to sleep with his eye on the bay +tree. Next day at dawn, having picked up his booty, he went away +from Bouillon and went to the camp of the Silent One, handed over the +money to him and recounted the story, saying it was the true method +of levying contributions of war from the enemy. + +And the Prince gave him ten florins. + +As for the schol bone, it was enshrined in a crystal casket and placed +between the arms of the cross on the principal altar at Bouillon. + +And everyone in the town knows that what the cross encloses is the +hump of the blasphemer who was made straight. + + + + + +XI + +The Silent One, being in the neighbourhood of Liége, made marches +and countermarches before crossing the Meuse, thus misleading the +duke's vigilance. + +Ulenspiegel, schooling himself to his duties as a soldier, became +very dexterous in handling the wheel-locked arquebus and kept his +eyes and ears well open. + +At this time there came to the camp Flemish and Brabant nobles, +who lived on good terms with the lords, colonels, and captains in +the following of the Silent One. + +Soon two parties formed in the camp, eternally quarrelling and +disputing, the one side saying: "the Prince is a traitor," the other +answering that the accusers lied in their throat and that they would +make them swallow their lie. Distrust spread and grew like a spot of +oil. They came to blows in groups of six, of eight, or a dozen men; +fighting with every weapon of single combat, even with arquebuses. + +One day the prince came up at the noise, marching between two +parties. A bullet carried away his sword from his side. He put an end +to the combat and visited the whole camp to show himself, that it might +not be said: "The Silent One is dead, and the war is dead with him." + +The next day, towards midnight, in misty weather, Ulenspiegel being +on the point of coming out from a house where he had been to sing a +Flemish love song to a Walloon girl, heard at the door of the cottage +beside the house a raven's croak thrice repeated. Other croakings +answered from a distance, thrice by thrice. A country churl came to +the door of the cottage. Ulenspiegel heard footsteps on the highway. + +Two men, speaking Spanish, came to the rustic, who said to them in +the same tongue: + +"What have you done?" + +"A good piece of work," said they, "lying for the king. Thanks to us, +captains and soldiermen say to one another in distrust: + +"'It is through vile ambition that the prince is resisting the king; he +is but waiting to be feared by him and to receive cities and lordships +as a pledge of peace; for five hundred thousand florins he will abandon +the valiant lords that are fighting for the countries. The duke has +offered him a full amnesty with a promise and an oath to restore +to their estates himself and all the highest leaders of the army, +if they would re-enter into obedience to the king. Orange means to +treat with him alone by himself.' + +"The partisans of the Silent One answered us: + +"'The duke's offer is a treacherous trap. He will pay them no heed, +recalling the fate of Messieurs d'Egmont and de Hoorn. Well they know +it, Cardinal de Granvelle, being at Rome, said at the time of the +capture of the Counts: "They take the two gudgeons, but they leave +the pike; they have taken nothing since the Silent remains still +to take."'" + +"Is the variance great in the camp?" said the rustic. + +"Great is the variance," said they: "greater every day. Where are +the letters?" + +They went into the cottage, where a lantern was lighted. There, peeping +through a little skylight, Ulenspiegel saw them open two missives, +read them with much satisfaction and pleasure, drink hydromel, and +at last depart, saying to the rustic in Spanish: + +"Camp divided, Orange taken. That will be a good lemonade." + +"Those fellows," said Ulenspiegel, "cannot be allowed to live." + +They went out into the thick mist. Ulenspiegel saw the rustic bring +them a lantern, which they took with them. + +The light of the lantern being often intercepted by a black shape, +he took it that they were walking one behind the other. + +He primed his arquebus and fired at the black shape. He then saw +the lantern lowered and raised several times, and judged that, one +of the two being down, the other was endeavouring to see the nature +of his wound. He primed his arquebus again. Then the lantern going +forward alone, swiftly and swinging and in the direction of the camp, +he fired once more. The lantern staggered about, then fell, and there +was darkness. + +Running towards the camp, he saw the provost coming out with a crowd +of soldiers awakened by the noise of the shots. Ulenspiegel, accosting +them, said: + +"I am the hunter, go and pick up the game." + +"Jolly Fleming," said the provost, "you speak otherwise than with +your tongue." + +"Tongue talk, 'tis wind," replied Ulenspiegel. "Lead talk remains in +the bodies of the traitors. But follow me." + +He brought them, furnished with their lanterns, to the place where +the two were fallen. And they beheld them indeed, stretched out on +the earth, one dead, the other in the death rattle and holding his +hand on his breast, where there was a letter crushed and crumpled in +the last effort of his life. + +They carried away the bodies, which they recognized by their garments +as bodies of nobles, and thus came with their lanterns to the prince, +interrupted at council with Frederic of Hollenhausen, the Markgrave +of Hesse, and other lords. + +Followed by landsknechts, reiters, green jackets and yellow jackets, +they came before the tent of the Silent, shouting requests that he +would receive them. + +He came from the tent. Then, taking the word from the provost who +was coughing and preparing to accuse him, Ulenspiegel said: + +"Monseigneur, I have killed two traitor nobles of your train, instead +of ravens." + +Then he recounted what he had seen, heard, and done. + +The Silent said not a word. The two bodies were searched, there +being present himself, William of Orange, the Silent, Frederic de +Hollenhausen, the Markgrave of Hesse, Dieterich de Schooenbergh, +Count Albert of Nassau, the Count de Hoogstraeten, Antoine de Lalaing, +the Governor of Malines; the troopers, and Lamme Goedzak trembling +in his great paunch. Sealed letters from Granvelle and Noircarmes +were found upon the gentlemen, enjoining upon them to sow dissension +in the prince's train, in order to diminish his strength by so much, +to force him to yield, and to deliver him to the duke to be beheaded +in accordance with his deserts. "It was essential," said the letters, +"to proceed subtly and by veiled speech, so that the people in the army +might believe that the Silent had already, for his own personal profit, +come to a private agreement with the duke. His captains and soldiers, +being angry, would make him a prisoner. For reward a draft on the +Függers of Antwerp for five hundred ducats had been sent to each; +they should have a thousand as soon as the four hundred thousand +ducats that were expected should have arrived in Zealand from Spain." + +This plot being discovered and laid open, the prince, without a word, +turned towards the nobles, lords, and soldiers, among whom were +a great many that held him in suspicion; he showed the two corpses +without a word, intending thereby to reproach them for their mistrust +of him. All shouted with a great tumultuous noise: + +"Long life to Orange! Orange is faithful to the countries!" + +They would, for contumely, fain have flung the bodies to the dogs, +but the Silent: + +"It is not bodies that must be thrown to the dogs, but feeblemindedness +that bringeth about doubts of singleminded and good intents." + +And lords and soldiers shouted: + +"Long live the prince! Long live Orange, the friend to the countries!" + +And their voices were as a thunder threatening injustice. + +And the prince, pointing to the bodies: + +"Give them Christian interment," said he. + +"And I," said Ulenspiegel, "what is to be done with my faithful +carcase? If I have done ill let them give me blows; if I have done +well let them accord me reward." + +Then the Silent One spake and said: + +"This musketeer shall have fifty blows with green wood in my +presence for having, without orders, slain two nobles, to the great +disparagement of all discipline. He shall receive as well thirty +florins for having seen well and heard well." + +"Monseigneur," replied Ulenspiegel, "if they gave me the thirty florins +first, I would endure the blows from the green wood with patience." + +"Aye, aye," groaned Lamme Goedzak, "give him first of all the thirty +florins; he will endure the rest with patience." + +"And then," said Ulenspiegel, "having my soul free of guilt, I have +no need to be washed with oak or rinsed with cornel." + +"Aye," groaned Lamme Goedzak as before, "Ulenspiegel hath no need +of washing or of rinsing. He hath a clean soul. Do not wash him, +Messires, do not wash him." + +Ulenspiegel having received the thirty florins, the stock-meester +was ordered by the provost to seize him. + +"See, Messires," said Lamme, "how piteous he looks. He hath no love +for the wood, my friend Ulenspiegel." + +"I love," replied Ulenspiegel, "to see a lovely ash all leafy, +growing in the sunshine in all it's native verdure; but I hate to the +death those ugly sticks of wood still bleeding their sap, stripped +of branches, without leaves or twigs, of fierce aspect and harsh +of acquaintance." + +"Art thou ready?" asked the provost. + +"Ready," repeated Ulenspiegel, "ready for what? To be beaten. No, +I am not, and have no desire to be, master stock-meester. Your beard +is red and you have a formidable air; but I am fully persuaded that +you have a kind heart and do not love to maltreat a poor fellow +like me. I must tell it you, I love not to do it or see it; for a +Christian man's back is a sacred temple which, even as his breast, +encloseth the lungs wherewith we breathe the air of the good God. With +what poignant remorse would you be gnawed if a brutal stroke of the +stick were to break me in pieces." + +"Make haste," said the stock-meester. + +"Monseigneur," said Ulenspiegel, speaking to the Prince, "nothing +presses, believe me; first should this stick be dried and seasoned, +for they say that green wood entering living flesh imparts to it +a deadly venom. Would Your Highness wish to see me die of this foul +death? Monseigneur, I hold my faithful back at Your Highness' service; +have it beaten with rods, lashed with the whip; but, if you would +not see me dead, spare me, if it please you, the green wood." + +"Prince, give him grace," said Messire de Hoogstraeten and Dieterich +de Schooenbergh. The others smiled pityingly. + +Lamme also said: + +"Monseigneur, Monseigneur, show grace; green wood it is pure poison." + +The Prince then said: "I pardon him." + +Ulenspiegel, leaping several times high in air, struck on Lamme's +belly and forced him to dance, saying: + +"Praise Monseigneur with me, who saved me from the green wood." + +And Lamme tried to dance, but could not, because of his belly. + +And Ulenspiegel treated him to both eating and drinking. + + + + + +XII + +Not wishing to give battle, the duke without truce or respite harried +the Silent as he wandered about the flat land between Juliers and +the Meuse, everywhere sounding the river at Hondt, Mechelen, Elsen, +Meersen, and everywhere finding it filled with traps and caltrops to +wound men and horses that sought to pass over by fording. + +At Stockem, the sounders found none of these engines. The prince +gave orders for crossing. The reiters went over the Meuse and held +themselves in battle order on the other bank, so as to protect the +crossing on the side of the bishopric of Liége; then there formed up +in line from one bank to the other, in this way breaking the current +of the river, ten ranks of archers and musketeers, among whom was +Ulenspiegel. + +He had water up to his thighs, and often some treacherous wave would +lift him up, himself and his horse. + +He saw the foot soldiers cross, carrying a powder bag upon their +headgear and holding their muskets high in air: then came the wagons, +the hackbuts, linstocks, culverins, double culverins, falcons, +falconets, serpentines, demi-serpentines, double serpentines, +mortars, double mortars, cannon, demi-cannon, double cannon, sacres, +little field pieces mounted on carriages drawn by two horses, able +to manoeuvre at the gallop and in every way like those that were +nicknamed the Emperor's Pistols; behind them, protecting the rear, +landsknechts and reiters from Flanders. + +Ulenspiegel looked about to find some warming drink. The archer +Riesencraft, a High German, a lean, cruel, gigantic fellow, was snoring +on his charger beside him, and as he breathed he spread abroad the +perfume of brandy. Ulenspiegel, spying for a flask on his horse's +crupper, found it hung behind on a cord like a baldric, which he cut, +and he took the flask, and drank rejoicing. The archer companions +said to him: + +"Give us some." + +He did so. The brandy being drunk, he knotted the cord that held the +flask, and would have put it back about the soldier's breast. As he +lifted his arm to pass it round, Riesencraft awoke. Taking the flask, +he would have milked his cow as usual. Finding that it gave no more +milk, he fell into mighty anger. + +"Robber," said he, "what have you done with my brandy?" + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"Drunk it. Among soaking horsemen, one man's brandy is everybody's +brandy. Evil is the scurvy stingy one." + +"To-morrow I will carve your carcase in the lists," replied +Riesencraft. + +"We will carve each other," answered Ulenspiegel, "heads, arms, legs, +and all. But are you not constipated, that you have such a sour face?" + +"I am," said Riesencraft. + +"You want a purge, then," replied Ulenspiegel, "and not a duel." + +It was agreed between them that they should meet next day, mounted +and accoutred each as he pleased, and should cut up each other's +bacon with a short stiff sword. + +Ulenspiegel asked that for himself the sword might be replaced by a +cudgel, which was granted him. + +In the meanwhile, all the soldiers having crossed the river and +falling into order at the voice of the colonels and the captains, +the ten ranks of archers also crossed over. + +And the Silent said: + +"Let us march on Liége!" + +Ulenspiegel was glad of this, and with all the Flemings, shouted out: + +"Long life to Orange, let us march on Liége!" + +But the foreigners, and notably the High Germans, said they were too +much washed and rinsed to march. Vainly did the prince assure them +that they were going to a certain victory, to a friendly city; they +would listen to nothing, but lit great fires and warmed themselves +in front of them, with their horses unharnessed. + +The attack on the city was put off till next day when Alba, greatly +astonished at the bold crossing, learned through his spies that the +Silent One's soldiers were not yet ready for the assault. + +Thereupon, he threatened Liége and all the country round about to +put them to fire and sword, if the prince's friends made any movement +there. Gerard de Groesbeke, the bishop's catchpoll, armed his troopers +against the prince, who arrived too late, through the fault of the +High Germans, who were afraid of a little water in their stockings. + + + + + +XIII + +Ulenspiegel and Riesencraft having taken seconds, the latter said +that the two soldiers were to fight on foot to the death, if the +conqueror wished, for such were Riesencraft's conditions. + +The scene of the conflict was a little heath. + +Early in the morning, Riesencraft donned his archer's array. He put +on his salade with the throat piece, without visor, and a mail shirt +with no sleeves. His other shirt being fallen into pieces, he put it +in his salade to make lint of it if need was. He armed himself with +an arbalest of good Ardennes wood, a sheaf of thirty quarrels, with +a long dagger, but not with a two-handed sword, which is the archer's +sword. And he came to the field of battle mounted upon his charger, +carrying his war saddle and the plumed chamfron, and all barded +with iron. + +Ulenspiegel made up for himself an armament for a nobleman; his +charger was a donkey; his saddle was the petticoat of a gay wench, +his plumed chamfron was of osier, adorned above with goodly fluttering +shavings. His barde was bacon, for, said he, iron costs too much, +steel is beyond price, and as for brass in these later days, they +have made so many cannon out of it that there is not enough left to +arm a rabbit for battle. He donned for headgear a fine salade that +had not yet been devoured by the snails; this salade was surmounted +by a swan's feather, to make him sing if he was killed. + +His sword, stiff and light, was a good long, stout cudgel of pinewood, +at the end of which there was a besom of branches of the same tree. On +the left hand of his saddle hung his knife, which was of wood likewise; +on the right swung his good mace, which was of elderwood, surmounted +with a turnip. His cuirass was all holes and flaws. + +When he arrived in this array, at the field of the duel, Riesencraft's +seconds burst out laughing, but he himself remained unbending from +his sour face. + +Ulenspiegel's seconds then demanded of Riesencraft's that the +German should lay aside his armour of mail and iron, seeing that +Ulenspiegel was armed only in rags and pieces. To which Riesencraft +gave consent. Riesencraft's seconds then asked Ulenspiegel's how it +came that Ulenspiegel was armed with a besom. + +"You granted me the stick, but you did not forbid me to enliven it +with foliage." + +"Do as you think fit," said the four seconds. + +Riesencraft said never a word and cropped down with little strokes +of his sword the thin stalks of the heather. + +The seconds requested him to replace his sword with a besom, the same +as Ulenspiegel. + +He replied: + +"If this rascal of his own accord chose a weapon so out of the way, +it is because he imagines he can defend his life with it." + +Ulenspiegel saying again that he would use his besom, the four seconds +agreed that everything was in order. + +They were set facing each other, Riesencraft on his horse barded with +iron, Ulenspiegel on his donkey barded with bacon. + +Ulenspiegel came forward into the middle of the field of combat. There, +holding his besom like a lance: + +"I deem," said he, "fouler and more stinking than plague, leprosy, +and death, this vermin brood of ill fellows who, in a camp of old +soldiers and boon companions, have no other thought than to carry +round everywhere their scowling faces and their mouths foaming +with anger. Wherever they may be, laughter dares not show itself, +and songs are silent. They must be forever growling and fighting, +introducing thus alongside of legitimate combat for the fatherland +single combat which is the ruin of an army and the delight of the +enemy. Riesencraft here present hath slain for mere innocent words +one and twenty men, without ever performing in battle or skirmish +any act of distinguished bravery or deserved the least reward by his +courage. Now it is my pleasure to-day to brush the bare hide of this +crabbed dog the wrong way." + +Riesencraft replied: + +"This drunkard has had tall dreams of the abuse of single combats: +it will be my pleasure to-day to split his head, to show everybody +that he has nothing but hay in his brain-box." + +The seconds made them get down from their mounts. In so doing +Ulenspiegel dropped from his head the salad which the ass ate +quietly and slyly; but the donkey was interrupted in this job by +a kick from one of the seconds to make him get out of the duelling +enclosure. The same treatment fell to the lot of the horse. And they +went off elsewhere to graze in company. + +Then the seconds, carrying broom--these were Ulenspiegel's pair, +and the others, carrying sword--they were Riesencraft's, gave the +signal for the fray with a whistle. + +And Riesencraft and Ulenspiegel fell to fighting furiously, +Riesencraft smiting with his sword, Ulenspiegel parrying with his +besom; Riesencraft swearing by all devils, Ulenspiegel fleeing before +him, wandering through the heather obliquely and circling, zigzagging, +thrusting out his tongue, making a thousand other faces at Riesencraft, +who was losing his breath and beating the air with his sword like +a mad trooper. Ulenspiegel felt him close, turned sharp and sudden, +and gave him a great whack under the nose with his besom. Riesencraft +fell down with arms and legs stretched out like a dying frog. + +Ulenspiegel flung himself upon him, besomed his face up and down and +every way, pitilessly, saying: + +"Cry for mercy or I make you swallow my besom!" + +And he rubbed and scrubbed him without ceasing, to the great pleasure +and joy of the spectators, and still said: + +"Cry for mercy or I make you eat it!" + +But Riesencraft could not cry, for he was dead of black rage. + +"God have thy soul, poor madman!" said Ulenspiegel. + +And he went away, plunged in melancholy. + + + + + +XIV + +It was then the end of October. The prince lacked money; his army was +hungry. The soldiers were murmuring; he marched in the direction of +France and offered battle to the duke, who declined it. + +Leaving Quesnoy-le-Comte to go towards Cambrésis, he met ten companies +of Germans, eight ensigns of Spaniards, and three cornets of light +horse, commanded by Don Ruffele Henricis, the duke's son, who was in +the middle of the line, and cried in Spanish: + +"Kill! Kill! No quarter. Long live the Pope!" + +Don Henricis was then over against the company of musketeers in which +Ulenspiegel was dizenier, in command of ten men, and hurled himself +upon them with his men. Ulenspiegel said to the sergeant of his troop: + +"I am going to cut the tongue out of this ruffian!" + +"Cut away," said the sergeant. + +And Ulenspiegel, with a well-aimed bullet, smashed the tongue and +the jaw of Don Ruffele Henricis, the duke's son. + +Ulenspiegel brought down from his horse the son of Marquis Delmarès +also. + +The eight ensigns, the three cornets were beaten. + +After this victory, Ulenspiegel sought for Lamme in the camp, but +found him not. + +"Alas!" said he, "there he is, gone, my friend Lamme, my big friend. In +his warlike ardour, forgetting the weight of his belly, he must have +pursued the flying Spaniards. Out of breath he will have fallen like +a sack upon the road. And they will have picked him up to have ransom +for him, a ransom for Christian bacon. My friend Lamme, where art +thou then, where art thou, my fat friend?" + +Ulenspiegel sought him everywhere, and finding him not fell into +melancholy. + + + + + +XV + +In November, the month of snow storms, the Silent sent for Ulenspiegel +to come before him. The prince was biting at the cord of his mail +shirt. + +"Hearken and understand," said he. + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"My ears are prison doors; to enter is easy, but it is a hard business +to get anything out." + +The Silent said: + +"Go through Namur, Flanders, Hainaut, Sud-Brabant, Antwerp, +Nord-Brabant, Guelder, Overyssel, Nord-Holland, announcing everywhere +that if fortune betrays our holy and Christian cause by land, +the struggle against every unjust violence will continue on the +sea. May God direct this matter with all grace, whether in good or +evil fortune. Once come to Amsterdam, you shall give account to Paul +Buys, my trusty friend, of all you have done and performed. Here are +three passes, signed by Alba himself, and found upon the bodies at +Quesnoy-le-Comte. My secretary has filled them. Perchance you will find +on the way some good comrade in whom you may be able to trust. Those +are good folk who to the lark's note answer with the warlike bugle +of the cock. Here are fifty florins. You will be valiant and faithful." + +"The ashes beat upon my heart," replied Ulenspiegel. + +And he went away. + + + + + +XVI + +He had, under the hand of the king and the duke, license to carry all +weapons at his own convenience. He took his good wheel-lock arquebus, +cartridges, and dry powder. Then clad in a ragged short cloak, a +tattered doublet, and breeches full of holes in the Spanish fashion, +wearing a bonnet with plume flying in the wind, and sword, he left +the army near the French frontier and marched off towards Maestricht. + +The wrens, those heralds of the cold, flew about the houses, asking +shelter. The third day it snowed. + +Many times and oft on the way Ulenspiegel must needs show his safe +conduct. He was allowed to pass. He marched towards Liége. + +He had just entered into a plain; a great wind drove whirls of flakes +upon his face. Before him he saw the plain stretch out all white, +and the eddies of snow driven hither and thither by the gusts. Three +wolves followed him, but when he knocked one over with his musket, +the others flung themselves on the wounded one and made off into the +woods, each carrying a great piece of the corpse. + +Ulenspiegel being thus delivered, and looking to see if there was +no other band in the country, saw at the end of the plain specks +as it were gray statues moving among the eddies, and behind them +shapes of mounted soldiers. He climbed up into a tree. The wind +brought a far-off noise of complaining: "These are perchance," he +said to himself, "pilgrims clad in white coats; I can scarcely see +their bodies against the snow." Then he distinguished men running +naked and saw two reiters, harnessed all in black, who sitting on +their chargers were driving this poor flock before them with great +blows of their whips. He primed his musket. Among these wretches +he saw young folk, old men naked with teeth chattering, frozen, +huddled up, and running to escape the whips of the two troopers, +who took a delight, being well clad, red with brandy and good food, +in lashing the bodies of the naked men to make them run quicker. + +Ulenspiegel said: "Ye shall have vengeance, ashes of Claes." And +he killed, with a bullet in the face, one of the reiters, who fell +down from his horse. The other, not knowing from whence had come that +unlooked-for bullet, took fright. Thinking there were enemies hidden +in the wood, he would fain have fled with his comrade's horse. While +he dismounted to despoil the dead man, and had taken hold of the +bridle, he was stricken with another bullet in the neck and fell, +like his companion. + +The naked men, believing that an angel from heaven, a good arquebusier, +had come to their rescue, fell upon their knees. Ulenspiegel came +down from his tree and was recognized by those in the band who had, +like him, served in the prince's army. They said to him: + +"Ulenspiegel, we are of the land of France, sent in state to Maestricht +where the duke is, there to be treated as rebel prisoners, unable +to pay ransom and condemned in advance to be tortured, beheaded, +or to row like ruffians and robbers on the king's galleys." + +Ulenspiegel, giving his opperst kleed to the oldest of the band, +replied: + +"Come, I will fetch you as far as Mézières, but first of all we must +strip these two troopers and take their horses with us." + +The doublets, breeches, boots, and headgear and cuirasses of +the troopers were divided among the weakest and most ailing, and +Ulenspiegel said: + +"We shall go into the wood, where the air is thicker and milder. Let +us run, brothers." + +Suddenly a man fell and said: + +"I am cold and I am hungry, and I go before God to bear witness that +the Pope is Antichrist on earth." + +And he died. And the others were fain to bear him away with them, +in order to give him a Christian burial. + +While they were journeying along a main road they perceived a +countryman driving a wagon covered with its canvas tilt. Seeing the +naked men, he took pity and made them get into the wagon. There they +found hay to lie on and empty sacks to cover themselves with. Being +warm, they gave thanks to God. Ulenspiegel, riding by the side of +the wagon on one of the reiters' horses, held the other by the bridle. + +At Mézières they alighted: there they were given good soup, beer, +bread, cheese, and meat, the old men and the women. They were lodged, +clad, and weaponed afresh at the charge of the commune. And they all +gave the embrace of blessing to Ulenspiegel, who received it rejoicing. + +He sold the horses of the two reiters for forty-eight florins, of +which he gave thirty to the Frenchmen. + +Going on his way alone, he said to himself: "I go through ruins, +blood, and tears, without finding aught. The devils lied to me, +past a doubt. Where is Lamme? Where is Nele? Where are the Seven?" + +And he heard a voice like a low breath, saying: + +"In death, ruin, and tears, seek." + +And he went his way. + + + + + +XVII + +Ulenspiegel came to Namur in March. There he saw Lamme, who having +been seized with a great love for the fish of the River Meuse, and +especially for the trout, had hired a boat and was fishing in the +river by leave of the commune. But he had paid fifty florins to the +guild of the fishmongers. + +He sold and ate his fish, and in this trade he gained a better paunch +and a little bag of carolus. + +Seeing his friend and comrade going along the banks of the Meuse +to come into the town, he was filled with joy, thrust his boat up +against the bank, and climbing up the steep, not without puffing, +he came to Ulenspiegel. Stammering with pleasure: + +"There you are then, my son," said he, "my son in God, for my belly-ark +could carry two like you. Whither go you? What would you? You are +not dead, without a doubt? Have you seen my wife? You shall eat Meuse +fish, the best that is in this world below; they make sauces in this +country fit to make you eat your fingers up to the shoulder. You are +proud and splendid, with the bronze of battle on your cheeks. There +you are then, my son, my friend Ulenspiegel, the jolly vagabond." + +Then in a low voice: + +"How many Spaniards have you killed? You never saw my wife in +their wagons full of wenches? And the Meuse wine, so delicious for +constipated folk, you shall drink of it. Are you wounded, my son? You +will stay here then, fresh, lively, keen as an eagle. And the eels, +you shall taste lad. No marshy flavour whatever. Kiss me, my fat +lad. My blessing upon God, how glad I am!" + +And Lamme danced, leapt, puffed, and forced Ulenspiegel to dance +as well. + +Then they wended their way towards Namur. At the gate of the city +Ulenspiegel showed his pass signed by the duke. And Lamme brought +him to his house. + +While he was making their meal ready, he made Ulenspiegel tell his +adventures and recounted his own, having, he said, abandoned the army +to follow after a girl that he thought was his wife. In this pursuit +he had come as far as Namur. And he kept repeating: + +"Have you not seen her at all?" + +"I saw others that were very beautiful," replied Ulenspiegel, "and +especially in this town, where all are amorous." + +"In truth," said Lamme, "a hundred times they would fain have had me, +but I remained faithful, for my sad heart is big with a single memory." + +"As your belly is big with innumerable dishes," answered Ulenspiegel. + +Lamme replied: + +"When I am in distress I must eat." + +"Is your grief without respite?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +"Alas, yes!" said Lamme. + +And pulling a trout from out a saucepan: + +"See," said he, "how lovely and firm it is. This flesh is pink as +my wife's. To-morrow we shall leave Namur; I have a pouch full of +florins; we shall buy an ass apiece, and we shall depart riding thus +towards the land of Flanders." + +"You will lose heavily by it," said Ulenspiegel. + +"My heart draws me to Damme, which was the place where she loved me +well: perchance she has returned thither." + +"We shall start to-morrow," said Ulenspiegel, "since you wish it so." + +And as a matter of fact, they set out, each mounted on an ass and +straddling along side by side. + + + + + +XVIII + +A sharp wind was blowing. The sun, bright as youth in the morning, +was veiled and gray as an old man. A rain mixed with hail was falling. + +The rain having ceased, Ulenspiegel shook himself, saying: + +"The sky that drinks up so much mist must relieve itself sometimes." + +Another rain, still more mingled with hail than the former, beat down +on the two companions. Lamme groaned: + +"We were well washed, now we must needs be rinsed!" + +The sun reappeared, and they rode on gaily. + +A third rain fell, so full of hail and so deadly that like knives it +chopped the dry twigs on the trees to mincemeat. + +Lamme said: + +"Ho! a roof! My poor wife! Where are ye, good fire, soft kisses, +and fat soups?" + +And he wept, the great fellow. + +But Ulenspiegel: + +"We bemoan ourselves," said he, "is it not from ourselves none the +less that our woes come on us? It is raining on our backs, but this +December rain will make the clover of May. And the kine will low for +pleasure. We are without a shelter, but why did we never marry? I +mean myself, with little Nele, so pretty and so kind, who would now +give me a good stew of beef and beans to eat. We are thirsty in spite +of the water that is falling; why did we not make ourselves workmen +steady in one condition? Those who are received as masters in their +trade have in their cellars full casks of bruinbier." + +The ashes of Claes beat upon his heart, the sky became clear, the +sun shone out in it, and Ulenspiegel said: + +"Master Sun, thanks be unto you, you warm our loins again; ashes +of Claes, ye warm our heart once more, and tell us that blessed are +they that are wanderers for the sake of the deliverance of the land +of our fathers." + +"I am hungry," said Lamme. + + + + + +XIX + +They came into an inn, where they were served with supper in an upper +chamber. Ulenspiegel, opening the windows, saw from thence a garden +in which a comely girl was walking, plump, round bosomed, with golden +hair, and clad only in a petticoat, a jacket of white linen, and an +apron of black stuff, full of holes. + +Chemises and other woman's linen was bleaching on cords: the girl, +still turned towards Ulenspiegel, was taking chemises down from the +lines, and putting them back and smiling and still looking at him, +and sat down on linen bands, swinging on the two ends knotted together. + +Near by Ulenspiegel heard a cock crowing and saw a nurse playing with +a child whose face she turned towards a man that was standing, saying: + +"Boelkin, look nicely at papa!" + +The child wept. + +And the pretty girl continued to walk about in the garden, displacing +and replacing the linen. + +"She is a spy," said Lamme. + +The girl put her hands before her eyes, and smiling between her +fingers, looked at Ulenspiegel. + +Then pressing up her two breasts with her hands, she let them fall +back, and swung again without her feet touching the ground. And the +linen, unwinding itself, made her turn like a top, while Ulenspiegel +saw her arms, bare to the shoulders, white and round in the pallid +sunshine. Turning and smiling, she kept always looking at him. He +went out to find her. Lamme followed him. At the hedge of the garden +he searched for an opening to pass through, but found none. + +The girl, seeing what he was doing, looked again, smiling between +her fingers. + +Ulenspiegel tried to break through the hedge, while Lamme, holding +him back, said to him: + +"Do not go there; she is a spy, we shall be burned." + +Then the girl walked about the garden, covering up her face with +her apron, and looking through the holes to see if her chance friend +would not be coming soon. + +Ulenspiegel was going to leap over the hedge with a running jump, +but he was prevented by Lamme, who caught hold of him by the leg and +made him fall, saying: + +"Rope, sword, and gallows, 'tis a spy, do not go there." + +Sitting on the ground, Ulenspiegel struggled against him. The girl +cried out, pushing up her head above the hedge: + +"Adieu, Messire, may Love keep your Longanimousness hanging!" + +And he heard a burst of mocking laughter. + +"Ah!" said he, "it is in my ears like a packet of pins!" + +Then a door shut noisily. + +And he was melancholy. + +Lamme said to him, still holding him: + +"You are counting over the sweet treasures of beauty thus lost to +your shame. 'Tis a spy. You fall in luck when you fall. I am going +to burst with laughing." + +Ulenspiegel said not a word, and both got up on their asses once more. + + + + + +XX + +They went on their way each well astride his ass. + +Lamme, chewing the cud of his last meat, sniffed up the cool air +rejoicing. Suddenly Ulenspiegel fetched him a great stinging slash +of his whip on his behind, which was like a cushion in the saddle. + +"What are you doing?" cried Lamme, piteously. + +"What!" answered Ulenspiegel. + +"This lash with the whip?" said Lamme. + +"What lash with the whip?" + +"The one I got from you," returned Lamme. + +"On the left?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +"Aye, on the left and on my behind. Why did you do that, scandalous +vagabond?" + +"In ignorance," replied Ulenspiegel. "I know well enough what a +whip is, and very well, too, what a behind of small compass is upon +a saddle. But seeing this one wide, swollen, tight, and overflowing +the saddle, I said to myself: 'Since it could never be pinched with +a finger, a stroke of the whip could not sting it either with the +lash.' I was wrong." + +Lamme smiling at this speech, Ulenspiegel went on in these terms: + +"But I am not the only one in this world to sin through ignorance, +and there is more than one past-master idiot displaying his fat on +a donkey saddle who could give me points. If my whip sinned on your +behind, you sinned much more weightily on my legs in preventing them +from running after the girl who was coquetting in her garden." + +"Crow's meat!" said Lamme, "so it was revenge then?" + +"Just a little one," replied Ulenspiegel. + + + + + +XXI + +At Damme Nele the unhappy lived alone with Katheline who still for +love called the cold devil who never came. + +"Ah!" she would say, "thou art rich, Hanske my darling, and mightest +bring me back the seven hundred carolus. Then would Soetkin come back +alive from limbo to this earth, and Claes would laugh in the sky: well +canst thou do this. Take away the fire, the soul would fain come out; +make a hole, the soul would fain come out." + +And without ceasing she pointed her finger to the place where the +tow had been. + +Katheline was very poor, but the neighbours helped her with beans, +with bread and meat according to their means. The commune gave her some +money. And Nele sewed dresses for rich women in the town; went to their +houses to iron their linen, and in this way earned a florin a week. + +And Katheline still repeated: + +"Make a hole; take away my soul. It knocks to get out. He will give +back the seven hundred carolus." + +And Nele, listening to her, wept. + + + + + +XXII + +Meanwhile, Ulenspiegel and Lamme, armed with their passes, came to a +little inn backed up against the rocks of the Sambre, which in certain +places are covered with trees. And on the sign there was written: +Chez Marlaire. + +Having drunk many a flask of Meuse wine of the fashion of Burgundy and +eaten much fish, they gossiped with the host, a Papist of the deepest +dye, but as talkative as a magpie through the wine he had drunk and all +the time winking an eye cunningly. Ulenspiegel, divining some mystery +under this winking, made him drink more, so much that the host began +to dance and burst out into laughter, then returning to the table: + +"Good Catholics," he said, "I drink to you." + +"To you we drink," replied Lamme and Ulenspiegel. + +"To the extinction of all plague, of rebellion and heresy." + +"We drink," replied Lamme and Ulenspiegel, who kept replenishing the +goblet the host could never allow to stay full. + +"You are good fellows," said he. "I drink to your Generosities; +I make a profit on wine drunk. Where are your passes?" + +"Here they are," answered Ulenspiegel. + +"Signed by the duke," said the host. "I drink to the duke." + +"To the duke we drink," replied Lamme and Ulenspiegel. The host, +continuing: + +"How do we catch rats, mice, and field mice? In rat-traps, snares, +and mouse-traps. Who is the field mouse? 'Tis the great heretic Orange +as hellfire. God is with us. They are coming. Hé! hé! Something to +drink! Pour out, I am roasting, burning. To drink! Most goodly little +reforming preachers.... I say little ... goodly little gallants, stout +troopers, oak trees.... Drink! Will you not go with them to the great +heretic's camp? I have passes signed by him. Ye shall see their work." + +"We shall go to the camp," answered Ulenspiegel. + +"They will get there all right, and by night if an opportunity +offers" (and the host, whistling, made the gesture of a man cutting a +throat). "Steel-wind will stop the blackbird Nassau from ever whistling +again. Come on, something to drink, hey!" + +"You are a gay fellow, even though you are married," replied +Ulenspiegel. + +Said the host: + +"I neither was nor am. I hold the secrets of princes. Drink up! My wife +would steal them from my pillow to have me hanged and to be a widow +sooner than Nature means it. Vive Dieu! they are coming ... where are +the new passes? On my Christian heart. Let us drink! They are there, +three hundred paces along the road, at Marche-les-Dames. Do ye see +them? Let us drink!" + +"Drink," said Ulenspiegel. "I drink to the king, to the duke, to +the preachers, to Steel-wind; I drink to you, to me; I drink to the +wine and to the bottle. You are not drinking." And at every health +Ulenspiegel filled up his glass and the host emptied it. + +Ulenspiegel studied him for some time; then rising up: + +"He is asleep," said he; "let us go, Lamme." + +When they were outside: + +"He has no wife to betray us.... The night is about to come +down.... You heard clearly what this rogue said, and you know who +the three preachers are?" + +"Aye," said Lamme. + +"You know they are coming from Marche-les-Dames, along by the Meuse, +and it will be well to wait for them on the way before Steel-wind +blows." + +"Aye," said Lamme. + +"We must save the prince's life," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Aye," said Lamme. + +"Here," said Ulenspiegel, "take my musket; go there into the underwoods +between the rocks; load it with two bullets and fire when I croak +like a crow." + +"I will," said Lamme. + +And he disappeared into the undergrowth. And Ulenspiegel soon heard +the creak of the lock of the musket. + +"Do you see them coming?" said he. + +"I see them," replied Lamme. "They are three, marching like soldiers, +and one of them overtops the others by the head." + +Ulenspiegel sat down on the road, his legs out in front of him, +murmuring prayers on a rosary, as beggars do. And he had his bonnet +between his knees. + +When the three preachers passed by, he held out his bonnet to them, +but they put nothing in. + +Then rising, Ulenspiegel said piteously: + +"Good sirs, refuse not a patard to a poor workman, a porter who +lately cracked his loins falling into a mine. They are hard folk in +this country, and they would give me nothing to relieve my wretched +plight. Alas! give me a patard, and I will pray for you. And God will +keep Your Magnanimities in joy throughout all their lives." + +"My son," said one of the preachers, a fine robust fellow, "there +will be no joy more for us in this world so long as the Pope and the +Inquisition reign therein." + +Ulenspiegel sighed also, saying: + +"Alas! what are you saying, my masters! Speak low, if it please Your +Graces. But give me a patard." + +"My son," replied a preacher who had a warrior-like face, "we others, +poor martyrs, we have no patards beyond what we need to sustain life +on our journey." + +Ulenspiegel threw himself on his knees. + +"Bless me," said he. + +The three preachers stretched out their hands over Ulenspiegel's head +with no devoutness. + +Remarking that they were lean men, and yet had fine paunches, he got +up again, pretended to fall, and striking his forehead against the tall +preacher's belly, he heard therein a gay clink and tinkle of money. + +Then drawing himself up and drawing his bragmart: + +"My goodly fathers," said he, "it is chilly weather and I am lightly +clad; you are clad overly much. Give me your wool that I may cut +myself a cloak out of it. I am a Beggar. Long live the Beggars!" + +The tall preacher replied: + +"My Beggar-cock, you carry your comb too high; we shall cut it +for you." + +"Cut it!" said Ulenspiegel, drawing back, "but Steel-wind shall blow +for you before ever it blows for the prince. Beggar I am; long live +the Beggars!" + +The three preachers, dumbfounded, said one to another: + +"Whence does he know this news? We are betrayed! Slay! Long live +the Mass!" + +And they drew from under their hose fine bragmarts, well sharpened. + +But Ulenspiegel, without waiting for them, gave ground towards +that side of the brushwood where Lamme was hidden. Judging that the +preachers were within musket range, he said: + +"Crows, black crows, Lead-wind is about to blow. I sing for your +finish." + +And he croaked. + +A musket shot, from out of the brushwood, knocked over the tallest +of the preachers with his face to the ground, and was followed by a +second shot which stretched the second on the road. + +And Ulenspiegel saw amid the brush Lamme's good visage, and his arm +up hastily recharging his arquebus. + +And a blue smoke rose up above the black brushwood. + +The third preacher, furious with rage, would fain by main force have +cut down Ulenspiegel, who said: + +"Steel-wind or Lead-wind, thou art about to go over from this world +to the other, foul artificer of murders!" + +And he attacked him, and he defended himself bravely. + +And they both remained standing face to face stiffly upon the highway, +delivering and parrying blows. Ulenspiegel was all bloody, for his +opponent, a tough soldier, had wounded him in the head and the leg. But +he attacked and defended like a lion. As the blood that flowed from +his head blinded him, he broke ground continually with great strides, +wiped it off with his left hand and felt himself grow weak. He was like +to be killed had not Lamme fired on the preacher and brought him down. + +And Ulenspiegel saw and heard him belch forth blasphemy, blood, +and deathfoam. + +And the blue smoke rose up above the black brushwood, amidst of which +Lamme showed his good face once more. + +"Is that all over?" said he. + +"Aye, my son," answered Ulenspiegel. "But come...." + +Lamme, coming out of his niche, saw Ulenspiegel all covered with +blood. Then running like a stag, in spite of his belly, he came to +Ulenspiegel, seated on the earth beside the slain men. + +"He is wounded," said he, "my friend, wounded by that murdering +rascal." And with a kick from his heel he broke in the teeth of the +nearest preacher. + +"You do not answer, Ulenspiegel! Are you going to die, my +son? Where is that balsam? Ha! in the bottom of his satchel, under +the sausages. Ulenspiegel, do you not hear me? Alas! I have no warm +water to wash your wound, nor any way to have it. But the water of the +Sambre will serve. Speak to me, my friend. You are not so terribly +wounded, in any case. A little water, there, very cold water, is it +not? He awakes. 'Tis I, thy friend: they are all dead! Linen! linen +to tie up his hurts. There is none. My shirt then." He took off his +doublet. And Lamme continuing his discourse: "In pieces, shirt! The +blood is stopping. My friend will not die." + +"Ha!" he said, "how cold it is, bareback in this keen air. Let us +reclothe ourselves. He will not die. 'Tis I, Ulenspiegel, I thy +friend Lamme. He smiles. I shall despoil the assassins. They have +bellies of florins. Gilded entrails, carolus, florins, daelders, +patards, and letters! We are rich. More than three hundred carolus +to share. Let us take the arms and the money. Steel-wind will not +blow as yet for Monseigneur." + +Ulenspiegel, his teeth chattering from the cold, rose up. + +"There you are on your feet," said Lamme. + +"That is the might of the balsam," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"The balsam of valiancy," answered Lamme. + +Then taking the bodies of the three preachers one by one, he cast +them into a hole among the rocks, leaving them their weapons and +their clothes, all save their cloaks. + +And all about them in the sky croaked the ravens, awaiting their food. + +And the Sambre rolled along like a river of steel under the gray sky. + +And the snow fell, washing the blood away. + +And they were nevertheless troubled. And Lamme said: + +"I would rather kill a chicken than a man." + +And they mounted their asses again. + +At the gates of Huy the blood was still flowing; they pretended to +fall into quarrel together, got down from their asses, and fenced +and foined with their daggers most cruelly to behold; then having +brought the combat to an end, they mounted again and entered into Huy, +showing their passes at the gates of the city. + +The women seeing Ulenspiegel wounded and bleeding, and Lamme playing +the victor upon his ass, they looked on Ulenspiegel with pity and +showed their fists at Lamme saying: "That one is the rascal that +wounded his friend." + +Lamme, uneasy, only sought among them whether he did not see his wife. + +It was in vain, and he was plunged in melancholy. + + + + + +XXIII + +"Whither are we going?" said Lamme. + +"To Maestricht," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"But, my son, they say the duke's army is there all about and around, +and that he himself is within the city. Our passes will not be enough +for us. If the Spanish troopers accept them, none the less we shall be +held in the town and interrogated. Meanwhile, they will have discovered +the death of the preachers, and we shall have finished with living." + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"The ravens, the owls, and the vultures will soon have made an end of +their meat; already, beyond a doubt, they have faces that could not be +recognized. As for our passes they may be good; but if they learned of +the slaughter, we should, as you say, be taken prisoners. Nevertheless, +we must needs go to Maestricht and take Landen on our way." + +"They will hang us," said Lamme. + +"We shall pass," replied Ulenspiegel. + +Thus talking, they arrived at the Magpie inn, where they found good +meals, good beds, and hay for their asses. + +The next day they set out on their way to Landen. + +Having arrived at a great farm near the city, Ulenspiegel whistled +like the lark, and immediately there answered from within the +warlike clarion of a cock. A farmer with a goodly face appeared on +the threshold of the farmhouse. He said to them: + +"Friends, as freemen, long live the Beggar! Come within." + +"Who is this one?" asked Lamme. + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"Thomas Utenhove, the brave reformer; his serving men and women on +the farm work like him for freedom of conscience." + +Then Utenhove said: + +"Ye are the prince's envoys. Eat and drink." + +And the ham began to crackle in the pan and the black puddings also, +and the wine went about and glasses were filled. And Lamme fell to +drinking like the dry sand and to eating lustily. + +Lads and lasses of the farm came in turns and thrust in their noses +at the half-open door to look at him labouring with his jaws. And +the men, jealous of him, said they could do as well as he. + +At the end of the meal Thomas Utenhove said: + +"A hundred peasants will go from here this week under pretence of going +to work on the dykes at Bruges and round about. They will travel by +bands of five or six and by different ways. There will be boats at +Bruges to fetch them by sea to Emden." + +"Will they be furnished with weapons and money?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +"They will have each ten florins and big cutlasses." + +"God and the prince will reward you," said Ulenspiegel. + +"I am not working for reward," replied Thomas Utenhove. + +"What do you do," said Lamme, eating big black puddings, "what do +you do, master host, to have a dish so savoury, so succulent, and +with such fine grease?" + +"'Tis because we put in it," the host said, "cinnamon and catnip." + +Then speaking to Ulenspiegel: + +"Is Edzard, Count of Frisia, is he still the prince's friend?" + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"He hides it, while at the same time giving refuge at Emden to +his ships." + +And he added: + +"We must go to Maestricht." + +"You will not be able to do so," said the host; "the duke's army is +before the town and in the environs." + +Then taking him into the loft, he showed him far away the ensigns +and guidons of horse soldiers and footmen riding and marching in +the country. + +Ulenspiegel said: + +"I shall make my way through if you, who are of authority in this +place, will give me a permit to marry. As for the woman, she must be +pretty, gentle, and sweet, and willing to marry me, if not for always, +at least for a week." + +Lamme sighed and said: + +"Do not do this, my son; she will leave you alone, burning in the +fires of love. Your bed, where you now sleep so snugly, will become +as a mattress of holly to you, depriving you of sweet slumber." + +"I will take a wife," replied Ulenspiegel. + +And Lamme, finding nothing more on the table, was deeply +distressed. However, having discovered castrelins in a bowl, he ate +them in melancholy fashion. + +Ulenspiegel said to Thomas Utenhove: + +"Come, then, let us drink; give me a wife rich or poor. I shall go +with her to church and have the marriage blessed by the curé. And he +will give us the certificate of marriage, which will not be valid +since it comes from a Papist and inquisitor; we shall have it set +down in it that we are all good Christians, having confessed and +taken the Sacrament, living apostolically according to the precepts +of our Holy Mother the Roman Church, which burneth her children, +and thus calling upon us the blessings of our Holy Father the Pope, +the armies celestial and terrestrial, the saints both men and women, +deans, curés, monks, soldiers, catchpolls, and other rascals. Armed +with this certificate aforesaid, we shall make our preparations for +the usual festal wedding journey." + +"But the woman," said Thomas Utenhove. + +"You will find her for me," replied Ulenspiegel. "I will take two +wagons, then; I will bedeck them with wreaths adorned with pine boughs, +holly, and paper flowers; I will fill them with certain of the lads +you want to send to the prince." + +"But the woman?" said Thomas Utenhove. + +"She is here without a doubt," replied Ulenspiegel. And continuing: + +"I shall harness two of your horses to one of the wagons, our two asses +to the other. In the first wagon I shall put my wife and myself, +my friend Lamme, the witnesses of the marriage; in the second, +tambourine players, fifers, and shawm players. Then displaying the +joyful marriage flags, playing the tambourine, singing, drinking, +we will go trotting down the highway that leads to the Galgen-Veld, +the Gallows Field, or to liberty." + +"I will help you," said Thomas Utenhove. "But the women and girls +will wish to go with their men." + +"We shall go, by the grace of God," said a pretty girl, putting her +head in at the half-open door. + +"There will be four wagons, if they are needed," said Thomas Utenhove; +"in this way we shall get more than twenty-five men through." + +"The duke will be crestfallen," said Ulenspiegel. + +"And the prince's fleet served by some good soldiers the more," +replied Thomas Utenhove. + +Having his serving men and women summoned then by ringing a bell, +he said to them: + +"All ye that are of Zealand, men and women, oyez; Ulenspiegel the +Fleming here present desires that you should pass through the duke's +army in wedding array." + +Men and women of Zealand shouted together: + +"Danger of death! we are willing!" + +And the men said, one to another: + +"It is joy to us to leave the land of slavery to go to the free +sea. If God be for us, who shall be against us?" + +Women and girls said: + +"Let us follow our husbands and our lovers. We are of Zealand and we +shall find harbour there." + +Ulenspiegel espied a pretty young girl, and said to her, jesting: + +"I want to marry you." + +But she, blushing, replied: + +"I am willing, but only in church." + +The women, laughing, said to one another: + +"Her heart turns to Hans Utenhove, the son of the baes. Doubtless he +is going with her." + +"Aye," replied Hans. + +And the father said to him: + +"You may." + +The men donned festal raiment, doublet and breeches of velvet, and +the big opperst-kleed over all, and large kerchiefs on their heads, +to keep off sun and rain; the women in black stockings and pinked +shoes; wearing the big gilt jewel on their foreheads, on the left for +the girls, on the right for the married women; the white ruff upon +their necks, the plastron of gold, scarlet, and azure embroidery, +the petticoat of black woollen, with wide velvet stripes of the same +colour, black woollen stockings and velvet shoes with silver buckles. + +Then Thomas Utenhove went off to the church to beg the priest to +marry immediately, for two ryck-daelders which he put in his hand, +Thylbert the son of Claes, which was Ulenspiegel, and Tannekin Pieters, +to the which the curé consented. + +Ulenspiegel then went to church followed by the whole wedding party, +and there he married before the priest Tannekin, so pretty and sweet, +so gracious and so plump, that he would gladly have bitten her cheeks +like a love-apple. And he told her so, not daring to do it for the +respect he had to her gentle beauty. But she, pouting, said to him: + +"Leave me alone: there is Hans looking murder at you." + +And a jealous girl said to him: + +"Look elsewhere: do you not see she is afraid of her man?" + +Lamme, rubbing his hands, exclaimed: + +"You are not to have them all, rogue." + +And he was delighted. + +Ulenspiegel, applying patience to his trouble, came back to the farm +with the wedding party. And there he drank, sang, and was jolly, +drinking hob-nob with the jealous girl. Thereat Hans was merry, +but not Tannekin, nor the girl's betrothed. + +At noon, in bright sunshine and a cool wind, the wagons set forth, +all greenery and flowers, all the banners displayed to the merry +sound of tambourines, shawms, fifes, and bagpipes. + +At Alba's camp there was another feast. The advanced outposts and +sentinels having sounded the alarm, came in one after another, saying: + +"The enemy is near at hand; we have heard the noise of tambourines and +fifes and seen his ensigns. It is a strong body of cavalry come there +to draw you into some ambush. The main army is doubtless farther on." + +The duke at once had his camp masters, colonels, and captains informed, +ordered them to set the army in battle array, and sent to reconnoitre +the enemy. + +Suddenly there appeared four wagons advancing towards the +musketeers. In the wagons men and women were dancing, bottles were +jigging round, and merrily squealed the fifes, moaned the shawms, +beat the drums and droned the bagpipes. + +The wedding party having halted, Alba came in person to the noise, +and beheld the new-made bride on one of the four wagons; Ulenspiegel, +her bridegroom, all rosy and fine beside her, and all the country +folk, both men and women, alighted on the ground, dancing all about +and offering drink to the soldiers. + +Alba and his train marvelled greatly at the simplicity of these +peasants who were singing and feasting when everything was in arms +all about them. + +And those who were in the wagons gave all their wine to the soldiers. + +And they were well applauded and welcomed by them. + +The wine giving out in the wagons, the peasants went on their way +again to the sound of the tambourines, fifes, and bagpipes, without +being interfered with. + +And the soldiers, gay and jolly, fired a salvo of musket shots in +their honour. + +And thus they came into Maestricht, where Ulenspiegel made arrangements +with the reformers' agents to despatch by vessels arms and munitions +to the fleet of the Silent. + +And they did the same at Landen. + +And they went in this way elsewhere, clad as workmen. + +The duke heard of the trick; and there was a song made upon it, +which was sent him, and the refrain of which was: + + + Bloody Duke, silly head, + Have you seen the newlywed? + + +And every time he had made a wrong manoeuvre the soldiers would sing: + + + The Duke has dust in eye: + He has seen the newlywed. + + + + + +XXIV + +In the meantime, King Philip was plunged in bitter melancholy. In his +grievous pride he prayed to God to give him power to conquer England, +to subdue France, to take Milan, Genoa, Venice, and great lord of +all the seas, thus to reign over all Europe. + +Thinking of this triumph, he laughed not. + +He was continually and always cold; wine never warmed him, nor the +fire of scented wood that was always burning in the chamber where he +was. There always writing, sitting amid so many letters that a hundred +casks might have been filled with them, he brooded over the universal +domination of the whole world, such as was wielded by the emperors of +Rome; on his jealous hatred of his son Don Carlos, since the latter +had wanted to go to the Low Countries in the Duke of Alba's place, to +seek to reign there, he thought, without doubt. And seeing him ugly, +deformed, a savage and cruel madman, he hated him the more. But he +never spoke of it. + +Those who served King Philip and his son Don Carlos knew not which +of the twain they ought to fear the most; whether the son, agile, +murderous, tearing his servitors with his nails, or the cowardly +and crafty father, using others to strike, and like a hyæna, living +upon corpses. + +The servitors were terrified to see them prowling around each +other. And they said that there would soon be a death in the Escurial. + +Now they learned presently that Don Carlos had been imprisoned for the +crime of high treason. And they knew that he was devouring his soul +with black spite, that he had hurt his face trying to get through +the bars of his prison in order to escape, and that Madame Isabelle +of France, his mother, was weeping without ceasing. + +But King Philip was not weeping. + +The rumour came to them that Don Carlos had been given green figs +and that he was dead the next day as if he had gone to sleep. The +physicians said as soon as he had eaten the figs the blood ceased to +beat, the functions of life, as Nature meant them, were interrupted; +he could neither spit, nor vomit, nor get rid of anything from out +of his body. His belly swelled at his death. + +King Philip heard the death mass for Don Carlos, had him buried +in the chapel of his royal residence and marble set over his body; +but he did not weep. + +And the lords in waiting said to one another, mocking the princely +epitaph that was on the tombstone: + + + HERE LIES ONE WHO, EATING GREEN FIGS, + DIED WITHOUT HAVING BEEN SICK + + A qui jaze qui en para desit verdad, + Morio s'in infirmidad + + +And King Philip looked with a lustful eye upon the Princess of Eboli, +who was married. He besought her love, and she yielded. + +Madame Isabelle of France, of whom it was said that she had favoured +the designs of Don Carlos upon the Low Countries, became haggard and +woebegone. And her hair fell out in great handfuls at a time. Often +she vomited, and the nails of her feet and her hands came out. And +she died. + +And King Philip did not weep. + +The hair of the Prince of Eboli fell out also. He became sad and always +complaining. Then the nails of his feet and his hands came out, too. + +And King Philip had him buried. + +And he paid for the widow's mourning and did not weep. + + + + + +XXV + +At this time certain women and girls of Damme came to ask Nele if she +would be the May bride and hide among the brushwood with the groom that +would be found for her; "for," said the women, not without jealousy, +"there is not one young man in all Damme and round about who would +not fain be betrothed to you, who stay so lovely, good, and fresh: +the gift of a witch, doubtless." + +"Goodwives," answered Nele, "say to the young men that seek after me: +'Nele's heart is not here, but with him that wandereth to deliver +the land of our fathers.' And if I am fresh, even as you say, it is +no gift of a witch, but the gift of good health." + +The goodwives replied: + +"All the same, Katheline is suspect." + +"Do not believe what ill folk say," answered Nele; "Katheline is +no witch. The law-men burned tow upon her head and God struck her +with witlessness." + +And Katheline, nodding her head in a corner where she was sitting +all huddled up, said: + +"Take away the fire; he will come back, my darling Hanske." + +The goodwives asking who was this Hanske, Nele replied: + +"It is the son of Claes, my foster brother, whom she thinks she lost +since God struck her." + +And the kindly goodwives gave silver patards to Katheline. And when +they were new she showed them to someone that nobody could see, saying: + +"I am rich, rich in shining silver. Come, Hanske, my darling; I will +pay for my love." + +And the goodwives being gone, Nele wept in the lonely cottage. And +she thought on Ulenspiegel wandering in far-off countries where she +might not follow him, and on Katheline who, often groaning "take away +the fire," held her bosom with both hands, showing in this way that +the fire of madness burned her head and her body feverishly. + +And in the meanwhile the bride and groom of May hid in the grass. + +He or she who found one of them was, according to the sex of the one +found, and his or her own, King or Queen of the feast. + +Nele heard the cries of joy of the lads and lasses when the May bride +was found on the edge of a ditch, hidden among the tall grasses. + +And she wept, thinking on the sweet time when they hunted for her +and her friend Ulenspiegel. + + + + + +XXVI + +Meanwhile, Lamme and he were riding along well astraddle upon their +asses. + +"Listen here, Lamme," said Ulenspiegel, "the nobles of the Low +Countries, through jealousy against Orange, have betrayed the cause +of the confederates, the holy alliance, the valiant covenant signed +for the good of the land of our fathers. Egmont and de Hoorn were +traitors alike and with no advantage to themselves. Brederode is +dead; in this war there is nothing left us now but the poor common +folk of Brabant and Flanders waiting for loyal chiefs to go forward; +and then, my son, the isles, the isles of Zealand, North Holland, too, +over which the Prince is governor; and farther still and on the sea, +Edzard, Count of Emden and East Frisia." + +"Alas," said Lamme, "I see it clear; we journey between rope, rack, and +stake, dying of hunger, gaping for thirst, and with no hope of rest." + +"We are but at the beginning," replied Ulenspiegel. "Deign to consider +how that all in this is pleasure for us, slaying our enemies, +mocking them, having our pouches full of florins; well laden with +meat, with beer, with wine, with brandy. What would you have more, +feather bed? Would you like us to sell our asses and buy horses?" + +"My son," said Lamme, "the trotting of a horse is very severe on a +man of my corpulence." + +"You will sit on your steed as peasants do," said Ulenspiegel, +"and no man will mock at you, since you are clad like a peasant, +and do not wear the sword like me, but only carry a pikestaff." + +"My son," said Lamme, "are you sure that our two passes will avail +for the little towns?" + +"Have not I the curé's certificate," said Ulenspiegel, "with the +great seal of the Church in red wax hanging from it by two tails of +parchment, and our confession cards? The soldiers and catchpolls of +the duke have no power against two men so well armed. And the black +paternosters we have for sale? We are two reiters, both of us, you a +Fleming and I a German, travelling by express command from the duke, +to win over the heretics of this land to the Holy Catholic faith +by the sale of sacred articles. We shall thus enter everywhere the +houses of noble lords and the fat abbés. And they will give us rich +hospitality. And we shall surprise their secrets. Lick your chops, +my gentle friend." + +"My son," said Lamme, "we will then be carrying on the trade of spies." + +"By law and right of war," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"If they hear of the affair of the three preachers, we shall die +without a doubt," said Lamme. + +Ulenspiegel sang: + + + "My standards 'Live' as motto bear + Live ever in a sunshine land + My skin the first is buff well tanned + And steel the second skin I wear." + + +But Lamme, sighing: + +"I have nothing but one skin, and a soft one; the least stroke of a +dagger would make a hole in it immediately. We should do better to +settle in some useful trade than to gad about in this way over hill +and valley, to serve all these great princes who, with their feet in +velvet hose, eat ortolans on gilded tables. To us the blows, perils, +battle, rain, hail, snow, the thin soups that fall to vagabonds. To +them the fine sausages, fat capons, savoury thrushes, succulent fowls." + +"The water is coming into your mouth, my gentle friend," said +Ulenspiegel. + +"Where are ye, fresh bread, golden koekebakken, delicious creams? But +where art thou, my wife?" + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"The ashes beat upon my heart and drive me on to the battle. But +thou, mild lamb that hast naught to avenge, neither the death of +thy father nor of thy mother, nor the grief of those thou lovest, +nor thy present poverty, leave me alone to march whither I say, +if the toils of war affright thee." + +"Alone?" said Lamme. + +And he pulled up his ass, which began to eat a tuft of thistles, +of which there was a great plantation on that wayside. Ulenspiegel's +ass stopped and ate likewise. + +"Alone," said Lamme. "You will not leave me alone, my son; that would +be an infamous cruelty. To have lost my wife and then further to lose +my friend, that is impossible. I will whine no more, I promise you. And +since it must be"--and he raised his head proudly--"I will go under +the rain of bullets. Aye! And in the midst of swords; aye! in the face +of those foul soldiers that drink blood like wolves. And if one day +I fall at your feet bloody and death-stricken, bury me; and if you +see my wife, tell her that I died because I could not bear to live +without being loved by someone in this world. No, I could not do it, +my son Ulenspiegel." + +And Lamme wept. And Ulenspiegel was moved to see that mild courage. + + + + + +XXVII + +At this time the duke, dividing his army into two corps, made the +one march towards the Duchy of Luxembourg and the other towards the +Marquisate of Namur. + +"This," said Ulenspiegel, "is some military decision unknown to me; +it is all one to me, let us go towards Maestricht boldly." + +As they went alongside the Meuse near the city Lamme saw Ulenspiegel +looking attentively at all the boats that were moving in the river; and +he stopped before one of them that bore a siren on the prow. And this +siren held a scutcheon on which there was marked in gold letters on a +sable ground the sign J. H. S., which is that of Our Lord Jesus Christ. + +Ulenspiegel signed to Lamme to stop and began to sing merrily like +a lark. + +A man came up on the boat, crowed like a cock, and then, on a +sign from Ulenspiegel, who brayed like a donkey and pointed him to +the people gathered on the quay, he began to bray terribly like a +donkey. Ulenspiegel's two asses laid back their ears and sang their +native song. + +Women were passing; men, too, riding the towing horses, and Ulenspiegel +said to Lamme: + +"That boatman is mocking us and our steeds. Suppose we go and attack +him on his boat?" + +"Let him rather come hither," replied Lamme. + +Then a woman spoke and said: + +"If you do not want to come back with arms cut off, broken backs, +faces in bits, let that Stercke Pier bray in peace as he pleases." + +"Hee haw! hee haw! hee haw!" went the boatman. + +"Let him sing," said the goodwife, "we saw him the other day lift up on +his shoulders a cart laden with huge casks of beer, and stop another +cart pulled by a powerful horse. There," she said, pointing to the +inn of the Blauwe-Toren, the Blue Tower, "he pierced with his knife, +thrown from twenty paces off, an oaken plank twelve inches thick." + +"Hee haw! hee haw! hee haw!" went the boatman, while a lad of twelve +years old got up on the bridge of the boat and started to bray also. + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"Much we care for your strong Peter! However Stercke Pier he may be, +we are more of it than he is, and there is my friend Lamme who would +eat two of his size without a hiccup." + +"What are you saying, my son?" asked Lamme. + +"What is," replied Ulenspiegel; "do not contradict me through +modesty. Aye, good people, goodwives and artisans, soon you will behold +him try the work of his arms and annihilate this famous Stercke Pier." + +"Hold your tongue," said Lamme. + +"Your might is well known," replied Ulenspiegel, "you could never +hide it." + +"Hee haw!" went the boatman; "hee haw!" went the lad. + +Suddenly Ulenspiegel sang again, most melodiously like a lark. And +the men, the women, and the artisans, ravished with delight, asked +him where he had learned that divine whistle. + +"In paradise, whence I have come direct," answered Ulenspiegel. + +Then, speaking to the man who never stopped braying and pointing with +his finger for mockery: + +"Why do you stay there on your boat, rascal? Do you not dare to come +to land and mock at us and our steeds?" + +"Do you not dare?" said Lamme. + +"Hee haw! hee haw!" went the boatman. "Masters, donkeys, playing the +donkey, come up on my boat." + +"Do as I do," said Ulenspiegel in a low voice to Lamme. + +And speaking to the boatman: + +"If you are the Stercke Pier, I, I am Thyl Ulenspiegel. And these +twain are our asses, Jef and Jan, who can bray better than you, for +it is their native tongue. As for going up on your rickety planks, we +have no mind to it. Your boat is like a tub; every time a wave strikes +it it goes back, and it can only move like the crabs, sideways." + +"Aye, like the crabs!" said Lamme. + +Then the boatman, speaking to Lamme: + +"What are you muttering between your teeth, lump of bacon?" + +Lamme, becoming furious, said: + +"Evil Christian, who reproached me with my infirmity, know that my +bacon is my own and comes from my good food; while thou, old rusty +nail, thou livest but on old red herrings, candle wicks, skins of +stockfish, to judge from thy scrawny beef that can be seen sticking +through the holes in thy breeches." + +"They'll be giving each other a stiff drubbing," said the men, women, +and artisans, delighted and full of curiosity. + +"Hee haw! hee haw!" went the boatman. + +"Do not throw stones," said Ulenspiegel. + +The boatman said a word in the ear of the lad hee-hawing beside him +on the boat, and with the help of a boat hook, which he handled +dexterously, came to the bank. When he was quite close, he said, +standing proudly upright: + +"My baes asks if you dare to come on board his boat and wage battle +with him with fist and foot. These goodmen and goodwives will be +witnesses." + +"We will," said Ulenspiegel with much dignity. + +"We accept the combat," said Lamme with great stateliness. + +It was noon; the workmen, navvies, paviours, ship-makers, their wives +armed with their husbands' luncheons, the children that came to see +their fathers refresh themselves with beans or boiled meat, all laughed +and clapped their hands at the idea of a battle at hand, gaily hoping +that one or the other of the combatants would have a broken head or +would fall into the river all in pieces for their delectation. + +"My son," said Lamme in a low voice, "he will throw us into the water." + +"Let yourself be thrown," said Ulenspiegel. + +"The big man is afraid," said the crowd of workmen. + +Lamme, still sitting on his ass, turned on them and looked wrathfully +at them, but they hooted him. + +"Let us go on the boat," said Lamme, "they will see if I am afraid." + +At these words he was hooted again, and Ulenspiegel said: + +"Let us go on the boat." + +Alighting from their asses, they threw the bridles to the boy who +patted the donkeys in friendly fashion, and led them where he saw +thistles growing. + +Then Ulenspiegel took the boat hook, made Lamme get into the dinghy, +sculled along towards the boat, where by the help of a rope he climbed +up, preceded by Lamme, sweating and blowing hard. + +When he was upon the bridge of the vessel, Ulenspiegel stooped down +as though he meant to lace up his boots, and said a few words to the +boatman, who smiled and looked at Lamme. Then he roared a thousand +insults at him, calling him rascal, stuffed with guilty fat, gaol seed, +pap-eter, eater of pap, and saying: "Big whale, how many hogsheads +of oil do you give when you are bled?" + +All at once, without answering him, Lamme hurled himself on him like a +wild bull, flung him down, struck him with all his might, but did him +little harm because of the fat pithlessness of his arms. The boatman, +while pretending to struggle, let him do as he would, and Ulenspiegel +said: "This rascal will pay for liquor." + +The men, women, and workmen, who from the bank looked on at the battle, +said: "Who would have imagined that this big man was so impetuous?" + +And they clapped their hands while Lamme struck like a deaf man. But +the boatman took care for nothing except to save his face. Suddenly +Lamme was seen with his knee on Stercke Pier's breast, holding him +by the throat with one hand and raising the other to strike. + +"Cry for mercy," he said in fury, "or I will drive you through the +ribs of your tub!" + +The boatman, coughing to show that he could not cry out, asked for +mercy with his hand. + +Then Lamme was seen generously lifting up his enemy, who was soon +on his feet, and turning his back on the spectators, put out his +tongue at Ulenspiegel, who was bursting with laughter to see Lamme, +proudly shaking the feather in his cap, walking up and down the boat +in mighty triumph. + +And the men, women, lads, and lasses, who were on the bank, applauded +with all their might, saying: "Hurrah for the conqueror of Stercke +Pier! He is a man of iron. Did ye see how he thumped him with his fist +and how he stretched him on his back with a blow from his head? There +they are, going to drink now to make peace. Stercke Pier is coming +up from the hold with wine and sausages." + +In very deed, Stercke Pier had come up with two tankards and a great +quart of white Meuse wine. And Lamme and he had made peace. And Lamme, +all gay and jolly because of his triumph, because of the wine and the +sausages, asked him, pointing to an iron chimney that was disgorging a +black thick smoke, what were the fricassees he was making in his hold. + +"War cookery," replied Stercke Pier, smiling. + +The crowd of artisans, women, and children being dispersed to go back +to their work or to their homes, the rumour ran speedily from mouth +to mouth that a great fat man, mounted on an ass and accompanied by +a little pilgrim, also mounted on an ass, was stronger than Samson +and that care must be taken not to offend him. + +Lamme drank and looked at the boatman with a conquering air. + +The other said suddenly: + +"Your donkeys are tired of being over yonder." + +Then, bringing the boat up against the quay, he got out on the earth, +took one of the asses by the hind legs and the forelegs, and carrying +him as Jesus carried the lamb, set it down on the bridge of the +boat. Then having done the same with the other one without so much +as drawing a quicker breath, he said: + +"Let us drink." + +The lad leaped on the bridge. + +And they drank. Lamme, all in a maze, no longer knew if it was himself, +native of Damme, who had beaten this strong man, and he no longer dared +to look at him, save by stealth, without any triumphing, fearing that +he might take a notion to lay hold of him as he had done with the +donkeys and throw him alive into the Meuse, for spite at his overthrow. + +But the boatman, smiling, invited him gaily to drink again, and +Lamme recovered from his fright and looked on him once more with +victorious assurance. + +And the boatman and Ulenspiegel laughed. + +In the meanwhile, the donkeys, dumbfounded to find themselves on a +floor that was not the cows' floor, as the peasants call dry land, +had hung their heads, laid back their ears, and dared not drink for +fear. The boatman went off to fetch them one of the pecks of corn he +gave the horses that towed his boat, buying it himself so as not to +be cheated by the drivers in the price of fodder. + +When the donkeys saw the grain they murmured paternosters of the jaw +while staring at the deck of the boat in melancholy fashion and not +daring to move a hoof for fear of slipping. + +Thereupon the boatman said to Lamme and to Ulenspiegel: + +"Let us go into the kitchen." + +"A war kitchen, but you may go down into it without fear, my +conqueror." + +"I am nowise afraid, and I follow you," said Lamme. + +The lad took the tiller. + +Going down they saw everywhere bags of grain, of beans, peas, carrots, +and other vegetables. + +The boatman then said to them, opening the door of a small forge: + +"Since ye are men of valiant heart and know the cry of the lark, +the bird of the free, and the warrior clarion of the cock, and the +braying of the ass, the gentle worker, I am minded to show you my +war kitchen. This little forge you will find such an one in most +Meuse boats. No one can be suspicious of it, for it serves to mend +and repair the ironwork of the vessels; but what all do not possess +is the goodly vegetables contained in these cupboards." + +Then removing some stones that covered the floor of the hold, he +raised a few planks, and pulled up a fine sheaf of musket barrels, +and lifting it as if it had been a feather, he put it back in its +place; then he showed them lance heads, halberds, sword blades; +bags of bullets, bags of powder. + +"Long live the Beggar!" said he; "here are beans and their sauce, +the musket stocks are legs of mutton, the salads are these halberd +heads, and these musket barrels are ox shins for the soup of +freedom. Long live the Beggar! Where am I to take this victual?" he +asked Ulenspiegel. + +"To Niméguen, where you will enter with your boat still more heavily +laden, with real vegetables, brought you by the peasants, which you +will take on board at Etsen, at Stephansweert, and at Ruremonde. And +they, too, will sing like the lark, the bird of the free; you shall +answer with the warlike clarion of the cock. You are to go to the +house of Doctor Pontus, who lives beside the Nieuwe-Waal; you are +to tell him you are coming to the city with vegetables, but that +you fear the drought. While the peasants go to the market to sell +the vegetables at a price too dear for any to buy, he will tell you +what you are to do with your weapons. I think, too, that he will +direct you to pass, not without danger, by the Wahal, the Meuse, or +the Rhine, exchanging vegetables for nets for sale, so that you may +wander with the Harlingen fishing boats, where there are many sailors +that know the lark's song; skirt the coast by the Waden, and get to +the Lauwer-Zee; exchange the nets for iron and lead; give costumes +of Marken, Vlieland, and Ameland to your peasants; remain awhile on +the coasts, fishing and salting down your fish to keep it and not to +sell it, for to drink cool and make war on salt is a lawful thing." + +"Wherefore, let us drink," said the boatman. + +And they went up on the deck. + +But Lamme, falling into melancholy: + +"Master boatman," said he, suddenly, "you have here in your forge +a little fire so bright that for certain one might cook with it the +most delicious of hotpots. My throat is thirsty for soup." + +"I will refresh you," said the man. + +And speedily he served him a rich soup, in which he had boiled a +thick slice of salt ham. + +When Lamme had swallowed a few spoonfuls, he said to the boatman: + +"My throat is peeling, my tongue is burning: this is no hotpot." + +"'Cool drink and salt war', it was written," replied Ulenspiegel. + +Then the boatman filled up the tankards, and said: + +"I drink to the lark, the bird of freedom." + +Ulenspiegel said: + +"I drink to the cock, blowing the clarion of war." + +Lamme said: + +"I drink to my wife; may she never be athirst, the poor darling." + +"You are to go as far as Emden by the North Sea," said Ulenspiegel +to the boatman. "Emden is a refuge for us." + +"The sea is wide," said the boatman. + +"Wide for the battle," said Ulenspiegel. + +"God is with us," said the boatman. + +"Who then shall be against us?" replied Ulenspiegel. + +"When do you depart?" said he. + +"Immediately," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"Good voyage and a following wind. Here are powder and bullets." And +kissing them, he brought them ashore, after carrying the two donkeys +on his neck and shoulders like lambs. + +Ulenspiegel and Lamme having mounted them, they started for Liége. + +"My son," said Lamme, as they went on their way, "how did that man, +so strong as he is, allow himself to be so cruelly thumped by me?" + +"So that everywhere we go," said Ulenspiegel, "terror may precede +you. That will be a better escort to us than twenty landsknechts. Who +would henceforth dare to attack Lamme the mighty, the conqueror; +Lamme the bull without peer, who with his head, before the eyes and +to the knowledge of everyone, overthrew the Stercke Pier, Peter the +Strong, who carries asses like lambs and lifts with one shoulder a +cart of beer barrels? Everyone knows you here already; you are Lamme +the terrible, Lamme the invincible, and I walk in the shadow of your +protection. Everyone will know you along the way we are to go, no +one will dare to look on you with an unfriendly eye, and considering +the great valour of mankind, you will find nothing on your path but +louting, salutations, homage, and venerations offered to the might +of your redoubtable fist." + +"You speak well, my son," said Lamme, drawing himself up in his saddle. + +"And I speak the truth," replied Ulenspiegel. "Do you see these +curious faces in the first houses of this village? They are pointing +the finger, showing to one another Lamme, the terrific conqueror. Do +you see these men that look at you with envy and these poor cowards +that doff their kerchiefs! Reply to their salutation, Lamme, my dear; +disdain not the poor weak common herd. See the children know your +name and repeat it with awe and fear." + +And Lamme passed by, proud and stately, saluting to the right and to +the left like a king. And the word of his prowess followed him from +burg to burg, from city to city, to Liége, Choquier, to Neuville, +Vesin, and Namur which they avoided because of the three preachers. + +They went on thus a long time, following up rivers, streams, and +canals. And everywhere to the lark's song answered the crowing of +the cock. And everywhere for the work of liberty men founded forges +and furbished the weapons that went away on the ships that skirted +along the coasts. + +And they passed the tolls in casks, in cases, in baskets. + +And there were found always good folk to receive them and to conceal +them in a sure place, with powder and bullets, until the hour of God. + +And Lamme wending his way with Ulenspiegel, still preceded by his +victorious reputation, began himself to believe in his great strength, +and becoming proud and bellicose, he let his hair grow long. And +Ulenspiegel christened him "Lamme the Lion." + +But Lamme did not hold steadfast in the design because of the +irritation of the young growth on the fourth day. And he had the razor +passed over his conquering face, which appeared to Ulenspiegel once +more, round and full like a sun, lit up with the flame of good victual. + +In this wise they came to Stockem. + + + + + +XXVIII + +About nightfall, having left their asses at Stockem, they entered +into the city of Antwerp. + +And Ulenspiegel said to Lamme: + +"Lo this great city; here the whole world piles up its riches: gold, +silver, spices, gilded leather, Gobelin tapestry cloth, stuffs +of velvet, wool, and silk; beans, peas, grain, meat, and flour, +salted hides, Louvain wines, wines of Namur, of Luxembourg, Liége, +Landtwyn from Brussels and from Aerschot, Buley wines whose vineyard +is beside the Plante gate at Namur, Rhine wines, wines from Spain +and Portugal; grape oil from Aerschot that they call Landolium; wines +of Burgundy, Malvoisie and so many more. And the quays are cumbered +with merchandise. + +"These riches of earth and of human toil bring into this place the +most beautiful light ladies that are." + +"You are growing dreamy," said Lamme. + +Ulenspiegel answered: + +"I shall find the Seven among them. It was told me: + + + In ruins, blood and tears, seek! + + +What then is there that causeth more of ruin than light wenches? Is it +not in their company that poor witless men lose their goodly carolus, +shining and chinking; their jewels, chains, and rings, and come away +without a doublet, ragged and despoiled, even without their linen; +while the girls grow fat upon their spoils? Where is the red clear +blood that used to course in their veins? 'Tis leek juice now. Or else, +indeed, to enjoy their sweet and lovely bodies do they not fight with +knife, with dagger, with sword, without pity? The corpses borne away, +pale, and bloody, are corpses of the love-distraught. When the father +scolds and remains on his chair with forbidding looks; when his white +hairs seem whiter and stiffer; when from his dry eyes, wherein burns +the grief at a son's loss, the tears refuse to flow; when the mother, +silent and pale as a dead woman, weeps as if she saw nothing before +her now save all the sorrows that this world holdeth, who is it makes +those tears to fall? The gay ladies that love but themselves and money, +and hold the world, thinking or working or philosophizing, fastened +to the end of their golden girdle. Aye, it is there the Seven are, +and we shall go, Lamme, among the girls. Perchance thy wife is among +them; that will be a double sweep of the net." + +"I am willing," said Lamme. + +It was then in the month of June, towards the end of the summer, +when the sun was already reddening the leaves on the chestnuts, when +the little birds sing in the trees and there is never a mite so small +that he does not chirp for pleasure to be so warm in the grass. + +Lamme wandered beside Ulenspiegel through the streets of Antwerp, +hanging his head and dragging his body along like a house. + +"Lamme," said Ulenspiegel, "you are plunged in melancholy; do you not +know that nothing is worse for the skin; if you persist in your grief, +you will lose it in strips. And it will be a fine word to hear when +they say of you: 'Lamme the flayed.'" + +"I am hungry," said Lamme. + +"Come and eat," said Ulenspiegel. + +And they went together to the Old Stairs, where they ate choesels +and drank dobbel-cuyt as much as they could carry. + +And Lamme wept no more. + +And Ulenspiegel said: + +"Blessed be the good beer that maketh thy soul all sunny! Laughest +and shakest thy big paunch. How I love to see thee dance of the +merry entrails." + +"My son," said Lamme, "they would dance far more if I had the good +luck to find my wife again." + +"Let us go and seek for her," said Ulenspiegel. + +They came thus to the quarter of the Lower Scheldt. + +"Look," said Ulenspiegel to Lamme, "see that little house all made of +wood, with handsome windows, well opened and glazed with little square +panes; consider these yellow curtains and that red lamp. There, my son, +behind four casks of bruinbier, of uitzet, of dobbel-cuyt, and Amboise +wine, sits a beauteous baesine of fifty years or upwards. Every year +she lived gave her a fresh layer of bacon. Upon one of the casks +shines a candle, and there is a lantern hung to the beams of the +roof. It is bright and dark there, dark for love, bright for payment." + +"But," said Lamme, "this is a convent of the devil's nuns, and this +baesine is its abbess." + +"Aye," said Ulenspiegel, "'tis she that leadeth in Beelzebub's name, +down the path of sin fifteen lovely girls of amorous life, which find +with her shelter and food, but it is forbidden to them to sleep there." + +"Do you know this convent?" said Lamme. + +"I am going to look for your wife therein. Come." + +"No," said Lamme, "I have taken thought and will not go in." + +"Wilt thou let thy friend expose himself all alone in the midst of +these Astartes?" + +"Let him not go there," said Lamme. + +"But if he must go in to find the Seven and your wife?" replied +Ulenspiegel. + +"I would rather sleep," said Lamme. + +"Come on then," said Ulenspiegel, opening the door and thrusting +Lamme in front of him. "See, the baesine stays behind her casks, +between two candles; the chamber is large, with a roof of blackened +oak with smoked beams. All around reign benches, lame-legged +tables covered with glasses, quart pots, goblets, tankards, jugs, +flasks, bottles, and other implements of drinking. In the middle are +still more tables and chairs whereon are enthroned odds and ends, +the which are women's capes, gilded belts, velvet shoes, bagpipes, +fifes, shawms. In a corner is a ladder leading to the upper story. A +little bald hunchback plays on a clavecin mounted on glass feet that +make the sound of the instrument grating. Dance, my fat lad. Fifteen +lovely ladies are sitting, some on the tables, some on the chairs, +a leg here, a leg there, bending, upright, leaning on an elbow, +thrown back, lying on their back or on their side, at their pleasure, +clad in white, in red, their arms bare like their shoulders, too, +and their bosom down to the waist. There are some of every kind; +choose! For some the light of the candles, caressing their fair +hair, leaves in the shadow their blue eyes, of which nothing can be +seen but the gleaming of their liquid fire. Others, looking at the +ceiling, sigh to the viol some German ballade. Some round, brown, +plump, brazen-faced, are drinking from full tankards Amboise wine, and +show their round arms, bare to the shoulder, their half-opened dress, +whence come out the apples of their breasts, and shamelessly talk with +their mouths full, one after the other or all at once. Listen to them." + +"A straw for money to-day! it is love we must have, love at our +own choice," said the lovely ladies, "child's love, youth's love, +whoever pleases us, and no paying."--"Yesterday was the day when one +paid, to-day is the day when one loves!" "Who so would fain drink +at our lips, they are still moist from the bottle. Wine and kisses, +it is a whole feast!" "A straw for widows that lie all alone!" "We +are girls! 'Tis the day of charity to-day. To the young, the strong, +and the comely, we will open our arms. Something to drink!" "Darling, +is it for the battle of love that your heart is beating the tambourine +in your breast! What a pendulum! 'Tis the clock of kisses. When +will they come, full hearts and empty purses? Do they not scent out +dainty adventures? What is the difference between a young Beggar +and Monsieur the Markgrave? Monsieur pays in florins and the young +Beggar in caresses. Long live the Beggar! Who will go and wake up +the graveyards?" + +Thus spake the good, the ardent, and the gay among the ladies of +amorous life. + +But there were others of them with narrow faces, lean shoulders, who +made of their bodies a shop for savings, and liard by liard harvested +the price of their thin flesh. And these were fuming among themselves: +"It is very foolish for us to refuse payment in this fatiguing trade, +for these ridiculous whimsies running in the heads of girls that +are wild over men. If they have a cantle of the moon in their heads, +we have none, and prefer not to have to drag around in our old age +like them, in rags in the gutter, but to be paid since we are for +sale. A straw for this gratis! Men are ugly, stinking, grumbling, +greedy, drunken. It is nothing but them that turns poor women to ill!" + +But the young and beautiful ones did not hear these speeches, and +all in their pleasure and drinkings said: "Do you hear the passing +bells ringing in Notre Dame? We are on fire! Who will go and waken +the graveyards?" + +Lamme seeing so many women all at once, brunette and fair, fresh and +withered, was ashamed; lowering his eyes he cried out: "Ulenspiegel, +where are you?" + +"He is dead and gone, my friend," said a great stout girl taking hold +of his arm. + +"Dead and gone?" said Lamme. + +"Aye," said she, "three hundred years ago, in the company of Jacobus +de Coster van Maerlandt." + +"Let me go," said Lamme, "and do not pinch me. Ulenspiegel, where +are you? Come and save your friend! I am going away immediately if +you do not let me go." + +"You will not go away," they said. + +"Ulenspiegel," said Lamme, again, piteously, "where are you, my +son? Madame, do not pull my hair in this way; it is not a wig, I +assure you. Help! Do you not think my ears red enough, without your +bringing the blood to them besides? There is that other one filliping +me all the time. You are hurting me! Alas! what are they rubbing my +face with now? A looking glass! I am black as the jaws of an oven. I +will be angry in a minute if you do not stop; it is ill done of you +to torment a poor man like this. Let me go! When you have tugged me +by my breeches to right, to left, from all sides, and have made me +go like a shuttle, will you be any the fatter for it? Aye, I shall +get angry without a doubt." + +"He will get angry," said they, mocking; "he will get angry, the good +man. Laugh rather, and sing us a love lay." + +"I will sing one of blows, if you wish, but let me alone." + +"Whom do you love here?" + +"Nobody, neither you nor the others. I will complain to the magistrates +and he will have you whipped." + +"Oh, indeed!" they said. "Whipped! And suppose we were to kiss you +by main force before this whipping?" + +"Me?" said Lamme. + +"You," said they all. + +And thereupon the lovely and the ugly, the fresh and the faded, the +brown and the fair all rushed upon Lamme, flung his bonnet into the +air, and his cloak, too, and fell to caressing him, kissing him on +the cheek, the nose, the back, with all their might. + +The baesine laughed between her candles. + +"Help!" cried Lamme; "help, Ulenspiegel; sweep away all this +rubbish. Let me go. I want none of your kisses; I am married, God's +blood! and keep all for my wife." + +"Married," said they; "but your wife has over much: a man of your +corpulence. Give us a little. Faithful woman, 'tis well and good; +a faithful man, he is a capon. God keep you! you must choose, or we +shall whip you in our turn." + +"I will do no such thing," said Lamme. + +"Choose," said they. + +"No," said he. + +"Will you have me?" said a pretty, fair girl: "See, I am gentle, +and I love whoever loves me." + +"Let me alone," said Lamme. + +"Will you have me?" said a delicious girl, who had black hair, eyes +and complexion all brown, and in everything else made to perfection +by the angels. + +"I don't like gingerbread," said Lamme. + +"And what of me, would you not take me?" said a tall girl, who had a +brow almost covered by her hair, heavy eyebrows joined together, big +drowned eyes, lips thick as eels and all red, and red, too, of face, +neck, and shoulders. + +"I don't like," said Lamme, "burnt bricks." + +"Take me," said a girl of sixteen with a little squirrel face. + +"I don't like nut crunchers," said Lamme. + +"We must whip him," said they, "with what? Fine whips with a lash of +dried hide. A sound lashing. The toughest skin cannot resist it. Take +ten of them. Carters' and donkey drivers' whips." + +"Help! Ulenspiegel!" cried Lamme. + +But Ulenspiegel made no answer. + +"Ye have a bad heart," said Lamme, seeking his friend on every side. + +The whips were brought; two of the girls set to work to strip Lamme +of his doublet. + +"Alas!" said he; "my poor fat, that I had so much trouble to make, +they will doubtless lift it off with their keen whips. But, pitiless +females, my fat will be no use to you, not even to make sauces." + +They replied: + +"We shall make candles with it. Is it nothing to see clear without +paying for it! She that will henceforth say that out of the whip comes +forth candle will seem mad to everybody. We will uphold it to the +death, and win more than one wager. Steep the rods in vinegar. There, +your doublet is off. The hour is striking at Saint Jacques! Nine +o'clock. At the last stroke of the clock, if you have not made your +choice, we shall strike." + +Lamme, paralyzed, said: + +"Have pity and compassion upon me; I have sworn faithfulness +to my poor wife and will keep it, although she left me in evil +fashion. Ulenspiegel, dear friend, help!" + +But Ulenspiegel did not show himself. + +"See me," said Lamme to the light ladies, "see me at your knees. Is +there a humbler posture? Is it not enough to say that I honour your +great beauties like the very saints? Happy is he that, not being +married, can enjoy your charms! 'Tis paradise, without doubt; but do +not beat me, if you please." + +Suddenly the baesine, who remained between her two candles, spoke in +a strong and threatening voice: + +"Good women and girls," said she, "I take my oath on my great devil +that if, in a moment, you have not, by laughter and gentle ways, +brought this man to a good mind, that is to say into your bed, I will +go fetch the night watch and have you all whipped instead of him. Ye +do not deserve to be called girls of amorous life if in vain you +have free mouth, wanton hand, and flaming eyes to excite the males, +as do the females of the glow-worms that have their lanterns but to +this end. And you shall be whipped without mercy for your simpleness." + +At that word the girls trembled and Lamme became joyful. + +"Now, then, good women, what news bring you from the land of sharp +thongs? I will myself go and fetch the watch. They will do their duty, +and I shall help them with it. It will give me great pleasure." + +But then a pretty little girl of fifteen threw herself at Lamme's +knees: + +"Messire," said she, "you see me here before you, humbly resigned; +if you do not deign to choose me from among us, I must needs be +beaten for you, monsieur. And the baesine there will put me into a +foul cellar, under the Scheldt, where the water oozes from the wall, +and where I shall have but black bread to eat." + +"Will she verily be beaten for me, Madame baesine," said Lamme. + +"Till the blood runs," replied she. + +Lamme then, considering the girl, said: "I see thee fresh, perfumed, +thy shoulder coming out from thy robe like a great petal of a white +rose; I would not have this lovely skin under which the blood flows +so young, suffer under the whip, nor that those eyes bright with the +fire of youth should weep for the anguish of the strokes, nor that the +cold of the prison should make thy body shiver, thy body like a love +fay. And so I had rather choose thee than know that thou wert beaten." + +The girl took him away. So sinned he, as he did all things in his life, +through kindness of heart. + +Meanwhile, Ulenspiegel and a tall handsome brown girl with curling +waving hair were standing before one another. The girl, without +saying a word, was looking at Ulenspiegel coquettishly and seemed +not to wish to have anything to do with him. + +"Love me," said he. + +"Love thee," said she, "wild lover who lovest only at thine own hour?" + +Ulenspiegel answered: "The bird that passes above thy head sings his +song and flies away. And so with me, sweetheart: wilt thou that we +sing together?" + +"Aye," said she, "a song of laughter and of tears." + +And the girl flung herself on Ulenspiegel's neck. + +Suddenly, as both were happy in the arms of their darlings, lo! there +came into the house, to the sound of fife and drum, and jostling, +pushing, singing, whistling, crying, shouting, bawling, a gay company +of meesevangers, who at Antwerp are titmouse catchers. They were +carrying bags and cages full of these little birds, and the owls that +had helped them in the sport were opening wide their eyes, gilded in +the light. + +The meesevangers were full ten in number, all red, bloated with wine +and cervoise ale, with waggling heads, dragging their tottering legs +and crying out in a voice so hoarse and so broken that it seemed to +the timid girls that they were rather listening to wild beasts in a +wood than men in a house. + +However, as they never stopped saying, speaking singly or all at once: +"I would have the one I love." "We are his that pleaseth us. To-morrow +to the rich in florins! To-day to the rich in love!" the meesevangers +replied: "Florins we have and love as well; to us then the light +ladies. He that draws back is a capon. These are tits, and we are +sportsmen. Rescue! Brabant for the good duke!" + +But the women said, laughing loudly: "Fie! the ugly muzzles that think +to eat us! 'Tis not to swine that men give sherbets. We take whom we +please and do not want you. Barrels of oil, bags of lard, thin nails, +rusty blades, you stink of sweat and mud. Get out of here; you will +be well and duly damned without our help." + +But the men: "The Frenchies are dainty to-day. Disgusted ladies, +you can well give us what you sell to everybody." + +But the women: "To-morrow," they said, "we will be slaves and dogs, +and will accept you; to-day we are free women and we cast you out." + +The men: "Enough words," they cried. "Who is thirsty? Let us pluck +the apples!" + +And so saying they threw themselves upon them, without distinction of +age or beauty. The girls, resolute in their minds, threw at their heads +chairs, quart pots, jugs, goblets, tankards, flasks, bottles, raining +thick as hail, wounding them, bruising them, knocking out their eyes. + +Ulenspiegel and Lamme came down at the tumult, leaving their trembling +lovers above at the top of the ladder. When Ulenspiegel saw these +men striking at the women, he took up a broom in the courtyard, tore +away the twigs from the head, gave another to Lamme, and with them +they beat the meesevangers without pity. + +The game seemed hard to the drunkards; thus belaboured, they stopped +for an instant, by which profited the thin girls who desired to sell +themselves and not to give, even in this great day of love voluntary +as Nature wills it. Like snakes they glided among the injured, +caressed them, tended their wounds, drank wine of Amboise for them, +and emptied so well their pouches of florins and other moneys, that +they had left not a single liard. Then, as the curfew was ringing, +they put them to the door through which Ulenspiegel and Lamme had +already taken their way. + + + + + +XXIX + +Ulenspiegel and Lamme were marching towards Ghent and came at daybreak +to Lokeren. The earth in the distance sweated dew; white cool mists +glided along the meadows. Ulenspiegel, as he passed before a forge, +whistled like the lark, the bird of liberty. And straightway appeared +a head, tousled and white, at the door of the forge, and imitated +the warlike clarion of the cock in a weak voice. + +Ulenspiegel said to Lamme: + +"This is the smitte Wasteele, who forges by day spades, mattocks, +plough shares, hammering the iron when it is hot to fashion with +it fine gratings for the choirs of churches, and oftentimes, at +night, making and furbishing arms for the soldiers of freedom of +conscience. He has not won the looks of health at this game, for he +is pale as a ghost, sad as a damned soul, and so lean that his bones +poke holes in his skin. He has not yet gone to rest, having doubtless +toiled all night long." + +"Come in, both of you," said the smitte Wasteele, "and lead your +asses into the meadow behind the house." + +This being done, Lamme and Ulenspiegel being in the forge, the smitte +Wasteele took down into a cellar of his house all the swords he had +furbished and the lance heads he had cast during the night, and made +ready the day's work for his men. + +Looking at Ulenspiegel with lack-lustre eye, he said to him: + +"What news do you bring me from the Silent?" + +"The prince has been driven out of the Low Countries with his +army because of the misconduct of his mercenaries, who shout 'Geld, +Geld! money, money!' when they ought to fight. He has gone away towards +France with the faithful soldiers, his brother Count Ludovic and the +Duke of Deux-Ponts, to help the King of Navarre and the Huguenots; +from thence he passed over into Germany, to Dillenbourg, where many +that have fled from the Low Countries are with him. You must send +him arms and what money you have collected, while we, we shall ply +the task of free men upon the sea." + +"I shall do what is to be done," said the smitte Wasteele; "I have +arms and nine thousand florins. But did you not come riding on asses?" + +"Aye," they said. + +"And have you not, on your way, heard news of three preachers, slain +and stripped and thrown into a hole among the rocks of the Meuse?" + +"Aye," said Ulenspiegel, with the utmost boldness, "these three +preachers were three spies of the duke's, assassins, paid to kill the +prince of freedom. Together we two, Lamme and I, sent them from life +to death. Their money is ours and their papers likewise. We shall +take what we need from it for our journey; the rest we shall give to +the prince." + +And Ulenspiegel, opening his own doublet and Lamme's, pulled out from +them papers and parchments. The smitte Wasteele having read them: + +"They contain," he said, "plans of battle and conspiracy. I will have +them sent to the prince, and he will be told that Ulenspiegel and +Lamme Goedzak, his trusty vagabonds, saved his noble life. I will +have your asses sold that you may not be recognized from your mounts." + +Ulenspiegel asked the smitte Wasteele if the sheriff's court at Namur +had already set their catchpolls on their track. + +"I will tell you what I know," replied Wasteele. "A smith of Namur, +a stout reformer, passed through here the other day, under pretext +of asking me to help him with the screens, weathercocks, and other +ironwork of a castle that is to be built near the Plante. The usher +of the sheriff's court told him that his masters had already met, +and that a tavern keeper had been summoned, because he lived a few +hundred fathom from the place where the murder had taken place. Asked +if he had seen the murderers or not, or any he might suspect as +such, he had replied: 'I saw country folk men and women travelling +on donkeys, asking me for something to drink and staying seated on +their mounts, or getting down to drink in my house, beer for the men, +hydromel for the women and girls. I saw two bold rustics that talked +of shortening Messire of Orange by a foot.' And so saying, the host, +whistling, imitated the sound of a knife going into the flesh of the +neck. 'By the Steel-wind,' he said, 'I will speak with you in private, +being empowered to do so.' He spoke and was released. From that time +the councils of justice have without doubt sent despatches to their +subordinate councils. The host said he had seen only country men and +country women riding upon asses; it will therefore follow that pursuit +will be directed against all persons that may be found bestriding a +donkey. And the prince hath need of you, my children." + +"Sell the asses," said Ulenspiegel, "and keep the price for the +prince's treasury." + +The asses were sold. + +"You must now," said Wasteele, "have each a trade free and independent +of the guilds; do you know how to make bird cages and mouse traps?" + +"I have made such long ago," said Ulenspiegel. + +"And thou?" asked Wasteele of Lamme. + +"I will sell eete-koeken and olie-koeken; these are pancakes and +balls of flour cooked in oil." + +"Follow me; here are cages and mouse traps all ready; the tools and +copper filigree work also which are needed to mend them and to make +others. They were brought me by one of my spies. This is for you, +Ulenspiegel. As for you, Lamme, here is a little stove and a bellows; +I will give you flour, butter, and oil to make the eete-koeken and +the olie-koeken." + +"He will eat them," said Ulenspiegel. + +"When shall we make the first ones?" asked Lamme. + +Wasteele replied: + +"First ye shall help me for a night or two; I cannot finish my great +task alone by myself." + +"I am hungry," said Lamme, "can one eat here?" + +"There is bread and cheese," said Wasteele. + +"No butter?" asked Lamme. + +"No butter," said Wasteele. + +"Have you beer or wine?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +"I never drink them," he answered, "but I will go in het Pelicaen, +close by here, and fetch some for you if you wish." + +"Aye," said Lamme, "and bring us some ham." + +"I will do as you wish," said Wasteele, looking at Lamme with great +disdain. + +All the same he brought dobbel-clauwert and a ham. And Lamme, full +of joy, ate enough for five. + +And he said: + +"When do we set to work?" + +"To-night," said Wasteele; "but stay in the forge and do not be afraid +of my workmen. They are of the Reformed faith like yourselves." + +"That is well," said Lamme. + +By night, the curfew having rung and the doors being shut, Wasteele, +making Ulenspiegel and Lamme help him, going down and bringing up +from his cellar heavy bundles of weapons: + +"Here," he said, "are twenty arquebuses to mend, thirty lance heads +to furbish, and lead for fifteen hundred bullets to melt down; you +shall help me with it." + +"With all my hands," said Ulenspiegel, "and why have I not four to +serve you?" + +"Lamme will help us," said Wasteele. + +"Aye," replied Lamme, piteously, and falling with drowsiness through +excess of drink and food. + +"You shall melt the lead," said Ulenspiegel. + +"I will melt the lead," said Lamme. + +Lamme, melting his lead and running his bullets, kept looking with a +savage eye at the smitte Wasteele who was driving him to keep awake +when he was dropping with sleep. He ran his bullets with a wordless +fury, having a great longing to pour the molten lead on the head of +Wasteele the smith. But he controlled himself. Towards midnight, his +rage getting the better of him at the same time as excess of fatigue, +he addressed him thus in a hissing voice, while the smitte Wasteele +with Ulenspiegel was patiently furbishing musket barrels, muskets, +and lance heads: + +"There you are," said Lamme, "meager, pale, and wretched, believing +in the good faith of princes and the great ones of the earth, and +disdaining, in an excessive zeal, your body, your noble body that you +are leaving to perish in misery and humiliation. It was not for this +that God made it with Dame Nature. Do you know that our soul which +is the breath of life, needs, that it may breathe, beans, beef, beer, +wine, ham, sausages, chitterlings, and rest; you, you live on bread, +water, and watching." + +"Whence have you this talkative flow?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +"He knows not what he says," answered Wasteele, sadly. + +But Lamme growing angry: + +"I know better than you. I say that we are mad, I, you, and +Ulenspiegel, to wear out our eyes for all these princes and great +ones of the earth, who would laugh loudly at us if they saw us dying +of weariness, losing our sleep to furbish up arms and cast bullets +for their service while they drink French wine and eat German capons +from golden tankards and dishes of English pewter; they will never +ask whether, while we are seeking in the open wild the God by whose +grace they have their power, their enemies are cutting off our limbs +with their scythes and casting us into the well of death. They, +in the meanwhile, who are neither Reformed, nor Calvinists, nor +Lutherans, nor Catholics, but sceptics and doubters entirely, will +buy or conquer principalities, will devour the wealth of the monks, +abbeys, and convents, and will have all: virgins, wives, women and +bona robas, and will drink from their gold cups to their perpetual +jollity, and to our everlasting foolishness, simplicity, stupidity, +and to the seven deadly sins which they commit, O smitte Wasteele, +under the starveling nose of thy enthusiasm. Look upon the fields, +the meads, look on the harvest, the orchards, the kine, the gold +rising out of the earth; look at the wild things in the woods, the +birds of the skies, delicious ortolans, delicate thrushes, wild boars' +heads, haunches of buck venison; all is theirs, hunting, fishing, +earth, sea, everything. And you, you live on bread and water, and we +are killing ourselves here for them, without sleep, without eating, +and without drinking. And when we shall be dead they will fetch our +carrion a kick and say to our mothers: 'Make us more of these; those +ones can do us no service now.'" + +Ulenspiegel laughed and said nothing. Lamme breathed hard with +indignation, but Wasteele, speaking in a gentle voice: + +"Thou speakest but lightly," said he. "I live not for ham, for beer, or +for ortolans, but for the victory of freedom of conscience. The prince +of freedom does even as I do. He sacrifices his wealth, his sleep +and his happiness to drive out from the Low Countries the butchers +and tyranny. Do as he does and try to grow thinner. 'Tis not by the +belly that peoples can be saved, but by proud courage and fatigues +endured even unto death without a murmur. And now go and lie down, +if thou art sleepy." + +But Lamme would not, being ashamed. + +And they furbished arms and cast bullets until it was morning, and +thus for three days. + +Then they departed for Ghent, by night, selling bird cages, +mouse-traps, and olie-koekjes. + +And they stopped at Meulestee, the little town of the mills, whose +red roofs are seen everywhere, and there they agreed to carry on their +trades apart and to meet each other at night before curfew in de Zwaen, +at the Swan Inn. + +Lamme wandered about the streets of Ghent selling olie-koekjes getting +a liking for this trade, seeking for his wife, emptying many a quart +pot and eating continually. Ulenspiegel had delivered letters from +the prince to Jacob Scoelap, licentiate in medicine; to Lieven Smet, +cloth seller; to Jan Wulfschaeger, to Gillis Coorne, the scarlet dyer, +and to Jan de Roose, tile maker, who gave him the money harvested by +them for the Prince, and bade him wait some days longer at Ghent and +in the neighbourhood, and he would be given still more. + +Those men having been hanged later on the New Gibbet for heresy, +their bodies were buried in the Gallows Field, near the Bruges Gate. + + + + + +XXX + +Meanwhile, the provost Spelle le Roux, armed with his red wand, was +hurrying from town to town on his lean horse, everywhere setting up +scaffolds, lighting fires of execution, digging graves to bury poor +women and girls alive in them. And the King inherited. + +Ulenspiegel being at Meulestee with Lamme, under a tree, found himself +full of weary lassitude. It was cold although the month was June. From +the skies, laden with gray clouds, there fell a fine hail. + +"My son," said Lamme, "you are for the past four nights shamelessly +running wild, gadding after the bona robas, you go to sleep in de +Zoeten Inval, at the Sweet Fall; you will do like the man on the sign, +falling head foremost into a hive of bees. Vainly do I wait for you in +de Zwaen, and I draw evil forebodings from this liquorish living. Why +do you not take a wife virtuously?" + +"Lamme," said Ulenspiegel, "he to whom one woman is all women, and +to whom all women are one in this gentle combat that they call love, +must not lightly rush upon his choice." + +"And Nele, do you not think at all on her?" + +"Nele is at Damme, far away," said Ulenspiegel. + +While he was in this posture and the hail was falling thick, a young +and pretty woman passed by, running and covering up her head in +her petticoat. + +"Eh," said she, "dreamy one, what dost thou under that tree?" + +"I am dreaming," said Ulenspiegel, "of a woman that should make me +a roof against the hail with her petticoat." + +"Thou hast found her," said the woman. "Rise up." + +"Wilt thou leave me alone again?" said Lamme. + +"Aye," said Ulenspiegel, "but go in de Zwaen, eat a leg of mutton or +two, drink a dozen tankards of beer; you will sleep and you will not +be forlorn then." + +"I will do that," said Lamme. + +Ulenspiegel went up to the woman. + +"Pick up my skirt on one side," said she, "I will lift it on the other, +and now let us run." + +"Why run?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +"Because," she said, "I am fain to flee from Meulestee; the provost +Spelle is in it with two catchpolls and he has sworn to have all the +light ladies whipped if they will not pay him five florins each. That +is why I am running: run, too, and stay with me to defend me." + +"Lamme," cried Ulenspiegel, "Spelle is in Meulestee. Go off and away +to Destelberg, to the Star of the Wise Men." + +And Lamme, getting up affrighted, took his belly in both hands and +began to run. + +"Whither is this fat hare going?" said the girl. + +"To a burrow where I shall find him again," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"Let us run," said she, beating the ground with her foot like a +restive filly. + +"I would fain be virtuous without running," said Ulenspiegel. + +"What does that mean?" asked she. + +Ulenspiegel made answer: + +"The fat hare wants me to renounce good wine, cervoise ale, and the +fresh skin of women." + +The girl looked at him with an ugly eye. + +"Your breath is short; you must rest," said she. + +"Rest myself? I see no shelter," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"Your virtue," said the girl, "will serve for a quilt." + +"I like your petticoat better," said he. + +"My petticoat," said the girl, "would not be worthy to cover a saint +such as you would fain be. Take yourself off that I may run alone." + +"Do you not know," replied Ulenspiegel, "that a dog goes swifter with +four feet than a man with two? And so, having four feet, we shall +run better." + +"You have a lively tongue for a virtuous man." + +"Aye," said he. + +"But," said she, "I have always observed that virtue is a quiet, +sleepy, thick, and chilly quality. It is a mask to hide grumbling +faces, a velvet cloak on a man of stone. I like men that have in +their breast a stove well lighted with the fire of virility, which +exciteth to valiant and gay enterprises." + +"It was ever thus," replied Ulenspiegel, "that the lovely she-devil +spake to the glorious Saint Anthony." + +There was an inn a score of paces from the road. + +"You have spoken well," said Ulenspiegel, "now you must drink well." + +"My tongue is still cool and fresh," said the girl. + +They went in. On a chest there slumbered a big jug nicknamed "belly," +because of its wide paunch. + +Ulenspiegel said to the baes: + +"Dost thou see this florin?" + +"I see it," said the baes. + +"How many patards would thou extract from it to fill up that belly +there with dobbel-clauwert?" + +The baes said to him: + +"With negen mannekens (nine little men), you will be clear." + +"That," said Ulenspiegel, "is six Flanders mites, and overmuch by +two mites. But fill it, anyhow." + +Ulenspiegel poured out a goblet for the woman, then rising up proudly +and applying the beak of the belly to his mouth, he emptied it all +every drop into his throat. And it was as the noise of a cataract. + +The girl, dumbfounded, said to him: + +"How did you manage to put so big a belly into your lean stomach?" + +Without replying, Ulenspiegel said to the baes: + +"Bring a knuckle of ham and some bread, and another full belly, +that we may eat and drink." + +Which they did. + +While the girl was munching a piece of the rind he took her so subtly, +that she was startled, charmed, and compliant all at once. + +Then questioning him: + +"Whence," she said, "have they come to your virtue, this thirst like +a sponge, this wolf's hunger, and these amorous audacities?" + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"Having sinned a hundred ways, I swore, as you know, to do +penance. That lasted a whole long hour. Thinking during that hour +upon my life that was to come, I saw myself fed meagrely on bread, +dully refreshed with water; sadly fleeing from love; daring neither +to move nor sneeze, for fear to commit wickedness; esteemed by all, +feared by each; alone like a leper; sad as a dog orphaned of his +master, and after fifty years of martyrdom, ending by undergoing my +death in melancholy fashion on a pallet. The penance was long enough: +so kiss me, my darling, and let us go out from purgatory together." + +"Ah!" said she, obeying cheerfully, "what a good sign virtue is to +put on the end of a pole!" + +Time passed in these amorous doings; nevertheless they must needs +rise and go, for the girl feared to see in the midst of their pleasure +the provost Spelle suddenly appear with his catchpolls. + +"Truss up thy petticoat then," said Ulenspiegel. + +And they ran like stags towards Destelberg, where they found Lamme +eating at the Star of the Three Wise Men. + + + + + +XXXI + +Ulenspiegel often saw at Ghent, Jacob Scoelap, Lieven Smet, and Jan +de Wulfschaeger, who gave him news of the good or bad fortune of +the Silent. + +And every time that Ulenspiegel came back to Destelberg, Lamme said +to him: + +"What do you bring? Good luck or bad luck?" + +"Alas!" said Ulenspiegel, "the Silent, his brother Ludwig, the other +chiefs and the Frenchmen were determined to go farther into France and +join with the Prince of Condé. Thus they would save the poor Belgian +fatherland and freedom of conscience. God willed it otherwise; the +German reiters and landsknechts refused to go farther, and said their +oath was to go against the Duke of Alba and not against France. Having +vainly entreated them to do their duty, the Silent was forced to take +them through Champagne and Lorraine as far as Strasbourg, whence they +went back into Germany. All has gone awry through this sudden and +obstinate departure: the King of France, despite his contract with +the prince, refuses to give over the money he promised; the Queen +of England would have sent him money to get back the town and the +district of Calais; her letters were intercepted and despatched to +the Cardinal at Lorraine, who forged an answer in the contrary sense. + +"Thus we see melt away, like ghosts at the crowing of the cock, that +goodly army, our hope; but God is with us, and if the earth fail us, +the water will do its work. Long live the Beggar!" + + + + + +XXXII + +The girl came one day, all weeping, to say to Lamme and to Ulenspiegel: + +"Spelle is allowing murderers and robbers in Meulestee to escape for +money. He is putting the innocent to death. My brother Michielkin is +among them. Alas! Let me tell you, ye will avenge him, being men. A +vile and infamous debauchee, Pieter de Roose, an habitual seducer of +children and girls, does all the harm. Alas! my poor brother Michielkin +and Pieter de Roose were one evening, but not at the same table, in +the tavern of the Valck, where Pieter de Roose was avoided by every +one like the plague. + +"My brother, not willing to see him in the same room as himself, +called him a lecherous blackguard, and ordered him to purge the +chamber of his presence. + +"Pieter de Roose replied: + +"'The brother of a public baggage has no need to show such a lofty +nose.' + +"He lied. I am not public, and give myself only to whomsoever +I please.' + +"Michielkin, then, flinging his quart of cervoise ale in his face, told +him he had lied like the filthy debauchee that he was, threatening, +if he did not decamp, to make him eat his fist up to the elbow. + +"The other would have talked more, but Michielkin did what he had +said: he gave him two great blows on the jaw and dragged him by the +teeth, with which he was biting, out on to the road, where he left +him battered and bruised, without pity. + +"Pieter de Roose, being healed, and unable to live a solitary life, +went in 't Vagevuur, a veritable purgatory and a gloomy tavern, where +there were none but poor people. There also he was left to himself, +even by all those ragamuffins. And no man spoke to him, save a few +country folk to whom he was unknown, and a few wandering rogues, or +deserters from some troop or other. He was even beaten there several +times, for he was quarrelsome. + +"The provost Spelle had come to Meulestee with two catchpolls, and +Pieter de Roose followed them everywhere about like a dog, filling +them up at his expense with wine, with meat, and many other pleasures +that are bought with money. And so he became their companion and +their comrade, and he began to do his wicked best to torment all he +hated; which was all the inhabitants of Meulestee, but especially my +poor brother. + +"First of all he attacked Michielkin. False witnesses, gallows birds, +greedy for florins, declared that Michielkin was a heretic, had uttered +foulness about Notre Dame, and oftentimes blasphemed the name of God +and the saints in the tavern of the Falcon, and that, besides all, +he had full three hundred florins in a coffer. + +"Notwithstanding that the witnesses were not of good life and conduct, +Michielkin was arrested, and the proofs being declared by Spelle and +the catchpolls good and sufficient to warrant putting the accused to +the torture, Michielkin was hung up by the arms to a pulley fastened to +the ceiling, and they put a weight of fifty pounds on each of his feet. + +"He denied the charge, saying that if in Meulestee there was a rogue, +a blackguard, a blasphemer and a lecherous brute, it was no other +than Pieter de Roose, and not he. + +"But Spelle would listen to nothing, and bade his catchpolls hoist +Michielkin right up to the ceiling, and to let him drop heavily +with his weights on his feet. And this they did, and so cruelly that +the skin and the muscles of the victim were torn, and that the foot +scarcely held to the leg. + +"As Michielkin persisted in saying he was innocent, Spelle had him +tortured afresh, while giving him to understand that if he would give +him a hundred florins he would leave him free and acquitted. + +"Michielkin said that he would die first. + +"The folk of Meulestee, having learned the fact of the arrest and the +torture, desired to be witness par turbes, which is the testimony of +all the reputable inhabitants of a commune. 'Michielkin,' said they, +unanimously, 'is in no way or guise heretical; he goes every Sunday +to mass and to the holy table; he has never said anything else of Our +Lady than to call on her to succour him in difficult circumstances; +having never spoken ill, even of an earthly woman, he would much less +ever have dared to speak ill of the heavenly Mother of God. As for the +blasphemies that the false witnesses declared they had heard him utter +in the tavern of the Falcon, that was in all points false and lies.' + +"Michielkin having been released, the false witnesses were punished, +and Spelle cited Pieter de Roose before his court, but set him free +without examination or torture, in consideration of one hundred +florins paid down in one sum. + +"Pieter de Roose, fearing that the money he still had left might +attract Spelle's attention to him once again, fled from Meulestee, +while Michielkin, my poor brother, died of the gangrene that had +caught hold of his feet. + +"He who no longer wished to see me, yet had me sent for to bid me +beware well of the fire in my body that would bring me into the fire +of hell. And I could but weep, for the fire is within me. And he gave +up his soul in my arms." + +"Ha!" said she, "he who would avenge upon Spelle the death of my +beloved kind Michielkin would be my master forever, and I would obey +him like a dog." + +While she spake, the ashes of Claes beat upon the breast of +Ulenspiegel. And he determined to bring Spelle the murderer to the +gallows. + +Boelkin (that was the girl's name) returned to Meulestee, well assured +in her home against the vengeance of Pieter de Roose, for a cattle +dealer, passing by Destelberg, informed her that the curé and the +townsfolk had declared that if Spelle touched Michielkin's sister, +they would cite him before the duke. + +Ulenspiegel, having followed her to Meulestee, came into a low chamber +in Michielkin's house, and saw there a portrait of a master pastry +cook which he supposed to be that of the poor victim.... + +And Boelkin said to him: + +"It is my brother's portrait." + +Ulenspiegel took the picture and said, going away: + +"Spelle shall be hanged!" + +"What will you do?" said she. + +"If you knew that," said he, "you would have no pleasure in seeing +it done." + +Boelkin nodded her head and said in a grieving voice: + +"You show no confidence in me." + +"Is it not," said he, "showing you extreme confidence to say to you +'Spelle shall be hanged!' For with this mere word alone you can have +me hanged before him." + +"That is true," said she. + +"Then," said Ulenspiegel, "go fetch me good potter's clay, a double +quart of bruinbier, clear water, and a few slices of beef. All +separate." + +"The beef will be for me, the bruinbier for the beef, the water for +the clay, and the clay for the portrait." + +Eating and drinking Ulenspiegel kneaded the clay, and now and then +swallowed a morsel of it, but heeded it little, and looked most +attentively at Michielkin's portrait. When the clay was kneaded, +he made a mask out of it, with a nose, a mouth, eyes, ears so much +like the portrait of the dead man, that Boelkin was astonied at it. + +After that he put the mask in the oven, and when it was dry, he painted +it the colour corpses are, showing the haggard eyes, the solemn face, +and the various contractions of a man in the act of dying. Then the +girl, ceasing to be astonied, looked at the mask, without being able +to take her eyes off it, grew pale and livid, covered up her face, +and said shuddering: + +"It is he, my poor Michielkin!" + +He made also two bloody feet. + +Then having conquered her first fright: + +"Blessed will he be," said she, "that will slay the +murderer." Ulenspiegel, taking the mask and the feet, said: + +"I must have an assistant." + +Boelkin replied: + +"Go in den Blauwe Gans, to the Blue Goose, to Joos Lansaem of +Ypres, who keeps this tavern. He was my brother's best friend and +comrade. Tell him it is Boelkin that sends you." + +Ulenspiegel did as she bade him. + +After having laboured for death, the provost Spelle went to drink +in't Valck, at the Falcon, a hot mixture of dobbel-clauwert, with +cinnamon and Madeira sugar. They dared refuse him nothing at his inn, +for fear of the rope. + +Pieter de Roose, having plucked up courage again, had come back to +Meulestee. Everywhere he followed Spelle and his catchpolls to have +their protection. Sometimes Spelle paid the wherewithal for him to +drink. And they drank up merrily the money of the victims. + +The inn of the Falcon was not filled now as in the good days when the +village lived joyously, serving God after the Catholic fashion; and +not tormented because of religion. Now it was as though in mourning, +as could be seen from its numerous houses that were empty or shut up, +from its deserted streets in which there wandered a few starved dogs +searching among the rubbish heaps for their rotten food. + +There was no place now in Meulestee for any but the two evil and cruel +men. The timid dwellers in the village saw them by day insolent and +noting the houses of future victims, drawing up the lists of death; +and by night venturing from the Falcon singing filthy choruses, while +two catchpolls, drunk like them, followed them armed to the teeth to +be their escort. + +Ulenspiegel went in den Blauwe Gans, to the Blue Goose, to Joos +Lansaem, who was at the bar. + +Ulenspiegel took from his pocket a little flask of brandy, and said +to him: + +"Boelkin has two casks for sale." + +"Come into my kitchen," said the baes. + +There, shutting the door, and looking fixedly at him: + +"You are no brandy merchant; what do these winkings of your eyes +mean? Who are you?" + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"I am the son of Claes that was burned at Damme; the ashes of the +dead man beat upon my breast; I would fain kill Spelle, the murderer." + +"It is Boelkin who sends you?" asked the host. + +"Boelkin sends me," replied Ulenspiegel. "I will kill Spelle; you +shall help me in it." + +"I will," said the baes. "What must I do?" + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"Go to the curé, the good pastor, an enemy to Spelle. Assemble your +friends together and be with them to-morrow, after the curfew, on +the Everghem road, above Spelle's house, between the Falcon and the +house aforesaid. All post yourselves in the shadows and have no white +on your clothes. At the stroke of ten you will see Spelle coming out +from the tavern and a wagon coming from the other side. + +"Do not tell your friends to-night; they sleep too near to their wives' +ears. Go and find them to-morrow. Come, now, listen to everything +closely and remember well." + +"We shall remember," said Joos. And raising his goblet: "I drink to +Spelle's halter." + +"To the halter," said Ulenspiegel. Then he went back with the baes +into the tavern chamber where there sate drinking certain old clothes +merchants of Ghent who were coming back from the Saturday market at +Bruges, where they had sold for high prices doublets and short mantles +of cloth of gold and silver bought for a few sous from ruined nobles +who desired by their luxury and splendour to imitate the Spaniards. + +And they kept revels and feasting because of their big profits. + +Ulenspiegel and Joos Lansaem, sitting in a corner, as they drank, +and without being heard, agreed that Joos should go to the curé of +the church, a good pastor, incensed against Spelle, the murderer of +innocent men. After that he would go to his friends. + +On the morrow, Joos Lansaem and Michielkin's friends, having been +forewarned, left the Blauwe Gans, where they had their pints as usual, +and so as to conceal their plans went off at curfew by different ways, +and came to the Everghem causeway. They were seventeen in number. + +At ten o'clock Spelle left the Falcon, followed by his two catchpolls +and Pieter de Roose. Lansaem and his troop were hidden in the barn +belonging to Samson Boene, a friend of Michielkin. The door of the +barn was open. Spelle never saw them. + +They heard him pass by, staggering with drink like Pieter de Roose +and his two catchpolls also, and saying, in a thick voice and with +many hiccups: + +"Provosts! provosts! life is good to them in this world; hold me up, +gallows birds that live on my leavings!" + +Suddenly were heard upon the road, from the direction of the open +country, the braying of an ass and the crack of a whip. + +"There is a restive donkey indeed," said Spelle, "that won't go on +in spite of that good warning." + +Suddenly they heard a great noise of wheels and a cart leaping along +and coming down the middle of the road. + +"Stop it!" cried Spelle. + +As the cart passed beside them, Spelle and his two catchpolls threw +themselves on the donkey's head. + +"This cart is empty," said one of the catchpolls. + +"Lubber," said Spelle, "do empty carts gallop about by night all +alone? There is somebody in this cart a-hiding; light the lanterns, +hold them up, I am going to look in it." + +The lanterns were lighted and Spelle climbed up on the cart, holding +his own lamp; but scarcely had he looked than he uttered a great cry, +and falling back, said: + +"Michielkin! Michielkin! Jesu! have pity upon me!" + +Then there rose up from the floor of the cart a man clad in white as +pastry cooks are and holding in his hands two bloody feet. + +Pieter de Roose, seeing the man stand up, illuminated by the lanterns, +cried with the two catchpolls: + +"Michielkin! Michielkin, the dead man! Lord have pity upon us!" + +The seventeen came at the noise to look at the spectacle and were +affrighted to see in the light of the clear moon how like was the +image of Michielkin, the poor deceased. + +And the ghost waved his bleeding feet. + +It was his same full round visage, but pale through death, threatening, +livid, and eaten under the chin by worms. + +The ghost, still waving his bleeding feet, said to Spelle, who was +groaning, lying flat on his back: + +"Spelle, Provost Spelle, awake!" + +But Spelle never moved. + +"Spelle," said the ghost again, "Provost Spelle, awake or I fetch +thee down with me into the mouth of gaping hell." + +Spelle got up, and with his hair straight up for terror, cried +lamentably: + +"Michielkin! Michielkin, have pity!" + +Meanwhile, the townsfolk had come up, but Spelle saw nothing save +the lanterns, which he took for the eyes of devils. He confessed as +much later. + +"Spelle," said the ghost of Michielkin, "art thou prepared to die?" + +"Nay," replied the provost, "nay, Messire Michielkin; I am nowise +prepared for it, and I would not appear before God with my soul all +black with sin." + +"Dost thou know me?" said the ghost. + +"May God be my helper," said Spelle, "yea, I know thee; thou art the +ghost of Michielkin, the pastry cook, who died, innocently in his bed, +of the after effects of torture, and the two bleeding feet are those +upon each of which I had a weight of fifty pounds hung. Ha! Michielkin, +forgive me, this Pieter de Roose was so strong a tempter; he offered +me fifty florins, which I accepted, to put thy name on the list." + +"Dost thou desire to confess thyself?" said the ghost. + +"Aye, Messire, I desire to confess myself, to tell all and do +penance. But deign to send away these demons that are there, ready +to devour me. I will tell all. Take away those fiery eyes! I did +the same thing at Tournay, with respect to five townsmen; the same +at Bruges, with four. I no longer know their names, but I will tell +them you if you insist; elsewhere, too, I have sinned, lord, and of +my doing there are nine and sixty innocents in the grave. Michielkin, +the king needed money. I had been informed of that, but I needed money +even likewise; it is at Ghent, in the cellar, under the pavement, +in the house of old Grovels my real mother. I have told all, all: +grace and mercy! Take away the devils. Lord God, Virgin Mary, Jesus, +intercede for me: save me from the fires of hell, I will sell all I +have, I will give everything to the poor, and I will do penance." + +Ulenspiegel, seeing that the crowd of the townsmen was ready to +uphold him, leapt from the cart at Spelle's throat and would have +strangled him. + +But the curé came up. + +"Let him live," said he; "it is better that he should die by the +executioner's rope than by the fingers of a ghost." + +"What are you going to do with him?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +"Accuse him before the duke and have him hanged," replied the +curé. "But who art thou?" asked he. + +"I," replied Ulenspiegel, "am the mask of Michielkin and the person +of a poor Flemish fox who is going back into his earth for fear of +the Spanish hunters." + +In the meantime, Pieter de Roose was running away at full speed. + +And Spelle having been hanged, his goods were confiscated. + +And the king inherited. + + + + + +XXXIII + +The next day Ulenspiegel went towards Courtray, going alongside the +Lys, the clear river. + +Lamme went pitifully along. + +Ulenspiegel said to him: + +"You whine, cowardly heart, regretting the wife that made you wear +the horned crown of cuckoldom." + +"My son," said Lamme, "she was always faithful, loving me enough as +I loved her over well, sweet Jesus. One day, being gone to Bruges, +she came back thence changed. From then, when I prayed her of love, +she would say to me: + +"'I must live with you as a friend, and not otherwise.' + +"Then, sad in my heart: + +"'Beloved darling,' I would say, 'we were married before God. Did I +not for you everything you ever wished? Did not I many a time clothe +myself with a doublet of black linen and a fustian cloak that I might +see you clad in silk and brocade despite the royal ordinances? Darling, +will you never love me again?' + +"'I love thee,' she would say, 'according to God and His laws, +according to holy discipline and penance. Yet I shall be a virtuous +companion to thee.' + +"'I care naught for thy virtue,' I replied, ''tis thou I want, thou, +my wife.' + +"Nodding her head: + +"'I know thou art good,' she said; 'until to-day thou wast cook +in the house to spare me the labour of fricassees; thou didst iron +our blankets, ruffs, and shirts, the irons being too heavy for me; +thou didst wash our linen, thou didst sweep the house and the street +before the door, so as to spare me all fatigue. Now I desire to work +instead of you, but nothing more, husband.' + +"'That is all one to me,' I replied; 'I will be, as in the past, +thy tiring maid, thy laundress, thy cook, thy washwoman, thy slave, +thy very own, submissive; but wife, sever not these two hearts and +bodies that make but one; break not that soft bond of love that +clasped us so tenderly together.' + +"'I must,' she replied. + +"'Alas!' I would say, 'was it at Bruges that thou didst come to this +harsh resolve?' + +"She replied: + +"'I have sworn before God and His saints.' + +"'Who, then,' I cried, 'forced thee to take an oath not to fulfil +your duties as a wife?' + +"'He that hath the spirit of God, and ranks me among the number of +his penitents,' said she. + +"From that moment she ceased to be mine as much as if she had been +the faithful wife of another man. I implored her, tormented her, +threatened her, wept, begged, but in vain. One night, coming back +from Blanckenberghe, where I had been to receive the rent of one +of my farms, I found the house empty. Without doubt fatigued with +my entreaties, grieved and sad at my distress, my wife had taken +flight. Where is she now?" + +And Lamme sat down on the bank of the Lys, hanging his head and +looking at the water. + +"Ah!" said he, "my dear, how plump, tender, and delicious thou +wast! Shall I ever find a lass like thee? Daily bread of love, +shall I never eat of thee again? Where are thy kisses, as full of +fragrance as thyme; thy delicious mouth whence I gathered pleasure as +the bee gathers the honey from the rose; thy white arms that wrapped +me round caressing? Where is thy beating heart, thy round bosom, +and the sweet shudder of thy fairy body all panting with love? But +where are thy old waves, cool river that rollest so joyously thy new +waves in the sunshine?" + + + + + +XXXIV + +Passing before the wood of Peteghem, Lamme said to Ulenspiegel: + +"I am roasting hot; let us seek the shade." + +"Let us," replied Ulenspiegel. + +They sat down in the wood, upon the grass, and saw a herd of stags +pass in front of them. + +"Look well, Lamme," said Ulenspiegel, priming his German musket. "There +are the tall old stags that still have their dowcets, and carry proud +and stately their nine-point antlers; lovely brockets, that are their +squires, trot by their side, ready to do them service with their +pointed horns. They are going to their lair. Turn the musket lock as +I do. Fire! The old stag is wounded. A brocket is hit in the thigh; +he is in flight. Let us follow him till he falls. Do as I do: run, +jump, and fly." + +"There is my mad friend," said Lamme, "following stags on foot. Fly not +without wings; it is labour lost. You will never catch them. Oh! the +cruel comrade! Do you imagine I am as agile as you? I sweat, my son; +I sweat and I am going to fall. If the ranger catches you, you will +be hanged. Stag is kings' game; let them run, my son, you will never +catch them." + +"Come," said Ulenspiegel, "do you hear the noise of his antlers in the +foliage? It is a water spout passing. Do you see the young branches +broken, the leaves strewing the ground? He has another bullet in his +thigh this time; we will eat him." + +"He is not cooked yet," said Lamme. "Let these poor beasts run. Ah! how +hot it is! I am going to fall down there without doubt and I shall +never rise again." + +Suddenly, on all sides, men clad in rags and armed filled the +forest. Dogs bayed and dashed in pursuit of the stags. Four fierce +fellows surrounded Lamme and Ulenspiegel and brought them into a +clearing, in the middle of a brake, where they saw encamped there, +among women and children, men in great numbers, armed diversely with +swords, arbalests, arquebuses, lances, pikestaff, and reiter's pistols. + +Ulenspiegel, seeing them, said to them: + +"Are ye the leafmen or Brothers of the Woods, that ye seem to live +here in common to flee the persecution?" + +"We are Brothers of the Woods," replied an old man sitting beside +the fire and frying some birds in a saucepan. "But who art thou?" + +"I," replied Ulenspiegel, "am of the goodly country of Flanders, +a painter, a rustic, a noble, a sculptor, all together. And through +the world in this wise I journey, praising things lovely and good +and mocking loudly at all stupidity." + +"If thou hast seen so many countries," said the ancient man, "thou +canst pronounce: Schild ende Vriendt, buckler and friend, in the +fashion of Ghent folk; if not, thou art a counterfeit Fleming and +thou shalt die." + +Ulenspiegel pronounced: Schild ende Vriendt. + +"And thou, big belly," asked the ancient man, speaking to Lamme, +"what is thy trade?" + +Lamme replied: + +"To eat and drink my lands, farms, fees, and revenues, to seek for +my wife, and to follow in all places my friend Ulenspiegel." + +"If thou hast travelled so much," said the old man, "thou art not +without knowledge of how they call the folk of Weert in Limbourg." + +"I do not know it," replied Lamme; "but would you not tell me the name +of the scandalous vagabond who drove my wife from her home? Give it +to me; I will go and slay him straightway." + +The ancient man made answer: + +"There are two things in this world which never return once having +taken flight: they are money spent and a woman grown tired and +run away." + +Then speaking to Ulenspiegel: + +"Dost thou know," said he, "how they call the men of Weert in +Limbourg?" + +"De reakstekers, the exorcisers of skates," replied Ulenspiegel, +"for one day a live ray having fallen from a fishmonger's cart, old +women seeing it leap about took it for the devil. 'Let us go fetch +the curé to exorcise the skate,' said they. The curé exorcised it, +and carrying it off with him, made a noble fricassee in honour of +the folk of Weert. Thus may God do with the bloody king." + +Meanwhile, the barking of the dogs reëchoed in the forest. The armed +men, running in the wood, were shouting to frighten the beast. + +"'Tis the stag and the brocket I put up," said Ulenspiegel. + +"We shall eat him," said the old man. "But how do they call the folk +of Eindhoven in Limbourg?" + +"De pinnemakers, boltmakers," replied Ulenspiegel. "One day the enemy +was at the gate of their city; they bolted it with a carrot. The geese +came and ate the carrot with great pecks of their greedy beaks, and +the enemies came into Eindhoven. But it will be iron beaks that will +eat the bolts of the prisons wherein they seek to lock up freedom +of conscience." + +"If God be with us, who shall be against us?" replied the ancient man. + +Ulenspiegel said: + +"Dogs baying, men shouting, branches broken; 'tis a storm in the +forest." + +"Is it good meat, stag meat?" asked Lamme, looking at the fricassees. + +"The cries of the trackers come nearer," said Ulenspiegel to Lamme; +"the dogs are close at hand. What thunder! The stag! the stag! take +care, my son. Fie! the foul beast; he has flung my big friend down +to the earth in the midst of the pans, saucepans, cooking pots, +boilers, and fricassees. There are the women and girls fleeing daft +with fright. You are bleeding, my son?" + +"You are laughing, scoundrel," said Lamme. "Aye, I am bleeding; he +hath landed his antlers in my seat. There, see my breeches torn, and +my flesh, too, and all those lovely fricassees on the ground. There, +I am losing all my blood down my hose." + +"This stag is a foresighted surgeon; he is saving you from an +apoplexy," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"Fie! rascal without a heart," said Lamme. "But I will follow you +no more. I will stay here in the midst of these good fellows and +these good women. Can you, without any shame, be so hardhearted to +my woes, when I walk at your heels like a dog, through snow, frost, +rain, hail, wind, and when it is hot weather, sweating my very soul +out through my skin?" + +"Your wound is nothing. Clap an olie-koekje on it; that will be both +plaster and fry to it," answered Ulenspiegel. "But do you know how +they call the folk of Louvain? You do not know it, poor friend. Well, +then, I am about to tell you to keep you from whimpering. They call +them de koeye-schieters, cow shooters, for they were one day silly +enough to fire on cows, which they took for enemy soldiers. As for us, +we fire on Spanish goats; their flesh is stinking stuff, but their +skin is good to make drums withal. And the folk of Tirlemont? Do +you know it? Not that, either. They carry the proud nickname of +kirekers. For in their town, in the great church, on Whit Sunday, a +drake flies from the rood-loft altar, and that is the image of their +Holy Ghost. Put a koeke-bakke on your wound. You pick up without a +word the cooking pots and fricassees overturned by the stag. 'Tis +kitchen courage. You relight the fire, and set up the soup pot again +upon its three stakes; you are busying yourself very attentively with +the cooking. Do you know why there are four wonders in Louvain? No. I +will tell you why. In the first place, because the living there pass +underneath the dead, for the church of Saint-Michel is built close +to the gate of the town. Its graveyard is therefore above. Secondly, +because the bells there are outside the towers, as is seen at the +church of Saint-Jacques, where there is a great bell and a little +bell; being unable to place the little one inside the bell tower, +they placed it outside. Thirdly, because of the Tower-without-Nails, +because the spire of the church of Saint-Gertrude is made of stone +instead of being made of wood, and because men do not nail stones, +except the bloody king's heart which I would fain nail above the great +gate of Brussels. But you are not listening to me. Is there no salt +in the sauces? Do you know why the folk of Tirlemont call themselves +warming pans, de vierpannen? Because a young prince being come in +winter to sleep at the inn of the Arms of Flanders, the innkeeper did +not know how to air the blankets, for he had no warming pan. He had +the bed aired by his daughter, who, hearing the prince coming, made +off running, and the prince asked why they had not left the warming +pan in the bed. May God bring it about that Philip, shut in a box of +red-hot iron, may serve as warming pan in the bed of Madame Astarte." + +"Leave me in peace," said Lamme; "a fig for you, your vierpannen, +the Tower-without-Nails, and the rest of your nonsense. Leave me to +my sauces." + +"Beware," said Ulenspiegel. "The barkings cease not to reëcho; they +become louder; the dogs are roaring, the bugle is sounding. Beware +of the stag. You are taking flight! The bugle sounds." + +"It is the death quarry," said the old man, "come back, Lamme, to +your fricassees, the stag is dead." + +"It will be a good meal for us," said Lamme. "You will invite me to +the feast, because of the trouble I am taking for you. The sauce for +the birds will be good: it crunches a little, however. That is the +sand on which they fell when that big devil of a stag tore my doublet +and me all together. But are you not afraid of the foresters?" + +"We are too numerous," said the old man; "they are afraid and do +not disturb us. It is even the same with the catchpolls and the +judges. The inhabitants of the towns love us, for we do no harm to any +man. We shall live some time longer in peace, unless the Spanish army +surrounds us. If that happens, old men and young men, women, girls, +lads, and lasses, we will sell our lives dear, and we will kill one +another rather than endure a thousand martyrdoms at the hands of the +bloody duke." + +Ulenspiegel said: + +"It is now no longer the time to combat the murderer by land. It is +on the sea that we must ruin his power. Go to the Zealand Islands, +by way of Bruges, Heyst, and Knoeke." + +"We have no money," said they. + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"Here are a thousand carolus from the prince. Follow along the +waterways, canals, rivers, and streams; when you see ships carrying +the sign 'J. H. S.,' let one of you sing like a lark. The clarion of +the cock will answer him. And you will be in friends' country." + +"We will do this," said they. + +Soon the hunters, followed by the dogs, appeared, pulling after them +the dead stag with ropes. + +Then all sate down round about the fire. There were full sixty, men, +women, and children. Bread was pulled out from satchels, knives from +their sheaths; the stag, cut up, stripped, disembowelled, was put on +the spit with small game. And at the end of the meal Lamme was seen +snoring with his head drooped on his breast and sleeping propped +against a tree. + +At nightfall, the Brothers of the Wood went back into huts constructed +underground to sleep, and Lamme and Ulenspiegel did the same. + +Armed men kept watch, guarding the camp. And Ulenspiegel heard the +dry leaves protest under their feet. + +The next day he departed with Lamme, while the men of the camp said: + +"Blessed be thou; we will make towards the sea." + + + + + +XXXV + +At Harlebek, Lamme renewed his stock of olie-koekjes, ate twenty-seven +and put thirty in his basket. Ulenspiegel carried his cages in his +hand. Towards evening they arrived in Courtray and stopped at the inn +of in de Bie, the Bee, with Gilis van den Ende, who came to his door +as soon as he heard someone sing like the lark. + +There it was all sugar and honey with them. The host having seen the +prince's letters, handed fifty carolus to Ulenspiegel for the prince, +and would take no payment for the turkey he served them, nor for the +dobbel-clauwert with which he washed it down. He warned them, too, +that there were at Courtray spies of the Court of Blood, for which +cause he ought to well keep his tongue as well as his companion's. + +"We shall reconnoitre then," said Ulenspiegel and Lamme. + +And they went out from the inn. + +The sun was setting, gilding the gables of the houses; the birds were +singing under the lime trees; the goodwives gossiped on the thresholds +of their doors; the children rolled and tumbled about in the dust, +and Ulenspiegel and Lamme wandered haphazard through the streets. + +Suddenly Lamme said: + +"Martin van den Ende, asked by me if he had seen a woman like my +wife--I drew him my pretty portrait,--told me that there were at the +house of the woman Stevenyne, on the Bruges road, at the Rainbow, +outside the town, a great number of women who gather there every +evening. I am going there straightway." + +"I shall find you again presently," said Ulenspiegel. "I wish to pay +the town a visit; if I meet your wife I will presently send her to +you. You know that the baes has enjoined on you to be silent, if you +have any regard for your skin." + +As Ulenspiegel wandered at his will, the sun went down, and the day +falling swiftly, he arrived in the Pierpot-Straetje, which is the lane +of the Stone Pot. There he heard the viol played upon melodiously; +drawing near he saw from afar a white shape calling him, gliding away +from him and playing on the viol. And it sang like a seraph a sweet +slow song, stopping, turning back, still calling him and fleeing +from him. + +But Ulenspiegel ran swiftly; he overtook her and was about to speak +to her when she laid on his mouth a hand perfumed with benjamin. + +"Art thou a rustic or a nobleman?" said she. + +"I am Ulenspiegel." + +"Art thou rich?" + +"Enough to pay for a great pleasure, not enough to ransom my soul." + +"Hast thou no horses, that thou goest afoot?" + +"I had an ass," said Ulenspiegel, "but I left him in the stable." + +"How is it thou art alone, without a friend, in a strange city?" + +"Because my friend is wandering on his own side, as I am on mine, +my curious darling." + +"I am not curious," said she. "Is he rich, your friend?" + +"In fat," said Ulenspiegel. "Will you soon have finished questioning +me?" + +"I have done," said she, "now leave me." + +"Leave you?" he said; "as well bid Lamme, when he is hungry, leave +a dish of ortolans. I want to eat you." + +"You have not seen me," she said. And she opened a lantern which +shone out suddenly, lighting up her face. + +"You are beautiful," said Ulenspiegel. "Ho! the golden skin, the +sweet eyes, the red mouth, the darling body! All will be for me." + +"All," she said. + +She brought him to the woman Stevenyne's, on the Bruges road, at the +Rainbow (in den Reghen-boogh). Ulenspiegel saw there a great number +of girls wearing on their arms armlets of a colour different from +that of their fustian dress. + +This one had an armlet of silver cloth on a robe of cloth of gold. And +all the girls looked at her jealously. Coming in she made a sign to +the baesine, but Ulenspiegel never saw it. They sat down together +and drank. + +"Do you know," said she, "that whoever has loved me is mine forever?" + +"Lovely fragrant girl," said Ulenspiegel, "'twould be a delicious +feast to me to eat always of this meat." + +Suddenly he perceived Lamme in a corner, with a little table before +him, a candle, a ham, a pot of beer, and not knowing how to rescue his +ham from the two girls, who wanted perforce to eat and drink with him. + +When Lamme perceived Ulenspiegel, he stood up and leaped three feet +into the air, crying: + +"Blessed be God, that restoreth my friend Ulenspiegel to me! Something +to drink, baesine!" + +Ulenspiegel, pulling out his purse, said: + +"Bring to drink till this is at an end." + +And he made the carolus clink. + +"Glory to God!" said Lamme, craftily taking the purse in his hands; +"it is I that pay and not you; this purse is mine." + +Ulenspiegel wished to get back his purse from him by force, but Lamme +held on tenaciously. As they were fighting, the one to keep it, the +other to get it back, Lamme speaking disjointedly, said in low tones +to Ulenspiegel: + +"Listen: ... catchpolls within ... four ... little room with three +girls ... two outside for you, for me ... would have gone out +... prevented.... The brocade girl a spy ... a spy, Stevenyne!" + +While they were struggling, Ulenspiegel, listening with all his ears, +cried out: + +"Give back my purse, rascal!" + +"You shall never get it," said Lamme. + +And they seized each other by the neck and the shoulders, rolling on +the ground while Lamme gave his good advice to Ulenspiegel. + +Suddenly the baes of the Bee came in followed by seven men, whom he +seemed not to know. He crowed like a cock and Ulenspiegel whistled +like a lark. Seeing Ulenspiegel and Lamme fighting, the baes spoke: + +"Who are these two fellows?" he asked the Stevenyne. + +The Stevenyne answered: + +"Rogues that it would be better to separate rather than leave them +here to make such an uproar before going to the gallows." + +"Let him dare to separate us," said Ulenspiegel, "and we will make +him eat the tiled floor." + +"The baes to the rescue," said Ulenspiegel in Lamme's ear. + +Hereupon the baes, scenting some mystery, rushed into their battle, +head down. Lamme threw these words into his ear. + +"You the rescuer? How?" + +The baes pretended to shake Ulenspiegel by the ears and said to him +in a whisper: + +"Seven for thee ... strong fellows, butchers ... I'm going away ... too +well known in town.... When I am gone, 'tis van te beven de klinkaert +... smash everything ..." + +"Aye," said Ulenspiegel, getting up and fetching him a kick. + +The baes struck him in his turn. And Ulenspiegel said to him: + +"You hit thick and fast, my belly boy." + +"As hail," said the baes, seizing Lamme's purse lightly and giving +it to Ulenspiegel. + +"Rogue," said he, "pay for me to drink now that you have been restored +to your property." + +"Thou shalt drink, scandalous rascal," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"See how impudent he is," said the Stevenyne. + +"As insolent as thou art lovely, darling," answered Ulenspiegel. + +Now the Stevenyne was full sixty years old, and had a face like a +medlar, but all yellowed with bile and anger. In the middle of it was +a nose like an owl's beak. Her eyes were the eyes of a flinty-hearted +miser. Two long dog-tusks jutted from her fleshless mouth. And she +had a great port-wine stain on her left cheek. + +The girls laughed, mocking her and saying: + +"Darling, darling, give him somewhat to drink"--"He will kiss you"--"Is +it long since you had your first spree?"--"Take care, Ulenspiegel, she +will eat you up"--"Look at her eyes; they are shining not with hate +but with love"--"You might say she will bite you to death"--"Don't +be afraid"--"All amorous women are like that"--"She only wants your +money"--"See what a good laughing humour she is in." + +And indeed the Stevenyne was laughing and winking at Gilline, the +girl in the brocade dress. + +The baes drank, paid, and went. The seven butchers made faces of +intelligence at the catchpolls and the Stevenyne. + +One of them indicated by a gesture that he held Ulenspiegel for a +ninny and that he was about to fool him to the top of his bent. He +said in his ear, putting out his tongue derisively on the side of +the Stevenyne who was laughing and showing her fangs: + +"'Tis van te beven de klinkaert" ('tis time to make the glasses clink). + +Then aloud, and pointing to the catchpolls: + +"Gentle reformer, we are all with thee; pay for us to drink and +to eat." + +And the Stevenyne laughed with pleasure and also put out her tongue +at Ulenspiegel when he turned his back to her. And Gilline of the +brocade dress put out her tongue likewise. + +And the girls said, whispering: + +"Look at the spy who by her beauty brought to cruel torture and more +cruel death more than twenty-seven of the Reformed faith; Gilline is +in ecstasy thinking of the reward for her informing--the first hundred +florins carolus of the victim's estate. But she does not laugh when +she thinks that she must share them with the Stevenyne." + +And all, catchpolls, butchers, and girls, put out their tongues to +mock at Ulenspiegel. And Lamme sweated great drops of sweat, and he +was red with anger like a cock's comb, but he would not speak a word. + +"Pay for us to drink and to eat," said the butchers and the catchpolls. + +"Well, then," said Ulenspiegel, rattling his carolus again, "give us +to drink and to eat, O darling Stevenyne, to drink in ringing glasses." + +Thereupon the girls began to laugh anew and the Stevenyne to stick +out her tusks. + +Nevertheless, she went to the kitchens and to the cellar; she brought +back ham, sausages, omelettes of black puddings, and ringing glasses, +so called because they were mounted on felt and rang like a chime +when they were knocked. + +Then Ulenspiegel said: + +"Let him that is hungry eat; let him that is thirsty drink!" + +The catchpolls, the girls, the butchers, Gilline, and the Stevenyne +applauded this speech with feet and hands. Then they all ranged +themselves as well as they could, Ulenspiegel, Lamme, and the seven +butchers at the principal table, the great table of honour, the +catchpolls and the girls at two small tables. And they drank and ate +with a great noise of jaws, even the two catchpolls that were outside, +and whom their comrades made come in to share the feast. And ropes +and chains could be seen sticking out from their satchels. + +The Stevenyne then putting out her tongue and grinning said: + +"No one can go without paying me." + +And she went and shut all the doors, the keys of which she put in +the pockets. + +Gilline, lifting her glass, said: + +"The bird is in the cage, let us drink." + +Thereupon two girls called Gena and Margot said to her: + +"Is this another one that you are going to have put to death, +wicked woman?" + +"I do not know," said Gilline, "let us drink." + +But the three girls would not drink with her. + +And Gilline took her viol and sang, in French: + + + "To viol's tone I sing + 'Neath night or noonday skies, + A gay, mad, wanton thing + Who sell Love's merchandise. + + "Astarte traced aright + My hips in lines of flame: + Were shoulders ne'er so white + And God's my lovely frame. + + "Oh tear each purse's sheath + And let its money glow: + Set tawny gold beneath + My milk-white feet aflow. + + "Of Eve the child I seem, + Of Satan too a part; + As fine as is your dream, + Come seek it in my heart. + + "My mood is cold or burning, + Or fond with careless ease, + Mad, mild, or melting turning, + My man, your whim to please. + + "See every charm that cheers, + Soul, eyes of blue, for hire; + Delights and smiles and tears, + And Death, if you desire. + + "To viol's tone I sing + 'Neath night or noonday skies, + A gay, mad, wanton thing + Who sell Love's merchandise." + + +As she sang her song, Gilline was so beautiful, so sweet, and so pretty +that all the men, catchpolls, butchers, Lamme, and Ulenspiegel were +there, speechless, moved, smiling, captivated by the spell. + +All at once, bursting into laughter, Gilline said, looking at +Ulenspiegel: + +"That is the way birds are put in the cage." + +And the spell was broken. + +Ulenspiegel, Lamme, and the butchers looked at one another. + +"Now, then, will you pay me?" said the Stevenyne, "will you pay me, +Messire Ulenspiegel, you that grow so fat on the flesh of preachers?" + +Lamme would have spoken, but Ulenspiegel made him hold his tongue, +and speaking to the Stevenyne: + +"We shall not pay in advance," said he. + +"I will pay myself afterwards then out of your estate," said the +Stevenyne. + +"Ghouls feed on corpses," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"Aye," said one of the catchpolls, "those two have taken the preachers' +money; more than three hundred florins carolus. That makes a fine +tithe for Gilline." + +Gilline sang: + + + "Seek such in other spheres + Take all, my loving squire, + Pleasures, kisses, and tears, + And Death, if you desire." + + +Then, laughing, she said: + +"Let's drink!" + +"Let's drink!" said the catchpolls. + +"In God's name," said the Stevenyne, "let us drink! The doors are +locked, the windows have stout bars, the birds are in the cage, +let us drink!" + +"Let's drink," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Let's drink," said Lamme. + +"Let's drink," said the seven. + +"Let's drink," said the catchpolls. + +"Let's drink," said Gilline, making her viols sing. "I am beautiful; +let us drink. I could take the Archangel Gabriel in the nets of +my singing." + +"Bring us to drink then," said Ulenspiegel, "wine to crown the feast, +wine of the best; I would have a drop of liquid fire at every hair +of our thirsty bodies." + +"Let us drink!" said Gilline; "twenty gudgeons more like you, and +the pikes will sing no more." + +The Stevenyne brought wine. All were sitting, drinking and eating, +the catchpolls and the girls together. The seven, seated at the table +of Ulenspiegel and Lamme, threw, from their table to the girls, hams, +sausages, omelettes, and bottles, which they caught in the air like +carps snatching flies on the surface of a pond. And the Stevenyne +laughed, sticking out her tusks and showing packets of candles, +five to the pound, that hung above the bar. These were the girls' +candles. Then she said to Ulenspiegel: + +"When men go to the stake, they carry a tallow candle on the way +thither; would you like to have one now?" + +"Drink up!" said Ulenspiegel. + +"Drink up," said the seven. + +Said Gilline: + +"Ulenspiegel has eyes shining like a swan about to die." + +"Suppose they were given to the pigs to eat?" said the Stevenyne. + +"That would be a feast of lanterns; drink up!" said Ulenspiegel. + +"Would you like," said the Stevenyne, "when you are on the scaffold, +to have your tongue thrust through with a red-hot iron?" + +"It would be the better of that for whistling; drink up," answered +Ulenspiegel. + +"You would talk less if you were hanged," said the Stevenyne, "and +your darling might come to look at you." + +"Aye," said Ulenspiegel, "but I should weigh heavier, and would fall +on your lovely muzzle: drink up!" + +"What would you say if you were beaten with cudgels, branded on the +forehead and on the shoulder?" + +"I would say they had made a mistake in the meat," replied Ulenspiegel, +"and that instead of roasting the sow Stevenyne, they had scalded +the young porker Ulenspiegel: drink up!" + +"Since you do not like any of these," said the Stevenyne, "you shall be +taken on to the king's ships, and there condemned to be torn asunder +by four galleys." + +"Then," said Ulenspiegel, "the sharks will have my four quarters, +and you shall eat what they reject: drink up!" + +"Why do you not eat one of these candles," said she, "they would +serve you in hell to light your eternal damnation." + +"I see clear enough to behold your shiny snout, O ill-scalded sow, +drink up!" said Ulenspiegel. + +Suddenly he struck the foot of the glass on the table, imitating with +his hands the noise an upholsterer makes beating rhythmically the +wool of a mattress upon a frame of sticks, but very gently, and saying: + +"'Tis (tydt) van te beven de klinkaert" (it is time to make the +clinker shiver--the glass that rings). + +This is in Flanders the signal for the angry outbreak of drinkers +and for the sacking of houses with the red lantern. + +Ulenspiegel drank, then made the glass quiver on the table, saying: + +"'Tis van te beven de klinkaert." + +And the seven imitated him. + +All kept very still. Gilline grew pale, the Stevenyne appeared +astonished. The catchpolls said: + +"Are the seven on their side?" + +But the butchers, winking, reassured them, at the same time continually +repeating in louder and louder tones with Ulenspiegel: + +"'Tis van te beven de klinkaert; 'tis van te beven de klinkaert." + +The Stevenyne drank to give herself courage. + +Ulenspiegel then struck the table with his fist, with the rhythm +and measure of upholsterers beating mattresses; the seven did as he +did; glasses, jugs, bowls, quart pots, and goblets came slowly into +the dance, overturning, breaking, rising on one side to fall on the +other; and still there rang out more threatening, sombre, warlike, +and in monotone: "'Tis van te beven de klinkaert." + +"Alas!" said the Stevenyne, "they are going to smash everything here." + +And in her fear her two tusks stuck farther still out of her mouth. + +And the blood lit up with wrath and fury in the minds of the seven +and Lamme and Ulenspiegel. + +Then without stopping their monotonous threatening chant all the men +at Ulenspiegel's table took their glasses, and breaking them on the +table, keeping time together, they got astride their chairs and drew +their cutlasses. And they made such a din with their song that all the +window-panes in the house were quaking. Then like a ring of devils they +went round about the chamber and all the tables, saying continually: +"'Tis van te beven de klinkaert." + +And the catchpolls then rose up quaking with terror, and took out their +ropes and chains. But the butchers, Ulenspiegel, and Lamme, thrusting +their cutlasses back into their sheaths, got up, seized their chairs, +and brandishing them like cudgels, they ran nimbly through the room +hither and thither, striking right and left, sparing only the girls, +smashing all the rest, furniture, windows, chests, dishes, quart pots, +bowls, glasses, and flasks, beating the catchpolls without pity and +always singing to the time of the sound of the upholsterer beating +mattresses: "'Tis van te beven de klinkaert; "'tis van te beven de +klinkaert," while Ulenspiegel had given a blow on the face with his +fist to the Stevenyne, had taken her keys from her bag, and by force +made her eat her candles. + +The beauteous Gilline, tearing at the doors, the shutters, the windows, +and the glass panes with her nails, seemed to want to scratch her +way through everything, like a terrified cat. Then, all livid, she +crouched down in a corner, with haggard eyes, showing her teeth, +and holding her viol as if she must needs protect it at all costs. + +The seven and Lamme said to the girls: "We will do you no hurt"; +with their help tied up with their own chains and cords the catchpolls +shivering in their shoes and not daring to resist, for they perceived +that the butchers, picked out among the strongest by the baes of the +Bee, would have chopped them to pieces with their cutlasses. + +At every candle he made the Stevenyne eat Ulenspiegel said: + +"This is for the hanging; that for the cudgelling; this other for +the branding; this fourth for my pierced tongue; these two excellent +and extra fat ones for the king's ships and the quartering by four +galleys; this for your den of spies; that one for your damsel in the +brocade dress, and all these others just to please me." + +And the girls laughed to see the Stevenyne sneezing with anger and +trying to spit out her candles. But in vain, for she had her mouth +too full of them. + +Ulenspiegel, Lamme, and the seven never ceased singing in time with +one another: "'Tis van te beven de klinkaert." + +Then Ulenspiegel stopped, making sign to them to murmur the refrain +softly. They did so while he held this conversation with the girls +and the catchpolls: + +"If any one of you cries for help, he will be cut down immediately." + +"Cut down!" said the butchers. + +"We will hold our tongues," said the girls, "do not hurt us, +Ulenspiegel." + +But Gilline, huddled in her corner, her eyes starting out of her head, +her teeth out of her mouth, could not speak, and clasped her viol +tightly to her. + +And the seven still were murmuring: "'Tis van te beven de +klinkaert!" in measure. + +The Stevenyne, pointing to the candles she had in her mouth, made +signs that she would hold her tongue likewise. The catchpolls promised +the same. + +Ulenspiegel continued his discourse: + +"Ye are here," said he, "in our power; the night has fallen, we are +near the Lys where you drown easily if you are thrust in. The gates +of Courtrai are closed. If the night watch have heard the uproar, +they will never budge, being too lazy and thinking it is simply good +Flemish folk who as they drink are singing merrily to the sound of +pots and flasks. Wherefore stay ye still, both men and girls, before +your masters." + +Then, speaking to the seven: + +"Are you going to Peteghem to find the Beggars?" + +"We made ready for this at the news of thy coming." + +"From thence ye will go to the sea?" + +"Aye," said they. + +"Do you know among these catchpolls one or two that might be let go +to serve us?" + +"Two," said they, "Niklaes and Joos, who never hunted down the poor +Reformed folk." + +"We are faithful!" said Niklaes and Joos. + +Then Ulenspiegel said: + +"Here are twenty florins carolus for you, twice more than you would +have had if ye had taken the vile reward of the informer." + +Suddenly the five others exclaimed: + +"Twenty florins! We will serve the prince for twenty florins. The king +pays ill. Give each of us the half; we will tell the judge whatever +you wish." + +The butchers and Lamme murmured low: + +"'Tis van te beven de klinkaert; 'tis van te beven de klinkaert." + +"So that ye may not talk too much," said Ulenspiegel, "the seven will +bring you bound as far as Peteghem, to the Beggars. Ye shall have ten +florins when ye are on the sea; we shall be certain till then that +the camp victual will keep you faithful to bread and soup. If ye are +valiant men, ye shall have your share in the booty taken. If ye try +to desert, ye shall be hanged. If ye escape, thus avoiding the rope, +ye shall find the knife." + +"We serve who pays us," said they. + +"'Tis van te beven de klinkaert! 'Tis van te beven de klinkaert!" said +Lamme and the seven striking upon the table with shards of broken +pots and glasses. + +"Ye shall take with you also," said Ulenspiegel, "Gilline, the +Stevenyne, and the three damsels. If one of them tries to escape, +ye shall sew her up in a sack and throw her into the river." + +"He has not killed me," said Gilline, leaping out from her corner, +and brandishing her viol in the air. And she sang: + + + "Of blood was all my dream + The dream so near my heart, + Of Eve the child I seem, + Of Satan, too, a part." + + +The Stevenyne and the others were like to weep. + +"Fear nothing, darlings," said Ulenspiegel, "you are so soft and +sweet, that everywhere they will love you, feast you, and caress +you. At every war capture ye shall have your share in the booty." + +"They will give nothing to me, for I am an old woman," wept the +Stevenyne. + +"A sou a day, crocodile," said Ulenspiegel, "for thou shalt be +serving woman to these four beauteous damsels; thou shalt wash their +petticoats, blankets, and chemises." + +"I, Lord God!" said she. + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"Thou hast ruled them long, living on the earnings of their bodies +and leaving them poor and hungry. Thou mayst whine and bellow, it +shall be as I have said." + +Thereupon the four girls began to laugh and mock at the Stevenyne, +and say to her, putting out their tongues: + +"To each her turn in this world. Who would have said it of Stevenyne +the miser? She shall work for us as a servant. Blessed be the lord +Ulenspiegel!" + +Then the three turned to Gilline: + +"Thou wast her daughter, her support; thou didst share with her the +fruits of thy foul spydom. Wilt thou ever dare again to strike and +insult us with thy brocade dress? Thou didst scorn us because we +were but fustian. Thou art clothed so richly only with the blood of +victims. Let us take her dress so that she may be even like ourselves." + +"I will not have it," said Ulenspiegel. + +And Gilline, leaping on his neck, said: + +"Blessed be thou that hast not killed me, and wouldst not have +me ugly!" + +And the girls, jealous, looked at Ulenspiegel, and said: + +"He has lost his wits for her like all the men." + +Gilline sang to her viol. + +The seven set out towards Peteghem, taking with them the catchpolls and +the girls along by the Lys. As they went on their way they murmured: + +"'T is van te beven de klinkaert; 't is van te beven de klinkaert!" + +As the sun was rising they came to the camp, sang like the lark, and +the clarion of the cock made them answer. The girls and the catchpolls +were closely guarded. For all that, on the third day Gilline was found +dead, her heart pierced through with a great needle. The Stevenyne was +accused by the three girls and brought before the captain of the band, +his dizeniers and sergeants formed into a tribunal. There, without +their having to put her to the torture, she confessed that she had +killed Gilline through jealousy of her beauty and rage because the +damsel treated her as her servant pitilessly. And the Stevenyne was +hanged, and afterwards buried in the wood. + +Gilline, too, was buried, and the prayers for the dead were said +above her sweet body. + +Meanwhile, the two catchpolls instructed by Ulenspiegel had gone before +the castellan of Courtray, for the tumult, uproar, and pillage made in +the Stevenyne's house must needs be punished by the said castellan, as +the Stevenyne's house was in the castle ward, outside the jurisdiction +of the town of Courtray. After having narrated to the lord castellan +what had taken place, they told him with great conviction and humble +sincerity of language: + +"The murderers of the preachers are in no wise Ulenspiegel and +his trusty and well-beloved Lamme Goedzak, who went to the Rainbow +purely for their repose and refreshment. They even have passes from +the duke, and we have seen these ourselves. The real culprits are two +Ghent merchants, one a lean man and the other very fat, who went away +towards France, after breaking everything at Stevenyne's, taking her +away with her four girls along with them for their pleasure. We had +them well and duly taken prisoners, but there were in the house seven +butchers, the strongest in the town, who took their side. They tied +us all up and only let us go when they were far away on the French +soil. And here are the marks of the ropes. The four other catchpolls +are on their tracks, waiting for a reinforcement to lay hands on them." + +The castellan gave each of them two carolus and a new coat for their +loyal services. + +He then wrote to the Council of Flanders, to the Sheriff's Court at +Courtray, and to other courts of justice to announce to them that +the real murderers had been discovered. + +And he recounted to them the whole adventure in detail and at length. + +Whereat the people of the Council of Flanders and the other courts +of justice shuddered. + +And the castellan was greatly praised for his perspicacity. + +And Ulenspiegel and Lamme journeyed in peace upon the road from +Peteghem to Ghent, along the Lys, wishing to arrive at Bruges, where +Lamme hoped to find his wife, and at Damme, where Ulenspiegel, all +a-dream, would have wished to be already, to see Nele, who lived in +sadness with Katheline the madwife. + + + + + +XXXVI + +During a long while, in the country of Damme and round about, there +had been committed several abominable crimes. Lasses, young men, old +men, who had been known to go forth carrying money in the direction of +Bruges, Ghent, or some other town or village of Flanders, were found +dead, naked as worms and bitten in the back of the neck by teeth so +long and so sharp that they all had the bones of their necks broken. + +Physicians and barber-surgeons declared that these were the teeth of +a huge wolf. "Robbers," said they, "had doubtless come up, after the +wolf, and had stripped the victims." + +Despite all search, no man could ever discover who were the +robbers. Soon the wolf was forgotten. + +Several townsmen of note, who had proudly set forth on their way +without an escort, disappeared without any one knowing what had +become of them, save that at times some country fellow, going out +in the morning to plough the earth, found wolf tracks in his field, +while his dog, digging in the furrows with his paws, brought to +light a poor dead corpse carrying the marks of the wolf's teeth on +the nape or under the ear, and oftentimes on the leg, too, and always +behind. And always the neckbone and legbone were broken. + +The peasant, affrighted, would go off at once to give information to +the bailiff, who would come with the clerk of the court, two aldermen, +and two surgeons to the place where lay the body of the murdered +man. Having visited it diligently and carefully, having sometimes when +the face was not eaten by worms recognized its quality, even its name +and lineage, they were nevertheless always astonied that the wolf, +a beast that kills for hunger, should not have carried off some part +of the dead man. + +And the folk of Damme were sore terrified, and no woman dared to go +out by night without an escort. + +Now it came that several valiant soldiers were sent out to look for +the wolf, with orders to hunt for it day and night in the dunes, +along by the sea. + +They were then near Heyst, among the great dunes. Night had come. One +of them, confident in his strength, wanted to leave them to go alone on +the hunt, armed with a musket. The others allowed him, certain that, +valiant and armed as he was, he would kill the wolf if he dared to +show himself. + +Their comrade having gone, they lit a fire and played at dice while +drinking brandy out of their flasks. + +And from time to time they called out: + +"Now, then, comrade, come back; the wolf is afraid; come and drink!" + +And he made no answer. + +Suddenly, hearing a great cry as of a man that is at the point of +death, they ran in the direction whence the cry came, saying: + +"Hold on, we are coming to the rescue!" + +But they were long before they found their comrade, for some said the +cry came from the valley, others that it came from the highest dune. + +At length, when they had well searched dune and valley with their +lanterns, they found their comrade bitten in the leg and in the arm, +from behind, and his neck broken like the other victims. + +Lying on his back, he was holding his sword in his clenched fist; +his musket was on the sand. By his side were three severed fingers, +which they carried off, and which were not his fingers. His pouch +had been taken. + +They took up on their shoulders their comrade's body, his good sword, +and his gallant musket, and grieved and angry, they carried the corpse +to the bailiff's where the bailiff received them in the company of +the clerk of the court, two aldermen, and two surgeons. + +The severed fingers were examined and recognized as the fingers of +an old man, who was no worker at any trade, for the fingers were +long and tapering, and the nails were long as the nails of lawyers +and churchmen. + +Next day the bailiff, the aldermen, the clerk, the surgeons, and the +soldiers went to the place where the poor slain man had been bitten, +and saw that there were drops of blood upon the grass and footmarks +that went as far as the sea, where they ceased. + + + + + +XXXVII + +It was at the time of the ripened grapes, in the wine month and the +fourth day of it, when in the city of Brussels they throw, from the +top of the tower of Saint Nicholas after high mass, bags of walnuts +down to the people. + +At night Nele was awakened by cries coming from the street. She looked +for Katheline in the room and found her not. She ran down and opened +the door, and Katheline came in saying: + +"Save me! Save me! the wolf! the wolf!" + +And Nele heard in the country far-off howlings. Trembling, she lighted +all the lamps, wax tapers, and candles. + +"What has happened, Katheline?" said she, clasping her in her arms. + +Katheline sat down, with haggard eyes, and said, looking at the +candles: + +"'Tis the sun, he driveth away evil spirits. The wolf, the wolf is +howling in the countryside." + +"But," said Nele, "why did you leave your bed where you were warm, +to go and take a fever in the damp nights of September?" + +And Katheline said: + +"Hanske cried last night like an osprey; and I opened the door. And +he said to me: 'Take the drink of vision,' and I drank. Hanske is +goodly to look upon. Take away the fire. Then he brought me down +to the canal and said to me: 'Katheline, I will give thee back the +seven hundred carolus; thou shalt restore them to Ulenspiegel the son +of Claes. Here be two to buy thee a robe; thou shalt have a thousand +soon.' 'A thousand,' said I, 'my beloved, I shall then be rich.' 'Thou +shalt have them,' said he. 'But is there none in Damme who, woman or +damsel, is now as rich as thou wilt be?' 'I know not,' I answered. But +I had no mind to tell their names for fear he might love them. Then he +said to me: 'Find this out and tell me their names when I come back.' + +"The air was chill, the mist rolled over the meadows, the dry twigs +were falling from the trees upon the roadway. And the moon was shining, +and there were fires on the water of the canal. Hanske said to me: +'It is the night of the were-wolves; all guilty souls come forth out +of hell. Thou must make the sign of the cross thrice with the left +hand and cry: Salt! Salt! Salt! which is the emblem of immortality, and +they will do thee no hurt.' And I said: 'I shall do what thou desirest, +Hanske, my darling.' He kissed me, saying: 'Thou art my wife.' 'Aye,' +said I. And at his gentle word a heavenly happiness glided over my +body like an ointment. He crowned me with roses and said to me: 'Thou +art fair.' And I said to him: 'Thou art fair, too, Hanske, my darling, +and goodly in thy fine raiment of green velvet with gold trimmings, +with thy long ostrich feather that floats from thy bonnet, and thy +face pale as the fire upon the waves of the sea. And if the girls of +Damme saw thee, they would all run after thee, beseeching thee for +thy heart; but thou must give it only to me alone, Hanske.' He said: +'Endeavour to know which are the richest; their fortune will be for +thee.' Then he went away, leaving me after straitly forbidding me to +follow him. + +"I stayed there, chinking the three carolus in my hand, all shivering +and frozen by reason of the mist, when I saw coming up from a steep +bank and climbing the slope a wolf that had a green face and long +reeds among his white hair. I cried out: Salt! Salt! Salt! making +the sign of the cross, but he seemed to be in no dread of it. And +I ran with all my might, I crying, he howling, and I heard the dry +clashing of his teeth close upon me, and once so near to my shoulder +that I thought that he was about to catch me. But I ran faster than +he did. By great good luck, I met at the corner of the street of +the Heron the night watch with his lantern. 'The wolf! the wolf!' I +cried. 'Be not afraid,' said the watchman to me, 'I will take you +home, Katheline the madwife.' And I felt that his hand, holding me, +was shaking. And he was afraid like me." + +"But he hath got back his courage," said Nele. "Do you hear him now +chanting in a drawling voice: 'De clock is tien tien aen de clock': +It is ten o' the clock, o' the clock ten! And he springs his rattle." + +"Take away the fire," said Katheline, "my head burns. Come back, +Hanske, my darling." + +And Nele looked on Katheline, and she prayed Our Lady the Virgin +to take away from her head the fire of madness; and she wept over +her mother. + + + + + +XXXVIII + +At Belleau, on the banks of the Bruges canal, Ulenspiegel and Lamme +met a horseman wearing three cock's feathers in his felt hat and +riding at full speed towards Ghent. Ulenspiegel sang like a lark and +the horseman, pulling up, answered with the clarion of Chanticleer. + +"Dost thou bring tidings, headlong horseman?" said Ulenspiegel. + +"Great tidings," said the horseman. "On the advice of M. de Châtillon +who is in the land of France the admiral of the sea, the prince of +freedom hath given commissions to equip ships of war, beyond those +that are already armed at Emden and in East Frisia. The valiant men +who have received these commissions are Adrien de Berghes, Sieur +de Dolhain; his brother Louis of Hainaut; the Baron of Montfaucon; +the Sieur Louis de Brederode; Albert d'Egmont the son of the beheaded +count and no traitor like his brother; Berthel Enthens of Mentheda, +the Frisian; Adrien Menningh; Hembuyse the hot and proud man of Ghent; +and Jan Brock. + +"The prince hath given all his having, more than fifty thousand +florins." + +"I have five hundred for him," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Take them to the sea," said the horseman. + +And he went off at a gallop. + +"He gives all his having," said Ulenspiegel. "We others, we give +nothing but our skins." + +"Is that nothing then," said Lamme, "and shall we never have aught +talked of but sack and massacre? The orange is on the ground." + +"Aye," said Ulenspiegel, "on the ground, like the oak; but with the +oak they build the ships of freedom!" + +"For his profit," said Lamme. "But since there is no danger now, +let us buy asses again. I like to march sitting, for my part, and +without having a chime of blister-bells on the soles of my feet." + +"Let us buy asses," said Ulenspiegel; "these are beasts it is easy +to sell again." + +They went to market and found there, by paying for them, two fine +asses with their equipment. + + + + + +XXXIX + +As they rode on astraddle, they came to Oost-Camp, where there is a +great wood the fringe of which touched the canal. + +Seeking therein shade and sweet fragrance, they went into it, without +seeing anything but the long forest alleys going in every direction +towards Bruges, Ghent, South Flanders, and North Flanders. + +Suddenly Ulenspiegel jumped down from his ass. + +"Dost thou see nothing yonder?" + +Lamme said: + +"Aye, I see." And trembling: "My wife, my good wife! 'Tis she, my +son. Ha! I cannot walk to her. To find her thus!" + +"What are you complaining of?" said Ulenspiegel. + +"She is beautiful thus half-naked, in this muslin tunic cut in open +work that lets the fresh skin be seen. That one is too young; she is +not your wife." + +"My son," said Lamme, "it is she, my son; I know her. Carry me. I can +go no more. Who would have thought it of her? To dance clad in this +way like an Egyptian, shamelessly! Aye, it is she; see her shapely +legs, her arms bare to the shoulder, her breasts round and golden +half emerging from her muslin tunic. See how with that red flag she +excites that great dog jumping up at it." + +"'Tis a dog of Egypt," said Ulenspiegel; "the Low Countries give none +of that kind." + +"Egypt ... I do not know.... But it is she. Ha! my son, I can see no +more. She plucks up her breeches higher to show more of her round +legs. She laughs to show her white teeth, and loudly to let the +sound of her sweet voice be heard. She opens her tunic at the top and +throws herself back. Ha! that swan neck amorous, those bare shoulders, +those bright bold eyes! I run to her!" + +And he leaped from his ass. + +But Ulenspiegel, stopping him: + +"This girl," said he, "is not your wife. We are near a camp of +Egyptians. Beware.... See you the smoke behind the trees? Hear you +the barking of the dogs? There, here are some looking at us, ready +to bite perhaps. Let us hide deeper in the brake." + +"I will not hide," said Lamme; "this woman is mine, as Flemish as +ourselves." + +"Blind and madman," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Blind, nay! I see her well, dancing, half-naked, laughing and teasing +this great dog. She feigns not to see us. But she does see us, I assure +you. Thyl, Thyl! there is the dog hurling himself on her and throws her +down to have the red flag. And she falls, uttering a plaintive cry." + +And Lamme suddenly dashed towards her, saying to her: + +"My wife, my wife! where are you hurt, darling? Why do you laugh so +loud? Your eyes are haggard." + +And he kissed her and caressed her and said: + +"That beauty spot you had under the left breast, I see it not. Where +is it? Thou art not my wife. Great God of Heaven!" + +And she never stopped laughing. + +Suddenly Ulenspiegel cried out: + +"Guard thee, Lamme!" + +And Lamme, turning about, saw before him a great blackamoor of an +Egyptian, of a sour countenance, brown as peper-koek, which is ginger +bread in the land of France. + +Lamme picked up his pikestaff, and putting himself to his defence, +he cried out: + +"To the rescue, Ulenspiegel!" + +Ulenspiegel was there with his good sword. + +The Egyptian said to him in High German: + +"Gibt mi ghelt, ein Richsthaler auf tsein." (Give me money, a +ricksdaelder or ten.) + +"See," said Ulenspiegel, "the girl goes away laughing loudly and even +turning round to ask to be followed." + +"Gibt mi ghelt," said the man. "Pay for your amours. We are poor folk +and wish you no harm." + +Lamme gave him a carolus. + +"What trade dost thou follow?" said Ulenspiegel. + +"All trades," replied the Egyptian: "being master of arts in +suppleness, we do miraculous and magic tricks. We play on the +tambourine and dance Hungarian dances. More than one among us make +cages and gridirons to roast fine carbonadoes therewith. But all, +Flemings and Walloons, are feared of us and drive us forth. As +we cannot live by trade, we live by marauding, that is to say, +on vegetables, meat, and poultry that we must needs take from the +peasant, since he will neither give nor sell them to us." + +Lamme said to him: + +"Whence comes this girl, who is so like to my wife?" + +"She is our chief's daughter," said the blackamoor. + +Then speaking low like a man in fear: + +"She was smitten by God with the malady of love and knows naught of +woman's modesty. As soon as she seeth a man, she entereth on gaiety +and wildness, and laughs without ceasing. She saith little; she was +long thought to be dumb. By night, in sadness, she stays before the +fire, weeping at whiles or laughing without reason, and pointing to +her belly, where, she saith, she hath a hurt. At the hour of noon, +in summer, after the meal, her sharpest madness cometh upon her. Then +she goeth to dance near naked on the outskirts of the camp. She will +wear naught but raiment of tulle or muslin, and in winter we have +great trouble to cover her with a cloak of cloth of goat's hair." + +"But," said Lamme, "hath she not some man friend to prevent her from +abandoning herself thus to all comers?" + +"She hath none," said the man, "for travellers, coming near her and +beholding her eyes distraught, have more of fear than desire for +her. This big man was a bold one," said he, pointing to Lamme. + +"Let him talk, my son," said Ulenspiegel; "it is the stockvisch +slandering the whale. Which of the two is the one that gives most oil?" + +"You have a sharp tongue this morning," said Lamme. + +But Ulenspiegel, without listening to him, said to the Egyptian: + +"What doth she when others are as bold as my friend Lamme?" + +The Egyptian answered sadly: + +"Then she hath pleasure and gain. Those who win her pay for their +delight, and the money serves to clothe her and also for the +necessities of the old men and the women." + +"She obeyeth none then?" said Lamme. + +The Egyptian answered: + +"Let us allow those whom God hath smitten to do as they wish. Thus +he marks his will. And such is our law." + +Ulenspiegel and Lamme went away. And the Egyptian returned thence to +his camp, grave and proud. And the girl, laughing wildly, danced in +the clearing. + + + + + +XL + +Going on their way to Bruges, Ulenspiegel said to Lamme: + +"We have disbursed a heavy sum of money in the enlisting of soldiers, +in payment to the catchpolls, the gift to the Egyptian girl, and those +innumerable olie-koekjes that it pleased you to eat without ceasing +rather than to sell a single one. Now notwithstanding your belly-will, +it is time to live more circumspectly. Give me your money. I will +keep the common purse." + +"I am willing," said Lamme. And giving it to him: "All the same, +do not leave me to die of hunger," said he, "for think on it, big and +strong as I am, I must have substantial and abundant nourishment. It is +well for you, a thin and wretched fellow, to live from hand to mouth, +eating or not eating what you pick up, like planks that live on air +and rain on the quays. But for me, whom air hollows and rain hungers, +I must needs have other feasts." + +"You shall have them," said Ulenspiegel, "feasts of virtuous Lents. The +best filled paunches cannot resist them; deflating little by little, +they make the heaviest light. And presently will Lamme my darling be +seen sufficiently thinned down, running like a stag." + +"Alas!" said Lamme. "What henceforth will be my starveling fate? I +am hungry, my son, and would fain have supper." + +Night was falling. They arrived in Bruges by the Ghent gate. They +showed their passes. Having had to pay one demi-sol for themselves +and two for their asses, they entered into the town; Lamme, thinking +of Ulenspiegel's word, seemed brokenhearted. + +"Shall we have supper, soon?" said he. + +"Aye," replied Ulenspiegel. + +They alighted in de Meermin, at the Siren, a weathercock which is +fixed all in gold above the gable of the inn. + +They put their asses in the stable, and Ulenspiegel ordered, for his +supper and Lamme's, bread, beer, and cheese. + +The host grinned when serving this lean meal: Lamme ate with hungry +teeth, looking in despair at Ulenspiegel labouring with his jaws +upon the too-old bread and the too-young cheese, as if they had been +ortolans. And Lamme drank his small beer with no pleasure. Ulenspiegel +laughed to see him so miserable. And there was also someone that +laughed in the courtyard of the inn and came at whiles to show her +face at the window. Ulenspiegel saw that it was a woman that hid her +face. Thinking it was some sly servant he thought no more of it, and +seeing Lamme pale, sad, and livid because of his thwarted belly loves, +he had pity and thought of ordering for his companion an omelette +of black puddings, a dish of beef and beans, or any other hot dish, +when the baes came in and said, doffing his headgear: + +"If messires the travellers desire a better supper, they will speak +and say what they want." + +Lamme opened wide eyes and his mouth wider still and looked at +Ulenspiegel with an anguished distress. + +The latter replied: + +"Wandering workmen are not rich men." + +"It nevertheless happens," said the baes, "that they do not always +know all their possessions." And pointing to Lamme: "That good phiz is +worth two. What would Your Lordships please to eat and to drink--an +omelette with fat ham, choesels, we made some to-day, castrelins, a +capon melting under the tooth, a fine grilled carbonado with a sauce +of four spices, dobbel-knol of Antwerp, dobbel-cuyt of Bruges, wine +of Louvain prepared after the manner of Burgundy? And nothing to pay." + +"Bring all," said Lamme. + +The table was soon laid, and Ulenspiegel took his delight to see +poor Lamme who, more famished than ever, precipitated himself upon +the omelette, the choesels, the capon, the ham, the carbonadoes, +and poured down his throat in quarts the dobbel-knol, the dobbel-cuyt +and the Louvain wine prepared after the manner of Burgundy. + +When he could eat no more, he puffed with comfort like a whale, and +looked about him over the table to see if there was nothing left to +put under his tooth. And he ate the crumbs of the castrelins. + +Neither he nor Ulenspiegel had seen the pretty face look smiling +through the panes, pass and repass in the courtyard. The baes +having brought some wine mulled with cinnamon and Madeira sugar, +they continued to drink. And they sang. + +At the curfew, he asked them if they would go upstairs each to his +large and goodly bedchamber. Ulenspiegel replied that a small one +would suffice for them both. The baes replied: + +"I have none such; ye shall each have a lord's chamber, and nothing +to pay." + +And indeed and in verity he brought them into chambers richly adorned +with furniture and carpets. In Lamme's there was a great bed. + +Ulenspiegel, who had well drunk and was falling with sleep, left him +to go to bed and promptly did likewise. + +The next day, at the hour of noon, he entered Lamme's chamber and saw +him sleeping and snoring. Beside him was a pretty little satchel full +of money. He opened it and saw it was gold carolus and silver patards. + +He shook Lamme to wake him. The other came out of his sleep, rubbed +his eyes and, looking round him uneasily, said: + +"My wife! where is my wife?" + +And showing an empty place beside him in the bed. + +"She was there but now," said he. + +Then leaping out of the bed, he looked everywhere again, searched in +all the nooks and corners of the chamber, the alcove and the cupboards, +and said, stamping his foot: + +"My wife! Where is my wife?" + +The baes came up at the noise. + +"Rascal," said Lamme, catching him by the throat, "where is my +wife? What hast thou done with my wife?" + +"Impatient tramper," said the baes, "thy wife? What wife? Thou didst +come alone. I know naught." + +"Ha! he knows naught," said Lamme, ferreting once more in all the nooks +and corners of the room. "Alas! she was there, last night, in my bed, +as in the time of our good loves. Aye. Where art thou, my darling?" + +And flinging the purse on the ground: + +"'Tis not thy money I want, 'tis thou, thy sweet body, thy kind +heart, O my beloved! O heavenly joys! Ye will come back no more. I +had grown hardened not to see thee, to live without love, my sweet +treasure. And lo, having come to me again, thou dost abandon me. But +I will die. Ha! my wife? Where is my wife?" + +And he wept with scalding tears on the ground where he had cast +himself. Then all at once opening the door, he started to run +throughout the whole of the inn, and into the street, in his shirt, +crying: + +"My wife? Where is my wife?" + +But soon he came back, for the mischievous boys hooted him and threw +stones at him. + +And Ulenspiegel said to him, forcing him to clothe himself: + +"Do not be so overwhelmed; you shall see her again, since you have +seen her. She loves you still, since she came back to you, since it +was doubtless she that paid for the supper and for the lordly chambers, +and that put on your bed this full pouch. The ashes tell me that this +is not the doing of a faithless wife. Weep no more, and let us march +forth for the defence of the land of our fathers." + +"Let us still remain in Bruges," said Lamme; "I would fain run through +the whole town, and I will find her." + +"You will not find her, since she is hiding from you," said +Ulenspiegel. + +Lamme asked for explanations from the baes, but the other would tell +him nothing. + +And they went away towards Damme. + + + +While they went on their way, Ulenspiegel said to Lamme: + +"Why do you not tell me how you found her beside you, last night, +and how she left you?" + +"My son," replied Lamme, "you know that we had feasted on meat, on +beer, on wine, and that I could hardly breathe when we went off to +bed. I held a wax candle in my hand, like a lord, to light me and had +put down the candlestick on a chest to sleep; the door had remained +ajar, the chest was close to it. Undressing, I looked on my bed with +great love and desire for sleep; the wax candle suddenly went out. I +heard as it were a breath and a sound of light feet in my chamber; +but being more sleepy than afraid, I lay down heavily. As I was about +to fall asleep, a voice--her voice, O my wife, my poor wife!--said +to me: 'Have you supped well, Lamme?' and her voice was beside me, +and her face, too, and her sweet body." + + + + + +XLI + +On that day Philip the king, having eaten too much pastry, was more +melancholy than usual. He had played upon his living harpsichord, +which was a case containing cats whose heads came out through round +openings above the keys. Every time the king struck a key, the key +in turn struck a cat with a dart, and the beast mewed and complained +by reason of the pain. + +But Philip never laughed. + +Unceasingly, he sought in his mind how he could conquer the great +queen, Elizabeth, and set up Mary Stuart on the throne of England. With +this object he had written to the Pope who was needy and full of debts; +the Pope had replied that for this enterprise he would gladly sell +the holy vessels of the temples and the treasures of the Vatican. + +But Philip never laughed. + +Ridolfi, Queen Mary's favourite, who hoped, by delivering her, to +marry her afterwards and become king of England, came to see Philip +and with him plot the murder of Elizabeth. But he was so "parlanchin," +as the king wrote, so given to talking, that his designs were openly +talked about in the Antwerp Bourse; and the murder was never committed. + +And Philip never laughed. + +Later, in accordance with the king's orders, the bloody duke sent two +couples of assassins into England. They succeeded in getting hanged. + +And Philip never laughed. + +And thus God brought to naught and thwarted the ambition of this +vampire, who looked to remove her son from Mary Stuart and to reign in +his stead, with the Pope, over England. And the murderer was irritated +to see this noble country so great and powerful. He never ceased to +turn his pale eyes towards it, seeking how he might crush it so as +to reign thereafter over the whole world, exterminate the reformers, +and especially the rich, and inherit the victim's wealth. + +But he never laughed. + +And mice and field mice were brought to him in an iron box, with high +sides, and open of one side; and he put the bottom of the box on a +hot fire and took his pleasure in seeing and hearing the poor little +beasts leaping, moaning, and dying. + +But he never laughed. + +Then pale and with trembling hand he went to the arms of Madame +d'Eboli, to slake the fire of his lust lit by the torch of cruelty. + +And he never laughed. + +And Madame d'Eboli received him for fear and not for love. + + + + + +XLII + +The air was warm: from the quiet sea there came not a breath +of wind. Scarce did the trees by the canal of Damme shiver, the +grasshoppers dwelt in the meadows, while in the fields men from the +churches and the abbeys came to fetch the thirteenth part of the +harvest for the curés and the abbots. Out of the sky, blue, ardent, +deep, the sun poured down warmth and Nature slept under his rays +like a fair girl naked and swooning under her lover's caresses. The +carps were cutting capers above the surface of the canal to seize the +flies that buzzed like a kettle; while the swallows, with their long +bodies and great wings, disputed the prey with them. From the earth +rose a warm vapour, wavering and shimmering in the light. The beadle +of Damme announced from the top of the tower, by means of a cracked +bell sounding like a pot, that it was noon and time for the country +folk working at the haymaking to go to dinner. Women cried long and +loud, holding their closed hands funnel-wise, calling in their men, +brothers or husbands, by name: Hans, Pieter, Joos; and one might see +their red hoods above the hedges. + +Far off, in the eyes of Lamme and Ulenspiegel, rose lofty, square, +and massive the tower of Notre Dame, and Lamme said: + +"There, my son, are thy griefs and thy love." + +But Ulenspiegel made no answer. + +"Soon," said Lamme, "shall I see my ancient home and perchance +my wife." + +But Ulenspiegel made no answer. + +"Man of wood," said Lamme, "heart of stone, nothing then can affect +you, neither the nearness of the places in which you spent your +boyhood, nor the dear shades of poor Claes and poor Soetkin, the two +martyrs. What! you are neither sad nor glad; what then hath dried up +your heart in this way? Look at me, anxious, uneasy, bounding in my +belly; look at me...." + +Lamme looked at Ulenspiegel and saw him with head livid, pale and +hanging, his lips trembling, and weeping without saying a word. + +And he held his tongue. + +They marched thus in silence as far as Damme, and came into it +by the street of the Heron, and saw no one in it, because of the +heat. The dogs, with their tongues hanging out, lying on their sides, +were gaping before the thresholds of the doors. Lamme and Ulenspiegel +passed directly in front of the Townhall, before which Claes had been +burned; the lips of Ulenspiegel trembled more, and his tears dried +up. Finding himself over against the house of Claes, occupied by a +coalman, he said to him as he went within: + +"Dost thou know me? I am fain to rest here." + +The master coalman said: + +"I know thee; thou art the son of the victim. Go wherever thou wouldst +in this house." + +Ulenspiegel went into the kitchen, then into the bedchamber of Claes +and Soetkin, and there he wept. + +When he had come down thence, the master coalman said to him: + +"Here are bread, cheese, and beer. If thou art hungry, eat; if thou +art thirsty, drink." + +Ulenspiegel signed with his hand that he was neither hungry nor +thirsty. + +He walked thus with Lamme, who stayed astraddle on his ass, while +Ulenspiegel held his by the halter. + +They arrived at Katheline's cottage, tied up their asses, and went +in. It was meal time. There were on the table haricots in their pods +mixed with great white beans. Katheline was eating; Nele was standing +and ready to pour into Katheline's plate a vinegar sauce she had just +taken from the fire. + +When Ulenspiegel came in, she was so startled that she put the pot and +all the sauce in Katheline's plate, who, nodding her head, began to +hunt for the beans around the saucepot with her spoon, and striking +herself on the forehead, repeated like a madwoman: + +"Take away the fire! My head is burning!" + +The smell of the vinegar made Lamme hungry. + +Ulenspiegel remained standing, looking at Nele, smiling with love +through his great sadness. + +And Nele, without a word, threw her arms about his neck. She, too, +seemed bereft of her wits; she wept, laughed; and red with great and +sweet joy, she said only: "Thyl! Thyl!" Ulenspiegel, happy, gazed +at her; then she left him, went and stationed herself farther off, +contemplated him with joy and from there once again sprang upon him, +throwing her arms about his neck; and so several times over. He +held her, very happy, unable to sever from her, until she fell upon +a chair, wearied out and as though out of her senses; and she said +without any shame: + +"Thyl! Thyl! my beloved, and so there you are back again!" + +Lamme was standing at the door; when Nele was calmed, she said, +pointing to him: + +"Where have I seen this big man?" + +"This is my friend," said Ulenspiegel. "He is seeking for his wife +in my company." + +"I know thee," said Nele, speaking to Lamme; "thou didst use to +dwell in the street of the Heron. Thou art seeking thy wife; I saw +her at Bruges, living in all piety and devoutness. Having asked +her why she had so cruelly abandoned her husband, she answered me: +'Such was the holy will of God and the order of the holy Penance, +but I cannot live with him henceforth.'" + +Lamme was sad at this word, and looked at the beans in vinegar. And the +larks, singing, sprang aloft in the sky, and Nature in ecstasy allowed +herself to be caressed by the sun. And Katheline with her spoon picked +out all round the pot the white beans, the green pods, and the sauce. + + + + + +XLIII + + +At this time a girl of fifteen went from Heyst to Knokke, alone, +in broad daylight, through the dunes. No one had any fears for her, +for it was well known that weer-wolves and evil spirits of the damned +bite only by night. She was carrying in a pouch forty-eight sols in +silver, of the value of four florins carolus, which her mother Toria +Pieterson, who lived at Heyst, owed, out of the proceeds of a sale, +to her uncle, Jan Rapen, who lived at Knokke. The girl, by name Betkin, +having donned all her best finery, had gone off gaily. + +That night her mother was uneasy not to see her come home; still, +thinking she had slept at her uncle's house, she reassured herself. + +The next day certain fishermen, coming back from sea with a boat full +of fish, hauled their boat up on the beach and unloaded their fish into +carts, to sell it by auction, cart by cart, in Heyst. They climbed +up the road, strewn with broken shells, and found among the dunes a +young girl stripped quite naked, even of her chemise, and blood around +her. Coming near, they saw in her poor broken neck the marks of long, +sharp teeth. Lying on her back, her eyes were open, staring at the sky, +and her mouth was open, too, as if to cry out on death! + +Covering the girl's body with an opperst-kleed, they brought it to +Heyst, to the Townhall. Thither speedily assembled the aldermen and +the barber-surgeon, who declared that those long teeth were never +wolf's teeth as they were made by Nature, but belonged to some wicked +and evil and infernal weer-wolf, and that it behoved all men to pray +to God to deliver the land of Flanders. + +And in all the country and especially at Damme, Heyst, and Knokke, +were ordained prayers and orisons. + +And the people, groaning, remained in the churches. + +In the church of Heyst, where the corpse of the young girl was laid +out and exposed, men and women wept, seeing her neck all bloody and +torn. And the mother said in the very church: + +"I will go to the weer-wolf and kill him with my teeth." + +And the women, weeping, egged her on to do this. And some said: + +"Thou wilt never come back." + +And she went, with her husband and her two brothers well armed, to +hunt for the wolf by beach, dune, and valley, but never found him. And +her husband was obliged to take her home, for she had caught fever +by reason of the night cold; and they watched beside her, mending +their nets for the next fishing day. + +The bailiff of Damme, bethinking himself that the weer-wolf is a beast +that lives on blood and does not strip the dead, said that this one +was doubtless followed by robbers wandering about the dunes seeking +their evil gain. Wherefore he summoned by the sound of the church +bell all and sundry, directing them to fall well armed and furnished +with cudgels upon all beggars and tramping ruffians, to apprehend +their persons and search them to see if they might not have in their +satchels gold carolus or any portion of the victim's raiment. And after +this the able-bodied beggars and tramps should be taken to the king's +galleys. And the aged and infirm should be allowed to go their ways. + +But they found nothing. + +Ulenspiegel went to the bailiff's and said to him: + +"I mean to slay the weer-wolf." + +"What gives thee this confidence?" asked the bailiff. + +"The ashes beat upon my heart," answered Ulenspiegel. "Grant me +permission to work in the forge of the commune." + +"Thou mayst do so," said the bailiff. + +Ulenspiegel, without saying a word of his project to any man or woman +in Damme, went off to the forge and there in secret he fashioned a +fine and large-sized engine to trap wild beasts. + +The next day, being Saturday, a day beloved of the weer-wolf, +Ulenspiegel, carrying a letter from the bailiff for the curé of Heyst, +and the engine under his cloak, armed also with a good crossbow and +a well-sharpened cutlass, departed, saying to the folk in Damme: + +"I am going to shoot sea-mews and I will make pillows for the bailiff's +wife with their down." + +Going towards Heyst, he came upon the beach, heard the boisterous sea +curling and breaking in big waves, roaring like thunder, and the wind +came from England whistling in the rigging of shipwrecked boats. A +fisherman said to him: + +"This is ruin to us, this ill wind. Last night the sea was still, +but after sunrise it got up suddenly into fury. We shall not be able +to go a-fishing." + +Ulenspiegel was glad, assured thus of having help during the night +if there should be need. + +At Heyst he went to the curé, and gave him the letter from the +bailiff. The curé said to him: + +"Thou art bold: yet know that no man passes alone at night, by the +dunes, on Saturday without being bitten and left dead on the sand. The +workmen on the dykes and others go there only in bands. Night is +falling. Dost thou hear the weer-wolf howling in his valley? Will he +come again as he did this last night, to cry terribly in the graveyard +the whole night long? God be with thee, my son, but go not thither." + +And the curé crossed himself. + +"The ashes beat upon my heart," answered Ulenspiegel. + +The curé said: + +"Since thou hast so stout a mind, I will help thee." + +"Master curé," said Ulenspiegel, "you would do a great boon to me +and to the poor desolated country by going to the house of Toria, the +mother of the slain girl, and to her two brothers likewise to tell them +that the wolf is close at hand, and that I mean to await and kill him." + +The curé said: + +"If thou dost not yet know on what path thou shouldst take up thy +stand, stay in that one that leads to the graveyard. It is between +two hedges of broom. Two men could not walk in it side by side." + +"I will take my stand there," said Ulenspiegel. "And do you, valiant +master curé, co-worker of deliverance, order and enjoin the girl's +mother, with her husband and her brothers, to be in the church, all +armed, before the curfew. If they hear me whistling like the sea-mew, +it will mean that I have seen the weer-wolf. They must then sound +wacharm on the bell and come to my rescue. And if there are any other +brave men?..." + +"There are none, my son," replied the curé. "The fishermen fear the +weer-wolf more than the plague and death. But go not thither." + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"The ashes beat upon my heart." + +The curé said then: + +"I shall do as thou wishest; be thou blessed. Art thou hungry or +thirsty?" + +"Both," replied Ulenspiegel. + +The curé gave him beer, bread, and cheese. + +Ulenspiegel drank, ate, and went away. + +Going along and raising his eyes, he saw his father Claes in glory, +by the side of God, in the sky where the clear moon was shining, +and looked at the sea and the clouds and he heard the tempestuous +wind blowing out of England. + +"Alas!" said he, "black clouds that pass so swift, be ye like Vengeance +upon the heels of Murder. Roaring sea, sky that dost make thee black as +the mouth of hell, waves with the fire foam running along the sombre +water, shaking impatient, wrathful, ye animals innumerable of fire, +oxen, sheep, horses, serpents that wallow upon the sea or rise up +into the air, belching out a flaming rain, O sea all black, sky black +with mourning, come with me to fight against the weer-wolf, the foul +murderer of little girls. And thou, wind that wailest plaintively in +the bents on the dunes and in the cordage of the ships, thou art the +voice of the victims crying out for vengeance to God; may He be my +helper in this enterprise." + +And he went down into the valley, tottering on his two natural +posts as if he had had the drunkard's wine-lees in his head and a +cabbage-indigestion on his stomach. + +And he sang hiccuping, zigzagging, yawning, spitting, and stopping, +playing at a pretence of vomiting, but in reality opening his eyes +wide to study closely everything about him, when suddenly he heard +a shrill howling; he stopped short, vomiting like a dog, and saw in +the light of the strong shining moon the long shape of a wolf walking +towards the cemetery. + +Tottering again he entered on the path marked out among the +broom. There, feigning to fall, he set the engine on the side whence +the wolf was coming, made ready his crossbow, and moved away ten +paces, standing in a drunken attitude, continually pretending to +stagger about, to hiccup and vomit, but in verity stringing up his +wits like a bow and keeping eyes and ears wide open. + +And he saw nothing, nothing but the black clouds running like mad +things over the sky and a large thick and short shape coming towards +him; and he heard nothing but the wind wailing plaintively, the sea +roaring like thunder, and the shell-strewn road crackling under a +heavy, stumbling tread. + +Feigning to want to sit down, he fell on the road like a drunkard, +heavily. And he spat. + +Then he heard as it were iron clicking two paces from his ear, then +the noise of his engine shutting up and a man's cry. + +"The weer-wolf," he said, "has his front paws taken in the trap. He +gets up howling, shaking the engine, trying to run. But he will +never escape." + +And he sped a crossbow dart into his legs. + +"And now he falls, wounded," said he. + +And he whistled like a sea-mew. + +Suddenly the church bell rang out the wacharm, a shrill lad's voice +cried through the village: + +"Awake, ye sleeping folk, the weer-wolf is caught." + +"Praise be to God!" said Ulenspiegel. + +Toria, Betkin's mother, Lansaem her husband, Josse and Michiel her +brothers, came the first with their lanterns. + +"He is taken?" said they. + +"See him on the roadway," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"Praise be to God!" said they. + +And they made the sign of the cross. + +"Who is that ringing?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +Lansaem replied: + +"My eldest boy; the youngest is running through the village knocking +at the doors and crying that the wolf is taken. Praise be to thee!" + +"The ashes beat upon my heart," replied Ulenspiegel. + +Suddenly the weer-wolf spake and said: + +"Have pity upon me, pity, Ulenspiegel." + +"The wolf talks," said they, crossing themselves. "He is a devil and +he knows Ulenspiegel's name already." + +"Have pity, pity," said the voice, "bid the bell be quiet; it is +ringing for the dead; pity, I am no wolf. My wrists are pierced by +the engine; I am old and I bleed; pity! What is this shrill boy's +voice awaking the village? Pity!" + +"I heard thy voice of old," said Ulenspiegel, vehemently. "Thou art +the fishmonger, the murderer of Claes, the vampire of the poor little +young girls. Men and women, have no fear. 'Tis the demon, he through +whom Soetkin died for grief and pain." + +And holding him by the neck beneath the chin with one hand, with the +other he drew his cutlass. + +But Toria, Betkin's mother, stayed him in this movement. + +"Take him alive," she cried. + +And she plucked out his white hairs by handfuls, and tore his face +with her nails. + +And she howled with grief and fury. + +The weer-wolf, his hands fast in the engine and stumbling about the +roadway, through his keen sufferings: + +"Pity," said he, "pity! take this woman away. I will give two +carolus. Break those bells! Where are those children that are calling?" + +"Keep him alive!" cried Toria, "keep him alive, let him pay! The +bells for the dead, the death bells for thee, murderer. By slow fire, +by red-hot pincers. Keep him alive! let him pay!" + +Meanwhile, Toria had picked up on the road a waffle iron with long +arms. Looking closely at it in the light of the torches, she saw +it deeply engraved between the two iron plates with lozenges in the +Brabant fashion, but armed besides, like an iron mouth, with long sharp +teeth. And when she opened it, it was like the mouth of a greyhound. + +Then Toria, holding the waffle iron, opening it and shutting it and +making the iron ring, seemed as though she had lost her wits for male +fury, and gnashing her teeth and with hoarse rattle breath like a +woman dying, bit the prisoner with this engine in the arms, the legs, +everywhere, seeking most of all his neck, and with every bite saying: + +"Thus he did to Betkin with the iron teeth. He pays. Dost thou bleed, +murderer? God is just. The bells for the dead! Betkin is calling me +to revenge. Dost thou feel the teeth? 'Tis the mouth of God." + +And she bit him without ceasing and without pity, striking him with +the waffle iron when she could not bite him with it. And because of +her great thirst for revenge she did not kill him. + +"Show compassion," cried the prisoner. "Ulenspiegel, strike me with +thy knife, I shall die quicker. Take this woman away. Break the bells +for the dead; kill those calling children." + +And Toria still kept biting him, until an old man, in pity, took the +waffle iron out of her hands. + +But Toria then spat on the weer-wolf's face and tore out his hairs, +crying: + +"Thou shalt pay, by slow fire, by burning pincers, thy eyes to +my nails!" + +In the meantime were come all the fishermen, rustics, and women of +Heyst, at the report that the weer-wolf was a man and not a devil. Some +carried lanterns and flaming torches. And all were crying out: + +"Robber and murderer, where dost thou hide the gold stolen from the +poor victims? Let him give all back." + +"I have none: have pity," said the fishmonger. + +And the women threw stones and sand upon him. + +"He pays, he pays!" cried Toria. + +"Pity," he groaned, "I am all wet with my own blood running. Pity!" + +"Thy blood?" said Toria. "There will be enough left for thee to pay +with. Cover his wounds with ointment. He will pay by the slow fire, +his hand cut off, with red-hot pincers. He shall pay, he shall pay!" + +And she would have struck him; then out of her senses she fell upon +the sand as though dead, and she was left there till she came back +to herself. + +Meanwhile, Ulenspiegel, taking the prisoner's hands out of the engine, +saw that there were three fingers lacking on the right hand. + +And he gave orders to bind him straitly and to put him in a fisherman's +hamper. Men, women, and children then departed, taking turns to carry +the hamper, wending their way towards Damme to seek justice there. And +they carried torches and lanterns. + +And the fishmonger kept repeating without ceasing: + +"Break the bells; kill the children that are calling." + +And Toria said: + +"Let him pay, by slow fire, by red-hot pincers, let him pay!" + +Then both held their peace. And Ulenspiegel heard no more, save the +laboured breathing of Toria, the heavy steps of the men on the sand, +and the sea roaring like thunder. + +And sad in his heart, he looked at the clouds running like mad +things in the sky, the sea where the sheep of fire were to be seen, +and in the light of the torches and the lanterns the livid face of +the fishmonger staring on him with cruel eyes. + +And the ashes beat upon his heart. + +And they marched for four hours till they came to where was the +populace assembled in one mass, knowing the news already. All wishing +to see the fishmonger, they followed the band of fishermen shouting, +singing, dancing, and saying: + +"The weer-wolf is taken! he is taken, the murderer! Blessed be +Ulenspiegel! Long life to our brother Ulenspiegel! Lange leven onsen +broeder Ulenspiegel." + +And it was like a revolt of the people. + +When they passed before the bailiff's house, he came out at the noise +and said to Ulenspiegel: + +"Thou art the victor; praise be to thee!" + +"The ashes of Claes were beating upon my heart," replied Ulenspiegel. + +The bailiff then said: + +"Thou shalt have the half of the murderer's estate." + +"Give it to the victims," replied Ulenspiegel. + +Lamme and Nele came; Nele, laughing and weeping for gladness, kissed +her friend Ulenspiegel; Lamme, jumping heavily, smote him on the +stomach, saying: + +"This is a brave, a trusty, a faithful one; 'tis my beloved companion; +ye have none such, ye others, ye folk of the flat country." + +But the fishermen laughed, mocking at him. + + + + + +XLIV + +The bell called Borgstrom rang next day to summon the bailiff, +aldermen, and clerks of the court to the Vierschare on the four turf +benches, under the tree of justice, which was a noble lime tree. All +around were the common folk. Being interrogated the fishmonger would +confess nothing, even when he was shown the three fingers severed by +the soldier, and missing from his right hand. He kept saying: + +"I am poor and old; have compassion." + +But the common folk hooted him, saying: + +"Thou art an old wolf, a child killer; do not have pity on him, +judges." + +The women said: + +"Look not on us with thy cold eyes; thou art a man and not a devil; +we do not fear thee. Cruel beast, more coward than a cat devouring +small birds in the nest, thou didst kill poor little girls asking to +live their pretty little lives in all honesty." + +"Let him pay by slow fire, by red-hot pincers," cried Toria. + +And in spite of the sergeants of the commune, the mothers egged on the +lads to throw stones at the fishmonger. And the boys did so eagerly, +hooting him every time he looked at them and crying incessantly: +"Blood-zuyger, blood-sucker! Sla dood, kill, kill!" + +And Toria cried without ceasing: + +"Let him pay by slow fire; by red-hot pincers let him pay!" + +And the populace growled. + +"See," said the women among each other, "how cold he is under the +sun that shines in the sky, warming his white hairs and his face torn +by Toria." + +"And he shivers with pain." + +"'Tis the justice of God." + +"And he stands there with a lamentable air." + +"See his murderer's hands tied before him and bleeding from the wounds +of the trap." + +"Let him pay, let him pay!" cried Toria. + +He said, bemoaning himself: + +"I am poor, let me go." + +And everyone, nay, even the judges, mocked as they listened to him. He +wept feigningly, meaning to touch their hearts. And the women laughed. + +The evidence being sufficient to warrant torture, he was condemned +to be put on the bench until he had confessed how he killed, whence +he came, where were the spoils of the victims, and the place where +he had his gold hidden. + +Being in the torture chamber, and shod with foot-gear of new leather +too small for him, and the bailiff asking him how Satan had come to +suggest to him such black designs and crimes so abominable, he replied: + +"Satan is myself, my natural being. Already when a small boy, but +ugly to look on, unfit for all bodily exercise, I was held a ninny +by everybody and often beaten. Lad nor lass had pity never. In my +adolescence no women would have me, not even though I paid. Then +I put on cold hatred against every being born of a woman. That was +why I denounced Claes, beloved of all. And I loved but Money only, +that was my darling, white or golden; to have Claes killed I found +both profit and pleasure. After I must live like a wolf more than +ever, and I dreamed of biting. Passing through Brabant, I saw there +the waffle irons of that country and thought that one of them would +be a good iron mouth for me. Why do not I have you by the neck, +you evil tigers, that delight in an old man's torment! I would bite +you with greater joy than the soldier and the little girl. For her, +when I saw her so sweet, sleeping on the sand in the sun, holding +the little bag of money in her hands, I felt love and pity; feeling +myself too old and not being able to take her, I bit her...." + +The bailiff asking him where he lived, the fishmonger replied: + +"At Ramskapelle, whence I go to Blanckenberghe, to Heyst, even as far +as Knokke. On Sundays and feast days, I make waffles, after the fashion +of those of Brabant, in all the villages with yonder machine. It is +always very clean and well oiled. And this novelty of foreign parts was +well received. If you should please to know more, and how it was that +no one could recognize me, I will tell you that by day I reddened my +face with rouge and painted my hair red. As for the wolf skin you are +pointing to with your cruel finger, questioning me, I will tell you, +defying you, that it comes from two wolves killed by me in the woods +of Raveschoot and of Maldeghen. I had but to sew the skins together to +cover myself with them. I hid it in a box in the dunes of Heyst; there +are also the clothes stolen by me to sell later at a fit opportunity." + +"Take him from before the fire," said the bailiff. The tormentor +obeyed. + +"Where is thy gold?" said the bailiff again. + +"The king shall never know," replied the fishmonger. + +"Burn him with the candles nearer him," said the bailiff. "Put him +closer to the fire." + +The tormentor obeyed and the fishmonger cried: + +"I will say nothing. I have spoken too much; ye will burn me. I am no +sorcerer; why do ye set me at the fire again? My feet are bleeding from +the burns. I will say nothing. Why nearer now? They bleed, I tell you, +they bleed; these slippers are boots of red-hot iron. My gold? Ah, +well, my only friend in this world, it is ... take me away from the +fire; it is in my cave at Ramskapelle, in a box ... leave it to me; +grace and mercy, master judges; cursed tormentor, take the candles +away.... He burns me more ... it is in a box with a false bottom +wrapped in wool, so as to avoid a noise if any one shakes the box; +now I have told all; take me away." + +When he was taken away from before the fire, he smiled maliciously. + +The bailiff asked him why. + +"'Tis for comfort at being eased," replied he. + +The bailiff said to him: + +"Did no one ever ask thee to let him see thy toothed waffle iron?" + +The fishmonger replied: + +"It was seen like any other, save that it is pierced with holes in +which I was wont to screw the iron teeth at dawn I took them out; +the peasants prefer my waffles to those of the other sellers; and +they call them 'Waefels met brabandsche knoopen', 'waffles with +brabant buttons', because when the teeth are away, the empty holes +make little half spheres like buttons." + +But the bailiff: + +"When didst thou bite the poor victims?" + +"By day and by night. By day I used to wander about the dunes and the +highways, carrying my waffle iron, keeping in hiding, and especially +on Saturday, the day of the great Bruges market. If I saw some rustic +pass, wandering melancholy, I left him alone, judging that his trouble +was a flux of the purse; but I used to walk along by him whom I saw +journeying merrily; when he did not look for it I would bite him in +the neck and take his satchel. And not only in the dunes, but on all +the byways and highways of the flat country." + +The bailiff then said: + +"Repent and pray unto God." + +"It is the Lord God that willed I should be what I am. I did all +without my will, egged on by Nature's will. Wicked tigers, ye will +punish me unjustly. But do not burn me ... I did all without my +will; have pity, I am poor and old; I shall die of my wounds; do not +burn me." + +He was then taken to the Vierschare, under the lime tree, there to +hear his sentence in the presence of all the people assembled. + +And he was condemned, as a horrible murderer, robber, and blasphemer, +to have his tongue pierced with a red-hot iron, his right hand cut +off, and to be burned alive in a slow fire, until death ensued, +before the doors of the Townhall. + +And Toria cried: + +"It is just; he pays!" + +And the people cried: + +"Lang leven de Heeren van de Wet," long life to the men of the law. + +He was taken back into prison, where he was given meat and wine. And +he was merry, saying that he had never till then eaten or drunk, +either, but that the king, inheriting his goods, could well pay for +his last meal for him. + +And he laughed sourly. + +The next day, at the first of dawn, while they were taking him to +execution, he saw Ulenspiegel standing beside the stake, and he cried +out, pointing to him with his finger: + +"That one there, murderer of an old man, ought to die as well; +he flung me into the canal of Damme, ten years ago, because I had +denounced his father, wherein I had served His Catholic Majesty as +a faithful subject." + +The bells of Notre Dame rang for the dead. + +"For thee even as for me are those bells tolling," said he to +Ulenspiegel; "thou shalt be hanged, for thou hast killed." + +"The fishmonger lies," cried all the common folk; "he lies, the +murdering ruffian." + +And Toria, like a madwoman, cried out, flinging a stone at him that +cut his forehead: + +"If he had drowned thee, thou wouldst not have lived to bite my poor +girl, like a bloodsucking vampire." + +As Ulenspiegel uttered no word, Lamme said: + +"Did any see him throw the fishmonger in the water?" + +Ulenspiegel made no answer. + +"No, no," shouted the people; "he lied, the murderer!" + +"No, I lied not," cried the fishmonger, "he threw me in, while +I implored him to forgive me, and by the same token, I got out by +the help of a skiff tied up alongside the high bank. Wet through and +shivering, I could scarcely get back to my poor home. I had the fever +then, none looked after me, and I deemed I must die." + +"Thou liest," said Lamme; "no man saw it." + +"No, no man saw it," cried Toria. "To the fire with the +murderer. Before he dies he wants an innocent victim; let him pay! He +has lied. If thou didst do it, confess not, Ulenspiegel. There are +no witnesses. Let him pay by slow fire, by red-hot pincers." + +"Didst thou commit the murder?" the bailiff asked Ulenspiegel. + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"I flung the murderer, the denouncer of Claes, into the water. My +father's ashes were beating on my heart." + +"He confesseth," said the fishmonger; "he shall die even as I. Where +is the gallows, that I may see it? Where is the executioner with +the sword of justice? The death bells are ringing for thee, rascal, +murderer of an old man." + +Ulenspiegel said: + +"I threw thee into the water to kill thee; the ashes were beating on +my heart." + +And among the people, the women said: + +"Why confess it, Ulenspiegel? No man saw it, now thou shalt die." + +And the prisoner laughed, leaping for bitter joy, waving his arms +that were tied and covered with blood-stained wrappings. + +"He will die," he said, "he will pass from earth into hell, the rope +about his neck, as a ragamuffin, a robber, a rascal: he will die, +God is just." + +"He shall not die," said the bailiff. "After ten years, murder may +not be punished in the soil of Flanders. Ulenspiegel committed a bad +action, but through filial love: Ulenspiegel will not be prosecuted +for this deed." + +"Long live the law!" cried the people. "Lang leven de Wet." + +The bells of Notre Dame rang for the dead. And the prisoner gnashed +his teeth, drooped his head, and wept his first tear. + +And he had his hand cut off, and his tongue pierced with a hot iron, +and he was burned alive by a slow fire before the doorway of the +Townhall. + +At the point of death he yelled: + +"The king shall not have my gold; I lied.... Evil tigers, I will come +back to bite you." + +And Toria cried: + +"He pays, he pays! They writhe and twist, the arms and the legs +that ran to murder: it smokes, the murderer's body; his white hair, +hyæna's hair, burns on his pale face. He pays! He pays!" + +And the fishmonger died, howling like a wolf. + +And the bells of Notre Dame tolled for the dead. + +And Lamme and Ulenspiegel mounted upon their asses again. + +And Nele, sad and grieving, dwelt with Katheline, who said, without +ceasing: + +"Take away the fire! my head is burning; come back, Hanske, my +darling." + + + + + + +BOOK IV + + +I + +Being at Heyst, upon the dunes, Ulenspiegel and Lamme see, coming +from Ostend, from Blanckenberghe, from Knokke, many fishing boats +full of armed men, adherents of the Beggars of Zealand, who wear in +their headgear the silver crescent with this inscription: "Better to +serve the Turk than the Pope." + +Ulenspiegel is glad; he whistles like the lark; from all sides answers +the warlike clarion of the cock. + +The boats, sailing or fishing and selling their fish, come to land, +one after the other, at Emden. There William of Blois is detained, +who is equipping a ship under commission from the Prince of Orange. + +Très-Long, having been at Emden for eleven weeks, was bitterly sick of +waiting. He went from his ship to land and from the land to his ship, +like a bear on a chain. + +Ulenspiegel and Lamme, wandering about on the quays, saw there a lord +of a jovial visage, somewhat melancholy and at a loss to heave up one +of the paving-stones of the quay with a pikestaff. Not succeeding +in this he still bent every effort to carry out his undertaking, +while a dog gnawed at a bone behind him. + +Ulenspiegel came to the dog and pretended to want to rob him of his +bone. The dog growls; Ulenspiegel does not stop: the dog makes a +great uproar of doggish wrath. + +The lord, turning at the noise, said to Ulenspiegel: + +"What good does it do thee to torment this beast?" + +"What good does it do you, Messire, to torment this pavement?" + +"It is not the same thing at all," said the lord. + +"The difference is not extreme," replied Ulenspiegel; "if the dog +sets store by his bone and wants to keep it, this pavement holds to +its quay and is fain to remain on it. And it is the very least that +folk like us may do, turning to busy ourselves about a dog when folk +like you busy yourselves about a paving stone." + +Lamme remained behind Ulenspiegel, not daring to speak. + +"Who art thou?" asked the lord. + +"I am Thyl Ulenspiegel, the son of Claes, who died in the flames for +his faith." + +And he whistled like the lark and the lord crowed like the cock. + +"I am Admiral Très-Long," said he; "what wouldst thou with me?" + +Ulenspiegel narrated to him his adventures, and gave him five hundred +carolus. + +"Who is this big man?" asked Très-Long, pointing a finger at Lamme. + +"My comrade and friend," replied Ulenspiegel: "he desires, like myself, +to sing on your ship, with the fine voice of a musket, the song of +deliverance for the land of our fathers." + +"Ye are brave men both," said Très-Long, "and ye shall go on my ship." + +They were then in the month of February; sharp was the wind, keen the +frost. After three weeks of grudging waiting Très-Long left Emden under +protest. Thinking to enter the Texel, he went out from Vlie, but was +forced to go in to Wieringen, where his ship was locked up in the ice. + +Soon there was a merry spectacle all about: sledges and skaters all +in velvet; women skating in jackets and skirts broidered with gold, +pearl, scarlet, azure; lads and lasses went, came, glided, laughed, +following one another in line, or two by two, in pairs, singing the +song of love upon the ice, or going to eat and drink in booths decked +out with flags, brandy, oranges, figs, peperkoek, schols, eggs, hot +vegetables, and eete-koeken, which are pancakes and pickled vegetables, +while all about them sleds and sailing sleighs made the ice cry out +under their runners. + +Lamme, seeking his wife, went wandering on skates like the jolly men +and women, but he fell often. + +Meanwhile, Ulenspiegel went to drink and to feed in a small inn on +the quay where he had not to pay too dear for his daily rations; +and he liked to talk with the old baesine. + +One Sunday about nine he went in there asking them to give him +his dinner. + +"But," said he to a pretty woman coming forward to serve him, "baesine +rejuvenated, what hast thou done with thy old wrinkles? Thy mouth hath +all its teeth, white and girlish, and its lips are red as cherries. Is +it for me, that soft and cunning smile?" + +"No, no," said she; "but what must I give you?" + +"Thyself," said he. + +The woman answered: + +"That would be too much for a starveling like you; would you not like +other meat?" + +Ulenspiegel making no reply: + +"What have you done," she said, "with that handsome, well-made, +corpulent man whom I often saw with you?" + +"Lamme?" said he. + +"What have you done with him?" she said. + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"He eats, in the booths, hard eggs, smoked eels, salt fish, zuertjes, +and all that he can put under his tooth; and all to look for his +wife. Why art thou not his wife, pretty one? Wouldst thou like fifty +florins? Wouldst thou like a gold necklace?" + +But she, crossing herself: + +"I am not to buy or to take," said she. + +"Dost thou love naught?" said he. + +"I love thee as my neighbour, but I love above all my Lord Christ and +Madame the Virgin, who bid me live a chaste life. Hard and heavy are +its duties, but God is our helper, we poor women. Yet there are some +that succumb. Is thy big friend happy?" + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"He is gay when he is eating, sad when fasting, and always pensive. But +thou, art thou happy or sad?" + +"We women," said she, "are slaves of that that rules us!" + +"The moon?" said he. + +"Aye," said she. + +"I am going to tell Lamme to come to see thee." + +"Do not so," said she; "he would weep and I in likewise." + +"Didst thou ever see his wife?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +Sighing, she answered: + +"She sinned with him and was condemned to a cruel penance. She knows +that he goeth on the sea for the triumph of heresy, and that is a +hard thing for a Christian heart to think on. Defend him if he is +attacked; care for him if he is wounded: his wife bade me make this +request of you." + +"Lamme is my brother and my friend," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"Ah!" she said, "why do ye not return to the bosom of our Mother +Holy Church?" + +"She devours her children," answered Ulenspiegel. + +And he went his way. + +One morning in March, since the wind, that was blowing sharp and +cutting, ceased not to thicken the ice, and Très-Long's ship could +not leave, the sailors and the soldiers of the vessel were holding +feasting and revel on sledges and on skates. + +Ulenspiegel was at the inn, and the pretty woman said to him, all +woeful and as if bereft of her wits: + +"Poor Lamme! poor Ulenspiegel!" + +"Why do you lament?" asked he. + +"Alas! Alas!" said she, "why do ye not believe in the mass. Ye would +go to paradise, without a doubt, and I could save you in this life." + +Seeing her go to the door and listen attentively, Ulenspiegel said +to her: + +"It is not the snow falling that you are listening to?" + +"No," said she. + +"It is not the moaning wind that you give ear to?" + +"No," she said again. + +"Nor to the merry din that our valiant sailors are making in the +tavern close by?" + +"Death cometh as a thief," she said. + +"Death!" said Ulenspiegel. "I do not understand thee; come inside +and speak." + +"They are there," she said. + +"Who?" + +"Who?" she answered. "The soldiers of Simonen-Bol, who are to come, +in the name of the duke, to throw themselves on all of you; if you +are so well treated here, it is like the bullocks that are meant for +the slaughter. Ah! why," said she all in tears, "why did I not know +it save but just now." + +"Do not weep, nor cry out," said Ulenspiegel, "and stay where you are!" + +"Do not betray me," said she. + +Ulenspiegel went out from her house, ran, made his way to all the +booths and taverns, whispering into the ears of the seamen and the +soldiers these words: "The Spaniard is coming." + +All ran to the ship, preparing with the utmost haste all that was +needed for battle, and they awaited the enemy. Ulenspiegel said +to Lamme: + +"Seest thou yon pretty woman standing upon the quay, with her black +dress embroidered with scarlet, and hiding her face under her white +hood?" + +"It is all one to me," replied Lamme. "I am cold; I want to sleep." + +And he rolled his head up in his opperst-kleed. And like that he was +as a man deaf. + +Ulenspiegel then recognized the woman and called to her from the ship: + +"Dost thou wish to follow us?" + +"To the grave," said she, "but I cannot...." + +"Thou wouldst do well," said Ulenspiegel; "yet think of this: when +the nightingale stays in the forest, it is happy and sings; but if +it leaves the forest and risks its little wings in the wind of the +great sea, it breaks them and dies." + +"I have sung in my house," said she, "and would sing outside if I +could." Then drawing closer to the ship: "Take this ointment," she +said, "for thyself and thy friend who sleeps when he should wake...." + +And she went away saying: + +"Lamme! Lamme! God keep thee from harm; come back safe." + +And she uncovered her face. + +"My wife, my wife!" cried Lamme. + +And he would have leaped down on the ice. + +"Thy faithful wife!" said she. + +And she ran away swiftly. + +Lamme would have leaped from off the deck down on the ice, but he was +prevented by a soldier, who held him back by his opperst-kleed. He +cried, wept, implored that he might be given leave to go. But the +provost said to him: + +"Thou shalt be hanged if thou dost leave the ship." + +Again Lamme would have cast himself on the ice, but an old Beggar +held him back, saying to him: + +"The floor is damp, you might get your feet wet." + +And Lamme fell on his behind, weeping and saying without ceasing: + +"My wife, my wife! let me go to my wife!" + +"Thou shalt see her again," said Ulenspiegel. "She loves thee, but +she loves God more than thee." + +"The mad she-devil," cried Lamme. "If she loves God more than her +husband, why does she show herself to me lovely and desirable? And +if she loves me, why does she leave me?" + +"Dost thou see clear in a deep well?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +"Alas!" said Lamme, "I shall die before long." + +And he stayed upon the deck, livid and distraught. + +Meanwhile, had come up the men of Simonen-Bol, with a great artillery. + +They fired against the ship, which replied to them. And their cannon +balls broke the ice all about it. Towards evening a warm rain fell. + +The wind blowing from the west, the sea grew angry under the ice, and +heaved it up in immense blocks, which were seen rising up on high, +falling back again, clashing against one another, one mounting on +top of another, not without peril to the ship, which when dawn broke +through the clouds of night, opened out its canvas wings like a bird +of freedom and sailed towards the free ocean. + +There they joined up with the fleet of Messire de Lumey de la Marche, +admiral of Holland and Zealand, and chief and captain-general, and +as such carrying a lantern at his ship's peak. + +"Look well at him, my son," said Ulenspiegel; "that one will +never spare thee, if thou shouldst wish to leave the ship against +orders. Hearest thou his voice breaking forth like thunder? See how +broad and strong he is in his great stature! Look at his long hands +with the crooked nails! See his round eyes, eagle eyes and cold, +and his long pointed beard that he means to leave to grow until +he has hanged all the monks and priests to avenge the death of the +two counts! See him redoubtable and cruel; he will have thee hanged +high on a short rope, if thou dost continue to whine and cry always: +'My wife!'" + +"My son," replied Lamme, "he that talks of a halter for his neighbour +has already the hempen cravat on his own neck." + +"Thou thyself shalt be the first to wear it. Such is my vow as a +friend," said Ulenspiegel. + +"I shall see thee on the gallows," replied Lamme, "thrust out thy +poisonous tongue a fathom out of thy mouth." + +And both were in mere jest. + +On that day Très-Long's ship took a ship from Biscay laden with +mercury, gold dust, wines, and spices. And the ship was emptied of +its marrow, men, and booty, as a beef bone under a lion's teeth. + +It was at this time also that the duke ordained in the Low Countries +cruel and abominable imposts, obliging all the inhabitants who +sold real or personal estate to pay one thousand florins in ten +thousand. And this tax was a permanent one. All sellers and buyers +whatsoever must pay the king the tenth part of the purchase price, +and it was said among the people that if goods were sold ten times +within a week the king should have all. + +And thus commerce and industry took the way towards Ruin and Death. + +And the Beggars took Briele, a strong seaboard fortress that was +christened the Orchard of Freedom. + + + + + +II + +In the first days of May, under a clear sky, with the ship sailing +proudly along the sea, Ulenspiegel sang: + + + "The ashes beat upon my heart. + The butchers are come; they have struck + With poignard, fire, violence, the sword. + They have paid for foulest spying. + Where once were Love and Faith, mild virtues, + They have set Denunciation and Mistrust. + May the butchers be smitten, + Beat the drum of war. + + "Long live the Beggar! Beat upon the drum! + Briele is taken, + Flessingue, too, the key of the Scheldt; + God is good, Camp-Veere is taken, + Where Zealand kept her artillery! + We have bullets, powder, and shot, + Iron shot and leaden shot. + God is with us, who then is against? + + "Beat upon the drum of war and glory! + Long live the Beggar! Beat upon the drum! + + "The sword is drawn, be our hearts high, + Firm be our arms, the sword is drawn. + Out upon the tenth tithe, the whole of ruin, + Death to the butcher, halter to the spoiler, + For a perjured king a rebel folk. + The sword is drawn for our rights, + For our houses, our wives, and our children. + The sword is drawn, beat upon the drum! + + "High are our hearts, stout are our arms. + Out upon the tenth tithe, out upon the infamous pardon. + Beat upon the drum of war, beat upon the drum!" + + +"Aye, good fellows and friends," said Ulenspiegel; "aye, they have set +up at Antwerp, before the Townhall, a dazzling scaffold covered with +red cloth; the duke is seated upon it like a king upon his throne in +the midst of liverymen and soldiers. Meaning to smile benevolently, +he makes a sour grimace. Beat upon the war drum! + +"He hath accorded a pardon, make silence, his gilded cuirass shines +in the sun; the grand provost is on horseback beside the dais; lo here +cometh the herald with his kettle-drums; he reads; it is a pardon for +all those that have not sinned; the others will be punished cruelly. + +"Oyez, good fellows, he reads the edict that orders, on penalty as +for rebellion, the payment of the tenth and twentieth deniers." + +And Ulenspiegel sang: + + + "O Duke! hearest thou the voice of the people, + The strong dull clamour? Tis the sea that rises + In the hour of the mighty surges. + Enough of gold, enough of blood. + Enough of ruins. Beat upon the drum! + The sword is drawn. Beat upon the drum of woe! + + "It is the nails tearing the bleeding wound, + Robbery after murder. Must thou then + Mix all our gold with our blood for your drink? + We moved in ways of duty, faithful and true + To the King's Majesty. His Majesty is perjured, + We are free of our oaths. Beat upon the drum of war. + + "Duke of Alba, bloody duke, + See these booths, these shops shut fast, + See these brewers, bakers, grocers, + Refusing to sell so as not to pay. + Who then salutes thee when thou art passing? + No man. Feelest thou, like a steaming plague + Hate and Scorn enwrap thee round? + + "The fair land of Flanders, + The gay country of Brabant, + Are sad as graveyards. + There where of old, in freedom's days, + Sang the viols, squealed the fifes, + There are silence now and death. + Beat upon the drum of war. + + "Instead of jolly faces + Of drinkers, and singing lovers + There are pallid faces now + Of men that wait, resigned, + The stroke of the sword of injustice. + Beat upon the drum of war. + + "No man now hears in the taverns + The jolly clink of pots, + Nor the clear voices of girls + Singing in bands about the streets. + And Brabant and Flanders, lands of mirth, + Are become the lands of tears. + Beat upon the drum of woe. + + "Land of our fathers, sufferer beloved, + Stoop not your brow to the murderer's foot, + Toilsome bees, rush in your swarms, + Upon the hornets from Spain. + Corpses of women and girls buried alive, + Cry out to Christ: 'Vengeance!' + + "Wander in the fields by night, poor souls, + Cry unto God! The arm quivers to strike, + The sword is drawn, Duke; we will tear out thy entrails + And flog thy face with them. + Beat upon the drum. The sword is drawn. + Beat upon the drum. Long live the Beggar!" + + +And all the seamen and the soldiers of Ulenspiegel's ship and of the +other ships sang likewise: + + + "The sword is drawn, long live the Beggar!" + + +And their voices growled like a thunder of deliverance. + + + + + +III + +The world was in January, the cruel month that freezes the calf in +the cow's belly. It had snowed, and frozen over and above. The lads +were taking with birdlime sparrows seeking some poor food on the +hardened snow, and carried off this game into their cottages. Against +the gray clear sky stood out motionless the skeletons of the trees, +whose branches were covered with snowy cushions that covered also +the cottages and the coping of walls on which were seen the prints +of the paws of cats, which, like the boys, were hunting sparrows +over the snow. At a distance the meadows were hidden over by this +marvellous fleece, keeping the earth warm against the bitter cold of +winter. The smoke of houses and cottages rose up black into the sky, +and there was no noise heard of any kind. + +And Katheline and Nele were alone in their house; and Katheline, +nodding her head, said: + +"Hans, my heart turns to thee. Thou must give back the seven hundred +carolus to Ulenspiegel, the son of Soetkin. If thou art poor, come +none the less that I may see thy shining face. Take away the fire, +my head burns. Alas! where are thy snow-cold kisses? Where is thy +icy body, Hans, my beloved?" + +And she kept at the window. Suddenly there passed, running at full +speed, a voet-looper, a courier carrying bells at his belt, and +calling out: + +"Here cometh the bailiff, the high bailiff of Damme!" + +And he went thus as far as the Townhall, so as to assemble there the +burgomasters and the sheriffs. + +Then in the thick silence Nele heard two clarions sound. All the +people of Damme came to their doors, believing it was His Majesty +the king who announced himself by such flourishes. + +And Katheline also went to the door with Nele. From afar they saw +resplendent horsemen riding in a band, and before them, also on +horseback, a personage covered in an opperst-kleed of black velvet +laced with fine gold, and boots of yellow calfskin furred with +marten. And they recognized the high bailiff. + +Behind him there rode young lords, who, notwithstanding the ordinance +of his late Imperial Majesty, wore on their velvet accoutrements +embroideries, trimmings, bands, edgings, of gold, of silver, and of +silk. And their opperst-kleederen, under their outer garments, were +edged with fur like those of the bailiff. They rode gaily along, +shaking in the wind the long ostrich feathers that adorned their +bonnets, gold buttoned and gold laced. + +And they seemed to be all of them good friends and companions of the +grand bailiff, and notably a lord of sharp visage clad in green velvet +trimmed with gold lace, and a cloak of black velvet like his bonnet +adorned with long plumes. And he had a nose shaped like a vulture's +beak, a thin mouth, red hair, a pale face, and haughty carriage. + +While the troop of these lords was passing in front of Katheline's +house suddenly she darted to the bridle of the pale lord's horse, +and beside herself with joy, she cried out: + +"Hans! my beloved, I knew it; thou art back. Thou art goodly thus in +velvet and all in gold like a sun upon the snow! Dost thou bring me +the seven hundred carolus? Shall I hear thee once more crying like +the sea-eagle?" + +The high bailiff stopped the troop of gentlemen, and the pale lord +said: + +"What doth this beggar want with me?" + +But Katheline, still keeping hold of the horse by the bridle: + +"Do not go away again," said she, "I have wept so much for thee. Sweet +nights, my beloved, kisses of snow--body of ice. The child is here!" + +And she pointed him to Nele who was looking at him in anger, for he +had raised his whip to Katheline: but Katheline, weeping: + +"Ah!" said she, "dost thou not remember at all? Have pity on thy +handmaiden. Take her with thee wherever thou wilt. Take away the fire, +Hans; pity!" + +"Begone!" said he. + +And he drove his horse on so hard that Katheline, loosing the bridle, +fell; and the horse stepped on her and gave her a bloody wound in +the forehead. + +The bailiff then said to the pale lord: + +"Messire, do you know this woman?" + +"I do not know her at all," said he, "doubtless it is some mad +creature." + +But Nele, having raised Katheline from the ground: + +"If this woman is mad, I am not, Monseigneur, and I pray that I +may die here of this snow that I eat"--and she took up snow in her +fingers--"if this man has not known my mother, if he did not borrow +all her money, if he did not kill Claes's dog in order to take from +the wall of the well at our house seven hundred carolus belonging to +the poor dead man." + +"Hans, my darling," wept Katheline, bleeding, and on her knees, "Hans, +my beloved, give me the kiss of peace: see the blood flowing: my soul +has made the hole and would fain come forth: I shall die presently: +leave me not." Then in a whisper: "Long ago thou didst slay thy comrade +for jealousy, along by the dyke." And she stretched out her finger +in the direction of Dudzeele. "Thou didst love me well in those days." + +And she caught the gentleman's knee and embraced it, and she took +his boot and kissed it. + +"What is this slain man?" asked the high bailiff. + +"I do not know, Monseigneur," said he. "We have nothing to do with +the talk of this beggarwoman; let us forward." + +The populace was assembling around them; the townsmen great and small, +artisans and rustics, taking Katheline's part, cried out: + +"Justice, Monseigneur Bailiff, justice." + +And the bailiff said to Nele: + +"What is this slain man? Speak in accordance with God and the truth." + +Nele spoke and said, pointing to the pale gentleman: + +"This man came every Saturday to the keet to see my mother and to take +her money: he killed a friend of his, Hilbert by name, in the field +of Servaes van der Vichte, not for love, as this innocent distracted +woman thinks, but to have for himself alone the seven hundred carolus." + +And Nele told of Katheline's loves and what she heard when she was +hidden by night behind the dyke that ran through the field of Servaes +van der Vichte. + +"Nele is bad," said Katheline; "she speaks hardly of Hans, her father." + +"I swear," said Nele, "that he used to cry like a sea-eagle to announce +his presence." + +"Thou liest," said the gentleman. + +"Oh, no!" said Nele, "and monseigneur the bailiff and all these +noble lords here present see it well: thou art pale not for cold, +but with fear. Whence comes it that thy face no longer shines: +thou hast then lost thy magic compound wherewith thou wast wont to +rub it that it might appear bright, like the waves in summer when +it thunders? But sorcerer accursed, thou shalt be burned before the +doors of the Townhall. 'Tis thou that didst cause Soetkin's death, +thou that didst reduce her orphan son to want; thou, a man of noble +rank, doubtless, and who wast wont to come to us burgesses to bring my +mother money once only and to take money from her all the other times." + +"Hans," said Katheline, "thou wilt bring me again to the Sabbath and +wilt rub me again with ointment; do not listen to Nele, she is bad: +thou seest the blood, the soul has made the hole and would come forth: +I shall die soon and I shall go into limbo where it burneth not." + +"Hold thy tongue, mad witch, I know thee not," said the gentleman, +"and know not what thou wouldst say." + +"And yet," said Nele, "it was thou that camest with a companion and +wouldst have given him to me for a husband: thou knowest that I would +have none of him; what did he do, thy friend Hilbert, what did he do +with his eyes after I had sunk my nails into them?" + +"Nele is bad," said Katheline, "do not believe her, Hans, my darling: +she is angry against Hilbert who would have taken her by force, but +Hilbert cannot do it now; the worms have eaten him: and Hilbert was +ugly. Hans, my darling, thou alone art goodly; Nele is bad." + +Upon this the bailiff said: + +"Women, go in peace." + +But Katheline would by no means leave the place where her friend +was. And they must needs bring her to her house by force. + +And all the people there assembled cried out: + +"Justice, Monseigneur, justice!" + +The constables of the commune having come up at the noise, the bailiff +bade them remain, and he said to the lords and gentlemen: + +"Messeigneurs and Messires, notwithstanding all privileges protecting +the illustrious order of nobility in the country of Flanders I must +needs, upon the accusations and especially upon that of witchcraft, +laid against Messire Joos Damman, have his person apprehended until +he be judged according to the laws and ordinances of the Empire. Give +me your sword, Messire Joos." + +"Monseigneur Bailiff," said Joos Damman, with the utmost hauteur and +pride of nobility, "in apprehending my person you are transgressing the +law of Flanders, for you are not yourself a judge. Now you are aware +that it is permitted to arrest without a warrant from a judge only +false coiners, robbers on public roads and highways; fire-raisers, +ravishers of women; gendarmes deserting their captain; enchanters +making use of poison to poison water springs; monks or nuns that +have renounced their vows and banished men. And now, Messires and +Messeigneurs, defend me!" + +Some would have obeyed, but the bailiff said to them: + +"Messeigneurs and Messires, as representing here our king, count, +and overlord, to whom is reserved the decision of difficult cases, +I command and order you, upon pain of being proclaimed rebels, to +return your swords to their scabbards." + +The gentlemen having obeyed, and Messire Joos Damman still hesitating, +the people cried out: + +"Justice, Monseigneur, justice; let him give up his sword." + +He did so then against his will, and dismounting from his horse, +he was brought by two constables to the prison of the commune. + +All the same, he was not shut up in the cellars, but in a barred +chamber, where he had, for payment, a good fire, a good bed, and good +food, the half of which the gaoler took. + + + + + +IV + +On the next day the bailiff, the two clerks of the court, two aldermen, +and a barber-surgeon went by Dudzeele to see if they might find in +the field of Servaes van der Vichte the body of a man along by the +dyke running through the field. + +Nele had said to Katheline: "Hans, thy darling, asks for the severed +hand of Hilbert: this evening he will cry like the sea-eagle; he +will come into the cottage, and will bring thee the seven hundred +florins carolus." + +Katheline had replied: "I will cut it off." And indeed, she took a +knife and went forth accompanied by Nele and followed by the officers +of justice. + +She walked swiftly and proudly beside Nele, whose pretty face the +keen air made all rosy and glowing. + +The officers of justice, old and coughing, followed her, frozen with +cold; and they were all like black shadows on the white plain; and +Nele carried a spade. + +When they arrived in the field of Servaes van der Vichte and on the +dyke, Katheline, walking up to the middle of it, said, pointing to the +meadow on her right hand: "Hans, thou didst not know that I was hidden +there, shivering at the noise of the swords. And Hilbert cried out: +'This iron is cold.' Hilbert was ugly; Hans is goodly. Thou shalt +have his hand; leave me alone." + +Then she went down on the left hand, knelt in the snow and cried +three times into the air to call the spirit. + +Nele then gave her the spade, upon which Katheline made the sign of +the cross thrice; then she traced upon the ice the shape of a coffin +and three crosses reversed, one on the side of the east, one on the +side of the west, and one on the south; and she said: "Three, it is +Mars beside Saturn, and three is discovery under Venus, the bright +star." She traced after, about the coffin, a great circle, saying: +"Begone, evil demon that guardest corpses." Then falling on her knees +in prayer: "Devil friend, Hilbert," said she, "Hans, my master and +lord, bids me come here and cut off thy hand and bring it to him. I +owe him obedience: make not the earth-fire to leap out against me, +because I disturb thy noble burying place: and forgive me in the name +of God and of the Saints." + +Then she broke the ice, following the outline of the coffin: she came +to the damp sword, then to the sandy soil, and monseigneur the bailiff, +his officers, Nele, and Katheline beheld the body of a young man, +chalk-white by reason of the soil. He was clad in a doublet of gray +cloth with a cloak of the same; his sword was laid by his side. At +his belt he had a chain purse, and a big poignard planted under his +heart; and there was blood upon the cloth of the doublet; and that +blood had flowed under his back. And the man was young. + +Katheline cut off his hand and put it in her pouch. And the bailiff +let her do what she would, then bade her to strip the body of all +its insignia and clothing. Katheline having asked if Hans had thus +commanded, the bailiff replied that he did nothing save by his orders; +and Katheline then did what he wished. + +When the body was stripped, it was seen to be dry as wood, but not +decayed: and the bailiff and the officers of the commune departed, +having covered it again with sand: and the constables carried the +cloth. + +Passing the front of the prison of the commune, the bailiff said to +Katheline that Hans was awaiting her there; she went in joyously. + +Nele wanted to prevent her, and Katheline always replied: "I would +see Hans, my lord." + +And Nele wept on the threshold, knowing that Katheline was arrested +as a witch for the conjurations and figures she had made upon the snow. + +And in Damme men said there could be no pardon for her. + +And Katheline was put in the western cellar of the prison. + + + + + +V + +The next day, the wind blowing from Brabant, the snow melted and the +meadows were flooded. + +And the bell called borgstorm called the judges to the tribunal of the +Vierschare, under the penthouse, because of the dampness of the turf. + +And the populace surrounded the tribunal. + +Joos Damman, being interrogated, confessed that he had killed his +friend Hilbert in single combat with the sword. When they said to him: +"He was smitten with a poignard," Joos Damman replied: "I struck him +on the ground because he died not quick enough. I confess this murder +of my own will, being under the protection of the laws of Flanders +which forbid the prosecution, after ten years, of a manslayer." + +The bailiff, addressing him: + +"Art thou not a sorcerer?" said he. + +"No," replied Damman. + +"Prove this," said the bailiff. + +"I will prove it at the proper time and place," said Joos Damman, +"but it pleaseth me not to do so as now." + +The bailiff then questioned Katheline; she never listened to him, +and gazing at Hans: + +"Thou art my green lord, lovely as the sun. Take away the fire, +my darling!" + +Nele, then speaking for Katheline, said: + +"She can confess naught but what ye know already, Monseigneur and +Messieurs; she is no witch, and only bereft of her wits." + +The bailiff then spoke and said: + +"A sorcerer is one that, by diabolical means wittingly employed, +endeavours to attain somewhat. Now, these twain, man and woman, +are sorcerers by intent and deed: he, in having given the ointment +for the sabbath, and in having made his face bright like Lucifer in +order to obtain money and the satisfying of lewdness; she, in having +submitted herself to him, taking him for a devil, and for having given +herself up to his desires: the one being the worker of witchcraft, +the other his manifest accomplice. There can therefore be no pity, +and I must say this, for I perceive the aldermen and the populace +over-indulgent in the case of the woman. She has not, it is true, +killed or robbed, nor bewitched either beasts or mankind, nor healed +any sick by remedies extraordinary, but only by known simples, as +an honest and Christian physician; but she would have given up her +daughter to the devil, and if this maid had not in her youth resisted +with frank and valiant courage she would have yielded to Hilbert and +would have become a sorceress like the other. Accordingly, I put it +to the members of this tribunal if they are not of the opinion to +put both these two to the torture?" + +The aldermen made no answer, showing sufficiently that this was not +their desire with regard to Katheline. + +The bailiff then said, continuing his discourse: + +"I am, like yourselves, touched with pity and compassion for her, but +this sorceress, bereft of her wits, so obedient to the devil, might +she not, had her lewd co-defendant so bidden her, have been capable of +cutting off her daughter's head with a sickle, even as Catherine Daru, +in the country of France, did to her two daughters at the invitation +of the devil? Might she not, if her black husband had so bidden her, +have put animals to death; turned the butter in the churn by throwing +sugar in it; been present in the body at all the worship and homage to +the devil, dance, abominations, and copulations of sorcerers? Might she +not have eaten human flesh, killed children to make pasties of them +and sell them, as did a pastry cook in Paris; cut off the thighs of +hanged men and carry them away to bite into them raw and thus commit +infamous robbery and sacrilege? And I ask of the tribunal that in +order to discover whether Katheline and Joos Damman have not committed +other crimes than those already known and called into account, they +be both put to the torture. Joos Damman refusing to confess anything +further than the murder, and Katheline not having told everything, +the laws of the empire enjoin upon us to proceed as I indicate." + +And the aldermen gave sentence of torture for the Friday which was +the day after the morrow. + +And Nele cried: "Grace, Messeigneurs!" and the people cried with +her. But it was in vain. + +And Katheline, looking at Joos Damman, said: + +"I have Hilbert's hand; come and take it to-night, my beloved." + +And they were taken back to the prison. + +There by order of the tribunal, the gaoler was ordered to assign two +guardians to each of them, to beat them every time they would have +slept; but the two guardians of Katheline left her to sleep all night, +and those of Joos Damman beat him cruelly every time he closed his +eyes or even nodded his head. + +They were hungry all day on Wednesday, the same night and all Thursday +until night, when they were given food and drink, meat salted and +saltpetred, and water salted and saltpetred likewise. That was the +beginning of their torment. And in the morning they brought them, +crying out for thirst, into the torture chamber. + +There they were set face to face with one another, and bound each upon +a bench covered with knotted ropes which made them suffer grievously. + +And they were each forced to drink a glass of water, full of salt +and saltpetre. + +Joos Damman beginning to sleep upon his bench, the constables +struck him. + +And Katheline said: + +"Do not strike him, sirs; you break his poor body. He only committed +one crime, for love, when he killed Hilbert. I am athirst, and thou, +too, Hans my beloved. Give him to drink first. Water! Water! my body +burns. Spare him, I will die soon in his place. A drink!" + +Joos said to her: + +"Ugly witch, die and burst like a bitch. Throw her in the fire, +Messieurs the Judges. I am athirst!" + +The clerks took down all he said. + +The bailiff then said to him: + +"Hast thou nothing to confess?" + +"I have nothing more to say," replied Damman; "you know all." + +"Since he persists," said the bailiff, "in his denials, he shall +remain on these benches and on these cords until he makes a fresh +and full confession, and he shall be athirst, and he shall be kept +from sleeping." + +"I will stay here," said Joos Damman, "and I will take my pleasure in +seeing that witch suffer on this bench. How do you find the marriage +bed, my love?" + +And Katheline replied, groaning: + +"Cold arms and hot heart, Hans, my beloved. I am athirst; my head +burns!" + +"And thou, woman," said the bailiff, "hast thou naught to say?" + +"I hear," said she, "the chariot of death and the dry noise of +bones. I thirst! And he taketh me to a great river where there +is water, water fresh and clear; but this water it is fire. Hans, +my dear, deliver me from these cords. Yea, I am in purgatory and +I see on high Monseigneur Jesus in his paradise and Madame Virgin +so full of compassion. O our dear Lady, give me one drop of water: +do not eat those lovely fruits all alone." + +"This woman is smitten with cruel madness," said one of the +aldermen. "She must be taken from the bench of torment." + +"She is no more mad than I," said Joos Damman; "it is mere play and +acting." And in a threatening voice: "I shall see thee in the fire," +he said to Katheline, "thou playest the madwoman so well." + +And grinding his teeth, he laughed at his cruel lie. + +"I thirst," said Katheline; "have pity, I thirst. Hans, my beloved, +give me to drink. How white thy face is! Let me come to him, +Messieurs the Judges." And opening her mouth wide: "Yea, yea, they +are now putting fire in my breast, and the devils fasten me on this +cruel bed. Hans, take thy sword and slay them, thou so mighty. Water, +to drink, to drink!" + +"Perish, witch," said Joos Damman; "they ought to thrust a choke-pear +into her mouth to keep her from setting herself up thus, a low creature +like her, against me, a man of rank." + +At this word one of the aldermen, an enemy of the nobility, replied: + +"Messire Bailiff, it is contrary to the laws and customs of the empire +to put a choke-pear into the mouth of any that are being interrogated, +for they are here to tell the truth, and for us to judge them from +what they say. That is permitted only when the accused being condemned +might, upon the scaffold, speak to the people, and in this way move +them, and stir up popular feelings." + +"I thirst," said Katheline, "give me to drink, Hans, my darling." + +"Ah!" said he, "thou dost suffer, accursed witch, sole cause of all +the torments I am enduring; but in this torture chamber thou shalt +undergo the pain of the candles, the strappado, the wooden splinters +under the nails of thy feet and hands. They will make thee ride naked +astride a coffin whose back will be sharp as a blade, and thou shalt +confess that thou art not mad, but a foul witch to whom Satan hath +given it in charge to work evil upon noble men. A drink!" + +"Hans, my beloved," said Katheline, "be not wroth with thy +handmaiden! I suffer a thousand pangs for thee, my lord. Spare him, +Messieurs the Judges. Give him a full goblet to drink, and keep but +one drop for me. Hans, is it not yet the hour of the sea-eagle?" + +The bailiff then said to Joos Damman: + +"When thou didst kill Hilbert, what was the motive of this combat?" + +"It was," said Joos, "for a girl at Heyst we both wished to have." + +"A girl at Heyst!" cried Katheline, trying at all costs to rise +up from her bench; "thou art deceiving me for another, traitor +devil. Didst thou know that I was listening to thee behind the dyke +when thou saidst that thou wouldst fain have all the money, which was +Claes's money? Without doubt it was to go and spend it with her in +liquorishness and revelling! Alas! and I that would have given him +my blood if he could have made gold of it! And all for another! Be +accursed!" + +But suddenly, weeping and trying to turn round on her bench of torture: + +"Nay, Hans, say that thou wilt still love thy poor handmaid, and I +shall scratch the earth with my fingers and find thee a treasure; +aye, there is such; and I will go with the hazel twig that bends +this way and that where there are metals; and I will find it and +bring it back to thee; kiss me, darling, and thou shalt be rich; +and we shall eat meat, and we shall drink beer every day; aye, aye, +all these folk also drink beer; fresh, foaming beer. Oh! sirs, give +me but one single drop; I am in the fire; Hans, I know well where +there are hazel trees, but we must wait for the spring time." + +"Hold thy tongue, witch," said Joos Damman; "I know thee not. Thou +hast taken Hilbert for me: it was he that came to see thee. And in thy +wicked mind thou didst call him Hans. Know that I am not called Hans, +but Joos: we were of the same height, Hilbert and I. I do not know +thee; it was Hilbert, without doubt, that stole the seven hundred +florins carolus; give me to drink; my father will pay a hundred +florins for a little goblet of water; but I know not this woman." + +"Monseigneur and Messires," exclaimed Katheline, "he saith he knows +me not, but I know him well, I, and know that he hath upon his back a +mole, brown, and of the size of a bean. Ah! thou didst love a girl +at Heyst! Doth a good lover blush for his lover? Hans, am I not +still fair?" + +"Fair!" said he, "thou hast a face like a medlar and a body like +a century of faggots: see the trash that would be loved by noble +men! Give me to drink!" + +"Thou didst not speak so, Hans, my sweet lord," said she, "when I +was sixteen years younger than I am now." Then, beating her head and +her breast: "'Tis the fire that is there," said she, "and dries up +my heart and withers my face. Do not reproach me with it; dost thou +remember when we ate salt meat to drink better, so thou saidst? Now +the salt is in us, my beloved, and monseigneur the bailiff is drinking +Romagna wine. We do not want wine: give us water. It runs among the +grass, the streamlet that makes the clear spring; the good water, +it is cold. Nay, it burns. It is water of hell." And Katheline wept, +and she said: "I have done ill to no one, and the whole world casteth +me into the fire. Give me to drink; men give water to straying dogs. I +am a Christian woman. Give me to drink. I have done no ill to any. Give +me to drink." + +An alderman then spoke and said: + +"This witch is mad only in what concerns the fire she saith burns +her head, but she is nowise mad upon other matters, since she helped +us with a clear head to discover the remains of the dead man. If the +mole is there upon the body of Joos Damman, that sign sufficeth to +establish his identity with the devil Hans, for whom Katheline was +out of her wits; tormentor, let us see the mark." + +The tormentor, uncovering Damman's neck and shoulder, showed the mole, +brown and hairy. + +"Ah!" said Katheline, "how white is thy skin! One would say a girl's +shoulders; thou art goodly, Hans, my beloved: give me to drink!" + +The tormentor then thrust a long needle into the mole. But it did +not bleed. + +And the aldermen said one to the other: + +"This man is a devil, and he must have killed Joos Damman and taken +his shape the more securely to deceive the poor world." + +And the bailiff and the aldermen fell into fear. + +"He is a devil and there is witchcraft in it." + +And Joos Damman said: + +"Ye know there is no witchcraft, and that there are such fleshy +excrescences that can be pricked without bleeding. If Hilbert hath +taken this witch's money, for it is she that confesseth to have lain +with the devil, he could well have done so by the good and free will +of this foul hag. And was thus, being a man of rank, paid for his +caresses even as bona robas are every day. Are there not in the world, +the same as girls, gay fellows that make women pay for their strength +and comeliness?" + +The aldermen said one to another: + +"See you his diabolical assurance? His hairy wart hath not bled: being +an assassin, a devil, and a magician, he would fain pass simply for +a duellist, throwing his other crimes on to the devil his friend, +whose body he has killed, but not his spirit.... And consider how +pale his face is."--"Thus appear all the devils, red in hell, and +pale on earth, for they have none of the fire of life that giveth +ruddiness to the countenance, and they are ashes within."--"We must +put him in the fire that he may be red and that he may burn." + +Then said Katheline: + +"Yea, he is a devil, but a kind devil, a sweet devil. And Monseigneur +Saint Jacques, his patron, has given him licence to come out of +hell. He prays Monseigneur Jesus for him every day. He will have +but seven thousand years of purgatory: Madame Virgin wishes it, but +Monsieur Satan is against it. None the less Madame does what she has +a mind to. Will he go against her? If ye consider well, ye shall see +he hath kept naught of his estate and condition as a devil, save the +cold body, and also the face luminous as are the waves of the sea in +August when it is like to thunder." + +And Joos Damman said: + +"Hold thy tongue, witch, thou wilt burn me." Then speaking to the +bailiff and the aldermen: "Look at me, I am no devil; I have flesh +and bones, blood and water. I drink and eat, digest and void like +yourselves; my skin is like yours, my foot likewise; tormentor, +take my boots off, for I cannot budge with my feet bound." + +The tormentor did so, not without fear. + +"Look," said Joos, showing his white feet: "are those cloven feet, +devil's feet? As for my paleness, is there none of you that is pale +like me? I see more than three among you. But the sinner is not I, +but verily this ugly witch, and her daughter, the evil accuser. Whence +did she have the money she lent to Hilbert; whence came those florins +that she gave him? Was it not the devil that paid her to accuse and +bring death to men of noble birth and guiltless? It is those twain +that should be asked who killed the dog in the yard, who dug the hole +and went off leaving it empty, doubtless to hide the stolen treasure +in another place. Soetkin the widow had placed no trust in me, for +she never knew me, but in them, and saw them every day. It is they +that stole the Emperor's property." + +The clerk wrote, and the bailiff said to Katheline: + +"Woman, hast thou naught to say for thy defence?" + +Katheline, looking upon Joos Damman, said most amorously: + +"It is the hour of the sea-eagle. I have Hilbert's hand, Hans, +my beloved. They say that thou wilt give me back the seven hundred +carolus. Take away the fire! Take away the fire!" cried she after +that. "Give me to drink! to drink! my head burns. God and the angels +are eating apples in the sky." + +And she lost consciousness. + +"Loosen her from the bench of torment," said the bailiff. + +The tormentor and his assistants obeyed. And she was seen staggering +and with feet swollen out, for the tormentor had pulled the cords +too tight. + +"Give her to drink," said the bailiff. + +Cold water was given her, and she swallowed it greedily, holding +the goblet in her teeth as a dog does with a bone and not willing to +let it go. Then they gave her more water, and she would have gone to +take it to Joos Damman, but the tormentor took the goblet out of her +hands. And she fell sleeping like a lump of lead. + +Joos Damman cried out furiously: + +"I, too, I thirst and am sleepy. Why do you give her to drink? Why +do you leave her to sleep?" + +"She is weak, a woman, and out of her wits," replied the bailiff. + +"Her madness is a game," said Joos Damman, "she is a witch. I want +to drink, I want to sleep!" + +And he shut his eyes, but the tormentor's knechts struck him on +the face. + +"Give me a knife," he shouted, "till I cut these clowns to pieces: +I am a man of rank, and I have never been struck in the face. Water, +let me sleep, I am innocent. It was not I that took the seven hundred +carolus, it was Hilbert. Give me to drink! I never committed sorceries +or incantations. I am innocent. Let me go. Give me to drink!" + +The bailiff then: + +"How," he asked, "hast thou spent thy time since thou didst leave +Katheline?" + +"I know not Katheline; I have never left her," said he. "Ye question +me on matters foreign to the case. I need not answer you. Give me to +drink; let me sleep. I tell you it was Hilbert that did all." + +"Untie him," said the bailiff. "Take him back to his prison. But let +him thirst and have no sleep until he hath confessed his sorceries +and incantations." + +And that was a cruel torture to Damman. He cried out in his cell: +"Give me to drink! Give me to drink!" so loud that the people heard +him, but without any pity. And when his guardians struck him in the +face as he was falling with sleep, he was like a tiger and cried: + +"I am a man of rank and will kill you, ye clowns. I will go to the +king, our head. Give me to drink." But he confessed nothing, and they +left him alone. + + + + + +VI + +They were then in May, the lime tree of justice was green; green, +too, were the turf seats upon which the judges placed themselves; +Nele was called as witness. On this day sentence was to be pronounced. + +And the people, men, women, townsfolk, and artisans were all round +about in the field; and the sun shone bright. + +Katheline and Joos Damman were brought before the tribunal; and Damman +appeared paler than ever by reason of the torture of the thirst and +the nights spent without sleep. + +Katheline, who could not maintain herself on her shaking legs, said, +pointing to the sun: + +"Take away the fire; my head burns!" + +And she looked on Joos Damman with tender love. + +And he looked at her with hate and contempt. + +And the lords and gentlemen his friends, having been summoned to Damme, +were all present as witnesses before the tribunal. + +Then the bailiff spake and said: + +"Nele, the girl who defends her mother Katheline with such great and +courageous affection, found in the pocket stitched in her mother's +jacket, a jacket for feast days, a note signed 'Joos Damman.' Among +the belongings taken from the corpse of Hilbert Ryvish I found in +the dead man's satchel another letter addressed to him by the said +Joos Damman, the defendant here present before you. I have kept both +these letters in my custody, in order that at the appropriate moment, +which is the present, you might judge of this man's obstinacy and +acquit or condemn him in accordance with law and justice. Here is +the parchment found in the satchel; I have never touched it, and know +not whether it is legible or not." + +The judges were then in great perplexity. + +The bailiff endeavoured to undo the parchment ball; but it was in vain, +and Joos Damman laughed. + +An alderman said: + +"Let us put the ball in water, and then before the fire. If there is +in it any secret of adhesion, the fire and the water will melt it." + +The water was brought; the executioner lit a great fire of wood in +the field; the smoke rose up blue into the clear sky through the +verdurous branches of the lime tree of justice. + +"Do not put the letter in the basin," said an alderman "for if it +is written with sal ammoniac dissolved in water, you will efface +the characters." + +"Nay," said the surgeon, who was there, "the characters will not be +effaced; the water will soften only the point that keeps the magic +ball from opening up." + +The parchment was dipped in the water and being softened, was unfolded. + +"Now," said the surgeon, "put it before the fire." + +"Aye, aye," said Nele, "put the paper before the fire; master surgeon +is on the road to the truth, for the murderer grows pale and trembles +in his limbs." + +Thereupon, Messire Joos Damman said: + +"I neither grew pale nor trembled, thou little common harpy that +art fain of the death of a man of rank; thou shalt never succeed; +this parchment must needs be rotten, after sixteen years' sojourning +in the earth." + +"The parchment is not decayed," said the sheriff, "for the satchel +was lined with silk; silk is not consumed in the earth, and the worms +have not gone through the parchment." + +The parchment was put in front of the fire. + +"Monseigneur Bailiff, Monseigneur Bailiff," said Nele, "there is the +ink appearing before the fire; give orders that the writing be read." + +As the surgeon was about to read it, Messire Joos Damman would have +stretched out his arms to seize the parchment; but Nele flung herself +upon his arm quick as the wind and said: + +"Thou shalt not touch it, for thereon is written thy death or the +death of Katheline. If now thy heart bleeds, murderer, there are +fifteen years through which ours have been bleeding; fifteen years +that Katheline suffers; fifteen years she had her brain in her head +burned by thee; fifteen years that Soetkin is dead by consequence +of the torture; fifteen years that we are needy, ragged, and live in +abject want, but proudly. Read the paper, read the paper! The judges +are God upon earth, for they are Justice; read the paper!" + +"Read the paper!" cried the men and women, weeping. "Nele is a brave +lass! read the paper! Katheline is no witch!" + +And the clerk read: + + + "To Hilbert, son of Willem Ryvish, Esquire, Joos Damman, greeting. + + "Blessed friend, lose thy money no more in gambling dens, at + dice, and other follies. I will tell thee how it can be won for + very certain. Let us make us devils, handsome devils, beloved of + women and of girls. Let us take the fair and rich, let us leave + the ugly and poor; let them pay for their pleasure. I made, + at this trade, in six months five thousand rixdaeldars in the + country of Germany. Women will give their petticoat and chemise + to their man when they love him; flee from the miserly ones with + pinched up nose that take time to pay for their pleasures. For + thy own affair, and to appear goodly and a true devil, an incubus, + if they accept thee for the night, announce thy coming by crying + like a night bird. And to make thee a veritable devil's face, + of a terrifying devil, rub thy visage with phosphorus, which is + luminous in spots when it is damp. Its odour is disagreeable, + but they will believe that it is the odour of hell. Slay what is + in thy way, man, woman, or beast. + + "We shall soon go together to the house of Katheline, a fine + good-natured wench; her daughter Nele, a child of my own, if + Katheline was faithful to me, is comely and pretty; thou wilt + take her easily; I give her to thee, for I care but little for + these bastards that cannot for certain be recognized as one's + own offspring. Her mother gave me already more than twenty-three + carolus, all she possessed. But she hath a treasure hidden, + which is, unless I be a fool, the inheritance of Claes, the + heretic burned at Damme: seven hundred florins carolus liable to + confiscation, but the good King Philip, who had so many of his + subjects burned to inherit after them, could never lay his claw + on this sweet treasure. It will weigh more in my pouch than in + his. Katheline will tell me where it is; we shall divide. Only + thou must leave me the greater part for the discovery. + + "As for the women, being our gentle handmaids and slaves in love, + we shall take them to the land of Germany. There we shall teach + them to become female demons and succubae, drawing the love of + all the rich burgesses and men of birth; there we shall live, they + and we, upon love paid for with good rixdaeldars, velvets, silk, + gold, pearls, and jewels; we shall thus be rich without fatigue, + and, unknown to the succubae devils, beloved by the most lovely, + always exacting payment besides. All women are fools and ninnies + for the man that can light the fire of love that God set beneath + their girdles. Katheline and Nele will be more so than others, + and believing us to be devils, will obey us in all things: thou, + do thou keep thy forename, but never give the name of thy father, + Ryvish. If the judge seizes the women, we shall depart without + their knowing us or being able to denounce us. To the rescue, + my trusty comrade. Fortune smiles on the young, as was wont to + say his late Sainted Majesty Charles the Fifth, past master in + affairs of love and of war." + + +And the clerk, making an end of reading, said: + +"Such is this letter, and it is signed, 'Joos Damman, esquire'." + +And the people shouted: + +"To the death with the murderer! To the death with the sorcerer! To +the fire the turner of women's wits! To the gallows with the robber!" + +The bailiff said then: + +"People, keep silence, that in all freedom we may judge this man." + +And speaking to the aldermen: + +"I will," said he, "read to you the second letter, found by Nele in +the pocket of Katheline's festal jacket; it is conceived as follows: + + + "Darling Witch, here is the recipe of a compound sent me by the + very wife of Lucifer: by the help of this compound thou wilt be + able to transport thyself to the sun, the moon, and the stars, + converse with the elemental spirits that carry the prayers of + men unto God, and to traverse all the towns and burgs and rivers + and fields of the whole universe. Thou art to bruise together + in equal quantities: stramonium, sleep-solanum, henbane, opium, + the fresh tips of hemp, belladonna, and datura. + + "If thou wilt, we shall go this night to the sabbath of the + spirits: but thou must love me better and not be miserly again + like the other night, when thou didst refuse me ten florins, + saying thou didst not have them. I know that thou dost hide a + treasure and wilt not tell me of it. Dost thou love me no longer, + my sweetheart?" + + "Thy cold devil, + + "Hanske." + + +"To the death with the sorcerer!" cried the people. + +The bailiff said: + +"We must compare the two writings." + +This being done, they were adjudged to be similar. The bailiff then +said to the lords and gentlemen there present: + +"Do ye recognize this man for Messire Joos Damman, son of the alderman +of La Keure of Ghent?" + +"Aye," said they. + +"Did ye know," said he, "Messire Hilbert, son of Willem Ryvish, +Esquire?" + +One of the gentlemen, who was called Van der Zickelen, spoke and said: + +"I am from Ghent; my house is in St. Michael's Place; I know Willem +Ryvish, Esquire, sheriff of La Keure of Ghent. He lost, fifteen years +past, a son of twenty-three years of age, debauched, a gamester, an +idler; but everyone forgave it him because of his youth. Since that +time no man has had news of him. I ask to see the sword, the poignard, +and the satchel of the dead man." + +Having them before him, he said: + +"The sword and the poignard carry on the pommel of the hilt the arms +of the Ryvishes, which are three silver fish on an azure field. I +see the same arms reproduced on a gold shield between the meshes of +his pouch. What is that other poignard?" + +The bailiff speaking: + +"It is that poignard," said he, "which was found planted in the body +of Hilbert Ryvish, the son of Willem." + +"I recognize on it," said the lord, "the arms of the Dammans; the +tower gules on a silver field. So keep me God and all his saints." + +The other gentlemen also said: + +"We recognize the aforesaid arms for those of Ryvish and of Damman. So +keep us God and all his saints." + +Then the bailiff said: + +"From the evidence heard and read by the tribunal of aldermen, Messire +Joos Damman is the sorcerer, a murderer, a seducer of women, a robber +of the king's goods, and as such guilty of the crime of treason human +and divine." + +"You say so, Messire Bailiff," rejoined Joos, "but you will not condemn +me, lacking sufficient proofs: I am not nor ever was a sorcerer; +I did but play at the game of being a devil. As for my shining face, +you have the recipe for it and that for the unguent, the which, while +containing henbane, is merely soporific. When this woman, a real witch, +used it, she fell in a trance, and thought she went to the sabbath and +there danced in the ring with her face to the outside of the circle, +and adored a devil with the shape of a goat, set upon an altar. + +"The dance being over, she thought she went and kissed him under +the tail, as sorcerers do, to give herself up thereafter with me, +her friend, to strange copulations pleasing to her perverted mind. If +I had, as she says, cold arms and cool body, it was a mark of youth, +not of sorcery. In the works of love coolness doth not endure. But +Katheline would fain believe what she desired, and take me for a +devil notwithstanding that I am a man of flesh and bone, in everything +as yourselves that look at me. She alone is guilty: taking me for a +demon and receiving me in her bed, she sinned both in intention and +deed against God and the Holy Spirit. It is therefore she, and not I, +that committed the crime of sorcery; it is she that is to be made to +pass through the fire, as a furious and malignant witch that seeks +to make herself pass for a madwoman, in order to hide her cunning." + +But Nele: + +"Do ye hear him," said she, "the murderer? He hath, like a girl for +sale, with the armlet on her arm, made a trade and merchandise of +love. Do ye hear him? He means, to save himself, to have her burned +that gave him all." + +"Nele is bad," said Katheline, "do not listen to her, Hans, my +beloved." + +"Nay," said Nele, "nay, thou art no man: thou art a cowardly cruel +devil." And taking Katheline in her arms: "Messieurs Judges," exclaimed +she, "listen not to this pale evil one: he hath but one wish, to see +my mother burn, she that did no other crime but to be smitten by God +with madness, and to believe the phantoms of her dreams real. She +hath already suffered much in her body and in her mind. Do not put +her to death, Messieurs the Judges. Leave the innocent to live out +her sad life in peace." + +And Katheline said: "Nele is bad; thou must not believe her, Hans +my lord." + +And among the common folk the women were weeping and the men said: +"Pardon for Katheline." + +The bailiff and the aldermen gave their sentence on Joos Damman, upon a +confession which he made after being tortured afresh: he was condemned +to be degraded from his noble estate and burned alive in a slow fire +until death ensued, and suffered the penalty the next day before +the doors of the Townhall, still saying: "Put the witch to death; +she alone is guilty! Cursed be God! my father will slay the judges." + +And he rendered up the ghost. + +And the people said: "See him cursing and a blasphemer: he dies like +a dog." + +Next day the bailiff and the aldermen gave their sentence upon +Katheline, who was condemned to undergo the trial by water in the +Bruges Canal. Floating, she should be burned as a witch; going to the +bottom and dying, she should be regarded as dying like a Christian, +and as such should be interred in the garden of the church, which is +the graveyard. + +The day after, Katheline, holding a wax taper in her hand, barefooted +and clad in a chemise of black linen, was brought to the bank of +the canal, all along by the trees, in grand procession. Before her +marched, singing the prayers for the dead, the dean of Notre Dame, +his vicars, the beadle carrying the cross; and behind, the bailiffs +of Damme, the aldermen, the clerks and recorders, the constables of +the commune, the provost, the executioner and his two assistants. Upon +the banks there was a great crowd of women weeping and men growling, +in pity for Katheline, who walked as a lamb suffering herself to be +led she knew not whither, and always saying: "Take away the fire, +my head burns! Hans, where art thou?" + +In the midst of the women Nele cried: "I want to be thrown in with +her." But the women did not suffer her to come near to Katheline. + +A sharp wind blew from the sea; from the gray sky a fine hail was +falling into the water of the canal; a bark was there, which the +executioner and his men seized in the name of His Majesty the king. At +their command, Katheline went into it; the executioner was seen, +standing in it, and at the signal of the provost lifting his wand +of justice, he cast Katheline into the canal: she struggled, but not +for long, and went to the bottom, having cried out: "Hans! Hans! help!" + +And the people said: "This woman is no witch." + +Men plunged into the canal and pulled Katheline out from it, +unconscious and rigid as a corpse. Then she was brought into a tavern +and placed before a great fire; Nele took off her clothes and her wet +linen, to give her others; when she came back to herself, she said, +trembling and chattering her teeth: + +"Hans, give me a woollen cloak." + +And Katheline could not get back her warmth. And she died on the +third day. And she was interred in the garden of the church. + +And Nele, orphaned, departed to the land of Holland, to Rosa van +Auweghen. + + + + + +VII + +Upon the hulls of Zealand, on boyers, on croustèves, away goes Thyl +Claes Ulenspiegel. + +The free sea wafts the valiant flyboats on which are eight, ten or +twenty guns all of iron: they belch forth death and massacre on the +traitor Spaniards. + +He is an expert gunner, Thyl Ulenspiegel, son of Claes, lo how he aims +straight and true, and pierces like a wall of butter the carcases of +the butchers. + +In his hat he wears the silver crescent, with this legend: "Liever +den Turc als den Paus": "Rather to serve the Turk than the Pope." + +The sailors that see him climb up upon their ships, agile as a cat, +supple as a squirrel, singing some song or other, with some gay jest +in his mouth, would ask him curiously: + +"Whence is it, little man, that thou hast so young a mien, for they +say thou wert born long ago at Damme?" + +"I am no body, but a spirit," said he, "and Nele, my sweetheart, +is like me. Spirit of Flanders, love of Flanders, we shall never die." + +"And yet," said they, "when thou art cut, thou dost bleed." + + +"Ye see but the appearance of it," answered Ulenspiegel, "it is wine +and not blood." + +"We will broach thy belly, then!" + +"I would be the only one to drain it," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"Thou art mocking us." + +"He that beats the case will hear the drum," answered Ulenspiegel. + +And the embroidered banners of the Roman Catholic processions floated +from the masts of the ships. And clad in velvet, in brocade, in silk, +in cloth of gold and of silver, such as abbots wear at solemn masses, +bearing mitre and crozier, drinking the monks' wine, the Beggars kept +guard on their ships. + +And it was a strange sight to behold appearing from out of these +rich vestments those coarse hands that held arquebus or arbalest, +halberd or pike, and all men of hard physiognomy, girt about with +pistols and cutlasses gleaming in the sun, and drinking from golden +chalices the abbots' wine that had become the wine of liberty. + +And they sang and they shouted: "Long live the Beggar!" and thus they +scoured the ocean and the Scheldt. + + + + + +VIII + +At this time the Beggars, among whom were Lamme and Ulenspiegel, took +Gorcum. And they were commanded by Captain Marin: this Marin, who had +been a workman on the dykes, disported himself with great haughtiness +and sufficiency, and signed with Gaspard Turc, the defender of Gorcum, +a capitulation whereby Turc, the monks, burgesses, and soldiers shut +up in the citadel were to come forth freely, bullet in mouth, musket +on shoulder, with all that they could carry, save that the goods of +the Church should be left to the assailants. + +But Captain Marin, upon an order from Messire de Lumey, held the +nineteen monks as prisoners, and let the soldiers and the citizens +go free. + +And Ulenspiegel said: + +"The word of a soldier should be a word of gold. Why doth he fail +of his?" + +An ancient Beggar made answer to Ulenspiegel: + +"The monks are sons of Satan, the leprosy of nations, the shame of +countries. Since the coming of the Duke of Alba, these fellows lifted +up their noses high in Gorcum. There is among them one, the priest +Nicolas, prouder than a peacock and fiercer than a tiger. Every time +he passed in the street with his pyx in which was his host made with +dog's fat, he would look with eyes full of fury at the houses from +which the women did not come and kneel, and would denounce to the +judge all that did not bend the knee before his idol of dough and +gilded brass. The other monks imitated him. That was the cause of +many great oppressions, burnings, and cruel punishments in the town of +Gorcum. Captain Marin does well to keep prisoner the monks who would +else go off with their likes into villages, burgs, towns, and townlets, +to preach against us, stirring up the populace and causing the poor +reformers to be burned. Mastiffs are put on the chain until they die: +to the chain with the monks; to the chain with the bloed-honden, +the duke's blood-hounds; to the cage with the butchers. Long live +the Beggar!" + +"But," said Ulenspiegel, "Monseigneur d'Orange, our prince of liberty, +wills that we should respect, among those who surrender, the property +of individuals and freedom of conscience." + +The ancient Beggars replied: + +"The admiral wills it not for the monks: he is master; he took +Briele. To the cage with the monks!" + +"Word of a soldier, word of gold! why does he fail of it?" answered +Ulenspiegel. "The monks kept in prison suffer a thousand insults." + +"The ashes beat no longer upon thy heart," said they: "a hundred +thousand families, in consequence of the edicts, have taken over +yonder, to the north-west, to the land of England, the trades, the +industry, the wealth of our country; bemoan then those that wrought +our ruin! Under the Emperor Charles the Fifth, Butcher the First, +under this one, the king of Blood, Butcher the Second, one hundred +and eighteen thousand persons have perished by execution. Who carried +the taper of the obsequies in murder and in tears? Monks and soldiers +of Spain. Dost thou not hear the souls of the dead lamenting?" + +"The ashes beat upon my heart," said Ulenspiegel. "Word of a soldier, +'tis word of gold." + +"Who then," said they, "would by excommunication have put the country +under the ban of all nations? Who would have armed against us, had +it been possible, earth and sky, God and the devil, and their serried +ranks of saints, both male and female? Who made the sacred host bleed +with the blood of an ox, who made wooden statues weep? Who had the De +Profundis sung in the land of our fathers, if not this accursed clergy, +these hordes of lazy monks, in order that they might keep their riches, +their influence over idol worshippers, and reign over the poor country +by ruin, blood, and fire. To the cage with the wolves that rush upon +men on earth; to the cage with the hyænas! Long live the Beggar!" + +"Word of a soldier, word of gold," said Ulenspiegel. + +The next day a message came from Messire de Lumey, with orders to +transfer from Gorcum to Briele, where the admiral was, the nineteen +monks that were prisoners. + +"They will be hanged," said Captain Marin to Ulenspiegel. + +"Not while I am alive," replied he. + +"My son," said Lamme, "speak not thus to Messire de Lumey. He is +fierce, and will hang thee with them without mercy." + +"I shall speak according to the truth," replied Ulenspiegel; "word +of a soldier, word of gold." + +"If thou canst save them," said Marin, "take their boat to Briele. Take +with thee Rochus the pilot and thy friend Lamme if thou wilt." + +"I do wish it," answered Ulenspiegel. + +The boat was moored at the Green quay; the nineteen monks entered +into it; Rochus the timid was set at the helm; Ulenspiegel and Lamme, +well armed, took their place at the prow of the ship. Certain rascal +troopers that had come among the Beggars for pillage were beside the +monks, who were hungry. Ulenspiegel gave them drink and food. "That +one is going to turn traitor!" said the rascal troopers. The nineteen +monks, seated amidships, were all gaping and shivering, though it +was July, and the sun was bright and hot, and a gentle breeze filled +out the sails of the ship as she glided massive and bulging over the +green waves. + +Father Nicolas then spake and said to the pilot: + +"Rochus, are we being brought to the Gallows Field?" + +Then turning towards Gorcum: "O town of Gorcum!" said he, standing +and stretching out his hand, "town of Gorcum! how many woes hast thou +to suffer: thou shalt be accursed among cities, for thou hast grown +within thy walls the grain of heresy! O town of Gorcum! And the angel +of the Lord shall watch no longer at thy gates. He will have no more +care of thy virgins' modesty, the courage of thy men, the fortune of +thy merchants! O town of Gorcum! thou art accursed, unfortunate!" + +"Accursed, accursed," answered Ulenspiegel, "accursed as the comb that +hath passed through and taken away the Spanish lice, accursed as the +dog breaking his chain, as the proud horse shaking a cruel rider from +off his back! Accursed thyself, booby preacher, who findest ill that +the rod should be broken, were it an iron rod upon the tyrants' back!" + +The monk held his tongue, and lowering his eyes, appeared steeped in +holy hate. + +The rascal soldiers that had come among the Beggars for the sake of +pillage were close by the monks, who soon were hungry. Ulenspiegel +asked biscuit and herrings for them; the ship master answered: + +"Let them be thrown into the Meuse, they can have fresh herring to +eat then." + +Ulenspiegel then gave the monks all the bread and sausage he had for +himself and for Lamme. The ship-master and the rascal Beggars said +one to another: + +"This one is a traitor, he is feeding the monks; we must denounce him." + +At Dordrecht the ship stopped in the Harbour at the Bloemen-Key, +the Flower quay; men, women, lads, and lasses ran up in crowds to see +the monks, and said to one another pointing at them with a finger or +threatening them with their fist: + +"Look at those clowns, manufacturers of Bons Dieux that bring men's +bodies to the stake and their souls to the fire everlasting; look at +the fat tigers and big-bellied jackals." + +The monks hung their heads and dared not speak. Ulenspiegel saw them +trembling once more. + +"We are hungry again," said they, "compassionate soldier." + +But the ship master: + +"What is always drinking? Dry sand. Who eats without ceasing? The +monk." + +Ulenspiegel went up the town to find bread for them, ham, and a great +jug of beer. + +"Eat and drink," said he; "ye are our prisoners, but I shall save +you if I can. Word of a soldier, word of gold." + +"Why dost thou give them that? They will never pay you," said the +rascal Beggars; and talking among themselves they whispered these +words in each other's ears: "He has promised to save them; let us +keep good watch upon him." + +At dawn they came to Briele. The gates having been opened to them, +a voet-looper, a courier, went to inform Messire de Lumey of their +coming. + +As soon as he had the news, he came on horseback, having just put +on his clothes, and accompanied by some horsemen and foot-soldiers, +with their weapons. + +And Ulenspiegel could see once more the fierce admiral clad like a +proud lord living in opulence. + +"Hail and greeting," said he, "Messires the monks. Lift up your +hands. Where is the blood of Messieurs d'Egmont and de Hoorn? Ye show +me clean white paws; 'tis well for you." + +A monk called Leonard answered: + +"Do with us as thou wilt. We are monks; no one will claim us." + +"He hath well said," said Ulenspiegel; "for the monk having broken with +the world, which is father and mother, brother and sister, spouse and +lover, finds at the hour of God no soul that claims him. And yet, +Your Excellency, I will do so. Captain Marin, when he signed the +capitulation of Gorcum, agreed that these monks should be free as all +those that were taken in the citadel, and who came out from it. And +yet they were held prisoner without cause; I hear it said they shall be +hanged. Monseigneur, I address myself humbly to you, speaking to you on +their behalf, for I know that the word of a soldier is word of gold." + +"Who art thou?" asked Messire de Lumey. + +"Monseigneur," answered Ulenspiegel, "Fleming am I from the goodly +land of Flanders, clown, nobleman, all at once, and through the +world in this wise I go wandering, praising things good and lovely, +and mocking folly without stint. And I will praise you if you keep +to the promise made by the captain: word of a soldier, word of gold." + +But the rascally Beggars that were upon the ship: + +"Monseigneur," said they, "that fellow is a traitor: he hath promised +to save them; he hath given them bread, ham, sausages, and beer, +and to us nothing." + +Messire de Lumey said then to Ulenspiegel: + +"Fleming gadabout and monk feeder, thou shalt be hanged with them." + +"I have no fear," answered Ulenspiegel, "word of a soldier, word +of gold." + +"Thou carriest thy comb high," said de Lumey. + +"The ashes beat upon my heart," said Ulenspiegel. + +The monks were brought into a barn, and Ulenspiegel with them: there +they would fain have converted him by theological disputations; +but he fell asleep listening to them. + +Messire de Lumey being at table, full of wine and meat, a messenger +arrived from Gorcum, from Captain Marin, with a copy of letters from +the Silent, Prince of Orange, "commanding all governors of cities +and other places to hold the ecclesiastics in like safeguard, safety, +and privilege as the rest of the people." + +The messenger asked to be brought before de Lumey to give the copy +of the letters into his own hands. + +"Where is the original?" de Lumey asked him. + +"With my master," said the messenger. + +"And the clown sends me the copy!" said de Lumey. "Where is thy +passport?" + +"Here it is, Monseigneur," said the messenger. + +Messire de Lumey read it in a loud voice: + +"Monseigneur and master Marin Brandt enjoins upon the ministers, +governors, and officers of the republic that they suffer to pass +safely," etc. + +De Lumey, striking his fist on the table and tearing up the passport: + +"God's blood!" said he, "what is he meddling with, this Marin, this +trash, who had not, before the taking of Briele, the backbone of a +red herring to put between his teeth? He dubs himself monseigneur +and master, and sends me his order. He enjoins and ordains! Tell thy +master that since he is so much captain and monseigneur, and so much +bidding and forbidding, the monks shall be hanged high and short at +once, and thou with them if thou dost not take thyself off." + +And fetching him a kick, he sent him out of the chamber. + +"Give me to drink," he cried. "Have you seen the insolence of this +Marin? I could spit out my breakfast with rage. Let them hang the +monks immediately in their barn, and bring me their Flemish conductor, +after he has seen their execution. We shall see if he will dare +to tell me I have done wrong. God's blood! what are these jugs and +glasses wanted here for still?" + +And he broke with a great crashing the cups and dishes, and no man +dared speak to him. The servants would have picked up the pieces; +he did not allow them, and drinking out of the flasks immoderately, +he became more and more angry, striding about and crushing the bits +and trampling on them furiously. + +Ulenspiegel was brought before him. + +"Well!" said he, "dost thou bring tidings of thy friends the monks?" + +"They are hanged," said Ulenspiegel; "and a cowardly executioner, +killing them for hire, opened the belly and sides of one of them after +death, like a disembowelled pig, to sell the fat to an apothecary. Word +of a soldier is no longer word of gold." + +De Lumey, trampling among the broken crockery: + +"Thou bravest me," said he, "four-foot rascal, but thou, too, shalt +be hanged, not in a barn, but ignominiously on the open square, +in the eyes of everybody." + +"Shame upon you," said Ulenspiegel, "shame upon us: word of a soldier +no longer word of gold." + +"Wilt thou hold thy tongue, mule!" said Messire de Lumey. + +"Shame upon thee," said Ulenspiegel; "word of a soldier is no more +word of gold. Punish rather the rascally vendors of human fat." + +Then Messire de Lumey, rushing on him, raised his hand to strike him. + +"Strike," said Ulenspiegel; "I am thy prisoner, but I have no fear +of thee; word of a soldier is no more word of gold." + +Messire de Lumey then drew his sword and would certainly have +slain Ulenspiegel if Messire de Tres-Long, holding back his arm, +had not said: + +"Have pity! he is brave and valiant; he hath committed no crime!" + +De Lumey, then controlling himself: + +"Let him ask pardon," said he. + +But Ulenspiegel, remaining upright: + +"I will not," said he. + +"Let him say at least that I was not wrong," cried de Lumey, becoming +furious. + +Ulenspiegel made answer: + +"I do not lick the boots of lords: word of a soldier is no more word +of gold." + +"Let them erect the gallows," said de Lumey, "and let them bring him +to it; that will be a hempen word for him." + +"Aye," said Ulenspiegel, "and I shall cry out in the presence of all +the people: 'Word of a soldier is no more word of gold!'" + +The gallows was set up on the great marketplace. The news ran swiftly +about the town that they were about to hang Ulenspiegel, the valiant +Beggar. And the people were moved with pity and compassion. And they +ran together in a crowd to the great market; Messire de Lumey came +thither also on horseback, wishing himself to give the signal for +the execution. + +He looked with no mildness upon Ulenspiegel on the ladder, arrayed +for death, in his shirt, his arms tied to his body, his hands folded, +the rope about his neck, and the executioner ready to do his work. + +Tres-Long said to him: + +"Monseigneur, pardon him; he is no traitor, and no one ever saw a +man hanged because he was sincere and merciful." + +And the men and women of the people, hearing Tres-Long speak, cried: +"Pity, Monseigneur, grace and pity for Ulenspiegel." + +"That mule-headed fellow braved me," said de Lumey: "let him repent +and say I did right." + +"Wilt thou repent and say that he did right?" said Tres-Long to +Ulenspiegel. + +"Word of a soldier is no more word of gold," replied Ulenspiegel. + +"Put on the rope," said de Lumey. + +The executioner was about to obey; a young girl, all clad in white +and garlanded with flowers, ran up the stairs of the scaffold, leaped +on Ulenspiegel's neck, and said: + +"This man is mine; I take him for my husband." + +And the people applauded and the women cried out: + +"Long live, long live the girl who is Ulenspiegel's saviour!" + +"What is this?" asked Messire de Lumey. + +Tres-Long answered: + +"After the use and custom of the town, it is by right and law that +a young maiden and unmarried woman can save a man from the rope by +taking him for husband at the foot of the gallows." + +"God is with him," said de Lumey; "untie him." + +Then riding up to the scaffold, he saw the girl prevented from cutting +Ulenspiegel's ropes and the executioner seeking to oppose her efforts +and saying: + +"If you cut them, who will pay for them?" + +But the girl paid no heed to him. + +Seeing her so light, so loving, and so subtle, he was touched. + +"Who art thou?" said he. + +"I am Nele, his betrothed," said she, "and I come from Flanders to +seek him." + +"Thou didst well," said de Lumey in a naughty voice. + +And he went away. + +Tres-Long then coming up: + +"Little Fleming," said he, "once thou art married wilt thou be a +soldier still in our ships?" + +"Aye, Messire," answered Ulenspiegel. + +"And thou, girl, what wilt thou do without thy man?" Nele answered: + +"If you are willing, Messire, I will be fifer in his ship." + +"I am willing," said Tres-Long. + +And he gave her two florins for the wedding feast. + +And Lamme, weeping and laughing with pleasure, said: + +"Here are three florins more: we shall eat it all; I am paying. Let +us go to the Golden Comb. He is not dead, my friend. Long live the +Beggar!" + +And the people applauded, and they went off to the Golden Comb, where +a great feast was ordered: and Lamme threw deniers to the people out +of the windows. + +And Ulenspiegel said to Nele: + +"Darling beloved, there thou art then beside me! Hurrah! She is here, +flesh, heart, and soul, my sweet friend. Oh! the sweet eyes and lovely +red lips whence there came never aught but kind words! She saved +my life, the dear beloved! Thou shalt play the fife of deliverance +on our ships. Dost thou remember ... but no.... Ours is the present +hour full of gladness, and mine thy face sweet as June flowers. I am +in paradise. But," said he, "thou art weeping...." + +"They have killed her," said she. + +And she told him the tale of mourning. + +And, looking on one another, they wept with love and grief. + +And at the feast they drank and ate, and Lamme looked on them woefully, +saying: + +"Alas! my wife, where art thou?" + +And the priest came and married Nele and Ulenspiegel. + +And the morning sun found them one beside the other in their bridal +bed. + +And Nele lay with her head on Ulenspiegel's shoulder. And when she +awoke in the sunshine, he said: + +"Fresh face and sweet heart, we shall be the avengers of Flanders." + +She, kissing him on the mouth: + +"Wild head and stout arms," said she, "God will bless the fife and +the sword." + +"I will make thee a soldier's garb." + +"At once?" said she. + +"At once," replied Ulenspiegel; "but who said that strawberries are +good in the morning? Thy mouth is far better." + + + + + +IX + +Ulenspiegel, Lamme, and Nele had, like their friends and comrades, +taken from the convents the wealth gotten from the people by the help +of processions, feigned miracles, and other Roman mummeries. This +was against the orders of the Silent, the prince of liberty, but the +money helped with the charges of the war. Lamme Goedzak, not content +with providing himself with money, looted from out the convents hams, +sausages, flasks of beer and wine, and came back from them joyously +carrying across his breast a baldric of fowls, geese, turkeys, capons, +hens and pullets, and leading behind him on a rope certain monastical +calves and pigs. And this by right of war, said he. + +Rejoicing in each prize, he fetched it to the ship that there might +be revel and feast, but lamented all the same that the master cook +was so ignorant in the science of sauces and fricassees. + +Now on that day the Beggars, having looked victoriously upon the cup, +said to Ulenspiegel: + +"Thou hast thy nose always in the wind to smell out news of terra +firma; thou knowest all the adventures of the war: sing them to +us. And Lamme shall beat the drum the while and the pretty little +fifer shall squeal to the measure of thy song." + +And Ulenspiegel said: + +"One bright cool day in May, Ludwig of Nassau, thinking to enter into +Mons, finds not his footmen nor his horse. A few trusty men held a +gate open and a drawbridge down, that he might have the town. But the +citizens seized the gate and the drawbridge. Where are the soldiers +of Count Louis? The citizens are about to hoist up the bridge. Count +Louis winds his horn." + +And Ulenspiegel sang: + + + "Where are thy footmen and thy horse? + They are in the woods, treading all down: + Dry twigs, and lily of the valley in bloom. + Master Sun makes all shine, + Their ruddy warrior faces, + The polished rumps of their horses; + Count Ludwig winds his horn: + They hear it. Softly beat the drum. + + "Full trot, bridle loose! + Speed of the lightning, speed of the cloud: + Water spout of clinking iron; + They fly, the heavy horsemen! + Haste! haste! to the rescue! + The bridge rises.... Send the spur + Into the chargers' bloody flanks. + The bridge rises: The town is lost! + + "They are before it. Is it too late? + Ride like the wind! Bridle loose! + Guitoy de Chaumont on his Spanish steed + Leaps on the bridge that falls again. + The town is won! Do ye hear + Along the paven streets of Mons + Speed of the lightning, speed of the cloud, + Waterspout of clinking iron! + + "Hurrah for Chaumont and his Spanish steed! + Sound the clarion of joy, beat upon the drum: + 'Tis the hay month, fragrant are the meadows; + The lark mounts up, singing in the sky: + Long live the bird of freedom! + Beat upon the drum of glory. + Hurrah for Chaumont and the Spanish steed. + Hey there. Drink up there. + The town is won!... Long live the Beggar!" + + +And the Beggars sang on the ships: "Christ look down upon thy +soldiers. Furbish our weapons, Lord. Long live the Beggar!" + +And Nele, smiling, made the fife squeal amain, and Lamme beat the +drum, and aloft, towards the sky, God's temple, there were raised +golden cups and hymns of liberty. And the waves, like sirens, bright +and cool about the ships, murmured in harmony. + + + + + +X + +One day in the month of August, a hot and heavy day, Lamme was plunged +in melancholy. His jolly drum was dumb and sleeping, and he had thrust +the drumsticks into the mouth of his satchel. Ulenspiegel and Nele, +smiling with amorous delight, were warming themselves in the sun: +the look-out men stationed in the tops were whistling or singing, +searching over the wide ocean if they could not see some prey on +the horizon. Très-Long kept questioning them; they still replied: +"Niets," nothing. + +And Lamme, pale and broken down, sighed piteously. And Nele said +to him: + +"Whence cometh it, Lamme, that thou art so woebegone?" + +And Ulenspiegel said to him: + +"Thou art growing thin, my son." + +"Aye," said Lamme, "I am woebegone and thin. My heart loses its gaiety +and my jolly face its freshness. Aye, laugh at me, ye that have found +one another again through a thousand perils. Mock you at poor Lamme, +who lives a widower, being married, while she," said he, pointing +to Nele, "must needs tear her man away from the kisses of the rope, +his last lover. She did well, God be praised; but let her not laugh +at me. Aye, thou must not laugh at poor Lamme, Nele, my dear. My +wife laughs enough for ten. Alas, ye females, ye are cruel towards +others' woes. Aye, I have a grieved heart, stricken with the sword +of desertion, and nothing will ever comfort it, if not she." + +"Or some fricassee," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Aye," said Lamme, "where is the meat in this miserable ship? On the +king's vessels, they have meat four times a week, if there be no fast, +and fish three times. As for the fish, God destroy me if this tow--I +mean their flesh--does anything but kindle my blood for nothing, +my poor blood that will go to water before long. They have beer, +cheese, soup, and good drink. Aye! they have everything for the +comfort of their stomachs: biscuit, rye bread, beer, butter, smoked +meat, yea, all, dried fish, cheese, mustard seed, salt, beans, peas, +barley, vinegar, oil, tallow, wood, and coal. We, we have just been +forbidden to take the cattle of any so-ever, be he citizen, abbot, or +gentleman. We eat herrings and drink small beer. Alas! I have nothing +left now: neither love of women, nor good wine, nor dobbele-bruinbier, +nor good food. Where are our joys here?" + +"I will tell thee, Lamme," answered Ulenspiegel. "Eye for eye, tooth +for tooth: at Paris, on Saint Bartholomew's night, they killed ten +thousand free hearts in Paris city alone; the king himself shot at +his folk. Awake, Fleming; seize the axe without mercy: there are our +joys; smite the Spaniard and Roman enemy wherever thou shalt find +him. Let be thy eatables. They have taken the dead or living victims +to their rivers, and by full cartloads, and have flung them in the +water. Dead or alive, dost thou hear, Lamme? The Seine ran red for +nine days, and the ravens settled down in clouds upon the town. At +La Charité, at Rouen, Toulouse, Lyons, Bordeaux, Bourges, Meaux, +terrible was the massacre. Seest thou the troops of dogs satiate with +eating, lying beside the bodies? Their teeth are tired. The flight +of the ravens is heavy, so laden are their stomachs with the flesh +of the victims. Hearest thou, Lamme, the voice of their spirits +crying vengeance and pity? Awake, Fleming! Thou dost speak of thy +wife. I do not believe her unfaithful, but bereft of her wits, and +she loveth thee still, poor friend of mine: she was not among those +court ladies who on the very night of the massacre stripped the bodies +with their fine hands to see how great or how small were their carnal +members. And they laughed, these ladies great in lewdness. Rejoice, my +son, notwithstanding thy fish and thy small beer. If the after taste +of the herring is insipid, more insipid still is the smell of this +foulness. Those that slew took their meals, and with ill-washen hands +carved fat geese to offer the wings, legs, and rump to the charming +Paris damozels. They had but lately felt other meat, cold meat." + +"I will complain no more, my son," said Lamme, rising up: "the herring +is ortolan; malvoisie is small beer to free hearts." + +And Ulenspiegel said: + + + "Long Live the Beggar! Let us not weep, brothers. + In ruins and blood + + "Flowers the rose of liberty. + If God is with us, who shall be against? + + "When the hyæna triumphs, + Comes the lion's turn, + With one stroke of his paw he flings him, disbowelled, on the + ground. + Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Long live the Beggar!" + + +And the Beggars on the ship sang: + + + "The Duke keeps the same fate for us. + Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, + Wound for wound. Long live the Beggar!" + + + + + +XI + +On a black night the tempest growled in the depths of the +clouds. Ulenspiegel was on the deck of the ship with Nele, and said: + +"All our lights are out. We are foxes, watching by night for the +passing of the Spanish poultry, which is to say their two and twenty +assabres, rich ships with lanterns burning, that will be to them +stars of ill fortune. And we shall rush upon them." + +Nele said: + +"This night is a witches' night. This sky is black as the mouth of +hell; these lightnings gleam like the smile of Satan; the distant +thunderstorm is growling dully; the sea-mews pass, uttering loud cries; +the sea rolls its phosphorescent waves like silver serpents. Thyl, +my beloved, come into the world of the spirits. Take the powder +of vision." + +"Shall I see the Seven, my darling?" + +And they took the powder of vision. + +And Nele shut Ulenspiegel's eyes, and Ulenspiegel shut Nele's eyes. And +they beheld a cruel spectacle. + +Heaven, earth, sea were full of men, of women, of children, toiling, +wandering, journeying, or dreaming. The sea cradled them; the earth +carried them. And they swarmed like eels in a basket. + +Seven men and women were in the middle of the firmament, seated upon +thrones, their brows girt with a brilliant star, but they were so +shadowy that Nele and Ulenspiegel could see only their stars with +any distinctness. + +The sea rose up to the sky, tumbling in its foam the innumerable +multitude of ships whose masts and rigging clashed together, +interlocked, broke one another, crushed each other, following the +tempestuous moving of the waves. Then one ship appeared in the midst +of all the others. Its bottom was of flaming iron. Its keel was made of +steel shaped and sharpened like a knife. The water cried out, groaning, +when it went through. Death was upon the stern of the ship, seated, +grinning, holding his scythe in one hand and in the other a whip which +he smote upon seven personages. One was a man woebegone, thin, haughty, +silent. He held in one hand a sceptre and in the other a sword. Beside +him, mounted upon a goat, there was a ruddy girl, with bared breast, +her robe open, and a sprightly eye. She was stretched out lasciviously +beside an old Jew picking up bits of rubbish and a big bloated fellow +that fell down every time she set him on his feet, while a thin and +angry woman beat them both. The big man never avenged himself nor +did his red-faced she-companion. A monk in their midst was eating +sausages. A woman lying on the earth, was crawling like a serpent +among the others. She bit the old Jew because of his old rubbish, +the bloated man because he was too comfortable, the red woman for +the dewy brightness of her eyes, the monk for his sausage, and the +thin man because of his sceptre. And soon all of them fell a-fighting. + +When they passed, the battle was horrible on the sea, in the sky, +and on the earth. It rained blood. The ships were broken with blows +of axes, arquebuses, and cannon shot. The shattered fragments flew +into the air in the midst of the powder smoke. On the earth armies +clashed together like walls of bronze. Towns, villages, harvests +burned amid cries and tears: tall spires, stone lace-work, held up +their proud silhouettes in the midst of the fire, then fell down +with a crash like oak trees laid low. Black horsemen, numerous and +close arrayed as bands of ants, sword in hand, pistol in hand, were +smiting men, women, children. Some made holes in the ice and buried +old men alive in them; others cut off women's breasts and sprinkled +pepper on the place; others hanged children in the fireplaces. Those +who were tired of killing violated some girl or some woman; drank, +played dice, and tossing over piles of gold, the fruit of pillage, +dabbled their red fingers in it. + +The Seven, crowned with stars, cried: "Pity for the poor world!" + +And the phantoms grinned with laughter. And their voices were as the +voices of a thousand sea-eagles crying together. And Death brandished +his scythe. + +"Dost thou hear them?" said Ulenspiegel; "they are the birds of prey +of poor mankind. They live on small birds, which are the simple and +the good." + +The Seven, crowned with stars, cried: "Love, justice, compassion!" + +And the Seven phantoms laughed loudly. And their voices were like +the voices of a thousand sea-eagles crying all together. And Death +struck them with his whip. + +And the ship passed over the sea, cutting in two boats, vessels, men, +women, children. On the sea reëchoed the plaints of the victims crying: +"Pity!" + +And the red ship passed over them all, while the phantoms, laughing, +cried like sea-eagles. + +And Death, laughing loud, drank the water that was full of blood. + +And the ship having disappeared in the mist, the battle ceased, +and the Seven crowned with stars vanished away. + +And Ulenspiegel and Nele saw nothing now save the black sky, the +surging sea, the dark clouds coming forward on the phosphorescent sea, +and close at hand, red stars. + +These were the lanterns of the two and twenty assabres. The sea and +the thunder were growling dully and faintly. + +And Ulenspiegel rang the bell for the wacharm softly, and cried: +"The Spaniard, the Spaniard! He is sailing for Flessingue!" And the +cry was repeated throughout the whole fleet. + +And Ulenspiegel said to Nele: + +"A gray hue is spreading over the sky and over the sea. The lanterns +burn now but feebly; the dawn lifts, the wind is freshening, the +waves throw their spume over the decks of the ships; a thick rain +is falling and speedily ceases; the sun rises radiant, gilding the +crest of the waves: it is thy smile, Nele, fresh as the morning, +sweet as the sun's ray." + +The two and twenty assabres pass: on the ships of the Beggars the +drums are beating, the fifes are squealing: de Lumey cries: "In the +Prince's name, to the chase!" Ewout Pietersen Wort, sub-admiral, +cries: "In the name of Monseigneur d'Orange and the admiral, to the +chase!" On all the ships, the Johannah, the Swan, Anne-Mie, the Beggar, +the Compromise, the d'Egmont, the de Hoorn, on the Willem de Zwyger +(the William the Silent,) all the captains cry: "In the name of +Monseigneur d'Orange and the admiral!" + +"To the chase! Long live the Beggar!" cry the soldiers and +sailors. Très-Long's houlque, on which are Lamme and Ulenspiegel, +and called Briele, followed closely by the Johannah, the Swan, and +the Beggar, take four assabres. The Beggars fling everything Spanish +into the sea, make the inhabitants of the Low Countries prisoners, +empty the ships like eggshells, and leave them to float without masts +or sails in the roadstead. Then they pursue the other eighteen. The +wind blows violently; coming from Antwerp, the sides of the swift +ships bend over in the water of the river beneath the weight of +the sails swollen like a monk's cheeks in the wind that comes from +kitchens; the assabres go swiftly; the Beggars pursue them into the +very roadstead of Meddleburg under the fire from the forts. There a +bloody battle joins: the Beggars carrying axes rush on the decks of +the ships, soon strewn with lopped-off arms and legs, that have to be +thrown into the waves after the combat ends. The forts fire on them: +they take no heed, and to the shout of "Long live the Beggar!" take +from out the assabres powder, artillery, bullets, and corn; burn +the boats when they have emptied them; and make off to Flessingue, +leaving them smoking and flaming in the roadsteads. + +From there they will send squadrons to pierce the dykes of Zealand and +Holland, to help in the construction of fresh ships, and notably of +flyboats of one hundred and forty tons carrying up to twenty cannon +of cast iron. + + + + + +XII + +On the ships it is snowing. The air is all white as far as eye can +see, and the snow falls without ceasing, falls softly upon the black +water where it melts. + +On the earth it is snowing: all white are the roadways, all white +the black silhouettes of the trees bereft of their leaves. No sound +but the distant bells of Haarlem striking the hour, and the gay chime +sending its muffled notes through the thick air. + +Bells, ring not; bells, play not your sweet and simple airs: Don +Frederic draws near, the dukeling of blood. He is marching upon thee, +followed by thirty-five companies of Spaniards, thy mortal foes, +Haarlem, O thou city of liberty; twenty-two companies of Walloons, +eighteen companies of Germans, eight hundred horse, a powerful +artillery, all follow in his train. Hearest thou the clang of this +murderous iron on the wagons? Falconets, culverins, big-mouthed +mortars, all that is for thee, Haarlem. Bells, ring not; chimes, +fling not your gladsome notes into the air thickened with snow. + +"Bells, we the bells, shall ring; I, the chime, I shall sing, flinging +my bold notes into the air thick with snow. Haarlem is the town of +hardy hearts, of brave women. Undaunted she sees, from her topmost +towers, the black masses of the butchers undulating like troops of +ants: Ulenspiegel, Lamme, and a hundred sea Beggars are within her +walls. Their fleet is cruising in the lake." + +"Let them come!" say the inhabitants; "we are but citizens, fishermen, +sailors, and women. + +"The son of the Duke of Alba wanteth, he declares, no other keys to +come into our house than his cannon. Let him open, if he can, these +weak gates; he will find men behind them. Ring out, bells; chimes, +launch your glad notes into the air thick with snow. + +"We have but weak walls and old-fashioned ditches. Fourteen guns +belch out their balls of forty-six pound on the Cruys-poort. Put men +where stones are lacking. Night comes, every man toileth, it is as +though the cannon had never been there. On the Cruys-poort they have +hurled six hundred and eighty shot; on St. John's Gate six hundred +and seventy-five. These keys do not open, for there, behind, rises +a new rampart. Ring out, bells; chimes, hurl into the thick air your +merry notes. + +"The cannon beat, beat, beat ever on the walls; the stones fly, the +walls crumble. Wide enough is the breech to let a company pass in +abreast. The assault! 'Kill! Kill!' they cry. They mount, they are +ten thousand; suffer them to pass the moats with their bridges, with +their ladders. Our cannon are ready. Lo, there the flag of those that +are to die. Salute them, cannon of liberty! They salute: chain shot, +balls of flaming tar flying and hissing, pierce, cut, kindle, blind +the assailing masses that fall back and flee in disorder. Fifteen +hundred dead lie in the ditch. Ring out, bells; and ye, chimes, +fling into the thickened air your merry notes. + +"Come back to the assault! They dare not. They fall to shooting +and sapping. We, too, we know the arts of the mine. Beneath them, +beneath them light the train; run, we shall see a goodly sight. Four +hundred Spaniards blown into the air. This is not the road of eternal +fires. Oh! the goodly dance to the silver sound of our bells, to the +merry music of our chimes! + +"They never suspect that the prince is watching over us; that every day +there come to us by ways well guarded sledges of corn and gunpowder; +the corn for us, the powder for them. Where are their six hundred +Germans that we slew and drowned in the Haarlem Wood? Where are the +eleven ensigns we have taken from them, the six pieces of artillery, +and the fifty oxen? We had one girdle of walls; now we have two. Even +the women fight, and Kennan leads their valiant band. Come, butchers, +march down our streets; the children will hamstring you with their +little knives. Ring out, bells; and ye, chimes, fling into the +thickened air your merry notes! + +"But fortune is not with us. The Beggars' fleet is beaten in the +lake. They are beaten, the troops Orange had sent to our help. It +freezes, it freezes bitterly. No more help now. Then for five months, +a thousand against ten thousand, we hold out. Now we must needs +come to terms with the butchers. Will he listen to any terms, this +bloody dukeling who hath sworn our destruction? Let us send out all +our soldiers with their arms: they will pierce the enemy bands. But +the women are at the gates, fearing lest they be left to guard the +town alone. Bells, ring out no more; chimes, fling no more into the +air your merry notes. + +"Here is June; the hay is fragrant, the corn grows golden in the sun, +the birds are singing: we have been hungry for five months; the town +is in mourning; we shall all go forth from Haarlem, the musketeers at +the head to open up the way, the women, the children, the magistrates +behind, guarded by the infantry that watches at the breech. A letter, +a letter from the dukeling of blood! Is it death he announces? Nay, +it is life to all that are in the town. O unlooked-for clemency; O +lie, mayhap! Wilt thou still sing, O merry chime? They are entering +the town." + +Ulenspiegel, Lamme, and Nele had donned the costume of the German +soldiers shut up with them, to the number of six hundred, in the +cloister of the Augustines. + +"We shall die to-day," said Ulenspiegel in a low tone to Lamme. + +And he clasped to his breast the dainty form of Nele all shivering +with fear. + +"Alas! my wife, I shall never see her more," said Lamme. "But perhaps +our costume as German soldiers will save our lives?" + +Ulenspiegel nodded his head to show he believed in no hope of grace. + +"I hear no noise of pillage," said Lamme. + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"By the terms, the townsfolk redeemed their lives, and the town from +pillage, for the sum of two hundred and forty thousand florins. They +must pay one hundred thousand florins down in twelve days, and the rest +three months after. The women have been ordered to retire into the +churches. They are about to begin the massacre, beyond a doubt. Dost +thou hear them nailing up the scaffolds and erecting the gallows?" + +"Ah! we are to die!" said Nele; "I am hungry." + +"Aye," said Lamme low to Ulenspiegel, "the dukeling of blood has said +that being famished we shall be more docile when we are brought out +to die." + +"I am so hungry!" said Nele. + +That night soldiers came and distributed bread enough for six men. + +"Three hundred Walloon soldiers have been hanged in the marketplace," +said they. "It will soon be your turn. There was always a matrimony +between the Beggars and the Gallows." + +The next night they came again with their bread for six men. + +"Four high burgesses," said they, "have been beheaded. Two hundred +and forty-nine soldiers have been bound together two by two and cast +into the sea. The crabs will be fat this year. You do not look well, +you folk, since the seventh of July that saw you come here. They +are gluttons and drunkards, these dwellers in the Low Countries; +we Spaniards, we have enough with two figs for our supper." + +"That is why, then," replied Ulenspiegel, "you must needs, everywhere +in the townsfolks' houses, have four meals of meats, poultry, creams, +wines, and preserves; that ye must have milk to wash the bodies of +your mustachos and wine to bathe your horses' feet?" + +On the eighteenth of July, Nele said: + +"My feet are wet; what is this?" + +"Blood," said Ulenspiegel. + +At night the soldiers came again with their bread for six. + +"Where the rope is no longer enough," said they, "the sword does the +work. Three hundred soldiers and twenty-seven burghers who tried to +flee out of the town are now walking about the streets of hell with +their heads in their hands." + +The next day the blood came again into the cloister; the soldiers +came not to bring the bread, but merely to contemplate the prisoners, +saying: + +"The five hundred Walloons, Englishmen, and Scotsmen that were +beheaded yesterday looked better. These are hungry, no doubt, but +who then should die of hunger if not the Beggar!" + +And indeed, they were like phantoms, all pale, haggard, broken, +trembling with cold ague. + +On the sixteenth of August, at five in the evening, the soldiers came +in laughing and gave them bread, cheese, and beer. Lamme said: + +"It is the feast of death." + +At ten o'clock four companies came; the captains had the doors of the +cloister opened, ordering the prisoners to march four abreast behind +fifes and drums, to the place where they would be told to halt. Certain +streets were red, and they marched towards the Gallows Field. + +Here and there shallow pools of blood defiled the meadows; there was +blood all about the walls. The ravens came in clouds on every hand; +the sun hid in a bed of mists; the sky was still clear, and in its +depths awoke the shy stars. Suddenly they heard lamentable howlings. + +The soldiers said: + +"They that are crying there are the Beggars of the Fuycke Fort, +without the town; they are being left to die of hunger." + +"We, too," said Nele, "we are going to die." And she wept. + +"The ashes beat upon my heart," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Ah!" said Lamme in Flemish--for the soldiers of the escort understood +not that proud speech--"Ah!" said Lamme, "if I could catch that +duke of blood and make him eat, until his skin burst, each and all +ropes, gallows, torture benches, wooden horses, weights, and boots; +if I could make him drink the blood he has shed, if there came out +of his torn skin and opened bowels splinters of wood and pieces of +iron, and still he did not give up the ghost, I would tear out his +heart from his breast and make him eat it raw and poisoned. Then for +certain would he fall from life to death into the sulphur pit, where +may the devil make him eat it and eat it again without ceasing. And +thus through all long eternity." + +"Amen," said Ulenspiegel and Nele. + +"But dost thou see naught?" said she. + +"Nay," said he. + +"I see in the west," she said, "five men and two women seated in a +circle. One is clad in purple and wears a crown of gold. He seems +the chief over the rest, all ragged and tattered. I see from the east +another band of seven coming: one commands them also who is clad in +purple, without a crown. And they come against those of the west. And +they fight against them in the clouds, but I see nothing more now." + +"The Seven," said Ulenspiegel. + +"I hear," said Nele, "near by us in the foliage, a voice like a breath +of wind saying: + + + "By war and fire + By pikes and swords + Seek; + In death and blood + Ruins and tears. + Find." + + +"Others than we shall deliver the land of Flanders," replied +Ulenspiegel. "Night grows black, the soldiers are lighting torches. We +are near the Gallows Field. O sweet beloved, why didst thou follow +me? Dost thou hear nothing more, Nele?" + +"Aye," said she, "a noise of arms among the corn. And there, above +that ridge, surmounting the way in which we are entering, seest thou +the red light of the torches gleam upon steel? I see sparks of fire +gleaming upon the matches of arquebuses. Are our guardians asleep, +or are they blind? Dost thou hear that clap of thunder? Seest thou +the Spaniards fall pierced with bullets? Hearest thou 'Long live the +Beggar!'? They climb the path running, musket in hand; they come down +with axes all along the slope. Long live the Beggar!" + +"Long live the Beggar!" cry Lamme and Ulenspiegel. + +"Lo," said Nele, "here are soldiers that give us arms. Take, Lamme, +take, my beloved. Long live the Beggar!" + +"Long live the Beggar!" cry the whole troop of prisoners. + +"The arquebuses cease not from firing," said Nele, "they fall like +flies, lit up as they are by the light of the torches. Long live +the Beggars!" + +"Long live the Beggar!" cry the band of rescuers. + +"Long live the Beggar!" cry Ulenspiegel and the prisoners. "The +Spaniards are in a ring of fire. Kill! kill! There is not one left +on his feet. Kill! no pity, war without mercy. And now let us be off +and run to Enckhuyse. Who hath the butchers' clothes of cloth and +silk? Who hath their weapons?" + +"All! all!" they cry. "Long live the Beggar!" + +And indeed, they went off for Enckhuyse by boat, and there the Germans +delivered with them remained to guard the town. + +And Lamme, Nele, and Ulenspiegel found their ships again. And lo once +more they are singing upon the free sea: "Long live the Beggar!" + +And they cruise in the roadstead of Flessingue. + + + + + +XIII + +There once again was Lamme joyous. He was always ready to go on shore, +hunting oxen, sheep, and fowl like hares, stags, and ortolans. + +And he was not alone in this nourishing hunting. Good was it then to +see the huntsmen return, Lamme at their head, dragging the big beasts +by the horns, driving the small cattle before them, directing flocks +of geese with long wands, and carrying slung from their boathooks hens, +pullets, and capons in spite of their struggling. + +Then it was revel and feasting on the ships. And Lamme would say: +"The fragrance of the sauces mounts up to the very sky, there +delighting their worships the angels, which say: ''Tis the best part +of the meat'." + +While they were cruising there came a fleet of merchantmen from Lisbon, +whose commander knew not that Flessingue had fallen into the hands of +the Beggars. It is ordered to cast anchor; it is hemmed round. Long +live the Beggar! Drums and fifes sound the signal for boarding; +the merchants have guns, pikes, hatchets, arquebuses. + +Musket balls and cannon balls rain from the ships of the Beggars. Their +musketeers, entrenched round about the main mast in their wooden +forts, fire with deadly aim, without any danger. The merchants fall +like flies. + +"To the rescue!" said Ulenspiegel to Lamme and to Nele, "to the +rescue! Here be spices, knicknacks, precious dainties, sugar, +nutmegs, cloves, ginger, reals, ducats, moutons d'or all bright +and shining. There are more than five hundred thousand pieces in +coin. The Spaniard will pay the cost of the war. Drink ho! Let us +sing the Beggars' Mass, which is battle!" + +And Ulenspiegel and Lamme rushed everywhere like lions. Nele played the +fife, sheltered in the wooden castle. The whole of the fleet was taken. + +The dead were counted and these were a thousand on the side of the +Spaniards, three hundred on the side of the Beggars: among them was +the master cook of the fly boat La Briele. + +Ulenspiegel asked to be allowed to speak before Très-Long and the +sailors: this Très-Long granted with a good will. And he said to them +as follows: + +"Master captain and ye comrades, we have but now inherited much spices, +and here is Lamme, the good belly, who findeth that the poor dead +man there, God have him in joy, was in no wise a doctor great enough +in fricassees. Let us name him in the place of the dead. And he will +prepare you divine stews and paradisaic soups." + +"We will," said Très-Long and the others; "Lamme shall be the master +cook of the ship. He shall bear the great wooden ladle to skim the +froth off his sauces." + +"Messire Captain, comrades and friends," said Lamme, "ye behold me +weeping with joy, for I deserve not so great honour. Nevertheless, +since ye deign to call upon my worthlessness, I accept the noble +functions of master of arts in fricassees upon the stout fly boat La +Briele, but with a humble prayer to you that ye invest me with the +supreme command of the kitchen work, in such fashion that your master +cook--the which will be myself--may by right law and might be empowered +to prevent anyonesoever from coming and eating another's share." + +Très-Long and the others cried out: + +"Long live Lamme! thou shalt have right, law, and might." + +"But," said he, "I have another prayer to make before you in all +humility: I am a fat man, big and strong; deep is my paunch, deep my +stomach; my poor wife--may God restore her to me--always gave me two +portions instead of one: accord me this same favour." + +Très-Long, Ulenspiegel, and the sailors said: + +"Thou shalt have the two portions, Lamme." + +And Lamme, suddenly fallen melancholy, said: + +"My wife, my sweet darling! if anything can console me for thy absence, +it will be to bring again to mind in my duties thy heavenly cooking +in our sweet home." + +"You must take the oath, my son," said Ulenspiegel. "Let the great +wooden ladle and the great copper caldron be brought hither." + +"I swear," quoth Lamme, "by God, may he be here my helper, I swear +fidelity to Monseigneur the Prince of Orange, called the Silent, +governing the provinces of Holland and Zealand for the king; fidelity +to Messire de Lumey, the admiral commanding our gallant fleet, and +to Messire Très-Long, vice-admiral and captain of the good ship La +Briele; I swear to dress at my poor best, according to the use and +wont of the great cooks of old, which have left behind them noble +books with cuts upon the great art of cookery, what flesh and fowl +Fortune shall accord to us; I swear to feed the said Messire Très-Long, +our captain, his second in command, which is my friend, Ulenspiegel, +and all you, master mariner, pilot, boatswain, companions, soldiers, +gunners, captain's page, chirurgeon, trumpeteer, sailors, and all +others. If the roast is too underdone, the fowl unbrowned; if the +soup sends up an insipid fragrance, inimical to all good digestion; +if the steam of the sauces doth not entice you all to rush into the +kitchen--always with my good will; if I make you not all sprightly +and well favoured, I will resign my noble functions, judging myself +unfit longer to occupy the throne of the kitchen. So may God help me +in this life and in the next." + +"Long live the master cook," said they, "the king of the kitchen, +the emperor of fricassees. He shall have three portions instead of +two on Sundays." + +And Lamme became master cook of the ship La Briele. And while the +succulent soups were simmering in the saucepans, he stood at the door +of the galley, proudly holding his great wooden ladle like a sceptre. + +And he had his treble rations on Sundays. + +When the Beggars came to grips with the enemy, he would stay preferably +in his sauce laboratory but would come out every now and then to run +up on the deck and fire a few rounds. Then he would hurry down again +at once to keep an eye to his sauces. + +Thus being trusty cook and valiant soldier, he was well beloved of all. + +But no one must penetrate the sanctuary of his galley. For then he was +even like a devil and with his wooden ladle he smote them pitilessly +hip and thigh. + +And thenceforth he was called Lamme the Lion. + + + + + +XIV + +On the ocean, on the Scheldt, in sunshine, in rain, in snow, in hail, +winter and summer, glided the ships of the Beggars to and fro. + +All sails out like mantling swans, swans of white freedom. + +White for freedom, blue for great heart, orange for the prince, +'tis the standard of the proud ships. + +All sails set! all sails set, the stout ships; the billows beat upon +them, the waves besprinkle them with foam. + +They pass, they run, they fly along the river, their sails in the +water, swift as clouds in the north wind, the proud ships of the +Beggars. Hear you their prows cleaving the wave? God of freemen! Long +live the Beggar! + +Hulks, flyboats, boyers, croustèves, swift as a wind big with tempest, +like the cloud that bears the thunderbolt. Long live the Beggar! + +Boyers and croustèves, flat-bottomed boats, slide along the river. The +waters groan as they are cloven through, when the ships go straight +on face forwards with the deadly mouth of their long culverin on the +point of the bows. Long live the Beggar! + +All sail out! all sail out, the gallant ships, the waves toss them, +sprinkle them with foam. + +Night and day, through rain, hail, and snow, they go on their +way! Christ smileth on them in cloud, in sun, in starshine. Long live +the Beggar. + + + + + +XV + +The king of blood learned the news of their victories. Death was +already gnawing at the murderer and his body was full of worms. He +would walk about the corridors of Valladolid, sullen and savage, +dragging heavily his swollen feet and leaden legs. He never sang, +the cruel tyrant; when the day came, he never laughed, and when the +sun lighted up his empire like a smile from God he felt no joy in +his heart. + +But Ulenspiegel, Lamme, and Nele sang like birds, risking their hide, +that is to say Lamme and Ulenspiegel, their white skin, to wit Nele, +living from day to day, and finding more joy in one death fire quenched +by the Beggars than the dark king had in the burning of a town. + +At this time, too, William the Silent, Prince of Orange, broke from +his rank as admiral Messire de Lumey de la Marck, by reason of his +great cruelties. He appointed Messire Bouwen Ewoutsen Worst in his +stead. He took measures also to pay for the grain taken by the Beggars +from the peasants, to restore the forced contributions levied upon +them, and to grant the Roman Catholics, like all others, the free +exercise of their religion, without either persecution or insult. + + + + + +XVI + +On the ships of the Beggars, under the dazzling sky, over the shining +waves, squealed the fifes; droned bagpipes, gurgled flasks, chimed +glasses, and shone the steel of weapons and armour. + +"Ho!" said Ulenspiegel, "let us beat the drum of glory, let us beat +the drum of joy. Long live the Beggar! Spain is conquered; the ghoul is +beaten down. Ours is the sea, Briele is taken. Ours the coast as far as +Nieuport, beyond Ostende and Blanckenberghe, the islands of Zealand, +the mouths of the Scheldt, the mouths of the Meuse, the Rhine mouths +as far as Helder. Ours are Texel, Vlieland, Ter-Schelling, Ameland, +Rottum, Borkum. Long live the Beggar! + +"Ours are Delft, and Dordrecht. 'Tis a trail of powder. God holdeth +the linstock. The murderers abandon Rotterdam. Free conscience, like +a lion with teeth and claws of justice, seizes the county of Zutphen, +the towns of Deutecom, Doesburg, Goor, Oldenzeel, and on the Welnuire, +Hattem, Elburg, and Harderwyck. Long live the Beggar! + +"'Tis lightning, 'tis a thunder bolt: Campen, Zwol, Hassel, Sheenwyck +fall into our hands with Oudewater, Gouda, Leyden. Long live the +Beggar! + +"Ours are Bueren, Enckhuyse! Not yet have we Amsterdam, Schoonhoven, +or Middelburg. But all cometh in time to patient blades. Long live +the Beggar! + +"Drink we the wine of Spain. Drink from the chalices whence they +drank the blood of the victims. We shall go by way of the Zuyderzee, +by rivers, streams, canals; we have North Holland, South Holland, +and Zealand; we shall take East and West Frisia; La Briele shall +be the refuge for our ships, the nest of the hens that hatch out +liberty. Long live the Beggar! + +"Hearken in Flanders, our beloved land, how there bursts forth the +cry of avenging. Armour is polishing, the swords are a-whetting. All +are astir, athrill like the strings of a harp in the warm breeze, +the breath souls that cometh from grave pits, from torture fires, +from the bleeding corpses of the victims. All, Hainaut, Brabant, +Luxembourg, Namur, Liége the free city, all! Blood sprouts and springs +up. The harvest is ripe for the sickle. Long live the Beggar. + +"Ours the Noord-Zee, the wide North Sea. Ours are good guns, +proud ships, the bold band of redoubted seamen: rogues, robbers, +soldier-priests, gentlemen, townsfolk, and artisans fleeing +persecution. Ours to all of us joined together for the work of +freedom! Long live the Beggar! + +"Philip, king of blood, where art thou? D'Alba, where art thou? Thou +dost cry out and curse and blaspheme, thou with the holy hat, the Holy +Father's gift. Beat the drums of joy. Long live the Beggar! Drink all! + +"The wine flows into the golden cups. Drain it with glee. Priestly +robes on the backs of rough men are flooded with the red liquor; +banners, ecclesiastic and Roman, wave in the wind. Eternal music! To +you, fifes squealing, bagpipes droning, drums beating, peals of +glory. Long live the Beggar!" + + + + + +XVII + +The world was then in the wolf month, which is the month of December. A +thin sharp rain was falling like needles upon the sea. The Beggars +were cruising in the Zuyderzee. Messire the Admiral summoned by +trumpet the captains of houlques and flyboats on board his ship, +and with them Ulenspiegel. + +"Now," said the Admiral, addressing himself first of all to +Ulenspiegel, "the Prince is minded to recognize thy good devoirs +and trusty services, and names thee as captain of the ship La +Briele. Herewith I hand thee the commission engrossed upon parchment." + +"All thanks to you, Messire Admiral," replied Ulenspiegel: "I shall +be captain with all my little power, and thus captaining I have great +hope, if God help me, to uncaptain Spain from the lands of Flanders +and Holland: I mean from the Zuid and the Noord-Neerlande." + +"That is well," said the admiral. "And now," he added, speaking to +them all, "I will tell you that the folk of Catholic Amsterdam are +going to besiege Enckhuyse. They have not yet come out from the Y +canal; let us cruise about in front that they may stay inside there +and fall on each and all of their ships that may show their tyrannical +carcases in the Zuyderzee." + +They made answer: + +"We will knock holes in them. Long live the Beggar!" + +Ulenspiegel, returned to his ship, called his soldiers and his sailors +together on the deck, and told them what the admiral had decided. + +They replied: + +"We have wings, the which are our sails; skates, which are the keels of +our ships; and giant hands, which are the grapples for boarding. Long +live the Beggar!" + +The fleet set forth and cruised in front of Amsterdam a sea league +away, in such a sort that none could enter or come out against +their will. + +On the fifth day the rain ceased; the wind blew sharper in the clear +sky; the Amsterdam folk made no stir. + +Suddenly Ulenspiegel saw Lamme come up on deck, driving before him +with great blows of his wooden ladle the ship's truxman, a young man +skilful in the French and Flemish tongues, but more skilful still in +the science of the teeth. + +"Good-for-naught," said Lamme, beating him, "didst thou deem thou +couldst scatheless eat my fricassees before their due time? Go up to +the masthead and see if aught budges on the ships of Amsterdam. Doing +this thou wilt do well." + +But the truxman answered: + +"What will you give me?" + +"Dost thou think," said Lamme, "to be paid without doing the +work? Thieves' spawn, if thou dost not climb, I shall have thee +flogged. And thy French shall not save thee." + +"'Tis a beauteous tongue," said the truxman, "a tongue for love +and war." + +And he climbed the mast. + +"Well! lazybones?" asked Lamme. + +The truxman answered: + +"I see naught in the town nor on the ships." And descending: + +"Now pay me," said he. + +"Keep what thou hast stolen," replied Lamme; "but such gains are no +profit; thou wilt doubtless vomit it up." + +The truxman, climbing again to the masthead, cried out suddenly: + +"Lamme! Lamme! there is a thief going into the galley." + +"I have the key in my pouch," rejoined Lamme. + +Ulenspiegel then, taking Lamme apart, said to him: + +"My son, this great tranquillity of Amsterdam affrights me. They have +some hidden project." + +"I thought of that," said Lamme. "The water is freezing in the jugs in +the cupboard; the fowl are like wood; hoar frost whitens the sausages; +the butter is a stone, the oil is all white, the salt is dry as sand +in the sun." + +"'Tis a frost at hand," said Ulenspiegel. "They will come in great +numbers to attack us with artillery." + +Going on board the admiral's ship, he told his fear to the admiral, +who answered him: + +"The wind blows from England: there will be snow, but it will not +freeze: go back to your ship." + +And Ulenspiegel went away. + +That night heavy snow fell; but soon, the wind blowing out of Norway, +the sea froze and was like a floor. The admiral beheld the sight. + +Then fearing lest the Amsterdam folk might come over the ice to burn +the ships, he bade the soldiers make ready their skates, in case they +might have to fight around and away from the ships, and the gunners +of the iron guns and the brass to pile up heaps of cannon-balls by +the gun carriages, to load the pieces, and to keep the portfires +always well lighted. + +But the Amsterdam folk never came. + +And so it was for seven days. + +Towards evening on the eighth day Ulenspiegel gave orders that a good +feast should be served to the sailors and men at arms, to make them +a cuirass against the sharp wind that was blowing. + +But Lamme said: + +"There is nothing at all left now but biscuit and small beer." + +"Long live the Beggar!" said they. "'Twill be Lenten revelry until +the hour of battle." + +"Which will not strike soon," said Lamme. "The Amsterdammers will +come to burn us our ships, but not on this night. First they must +needs assemble themselves together around fires, and there drink +many a measure of wine mulled with Madeira sugar--may God give us +thereof--then having talked till midnight with patience, logic, and +full stoups, they will decide that there are grounds for coming to a +decision to-morrow as to whether they shall attack or not attack next +week. To-morrow, again drinking wine mulled with Madeira sugar--may +God give you thereof--they will decide anew with calm, patience, +and full stoups, that they must assemble together another day, to +the end that they may know if the ice can or cannot bear a great band +of men. And they will have it proved and essayed by men of learning, +who will lay down their conclusions upon parchment. Having received +which, they will know that the ice is half an ell in thickness, +and that it is solid enough to bear some hundreds of men with field +guns and artillery. Then assembling themselves together once more +to deliberate with calm, patience, and many stoups of mulled wine, +they will debate whether, by reason of the treasure seized by us +from the men of Lisbon, it is more suitable to assault or to burn +our ships. And being thus perplexed, but temporizers, they will +none the less decide that they must capture and not burn our ships, +notwithstanding the great wrong and hurt they would do us by that." + +"You say well," replied Ulenspiegel; "but see you not those fires +kindle up within the town, and folk bearing lanterns running busily +about there?" + +"'Tis because they are cold," said Lamme. + +And he added, sighing: + +"Everything is eaten. No more beef, pork, nor poultry; no more wine, +alas! nor good dobbel-bier, nothing but biscuit and small beer. Let +who loves me follow me!" + +"Whither goest thou?" said Ulenspiegel. "No man may go from the ship." + +"My son," said Lamme, "thou art captain and master as now. I will +never go from the ship if thou dost forbid it. Yet deign to consider +that we ate the last of our sausage on the day before yesterday: +and that in this stern weather the fire of the kitchen is the sun of +good companions. Who would not fain smell here the odour of sauces; +sniff up the fragrant bouquet of the divine drink made of those +joyous blossoms that are gaiety, laughter, and good will to every +man? And so, captain and trusty friend, I dare say this: I devour +my very soul, since I eat naught, I who, though loving but repose, +never slaying by my will, save it were a tender goose, a fat chicken, +a succulent turkey, follow thee amid fatigue and battles. See from +here the lights in that rich farm well furnished of big and little +cattle. Knowest thou who it is that dwelleth there? It is the boatman +of Frisia, that betrayed Messire Dandelot and furthermore brought to +Enckhuyse, while it was still in D'Alba's hand, eighteen poor lords +our friends, the which, of his doing, were beheaded on the Horse +Market at Brussels. This traitor, who hath to name Slosse, got from +the duke two thousand florins for his treachery. With the price of +that blood, a very Judas, he purchased the farm thou seest there, +and his great cattle and the fields around about, which bearing fruit +and increasing, I mean land and herds, make him rich as now." + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"The ashes beat upon my heart. Thou makest the hour of God to strike." + +"And," said Lamme, "the hour of food in like wise. Give me twenty lads, +valiant soldiers and sailors; I will go and seek out the traitor." + +"I will be their leader," said Ulenspiegel. "Who loves justice +let him follow me. Not all of you, dear friends and trusty; there +must be twenty only, else who would keep the ship? Draw lots by the +dice. Ye are twenty, come. The dice speak well. Put your skates on +your feet and glide towards the star of Venus burning bright above +the treachour's farm. + +"Guiding yourselves by the clear beam, come, ye twenty, skating and +sliding, axe on shoulder. + +"The wind whistles and drives white whirls of snow before it on the +ice. Come, brave men! + +"Ye sing not, nor speak; ye go straight on, in silence, towards the +star; your skates make the ice complain. + +"He that falls picks himself up at once. We touch the shore; no +human shape on the white snow, not a bird in the icy air. Take off +the skates from your feet. + +"Here we are on land; here are the meadows; put on your skates +again. We are round about the farm, holding our breath." + +Ulenspiegel knocks on the door; dogs bark. He knocks again, a window +opens and the baes says, sticking out his head: + +"Who art thou?" + +He sees but Ulenspiegel only: the others are concealed behind the keet, +which is the washhouse. + +Ulenspiegel makes answer: + +"Messire de Boussu bids thee betake thee to him at Amsterdam upon +the instant." + +"Where is thy safe-conduct?" said the man, coming down and opening +the door to him. + +"Here," replied Ulenspiegel, showing him the twenty Beggars who hurl +themselves behind him into the opening. + +Ulenspiegel then says to him: + +"Thou art Slosse, the traitor boatman that brought into an ambuscade +Messires Dandelot, de Battenberg, and other lords. Where is the price +of their blood?" + +The farmer replies, trembling: + +"Ye are the Beggars; grant me a pardon; I knew not what I did. I have +no money here within; I will give all I have." + +Lamme said: + +"It is black dark; give us candles of tallow or of wax." + +The baes replies: + +"The tallow candles are hanging there." + +A candle being lit, said one of the Beggars, in the hearthplace: + +"It is cold; let us kindle a fire. Here are proper faggots." + +And he pointed out upon a shelf flower pots in which withered and +dried plants might be seen. + +He took one by the stalk and shaking it with the pot, the pot fell, +scattering over the ground ducats, florins, and reals. + +"There is the treasure," said he, pointing to the other flower pots. + +In very deed, having emptied them, they found ten thousand florins. + +Seeing which, the baes cried out and wept. + +The farm servants, both men and maids, came to the cries, in shirts +and smocks. The men wishing to avenge their master, were bound. Soon +the shamefaced women, and especially the younger, hid behind the men. + +Then Lamme went forward and said: + +"Traitor farmer, where are the keys of the cellar, the stables, +the cowshed, and the sheep-pens?" + +"Infamous pillagers," said the baes, "ye shall be hanged until ye +are dead." + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"It is the hour of God; give up the keys!" + +"God will avenge me," said the baes, handing them over to him. + +Having emptied the farm, the Beggars departed skating towards the +ships, those light dwelling places of freedom. + +"Master cook am I," said Lamme, guiding them; "Master cook am I. Push +along the gallant sledges laden with wines and beer; drive on before +you, by their horns, or by anything, horses, oxen, swine, sheep, and +flocks singing their native songs. The pigeons coo in the baskets; +the capons, stuffed with crumb, are astonied in their wooden cages +wherein they cannot budge. I am master cook. The ice cries out beneath +the steel of the skates. We are at the ships. To-morrow there will be +kitchen music. Let down the pulleys; put girths on the horses, cows, +and oxen. 'Tis a noble sight to see them thus pendent by their bellies; +to-morrow we shall be hanging by the tongue to fat fricassees. The +crane hoists them up into the ship. These be carbonadoes. Throw me +them pell mell into the hold, hens, geese, ducks, capons. Who will +wring their necks? The master cook. The door is locked, I have the key +in my satchel. Praised be God in the kitchen! Long live the Beggar!" + +Then Ulenspiegel went on board the admiral's ship taking with him +Dierick Slosse and the other prisoners, moaning and weeping for terror +of the rope. + +Messire Worst came at the noise: perceiving Ulenspiegel--his companions +lit up by the red glare of the torches: + +"What would you of us?" said he. + +Ulenspiegel replied: + +"This night we took, in his farm, the traitor Dierick Slosse, that +brought the eighteen into an ambuscade. This is the man. The others +are innocent menservants and maidservants. Then handing him a satchel: + +"These florins," said he, "were flourishing in flower pots in the +traitor's house: there are ten thousand." + +Messire Worst said to them: + +"Ye did ill to leave your ship; but because of your good success +pardon shall be granted to you. Welcome be the prisoners and the +satchel of florins, and ye, gallant men, to whom I assign, after +the laws and customs of the sea, a third of the prize: the second +will be for the fleet, and another third for Monseigneur d'Orange; +string me up the traitor incontinent." + +The Beggars having obeyed, they opened afterward a hole in the ice +and threw the body of Dierick Slosse into it. + +Messire Worst then said: + +"Has grass sprung up around the ships that I hear hens cackling, +sheep bleating, cows and oxen lowing?" + +"These are the prisoners of our teeth," answered Ulenspiegel; +"they will pay ransom of fricassees. Messire Admiral shall have +the choicest." + +"As for these folk, the knaves and the maidservants, among whom are +sprightly and pretty women, I will fetch them back aboard my ship." + +Having done so, he addressed them as follows: + +"Goodfellows and goodwives, ye are here upon the best ship in the +world. Here we pass our time in jollity, feast, and revel without +end. If it please you to depart herefrom, pay ransom; if it please you +to stay here, ye shall live like us, toiling hard and eating well. As +for these dear women, I accord them, with the admiral's sanction, +full freedom of their persons, giving them to know that it is all one +to me whether they are fain to keep to their lovers that came upon +the ship with them or to make their choice of some stout Beggar here +present in order to bear him conjugal company." + +But the fair women were all faithful to their lovers, save only one, +who, smiling and looking upon Lamme, asked him if he would have her. + +"All thanks, dear one," said he, "but I am otherwise bound." + +"He is married, poor fellow," said the Beggars, seeing the girl vexed. + +But she, turning her back on Lamme, chose another who like him had +a good round belly and a good round face. + +That day and the following days there were great revels and feastings +on board with wines, fowl, and meats. And Ulenspiegel said: + +"Long live the Beggar! Blow, sharp wintry winds, we will warm the air +with our hot breath. Our heart is afire for freedom of conscience; +our stomachs on fire for the enemy's meats. Drink we wine, the milk +of men. Long live the Beggar!" + +Nele, too, drank from a great golden tankard, and ruddy in the breath +of the wind, played the shrill fife. And for all the cold, the Beggars +ate and drank rejoicing on the deck. + + + + + +XVIII + +Suddenly the whole fleet perceived upon the bank a black troop among +which torches shone and the gleaming of arms; then the torches were +put out, and a great darkness reigned. + +The admiral's orders being sent round, the alarm was given on the +ships, and all fires were quenched; sailors and soldiers lay flat on +the decks, armed with axes. The gallant gunners, linstock in hand, +watched by the guns loaded with bags of bullets and with chain +shot. As soon as the admiral and the captains should call out "A +hundred paces!"--which denoted the enemy's distance, they were to +fire from the bows, the poop, or the broadside, according to their +position in the ice. + +And Messire Worst's voice was heard saying: + +"Death to whoever speaks aloud!" + +And the captains said after him: + +"Death to whoever speaks aloud!" + +The night was moonless, filled with stars. + +"Dost thou hear?" said Ulenspiegel to Lamme, in a voice like a +whispering ghost. "Hearest thou the voices of the Amsterdammers, and +the steel of their skates ringing over the ice? They come swiftly. We +can hear them speak. They are saying 'The lazy Beggars are asleep. Ours +is the Lisbon treasure!' They are lighting torches. Seest thou their +ladders for the assault, their ugly faces, and the long line of their +band deployed for the attack? There are a thousand of them, and more." + +"A hundred paces!" cried Messire Worst. + +"A hundred paces!" cried the captains all. + +And there was a great noise like thunder, and lamentable outcries +upon the ice. + +"Eighty guns are thundering all together!" said Ulenspiegel. "They +are fleeing! Seest thou the torches vanishing away?" + +"Pursue them!" said Admiral Worst. + +"Pursue them!" said the captains. + +But the pursuit did not last long, the fugitives having a start of +a hundred paces, and the legs of frightened hares. + +And on the men that were crying out and dying on the ice were found +gold, jewels, and ropes for the Beggars. + +And after this victory the Beggars said one to another: "Als God +met ons is, wie tegen ons zal zijn. If God is with us, who shall be +against us? Long live the Beggar!" + +Now on the morning of the third day thereafter Messire Worst was +uneasy, and looked for a fresh attack. Lamme leaped upon the deck +and said to Ulenspiegel: + +"Fetch me to this admiral that would not listen to you when you +prophesied a frost." + +"Go without any fetching you?" said Ulenspiegel. + +Lamme departed, first locking the door of his galley. The admiral +was on deck, straining his eyes to see if he did not perceive some +movement from the city. + +Lamme came up to him. + +"Monseigneur Admiral," said he, "may a humble master cook give you +a rede?" + +"Speak, my son," said the admiral. + +"Monseigneur," said Lamme, "the water is thawing in the jugs; the fowl +grow soft again; the sausage is laying aside its mildew of hoar frost; +the butter becomes unctuous, the oil liquid; the salt is weeping. It +will rain before long, and we shall be saved, Monseigneur." + +"Who art thou?" asked Messire Worst. + +"I am Lamme Goedzak," he replied, "the master cook of the ship +La Briele. And if all those great savants that boast themselves +astronomers read in the stars as true as I read in my sauces, they +could tell us that to-night there will be a thaw with a great hubbub +of storm and hail: but the thaw will not last." + +And Lamme went back to Ulenspiegel, to whom he said, towards noon: + +"I am a prophet already; the sky grows black, the wind breathes +stormily: a warm rain is falling; already there is a foot of water +upon the ice." + +At night he cried, rejoicing: + +"The North Sea is swollen: 'tis the hour of the flood tide; the high +waves rolling into the Zuyderzee break up the ice, which splinters +in great fragments and leaps up on the ships; it flashes sparkles +of light; here comes the hail. The admiral bids us to withdraw from +before Amsterdam, and that with as much water as our greatest ship +can draw. Here we are in the harbour of Enckhuyse. The sea is freezing +afresh. I am a fine prophet, and it is a miracle from God." + +And Ulenspiegel said: + +"Drink we to Him, and blessings on Him." + +And the winter passed, and summer came. + + + + + +XIX + +In mid-August, when hens, fed full with grain, remain deaf to the +call of the cock trumpeting his loves, Ulenspiegel said to his sailors +and soldiers: + +"The duke of blood, being at Utrecht, dares there to issue a blessed +edict, promising among other gracious gifts, hunger, death, ruin +to the inhabitants of the Low Countries who might be unwilling to +submit. Everything that still remains whole, saith he, shall be +exterminate, and His Majesty the king will people the country with +strangers. Bite, duke, bite! The file breaketh the viper's tooth; +we are files. Long live the Beggar! + +"Alba, blood maketh thee drunk! Deemest thou that we would fear thy +threats or believe in thy clemency? Thy famous regiments whose praises +thou didst sing throughout the whole world, thy Invincibles, thy +Tels Quels, thy Immortals, remained seven months bombarding Haarlem, +a feeble city defended by mere citizens; like mortal common men they +danced in air the dance of the bursting mines. Mere citizens besmeared +them with tar; in the end they were glorious victors, slaughtering the +disarmed. Hearest thou, murderer, the hour of God that striketh now? + +"Haarlem hath lost her splendid defenders, her stones sweat blood. She +hath lost and expended in her siege twelve hundred and eighty thousand +florins. The bishop is reinstated there; with light hand and joyful +countenance he blesses the churches; Don Frederick is present at +these consecrations; the bishop washes for him those hands that in +God's eyes are red and he communicates in two kinds, which is not +permitted to the poor common herd. And the bells ring out and the +chime flings into the air its calm, harmonious notes; it is like the +singing of angels over a cemetery. An eye for an eye! A tooth for a +tooth! Long live the Beggar!" + + + + + +XX + +The Beggars were then at Flushing, where Nele caught fever. Forced +to leave the ship, she was lodged at the house of one Peeters, of +the Reformed faith, at Turven-Key. + +Ulenspiegel, deeply grieving, was yet rejoiced, thinking that in this +bed where she would doubtless be healed the Spanish bullets could +not reach her. + +And with Lamme he was always beside her, tending her well and loving +her better. And there they used to talk together. + +"Friend and true comrade," said Ulenspiegel one day, "dost thou not +know the news?" + +"Nay, my son," said Lamme. + +"Seest thou the flyboat that but late came to join our fleet, and +knowest thou who it is upon it that twangs the viol every day?" + +"Through the late colds," said Lamme, "I am as one deaf in both +ears. Why dost thou laugh, my son?" + +But Ulenspiegel, continuing: + +"Once," he said, "I heard her sing a Flemish lied and found her voice +was sweet." + +"Alas," said Lamme, "she, too, sang and played upon the viol." + +"Dost thou know the other news?" went on Ulenspiegel. + +"I know naught of it, my son," said Lamme. + +Ulenspiegel made answer: + +"We have our orders to drop down the Scheldt with our ships as far +as Antwerp, to find there the enemy ships to take or burn. As for +the men, no quarter. What thinkest thou of this, big paunch?" + +"Alas!" said Lamme, "shall we never hear aught else in this +distressful land save burnings, hangings, drownings, and other ways +of exterminating poor men? When then will blessed peace come, that +we can in quiet roast partridges, fricassee chickens, and make the +puddings sing in the pan among the eggs? I like the black ones best; +the white are too rich." + +"This sweet time will come," replied Ulenspiegel, "when in the +orchards of Flanders we see on apple, plum, pear trees and cherry +trees, a Spaniard hanged on every bough." + +"Ah!" said Lamme, "if only I could find my wife again, my so dear, +so sweet, beloved soft darling faithful wife! For know it well, +my son, cuckold I was not nor shall ever be; she was too sober and +calm in her ways for that; she eschewed the company of other men; +if she loved fair and fine array, it was but for woman's need. I was +her cook, her kitchenman, her scullion, I am glad to say it, why am +I it not once more? but I was her master as well and her husband." + +"Let us end this talk," said Ulenspiegel. "Hearest thou the admiral +calling: 'Up anchors!' and captains after him calling the same? We +must needs weigh soon." + +"Why dost thou go so quickly?" said Nele to Ulenspiegel. + +"We are going to the ships," said he. + +"Without me?" she said. + +"Aye," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Dost thou not think," said she, "how lying here I shall be distressed +for thee?" + +"Dearest," said Ulenspiegel, "my skin is made of iron." + +"Thou art mocking," said she. "I see nothing on thee but thy doublet, +which is cloth, not iron; beneath it is thy body, made of bone and +flesh, like my own. If they wound thee, who will heal thee? Art thou +to die all alone in the midst of the fighters? I shall go with thee." + +"Alas!" said he, "if the lances, balls, swords, axes, maces, sparing +me, fall on thy dear body, what shall I do--I, good for naught without +thee in this vile world?" + +But Nele said: + +"I would fain follow thee; there will be no peril; I will hide in +the wooden forts where the arquebusiers are." + +"If thou dost go, I stay, and they will hold thy friend Ulenspiegel +traitor and coward; but listen to my lay: + + + "My hair is steel, as casque set there; + An armour forged by Nature's hand + My skin the first is buff well tanned, + And steel the second skin I wear. + + "In vain to catch me in his snare + Death, grinning monster, takes his stand; + My skin the first is buff well tanned, + And steel the second skin I wear. + + "My standards 'Live' as motto bear, + Live ever in a sunshine land: + My skin the first is buff well tanned, + And steel the second skin I wear." + + +And he went off singing, not without having kissed the shaking mouth +and the lovely eyes of Nele sunk in fever, smiling and weeping all +together. + +The Beggars are at Antwerp; they take the ships of Alba even in the +very harbour. Entering the city, in broad day, they set free certain +prisoners, and make others prisoner to bring ransom. By force they +make the citizens rise, and some they constrain to follow them, +on pain of death, without uttering a word. + +Ulenspiegel said to Lamme: + +"The admiral's son is detained at the Écoutête's: we must deliver him." + +Going into the house of the Écoutête, they see the son they sought +in the company of a big monk with a noble belly, who was preaching +wrathfully to him, fain to make him return to the bosom of our Mother +Holy Church. But the lad would by no means consent thereto. He departed +with Ulenspiegel. Meanwhile Lamme, seizing the monk by the cowl, +made him walk before him in the streets of Antwerp, saying: + +"Thou art worth a hundred florins ransom: pack up and march on. Why +dost thou hang back? Hast thou lead in thy sandals? March, bag of lard, +victual press, soup belly!" + +"I march, Master Beggar, I march; but saving the respect due to +your arquebuse, you are as big in the belly as myself, a paunchy, +vasty fellow." + +Then Lamme, pushing him on: + +"Dost thou dare indeed, foul monk," said he, "to liken thy cloistral, +useless, lazy grease to my Fleming fat honourably sustained and fed +by toils, fatigues, and battles? Run, or I shall make thee go like +a dog, and that with the spur at the end of my boot-sole." + +But the monk could not run, and he was all out of breath, and Lamme +the same. And so they came to the ship. + + + + + +XXI + +Having taken Rammekens, Gertruydenberg, Alckmaer, the Beggars came +back to Flushing. + +Nele, now hale and cured, was waiting for Ulenspiegel at the harbour. + +"Thyl," said she, "my love, Thyl, art thou not wounded?" + +Ulenspiegel sang: + + + "My standards 'Live' as motto bear, + Live ever in a sunshine land; + My skin the first is buff well tanned + My second skin is forged of steel." + + +"Alas!" said Lamme, dragging a leg, "the bullets, grenades, chain +shot rain around him; he feels but the wind of them. Thou art without +doubt a spirit, Ulenspiegel, and thou, too, Nele, for I behold thee +ever brisk and young." + +"Why dost thou drag thy leg?" asked Nele of Lamme. + +"I am no spirit and never will be," said he. "And so I took an axe +stroke in the thigh--how round and white my wife's was!--see, I am +bleeding. Alas! why have I her not here to tend me!" + +But Nele, angry, replied: + +"What need hast thou of a wife forsworn?" + +"Say naught ill of her," replied Lamme. + +"Here," said Nele, "here is balsam; I was keeping it for Ulenspiegel; +put it upon the wound." + +Lamme, having dressed his wound, was joyous, for the balsam put an +end to the keen anguish; and they went up again to the ship all three. + +Seeing the monk who was walking to and fro there with his hands bound: + +"Who is that one?" she said. "I have seen him already and I think I +know him." + +"He is worth a hundred florins ransom," replied Lamme. + + + + + +XXII + +That day aboard the fleet there was a feast. In spite of the sharp +December wind, despite the rain, despite the snow, all the Beggars +of the fleet were on the decks of the ships. The silver crescents +gleamed lurid upon the bonnets of Zealand. + +And Ulenspiegel sang: + + + "Leyden is delivered: the bloody duke leaves the Low Countries: + Ring out, ye bells reëchoing: + Chimes, fling your songs into the air: + Clink, ye glasses and bottles, clink. + + "When the mastiff slinks away from blows, + His tail between his legs, + With bloodshot eye + He turns upon the cudgels. + + "And his torn jaw + Shivers and pants + He has gone, the bloody duke; + Clink bottle and glass. Long live the Beggar! + + "Fain would he bite himself, + The cudgels broke his teeth. + Hanging his puff-jowled head + He thinks of the days of murder and lust. + He is gone, the bloody duke: + Then beat upon the drum of glory, + Then beat upon the drum of war! + Long live the Beggar! + + "He cries to the devil: 'I will sell thee + My doggish soul for one hour of might.' + 'Thy soul it is no more to me,' + Said the devil, 'than a herring is.' + The teeth meet no longer now. + They must avoid hard morsels. + He hath gone, the bloody duke: + Long live the Beggar! + + "The little street dogs, crooklegged, one-eyed, full of mange, + That live or die on rubbish heaps. + Heave up their leg one by one + On him that killed for love of slaughter.-- + Long live the Beggar. + + "He loved not women, nor friends, + Nor gayness, nor sun, nor his master, + Nothing but Death, his betrothed, + Who broke his legs + As prelude to the betrothal, + For she loves not men hale and whole; + Beat upon the drum of joy, + Long live the Beggar! + + "And the little street dogs, crooklegged, + Limping, one-eyed, full of mange, + Heave their leg up once again + In a hot and salty fashion. + And with them greyhounds and mastiffs, + Dogs of Hungary, of Brabant, + Of Namur and Luxembourg, + Long live the Beggar! + + "And, miserably, with foaming mouth, + He goes to die beside his master, + Who fetches him a sounding kick, + For not biting enough. + "In hell he weddeth Death. + She calleth him 'My Duke'; + He calleth her 'My Inquisition.' + Long live the Beggar! + + "Ring out ye bells reëchoing: + Chimes, fling your songs into the air; + Clink, glasses and bottles, clink: + Long live the Beggar!" + + + + + + +BOOK V + + +I + +The monk that Lamme captured, perceiving that the Beggars did not +desire to have him dead, but paying ransom, began to lift up his nose +on board the ship: + +"See," quoth he, marching and wagging his head furiously, "see in what +a gulf of vile, black, and foul abominations I have fallen in setting +foot on this wooden tub. Were I not here, I whom the Lord anointed...." + +"With dog's grease?" asked the Beggars. + +"Dogs yourselves," replied the monk, continuing his discourse, "aye, +mangy dogs, strays, defiled, starveling, that have fled out of the rich +pathway of our Mother the Holy Roman Church to enter upon the parched +highway of your tattered Reformed Church. Aye! if I were not here in +your wooden shoe, your tub, long since would the Lord have swallowed +it up in the deepest gulfs of the sea, with you, your accursed arms, +your devils' cannon, your singing captain, your blasphemous crescents, +aye! down to the very deeps of the unfathomable bottom of Satan's +kingdom, where ye will not burn, nay, but where ye shall freeze, shall +shiver, shall die of cold throughout all long eternity. Yea! the God +of heaven will thus quench the fire of your impious hate against our +sweet Mother the Holy Roman Church, against messieurs the saints, +messeigneurs the bishops and the blessed edicts that were so mildly +and so ripely devised. Aye! and I should see you from the peak of +paradise, purple as beetroots or white as turnips so cold ye should +be. 'T sy! 't sy! 't sy! So, so, so, so be it." + +The sailors, soldiers, and cabin boys jeered at him, and shot dried +peas at him through peashooters. And he covered his face with his +hands against this artillery. + + + + + +II + +The duke of blood having quitted the country, Messires de Medina-Coeli +and De Requesens governed it with less cruelty. Then the States +General ruled them in the name of the king. + +Meanwhile, the folk of Zealand and of Holland, most lucky by reason +of the sea and their dykes, which are natural ramparts and fortresses +to them, opened free temples to the God of free men; and the murderous +Papists might sing their hymns beside them; and Monseigneur the Silent +of Orange refrained from founding a royal dynasty of stadtholders. + +The Belgian country was ravaged by the Walloons who were dissatisfied +by the peace of Ghent, which, men said, was to quench all hatreds. And +these Walloons, Pater-noster knechter, wearing upon their necks big +black rosaries, of which there were found two thousand at Spienne in +Hainaut, stealing oxen and horses by twelve hundred, two thousand at +a time, choosing out the best, carrying off women and girls by field +and by marsh; eating and never paying, these Walloons used to burn +within their farmsteads the armed peasants that tried to prevent the +fruit of their hard toil from being carried away. + +And the common folk would say to one another: "Don Juan is soon to +come with his Spaniards, and his Great Highness will come with his +Frenchmen, not Huguenots but Papists: and the Silent, desiring to +rule in peace over Holland, Zealand, Gueldre, Utrecht, Overyssel, +cedes in a secret treaty the lands of Belgium, for Monsieur d'Anjou +to make himself a king therein." + +Some of the commonalty were still confident. "The States," said they, +"have twenty thousand well-armed men, with plenty of cannon and good +cavalry. They will repel all foreign soldiery." + +But the thoughtful ones said: "The States have twenty thousand men +on paper, but not in the field; they lack cavalry and let their +horses be stolen within a league of their camps by the Pater-noster +knechten. They have no artillery, for while needing it at home, +they decided to send one hundred cannon with powder and shot to Don +Sebastian of Portugal; and no man knoweth whither has gone the two +million crowns we have paid on four occasions by way of taxes and +contributions; the citizens of Ghent and Brussels are arming, Ghent +for the Reformation, and Brussels even as Ghent; at Brussels the women +play the tambourine while their men toil at the ramparts. And Ghent +the Bold is sending to Brussels the Gay powder and cannon, the which +she lacketh for her defence against the Malcontents and the Spaniards." + +And man by man in the towns and the flat country, in 't plat landt, +sees that trust cannot be placed either in the lords or in many +another. "And we citizens and common folk are sore at heart for that +giving our money and ready to give our blood, we see that nothing goes +forward for the good of the country of our sires. And the Belgian land +is cowed and angered, having no trusty chiefs to give it the chance +of battle and to give it victory, through great effort of arms all +ready against the foes of liberty." + +And the thoughtful folk said among themselves: + +"In the Peace of Ghent, the lords of Holland and of Belgium swore +the abolishment of hate, mutual help between the Belgian Estates and +the Estates of the Netherlands; declared the edicts null and void, +the confiscations cancelled, peace between the two religions; promised +to raze each and every column, trophy, inscription, and effigy set up +by the Duke of Alba to our dishonour. But in the hearts of the chiefs +the hatreds are still afoot; the nobles and the clergy foment division +between the States of the Union; they receive money to pay soldiers, +they keep it for their own gluttony; fifteen thousand law suits for +the recovery of confiscated property are suspended; the Lutherans and +Romans unite against the Calvinists; lawful heirs cannot succeed in +driving the despoilers from out their inheritance; the duke's statue +is on the ground, but the image of the Inquisition is enshrined within +their hearts." + +And the poor commonalty and the woeful burgesses waited ever for the +valiant and trusty chief that would lead them to battle for freedom. + +And they said among themselves: "Where are the illustrious signatories +to the Compromise, all united, so they said, for the good of the +country? Why did these two-faced men make such a 'holy alliance,' +if they were to break it at once? Why meet together with so much +commotion, rouse the king's wrath, to dissolve like cowards and +traitors after? Five hundred as they were, great lords and low lords +banded like brothers, they saved us from the fury of Spain; but they +sacrificed the welfare of the land of Belgium to their own profit, +even as did d'Egmont and de Hoorn. + +"Alas!" said they, "see Don Juan come now, handsome and ambitious, +the enemy of Philip, but more the enemy of his country. He is coming +for the Pope and for himself. Nobles and clergy are traitors." + +And they began a semblance of war. Upon the walls along the main +streets and the little streets of Ghent and Brussels, nay even upon the +masts of the Beggars' ships, were then to be seen posted up the names +of traitors, army chiefs, and commanders of fortresses: the names +of the Count of Liederkerke, who did not defend his castle against +Don Juan; of the provost of Liége, who would have sold the city to +Don Juan; of Messieurs d'Aerschot, de Mansfeldt, de Berlaymont, de +Rassenghien; the name, of the Council of State, of Georges de Lalaing, +governor of Frisia, that of the army leader the seigneur de Rossignol, +an emissary of Don Juan, the go-between for murder between Philip and +Jaureguy, the clumsy assassin of the Prince of Orange; the name of the +Archbishop of Cambrai, who would have given the Spaniards entry into +the town; the names of the Jesuits of Antwerp, offering three casks +of gold to the States--that was two million florins--not to demolish +the castle and to hold it for Don Juan; of the Bishop of Liége; of +Roman preachers defaming and abusing the patriots; of the Bishop of +Utrecht, whom the citizens sent elsewhere to pasture on the grass of +treachery; the orders of begging friars, which intrigued and plotted +at Ghent in favour of Don Juan. The folk of Bois-le-Duc nailed on the +pillory the name of Peter the Carmelite, who helped by their bishop +and his clergy, undertook to hand over the town to Don Juan. + +At Douai they did not indeed hang the rector of the university in +effigy, a man no less Spaniardized; but upon the ships of the Beggars +were seen on the breast of mannikins hanging by their necks the +names of monks, abbots, and prelates, of eighteen hundred rich women +and girls of the nunnery of Malines who with their money sustained, +gilded, and beplumed the country's butchers. + +And on these mannikins, the pillories of traitors, were to be read +the names of the Marquis d'Harrault, the commander of the fortress +of Philippeville, wasting and squandering munitions of war and food +uselessly in order to give up the place to the enemy under pretence of +a lack of provisions; the name of Belver, who surrendered Lembourg, +when the town might have held out another eight months; that of the +President of the Council of Flanders; of the magistrate of Bruges, +of the magistrate of Malines, holding their towns for Don Juan, +of the members of the Exchequer Council of Guelderland, closed by +reason of treachery; of those of the Council of Brabant, of the +Chancellery of the Duchy; of the Privy Council and the Council of +Finance; of the Grand Bailiff and the Burgomaster of Menin; and of +the ill neighbours of Artois, who gave passage without let to two +thousand Frenchmen bent upon pillage. + +"Alas!" said the city folk among themselves, "here is the Duke of Anjou +with a footing in our country: he would fain be king among us; did ye +behold him entering into Mons, a little man, with fat hips, big nose, +a yellow phiz, a fleering mouth? 'Tis a great prince, loving loves +out of the common; he is called, that he may have in his name woman's +grace and man's force, Monseigneur monsieur Sa Grande Altesse d'Anjou." + +Ulenspiegel was pensive. And he sang: + + + "Blue are the skies, the clear bright skies; + Cover the banners all in crêpe, + With crêpe the handle of the sword; + Hide every gem; + Turn the mirrors over; + I sing the song of Death, + The traitors' song. + + "They have set foot upon the belly + And on the bosom of the proud lands + Of Brabant, Flanders, Hainault, + Antwerp, Artois, Luxembourg. + Nobles and clergy are traitors; + The bait of reward allures them. + I sing the traitors' song. + + "When the foe sacks everywhere, + When the Spaniard enters Antwerp, + Abbés, prelates, and army chiefs + Go through the streets of the town, + Clad in silk, bedecked with gold, + Their faces shining with good wine, + Displaying thus their infamy. + + "And through them, the Inquisition + Will wake again in high triumph, + And new Titelmans + Will arrest the deaf and dumb + For heresy. + I sing the traitors' song. + + "Signatories to the Compromise. + Coward signatories, + Be your names all accursed! + Where are ye in the hour of war? + Ye march like corbies + In the Spaniards' train. + Beat upon the drum of woe. + + "Land of Belgium, future years + Will condemn thee for that thou, + All in arms, didst let thyself be pillaged. + Future, hasten not; + See the traitors labouring: + There are twenty, a thousand, + Filling every post, + The great give them to the little. + + "They have plotted and agreed + That they might fetter all defence, + With discord and sloth, + Their treacherous devices. + Cover the mirrors with crêpe + And the hilts of the swords. + 'Tis the traitors' song. + + "They declare rebels + All Spaniards and malcontents; + Forbid to help them + With bread or shelter, + With lead or powder. + If any are taken to be hanged, + To be hanged, + They release them at once. + + "'Up!' say the men of Brussels, + 'Up!' say the men of Ghent + And the Belgian commons, + Poor men, they mean to crush you + Between the king + And the Pope who launches + The crusade against Flanders. + + "They come, the hirelings, + At the smell of blood; + Bands of dogs, + Of serpents and hyænas. + They hunger, they are athirst. + Poor land of our sires, + Ripe for ruin and death. + + "'Tis not Don Juan + That makes ready the task + For Farnèse, the Pope's minion. + But those thou didst load + With gold and distinctions, + Who confessed thy women + Thy girls and thy children! + + "They have flung thee to ground + And the Spaniard holds + The knife at thy throat; + They jeer at thee, + Feasting at Brussels + The coming of Orange. + + "When on the canal were seen + So many fireworks + Exploding their joy, + So many triumphing boats, + Paintings, tapestries, + They were playing, O Belgium, + The old tale of Joseph + Sold by his brothers." + + + + + +III + +Seeing that he was allowed to say what he pleased, the monk lifted +up his nose on board the ship; and the sailors and soldiers, to make +him the more ready and eager to preach, slandered Madame the Virgin, +Messieurs the Saints, and the pious practices of the Holy Roman Church. + +Then, becoming enraged, he vomited out a flood of abuse against them. + +"Aye!" he cried, "aye, here am I then in the den of the Beggars! Yea, +these are indeed those accursed devourers of the land! Yea. And +they say that the Inquisitor, that holy man, has burned too many of +them! Nay: there is still some of the filthy vermin left. Aye, on +these goodly and gallant ships of our Lord the King, once so clean +and well scoured, now can be seen the vermin of the Beggars, aye, +the stinking vermin. Aye, they are vermin, foul, stinking, infamous +vermin, the singing captain, the cook with his belly filled with +impiety, and all of them with their blasphemous crescents. When the +king will have his ships scoured with the suds of artillery, it will +need more than a hundred thousand florins' worth of powder and cannon +shot to clear away this filthy, beastly stinking infection. Aye, +ye were all born in Madame Lucifer's alcove, condemned to dwell +with Satanas between walls of vermin, under curtains of vermin, on +mattresses of vermin. Yea, and there it was that in their infamous +loves they begat and conceived the Beggars. Aye, and I spit upon you." + +At this word the Beggars said to him: + +"Why do we keep here this idle rascal, who is good for nothing but +to spew up insults? Let us hang him rather." + +And they set about doing it. + +The monk, seeing the rope ready, the ladder propped against the mast, +and that they were about to bind his hands, said woefully: + +"Have pity upon me, Messieurs the Beggars, it is the demon of anger +that speaks in my heart and not your humble captive, a poor monk that +hath but one only neck in this world: gracious lords, have mercy: +shut my mouth if ye will with a choke-pear; 'tis a bitter fruit, +but hang me not." + +But they, without giving heed, and despite his furious struggles, +were dragging him towards the ladder. He cried then so shrill and +loud that Lamme said to Ulenspiegel, who was with him and tending +him in the cook's galley: + +"My son! my son! they have stolen a pig from the stable, and they +are making off. Oh, the robbers! if I could but rise!" + +Ulenspiegel went up and saw nothing but the monk. And he, catching +sight of Ulenspiegel, fell upon his knees, with his hands outstretched +to him. + +"Messire Captain," said he, "captain of the valiant Beggars, +redoubtable on land and on sea, your soldiers are fain to hang me +because I have transgressed with my tongue: 'tis an unjust punishment, +Messire Captain, for so must all advocates, procurators, preachers, +and women, be given a hempen collar, and the world would be unpeopled; +Messire, save me from the rope. I shall pray for you; you will never +be damned: grant me pardon. The devil of prating carried me away and +made me speak without ceasing: 'tis a mighty misfortune. My poor bile +soured then and made me say a thousand things I never think. Grace, +Messire Captain, and you, Messieurs, intercede for me." + +Suddenly Lamme appeared on the deck in his shirt and said: + +"Captain and friends, 'twas not the pig but the monk that was +squealing; I am overjoyed. Ulenspiegel, my son, I have conceived a +high design with regard to His Paternity; give him his life, but leave +him not at liberty, else will he do some ill trick upon the ship: +rather have a cage built for him on the deck, a strait cage well +opened and airy, where he can do no more than sit down and sleep; +such a one as they make for capons; let me feed him, and let him be +hanged if he does not eat as much as I will." + +"Let him be hanged if he will not eat," said Ulenspiegel and the +Beggars. + +"What dost thou mean to do with me, big man?" said the monk. + +"Thou shalt see," replied Lamme. + +And Ulenspiegel did as Lamme wished, and the monk was put in a cage, +and all could contemplate him at their leisure. + +Lamme had gone down into his galley; Ulenspiegel followed and heard +him disputing with Nele: + +"I will not lie down," he was saying, "no, I will not lie down to +have others groping and fumbling with my sauces; no, I will not stay +in my bed, like a calf!" + +"Do not be angry, Lamme," said Nele, "or your wound will reopen and +you will die." + +"Well," said he, "I will die: I am tired of living without my wife. Is +it not enough for me to have lost her, without your trying furthermore +to prevent me, me the master cook of this place, from myself keeping +watch over the soup? Know ye not that there is a health inherent in +the steam of sauces and fricassees? They even nourish my spirit and +armour me against misfortunes." + +"Lamme," said Nele, "thou must needs hearken to our counsel and let +thyself be healed by us." + +"I am fain to let myself be healed," said Lamme: "but rather than +another should enter here, some ignorant good-for-naught, a frowsy, +ulcerous, blear-eyed, dropping nosed fellow, and come to king it as +master cook in my place, and paddle with his filthy fingers in my +sauces, I would rather kill him with my wooden ladle, which would be +iron for that task." + +"All the same," said Ulenspiegel, "thou must have an assistant; +thou art sick...." + +"An assistant for me," said Lamme, "for me, an assistant! Art thou then +stuffed with naught but ingratitude, as a sausage is full of minced +meat? An assistant, my son, and 'tis thou that dost say so to me, thy +friend, who have nourished thee so long time and so succulently! Now +will my wound reopen. False friend, who then would dress thy food +like me? What would ye do, ye two, if I were not there to give thee, +chief-captain, and thee, Nele, some dainty stew or other?" + +"We will work ourselves in the galley," said Ulenspiegel. + +"Cooking," said Lamme: "thou art good to eat of it, to smell it, to +sniff it up, but to perform it, no: poor friend and chief-captain, +saving your respect, I could make thee eat leather wallets cut up +into ribbons, and thou wouldst take it for toughish tripe: leave me, +my son, to be still the master cook of here, else I shall dry up, +like a lathstick." + +"Remain master cook then," said Ulenspiegel; "if thou dost not heal, +I will shut up the galley and we shall eat naught save biscuits." + +"Ah! my son," said Lamme, weeping for joy, "thou art good and kind +as Notre Dame herself." + + + + + +IV + +And in any case he appeared to be healing. + +Every Saturday the Beggars saw him measuring the monk's waist girth +with a long leather thong. + +The first Saturday he said: + +"Four feet." + +And measuring himself, he said: + +"Four feet and a half." + +And he seemed melancholy. + +But, speaking of the monk, on the eighth Saturday he was full of joy +and said: + +"Four feet and three quarters." + +And the monk, angry, when he took his measure, would say to him: + +"What do you want with me, big man?" + +But Lamme would put out his tongue at him without a word. + +And seven times a day, the sailors and soldiers saw him come with a +new dish, saying to the monk: + +"Here be rich beans in Flemish butter: didst thou eat the like in +thy monastery? Thou hast a goodly phiz; there is no starving on this +ship. Dost thou not feel cushions of fat coming on thy back? Before +long thou wilt have no need of a mattress to lie on." + +At the monk's second meal: + +"Here," he would say, "there are koeke-bakken after the Brussels +fashion; the French folk call them crêpes, for they wear crapes on +their kerchiefs for a sign of mourning: these are not black, but +fair of hue and golden browned in the oven: seest thou the butter +streaming off them? So shall it be with thy belly." + +"I have no hunger," the monk would say. + +"Thou must needs eat," was Lamme's answer. "Dost thou deem that +these are pancakes of buckwheat? 'tis pure wheat, my father, father +in grease, fine flour of the wheat, my father with the four chins: +already I see the fifth one coming, and my heart rejoices. Eat." + +"Leave me in peace, big man," said the monk. + +Lamme, becoming wrathful, would reply: + +"I am the lord and disposer of thy life: dost thou prefer the rope +to a good bowl of pea soup with sippets, such as I am about to fetch +thee presently?" + +And coming with the bowl: + +"Pea soup," quoth Lamme, "loves to be eaten in company: and therefore +I have just added thereto knoedels of Germany, goodly dumplings of +Corinth flour, cast all alive into boiling water: they are heavy, +but make plenteous fat. Eat all thou canst; the more thou dost eat +the greater my joy: do not feign disgust; breathe not so hard as +if thou hadst over much: eat. Is it not better to eat than to be +hanged? Let's see thy thigh! it thickens also; two feet seven inches +round about. Where is the ham that measureth as much?" + +An hour after he came back to the monk: + +"Come," said he, "here are nine pigeons: they have been slaughtered for +thee, these innocent beasts that wont to fly unfearing above the ships: +disdain them not; I have put into their bellies a ball of butter, +breadcrumbs, grated nutmeg, cloves pounded in a brass mortar shining +like thy skin: Master Sun rejoices to be able to admire himself in +a face as bright as thine, by reason of the grease, the good grease +I have made for thee." + +At the fifth meal he would fetch him a waterzoey. + +"What thinkest thou," quoth he, "of this hodgepodge of fish? The sea +carries thee and feedeth thee: she could do no more for the King's +Majesty. Aye, aye, I can see the fifth chin visibly a-coming a little +more on the left side than on the right side: we must fatten up this +side that is neglected, for God saith to us: 'Be just to each.' Where +would justice be, if not in an equitable distributing of grease? I will +bring thee for thy sixth repast mussels, those oysters of the poor, +such as they never served thee in thy convent: ignorant folk boil +them and eat them so; but that is but the prologue to the fricassee; +they must next be stripped of their shells, and their gentle bodies +put in a pan, then stewed delicately with celery, nutmeg, and cloves, +and bind the sauce with beer and flour, and serve them with buttered +toast. I have done them in this fashion for thee. Why do children +owe so great a gratitude to their fathers and mothers? Because they +have given them shelter and love, but beyond all things, food: thou +oughtest then to love me as thy father and thy mother, and even as +to them thou owest me the gratitude of thy stomach: roll not against +me then such savage eyes. + +"Presently I shall bring thee a soup of beer and flour, well sweetened +with cinnamon a-plenty. Knowest thou for why? That thy fat may +become translucent and shiver upon thy skin: such it is seen when +thou movest. Now here is the curfew ringing: sleep in peace, taking +no thought for the morrow, certain to find thy succulent repasts once +more, and thy friend Lamme to give them thee without fail." + +"Begone and leave me to pray to God," said the monk. + +"Pray," said Lamme, "pray with the cheerful music of snoring: beer +and sleep will make grease for thee, goodly grease. For my part, +I am glad of it." + +And Lamme went off to put himself in bed. + +And the sailors and soldiers would say to him: + +"Why, then, do you feed so richly this monk that wishes thee no good?" + +"Let me alone," said Lamme, "I am accomplishing a mighty work." + + + + + +V + +December was come, the month of long dark nights. Ulenspiegel sang: + + + "Monseigneur Sa Grande Altesse + Takes off his mask, + Eager to reign over the Belgian land. + The Estates Spaniardized + But not Angevined + Deal with the taxes. + Beat upon the drum + Of Anjou's thwarting. + + "They have within their power + Domains, excise, and funds, + Making of magistrates + And offices as well. + He hateth the Reformed + Monsieur Sa Grande Altesse, + An atheist in France + Oh! Anjou's thwarting. + + "For he would fain be king + By the sword and by force, + King absolute in all. + This Monseigneur, this Grande Altesse; + Fain would he foully seize + Many fair towns, yea, Antwerp, too; + Signorkes and pagaders rise early, + Oh! Anjou's thwarting! + + "'Tis not upon thee, France, + That this folk rushes, mad with rage; + These deadly weaponed blows + Fall not upon thy noble body; + And they are not thy offspring + Whose corpses in great heaps + Choke the Kip-Dorp Gate. + Oh! the thwarting of Anjou! + + "No, these are no sons of thine + The people fling from the ramparts. + 'Tis the High Highness of Anjou, + The passive libertine Anjou, + Living, France, on thy very blood, + And eager to drink ours; + But 'twixt the cup and lip.... + Oh! the thwarting of Anjou. + + "Monsieur Sa Grande Altesse. + In a defenceless town + Cried, 'Kill! kill! Long live the Mass!' + With his handsome minions, + With eyes wherein gleams + The shameful fire, impudent, restless, + Lust without love. + Oh! the thwarting of Anjou! + + "'Tis they that are smitten, not thee, poor folk, + On whom they weigh with tax, + Salt tax, poll tax, deflowering, + Contemning thee, making thee give + Thy corn, thy horses, thy wains, + Thou that art a father to them. + Oh! the thwarting of Anjou! + + "Thou that art a mother to them, + Suckling the misbehaviour + Of these parricides that sully + Thy name abroad, France, that dost feast + On the savours of their glory + When they add by savage feast. + Oh! the thwarting of Anjou! + + "A floret to thy soldier crown, + A province to thy territory. + Give the stupid cock 'Lust and battle' + Thy foot on the neck. + People of France, people of men, + The foot that treads them down! + And all the peoples will love thee + For the thwarting of Anjou." + + + + + +VI + +In May, when the peasant women of Flanders by night throw backwards +slowly over their heads three black beans to keep them from sickness +and death, Lamme's wound opened again: he had a high fever and asked +to be laid on the deck of the ship, over against the monk's cage. + +Ulenspiegel was very willing; but for fear lest his friend might fall +into the sea in a fever fit, he had him strongly fastened down upon +his bed. + +In his interludes of reason, Lamme incessantly enjoined on them not +to forget the monk: and he thrust out his tongue at him. + +And the monk said: + +"Thou dost insult me, big man." + +"Nay," replied Lamme, "I am fattening thee." + +The wind blew soft, the sun shone warm; Lamme in his fever was securely +tied on his bed, so that in his witless spasms of leaping he might +not jump over the side of the ship; and deeming himself still in his +galley, he said: + +"This fire is bright to-day. Soon it will rain ortolans. Wife, spread +snares in our orchard. Thou art lovely thus, with thy sleeves rolled +up to the elbow. Thy arm is white, I would fain bite it, bite with +my lips that are teeth of live velvet. Whose is this lovely flesh, +whose those lovely breasts showing beneath thy white jacket of +fine linen? Mine, my sweet treasure. Who will make the fricassee of +cock's comb and chickens' rumps? Not too much nutmeg, it brings on +fever. White sauce, thyme, and laurel: where are the yolks of eggs?" + +Then making a sign for Ulenspiegel to bring his ear close to his mouth, +he said to him in a low voice: + +"Presently it will rain venison; I shall keep thee four ortolans more +than the others. Thou art the captain; betray me not." + +Then hearing the sea beat softly on the ship's side: + +"The soup is boiling, my son; the soup is boiling, but how slow is +this fire to heat up!" + +As soon as he recovered his wits, he said, speaking of the monk: + +"Where is he? doth he grow in grease?" + +Seeing him then, he put out his tongue at him and said: + +"The great work is being accomplished; I am content." + +One day he asked to have the great scales set up on the deck, and +to be set in it, he on one pan, the monk on the other: scarcely +was the monk in place than Lamme soared like an arrow in the air, +and rejoicing, he said, looking at him: + +"He weighs it down! he weighs it down! I am a weightless spirit beside +him: I will fly in the air like a bird. I have my idea: take him +away that I may come down; now put on the weights. Put him back. What +does he weigh? Three hundred and fourteen pounds. And I? Two hundred +and twenty." + + + + + +VII + +The night of the day after this, when the dawn was rising gray, +Ulenspiegel was awakened by Lamme crying: + +"Ulenspiegel! Ulenspiegel! help, rescue, keep her from going away. Cut +the cords! cut the cords!" + +Ulenspiegel came up on the deck and said: + +"Why dost thou call out? I see naught." + +"'Tis she," replied Lamme, "she, my wife, there, in that skiff rounding +that flyboat; aye, that flyboat whence there came the sound of singing +and the viol strings." + +Nele had come up on deck. + +"Cut the cords, my dear," said Lamme. "Seest thou not that my wound is +cured, her soft hand hath healed it; she, aye, she. Dost thou see her +standing up in the skiff? Dost thou hear? she is singing still. Come, +my beloved, come; flee not from thy poor Lamme, who was so lonely in +the world without thee." + +Nele took his hand, touched his face. + +"He hath the fever still," she said. + +"Cut the cords," said Lamme; "give me a skiff! I am alive, I am happy, +I am healed!" + +Ulenspiegel cut the cords: Lamme, leaping from his bed in breeches +of white linen, without a doublet, set to work himself to lower away +the skiff. + +"See him," said Nele to Ulenspiegel: "his hands tremble with impatience +as they work." + +The skiff ready, Ulenspiegel, Nele, and Lamme went down into it +with an oarsman, and set off towards the flyboat anchored far off in +the harbour. + +"See the goodly flyboat," said Lamme, helping the oarsman. + +On the fresh morning sky, coloured like crystal gilded by the rays +of the young sun, the flyboat showed up her hull and her elegant masts. + +While Lamme rowed: + +"Tell us now how didst find her again," asked Ulenspiegel. + +Lamme replied, speaking in jerks: + +"I was sleeping, already much better. All at once a dull noise. A +piece of wood struck the ship. A skiff. A sailor hurries up at the +noise: 'Who goes there?' A soft voice, her voice, my son, her voice, +her sweet voice: 'Friends.' Then a deeper voice: 'Long live the +Beggar: the commander of the flyboat Johannah to speak with Lamme +Goedzak.' The sailor drops the ladder. The moon was shining. I see a +man's shape coming up on to the deck: strong hips, round knees, wide +pelvis; I say to myself: 'a pretended man': I feel as it might be +a rose opening and touching my cheek: her mouth, my son, and I hear +her saying to me, she--dost thou follow?--herself, covering me with +kisses and with tears: 'twas liquid perfumed fire falling on my body: +'I know I am sinning; but I love thee, my husband! I have sworn before +God: I am breaking my oath, my man, my poor man! I have come often +without daring to come nigh thee; the sailor at last allowed me: +I dressed thy wound, thou knewest me not; but I have healed thee; +be not wroth, my man! I have followed thee, but I am afraid; he is +upon this ship, let me go; if he saw me he would curse me and I should +burn in the everlasting fire!' She kissed me again, weeping and happy, +and went away in spite of me, despite my tears: thou hadst bound me +hand and foot, my son, but now...." + +And saying this he bent mightily to his oars: 'twas like the taut +string of a bow that launches the arrow forthright. + +As they approached the flyboat, Lamme said: + +"There she is, upon the deck, playing the viol, my darling wife with +her hair of golden brown, with the brown eyes, the cheeks still fresh +and young, the bare round arms, the white hands. Leap onward, skiff, +over the sea!" + +The captain of the flyboat, seeing the skiff coming up and Lamme +rowing like a demon, had a ladder dropped from the deck. When Lamme +was by it, he leapt from the skiff on to the ladder at the risk of +tumbling into the sea, thrusting the skiff three fathoms behind him +and more; and climbing like a cat up to the deck, ran to his wife, +who swooning with joy, kissed and embraced him, saying: + +"Lamme! come not to take me: I have sworn to God, but I love +thee. Ah! dear husband!" + +Nele cried out: + +"It is Calleken Huybrechts, the pretty Calleken." + +"'Tis I," said she, "but alas! the hour of noon has gone by for +my beauty." + +And she seemed wretched. + +"What hast thou done?" said Lamme: "what became of thee? Why didst +thou leave me? Why wilt thou leave me now?" + +"Listen," said she, "and be not wroth; I will tell thee: knowing +that all monks are men of God I confided in one of them: his name +was Broer Cornelis Adriaensen." + +Hearing which Lamme: + +"What!" said he, "that wicked hypocrite who had a sewer mouth, full +of filth and dirt, and spoke of naught but spilling the blood of the +Reformed; what! that praiser of the Inquisition and the edicts! Ah, +it was a blackguardly good-for-naught rascal!" + +Calleken said: + +"Do not insult the man of God." + +"The man of God!" said Lamme, "I know him; 'twas a man of filth +and foulness. Wretched fate! my beautiful Calleken fallen into the +hands of this lascivious monk! Come not near me, I will kill thee: +and I that loved her so much! my poor deceived heart that was all +her own! What dost thou come hither for? Why didst thou tend me? thou +shouldst have left me to die. Begone, thou; I would see thee no more, +begone, or I fling thee in the sea. My knife!..." + +She, embracing him: + +"Lamme," said she, "my husband, weep not: I am not what thou deemest: +I have not belonged to this monk." + +"Thou liest," said Lamme, weeping and grinding his teeth both at the +same time. "Ah! I was never jealous, and now I am. Sad passion, anger, +and love, the need to slay and embrace. Begone, thou! no, stay! I +was so good to her! Murder is master in me. My knife! Oh! this burns, +devours, gnaws; thou laughest at me.... + +She embraced him weeping, gentle and submissive. + +"Aye," said he, "I am a fool in my anger: aye, thou didst guard +my honour, that honour a man is mad enough to hang on a woman's +skirts. So it was for that thou wast wont to pick out thy sweetest +smiles to ask me leave to go to the sermon with thy she-friends." + +"Let me speak," said the woman, embracing him. "May I die on the +instant if I deceive thee!" + +"Die, then," said Lamme, "for thou art going to lie." + +"Listen to me," said she. + +"Speak or speak not," said he, "'tis all one to me." + +"Broer Adriaensen," she said, "passed for a good preacher; I went to +hear him: he set the ecclesiastic and celibate estate above all others +as being more proper to win paradise for the faithful. His eloquence +was great and fiery: several wives of good repute, of whom I was one, +and in especial a goodly number of widow women and girls, had their +minds troubled by it. The estate of celibacy being so perfect, he +enjoined upon us to dwell therein: we swore thenceforward no longer +to be spouses...." + +"Save to him, no doubt," said Lamme, weeping. + +"Be silent," said she, angry. + +"Go to," said he, "finish: thou hast fetched me a bitter blow; +I shall never be whole of it." + +"Yea," said she, "my man, when I shall be always with thee." + +And she would fain have embraced and kissed him, but he repulsed her. + +"The widows," said she, "swore between his hands never to marry again." + +And Lamme listened to her, lost in his jealous musing. + +Calleken, shamefaced, went on: + +"He desired," she said, "to have no penitents save young and beauteous +wives or maids: the others he sent back to their own curés. He +established an order of devotees, making us all swear to have no other +confessors but himself only: I swore it; my companions, more initiate +than I, asked me if I was fain to be instructed in the Holy Discipline +and the Holy Penance: I wished it. There was at Bruges, at the Stone +Cutters' Quay, by the convent of the Franciscan friars, a house dwelt +in by a woman called Calle de Najage, who gave girls instruction +and lodging, for a gold carolus by the month: Broer Cornelis could +enter her house without being seen to leave his cloister. It was to +this house I went, into a little chamber where he was alone: there +he ordered me to tell him all my natural and carnal inclinations: at +first I dared not; but in the end I gave way, wept, and told him all." + +"Alas!" wept Lamme, "and this swine monk thus received thy sweet +confession." + +"He still told me, and this is true, my husband, that above earthly +modesty is a celestial modesty, through which we make unto God +the sacrifice of our earthly shames, and that thus we avow to our +confessors all our secret desires, and are then worthy to receive +the Holy Discipline and the Holy Penance. + +"In the end he made me strip naked before him, to receive upon my body, +which had sinned, the too-light chastisement of my faults. One day +he made me unclothe myself; I fainted when I must let my body linen +fall: he revived me with salts and flasks.--''Tis well for this time, +daughter,' said he, 'come back in two days' time and bring a rod.' That +went on for long without ever ... I swear it before God and all his +saints ... my man ... understand me ... look at me ... see if I lie: +I remained pure and faithful ... I loved thee." + +"Poor sweet body," said Lamme, "O stain upon thy marriage robe!" + +"Lamme," said she, "he spoke in the name of God and of our Holy +Mother Church; was I not to listen to him? I loved thee always, +but I had sworn to the Virgin, by dreadful oaths, to deny myself to +thee: yet I was weak, weak to thee. Dost thou recall the hostelry +of Bruges? I was at the house of Calle de Najage thou didst pass by +upon thine ass with Ulenspiegel. I followed thee; I had a goodly sum +of money; I spent nothing ever for myself. I saw thee an hungered: +my heart pulled towards thee, I had pity and love." + +"Where is he now?" asked Ulenspiegel. + +Calleken replied: + +"After an inquiry ordered by the magistrate and an investigation +of evil men, Broer Andriaensen must needs leave Bruges, and took +refuge in Antwerp. They told me on the flyboat that my man had made +him prisoner." + +"What!" said Lamme, "this monk I am fattening is...." + +"He," answered Calleken, hiding her face. + +"A hatchet! a hatchet!" said Lamme, "let me kill him, let me auction +his fat, the lascivious he-goat! Quick, let us back to the ship. The +skiff! where is the skiff?" + +Nele said to him: + +"'Tis a foul cruelty to kill or to wound a prisoner." + +"Thou lookest on me with a cruel eye; wouldst thou prevent me?" said +he. + +"Aye," said she. + +"Well, then," said Lamme, "I will do him no hurt: let me only fetch +him out from his cage. The skiff! where is the skiff?" + +They climbed down into it speedily; Lamme made haste to row, weeping +the while. + +"Thou art sad, husband?" said Calleken to him. + +"Nay," said he, "I am glad: doubtless thou wilt never leave me again?" + +"Never!" said she. + +"Thou wast pure and faithful, thou sayest; but, sweet, my darling, +beloved Calleken, I lived but to find thee, and lo, now, thanks to this +monk, there will be poison in all our happiness, poison of jealousy +... as soon as I am sad or but only tired, I shall see thee naked, +submitting thy lovely body to that infamous flagellation. The spring +time of our loves was mine, but the summer was for him; the autumn +will be gray, soon will come the winter to bury my faithful love." + +"Thou art weeping?" said she. + +"Aye," quoth he, "what is past can never come again." + +Then Nele said: + +"If Calleken was faithful, she ought to leave thee alone for thy +ill words." + +"He knoweth not how I love him," said Calleken. + +"Dost thou say true?" cried Lamme; "come, darling; come, my wife; +there is no longer gray autumn nor winter that diggeth graves." + +And he seemed cheerful, and they came to the ship. + +Ulenspiegel gave Lamme the keys of the cage, and he opened it; he +tried to pull the monk out on the deck by the ear, but he could not; +he tried to fetch him out sideways, he could not do that, either. + +"We must break all; the capon is fattened," said he. + +The monk then came forth, rolling about big daunted eyes, holding +his paunch with both hands, and fell down on his seat because of a +great wave that passed beneath the ship. + +And Lamme, speaking to the monk: + +"Wilt thou still say, 'big man'? Thou art bigger than I. Who made +thee seven meals a day? I. Whence cometh it, bawler, that now thou +art quieter, milder towards the poor Beggars?" + +And continuing further: + +"If thou dost stay another year encaged, thou wilt not be able to +come out again: thy cheeks quiver like pork jelly when thou dost move: +thou criest no longer already; soon thou wilt not be able to breathe." + +"Hold thy peace, big man," said the monk. + +"Big man," said Lamme, becoming furious; "I am Lamme Goedzak, thou art +Broer Dikzak, Vetzak, Leugenzak, Slokkenzak, Wulpszak, the friar big +sack, grease sack, lying sack, cram sack, lust sack: thou hast four +fingers deep of fat under thy skin, thy eyes can be seen no longer: +Ulenspiegel and I would both lodge comfortably within the cathedral +of thy belly! Thou didst call me big man; wilt thou have a mirror +to study thy Bellyness? 'Tis I that fed thee, thou monument of flesh +and bone. I have sworn that thou wouldst spit grease, sweat grease, +and leave behind thee spots of grease like a candle melting in the +sun. They say that apoplexy cometh with the seventh chin; thou hast +five and a half by now." + +Then to the Beggars: + +"Look at this lecher! 'tis Broer Cornelis Adriaensen Rascalsen, +of Bruges: there he preached the new modesty. His grease is his +punishment; his grease is my work. Hear now, all ye sailors and +soldiers: I am about to leave you, to leave thee, thee, Ulenspiegel, +to leave thee, too, thee, little Nele, to go to Flushing where I have +property, to live there with my poor wife that I have found again. Of +yore ye took an oath to grant me all that I might ask of you...." + +"On the word of the Beggars," said they. + +"Then," said Lamme, "look on this lecher, this Broer Adriaensen +Rascalsen of Bruges; I swore to make him die of fatness like a hog; +construct a wider cage, force him to take twelve meals a day instead of +seven; give him a rich and sugared diet: he is like an ox already; see +that he be like an elephant, and ye will soon see him fill the cage." + +"We shall fatten him," said they. + +"And now," went on Lamme, speaking to the monk, "I bid thee also adieu, +rascal, thee whom I cause to be fed monkishly instead of having thee +hanged: grow in grease and in apoplexy." + +Then taking his wife Calleken in his arms: + +"Look, growl or bellow, I take her from thee; thou shalt whip her +never more." + +But the monk, falling in a fury and speaking to Calleken: + +"Thou art going away then, carnal woman, to the bed of lust! Aye, +thou goest without pity for the poor martyr for the word of God, that +taught thee the holy, sweet, celestial discipline. Be accursed! May no +priest give thee absolution; may earth be burning underneath thy feet; +may sugar be salt to thee; may beef be as dead dog to thee; may thy +bread be ashes; may the sun be ice to thee, and the snow hell fire; +may thy child-bearing be accursed; may thy children be detestable; +may they have the bodies of apes, pigs' heads greater than their +bellies; mayst thou suffer, weep, moan in this world and in the other, +in the hell that awaits thee, the hell of sulphur and bitumen kindled +for females such as thou art. Thou didst refuse my fatherly love: +be thrice accursed by the Blessed Trinity, seven times accursed by +the candlesticks of the Ark; may confession be to thee damnation; +may the Host to thee be mortal poison, and may every paving stone in +the church rise up to crush thee and say to thee: 'This woman is the +fornicator, this woman is accursed, this woman is damned'." + +And Lamme, rejoicing, jumping for joy, said: + +"She was faithful; he said it, the monk: hurrah for Calleken!" + +But she, weeping and trembling: + +"Remove it," she said, "my man, remove this curse from over me. I +see hell! Remove the curse!" + +"Take off the curse," said Lamme. + +"I will not, big man," rejoined the monk. + +And the woman remained all pale and swooning, and on her knees with +hands folded she besought Broer Adriaensen. + +And Lamme said to the monk: + +"Take off thy curse, else thou shalt hang, and if the rope breaks +because of thy weight, thou shalt be hanged again and again until +death ensues." + +"Hanged and hanged again," said the Beggars. + +"Then," said the monk to Calleken, "go, wanton, go with this big man; +go, I lift my curse from thee, but God and all the saints will have +their eyes upon thee; go with this big man, go." + +And he held his peace, sweating and puffing. + +Suddenly Lamme cried out: + +"He puffs, he puffs! I see the sixth chin; at the seventh 'tis +apoplexy! And now," said he to the Beggars: + +"I commend you to God, thou Ulenspiegel; to God, you all my good +friends, to God, thou Nele; to God the holy inspirer of liberty: +I can do no more for her cause." + +Then having given all and taken from all the kiss of parting, he said +to his wife Calleken: + +"Come, it is the hour for lawful loves." + +While the boat was slipping over the water, carrying off Lamme and +his beloved, he in the stern, soldiers, sailors, and cabin boys all +called out, waving their caps: "Adieu, brother; adieu, Lamme; adieu, +brother, brother and friend." + +And Nele said to Ulenspiegel, taking a tear from out the corner of +his eye with her dainty finger: + +"Thou art sad, my beloved?" + +"He was a good fellow," said he. + +"Ah!" said she, "this war will never end; shall we be forced to live +forever in blood and in tears?" + +"Let us seek out the Seven," said Ulenspiegel: "it draws nigh, the +hour of deliverance." + +Following Lamme's behest, the Beggars fattened the monk in his +cage. When he was set at liberty, in consideration of ransom, +he weighed three hundred and seventeen pounds and five ounces, +Flemish weight. + +And he died prior of his convent. + + + + + +VIII + +At this time the States General assembled at The Hague to pass +judgment upon Philip, King of Spain, Count of Flanders, of Holland, +etc., according to the charters and privileges consented to by him. + +And the clerk of the court spake as follows: + +"It is to all men of common knowledge that a prince of any land so +ever is established by God as sovereign and chief of his subjects that +he may defend them and preserve them from all wrong, oppression, and +violence, even as a shepherd is ordained for the defence and keeping of +his sheep. It is in like manner known that subjects are not created by +God for the use of the prince, to be obedient unto him in whatsoever +he commandeth, be it seemly or unseemly, just or unjust, nor to serve +in the manner of slaves. But the prince is a prince for his subjects, +without which he could not be, to govern them in accordance with right +and reason, to maintain and love them as a father doth his children, +as a shepherd doth his sheep, hazarding his life to defend them; if he +doth not so, he must needs be held for no prince but a tyrant. Philip +the king hath launched upon us, by calling up of soldiers, by bulls of +crusade and of excommunication, four armies of foreigners. What shall +be his punishment, by virtue of the laws and customs of the country?" + +"Let him be deposed," replied the States. + +"Philip hath played false to his oaths: he hath forgot the services +we rendered him, the victories we aided him to win. Seeing that we +were rich, he left us to be pillaged and put to ransom by the Council +of Spain." + +"Let him be deposed as ungrateful and a robber," replied the States. + +"Philip," the clerk went on, "placed in the most powerful cities +of these countries new bishops, endowing and presenting them with +the goods of the greatest abbeys; and by the help of these men he +introduced the Spanish Inquisition." + +"Let him be deposed as a murderer, the squanderer of others' wealth," +replied the States. + +"The nobles of these countries, seeing this tyranny, presented in the +year 1566 a request wherein they entreated the sovereign to moderate +the rigour of his edicts and in especial those which concerned the +Inquisition: he consistently refused this." + +"Let him be deposed as a tiger abandoned and obstinate in his cruelty," +replied the States. + +The clerk continued: + +"Philip is strongly suspected of having, through the intermediary +of his Council of Spain, secretly inspired the image-breakings and +the sacking of churches, in order to be able, under the pretext +of suppressing crime and disorder, to send foreign armies to march +against us." + +"Let him be deposed as an instrument of death," replied the States. + +"At Antwerp Philip caused the inhabitants to be massacred, ruined +the Flemish merchants and the foreign merchants. He and his Council +of Spain gave a certain Rhoda, a notorious scoundrel, the right by +secret instructions to declare himself the head of the pillagers, to +harvest the booty, to employ his name, the name of Philip the king, to +counterfeit his seals and counterseals, and to comport himself at his +governor and his lieutenant. The royal letters, which were intercepted +and are in our hands, prove this to be the fact. All took place with +his consent and after deliberation in the Council of Spain. Read his +letters; therein he praises the feat of Antwerp, acknowledges that he +hath received a signal service, promises to reward it, enjoins Rhoda +and the other Spaniards to continue to walk in this path of glory." + +"Let him be deposed as a robber, pillager, and murderer," replied +the States. + +"We ask for nothing more than the maintenance of our privileges, a +sincere and assured peace, a moderate freedom, especially with regard +to religion which principally concerns God and man's own conscience: +we had nothing from Philip but deceitful treaties serving to sow +discord between the provinces, to subdue them one after another and +to treat them in the same way as the Indies, by pillage, confiscation, +executions, and the Inquisition." + +"Let him be deposed as an assassin premeditating the murder of a +country," replied the States. + +"He made the country bleed through the Duke of Alba and his catchpolls, +through Medina-Coeli, Requesens, the traitors of the Councils of State +and of the provinces; he enjoined a vigorous and bloody severity upon +Don Juan and Alexander Farnèse, Prince of Parma (as may be seen by his +intercepted letters); he set the ban of the empire upon Monseigneur +d'Orange, paid the hire of three assassins before paying a fourth; +erected castles and fortresses among us; had men burned alive, women +and girls buried alive; inherited their goods, strangled Montigny, +de Berghes, and other lords, despite his kingly word; killed his +son Carlos; poisoned the Prince of Ascoly, whom he made espouse +Doña Eufrasia, with child by himself, in order to enrich with his +estates the bastard that was to come; launched an edict against us +that declared us all traitors, that had forfeited our bodies and +our wealth, and committed the crime unheard of in a Christian land, +of confounding innocent and guilty." + +"By all laws, rights, and privileges, let him be deposed," replied +the States. + +And the king's seals were broken. + +And the sun shown on land and sea, gilding the ripened ears, mellowing +the grape, casting pearls on every wave, the adornment of the bride +of the Netherlands, Liberty. + +Then the Prince of Orange, being at Delft, was stricken down by +a fourth assassin, with three bullets in his breast. And he died, +following his motto: "Calm amid the wild waves." + +His enemies said of him that to thwart King Philip, and not hoping +to rule over the Southern Low Countries, which were Catholic, he had +offered them by a secret treaty to Monseigneur Monsieur Sa Grande +Altesse of Anjou. But Anjou was not born to beget the babe Belgium +upon Liberty, who loveth not perverse amours. + +And Ulenspiegel left the fleet with Nele. + +And the fatherland Belgium groaned beneath the yoke, fast bound +by traitors. + + + + + +IX + +They were then in the month of the ripened grain; the air was heavy, +the wind was warm: the reapers, both men and women, could gather in +at their ease in the fields, under the free sky, upon a free soil, +the corn they had sown. + +Frisia, Drenthe, Overyssel, Guelderland, North Brabant, North and South +Holland, Walcheren, North and South Beveland; Duiveland and Schouwen +that make up Zealand; all the shores of the North Sea from Knokke to +Helder; the islands of Texel, Vieland, Ameland, Schiermonk-Oog, were, +from the western Scheldt to the eastern Ems, about to be freed from the +Spanish yoke; Maurice, the son of the Silent, was continuing the war. + +Ulenspiegel and Nele, having their youth, their strength, and their +beauty, for the love and the spirit of Flanders grow never old, were +living snugly in the tower of Neere, waiting till, after many hard +trials, they could come and breathe the air of freedom upon Belgium +the fatherland. + +Ulenspiegel had asked to be appointed commandant and warden of the +tower, saying that having an eagle's eyes and a hare's ears, he could +see if the Spaniard would not attempt to show himself once more in +the delivered countries, and that in that case he would sound wacharm, +which is the alarm in the speech of Flanders. + +The magistrate did as Ulenspiegel wished: because of his good service +he was given a florin a day, two quarts of beer, beans, cheese, +biscuit, and three pounds of beef every week. + +Thus Ulenspiegel and Nele lived very well by themselves two: seeing +from afar, with rejoicing, the free isles of Zealand: near at hand, +woods, castles, fortresses, and the armed ships of the Beggars guarding +the coasts. + +At night they often climbed up on the tower, and there, sitting on the +platform, they talked of hard battles and goodly loves past and to +come. Thence they beheld the sea, which in this time of heat surged +and broke upon the shore in luminous waves, casting them upon the +islands like phantoms of fire. And Nele was affrighted to see the +jack o'lanterns in the polders, for, said she, they are the souls +of the poor dead. And all these places had been battle-fields. The +will o' the wisps swept out from the polders, ran along the dykes, +then came back into the polders as though they had no mind to abandon +the bodies whence they had issued. + +One night Nele said to Ulenspiegel: + +"See how thick they are in Duiveland and how high they fly: 'tis by the +isle of birds I see the most. Wilt thou come thither, Thyl? We shall +take the balsam that discloseth things hid from the eyes of mortals." + +Ulenspiegel answered her: + +"If it is the same balsam that wafted me to that great sabbath, +I trow in it no more than a hollow dream." + +"Thou must not," said Nele, "deny the potency of charms. Come, +Ulenspiegel." + +"I shall come." + +The next day he asked the magistrate that a clear-sighted and trusty +soldier should take his place, to guard the tower and keep watch over +the country. + +And with Nele he went his way to the isle of birds. + +Going across fields and dykes, they beheld little green lush islets, +between which ran the sea water; and upon the slopes of green sward +that came down to the very dunes an immense concourse of plovers, of +sea mews and sea swallows, that stayed motionless and made the islets +all white with their bodies; overhead circled and flew thousands +of the same. The ground was full of nests: Ulenspiegel, stooping +to pick up an egg upon the way, saw a sea mew come flitting to him, +uttering a cry. At his appeal there came more than a hundred others, +crying with grief and fear, hovering above Ulenspiegel and over the +neighbour nests, but they did not venture to come close to him. + +"Ulenspiegel," said Nele, "these birds beg grace for their eggs." + +Then falling a-tremble, she said: + +"I am afeared; there is the sun setting; the sky is white, the stars +awaken; 'tis the spirits' hour. See these red exhalations, gliding +along the earth; Thyl, my beloved, what monster of hell is thus opening +his fiery mouth in the mist? See from the side of Philip's land, where +the butcher king twice for his cruel ambition slaughtered so many poor +men, see the dancing will-o'-the-wisps: 'tis the night when the souls +of poor folk slain in battle quit the cold limbo of purgatory to come +and be warmed again in the soft air of the earth: 'tis the hour when +thou mayst ask aught of Christ, who is the God of good magicians." + +"The ashes beat upon my heart," said Ulenspiegel. "If Christ could +show me these Seven whose ashes cast to the wind were to make Flanders +and the whole world happy!" + +"Man of little faith," said Nele, "thou wilt see them by virtue of +the balsam." + +"Perchance," said Ulenspiegel, pointing to Sirius with a finger, +"if some spirit descends from the cold star." + +At his movement a will-o'-the-wisp flitting about him perched on his +finger, and the more he sought to be rid of it, the tighter it clung. + +Nele trying to set Ulenspiegel free, she, too, had her will-o'-the-wisp +on the tip of her hand. + +Ulenspiegel, striking at his, said: + +"Answer! art thou the spirit of a Beggar or of a Spaniard? If thou be +the soul of a Beggar, depart into paradise; if the soul of a Spaniard, +return into hell whence thou comest." + +Nele said to him: + +"Do not insult souls, were they even the souls of butchers." + +And making the will-o'-the-wisp dance on her finger tip: + +"Wisp," said she, "dear wisp, what tidings dost thou bring us from +the country of souls? What are they employed in over there? Do they +eat and drink, since they have no mouths? for thou hast none, darling +wisp! or do they indeed take human shape only in the blessed paradise?" + +"Canst thou," said Ulenspiegel, "waste time in this fashion conversing +with this wretched flame that hath neither ears to hear thee with +nor mouth to answer thee withal?" + +But without heeding him: + +"Wisp," said Nele, "reply by dancing, for I will ask thee three times: +once in the name of God, once in the name of Madame the Virgin, +and once in the name of the elemental spirits that are messengers +'twixt God and man." + +And she did so, and the wisp danced three times. + +Then Nele said to Ulenspiegel: + +"Take off thy clothes; I shall do the same: here is the silver box +in which is the balsam of vision." + +"'Tis all one to me," said Ulenspiegel. + +Then being unclad and anointed with the balsam of vision, they lay +down beside each other naked on the grass. + +The sea mews were plaining; the thunder was growling dull in the +cloud where the lightning gleamed; the moon scarce displayed between +two clouds the golden horns of her crescent; the will-o'-the-wisps on +Ulenspiegel and Nele betook themselves off to dance with the others +in the meadow. + +Suddenly Ulenspiegel and Nele were caught up in the mighty hand +of a giant who threw them into the air like children's balloons, +caught them again, rolled them one upon the other and kneaded them +between his hands, threw them into the water pools between the hills +and pulled them out again full of seaweed. Then carrying them thus +through space, he sang with a voice that woke all the sea mews +underneath with affright: + + + "That vermin, crawling, biting, + With squinting glances tries + To read the sacred writing + We hide from all men's eyes. + + "Read, flea, the secret rare; + Read, louse, the sacred term + That heaven, earth and air + With seven nails hold firm." + + +And in very deed, Ulenspiegel and Nele saw upon the sward, in the +air and in the sky, seven tablets of shining brass fastened thereto +by seven flaming nails. + +Upon the tablets there was written: + + + Amid the dung May saps arise; + If Seven's ill, yet Seven's well; + The diamond came from coal, they tell; + From foolish teachers, pupils wise-- + If Seven's ill, yet Seven's well. + + +And the giant walked on followed by all the will-o'-the-wisps, which +said, chirping and singing like grasshoppers: + + + "Look well at him, 'tis their Grand Master. + The Pope of popes and Lord of lords, + Can change great Cæsar to a pastor: + Look well at him, he's made of boards." + + +Suddenly his features changed; he seemed thinner, sadder, taller. In +one hand he held a sceptre and a sword in the other. And his name +was Pride. + +And casting Nele and Ulenspiegel down upon the ground he said: + +"I am God." + +Then close by him, riding on a goat, there appeared a ruddy girl, +with bared bosom, her robe open, and a lively sparkling eye: her +name was Lust; came then an old Jewess picking up the shells of +sea mews' eggs: she had Avarice to name; and a greedy, gluttonous +monk, devouring chitterlings, stuffing sausages, and champing his +jaws continually like the sow upon which he was mounted: this was +Gluttony; next came Idleness dragging her legs, pallid and puffy, +with dulled eyes, and Anger driving her before her with strokes of +a goad. Idleness, woebegone, was bemoaning herself, and all in tears +fell down upon her knees; then came lean Envy, with a viper's head and +pike's teeth, biting Idleness because she was too much at her ease, +Anger because she was too vivacious, Gluttony because he was too well +stuffed, Lust because she was too red, Avarice for the eggshells, +Pride because he had a purple robe and a crown. And all around danced +the will-o'-the-wisps. + +And speaking with the voices of men, of women, of girls and plaintive +children, they said, moaning and groaning: + +"Pride, father of ambition, Anger, spring of cruelty, ye slew us on +the battle-field, in prisons and with torments, to keep your sceptres +and your crowns! Envy, thou didst destroy in the bud many high and +useful ideas; we are the souls of persecuted inventors: Avarice, +thou didst coin into gold the blood of the poor common folk; we +are the souls of thy victims; Lust, thou mate and sister of murder, +that didst give birth to Nero, to Messalina, to Philip King of Spain, +thou dost buy virtue and pay for corruption; we are the souls of the +dead: Idleness and Gluttony, ye befoul the world, ye must be swept +from out of it; we are the souls of the dead." + +And a voice was heard saying: + + + "Amid the dung May saps arise; + If Seven's ill, yet Seven's well; + For foolish teachers, pupils wise; + To win the coal and ashes, too, + What is the wandering louse to do?" + + +And the will-o'-the-wisps said: + +"The fire, 'tis we, vengeance for the bygone tears, the woes of the +people; vengeance for the lords that hunted human game upon their +lands; vengeance for the fruitless battles, the blood spilt in prisons, +men burned and women and girls buried alive; vengeance for the fettered +and bleeding past. The fire, 'tis we: we are the souls of the dead." + +At these words the Seven were changed to wooden statues, while keeping +every point of their former shape. + +And a voice said: + +"Ulenspiegel, burn the wood." + +And Ulenspiegel turning towards the will-o'-the-wisps: + +"Ye that are fire," said he, "perform your office." + +And the will-o'-the-wisps in a crowd surrounded the Seven, which +burned and were reduced to ashes. + +And a river of blood ran down. + +And from out the ashes rose up seven other shapes; the first said: + +"Pride was I named; I am called Noble Spirit." The others spake in the +same fashion, and Ulenspiegel and Nele saw from Avarice come forth +Economy; from Anger, Vivacity; from Gluttony, Appetite; from Envy, +Emulation; and from Idleness, the Reverie of poets and sages. And Lust +upon her goat was transformed to a beautiful woman whose name was Love. + +And the will-o'-the-wisps danced about them in a happy round. + +Then Ulenspiegel and Nele heard a thousand voices of concealed men +and women, sonorous and laughing voices that sang with a sound as +of castanets: + + + "When over land and sea shall reign + In form transfigured all these seven, + Men, boldly raise your heads to heaven; + The Golden Age has come again." + + +And Ulenspiegel said: "The spirits mock us." + +And a mighty hand seized Nele by the arm and hurled her into space. + +And the spirits chanted: + + + "When the north + Shall kiss the west, + Ruin shall end: + The girdle seek." + + +"Alas!" said Ulenspiegel: "north, west, and girdle. Ye speak obscurely, +ye Spirits." + +And they sang, laughing: + + + "North, 'tis the Netherland: + Belgium is the west; + Girdle is alliance + Girdle is friendship." + + +"Ye are nowise fools, Messieurs the Spirits," said Ulenspiegel. + +And they sang once more, grinning: + + + "The girdle, poor man + Between Netherlands and Belgium + Will be good friendship + And fair alliance. + + "Met raedt + En daedt; + Met doodt + En bloodt. + + "Alliance of counsel + And of deeds, + Of death + And blood + + "If need were, + Were there no Scheldt, + Poor man, no Scheldt." + + +"Alas!" said Ulenspiegel, "such then is our life of anguish: men's +tears and the laughter of destiny." + + + "Alliance of counsel + And of death, + Were there no Scheldt." + + +replied the spirits, grinning. + +And a mighty hand seized Ulenspiegel and hurled him into space. + + + + + +X + +Nele, as she fell, rubbed her eyes and saw naught save the sun rising +amid gilded mists, the tips of the blades of grass all golden also +and the sunrays yellowing the plumage of the sea mews that slept, +but soon awakened. + +Then Nele looked on herself, perceived that she was naked, and clothed +herself in haste; then she beheld Ulenspiegel naked also and covered +him over; thinking him asleep, she shook him, but he moved no more than +a man dead; she was taken with terror. "Have I," she said to herself, +"have I slain my beloved with this balsam of vision? I will die, +too! Ah! Thyl, awaken! He is marble cold." + +Ulenspiegel did not awake. Two nights and a day passed by, and Nele, +fevered with anguish, watched by Ulenspiegel her beloved. + +It was the beginning of the second day, and Nele heard the sound of +a bell, and saw approaching a peasant carrying a shovel: behind him, +wax taper in hand, walked a burgomaster and two aldermen, the curé +of Stavenisse, and a beadle holding a sunshade over him. + +They were going, they said, to administer the holy sacrament of extreme +unction to the valiant Jacobsen who was a Beggar by constraint and +fear, but who, now the danger was past, returned into the bosom of +the Holy Roman Church to die. + +Presently they found themselves face to face with Nele weeping, +and perceived the body of Ulenspiegel stretched out upon the turf, +covered with his clothes. Nele went upon her knees. + +"Daughter," said the burgomaster, "what makest thou by this dead man?" + +Not daring to lift her eyes she replied: + +"I pray for my friend here fallen as though smitten by lightning: +I am all alone now and I am fain to die, too." + +The curé then puffing with pleasure: + +"Ulenspiegel the Beggar is dead," he said, "God be praised! Peasant, +make haste and dig a grave; strip off his clothes before he be buried." + +"Nay," said Nele, standing straight up, "they are not to be taken +from him, he would be cold in the earth." + +"Dig the grave," said the curé to the peasant who carried the shovel. + +"I consent," said Nele, all in tears; "there are no worms in sand that +is full of chalk, and he will remain whole and goodly, my beloved." + +And all distraught, she bent over Ulenspiegel's body, and kissed him +with tears and sobbing. + +The burgomaster, the aldermen, and the peasant were filled with pity, +but the curé ceased not to repeat, rejoicing: "The great Beggar is +dead, God be praised!" + +Then the peasant digged the grave and placed Ulenspiegel therein and +covered him with sand. + +And the curé said the prayers for the dead above the grave: all kneeled +down around it; suddenly there was a great upheaving under the soil +and Ulenspiegel, sneezing and shaking the sand out of his hair, +seized the curé by the throat: + +"Inquisitor!" said he, "thou dost thrust me into the earth alive in +my sleep. Where is Nele? hast thou buried her, too? Who art thou?" + +The curé cried out: + +"The great Beggar returneth into this world. Lord God! receive +my soul!" + +And he took to flight like a stag before the hounds. + +Nele came to Ulenspiegel. + +"Kiss me, my darling," said he. + +Then he looked round him again; the two peasants had fled like the +curé, and had flung down shovel and chair and sunshade to run the +better; the burgomaster and the aldermen, holding their ears with +fright, were whimpering on the turf. + +Ulenspiegel went up to them, and shaking them: + +"Can any bury," said he, "Ulenspiegel the spirit and Nele the heart +of Mother Flanders? She, too, may sleep, but not die. No! Come, Nele." + +And he went forth with her, singing his sixth song, but no man knoweth +where he sang the last one of all. + + + + THE END + + + THE LYRICS IN THIS VERSION OF ULENSPIEGEL HAVE BEEN SPECIALLY + TRANSLATED BY MR. JOHN HERON LEPPER + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Vol. II (of +2), by Charles de Coster + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40004 *** |