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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8743-8.txt b/8743-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2353d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/8743-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6396 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Amber Witch, by Wilhelm Meinhold + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Amber Witch + +Author: Wilhelm Meinhold + +Posting Date: June 16, 2013 [EBook #8743] +Release Date: August, 2005 +First Posted: August 8, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + +THE AMBER WITCH + +by + +Wilhelm Meinhold + + +The most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known. Printed from an +imperfect manuscript by her father Abraham Schweidler, the pastor of +Coserow, in the Island of Usedom. + + +Translated from the German by Lady Duff Gordon. + +Original publication date: 1846. + + + + +PREFACE + + +In laying before the public this deeply affecting and romantic trial, +which I have not without reason called on the title-page the most +interesting of all trials for witchcraft ever known, I will first give +some account of the history of the manuscript. + +At Coserow, in the Island of Usedom, my former cure, the same which was +held by our worthy author some two hundred years ago, there existed +under a seat in the choir of the church a sort of niche, nearly on a +level with the floor. I had, indeed, often seen a heap of various +writings in this recess; but owing to my short sight, and the darkness +of the place, I had taken them for antiquated hymn-books, which were +lying about in great numbers. But one day, while I was teaching in the +church, I looked for a paper mark in the Catechism of one of the boys, +which I could not immediately find; and my old sexton, who was past +eighty (and who, although called Appelmann, was thoroughly unlike his +namesake in our story, being a very worthy, although a most ignorant +man), stooped down to the said niche, and took from it a folio volume +which I had never before observed, out of which he, without the slightest +hesitation, tore a strip of paper suited to my purpose, and reached it to +me. I immediately seized upon the book, and, after a few minutes' perusal, +I know not which was greater, my astonishment or my vexation at this +costly prize. The manuscript, which was bound in vellum, was not only +defective both at the beginning and at the end, but several leaves had +even been torn out here and there in the middle. I scolded the old man as +I had never done during the whole course of my life; but he excused +himself, saying that one of my predecessors had given him the manuscript +for waste paper, as it had lain about there ever since the memory of man, +and he had often been in want of paper to twist round the altar candles, +etc. The aged and half-blind pastor had mistaken the folio for old +parochial accounts which could be of no more use to any one.[1] + +No sooner had I reached home than I fell to work upon my new acquisition, +and after reading a bit here and there with considerable trouble, my +interest was powerfully excited by the contents. + +I soon felt the necessity of making myself better acquainted with the +nature and conduct of these witch trials, with the proceedings, nay, +even with the history of the whole period in which these events occur. +But the more I read of these extraordinary stories, the more was I +confounded; and neither the trivial Beeker (_die bezauberte Welt_, the +enchanted world), nor the more careful Horst (_Zauberbibliothek_, the +library of magic), to which, as well as to several other works on the +same subject, I had flown for information, could resolve my doubts, but +rather served to increase them. + +Not alone is the demoniacal character, which pervades nearly all these +fearful stories, so deeply marked, as to fill the attentive reader with +feelings of alternate horror and dismay, but the eternal and unchangeable +laws of human feeling and action are often arrested in a manner so +violent and unforeseen, that the understanding is entirely baffled. For +instance, one of the original trials which a friend of mine, a lawyer, +discovered in our province, contains the account of a mother, who, after +she had suffered the torture, and received the holy Sacrament, and was +on the point of going to the stake, so utterly lost all maternal feeling, +that her conscience obliged her to accuse as a witch her only dearly-loved +daughter, a girl of fifteen, against whom no one had ever entertained a +suspicion, in order, as she said, to save her poor soul. The court, justly +amazed at an event which probably has never since been paralleled, caused +the state of the mother's mind to be examined both by clergymen and +physicians, whose original testimonies are still appended to the records, +and are all highly favourable to her soundness of mind. The unfortunate +daughter, whose name was Elizabeth Hegel, was actually executed on the +strength of her mother's accusation.[2] + +The explanation commonly received at the present day, that these +phenomena were produced by means of animal magnetism, is utterly +insufficient. How, for instance, could this account for the deeply +demoniacal nature of old Lizzie Kolken as exhibited in the following +pages? It is utterly incomprehensible, and perfectly explains why the +old pastor, notwithstanding the horrible deceits practised on him in +the person of his daughter, retained as firm a faith in the truth of +witchcraft as in that of the Gospel. + +During the earlier centuries of the middle ages little was known of +witchcraft. The crime of magic, when it did occur, was leniently +punished. For instance, the Council of Ancyra (314) ordained the whole +punishment of witches to consist in expulsion from the Christian +community. The Visigoths punished them with stripes, and Charlemagne, +by advice of his bishops, confined them in prison until such time as +they should sincerely repent.[3] It was not until very soon before +the Reformation, that Innocent VIII. lamented that the complaints of +universal Christendom against the evil practices of these women had +become so general and so loud, that the most vigorous measures must be +taken against them; and towards the end of the year 1489, he caused the +notorious Hammer for Witches (_Malleus Maleficarum_) to be published, +according to which proceedings were set on foot with the most fanatical +zeal, not only in Catholic, but, strange to say, even in Protestant +Christendom, which in other respects abhorred everything belonging +to Catholicism. Indeed, the Protestants far outdid the Catholics in +cruelty, until, among the latter, the noble-minded Jesuit, J. Spee, and +among the former, but not until seventy years later, the excellent +Thomasius, by degrees put a stop to these horrors. + +After careful examination into the nature and characteristics of +witchcraft, I soon perceived that among all these strange and often +romantic stories, not one surpassed my 'amber witch' in lively interest; +and I determined to throw her adventures into the form of a romance. +Fortunately, however, I was soon convinced that her story was already in +itself the most interesting of all romances; and that I should do far +better to leave it in its original antiquated form, omitting whatever +would be uninteresting to modern readers, or so universally known as to +need no repetition. I have therefore attempted, not indeed to supply +what is missing at the beginning and end, but to restore those leaves +which have been torn out of the middle, imitating, as accurately as I +was able, the language and manner of the old biographer, in order that +the difference between the original narrative and my own interpolations +might not be too evident. + +This I have done with much trouble, and after many ineffectual attempts; +but I refrain from pointing out the particular passages which I have +supplied, so as not to disturb the historical interest of the greater +part of my readers. For modern criticism, which has now attained to a +degree of acuteness never before equalled, such a confession would be +entirely superfluous, as critics will easily distinguish the passages +where Pastor Schweidler speaks from those written by Pastor Meinhold. + +I am, nevertheless, bound to give the public some account of what I have +omitted, namely,-- + +1st. Such long prayers as were not very remarkable for Christian unction. + +2d. Well-known stories out of the Thirty Years' War. + +3d. Signs and wonders in the heavens, which were seen here and there, +and which are recorded by other Pomeranian writers of these fearful +times; for instance, by Micraelius.[4] But when these events formed part +of the tale itself, as, for instance, the cross on the Streckelberg, I, +of course, allowed them to stand. + +4th. The specification of the whole income of the church at Coserow, +before and during the terrible times of the Thirty Years' War. + +5th. The enumeration of the dwellings left standing, after the +devastations made by the enemy in every village throughout the parish. + +6th. The names of the districts to which this or that member of the +congregation had emigrated. + +7th. A ground plan and description of the old Manse. + +I have likewise here and there ventured to make a few changes in the +language, as my author is not always consistent in the use of his words +or in his orthography. The latter I have, however, with very few +exceptions, retained. + +And thus I lay before the gracious reader a work, glowing with the fire +of heaven, as well as with that of hell. + +MEINHOLD. + +[1] The original manuscript does indeed contain several accounts which +at first sight may have led to this mistake; besides, the handwriting +is extremely difficult to read, and in several places the paper is +discoloured and decayed. + +[2] It is my intention to publish this trial also, as it possesses very +great psychological interest. + +[3] Horst, _Zauberbibliothek_, vi. p. 231. + +[4] _Vom Alten Pommerlande_ (of old Pomerania), book v. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The origin of our biographer cannot be traced with any degree of +certainty, owing to the loss of the first part of his manuscript. It is, +however, pretty clear that he was not a Pomeranian, as he says he was in +Silesia in his youth, and mentions relations scattered far and wide, not +only at Hamburg and Cologne, but even at Antwerp; above all, his south +German language betrays a foreign origin, and he makes use of words which +are, I believe, peculiar to Swabia. He must, however, have been living for +a long time in Pomerania at the time he wrote, as he even more frequently +uses Low-German expressions, such as occur in contemporary native +Pomeranian writers. + +Since he sprang from an ancient noble family, as he says on several +occasions, it is possible that some particulars relating to the +Schweidlers might be discovered in the family records of the seventeenth +century which would give a clew to his native country; but I have sought +for that name in all the sources of information accessible to me, in vain, +and am led to suspect that our author, like many of his contemporaries, +laid aside his nobility and changed his name when he took holy orders. + +I will not, however, venture on any further conjectures; the manuscript, +of which six chapters are missing, begins with the words "Imperialists +plundered," and evidently the previous pages must have contained an +account of the breaking out of the Thirty Years' War in the island of +Usedom. It goes on as follows:-- + +"Coffers, chests, and closets were all plundered and broken to pieces, +and my surplice also was torn, so that I remained in great distress and +tribulation. But my poor little daughter they did not find, seeing that +I had hidden her in the stable, which was dark, without which I doubt +not they would have made my heart heavy indeed. The lewd dogs would even +have been rude to my old maid Ilse, a woman hard upon fifty, if an old +cornet had not forbidden them. Wherefore I gave thanks to my Maker when +the wild guests were gone, that I had first saved my child from their +clutches, although not one dust of flour, nor one grain of corn, one +morsel of meat even of a finger's length was left, and I knew not how I +should any longer support my own life, and my poor child's. _Item_, I +thanked God that I had likewise secured the _vasa sacra_, which I had +forthwith buried in the church in front of the altar, in presence of the +two churchwardens, Hinrich Seden and Claus Bulken, of Uekeritze, +commending them to the care of God. And now because, as I have already +said, I was suffering the pangs of hunger, I wrote to his lordship the +Sheriff Wittich V. Appelmann, at Pudgla, that for the love of God and +his holy Gospel he should send me that which his highness' grace +Philippus Julius had allowed me as _praestanda_ from the convent at +Pudgla, to wit, thirty bushels of barley and twenty-five marks of +silver, which, howbeit his lordship had always withheld from me hitherto +(for he was a very hard inhuman man, as he despised the holy Gospel and +the preaching of the Word, and openly, without shame, reviled the +servants of God, saying that they were useless feeders, and that Luther +had but half cleansed the pigstye of the Church--God mend it!). But he +answered me nothing, and I should have perished for want if Hinrich +Seden had not begged for me in the parish. May God reward the honest +fellow for it in eternity! Moreover, he was then growing old, and was +sorely plagued by his wicked wife Lizzie Kolken. Methought when I +married them that it would not turn out over well, seeing that she was +in common report of having long lived in unchastity with Wittich +Appelmann, who had ever been an arch-rogue, and especially an arrant +whoremaster, and such the Lord never blesses. This same Seden now +brought me five loaves, two sausages, and a goose, which old goodwife +Paal, at Loddin, had given him; also a flitch of bacon from the farmer +Jack Tewert. But he said I must shield him from his wife, who would have +had half for herself, and when he denied her she cursed him, and wished +him gout in his head, whereupon he straightway felt a pain in his right +cheek, and it was quite hard and heavy already. At such shocking news I +was affrighted, as became a good pastor, and asked whether peradventure +he believed that she stood in evil communication with Satan, and could +bewitch folks? But he said nothing, and shrugged his shoulders. So I +sent for old Lizzie to come to me, who was a tall, meagre woman of about +sixty, with squinting eyes, so that she could not look any one in the +face; likewise with quite red hair, and indeed her goodman had the same. +But though I diligently admonished her out of God's Word, she made no +answer until at last I said, 'Wilt thou unbewitch thy goodman (for I +saw from the window how that he was raving in the street like a madman), +or wilt thou that I should inform the magistrate of thy deeds?' Then, +indeed, she gave in, and promised that he should soon be better (and so +he was); moreover she begged that I would give her some bread and some +bacon, inasmuch as it was three days since she had a bit of anything to +put between her lips, saving always her tongue. So my daughter gave her +half a loaf, and a piece of bacon about two handsbreadths large; but she +did not think it enough, and muttered between her teeth; whereupon my +daughter said, 'If thou art not content, thou old witch, go thy ways and +help thy goodman; see how he has laid his head on Zabel's fence, and +stamps with his feet for pain.' Whereupon she went away, but still kept +muttering between her teeth, 'Yea, forsooth, I will help him and thee +too.'" + + + + +_The Seventh Chapter_ + + +HOW THE IMPERIALISTS ROBBED ME OF ALL THAT WAS LEFT, AND LIKEWISE BROKE +INTO THE CHURCH AND STOLE THE _VASA SACRA_; ALSO WHAT MORE BEFELL US + +After a few days, when we had eaten almost all our food, my last cow fell +down dead (the wolves had already devoured the others, as mentioned +above), not without a strong suspicion that Lizzie had a hand in it, +seeing that the poor beast had eaten heartily the day before; but I leave +that to a higher judge, seeing that I would not willingly calumniate any +one; and it may have been the will of God, whose wrath I have well +deserved. _Summa_, I was once more in great need, and my daughter Mary +pierced my heart with her sighs, when the cry was raised that another +troop of Imperialists was come to Uekeritze, and was marauding there more +cruelly than ever, and, moreover, had burnt half the village. Wherefore I +no longer thought myself safe in my cottage; and after I had commended +everything to the Lord in a fervent prayer, I went up with my daughter and +old Ilse into the Streckelberg, where I already had looked out for +ourselves a hole like a cavern, well grown over with brambles, against the +time when the troubles should drive us thither. We therefore took with us +all we had left to us for the support of our bodies, and fled into the +woods, sighing and weeping, whither we soon were followed by the old men, +and the women and children; these raised a great cry of hunger when they +saw my daughter sitting on a log and eating a bit of bread and meat, and +the little things came with their tiny hands stretched out and cried "Have +some too, have some too." Therefore, being justly moved by such great +distress, I hindered not my daughter from sharing all the bread and meat +that remained among the hungry children. But first I made them pray--"The +eyes of all wait upon thee"; upon which words I then spake comfortably to +the people, telling them that the Lord, who had now fed their little +children, would find means to fill their own bellies, and that they must +not be weary of trusting in him. + +This comfort did not, however, last long; for after we had rested within +and around the cavern for about two hours, the bells in the village began +to ring so dolefully that it went nigh to break all our hearts, the more +as loud firing was heard between-whiles; _item_, the cries of men and the +barking of dogs resounded, so that we could easily guess that the enemy +was in the village. I had enough to do to keep the women quiet, that they +might not by their senseless lamentations betray our hiding-place to the +cruel enemy; and more still when it began to smell smoky, and presently +the bright flames gleamed through the trees. I therefore sent old Paasch +up to the top of the hill, that he might look around and see how matters +stood, but told him to take good care that they did not see him from the +village, seeing that the twilight had but just begun. + +This he promised, and soon returned with the news that about twenty +horsemen had galloped out of the village towards the Damerow, but that +half the village was in flames. _Item_, he told us that by a wonderful +dispensation of God a great number of birds had appeared in the +juniper-bushes and elsewhere, and that if we could catch them they would be +excellent food for us. I therefore climbed up the hill myself, and having +found everything as he had said, and also perceived that the fire had, by +the help of God's mercy, abated in the village; _item_, that my cottage +was left standing, far beyond my merits and deserts; I came down again and +comforted the people, saying, "The Lord hath given us a sign, and he will +feed us, as he fed the people of Israel in the wilderness; for he has sent +us a fine flight of fieldfares across the barren sea, so that they whirr +out of every bush as ye come near it. Who will now run down into the +village, and cut off the mane and tail of my dead cow which lies out behind +on the common?" (for there was no horsehair in all the village, seeing that +the enemy had long since carried off or stabbed all the horses). But no one +would go, for fear was stronger even than hunger, till my old Ilse spoke, +and said, "I will go, for I fear nothing, when I walk in the ways of God; +only give me a good stick." When old Paasch had lent her his staff, she +began to sing, "God the Father be with us," and was soon out of sight among +the bushes. Meanwhile I exhorted the people to set to work directly, and to +cut little wands for springes, and to gather berries while the moon still +shone; there were a great quantity of mountain-ash and elder-bushes all +about the mountain. I myself and my daughter Mary stayed to guard the +little children, because it was not safe there from wolves. We therefore +made a blazing fire, sat ourselves around it, and heard the little folks +say the Ten Commandments, when there was a rustling and crackling behind +us, and my daughter jumped up and ran into the cavern, crying, "_Proh dolor +hostis_!" But it was only some of the able-bodied men who had stayed behind +in the village, and who now came to bring us word how things stood there. I +therefore called to her directly, "_Emergas amici_" whereupon she came +skipping joyously out, and sat down again by the fire, and forthwith my +warden Hinrich Seden related all that had happened, and how his life had +only been saved by means of his wife Lizzie Kolken; but that Jurgen Flatow, +Chim Burse, Claus Peer, and Chim Seideritz were killed, and the last named +of them left lying on the church steps. The wicked incendiaries had burned +down twelve sheds, and it was not their fault that the whole village was +not destroyed, but only in consequence of the wind not being in the quarter +that suited their purpose. Meanwhile they tolled the bells in mockery and +scorn, to see whether any one would come and quench the fire; and that when +he and the three other young fellows came forward they fired off their +muskets at them, but, by God's help, none of them were hit. Hereupon his +three comrades jumped over the paling and escaped; but him they caught, and +had already taken aim at him with their firelocks, when his wife Lizzie +Kolken came out of the church with another troop and beckoned to them to +leave him in peace. But they stabbed Lene Hebers as she lay in childbed, +speared the child, and flung it over Claus Peer's hedge among the nettles, +where it was yet lying when they came away. There was not a living soul +left in the village, and still less a morsel of bread, so that unless the +Lord took pity on their need they must all die miserably of hunger. + +(Now who is to believe that such people can call themselves Christians!) + +I next inquired, when he had done speaking (but with many sighs, as any +one may guess), after my cottage; but of that they knew nought save that +it was still standing. I thanked the Lord therefore with a quiet sigh; +and having asked old Seden what his wife had been doing in the church, I +thought I should have died for grief when I heard that the villains came +out of it with both the chalices and patens in their hands. I therefore +spoke very sharply to old Lizzie, who now came slinking through the +bushes; but she answered insolently that the strange soldiers had forced +her to open the church, as her goodman had crept behind the hedge, and +nobody else was there; that they had gone straight up to the altar, and +seeing that one of the stones was not well fitted (which, truly, was an +arch-lie), had begun to dig with their swords till they found the chalices +and patens; or somebody else might have betrayed the spot to them, so I +need not always to lay the blame on her, and rate her so hardly. + +Meanwhile the old men and the women came with a good store of berries; +_item_, my old maid, with the cow's tail and mane, who brought word that +the whole house was turned upside down, the windows all broken, and the +books and writings trampled in the dirt in the midst of the street, and +the doors torn off their hinges. This, however, was a less sorrow to me +than the chalices; and I only bade the people make springes and snares, +in order next morning to begin our fowling, with the help of Almighty God. +I therefore scraped the rods myself until near midnight; and when we had +made ready a good quantity, I told old Seden to repeat the evening +blessing, which we all heard on our knees; after which I wound up with +a prayer, and then admonished the people to creep in under the bushes +to keep them from the cold (seeing that it was now about the end of +September, and the wind blew very fresh from the sea), the men apart, and +the women also apart by themselves. I myself went up with my daughter and +my maid into the cavern, where I had not slept long before I heard old +Seden moaning bitterly because, as he said, he was seized with the colic. +I therefore got up and gave him my place, and sat down again by the fire +to cut springes, till I fell asleep for half an hour; and then morning +broke, and by that time he had got better, and I woke the people to +morning prayer. This time old Paasch had to say it, but could not get +through with it properly, so that I had to help him. Whether he had forgot +it, or whether he was frightened, I cannot say. _Summa_. After we had all +prayed most devoutly, we presently set to work, wedging the springes into +the trees, and hanging berries all around them; while my daughter took +care of the children, and looked for blackberries for their breakfast. Now +we wedged the snares right across the wood along the road to Uekeritze; +and mark what a wondrous act of mercy befell from gracious God! As I +stepped into the road with the hatchet in my hand (it was Seden his +hatchet, which he had fetched out of the village early in the morning), I +caught sight of a loaf as long as my arm, which a raven was pecking, and +which doubtless one of the Imperial troopers had dropped out of his +knapsack the day before, for there were fresh hoofmarks in the sand by it. +So I secretly buttoned the breast of my coat over it, so that none should +perceive anything, although the aforesaid Paasch was close behind me; +_item_, all the rest followed at no great distance. Now, having set the +springes so very early, towards noon we found such a great number of birds +taken in them that Katy Berow, who went beside me while I took them out, +scarce could hold them all in her apron; and at the other end old Pagels +pulled nearly as many out of his doublet and coat pockets. My daughter +then sat down with the rest of the womankind to pluck the birds; and +as there was no salt (indeed it was long since most of us had tasted +any), she desired two men to go down to the sea, and to fetch a little +salt-water in an iron pot borrowed from Staffer Zuter; and so they did. In +this water we first dipped the birds, and then roasted them at a large +fire, while our mouths watered only at the sweet savour of them, seeing it +was so long since we had tasted any food. + +And now when all was ready, and the people seated on the earth, I said, +"Behold how the Lord still feeds his people Israel in the wilderness with +fresh quails: if now he did yet more, and sent us a piece of manna bread +from heaven, what think ye? Would ye then ever weary of believing in him, +and not rather willingly endure all want, tribulation, hunger and thirst, +which he may hereafter lay upon you according to his gracious will?" +Whereupon they all answered and said, "Yea, surely!" _Ego_: "Will you then +promise me this in truth?" And they said again, "Yea, that will we!" Then +with tears I drew forth the loaf from my breast, held it on high, and +cried, "Behold, then, thou poor believing little flock, how sweet a manna +loaf your faithful Redeemer hath sent ye through me!" Whereupon they all +wept, sobbed and groaned; and the little children again came running up +and held out their hands, crying, "See, bread, bread!" But as I myself +could not pray for heaviness of soul, I bade Paasch his little girl say +the _Gratias_ the while my Mary cut up the loaf and gave to each his +share. And now we all joyfully began to eat our meat from God in the +wilderness. + +Meanwhile I had to tell in what manner I had found the blessed manna +bread, wherein I neglected not again to exhort them to lay to heart this +great sign and wonder, how that God in his mercy had done to them as of +old to the prophet Elijah, to whom a raven brought bread in his great need +in the wilderness; as likewise this bread had been given to me by means of +a raven, which showed it to me, when otherwise I might have passed it by +in my heaviness without ever seeing it. + +When we were satisfied with food, I said the thanksgiving from Luke xii. +24, where the Lord saith, "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor +reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: +how much more are ye better than the fowls?" But our sins stank before +the Lord. For old Lizzie, as I afterwards heard, would not eat her +birds because she thought them unsavoury, but threw them among the +juniper-bushes; whereupon the wrath of the Lord was kindled against us as +of old against the people of Israel, and at night we found but seven birds +in the snares, and next morning but two. Neither did any raven come again +to give us bread. Wherefore I rebuked old Lizzie, and admonished the +people to take upon themselves willingly the righteous chastisement of the +Most High God, to pray without ceasing, to return to their desolate +dwellings, and to see whether the all-merciful God would peradventure give +them more on the sea. That I also would call upon him with prayer night +and day, remaining for a time in the cavern with my daughter and the maid +to watch the springes, and see whether his wrath might be turned from us. +That they should meanwhile put my manse to rights to the best of their +power, seeing that the cold was become very irksome to me. This they +promised me, and departed with many sighs. What a little flock! I counted +but twenty-five souls where there used to be above eighty: all the rest +had been slain by hunger, pestilence, or the sword. I then abode a while +alone and sorrowing in the cave, praying to God, and sent my daughter with +the maid into the village to see how things stood at the manse; _item_, to +gather together the books and papers, and also to bring me word whether +Hinze the carpenter, whom I had straightway sent back to the village, had +knocked together some coffins for the poor corpses, so that I might bury +them next day. I then went to look at the springes, but found only one +single little bird, whereby I saw that the wrath of God had not yet passed +away. Howbeit, I found a fine blackberry bush, from which I gathered +nearly a pint of berries, and put them, together with the bird, in Staffer +Zuter his pot, which the honest fellow had left with us for a while, and +set them on the fire for supper against my child and the maid should +return. It was not long before they came through the coppice and told me +of the fearful devastation which Satan had made in the village and manse +by the permission of all-righteous God. My child had gathered together a +few books, which she brought with her, above all, a _Virgilius_ and a +Greek Bible. And after she had told me that the carpenter would not have +done till next day, and we had satisfied the cravings of hunger, I made +her read to me again, for the greater strengthening of my faith, the +_locus_ about the blessed raven from the Greek of Luke, at the twelfth +chapter; also, the beautiful _locus parallelus_, Matt. vi. After which the +maid said the evening blessing, and we all went into the cave to rest for +the night. When I awoke next morning, just as the blessed sun rose out the +sea and peeped over the mountain, I heard my poor hungry child already +standing outside the cave reciting the beautiful verses about the joys of +paradise which St. Augustine wrote and I had taught her. She sobbed for +grief as she spoke the words:-- + + Uno pane vivunt cives utriusque patriae; + Avidi et semper pleni, quod habent desiderant. + Non sacietas fastidit, neque fames cruciat; + Inhiantes semper edunt, et edentes inhiant. + Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum; + Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, + Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt; + Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, + Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum. + Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum. + Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. + +At these words my own heart was melted; and when she ceased from speaking, +I asked, "What art thou doing, my child?" Whereupon she answered, "Father, +I am eating." Thereat my tears now indeed began to flow, and I praised her +for feeding her soul, as she had no meat for her body. I had not, however, +spoken long, before she cried to me to come and look at the great wonder +that had risen out of the sea, and already appeared over the cave. For +behold a cloud, in shape just like a cross, came over us, and let great +heavy drops, as big or bigger than large peas, fall on our heads, after +which it sank behind the coppice. I presently arose and ran up the +mountain with my daughter to look after it. It floated on towards the +Achterwater, where it spread itself out into a long blue streak, whereon +the sun shone so brightly that it seemed like a golden bridge on which, as +my child said, the blessed angels danced. I fell on my knees with her and +thanked the Lord that our cross had passed away from us; but, alas! our +cross was yet to come, as will be told hereafter. + + + + +_The Eighth Chapter_ + + +HOW OUR NEED WAXED SORER AND SORER, AND HOW I SENT OLD ILSE WITH ANOTHER +LETTER TO PUDGLA, AND HOW HEAVY A MISFORTUNE THIS BROUGHT UPON ME + +Next day, when I had buried the poor corpses amid the lamentations of the +whole village (by the same token that they were all buried under where the +lime-tree overhangs the wall), I heard with many sighs that neither the +sea nor the Achterwater would yield anything. It was now ten days since +the poor people had caught a single fish. I therefore went out into the +field, musing how the wrath of the just God might be turned from us, +seeing that the cruel winter was now at hand, and neither corn, apples, +fish nor flesh to be found in the village, nor even throughout all the +parish. There was indeed plenty of game in the forests of Coserow and +Uekeritze; but the old forest ranger, Zabel Nehring, had died last year of +the plague, and there was no new one in his place. Nor was there a musket +nor a grain of powder to be found in all the parish; the enemy had robbed +and broken everything: we were therefore forced, day after day, to see +how the stags and the roes, the hares and the wild boars, _et cet_., ran +past us, when we would so gladly have had them in our bellies, but had no +means of getting at them: for they were too cunning to let themselves be +caught in pit-falls. Nevertheless, Claus Peer succeeded in trapping a roe, +and gave me a piece of it, for which may God reward him. _Item_, of +domestic cattle there was not a head left; neither was there a dog, nor +a cat, which the people had not either eaten in their extreme hunger, +or knocked on the head or drowned long since. Albeit old farmer Paasch +still owned two cows; _item_, an old man in Uekeritze was said to have +one little pig:--this was all. Thus, then, nearly all the people lived on +blackberries and other wild fruits: the which also soon grew to be scarce, +as may easily be guessed. Besides all this, a boy of fourteen was missing +(old Labahn his son) and was never more heard of, so that I shrewdly think +that the wolves devoured him. + +And now let any Christian judge by his own heart in what sorrow and +heaviness I took my staff in my hand, seeing that my child fell away like +a shadow from pinching hunger; although I myself, being old, did not, by +the help of God's mercy, find any great failing in my strength. While I +thus went continually weeping before the Lord, on the way to Uekeritze, I +fell in with an old beggar with his wallet, sitting on a stone, and eating +a piece of God's rare gift, to wit, a bit of bread. Then truly did my poor +mouth so fill with water that I was forced to bow my head and let it run +upon the earth before I could ask, "Who art thou? and whence comest thou? +seeing that thou hast bread." Whereupon he answered that he was a poor man +of Bannemin, from whom the enemy had taken all; and as he had heard that +the Lieper Winkel had long been in peace, he had travelled thither to beg. +I straightway answered him, "Oh, poor beggar-man, spare to me, a sorrowful +servant of Christ, who is poorer even than thyself, one little slice of +bread for his wretched child; for thou must know that I am the pastor of +this village, and that my daughter is dying of hunger. I beseech thee by +the living God not to let me depart without taking pity on me, as pity +also hath been shown to thee!" But the beggar-man would give me none, +saying that he himself had a wife and four children, who were likewise +staggering towards death's door under the bitter pangs of hunger; that the +famine was sorer far in Bannemin than here, where we still had berries; +whether I had not heard that but a few days ago a woman (he told me her +name, but horror made me forget it) had there killed her own child, and +devoured it from hunger? That he could not therefore help me, and I might +go to the Lieper Winkel myself. + +I was horror-stricken at his tale, as is easy to guess, for we in our own +trouble had not yet heard of it, there being little or no traffic between +one village and another; and thinking on Jerusalem, and sheer despairing +because the Lord had visited us, as of old that ungodly city, although we +had not betrayed or crucified him, I almost forgot all my necessities, and +took my staff in my hand to depart. But I had not gone more than a few +yards when the beggar called me to stop, and when I turned myself round he +came towards me with a good hunch of bread which he had taken out of his +wallet, and said, "There! but pray for me also, so that I may reach my +home; for if on the road they smell that I have bread, my own brother +would strike me dead, I believe." This I promised with joy, and instantly +turned back to take to my child the gift hidden in my pocket. And behold, +when I came to the road which leads to Loddin, I could scarce trust my +eyes (before I had overlooked it in my distress) when I saw my glebe, +which could produce seven bushels, ploughed, sown, and in stalk; the +blessed crop of rye had already shot lustily out of the earth a finger's +length in height. I could not choose but think that the Evil One had +deceived me with a false show, yet, however hard I rubbed my eyes, rye it +was and rye it remained. And seeing that old Paasch his piece of land +which joined mine was in like manner sown, and that the blades had shot up +to the same height, I soon guessed that the good fellow had done this +deed, seeing that all the other land lay waste. Wherefore, I readily +forgave him for not knowing the morning prayer; and thanking the Lord for +so much love from my flock, and earnestly beseeching him to grant me +strength and faith to bear with them steadfastly and patiently all the +troubles and adversities which it might please him henceforward to lay +upon us, according to his divine pleasure, I ran rather than walked back +into the village to old Paasch his farm, where I found him just about to +kill his cow, which he was slaughtering from grim hunger. "God bless +thee," said I, "worthy friend, for sowing my field; how shall I reward +thee?" But the old man answered, "Let that be, and do you pray for us"; +and when I gladly promised this and asked him how he had kept his corn +safe from the savage enemy, he told me that he had hidden it secretly in +the caves of the Streckelberg, but that now all his store was used up. +Meanwhile he cut a fine large piece of meat from the top of the loin, and +said, "There is something for you, and when that is gone you can come +again for more." As I was then about to go with many thanks, his little +Mary, a child nearly seven years old, the same who had said the _Gratias_ +on the Streckelberg, seized me by the hand and wanted to go to school to +my daughter; for since my _Custos_, as above mentioned, departed this life +in the plague, she had to teach the few little ones there were in the +village; this, however, had long been abandoned. I could not, therefore, +deny her, although I feared that my child would share her bread with her, +seeing that she dearly loved the little maid, who was her godchild; and so +indeed it happened; for when the child saw me take out the bread, she +shrieked for joy, and began to scramble up on the bench. Thus she also got +a piece of the slice, our maid got another, and my child put the third +piece into her own mouth, as I wished for none, but said that I felt no +signs of hunger and would wait until the meat was boiled, the which I now +threw upon the bench. It was a goodly sight to see the joy which my poor +child felt when I then also told her about the rye. She fell upon my neck, +wept, sobbed, then took the little one up in her arms, danced about the +room with her, and recited as she was wont, all manner of Latin _versus_, +which she knew by heart. Then she would prepare a right good supper for +us, as a little salt was still left in the bottom of a barrel of meat +which the Imperialists had broken up. I let her take her own way, and +having scraped some soot from the chimney and mixed it with water, I tore +a blank leaf out of _Virgilius_, and wrote to the _Pastor Liepensis_, his +reverence Abraham Tiburtius, praying that for God his sake he would take +our necessities to heart, and would exhort his parishioners to save us +from dying of grim hunger, and charitably to spare to us some meat and +drink, according as the all-merciful God had still left some to them, +seeing that a beggar had told me that they had long been in peace from +the terrible enemy. I knew not, however, wherewithal to seal the letter, +until I found in the church a little wax still sticking to a wooden +altar-candlestick, which the Imperialists had not thought it worth their +while to steal, for they had only taken the brass ones. I sent three +fellows in a boat with Hinrich Seden, the churchwarden, with this letter +to Liepe. + +First, however, I asked my old Ilse, who was born in Liepe, whether she +would not rather return home, seeing how matters stood, and that I, for +the present at least, could not give her a stiver of her wages (mark that +she had already saved up a small sum, seeing that she had lived in my +service above twenty years, but the soldiers had taken it all). Howbeit, I +could nowise persuade her to this, but she wept bitterly, and besought me +only to let her stay with the good damsel whom she had rocked in her +cradle. She would cheerfully hunger with us if it needs must be, so that +she were not turned away. Whereupon I yielded to her, and the others went +alone. + +Meanwhile the broth was ready, but scarce had we said the _Gratias_, and +were about to begin our meal, when all the children of the village, seven +in number, came to the door, and wanted bread, as they had heard we had +some from my daughter her little godchild. Her heart again melted, and +notwithstanding I besought her to harden herself against them, she +comforted me with the message to Liepe, and poured out for each child a +portion of broth on a wooden platter (for these also had been despised by +the enemy), and put into their little hands a bit of meat, so that all our +store was eaten up at once. We were, therefore, left fasting next morning, +till towards mid-day, when the whole village gathered together in a meadow +on the banks of the river to see the boat return. But, God be merciful to +us, we had cherished vain hopes! six loaves and a sheep, _item_, a quarter +of apples, was all they had brought. His reverence Abraham Tiburtius wrote +to me that after the cry of their wealth had spread throughout the island, +so many beggars had flocked thither that it was impossible to be just to +all, seeing that they themselves did not know how it might fare with them +in these heavy troublous times. Meanwhile he would see whether he could +raise any more. I therefore with many sighs had the small pittance carried +to the manse, and though two loaves were, as _Pastor Liepensis_ said in +his letter, for me alone, I gave them up to be shared among all alike, +whereat all were content save Seden his squint-eyed wife, who would have +had somewhat _extra_ on the score of her husband's journey, which, +however, as may be easily guessed, she did not get; wherefore she again +muttered certain words between her teeth as she went away, which, however, +no one understood. Truly she was an ill woman, and not to be moved by the +word of God. + +Any one may judge for himself that such a store could not last long; and +as all my parishioners felt an ardent longing after spiritual food, and +as I and the churchwardens could only get together about sixteen +farthings in the whole parish, which was not enough to buy bread and +wine, the thought struck me once more to inform my lord the Sheriff of +our need. With how heavy a heart I did this may be easily guessed, but +necessity knows no law. I therefore tore the last blank leaf out of +_Virgilius_, and begged that, for the sake of the Holy Trinity, his +lordship would mercifully consider mine own distress and that of the +whole parish, and bestow a little money to enable me to administer the +holy sacrament for the comfort of afflicted souls; also, if possible, +to buy a cup, were it only of tin, since the enemy had plundered us of +ours, and I should otherwise be forced to consecrate the sacred elements +in an earthen vessel. _Item_, I besought him to have pity on our bodily +wants, and at last to send me the first-fruits which had stood over for +so many years. That I did not want it for myself alone, but would +willingly share it with my parishioners, until such time as God in his +mercy should give us more. + +Here a huge blot fell upon my paper; for the windows being boarded up, the +room was dark, and but little light came through two small panes of glass +which I had broken out of the church, and stuck in between the boards; +this, perhaps, was the reason why I did not see better. However, as I +could not anywhere get another piece of paper, I let it pass, and ordered +the maid, whom I sent with the letter to Pudgla, to excuse the same to his +lordship the Sheriff, the which she promised to do, seeing that I could +not add a word more on the paper, as it was written all over. I then +sealed it as I had done before. + +But the poor creature came back trembling for fear and bitterly weeping, +and said that his lordship had kicked her out of the castle-gate, and had +threatened to set her in the stocks if she ever came before him again. +"Did the parson think that he was as free with his money as I seemed to be +with my ink? I surely had water enough to celebrate the Lord's supper +wherewithal. For if the Son of God had once changed the water into wine, +he could surely do the like again. If I had no cup, I might water my flock +out of a bucket, as he did himself"; with many more blasphemies, such as +he afterwards wrote to me, and by which, as may easily be guessed, I was +filled with horror. Touching the first-fruits, as she told me he said +nothing at all. In such great spiritual and bodily need the blessed Sunday +came round, when nearly all the congregation would have come to the Lord's +table, but could not. I therefore spoke on the words of St. Augustine, +_crede et manducasti_, and represented that the blame was not mine, and +truly told what had happened to my poor maid at Pudgla, passing over much +in silence, and only praying God to awaken the hearts of magistrates for +our good. Peradventure I may have spoken more harshly than I meant. I know +not, only that I spoke that which was in my heart. At the end I made all +the congregation stay on their knees for nearly an hour, and call upon the +Lord for his holy sacrament; _item_, for the relief of their bodily wants, +as had been done every Sunday, and at all the daily prayers I had been +used to read ever since the heavy time of the plague. Last of all I led +the glorious hymn, "When in greatest need we be," which was no sooner +finished than my new churchwarden, Claus Bulk of Uekeritze, who had +formerly been a groom with his lordship, and whom he had now put into a +farm, ran off to Pudgla, and told him all that had taken place in the +church. Whereat his lordship was greatly angered, insomuch that he +summoned the whole parish, which still numbered about 150 souls, without +counting the children, and dictated _ad protocollum_ whatsoever they could +remember of the sermon, seeing that he meant to inform his princely grace +the Duke of Pomerania of the blasphemous lies which I had vomited against +him, and which must sorely offend every Christian heart. _Item_, what an +avaricious wretch I must be to be always wanting something of him, and to +be daily, so to say, pestering him in these hard times with my filthy +letters, when he had not enough to eat himself. This he said should break +the parson his neck, since his princely grace did all that he asked of +him, and that no one in the parish need give me anything more, but only +let me go my ways. He would soon take care that they should have quite a +different sort of parson from what I was. + +(Now I would like to see the man who could make up his mind to come into +the midst of such wretchedness at all.) + +This news was brought to me in the selfsame night, and gave me a great +fright, as I now saw that I should not have a gracious master in his +lordship, but should all the time of my miserable life, even if I could +anyhow support it, find in him an ungracious lord. But I soon felt some +comfort, when Chim Krüger from Uekeritze, who brought me the news, took a +little bit of his sucking-pig out of his pocket and gave it to me. +Meanwhile old Paasch came in and said the same, and likewise brought me a +piece of his old cow; _item_, my other warden, Hinrich Seden, with a slice +of bread, and a fish which he had taken in his net, all saying they wished +for no better priest than me, and that I was only to pray to the merciful +Lord to bestow more upon them, whereupon I should want for nothing. +Meanwhile I must be quiet and not betray them. All this I promised, and my +daughter Mary took the blessed gifts of God off the table and carried them +into the inner chamber. But, alas! next morning, when she would have put +the meat into the caldron, it was all gone. I know not who prepared this +new sorrow for me, but much believe it was Hinrich Seden his wicked wife, +seeing he can never hold his tongue, and most likely told her everything. +Moreover, Paasch his little daughter saw that she had meat in her pot next +day; _item_, that she had quarrelled with her husband, and had flung the +fish-board at him, whereon some fresh fish-scales were sticking: she had, +however, presently recollected herself when she saw the child. (Shame on +thee, thou old witch, it is true enough, I dare say!) Hereupon nought was +left us but to feed our poor souls with the word of God. But even our +souls were so cast down that they could receive nought, any more than our +bellies; my poor child, especially, from day to day grew paler, greyer, +and yellower, and always threw up all her food, seeing she ate it without +salt or bread. I had long wondered that the bread from Liepe was not yet +done, but that every day at dinner I still had a morsel. I had often +asked, "Whence comes all this blessed bread? I believe, after all, you +save the whole for me, and take none for yourself or the maid." But they +both then lifted to their mouths a piece of fir-tree bark, which they had +cut to look like bread, and laid by their plates; and as the room was +dark, I did not find out their deceit, but thought that they, too, were +eating bread. But at last the maid told me of it, so that I should allow +it no longer, as my daughter would not listen to her. It is not hard to +guess how my heart was wrung when I saw my poor child lying on her bed of +moss struggling with grim hunger. But things were to go yet harder with +me, for the Lord in his anger would break me in pieces like a potter's +vessel. For behold, on the evening of the same day, old Paasch came +running to me, complaining that all his and my corn in the field had been +pulled up and miserably destroyed, and that it must have been done by +Satan himself, as there was not a trace either of oxen or horses. At these +words my poor child screamed aloud and fainted. I would have run to help +her, but could not reach her bed, and fell on the ground myself for bitter +grief. The loud cries of the maid and old Paasch soon brought us both to +our senses. But I could not rise from the ground alone, for the Lord had +bruised all my bones. I besought them, therefore, when they would have +helped me, to leave me where I was; and when they would not, I cried out +that I must again fall on the ground to pray, and begged them all save my +daughter to depart out of the room. This they did, but the prayer would +not come. I fell into heavy doubting and despair, and murmured against the +Lord that he plagued me more sorely than Lazarus or Job. Wretch that I +was, I cried, "Thou didst leave to Lazarus at least the crumbs and the +pitiful dogs, but to me thou hast left nothing, and I myself am less in +thy sight even than a dog; and Job thou didst not afflict until thou hadst +mercifully taken away his children, but to me thou hast left my poor +little daughter, that her torments may increase mine own a thousandfold. +Behold, then, I can only pray that thou wilt take her from the earth, so +that my grey head may gladly follow her to the grave! Woe is me, ruthless +father, what have I done? I have eaten bread, and suffered my child to +hunger! Oh, Lord Jesu, who hast said, 'What man is there of you, whom if +his son ask bread will he give him a stone?' Behold I am that man!--behold +I am that ruthless father! I have eaten bread and have given wood to my +child! Punish me; I will bear it and lie still. Oh, righteous Jesu, I have +eaten bread, and have given wood to my child!" As I did not speak, but +rather shrieked these words, wringing my hands the while, my child fell +upon my neck, sobbing, and chid me for murmuring against the Lord, seeing +that even she, a weak and frail woman, had never doubted his mercy, so +that with shame and repentance I presently came to myself, and humbled +myself before the Lord for such heavy sin. + +Meanwhile the maid had run into the village with loud cries to see if she +could get anything for her poor young mistress, but the people had already +eaten their noontide meal, and most of them were gone to sea to seek their +blessed supper; thus she could find nothing, seeing that old wife Seden, +who alone had any victuals, would give her none, although she prayed her +by Jesu's wounds. + +She was telling us this when we heard a noise in the chamber, and +presently Lizzie her worthy old husband, who had got in at the window by +stealth, brought us a pot of good broth, which he had taken off the fire +whilst his wife was gone for a moment into the garden. He well knew that +his wife would make him pay for it, but that he did not mind, so the young +mistress would but drink it, and she would find it salted and all. He +would make haste out of the window again, and see that he got home before +his wife, that she might not find out where he had been. But my daughter +would not touch the broth, which sorely vexed him, so that he set it down +on the ground cursing, and ran out of the room. It was not long before his +squint-eyed wife came in at the front door, and when she saw the pot still +steaming on the ground, she cried out, "Thou thief, thou cursed thieving +carcass!" and would have flown at the face of my maid. But I threatened +her, and told her all that had happened, and that if she would not believe +me she might go into the chamber and look out of the window, whence she +might still, belike, see her good man running home. This she did, and +presently we heard her calling after him, "Wait, and the devil shall tear +off thine arms; only wait till thou art home again!" After this she came +back, and, muttering something, took the pot off the ground. I begged her, +for the love of God, to spare a little to my child; but she mocked at me +and said, "You can preach to her, as you did to me," and walked towards +the door with the pot. My child indeed besought me to let her go, but I +could not help calling after her, "For the love of God, one good sup, or +my poor child must give up the ghost: wilt thou that at the day of +judgment God should have mercy on thee, so show mercy this day to me and +mine!" But she scoffed at us again, and cried out, "Let her cook herself +some bacon," and went out at the door. I then sent the maid after her with +the hour-glass which stood before me on the table, to offer it to her for +a good sup out of the pot; but the maid brought it back, saying that she +would not have it. Alas, how I wept and sobbed, as my poor dying child +with a loud sigh buried her head again in the moss! Yet the merciful God +was more gracious to me than my unbelief had deserved; for when the +hard-hearted woman bestowed a little broth on her neighbour, old Paasch, +he presently brought it to my child, having heard from the maid how it +stood with her; and I believe that this broth, under God, alone saved her +life, for she raised her head as soon as she had supped it, and was able +to go about the house again in an hour. May God reward the good fellow for +it! Thus I had some joy in the midst of my trouble. But while I sat by the +fireside in the evening musing on my fate, my grief again broke forth, and +I made up my mind to leave my house, and even my cure, and to wander +through the wide world with my daughter as a beggar. God knows I had cause +enough for it; for now that all my hopes were dashed, seeing that my field +was quite ruined, and that the Sheriff had become my bitter enemy; +moreover, that it was five years since I had had a wedding, _item_, but +two christenings during the past year, I saw my own and my daughter's +death staring me in the face, and no prospect of better times at hand. Our +want was increased by the great fears of the congregation; for although +by God's wondrous mercy they had already begun to take good draughts of +fish both in the sea and the Achterwater, and many of the people in the +other villages had already gotten bread, salt, oatmeal, etc., from the +Polters and Quatzners, of Anklam and Lassan in exchange for their fish; +nevertheless, they brought me nothing, fearing lest it might be told at +Pudgla, and make his lordship ungracious to them. I therefore beckoned my +daughter to me, and told her what was in my thoughts, saying that God in +his mercy could any day bestow on me another cure if I was found worthy in +his sight of such a favour, seeing that these terrible days of pestilence +and war had called away many of the servants of his word, and that I had +not fled like a hireling from his flock, but on the contrary, till _datum_ +shared sorrow and death with it. Whether she were able to walk five or ten +miles a day; for that then we would beg our way to Hamburg, to my departed +wife her step-brother, Martin Behring, who is a great merchant in that +city. + +This at first sounded strange to her, seeing that she had very seldom been +out of our parish, and that her departed mother and her little brother lay +in our churchyard. She asked, "Who was to make up their graves and plant +flowers on them? _Item_, as the Lord had given her a smooth face, what I +should do if in these wild and cruel times she were attacked on the +highways by marauding soldiers or other villains, seeing that I was a weak +old man and unable to defend her; _item_, wherewithal should we shield +ourselves from the frost, as the winter was setting in and the enemy had +robbed us of our clothes, so that we had scarce enough left to cover our +nakedness?" All this I had not considered, and was forced to own that she +was right; so after much discussion we determined to leave it this night +to the Lord, and to do whatever he should put into our hearts next +morning. At any rate, we saw that we could in nowise keep the old maid any +longer; I therefore called her out of the kitchen, and told her she had +better go early next morning to Liepe, as there still was food there, +whereas here she must starve, seeing that perhaps we ourselves might leave +the parish and the country to-morrow. I thanked her for the love and faith +she had shown us, and begged her at last, amid the loud sobs of my poor +daughter, to depart forthwith privately, and not to make our hearts still +heavier by leave-taking; that old Paasch was going a-fishing to-night on +the Achterwater, as he had told me, and no doubt would readily set her on +shore at Grüssow, where she had friends, and could eat her fill even +to-day. She could not say a word for weeping, but when she saw that I was +really in earnest she went out of the room. Not long after we heard the +house-door shut to, whereupon my daughter moaned, "She is gone already," +and ran straight to the window to look after her. "Yes," cried she, as she +saw her through the little panes, "she is really gone"; and she wrung her +hands and would not be comforted. At last, however, she was quieted when I +spoke of the maid Hagar, whom Abraham had likewise cast off, but on whom +the Lord had nevertheless shown mercy in the wilderness; and hereupon we +commended ourselves to the Lord, and stretched ourselves on our couches of +moss. + + + + +_The Ninth Chapter_ + + +HOW THE OLD MAID-SERVANT HUMBLED ME BY HER FAITH, AND THE LORD YET BLESSED +ME HIS UNWORTHY SERVANT + +"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy +name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who +forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who +redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving +kindness and tender mercies" (Psalm ciii.). + +Alas! wretched man that I am, how shall I understand all the benefits and +mercies which the Lord bestowed upon me the very next day? I now wept for +joy, as of late I had done for sorrow; and my child danced about the room +like a young roe, and would not go to bed, but only cry and dance, and +between-whiles repeat the 103rd Psalm, then dance and cry again until +morning broke. But as she was still very weak, I rebuked her presumption, +seeing that this was tempting the Lord; and now mark what had happened. + +After we had both woke in the morning with deep sighs, and called upon the +Lord to manifest to us in our hearts what we should do, we still could not +make up our minds. I therefore called to my child, if she felt strong +enough, to leave her bed and light a fire in the stove herself, as our +maid was gone; that we would then consider the matter further. She +accordingly got up, but came back in an instant with cries of joy, because +the maid had privately stolen back into the house, and had already made +a fire. Hereupon I sent for her to my bedside, and wondered at her +disobedience, and asked what she now wanted here but to torment me and +my daughter still more, and why she did not go yesterday with old Paasch? +But she lamented and wept so sore that she scarce could speak, and I +understood only thus much--that she had eaten with us, and would likewise +starve with us, for that she could never part from her young mistress, +whom she had known from her cradle. Such faithful love moved me so, that I +said almost with tears, "But hast thou not heard that my daughter and I +have determined to wander as beggars about the country; where, then, wilt +thou remain?" To this she answered that neither would she stay behind, +seeing it was more fitting for her to beg than for us; but that she could +not yet see why I wished to go out into the wide world; whether I had +already forgotten that I had said in my induction sermon that I would +abide with my flock in affliction and in death? That I should stay yet +a little longer where I was, and send her to Liepe, as she hoped to get +something worth having for us there from her friends and others. These +words, especially those about my induction sermon, fell heavy on my +conscience, and I was ashamed of my want of faith, since not my daughter +only, but yet more even my maid, had stronger faith than I, who +nevertheless professed to be a servant of God's word. I believed that the +Lord--to keep me, poor fearful hireling, and at the same time to humble +me--had awakened the spirit of this poor maid-servant to prove me, as the +maid in the palace of the high-priest had also proved the fearful St. +Peter. Wherefore I turned my face towards the wall, like Hezekiah, and +humbled myself before the Lord, which scarce had I done before my child +ran into the room again, with a cry of joy; for behold, some Christian +heart had stolen quietly into the house in the night, and had laid in the +chamber two loaves, a good piece of meat, a bag of oatmeal, _item_, a bag +of salt, holding near a pint. Any one may guess what shouts of joy we all +raised. Neither was I ashamed to confess my sins before my maid; and in +our common morning prayer, which we said on our knees, I made fresh vows +to the Lord of obedience and faith. Thus we had that morning a grand +breakfast, and sent something to old Paasch besides; _item_, my daughter +again sent for all the little children to come, and kindly fed them with +our store before they said their tasks; and when in my heart of little +faith I sighed thereat, although I said nought, she smiled, and said, +"Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take +thought for the things of itself." + +The Holy Ghost spoke by her, as I cannot but believe, nor thou either, +beloved reader: for mark what happened. In the afternoon she (I mean my +child) went up the Streckelberg to seek for blackberries, as old Paasch +had told her, through the maid, that a few bushes were still left. The +maid was chopping wood in the yard, to which end she had borrowed old +Paasch his axe, for the Imperialist thieves had thrown away mine, so that +it could nowhere be found; and I myself was pacing up and down in the +room, meditating my sermon; when my child, with her apron full, came +quickly in at the door, quite red and with beaming eyes, and scarce able +for joy to say more than "Father, father, what have I got?" "Well," quoth +I, "what hast thou got, my child?" Whereupon she opened her apron, and I +scarce trusted my eyes when I saw, instead of the blackberries which she +had gone to seek, two shining pieces of amber, each nearly as big as a +man's head, not to mention the small pieces, some of which were as large +as my hand, and that, God knows, is no small one. "Child of my heart," +cried I, "how camest thou by this blessing from God?" As soon as she could +fetch her breath, she told me as follows:-- + +That while she was seeking for blackberries in a dell near the shore she +saw somewhat glistening in the sun, and on coming near she found this +wondrous godsend, seeing that the wind had blown the sand away from off a +black vein of amber. That she straightway had broken off these pieces with +a stick, and that there was plenty more to be got, seeing that it rattled +about under the stick when she thrust it into the sand, neither could she +force it farther than, at most, a foot deep into the ground; _item,_ she +told me that she had covered the place all over again with sand, and swept +it smooth with her apron, so as to leave no traces. + +Moreover, that no stranger was at all likely to go thither, seeing that no +blackberries grew very near, and she had gone to the spot, moved by +curiosity and a wish to look upon the sea, rather than from any need; but +that she could easily find the place again herself, inasmuch as she had +marked it with three little stones. What was our first act after the +all-merciful God had rescued us out of such misery, nay, even, as it +seemed, endowed us with great riches, any one may guess. When we at length +got up off our knees, my child would straightway have run to tell the maid +our joyful news. But I forbade her, seeing that we could not be sure that +the maid might not tell it again to her friends, albeit in all other +things she was a faithful woman and feared God; but that if she did that, +the Sheriff would be sure to hear of it, and to seize upon our treasure +for his princely highness the Duke--that is to say, for himself; and that +nought would be left to us but the sight thereof, and our want would begin +all over again; that we therefore would say, when folks asked about the +luck that had befallen us, that my deceased brother, who was a councillor +at Rotterdam, had left us a good lump of money; and, indeed, it was true +that I had inherited near two hundred florins from him a year ago, which, +however, the soldiery (as mentioned above) cruelly robbed me of; _item,_ +that I would go to Wolgast myself next day and sell the little bits as +best I might, saying that thou hadst picked them up by the seaside; thou +mayest tell the maid the same, if thou wilt, but show the larger pieces to +no one, and I will send them to thy uncle at Hamburg to be turned into +money for us; perchance I may be able to sell one of them at Wolgast, if I +find occasion, so as to buy clothes enough for the winter for thee and for +me, wherefore thou, too, mayst go with me. We will take the few farthings +which the congregation have brought together to pay the ferry, and thou +canst order the maid to wait for us till eventide at the water-side to +carry home the victuals. She agreed to all this, but said we had better +first break off some more amber, so that we might get a good round sum for +it at Hamburg; and I thought so too, wherefore we stopped at home next +day, seeing that we did not want for food, and that my child, as well as +myself, both wished to refresh ourselves a little before we set out on our +journey; _item_, we likewise bethought us that old Master Rothoog, of +Loddin, who is a cabinetmaker, might knock together a little box for us to +put the amber in, wherefore I sent the maid to him in the afternoon. +Meanwhile we ourselves went up the Streckelberg, where I cut a young +fir-tree with my pocket-knife, which I had saved from the enemy, and +shaped it like a spade, so that I might be better able to dig deep +therewith. First, however, we looked about us well on the mountain, and, +seeing nobody, my daughter walked on to the place, which she straightway +found again. Great God! what a mass of amber was there! The vein was hard +upon twenty feet long, as near as I could feel, and the depth of it I +could not sound. Nevertheless, save four good-sized pieces, none, however, +so big as those of yesterday, we this day only broke out little splinters, +such as the apothecaries bruise for incense. After we had most carefully +covered and smoothed over the place, a great mishap was very near +befalling us; for we met Witthan her little girl, who was seeking +blackberries, and she asked what my daughter carried in her apron, who +straightway grew red, and stammered so that our secret would have been +betrayed if I had not presently said, "What is that to thee? She has got +fir-apples for firing," which the child believed. Wherefore we resolved in +future only to go up the mountain at night by moonlight, and we went home +and got there before the maid, and hid our treasure in the bedstead, so +that she should not see it. + + + + +_The Tenth Chapter_ + + +HOW WE JOURNEYED TO WOLGAST, AND MADE GOOD BARTER THERE + +Two days after, so says my daughter, but old Ilse thinks it was three +(and I myself know not which is true), we at last went to the town, +seeing that Master Rothoog had not got the box ready before. My daughter +covered it over with a piece of my departed wife her wedding-gown, which +the Imperialists had indeed torn to pieces, but as they had left it +lying outside, the wind had blown it into the orchard, where we found +it. It was very shabby before, otherwise I doubt not they would have +carried it off with them. On account of the box, we took old Ilse with +us, who had to carry it, and, as amber is very light ware, she readily +believed that the box held nothing but eatables. At daybreak, then, we +took our staves in our hands and set out with God. Near Zitze, a hare +ran across the road before us, which they say bodes no good. Well-a-day! +When we came near Bannemin I asked a fellow if it was true that here a +mother had slaughtered her own child from hunger, as I had heard. He +said it was, and that the old woman's name was Zisse; but that God had +been wroth at such a horrid deed, and she had got no good by it, seeing +that she vomited so much upon eating it that she forthwith gave up the +ghost. On the whole, he thought things were already going rather better +with the parish, as Almighty God had richly blessed them with fish, both +out of the sea and the Achterwater. Nevertheless a great number of +people had died of hunger here also. He told us that their vicar, +his reverence Johannes Lampius, had had his house burnt down by the +Imperialists, and was lying in a hovel near the church. I sent him +my greeting, desiring that he would soon come to visit me (which the +fellow promised he would take care to deliver to him), for the reverend +Johannes is a pious and learned man, and has also composed sundry Latin +_Chronosticha_ on these wretched times, in _metrum heroicum_, which, I +must say, please me greatly. When we had crossed the ferry we went in at +Sehms his house, on the Castle Green, who keeps an ale-house; he told us +that the pestilence had not yet altogether ceased in the town; whereat I +was much afraid, more especially as he described to us so many other +horrors and miseries of these fearful times, both here and in other +places, _e.g._ of the great famine in the island of Rügen, where a +number of people had grown as black as Moors from hunger; a wondrous +thing if it be true, and one might almost gather therefrom how the first +blackamoors came about. But be that as it may. _Summa_. When Master +Sehms had told us all the news he had heard, and we had thus learnt, +to our great comfort, that the Lord had not visited us only in these +times of heavy need, I called him aside into a chamber and asked him +whether I could not here find means to get money for a piece of amber +which my daughter had found by the sea. At first he said "No"; but then +recollecting, he began, "Stay, let me see, at Nicolas Graeke's, the inn +at the castle, there are two great Dutch merchants--Dieterich von +Pehnen and Jacob Kiekebusch--who are come to buy pitch and boards, +_item_ timber for ships and beams; perchance they may like to cheapen +your amber too; but you had better go up to the castle yourself, for I +do not know for certain whether they still are there." This I did, +although I had not yet eaten anything in the man's house, seeing that I +wanted to know first what sort of bargain I might make, and to save the +farthings belonging to the church until then. So I went into the +castle-yard. Gracious God! what a desert had even his Princely Highness' +house become within a short time! The Danes had ruined the stables and +hunting-lodge, Anno 1628; _item_, destroyed several rooms in the castle; +and in the _locamentum_ of his Princely Highness Duke Philippus, where, +Anno 22, he so graciously entertained me and my child, as will be told +further on, now dwelt the innkeeper Nicolas Graeke; and all the fair +tapestries, whereon was represented the pilgrimage to Jerusalem of his +Princely Highness Bogislaus X, were torn down and the walls left grey +and bare. At this sight my heart was sorely grieved; but I presently +inquired for the merchants, who sat at the table drinking their parting +cup, with their travelling equipments already lying by them, seeing that +they were just going to set out on their way to Stettin; straightway one +of them jumped up from his liquor--a little fellow with a right noble +paunch and a black plaster on his nose--and asked me what I would of +them? I took him aside into a window, and told him I had some fine +amber, if he had a mind to buy it of me, which he straightway agreed to +do. And when he had whispered somewhat into the ear of his fellow, he +began to look very pleasant, and reached me the pitcher before we went +to my inn. I drank to him right heartily, seeing that (as I have already +said) I was still fasting, so that I felt my very heart warmed by it in +an instant. (Gracious God, what can go beyond a good draught of wine +taken within measure!) After this we went to my inn, and told the maid +to carry the box on one side into a small chamber. I had scarce opened +it and taken away the gown, when the man (whose name was Dieterich von +Pehnen, as he had told me by the way) held up both hands for joy, and +said he had never seen such wealth of amber, and how had I come by it? I +answered that my child had found it on the sea-shore; whereat he +wondered greatly that we had so much amber here, and offered me three +hundred florins for the whole box. I was quite beside myself for joy at +such an offer, but took care not to let him see it, and bargained with +him till I got five hundred florins, and I was to go with him to the +castle and take the money forthwith. Hereupon I ordered mine host to +make ready at once a mug of beer and a good dinner for my child, and +went back to the castle with the man and the maid, who carried the box, +begging him, in order to avoid common talk, to say nothing of my good +fortune to mine host, nor, indeed, to any one else in the town, and to +count out the money to me privately, seeing that I could not be sure +that the thieves might not lay in wait for me on the road home if they +heard of it, and this the man did; for he whispered something into the +ear of his fellow, who straightway opened his leathern surcoat, _item_ +his doublet and hose, and unbuckled from his paunch a well-filled purse, +which he gave to him. _Summa_. Before long I had my riches in my pocket, +and, moreover, the man begged me to write to him at Amsterdam whenever I +found any more amber, the which I promised to do. But the worthy fellow +(as I have since heard) died of the plague at Stettin, together with his +companion--truly I wish it had happened otherwise. Shortly after I was +very near getting into great trouble; for, as I had an extreme longing +to fall on my knees, so that I could not wait until such time as I +should have got back to my inn, I went up three or four steps of the +castle stairs and entered into a small chamber, where I humbled myself +before the Lord. But the host, Nicolas Graeke, followed me, thinking I +was a thief, and would have stopped me, so that I knew not how to excuse +myself by saying that I had been made drunken by the wine which the +strange merchants had given to me (for he had seen what a good pull I +had made at it), seeing I had not broken my fast that morning, and that +I was looking for a chamber wherein I might sleep a while, which lie he +believed (if, in truth, it were a lie, for I was really drunken, though +not with wine, but with love and gratitude to my Maker), and accordingly +he let me go. + +But I must now tell my story of his Princely Highness, as I promised +above. Anno 22, as I chanced to walk with my daughter, who was then a +child of about twelve years old, in the castle-garden at Wolgast, and was +showing her the beautiful flowers that grew there, it chanced that as we +came round from behind some bushes we espied my gracious lord the Duke +Philippus Julius, with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff, who lay +here on a visit, standing on a mount and conversing, wherefore we were +about to return. But as my gracious lords presently walked on toward the +drawbridge, we went to look at the mount where they had stood; of a sudden +my little girl shouted loudly for joy, seeing that she found on the earth +a costly signet-ring, which one of their Princely Highnesses doubtless +had dropped. I therefore said, "Come and we will follow our gracious lords +with all speed, and thou shall say to them in Latin, '_Serenissimi +principes, quis vestrum hunc annulum deperdidit_?' (for, as I have +mentioned above, I had instructed her in the Latin tongue ever since her +seventh year); and if one of them says '_Ego_,' give to him the ring. +_Item_.--Should he ask thee in Latin to whom thou belongest, be not +abashed, and say '_Ego sum filia pastoris Coserowiensis_'; for thou wilt +thus find favour in the eyes of their Princely Highnesses, for they are +both gracious gentlemen, more especially the taller one, who is our +gracious ruler, Philippus Julius himself." This she promised to do; but as +she trembled sorely as she went, I encouraged her yet more and promised +her a new gown if she did it, seeing that even as a little child she would +have given a great deal for fine clothes. As soon, then, as we were come +into the courtyard, I stood by the statue of his Princely Highness Ernest +Ludewig, and whispered her to run boldly after them, as their Princely +Highnesses were only a few steps before us, and had already turned toward +the great entrance. This she did, but of a sudden she stood still, and +would have turned back, because she was frightened by the spurs of their +Princely Highnesses, as she afterwards told me, seeing that they rattled +and jingled very loudly. + +But my gracious lady the Duchess Agnes saw her from the open window +wherein she lay, and called to his Princely Highness, "My lord, there is a +little maiden behind you, who, it seems, would speak with you," whereupon +his Princely Highness straightway turned him round, smiling pleasantly, so +that my little maid presently took courage, and, holding up the ring, +spoke in Latin as I had told her. Hereat both the princes wondered beyond +measure, and after my gracious Duke Philippus had felt his finger, he +answered, "_Dulcissima puella, ego perdidi_"; whereupon she gave it to +him. Then he patted her cheek, and again asked, "_Sed quaenam es, et unde +venis?_" whereupon she boldly gave her answer, and at the same time +pointed with her finger to where I stood by the statue; whereupon his +Princely Highness motioned me to draw near. My gracious lady saw all that +passed from the window, but all at once she left it. She, however, +came back to it again before I had time even humbly to draw near to my +gracious lord, and beckoned to my child, and held a cake out of the window +for her. On my telling her, she ran up to the window, but her Princely +Highness could not reach so low nor she so high above her as to take it, +wherefore my gracious lady commanded her to come up into the castle, and +as she looked anxiously round after me, motioned me also, as did my +gracious lord himself, who presently took the timid little maid by the +hand and went up with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff. My +gracious lady came to meet us at the door, and caressed and embraced my +little daughter, so that she soon grew quite bold and ate the cake. When +my gracious lord had asked me my name, _item_, why I had in so singular a +manner taught my daughter the Latin tongue, I answered that I had heard +much from a cousin at Cologne of Maria Schurman, and as I had observed a +very excellent _ingenium_ in my child, and also had time enough in my +lonely cure, I did not hesitate to take her in hand, and teach her from +her youth up, seeing I had no boy alive. Hereat their Princely Highnesses +marvelled greatly, and put some more questions to her in Latin, which she +answered without any prompting from me. Whereupon my gracious lord Duke +Philippus said in the vulgar tongue, "When thou art grown up and art one +day to be married, tell it to me, and thou shall then have another ring +from me, and whatsoever else pertains to a bride, for thou hast this day +done me good service, seeing that this ring is a precious jewel to me, as +I had it from my wife." Hereupon I whispered her to kiss his Princely +Highness' hand for such a promise, and so she did. + +(But alas! most gracious God, it is one thing to promise, and quite +another to hold. Where is his Princely Highness at this time? Wherefore +let me ever keep in mind that "thou only art faithful, and that which thou +hast promised thou wilt surely hold." Psalm xxxiii. 4. Amen.) + +_Item_. When his Princely Highness had also inquired concerning myself +and my cure, and heard that I was of ancient and noble family, and my +_salarium_ very small, he called from the window to his chancellor, +D. Rungius, who stood without, looking at the sun-dial, and told him that +I was to have an addition from the convent at Pudgla, _item_ from the +crown-lands at Ernsthoff, as I mentioned above; but, more's the pity, I +never have received the same, although the _instrumentum donationis_ was +sent me soon after by his Princely Highness' chancellor. + +Then cakes were brought for me also, _item_, a glass of foreign wine in a +glass painted with armorial bearings, whereupon I humbly took my leave, +together with my daughter. + +However, to come back to my bargain, anybody may guess what joy my child +felt when I showed her the fair ducats and florins I had gotten for the +amber. To the maid, however, we said that we had inherited such riches +from my brother in Holland; and after we had again given thanks to the +Lord on our knees, and eaten our dinner, we bought in a great store of +bread, salt, meat, and stock-fish: _item_, of clothes, seeing that I +provided what was needful for us three throughout the winter from the +cloth-merchant. Moreover, for my daughter I bought a hair-net and a +scarlet silk bodice, with a black apron and white petticoat, _item_, a +fine pair of earrings, as she begged hard for them; and as soon as I had +ordered the needful from the cordwainer we set out on our way homewards, +as it began to grow very dark; but we could not carry nearly all we had +bought. Wherefore we were forced to get a peasant from Bannemin to help +us, who likewise was come into the town; and as I found out from him +that the fellow who gave me the piece of bread was a poor cotter called +Pantermehl, who dwelt in the village by the roadside, I shoved a couple of +loaves in at his house-door without his knowing it, and we went on our way +by the bright moonlight, so that by the help of God we got home about ten +o'clock at night. I likewise gave a loaf to the other fellow, though truly +he deserved it not, seeing that he would go with us no further than to +Zitze. But I let him go, for I, too, had not deserved that the Lord should +so greatly bless me. + + + + +_The Eleventh Chapter_ + + +HOW I FED ALL THE CONGREGATION: +_ITEM_, HOW I JOURNEYED TO THE HORSE FAIR AT GÜTZKOW, AND WHAT BEFELL +ME THERE + +Next morning my daughter cut up the blessed bread, and sent to every one +in the village a good large piece. But as we saw that our store would +soon run low, we sent the maid with a truck, which we bought of Adam +Lempken, to Wolgast to buy more bread, which she did. _Item_, I gave +notice throughout the parish that on Sunday next I should administer the +blessed sacrament, and in the meantime I bought up all the large fish +that the people of the village had caught. And when the blessed Sunday +was come I first heard the confessions of the whole parish, and after +that I preached a sermon on Matt. xv. 32--"I have compassion on the +multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." I first applied the same to +spiritual food only, and there arose a great sighing from both the men +and the women, when, at the end, I pointed to the altar, whereon stood +the blessed food for the soul, and repeated the words, "I have compassion +on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." (N.B.--The pewter +cup I had borrowed at Wolgast, and bought there a little earthenware +plate for a paten till such time as Master Bloom should have made ready +the silver cup and paten I had bespoke.) Thereupon as soon as I had +consecrated and administered the blessed sacrament, _item_, led the +closing hymn, and every one had silently prayed his "Our Father" before +going out of church, I came out of the confessional again, and motioned +the people to stay yet a while, as the blessed Saviour would feed not +only their souls, but their bodies also, seeing that he still had the +same compassion on his people as of old on the people at the Sea of +Galilee, as they should presently see. Then I went into the tower and +fetched out two baskets which the maid had bought at Wolgast, and which I +had hidden there in good time; set them down in front of the altar, and +took off the napkins with which they were covered, whereupon a very loud +shout arose, inasmuch as they saw one filled with broiled fish and the +other with bread, which we had put into them privately. Hereupon, like +our Saviour, I gave thanks and brake it, and gave it to the churchwarden +Hinrich Seden, that he might distribute it among the men, and to my +daughter for the women. Whereupon I made application of the text, "I have +compassion on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat," to the +food of the body also; and walking up and down in the church, amid great +outcries from all, I exhorted them alway to trust in God's mercy, to pray +without ceasing, to work diligently, and to consent to no sin. What was +left I made them gather up for their children and the old people who were +left at home. + +After church, when I had scarce put off my surplice, Hinrich Seden his +squint-eyed wife came and impudently asked for more for her husband's +journey to Liepe; neither had she had anything for herself, seeing she had +not come to church. This angered me sore, and I said to her, "Why wast thou +not at church? Nevertheless, if thou hadst come humbly to me thou shouldst +have gotten somewhat even now, but as thou comest impudently, I will give +thee nought: think on what thou didst to me and to my child." But she stood +at the door and glowered impudently about the room till my daughter took +her by the arm and led her out, saying, "Hear'st thou, thou shalt come back +humbly before thou gett'st anything, but when thou comest thus, thou also +shalt have thy share, for we will no longer reckon with thee an eye for an +eye, and a tooth for a tooth; let the Lord do that if such be his will, but +we will gladly forgive thee!" Hereupon she at last went out at the door, +muttering to herself as she was wont; but she spat several times in the +street, as we saw from the window. + +Soon after I made up my mind to take into my service a lad, near upon +twenty years of age, called Claus Neels, seeing that his father, old +Neels of Loddin, begged hard that I would do so, besides which the lad +pleased me well in manners and otherwise. Then, as we had a good harvest +this year, I resolved to buy me a couple of horses forthwith, and to sow +my field again; for although it was now late in the year, I thought that +the most merciful God might bless the crop with increase if it seemed +good to him. + +Neither did I feel much care with respect to food for them, inasmuch as +there was a great plenty of hay in the neighbourhood, seeing that all the +cattle had been killed or driven away (as related above). I therefore made +up my mind to go in God's name with my new ploughman to Gützkow, whither a +great many Mecklenburg horses were brought to the fair, seeing that times +were not yet so bad there as with us. Meanwhile I went a few more times up +the Streckelberg with my daughter at night, and by moonlight, but found +very little; so that we began to think our luck had come to an end, when, +on the third night, we broke off some pieces of amber bigger even than +those the two Dutchmen had bought. These I resolved to send to my wife's +brother, Martin Behring, at Hamburg, seeing that the schipper Wulff of +Wolgast intends, as I am told, to sail thither this very autumn, with +pitch and wood for shipbuilding. I accordingly packed it all up in a +strong chest, which I carried with me to Wolgast when I started with my +man on my journey to Gützkow. Of this journey I will only relate thus +much, that there were plenty of horses and very few buyers in the market. +Wherefore I bought a pair of fine black horses for twenty florins apiece; +_item_, a cart for five florins; _item_, twenty-five bushels of rye, which +also came from Mecklenburg, at one florin the bushel, whereas it is hardly +to be had now at Wolgast for love or money, and costs three florins or +more the bushel. I might therefore have made a good bargain in rye at +Gützkow if it had become my office, and had I not, moreover, been afraid +lest the robbers, who swarm in these evil times, should take away my corn, +and ill-use and perchance murder me into the bargain, as has happened to +sundry people already. For, at this time especially, such robberies were +carried on after a strange and frightful fashion on Strellin heath at +Gützkow; but by God's help it all came to light just as I journeyed +thither with my man-servant to the fair, and I will here tell how it +happened. Some months before a man had been broken on the wheel at +Gützkow, because, being tempted of Satan, he murdered a travelling +workman. The man, however, straightway began to walk after so fearful a +fashion, that in the evening and night-season he sprang down from the +wheel in his gallows' dress whenever a cart passed by the gallows, which +stands hard by the road to Wolgast, and jumped up behind the people, who +in horror and dismay flogged on their horses, and thereby made a great +rattling on the log embankment which leads beside the gallows into a +little wood called the Kraulin. And it was a strange thing that on the +same night the travellers were almost always robbed or murdered on +Strellin heath. Hereupon the magistrates had the man taken down from the +wheel and buried under the gallows, in hopes of laying his ghost. But it +went on just as before, sitting at night snow-white on the wheel, so that +none durst any longer travel the road to Wolgast. Until at last it +happened that, at the time of the above-named fair, young Rüdiger von +Nienkerken of Mellenthin, in Usedom, who had been studying at Wittenberg +and elsewhere, and was now on his way home, came this road by night with +his carriage. Just before, at the inn, I myself had tried to persuade him +to stop the night at Gützkow on account of the ghost, and to go on his +journey with me next morning, but he would not. Now as soon as this young +lord drove along the road, he also espied the apparition sitting on the +wheel, and scarcely had he passed the gallows when the ghost jumped down +and ran after him. The driver was horribly afraid, and lashed on the +horses, as everybody else had done before, and they, taking fright, +galloped away over the log-road with a marvellous clatter. Meanwhile, +however, the young nobleman saw by the light of the moon how that the +apparition flattened a ball of horse-dung whereon it trod, and straightway +felt sure within himself that it was no ghost. Whereupon he called to the +driver to stop; and as the man would not hearken to him, he sprang out of +the carriage, drew his rapier, and hastened to attack the ghost. When the +ghost saw this he would have turned and fled, but the young nobleman gave +him such a blow on the head with his fist that he fell upon the ground +with a loud wailing. _Summa_: the young lord, having called back his +driver, dragged the ghost into the town again, where he turned out to be a +shoemaker called Schwelm. + +I also, on seeing such a great crowd, ran thither with many others to +look at the fellow. He trembled like an aspen leaf; and when he was +roughly told to make a clean breast, whereby he might peradventure save +his own life, if it appeared that he had murdered no one, he confessed +that he had got his wife to make him a gallows' dress, which he had +put on, and had sat on the wheel before the dead man, when, from the +darkness and the distance, no one could see that the two were sitting +there together; and this he did more especially when he knew that a +cart was going from the town to Wolgast. When the cart came by, and he +jumped down and ran after it, all the people were so affrighted that +they no longer kept their eyes upon the gallows, but only on him, +flogged the horses, and galloped with much noise and clatter over the +log embankment. This was heard by his fellows in Strellin and Dammbecke +(two villages which are about three-fourths on the way), who held +themselves ready to unyoke the horses and to plunder the travellers +when they came up with them. That after the dead man was buried he +could play the ghost more easily still, etc. That this was the whole +truth, and that he himself had never in his life robbed, still less +murdered, any one; wherefore he begged to be forgiven: that all the +robberies and murders which had happened had been done by his fellows +alone. Ah, thou cunning knave! But I heard afterwards that he and his +fellows were broken on the wheel together, as was but fair. + +And now to come back to my journey. The young nobleman abode that night +with me at the inn, and early next morning we both set forth; and as we +had grown into good-fellowship together, I got into his coach with him, +as he offered me, so as to talk by the way, and my Claus drove behind +us. I soon found that he was a well-bred, honest, and learned gentleman, +seeing that he despised the wild student life, and was glad that he had +now done with their scandalous drinking-bouts: moreover, he talked his +Latin readily. I had therefore much pleasure with him in the coach. +However, at Wolgast the rope of the ferry-boat broke, so that we were +carried down the stream to Zeuzin, and at length we only got ashore with +great trouble. Meanwhile it grew late, and we did not get into Coserow +till nine, when I asked the young lord to abide the night with me, which +he agreed to do. We found my child sitting in the chimney-corner, making +a petticoat for her little god-daughter out of her own old clothes. She +was greatly frighted, and changed colour when she saw the young lord +come in with me, and heard that he was to lie there that night, seeing +that as yet we had no more beds than we had bought for our own need from +old Zabel Nehring the forest ranger his widow, at Uekeritze. Wherefore +she took me aside: What was to be done? My bed was in an ill plight, her +little god-child having lain on it that morning; and she could nowise +put the young nobleman into hers, although she would willingly creep in +by the maid herself. And when I asked her why not? she blushed scarlet +and began to cry, and would not show herself again the whole evening, so +that the maid had to see to everything, even to the putting white sheets +on my child's bed for the young lord, as she would not do it herself. I +only tell this to show how maidens are. For next morning she came into +the room with her red silk bodice, and the net on her hair, and the +apron; _summa_, dressed in all the things I had bought her at Wolgast, +so that the young lord was amazed, and talked much with her over the +morning meal. Whereupon he took his leave, and desired me to visit him +at his castle. + +[Illustration: The Gallows Ghost] + + + + +_The Twelfth Chapter_ + + +WHAT FURTHER JOY AND SORROW BEFELL US: +_ITEM_, HOW WITTICH APPELMANN RODE TO DAMEROW TO THE WOLFHUNT, AND WHAT HE +PROPOSED TO MY DAUGHTER + +The Lord blessed my parish wonderfully this winter, inasmuch as not only a +great quantity of fish were caught and sold in all the villages, but in +Coserow they even killed four seals: _item_, the great storm of the 12th +of December threw a goodly quantity of amber on the shore, so that many +found amber, although no very large pieces, and they began to buy cows and +sheep from Liepe and other places, as I myself also bought two cows; +_item_, my grain which I had sown, half on my own field and half on old +Paasch's, sprang up bravely and gladly, as the Lord had till _datum_ +bestowed on us an open winter; but so soon as it had shot up a finger's +length, we found it one morning again torn up and ruined, and this time +also by the devil's doings, since now, as before, not the smallest trace +of oxen or of horses was to be seen in the field. May the righteous God, +however, reward it, as indeed he already has done. Amen. + +Meanwhile, however, something uncommon happened. For one morning, as I +have heard, when Lord Wittich saw out of the window that the daughter of +his fisherman, a child of sixteen, whom he had diligently pursued, went +into the coppice to gather dry sticks, he went thither too; wherefore, I +will not say, but every one may guess for himself. When he had gone some +way along the convent mound, and was come to the first bridge, where the +mountain-ash stands, he saw two wolves coming towards him; and as he had +no weapon with him, save a staff, he climbed up into a tree; whereupon the +wolves trotted round it, blinked at him with their eyes, licked their +lips, and at last jumped with their fore-paws up against the tree, +snapping at him; he then saw that one was a he-wolf, a great fat brute +with only one eye. Hereupon in his fright he began to scream, and the +long-suffering of God was again shown to him, without, however, making him +wiser; for the maiden, who had crept behind a juniper-bush in the field +when she saw the Sheriff coming, ran back again to the castle and called +together a number of people, who came and drove away the wolves, and +rescued his lordship. He then ordered a great wolf-hunt to be held next +day in the convent wood, and he who brought the one-eyed monster, dead or +alive, was to have a barrel of beer for his pains. Still they could not +catch him, albeit they that day took four wolves in their nets, and killed +them. He therefore straightway ordered a wolf-hunt to be held in my +parish. But when the fellow came to toll the bell for a wolf-hunt, he did +not stop a while, as is the wont for wolf-hunts, but loudly rang the bell +on, _sine morâ_, so that all the folk thought a fire had broken out, and +ran screaming out of their houses. My child also came running out (I +myself had driven to visit a sick person at Zempin, seeing that walking +began to be wearisome to me, and that I could now afford to be more at +mine ease); but she had not stood long, and was asking the reason of the +ringing, when the Sheriff himself, on his grey charger, with three +cart-loads of toils and nets following him, galloped up and ordered the +people straightway to go into the forest and to drive the wolves with +rattles. Hereupon he, with his hunters and a few men whom he had picked +out of the crowd, were to ride on and spread the nets behind Damerow, +seeing that the island is wondrous narrow there, and the wolf dreads the +water. When he saw my daughter he turned his horse round, chucked her +under the chin, and graciously asked her who she was, and whence she came? +When he had heard it, he said she was as fair as an angel, and that he had +not known till now that the parson here had so beauteous a girl. He then +rode off, looking round at her two or three times. At the first beating +they found the one-eyed wolf, who lay in the rushes near the water. Hereat +his lordship rejoiced greatly, and made the grooms drag him out of the net +with long iron hooks, and hold him there for near an hour, while my lord +slowly and cruelly tortured him to death, laughing heartily the while, +which is a _prognosticon_ of what he afterwards did with my poor child, +for wolf or lamb is all one to this villain. Just God! But I will not be +beforehand with my tale. + +Next day came old Seden his squint-eyed wife, limping like a lame dog, and +put it to my daughter whether she would not go into the service of the +Sheriff; praised him as a good and pious man; and vowed that all the world +said of him were foul lies, as she herself could bear witness, seeing that +she had lived in his service for above ten years. _Item_, she praised the +good cheer they had there, and the handsome beer-money that the great +lords who often lay there gave the servants which waited upon them; that +she herself had more than once received a rose-noble from his Princely +Highness Duke Ernest Ludewig; moreover, many pretty fellows came there, +which might make her fortune, inasmuch as she was a fair woman, and might +take her choice of a husband; whereas here in Coserow, where nobody ever +came, she might wait till she was old and ugly before she got a curch on +her head, etc. Hereat my daughter was beyond measure angered, and +answered, "Ah! thou old witch, and who has told thee that I wish to go +into service to get a curch on my head? Go thy ways, and never enter the +house again, for I have nought to do with thee." Whereupon she walked away +again, muttering between her teeth. + +Scarce had a few days passed, and I was standing in the chamber with the +glazier, who was putting in new windows, when I heard my daughter scream +in the kitchen. Whereupon I straightway ran in thither, and was shocked +and affrighted when I saw the Sheriff himself standing in the corner with +his arm round my child her neck; he, however, presently let her go, and +said: "Aha, reverend Abraham, what a coy little fool you have for a +daughter! I wanted to greet her with a kiss, as I always use to do, and +she struggled and cried out as if I had been some young fellow who had +stolen in upon her, whereas I might be her father twice over." As I +answered nought, he went on to say that he had done it to encourage her, +seeing that he desired to take her into his service, as indeed I knew, +with more excuses of the same kind which I have forgot. Hereupon I pressed +him to come into the room, seeing that after all he was the ruler set over +me by God, and humbly asked what his lordship desired of me. Whereupon he +answered me graciously that it was true he had just cause for anger +against me, seeing that I had preached at him before the whole +congregation, but that he was ready to forgive me, and to have the +complaint he had sent in _contra me_ to his Princely Highness at Stettin, +and which might easily cost me my place, returned to him if I would but do +his will. And when I asked what his Lordship's will might be, and excused +myself as best I might with regard to the sermon, he answered that he +stood in great need of a faithful housekeeper whom he could set over the +other women-folk; and as he had learnt that my daughter was a faithful and +trustworthy person, he would that I should send her into his service. "See +there," said he to her, and pinched her cheek the while, "I want to lead +you to honour, though you are such a young creature, and yet you cry out +as if I were going to bring you to dishonour. Fie upon you!" (My child +still remembers all this _verbotenus_; I myself should have forgot it a +hundred times over in all the wretchedness I since underwent.) But she was +offended at his words, and, jumping up from her seat, she answered +shortly, "I thank your lordship for the honour, but will only keep house +for my papa, which is a better honour for me"; whereupon he turned to me +and asked what I said to that. I must own that I was not a little +affrighted, inasmuch as I thought of the future and of the credit in which +the Sheriff stood with his Princely Highness. I therefore answered with +all humility that I could not force my child, and that I loved to have her +about me, seeing that my dear huswife had departed this life during the +heavy pestilence, and I had no child but only her. That I hoped therefore +his lordship would not be displeased with me that I could not send her +into his lordship's service. This angered him sore, and after disputing +some time longer in vain he took leave, not without threats that he would +make me pay for it. _Item_, my man, who was standing in the stable, heard +him say as he went round the corner, "I will have her yet, in spite of +him!" + +I was already quite disheartened by all this, when, on the Sunday +following, there came his huntsman Johannes Kurt, a tall, handsome fellow, +and smartly dressed. He brought a roebuck tied before him on his horse, +and said that his lordship had sent it to me for a present, in hopes that +I would think better of his offer, seeing that he had been ever since +seeking on all sides for a housekeeper in vain. Moreover, that if I +changed my mind about it his lordship would speak for me to his Princely +Highness, so that the dotation of Duke Philippus Julius should be paid to +me out of the princely _aerarium_, etc. But the young fellow got the same +answer as his master had done, and I desired him to take the roebuck away +with him again. But this he refused to do; and as I had by chance told him +at first that game was my favourite meat, he promised to supply me with it +abundantly, seeing that there was plenty of game in the forest, and that +he often went a-hunting on the Streckelberg; moreover, that I (he meant my +daughter) pleased him uncommonly, the more because I would not do his +master's will, who, as he told me in confidence, would never leave any +girl in peace, and certainly would not let my damsel alone. Although I had +rejected his game, he brought it notwithstanding, and in the course of +three weeks he was sure to come four or five times, and grew more and more +sweet upon my daughter. He talked a vast deal about his good place, and +how he was in search of a good huswife, whence we soon guessed what +quarter the wind blew from. _Ergo_, my daughter told him that if he was +seeking for a huswife she wondered that he lost his time in riding to +Coserow to no purpose, for that she knew of no huswife for him there, +which vexed him so sore that he never came again. + +And now any one would think that the grapes were sour even for the +Sheriff; nevertheless he came riding to us soon after, and without more +ado asked my daughter in marriage for his huntsman. Moreover, he promised +to build him a house of his own in the forest; _item_, to give him pots +and kettles, crockery, bedding, etc., seeing that he had stood god-father +to the young fellow, who, moreover, had ever borne himself well during +seven years he had been in his service. Hereupon my daughter answered that +his lordship had already heard that she would keep house for nobody but +her papa, and that she was still much too young to become a huswife. + +This, however, did not seem to anger him, but after he had talked a long +time to no purpose, he took leave quite kindly, like a cat which pretends +to let a mouse go, and creeps behind the corners, but she is not in +earnest, and presently springs out upon it again. For doubtless he saw +that he had set to work stupidly; wherefore he went away in order to begin +his attack again after a better fashion, and Satan went with him, as +whilom with Judas Iscariot. + + + + +_The Thirteenth Chapter_ + + +WHAT MORE HAPPENED DURING THE WINTER: +_ITEM_, HOW IN THE SPRING WITCHCRAFT BEGAN IN THE VILLAGE + +Nothing else of note happened during the winter, save that the merciful +God bestowed a great plenty of fish, both from the Achterwater and the +sea, and the parish again had good food; so that it might be said of us, +as it is written, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great +mercies will I gather thee." Wherefore we were not weary of praising the +Lord; and the whole congregation did much for the church, buying new +pulpit and altar cloths, seeing that the enemy had stolen the old ones. +_Item_, they desired to make good to me the money I had paid for the new +cups, which, however, I would not take. + +There were still, however, about ten peasants in the parish who had not +been able to buy their seed-corn for the spring, inasmuch as they had +spent all their earnings on cattle and corn for bread. I therefore made an +agreement with them that I would lend them the money for it, and that if +they could not repay me this year, they might the next, which offer they +thankfully took; and we sent seven waggons to Friedland, in Mecklenburg, +to fetch seed-corn for us all. For my beloved brother-in-law, Martin +Behring, in Hamburg, had already sent me by the schipper Wulf, who had +sailed home by Christmas, 700 florins for the amber: may the Lord prosper +it with him! + +Old Thiemcke died this winter in Loddin, who used to be the midwife in the +parish, and had also brought my child into the world. Of late, however, +she had had but little to do, seeing that in this year I only baptized two +children, namely, Jung his son in Uekeritze, and Lene Hebers her little +daughter, the same whom the Imperialists afterwards speared. _Item_, it +was now full five years since I had married the last couple. Hence any one +may guess that I might have starved to death had not the righteous God so +mercifully considered and blessed me in other ways. Wherefore to him alone +be all honour and glory. Amen. + +Meanwhile, however, it so happened that, not long after the Sheriff had +last been here, witchcraft began in the village. I sat reading with my +child the second book of _Virgilius_ of the fearful destruction of the +city of Troy, which was more terrible even than that of our own village, +when a cry arose that our old neighbour Zabel his red cow, which he had +bought only a few days before, had stretched out all-fours and seemed +about to die; and this was the more strange as she had fed heartily but +half an hour before. My child was therefore begged to go and pluck three +hairs from its tail, and bury them under the threshold of the stall; for +it was well known that if this was done by a pure maid the cow would get +better. My child then did as they would have her, seeing that she is the +only maid in the whole village (for the others are still children); and +the cow got better from that very hour, whereat all the folks were amazed. +But it was not long before the same thing befell Witthahn her pig, whilst +it was feeding heartily. She too came running to beg my child for God's +sake to take compassion on her, and to do something for her pig, as ill +men had bewitched it. Hereupon she had pity on her also, and it did as +much good as it had done before. But the woman, who was _gravida_, was +straightway taken in labour from the fright; and my child was scarce out +of the pigsty when the woman went into her cottage, wailing and holding by +the wall, and called together all the woman of the neighbourhood, seeing +that the proper midwife was dead, as mentioned above; and before long +something shot to the ground from under her; and when the women stooped +down to pick it up, the devil's imp, which had wings like a bat, flew up +off the ground, whizzed and buzzed about the room, and then shot out of +the window with a great noise, so that the glass clattered down into the +street. When they looked after it nothing was to be found. Any one may +judge for himself what a great noise this made in all the neighbourhood; +and the whole village believed that it was no one but old Seden his +squint-eyed wife that had brought forth such a devil's brat. + +But the people soon knew not what to believe. For that woman her cow got +the same thing as all the other cows; wherefore she too came lamenting, +and begged my daughter to take pity on her, as on the rest, and to cure +her poor cow for the love of God. That if she had taken it ill of her that +she had said anything about going into service with the Sheriff, she could +only say she had done it for the best, etc. _Summa_, she talked over my +unhappy child to go and cure her cow. + +Meanwhile I was on my knees every Sunday before the Lord with the whole +congregation, praying that he would not allow the Evil One to take from us +that which his mercy had once more bestowed upon us after such extreme +want. _Item_, that he would bring to light the _auctor_ of such devilish +works, so that he might receive the punishment he deserved. + +But all was of no avail. For a very few days had passed when the mischief +befell Stoffer Zuter his spotted cow, and he, too, like all the rest, came +running to fetch my daughter; she accordingly went with him, but could do +no good, and the beast died under her hands. + +_Item_, Katy Berow had bought a little pig with the money my daughter had +paid her in the winter for spinning, and the poor woman kept it like a +child, and let it run about her room. This little pig got the mischief, +like all the rest, in the twinkling of an eye; and when my daughter was +called it grew no better, but also died under her hands; whereupon the +poor woman made a great outcry and tore her hair for grief, so that my +child was moved to pity her, and promised her another pig next time my sow +should litter. Meantime another week passed over, during which I went on, +together with the whole congregation, to call upon the Lord for his +merciful help, but all in vain, when the same thing happened to old wife +Seden her little pig. Whereupon she again came running for my daughter +with loud outcries, and although my child told her that she must have seen +herself that nothing she could do for the cattle cured them any longer, +she ceased not to beg and pray her and to lament till she went forth to do +what she could for her with the help of God. But it was all to no purpose, +inasmuch as the little pig died before she left the sty. What think you +this devil's whore then did? After she had run screaming through the +village she said that any one might see that my daughter was no longer a +maid, else why could she now do no good to the cattle, whereas she had +formerly cured them? She supposed my child had lost her maiden honour on +the Streckelberg, whither she went so often this spring, and that God only +knew who had taken it! But she said no more then, and we did not hear the +whole until afterwards. And it is indeed true that my child had often +walked on the Streckelberg this spring, both with me and also alone, in +order to seek for flowers and to look upon the blessed sea, while she +recited aloud, as she was wont, such verses out of _Virgilius_ as pleased +her best (for whatever she read a few times, that she remembered). + +Neither did I forbid her to take these walks, for there were no wolves now +left on the Streckelberg, and even if there had been they always fly +before a human creature in the summer season. Howbeit, I forbade her to +dig for amber. For as it now lay deep, and we knew not what to do with the +earth we threw up, I resolved to tempt the Lord no further, but to wait +till my store of money grew very scant before we would dig any more. + +But my child did not do as I had bidden her, although she had promised she +would, and of this her disobedience came all our misery. (Oh, blessed +Lord, how grave a matter is thy holy fourth commandment!) For as his +reverence Johannes Lampius, of Crummin, who visited me this spring, had +told me that the Cantor of Wolgast wanted to sell the _Opp. St. +Augustini_, and I had said before her that I desired above all things to +buy that book, but had not money enough left, she got up in the night +without my knowledge to dig for amber, meaning to sell it as best she +might at Wolgast, in order secretly to present me with the _Opp. St. +Augustini_ on my birthday, which falls on the 28th _mensis Augusti_. She +had always covered over the earth she cast up with twigs of fir, whereof +there were plenty in the forest, so that no one should perceive anything +of it. + +Meanwhile, however, it befell that the young _nobilis_ Rüdiger of +Nienkerken came riding one day to gather news of the terrible witchcraft +that went on in the village. When I had told him all about it he shook his +head doubtingly, and said he believed that all witchcraft was nothing but +lies and deceit; whereat I was struck with great horror, inasmuch as I had +hitherto held the young lord to be a wiser man, and now could not but see +that he was an Atheist. He guessed what my thoughts were, and with a smile +he answered me by asking whether I had ever read Johannes Wierus, who +would hear nothing of witchcraft, and who argued that all witches were +melancholy persons who only imagined to themselves that they had a +_pactum_ with the devil; and that to him they seemed more worthy of pity +than of punishment? Hereupon I answered that I had not indeed read any +such book (for say, who can read all that fools write?), but that the +appearances here and in all other places proved that it was a monstrous +error to deny the reality of witchcraft, inasmuch as people might then +likewise deny that there were such things as murder, adultery, and theft. + +But he called my _argumentum_ a _dilemma_, and after he had discoursed a +great deal of the devil, all of which I have forgotten, seeing it savoured +strangely of heresy, he said he would relate to me a piece of witchcraft +which he himself had seen at Wittenberg. + +It seems that one morning, as an Imperial captain mounted his good charger +at the Elstergate in order to review his company, the horse presently +began to rage furiously, reared, tossed his head, snorted, kicked, and +roared, not as horses used to neigh, but with a sound as though the voice +came from a human throat, so that all the folks were amazed, and thought +the horse bewitched. It presently threw the captain, and crushed his head +with its hoof, so that he lay writhing on the ground, and straightway set +off at full speed. Hereupon a trooper fired his carabine at the bewitched +horse, which fell in the midst of the road, and presently died. That he, +Rüdiger, had then drawn near, together with many others, seeing that the +colonel had forthwith given orders to the surgeon of the regiment to cut +open the horse and see in what state it was inwardly. However, that +everything was quite right, and both the surgeon and army physician +testified that the horse was thoroughly sound; whereupon all the people +cried out more than ever about witchcraft. Meanwhile he himself (I mean +the young _nobilis_) saw a thin smoke coming out from the horse's +nostrils, and on stooping down to look what it might be, he drew out a +match as long as my finger, which still smouldered, and which some wicked +fellow had privately thrust into its nose with a pin. Hereupon all +thoughts of witchcraft were at an end, and search was made for the +culprit, who was presently found to be no other than the captain's own +groom. For one day that his master had dusted his jacket for him he swore +an oath that he would have his revenge, which indeed the provost-marshal +himself had heard as he chanced to be standing in the stable. _Item_, +another soldier bore witness that he had seen the fellow cut a piece off +the fuse not long before he led out his master's horse. And thus thought +the young lord, would it be with all witchcraft if it were sifted to the +bottom; like as I myself had seen at Gützkow, where the devil's apparition +turned out to be a cordwainer, and that one day I should own that it was +the same sort of thing here in our village. By reason of this speech I +liked not the young nobleman from that hour forward, believing him to be +an Atheist. Though, indeed, afterwards, I have had cause to see that he +was in the right, more's the pity; for had it not been for him what would +have become of my daughter? + +But I will say nothing beforehand.--_Summa_: I walked about the room in +great displeasure at his words, while the young lord began to argue with +my daughter upon witchcraft, now in Latin, and now in the vulgar tongue, +as the words came into his mouth, and wanted to hear her mind about it. +But she answered that she was a foolish thing, and could have no opinion +on the matter; but that, nevertheless, she believed that what happened in +the village could not be by natural means. Hereupon the maid called me out +of the room (I forget what she wanted of me); but when I came back again +my daughter was as red as scarlet, and the nobleman stood close before +her. I therefore asked her, as soon as he had ridden off, whether anything +had happened, which she at first denied, but afterwards owned that he had +said to her while I was gone that he knew but one person who could +bewitch; and when she asked him who that person was, he caught hold of her +hand and said, "It is yourself, sweet maid; for you have thrown a spell +upon my heart, as I feel right well!" But that he said nothing further, +but only gazed on her face with eager eyes, and this it was that made her +so red. + +But this is the way with maidens; they ever have their secrets if one's +back is turned but for a minute; and the proverb + + To drive a goose and watch a maid + Needs the devil himself to aid + +is but too true, as will be shown hereafter, more's the pity! + + + + +_The Fourteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW OLD SEDEN DISAPPEARED ALL ON A SUDDEN: +_ITEM_, HOW THE GREAT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS CAME TO POMERANIA, AND TOOK THE +FORT AT PEENEMÜNDE + +We were now left for some time in peace from witchcraft; unless, indeed, I +reckon the caterpillars, which miserably destroyed my orchard, and which +truly were a strange thing; for the trees blossomed so fair and sweetly +that one day as we were walking under them, and praising the almighty +power of the most merciful God, my child said, "If the Lord goes on to +bless us so abundantly, it will be Christmas Eve with us every night of +next winter!" But things soon fell out far otherwise; for all in a moment +the trees were covered with such swarms of caterpillars (great and small, +and of every shape and colour) that one might have measured them by the +bushel, and before long my poor trees looked like brooms, and the blessed +fruit--which was so well set--all fell off, and was scarce good enough for +the pigs. I do not choose to lay this to any one, though I had my own +private thoughts upon the matter, and have them yet. However, my barley, +whereof I had sown about three bushels out on the common, shot up bravely. +On my field I had sown nothing, seeing that I dreaded the malice of Satan. +Neither was corn at all plentiful throughout the parish--in part because +they had sown no winter crops, and in part because the summer crops did +not prosper. However, in all the villages a great supply of fish was +caught by the mercy of God, especially herring; but they were very low in +price. Moreover, they killed many seals; and at Whitsuntide I myself +killed one as I walked by the sea with my daughter. The creature lay on a +rock close to the water, snoring like a Christian. Thereupon I pulled off +my shoes and drew near him softly, so that he heard me not, and then +struck him over his nose with my staff (for a seal cannot bear much on his +nose), so that he tumbled over into the water; but he was quite stunned, +and I could easily kill him outright. It was a fat beast, though not very +large; and we melted forty pots of train-oil out of his fat, which we put +by for a winter store. + +Meanwhile, however, something seized old Seden all at once, so that he +wished to receive the holy sacrament. When I went to him he could give no +reason for it; or perhaps he would give none for fear of his old Lizzie, +who was always watching him with her squinting eyes, and would not leave +the room. However, Zuter his little girl, a child near twelve years old, +said that a few days before, while she was plucking grass for the cattle +under the garden-hedge by the road, she heard the husband and wife +quarrelling violently again, and that the goodman threw in her teeth that +he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit, and that he +would straightway go and tell it to the priest. Albeit this is only a +child's tale, it may be true for all that, seeing that children and fools, +they say, speak the truth. + +But be that as it may. _Summa_, my old warden grew worse and worse; and +though I visited him every morning and evening--as I use to do to my +sick--in order to pray with him, and often observed that he had somewhat +on his mind, nevertheless he could not disburthen himself of it, seeing +that old Lizzie never left her post. + +This went on for a while, when at last one day, about noon, he sent to beg +me to scrape a little silver off the new sacramental cup, because he had +been told that he should get better if he took it mixed with the dung of +fowls. For some time I would not consent, seeing that I straightway +suspected that there was some devilish mischief behind it; but he begged +and prayed, till I did as he would have me. + +And lo and behold, he mended from that very hour; so that when I went to +pray with him at evening, I found him already sitting on the bench with a +bowl between his knees, out of which he was supping broth. However, he +would not pray (which was strange, seeing that he used to pray so gladly, +and often could not wait patiently for my coming, insomuch that he sent +after me two or three times if I was not at hand, or elsewhere employed); +but he told me he had prayed already, and that he would give me the cock +whose dung he had taken for my trouble, as it was a fine large cock, and +he had nothing better to offer for my Sunday's dinner. And as the poultry +was by this time gone to roost, he went up to the perch which was behind +the stove, and reached down the cock, and put it under the arm of the +maid, who was just come to call me away. + +Not for all the world, however, would I have eaten the cock, but I turned +it out to breed. I went to him once more, and asked whether I should give +thanks to the Lord next Sunday for his recovery; whereupon he answered +that I might do as I pleased in the matter. Hereat I shook my head, and +left the house, resolving to send for him as soon as ever I should hear +that his old Lizzie was from home (for she often went to fetch flax to +spin from the Sheriff). But mark what befell within a few days! We heard +an outcry that old Seden was missing, and that no one could tell what had +become of him. His wife thought he had gone up into the Streckelberg, +whereupon the accursed witch ran howling to our house and asked my +daughter whether she had not seen anything of her goodman, seeing that she +went up the mountain every day. My daughter said she had not; but, woe is +me, she was soon to hear enough of him; for one morning, before sunrise, +as she came down into the wood on her way back from her forbidden digging +after amber, she heard a woodpecker (which no doubt was old Lizzie +herself) crying so dolefully, close beside her, that she went in among the +bushes to see what was the matter. There was the woodpecker sitting on the +ground before a bunch of hair, which was red, and just like what old +Seden's had been, and as soon as it espied her it flew up, with its beak +full of the hair and slipped into a hollow tree. While my daughter still +stood looking at this devil's work, up came old Paasch--who also had heard +the cries of the woodpecker, as he was cutting roofing shingles on the +mountain, with his boy--and was likewise struck with horror when he saw +the hair on the ground. At first they thought a wolf must have eaten him, +and searched all about, but could not find a single bone. On looking up +they fancied they saw something red at the very top of the tree, so they +made the boy climb up, and he forthwith cried out that here, too, there +was a great bunch of red hair stuck to some leaves as if with pitch, but +that it was not pitch, but something speckled red and white, like +fishguts; _item_, that the leaves all around, even where there was no +hair, were stained and spotted, and had a very ill smell. Hereupon the +lad, at his master's bidding, threw down the clotted branch, and they two +below straightway judged that this was the hair and brains of old Seden, +and that the devil had carried him off bodily, because he would not pray +nor give thanks to the Lord for his recovery. I myself believed the same, +and told it on the Sunday as a warning to the congregation. But further on +it will be seen that the Lord had yet greater cause for giving him into +the hands of Satan, inasmuch as he had been talked over by his wicked wife +to renounce his Maker in the hopes of getting better. Now, however, this +devil's whore did as if her heart was broken, tearing out her red hair by +whole handsful when she heard about the woodpecker from my child and old +Paasch, and bewailing that she was now a poor widow, and who was to take +care of her for the future, etc. + +Meanwhile we celebrated on this barren shore, as best we could and might, +together with the whole Protestant Church, the 25th day _mensis Junii_, +whereon, one hundred years ago, the Estates of the holy Roman Empire laid +their confession before the most high and mighty Emperor Carolus V., at +Augsburg; and I preached a sermon on Matt. x. 32, of the right confession +of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whereupon the whole congregation +came to the Sacrament. Now, towards the evening of the selfsame day, as I +walked with my daughter by the sea-shore, we saw several hundred sail of +ships, both great and small, round about Ruden, and plainly heard firing, +whereupon we judged forthwith that this must be the most high and mighty +King Gustavus Adolphus, who was now coming, as he had promised, to the aid +of poor persecuted Christendom. While we were still debating, a boat +sailed towards us from Oie wherein was Kate Berow her son, who is a farmer +there, and was coming to see his old mother. The same told us that it +really was the king, who had this morning run before Ruden with his fleet +from Rügen; that a few men of Oie were fishing there at the time, and saw +how he went ashore with his officers, and straightway bared his head and +fell upon his knees. + +Thus, then, most gracious God, did I thy unworthy servant enjoy a still +greater happiness and delight that blessed evening than I had done on the +blessed morn; and any one may think that I delayed not for a moment to +fall on my knees with my child, and to follow the example of the king. And +God knows I never in my life prayed so fervently as that evening, whereon +the Lord showed such a wondrous sign upon us as to cause the deliverer of +his poor Christian people to come among them on the very day when they had +everywhere called upon him, on their knees, for his gracious help against +the murderous wiles of the Pope and the devil. That night I could not +sleep for joy, but went quite early in the morning to Damerow, where +something had befallen Vithe his boy. I supposed that he, too, was +bewitched; but this time it was not witchcraft, seeing that the boy had +eaten something unwholesome in the forest. He could not tell what kind of +berries they were; but the _malum_, which turned all his skin bright +scarlet, soon passed over. As I therefore was returning home shortly +after, I met a messenger from Peenemünde, whom his Majesty the high and +mighty King Gustavus Adolphus had sent to tell the Sheriff that on the +29th of June, at ten o'clock in the morning, he was to send three guides +to meet his Majesty at Coserow, and to guide him through the woods to +Swine, where the Imperialists were encamped. _Item_, he related how his +Majesty had taken the fort at Peenemünde yesterday (doubtless the cause of +the firing we heard last evening), and that the Imperialists had run away +as fast as they could, and played the bushranger properly; for after +setting their camp on fire they all fled into the woods and coppices, and +part escaped to Wolgast and part to Swine. + +Straightway I resolved in my joy to invent a _carmen gratulatorium_ to his +Majesty, whom, by the grace of Almighty God, I was to see, the which my +little daughter might present to him. + +I accordingly proposed it to her as soon as I got home, and she +straightway fell on my neck for joy, and then began to dance about the +room. But when she had considered a little, she thought her clothes were +not good enough to wear before his Majesty, and that I should buy her a +blue silk gown, with a yellow apron, seeing that these were the Swedish +colours, and would please his Majesty right well. For a long time I would +not, seeing that I hate this kind of pride; but she teased me with her +kisses and coaxing words, till I, like an old fool, said yes, and ordered +my ploughman to drive her over to Wolgast to-day to buy the stuff. +Wherefore I think that the just God, who hateth the proud, and showeth +mercy on the humble, did rightly chastise me for such pride. For I myself +felt a sinful pleasure when she came back with two women who were to help +her to sew, and laid the stuff before me. Next day she set to work at +sunrise to sew, and I composed my _carmen_ the while. I had not got very +far in it when the young Lord Rüdiger of Nienkerken came riding up, in +order, as he said, to inquire whether his Majesty were indeed going to +march through Coserow. And when I told him all I knew of the matter, +_item_ informed him of our plan, he praised it exceedingly, and instructed +my daughter (who looked more kindly upon him to-day than I altogether +liked) how the Swedes use to pronounce the Latin, as _ratscho_ pro _ratio, +uet_ pro _ut, schis_ pro _scis_, etc., so that she might be able to answer +his Majesty with all due readiness. He said, moreover, that he had held +much converse with Swedes at Wittenberg, as well as at Griepswald, +wherefore if she pleased they might act a short _colloquium_, wherein he +would play the king. Hereupon he sat down on the bench before her, and +they both began chattering together, which vexed me sore, especially when +I saw that she made but small haste with her needle the while. But say, +dear reader, what was I to do? Wherefore I went my ways, and let them +chatter till near noon, when the young lord at last took leave. But he +promised to come again on Tuesday, when the king was here, and believed +that the whole island would flock together at Coserow. As soon as he was +gone, seeing that my _vena poetica_ (as may be easily guessed) was still +stopped up, I had the horses put to and drove all over the parish, +exhorting the people in every village to be at the Giant's Stone by +Coserow at nine o'clock on Tuesday, and that they were all to fall on +their knees as soon as they should see the king coming and that I knelt +down; _item_, to join at once in singing the Ambrosian hymn of praise, +which I should lead off as soon as the bells began to ring. This they all +promised to do; and after I had again exhorted them to it on Sunday in +church, and prayed to the Lord for his Majesty out of the fulness of my +heart, we scarce could await the blessed Tuesday for joyful impatience. + + + + +_The Fifteenth Chapter_ + + +OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY KING GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND WHAT +BEFELL THEREAT + +Meanwhile I finished my _carmen_ in _metrum elegiacum_, which my daughter +transcribed (seeing that her handwriting is fairer than mine) and +diligently learned, so that she might say it to his Majesty. _Item_, her +clothes were gotten ready, and became her purely; and on Monday she went +up to the Streckelberg, although the heat was such that the crows gasped +on the hedges; for she wanted to gather flowers for a garland she designed +to wear, and which was also to be blue and yellow. Towards evening she +came home with her apron filled with all manner of flowers; but her hair +was quite wet, and hung all matted about her shoulders. (My God, my God, +was everything to come together to destroy me, wretched man that I am!) I +asked, therefore, where she had been that her hair was so wet and matted: +whereupon she answered that she had gathered flowers round the Kölpin, and +from thence she had gone down to the sea-shore, where she had bathed in +the sea, seeing that it was very hot and no one could see her. Thus, said +she, jesting, she should appear before his Majesty to-morrow doubly a +clean maid. This displeased me at the time, and I looked grave, although I +said nought. + +Next morning at six o'clock all the people were already at the Giant's +Stone, men, women, and children. _Summa_, everybody that was able to walk +was there. At eight o'clock my daughter was already dressed in all her +bravery, namely, a blue silken gown, with a yellow apron and kerchief, and +a yellow hair-net, with a garland of blue and yellow flowers round her +head. It was not long before my young lord arrived, finely dressed, as +became a nobleman. He wanted to inquire, as he said, by which road I +should go up to the Stone with my daughter, seeing that his father, Hans +von Nienkerken, _item_ Wittich Appelmann and the Lepels of Gnitze, were +also going, and that there was much people on all the high roads, as +though a fair was being held. But I straightway perceived that all he +wanted was to see my daughter, inasmuch as he presently occupied himself +about her, and began chattering with her in the Latin again. He made her +repeat to him the _carmen_ to his Majesty; whereupon he, in the person of +the king, answered her: "_Dulcissima et venustissima puella, quae mihi in +coloribus caeli, ut angelus Domini appares utinam semper mecum esses, +nunquam mihi male caderet_"; whereupon she grew red, as likewise did I, +but from vexation, as may be easily guessed. I therefore begged that his +lordship would but go forward toward the Stone, seeing that my daughter +had yet to help me on with my surplice; whereupon, however, he answered +that he would wait for us the while in the chamber, and that we might then +go together. _Summa_, I blessed myself from this young lord; but what +could I do? As he would not go, I was forced to wink at it all; and before +long we went up to the Stone, where I straight-way chose three sturdy +fellows from the crowd, and sent them up the steeple, that they might +begin to ring the bells as soon as they should see me get up upon the +Stone and wave my napkin. This they promised to do, and straightway +departed; whereupon I sat down on the Stone with my daughter, thinking +that the young lord would surely stand apart, as became his dignity; +albeit he did not, but sat down with us on the Stone. And we three sat +there all alone, and all the folk looked at us, but none drew near to see +my child's fine clothes, not even the young lasses, as is their wont to +do; but this I did not observe till afterwards, when I heard how matters +stood with us even then. Towards nine o'clock Hans von Nienkerken and +Wittich Appelmann galloped up, and old Nienkerken called to his son in an +angry voice: and seeing that the young lord heard him not, he rode up to +the Stone, and cried out so loud that all the folk might hear, "Canst thou +not hearken, boy, when thy father calls thee?" Whereupon Rüdiger followed +him in much displeasure, and we saw from a distance how the old lord +seemed to threaten his son, and spat out before him; but knew not what +this might signify: we were to learn it soon enough, though, more's the +pity! Soon after the two Lepels of Gnitze came from the Damerow; and the +noblemen saluted one other on the green sward close beside us, but without +looking on us. And I heard the Lepels say that nought could yet be seen of +his Majesty, but that the coastguard fleet around Ruden was in motion, and +that several hundred ships were sailing this way. As soon as this news was +known, all the folk ran to the sea-shore (which is but a step from the +Stone); and the noblemen rode thither too, all save Wittich, who had +dismounted, and who, when he saw that I sent old Paasch his boy up into a +tall oak-tree to look out for the king, straightway busied himself about +my daughter again, who now sat all alone upon the Stone: "Why had she not +taken his huntsman? and whether she would not change her mind on the +matter and have him now, or else come into service with him (the Sheriff) +himself? for that if she would not, he believed she might be sorry for it +one day." Whereupon she answered him (as she told me), that there was but +one thing she was sorry for, namely, that his lordship would take so much +useless pains upon her; whereupon she rose with all haste and came to +where I stood under the tree, looking after the lad who was climbing up +it. But our old Ilse said that he swore a great curse when my daughter +turned her back upon him, and went straightway into the alder-grove close +by the high road, where stood the old witch Lizzie Kolken. + +Meanwhile I went with my daughter to the sea-shore, and found it quite +true that the whole fleet was sailing over from Ruden and Oie towards +Wollin, and several ships passed so close before us that we could see the +soldiers standing upon them and the flashing of their arms. _Item_, we +heard the horses neigh and the soldiery laugh. On one ship, too, they were +drumming, and on another cattle lowed and sheep bleated. Whilst we yet +gazed we saw smoke come out from one of the ships, followed by a great +noise, and presently we were aware of the ball bounding over the water, +which foamed and splashed on either side, and coming straight towards us. +Hereupon the crowd ran away on every side with loud cries, and we plainly +heard the soldiery in the ships laugh thereat. But the ball flew up and +struck into the midst of an oak hard by Paasch his boy, so that nearly two +cartloads of boughs fell to the earth with a great crash, and covered all +the road by which his Majesty was to come. Hereupon the boy would stop no +longer in the tree, however much I exhorted him thereto, but cried out to +us as he came down that a great troop of soldiers was marching out of the +forest by Damerow, and that likely enough the king was among them. +Hereupon the Sheriff ordered the road to be cleared forthwith, and this +was some time a-doing, seeing that the thick boughs were stuck fast in the +trees all around; the nobles, as soon as all was made ready, would have +ridden to meet his Majesty, but stayed still on the little green sward, +because we already heard the noise of horses, carriages, and voices close +to us in the forest. + +It was not long before the cannons broke through the brushwood with the +three guides seated upon them. And seeing that one of them was known to me +(it was Stoffer Krauthahn of Peenemünde), I drew near and begged him that +he would tell me when the king should come. But he answered that he was +going forward with the cannon to Coserow, and that I was only to watch for +a tall dark man, with a hat and feather and a gold chain round his neck, +for that that was the king, and that he rode next after the great standard +whereon was a yellow lion. + +Wherefore I narrowly watched the procession as it wound out of the forest. +And next after the artillery came the Finnish and Lapland bowmen, who went +clothed all in furs, although it was now the height of summer, whereat I +greatly wondered. After these there came much people, but I know not what +they were. Presently I espied over the hazel-tree which stood in my way so +that I could not see everything as soon as it came forth out of the +coppice, the great flag with the lion on it, and behind that the head of a +very dark man with a golden chain round his neck, whereupon straightway I +judged this must be the king. I therefore waved my napkin toward the +steeple, whereupon the bells forthwith rang out, and while the dark man +rode nearer to us, I pulled off my skull-cap, fell upon my knees, and led +the Ambrosian hymn of praise, and all the people plucked their hats from +their heads and knelt down on the ground all around, singing after me; +men, women, and children, save only the nobles, who stood still on the +green sward, and did not take off their hats and behave with attention +until they saw that his Majesty drew in his horse. (It was a coal-black +charger, and stopped with its two fore-feet right upon my field, which I +took as a sign of good fortune.) When we had finished, the Sheriff quickly +got off his horse, and would have approached the king with his three +guides, who followed after him; _item_, I had taken my child by the hand, +and would also have drawn near to the king. Howbeit, his Majesty motioned +away the Sheriff and beckoned us to approach, whereupon I wished his +Majesty joy in the Latin tongue, and extolled his magnanimous heart, +seeing that he had deigned to visit German ground for the protection and +aid of poor persecuted Christendom; and praised it as a sign from God that +such had happened on this the high festival of our poor church, and I +prayed his Majesty graciously to receive what my daughter desired to +present to him; whereupon his Majesty looked on her and smiled pleasantly. +Such gracious bearing made her bold again, albeit she trembled visibly +just before, and she reached him a blue and yellow wreath, whereon lay the +_carmen_, saying, "_Accipe hanc vilem coronam et haec_" whereupon she +began to recite the _carmen_. Meanwhile his Majesty grew more and more +gracious, looking now on her and now on the _carmen_, and nodded with +especial kindness towards the end, which was as follows:-- + + Tempus erit, quo tu reversus ab hostibus ultor + Intrabis patriae libera regna meae; + Tunc meliora student nostrae tibi carmina musae, + Tunc tua, maxime rex, Martia facta canam. + Tu modo versiculis ne spernas vilibus ausum + Auguror et res est ista futura brevi! + Sis foelix, fortisque diu, vive optime princeps, + Omnia, et ut possis vincere, dura. Vale! + +As soon as she held her peace, his Majesty said, "_Propius accedas, patria +virgo, ut te osculer_"; whereupon she drew near to his horse, blushing +deeply. I thought he would only have kissed her forehead, as potentates +commonly use to do, but not at all! he kissed her lips with a loud smack, +and the long feathers on his hat drooped over her neck, so that I was +quite afraid for her again. But he soon raised up his head, and taking off +his gold chain, whereon dangled his own effigy, he hung it round my +child's neck with these words: "_Hocce tuce pulchritudim! et si favente +Deo redux fuero victor, promissum carmen et praeterea duo oscula +exspecto_." + +Hereupon the Sheriff with his three men again came forward and bowed down +to the ground before his Majesty. But as he knew no Latin, _item_ no +Italian nor French, I had to act as interpreter. For his Majesty inquired +how far it was to Swine, and whether there was still much foreign soldiery +there: And the Sheriff thought there were still about 200 Croats in the +camp; whereupon his Majesty spurred on his horse, and nodding graciously, +cried "_Valete_!" And now came the rest of the troops, about 3000 strong, +out of the coppice, which likewise had a valiant bearing, and attempted no +fooleries, as troops are wont to do, when they passed by us and the women, +but marched on in honest quietness, and we followed the train until the +forest beyond Coserow, where we commended it to the care of the Almighty, +and every one went on his way home. + + + + +_The Sixteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW LITTLE MARY PAASCH WAS SORELY PLAGUED OF THE DEVIL, AND THE WHOLE +PARISH FELL OFF FROM ME + +Before I proceed any further I will first mark that the illustrious King +Gustavus Adolphus, as we presently heard, had cut down the 300 Croats at +Swine, and was thence gone by sea to Stettin. May God be for ever gracious +to him! Amen. + +But my sorrows increased from day to day, seeing that the devil now played +pranks such as he never had played before. I had begun to think that the +ears of God had hearkened to our ardent prayers, but it pleased him to try +us yet more hardly than ever. For, a few days after the arrival of the +most illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus, it was bruited about that my +child her little god-daughter was possessed of the Evil One, and tumbled +about most piteously on her bed, insomuch that no one was able to hold +her. My child straightway went to see her little god-daughter, but +presently came weeping home. Old Paasch would not suffer her even to come +near her, but railed at her very angrily, and said that she should never +come within his doors again, as his child had got the mischief from the +white roll which she had given her that morning. It was true that my child +had given her a roll, seeing that the maid had been the day before to +Wolgast and had brought back a napkin full of them. + +Such news vexed me sore, and after putting on my cassock I went to old +Paasch his house to exorcise the foul fiend and to remove such disgrace +from my child. I found the old man standing on the floor by the cockloft +steps weeping; and after I had spoken "The peace of God," I asked him +first of all whether he really believed that his little Mary had been +bewitched by means of the roll which my child had given her? He said, +"Yes!" And when I answered that in that case I also must have been +bewitched, _item_ Pagel his little girl, seeing that we both had eaten of +the rolls, he was silent, and asked me with a sigh, whether I would not go +into the room and see for myself how matters stood. I then entered with +"The peace of God," and found six people standing round little Mary her +bed; her eyes were shut, and she was as stiff as a board; wherefore Kit +Wells (who was a young and sturdy fellow) seized the little child by one +leg and held her out like a hedgestake, so that I might see how the devil +plagued her. I now said a prayer, and Satan, perceiving that a servant of +Christ was come, began to tear the child so fearfully that it was pitiful +to behold; for she flung about her hands and feet so that four strong men +were scarce able to hold her: _item_ she was afflicted with extraordinary +risings and fallings of her belly, as if a living creature were therein, +so that at last the old witch Lizzie Kolken sat herself upon her belly, +whereupon the child seemed to be somewhat better, and I told her to repeat +the Apostles' Creed, so as to see whether it really were the devil who +possessed her. She straightway grew worse than before, and began to gnash +her teeth, to roll her eyes, and to strike so hard with her hands and feet +that she flung her father, who held one of her legs, right into the middle +of the room, and then struck her foot so hard against the bedstead that +the blood flowed, and Lizzie Kolken was thrown about on her belly as +though she had been in a swing. And as I ceased not, but exorcised Satan +that he should leave her, she began to howl and to bark like a dog, _item_ +to laugh, and spoke at last, with a gruff bass voice, like an old man's, +"I will not depart." But he should soon have been forced to depart out of +her, had not both father and mother besought me by God's holy Sacrament to +leave their poor child in peace, seeing that nothing did her any good, but +rather made her worse. I was therefore forced to desist, and only +admonished the parents to seek for help, like the Canaanitish woman, in +true repentance and incessant prayer, and with her to sigh in constant +faith, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Thou Son of David, my daughter is +grievously vexed of a devil," Matthew xv.; that the heart of our Lord +would then melt, so that he would have mercy on their child, and command +Satan to depart from her. _Item_, I promised to pray for the little child +on the following Sunday with the whole congregation, and told them to +bring her, if it were any ways possible, to the church, seeing that the +ardent prayer of the whole congregation has power to rise beyond the +clouds. This they promised to do, and I then went home sorely troubled, +where I soon learned that she was somewhat better; thus it still is sure +that Satan hates nothing so much, after the Lord Jesus, as the servants of +the Gospel. But wait, and I shall even yet "bruise thy head with my heel" +(Genesis, chap, iii.); nought shall avail thee. + +Howbeit before the blessed Sunday came, I perceived that many of my people +went out of my way, both in the village and elsewhere in the parish, where +I went to visit sundry sick folks. When I went to Uekeritze to see young +Tittlewitz, there even befell me as follows:--Claus Pieper the peasant +stood in his yard chopping wood, and on seeing me he flung the axe out of +his hand so hastily that it stuck in the ground, and he ran towards the +pigsty, making the sign of the cross. I motioned him to stop, and asked +why he thus ran from me, his confessor? Whether, peradventure, he also +believed that my daughter had bewitched her little god-child? "_Ille_. +Yes, he believed it, because the whole parish did. _Ego_. Why, then, had +she been so kind to her formerly, and kept her like a sister through the +worst of the famine? _Ille_. This was not the only mischief she had done. +_Ego_. What, then, had she done besides? _Ille_. That was all one to me. +_Ego_. He should tell me, or I would complain to the magistrate. _Ille_. +That I might do, if I pleased." Whereupon he went his way insolently. Any +one may guess that I was not slow to inquire everywhere what people +thought my daughter had done; but no one would tell me anything, and I +might have grieved to death at such evil reports. Moreover not one child +came during this whole week to school to my daughter; and when I sent out +the maid to ask the reason she brought back word that the children were +ill, or that the parents wanted them for their work. I thought and +thought, but all to no purpose, until the blessed Sunday came round when I +meant to have held a great Sacrament, seeing that many people had made +known their intention to come to the Lord's table. It seemed strange to me +that I saw no one standing (as was their wont) about the church door; I +thought, however, that they might have gone into the houses. But when I +went into the church with my daughter, there were not more than six people +assembled, among whom was old Lizzie Kolken; and the accursed witch no +sooner saw my daughter follow me than she made the sign of the cross and +ran out of the door under the steeple; whereupon the five others, among +them mine own church-warden Claus Bulken (I had not appointed any one in +the room of old Seden), followed her. I was so horror-struck that my blood +curdled, and I began to tremble, so that I fell with my shoulder against +the confessional. My child, to whom I had as yet told nothing, in order to +spare her, then asked me, "Father, what is the matter with all the people; +are they, too, bewitched?" Whereupon I came to myself again and went into +the churchyard to look after them. But all were gone save my churchwarden, +Claus Bulken, who stood under the lime-tree, whistling to himself. I +stepped up to him and asked what had come to the people? Whereupon he +answered he could not tell; and when I asked him again why, then, he +himself had left the church, he said, What was he to do there alone, +seeing that no collection could be made? I then implored him to tell me +the truth, and what horrid suspicion had arisen against me in the parish? +But he answered, I should very soon find it out for myself; and he jumped +over the wall and went into old Lizzie her house, which stands close by +the churchyard. + +My child had made ready some veal broth for dinner, for which I mostly use +to leave everything else; but I could not swallow one spoonful, but sat +resting my head on my hand, and doubted whether I should tell her or no. +Meanwhile the old maid came in ready for a journey, and with a bundle in +her hand, and begged me with tears to give her leave to go. My poor child +turned pale as a corpse, and asked in amaze what had come to her? but she +merely answered, "Nothing!" and wiped her eyes with her apron. When I +recovered my speech, which had well-nigh left me at seeing that this +faithful old creature was also about to forsake me, I began to question +her why she wished to go; she who had dwelt with me so long, and who would +not forsake us even in the great famine, but had faithfully borne up +against it, and, indeed, had humbled me by her faith, and had exhorted me +to stand out gallantly to the last, for which I should be grateful to her +as long as I lived. Hereupon she merely wept and sobbed yet more, and at +length brought out that she still had an old mother of eighty living in +Liepe, and that she wished to go and nurse her till her end. Hereupon my +daughter jumped up and answered with tears, "Alas, old Ilse, why wilt thou +leave us, for thy mother is with thy brother? Do but tell me why thou wilt +forsake me, and what harm have I done thee, that I may make it good to +thee again." But she hid her face in her apron and sobbed and could not +get out a single word; whereupon my child drew away the apron from her +face, and would have stroked her cheeks to make her speak. But when Ilse +saw this she struck my poor child's hand and cried, "Ugh!" spat out before +her, and straightway went out at the door. Such a thing she had never done +even when my child was a little girl, and we were both so shocked that we +could neither of us say a word. + +Before long my poor child gave a loud cry, and cast herself upon the +bench, weeping and wailing, "What has happened, what has happened?" I +therefore thought I ought to tell her what I had heard--namely, that she +was looked upon as a witch. Whereat she began to smile instead of weeping +any more, and ran out of the door to overtake the maid, who had already +left the house, as we had seen. She returned after an hour, crying out +that all the people in the village had run away from her when she would +have asked them whither the maid was gone. _Item_, the little children, +for whom she had kept school, had screamed, and had hidden themselves from +her; also no one would answer her a single word, but all spat out before +her, as the maid had done. On her way home she had seen a boat on the +water, and had run as fast as she could to the shore, and called with +might and main after old Ilse, who was in the boat. But she had taken no +notice of her, not even once to look round after her, but had motioned her +to be gone. And now she went on to weep and to sob the whole day and the +whole night, so that I was more miserable than even in the time of the +great famine. But the worst was yet to come, as will be shown in the +following chapter. + + + + +_The Seventeenth Chapter_ + + +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS TAKEN UP FOR A WITCH, AND CARRIED TO PUDGLA + +The next day, Monday, the 12th July, at about eight in the morning, while +we sat in our grief, wondering who could have prepared such great sorrow +for us, and speedily agreed that it could be none other than the accursed +witch Lizzie Kolken, a coach with four horses drove quickly up to the +door, wherein sat six fellows, who straightway all jumped out. Two went +and stood at the front, two at the back door, and two more, one of whom +was the constable Jacob Knake, came into the room, and handed me a warrant +from the Sheriff for the arrest of my daughter, as in common repute of +being a wicked witch, and for her examination before the criminal court. +Any one may guess how my heart sank within me when I read this. I dropped +to the earth like a felled tree, and when I came to myself my child had +thrown herself upon me with loud cries, and her hot tears ran down over my +face. When she saw that I came to myself, she began to praise God therefor +with a loud voice, and essayed to comfort me, saying that she was +innocent, and should appear with a clean conscience before her judges. +_Item_, she repeated to me the beautiful text from Matthew, chap. v.: +"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall +say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." + +And she begged me to rise and to throw my cassock over my doublet, and go +with her, for that without me she would not suffer herself to be carried +before the Sheriff. Meanwhile, however, all the village--men, women, and +children--had thronged together before my door; but they remained quiet, +and only peeped in at the windows, as though they would have looked right +through the house. When we had both made us ready, and the constable, who +at first would not take me with them, had thought better of it, by reason +of a good fee which my daughter gave him, we walked to the coach; but I +was so helpless that I could not get up into it. + +Old Paasch, when he saw this, came and helped me up into the coach, +saying, "God comfort ye! Alas, that you should ever see your child to come +to this!" and he kissed my hand to take leave. + +A few others came up to the coach, and would have done likewise; but I +besought them not to make my heart still heavier, and to take Christian +charge of my house and my affairs until I should return. Also to pray +diligently for me and my daughter, so that the Evil One, who had long gone +about our village like a roaring lion, and who now threatened to devour +me, might not prevail against us, but might be forced to depart from me +and from my child as from our guileless Saviour in the wilderness. But to +this none answered a word; and I heard right well, as we drove away, that +many spat out after us, and one said (my child thought it was Berow her +voice), "We would far sooner lay fire under thy coats than pray for thee." +We were still sighing over such words as these when we came near to the +churchyard, and there sat the accursed witch Lizzie Kolken at the door of +her house with her hymn-book in her lap, screeching out at the top of her +voice, "God the Father, dwell with us," as we drove past her; the which +vexed my poor child so sore that she swounded, and fell like one dead upon +me. I begged the driver to stop, and called to old Lizzie to bring us a +pitcher of water; but she did as though she had not heard me, and went on +to sing so that it rang again. Whereupon the constable jumped down, and at +my request ran back to my house to fetch a pitcher of water; and he +presently came back with it, and the people after him, who began to say +aloud that my child's bad conscience had stricken her, and that she had +now betrayed herself. Wherefore I thanked God when she came to life again, +and we could leave the village. But at Uekeritze it was just the same, for +all the people had flocked together, and were standing on the green before +Labahn his house when we went by. + +Nevertheless, they were quiet enough as we drove past, albeit some few +cried, "How can it be, how can it be?" I heard nothing else. But in the +forest near the watermill the miller and all his men ran out and shouted, +laughing, "Look at the witch, look at the witch!" Whereupon one of the men +struck at my poor child with the sack which he held in his hand, so that +she turned quite white, and the flour flew all about the coach like a +cloud. When I rebuked him, the wicked rogue laughed and said, that if no +other smoke than that ever came under her nose, so much the better for +her. _Item_, it was worse in Pudgla than even at the mill. The people +stood so thick on the hill, before the castle, that we could scarce force +our way through, and the Sheriff caused the death-bell in the castle-tower +to toll as an _avisum_. Whereupon more and more people came running out of +the ale-houses and cottages. Some cried out, "Is that the witch?" Others, +again, "Look at the parson's witch! the parson's witch!" and much more, +which for very shame I may not write. They scraped up the mud out of the +gutter which ran from the castle-kitchen and threw it upon us; _item_, a +great stone, the which struck one of the horses so that it shied, and +belike would have upset the coach had not a man sprung forward and held it +in. All this happened before the castle-gates, where the Sheriff stood +smiling and looking on, with a heron's feather stuck in his grey hat. But +so soon as the horse was quiet again, he came to the coach and mocked at +my child, saying, "See, young maid, thou wouldst not come to me, and here +thou art nevertheless!" Whereupon she answered, "Yea, I come; and may you +one day come before your judge as I come before you"; whereunto I said, +Amen, and asked him how his lordship could answer before God and man for +what he had done to a wretched man like myself and to my child? But he +answered, saying, Why had I come with her? And when I told him of the rude +people here, _item_, of the churlish miller's man, he said that it was not +his fault, and threatened the people all around with his fist, for they +were making a great noise. Thereupon he commanded my child to get down and +to follow him, and went before her into the castle; motioned the +constable, who would have gone with them, to stay at the foot of the +steps, and began to mount the winding staircase to the upper rooms alone +with my child. + +But she whispered me privately, "Do not leave me, father"; and I presently +followed softly after them. Hearing by their voices in which chamber they +were, I laid my ear against the door to listen. And the villain offered to +her that if she would love him nought should harm her, saying he had power +to save her from the people; but that if she would not, she should go +before the court next day, and she might guess herself how it would fare +with her, seeing that he had many witnesses to prove that she had played +the wanton with Satan, and had suffered him to kiss her. Hereupon she was +silent, and only sobbed, which the arch-rogue took as a good sign, and +went on: "If you have had Satan himself for a sweetheart, you surely may +love me." And he went to her and would have taken her in his arms, as I +perceived; for she gave a loud scream, and flew to the door; but he held +her fast, and begged and threatened as the devil prompted him. I was about +to go in when I heard her strike him in the face, saying, "Get thee behind +me, Satan," so that he let her go. Whereupon she ran out at the door so +suddenly that she threw me on the ground, and fell upon me with a loud +cry. Hereat the Sheriff, who had followed her, started, but presently +cried out, "Wait, thou prying parson, I will teach thee to listen!" and +ran out and beckoned to the constable who stood on the steps below. He +bade him first shut me up in one dungeon, seeing that I was an +eavesdropper, and then return and thrust my child into another. But he +thought better of it when we had come halfway down the winding-stair, and +said he would excuse me this time, and that the constable might let me go, +and only lock up my child very fast, and bring the key to him, seeing she +was a stubborn person, as he had seen at the very first hearing which he +had given her. + +Hereupon my poor child was torn from me, and I fell in a swound upon the +steps. I know not how I got down them; but when I came to myself, I was in +the constable his room, and his wife was throwing water in my face. There +I passed the night sitting in a chair, and sorrowed more than I prayed, +seeing that my faith was greatly shaken, and the Lord came not to +strengthen it. + + + + +_The Eighteenth Chapter_ + + +OF THE FIRST TRIAL, AND WHAT CAME THEREOF + +Next morning, as I walked up and down in the court, seeing that I had many +times asked the constable in vain to lead me to my child (he would not +even tell me where she lay), and for very disquietude I had at last begun +to wander about there; about six o'clock there came a coach from Uzdom, +wherein sat his worship, Master Samuel Pieper, _consul dirigens_, _item_, +the _camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel, and a _scriba_, whose name, indeed, I +heard, but have forgotten it again; and my daughter forgot it too, albeit +in other things she has an excellent memory, and, indeed, told me most of +what follows, for my old head well-nigh burst, so that I myself could +remember but little. I straightway went up to the coach, and begged that +the worshipful court would suffer me to be present at the trial, seeing +that my daughter was yet in her nonage, but which the Sheriff, who +meanwhile had stepped up to the coach from the terrace, whence he had seen +all, had denied me. But his worship Master Samuel Pieper, who was a little +round man, with a fat paunch, and a beard mingled with grey hanging down +to his middle, reached me his hand, and condoled with me like a Christian +in my trouble: I might come into court in God's name; and he wished with +all his heart that all whereof my daughter was filed might prove to be +foul lies. Nevertheless I had still to wait two hours before their +worships came down the winding stair again. At last towards nine o'clock +I heard the constable moving about the chairs and benches in the +judgment-chamber; and as I conceived that the time was now come, I went in +and sat myself down on a bench. No one, however, was yet there, save the +constable and his young daughter, who was wiping the table, and held a +rosebud between her lips. I was fain to beg her to give it me, so that I +might have it to smell to; and I believe that I should have been carried +dead out of the room that day if I had not had it. God is thus able to +preserve our lives even by means of a poor flower, if so he wills it! + +At length their worships came in and sat round the table, whereupon _Dom. +Consul_ motioned the constable to fetch in my child. Meanwhile he asked +the Sheriff whether he had put _Rea_ in chains, and when he said No, he +gave him such a reprimand that it went through my very marrow. But the +Sheriff excused himself, saying that he had not done so from regard to her +quality, but had locked her up in so fast a dungeon that she could not +possibly escape therefrom. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ answered that much is +possible to the devil, and that they would have to answer for it should +_Rea_ escape. This angered the Sheriff, and he replied that if the devil +could convey her through walls seven feet thick, and through three doors, +he could very easily break her chains too. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ said +that hereafter he would look at the prison himself; and I think that the +Sheriff had been so kind only because he yet hoped (as, indeed, will +hereafter be shown) to talk over my daughter to let him have his will of +her. + +And now the door opened, and my poor child came in with the constable, but +walking backwards, and without her shoes, the which she was forced to +leave without. The fellow had seized her by her long hair, and thus +dragged her up to the table, when first she was to turn round and look +upon her judges. He had a vast deal to say in the matter, and was in every +way a bold and impudent rogue, as will soon be shown. After _Dom. Consul_ +had heaved a deep sigh, and gazed at her from head to foot, he first asked +her her name, and how old she was; _item_, if she knew why she was +summoned before them? On the last point she answered that the Sheriff had +already told her father the reason; that she wished not to wrong any one, +but thought that the Sheriff himself had brought upon her the repute of a +witch, in order to gain her to his wicked will. Hereupon she told all his +ways with her, from the very first, and how he would by all means have had +her for his housekeeper; and that when she would not (although he had many +times come himself to her father his house), one day, as he went out of +the door, he had muttered in his beard, "I will have her, despite of all!" +which their servant Claus Neels had heard, as he stood in the stable; and +he had also sought to gain his ends by means of an ungodly woman, one +Lizzie Kolken, who had formerly been in his service; that this woman, +belike, had contrived the spells which they laid to her charge: she +herself knew nothing of witchcraft; _item_, she related what the Sheriff +had done to her the evening before, when she had just come, and when he +for the first time spoke out plainly, thinking that she was then +altogether in his power: nay, more, that he had come to her that very +night again, in her dungeon, and had made her the same offers, saying that +he would set her free if she would let him have his will of her; and that +when she denied him, he had struggled with her, whereupon she had screamed +aloud, and had scratched him across the nose, as might yet be seen, +whereupon he had left her; wherefore she would not acknowledge the Sheriff +as her judge, and trusted in God to save her from the hand of her enemies, +as of old he had saved the chaste Susannah.-- + +When she now held her peace amid loud sobs, _Dom. Consul_ started up after +he had looked, as we all did, at the Sheriff's nose, and had in truth +espied the scar upon it, and cried out in amaze, "Speak, for God his sake, +speak, what is this that I hear of your lordship?" Whereupon the Sheriff, +without changing colour, answered that although, indeed, he was not called +upon to say anything to their worships, seeing that he was the head of the +court, and that _Rea_, as appeared from numberless _indicia_, was a wicked +witch, and therefore could not bear witness against him or any one else; +he, nevertheless, would speak, so as to give no cause of scandal to the +court; that all the charges brought against him by this person were foul +lies; it was, indeed, true, that he would have hired her for a +housekeeper, whereof he stood greatly in need, seeing that his old Dorothy +was already growing infirm; it was also true that he had yesterday +questioned her in private, hoping to get her to confess by fair means, +whereby her sentence would be softened, inasmuch as he had pity on her +great youth; but that he had not said one naughty word to her, nor had he +been to her in the night; and that it was his little lap-dog, called +Below, which had scratched him, while he played with it that very morning; +that his old Dorothy could bear witness to this, and that the cunning +witch had only made use of this wile to divide the court against itself, +thereby and with the devil's help, to gain her own advantage, inasmuch as +she was a most cunning creature, as the court would soon find out. + +Hereupon I plucked up a heart, and declared that all my daughter had said +was true, and that the evening before I myself had heard, through the +door, how his lordship had made offers to her, and would have done +wantonness with her; _item_, that he had already sought to kiss her once +at Coserow; _item_, the troubles which his lordship had formerly brought +upon me in the matter of the first-fruits. + +Howbeit the Sheriff presently talked me down, saying, that if I had +slandered him, an innocent man, in church, from the pulpit, as the whole +congregation could bear witness, I should doubtless find it easy to do as +much here, before the court; not to mention that a father could, in no +case, be a witness for his own child. + +But _Dom. Consul_ seemed quite confounded, and was silent, and leaned his +head on the table, as in deep thought. Meanwhile the impudent constable +began to finger his beard from under his arm; and _Dom. Consul_ thinking +it was a fly, struck at him with his hand, without even looking up; but +when he felt the constable his hand, he jumped up and asked him what he +wanted? Whereupon the fellow answered, "Oh, only a louse was creeping +there, and I would have caught it." + +At such impudence his worship was so exceeding wroth that he struck the +constable on the mouth, and ordered him, on pain of heavy punishment, to +leave the room. + +Hereupon he turned to the Sheriff, and cried, angrily, "Why, in the name +of all the ten devils, is it thus your lordship keeps the constable in +order? and truly, in this whole matter, there is something which passes my +understanding." But the Sheriff answered, "Not so; should you not +understand it all when you think upon the eels?" + +Hereat _Dom. Consul_ of a sudden turned ghastly pale, and began to +tremble, as it appeared to me, and called the Sheriff aside into another +chamber. I have never been able to learn what that about the eels could +mean.-- + +Meanwhile _Dominus Camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel sat biting his pen, and +looking furiously--now at me, and now at my child, but said not a word; +neither did he answer _Scriba_, who often whispered somewhat into his ear, +save by a growl. At length both their worships came back into the chamber +together, and _Dom. Consul_, after he and the Sheriff had seated +themselves, began to reproach my poor child violently, saying that she had +sought to make a disturbance in the worshipful court; that his lordship +had shown him the very dog which had scratched his nose, and that, +moreover, the fact had been sworn to by the old housekeeper. + +(Truly _she_ was not likely to betray him, for the old harlot had lived +with him for years, and she had a good big boy by him, as will be seen +hereafter.) + +_Item_, he said that so many _indicia_ of her guilt had come to light, +that it was impossible to believe anything she might say; she was +therefore to give glory to God, and openly to confess everything, so as to +soften her punishment; whereby she might perchance, in pity for her youth, +escape with life, etc. + +Hereupon he put his spectacles on his nose, and began to cross-question +her, during near four hours, from a paper which he held in his hand. These +were the main articles, as far as we both can remember: + +_Quaestio_. Whether she could bewitch? + +_Responsio_. No; she knew nothing of witchcraft. + +_Q_. Whether she could charm? + +_R_. Of that she knew as little. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever been on the Blocksberg? + +_R_. That was too far off for her; she knew few hills save the +Streckelberg, where she had been very often. + +_Q_. What had she done there? + +_R_. She had looked out over the sea, or gathered flowers; _item_, at +times carried home an apronful of dry brushwood. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever called upon the devil there? + +_R_. That had never come into her mind. + +_Q_. Whether, then, the devil had appeared to her there, uncalled? + +_R_. God defend her from such a thing. + +_Q_. So she could not bewitch? + +_R_. No. + +_Q_. What, then, befell Kit Zuter his spotted cow, that it suddenly died +in her presence? + +_R_. She did not know; and that was a strange question. + +_Q_. Then it would be as strange a question, why Katie Berow her little +pig had died? + +_R_. Assuredly; she wondered what they would lay to her charge. + +_Q_. Then she had not bewitched them? + +_R_. No; God forbid it. + +_Q_. Why, then, if she were innocent, had she promised old Katie another +little pig, when her sow should litter? + +_R_. She did that out of kind-heartedness. (And hereupon she began to weep +bitterly, and said she plainly saw that she had to thank old Lizzie Kolken +for all this, inasmuch as she had often threatened her when she would not +fulfil all her greedy desires, for she wanted everything that came in her +way; moreover, that Lizzie had gone all about the village when the cattle +were bewitched, persuading the people that if only a pure maid pulled a +few hairs out of the beasts' tails they would get better. That she pitied +them, and knowing herself to be a maid, went to help them; and indeed, at +first it cured them, but latterly not.) + +_Q_. What cattle had she cured? + +_R_. Zabel his red cow; _item_, Witthan her pig, and old Lizzie's own cow. + +_Q_. Why could she afterwards cure them no more? + +_R_. She did not know, but thought--albeit she had no wish to fyle any +one--that old Lizzie Kolken, who for many a long year had been in common +repute as a witch, had done it all, and bewitched the cows in her name and +then charmed them back again, as she pleased, only to bring her to +misfortune. + +_Q_. Why, then, had old Lizzie bewitched her own cow, _item_, suffered her +own pig to die, if it was she that had made all the disturbance in the +village, and could really charm? + +_R_. She did not know; but belike there was some one (and here she looked +at the Sheriff) who paid her double for it all. + +_Q_. It was in vain that she sought to shift the guilt from off herself; +had she not bewitched old Paasch his crop, nay, even her own father's, and +caused it to be trodden down by the devil, _item_, conjured all the +caterpillars into her father's orchard? + +_R_. The question was almost as monstrous as the deed would have been. +There sat her father, and his worship might ask him whether she ever had +shown herself an undutiful child to him. (Hereupon I would have risen to +speak, but _Dom. Consul_ suffered me not to open my mouth, but went on +with his examination; whereupon I remained silent and downcast.) + +_Q_. Whether she did likewise deny that it was through her malice that the +woman Witthan had given birth to a devil's imp, which straight-way started +up and flew out at the window, so that when the midwife sought for it it +had disappeared? + +_R_. Truly she did; and indeed she had all the days of her life done good +to the people instead of harm, for during the terrible famine she had +often taken the bread out of her own mouth to share it among the others, +especially the little children. To this the whole parish must needs bear +witness, if they were asked; whereas witches and warlocks always did evil +and no good to men, as our Lord Jesus taught (Matt. xii.), when the +Pharisees blasphemed him, saying that he cast out devils by Beelzebub the +prince of the devils; hence his worship might see whether she could in +truth be a witch. + +_Q_. He would soon teach her to talk of blasphemies; he saw that her +tongue was well hung; but she must answer the questions he asked her, and +say nothing more. The question was not _what_ good she had done to the +poor, but _wherewithal_ she had done it; she must now show how she and her +father had of a sudden grown so rich that she could go pranking about in +silken raiment, whereas she used to be so very poor? + +Hereupon she looked towards me, and said, "Father, shall I tell?" +Whereupon I answered, "Yes, my child, now thou must openly tell all, even +though we thereby become beggars." She accordingly told how, when our need +was sorest, she had found the amber, and how much we had gotten for it +from the Dutch merchants. + +_Q_. What were the names of these merchants? + +_R_. Dieterich von Pehnen and Jakob Kiekebusch; but, as we have heard from +a schipper, they since died of the plague at Stettin. + +_Q_. Why had we said nothing of such a godsend? + +_R_. Out of fear of our enemy the Sheriff, who, as it seemed, had +condemned us to die of hunger, inasmuch as he forbade the parishioners, +under pain of heavy displeasure, to supply us with anything, saying, that +he would send them a better parson. + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the Sheriff sharply in the face, who +answered that it was true he had said this, seeing that the parson had +preached at him in the most scandalous manner from the pulpit; but that he +knew very well, at the time, that they were far enough from dying of +hunger. + +_Q_. How came so much amber on the Streckelberg? She had best confess at +once that the devil had brought it to her. + +_R_. She knew nothing about that. But there was a great vein of amber +there, as she could show to them all that very day; and she had broken out +the amber, and covered the hole well over with fir-twigs, so that none +should find it. + +_Q_. When had she gone up the Streckelberg; by day or by night? + +_R_. Hereupon she blushed, and for a moment held her peace; but presently +made answer, "Sometimes by day, and sometimes by night." + +_Q_. Why did she hesitate? She had better make a full confession of all, +so that her punishment might be less heavy. Had she not there given over +old Seden to Satan, who had carried him off through the air, and left only +a part of his hair and brains sticking to the top of an oak? + +_R_. She did not know whether that was his hair and brains at all, nor how +it came there. She went to the tree one morning because she heard a +woodpecker cry so dolefully. _Item_, old Paasch, who also had heard the +cries, came up with his axe in his hand. + +_Q_. Whether the woodpecker was not the devil himself, who had carried off +old Seden? + +_R_. She did not know: but he must have been dead some time, seeing that +the blood and brains which the lad fetched down out of the tree were quite +dried up. + +_Q_. How and when, then, had he come by his death? + +_R_. That Almighty God only knew. But Zuter his little girl had said, that +one day, while she gathered nettles for the cows under Seden his hedge, +she heard the goodman threaten his squint-eyed wife that he would tell the +parson that he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit; +whereupon the goodman had presently disappeared. But that this was a +child's tale, and she would fyle no one on the strength of it. + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the Sheriff steadily in the face, and +said, "Old Lizzie Kolken must be brought before us this very day": whereto +the Sheriff made no answer; and he went on to ask, + +_Q_. Whether, then, she still maintained that she knew nothing of the +devil? + +_R_. She maintained it now, and would maintain it until her life's end. + +_Q_. And nevertheless, as had been seen by witnesses, she had been +re-baptized by him in the sea in broad daylight.--Here again she blushed, +and for a moment was silent. + +_Q_. Why did she blush again? She should for God his sake think on her +salvation, and confess the truth. + +_R_. She had bathed herself in the sea, seeing that the day was very hot; +that was the whole truth. + +_Q_. What chaste maiden would ever bathe in the sea? Thou liest; or wilt +thou even yet deny that thou didst bewitch old Paasch his little girl with +a white roll? + +_R_. Alas! alas! she loved the child as though it were her own little +sister; not only had she taught her as well as all the other children +without reward, but during the heavy famine she had often taken the bit +from her own mouth to put it into the little child's. How, then, could she +have wished to do her such grievous harm? + +_Q_. Wilt thou even yet deny?--Reverend Abraham, how stubborn is your +child! See here, is this no witches' salve, which the constable fetched +out of thy coffer last night? Is this no witches' salve, eh? + +_R_. It was a salve for the skin, which would make it soft and white, as +the apothecary at Wolgast had told her, of whom she bought it. + +_Q_. Hereupon he shook his head, and went on: How! wilt thou then lastly +deny that on this last Saturday the both July, at twelve o'clock at night, +thou didst on the Streckelberg call upon thy paramour the devil in +dreadful words, whereupon he appeared to thee in the shape of a great +hairy giant, and clipped thee and toyed with thee? + +At these words she grew more pale than a corpse, and tottered so that she +was forced to hold by a chair: and I, wretched man, who would readily have +sworn away my life for her, when I saw and heard this, my senses forsook +me, so that I fell down from the bench, and _Dom. Consul_ had to call in +the constable to help me up. + +When I had come to myself a little, and the impudent varlet saw our common +consternation, he cried out, grinning at the court the while, 'Is it all +out? is it all out? has she confessed?' Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ again +showed him the door with a sharp rebuke, as might have been expected; and +it is said that this knave played the pimp for the Sheriff, and indeed I +think he would not otherwise have been so bold. + +_Summa_: I should well-nigh have perished in my distress, but for the +little rose, which by the help of God's mercy kept me up bravely; and now +the whole court rose and exhorted my poor fainting child, by the living +God, and as she would save her soul, to deny no longer, but in pity to +herself and her father to confess the truth. + +[Illustration: The Apparition on the Streckelberg] + +Hereupon she heaved a deep sigh, and grew as red as she had been pale +before, insomuch that even her hand upon the chair was like scarlet, and +she did not raise her eyes from the ground. + +_R_. She would now then confess the simple truth, as she saw right well +that wicked people had stolen after and watched her at nights. That she +had been to seek for amber on the mountain, and that to drive away fear +she had, as she was wont to do at her work, recited the Latin _carmen_ +which her father had made on the illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus: when +young Rüdiger of Nienkerken, who had ofttimes been at her father's house +and talked of love to her, came out of the coppice, and when she cried out +for fear, spoke to her in Latin, and clasped her in his arms. That he wore +a great wolf's-skin coat, so that folks should not know him if they met +him, and tell the lord his father that he had been on the mountain by +night. + +At this her confession I fell into sheer despair, and cried in great +wrath, "O thou ungodly and undutiful child, after all, then, thou hast a +paramour! Did not I forbid thee to go up the mountain by night? What didst +thou want on the mountain by night?" and I began to moan and weep and +wring my hands, so that _Dom. Consul_ even had pity on me, and drew near +to comfort me. Meanwhile she herself came towards me, and began to defend +herself, saying, with many tears, that she had gone up the mountain by +night, against my commands, to get so much amber that she might secretly +buy for me, against my birthday, the _Opera Sancti Augustim_, which the +Cantor at Wolgast wanted to sell. That it was not her fault that the young +lord lay in wait for her one night; and that she would swear to me, by the +living God, that nought that was unseemly had happened between them there, +and that she was still a maid. + +And herewith the first hearing was at end, for after _Dom. Consul_ had +whispered somewhat into the ear of the Sheriff, he called in the constable +again, and bade him keep good watch over _Rea_; _item_, not to leave her +at large in her dungeon any longer, but to put her in chains. These words +pierced my very heart, and I besought his worship to consider my sacred +office, and my ancient noble birth, and not to do me such dishonour as to +put my daughter in chains. That I would answer for her to the worshipful +court with my own head that she would not escape. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_, +after he had gone to look at the dungeon himself, granted me my request, +and commanded the constable to leave her as she had been hitherto. + + + + +_The Nineteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW SATAN, BY THE PERMISSION OF THE MOST RIGHTEOUS GOD, SOUGHT ALTOGETHER +TO RUIN US, AND HOW WE LOST ALL HOPE + +The same day, at about three in the afternoon, when I was gone to Conrad +Seep his alehouse to eat something, seeing that it was now nearly two days +since I had tasted aught save my tears, and he had placed before me some +bread and sausage, together with a mug of beer, the constable came into +the room and greeted me from the Sheriff, without, however, so much as +touching his cap, asking whether I would not dine with his lordship; that +his lordship had not remembered till now that I belike was still fasting, +seeing the trial had lasted so long. Hereupon I made answer to the +constable that I already had my dinner before me, as he saw himself, and +desired that his lordship would hold me excused. Hereat the fellow +wondered greatly, and answered; did I not see that his lordship wished me +well, albeit I had preached at him as though he were a Jew? I should think +on my daughter, and be somewhat more ready to do his lordship's will, +whereby peradventure all would yet end well. For his lordship was not such +a rough ass as _Dom. Consul_, and meant well by my child and me, as +beseemed a righteous magistrate. + +After I had with some trouble rid myself of this impudent fox, I tried to +eat a bit, but nothing would go down save the beer. I therefore soon sat +and thought again whether I would not lodge with Conrad Seep, so as to be +always near my child; _item_, whether I should not hand over my poor +misguided flock to M. Vigelius, the pastor of Benz, for such time as the +Lord still should prove me. In about an hour I saw through the window how +that an empty coach drove to the castle, and the Sheriff and _Dom. Consul_ +straightway stepped thereinto with my child; _item_, the constable climbed +up behind. Hereupon I left everything on the table and ran to the coach, +asking humbly whither they were about to take my poor child; and when I +heard they were going to the Streckelberg to look after the amber, I +begged them to take me also, and to suffer me to sit by my child, for who +could tell how much longer I might yet sit by her! This was granted to me, +and on the way the Sheriff ordered me to take up my abode in the castle +and to dine at his table as often as I pleased, and that he would, +moreover, send my child her meat from his own table. For that he had a +Christian heart, and well knew that we were to forgive our enemies. But I +refused his kindness with humble thanks, as my child did also, seeing we +were not yet so poor that we could not maintain ourselves. As we passed by +the watermill the ungodly varlet there again thrust his head out of a hole +and pulled wry faces at my child; but, dear reader, he got something to +remember it by; for the Sheriff beckoned to the constable to fetch the +fellow out, and after he had reproached him with the tricks he had twice +played my child, the constable had to take the coachman his new whip and +to give him fifty lashes, which, God knows, were not laid on with a +feather. He bellowed like a bull, which, however, no one heard for the +noise of the mill-wheels, and when at last he did as though he could not +stir, we left him lying on the ground and went on our way. + +As we drove through Uekeritze a number of people flocked together, but +were quiet enough, save one fellow who, _salvâ veniâ_, mocked at us with +unseemly gestures in the midst of the road when he saw us coming. The +constable had to jump down again, but could not catch him, and the others +would not give him up, but pretended that they had only looked at our +coach and had not marked him. May be this was true! And I am therefore +inclined to think that it was Satan himself who did it to mock at us; for +mark, for God's sake, what happened to us on the Streckelberg! Alas! +through the delusions of the foul fiend, we could not find the spot where +we had dug for the amber. For when we came to where we thought it must be, +a huge hill of sand had been heaped up as by a whirlwind, and the +fir-twigs which my child had covered over it were gone. She was near +falling in a swound when she saw this, and wrung her hands and cried out +with her Saviour, "My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me!" + +Howbeit, the constable and the coachman were ordered to dig, but not one +bit of amber was to be found, even so big as a grain of corn, whereupon +_Dom. Consul_ shook his head and violently upbraided my child. And when I +answered that Satan himself, as it seemed, had filled up the hollow in +order to bring us altogether into his power, the constable was ordered to +fetch a long stake out of the coppice which we might thrust still deeper +into the sand. But no hard _objectum_ was anywhere to be felt, +notwithstanding the Sheriff, _Dom. Consul_, and myself in my anguish did +try everywhere with the stake. + +Hereupon my child besought her judges to go with her to Coserow, where she +still had much amber in her coffer which she had found here, and that if +it were the gift of the devil it would all be changed, since it was well +known that all the presents the devil makes to witches straightway turn to +mud and ashes. + +But, God be merciful to us, God be merciful to us! when we returned to +Coserow, amid the wonderment of all the village, and my daughter went to +her coffer, the things therein were all tossed about, and the amber gone. +Hereupon she shrieked so loud that it would have softened a stone, and +cried out: "The wicked constable hath done this! when he fetched the salve +out of my coffer, he stole the amber from me, unhappy maid." But the +constable, who stood by, would have torn her hair, and cried out, "Thou +witch, thou damned witch, is it not enough that thou hast belied my lord, +but thou must now belie me too?" But _Dom. Consul_ forbade him, so that he +did not dare lay hands upon her. _Item_, all the money was gone which she +had hoarded up from the amber she had privately sold, and which she +thought already came to about ten florins. + +But the gown which she had worn at the arrival of the most illustrious +King Gustavus Adolphus, as well as the golden chain with his effigy which +he had given her, I had locked up, as though it were a relic, in the chest +in the vestry, among the altar and pulpit cloths, and there we found them +still; and when I excused myself therefore, saying that I had thought to +have saved them up for her there against her bridal day, she gazed with +fixed and glazed eyes into the box, and cried out, "Yes, against the day +when I shall be burnt; O Jesu, Jesu, Jesu!" Hereat _Dom. Consul_ shuddered +and said, "See how thou still dost smite thyself with thine own words! For +the sake of God and thy salvation, confess, for if thou knowest thyself to +be innocent, how, then, canst thou think that thou wilt be burnt?" But she +still looked him fixedly in the face, and cried aloud in Latin, +"_Innocentia, quid est innocentia? Ubi libido dominatur, innocentia leve +praesidium est_." + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again shuddered, so that his beard wagged, and +said, "What, dost thou indeed know Latin? Where didst thou learn the +Latin?" And when I answered this question as well as I was able for +sobbing, he shook his head and said, "I never in my life heard of a woman +that knew Latin." Upon this he knelt down before her coffer, and turned +over everything therein, drew it away from the wall, and when he found +nothing he bade us show him her bed, and did the same with that. This, at +length, vexed the Sheriff, who asked him whether they should not drive +back again, seeing that night was coming on. But he answered, "Nay, I must +first have the written paction which Satan has given her"; and he went on +with his search until it was almost dark. But they found nothing at all, +although _Dom. Consul_, together with the constable, passed over no hole +or corner, even in the kitchen and cellar. Hereupon he got up again into +the coach, muttering to himself, and bade my daughter sit so that she +should not look upon him. + +And now we once more had the same _spectaculum_ with the accursed old +witch Lizzie Kolken, seeing that she again sat at her door as we drove by, +and began to sing at the top of her voice, "We praise thee, O Lord." But +she screeched like a stuck pig, so that _Dom. Consul_ was amazed thereat, +and when he had heard who she was, he asked the Sheriff whether he would +not that she should be seized by the constable and be tied behind the +coach to run after it, as we had no room for her elsewhere; for that he +had often been told that all old women who had red squinting eyes and +sharp voices were witches, not to mention the suspicious things which +_Rea_ had declared against her. But he answered that he could not do this, +seeing that old Lizzie was a woman in good repute and fearing God as _Dom. +Consul_ might learn for himself; but that, nevertheless, he had had her +summoned for the morrow, together with the other witnesses. + +Yea, in truth, an excellently devout and worthy woman!--for scarcely were +we out of the village, when so fearful a storm of thunder, lightning, +wind, and hail burst over our heads, that the corn all around us was +beaten down as with a flail, and the horses before the coach were quite +maddened; however, it did not last long. But my poor child had to bear all +the blame again, inasmuch as _Dom. Consul_ thought that it was not old +Lizzie, which, nevertheless, was as clear as the sun at noonday! but my +poor daughter who brewed the storm;--for, beloved reader, what could it +have profited her, even if she had known the black art? This, however, did +not strike _Dom. Consul_, and Satan, by the permission of the +all-righteous God, was presently to use us still worse; for just as we got +to the Master's Dam, he came flying over us in the shape of a stork, and +dropped a frog so exactly over us that it fell into my daughter her lap: +she gave a shrill scream, but I whispered her to sit still, and that I +would secretly throw the frog away by one leg. + +But the constable had seen it, and cried out, "Hey, sirs! hey, look at the +cursed witch! what has the devil just thrown into her lap?" Whereupon the +Sheriff and _Dom. Consul_ looked round and saw the frog, which crawled in +her lap, and the constable after he had blown upon it three times, took it +up and showed it to their lordships. Hereat _Dom. Consul_ began to spew, +and when he had done, he ordered the coachman to stop, got down from the +coach, and said we might drive home, that he felt qualmish, and would go +afoot and see if he got better. But first he privately whispered to the +constable, which, howbeit, we heard right well, that when he got home he +should lay my poor child in chains, but not so as to hurt her much; to +which neither she nor I could answer save by tears and sobs. But the +Sheriff had heard it too, and when his worship was out of sight he began +to stroke my child her cheeks from behind her back, telling her to be +easy, as he also had a word to say in the matter, and that the constable +should not lay her in chains. But that she must leave off being so hard to +him as she had been hitherto, and come and sit on the seat beside him, +that he might privately give her some good advice as to what was to be +done. To this she answered, with many tears, that she wished to sit only +by her father, as she knew not how much longer she might sit by him at +all; and she begged for nothing more save that his lordship would leave +her in peace. But this he would not do, but pinched her back and sides +with his knees; and as she bore with this, seeing that there was no help +for it, he waxed bolder, taking it for a good sign. Meanwhile _Dom. +Consul_ called out close behind us (for being frightened he ran just after +the coach), "Constable, constable, come here quick; here lies a hedgehog +in the midst of the road!" whereupon the constable jumped down from the +coach. + +This made the Sheriff still bolder; and at last my child rose up and said, +"Father, let us also go afoot; I can no longer guard myself from him here +behind!" But he pulled her down again by her clothes, and cried out +angrily, "Wait, thou wicked witch, I will help thee to go afoot if thou +art so wilful; thou shalt be chained to the block this very night." +Whereupon she answered, "Do you do that which you cannot help doing; the +righteous God, it is to be hoped, will one day do unto you what He cannot +help doing." + +Meanwhile we had reached the castle, and scarcely were we got out of the +coach, when _Dom. Consul_, who had run till he was all of a sweat, came up +together with the constable, and straightway gave over my child into his +charge, so that I had scarce time to bid her farewell. I was left standing +on the floor below, wringing my hands in the dark, and hearkened whither +they were leading her, inasmuch as I had not the heart to follow, when +_Dom. Consul_, who had stepped into a room with the Sheriff, looked out at +the door again, and called after the constable to bring _Rea_ once more +before them. And when he had done so, and I went into the room with them, +_Dom. Consul_ held a letter in his hand, and, after spitting thrice, he +began thus: "Wilt thou still deny, thou stubborn witch? Hear what the old +knight, Hans von Nienkerken, writes to the court!" Whereupon he read out +to us that his son was so disturbed by the tale the accursed witch had +told of him that he had fallen sick from that very hour, and that he, the +father, was not much better. That his son Rüdiger had indeed at times, +when he went that way, been to see Pastor Schweidler, whom he had first +known upon a journey; but that he swore that he wished he might turn black +if he had ever used any folly or jesting with the cursed devil's whore his +daughter; much less ever been with her by night on the Streckelberg, or +embraced her there. + +At this dreadful news we both (I mean my child and I) fell down in a +swound together, seeing that we had rested our last hopes on the young +lord; and I know not what further happened. For when I came to myself, my +host, Conrad Seep, was standing over me, holding a funnel between my +teeth, through which he ladled some warm beer down my throat, and I never +felt more wretched in all my life; insomuch that Master Seep had to +undress me like a little child, and to help me into bed. + + + + +_The Twentieth Chapter_ + + +OF THE MALICE OF THE GOVERNOR AND OF OLD LIZZIE: +_ITEM_, OF THE EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES + +The next morning my hairs, which till _datum_ had been mingled with grey, +were white as snow, albeit the Lord otherwise blessed me wondrously. For +near daybreak a nightingale flew into the elder-bush beneath my window, +and sang so sweetly that straightway I thought it must be a good angel. +For after I had hearkened a while to it, I was all at once able again to +pray, which since last Sunday I could not do; and the spirit of our Lord +Jesus Christ began to speak within me, "Abba, Father"; and straightway I +was of good cheer, trusting that God would once more be gracious unto me +his wretched child; and when I had given him thanks for such great mercy, +I fell into a refreshing slumber, and slept so long that the blessed sun +stood high in the heavens when I awoke. + +And seeing that my heart was still of good cheer, I sat up in my bed, and +sang with a loud voice, "Be not dismayed, thou little flock": whereupon +Master Seep came into the room, thinking I had called him. But he stood +reverently waiting till I had done; and after marvelling at my snow-white +hair, he told me it was already seven; _item_, that half my congregation, +among others my ploughman, Claus Neels, were already assembled in his +house to bear witness that day. When I heard this, I bade mine host +forthwith send Claus to the castle, to ask when the court would open, and +he brought word back that no one knew, seeing that _Dom. Consul_ was +already gone that morning to Mellenthin to see old Nienkerken, and was not +yet come back. This message gave me good courage, and I asked the fellow +whether he also had come to bear witness against my poor child? To which +he answered, "Nay, I know nought save good of her, and I would give the +fellows their due, only--" + +These words surprised me, and I vehemently urged him to open his heart to +me. But he began to weep, and at last said that he knew nothing. Alas! he +knew but too much, and could then have saved my poor child if he had +willed. But from fear of the torture he held his peace, as he since owned; +and I will here relate what had befallen him that very morning. + +He had set out betimes that morning, so as to be alone with his +sweetheart, who was to go along with him (she is Steffen of Zempin his +daughter, not farmer Steffen, but the lame gouty Steffen), and had got to +Pudgla about five, where he found no one in the ale-house save old Lizzie +Kolken, who straightway hobbled up to the castle; and when his sweetheart +was gone home again, time hung heavy on his hands, and he climbed over the +wall into the castle garden, where he threw himself on his face behind a +hedge to sleep. But before long the Sheriff came with old Lizzie, and +after they had looked all round and seen no one, they went into an arbour +close by him, and conversed as follows:-- + +_Ille_. Now that they were alone together, what did she want of him? + +_Illa_. She came to get the money for the witchcraft she had contrived in +the village. + +_Ille_. Of what use had all this witchcraft been to him? My child, so far +from being frightened, defied him more and more; and he doubted whether he +should ever have his will of her. + +_Illa_. He should only have patience; when she was laid upon the rack she +would soon learn to be fond. + +_Ille_. That might be, but till then she (Lizzie) should get no money. + +_Illa_. What! Must she then do his cattle a mischief? + +_Ille_. Yes, if she felt chilly, and wanted a burning fagot to warm her +_podex_, she had better. Moreover, he thought that she had bewitched him, +seeing that his desire for the parson's daughter was such as he had never +felt before. + +_Illa_. (Laughing.) He had said the same thing some thirty years ago, when +he first came after her. + +_Ille_. Ugh! thou old baggage, don't remind me of such things, but see to +it that you get three witnesses, as I told you before, or else methinks +they will rack your old joints for you after all. + +_Illa_. She had the three witnesses ready, and would leave the rest to +him. But that if she were racked she would reveal all she knew. + +_Ille_. She should hold her ugly tongue, and go to the devil. + +_Illa_. So she would, but first she must have her money. + +_Ille_. She should have no money till he had had his will of my daughter. + +_Illa_. He might at least pay her for her little pig which she herself had +bewitched to death, in order that she might not get into evil repute. + +_Ille_. She might choose one when his pigs were driven by, and say she had +paid for it. Hereupon, said my Claus, the pigs were driven by, and one ran +into the garden, the door being open, and as the swineherd followed it, +they parted; but the witch muttered to herself, "Now help, devil, help, +that I may--" but he heard no further. + +The cowardly fellow, however, hid all this from me, as I have said above, +and only said, with tears, that he knew nothing. I believed him, and sat +down at the window to see when _Dom. Consul_ should return; and when I saw +him I rose and went to the castle, where the constable, who was already +there with my child, met me before the judgment-chamber. Alas! she looked +more joyful than I had seen her for a long time, and smiled at me with her +sweet little mouth: but when she saw my snow-white hair, she gave a cry, +which made _Dom. Consul_ throw open the door of the judgment-chamber, and +say, "Ha, ha! thou knowest well what news I have brought thee; come in, +thou stubborn devil's brat!" Whereupon we stepped into the chamber to him, +and he lift up his voice and spake to me, after he had sat down with the +Sheriff, who was by. + +He said that yestereven, after he had caused me to be carried like one +dead to Master Seep his ale-house, and that my stubborn child had been +brought to life again, he had once more adjured her, to the utmost of his +power, no longer to lie before the face of the living God, but to confess +the truth; whereupon she had borne herself very unruly, and had wrung her +hands and wept and sobbed, and at last answered that the young _nobilis_ +never could have said such things, but that his father must have written +them, who hated her, as she had plainly seen when the Swedish king was at +Coserow. That he, _Dom. Consul_, had indeed doubted the truth of this at +the time, but as a just judge had gone that morning right early with the +_scriba_ to Mellenthin, to question the young lord himself. + +That I might now see myself what horrible malice was in my daughter. For +that the old knight had led him to his son's bedside, who still lay sick +from vexation, and that he had confirmed all his father had written, and +had cursed the scandalous she-devil (as he called my daughter) for seeking +to rob him of his knightly honour. "What sayest thou now?" he continued; +"wilt thou still deny thy great wickedness? See here the _protocollum_ +which the young lord hath signed _manu propriâ_!" But the wretched maid +had meanwhile fallen on the ground again, and the constable had no sooner +seen this than he ran into the kitchen, and came back with a burning +brimstone match, which he was about to hold under her nose. + +But I hindered him, and sprinkled her face with water, so that she opened +her eyes, and raised herself up by a table. She then stood a while, +without saying a word or regarding my sorrow. At last she smiled sadly, +and spake thus: That she clearly saw how true was that spoken by the Holy +Ghost, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man"; and that the +faithlessness of the young lord had surely broken her poor heart if the +all-merciful God had not graciously prevented him, and sent her a dream +that night, which she would tell, not hoping to persuade the judges, but +to raise up the white head of her poor father. + +"After I had sat and watched all the night," quoth she, "towards morning I +heard a nightingale sing in the castle-garden so sweetly that my eyes +closed, and I slept. Then methought I was a lamb, grazing quietly in my +meadow at Coserow. Suddenly the Sheriff jumped over the hedge and turned +into a wolf, who seized me in his jaws, and ran with me towards the +Streckelberg, where he had his lair. I, poor little lamb, trembled and +bleated in vain, and saw death before my eyes, when he laid me down before +his lair, where lay the she-wolf and her young. But behold a hand, like +the hand of a man, straightway came out of the bushes and touched the +wolves, each one with one finger, and crushed them so that nought was left +of them save a grey powder. Hereupon the hand took me up, and carried me +back to my meadow." + +Only think, beloved reader, how I felt when I heard all this, and about +the dear nightingale too, which no one can doubt to have been the servant +of God. I clasped my child with many tears, and told her what had happened +to me, and we both won such courage and confidence as we had never yet +felt, to the wonderment of _Dom. Consul_, as it seemed; but the Sheriff +turned as pale as a sheet when she stepped towards their worships and +said, "And now do with me as you will, the lamb fears not, for she is in +the hands of the Good Shepherd!" Meanwhile _Dom. Camerarius_ came in with +the _scriba_, but was terrified as he chanced to touch my daughter's apron +with the skirts of his coat; and stood and scraped at his coat as a woman +scrapes a fish. At last, after he had spat out thrice, he asked the court +whether it would not begin to examine witnesses, seeing that all the +people had been waiting some time both in the castle and at the ale-house. +Hereunto they agreed, and the constable was ordered to guard my child in +his room, until it should please the court to summon her. I therefore went +with her, but, we had to endure much from the impudent rogue, seeing he +was not ashamed to lay his arm round my child her shoulders and to ask for +a kiss _in meâ presentiâ_. But, before I could get out a word, she tore +herself from him, and said, "Ah, thou wicked knave, must I complain of +thee to the court; hast thou forgotten what thou hast already done to me?" +To which, he answered, laughing, "See, see! how coy"; and still sought to +persuade her to be more willing, and not to forget her own interest; for +that he meant as well by her as his master; she might believe it or not; +with many other scandalous words besides which I have forgot; for I took +my child upon my knees and laid my head on her neck, and we sat and wept. + + + + +_The Twenty-first Chapter_ + + +DE CONFRONTATIONE TESTIUM + +When we were summoned before the court again, the whole court was full of +people, and some shuddered when they saw us, but others wept; my child +told the same tale as before. But when our old Ilse was called, who sat on +a bench behind, so that we had not seen her, the strength wherewith the +Lord had gifted her was again at an end, and she repeated the words of our +Saviour, "He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me": +and she held fast by my chair. Old Ilse, too, could not walk straight for +very grief, nor could she speak for tears, but she twisted and wound +herself about before the court like a woman in travail. But when Dom. +Consul threatened that the constable should presently help her to her +words, she testified that my child had very often got up in the night and +called aloud upon the foul fiend. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever heard Satan answer her? + +_R_. She never had heard him at all. + +_Q_. Whether she had perceived that _Rea_ had a familiar spirit, and in +what shape? She should think upon her oath, and speak the truth. + +_R_. She had never seen one. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever heard her fly up the chimney? + +_R_. Nay, she had always gone softly out at the door. + +_Q_. Whether she never at mornings had missed her broom or pitch-fork? + +_R_. Once the broom was gone, but she had found it again behind the stove, +and may be left it there herself by mistake. + +_Q_. Whether she had never heard _Rea_ cast a spell or wish harm to this +or that person? + +_R_. No, never; she had always wished her neighbours nothing but good, and +even in the time of bitter famine had taken the bread out of her own mouth +to give it to others. + +_Q_. Whether she did not know the salve which had been found in _Rea_ her +coffer? + +_R_. Oh, yes! her young mistress had brought it back from Wolgast for her +skin, and had once given her some when she had chapped hands, and it had +done her a vast deal of good. + +_Q_. Whether she had anything further to say? + +_R_. No, nothing but good. + +Hereupon my man Claus Neels was called up. He also came forward in tears, +but answered every question with a "Nay," and at last testified that he +had never seen nor heard anything bad of my child, and knew nought of her +doings by night, seeing that he slept in the stable with the horses; and +that he firmly believed that evil folks--and here he looked at old +Lizzie--had brought this misfortune upon her, and that she was quite +innocent. + +When it came to the turn of this old limb of Satan, who was to be the +chief witness, my child again declared that she would not accept old +Lizzie's testimony against her, and called upon the court for justice, for +that she had hated her from her youth up, and had been longer by habit and +repute a witch than she herself. + +But the old hag cried out, "God forgive thee thy sins; the whole village +knows that I am a devout woman, and one serving the Lord in all things"; +whereupon she called up old Zuter Witthahn and my church-warden Claus +Bulk, who bore witness hereto. But old Paasch stood and shook his head; +nevertheless when my child said, "Paasch, wherefore dost thou shake thy +head?" he started, and answered, "Oh, nothing!" + +Howbeit, _Dom. Consul_ likewise perceived this, and asked him, whether he +had any charge to bring against old Lizzie; if so, he should give glory to +God, and state the same; _item_, it was competent to every one so to do; +indeed the court required of him to speak out all he knew. + +But from fear of the old dragon, all were still as mice, so that you might +have heard the flies buzz about the inkstand. I then stood up, wretched as +I was, and stretched out my arms over my amazed and faint-hearted people +and spake, "Can ye thus crucify me together with my poor child? Have I +deserved this at your hands? Speak, then; alas, will none speak?" I heard, +indeed, how several wept aloud, but not one spake; and hereupon my poor +child was forced to submit. + +And the malice of the old hag was such that she not only accused my child +of the most horrible witchcraft, but also reckoned to a day when she had +given herself up to Satan to rob her of her maiden honour; and she said +that Satan had, without doubt, then defiled her when she could no longer +heal the cattle, and when they all died. Hereupon my child said nought, +save that she cast down her eyes and blushed deep, for shame at such +filthiness; and to the other blasphemous slander which the old hag uttered +with many tears, namely, that my daughter had given up her (Lizzie's) +husband, body and soul, to Satan, she answered as she had done before. But +when the old hag came to her re-baptism in the sea, and gave out that +while seeking for strawberries in the coppice she had recognised my +child's voice, and stolen towards her, and perceived these devil's doings, +my child fell in smiling, and answered, "Oh, thou evil woman! how couldst +thou hear my voice speaking down by the sea, being thyself in the forest +upon the mountain? surely thou liest, seeing that the murmur of the waves +would make that impossible." This angered the old dragon, and seeking to +get out of the blunder she fell still deeper into it, for she said, "I saw +thee move thy lips, and from that I knew that thou didst call upon thy +paramour the devil!" for my child straight-way replied, "Oh, thou ungodly +woman! thou saidst thou wert in the forest when thou didst hear my voice; +how then up in the forest couldst thou see whether I, who was below by the +water, moved my lips or not?"-- + +Such contradictions amazed even _Dom. Consul_, and he began to threaten +the old hag with the rack if she told such lies; whereupon she answered +and said, "List, then, whether I lie! When she went naked into the water +she had no mark on her body, but when she came out again I saw that she +had between her breasts a mark the size of a silver penny, whence I +perceived that the devil had given it her, although I had not seen him +about her, nor, indeed, had I seen any one, either spirit or child of man, +for she seemed to be quite alone." + +Hereupon the Sheriff jumped up from his seat, and cried, "Search must +straightway be made for this mark"; whereupon _Dom. Consul_ answered, +"Yea, but not by us, but by two women of good repute," for he would not +hearken to what my child said, that it was a mole, and that she had had it +from her youth up, wherefore the constable his wife was sent for, and +_Dom. Consul_ muttered somewhat into her ear, and as prayers and tears +were of no avail, my child was forced to go with her. Howbeit, she +obtained this favour, that old Lizzie Kolken was not to follow her, as she +would have done, but our old maid Ilse. I, too, went in my sorrow, seeing +that I knew not what the women might do to her. She wept bitterly as they +undressed her, and held her hands over her eyes for very shame. + +Well-a-day, her body was just as white as my departed wife's; although in +her childhood, as I remember, she was very yellow, and I saw with +amazement the mole between her breasts, whereof I had never heard aught +before. But she suddenly screamed violently and started back, seeing that +the constable his wife, when nobody watched her, had run a needle into the +mole, so deep that the red blood ran down over her breasts. I was sorely +angered thereat, but the woman said that she had done it by order of the +judge, which, indeed, was true; for when we came back into court, and the +Sheriff asked how it was, she testified that there was a mark of the size +of a silver penny, of a yellowish colour, but that it had feeling, seeing +that _Rea_ had screamed aloud when she had, unperceived, driven a needle +therein. Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_ suddenly rose, and, +stepping up to my child, drew her eyelids asunder, and cried out, +beginning to tremble, "Behold the sign which never fails": whereupon the +whole court started to their feet, and looked at the little spot under her +right eyelid, which in truth had been left there by a stye, but this none +would believe. _Dom. Consul_ now said, "See, Satan hath marked thee on +body and soul! and thou dost still continue to lie unto the Holy Ghost; +but it shall not avail thee, and thy punishment will only be the heavier. +Oh, thou shameless woman! thou hast refused to accept the testimony of old +Lizzie; wilt thou also refuse that of these people, who have all heard +thee on the mountain call upon the devil thy paramour, and seen him appear +in the likeness of a hairy giant, and kiss and caress thee?" + +Hereupon old Paasch, goodwife Witthahn, and Zuter came forward and bare +witness, that they had seen this happen about midnight, and that on this +declaration they would live and die; that old Lizzie had awakened them one +Saturday night about eleven o'clock, had given them a can of beer, and +persuaded them to follow the parson's daughter privately, and to see what +she did upon the mountain. At first they refused but in order to get at +the truth about the witchcraft in the village, they had at last, after a +devout prayer, consented, and had followed her in God's name. + +They had soon through the bushes seen the witch in the moonshine; she +seemed to dig, and spake in some strange tongue the while, whereupon the +grim arch-fiend suddenly appeared, and fell upon her neck. Hereupon they +ran away in consternation, but, by the help of the Almighty God, on whom +from the very first they had set their faith, they were preserved from the +power of the Evil One. For, notwithstanding he had turned round on hearing +a rustling in the bushes, he had had no power to harm them. + +Finally, it was even charged to my child as a crime, that she had fainted +on the road from Coserow to Pudgla, and none would believe that this had +been caused by vexation at old Lizzie her singing, and not from a bad +conscience, as stated by the judge. + +When all the witnesses had been examined, _Dom. Consul_ asked her whether +she had brewed the storm, what was the meaning of the frog that dropped +into her lap, _item_, the hedgehog which lay directly in his path? To all +of which she answered, that she had caused the one as little as she knew +of the other. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked her, last +of all, whether she would have an advocate, or trust entirely in the good +judgment of the court. To this she gave answer that she would by all means +have an advocate. Wherefore I sent my ploughman, Claus Neels, the next day +to Wolgast to fetch the _Syndicus_ Michelsen, who is a worthy man, and in +whose house I have been many times when I went to the town, seeing that he +courteously invited me. + +I must also note here that at this time my old Ilse came back to live with +me; for after the witnesses were gone she stayed behind in the chamber, +and came boldly up to me, and besought me to suffer her once more to serve +her old master and her dear young mistress; for that now she had saved her +poor soul, and confessed all she knew. Wherefore she could no longer bear +to see her old masters in such woeful plight, without so much as a +mouthful of victuals, seeing that she had heard that old wife Seep, who +had till _datum_ prepared the food for me and my child, often let the +porridge burn; _item_, oversalted the fish and the meat. Moreover, that I +was so weakened by age and misery, that I needed help and support, which +she would faithfully give me, and was ready to sleep in the stable, if +needs must be; that she wanted no wages for it, I was only not to turn her +away. Such kindness made my daughter to weep, and she said to me, "Behold, +father, the good folks come back to us again; think you, then, that the +good angels will forsake us for ever? I thank thee, old Use; thou shall +indeed prepare my food for me, and always bring it as far as the +prison-door, if thou mayest come no further; and mark, then, I pray thee, +what the constable does therewith." + +This the maid promised to do, and from this time forth took up her abode +in the stable. May God repay her at the day of judgment for what she then +did for me and for my poor child! + + + + +_The Twenty-second Chapter_ + + +HOW THE _SYNDICUS DOM._ MICHELSEN ARRIVED AND PREPARED HIS DEFENCE OF MY +POOR CHILD + +The next day, at about three o'clock P.M., _Dom. Syndicus_ came driving +up, and got out of his coach at my inn. He had a huge bag full of books +with him, but was not so friendly in his manner as was usual with him, but +very grave and silent. And after he had saluted me in my own room, and had +asked how it was possible for my child to have come to such misfortune, I +related to him the whole affair, whereat, however, he only shook his head. +On my asking him whether he would not see my child that same day, he +answered, "Nay"; he would rather first study the _acta_. And after he had +eaten of some wild duck-which my old Ilse had roasted for him, he would +tarry no longer, but straightway went up to the castle, whence he did not +return till the following afternoon. His manner was not more friendly now +than at his first coming, and I followed him with sighs when he asked me +to lead him to my daughter. As we went in with the constable, and I, for +the first time, saw my child in chains before me--she who in her whole +life had never hurt a worm--I again felt as though I should die for very +grief. But she smiled and cried out to _Dom. Syndicus_, "Are you indeed +the good angel who will cause my chains to fall from my hands, as was done +of yore to St. Peter?" To which he replied, with a sigh, "May the Almighty +God grant it"; and as, save the chair whereon my child sat against the +wall, there was none other in the dungeon (which was a filthy and stinking +hole, wherein were more wood-lice than ever I saw in my life), _Dom. +Syndicus_ and I sat down on her bed, which had been left for her at my +prayer; and he ordered the constable to go his ways until he should call +him back. Hereupon he asked my child what she had to say in her +justification; and she had not gone far in her defence when I perceived, +from the shadow at the door, that some one must be standing without. I +therefore went quickly to the door, which was half open, and found the +impudent constable, who stood there to listen. This so angered _Dom. +Syndicus_ that he snatched up his staff in order to hasten his going, but +the arch-rogue took to his heels as soon as he saw this. My child took +this opportunity to tell her worshipful defensor what she had suffered +from the impudence of this fellow, and to beg that some other constable +might be set over her, seeing that this one had come to her last night +again with evil designs, so that she at last had shrieked aloud and beaten +him on the head with her chains; whereupon he had left her. This _Dom. +Syndicus_ promised to obtain for her; but with regard to the _defensio_, +wherewith she now went on, he thought it would be better to make no +further mention of the _impetus_ which the Sheriff had made on her +chastity. "For," said he, "as the princely central court at Wolgast has to +give sentence upon thee, this statement would do thee far more harm than +good, seeing that the _praeses_ thereof is a cousin of the Sheriff, and +ofttimes goes a-hunting with him. Besides, thou being charged with a +capital crime hast no _fides_, especially as thou canst bring no witnesses +against him. Thou couldst, therefore, gain no belief even if thou didst +confirm the charge on the rack, wherefrom, moreover, I am come hither to +save thee by my _defensio_." These reasons seemed sufficient to us both, +and we resolved to leave vengeance to Almighty God, who seeth in secret, +and to complain of our wrongs to him, as we might not complain to men. But +all my daughter said about old Lizzie--_item_, of the good report wherein +she herself had, till now, stood with everybody--he said he would write +down, and add thereunto as much and as well of his own as he was able, so +as, by the help of Almighty God, to save her from the torture. That she +was to make herself easy and commend herself to God; within two days he +hoped to have his _defensio_ ready and to read it to her. And now, when he +called the constable back again, the fellow did not come, but sent his +wife to lock the prison, and I took leave of my child with many tears: +_Dom. Syndicus_ told the woman the while what her impudent rogue of a +husband had done, that she might let him hear more of it. Then he sent the +woman away again and came back to my daughter, saying that he had +forgotten to ascertain whether she really knew the Latin tongue, and that +she was to say her _defensio_ over again in Latin, if she was able. +Hereupon she began and went on therewith for a quarter of an hour or more, +in such wise that not only _Dom. Syndicus_ but I myself also was amazed, +seeing that she did not stop for a single word, save the word +"hedgehog," which we both had forgotten at the moment when she asked us +what it was.--_Summa. Dom. Syndicus_ grew far more gracious when she had +finished her oration, and took leave of her, promising that he would set +to work forthwith. + +After this I did not see him again till the morning of the third day at +ten o'clock, seeing that he sat at work in a room at the castle, which the +Sheriff had given him, and also ate there, as he sent me word by old Ilse +when she carried him his breakfast next day. + +At the above-named time he sent the new constable for me, who, meanwhile, +had been fetched from Uzdom at his desire. For the Sheriff was exceeding +wroth when he heard that the impudent fellow had attempted my child in the +prison, and cried out in a rage, "S'death, and 'ouns, I'll mend thy +coaxing!" Whereupon he gave him a sound thrashing with a dog-whip he held +in his hand, to make sure that she should be at peace from him. + +But, alas! the new constable was even worse than the old, as will be shown +hereafter. His name was Master Köppner, and he was a tall fellow with a +grim face, and a mouth so wide that at every word he said the spittle ran +out at the corners, and stuck in his long beard like soap-suds, so that my +child had an especial fear and loathing of him. Moreover, on all occasions +he seemed to laugh in mockery and scorn, as he did when he opened the +prison-door to us, and saw my poor child sitting in her grief and +distress. But he straightway left us without waiting to be told, whereupon +_Dom. Syndicus_ drew his defence out of his pocket, and read it to us; we +have remembered the main points thereof, and I will recount them here, but +most of the _auctores_ we have forgotten. + +1. He began by saying that my daughter had ever till now stood in good +repute, as not only the whole village, but even my servants bore witness; +_ergo_, she could not be a witch, inasmuch as the Saviour hath said, "A +good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring +forth good fruit" (Matt. vii.). + +2. With regard to the witchcraft in the village, that belike was the +contrivance of old Lizzie, seeing that she bore a great hatred towards +_Rea_, and had long been in evil repute, for that the parishioners dared +not to speak out, only from fear of the old witch; wherefore Zuter, her +little girl, must be examined, who had heard old Lizzie her goodman tell +her she had a familiar spirit, and that he would tell it to the parson; +for that notwithstanding the above-named was but a child, still it was +written in Psalm viii., "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou +ordained strength...."; and the Saviour himself appealed (Matt. xxi.) to +the testimony of little children. + +3. Furthermore, old Lizzie might have bewitched the crops, _item_, the +fruit-trees, inasmuch as none could believe that _Rea_, who had ever shown +herself a dutiful child, would have bewitched her own father's corn, or +made caterpillars come on his trees; for no one, according to Scripture, +can serve two masters. + +_Item_, she (old Lizzie) might very well have been the woodpecker that was +seen by _Rea_ and old Paasch on the Streckelberg, and herself have given +over her goodman to the Evil One for fear of the parson, inasmuch as +Spitzel _De Expugnatione Orci_ asserts; _item_, the _Malleus Maleficarum_ +proves beyond doubt that the wicked children of Satan ofttimes change +themselves into all manner of beasts, as the foul fiend himself likewise +seduced our first parents in the shape of a serpent (Gen. iii.). + +5. That old Lizzie had most likely made the wild weather when _Dom. +Consul_ was coming home with _Rea_ from the Streckelberg, seeing it was +impossible that _Rea_ could have done it, as she was sitting in the coach, +whereas witches when they raise storms always stand in the water, and +throw it over their heads backwards; _item_, beat the stones soundly with +a stick, as Hannold relates. Wherefore she too, may be, knew best about +the frog and the hedgehog. + +6. That _Rea_ was erroneously charged with that as a _crimen_ which ought +rather to serve as her justification, namely, her sudden riches. For the +_Malleus Maleficarum_ expressly says that a witch can never grow rich, +seeing that Satan, to do dishonour to God, always buys them for a vile +price, so that they should not betray themselves by their riches. +Wherefore that as _Rea_ had grown rich, she could not have got her wealth +from the foul fiend, but it must be true that she had found amber on the +mountain; that the spells of old Lizzie might have been the cause why they +could not find the vein of amber again, or that the sea might have washed +away the cliff below, as often happens, whereupon the top had slipped +down, so that only a _miraculum naturale_ had taken place. The proof which +he brought forward from Scripture we have quite forgotten, seeing it was +but middling. + +7. With regard to her re-baptism, the old hag had said herself that she +had not seen the devil or any other spirit or man about _Rea_, wherefore +she might in truth have been only naturally bathing, in order to greet the +King of Sweden next day, seeing that the weather was hot, and that bathing +was not of itself sufficient to impair the modesty of a maiden. For that +she had as little thought any would see her as Bathsheba the daughter of +Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, who in like manner did bathe +herself, as is written (2 Sam. xi. 2), without knowing that David could +see her. Neither could her mark be a mark given by Satan, inasmuch as +there was feeling therein; _ergo_, it must be a natural mole, and it was a +lie that she had it not before bathing. Moreover, that on this point the +old harlot was nowise to be believed, seeing that she had fallen from one +contradiction into another about it, as stated in the _acta_. + +8. Neither was it just to accuse _Rea_ of having bewitched Paasch his +little daughter; for as old Lizzie was going in and out of the room, nay, +even sat herself down on the little girl her belly when the pastor went to +see her, it most likely was that wicked woman (who was known to have a +great spite against _Rea_) that contrived the spell through the power of +the foul fiend, and by permission of the all-just God; for that Satan was +"a liar and the father of it," as our Lord Christ says (John viii.). + +9. With regard to the appearance of the foul fiend on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant, that indeed was the heaviest _gravamen_, inasmuch +as not only old Lizzie, but likewise three trustworthy witnesses, had seen +him. But who could tell whether it was not old Lizzie herself who had +contrived this devilish apparition in order to ruin her enemy altogether; +for that notwithstanding the apparition was not the young nobleman, as +_Rea_ had declared it to be, it still was very likely that she had not +lied, but had mistaken Satan for the young lord, as he appeared in his +shape; _exemplum_, for this was to be found even in Scripture: for that +all _Theologi_ of the whole Protestant Church were agreed that the vision +which the witch of Endor showed to King Saul was not Samuel himself, but +the arch-fiend; nevertheless, Saul had taken it for Samuel. In like manner +the old harlot might have conjured up the devil before _Rea_, who did not +perceive that it was not the young lord, but Satan, who had put on that +shape in order to seduce her; for as _Rea_ was a fair woman, none could +wonder that the devil gave himself more trouble for her than for an old +withered hag, seeing he has ever sought after fair women to lie with them. + +Lastly, he argued that _Rea_ was in nowise marked as a witch, for that she +neither had bleared and squinting eyes nor a hooked nose, whereas old +Lizzie had both, which Theophrastus Paracelsus declares to be an unfailing +mark of a witch, saying, "Nature marketh none thus unless by abortion, for +these are the chiefest signs whereby witches be known whom the spirit +_Asiendens_ hath subdued unto himself." + +When _Dom. Syndicus_ had read his _defensio_, my daughter was so rejoiced +thereat that she would have kissed his hand, but he snatched it from her +and breathed upon it thrice, whereby we could easily see that he himself +was nowise in earnest with his _defensio_. Soon after he took leave in an +ill-humour, after commending her to the care of the Most High, and begged +that I would make my farewell as short as might be, seeing that he +purposed to return home that very day, the which, alas! I very unwillingly +did. + + + + +_The Twenty-third Chapter_ + + +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS SENTENCED TO BE PUT TO THE QUESTION + +After _acta_ had been sent to the honourable the central court, about +fourteen days passed over before any answer was received. My lord the +Sheriff was especially gracious toward me the while, and allowed me to see +my daughter as often as I would (seeing that the rest of the court were +gone home), wherefore I was with her nearly all day. And when the +constable grew impatient of keeping watch over me, I gave him a fee to +lock me in together with my child. And the all-merciful God was gracious +unto us, and caused us often and gladly to pray, for we had a steadfast +hope, believing that the cross we had seen in the heavens would now soon +pass away from us, and that the ravening wolf would receive his reward +when the honourable high court had read through the _acta_, and should +come to the excellent _defensio_ which _Dom. Syndicus_ had constructed for +my child. Wherefore I began to be of good cheer again, especially when I +saw my daughter her cheeks growing of a right lovely red. But on Thursday, +25th _mensis Augusti_, at noon, the worshipful court drove into the +castle-yard again as I sat in the prison with my child, as I was wont; and +old Ilse brought us our food, but could not tell us the news for weeping. +But the tall constable peeped in at the door, grinning, and cried, "Oh, +ho! they are come, they are come, they are come; now the tickling will +begin": whereat my poor child shuddered, but less at the news than at +sight of the fellow himself. Scarce was he gone than he came back again to +take off her chains and to fetch her away. So I followed her into the +judgment-chamber, where _Dom. Consul_ read out the sentence of the +honourable high court as follows:--That she should once more be questioned +in kindness touching the articles contained in the indictment; and if she +then continued stubborn she should be subjected to the _peine forte et +dure_, for that the _defensio_ she had set up did not suffice, and that +there were _indicia legitima praegnantia et sufficientia ad torturam +ipsam_; to wit-- + +1. _Mala fama_. + +2. _Maleficium, publicè commissum_. + +3. _Apparitio daemonis in monte_. + +Whereupon the most honourable central court cited about 20 _auctores_, +whereof, howbeit, we remember but little. When _Dom. Consul_ had read out +this to my child, he once more lift up his voice and admonished her with +many words to confess of her own free-will, for that the truth must now +come to light. + +Hereupon she steadfastly replied, that after the _defensio_ of _Dom. +Syndicus_ she had indeed hoped for a better sentence; but that, as it was +the will of God to try her yet more hardly, she resigned herself +altogether into His gracious hands, and could not confess aught save what +she had said before, namely, that she was innocent, and that evil men had +brought this misery upon her. Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ motioned the +constable, who straightway opened the door of the next room, and admitted +_Pastor Benzensis_ in his surplice, who had been sent for by the court to +admonish her still better out of the word of God. He heaved a deep sigh, +and said, "Mary, Mary, is it thus I must meet thee again?" Whereupon she +began to weep bitterly, and to protest her innocence afresh. But he heeded +not her distress, and as soon as he had heard her pray, "Our Father," "The +eyes of all wait upon thee," and "God the Father dwell with us," he lift +up his voice and declared to her the hatred of the living God to all +witches and warlocks, seeing that not only is the punishment of fire +awarded to them in the Old Testament, but that the Holy Ghost expressly +saith in the New Testament (Gal. v.), "That they which do such things +shall not inherit the kingdom of God"; but "shall have their part in the +lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" +(Apocal. xxi.). Wherefore she must not be stubborn nor murmur against the +court when she was tormented, seeing that it was all done out of Christian +love, and to save her poor soul. That, for the sake of God and her +salvation, she should no longer delay repentance, and thereby cause her +body to be tormented, and give over her wretched soul to Satan, who +certainly would not fulfil those promises in hell which he had made her +here upon earth; seeing that "He was a murderer from the beginning--a liar +and the father of it" (John viii.). "Oh!" cried he, "Mary, my child, who +so oft hast sat upon my knees, and for whom I now cry every morning and +every night unto my God, if thou wilt have no pity upon thee and me, have +pity at least upon thy worthy father, whom I cannot look upon without +tears, seeing that his hairs have turned snow-white within a few days, and +save thy soul, my child, and confess! Behold, thy Heavenly Father grieveth +over thee no less than thy fleshly father, and the holy angels veil their +faces for sorrow that thou, who wert once their darling sister, art now +become the sister and bride of the devil. Return therefore, and repent! +This day thy Saviour calleth thee, poor stray lamb, back into His flock, +'And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath +bound ... be loosed from this bond?' Such are His merciful words (Luke +xiii.); _item_, 'Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I +will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful' (Jer. +iii.). Return then, thou back-sliding soul, unto the Lord thy God! He who +heard the prayer of the idolatrous Manasseh when 'he besought the Lord his +God and humbled himself' (2 Chron. xxxiii.); who, through Paul, accepted +the repentance of the sorcerers at Ephesus (Acts xix.), the same merciful +God now crieth unto thee as unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, +'Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent' (Apocal. +ii.). Oh, Mary, Mary, remember, my child, from whence thou art fallen, and +repent!" + +Hereupon he held his peace, and it was some time before she could say a +word for tears and sobs; but at last she answered, "If lies are no less +hateful to God than witchcraft, I may not lie, but must rather declare, to +the glory of God, as I have ever declared, that I am innocent." + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and frowned and asked the tall +constable if all was ready, _item_, whether the women were at hand to +undress _Rea_; whereupon he answered with a grin, as he was wont, "Ho, ho, +I have never been wanting in my duty, nor will I be wanting to-day; I will +tickle her in such wise that she shall soon confess." + +When he had said this, _Dom. Consul_ turned to my daughter, and said, +"Thou art a foolish thing, and knowest not the torment which awaits thee, +and therefore is it that thou still art stubborn. Now, then, follow me to +the torture-chamber, where the executioner shall show thee the +_instrumenta_; and thou mayest yet think better of it when thou hast seen +what the question is like." + +Hereupon he went into another room, and the constable followed him with my +child. And when I would have gone after them, _Pastor Benzensis_ held me +back, with many tears, and conjured me not to do so, but to tarry where I +was. But I hearkened not unto him, and tore myself from him, and swore +that so long as a single vein should beat in my wretched body I would +never forsake my child. I therefore went into the next room, and from +thence down into a vault, where was the torture-chamber, wherein were no +windows, so that those without might not hear the cries of the tormented. +Two torches were already burning there when I went in, and although _Dom. +Consul_ would at first have sent me away, after a while he had pity upon +me, so that he suffered me to stay. + +And now that hell-hound the constable stepped forward, and first showed my +poor child the ladder, saying with savage glee, "See here! first of all +thou wilt be laid on that, and thy hands and feet will be tied. Next, the +thumb-screw here will be put upon thee, which straightway will make the +blood to spirt out at the tips of thy fingers; thou mayest see that they +are still red with the blood of old Gussy Biehlke, who was burnt last +year, and who, like thee, would not confess at first. If thou still wilt +not confess, I shall next put these Spanish boots on thee, and should they +be too large, I shall just drive in a wedge, so that the calf, which is +now at the back of thy leg, will be driven to the front, and the blood +will shoot out of thy feet, as when thou squeezest blackberries in a bag. + +"Again, if thou wilt not yet confess--holla!" shouted he, and kicked open +a door behind him, so that the whole vault shook, and my poor child fell +upon her knees for fright. Before long two women brought in a bubbling +caldron, full of boiling pitch and brimstone. This caldron the hell-hound +ordered them to set down on the ground, and drew forth, from under the red +cloak he wore, a goose's wing, wherefrom he plucked five or six quills, +which he dipped into the boiling brimstone. After he had held them a while +in the caldron he threw them upon the earth, where they twisted about and +spirted the brimstone on all sides. And then he called to my poor child +again, "See! these quills I shall throw upon thy white loins, and the +burning brimstone will presently eat into thy flesh down to the very +bones, so that thou wilt thereby have a foretaste of the joys which await +thee in hell." + +[Illustration: The Torture Chamber] + +When he had spoken thus far, amid sneers and laughter, I was so overcome +with rage that I sprang forth out of the corner where I stood leaning my +trembling joints against an old barrel, and cried, "O, thou hellish dog! +sayest thou this of thyself, or have others bidden thee?" Whereupon, +however, the fellow gave me such a blow upon the breast that I fell +backwards against the wall, and _Dom. Consul_ called out in great wrath, +"You old fool, if you needs must stay here, at any rate leave the +constable in peace, for if not I will have you thrust out of the chamber +forthwith. The constable has said no more than is his duty; and it will +thus happen to thy child if she confess not, and if it appear that the +foul fiend have given her some charm against the torture." Hereupon this +hell-hound went on to speak to my poor child, without heeding me, save +that he laughed in my face: "Look here! when thou hast thus been well +shorn, ho, ho, ho! I shall pull thee up by means of these two rings in the +floor and the roof, stretch thy arms above thy head, and bind them fast to +the ceiling; whereupon I shall take these two torches, and hold them under +thy shoulders, till thy skin will presently become like the rind of a +smoked ham. Then thy hellish paramour will help thee no longer, and thou +wilt confess the truth. And now thou hast seen and heard all that I shall +do to thee, in the name of God, and by order of the magistrates." + +And now _Dom. Consul_ once more came forward and admonished her to confess +the truth. But she abode by what she had said from the first; whereupon he +delivered her over to the two women who had brought in the caldron, to +strip her naked as she was born, and to clothe her in the black +torture-shift; after which they were once more to lead her barefooted up +the steps before the worshipful court. But one of these women was the +Sheriff his housekeeper (the other was the impudent constable his wife), +and my daughter said that she would not suffer herself to be touched save +by honest women, and assuredly not by the housekeeper, and begged _Dom. +Consul_ to send for her maid, who was sitting in her prison reading the +Bible, if he knew of no other decent woman at hand. Hereupon the +housekeeper began to pour forth a wondrous deal of railing and ill words, +but _Dom. Consul_ rebuked her, and answered my daughter that he would let +her have her wish in this matter too, and bade the impudent constable his +wife call the maid hither from out of the prison. After he had said this, +he took me by the arm, and prayed me so long to go up with him, for that +no harm would happen to my daughter as yet, that I did as he would have +me. + +Before long she herself came up, led between the two women, barefooted, +and in the black torture-shift, but so pale that I myself should scarce +have known her. The hateful constable, who followed close behind, seized +her by the hand, and led her before the worshipful court. + +Hereupon the admonitions began all over again, and _Dom. Consul_ bade her +look upon the brown spots that were upon the black shift, for that they +were the blood of old wife Bichlke, and to consider that within a few +minutes it would in like manner be stained with her own blood. Hereupon +she answered, "I have considered that right well, but I hope that my +faithful Saviour, who hath laid this torment upon me, being innocent, will +likewise help me to bear it, as he helped the holy martyrs of old; for if +these, through God's help, overcame by faith the torments inflicted on +them by blind heathens, I also can overcome the torture inflicted on me by +blind heathens, who, indeed, call themselves Christians, but who are more +cruel than those of yore; for the old heathens only caused the holy +virgins to be torn of savage beasts, but ye which have received the new +commandment, 'That ye love one another; as your Saviour hath loved you, +that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are his +disciples' (St. John xiii.); yourselves will act the part of savage +beasts, and tear with your own hands the body of an innocent maiden, your +sister, who has never done aught to harm you. Do, then, as ye list, but +have a care how ye will answer it to the highest Judge of all. Again, I +say, the lamb feareth nought, for it is in the hand of the good Shepherd." + +When my matchless child had thus spoken, _Dom. Consul_ rose, pulled off +the black skull-cap which he ever wore, because the top of his head was +already bald, bowed to the court, and said, "We hereby make known to the +worshipful court that the question ordinary and extraordinary of the +stubborn and blaspheming witch, Mary Schweidler, is about to begin, in the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." + +Hereupon all the court rose save the Sheriff, who had got up before, and +was walking uneasily up and down in the room. But of all that now follows, +and of what I myself did, I remember not one word, but will relate it all +as I have received it from my daughter and other _testes_, and they have +told me as follows:-- + +That when _Dom. Consul_ after these words had taken up the hour-glass +which stood upon the table, and walked on before, I would go with him, +whereupon _Pastor Benzensis_ first prayed me with many words and tears to +desist from my purpose, and when that was of no avail my child herself +stroked my cheeks, saying, "Father, have you ever read that the Blessed +Virgin stood by when her guileless Son was scourged? Depart, therefore, +from me. You shall stand by the pile whereon I am burned, that I promise +you; for in like manner did the Blessed Virgin stand at the foot of the +cross. But, now, go; go, I pray you, for you will not be able to bear it, +neither shall I." + +And when this also failed, _Dom. Consul_ bade the constable seize me, and +by main force lock me into another room; whereupon, however, I tore myself +away, and fell at his feet, conjuring him by the wounds of Christ not to +tear me from my child; that I would never forget his kindness and mercy, +but pray for him day and night; nay, that at the day of judgment I would +be his intercessor with God and the holy angels if that he would but let +me go with my child; that I would be quite quiet, and not speak one single +word, but that I must go with my child, etc. + +This so moved the worthy man that he burst into tears, and so trembled +with pity for me that the hour-glass fell from his hands and rolled right +before the feet of the Sheriff, as though God himself would signify to him +that his glass was soon to run out; and, indeed, he understood it right +well, for he grew white as any chalk when he picked it up and gave it back +to _Dom. Consul_. The latter at last gave way, saying that this day would +make him ten years older; but he bade the impudent constable (who also +went with us) lead me away if I made any _rumor_ during the torture. And +hereupon the whole court went below, save the Sheriff, who said his head +ached, and that he believed his old _malum_, the gout, was coming upon him +again, wherefore he went into another chamber; _item, Pastor Benzensis_ +likewise departed. + +Down in the vault the constable first brought in tables and chairs, +whereon the court sat, and _Dom. Consul_ also pushed a chair toward me, +but I sat not thereon, but threw myself upon my knees in a corner. When +this was done they began again with their vile admonitions, and as my +child, like her guileless Saviour before His unrighteous judges, answered +not a word, _Dom. Consul_ rose up and bade the tall constable lay her on +the torture-bench. + +She shook like an aspen leaf when he bound her hands and feet; and when he +was about to bind over her sweet eyes a nasty old filthy clout wherein my +maid had seen him carry fish but the day before, and which was still all +over shining scales, I perceived it, and pulled off my silken neckerchief, +begging him to use that instead, which he did. Hereupon the thumb-screw +was put on her, and she was once more asked whether she would confess +freely, but she only shook her poor blinded head and sighed with her dying +Saviour, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" and then in Greek, "Thee mou, Thee +mou, iuati me egkatelipes"; Whereat _Dom. Consul_ started back, and made +the sign of the cross (for inasmuch as he knew no Greek, he believed, as +he afterwards said himself, that she was calling upon the devil to help +her), and then called to the constable with a loud voice, "Screw!" + +But when I heard this I gave such a cry that the whole vault shook; and +when my poor child, who was dying of terror and despair, had heard my +voice she first struggled with her bound hands and feet like a lamb that +lies dying in the slaughter-house, and then cried out, "Loose me, and I +will confess whatsoe'er you will." Hereat _Dom. Consul_ so greatly +rejoiced, that while the constable unbound her, he fell on his knees, and +thanked God for having spared him this anguish. But no sooner was my poor +desperate child unbound, and had laid aside her crown of thorns (I mean my +silken neckerchief), than she jumped off the ladder, and flung herself +upon me, who lay for dead in a corner in a deep swound. + +This greatly angered the worshipful court, and when the constable had +borne me away, _Rea_ was admonished to make her confession according to +promise. But seeing she was too weak to stand upon her feet, _Dom. Consul_ +gave her a chair to sit upon, although _Dom. Camerarius_ grumbled thereat, +and these were the chief questions which were put to her by order of the +most honourable high central court, as _Dom. Consul_ said, and which were +registered _ad protocollum_. + +_Q_. Whether she could bewitch? + +_R_. Yes, she could bewitch. + +_Q_. Who taught her to do so? + +_R_. Satan himself. + +_Q_. How many devils had she? + +_R_. One devil was enough for her. + +_Q_. What was this devil called? + +_Illa_ (considering). His name was _Disidaemonia_. + +Hereat _Dom. Consul_ shuddered, and said that that must be a very terrible +devil indeed, for that he had never heard such a name before, and that she +must spell it, so that _Scriba_ might make no _error_; which she did, and +he then went on as follows:-- + +_Q_. In what shape had he appeared to her? + +_R_. In the shape of the Sheriff, and sometimes as a goat with terrible +horns. + +_Q_. Whether Satan had re-baptized her, and where? + +_R_. In the sea. + +_Q_. What name had he given her? + +_R_.--. + +_Q_. Whether any of the neighbors had been by when she was re-baptized, +and which of them? + +_R_. Hereupon my matchless child cast up her eyes towards heaven, as +though doubting whether she should file old Lizzie or not, but at last she +said, "No." + +_Q_. She must have had sponsors; who were they? and what gift had they +given her as christening money? + +_R_. There were none there save spirits; wherefore old Lizzie could see no +one when she came and looked on at her re-baptism. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever lived with the devil? + +_R_. She never had lived anywhere save in her father's house. + +She did not choose to understand. He meant whether she had ever played the +wanton with Satan, and known him carnally? Hereupon she blushed, and was +so ashamed that she covered her face with her hands, and presently began +to weep and to sob: and as, after many questions, she gave no answer, she +was again admonished to speak the truth, or that the executioner should +lift her up on the ladder again. At last she said, "No!" which, howbeit, +the worshipful court would not believe, and bade the executioner seize her +again, whereupon she answered, "Yes!" + +_Q_. Whether she had found the devil hot or cold? + +_R_. She did not remember which. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever conceived by Satan, and given birth to a +changeling, and of what shape? + +_R_. No, never. + +_Q_. Whether the foul fiend had given her any sign or mark about her body, +and in what part thereof? + +_R_. That the mark had already been seen by the worshipful court. + +She was next charged with all the witchcraft done in the village, and +owned to it all, save that she still said that she knew nought of old +Seden his death, _item_, of little Paasch her sickness, nor, lastly, would +she confess that she had, by the help of the foul fiend, raked up my crop +or conjured the caterpillars into my orchard. And albeit they again +threatened her with the question, and even ordered the executioner to lay +her on the bench and put on the thumb-screw to frighten her, she remained +firm and said, "Why should you torture me, seeing that I have confessed +far heavier crimes than these, which it will not save my life to deny?" + +Hereupon the worshipful court at last were satisfied, and suffered her to +be lifted off the torture-bench, especially as she confessed the +_articulus principals_; to wit, that Satan had really appeared to her on +the mountain in the shape of a hairy giant. Of the storm and the frog, +_item_, of the hedgehog, nothing was said, inasmuch as the worshipful +court had by this time seen the folly of supposing that she could have +brewed a storm while she quietly sat in the coach. Lastly, she prayed that +it might be granted to her to suffer death clothed in the garments which +she had worn when she went to greet the King of Sweden; _item_, that they +would suffer her wretched father to be driven with her to the stake, and +to stand by while she was burned, seeing that she had promised him this in +the presence of the worshipful court. + +Hereupon she was once more given into the charge of the tall constable, +who was ordered to put her into a stronger and severer prison. But he had +not led her out of the chamber before the Sheriff his bastard, whom he had +had by the housekeeper, came into the vault with a drum, and kept drumming +and crying out, "Come to the roast goose! come to the roast goose!" +whereat _Dom. Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and ran after him, but he could +not catch him, seeing that the young varlet knew all the ins and outs of +the vault. Without doubt it was the Lord who sent me the swound, so that I +should be spared this fresh grief; wherefore to Him alone be honour and +glory. Amen. + + + + +_The Twenty-fourth Chapter_ + + +HOW IN MY PRESENCE THE DEVIL FETCHED OLD LIZZIE KOLKEN + +When I recovered from my above-mentioned swound, I found my host, his +wife, and my old maid standing over me, and pouring warm beer down my +throat. The faithful old creature shrieked for joy when I opened my eyes +again, and then told me that my daughter had not suffered herself to be +racked, but had freely confessed her crimes and filed herself as a witch. +This seemed pleasant news to me in my misery, inasmuch as I deemed the +death by fire to be a less heavy punishment than the torture. Howbeit when +I would have prayed I could not, whereat I again fell into heavy grief and +despair, fearing that the Holy Ghost had altogether turned away His face +from me, wretched man that I was. And albeit the old maid, when she had +seen this, came and stood before my bed and began to pray aloud to me; it +was all in vain, and I remained a hardened sinner. But the Lord had pity +upon me, although I deserved it not, insomuch that I presently fell into a +deep sleep, and did not awake until next morning when the prayer-bell +rang; and then I was once more able to pray, whereat I greatly rejoiced, +and still thanked God in my heart, when my ploughman Claus Neels came in +and told me that he had come yesterday to tell me about my oats, seeing +that he had gotten them all in; and that the constable came with him who +had been to fetch old Lizzie Kolken, inasmuch as the honourable high court +had ordered her to be brought up for trial. Hereat the whole village +rejoiced, but _Rea_ herself laughed, and shouted, and sang, and told him +and the constable by the way (for the constable had let her get up behind +for a short time), that this should bring great luck to the Sheriff. They +need only bring her up before the court, and in good sooth she would not +hold her tongue within her teeth, but that all men should marvel at her +confession; that such a court as that was a laughing-stock to her, and +that she spat, _salvâ veniâ_, upon the whole brotherhood, _et cet_. + +Upon hearing this I once more felt a strong hope, and rose to go to old +Lizzie. But I was not quite dressed before she sent the impudent constable +to beg that I would go to her with all speed and give her the sacrament, +seeing that she had become very weak during the night. I had my own +thoughts on the matter, and followed the constable as fast as I could, +though not to give her the sacrament, as indeed anybody may suppose. But +in my haste, I, weak old man that I was, forgot to take my witnesses with +me; for all the misery I had hitherto suffered had so clouded my senses +that it never once came into my head. None followed me save the impudent +constable; and it will soon appear how that this villain had given himself +over body and soul to Satan to destroy my child, whereas he might have +saved her. For when he had opened the prison (it was the same cell wherein +my child had first been shut up), we found old Lizzie lying on the ground +on a truss of straw, with a broom for a pillow (as though she were to fly +to hell upon it, as she no longer could fly to Blockula), so that I +shuddered when I caught sight of her. Scarce was I come in when she cried +out fearfully, "I'm a witch, I'm a witch! Have pity upon me, and give me +the sacrament quick, and I will confess everything to you!" And when I +said to her, "Confess, then!" she owned that she, with the help of the +Sheriff, had contrived all the witchcraft in the village, and that my +child was as innocent thereof as the blessed sun in heaven. Howbeit that +the Sheriff had the greatest guilt, inasmuch as he was a warlock and a +witch's priest, and had a spirit far stronger than hers, called Dudaim, +which spirit had given her such a blow on the head in the night as she +should never recover. This same Dudaim it was that had raked up the crops, +heaped sand over the amber, made the storm, and dropped the frog into my +daughter her lap; _item_, carried off her old goodman through the air. + +And when I asked her how that could be, seeing that her goodman had been a +child of God until very near his end, and much given to prayer; albeit I +had indeed marvelled why he had other thoughts in his last illness; she +answered that one day he had seen her spirit, which she kept in a chest, +in the shape of a black cat, and whose name was Kit, and had threatened +that he would tell me of it; whereupon she, being frightened, had caused +her spirit to make him so ill that he despaired of ever getting over it. +Thereupon she had comforted him, saying that she would presently heal him +if he would deny God, who, as he well saw, could not help him. This he +promised to do; and when she had straight-way made him quite hearty again, +they took the silver which I had scraped off the new sacrament cup, and +went by night down to the seashore, where he had to throw it into the sea +with these words: "When this silver returns again to the chalice, then +shall my soul return to God." Whereupon the Sheriff, who was by, +re-baptized him in the name of Satan, and called him Jack. He had had no +sponsors save only herself, old Lizzie. Moreover, that on St. John's Eve, +when he went with them to Blockula for the first time (the Herrenberg was +their Blockula), they had talked of my daughter, and Satan himself had +sworn to the Sheriff that he should have her. For that he would show the +old one (wherewith the villain meant God) what he could do, and that he +would make the carpenter's son sweat for vexation (fie upon thee, thou +arch villain, that thou couldst thus speak of my blessed Saviour!). +Whereupon her old goodman had grumbled, and as they had never rightly +trusted him, the spirit Dudaim one day flew off with him through the air +by the Sheriff's order, seeing that her own spirit, called Kit, was too +weak to carry him. That the same Dudaim had also been the woodpecker who +afterwards 'ticed my daughter and old Paasch to the spot with his cries, +in order to ruin her. But that the giant who had appeared on the +Streckelberg was not a devil, but the young lord of Mellenthin himself, as +her spirit, Kit, had told her. + +And this she said was nothing but the truth, whereby she would live and +die; and she begged me, for the love of God, to take pity upon her, and, +after her repentant confession, to speak forgiveness of her sins, and to +give her the Lord's Supper; for that her spirit stood there behind the +stove, grinning like a rogue, because he saw that it was all up with her +now. But I answered, "I would sooner give the sacrament to an old sow than +to thee, thou accursed witch, who not only didst give over thine own +husband to Satan, but hast likewise tortured me and my poor child almost +unto death with pains like those of hell." Before she could make any +answer, a loathsome insect, about as long as my finger, and with a yellow +tail, crawled in under the door of the prison. When she espied it she gave +a yell, such as I never before heard, and never wish to hear again. For +once, when I was in Silesia, in my youth, I saw one of the enemy's +soldiers spear a child before its mother's face, and I thought that a +fearful shriek which the mother gave; but her cry was child's play to the +cry of old Lizzie. All my hair stood on end, and her own red hair grew so +stiff that it was like the twigs of the broom whereon she lay; and then +she howled, "That is the spirit Dudaim, whom the accursed Sheriff has sent +to me--the sacrament, for the love of God, the sacrament!--I will confess +a great deal more--I have been a witch these thirty years!--the sacrament, +the sacrament!" While she thus bellowed and flung about her arms and legs, +the loathsome insect rose into the air, and buzzed and whizzed about her +where she lay, insomuch that it was fearful to see and to hear. And this +she-devil called by turns on God, on her spirit Kit, and on me, to help +her, till the insect all of a sudden darted into her open jaws, whereupon +she straightway gave up the ghost, and turned all black and blue like a +blackberry. + +I heard nothing more save that the window rattled, not very loud, but as +though one had thrown a pea against it, whereby I straightway perceived +that Satan had just flown through it with her soul. May the all-merciful +God keep every mother's child from such an end, for the sake of Jesus +Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour! Amen. + +As soon as I was somewhat recovered, which, however, was not for a long +time, inasmuch as my blood had turned to ice, and my feet were as stiff as +a stake; I began to call out after the impudent constable, but he was no +longer in the prison. Thereat I greatly marvelled, seeing that I had seen +him there but just before the vermin crawled in, and straightway I +suspected no good, as, indeed, it turned out; for when at last he came +upon my calling him, and I told him to let this carrion be carted out +which had just died in the name of the devil, he did as though he was +amazed; and when I desired him that he would bear witness to the innocence +of my daughter, which the old hag had confessed on her death-bed, he +pretended to be yet more amazed, and said that he had heard nothing. This +went through my heart like a sword, and I leaned against a pillar without, +where I stood for a long time: but as soon as I was come to myself I went +to _Dom. Consul_, who was about to go to Usedom and already sat in his +coach. At my humble prayer he went back into the judgment-chamber with the +_Camerarius_ and the _Scriba_, whereupon I told all that had taken place, +and how the wicked constable denied that he had heard the same. But they +say that I talked a great deal of nonsense beside; among other things, +that all the little fishes had swam into the vault to release my daughter. +Nevertheless, _Dom. Consul_, who often shook his head, sent for the +impudent constable, and asked him for his testimony. But the fellow +pretended that as soon as he saw that old Lizzie wished to confess, he had +gone away, so as not to get any more hard words, wherefore he had heard +nothing. Hereupon I, as _Dom. Consul_ afterwards told the pastor of Benz, +clenched my fists and answered, "What, thou arch-rogue, didst thou not +crawl about the room in the shape of a reptile?" whereupon he would +hearken to me no longer, thinking me distraught, nor would he make the +constable take an oath, but left me standing in the midst of the room, and +got into his coach again. + +Neither do I know how I got out of the room; but next morning when the sun +rose, and I found myself lying in bed at Master Seep his ale-house, the +whole _casus_ seemed to me like a dream; neither was I able to rise, but +lay a-bed all the blessed Saturday and Sunday, talking all manner of +_allotria_. It was not till towards evening on Sunday, when I began to +vomit and threw up green bile (no wonder!), that I got somewhat better. +About this time _Pastor Benzensis_ came to my bedside, and told me how +distractedly I had borne myself, but so comforted me from the word of God, +that I was once more able to pray from my heart. May the merciful God +reward my dear gossip, therefore, at the day of judgment! For prayer is +almost as brave a comforter as the Holy Ghost himself, from whom it comes; +and I shall ever consider that so long as a man can still pray, his +misfortunes are not unbearable, even though in all else "his flesh and his +heart faileth" (Psalm lxxiii.). + + + + +_The Twenty-fifth Chapter_ + + +HOW SATAN SIFTED ME LIKE WHEAT, WHEREAS MY DAUGHTER WITHSTOOD HIM RIGHT +BRAVELY + +On Monday I left my bed betimes, and as I felt in passable good case, I +went up to the castle to see whether I might peradventure get to my +daughter, but I could not find either constable, albeit I had brought a +few groats with me to give them as beer-money; neither would the folks +that I met tell me where they were; _item_, the impudent constable his +wife, who was in the kitchen making brimstone matches. And when I asked +her when her husband would come back, she said not before to-morrow +morning early; _item_, that the other constable would not be here any +sooner. Hereupon I begged her to lead me to my daughter herself, at the +same time showing her the two groats; but she answered that she had not +the keys, and knew not how to get at them: moreover, she said she did not +know where my child was now shut up, seeing that I would have spoken to +her through the door; _item_, the cook, the huntsman, and whomsoever else +I met in my sorrow, said they knew not in what hole the witch might lie. + +Hereupon I went all round about the castle, and laid my ear against every +little window that looked as though it might be her window, and cried, +"Mary, my child, where art thou?" _Item_, at every grating I found I +kneeled down, bowed my head, and called in like manner into the vault +below. But all in vain; I got no answer anywhere. The Sheriff at length +saw what I was about, and came down out of the castle to me with a very +gracious air, and, taking me by the hand, he asked me what I sought? But +when I answered him that I had not seen my only child since last Thursday, +and prayed him to show pity upon me, and let me be led to her, he said +that could not be, but that I was to come up into his chamber, and talk +further of the matter. By the way he said, "Well, so the old witch told +you fine things about me, but you see how Almighty God has sent his +righteous judgment upon her. She has long been ripe for the fire; but my +great long-suffering, wherein a good magistrate should ever strive to be +like unto the Lord, has made me overlook it till _datum_, and in return +for my goodness she raises this outcry against me." And when I replied, +"How does your Lordship know that the witch raised such an outcry against +you?" he first began to stammer, and then said, "Why, you yourself charged +me thereon before the judge. But I bear you no anger therefor, and God +knows that I pity you, who are a poor, weak old man, and would gladly help +you if I were able." Meanwhile he led me up four or five flights of +stairs, so that I, old man that I am, could follow him no further, and +stood still gasping for breath. But he took me by the hand and said, +"Come, I must first show you how matters really stand, or I fear you will +not accept my help, but will plunge yourself into destruction." Hereupon +we stepped out upon a terrace at the top of the castle, which looked +toward the water; and the villain went on to say, "Reverend Abraham, can +you see well afar off?" and when I answered that I once could see very +well, but that the many tears I had shed had now peradventure dimmed my +eyes, he pointed to the Streckelberg, and said, "Do you, then, see nothing +there?" _Ego_. "Nought save a black speck, which I cannot make out." +_Ille_. "Know, then, that that is the pile whereon your daughter is to +burn at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, and which the constables are now +raising." When this hell-hound had thus spoken, I gave a loud cry and +swounded. Oh, blessed Lord! I know not how I lived through such distress; +thou alone didst strengthen me beyond nature, in order, "after so much +weeping and wailing, to heap joys and blessings upon me; without thee I +never could have lived through such misery: therefore to thy name ever be +all honour and glory, O thou God of Israel!" + +When I came again to myself I lay on a bed in a fine room, and perceived a +taste in my mouth like wine. But as I saw none near me save the Sheriff, +who held a pitcher in his hand, I shuddered and closed mine eyes, +considering what I should say or do. This he presently observed, and said, +"Do not shudder thus; I mean well by you, and only wish to put a question +to you, which you must answer me on your conscience as a priest. Say, +reverend Abraham, which is the greater sin, to commit whoredom, or to take +the lives of two persons?" and when I answered him, "To take the lives of +two persons," he went on, "Well, then, is not that what your stubborn +child is about to do? Rather than give herself up to me, who have ever +desired to save her, and who can even yet save her, albeit her pile is now +being raised, she will take away her own life and that of her wretched +father, for I scarcely think that you, poor man, will outlive this sorrow. +Wherefore do you, for God his sake, persuade her to think better of it +while I am yet able to save her. For know that about ten miles from hence +I have a small house in the midst of the forest, where no human being ever +goes; thither will I send her this very night, and you may dwell there +with her all the days of your life, if so it please you. You shall live as +well as you can possibly desire, and to-morrow morning I will spread a +report betimes that the witch and her father have run away together during +the night, and that nobody knows whither they are gone." Thus spake the +serpent to me, as whilom to our mother Eve; and, wretched sinner that I +am, the tree of death which he showed me seemed to me also to be a tree of +life, so pleasant was it to the eye. Nevertheless I answered, "My child +will never save her miserable life by doing aught to peril the salvation +of her soul." But now, too, the serpent was more cunning than all the +beasts of the field (especially such an old fool as I), and spake thus: +"Why, who would have her peril the salvation of her soul? Reverend +Abraham, must I teach you Scripture? Did not our Lord Christ pardon Mary +Magdalene, who lived in open whoredom? and did he not speak forgiveness to +the poor adulteress who had committed a still greater _crimen?_ nay, more, +doth not St. Paul expressly say that the harlot Rahab was saved, Hebrews +xi.? _item_, St. James ii. says the same. But where have ye read that any +one was saved who had wantonly taken her own life and that of her father? +Wherefore, for the love of God, persuade your child not to give herself +up, body and soul, to the devil, by her stubbornness, but to suffer +herself to be saved while it is yet time. You can abide with her, and pray +away all the sins she may commit, and likewise aid me with your prayers, +who freely own that I am a miserable sinner, and have done you much evil, +though not so much evil by far, reverend Abraham, as David did to Uriah, +and he was saved, notwithstanding he put the man to a shameful death, and +afterwards lay with his wife. Wherefore I, poor man, likewise hope to be +saved, seeing that my desire for your daughter is still greater than that +which this David felt for Bathsheba; and I will gladly make it all up to +you twofold as soon as we are in my cottage." + +When the tempter had thus spoken, methought his words were sweeter than +honey, and I answered, "Alas, my lord, I am ashamed to appear before her +face with such a proposal." Whereupon he straightway said, "Then do you +write it to her; come, here is pen, ink, and paper." + +And now, like Eve, I took the fruit and ate, and gave it to my child that +she might eat also; that is to say, that I recapitulated on paper all that +Satan had prompted, but in the Latin tongue, for I was ashamed to write it +in mine own; and lastly I conjured her not to take away her own life and +mine, but to submit to the wondrous will of God. Neither were mine eyes +opened when I had eaten (that is, written), nor did I perceive that the +ink was gall instead of honey, and I translated my letter to the Sheriff +(seeing that he understood no Latin), smiling like a drunken man the +while; whereupon he clapped me on the shoulder, and after I had made fast +the letter with his signet, he called his huntsman, and gave it to him to +carry to my daughter; _item_, he sent her pen, ink, and paper, together +with his signet, in order that she might answer it forthwith. + +Meanwhile he talked with me right graciously, praising my child and me, +and made me drink to him many times from his great pitcher, wherein was +most goodly wine; moreover, he went to a cupboard and brought out cakes +for me to eat, saying that I should now have such every day. But when the +huntsman came back in about half an hour with her answer, and I had read +the same, then, first, were mine eyes opened, and I knew good and evil; +had I had a fig-leaf, I should have covered them therewith for shame; but +as it was, I held my hand over them and wept so bitterly that the Sheriff +waxed very wroth, and cursing bade me tell him what she had written. +Thereupon I interpreted the letter to him, the which I likewise place +here, in order that all may see my folly, and the wisdom of my child. It +was as follows:-- + +"IESVS! + +"Pater infelix! + +"Ego cras non magis pallebo rogum aspectura, et rogus non magis erubescet, +me suscipiens, quam pallui et iterum erubescui, literas tuas legens. Quid? +et te, pium patrem, pium servum Domini, ita Satanas sollicitavit, ut +communionem facias cum inimicis meis, et non intelligas: in tali vitâ esse +mortem, et in tali morte vitam? Scilicet si clementissimus Deus Mariae +Magdalenae aliisque ignovit, ignovit, quia resipiscerent ob carnis +debilitatem, et non iterum peccarent. Et ego peccarem cum quavis +detestatione carnis, et non semel, sed iterum atque iterum sine reversione +usque ad mortem? Quomodo clementissimus Deus haec sceleratissima ignoscere +posset? infelix pater! recordare quid mihi dixisti de sanctis martyribus +et virginibus Domini, qua omnes mallent vitam quam pudicitiam perdere. His +et ego sequar, et sponsus meus, Jesus Christus, et mihi miserae, ut spero, +coronam aeternam dabit, quamvis eum non minus offendi ob debilitatem +carnis ut Maria, et me sontem declaravi, cum insons sum. Fac igitur, ut +valeas et ora pro me apud Deum et non apud Satanam, ut et ego mox coram +Deo pro te orare possim. + +"MARIA S., captiva." + +When the Sheriff heard this, he flung the pitcher which he held in his +hand to the ground, so that it flew in pieces, and cried, "The cursed +devil's whore! the constable shall make her squeak for this a good hour +longer"; with many more such things beside, which he said in his malice, +and which I have now forgotten; but he soon became quite gracious again, +and said, "She is foolish; do you go to her and see whether you cannot +persuade her to her own good as well as yours; the huntsman shall let you +in, and should the fellow listen, give him a good box on the ears in my +name; do you hear, reverend Abraham? Go now forthwith and bring me back an +answer as quickly as possible!" I therefore followed the huntsman, who led +me into a vault where was no light save what fell through a hole no bigger +than a crown-piece; and here my daughter sat upon her bed and wept. Any +one may guess that I straightway began to weep too, and was no better able +to speak than she. We thus lay mute in each other's arms for a long time, +until I at last begged her to forgive me for my letter, but of the Sheriff +his message I said nought, although I had purposed so to do. But before +long we heard the Sheriff himself call down into the vault from above, +"What (and here he gave me a heavy curse) are you doing there so long? +Come up this moment, reverend Johannes!" Thus I had scarce time to +give her one kiss before the huntsman came back with the keys and forced +us to part; albeit we had as yet scarcely spoken, save that I had told her +in a few words what had happened with old Lizzie. It would be hard to +believe into what grievous anger the Sheriff fell when I told him that my +daughter remained firm and would not hearken unto him; he struck me on the +breast, and said, "Go to the devil then, thou infamous parson!" and when I +turned myself away and would have gone, he pulled me back, and said, "If +thou breathest but one word of all that has passed, I will have thee burnt +too, thou grey-headed old father of a witch; so look to it!" Hereupon I +plucked up a heart, and answered that that would be the greatest joy to +me, especially if I could be burnt to-morrow with my child. Hereunto he +made no answer, but clapped to the door behind me. Well, clap the door as +thou wilt, I greatly fear that the just God will one day clap the doors of +heaven in thy face! + + + + +_The Twenty-sixth Chapter_ + + +HOW I RECEIVED THE HOLY SACRAMENT WITH MY DAUGHTER AND THE OLD +MAIDSERVANT, AND HOW SHE WAS THEN LED FOR THE LAST TIME BEFORE THE COURT, +WITH THE DRAWN SWORD AND THE OUTCRY, TO RECEIVE SENTENCE + +Now any one would think that during that heavy Tuesday night I should not +have been able to close mine eyes; but know, dear reader, that the Lord +can do more than we can ask or understand, and that his mercy is new every +morning. For toward daybreak I fell asleep as quietly as though I had had +no care upon my heart; and when I awoke I was able to pray more heartily +than I had done for a long time; so that, in the midst of my tribulation, +I wept for joy at such great mercy from the Lord. But I prayed for nought +save that he would endow my child with strength and courage to suffer the +martyrdom he had laid upon her with Christian patience, and to send his +angel to me, woeful man, so to pierce my heart with grief when I should +see my child burn that it might straightway cease to beat, and I might +presently follow her. And thus I still prayed when the maid came in all +dressed in black, and with the silken raiment of my sweet lamb hanging +over her arm; and she told me, with many tears, that the dead-bell had +already tolled from the castle tower, for the first time, and that my +child had sent for her to dress her, seeing that the court was already +come from Usedom, and that in about two hours she was to set out on her +last journey. Moreover, she had sent her word that she was to take her +some blue and yellow flowers for a garland; wherefore she asked me what +flowers she should take; and seeing that a jar filled with fire lilies and +forget-me-nots stood in my window, which she had placed there yesterday, I +said, "Thou canst gather no better flowers for her than these, wherefore +do thou carry them to her, and tell her that I will follow thee in about +half an hour, in order to receive the sacrament with her." Hereupon the +faithful old creature prayed me to suffer her to go to the sacrament with +us, the which I promised her. And scarce had I dressed myself and put on +my surplice when _Pastor Benzensis_ came in at the door and fell upon my +neck, weeping, and as mute as a fish. As soon as he came to his speech +again he told me of the great _miraculum_ (_daemonis_ I mean) which had +befallen at the burial of old Lizzie. For that, just as the bearers were +about to lower the coffin into the grave, a noise was heard therein, as +though of a carpenter boring through a deal board; wherefore they thought +the old hag must be come to life again, and opened the coffin. But there +she lay as before, all black and blue in the face, and as cold as ice; but +her eyes had started wide open, so that all were horror-stricken, and +expected some devilish apparition; and, indeed, a live rat presently +jumped out of the coffin and ran into a skull which lay beside the grave. +Thereupon they all ran away, seeing that old Lizzie had ever been in evil +repute as a witch. Howbeit at last he himself went near the grave again, +whereupon the rat disappeared, and all the others took courage and +followed him. This the man told me, and any one may guess that this was in +fact Satan, who had flown down the hag her throat as an insect, whereas +his proper shape was that of a rat: albeit I wonder what he could so long +have been about in the carrion; unless indeed it were that the evil +spirits are as fond of all that is loathsome as the angels of God are of +all that is fair and lovely. Be that as it may; _Summa_: I was not a +little shocked at what he told me, and asked him what he now thought of +the Sheriff? whereupon he shrugged his shoulders, and said that he had +indeed been a wicked fellow as long as he could remember him, and that it +was full ten years since he had given him any first-fruits; but that he +did not believe that he was a warlock, as old Lizzie had said. For +although he had indeed never been to the table of the Lord in his church, +he had heard that he often went at Stettin, with his Princely Highness the +Duke, and that the pastor at the castle church had shown him the entry in +his communion-book. Wherefore he likewise could not believe that he had +brought this misery upon my daughter, if she were innocent, as the hag had +said; besides, that my daughter had freely confessed herself a witch. +Hereupon I answered, that she had done that for fear of the torture; but +that she was not afraid of death; whereupon I told him, with many sighs, +how the sheriff had yesterday tempted me, miserable and unfaithful +servant, to evil, insomuch that I had been willing to sell my only child +to him and to Satan, and was not worthy to receive the sacrament to-day. +Likewise how much more steadfast a faith my daughter had than I, as he +might see from her letter, which I still carried in my pocket; herewith I +gave it into his hand, and when he had read it, he sighed as though he had +been himself a father, and said, "Were this true, I should sink into the +earth for sorrow; but come, brother, come, that I may prove her faith +myself." + +Hereupon we went up to the castle, and on our way we found the greensward +before the hunting-lodge, _item_, the whole space in front of the castle, +already crowded with people, who, nevertheless, were quite quiet as we +went by: we gave our names again to the huntsman. (I have never been able +to remember his name, seeing that he was a Polak; he was not, however, the +same fellow who wooed my child, and whom the Sheriff had therefore turned +off.) The man presently ushered us into a fine large room, whither my +child had been led when taken out of her prison. The maid had already +dressed her, and she looked lovely as an angel. She wore the chain of gold +with the effigy round her neck again, _item_, the garland in her hair, and +she smiled as we entered, saying, "I am ready!" Whereat the reverend +Martinus was sorely angered and shocked, saying, "Ah, thou ungodly woman, +let no one tell me further of thine innocence! Thou art about to go to the +holy sacrament, and from thence to death, and thou flauntest as a child of +this world about to go to the dancing-room." Whereupon she answered and +said, "Be not wroth with me, dear godfather, because that I would go into +the presence of my good King of Heaven in the same garments wherein I +appeared some time since before the good King of Sweden. For it +strengthens my weak and trembling flesh, seeing I hope that my righteous +Saviour will in like manner take me to his heart, and will also hand his +effigy upon my neck when I stretch out my hands to him in all humility, +and recite my _carmen_, saying, 'O Lamb of God, innocently slain upon the +cross, give my thy peace, O Jesu!'" These words softened my dear gossip, +and he spoke, saying, "Ah, child, child, I thought to have reproached +thee, but thou hast constrained me to weep with thee: art thou, then, +indeed innocent?" "Verily," said she, "to you, my honoured godfather, I +may now own that I am innocent, as truly as I trust that God will aid me +in my last hour through Jesus Christ. Amen." + +When the maid heard this, she made such outcries that I repented that I +had suffered her to be present, and we all had enough to do to comfort her +from the word of God till she became somewhat more tranquil; and when this +was done, my dear gossip thus spake to my child: "If, indeed, thou dost so +steadfastly maintain thine innocence, it is my duty, according to my +conscience as a priest, to inform the worshipful court thereof"; and he +was about to leave the room. But she withheld him, and fell upon the +ground and clasped his knees, saying, "I beseech you, by the wounds of +Jesus, to be silent. They would stretch me on the rack again, and uncover +my nakedness, and I, wretched weak woman, would in such torture confess +all that they would have me, especially if my father again be there, +whereby both my soul and my body are tortured at once: wherefore stay, I +pray you, stay; is it, then, a misfortune to die innocent, and is it not +better to die innocent than guilty?" + +My good gossip at last gave way, and after standing awhile and praying to +himself, he wiped away his tears, and then spake the exhortation to +confession, in the words of Isaiah xliii. 1, 2, "But now thus saith the +Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear +not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art +mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and +through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest +through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle +upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy +Saviour." + +And when he had ended this comfortable address, and asked her whether she +would willingly bear until her last hour that cross which the most +merciful God according to his unsearchable will had laid upon her, she +spake such beautiful words that my gossip afterwards said he should not +forget them so long as he should live, seeing that he had never witnessed +a bearing at once so full of faith and joy, and withal so deeply +sorrowful. She spake after this manner: "Oh, holy cross, which my Jesus +hath sanctified by his innocent suffering; oh, dear cross, which is laid +upon me by the hand of a merciful Father; oh, blessed cross, whereby I am +made like unto my Lord Jesus, and am called unto eternal glory and +blessedness: how! shall I not willingly bear thee, thou sweet cross of my +bridegroom, of my brother?" The reverend Johannes had scarce given us +absolution, and after this, with many tears, the holy sacrament, when we +heard a loud trampling upon the floor, and presently the impudent +constable looked into the room and asked whether we were ready, seeing +that the worshipful court was now waiting for us; and when he had been +told that we were ready, my child would have first taken leave of me, but +I forbade her, saying, "Not so; thou knowest that which thou hast promised +me; ... 'and whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will +lodge: ... where thou diest will I die ...' if that the Lord, as I hope, +will hear the ardent sighs of my poor soul." Hereupon she let me go, and +embraced only the old maid-servant, thanking her for all the kindness she +had shown her from her youth up, and begging her not to go with her to +make her death yet more bitter by her cries. The faithful old creature was +unable for a long time to say a word for tears. Howbeit at last she begged +forgiveness of my child for that she unwittingly accused her, and said, +that out of her wages she had bought five pounds' weight of flax to hasten +her death; that the shepherd of Pudgla had that very morning taken it with +him to Coserow, and that she should wind it closely round her body; for +that she had seen how old wife Schurne, who was burnt in Liepe, had +suffered great torments before she came to her death, by reason of the +damp wood. + +But ere my child could thank her for this, the dreadful outcry of blood +began in the judgment-chamber; for a voice cried as loudly as might be, +"Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath +fallen off from the living God!" Then all the folk without cried, "Woe +upon the accursed witch!" When I heard this I fell back against the wall, +but my sweet child stroked my cheeks with her darling hands, and said, +"Father, father, do but remember that the people likewise cried out +against the innocent Jesus, 'Crucify him, crucify him!' Shall not we then +drink of the cup which our Heavenly Father hath prepared for us?" + +Hereupon the door opened, and the constable walked in, amid a great tumult +among the people, holding a drawn sword in his hand, which he bowed thrice +before my child, and cried, "Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, +because that she hath fallen off from the living God!" and all the folks +in the hall and without the castle cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon +the accursed witch!" + +Hereupon he said, "Mary Schweidler, come before the high and worshipful +court to hear sentence of death passed upon thee!" Whereupon she followed +him with us two miserable men (for _Pastor Benzensis_ was no less cast +down than myself). As for the old maid-servant, she lay on the ground for +dead. + +After we had with great pains pushed our way through all the people, the +constable stood still before the open judgment-chamber, and once more +bowed his sword before my child and cried for the third time, "Woe upon +the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath fallen off from +the living God!" And all the people, as well as the cruel judges +themselves, cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon the accursed witch!" + +When we had entered the room, _Dom. Consul_ first asked my worthy gossip +whether the witch had abode by her free avowal in confession; whereupon, +after considering a short time, he answered, that he had best ask herself, +for there she stood. According, taking up a paper which lay before him on +the table, he spake as follows:--"Mary Schweidler, now that thou hast +confessed, and received the holy and most honourable sacrament of the +Lord's Supper, answer me once again these following questions:-- + +"1. Is it true that thou hast fallen off from the living God and given +thyself up to Satan? + +"2. Is it true that thou hadst a spirit called _Disidaemonia_, who +re-baptized thee and carnally knew thee? + +"3. Is it true that thou hast done all manner of mischief to the cattle? + +"4. Is it true that Satan appeared to thee on the Streckelberg in the +likeness of a hairy giant?" + +When she had with many sighs said "Yes" to all these questions, he rose, +took a wand in one hand and a second paper in the other, put his +spectacles on his nose, and said, "Now, then, hear thy sentence." (This +sentence I since copied: he would not let me see the other _Acta_, but +pretended that they were at Wolgast. The sentence, however, was word for +word as follows.) + +"We, the Sheriff and the Justices appointed to serve the high and +worshipful criminal court. Inasmuch as Mary Schweidler, the daughter of +Abraham Schweidlerus, the pastor of Coserow, hath, after the appointed +inquisition, repeatedly made free confession that she hath a devil named +_Disidaemonia_, the which did re-baptize her in the sea, and did also know +her carnally; _item_, that she by his help did mischief to the cattle; +that he also appeared to her on the Streckelberg in the likeness of a +hairy giant. We do therefore by these presents make known and direct that +_Rea_ be first duly torn four times on each breast with red-hot iron +pincers, and after that be burned to death by fire, as a rightful +punishment to herself and a warning to others. Nevertheless we, in pity +for her youth, are pleased of our mercy to spare her the tearing with +red-hot pincers, so that she shall only suffer death by the simple +punishment of fire. Wherefore she is hereby condemned and judged +accordingly on the part of the criminal court. + +"_Publicatum_ at the castle of Pudgla, the 30th day _mensis Augusti, anno +Salutis_ 1630." + +As he spake the last word he brake his wand in two and threw the pieces +before the feet of my innocent lamb, saying to the constable, "Now, do +your duty!" But so many folks, both men and women, threw themselves on the +ground to seize the pieces of the wand (seeing they are said to be good +for the gout in the joints, _item_, for cattle when troubled with lice), +that the constable fell to the earth over a woman who was on her knees +before him, and his approaching death was thus foreshadowed to him by the +righteous God. Something of the same sort likewise befell the Sheriff now +for the second time; for when the worshipful court rose, throwing down +tables, stools, and benches, a table, under which two boys were fighting +for the pieces of the wand, fell right upon his foot, whereupon he flew +into a violent rage, and threatened the people with his fist, saying that +they should have fifty right good lashes a-piece, both men and women, if +they were not quiet forthwith, and did not depart peaceably out of the +room. This frighted them, and after the people were gone out into the +street, the constable took a rope out of his pocket, wherewith he bound my +lamb her hands so tightly behind her back that she cried aloud; but when +she saw how this wrung my heart, she straightway constrained herself and +said, "Oh, father, remember that it fared no better with the blessed +Saviour!" Howbeit, when my dear gossip, who stood behind her, saw that her +little hands, and more especially her nails, had turned black and blue, he +spoke for her to the worshipful court, whereupon the abominable Sheriff +only said, "Oh, let her be; let her feel what it is to fall off from the +living God." But _Dom. Consul_ was more merciful, inasmuch as, after +feeling the cords, he bade the constable bind her hands less cruelly and +slacken the rope a little, which accordingly he was forced to do. But my +dear gossip was not content herewith, and begged that she might sit in the +cart without being bound, so that she should be able to hold her +hymn-book, for he had summoned the school to sing a hymn by the way for +her comfort, and he was ready to answer for it with his own head that she +should not escape out of the cart. Moreover; it is the custom for fellows +with pitchforks always to go with the carts wherein condemned criminals, +and more especially witches, are carried to execution. But this the cruel +Sheriff would not suffer, and the rope was left upon her hands, and the +impudent constable seized her by the arm and led her from the +judgment-chamber. But in the hall we saw a great _scandalum_, which again +pierced my very heart. For the housekeeper and the impudent constable his +wife were fighting for my child her bed, and her linen, and wearing +apparel, which the housekeeper had taken for herself, and which the other +woman wanted to have. The latter now called to her husband to help her, +whereupon he straightway let go my daughter and struck the housekeeper on +her mouth with his fist, so that the blood ran out therefrom, and she +shrieked and wailed fearfully to the Sheriff, who followed us with the +court. He threatened them both in vain, and said that when he came back he +would inquire into the matter and give to each her due share. But they +would not hearken to this, until my daughter asked _Dom. Consul_ whether +every dying person, even a condemned criminal, had power to leave his +goods and chattels to whomsoever he would? and when he answered, "Yes, all +but the clothes, which belong of right to the executioner," she said, +"Well, then, the constable may take my clothes, but none shall have my bed +save my faithful old maid-servant Ilse!" Hereupon the housekeeper began to +curse and revile my child loudly, who heeded her not, but stepped out at +the door toward the cart, where there stood so many people that nought +could be seen save head against head. The folks crowded about us so +tumultuously that the Sheriff, who, meanwhile, had mounted his grey horse, +constantly smote them right and left across their eyes with his +riding-whip, but they nevertheless would scarce fall back. Howbeit, at +length he cleared the way, and when about ten fellows with long +pitchforks, who for the most part also had rapiers at their sides, had +placed themselves round about our cart, the constable lifted my daughter +up into it, and bound her fast to the rail. Old Paasch, who stood by, +lifted me up, and my dear gossip was likewise forced to be lifted in, so +weak had he become from all the distress. He motioned his sexton, Master +Krekow, to walk before the cart with the school, and bade him from time to +time lead a verse of the goodly hymn, "On God alone I rest my fate," which +he promised to do. And here I will also note, that I myself sat down upon +the straw by my daughter, and that our dear confessor the reverend +Martinus sat backwards. The constable was perched up behind with his drawn +sword. When all this was done, _item_, the court mounted up into another +carriage, the Sheriff gave the order to set out. + + + + +_The Twenty-seventh Chapter_ + + +OF THAT WHICH BEFELL US BY THE WAY: _ITEM_, OF THE FEARFUL DEATH OF THE +SHERIFF AT THE MILL + +We met with many wonders by the way, and with great sorrow; for hard by +the bridge, over the brook which runs into the Schmolle, stood the +housekeeper her hateful boy, who beat a drum and cried aloud, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon the crowd set up a loud +laugh, and called out after him, "Yes, indeed, to the roast goose! to the +roast goose!" Howbeit, when Master Krekow led the second verse the folks +became somewhat quieter again, and most of them joined in singing it from +their books, which they had brought with them. But when he ceased singing +awhile the noise began again as bad as before. Some cried out, "The devil +hath given her these clothes, and hath adorned her after that fashion"; +and seeing the Sheriff had ridden on before, they came close round the +cart, and felt her garments, more especially the women and young maidens. +Others, again, called loudly, as the young varlet had done, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon one fellow answered, "She +will not let herself be roasted yet; mind ye that: she will quench the +fire!" This, and much filthiness beside, which I may not for very shame +write down, we were forced to hear, and it especially cut me to the heart +to hear a fellow swear that he would have some of her ashes, seeing he had +not been able to get any of the wand, and that nought was better for the +fever and the gout than the ashes of a witch. I motioned the _Custos_ to +begin singing again, whereupon the folks were once more quiet for a +while--_i.e._, for so long as the verse lasted; but afterwards they rioted +worse than before. But we were now come among the meadows, and when my +child saw the beauteous flowers which grew along the sides of the ditches, +she fell into deep thought, and began again to recite aloud the sweet song +of St. Augustinus as follows:-- + + Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum, + Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, + Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt, + Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, + Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum, + Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum, + Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. + +By this _Casus_ we gained that all the folk ran cursing away from the +cart, and followed us at the distance of a good musket-shot, thinking +that my child was calling on Satan to help her. Only one lad, of about +five-and-twenty, whom, however, I did not know, tarried a few paces behind +the cart, until his father came, and seeing he would not go away +willingly, pushed him into the ditch, so that he sank up to his loins +in the water. Thereat even my poor child smiled, and asked me whether I +did not know any more Latin hymns wherewith to keep the stupid and +foul-mouthed people still further from us. But, dear reader, how could I +then have been able to recite Latin hymns, even had I known any? But my +_confrater_, the reverend Martinus, knew such an one; albeit it is indeed +heretical; nevertheless, seeing that it above measure pleased my child, +and that she made him repeat to her sundry verses thereof three and four +times, until she could say them after him, I said nought; otherwise I have +ever been very severe against aught that is heretical. Howbeit I comforted +myself therewith that our Lord God would forgive her in consideration of +her ignorance. And the first line ran as follows:--_Dies irae, dies ilia_. +But these two verses pleased her more than all the rest, and she recited +them many times with great edification, wherefore I will insert them here. + + Judex ergo cum sedebit + Quidquid latet apparebit, + Nil inultum remanebit: + + _Item_, + + Rex tremends majestatis! + Qui salvandos salvas gratis, + Salva me, fons pietatis! + +When the men with the pitchforks, who were round about the cart, heard +this, and at the same time saw a heavy storm coming up from the +Achterwater, they straightway thought no other but that my child had made +it; and, moreover, the folk behind cried out, "The witch hath done this; +the damned witch hath done this!" and all the ten, save one, who stayed +behind, jumped over the ditch, and ran away. But _Dom. Consul_, who, +together with the worshipful court, drove behind us, no sooner saw this +than he called to the constable, "What is the meaning of all this?" +Whereupon the constable cried aloud to the Sheriff, who was a little way +on before us, but who straightway turned him about, and when he had heard +the cause, called after the fellows that he would hang them all up on the +first tree, and feed his falcons with their flesh, if they did not return +forthwith. This threat had its effect; and when they came back he gave +each of them about half a dozen strokes with his riding-whip, whereupon +they tarried in their places, but as far off from the cart as they could +for the ditch. + +Meanwhile, however, the storm came up from the southward, with thunder, +lightning, hail, and such a wind, as though the all-righteous God would +manifest his wrath against these ruthless murderers; and the tops of the +lofty beeches around us were beaten together like besoms, so that our cart +was covered with leaves as with hail, and no one could hear his own voice +for the noise. This happened just as we were entering the forest from the +convent dam, and the Sheriff now rode close behind us, beside the coach +wherein was _Dom. Consul_. Moreover, just as we were crossing the bridge +over the mill-race, we were seized by the blast, which swept up a hollow +from the Achterwater with such force that we conceived it must drive our +cart down the abyss, which was at least forty feet deep or more; and +seeing that, at the same time, the horses did as though they were upon +ice, and could not stand, the driver halted to let the storm pass over, +the which the Sheriff no sooner perceived than he galloped up and bade him +go on forthwith. Whereupon the man flogged on the horses, but they slipped +about after so strange a fashion that our guards with the pitchforks fell +back, and my child cried aloud for fear; and when we were come to the +place where the great waterwheel turned just below us, the driver fell +with his horse, which broke one of its legs. Then the constable jumped +down from the cart, but straightway fell too on the slippery ground; +_item_, the driver, after getting on his legs again, fell a second time. +Hereupon the Sheriff, with a curse, spurred on his grey charger, which +likewise began to slip as our horses had also done. Nevertheless, he came +sliding towards us, without, however, falling down; and when he saw that +the horse with the broken leg still tried to get up, but always +straightway fell again on the slippery ground, he hallooed and beckoned +the fellows with pitchforks to come and unharness the mare; _item_, to +push the cart over the bridge, lest it should be carried down the +precipice. Presently a long flash of lightning shot into the water below +us, followed by a clap of thunder so sudden and so awful that the whole +bridge shook, and the Sheriff his horse (our horses stood quite still) +started back a few paces, lost its footing, and, together with its rider, +shot headlong down upon the great mill-wheel below, whereupon a fearful +cry arose from all those that stood behind us on the bridge. For a while +nought could be seen for the white foam, until the Sheriff his legs and +body were borne up into the air by the wheel, his head being stuck fast +between the fellies; and thus, fearful to behold, he went round and round +upon the wheel. Naught ailed the grey charger, which swam about in the +mill-pond below. When I saw this I seized the hand of my innocent lamb, +and cried, "Behold, Mary, our Lord God yet liveth! 'and he rode upon a +cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. Then did +he beat them small as the dust before the wind; he did cast them out as +the dirt in the streets.' Look down, and see what the Almighty God hath +done." While she hereupon raised her eyes towards heaven with a sigh, we +heard _Dom. Consul_ calling out behind us as loudly as he could: and +seeing that none could understand his words for the fearful storm and the +tumult of the waters, he jumped down from the coach, and would have +crossed the bridge on foot, but straightway he fell upon his nose, so that +it bled, and he crept back again on his hands and feet, and held a long +talk with _Dom. Camerarius_, who, howbeit, did not stir out of the coach. +Meanwhile the driver and the constable had unyoked the maimed horse, bound +it, and dragged it off the bridge, and now they came back to the cart and +bade us get down therefrom and cross the bridge on foot, the which we did +after the constable had unbound my child with many curses and ill words, +threatening that, in return for her malice, he would keep her roasting +till late in the evening. (I could not blame him much therefore; for truly +this was a strange thing!) But albeit my child herself got safe across, we +two--I mean reverend Martinus and myself--like all the others, fell two or +three times to the ground. At length we all, by God his grace, got safe +and sound to the miller's house, where the constable delivered my child +into the miller his hands, to guard her on forfeit of his life, while he +ran down to the mill-pond to save the Sheriff his grey charger. The driver +was bidden the while to get the cart and the other horses off the +bewitched bridge. We had, however, stood but a short time with the miller, +under the great oak before his door, when _Dom. Consul_, with the +worshipful court, and all the folks, came over the little bridge, which is +but a couple of musket-shots off from the first one, and he could scarce +prevent the crowd from falling upon my child and tearing her in pieces, +seeing that they all, as well as _Dom. Consul_ himself, imagined that none +other but she had brewed the storm and bewitched the bridge (especially as +she herself had not fallen thereon), and had likewise caused the Sheriff +his death; all of which, nevertheless, were foul lies, as ye shall +hereafter hear. He, therefore, railed at her for a cursed she-devil, who, +even after having confessed and received the holy Sacrament, had not yet +renounced Satan; but that nought should save her, and she should, +nevertheless, receive her reward. And, seeing that she kept silence, I +hereupon answered, "Did he not see that the all-righteous God had so +ordered it, that the Sheriff, who would have robbed my innocent child of +her honour and her life, had here forfeited his own life as a fearful +example to others?" But _Dom. Consul_ would not see this, and said that a +child might perceive that our Lord God had not made this storm, or did I +peradventure believe that our Lord God had likewise bewitched the bridge? +I had better cease to justify my wicked child, and rather begin to exhort +her to repent, seeing that this was the second time that she had brewed a +storm, and that no man with a grain of sense could believe what I said, +etc. + +Meanwhile the miller had already stopped the mill, _item_, turned off the +water, and some four or five fellows had gone with the constable down to +the great water-wheel to take the Sheriff out of the fellies, wherein he +had till _datum_ still been carried round and round. This they could not +do until they had first sawn out one of the fellies; and when at last they +brought him to the bank, his neck was found to be broken, and he was as +blue as a corn-flower. Moreover, his throat was frightfully torn, and the +blood ran out of his nose and mouth. If the people had not reviled my +child before, they reviled her doubly now, and would have thrown dirt and +stones at her, had not the worshipful court interfered with might and +main, saying that she would presently receive her well-deserved +punishment. + +[Illustration: The Doom of the Wheel] + +Also, my dear gossip, the Reverend Martinus, climbed up into the cart +again, and admonished the people not to forestall the law; and seeing that +the storm had somewhat abated, he could now be heard. And when they had +become somewhat more quiet, _Dom. Consul_ left the corpse of the Sheriff +in charge with the miller, until such time as, by God's help, he should +return. _Item_, he caused the grey charger to be tied up to the oak-tree +till the same time, seeing that the miller swore that he had no room in +the mill, inasmuch as his stable was filled with straw; but that he would +give the grey horse some hay, and keep good watch over him. And now were +we wretched creatures forced to get into the cart again, after that the +unsearchable will of God had once more dashed all our hopes. The constable +gnashed his teeth with rage, while he took the cords out of his pocket to +bind my poor child to the rail withal. As I saw right well what he was +about to do, I pulled a few groats out of my pocket, and whispered into +his ear, "Be merciful, for she cannot possibly run away, and do you +hereafter help her to die quickly, and you shall get ten groats more from +me!" This worked well, and albeit he pretended before the people to pull +the ropes tight, seeing they all cried out with might and main, "Haul +hard, haul hard!" in truth he bound her hands more gently than before, and +even without making her fast to the rail; but he sat up behind us again +with the naked sword, and after that _Dom. Consul_ had prayed aloud, "God +the Father, dwell with us," likewise the _Custos_ had led another hymn (I +know not what he sang, neither does my child), we went on our way, +according to the unfathomable will of God, after this fashion: the +worshipful court went before, whereas all the folks, to our great joy, +fell back, and the fellows with the pitchforks lingered a good way behind +us, now that the Sheriff was dead. + + + + +_The Twenty-eighth Chapter_ + + +HOW MY DAUGHTER WAS AT LENGTH SAVED BY THE HELP OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL, YEA, +OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL GOD + +Meanwhile, by reason of my unbelief, wherewith Satan again tempted me, I +had become so weak that I was forced to lean my back against the constable +his knees, and expected not to live till even we should come to the +mountain; for the last hope I had cherished was now gone, and I saw that +my innocent lamb was in the same plight. Moreover, the reverend Martinus +began to upbraid her, saying that he, too, now saw that all her oaths were +lies, and that she really could brew storms. Hereupon, she answered with a +smile, although, indeed, she was as white as a sheet, "Alas, reverend +godfather, do you then really believe that the weather and the storms no +longer obey our Lord God? Are storms, then, so rare at this season of the +year, that none save the foul fiend can cause them? Nay, I have never +broken the baptismal vow you once made in my name, nor will I ever break +it, as I hope that God will be merciful to me in my last hour, which is +now at hand." But the reverend Martinus shook his head doubtingly, and +said, "The Evil One must have promised thee much, seeing thou remainest so +stubborn even unto thy life's end, and blasphemest the Lord thy God; but +wait, and thou wilt soon learn with horror that the devil 'is a liar, and +the father of it'" (St. John viii.). Whilst he yet spake this, and more of +a like kind, we came to Uekeritze, where all the people, both great and +small, rushed out of their doors, also Jacob Schwarten his wife, who, as +we afterwards heard, had only been brought to bed the night before, and +her goodman came running after her to fetch her back, in vain. She told +him he was a fool, and had been one for many a weary day, and that if she +had to crawl up the mountain on her bare knees, she would go to see the +parson's witch burned; that she had reckoned upon it for so long, and if +he did not let her go, she would give him a thump on the chaps, etc. + +Thus did the coarse and foul-mouthed people riot around the cart wherein +we sat, and as they knew not what had befallen, they ran so near us that +the wheel went over the foot of a boy. Nevertheless, they all crowded up +again, more especially the lasses, and felt my daughter her clothes, and +would even see her shoes and stockings, and asked her how she felt. +_Item_, one fellow asked whether she would drink somewhat, with many more +fooleries besides, till at last, when several came and asked her for her +garland and her golden chain, she turned towards me and smiled, saying, +"Father, I must begin to speak some Latin again, otherwise the folks will +leave me no peace." But it was not wanted this time; for our guards, with +the pitchforks, had now reached the hindmost, and, doubtless, told them +what had happened, as we presently heard a great shouting behind us, for +the love of God to turn back before the witch did them a mischief; and as +Jacob Schwarten his wife heeded it not, but still plagued my child to give +her her apron to make a christening coat for her baby, for that it was +pity to let it be burnt, her goodman gave her such a thump on her back +with a knotted stick which he had pulled out of the hedge that she fell +down with loud shrieks; and when he went to help her up she pulled him +down by his hair, and, as reverend Martinus said, now executed what she +had threatened; inasmuch as she struck him on the nose with her fist with +might and main, until the other people came running up to them, and held +her back. Meanwhile, however, the storm had almost passed over, and sank +down toward the sea. + +And when we had gone through the little wood, we suddenly saw the +Streckelberg before us, covered with people, and the pile and stake upon +the top, upon the which the tall constable jumped up when he saw us +coming, and beckoned with his cap with all his might. Thereat my senses +left me, and my sweet lamb was not much better; for she bent to and fro +like a reed, and stretching her bound hands towards heaven, she once more +cried out: + + Rex tremendae majestatis! + Qui salvandos salvas gratis, + Salva me, fons pietatis! + +And, behold, scarce had she spoken these words, when the sun came out and +formed a rainbow right over the mountain most pleasant to behold; and it +is clear that this was a sign from the merciful God, such as he often +gives us, but which we blind and unbelieving men do not rightly mark. +Neither did my child heed it; for albeit she thought upon that first +rainbow which shadowed forth our troubles, yet it seemed to her impossible +that she could now be saved, wherefore she grew so faint, that she no +longer heeded the blessed sign of mercy, and her head fell forward (for +she could no longer lean it upon me, seeing that I lay my length at the +bottom of the cart), till her garland almost touched my worthy gossip his +knees. Thereupon he bade the driver stop for a moment, and pulled out a +small flask filled with wine, which he always carries in his pocket when +witches are to be burnt, in order to comfort them therewith in their +terror. (Henceforth, I myself will ever do the like, for this fashion of +my dear gossip pleases me well.) He first poured some of this wine down my +throat, and afterwards down my child's; and we had scarce come to +ourselves again, when a fearful noise and tumult arose among the people +behind us, and they not only cried out in deadly fear, "The Sheriff is +come back! the Sheriff is come again!" but as they could neither run away +forwards or backwards (being afraid of the ghost behind and of my child +before them), they ran on either side, some rushing into the coppice, and +others wading into the Achterwater up to their necks. _Item_, as soon as +_Dom. Camerarius_ saw the ghost come out of the coppice with a grey hat +and a grey feather, such as the Sheriff wore, riding on the grey charger, +he crept under a bundle of straw in the cart: and _Dom. Consul_ cursed my +child again, and bade the coachman drive on as madly as they could, even +should all the horses die of it, when the impudent constable behind us +called to him, "It is not the Sheriff, but the young lord of Nienkerken, +who will surely seek to save the witch: shall I, then, cut her throat with +my sword?" At these fearful words my child and I came to ourselves again, +and the fellow had already lift up his naked sword to smite her, seeing +_Dom. Consul_ had made him a sign with his hand, when my dear gossip, who +saw it, pulled my child with all his strength back into his lap. (May God +reward him on the day of judgment, for I never can.) The villain would +have stabbed her as she lay in his lap; but the young lord was already +there, and seeing what he was about to do, thrust the boarspear, which he +held in his hand, in between the constable's shoulders, so that he fell +headlong on the earth, and his own sword, by the guidance of the most +righteous God, went into his ribs on one side, and out again at the other. +He lay there and bellowed, but the young lord heeded him not, but said to +my child, "Sweet maid, God be praised that you are safe!" When, however, +he saw her bound hands, he gnashed his teeth, and, cursing her judges, he +jumped off his horse, and cut the rope with his sword, which he held in +his right hand, took her hand in his, and said, "Alas, sweet maid, how +have I sorrowed for you! but I could not save you, as I myself also lay in +chains, which you may see from my looks." + +But my child could answer him never a word, and fell into a swound again +for joy; howbeit, she soon came to herself again, seeing my dear gossip +still had a little wine by him. Meanwhile the dear young lord did me some +injustice, which, however, I freely forgive him; for he railed at me and +called me an old woman, who could do nought save weep and wail. Why had I +not journeyed after the Swedish king, or why had I not gone to Mellenthin +myself to fetch his testimony, as I knew right well what he thought about +witchcraft? (But, blessed God, how could I do otherwise than believe the +judge, who had been there? Others, besides old women, would have done the +same; and I never once thought of the Swedish king; and say, dear reader, +how could I have journeyed after him, and left my own child? But young +folks do not think of these things seeing they know not what a father +feels.) + +Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_, having heard that it was the young +lord, had again crept out from beneath the straw, _item, Dom. Consul_ had +jumped down from the coach and ran towards us, railing at him loudly, and +asking him by what power and authority he acted thus, seeing that he +himself had heretofore denounced the ungodly witch? But the young lord +pointed with his sword to his people, who now came riding out of the +coppice, about eighteen strong, armed with sabres, pikes, and muskets, and +said, "There is my authority, and I would let you feel it on your back if +I did not know that you were but a stupid ass. When did you hear any +testimony from me against this virtuous maiden? You lie in your throat if +you say you did." And as _Dom. Consul_ stood and straightway forswore +himself, the young lord, to the astonishment of all, related as +follows:--That as soon as he heard of the misfortune which had befallen me +and my child, he ordered his horse to be saddled forthwith, in order to +ride to Pudgla to bear witness to our innocence: this, however, his old +father would nowise suffer, thinking that his nobility would receive a +stain if it came to be known that his son had conversed with a reputed +witch by night on the Streckelberg. He had caused him therefore, as +prayers and threats were of no avail, to be bound hand and foot, and +confined in the donjon-keep, where till _datum_ an old servant had watched +him, who refused to let him escape, notwithstanding he offered him any sum +of money; whereupon he fell into the greatest anguish and despair at the +thought that innocent blood would be shed on his account; but that the +all-righteous God had graciously spared him this sorrow; for his father +had fallen sick from vexation, and lay a-bed all this time, and it so +happened that this very morning about prayer-time the huntsman, in +shooting at a wild duck in the moat, had by chance sorely wounded his +father's favourite dog, called Packan, which had crept howling to his +father's bedside, and had died there; whereupon the old man, who was weak, +was so angered that he was presently seized with a fit and gave up the +ghost too. Hereupon his people released him, and after he had closed his +father's eyes and prayed an "Our Father" over him, he straightway set out +with all the people he could find in the castle in order to save the +innocent maiden. For he testified here himself before all, on the word and +honour of a knight, nay, more, by his hopes of salvation, that he himself +was that devil which had appeared to the maiden on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant; for having heard by common report that she +ofttimes went thither, he greatly desired to know what she did there, and +that from fear of his hard father he disguised himself in a wolf's skin, +so that none might know him, and he had already spent two nights there, +when on the third the maiden came, and he then saw her dig for amber on +the mountain, and that she did not call upon Satan, but recited a Latin +_carmen_ aloud to herself. This he would have testified at Pudgla, but, +from the cause aforesaid, he had not been able: moreover, his father had +laid his cousin, Claus von Nienkerken, who was there on a visit, in his +bed, and made him bear false witness; for as _Dom. Consul_ had not seen +him (I mean the young lord) for many a long year, seeing he had studied in +foreign parts, his father thought that he might easily be deceived, which +accordingly happened. + +When the worthy young lord had stated this before _Dom. Consul_ and all +the people, which flocked together on hearing that the young lord was no +ghost, I felt as though a millstone had been taken off my heart; and +seeing that the people (who had already pulled the constable from under +the cart, and crowded round him, like a swarm of bees) cried to me that he +was dying, but desired first to confess somewhat to me, I jumped from the +cart as lightly as a young bachelor, and called to _Dom. Consul_ and the +young lord to go with me, seeing that I could easily guess what he had on +his mind. He sat upon a stone, and the blood gushed from his side like a +fountain (now that they had drawn out the sword); he whimpered on seeing +me, and said that he had in truth hearkened behind the door to all that +old Lizzie had confessed to me, namely, that she herself, together with +the Sheriff, had worked all the witchcraft on man and beast, to frighten +my poor child, and force her to play the wanton. That he had hidden this, +seeing that the Sheriff had promised him a great reward for so doing; but +that he would now confess it freely, since God had brought my child her +innocence to light. Wherefore he besought my child and myself to forgive +him. And when _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked whether he would +live and die on the truth of this confession, he answered, "Yes!" and +straightway fell on his side to the earth and gave up the ghost. + +Meanwhile time hung heavy with the people on the mountain, who had come +from Coserow, from Zitze, from Gnitze, etc., to see my child burnt, and +they all came running down the hill in long rows like geese, one after the +other, to see what had happened. And among them was my ploughman, Claus +Neels. When the worthy fellow saw and heard what had befallen us, he began +to weep aloud for joy; and straightway he too told what he had heard the +Sheriff say to old Lizzie in the garden, and how he had promised a pig in +the room of her own little pig, which she had herself bewitched to death +in order to bring my child into evil repute. _Summa_: all that I have +noted above, and which till _datum_ he had kept to himself for fear of the +question. Hereat all the people marvelled, and gently bewailed her +misfortunes; and many came, among them old Paasch, and would have kissed +my daughter her hands and feet, as also mine own, and praised us now as +much as they had before reviled us. But thus it ever is with the people. +Wherefore my departed father used to say: + + The people's hate is death, + Their love a passing breath! + +My dear gossip ceased not from fondling my child, holding her in his lap, +and weeping over her like a father (for I could not have wept more myself +than he wept). Howbeit she herself wept not, but begged the young lord to +send one of his horsemen to her faithful old maid-servant at Pudgla, to +tell her what had befallen us, which he straightway did to please her. But +the worshipful court (for _Dom. Gamerarius_ and the _scriba_ had now +plucked up a heart, and had come down from the coach) was not yet +satisfied, and _Dom. Consul_ began to tell the young lord about the +bewitched bridge, which none other save my daughter could have bewitched. +Hereto the young lord gave answer that this was indeed a strange thing, +inasmuch as his own horse had also broken a leg thereon, whereupon he had +taken the Sheriff his horse, which he saw tied up at the mill; but he did +not think that this could be laid to the charge of the maiden, but that it +came about by natural means, as he had half discovered already, although +he had not had time to search the matter thoroughly. Wherefore he besought +the worshipful court and all the people, together with my child herself, +to return back thither, where, with God's help, he would clear her from +this suspicion also, and prove her perfect innocence before them all. + +Thereunto the worshipful court agreed; and the young lord, having given +the Sheriff his grey charger to my ploughman to carry the corpse, which +had been laid across the horse's neck, to Coserow, the young lord got into +the cart by us, but did not seat himself beside my child, but backward by +my dear gossip: moreover, he bade one of his own people drive us instead +of the old coachman, and thus we turned back in God his name. _Custos +Benzensis_, who, with the children, had run in among the vetches by the +wayside (my defunct _Custos_ would not have done so, he had more courage), +went on before again with the young folks, and by command of his reverence +the pastor led the Ambrosian _Te Deum_, which deeply moved us all, more +especially my child, insomuch that her book was wetted with her tears, and +she at length laid it down and said, at the same time giving her hand to +the young lord, "How can I thank God and you for that which you have done +for me this day?" Whereupon the young lord answered, saying, "I have +greater cause to thank God than yourself, sweet maid, seeing that you have +suffered in your dungeon unjustly, but I justly, inasmuch as by my +thoughtlessness I brought this misery upon you. Believe me that this +morning when, in my donjon-keep, I first heard the sound of the dead-bell, +I thought to have died; and when it tolled for the third time, I should +have gone distraught in my grief, had not the Almighty God at that moment +taken the life of my strange father, so that your innocent life should be +saved by me. Wherefore I have vowed a new tower, and whatsoe'er beside may +be needful, to the blessed house of God; for nought more bitter could have +befallen me on earth than your death, sweet maid, and nought more sweet +than your life!" + +But at these words my child only wept and sighed; and when he looked on +her, she cast down her eyes and trembled, so that I straightway perceived +that my sorrows were not yet come to an end, but that another barrel of +tears was just tapped for me, and so indeed it was. Moreover, the ass of a +_Custos_, having finished the _Te Deum_ before we were come to the bridge, +straightway struck up the next following hymn, which was a funeral one, +beginning, "The body let us now inter." (God be praised that no harm has +come of it till _datum_.) My beloved gossip rated him not a little, and +threatened him that for his stupidity he should not get the money for the +shoes which he had promised him out of the Church-dues. But my child +comforted him, and promised him a pair of shoes at her own charges, seeing +that peradventure a funeral hymn was better for her than a song of +gladness. + +And when this vexed the young lord, and he said, "How now, sweet maid, you +know not how enough to thank God and me for your rescue, and yet you speak +thus?" She answered, smiling sadly, that she had only spoken thus to +comfort the poor _Custos_. But I straightway saw that she was in earnest, +for that she felt that although she had escaped one fire, she already +burned in another. + +Meanwhile we were come to the bridge again, and all the folks stood still, +and gazed open-mouthed, when the young lord jumped down from the cart, and +after stabbing his horse, which still lay kicking on the bridge, went on +his knees, and felt here and there with his hand. At length he called to +the worshipful court to draw near, for that he had found out the +witchcraft. But none save _Dom. Consul_ and a few fellows out of the +crowd, among whom was old Paasch, would follow him; _item_, my dear gossip +and myself, and the young lord, showed us a lump of tallow about the size +of a large walnut, which lay on the ground, and wherewith the whole bridge +had been smeared, so that it looked quite white, but, which all the folks +in their fright had taken for flour out of the mill; _item_, with some +other _materia_, which stunk like fitchock's dung, but what it was we +could not find out. Soon after a fellow found another bit of tallow, and +showed it to the people; whereupon I cried, "Aha! none hath done this but +that ungodly miller's man, in revenge for the stripes which the Sheriff +gave him for reviling my child." Whereupon I told what he had done, and +_Dom. Consul_, who also had heard thereof, straightway sent for the +miller. + +He, however, did as though he knew nought of the matter, and only said +that his man had left his service about an hour ago. But a young lass, the +miller's maid-servant, said that that very morning, before daybreak, when +she had got up to let out the cattle, she had seen the man scouring the +bridge. But that she had given it no further heed, and had gone to sleep +for another hour; and she pretended to know no more than the miller +whither the rascal was gone. When the young lord had heard this news, he +got up into the cart, and began to address the people, seeking to persuade +them no longer to believe in witchcraft, now that they had seen what it +really was. When I heard this, I was horror-stricken (as was but right) in +my conscience, as a priest, and I got upon the cartwheel, and whispered +into his ear, for God his sake, to leave this _materia_, seeing that if +the people no longer feared the devil, neither would they fear our Lord +God. + +The dear young lord forthwith did as I would have him, and only asked the +people whether they now held my child to be perfectly innocent? and when +they had answered, "Yes!" he begged them to go quietly home, and to thank +God that he had saved innocent blood. That he, too, would now return home, +and that he hoped that none would molest me and my child if he let us +return to Coserow alone. Hereupon he turned hastily towards her, took her +hand and said: "Farewell, sweet maid, I trust that I shall soon clear your +honour before the world, but do you thank God therefor, not me." He then +did the like to me and to my dear gossip, whereupon he jumped down from +the cart, and went and sat beside _Dom. Consul_ in his coach. The latter +also spake a few words to the people, and likewise begged my child and me +to forgive him (and I must say it to his honour, that the tears ran down +his cheeks the while), but he was so hurried by the young lord that he +brake short his discourse, and they drove off over the little bridge, +without so much as looking back. Only _Dom. Consul_ looked round once, and +called out to me, that in his hurry he had forgotten to tell the +executioner that no one was to be burned to-day: I was therefore to send +the churchwarden of Uekeritze up the mountain, to say so in his name; the +which I did. And the bloodhound was still on the mountain, albeit he had +long since heard what had befallen; and when the bailiff gave him the +orders of the worshipful court, he began to curse so fearfully that it +might have awakened the dead; moreover, he plucked off his cap, and +trampled it under foot, so that any one might have guessed what he felt. + +But to return to ourselves, my child sat as still and as white as a pillar +of salt, after the young lord had left her so suddenly and so unawares, +but she was somewhat comforted when the old maid-servant came running with +her coats tucked up to her knees, and carrying her shoes and stockings in +her hands. We heard her afar off, as the mill had stopped, blubbering for +joy, and she fell at least three times on the bridge, but at last she got +over safe, and kissed now mine and now my child her hands and feet; +begging us only not to turn her away, but to keep her until her life's +end; the which we promised to do. She had to climb up behind where the +impudent constable had sat, seeing that my dear gossip would not leave me +until I should be back in mine own manse. And as the young lord his +servant had got up behind the coach, old Paasch drove us home, and all the +folks who had waited till _datum_ ran beside the cart, praising and +pitying as much as they had before scorned and reviled us. Scarce, +however, had we passed through Uekeritze, when we again heard cries of +"Here comes the young lord, here comes the young lord!" so that my child +started up for joy, and became as red as a rose; but some of the folks ran +into the buckwheat, by the road, again, thinking it was another ghost. It +was, however, in truth, the young lord who galloped up on a black horse, +calling out as he drew near us, "Notwithstanding the haste I am in, sweet +maid, I must return and give you safe-conduct home, seeing that I have +just heard that the filthy people reviled you by the way, and I know not +whether you are yet safe." Hereupon he urged old Paasch to mend his pace, +and as his kicking and trampling did not even make the horses trot, the +young lord struck the saddle-horse from time to time with the flat of his +sword, so that we soon reached the village and the manse. Howbeit, when I +prayed him to dismount a while, he would not, but excused himself, saying +that he must still ride through Usedom to Anclam, but charged old Paasch, +who was our bailiff, to watch over my child as the apple of his eye, and +should anything unusual happen he was straightway to inform the town-clerk +at Pudgla, or _Dom. Consul_ at Usedom, thereof, and when Paasch had +promised to do this, he waved his hand to us, and galloped off as fast as +he could. + +But before he got round the corner by Pagel his house, he turned back for +the third time: and when we wondered thereat, he said we must forgive him, +seeing his thoughts wandered to-day. + +That I had formerly told him that I still had my patent of nobility, the +which he begged me to lend him for a time. Hereupon I answered that I must +first seek for it, and that he had best dismount the while. But he would +not, and again excused himself, saying he had no time. He therefore stayed +without the door, until I brought him the patent, whereupon he thanked me +and said, "Do not wonder hereat, you will soon see what my purpose is." +Whereupon he struck his spurs into his horse's sides and did not come back +again. + + + + +_The Twenty-ninth Chapter_ + + +OF OUR NEXT GREAT SORROW, AND FINAL JOY + +And now might we have been at rest, and have thanked God on our knees by +day and night. For, besides mercifully saving us out of such great +tribulation, he turned the hearts of my beloved flock, so that they knew +not how to do enough for us. Every day they brought us fish, meat, eggs, +sausages, and whatsoe'er besides they could give me, and which I have +since forgotten. Moreover they, every one of them, came to church the next +Sunday, great and small (except goodwife Kliene of Zempin, who had just +got a boy, and still kept her bed), and I preached a thanks-giving sermon +on Job v. 17, 18, and 19 verses, "Behold, happy is the man whom God +correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: for +he maketh sore, and bindeth up; and his hands make whole. He shall deliver +thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee." And +during my sermon I was ofttimes forced to stop by reason of all the +weeping, and to let them blow their noses. And I might truly have compared +myself to Job, after that the Lord had mercifully released him from his +troubles, had it not been for my child, who prepared much fresh grief for +me. + +She had wept when the young lord would not dismount, and now that he came +not again, she grew more uneasy from day to day. She sat and read first +the Bible, then the hymn-book, _item_, the history of Dido in _Virgilius_, +or she climbed up the mountain to fetch flowers (likewise sought after the +vein of amber there, but found it not, which shows the cunning and malice +of Satan). I saw this for a while with many sighs, but spake not a word +(for, dear reader, what could I say?) until it grew worse and worse; and +as she now recited her _carmina_ more than ever both at home and abroad, I +feared lest the people should again repute her a witch, and one day I +followed her up the mountain. Well-a-day, she sat on the pile, which still +stood there, but with her face turned towards the sea, reciting the +_versus_ where Dido mounts the funeral pile in order to stab herself for +love of AEneas:-- + + At trepida et coeptis immanibus effera Dido + Sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementes + Interfusa genas, et pallida morte futurâ + Interiora domus irrumpit limina et altos + Conscendit furibunda rogos.... + +When I saw this, and heard how things really stood with her, I was +affrighted beyond measure, and cried, "Mary, my child, what art thou +doing?" She started when she heard my voice, but sat still on the pile, +and answered, as she covered her face with her apron, "Father, I am +burning my heart." I drew near to her and pulled the apron from her face, +saying, "Wilt thou, then, again kill me with grief?" whereupon she covered +her face with her hands, and moaned, "Alas, father, wherefore was I not +burned here? My torment would then have endured but for a moment, but now +it will last as long as I live!" I still did as though I had seen nought, +and said, "Wherefore, dear child, dost thou suffer such torment?" +whereupon she answered, "I have long been ashamed to tell you; for the +young lord, the young lord, my father, do I suffer this torment! He no +longer thinks of me; and albeit he saved my life he scorns me, or he would +surely have dismounted and come in a while; but we are of far too low +degree for him!" Hereupon I indeed began to comfort her and to persuade +her to think no more of the young lord; but the more I comforted her, the +worse she grew. Nevertheless I saw that she did yet in secret cherish a +strong hope by reason of the patent of nobility which he had made me give +him. I would not take this hope from her, seeing that I felt the same +myself, and to comfort her I flattered her hopes, whereupon she was more +quiet for some days, and did not go up the mountain, the which I had +forbidden her. Moreover, she began again to teach little Paasch her +god-daughter, out of whom, by the help of the all-righteous God, Satan was +now altogether departed. But she still pined, and was as white as a sheet; +and when soon after a report came that none in the castle at Mellenthin +knew what was become of the young lord, and that they thought he had been +killed, her grief became so great that I had to send my ploughman on +horseback to Mellenthin to gain tidings of him. And she looked at least +twenty times out of the door and over the paling to watch for his return; +and when she saw him coming she ran out to meet him as far as the corner +by Pagels. But, blessed God! he brought us even worse news than we had +heard before, saying, that the people at the castle had told him that +their young master had ridden away the self-same day whereon he had +rescued the maiden. That he had, indeed, returned after three days to his +father's funeral, but had straightway ridden off again, and that for five +weeks they had heard nothing further of him, and knew not whither he was +gone, but supposed that some wicked ruffians had killed him. + +And now my grief was greater than ever it had been before; so patient and +resigned to the will of God as my child had shown herself heretofore, and +no martyr could have met her last hour stronger in God and Christ, so +impatient and despairing was she now. She gave up all hope, and took it +into her head that in these heavy times of war the young lord had been +killed by robbers. Nought availed with her, not even prayer, for when I +called upon God with her, on my knees, she straightway began so grievously +to bewail that the Lord had cast her off, and that she was condemned to +nought save misfortunes in this world; that it pierced through my heart +like a knife, and my thoughts forsook me at her words. She lay also at +night, and "like a crane or a swallow so did she chatter; she did mourn +like a dove; her eyes did fail with looking upward," because no sleep came +upon her eyelids. I called to her from my bed, "Dear child, wilt thou, +then, never cease? sleep, I pray thee!" and she answered and said, "Do you +sleep, dearest father; I cannot sleep until I sleep the sleep of death. +Alas, my father; that I was not burned!" But how could I sleep when she +could not? I indeed said, each morning, that I had slept a while, in order +to content her; but it was not so; but, like David, "all the night made I +my bed to swim; I watered my couch with my tears." Moreover I again fell +into heavy unbelief, so that I neither could nor would pray. Nevertheless +the Lord "did not deal with me after my sins, nor reward me according to +mine iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great was +his mercy toward" me, miserable sinner! + +For mark what happened on the very next Saturday! Behold, our old +maid-servant came running in at the door, quite out of breath, saying that +a horseman was coming over the Master's Mount, with a tall plume waving on +his hat, and that she believed it was the young lord. When my child, who +sat upon the bench combing her hair, heard this, she gave a shriek of joy, +which would have moved a stone under the earth, and straightway ran out of +the room to look over the paling. She presently came running in again, +fell upon my neck, and cried without ceasing, "The young lord! the young +lord!" whereupon she would have run out to meet him, but I forbade her, +saying she had better first bind up her hair, which she then remembered, +and laughing, weeping, and praying, all at once, she bound up her long +hair. And now the young lord came galloping round the corner, attired in a +green velvet doublet with red silk sleeves, and a grey hat with a heron's +feather therein; _summa_, gaily dressed as beseems a wooer. And when we +now ran out at the door, he called aloud to my child in the Latin, from +afar off, "_Quomodo stat dulcissima virgo?_" Whereupon she gave answer, +saying, "_Bene te aspecto._" He then sprang smiling off his horse, and +gave it into the charge of my ploughman, who meanwhile had come up +together with the maid; but he was affrighted when he saw my child so +pale, and taking her hand spake in the vulgar tongue, "My God! what is it +ails you, sweet maid? you look more pale than when about to go to the +stake." Whereupon she answered, "I have been at the stake daily since you +left us, good my lord, without coming into our house, or so much as +sending us tidings of whither you were gone." + +This pleased him well, and he said, "Let us first of all go into the +chamber, and you shall hear all." And when he had wiped the sweat from +his brow, and sat down on the bench beside my child, he spake as +follows:--That he had straightway promised her that he would clear her +honour before the whole world, and the self-same day whereon he left us he +made the worshipful court draw up an authentic record of all that had +taken place, more especially the confession of the impudent constable, +_item_, that of my ploughboy, Claus Neels; wherewith he rode throughout +the same night, as he had promised, to Anclam, and next day to Stettin, to +our gracious sovereign Duke Bogislaw: who marvelled greatly when he heard +of the wickedness of his Sheriff, and of that which he had done to my +child: moreover, he asked whether she were the pastor's daughter who once +upon a time had found the signet-ring of his Princely Highness Philippus +Julius of most Christian memory in the castle garden at Wolgast? and as he +did not know thereof, the Duke asked, whether she knew Latin? And he, the +young lord, answered yes, that she knew the Latin better than he did +himself. His Princely Highness said, "Then, indeed, it must be the same," +and straightway he put on his spectacles, and read the _acta_ himself. +Hereupon, and after his Princely Highness had read the record of the +worshipful court, shaking his head the while, the young lord humbly +besought his Princely Highness to give him an _amende honorable_ for my +child, _item, literas commendatitias_ for himself to our most gracious +Emperor at Vienna, to beg for a renewal of my patent of nobility, seeing +that he was determined to marry none other maiden than my daughter so long +as he lived. + +When my child heard this, she gave a cry of joy, and fell back in a swound +with her head against the wall. But the young lord caught her in his arms, +and gave her three kisses (which I could not then deny him, seeing, as I +did with joy, how matters went), and when she came to herself again, he +asked her, whether she would not have him, seeing that she had given a cry +at his words? Whereupon she said, "Whether I will not have you, my lord! +Alas! I love you as dearly as my God and my Saviour! You first saved my +life, and now you have snatched my heart from the stake, whereon, without +you, it would have burned all the days of my life!" Hereupon I wept for +joy, when he drew her into his lap, and she clasped his neck with her +little hands. + +They thus sat and toyed a while, till the young lord again perceived me, +and said, "What say you thereto; I trust it is also your will, reverend +Abraham?" Now, dear reader, what could I say, save my hearty good-will? +seeing that I wept for very joy, as did my child, and I answered, how +should it not be my will, seeing that it was the will of God? But whether +the worthy, good young lord had likewise considered that he would stain +his noble name if he took to wife my child, who had been habit and repute +a witch, and had been well-nigh bound to the stake? + +Hereupon he said, By no means; for that he had long since prevented this, +and he proceeded to tell us how he had done it, namely, his Princely +Highness had promised him to make ready all the _scripta_ which he +required, within four days, when he hoped to be back from his father's +burial. He therefore rode straightway back to Mellenthin, and after paying +the last honour to my lord his father, he presently set forth on his way +again, and found that his Princely Highness had kept his word meanwhile. +With these _scripta_ he rode to Vienna, and albeit he met with many pains, +troubles, and dangers by the way (which he would relate to us at some +other time), he nevertheless reached the city safely. There he by chance +met with a Jesuit with whom he had once upon a time had his _locamentum_ +for a few days at Prague, while he was yet a _studiosus_, and this man, +having heard his business, bade him be of good cheer, seeing that his +Imperial Majesty stood sorely in need of money in these hard times of war, +and that he, the Jesuit, would manage it all for him. This he really did, +and his Imperial Majesty not only renewed my patent of nobility, but +likewise confirmed the _amende honorable_ to my child granted by his +Princely Highness the Duke, so that he might now maintain the honour of +his betrothed bride against all the world, as also hereafter that of his +wife. + +Hereupon he drew forth the _acta_ from his bosom, and put them into my +hand, saying, "And now, reverend Abraham, you must also do me a pleasure, +to wit, to-morrow morning, when I hope to go with my betrothed bride to +the Lord's table, you must publish the banns between me and your daughter, +and on the day after you must marry us. Do not say nay thereto, for my +pastor, the reverend Philippus, says that this is no uncommon custom among +the nobles in Pomerania, and I have already given notice of the wedding +for Monday at mine own castle, whither we will then go, and where I +purpose to bed my bride." I should have found much to say against this +request, more especially that in honour of the Holy Trinity he should +suffer himself to be called three times in church according to custom, and +that he should delay a while the espousals; but when I perceived that my +child would gladly have the marriage held right soon, for she sighed and +grew red as scarlet, I had not the heart to refuse them, but promised all +they asked. Whereupon I exhorted them both to prayer, and when I had laid +my hands upon their heads, I thanked the Lord more deeply than I had ever +yet thanked him, so that at last I could no longer speak for tears, seeing +that they drowned my voice. + +Meanwhile the young lord his coach had driven up to the door, filled with +chests and coffers: and he said, "Now, sweet maid, you shall see what I +have brought you," and he bade them bring all the things into the room. +Dear reader, what fine things were there, such as I had never seen in all +my life! All that women can use was there, especially of clothes, to wit, +bodices, plaited gowns, long robes, some of them bordered with fur, veils, +aprons, _item_, the bridal shift with gold fringes, whereon the merry lord +had laid some six or seven bunches of myrtle to make herself a wreath +withal. _Item_, there was no end to the rings, neck-chains, eardrops, +etc., the which I have in part forgotten. Neither did the young lord leave +me without a gift, seeing he had brought me a new surplice (the enemy had +robbed me of my old one), also doublets, hosen, and shoes, _summa_, +whatsoever appertains to a man's attire; wherefore I secretly besought the +Lord not to punish us again in his sore displeasure for such pomps and +vanities. When my child beheld all these things she was grieved that she +could bestow upon him nought save her heart alone, and the chain of the +Swedish king, the which she hung round his neck, and begged him, weeping +the while, to take it as a bridal gift. This he at length promised to do, +and likewise to carry it with him into the grave: but that my child must +first wear it at her wedding, as well as the blue silken gown, for that +this and no other should be her bridal dress, and this he made her promise +to do. + +And now a merry chance befell with the old maid, the which I will here +note. For when the faithful old soul had heard what had taken place, she +was beside herself for joy, danced and clapped her hands, and at last said +to my child, "Now to be sure you will not weep when the young lord is to +lie in your bed," whereat my child blushed scarlet for shame, and ran out +of the room; and when the young lord would know what she meant therewith, +she told him that he had already once slept in my child her bed when he +came from Gutzkow with me, whereupon he bantered her all the evening after +that she was come back again. Moreover, he promised the maid that as she +had once made my child her bed for him, she should make it again, and that +on the day after to-morrow she and the ploughman too should go with us to +Mellenthin, so that masters and servants should all rejoice together after +such great distress. + +And seeing that the dear young lord would stop the night under my roof, I +made him lie in the small closet together with me (for I could not know +what might happen). He soon slept like a top, but no sleep came into my +eyes, for very joy, and I prayed the livelong blessed night, or thought +over my sermon. Only near morning I dozed a little; and when I rose the +young lord already sat in the next room with my child, who wore the black +silken gown which he had brought her, and, strange to say, she looked +fresher than even when the Swedish king came, so that I never in all my +life saw her look fresher or fairer. _Item_, the young lord wore his black +doublet, and picked out for her the best bits of myrtle for the wreath she +was twisting. But when she saw me, she straightway laid the wreath beside +her on the bench, folded her little hands, and said the morning prayer, as +she was ever wont to do, which humility pleased the young lord right well, +and he begged her that in future she would ever do the like with him, the +which she promised. + +Soon after we went to the blessed church to confession, and all the folk +stood gaping open-mouthed because the young lord led my child on his arm. +But they wondered far more when, after the sermon, I first read to them in +the vulgar tongue the _amende honorable_ to my child from his Princely +Highness, together with the confirmation of the same by his Imperial +Majesty, and after that my patent of nobility; and, lastly, began to +publish the banns between my child and the young lord. Dear reader, there +arose a murmur throughout the church like the buzzing of a swarm of bees. +(N.B. These _scripta_ were burnt in the fire which broke out in the castle +a year ago, as I shall hereafter relate, wherefore I cannot insert them +here _in origne_.) + +Hereupon my dear children went together with much people to the Lord's +table, and after church nearly all the folks crowded round them and wished +them joy. _Item_, old Paasch came to our house again that afternoon, and +once more besought my daughter's forgiveness because that he had +unwittingly offended her; that he would gladly give her a marriage-gift, +but that he now had nothing at all; howbeit that his wife should set one +of her hens in the spring, and he would take the chickens to her at +Mellenthin himself. This made us all to laugh, more especially the young +lord, who at last said: "As thou wilt bring me a marriage-gift, thou must +also be asked to the wedding, wherefore thou mayest come to-morrow with +the rest." + +[Illustration: The Bridal Gifts] + +Whereupon my child said: "And your little Mary, my god-child, shall come +too, and be my bridemaiden, if my lord allows it." Whereupon she began to +tell the young lord all that that had befallen the child by the malice of +Satan, and how they laid it to her charge until such time as the +all-righteous God brought her innocence to light; and she begged that +since her dear lord had commanded her to wear the same garments at her +wedding which she had worn to salute the Swedish king, and afterwards to +go to the stake, he would likewise suffer her to take for her bridemaiden +her little god-child, as _indicium secundum_ of her sorrows. + +And when he had promised her this, she told old Paasch to send hither his +child to her, that she might fit a new gown upon her which she had cut out +for her a week ago, and which the maid would finish sewing this very day. +This so went to the heart of the good old fellow that he began to weep +aloud, and at last said, she should not do all this for nothing, for +instead of the one hen his wife should set three for her in the spring. + +When he was gone, and the young lord did nought save talk with his +betrothed bride, both in the vulgar and in the Latin tongue, I did +better--namely, went up the mountain to pray, wherein, moreover, I +followed my child's example, and clomb up upon the pile, there in +loneliness to offer up my whole heart to the Lord as an offering of +thanksgiving, seeing that with this sacrifice he is well pleased, as +in Ps. li. 19, "The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and +contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise." + +That night the young lord again lay in my room, but next morning, when the +sun had scarce risen-- + +* * * * * + +Here end these interesting communications, which I do not intend to dilute +with any additions of my own. My readers, more especially those of the +fair sex, can picture to themselves at pleasure the future happiness of +this excellent pair. + +All further historical traces of their existence, as well as that of the +pastor, have disappeared, and nothing remains but a tablet fixed in the +wall of the church at Mellenthin, on which the incomparable lord, and his +yet more incomparable wife, are represented. On his faithful breast still +hangs "the golden chain, with the effigy of the Swedish King." They both +seem to have died within a short time of each other, and to have been +buried in the same coffin. For in the vault under the church there is +still a large double coffin, in which, according to tradition, lies a +chain of gold of incalculable value. Some twenty years ago, the owner of +Mellenthin, whose unequalled extravagance had reduced him to the verge of +beggary, attempted to open the coffin in order to take out this precious +relic, but he was not able. It appeared as if some powerful spell held it +firmly together; and it has remained unopened down to the present time. +May it remain so until the last awful day, and may the impious hand of +avarice or curiosity never desecrate these holy ashes of holy beings! + +FINIS + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Amber Witch, by Wilhelm Meinhold + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + +***** This file should be named 8743-8.txt or 8743-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/7/4/8743/ + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Amber Witch + +Author: Wilhelm Meinhold + +Posting Date: June 16, 2013 [EBook #8743] +Release Date: August, 2005 +First Posted: August 8, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<h1>THE AMBER WITCH</h1> + +<h3>by</h3> + +<h2>Wilhelm Meinhold</h2> + +<h3> +The most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known. Printed from an +imperfect manuscript by her father Abraham Schweidler, the pastor of +Coserow, in the Island of Usedom. +</h3> + +<h3> +Translated from the German by Lady Duff Gordon. +</h3> + +<h3>Original publication date: 1846.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + +<p> +In laying before the public this deeply affecting and romantic trial, +which I have not without reason called on the title-page the most +interesting of all trials for witchcraft ever known, I will first give +some account of the history of the manuscript. +</p> + +<p> +At Coserow, in the Island of Usedom, my former cure, the same which was +held by our worthy author some two hundred years ago, there existed +under a seat in the choir of the church a sort of niche, nearly on a +level with the floor. I had, indeed, often seen a heap of various +writings in this recess; but owing to my short sight, and the darkness +of the place, I had taken them for antiquated hymn-books, which were +lying about in great numbers. But one day, while I was teaching in the +church, I looked for a paper mark in the Catechism of one of the boys, +which I could not immediately find; and my old sexton, who was past +eighty (and who, although called Appelmann, was thoroughly unlike his +namesake in our story, being a very worthy, although a most ignorant +man), stooped down to the said niche, and took from it a folio volume +which I had never before observed, out of which he, without the slightest +hesitation, tore a strip of paper suited to my purpose, and reached it to +me. I immediately seized upon the book, and, after a few minutes' perusal, +I know not which was greater, my astonishment or my vexation at this +costly prize. The manuscript, which was bound in vellum, was not only +defective both at the beginning and at the end, but several leaves had +even been torn out here and there in the middle. I scolded the old man as +I had never done during the whole course of my life; but he excused +himself, saying that one of my predecessors had given him the manuscript +for waste paper, as it had lain about there ever since the memory of man, +and he had often been in want of paper to twist round the altar candles, +etc. The aged and half-blind pastor had mistaken the folio for old +parochial accounts which could be of no more use to any one.[<a href="#1">1</a>] +</p> + +<p> +No sooner had I reached home than I fell to work upon my new acquisition, +and after reading a bit here and there with considerable trouble, my +interest was powerfully excited by the contents. +</p> + +<p> +I soon felt the necessity of making myself better acquainted with the +nature and conduct of these witch trials, with the proceedings, nay, +even with the history of the whole period in which these events occur. +But the more I read of these extraordinary stories, the more was I +confounded; and neither the trivial Beeker (<i>die bezauberte Welt</i>, the +enchanted world), nor the more careful Horst (<i>Zauberbibliothek</i>, the +library of magic), to which, as well as to several other works on the +same subject, I had flown for information, could resolve my doubts, but +rather served to increase them. +</p> + +<p> +Not alone is the demoniacal character, which pervades nearly all these +fearful stories, so deeply marked, as to fill the attentive reader with +feelings of alternate horror and dismay, but the eternal and unchangeable +laws of human feeling and action are often arrested in a manner so +violent and unforeseen, that the understanding is entirely baffled. For +instance, one of the original trials which a friend of mine, a lawyer, +discovered in our province, contains the account of a mother, who, after +she had suffered the torture, and received the holy Sacrament, and was +on the point of going to the stake, so utterly lost all maternal feeling, +that her conscience obliged her to accuse as a witch her only dearly-loved +daughter, a girl of fifteen, against whom no one had ever entertained a +suspicion, in order, as she said, to save her poor soul. The court, justly +amazed at an event which probably has never since been paralleled, caused +the state of the mother's mind to be examined both by clergymen and +physicians, whose original testimonies are still appended to the records, +and are all highly favourable to her soundness of mind. The unfortunate +daughter, whose name was Elizabeth Hegel, was actually executed on the +strength of her mother's accusation.[<a href="#2">2</a>] +</p> + +<p> +The explanation commonly received at the present day, that these +phenomena were produced by means of animal magnetism, is utterly +insufficient. How, for instance, could this account for the deeply +demoniacal nature of old Lizzie Kolken as exhibited in the following +pages? It is utterly incomprehensible, and perfectly explains why the +old pastor, notwithstanding the horrible deceits practised on him in +the person of his daughter, retained as firm a faith in the truth of +witchcraft as in that of the Gospel. +</p> + +<p> +During the earlier centuries of the middle ages little was known of +witchcraft. The crime of magic, when it did occur, was leniently +punished. For instance, the Council of Ancyra (314) ordained the whole +punishment of witches to consist in expulsion from the Christian +community. The Visigoths punished them with stripes, and Charlemagne, +by advice of his bishops, confined them in prison until such time as +they should sincerely repent.[<a href="#3">3</a>] It was not until very soon before +the Reformation, that Innocent VIII. lamented that the complaints of +universal Christendom against the evil practices of these women had +become so general and so loud, that the most vigorous measures must be +taken against them; and towards the end of the year 1489, he caused the +notorious Hammer for Witches (<i>Malleus Maleficarum</i>) to be published, +according to which proceedings were set on foot with the most fanatical +zeal, not only in Catholic, but, strange to say, even in Protestant +Christendom, which in other respects abhorred everything belonging +to Catholicism. Indeed, the Protestants far outdid the Catholics in +cruelty, until, among the latter, the noble-minded Jesuit, J. Spee, and +among the former, but not until seventy years later, the excellent +Thomasius, by degrees put a stop to these horrors. +</p> + +<p> +After careful examination into the nature and characteristics of +witchcraft, I soon perceived that among all these strange and often +romantic stories, not one surpassed my 'amber witch' in lively interest; +and I determined to throw her adventures into the form of a romance. +Fortunately, however, I was soon convinced that her story was already in +itself the most interesting of all romances; and that I should do far +better to leave it in its original antiquated form, omitting whatever +would be uninteresting to modern readers, or so universally known as to +need no repetition. I have therefore attempted, not indeed to supply +what is missing at the beginning and end, but to restore those leaves +which have been torn out of the middle, imitating, as accurately as I +was able, the language and manner of the old biographer, in order that +the difference between the original narrative and my own interpolations +might not be too evident. +</p> + +<p> +This I have done with much trouble, and after many ineffectual attempts; +but I refrain from pointing out the particular passages which I have +supplied, so as not to disturb the historical interest of the greater +part of my readers. For modern criticism, which has now attained to a +degree of acuteness never before equalled, such a confession would be +entirely superfluous, as critics will easily distinguish the passages +where Pastor Schweidler speaks from those written by Pastor Meinhold. +</p> + +<p> +I am, nevertheless, bound to give the public some account of what I have +omitted, namely,-- +</p> + +<p> +1st. Such long prayers as were not very remarkable for Christian unction. +</p> + +<p> +2d. Well-known stories out of the Thirty Years' War. +</p> + +<p> +3d. Signs and wonders in the heavens, which were seen here and there, +and which are recorded by other Pomeranian writers of these fearful +times; for instance, by Micraelius.[<a href="#4">4</a>] But when these events formed part +of the tale itself, as, for instance, the cross on the Streckelberg, I, +of course, allowed them to stand. +</p> + +<p> +4th. The specification of the whole income of the church at Coserow, +before and during the terrible times of the Thirty Years' War. +</p> + +<p> +5th. The enumeration of the dwellings left standing, after the +devastations made by the enemy in every village throughout the parish. +</p> + +<p> +6th. The names of the districts to which this or that member of the +congregation had emigrated. +</p> + +<p> +7th. A ground plan and description of the old Manse. +</p> + +<p> +I have likewise here and there ventured to make a few changes in the +language, as my author is not always consistent in the use of his words +or in his orthography. The latter I have, however, with very few +exceptions, retained. +</p> + +<p> +And thus I lay before the gracious reader a work, glowing with the fire +of heaven, as well as with that of hell. +</p> + +<p> +MEINHOLD. +</p> + +<p> +[<a name="1">1</a>] The original manuscript does indeed contain several accounts which +at first sight may have led to this mistake; besides, the handwriting +is extremely difficult to read, and in several places the paper is +discoloured and decayed. +</p> + +<p> +[<a name="2">2</a>] It is my intention to publish this trial also, as it possesses very +great psychological interest. +</p> + +<p> +[<a name="3">3</a>] Horst, <i>Zauberbibliothek</i>, vi. p. 231. +</p> + +<p> +[<a name="4">4</a>] <i>Vom Alten Pommerlande</i> (of old Pomerania), book v. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> + +<p> +The origin of our biographer cannot be traced with any degree of +certainty, owing to the loss of the first part of his manuscript. It is, +however, pretty clear that he was not a Pomeranian, as he says he was in +Silesia in his youth, and mentions relations scattered far and wide, not +only at Hamburg and Cologne, but even at Antwerp; above all, his south +German language betrays a foreign origin, and he makes use of words which +are, I believe, peculiar to Swabia. He must, however, have been living for +a long time in Pomerania at the time he wrote, as he even more frequently +uses Low-German expressions, such as occur in contemporary native +Pomeranian writers. +</p> + +<p> +Since he sprang from an ancient noble family, as he says on several +occasions, it is possible that some particulars relating to the +Schweidlers might be discovered in the family records of the seventeenth +century which would give a clew to his native country; but I have sought +for that name in all the sources of information accessible to me, in vain, +and am led to suspect that our author, like many of his contemporaries, +laid aside his nobility and changed his name when he took holy orders. +</p> + +<p> +I will not, however, venture on any further conjectures; the manuscript, +of which six chapters are missing, begins with the words "Imperialists +plundered," and evidently the previous pages must have contained an +account of the breaking out of the Thirty Years' War in the island of +Usedom. It goes on as follows:-- +</p> + +<p> +"Coffers, chests, and closets were all plundered and broken to pieces, +and my surplice also was torn, so that I remained in great distress and +tribulation. But my poor little daughter they did not find, seeing that +I had hidden her in the stable, which was dark, without which I doubt +not they would have made my heart heavy indeed. The lewd dogs would even +have been rude to my old maid Ilse, a woman hard upon fifty, if an old +cornet had not forbidden them. Wherefore I gave thanks to my Maker when +the wild guests were gone, that I had first saved my child from their +clutches, although not one dust of flour, nor one grain of corn, one +morsel of meat even of a finger's length was left, and I knew not how I +should any longer support my own life, and my poor child's. <i>Item</i>, I +thanked God that I had likewise secured the <i>vasa sacra</i>, which I had +forthwith buried in the church in front of the altar, in presence of the +two churchwardens, Hinrich Seden and Claus Bulken, of Uekeritze, +commending them to the care of God. And now because, as I have already +said, I was suffering the pangs of hunger, I wrote to his lordship the +Sheriff Wittich V. Appelmann, at Pudgla, that for the love of God and +his holy Gospel he should send me that which his highness' grace +Philippus Julius had allowed me as <i>praestanda</i> from the convent at +Pudgla, to wit, thirty bushels of barley and twenty-five marks of +silver, which, howbeit his lordship had always withheld from me hitherto +(for he was a very hard inhuman man, as he despised the holy Gospel and +the preaching of the Word, and openly, without shame, reviled the +servants of God, saying that they were useless feeders, and that Luther +had but half cleansed the pigstye of the Church--God mend it!). But he +answered me nothing, and I should have perished for want if Hinrich +Seden had not begged for me in the parish. May God reward the honest +fellow for it in eternity! Moreover, he was then growing old, and was +sorely plagued by his wicked wife Lizzie Kolken. Methought when I +married them that it would not turn out over well, seeing that she was +in common report of having long lived in unchastity with Wittich +Appelmann, who had ever been an arch-rogue, and especially an arrant +whoremaster, and such the Lord never blesses. This same Seden now +brought me five loaves, two sausages, and a goose, which old goodwife +Paal, at Loddin, had given him; also a flitch of bacon from the farmer +Jack Tewert. But he said I must shield him from his wife, who would have +had half for herself, and when he denied her she cursed him, and wished +him gout in his head, whereupon he straightway felt a pain in his right +cheek, and it was quite hard and heavy already. At such shocking news I +was affrighted, as became a good pastor, and asked whether peradventure +he believed that she stood in evil communication with Satan, and could +bewitch folks? But he said nothing, and shrugged his shoulders. So I +sent for old Lizzie to come to me, who was a tall, meagre woman of about +sixty, with squinting eyes, so that she could not look any one in the +face; likewise with quite red hair, and indeed her goodman had the same. +But though I diligently admonished her out of God's Word, she made no +answer until at last I said, 'Wilt thou unbewitch thy goodman (for I +saw from the window how that he was raving in the street like a madman), +or wilt thou that I should inform the magistrate of thy deeds?' Then, +indeed, she gave in, and promised that he should soon be better (and so +he was); moreover she begged that I would give her some bread and some +bacon, inasmuch as it was three days since she had a bit of anything to +put between her lips, saving always her tongue. So my daughter gave her +half a loaf, and a piece of bacon about two handsbreadths large; but she +did not think it enough, and muttered between her teeth; whereupon my +daughter said, 'If thou art not content, thou old witch, go thy ways and +help thy goodman; see how he has laid his head on Zabel's fence, and +stamps with his feet for pain.' Whereupon she went away, but still kept +muttering between her teeth, 'Yea, forsooth, I will help him and thee +too.'" + +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Seventh Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW THE IMPERIALISTS ROBBED ME OF ALL THAT WAS LEFT, AND LIKEWISE BROKE +INTO THE CHURCH AND STOLE THE <i>VASA SACRA</i>; ALSO WHAT MORE BEFELL US +</h3> + +<p> +After a few days, when we had eaten almost all our food, my last cow fell +down dead (the wolves had already devoured the others, as mentioned +above), not without a strong suspicion that Lizzie had a hand in it, +seeing that the poor beast had eaten heartily the day before; but I leave +that to a higher judge, seeing that I would not willingly calumniate any +one; and it may have been the will of God, whose wrath I have well +deserved. <i>Summa</i>, I was once more in great need, and my daughter Mary +pierced my heart with her sighs, when the cry was raised that another +troop of Imperialists was come to Uekeritze, and was marauding there more +cruelly than ever, and, moreover, had burnt half the village. Wherefore I +no longer thought myself safe in my cottage; and after I had commended +everything to the Lord in a fervent prayer, I went up with my daughter and +old Ilse into the Streckelberg, where I already had looked out for +ourselves a hole like a cavern, well grown over with brambles, against the +time when the troubles should drive us thither. We therefore took with us +all we had left to us for the support of our bodies, and fled into the +woods, sighing and weeping, whither we soon were followed by the old men, +and the women and children; these raised a great cry of hunger when they +saw my daughter sitting on a log and eating a bit of bread and meat, and +the little things came with their tiny hands stretched out and cried "Have +some too, have some too." Therefore, being justly moved by such great +distress, I hindered not my daughter from sharing all the bread and meat +that remained among the hungry children. But first I made them pray--"The +eyes of all wait upon thee"; upon which words I then spake comfortably to +the people, telling them that the Lord, who had now fed their little +children, would find means to fill their own bellies, and that they must +not be weary of trusting in him. +</p> + +<p> +This comfort did not, however, last long; for after we had rested within +and around the cavern for about two hours, the bells in the village began +to ring so dolefully that it went nigh to break all our hearts, the more +as loud firing was heard between-whiles; <i>item</i>, the cries of men and the +barking of dogs resounded, so that we could easily guess that the enemy +was in the village. I had enough to do to keep the women quiet, that they +might not by their senseless lamentations betray our hiding-place to the +cruel enemy; and more still when it began to smell smoky, and presently +the bright flames gleamed through the trees. I therefore sent old Paasch +up to the top of the hill, that he might look around and see how matters +stood, but told him to take good care that they did not see him from the +village, seeing that the twilight had but just begun. +</p> + +<p> +This he promised, and soon returned with the news that about twenty +horsemen had galloped out of the village towards the Damerow, but that +half the village was in flames. <i>Item</i>, he told us that by a wonderful +dispensation of God a great number of birds had appeared in the +juniper-bushes and elsewhere, and that if we could catch them they would be +excellent food for us. I therefore climbed up the hill myself, and having +found everything as he had said, and also perceived that the fire had, by +the help of God's mercy, abated in the village; <i>item</i>, that my cottage +was left standing, far beyond my merits and deserts; I came down again and +comforted the people, saying, "The Lord hath given us a sign, and he will +feed us, as he fed the people of Israel in the wilderness; for he has sent +us a fine flight of fieldfares across the barren sea, so that they whirr +out of every bush as ye come near it. Who will now run down into the +village, and cut off the mane and tail of my dead cow which lies out behind +on the common?" (for there was no horsehair in all the village, seeing that +the enemy had long since carried off or stabbed all the horses). But no one +would go, for fear was stronger even than hunger, till my old Ilse spoke, +and said, "I will go, for I fear nothing, when I walk in the ways of God; +only give me a good stick." When old Paasch had lent her his staff, she +began to sing, "God the Father be with us," and was soon out of sight among +the bushes. Meanwhile I exhorted the people to set to work directly, and to +cut little wands for springes, and to gather berries while the moon still +shone; there were a great quantity of mountain-ash and elder-bushes all +about the mountain. I myself and my daughter Mary stayed to guard the +little children, because it was not safe there from wolves. We therefore +made a blazing fire, sat ourselves around it, and heard the little folks +say the Ten Commandments, when there was a rustling and crackling behind +us, and my daughter jumped up and ran into the cavern, crying, "<i>Proh dolor +hostis</i>!" But it was only some of the able-bodied men who had stayed behind +in the village, and who now came to bring us word how things stood there. I +therefore called to her directly, "<i>Emergas amici</i>" whereupon she came +skipping joyously out, and sat down again by the fire, and forthwith my +warden Hinrich Seden related all that had happened, and how his life had +only been saved by means of his wife Lizzie Kolken; but that Jurgen Flatow, +Chim Burse, Claus Peer, and Chim Seideritz were killed, and the last named +of them left lying on the church steps. The wicked incendiaries had burned +down twelve sheds, and it was not their fault that the whole village was +not destroyed, but only in consequence of the wind not being in the quarter +that suited their purpose. Meanwhile they tolled the bells in mockery and +scorn, to see whether any one would come and quench the fire; and that when +he and the three other young fellows came forward they fired off their +muskets at them, but, by God's help, none of them were hit. Hereupon his +three comrades jumped over the paling and escaped; but him they caught, and +had already taken aim at him with their firelocks, when his wife Lizzie +Kolken came out of the church with another troop and beckoned to them to +leave him in peace. But they stabbed Lene Hebers as she lay in childbed, +speared the child, and flung it over Claus Peer's hedge among the nettles, +where it was yet lying when they came away. There was not a living soul +left in the village, and still less a morsel of bread, so that unless the +Lord took pity on their need they must all die miserably of hunger. +</p> + +<p> +(Now who is to believe that such people can call themselves Christians!) +</p> + +<p> +I next inquired, when he had done speaking (but with many sighs, as any +one may guess), after my cottage; but of that they knew nought save that +it was still standing. I thanked the Lord therefore with a quiet sigh; +and having asked old Seden what his wife had been doing in the church, I +thought I should have died for grief when I heard that the villains came +out of it with both the chalices and patens in their hands. I therefore +spoke very sharply to old Lizzie, who now came slinking through the +bushes; but she answered insolently that the strange soldiers had forced +her to open the church, as her goodman had crept behind the hedge, and +nobody else was there; that they had gone straight up to the altar, and +seeing that one of the stones was not well fitted (which, truly, was an +arch-lie), had begun to dig with their swords till they found the chalices +and patens; or somebody else might have betrayed the spot to them, so I +need not always to lay the blame on her, and rate her so hardly. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the old men and the women came with a good store of berries; +<i>item</i>, my old maid, with the cow's tail and mane, who brought word that +the whole house was turned upside down, the windows all broken, and the +books and writings trampled in the dirt in the midst of the street, and +the doors torn off their hinges. This, however, was a less sorrow to me +than the chalices; and I only bade the people make springes and snares, +in order next morning to begin our fowling, with the help of Almighty God. +I therefore scraped the rods myself until near midnight; and when we had +made ready a good quantity, I told old Seden to repeat the evening +blessing, which we all heard on our knees; after which I wound up with +a prayer, and then admonished the people to creep in under the bushes +to keep them from the cold (seeing that it was now about the end of +September, and the wind blew very fresh from the sea), the men apart, and +the women also apart by themselves. I myself went up with my daughter and +my maid into the cavern, where I had not slept long before I heard old +Seden moaning bitterly because, as he said, he was seized with the colic. +I therefore got up and gave him my place, and sat down again by the fire +to cut springes, till I fell asleep for half an hour; and then morning +broke, and by that time he had got better, and I woke the people to +morning prayer. This time old Paasch had to say it, but could not get +through with it properly, so that I had to help him. Whether he had forgot +it, or whether he was frightened, I cannot say. <i>Summa</i>. After we had all +prayed most devoutly, we presently set to work, wedging the springes into +the trees, and hanging berries all around them; while my daughter took +care of the children, and looked for blackberries for their breakfast. Now +we wedged the snares right across the wood along the road to Uekeritze; +and mark what a wondrous act of mercy befell from gracious God! As I +stepped into the road with the hatchet in my hand (it was Seden his +hatchet, which he had fetched out of the village early in the morning), I +caught sight of a loaf as long as my arm, which a raven was pecking, and +which doubtless one of the Imperial troopers had dropped out of his +knapsack the day before, for there were fresh hoofmarks in the sand by it. +So I secretly buttoned the breast of my coat over it, so that none should +perceive anything, although the aforesaid Paasch was close behind me; +<i>item</i>, all the rest followed at no great distance. Now, having set the +springes so very early, towards noon we found such a great number of birds +taken in them that Katy Berow, who went beside me while I took them out, +scarce could hold them all in her apron; and at the other end old Pagels +pulled nearly as many out of his doublet and coat pockets. My daughter +then sat down with the rest of the womankind to pluck the birds; and +as there was no salt (indeed it was long since most of us had tasted +any), she desired two men to go down to the sea, and to fetch a little +salt-water in an iron pot borrowed from Staffer Zuter; and so they did. In +this water we first dipped the birds, and then roasted them at a large +fire, while our mouths watered only at the sweet savour of them, seeing it +was so long since we had tasted any food. +</p> + +<p> +And now when all was ready, and the people seated on the earth, I said, +"Behold how the Lord still feeds his people Israel in the wilderness with +fresh quails: if now he did yet more, and sent us a piece of manna bread +from heaven, what think ye? Would ye then ever weary of believing in him, +and not rather willingly endure all want, tribulation, hunger and thirst, +which he may hereafter lay upon you according to his gracious will?" +Whereupon they all answered and said, "Yea, surely!" <i>Ego</i>: "Will you then +promise me this in truth?" And they said again, "Yea, that will we!" Then +with tears I drew forth the loaf from my breast, held it on high, and +cried, "Behold, then, thou poor believing little flock, how sweet a manna +loaf your faithful Redeemer hath sent ye through me!" Whereupon they all +wept, sobbed and groaned; and the little children again came running up +and held out their hands, crying, "See, bread, bread!" But as I myself +could not pray for heaviness of soul, I bade Paasch his little girl say +the <i>Gratias</i> the while my Mary cut up the loaf and gave to each his +share. And now we all joyfully began to eat our meat from God in the +wilderness. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile I had to tell in what manner I had found the blessed manna +bread, wherein I neglected not again to exhort them to lay to heart this +great sign and wonder, how that God in his mercy had done to them as of +old to the prophet Elijah, to whom a raven brought bread in his great need +in the wilderness; as likewise this bread had been given to me by means of +a raven, which showed it to me, when otherwise I might have passed it by +in my heaviness without ever seeing it. +</p> + +<p> +When we were satisfied with food, I said the thanksgiving from Luke xii. +24, where the Lord saith, "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor +reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: +how much more are ye better than the fowls?" But our sins stank before +the Lord. For old Lizzie, as I afterwards heard, would not eat her +birds because she thought them unsavoury, but threw them among the +juniper-bushes; whereupon the wrath of the Lord was kindled against us as +of old against the people of Israel, and at night we found but seven birds +in the snares, and next morning but two. Neither did any raven come again +to give us bread. Wherefore I rebuked old Lizzie, and admonished the +people to take upon themselves willingly the righteous chastisement of the +Most High God, to pray without ceasing, to return to their desolate +dwellings, and to see whether the all-merciful God would peradventure give +them more on the sea. That I also would call upon him with prayer night +and day, remaining for a time in the cavern with my daughter and the maid +to watch the springes, and see whether his wrath might be turned from us. +That they should meanwhile put my manse to rights to the best of their +power, seeing that the cold was become very irksome to me. This they +promised me, and departed with many sighs. What a little flock! I counted +but twenty-five souls where there used to be above eighty: all the rest +had been slain by hunger, pestilence, or the sword. I then abode a while +alone and sorrowing in the cave, praying to God, and sent my daughter with +the maid into the village to see how things stood at the manse; <i>item</i>, to +gather together the books and papers, and also to bring me word whether +Hinze the carpenter, whom I had straightway sent back to the village, had +knocked together some coffins for the poor corpses, so that I might bury +them next day. I then went to look at the springes, but found only one +single little bird, whereby I saw that the wrath of God had not yet passed +away. Howbeit, I found a fine blackberry bush, from which I gathered +nearly a pint of berries, and put them, together with the bird, in Staffer +Zuter his pot, which the honest fellow had left with us for a while, and +set them on the fire for supper against my child and the maid should +return. It was not long before they came through the coppice and told me +of the fearful devastation which Satan had made in the village and manse +by the permission of all-righteous God. My child had gathered together a +few books, which she brought with her, above all, a <i>Virgilius</i> and a +Greek Bible. And after she had told me that the carpenter would not have +done till next day, and we had satisfied the cravings of hunger, I made +her read to me again, for the greater strengthening of my faith, the +<i>locus</i> about the blessed raven from the Greek of Luke, at the twelfth +chapter; also, the beautiful <i>locus parallelus</i>, Matt. vi. After which the +maid said the evening blessing, and we all went into the cave to rest for +the night. When I awoke next morning, just as the blessed sun rose out the +sea and peeped over the mountain, I heard my poor hungry child already +standing outside the cave reciting the beautiful verses about the joys of +paradise which St. Augustine wrote and I had taught her. She sobbed for +grief as she spoke the words:-- +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + Uno pane vivunt cives utriusque patriae; +<br> Avidi et semper pleni, quod habent desiderant. +<br> Non sacietas fastidit, neque fames cruciat; +<br> Inhiantes semper edunt, et edentes inhiant. +<br> Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum; +<br> Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, +<br> Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt; +<br> Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, +<br> Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum. +<br> Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum. +<br> Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. +</p> + +<p> +At these words my own heart was melted; and when she ceased from speaking, +I asked, "What art thou doing, my child?" Whereupon she answered, "Father, +I am eating." Thereat my tears now indeed began to flow, and I praised her +for feeding her soul, as she had no meat for her body. I had not, however, +spoken long, before she cried to me to come and look at the great wonder +that had risen out of the sea, and already appeared over the cave. For +behold a cloud, in shape just like a cross, came over us, and let great +heavy drops, as big or bigger than large peas, fall on our heads, after +which it sank behind the coppice. I presently arose and ran up the +mountain with my daughter to look after it. It floated on towards the +Achterwater, where it spread itself out into a long blue streak, whereon +the sun shone so brightly that it seemed like a golden bridge on which, as +my child said, the blessed angels danced. I fell on my knees with her and +thanked the Lord that our cross had passed away from us; but, alas! our +cross was yet to come, as will be told hereafter. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Eighth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW OUR NEED WAXED SORER AND SORER, AND HOW I SENT OLD ILSE WITH ANOTHER +LETTER TO PUDGLA, AND HOW HEAVY A MISFORTUNE THIS BROUGHT UPON ME +</h3> + +<p> +Next day, when I had buried the poor corpses amid the lamentations of the +whole village (by the same token that they were all buried under where the +lime-tree overhangs the wall), I heard with many sighs that neither the +sea nor the Achterwater would yield anything. It was now ten days since +the poor people had caught a single fish. I therefore went out into the +field, musing how the wrath of the just God might be turned from us, +seeing that the cruel winter was now at hand, and neither corn, apples, +fish nor flesh to be found in the village, nor even throughout all the +parish. There was indeed plenty of game in the forests of Coserow and +Uekeritze; but the old forest ranger, Zabel Nehring, had died last year of +the plague, and there was no new one in his place. Nor was there a musket +nor a grain of powder to be found in all the parish; the enemy had robbed +and broken everything: we were therefore forced, day after day, to see +how the stags and the roes, the hares and the wild boars, <i>et cet</i>., ran +past us, when we would so gladly have had them in our bellies, but had no +means of getting at them: for they were too cunning to let themselves be +caught in pit-falls. Nevertheless, Claus Peer succeeded in trapping a roe, +and gave me a piece of it, for which may God reward him. <i>Item</i>, of +domestic cattle there was not a head left; neither was there a dog, nor +a cat, which the people had not either eaten in their extreme hunger, +or knocked on the head or drowned long since. Albeit old farmer Paasch +still owned two cows; <i>item</i>, an old man in Uekeritze was said to have +one little pig:--this was all. Thus, then, nearly all the people lived on +blackberries and other wild fruits: the which also soon grew to be scarce, +as may easily be guessed. Besides all this, a boy of fourteen was missing +(old Labahn his son) and was never more heard of, so that I shrewdly think +that the wolves devoured him. +</p> + +<p> +And now let any Christian judge by his own heart in what sorrow and +heaviness I took my staff in my hand, seeing that my child fell away like +a shadow from pinching hunger; although I myself, being old, did not, by +the help of God's mercy, find any great failing in my strength. While I +thus went continually weeping before the Lord, on the way to Uekeritze, I +fell in with an old beggar with his wallet, sitting on a stone, and eating +a piece of God's rare gift, to wit, a bit of bread. Then truly did my poor +mouth so fill with water that I was forced to bow my head and let it run +upon the earth before I could ask, "Who art thou? and whence comest thou? +seeing that thou hast bread." Whereupon he answered that he was a poor man +of Bannemin, from whom the enemy had taken all; and as he had heard that +the Lieper Winkel had long been in peace, he had travelled thither to beg. +I straightway answered him, "Oh, poor beggar-man, spare to me, a sorrowful +servant of Christ, who is poorer even than thyself, one little slice of +bread for his wretched child; for thou must know that I am the pastor of +this village, and that my daughter is dying of hunger. I beseech thee by +the living God not to let me depart without taking pity on me, as pity +also hath been shown to thee!" But the beggar-man would give me none, +saying that he himself had a wife and four children, who were likewise +staggering towards death's door under the bitter pangs of hunger; that the +famine was sorer far in Bannemin than here, where we still had berries; +whether I had not heard that but a few days ago a woman (he told me her +name, but horror made me forget it) had there killed her own child, and +devoured it from hunger? That he could not therefore help me, and I might +go to the Lieper Winkel myself. +</p> + +<p> +I was horror-stricken at his tale, as is easy to guess, for we in our own +trouble had not yet heard of it, there being little or no traffic between +one village and another; and thinking on Jerusalem, and sheer despairing +because the Lord had visited us, as of old that ungodly city, although we +had not betrayed or crucified him, I almost forgot all my necessities, and +took my staff in my hand to depart. But I had not gone more than a few +yards when the beggar called me to stop, and when I turned myself round he +came towards me with a good hunch of bread which he had taken out of his +wallet, and said, "There! but pray for me also, so that I may reach my +home; for if on the road they smell that I have bread, my own brother +would strike me dead, I believe." This I promised with joy, and instantly +turned back to take to my child the gift hidden in my pocket. And behold, +when I came to the road which leads to Loddin, I could scarce trust my +eyes (before I had overlooked it in my distress) when I saw my glebe, +which could produce seven bushels, ploughed, sown, and in stalk; the +blessed crop of rye had already shot lustily out of the earth a finger's +length in height. I could not choose but think that the Evil One had +deceived me with a false show, yet, however hard I rubbed my eyes, rye it +was and rye it remained. And seeing that old Paasch his piece of land +which joined mine was in like manner sown, and that the blades had shot up +to the same height, I soon guessed that the good fellow had done this +deed, seeing that all the other land lay waste. Wherefore, I readily +forgave him for not knowing the morning prayer; and thanking the Lord for +so much love from my flock, and earnestly beseeching him to grant me +strength and faith to bear with them steadfastly and patiently all the +troubles and adversities which it might please him henceforward to lay +upon us, according to his divine pleasure, I ran rather than walked back +into the village to old Paasch his farm, where I found him just about to +kill his cow, which he was slaughtering from grim hunger. "God bless +thee," said I, "worthy friend, for sowing my field; how shall I reward +thee?" But the old man answered, "Let that be, and do you pray for us"; +and when I gladly promised this and asked him how he had kept his corn +safe from the savage enemy, he told me that he had hidden it secretly in +the caves of the Streckelberg, but that now all his store was used up. +Meanwhile he cut a fine large piece of meat from the top of the loin, and +said, "There is something for you, and when that is gone you can come +again for more." As I was then about to go with many thanks, his little +Mary, a child nearly seven years old, the same who had said the <i>Gratias</i> +on the Streckelberg, seized me by the hand and wanted to go to school to +my daughter; for since my <i>Custos</i>, as above mentioned, departed this life +in the plague, she had to teach the few little ones there were in the +village; this, however, had long been abandoned. I could not, therefore, +deny her, although I feared that my child would share her bread with her, +seeing that she dearly loved the little maid, who was her godchild; and so +indeed it happened; for when the child saw me take out the bread, she +shrieked for joy, and began to scramble up on the bench. Thus she also got +a piece of the slice, our maid got another, and my child put the third +piece into her own mouth, as I wished for none, but said that I felt no +signs of hunger and would wait until the meat was boiled, the which I now +threw upon the bench. It was a goodly sight to see the joy which my poor +child felt when I then also told her about the rye. She fell upon my neck, +wept, sobbed, then took the little one up in her arms, danced about the +room with her, and recited as she was wont, all manner of Latin <i>versus</i>, +which she knew by heart. Then she would prepare a right good supper for +us, as a little salt was still left in the bottom of a barrel of meat +which the Imperialists had broken up. I let her take her own way, and +having scraped some soot from the chimney and mixed it with water, I tore +a blank leaf out of <i>Virgilius</i>, and wrote to the <i>Pastor Liepensis</i>, his +reverence Abraham Tiburtius, praying that for God his sake he would take +our necessities to heart, and would exhort his parishioners to save us +from dying of grim hunger, and charitably to spare to us some meat and +drink, according as the all-merciful God had still left some to them, +seeing that a beggar had told me that they had long been in peace from +the terrible enemy. I knew not, however, wherewithal to seal the letter, +until I found in the church a little wax still sticking to a wooden +altar-candlestick, which the Imperialists had not thought it worth their +while to steal, for they had only taken the brass ones. I sent three +fellows in a boat with Hinrich Seden, the churchwarden, with this letter +to Liepe. +</p> + +<p> +First, however, I asked my old Ilse, who was born in Liepe, whether she +would not rather return home, seeing how matters stood, and that I, for +the present at least, could not give her a stiver of her wages (mark that +she had already saved up a small sum, seeing that she had lived in my +service above twenty years, but the soldiers had taken it all). Howbeit, I +could nowise persuade her to this, but she wept bitterly, and besought me +only to let her stay with the good damsel whom she had rocked in her +cradle. She would cheerfully hunger with us if it needs must be, so that +she were not turned away. Whereupon I yielded to her, and the others went +alone. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the broth was ready, but scarce had we said the <i>Gratias</i>, and +were about to begin our meal, when all the children of the village, seven +in number, came to the door, and wanted bread, as they had heard we had +some from my daughter her little godchild. Her heart again melted, and +notwithstanding I besought her to harden herself against them, she +comforted me with the message to Liepe, and poured out for each child a +portion of broth on a wooden platter (for these also had been despised by +the enemy), and put into their little hands a bit of meat, so that all our +store was eaten up at once. We were, therefore, left fasting next morning, +till towards mid-day, when the whole village gathered together in a meadow +on the banks of the river to see the boat return. But, God be merciful to +us, we had cherished vain hopes! six loaves and a sheep, <i>item</i>, a quarter +of apples, was all they had brought. His reverence Abraham Tiburtius wrote +to me that after the cry of their wealth had spread throughout the island, +so many beggars had flocked thither that it was impossible to be just to +all, seeing that they themselves did not know how it might fare with them +in these heavy troublous times. Meanwhile he would see whether he could +raise any more. I therefore with many sighs had the small pittance carried +to the manse, and though two loaves were, as <i>Pastor Liepensis</i> said in +his letter, for me alone, I gave them up to be shared among all alike, +whereat all were content save Seden his squint-eyed wife, who would have +had somewhat <i>extra</i> on the score of her husband's journey, which, +however, as may be easily guessed, she did not get; wherefore she again +muttered certain words between her teeth as she went away, which, however, +no one understood. Truly she was an ill woman, and not to be moved by the +word of God. +</p> + +<p> +Any one may judge for himself that such a store could not last long; and +as all my parishioners felt an ardent longing after spiritual food, and +as I and the churchwardens could only get together about sixteen +farthings in the whole parish, which was not enough to buy bread and +wine, the thought struck me once more to inform my lord the Sheriff of +our need. With how heavy a heart I did this may be easily guessed, but +necessity knows no law. I therefore tore the last blank leaf out of +<i>Virgilius</i>, and begged that, for the sake of the Holy Trinity, his +lordship would mercifully consider mine own distress and that of the +whole parish, and bestow a little money to enable me to administer the +holy sacrament for the comfort of afflicted souls; also, if possible, +to buy a cup, were it only of tin, since the enemy had plundered us of +ours, and I should otherwise be forced to consecrate the sacred elements +in an earthen vessel. <i>Item</i>, I besought him to have pity on our bodily +wants, and at last to send me the first-fruits which had stood over for +so many years. That I did not want it for myself alone, but would +willingly share it with my parishioners, until such time as God in his +mercy should give us more. +</p> + +<p> +Here a huge blot fell upon my paper; for the windows being boarded up, the +room was dark, and but little light came through two small panes of glass +which I had broken out of the church, and stuck in between the boards; +this, perhaps, was the reason why I did not see better. However, as I +could not anywhere get another piece of paper, I let it pass, and ordered +the maid, whom I sent with the letter to Pudgla, to excuse the same to his +lordship the Sheriff, the which she promised to do, seeing that I could +not add a word more on the paper, as it was written all over. I then +sealed it as I had done before. +</p> + +<p> +But the poor creature came back trembling for fear and bitterly weeping, +and said that his lordship had kicked her out of the castle-gate, and had +threatened to set her in the stocks if she ever came before him again. +"Did the parson think that he was as free with his money as I seemed to be +with my ink? I surely had water enough to celebrate the Lord's supper +wherewithal. For if the Son of God had once changed the water into wine, +he could surely do the like again. If I had no cup, I might water my flock +out of a bucket, as he did himself"; with many more blasphemies, such as +he afterwards wrote to me, and by which, as may easily be guessed, I was +filled with horror. Touching the first-fruits, as she told me he said +nothing at all. In such great spiritual and bodily need the blessed Sunday +came round, when nearly all the congregation would have come to the Lord's +table, but could not. I therefore spoke on the words of St. Augustine, +<i>crede et manducasti</i>, and represented that the blame was not mine, and +truly told what had happened to my poor maid at Pudgla, passing over much +in silence, and only praying God to awaken the hearts of magistrates for +our good. Peradventure I may have spoken more harshly than I meant. I know +not, only that I spoke that which was in my heart. At the end I made all +the congregation stay on their knees for nearly an hour, and call upon the +Lord for his holy sacrament; <i>item</i>, for the relief of their bodily wants, +as had been done every Sunday, and at all the daily prayers I had been +used to read ever since the heavy time of the plague. Last of all I led +the glorious hymn, "When in greatest need we be," which was no sooner +finished than my new churchwarden, Claus Bulk of Uekeritze, who had +formerly been a groom with his lordship, and whom he had now put into a +farm, ran off to Pudgla, and told him all that had taken place in the +church. Whereat his lordship was greatly angered, insomuch that he +summoned the whole parish, which still numbered about 150 souls, without +counting the children, and dictated <i>ad protocollum</i> whatsoever they could +remember of the sermon, seeing that he meant to inform his princely grace +the Duke of Pomerania of the blasphemous lies which I had vomited against +him, and which must sorely offend every Christian heart. <i>Item</i>, what an +avaricious wretch I must be to be always wanting something of him, and to +be daily, so to say, pestering him in these hard times with my filthy +letters, when he had not enough to eat himself. This he said should break +the parson his neck, since his princely grace did all that he asked of +him, and that no one in the parish need give me anything more, but only +let me go my ways. He would soon take care that they should have quite a +different sort of parson from what I was. +</p> + +<p> +(Now I would like to see the man who could make up his mind to come into +the midst of such wretchedness at all.) +</p> + +<p> +This news was brought to me in the selfsame night, and gave me a great +fright, as I now saw that I should not have a gracious master in his +lordship, but should all the time of my miserable life, even if I could +anyhow support it, find in him an ungracious lord. But I soon felt some +comfort, when Chim Krüger from Uekeritze, who brought me the news, took a +little bit of his sucking-pig out of his pocket and gave it to me. +Meanwhile old Paasch came in and said the same, and likewise brought me a +piece of his old cow; <i>item</i>, my other warden, Hinrich Seden, with a slice +of bread, and a fish which he had taken in his net, all saying they wished +for no better priest than me, and that I was only to pray to the merciful +Lord to bestow more upon them, whereupon I should want for nothing. +Meanwhile I must be quiet and not betray them. All this I promised, and my +daughter Mary took the blessed gifts of God off the table and carried them +into the inner chamber. But, alas! next morning, when she would have put +the meat into the caldron, it was all gone. I know not who prepared this +new sorrow for me, but much believe it was Hinrich Seden his wicked wife, +seeing he can never hold his tongue, and most likely told her everything. +Moreover, Paasch his little daughter saw that she had meat in her pot next +day; <i>item</i>, that she had quarrelled with her husband, and had flung the +fish-board at him, whereon some fresh fish-scales were sticking: she had, +however, presently recollected herself when she saw the child. (Shame on +thee, thou old witch, it is true enough, I dare say!) Hereupon nought was +left us but to feed our poor souls with the word of God. But even our +souls were so cast down that they could receive nought, any more than our +bellies; my poor child, especially, from day to day grew paler, greyer, +and yellower, and always threw up all her food, seeing she ate it without +salt or bread. I had long wondered that the bread from Liepe was not yet +done, but that every day at dinner I still had a morsel. I had often +asked, "Whence comes all this blessed bread? I believe, after all, you +save the whole for me, and take none for yourself or the maid." But they +both then lifted to their mouths a piece of fir-tree bark, which they had +cut to look like bread, and laid by their plates; and as the room was +dark, I did not find out their deceit, but thought that they, too, were +eating bread. But at last the maid told me of it, so that I should allow +it no longer, as my daughter would not listen to her. It is not hard to +guess how my heart was wrung when I saw my poor child lying on her bed of +moss struggling with grim hunger. But things were to go yet harder with +me, for the Lord in his anger would break me in pieces like a potter's +vessel. For behold, on the evening of the same day, old Paasch came +running to me, complaining that all his and my corn in the field had been +pulled up and miserably destroyed, and that it must have been done by +Satan himself, as there was not a trace either of oxen or horses. At these +words my poor child screamed aloud and fainted. I would have run to help +her, but could not reach her bed, and fell on the ground myself for bitter +grief. The loud cries of the maid and old Paasch soon brought us both to +our senses. But I could not rise from the ground alone, for the Lord had +bruised all my bones. I besought them, therefore, when they would have +helped me, to leave me where I was; and when they would not, I cried out +that I must again fall on the ground to pray, and begged them all save my +daughter to depart out of the room. This they did, but the prayer would +not come. I fell into heavy doubting and despair, and murmured against the +Lord that he plagued me more sorely than Lazarus or Job. Wretch that I +was, I cried, "Thou didst leave to Lazarus at least the crumbs and the +pitiful dogs, but to me thou hast left nothing, and I myself am less in +thy sight even than a dog; and Job thou didst not afflict until thou hadst +mercifully taken away his children, but to me thou hast left my poor +little daughter, that her torments may increase mine own a thousandfold. +Behold, then, I can only pray that thou wilt take her from the earth, so +that my grey head may gladly follow her to the grave! Woe is me, ruthless +father, what have I done? I have eaten bread, and suffered my child to +hunger! Oh, Lord Jesu, who hast said, 'What man is there of you, whom if +his son ask bread will he give him a stone?' Behold I am that man!--behold +I am that ruthless father! I have eaten bread and have given wood to my +child! Punish me; I will bear it and lie still. Oh, righteous Jesu, I have +eaten bread, and have given wood to my child!" As I did not speak, but +rather shrieked these words, wringing my hands the while, my child fell +upon my neck, sobbing, and chid me for murmuring against the Lord, seeing +that even she, a weak and frail woman, had never doubted his mercy, so +that with shame and repentance I presently came to myself, and humbled +myself before the Lord for such heavy sin. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the maid had run into the village with loud cries to see if she +could get anything for her poor young mistress, but the people had already +eaten their noontide meal, and most of them were gone to sea to seek their +blessed supper; thus she could find nothing, seeing that old wife Seden, +who alone had any victuals, would give her none, although she prayed her +by Jesu's wounds. +</p> + +<p> +She was telling us this when we heard a noise in the chamber, and +presently Lizzie her worthy old husband, who had got in at the window by +stealth, brought us a pot of good broth, which he had taken off the fire +whilst his wife was gone for a moment into the garden. He well knew that +his wife would make him pay for it, but that he did not mind, so the young +mistress would but drink it, and she would find it salted and all. He +would make haste out of the window again, and see that he got home before +his wife, that she might not find out where he had been. But my daughter +would not touch the broth, which sorely vexed him, so that he set it down +on the ground cursing, and ran out of the room. It was not long before his +squint-eyed wife came in at the front door, and when she saw the pot still +steaming on the ground, she cried out, "Thou thief, thou cursed thieving +carcass!" and would have flown at the face of my maid. But I threatened +her, and told her all that had happened, and that if she would not believe +me she might go into the chamber and look out of the window, whence she +might still, belike, see her good man running home. This she did, and +presently we heard her calling after him, "Wait, and the devil shall tear +off thine arms; only wait till thou art home again!" After this she came +back, and, muttering something, took the pot off the ground. I begged her, +for the love of God, to spare a little to my child; but she mocked at me +and said, "You can preach to her, as you did to me," and walked towards +the door with the pot. My child indeed besought me to let her go, but I +could not help calling after her, "For the love of God, one good sup, or +my poor child must give up the ghost: wilt thou that at the day of +judgment God should have mercy on thee, so show mercy this day to me and +mine!" But she scoffed at us again, and cried out, "Let her cook herself +some bacon," and went out at the door. I then sent the maid after her with +the hour-glass which stood before me on the table, to offer it to her for +a good sup out of the pot; but the maid brought it back, saying that she +would not have it. Alas, how I wept and sobbed, as my poor dying child +with a loud sigh buried her head again in the moss! Yet the merciful God +was more gracious to me than my unbelief had deserved; for when the +hard-hearted woman bestowed a little broth on her neighbour, old Paasch, +he presently brought it to my child, having heard from the maid how it +stood with her; and I believe that this broth, under God, alone saved her +life, for she raised her head as soon as she had supped it, and was able +to go about the house again in an hour. May God reward the good fellow for +it! Thus I had some joy in the midst of my trouble. But while I sat by the +fireside in the evening musing on my fate, my grief again broke forth, and +I made up my mind to leave my house, and even my cure, and to wander +through the wide world with my daughter as a beggar. God knows I had cause +enough for it; for now that all my hopes were dashed, seeing that my field +was quite ruined, and that the Sheriff had become my bitter enemy; +moreover, that it was five years since I had had a wedding, <i>item</i>, but +two christenings during the past year, I saw my own and my daughter's +death staring me in the face, and no prospect of better times at hand. Our +want was increased by the great fears of the congregation; for although +by God's wondrous mercy they had already begun to take good draughts of +fish both in the sea and the Achterwater, and many of the people in the +other villages had already gotten bread, salt, oatmeal, etc., from the +Polters and Quatzners, of Anklam and Lassan in exchange for their fish; +nevertheless, they brought me nothing, fearing lest it might be told at +Pudgla, and make his lordship ungracious to them. I therefore beckoned my +daughter to me, and told her what was in my thoughts, saying that God in +his mercy could any day bestow on me another cure if I was found worthy in +his sight of such a favour, seeing that these terrible days of pestilence +and war had called away many of the servants of his word, and that I had +not fled like a hireling from his flock, but on the contrary, till <i>datum</i> +shared sorrow and death with it. Whether she were able to walk five or ten +miles a day; for that then we would beg our way to Hamburg, to my departed +wife her step-brother, Martin Behring, who is a great merchant in that +city. +</p> + +<p> +This at first sounded strange to her, seeing that she had very seldom been +out of our parish, and that her departed mother and her little brother lay +in our churchyard. She asked, "Who was to make up their graves and plant +flowers on them? <i>Item</i>, as the Lord had given her a smooth face, what I +should do if in these wild and cruel times she were attacked on the +highways by marauding soldiers or other villains, seeing that I was a weak +old man and unable to defend her; <i>item</i>, wherewithal should we shield +ourselves from the frost, as the winter was setting in and the enemy had +robbed us of our clothes, so that we had scarce enough left to cover our +nakedness?" All this I had not considered, and was forced to own that she +was right; so after much discussion we determined to leave it this night +to the Lord, and to do whatever he should put into our hearts next +morning. At any rate, we saw that we could in nowise keep the old maid any +longer; I therefore called her out of the kitchen, and told her she had +better go early next morning to Liepe, as there still was food there, +whereas here she must starve, seeing that perhaps we ourselves might leave +the parish and the country to-morrow. I thanked her for the love and faith +she had shown us, and begged her at last, amid the loud sobs of my poor +daughter, to depart forthwith privately, and not to make our hearts still +heavier by leave-taking; that old Paasch was going a-fishing to-night on +the Achterwater, as he had told me, and no doubt would readily set her on +shore at Grüssow, where she had friends, and could eat her fill even +to-day. She could not say a word for weeping, but when she saw that I was +really in earnest she went out of the room. Not long after we heard the +house-door shut to, whereupon my daughter moaned, "She is gone already," +and ran straight to the window to look after her. "Yes," cried she, as she +saw her through the little panes, "she is really gone"; and she wrung her +hands and would not be comforted. At last, however, she was quieted when I +spoke of the maid Hagar, whom Abraham had likewise cast off, but on whom +the Lord had nevertheless shown mercy in the wilderness; and hereupon we +commended ourselves to the Lord, and stretched ourselves on our couches of +moss. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Ninth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW THE OLD MAID-SERVANT HUMBLED ME BY HER FAITH, AND THE LORD YET BLESSED +ME HIS UNWORTHY SERVANT +</h3> + +<p> +"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy +name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who +forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who +redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving +kindness and tender mercies" (Psalm ciii.). +</p> + +<p> +Alas! wretched man that I am, how shall I understand all the benefits and +mercies which the Lord bestowed upon me the very next day? I now wept for +joy, as of late I had done for sorrow; and my child danced about the room +like a young roe, and would not go to bed, but only cry and dance, and +between-whiles repeat the 103rd Psalm, then dance and cry again until +morning broke. But as she was still very weak, I rebuked her presumption, +seeing that this was tempting the Lord; and now mark what had happened. +</p> + +<p> +After we had both woke in the morning with deep sighs, and called upon the +Lord to manifest to us in our hearts what we should do, we still could not +make up our minds. I therefore called to my child, if she felt strong +enough, to leave her bed and light a fire in the stove herself, as our +maid was gone; that we would then consider the matter further. She +accordingly got up, but came back in an instant with cries of joy, because +the maid had privately stolen back into the house, and had already made +a fire. Hereupon I sent for her to my bedside, and wondered at her +disobedience, and asked what she now wanted here but to torment me and +my daughter still more, and why she did not go yesterday with old Paasch? +But she lamented and wept so sore that she scarce could speak, and I +understood only thus much--that she had eaten with us, and would likewise +starve with us, for that she could never part from her young mistress, +whom she had known from her cradle. Such faithful love moved me so, that I +said almost with tears, "But hast thou not heard that my daughter and I +have determined to wander as beggars about the country; where, then, wilt +thou remain?" To this she answered that neither would she stay behind, +seeing it was more fitting for her to beg than for us; but that she could +not yet see why I wished to go out into the wide world; whether I had +already forgotten that I had said in my induction sermon that I would +abide with my flock in affliction and in death? That I should stay yet +a little longer where I was, and send her to Liepe, as she hoped to get +something worth having for us there from her friends and others. These +words, especially those about my induction sermon, fell heavy on my +conscience, and I was ashamed of my want of faith, since not my daughter +only, but yet more even my maid, had stronger faith than I, who +nevertheless professed to be a servant of God's word. I believed that the +Lord--to keep me, poor fearful hireling, and at the same time to humble +me--had awakened the spirit of this poor maid-servant to prove me, as the +maid in the palace of the high-priest had also proved the fearful St. +Peter. Wherefore I turned my face towards the wall, like Hezekiah, and +humbled myself before the Lord, which scarce had I done before my child +ran into the room again, with a cry of joy; for behold, some Christian +heart had stolen quietly into the house in the night, and had laid in the +chamber two loaves, a good piece of meat, a bag of oatmeal, <i>item</i>, a bag +of salt, holding near a pint. Any one may guess what shouts of joy we all +raised. Neither was I ashamed to confess my sins before my maid; and in +our common morning prayer, which we said on our knees, I made fresh vows +to the Lord of obedience and faith. Thus we had that morning a grand +breakfast, and sent something to old Paasch besides; <i>item</i>, my daughter +again sent for all the little children to come, and kindly fed them with +our store before they said their tasks; and when in my heart of little +faith I sighed thereat, although I said nought, she smiled, and said, +"Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take +thought for the things of itself." +</p> + +<p> +The Holy Ghost spoke by her, as I cannot but believe, nor thou either, +beloved reader: for mark what happened. In the afternoon she (I mean my +child) went up the Streckelberg to seek for blackberries, as old Paasch +had told her, through the maid, that a few bushes were still left. The +maid was chopping wood in the yard, to which end she had borrowed old +Paasch his axe, for the Imperialist thieves had thrown away mine, so that +it could nowhere be found; and I myself was pacing up and down in the +room, meditating my sermon; when my child, with her apron full, came +quickly in at the door, quite red and with beaming eyes, and scarce able +for joy to say more than "Father, father, what have I got?" "Well," quoth +I, "what hast thou got, my child?" Whereupon she opened her apron, and I +scarce trusted my eyes when I saw, instead of the blackberries which she +had gone to seek, two shining pieces of amber, each nearly as big as a +man's head, not to mention the small pieces, some of which were as large +as my hand, and that, God knows, is no small one. "Child of my heart," +cried I, "how camest thou by this blessing from God?" As soon as she could +fetch her breath, she told me as follows:-- +</p> + +<p> +That while she was seeking for blackberries in a dell near the shore she +saw somewhat glistening in the sun, and on coming near she found this +wondrous godsend, seeing that the wind had blown the sand away from off a +black vein of amber. That she straightway had broken off these pieces with +a stick, and that there was plenty more to be got, seeing that it rattled +about under the stick when she thrust it into the sand, neither could she +force it farther than, at most, a foot deep into the ground; <i>item,</i> she +told me that she had covered the place all over again with sand, and swept +it smooth with her apron, so as to leave no traces. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, that no stranger was at all likely to go thither, seeing that no +blackberries grew very near, and she had gone to the spot, moved by +curiosity and a wish to look upon the sea, rather than from any need; but +that she could easily find the place again herself, inasmuch as she had +marked it with three little stones. What was our first act after the +all-merciful God had rescued us out of such misery, nay, even, as it +seemed, endowed us with great riches, any one may guess. When we at length +got up off our knees, my child would straightway have run to tell the maid +our joyful news. But I forbade her, seeing that we could not be sure that +the maid might not tell it again to her friends, albeit in all other +things she was a faithful woman and feared God; but that if she did that, +the Sheriff would be sure to hear of it, and to seize upon our treasure +for his princely highness the Duke--that is to say, for himself; and that +nought would be left to us but the sight thereof, and our want would begin +all over again; that we therefore would say, when folks asked about the +luck that had befallen us, that my deceased brother, who was a councillor +at Rotterdam, had left us a good lump of money; and, indeed, it was true +that I had inherited near two hundred florins from him a year ago, which, +however, the soldiery (as mentioned above) cruelly robbed me of; <i>item,</i> +that I would go to Wolgast myself next day and sell the little bits as +best I might, saying that thou hadst picked them up by the seaside; thou +mayest tell the maid the same, if thou wilt, but show the larger pieces to +no one, and I will send them to thy uncle at Hamburg to be turned into +money for us; perchance I may be able to sell one of them at Wolgast, if I +find occasion, so as to buy clothes enough for the winter for thee and for +me, wherefore thou, too, mayst go with me. We will take the few farthings +which the congregation have brought together to pay the ferry, and thou +canst order the maid to wait for us till eventide at the water-side to +carry home the victuals. She agreed to all this, but said we had better +first break off some more amber, so that we might get a good round sum for +it at Hamburg; and I thought so too, wherefore we stopped at home next +day, seeing that we did not want for food, and that my child, as well as +myself, both wished to refresh ourselves a little before we set out on our +journey; <i>item</i>, we likewise bethought us that old Master Rothoog, of +Loddin, who is a cabinetmaker, might knock together a little box for us to +put the amber in, wherefore I sent the maid to him in the afternoon. +Meanwhile we ourselves went up the Streckelberg, where I cut a young +fir-tree with my pocket-knife, which I had saved from the enemy, and +shaped it like a spade, so that I might be better able to dig deep +therewith. First, however, we looked about us well on the mountain, and, +seeing nobody, my daughter walked on to the place, which she straightway +found again. Great God! what a mass of amber was there! The vein was hard +upon twenty feet long, as near as I could feel, and the depth of it I +could not sound. Nevertheless, save four good-sized pieces, none, however, +so big as those of yesterday, we this day only broke out little splinters, +such as the apothecaries bruise for incense. After we had most carefully +covered and smoothed over the place, a great mishap was very near +befalling us; for we met Witthan her little girl, who was seeking +blackberries, and she asked what my daughter carried in her apron, who +straightway grew red, and stammered so that our secret would have been +betrayed if I had not presently said, "What is that to thee? She has got +fir-apples for firing," which the child believed. Wherefore we resolved in +future only to go up the mountain at night by moonlight, and we went home +and got there before the maid, and hid our treasure in the bedstead, so +that she should not see it. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Tenth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW WE JOURNEYED TO WOLGAST, AND MADE GOOD BARTER THERE +</h3> + +<p> +Two days after, so says my daughter, but old Ilse thinks it was three +(and I myself know not which is true), we at last went to the town, +seeing that Master Rothoog had not got the box ready before. My daughter +covered it over with a piece of my departed wife her wedding-gown, which +the Imperialists had indeed torn to pieces, but as they had left it +lying outside, the wind had blown it into the orchard, where we found +it. It was very shabby before, otherwise I doubt not they would have +carried it off with them. On account of the box, we took old Ilse with +us, who had to carry it, and, as amber is very light ware, she readily +believed that the box held nothing but eatables. At daybreak, then, we +took our staves in our hands and set out with God. Near Zitze, a hare +ran across the road before us, which they say bodes no good. Well-a-day! +When we came near Bannemin I asked a fellow if it was true that here a +mother had slaughtered her own child from hunger, as I had heard. He +said it was, and that the old woman's name was Zisse; but that God had +been wroth at such a horrid deed, and she had got no good by it, seeing +that she vomited so much upon eating it that she forthwith gave up the +ghost. On the whole, he thought things were already going rather better +with the parish, as Almighty God had richly blessed them with fish, both +out of the sea and the Achterwater. Nevertheless a great number of +people had died of hunger here also. He told us that their vicar, +his reverence Johannes Lampius, had had his house burnt down by the +Imperialists, and was lying in a hovel near the church. I sent him +my greeting, desiring that he would soon come to visit me (which the +fellow promised he would take care to deliver to him), for the reverend +Johannes is a pious and learned man, and has also composed sundry Latin +<i>Chronosticha</i> on these wretched times, in <i>metrum heroicum</i>, which, I +must say, please me greatly. When we had crossed the ferry we went in at +Sehms his house, on the Castle Green, who keeps an ale-house; he told us +that the pestilence had not yet altogether ceased in the town; whereat I +was much afraid, more especially as he described to us so many other +horrors and miseries of these fearful times, both here and in other +places, <i>e.g.</i> of the great famine in the island of Rügen, where a +number of people had grown as black as Moors from hunger; a wondrous +thing if it be true, and one might almost gather therefrom how the first +blackamoors came about. But be that as it may. <i>Summa</i>. When Master +Sehms had told us all the news he had heard, and we had thus learnt, +to our great comfort, that the Lord had not visited us only in these +times of heavy need, I called him aside into a chamber and asked him +whether I could not here find means to get money for a piece of amber +which my daughter had found by the sea. At first he said "No"; but then +recollecting, he began, "Stay, let me see, at Nicolas Graeke's, the inn +at the castle, there are two great Dutch merchants--Dieterich von +Pehnen and Jacob Kiekebusch--who are come to buy pitch and boards, +<i>item</i> timber for ships and beams; perchance they may like to cheapen +your amber too; but you had better go up to the castle yourself, for I +do not know for certain whether they still are there." This I did, +although I had not yet eaten anything in the man's house, seeing that I +wanted to know first what sort of bargain I might make, and to save the +farthings belonging to the church until then. So I went into the +castle-yard. Gracious God! what a desert had even his Princely Highness' +house become within a short time! The Danes had ruined the stables and +hunting-lodge, Anno 1628; <i>item</i>, destroyed several rooms in the castle; +and in the <i>locamentum</i> of his Princely Highness Duke Philippus, where, +Anno 22, he so graciously entertained me and my child, as will be told +further on, now dwelt the innkeeper Nicolas Graeke; and all the fair +tapestries, whereon was represented the pilgrimage to Jerusalem of his +Princely Highness Bogislaus X, were torn down and the walls left grey +and bare. At this sight my heart was sorely grieved; but I presently +inquired for the merchants, who sat at the table drinking their parting +cup, with their travelling equipments already lying by them, seeing that +they were just going to set out on their way to Stettin; straightway one +of them jumped up from his liquor--a little fellow with a right noble +paunch and a black plaster on his nose--and asked me what I would of +them? I took him aside into a window, and told him I had some fine +amber, if he had a mind to buy it of me, which he straightway agreed to +do. And when he had whispered somewhat into the ear of his fellow, he +began to look very pleasant, and reached me the pitcher before we went +to my inn. I drank to him right heartily, seeing that (as I have already +said) I was still fasting, so that I felt my very heart warmed by it in +an instant. (Gracious God, what can go beyond a good draught of wine +taken within measure!) After this we went to my inn, and told the maid +to carry the box on one side into a small chamber. I had scarce opened +it and taken away the gown, when the man (whose name was Dieterich von +Pehnen, as he had told me by the way) held up both hands for joy, and +said he had never seen such wealth of amber, and how had I come by it? I +answered that my child had found it on the sea-shore; whereat he +wondered greatly that we had so much amber here, and offered me three +hundred florins for the whole box. I was quite beside myself for joy at +such an offer, but took care not to let him see it, and bargained with +him till I got five hundred florins, and I was to go with him to the +castle and take the money forthwith. Hereupon I ordered mine host to +make ready at once a mug of beer and a good dinner for my child, and +went back to the castle with the man and the maid, who carried the box, +begging him, in order to avoid common talk, to say nothing of my good +fortune to mine host, nor, indeed, to any one else in the town, and to +count out the money to me privately, seeing that I could not be sure +that the thieves might not lay in wait for me on the road home if they +heard of it, and this the man did; for he whispered something into the +ear of his fellow, who straightway opened his leathern surcoat, <i>item</i> +his doublet and hose, and unbuckled from his paunch a well-filled purse, +which he gave to him. <i>Summa</i>. Before long I had my riches in my pocket, +and, moreover, the man begged me to write to him at Amsterdam whenever I +found any more amber, the which I promised to do. But the worthy fellow +(as I have since heard) died of the plague at Stettin, together with his +companion--truly I wish it had happened otherwise. Shortly after I was +very near getting into great trouble; for, as I had an extreme longing +to fall on my knees, so that I could not wait until such time as I +should have got back to my inn, I went up three or four steps of the +castle stairs and entered into a small chamber, where I humbled myself +before the Lord. But the host, Nicolas Graeke, followed me, thinking I +was a thief, and would have stopped me, so that I knew not how to excuse +myself by saying that I had been made drunken by the wine which the +strange merchants had given to me (for he had seen what a good pull I +had made at it), seeing I had not broken my fast that morning, and that +I was looking for a chamber wherein I might sleep a while, which lie he +believed (if, in truth, it were a lie, for I was really drunken, though +not with wine, but with love and gratitude to my Maker), and accordingly +he let me go. +</p> + +<p> +But I must now tell my story of his Princely Highness, as I promised +above. Anno 22, as I chanced to walk with my daughter, who was then a +child of about twelve years old, in the castle-garden at Wolgast, and was +showing her the beautiful flowers that grew there, it chanced that as we +came round from behind some bushes we espied my gracious lord the Duke +Philippus Julius, with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff, who lay +here on a visit, standing on a mount and conversing, wherefore we were +about to return. But as my gracious lords presently walked on toward the +drawbridge, we went to look at the mount where they had stood; of a sudden +my little girl shouted loudly for joy, seeing that she found on the earth +a costly signet-ring, which one of their Princely Highnesses doubtless +had dropped. I therefore said, "Come and we will follow our gracious lords +with all speed, and thou shall say to them in Latin, '<i>Serenissimi +principes, quis vestrum hunc annulum deperdidit</i>?' (for, as I have +mentioned above, I had instructed her in the Latin tongue ever since her +seventh year); and if one of them says '<i>Ego</i>,' give to him the ring. +<i>Item</i>.--Should he ask thee in Latin to whom thou belongest, be not +abashed, and say '<i>Ego sum filia pastoris Coserowiensis</i>'; for thou wilt +thus find favour in the eyes of their Princely Highnesses, for they are +both gracious gentlemen, more especially the taller one, who is our +gracious ruler, Philippus Julius himself." This she promised to do; but as +she trembled sorely as she went, I encouraged her yet more and promised +her a new gown if she did it, seeing that even as a little child she would +have given a great deal for fine clothes. As soon, then, as we were come +into the courtyard, I stood by the statue of his Princely Highness Ernest +Ludewig, and whispered her to run boldly after them, as their Princely +Highnesses were only a few steps before us, and had already turned toward +the great entrance. This she did, but of a sudden she stood still, and +would have turned back, because she was frightened by the spurs of their +Princely Highnesses, as she afterwards told me, seeing that they rattled +and jingled very loudly. +</p> + +<p> +But my gracious lady the Duchess Agnes saw her from the open window +wherein she lay, and called to his Princely Highness, "My lord, there is a +little maiden behind you, who, it seems, would speak with you," whereupon +his Princely Highness straightway turned him round, smiling pleasantly, so +that my little maid presently took courage, and, holding up the ring, +spoke in Latin as I had told her. Hereat both the princes wondered beyond +measure, and after my gracious Duke Philippus had felt his finger, he +answered, "<i>Dulcissima puella, ego perdidi</i>"; whereupon she gave it to +him. Then he patted her cheek, and again asked, "<i>Sed quaenam es, et unde +venis?</i>" whereupon she boldly gave her answer, and at the same time +pointed with her finger to where I stood by the statue; whereupon his +Princely Highness motioned me to draw near. My gracious lady saw all that +passed from the window, but all at once she left it. She, however, +came back to it again before I had time even humbly to draw near to my +gracious lord, and beckoned to my child, and held a cake out of the window +for her. On my telling her, she ran up to the window, but her Princely +Highness could not reach so low nor she so high above her as to take it, +wherefore my gracious lady commanded her to come up into the castle, and +as she looked anxiously round after me, motioned me also, as did my +gracious lord himself, who presently took the timid little maid by the +hand and went up with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff. My +gracious lady came to meet us at the door, and caressed and embraced my +little daughter, so that she soon grew quite bold and ate the cake. When +my gracious lord had asked me my name, <i>item</i>, why I had in so singular a +manner taught my daughter the Latin tongue, I answered that I had heard +much from a cousin at Cologne of Maria Schurman, and as I had observed a +very excellent <i>ingenium</i> in my child, and also had time enough in my +lonely cure, I did not hesitate to take her in hand, and teach her from +her youth up, seeing I had no boy alive. Hereat their Princely Highnesses +marvelled greatly, and put some more questions to her in Latin, which she +answered without any prompting from me. Whereupon my gracious lord Duke +Philippus said in the vulgar tongue, "When thou art grown up and art one +day to be married, tell it to me, and thou shall then have another ring +from me, and whatsoever else pertains to a bride, for thou hast this day +done me good service, seeing that this ring is a precious jewel to me, as +I had it from my wife." Hereupon I whispered her to kiss his Princely +Highness' hand for such a promise, and so she did. +</p> + +<p> +(But alas! most gracious God, it is one thing to promise, and quite +another to hold. Where is his Princely Highness at this time? Wherefore +let me ever keep in mind that "thou only art faithful, and that which thou +hast promised thou wilt surely hold." Psalm xxxiii. 4. Amen.) +</p> + +<p> +<i>Item</i>. When his Princely Highness had also inquired concerning myself +and my cure, and heard that I was of ancient and noble family, and my +<i>salarium</i> very small, he called from the window to his chancellor, +D. Rungius, who stood without, looking at the sun-dial, and told him that +I was to have an addition from the convent at Pudgla, <i>item</i> from the +crown-lands at Ernsthoff, as I mentioned above; but, more's the pity, I +never have received the same, although the <i>instrumentum donationis</i> was +sent me soon after by his Princely Highness' chancellor. +</p> + +<p> +Then cakes were brought for me also, <i>item</i>, a glass of foreign wine in a +glass painted with armorial bearings, whereupon I humbly took my leave, +together with my daughter. +</p> + +<p> +However, to come back to my bargain, anybody may guess what joy my child +felt when I showed her the fair ducats and florins I had gotten for the +amber. To the maid, however, we said that we had inherited such riches +from my brother in Holland; and after we had again given thanks to the +Lord on our knees, and eaten our dinner, we bought in a great store of +bread, salt, meat, and stock-fish: <i>item</i>, of clothes, seeing that I +provided what was needful for us three throughout the winter from the +cloth-merchant. Moreover, for my daughter I bought a hair-net and a +scarlet silk bodice, with a black apron and white petticoat, <i>item</i>, a +fine pair of earrings, as she begged hard for them; and as soon as I had +ordered the needful from the cordwainer we set out on our way homewards, +as it began to grow very dark; but we could not carry nearly all we had +bought. Wherefore we were forced to get a peasant from Bannemin to help +us, who likewise was come into the town; and as I found out from him +that the fellow who gave me the piece of bread was a poor cotter called +Pantermehl, who dwelt in the village by the roadside, I shoved a couple of +loaves in at his house-door without his knowing it, and we went on our way +by the bright moonlight, so that by the help of God we got home about ten +o'clock at night. I likewise gave a loaf to the other fellow, though truly +he deserved it not, seeing that he would go with us no further than to +Zitze. But I let him go, for I, too, had not deserved that the Lord should +so greatly bless me. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Eleventh Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW I FED ALL THE CONGREGATION: +<i>ITEM</i>, HOW I JOURNEYED TO THE HORSE FAIR AT GÜTZKOW, AND WHAT BEFELL +ME THERE +</h3> + +<p> +Next morning my daughter cut up the blessed bread, and sent to every one +in the village a good large piece. But as we saw that our store would +soon run low, we sent the maid with a truck, which we bought of Adam +Lempken, to Wolgast to buy more bread, which she did. <i>Item</i>, I gave +notice throughout the parish that on Sunday next I should administer the +blessed sacrament, and in the meantime I bought up all the large fish +that the people of the village had caught. And when the blessed Sunday +was come I first heard the confessions of the whole parish, and after +that I preached a sermon on Matt. xv. 32--"I have compassion on the +multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." I first applied the same to +spiritual food only, and there arose a great sighing from both the men +and the women, when, at the end, I pointed to the altar, whereon stood +the blessed food for the soul, and repeated the words, "I have compassion +on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." (N.B.--The pewter +cup I had borrowed at Wolgast, and bought there a little earthenware +plate for a paten till such time as Master Bloom should have made ready +the silver cup and paten I had bespoke.) Thereupon as soon as I had +consecrated and administered the blessed sacrament, <i>item</i>, led the +closing hymn, and every one had silently prayed his "Our Father" before +going out of church, I came out of the confessional again, and motioned +the people to stay yet a while, as the blessed Saviour would feed not +only their souls, but their bodies also, seeing that he still had the +same compassion on his people as of old on the people at the Sea of +Galilee, as they should presently see. Then I went into the tower and +fetched out two baskets which the maid had bought at Wolgast, and which I +had hidden there in good time; set them down in front of the altar, and +took off the napkins with which they were covered, whereupon a very loud +shout arose, inasmuch as they saw one filled with broiled fish and the +other with bread, which we had put into them privately. Hereupon, like +our Saviour, I gave thanks and brake it, and gave it to the churchwarden +Hinrich Seden, that he might distribute it among the men, and to my +daughter for the women. Whereupon I made application of the text, "I have +compassion on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat," to the +food of the body also; and walking up and down in the church, amid great +outcries from all, I exhorted them alway to trust in God's mercy, to pray +without ceasing, to work diligently, and to consent to no sin. What was +left I made them gather up for their children and the old people who were +left at home. +</p> + +<p> +After church, when I had scarce put off my surplice, Hinrich Seden his +squint-eyed wife came and impudently asked for more for her husband's +journey to Liepe; neither had she had anything for herself, seeing she had +not come to church. This angered me sore, and I said to her, "Why wast thou +not at church? Nevertheless, if thou hadst come humbly to me thou shouldst +have gotten somewhat even now, but as thou comest impudently, I will give +thee nought: think on what thou didst to me and to my child." But she stood +at the door and glowered impudently about the room till my daughter took +her by the arm and led her out, saying, "Hear'st thou, thou shalt come back +humbly before thou gett'st anything, but when thou comest thus, thou also +shalt have thy share, for we will no longer reckon with thee an eye for an +eye, and a tooth for a tooth; let the Lord do that if such be his will, but +we will gladly forgive thee!" Hereupon she at last went out at the door, +muttering to herself as she was wont; but she spat several times in the +street, as we saw from the window. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after I made up my mind to take into my service a lad, near upon +twenty years of age, called Claus Neels, seeing that his father, old +Neels of Loddin, begged hard that I would do so, besides which the lad +pleased me well in manners and otherwise. Then, as we had a good harvest +this year, I resolved to buy me a couple of horses forthwith, and to sow +my field again; for although it was now late in the year, I thought that +the most merciful God might bless the crop with increase if it seemed +good to him. +</p> + +<p> +Neither did I feel much care with respect to food for them, inasmuch as +there was a great plenty of hay in the neighbourhood, seeing that all the +cattle had been killed or driven away (as related above). I therefore made +up my mind to go in God's name with my new ploughman to Gützkow, whither a +great many Mecklenburg horses were brought to the fair, seeing that times +were not yet so bad there as with us. Meanwhile I went a few more times up +the Streckelberg with my daughter at night, and by moonlight, but found +very little; so that we began to think our luck had come to an end, when, +on the third night, we broke off some pieces of amber bigger even than +those the two Dutchmen had bought. These I resolved to send to my wife's +brother, Martin Behring, at Hamburg, seeing that the schipper Wulff of +Wolgast intends, as I am told, to sail thither this very autumn, with +pitch and wood for shipbuilding. I accordingly packed it all up in a +strong chest, which I carried with me to Wolgast when I started with my +man on my journey to Gützkow. Of this journey I will only relate thus +much, that there were plenty of horses and very few buyers in the market. +Wherefore I bought a pair of fine black horses for twenty florins apiece; +<i>item</i>, a cart for five florins; <i>item</i>, twenty-five bushels of rye, which +also came from Mecklenburg, at one florin the bushel, whereas it is hardly +to be had now at Wolgast for love or money, and costs three florins or +more the bushel. I might therefore have made a good bargain in rye at +Gützkow if it had become my office, and had I not, moreover, been afraid +lest the robbers, who swarm in these evil times, should take away my corn, +and ill-use and perchance murder me into the bargain, as has happened to +sundry people already. For, at this time especially, such robberies were +carried on after a strange and frightful fashion on Strellin heath at +Gützkow; but by God's help it all came to light just as I journeyed +thither with my man-servant to the fair, and I will here tell how it +happened. Some months before a man had been broken on the wheel at +Gützkow, because, being tempted of Satan, he murdered a travelling +workman. The man, however, straightway began to walk after so fearful a +fashion, that in the evening and night-season he sprang down from the +wheel in his gallows' dress whenever a cart passed by the gallows, which +stands hard by the road to Wolgast, and jumped up behind the people, who +in horror and dismay flogged on their horses, and thereby made a great +rattling on the log embankment which leads beside the gallows into a +little wood called the Kraulin. And it was a strange thing that on the +same night the travellers were almost always robbed or murdered on +Strellin heath. Hereupon the magistrates had the man taken down from the +wheel and buried under the gallows, in hopes of laying his ghost. But it +went on just as before, sitting at night snow-white on the wheel, so that +none durst any longer travel the road to Wolgast. Until at last it +happened that, at the time of the above-named fair, young Rüdiger von +Nienkerken of Mellenthin, in Usedom, who had been studying at Wittenberg +and elsewhere, and was now on his way home, came this road by night with +his carriage. Just before, at the inn, I myself had tried to persuade him +to stop the night at Gützkow on account of the ghost, and to go on his +journey with me next morning, but he would not. Now as soon as this young +lord drove along the road, he also espied the apparition sitting on the +wheel, and scarcely had he passed the gallows when the ghost jumped down +and ran after him. The driver was horribly afraid, and lashed on the +horses, as everybody else had done before, and they, taking fright, +galloped away over the log-road with a marvellous clatter. Meanwhile, +however, the young nobleman saw by the light of the moon how that the +apparition flattened a ball of horse-dung whereon it trod, and straightway +felt sure within himself that it was no ghost. Whereupon he called to the +driver to stop; and as the man would not hearken to him, he sprang out of +the carriage, drew his rapier, and hastened to attack the ghost. When the +ghost saw this he would have turned and fled, but the young nobleman gave +him such a blow on the head with his fist that he fell upon the ground +with a loud wailing. <i>Summa</i>: the young lord, having called back his +driver, dragged the ghost into the town again, where he turned out to be a +shoemaker called Schwelm. +</p> + +<p> +I also, on seeing such a great crowd, ran thither with many others to +look at the fellow. He trembled like an aspen leaf; and when he was +roughly told to make a clean breast, whereby he might peradventure save +his own life, if it appeared that he had murdered no one, he confessed +that he had got his wife to make him a gallows' dress, which he had +put on, and had sat on the wheel before the dead man, when, from the +darkness and the distance, no one could see that the two were sitting +there together; and this he did more especially when he knew that a +cart was going from the town to Wolgast. When the cart came by, and he +jumped down and ran after it, all the people were so affrighted that +they no longer kept their eyes upon the gallows, but only on him, +flogged the horses, and galloped with much noise and clatter over the +log embankment. This was heard by his fellows in Strellin and Dammbecke +(two villages which are about three-fourths on the way), who held +themselves ready to unyoke the horses and to plunder the travellers +when they came up with them. That after the dead man was buried he +could play the ghost more easily still, etc. That this was the whole +truth, and that he himself had never in his life robbed, still less +murdered, any one; wherefore he begged to be forgiven: that all the +robberies and murders which had happened had been done by his fellows +alone. Ah, thou cunning knave! But I heard afterwards that he and his +fellows were broken on the wheel together, as was but fair. +</p> + +<p> +And now to come back to my journey. The young nobleman abode that night +with me at the inn, and early next morning we both set forth; and as we +had grown into good-fellowship together, I got into his coach with him, +as he offered me, so as to talk by the way, and my Claus drove behind +us. I soon found that he was a well-bred, honest, and learned gentleman, +seeing that he despised the wild student life, and was glad that he had +now done with their scandalous drinking-bouts: moreover, he talked his +Latin readily. I had therefore much pleasure with him in the coach. +However, at Wolgast the rope of the ferry-boat broke, so that we were +carried down the stream to Zeuzin, and at length we only got ashore with +great trouble. Meanwhile it grew late, and we did not get into Coserow +till nine, when I asked the young lord to abide the night with me, which +he agreed to do. We found my child sitting in the chimney-corner, making +a petticoat for her little god-daughter out of her own old clothes. She +was greatly frighted, and changed colour when she saw the young lord +come in with me, and heard that he was to lie there that night, seeing +that as yet we had no more beds than we had bought for our own need from +old Zabel Nehring the forest ranger his widow, at Uekeritze. Wherefore +she took me aside: What was to be done? My bed was in an ill plight, her +little god-child having lain on it that morning; and she could nowise +put the young nobleman into hers, although she would willingly creep in +by the maid herself. And when I asked her why not? she blushed scarlet +and began to cry, and would not show herself again the whole evening, so +that the maid had to see to everything, even to the putting white sheets +on my child's bed for the young lord, as she would not do it herself. I +only tell this to show how maidens are. For next morning she came into +the room with her red silk bodice, and the net on her hair, and the +apron; <i>summa</i>, dressed in all the things I had bought her at Wolgast, +so that the young lord was amazed, and talked much with her over the +morning meal. Whereupon he took his leave, and desired me to visit him +at his castle. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="images/illp148.jpg"><img src="images/illp148_th.jpg" alt="The Gallows Ghost"></a> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twelfth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +WHAT FURTHER JOY AND SORROW BEFELL US: +<i>ITEM</i>, HOW WITTICH APPELMANN RODE TO DAMEROW TO THE WOLFHUNT, AND WHAT HE +PROPOSED TO MY DAUGHTER +</h3> + +<p> +The Lord blessed my parish wonderfully this winter, inasmuch as not only a +great quantity of fish were caught and sold in all the villages, but in +Coserow they even killed four seals: <i>item</i>, the great storm of the 12th +of December threw a goodly quantity of amber on the shore, so that many +found amber, although no very large pieces, and they began to buy cows and +sheep from Liepe and other places, as I myself also bought two cows; +<i>item</i>, my grain which I had sown, half on my own field and half on old +Paasch's, sprang up bravely and gladly, as the Lord had till <i>datum</i> +bestowed on us an open winter; but so soon as it had shot up a finger's +length, we found it one morning again torn up and ruined, and this time +also by the devil's doings, since now, as before, not the smallest trace +of oxen or of horses was to be seen in the field. May the righteous God, +however, reward it, as indeed he already has done. Amen. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, however, something uncommon happened. For one morning, as I +have heard, when Lord Wittich saw out of the window that the daughter of +his fisherman, a child of sixteen, whom he had diligently pursued, went +into the coppice to gather dry sticks, he went thither too; wherefore, I +will not say, but every one may guess for himself. When he had gone some +way along the convent mound, and was come to the first bridge, where the +mountain-ash stands, he saw two wolves coming towards him; and as he had +no weapon with him, save a staff, he climbed up into a tree; whereupon the +wolves trotted round it, blinked at him with their eyes, licked their +lips, and at last jumped with their fore-paws up against the tree, +snapping at him; he then saw that one was a he-wolf, a great fat brute +with only one eye. Hereupon in his fright he began to scream, and the +long-suffering of God was again shown to him, without, however, making him +wiser; for the maiden, who had crept behind a juniper-bush in the field +when she saw the Sheriff coming, ran back again to the castle and called +together a number of people, who came and drove away the wolves, and +rescued his lordship. He then ordered a great wolf-hunt to be held next +day in the convent wood, and he who brought the one-eyed monster, dead or +alive, was to have a barrel of beer for his pains. Still they could not +catch him, albeit they that day took four wolves in their nets, and killed +them. He therefore straightway ordered a wolf-hunt to be held in my +parish. But when the fellow came to toll the bell for a wolf-hunt, he did +not stop a while, as is the wont for wolf-hunts, but loudly rang the bell +on, <i>sine morâ</i>, so that all the folk thought a fire had broken out, and +ran screaming out of their houses. My child also came running out (I +myself had driven to visit a sick person at Zempin, seeing that walking +began to be wearisome to me, and that I could now afford to be more at +mine ease); but she had not stood long, and was asking the reason of the +ringing, when the Sheriff himself, on his grey charger, with three +cart-loads of toils and nets following him, galloped up and ordered the +people straightway to go into the forest and to drive the wolves with +rattles. Hereupon he, with his hunters and a few men whom he had picked +out of the crowd, were to ride on and spread the nets behind Damerow, +seeing that the island is wondrous narrow there, and the wolf dreads the +water. When he saw my daughter he turned his horse round, chucked her +under the chin, and graciously asked her who she was, and whence she came? +When he had heard it, he said she was as fair as an angel, and that he had +not known till now that the parson here had so beauteous a girl. He then +rode off, looking round at her two or three times. At the first beating +they found the one-eyed wolf, who lay in the rushes near the water. Hereat +his lordship rejoiced greatly, and made the grooms drag him out of the net +with long iron hooks, and hold him there for near an hour, while my lord +slowly and cruelly tortured him to death, laughing heartily the while, +which is a <i>prognosticon</i> of what he afterwards did with my poor child, +for wolf or lamb is all one to this villain. Just God! But I will not be +beforehand with my tale. +</p> + +<p> +Next day came old Seden his squint-eyed wife, limping like a lame dog, and +put it to my daughter whether she would not go into the service of the +Sheriff; praised him as a good and pious man; and vowed that all the world +said of him were foul lies, as she herself could bear witness, seeing that +she had lived in his service for above ten years. <i>Item</i>, she praised the +good cheer they had there, and the handsome beer-money that the great +lords who often lay there gave the servants which waited upon them; that +she herself had more than once received a rose-noble from his Princely +Highness Duke Ernest Ludewig; moreover, many pretty fellows came there, +which might make her fortune, inasmuch as she was a fair woman, and might +take her choice of a husband; whereas here in Coserow, where nobody ever +came, she might wait till she was old and ugly before she got a curch on +her head, etc. Hereat my daughter was beyond measure angered, and +answered, "Ah! thou old witch, and who has told thee that I wish to go +into service to get a curch on my head? Go thy ways, and never enter the +house again, for I have nought to do with thee." Whereupon she walked away +again, muttering between her teeth. +</p> + +<p> +Scarce had a few days passed, and I was standing in the chamber with the +glazier, who was putting in new windows, when I heard my daughter scream +in the kitchen. Whereupon I straightway ran in thither, and was shocked +and affrighted when I saw the Sheriff himself standing in the corner with +his arm round my child her neck; he, however, presently let her go, and +said: "Aha, reverend Abraham, what a coy little fool you have for a +daughter! I wanted to greet her with a kiss, as I always use to do, and +she struggled and cried out as if I had been some young fellow who had +stolen in upon her, whereas I might be her father twice over." As I +answered nought, he went on to say that he had done it to encourage her, +seeing that he desired to take her into his service, as indeed I knew, +with more excuses of the same kind which I have forgot. Hereupon I pressed +him to come into the room, seeing that after all he was the ruler set over +me by God, and humbly asked what his lordship desired of me. Whereupon he +answered me graciously that it was true he had just cause for anger +against me, seeing that I had preached at him before the whole +congregation, but that he was ready to forgive me, and to have the +complaint he had sent in <i>contra me</i> to his Princely Highness at Stettin, +and which might easily cost me my place, returned to him if I would but do +his will. And when I asked what his Lordship's will might be, and excused +myself as best I might with regard to the sermon, he answered that he +stood in great need of a faithful housekeeper whom he could set over the +other women-folk; and as he had learnt that my daughter was a faithful and +trustworthy person, he would that I should send her into his service. "See +there," said he to her, and pinched her cheek the while, "I want to lead +you to honour, though you are such a young creature, and yet you cry out +as if I were going to bring you to dishonour. Fie upon you!" (My child +still remembers all this <i>verbotenus</i>; I myself should have forgot it a +hundred times over in all the wretchedness I since underwent.) But she was +offended at his words, and, jumping up from her seat, she answered +shortly, "I thank your lordship for the honour, but will only keep house +for my papa, which is a better honour for me"; whereupon he turned to me +and asked what I said to that. I must own that I was not a little +affrighted, inasmuch as I thought of the future and of the credit in which +the Sheriff stood with his Princely Highness. I therefore answered with +all humility that I could not force my child, and that I loved to have her +about me, seeing that my dear huswife had departed this life during the +heavy pestilence, and I had no child but only her. That I hoped therefore +his lordship would not be displeased with me that I could not send her +into his lordship's service. This angered him sore, and after disputing +some time longer in vain he took leave, not without threats that he would +make me pay for it. <i>Item</i>, my man, who was standing in the stable, heard +him say as he went round the corner, "I will have her yet, in spite of +him!" +</p> + +<p> +I was already quite disheartened by all this, when, on the Sunday +following, there came his huntsman Johannes Kurt, a tall, handsome fellow, +and smartly dressed. He brought a roebuck tied before him on his horse, +and said that his lordship had sent it to me for a present, in hopes that +I would think better of his offer, seeing that he had been ever since +seeking on all sides for a housekeeper in vain. Moreover, that if I +changed my mind about it his lordship would speak for me to his Princely +Highness, so that the dotation of Duke Philippus Julius should be paid to +me out of the princely <i>aerarium</i>, etc. But the young fellow got the same +answer as his master had done, and I desired him to take the roebuck away +with him again. But this he refused to do; and as I had by chance told him +at first that game was my favourite meat, he promised to supply me with it +abundantly, seeing that there was plenty of game in the forest, and that +he often went a-hunting on the Streckelberg; moreover, that I (he meant my +daughter) pleased him uncommonly, the more because I would not do his +master's will, who, as he told me in confidence, would never leave any +girl in peace, and certainly would not let my damsel alone. Although I had +rejected his game, he brought it notwithstanding, and in the course of +three weeks he was sure to come four or five times, and grew more and more +sweet upon my daughter. He talked a vast deal about his good place, and +how he was in search of a good huswife, whence we soon guessed what +quarter the wind blew from. <i>Ergo</i>, my daughter told him that if he was +seeking for a huswife she wondered that he lost his time in riding to +Coserow to no purpose, for that she knew of no huswife for him there, +which vexed him so sore that he never came again. +</p> + +<p> +And now any one would think that the grapes were sour even for the +Sheriff; nevertheless he came riding to us soon after, and without more +ado asked my daughter in marriage for his huntsman. Moreover, he promised +to build him a house of his own in the forest; <i>item</i>, to give him pots +and kettles, crockery, bedding, etc., seeing that he had stood god-father +to the young fellow, who, moreover, had ever borne himself well during +seven years he had been in his service. Hereupon my daughter answered that +his lordship had already heard that she would keep house for nobody but +her papa, and that she was still much too young to become a huswife. +</p> + +<p> +This, however, did not seem to anger him, but after he had talked a long +time to no purpose, he took leave quite kindly, like a cat which pretends +to let a mouse go, and creeps behind the corners, but she is not in +earnest, and presently springs out upon it again. For doubtless he saw +that he had set to work stupidly; wherefore he went away in order to begin +his attack again after a better fashion, and Satan went with him, as +whilom with Judas Iscariot. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Thirteenth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +WHAT MORE HAPPENED DURING THE WINTER: +<i>ITEM</i>, HOW IN THE SPRING WITCHCRAFT BEGAN IN THE VILLAGE +</h3> + +<p> +Nothing else of note happened during the winter, save that the merciful +God bestowed a great plenty of fish, both from the Achterwater and the +sea, and the parish again had good food; so that it might be said of us, +as it is written, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great +mercies will I gather thee." Wherefore we were not weary of praising the +Lord; and the whole congregation did much for the church, buying new +pulpit and altar cloths, seeing that the enemy had stolen the old ones. +<i>Item</i>, they desired to make good to me the money I had paid for the new +cups, which, however, I would not take. +</p> + +<p> +There were still, however, about ten peasants in the parish who had not +been able to buy their seed-corn for the spring, inasmuch as they had +spent all their earnings on cattle and corn for bread. I therefore made an +agreement with them that I would lend them the money for it, and that if +they could not repay me this year, they might the next, which offer they +thankfully took; and we sent seven waggons to Friedland, in Mecklenburg, +to fetch seed-corn for us all. For my beloved brother-in-law, Martin +Behring, in Hamburg, had already sent me by the schipper Wulf, who had +sailed home by Christmas, 700 florins for the amber: may the Lord prosper +it with him! +</p> + +<p> +Old Thiemcke died this winter in Loddin, who used to be the midwife in the +parish, and had also brought my child into the world. Of late, however, +she had had but little to do, seeing that in this year I only baptized two +children, namely, Jung his son in Uekeritze, and Lene Hebers her little +daughter, the same whom the Imperialists afterwards speared. <i>Item</i>, it +was now full five years since I had married the last couple. Hence any one +may guess that I might have starved to death had not the righteous God so +mercifully considered and blessed me in other ways. Wherefore to him alone +be all honour and glory. Amen. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, however, it so happened that, not long after the Sheriff had +last been here, witchcraft began in the village. I sat reading with my +child the second book of <i>Virgilius</i> of the fearful destruction of the +city of Troy, which was more terrible even than that of our own village, +when a cry arose that our old neighbour Zabel his red cow, which he had +bought only a few days before, had stretched out all-fours and seemed +about to die; and this was the more strange as she had fed heartily but +half an hour before. My child was therefore begged to go and pluck three +hairs from its tail, and bury them under the threshold of the stall; for +it was well known that if this was done by a pure maid the cow would get +better. My child then did as they would have her, seeing that she is the +only maid in the whole village (for the others are still children); and +the cow got better from that very hour, whereat all the folks were amazed. +But it was not long before the same thing befell Witthahn her pig, whilst +it was feeding heartily. She too came running to beg my child for God's +sake to take compassion on her, and to do something for her pig, as ill +men had bewitched it. Hereupon she had pity on her also, and it did as +much good as it had done before. But the woman, who was <i>gravida</i>, was +straightway taken in labour from the fright; and my child was scarce out +of the pigsty when the woman went into her cottage, wailing and holding by +the wall, and called together all the woman of the neighbourhood, seeing +that the proper midwife was dead, as mentioned above; and before long +something shot to the ground from under her; and when the women stooped +down to pick it up, the devil's imp, which had wings like a bat, flew up +off the ground, whizzed and buzzed about the room, and then shot out of +the window with a great noise, so that the glass clattered down into the +street. When they looked after it nothing was to be found. Any one may +judge for himself what a great noise this made in all the neighbourhood; +and the whole village believed that it was no one but old Seden his +squint-eyed wife that had brought forth such a devil's brat. +</p> + +<p> +But the people soon knew not what to believe. For that woman her cow got +the same thing as all the other cows; wherefore she too came lamenting, +and begged my daughter to take pity on her, as on the rest, and to cure +her poor cow for the love of God. That if she had taken it ill of her that +she had said anything about going into service with the Sheriff, she could +only say she had done it for the best, etc. <i>Summa</i>, she talked over my +unhappy child to go and cure her cow. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile I was on my knees every Sunday before the Lord with the whole +congregation, praying that he would not allow the Evil One to take from us +that which his mercy had once more bestowed upon us after such extreme +want. <i>Item</i>, that he would bring to light the <i>auctor</i> of such devilish +works, so that he might receive the punishment he deserved. +</p> + +<p> +But all was of no avail. For a very few days had passed when the mischief +befell Stoffer Zuter his spotted cow, and he, too, like all the rest, came +running to fetch my daughter; she accordingly went with him, but could do +no good, and the beast died under her hands. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Item</i>, Katy Berow had bought a little pig with the money my daughter had +paid her in the winter for spinning, and the poor woman kept it like a +child, and let it run about her room. This little pig got the mischief, +like all the rest, in the twinkling of an eye; and when my daughter was +called it grew no better, but also died under her hands; whereupon the +poor woman made a great outcry and tore her hair for grief, so that my +child was moved to pity her, and promised her another pig next time my sow +should litter. Meantime another week passed over, during which I went on, +together with the whole congregation, to call upon the Lord for his +merciful help, but all in vain, when the same thing happened to old wife +Seden her little pig. Whereupon she again came running for my daughter +with loud outcries, and although my child told her that she must have seen +herself that nothing she could do for the cattle cured them any longer, +she ceased not to beg and pray her and to lament till she went forth to do +what she could for her with the help of God. But it was all to no purpose, +inasmuch as the little pig died before she left the sty. What think you +this devil's whore then did? After she had run screaming through the +village she said that any one might see that my daughter was no longer a +maid, else why could she now do no good to the cattle, whereas she had +formerly cured them? She supposed my child had lost her maiden honour on +the Streckelberg, whither she went so often this spring, and that God only +knew who had taken it! But she said no more then, and we did not hear the +whole until afterwards. And it is indeed true that my child had often +walked on the Streckelberg this spring, both with me and also alone, in +order to seek for flowers and to look upon the blessed sea, while she +recited aloud, as she was wont, such verses out of <i>Virgilius</i> as pleased +her best (for whatever she read a few times, that she remembered). +</p> + +<p> +Neither did I forbid her to take these walks, for there were no wolves now +left on the Streckelberg, and even if there had been they always fly +before a human creature in the summer season. Howbeit, I forbade her to +dig for amber. For as it now lay deep, and we knew not what to do with the +earth we threw up, I resolved to tempt the Lord no further, but to wait +till my store of money grew very scant before we would dig any more. +</p> + +<p> +But my child did not do as I had bidden her, although she had promised she +would, and of this her disobedience came all our misery. (Oh, blessed +Lord, how grave a matter is thy holy fourth commandment!) For as his +reverence Johannes Lampius, of Crummin, who visited me this spring, had +told me that the Cantor of Wolgast wanted to sell the <i>Opp. St. +Augustini</i>, and I had said before her that I desired above all things to +buy that book, but had not money enough left, she got up in the night +without my knowledge to dig for amber, meaning to sell it as best she +might at Wolgast, in order secretly to present me with the <i>Opp. St. +Augustini</i> on my birthday, which falls on the 28th <i>mensis Augusti</i>. She +had always covered over the earth she cast up with twigs of fir, whereof +there were plenty in the forest, so that no one should perceive anything +of it. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, however, it befell that the young <i>nobilis</i> Rüdiger of +Nienkerken came riding one day to gather news of the terrible witchcraft +that went on in the village. When I had told him all about it he shook his +head doubtingly, and said he believed that all witchcraft was nothing but +lies and deceit; whereat I was struck with great horror, inasmuch as I had +hitherto held the young lord to be a wiser man, and now could not but see +that he was an Atheist. He guessed what my thoughts were, and with a smile +he answered me by asking whether I had ever read Johannes Wierus, who +would hear nothing of witchcraft, and who argued that all witches were +melancholy persons who only imagined to themselves that they had a +<i>pactum</i> with the devil; and that to him they seemed more worthy of pity +than of punishment? Hereupon I answered that I had not indeed read any +such book (for say, who can read all that fools write?), but that the +appearances here and in all other places proved that it was a monstrous +error to deny the reality of witchcraft, inasmuch as people might then +likewise deny that there were such things as murder, adultery, and theft. +</p> + +<p> +But he called my <i>argumentum</i> a <i>dilemma</i>, and after he had discoursed a +great deal of the devil, all of which I have forgotten, seeing it savoured +strangely of heresy, he said he would relate to me a piece of witchcraft +which he himself had seen at Wittenberg. +</p> + +<p> +It seems that one morning, as an Imperial captain mounted his good charger +at the Elstergate in order to review his company, the horse presently +began to rage furiously, reared, tossed his head, snorted, kicked, and +roared, not as horses used to neigh, but with a sound as though the voice +came from a human throat, so that all the folks were amazed, and thought +the horse bewitched. It presently threw the captain, and crushed his head +with its hoof, so that he lay writhing on the ground, and straightway set +off at full speed. Hereupon a trooper fired his carabine at the bewitched +horse, which fell in the midst of the road, and presently died. That he, +Rüdiger, had then drawn near, together with many others, seeing that the +colonel had forthwith given orders to the surgeon of the regiment to cut +open the horse and see in what state it was inwardly. However, that +everything was quite right, and both the surgeon and army physician +testified that the horse was thoroughly sound; whereupon all the people +cried out more than ever about witchcraft. Meanwhile he himself (I mean +the young <i>nobilis</i>) saw a thin smoke coming out from the horse's +nostrils, and on stooping down to look what it might be, he drew out a +match as long as my finger, which still smouldered, and which some wicked +fellow had privately thrust into its nose with a pin. Hereupon all +thoughts of witchcraft were at an end, and search was made for the +culprit, who was presently found to be no other than the captain's own +groom. For one day that his master had dusted his jacket for him he swore +an oath that he would have his revenge, which indeed the provost-marshal +himself had heard as he chanced to be standing in the stable. <i>Item</i>, +another soldier bore witness that he had seen the fellow cut a piece off +the fuse not long before he led out his master's horse. And thus thought +the young lord, would it be with all witchcraft if it were sifted to the +bottom; like as I myself had seen at Gützkow, where the devil's apparition +turned out to be a cordwainer, and that one day I should own that it was +the same sort of thing here in our village. By reason of this speech I +liked not the young nobleman from that hour forward, believing him to be +an Atheist. Though, indeed, afterwards, I have had cause to see that he +was in the right, more's the pity; for had it not been for him what would +have become of my daughter? +</p> + +<p> +But I will say nothing beforehand.--<i>Summa</i>: I walked about the room in +great displeasure at his words, while the young lord began to argue with +my daughter upon witchcraft, now in Latin, and now in the vulgar tongue, +as the words came into his mouth, and wanted to hear her mind about it. +But she answered that she was a foolish thing, and could have no opinion +on the matter; but that, nevertheless, she believed that what happened in +the village could not be by natural means. Hereupon the maid called me out +of the room (I forget what she wanted of me); but when I came back again +my daughter was as red as scarlet, and the nobleman stood close before +her. I therefore asked her, as soon as he had ridden off, whether anything +had happened, which she at first denied, but afterwards owned that he had +said to her while I was gone that he knew but one person who could +bewitch; and when she asked him who that person was, he caught hold of her +hand and said, "It is yourself, sweet maid; for you have thrown a spell +upon my heart, as I feel right well!" But that he said nothing further, +but only gazed on her face with eager eyes, and this it was that made her +so red. +</p> + +<p> +But this is the way with maidens; they ever have their secrets if one's +back is turned but for a minute; and the proverb +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + To drive a goose and watch a maid +<br> Needs the devil himself to aid +</p> + +<p> +is but too true, as will be shown hereafter, more's the pity! +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Fourteenth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW OLD SEDEN DISAPPEARED ALL ON A SUDDEN: +<i>ITEM</i>, HOW THE GREAT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS CAME TO POMERANIA, AND TOOK THE +FORT AT PEENEMÜNDE +</h3> + +<p> +We were now left for some time in peace from witchcraft; unless, indeed, I +reckon the caterpillars, which miserably destroyed my orchard, and which +truly were a strange thing; for the trees blossomed so fair and sweetly +that one day as we were walking under them, and praising the almighty +power of the most merciful God, my child said, "If the Lord goes on to +bless us so abundantly, it will be Christmas Eve with us every night of +next winter!" But things soon fell out far otherwise; for all in a moment +the trees were covered with such swarms of caterpillars (great and small, +and of every shape and colour) that one might have measured them by the +bushel, and before long my poor trees looked like brooms, and the blessed +fruit--which was so well set--all fell off, and was scarce good enough for +the pigs. I do not choose to lay this to any one, though I had my own +private thoughts upon the matter, and have them yet. However, my barley, +whereof I had sown about three bushels out on the common, shot up bravely. +On my field I had sown nothing, seeing that I dreaded the malice of Satan. +Neither was corn at all plentiful throughout the parish--in part because +they had sown no winter crops, and in part because the summer crops did +not prosper. However, in all the villages a great supply of fish was +caught by the mercy of God, especially herring; but they were very low in +price. Moreover, they killed many seals; and at Whitsuntide I myself +killed one as I walked by the sea with my daughter. The creature lay on a +rock close to the water, snoring like a Christian. Thereupon I pulled off +my shoes and drew near him softly, so that he heard me not, and then +struck him over his nose with my staff (for a seal cannot bear much on his +nose), so that he tumbled over into the water; but he was quite stunned, +and I could easily kill him outright. It was a fat beast, though not very +large; and we melted forty pots of train-oil out of his fat, which we put +by for a winter store. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, however, something seized old Seden all at once, so that he +wished to receive the holy sacrament. When I went to him he could give no +reason for it; or perhaps he would give none for fear of his old Lizzie, +who was always watching him with her squinting eyes, and would not leave +the room. However, Zuter his little girl, a child near twelve years old, +said that a few days before, while she was plucking grass for the cattle +under the garden-hedge by the road, she heard the husband and wife +quarrelling violently again, and that the goodman threw in her teeth that +he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit, and that he +would straightway go and tell it to the priest. Albeit this is only a +child's tale, it may be true for all that, seeing that children and fools, +they say, speak the truth. +</p> + +<p> +But be that as it may. <i>Summa</i>, my old warden grew worse and worse; and +though I visited him every morning and evening--as I use to do to my +sick--in order to pray with him, and often observed that he had somewhat +on his mind, nevertheless he could not disburthen himself of it, seeing +that old Lizzie never left her post. +</p> + +<p> +This went on for a while, when at last one day, about noon, he sent to beg +me to scrape a little silver off the new sacramental cup, because he had +been told that he should get better if he took it mixed with the dung of +fowls. For some time I would not consent, seeing that I straightway +suspected that there was some devilish mischief behind it; but he begged +and prayed, till I did as he would have me. +</p> + +<p> +And lo and behold, he mended from that very hour; so that when I went to +pray with him at evening, I found him already sitting on the bench with a +bowl between his knees, out of which he was supping broth. However, he +would not pray (which was strange, seeing that he used to pray so gladly, +and often could not wait patiently for my coming, insomuch that he sent +after me two or three times if I was not at hand, or elsewhere employed); +but he told me he had prayed already, and that he would give me the cock +whose dung he had taken for my trouble, as it was a fine large cock, and +he had nothing better to offer for my Sunday's dinner. And as the poultry +was by this time gone to roost, he went up to the perch which was behind +the stove, and reached down the cock, and put it under the arm of the +maid, who was just come to call me away. +</p> + +<p> +Not for all the world, however, would I have eaten the cock, but I turned +it out to breed. I went to him once more, and asked whether I should give +thanks to the Lord next Sunday for his recovery; whereupon he answered +that I might do as I pleased in the matter. Hereat I shook my head, and +left the house, resolving to send for him as soon as ever I should hear +that his old Lizzie was from home (for she often went to fetch flax to +spin from the Sheriff). But mark what befell within a few days! We heard +an outcry that old Seden was missing, and that no one could tell what had +become of him. His wife thought he had gone up into the Streckelberg, +whereupon the accursed witch ran howling to our house and asked my +daughter whether she had not seen anything of her goodman, seeing that she +went up the mountain every day. My daughter said she had not; but, woe is +me, she was soon to hear enough of him; for one morning, before sunrise, +as she came down into the wood on her way back from her forbidden digging +after amber, she heard a woodpecker (which no doubt was old Lizzie +herself) crying so dolefully, close beside her, that she went in among the +bushes to see what was the matter. There was the woodpecker sitting on the +ground before a bunch of hair, which was red, and just like what old +Seden's had been, and as soon as it espied her it flew up, with its beak +full of the hair and slipped into a hollow tree. While my daughter still +stood looking at this devil's work, up came old Paasch--who also had heard +the cries of the woodpecker, as he was cutting roofing shingles on the +mountain, with his boy--and was likewise struck with horror when he saw +the hair on the ground. At first they thought a wolf must have eaten him, +and searched all about, but could not find a single bone. On looking up +they fancied they saw something red at the very top of the tree, so they +made the boy climb up, and he forthwith cried out that here, too, there +was a great bunch of red hair stuck to some leaves as if with pitch, but +that it was not pitch, but something speckled red and white, like +fishguts; <i>item</i>, that the leaves all around, even where there was no +hair, were stained and spotted, and had a very ill smell. Hereupon the +lad, at his master's bidding, threw down the clotted branch, and they two +below straightway judged that this was the hair and brains of old Seden, +and that the devil had carried him off bodily, because he would not pray +nor give thanks to the Lord for his recovery. I myself believed the same, +and told it on the Sunday as a warning to the congregation. But further on +it will be seen that the Lord had yet greater cause for giving him into +the hands of Satan, inasmuch as he had been talked over by his wicked wife +to renounce his Maker in the hopes of getting better. Now, however, this +devil's whore did as if her heart was broken, tearing out her red hair by +whole handsful when she heard about the woodpecker from my child and old +Paasch, and bewailing that she was now a poor widow, and who was to take +care of her for the future, etc. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile we celebrated on this barren shore, as best we could and might, +together with the whole Protestant Church, the 25th day <i>mensis Junii</i>, +whereon, one hundred years ago, the Estates of the holy Roman Empire laid +their confession before the most high and mighty Emperor Carolus V., at +Augsburg; and I preached a sermon on Matt. x. 32, of the right confession +of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whereupon the whole congregation +came to the Sacrament. Now, towards the evening of the selfsame day, as I +walked with my daughter by the sea-shore, we saw several hundred sail of +ships, both great and small, round about Ruden, and plainly heard firing, +whereupon we judged forthwith that this must be the most high and mighty +King Gustavus Adolphus, who was now coming, as he had promised, to the aid +of poor persecuted Christendom. While we were still debating, a boat +sailed towards us from Oie wherein was Kate Berow her son, who is a farmer +there, and was coming to see his old mother. The same told us that it +really was the king, who had this morning run before Ruden with his fleet +from Rügen; that a few men of Oie were fishing there at the time, and saw +how he went ashore with his officers, and straightway bared his head and +fell upon his knees. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, then, most gracious God, did I thy unworthy servant enjoy a still +greater happiness and delight that blessed evening than I had done on the +blessed morn; and any one may think that I delayed not for a moment to +fall on my knees with my child, and to follow the example of the king. And +God knows I never in my life prayed so fervently as that evening, whereon +the Lord showed such a wondrous sign upon us as to cause the deliverer of +his poor Christian people to come among them on the very day when they had +everywhere called upon him, on their knees, for his gracious help against +the murderous wiles of the Pope and the devil. That night I could not +sleep for joy, but went quite early in the morning to Damerow, where +something had befallen Vithe his boy. I supposed that he, too, was +bewitched; but this time it was not witchcraft, seeing that the boy had +eaten something unwholesome in the forest. He could not tell what kind of +berries they were; but the <i>malum</i>, which turned all his skin bright +scarlet, soon passed over. As I therefore was returning home shortly +after, I met a messenger from Peenemünde, whom his Majesty the high and +mighty King Gustavus Adolphus had sent to tell the Sheriff that on the +29th of June, at ten o'clock in the morning, he was to send three guides +to meet his Majesty at Coserow, and to guide him through the woods to +Swine, where the Imperialists were encamped. <i>Item</i>, he related how his +Majesty had taken the fort at Peenemünde yesterday (doubtless the cause of +the firing we heard last evening), and that the Imperialists had run away +as fast as they could, and played the bushranger properly; for after +setting their camp on fire they all fled into the woods and coppices, and +part escaped to Wolgast and part to Swine. +</p> + +<p> +Straightway I resolved in my joy to invent a <i>carmen gratulatorium</i> to his +Majesty, whom, by the grace of Almighty God, I was to see, the which my +little daughter might present to him. +</p> + +<p> +I accordingly proposed it to her as soon as I got home, and she +straightway fell on my neck for joy, and then began to dance about the +room. But when she had considered a little, she thought her clothes were +not good enough to wear before his Majesty, and that I should buy her a +blue silk gown, with a yellow apron, seeing that these were the Swedish +colours, and would please his Majesty right well. For a long time I would +not, seeing that I hate this kind of pride; but she teased me with her +kisses and coaxing words, till I, like an old fool, said yes, and ordered +my ploughman to drive her over to Wolgast to-day to buy the stuff. +Wherefore I think that the just God, who hateth the proud, and showeth +mercy on the humble, did rightly chastise me for such pride. For I myself +felt a sinful pleasure when she came back with two women who were to help +her to sew, and laid the stuff before me. Next day she set to work at +sunrise to sew, and I composed my <i>carmen</i> the while. I had not got very +far in it when the young Lord Rüdiger of Nienkerken came riding up, in +order, as he said, to inquire whether his Majesty were indeed going to +march through Coserow. And when I told him all I knew of the matter, +<i>item</i> informed him of our plan, he praised it exceedingly, and instructed +my daughter (who looked more kindly upon him to-day than I altogether +liked) how the Swedes use to pronounce the Latin, as <i>ratscho</i> pro <i>ratio, +uet</i> pro <i>ut, schis</i> pro <i>scis</i>, etc., so that she might be able to answer +his Majesty with all due readiness. He said, moreover, that he had held +much converse with Swedes at Wittenberg, as well as at Griepswald, +wherefore if she pleased they might act a short <i>colloquium</i>, wherein he +would play the king. Hereupon he sat down on the bench before her, and +they both began chattering together, which vexed me sore, especially when +I saw that she made but small haste with her needle the while. But say, +dear reader, what was I to do? Wherefore I went my ways, and let them +chatter till near noon, when the young lord at last took leave. But he +promised to come again on Tuesday, when the king was here, and believed +that the whole island would flock together at Coserow. As soon as he was +gone, seeing that my <i>vena poetica</i> (as may be easily guessed) was still +stopped up, I had the horses put to and drove all over the parish, +exhorting the people in every village to be at the Giant's Stone by +Coserow at nine o'clock on Tuesday, and that they were all to fall on +their knees as soon as they should see the king coming and that I knelt +down; <i>item</i>, to join at once in singing the Ambrosian hymn of praise, +which I should lead off as soon as the bells began to ring. This they all +promised to do; and after I had again exhorted them to it on Sunday in +church, and prayed to the Lord for his Majesty out of the fulness of my +heart, we scarce could await the blessed Tuesday for joyful impatience. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Fifteenth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY KING GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND WHAT +BEFELL THEREAT +</h3> + +<p> +Meanwhile I finished my <i>carmen</i> in <i>metrum elegiacum</i>, which my daughter +transcribed (seeing that her handwriting is fairer than mine) and +diligently learned, so that she might say it to his Majesty. <i>Item</i>, her +clothes were gotten ready, and became her purely; and on Monday she went +up to the Streckelberg, although the heat was such that the crows gasped +on the hedges; for she wanted to gather flowers for a garland she designed +to wear, and which was also to be blue and yellow. Towards evening she +came home with her apron filled with all manner of flowers; but her hair +was quite wet, and hung all matted about her shoulders. (My God, my God, +was everything to come together to destroy me, wretched man that I am!) I +asked, therefore, where she had been that her hair was so wet and matted: +whereupon she answered that she had gathered flowers round the Kölpin, and +from thence she had gone down to the sea-shore, where she had bathed in +the sea, seeing that it was very hot and no one could see her. Thus, said +she, jesting, she should appear before his Majesty to-morrow doubly a +clean maid. This displeased me at the time, and I looked grave, although I +said nought. +</p> + +<p> +Next morning at six o'clock all the people were already at the Giant's +Stone, men, women, and children. <i>Summa</i>, everybody that was able to walk +was there. At eight o'clock my daughter was already dressed in all her +bravery, namely, a blue silken gown, with a yellow apron and kerchief, and +a yellow hair-net, with a garland of blue and yellow flowers round her +head. It was not long before my young lord arrived, finely dressed, as +became a nobleman. He wanted to inquire, as he said, by which road I +should go up to the Stone with my daughter, seeing that his father, Hans +von Nienkerken, <i>item</i> Wittich Appelmann and the Lepels of Gnitze, were +also going, and that there was much people on all the high roads, as +though a fair was being held. But I straightway perceived that all he +wanted was to see my daughter, inasmuch as he presently occupied himself +about her, and began chattering with her in the Latin again. He made her +repeat to him the <i>carmen</i> to his Majesty; whereupon he, in the person of +the king, answered her: "<i>Dulcissima et venustissima puella, quae mihi in +coloribus caeli, ut angelus Domini appares utinam semper mecum esses, +nunquam mihi male caderet</i>"; whereupon she grew red, as likewise did I, +but from vexation, as may be easily guessed. I therefore begged that his +lordship would but go forward toward the Stone, seeing that my daughter +had yet to help me on with my surplice; whereupon, however, he answered +that he would wait for us the while in the chamber, and that we might then +go together. <i>Summa</i>, I blessed myself from this young lord; but what +could I do? As he would not go, I was forced to wink at it all; and before +long we went up to the Stone, where I straight-way chose three sturdy +fellows from the crowd, and sent them up the steeple, that they might +begin to ring the bells as soon as they should see me get up upon the +Stone and wave my napkin. This they promised to do, and straightway +departed; whereupon I sat down on the Stone with my daughter, thinking +that the young lord would surely stand apart, as became his dignity; +albeit he did not, but sat down with us on the Stone. And we three sat +there all alone, and all the folk looked at us, but none drew near to see +my child's fine clothes, not even the young lasses, as is their wont to +do; but this I did not observe till afterwards, when I heard how matters +stood with us even then. Towards nine o'clock Hans von Nienkerken and +Wittich Appelmann galloped up, and old Nienkerken called to his son in an +angry voice: and seeing that the young lord heard him not, he rode up to +the Stone, and cried out so loud that all the folk might hear, "Canst thou +not hearken, boy, when thy father calls thee?" Whereupon Rüdiger followed +him in much displeasure, and we saw from a distance how the old lord +seemed to threaten his son, and spat out before him; but knew not what +this might signify: we were to learn it soon enough, though, more's the +pity! Soon after the two Lepels of Gnitze came from the Damerow; and the +noblemen saluted one other on the green sward close beside us, but without +looking on us. And I heard the Lepels say that nought could yet be seen of +his Majesty, but that the coastguard fleet around Ruden was in motion, and +that several hundred ships were sailing this way. As soon as this news was +known, all the folk ran to the sea-shore (which is but a step from the +Stone); and the noblemen rode thither too, all save Wittich, who had +dismounted, and who, when he saw that I sent old Paasch his boy up into a +tall oak-tree to look out for the king, straightway busied himself about +my daughter again, who now sat all alone upon the Stone: "Why had she not +taken his huntsman? and whether she would not change her mind on the +matter and have him now, or else come into service with him (the Sheriff) +himself? for that if she would not, he believed she might be sorry for it +one day." Whereupon she answered him (as she told me), that there was but +one thing she was sorry for, namely, that his lordship would take so much +useless pains upon her; whereupon she rose with all haste and came to +where I stood under the tree, looking after the lad who was climbing up +it. But our old Ilse said that he swore a great curse when my daughter +turned her back upon him, and went straightway into the alder-grove close +by the high road, where stood the old witch Lizzie Kolken. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile I went with my daughter to the sea-shore, and found it quite +true that the whole fleet was sailing over from Ruden and Oie towards +Wollin, and several ships passed so close before us that we could see the +soldiers standing upon them and the flashing of their arms. <i>Item</i>, we +heard the horses neigh and the soldiery laugh. On one ship, too, they were +drumming, and on another cattle lowed and sheep bleated. Whilst we yet +gazed we saw smoke come out from one of the ships, followed by a great +noise, and presently we were aware of the ball bounding over the water, +which foamed and splashed on either side, and coming straight towards us. +Hereupon the crowd ran away on every side with loud cries, and we plainly +heard the soldiery in the ships laugh thereat. But the ball flew up and +struck into the midst of an oak hard by Paasch his boy, so that nearly two +cartloads of boughs fell to the earth with a great crash, and covered all +the road by which his Majesty was to come. Hereupon the boy would stop no +longer in the tree, however much I exhorted him thereto, but cried out to +us as he came down that a great troop of soldiers was marching out of the +forest by Damerow, and that likely enough the king was among them. +Hereupon the Sheriff ordered the road to be cleared forthwith, and this +was some time a-doing, seeing that the thick boughs were stuck fast in the +trees all around; the nobles, as soon as all was made ready, would have +ridden to meet his Majesty, but stayed still on the little green sward, +because we already heard the noise of horses, carriages, and voices close +to us in the forest. +</p> + +<p> +It was not long before the cannons broke through the brushwood with the +three guides seated upon them. And seeing that one of them was known to me +(it was Stoffer Krauthahn of Peenemünde), I drew near and begged him that +he would tell me when the king should come. But he answered that he was +going forward with the cannon to Coserow, and that I was only to watch for +a tall dark man, with a hat and feather and a gold chain round his neck, +for that that was the king, and that he rode next after the great standard +whereon was a yellow lion. +</p> + +<p> +Wherefore I narrowly watched the procession as it wound out of the forest. +And next after the artillery came the Finnish and Lapland bowmen, who went +clothed all in furs, although it was now the height of summer, whereat I +greatly wondered. After these there came much people, but I know not what +they were. Presently I espied over the hazel-tree which stood in my way so +that I could not see everything as soon as it came forth out of the +coppice, the great flag with the lion on it, and behind that the head of a +very dark man with a golden chain round his neck, whereupon straightway I +judged this must be the king. I therefore waved my napkin toward the +steeple, whereupon the bells forthwith rang out, and while the dark man +rode nearer to us, I pulled off my skull-cap, fell upon my knees, and led +the Ambrosian hymn of praise, and all the people plucked their hats from +their heads and knelt down on the ground all around, singing after me; +men, women, and children, save only the nobles, who stood still on the +green sward, and did not take off their hats and behave with attention +until they saw that his Majesty drew in his horse. (It was a coal-black +charger, and stopped with its two fore-feet right upon my field, which I +took as a sign of good fortune.) When we had finished, the Sheriff quickly +got off his horse, and would have approached the king with his three +guides, who followed after him; <i>item</i>, I had taken my child by the hand, +and would also have drawn near to the king. Howbeit, his Majesty motioned +away the Sheriff and beckoned us to approach, whereupon I wished his +Majesty joy in the Latin tongue, and extolled his magnanimous heart, +seeing that he had deigned to visit German ground for the protection and +aid of poor persecuted Christendom; and praised it as a sign from God that +such had happened on this the high festival of our poor church, and I +prayed his Majesty graciously to receive what my daughter desired to +present to him; whereupon his Majesty looked on her and smiled pleasantly. +Such gracious bearing made her bold again, albeit she trembled visibly +just before, and she reached him a blue and yellow wreath, whereon lay the +<i>carmen</i>, saying, "<i>Accipe hanc vilem coronam et haec</i>" whereupon she +began to recite the <i>carmen</i>. Meanwhile his Majesty grew more and more +gracious, looking now on her and now on the <i>carmen</i>, and nodded with +especial kindness towards the end, which was as follows:-- +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + Tempus erit, quo tu reversus ab hostibus ultor +<br> Intrabis patriae libera regna meae; +<br> Tunc meliora student nostrae tibi carmina musae, +<br> Tunc tua, maxime rex, Martia facta canam. +<br> Tu modo versiculis ne spernas vilibus ausum +<br> Auguror et res est ista futura brevi! +<br> Sis foelix, fortisque diu, vive optime princeps, +<br> Omnia, et ut possis vincere, dura. Vale! +</p> + +<p> +As soon as she held her peace, his Majesty said, "<i>Propius accedas, patria +virgo, ut te osculer</i>"; whereupon she drew near to his horse, blushing +deeply. I thought he would only have kissed her forehead, as potentates +commonly use to do, but not at all! he kissed her lips with a loud smack, +and the long feathers on his hat drooped over her neck, so that I was +quite afraid for her again. But he soon raised up his head, and taking off +his gold chain, whereon dangled his own effigy, he hung it round my +child's neck with these words: "<i>Hocce tuce pulchritudim! et si favente +Deo redux fuero victor, promissum carmen et praeterea duo oscula +exspecto</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon the Sheriff with his three men again came forward and bowed down +to the ground before his Majesty. But as he knew no Latin, <i>item</i> no +Italian nor French, I had to act as interpreter. For his Majesty inquired +how far it was to Swine, and whether there was still much foreign soldiery +there: And the Sheriff thought there were still about 200 Croats in the +camp; whereupon his Majesty spurred on his horse, and nodding graciously, +cried "<i>Valete</i>!" And now came the rest of the troops, about 3000 strong, +out of the coppice, which likewise had a valiant bearing, and attempted no +fooleries, as troops are wont to do, when they passed by us and the women, +but marched on in honest quietness, and we followed the train until the +forest beyond Coserow, where we commended it to the care of the Almighty, +and every one went on his way home. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Sixteenth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW LITTLE MARY PAASCH WAS SORELY PLAGUED OF THE DEVIL, AND THE WHOLE +PARISH FELL OFF FROM ME +</h3> + +<p> +Before I proceed any further I will first mark that the illustrious King +Gustavus Adolphus, as we presently heard, had cut down the 300 Croats at +Swine, and was thence gone by sea to Stettin. May God be for ever gracious +to him! Amen. +</p> + +<p> +But my sorrows increased from day to day, seeing that the devil now played +pranks such as he never had played before. I had begun to think that the +ears of God had hearkened to our ardent prayers, but it pleased him to try +us yet more hardly than ever. For, a few days after the arrival of the +most illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus, it was bruited about that my +child her little god-daughter was possessed of the Evil One, and tumbled +about most piteously on her bed, insomuch that no one was able to hold +her. My child straightway went to see her little god-daughter, but +presently came weeping home. Old Paasch would not suffer her even to come +near her, but railed at her very angrily, and said that she should never +come within his doors again, as his child had got the mischief from the +white roll which she had given her that morning. It was true that my child +had given her a roll, seeing that the maid had been the day before to +Wolgast and had brought back a napkin full of them. +</p> + +<p> +Such news vexed me sore, and after putting on my cassock I went to old +Paasch his house to exorcise the foul fiend and to remove such disgrace +from my child. I found the old man standing on the floor by the cockloft +steps weeping; and after I had spoken "The peace of God," I asked him +first of all whether he really believed that his little Mary had been +bewitched by means of the roll which my child had given her? He said, +"Yes!" And when I answered that in that case I also must have been +bewitched, <i>item</i> Pagel his little girl, seeing that we both had eaten of +the rolls, he was silent, and asked me with a sigh, whether I would not go +into the room and see for myself how matters stood. I then entered with +"The peace of God," and found six people standing round little Mary her +bed; her eyes were shut, and she was as stiff as a board; wherefore Kit +Wells (who was a young and sturdy fellow) seized the little child by one +leg and held her out like a hedgestake, so that I might see how the devil +plagued her. I now said a prayer, and Satan, perceiving that a servant of +Christ was come, began to tear the child so fearfully that it was pitiful +to behold; for she flung about her hands and feet so that four strong men +were scarce able to hold her: <i>item</i> she was afflicted with extraordinary +risings and fallings of her belly, as if a living creature were therein, +so that at last the old witch Lizzie Kolken sat herself upon her belly, +whereupon the child seemed to be somewhat better, and I told her to repeat +the Apostles' Creed, so as to see whether it really were the devil who +possessed her. She straightway grew worse than before, and began to gnash +her teeth, to roll her eyes, and to strike so hard with her hands and feet +that she flung her father, who held one of her legs, right into the middle +of the room, and then struck her foot so hard against the bedstead that +the blood flowed, and Lizzie Kolken was thrown about on her belly as +though she had been in a swing. And as I ceased not, but exorcised Satan +that he should leave her, she began to howl and to bark like a dog, <i>item</i> +to laugh, and spoke at last, with a gruff bass voice, like an old man's, +"I will not depart." But he should soon have been forced to depart out of +her, had not both father and mother besought me by God's holy Sacrament to +leave their poor child in peace, seeing that nothing did her any good, but +rather made her worse. I was therefore forced to desist, and only +admonished the parents to seek for help, like the Canaanitish woman, in +true repentance and incessant prayer, and with her to sigh in constant +faith, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Thou Son of David, my daughter is +grievously vexed of a devil," Matthew xv.; that the heart of our Lord +would then melt, so that he would have mercy on their child, and command +Satan to depart from her. <i>Item</i>, I promised to pray for the little child +on the following Sunday with the whole congregation, and told them to +bring her, if it were any ways possible, to the church, seeing that the +ardent prayer of the whole congregation has power to rise beyond the +clouds. This they promised to do, and I then went home sorely troubled, +where I soon learned that she was somewhat better; thus it still is sure +that Satan hates nothing so much, after the Lord Jesus, as the servants of +the Gospel. But wait, and I shall even yet "bruise thy head with my heel" +(Genesis, chap, iii.); nought shall avail thee. +</p> + +<p> +Howbeit before the blessed Sunday came, I perceived that many of my people +went out of my way, both in the village and elsewhere in the parish, where +I went to visit sundry sick folks. When I went to Uekeritze to see young +Tittlewitz, there even befell me as follows:--Claus Pieper the peasant +stood in his yard chopping wood, and on seeing me he flung the axe out of +his hand so hastily that it stuck in the ground, and he ran towards the +pigsty, making the sign of the cross. I motioned him to stop, and asked +why he thus ran from me, his confessor? Whether, peradventure, he also +believed that my daughter had bewitched her little god-child? "<i>Ille</i>. +Yes, he believed it, because the whole parish did. <i>Ego</i>. Why, then, had +she been so kind to her formerly, and kept her like a sister through the +worst of the famine? <i>Ille</i>. This was not the only mischief she had done. +<i>Ego</i>. What, then, had she done besides? <i>Ille</i>. That was all one to me. +<i>Ego</i>. He should tell me, or I would complain to the magistrate. <i>Ille</i>. +That I might do, if I pleased." Whereupon he went his way insolently. Any +one may guess that I was not slow to inquire everywhere what people +thought my daughter had done; but no one would tell me anything, and I +might have grieved to death at such evil reports. Moreover not one child +came during this whole week to school to my daughter; and when I sent out +the maid to ask the reason she brought back word that the children were +ill, or that the parents wanted them for their work. I thought and +thought, but all to no purpose, until the blessed Sunday came round when I +meant to have held a great Sacrament, seeing that many people had made +known their intention to come to the Lord's table. It seemed strange to me +that I saw no one standing (as was their wont) about the church door; I +thought, however, that they might have gone into the houses. But when I +went into the church with my daughter, there were not more than six people +assembled, among whom was old Lizzie Kolken; and the accursed witch no +sooner saw my daughter follow me than she made the sign of the cross and +ran out of the door under the steeple; whereupon the five others, among +them mine own church-warden Claus Bulken (I had not appointed any one in +the room of old Seden), followed her. I was so horror-struck that my blood +curdled, and I began to tremble, so that I fell with my shoulder against +the confessional. My child, to whom I had as yet told nothing, in order to +spare her, then asked me, "Father, what is the matter with all the people; +are they, too, bewitched?" Whereupon I came to myself again and went into +the churchyard to look after them. But all were gone save my churchwarden, +Claus Bulken, who stood under the lime-tree, whistling to himself. I +stepped up to him and asked what had come to the people? Whereupon he +answered he could not tell; and when I asked him again why, then, he +himself had left the church, he said, What was he to do there alone, +seeing that no collection could be made? I then implored him to tell me +the truth, and what horrid suspicion had arisen against me in the parish? +But he answered, I should very soon find it out for myself; and he jumped +over the wall and went into old Lizzie her house, which stands close by +the churchyard. +</p> + +<p> +My child had made ready some veal broth for dinner, for which I mostly use +to leave everything else; but I could not swallow one spoonful, but sat +resting my head on my hand, and doubted whether I should tell her or no. +Meanwhile the old maid came in ready for a journey, and with a bundle in +her hand, and begged me with tears to give her leave to go. My poor child +turned pale as a corpse, and asked in amaze what had come to her? but she +merely answered, "Nothing!" and wiped her eyes with her apron. When I +recovered my speech, which had well-nigh left me at seeing that this +faithful old creature was also about to forsake me, I began to question +her why she wished to go; she who had dwelt with me so long, and who would +not forsake us even in the great famine, but had faithfully borne up +against it, and, indeed, had humbled me by her faith, and had exhorted me +to stand out gallantly to the last, for which I should be grateful to her +as long as I lived. Hereupon she merely wept and sobbed yet more, and at +length brought out that she still had an old mother of eighty living in +Liepe, and that she wished to go and nurse her till her end. Hereupon my +daughter jumped up and answered with tears, "Alas, old Ilse, why wilt thou +leave us, for thy mother is with thy brother? Do but tell me why thou wilt +forsake me, and what harm have I done thee, that I may make it good to +thee again." But she hid her face in her apron and sobbed and could not +get out a single word; whereupon my child drew away the apron from her +face, and would have stroked her cheeks to make her speak. But when Ilse +saw this she struck my poor child's hand and cried, "Ugh!" spat out before +her, and straightway went out at the door. Such a thing she had never done +even when my child was a little girl, and we were both so shocked that we +could neither of us say a word. +</p> + +<p> +Before long my poor child gave a loud cry, and cast herself upon the +bench, weeping and wailing, "What has happened, what has happened?" I +therefore thought I ought to tell her what I had heard--namely, that she +was looked upon as a witch. Whereat she began to smile instead of weeping +any more, and ran out of the door to overtake the maid, who had already +left the house, as we had seen. She returned after an hour, crying out +that all the people in the village had run away from her when she would +have asked them whither the maid was gone. <i>Item</i>, the little children, +for whom she had kept school, had screamed, and had hidden themselves from +her; also no one would answer her a single word, but all spat out before +her, as the maid had done. On her way home she had seen a boat on the +water, and had run as fast as she could to the shore, and called with +might and main after old Ilse, who was in the boat. But she had taken no +notice of her, not even once to look round after her, but had motioned her +to be gone. And now she went on to weep and to sob the whole day and the +whole night, so that I was more miserable than even in the time of the +great famine. But the worst was yet to come, as will be shown in the +following chapter. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Seventeenth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS TAKEN UP FOR A WITCH, AND CARRIED TO PUDGLA +</h3> + +<p> +The next day, Monday, the 12th July, at about eight in the morning, while +we sat in our grief, wondering who could have prepared such great sorrow +for us, and speedily agreed that it could be none other than the accursed +witch Lizzie Kolken, a coach with four horses drove quickly up to the +door, wherein sat six fellows, who straightway all jumped out. Two went +and stood at the front, two at the back door, and two more, one of whom +was the constable Jacob Knake, came into the room, and handed me a warrant +from the Sheriff for the arrest of my daughter, as in common repute of +being a wicked witch, and for her examination before the criminal court. +Any one may guess how my heart sank within me when I read this. I dropped +to the earth like a felled tree, and when I came to myself my child had +thrown herself upon me with loud cries, and her hot tears ran down over my +face. When she saw that I came to myself, she began to praise God therefor +with a loud voice, and essayed to comfort me, saying that she was +innocent, and should appear with a clean conscience before her judges. +<i>Item</i>, she repeated to me the beautiful text from Matthew, chap. v.: +"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall +say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." +</p> + +<p> +And she begged me to rise and to throw my cassock over my doublet, and go +with her, for that without me she would not suffer herself to be carried +before the Sheriff. Meanwhile, however, all the village--men, women, and +children--had thronged together before my door; but they remained quiet, +and only peeped in at the windows, as though they would have looked right +through the house. When we had both made us ready, and the constable, who +at first would not take me with them, had thought better of it, by reason +of a good fee which my daughter gave him, we walked to the coach; but I +was so helpless that I could not get up into it. +</p> + +<p> +Old Paasch, when he saw this, came and helped me up into the coach, +saying, "God comfort ye! Alas, that you should ever see your child to come +to this!" and he kissed my hand to take leave. +</p> + +<p> +A few others came up to the coach, and would have done likewise; but I +besought them not to make my heart still heavier, and to take Christian +charge of my house and my affairs until I should return. Also to pray +diligently for me and my daughter, so that the Evil One, who had long gone +about our village like a roaring lion, and who now threatened to devour +me, might not prevail against us, but might be forced to depart from me +and from my child as from our guileless Saviour in the wilderness. But to +this none answered a word; and I heard right well, as we drove away, that +many spat out after us, and one said (my child thought it was Berow her +voice), "We would far sooner lay fire under thy coats than pray for thee." +We were still sighing over such words as these when we came near to the +churchyard, and there sat the accursed witch Lizzie Kolken at the door of +her house with her hymn-book in her lap, screeching out at the top of her +voice, "God the Father, dwell with us," as we drove past her; the which +vexed my poor child so sore that she swounded, and fell like one dead upon +me. I begged the driver to stop, and called to old Lizzie to bring us a +pitcher of water; but she did as though she had not heard me, and went on +to sing so that it rang again. Whereupon the constable jumped down, and at +my request ran back to my house to fetch a pitcher of water; and he +presently came back with it, and the people after him, who began to say +aloud that my child's bad conscience had stricken her, and that she had +now betrayed herself. Wherefore I thanked God when she came to life again, +and we could leave the village. But at Uekeritze it was just the same, for +all the people had flocked together, and were standing on the green before +Labahn his house when we went by. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, they were quiet enough as we drove past, albeit some few +cried, "How can it be, how can it be?" I heard nothing else. But in the +forest near the watermill the miller and all his men ran out and shouted, +laughing, "Look at the witch, look at the witch!" Whereupon one of the men +struck at my poor child with the sack which he held in his hand, so that +she turned quite white, and the flour flew all about the coach like a +cloud. When I rebuked him, the wicked rogue laughed and said, that if no +other smoke than that ever came under her nose, so much the better for +her. <i>Item</i>, it was worse in Pudgla than even at the mill. The people +stood so thick on the hill, before the castle, that we could scarce force +our way through, and the Sheriff caused the death-bell in the castle-tower +to toll as an <i>avisum</i>. Whereupon more and more people came running out of +the ale-houses and cottages. Some cried out, "Is that the witch?" Others, +again, "Look at the parson's witch! the parson's witch!" and much more, +which for very shame I may not write. They scraped up the mud out of the +gutter which ran from the castle-kitchen and threw it upon us; <i>item</i>, a +great stone, the which struck one of the horses so that it shied, and +belike would have upset the coach had not a man sprung forward and held it +in. All this happened before the castle-gates, where the Sheriff stood +smiling and looking on, with a heron's feather stuck in his grey hat. But +so soon as the horse was quiet again, he came to the coach and mocked at +my child, saying, "See, young maid, thou wouldst not come to me, and here +thou art nevertheless!" Whereupon she answered, "Yea, I come; and may you +one day come before your judge as I come before you"; whereunto I said, +Amen, and asked him how his lordship could answer before God and man for +what he had done to a wretched man like myself and to my child? But he +answered, saying, Why had I come with her? And when I told him of the rude +people here, <i>item</i>, of the churlish miller's man, he said that it was not +his fault, and threatened the people all around with his fist, for they +were making a great noise. Thereupon he commanded my child to get down and +to follow him, and went before her into the castle; motioned the +constable, who would have gone with them, to stay at the foot of the +steps, and began to mount the winding staircase to the upper rooms alone +with my child. +</p> + +<p> +But she whispered me privately, "Do not leave me, father"; and I presently +followed softly after them. Hearing by their voices in which chamber they +were, I laid my ear against the door to listen. And the villain offered to +her that if she would love him nought should harm her, saying he had power +to save her from the people; but that if she would not, she should go +before the court next day, and she might guess herself how it would fare +with her, seeing that he had many witnesses to prove that she had played +the wanton with Satan, and had suffered him to kiss her. Hereupon she was +silent, and only sobbed, which the arch-rogue took as a good sign, and +went on: "If you have had Satan himself for a sweetheart, you surely may +love me." And he went to her and would have taken her in his arms, as I +perceived; for she gave a loud scream, and flew to the door; but he held +her fast, and begged and threatened as the devil prompted him. I was about +to go in when I heard her strike him in the face, saying, "Get thee behind +me, Satan," so that he let her go. Whereupon she ran out at the door so +suddenly that she threw me on the ground, and fell upon me with a loud +cry. Hereat the Sheriff, who had followed her, started, but presently +cried out, "Wait, thou prying parson, I will teach thee to listen!" and +ran out and beckoned to the constable who stood on the steps below. He +bade him first shut me up in one dungeon, seeing that I was an +eavesdropper, and then return and thrust my child into another. But he +thought better of it when we had come halfway down the winding-stair, and +said he would excuse me this time, and that the constable might let me go, +and only lock up my child very fast, and bring the key to him, seeing she +was a stubborn person, as he had seen at the very first hearing which he +had given her. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon my poor child was torn from me, and I fell in a swound upon the +steps. I know not how I got down them; but when I came to myself, I was in +the constable his room, and his wife was throwing water in my face. There +I passed the night sitting in a chair, and sorrowed more than I prayed, +seeing that my faith was greatly shaken, and the Lord came not to +strengthen it. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Eighteenth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +OF THE FIRST TRIAL, AND WHAT CAME THEREOF +</h3> + +<p> +Next morning, as I walked up and down in the court, seeing that I had many +times asked the constable in vain to lead me to my child (he would not +even tell me where she lay), and for very disquietude I had at last begun +to wander about there; about six o'clock there came a coach from Uzdom, +wherein sat his worship, Master Samuel Pieper, <i>consul dirigens</i>, <i>item</i>, +the <i>camerarius</i> Gebhard Wenzel, and a <i>scriba</i>, whose name, indeed, I +heard, but have forgotten it again; and my daughter forgot it too, albeit +in other things she has an excellent memory, and, indeed, told me most of +what follows, for my old head well-nigh burst, so that I myself could +remember but little. I straightway went up to the coach, and begged that +the worshipful court would suffer me to be present at the trial, seeing +that my daughter was yet in her nonage, but which the Sheriff, who +meanwhile had stepped up to the coach from the terrace, whence he had seen +all, had denied me. But his worship Master Samuel Pieper, who was a little +round man, with a fat paunch, and a beard mingled with grey hanging down +to his middle, reached me his hand, and condoled with me like a Christian +in my trouble: I might come into court in God's name; and he wished with +all his heart that all whereof my daughter was filed might prove to be +foul lies. Nevertheless I had still to wait two hours before their +worships came down the winding stair again. At last towards nine o'clock +I heard the constable moving about the chairs and benches in the +judgment-chamber; and as I conceived that the time was now come, I went in +and sat myself down on a bench. No one, however, was yet there, save the +constable and his young daughter, who was wiping the table, and held a +rosebud between her lips. I was fain to beg her to give it me, so that I +might have it to smell to; and I believe that I should have been carried +dead out of the room that day if I had not had it. God is thus able to +preserve our lives even by means of a poor flower, if so he wills it! +</p> + +<p> +At length their worships came in and sat round the table, whereupon <i>Dom. +Consul</i> motioned the constable to fetch in my child. Meanwhile he asked +the Sheriff whether he had put <i>Rea</i> in chains, and when he said No, he +gave him such a reprimand that it went through my very marrow. But the +Sheriff excused himself, saying that he had not done so from regard to her +quality, but had locked her up in so fast a dungeon that she could not +possibly escape therefrom. Whereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> answered that much is +possible to the devil, and that they would have to answer for it should +<i>Rea</i> escape. This angered the Sheriff, and he replied that if the devil +could convey her through walls seven feet thick, and through three doors, +he could very easily break her chains too. Whereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> said +that hereafter he would look at the prison himself; and I think that the +Sheriff had been so kind only because he yet hoped (as, indeed, will +hereafter be shown) to talk over my daughter to let him have his will of +her. +</p> + +<p> +And now the door opened, and my poor child came in with the constable, but +walking backwards, and without her shoes, the which she was forced to +leave without. The fellow had seized her by her long hair, and thus +dragged her up to the table, when first she was to turn round and look +upon her judges. He had a vast deal to say in the matter, and was in every +way a bold and impudent rogue, as will soon be shown. After <i>Dom. Consul</i> +had heaved a deep sigh, and gazed at her from head to foot, he first asked +her her name, and how old she was; <i>item</i>, if she knew why she was +summoned before them? On the last point she answered that the Sheriff had +already told her father the reason; that she wished not to wrong any one, +but thought that the Sheriff himself had brought upon her the repute of a +witch, in order to gain her to his wicked will. Hereupon she told all his +ways with her, from the very first, and how he would by all means have had +her for his housekeeper; and that when she would not (although he had many +times come himself to her father his house), one day, as he went out of +the door, he had muttered in his beard, "I will have her, despite of all!" +which their servant Claus Neels had heard, as he stood in the stable; and +he had also sought to gain his ends by means of an ungodly woman, one +Lizzie Kolken, who had formerly been in his service; that this woman, +belike, had contrived the spells which they laid to her charge: she +herself knew nothing of witchcraft; <i>item</i>, she related what the Sheriff +had done to her the evening before, when she had just come, and when he +for the first time spoke out plainly, thinking that she was then +altogether in his power: nay, more, that he had come to her that very +night again, in her dungeon, and had made her the same offers, saying that +he would set her free if she would let him have his will of her; and that +when she denied him, he had struggled with her, whereupon she had screamed +aloud, and had scratched him across the nose, as might yet be seen, +whereupon he had left her; wherefore she would not acknowledge the Sheriff +as her judge, and trusted in God to save her from the hand of her enemies, +as of old he had saved the chaste Susannah.-- +</p> + +<p> +When she now held her peace amid loud sobs, <i>Dom. Consul</i> started up after +he had looked, as we all did, at the Sheriff's nose, and had in truth +espied the scar upon it, and cried out in amaze, "Speak, for God his sake, +speak, what is this that I hear of your lordship?" Whereupon the Sheriff, +without changing colour, answered that although, indeed, he was not called +upon to say anything to their worships, seeing that he was the head of the +court, and that <i>Rea</i>, as appeared from numberless <i>indicia</i>, was a wicked +witch, and therefore could not bear witness against him or any one else; +he, nevertheless, would speak, so as to give no cause of scandal to the +court; that all the charges brought against him by this person were foul +lies; it was, indeed, true, that he would have hired her for a +housekeeper, whereof he stood greatly in need, seeing that his old Dorothy +was already growing infirm; it was also true that he had yesterday +questioned her in private, hoping to get her to confess by fair means, +whereby her sentence would be softened, inasmuch as he had pity on her +great youth; but that he had not said one naughty word to her, nor had he +been to her in the night; and that it was his little lap-dog, called +Below, which had scratched him, while he played with it that very morning; +that his old Dorothy could bear witness to this, and that the cunning +witch had only made use of this wile to divide the court against itself, +thereby and with the devil's help, to gain her own advantage, inasmuch as +she was a most cunning creature, as the court would soon find out. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon I plucked up a heart, and declared that all my daughter had said +was true, and that the evening before I myself had heard, through the +door, how his lordship had made offers to her, and would have done +wantonness with her; <i>item</i>, that he had already sought to kiss her once +at Coserow; <i>item</i>, the troubles which his lordship had formerly brought +upon me in the matter of the first-fruits. +</p> + +<p> +Howbeit the Sheriff presently talked me down, saying, that if I had +slandered him, an innocent man, in church, from the pulpit, as the whole +congregation could bear witness, I should doubtless find it easy to do as +much here, before the court; not to mention that a father could, in no +case, be a witness for his own child. +</p> + +<p> +But <i>Dom. Consul</i> seemed quite confounded, and was silent, and leaned his +head on the table, as in deep thought. Meanwhile the impudent constable +began to finger his beard from under his arm; and <i>Dom. Consul</i> thinking +it was a fly, struck at him with his hand, without even looking up; but +when he felt the constable his hand, he jumped up and asked him what he +wanted? Whereupon the fellow answered, "Oh, only a louse was creeping +there, and I would have caught it." +</p> + +<p> +At such impudence his worship was so exceeding wroth that he struck the +constable on the mouth, and ordered him, on pain of heavy punishment, to +leave the room. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon he turned to the Sheriff, and cried, angrily, "Why, in the name +of all the ten devils, is it thus your lordship keeps the constable in +order? and truly, in this whole matter, there is something which passes my +understanding." But the Sheriff answered, "Not so; should you not +understand it all when you think upon the eels?" +</p> + +<p> +Hereat <i>Dom. Consul</i> of a sudden turned ghastly pale, and began to +tremble, as it appeared to me, and called the Sheriff aside into another +chamber. I have never been able to learn what that about the eels could +mean.-- +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile <i>Dominus Camerarius</i> Gebhard Wenzel sat biting his pen, and +looking furiously--now at me, and now at my child, but said not a word; +neither did he answer <i>Scriba</i>, who often whispered somewhat into his ear, +save by a growl. At length both their worships came back into the chamber +together, and <i>Dom. Consul</i>, after he and the Sheriff had seated +themselves, began to reproach my poor child violently, saying that she had +sought to make a disturbance in the worshipful court; that his lordship +had shown him the very dog which had scratched his nose, and that, +moreover, the fact had been sworn to by the old housekeeper. +</p> + +<p> +(Truly <i>she</i> was not likely to betray him, for the old harlot had lived +with him for years, and she had a good big boy by him, as will be seen +hereafter.) +</p> + +<p> +<i>Item</i>, he said that so many <i>indicia</i> of her guilt had come to light, +that it was impossible to believe anything she might say; she was +therefore to give glory to God, and openly to confess everything, so as to +soften her punishment; whereby she might perchance, in pity for her youth, +escape with life, etc. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon he put his spectacles on his nose, and began to cross-question +her, during near four hours, from a paper which he held in his hand. These +were the main articles, as far as we both can remember: +</p> + +<p> +<i>Quaestio</i>. Whether she could bewitch? +</p> + +<p> +<i>Responsio</i>. No; she knew nothing of witchcraft. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she could charm? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Of that she knew as little. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had ever been on the Blocksberg? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. That was too far off for her; she knew few hills save the Streckelberg, +where she had been very often. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. What had she done there? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She had looked out over the sea, or gathered flowers; <i>item</i>, at +times carried home an apronful of dry brushwood. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had ever called upon the devil there? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. That had never come into her mind. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether, then, the devil had appeared to her there, uncalled? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. God defend her from such a thing. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. So she could not bewitch? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. No. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. What, then, befell Kit Zuter his spotted cow, that it suddenly died +in her presence? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She did not know; and that was a strange question. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Then it would be as strange a question, why Katie Berow her little +pig had died? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Assuredly; she wondered what they would lay to her charge. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Then she had not bewitched them? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. No; God forbid it. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Why, then, if she were innocent, had she promised old Katie another +little pig, when her sow should litter? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She did that out of kind-heartedness. (And hereupon she began to weep +bitterly, and said she plainly saw that she had to thank old Lizzie Kolken +for all this, inasmuch as she had often threatened her when she would not +fulfil all her greedy desires, for she wanted everything that came in her +way; moreover, that Lizzie had gone all about the village when the cattle +were bewitched, persuading the people that if only a pure maid pulled a +few hairs out of the beasts' tails they would get better. That she pitied +them, and knowing herself to be a maid, went to help them; and indeed, at +first it cured them, but latterly not.) +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. What cattle had she cured? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Zabel his red cow; <i>item</i>, Witthan her pig, and old Lizzie's own cow. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Why could she afterwards cure them no more? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She did not know, but thought--albeit she had no wish to fyle any +one--that old Lizzie Kolken, who for many a long year had been in common +repute as a witch, had done it all, and bewitched the cows in her name and +then charmed them back again, as she pleased, only to bring her to +misfortune. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Why, then, had old Lizzie bewitched her own cow, <i>item</i>, suffered her +own pig to die, if it was she that had made all the disturbance in the +village, and could really charm? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She did not know; but belike there was some one (and here she looked +at the Sheriff) who paid her double for it all. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. It was in vain that she sought to shift the guilt from off herself; +had she not bewitched old Paasch his crop, nay, even her own father's, and +caused it to be trodden down by the devil, <i>item</i>, conjured all the +caterpillars into her father's orchard? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. The question was almost as monstrous as the deed would have been. +There sat her father, and his worship might ask him whether she ever had +shown herself an undutiful child to him. (Hereupon I would have risen to +speak, but <i>Dom. Consul</i> suffered me not to open my mouth, but went on +with his examination; whereupon I remained silent and downcast.) +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she did likewise deny that it was through her malice that the +woman Witthan had given birth to a devil's imp, which straight-way started +up and flew out at the window, so that when the midwife sought for it it +had disappeared? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Truly she did; and indeed she had all the days of her life done good +to the people instead of harm, for during the terrible famine she had +often taken the bread out of her own mouth to share it among the others, +especially the little children. To this the whole parish must needs bear +witness, if they were asked; whereas witches and warlocks always did evil +and no good to men, as our Lord Jesus taught (Matt. xii.), when the +Pharisees blasphemed him, saying that he cast out devils by Beelzebub the +prince of the devils; hence his worship might see whether she could in +truth be a witch. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. He would soon teach her to talk of blasphemies; he saw that her +tongue was well hung; but she must answer the questions he asked her, and +say nothing more. The question was not <i>what</i> good she had done to the +poor, but <i>wherewithal</i> she had done it; she must now show how she and her +father had of a sudden grown so rich that she could go pranking about in +silken raiment, whereas she used to be so very poor? +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon she looked towards me, and said, "Father, shall I tell?" +Whereupon I answered, "Yes, my child, now thou must openly tell all, even +though we thereby become beggars." She accordingly told how, when our need +was sorest, she had found the amber, and how much we had gotten for it +from the Dutch merchants. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. What were the names of these merchants? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Dieterich von Pehnen and Jakob Kiekebusch; but, as we have heard from +a schipper, they since died of the plague at Stettin. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Why had we said nothing of such a godsend? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Out of fear of our enemy the Sheriff, who, as it seemed, had +condemned us to die of hunger, inasmuch as he forbade the parishioners, +under pain of heavy displeasure, to supply us with anything, saying, that +he would send them a better parson. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> again looked the Sheriff sharply in the face, who +answered that it was true he had said this, seeing that the parson had +preached at him in the most scandalous manner from the pulpit; but that he +knew very well, at the time, that they were far enough from dying of +hunger. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. How came so much amber on the Streckelberg? She had best confess at +once that the devil had brought it to her. +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She knew nothing about that. But there was a great vein of amber +there, as she could show to them all that very day; and she had broken out +the amber, and covered the hole well over with fir-twigs, so that none +should find it. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. When had she gone up the Streckelberg; by day or by night? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Hereupon she blushed, and for a moment held her peace; but presently +made answer, "Sometimes by day, and sometimes by night." +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Why did she hesitate? She had better make a full confession of all, +so that her punishment might be less heavy. Had she not there given over +old Seden to Satan, who had carried him off through the air, and left only +a part of his hair and brains sticking to the top of an oak? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She did not know whether that was his hair and brains at all, nor how +it came there. She went to the tree one morning because she heard a +woodpecker cry so dolefully. <i>Item</i>, old Paasch, who also had heard the +cries, came up with his axe in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether the woodpecker was not the devil himself, who had carried off +old Seden? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She did not know: but he must have been dead some time, seeing that +the blood and brains which the lad fetched down out of the tree were quite +dried up. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. How and when, then, had he come by his death? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. That Almighty God only knew. But Zuter his little girl had said, that +one day, while she gathered nettles for the cows under Seden his hedge, +she heard the goodman threaten his squint-eyed wife that he would tell the +parson that he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit; +whereupon the goodman had presently disappeared. But that this was a +child's tale, and she would fyle no one on the strength of it. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> again looked the Sheriff steadily in the face, and +said, "Old Lizzie Kolken must be brought before us this very day": whereto +the Sheriff made no answer; and he went on to ask, +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether, then, she still maintained that she knew nothing of the +devil? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She maintained it now, and would maintain it until her life's end. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. And nevertheless, as had been seen by witnesses, she had been +re-baptized by him in the sea in broad daylight.--Here again she blushed, +and for a moment was silent. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Why did she blush again? She should for God his sake think on her +salvation, and confess the truth. +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She had bathed herself in the sea, seeing that the day was very hot; +that was the whole truth. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. What chaste maiden would ever bathe in the sea? Thou liest; or wilt +thou even yet deny that thou didst bewitch old Paasch his little girl with +a white roll? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Alas! alas! she loved the child as though it were her own little +sister; not only had she taught her as well as all the other children +without reward, but during the heavy famine she had often taken the bit +from her own mouth to put it into the little child's. How, then, could she +have wished to do her such grievous harm? +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Wilt thou even yet deny?--Reverend Abraham, how stubborn is your +child! See here, is this no witches' salve, which the constable fetched +out of thy coffer last night? Is this no witches' salve, eh? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. It was a salve for the skin, which would make it soft and white, as +the apothecary at Wolgast had told her, of whom she bought it. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Hereupon he shook his head, and went on: How! wilt thou then lastly +deny that on this last Saturday the both July, at twelve o'clock at night, +thou didst on the Streckelberg call upon thy paramour the devil in +dreadful words, whereupon he appeared to thee in the shape of a great +hairy giant, and clipped thee and toyed with thee? +</p> + +<p> +At these words she grew more pale than a corpse, and tottered so that she +was forced to hold by a chair: and I, wretched man, who would readily have +sworn away my life for her, when I saw and heard this, my senses forsook +me, so that I fell down from the bench, and <i>Dom. Consul</i> had to call in +the constable to help me up. +</p> + +<p> +When I had come to myself a little, and the impudent varlet saw our common +consternation, he cried out, grinning at the court the while, 'Is it all +out? is it all out? has she confessed?' Whereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> again +showed him the door with a sharp rebuke, as might have been expected; and +it is said that this knave played the pimp for the Sheriff, and indeed I +think he would not otherwise have been so bold. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Summa</i>: I should well-nigh have perished in my distress, but for the +little rose, which by the help of God's mercy kept me up bravely; and now +the whole court rose and exhorted my poor fainting child, by the living +God, and as she would save her soul, to deny no longer, but in pity to +herself and her father to confess the truth. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="images/illp180.jpg"><img src="images/illp180_th.jpg" alt="The Apparition on the Streckelberg"></a> +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon she heaved a deep sigh, and grew as red as she had been pale +before, insomuch that even her hand upon the chair was like scarlet, and +she did not raise her eyes from the ground. +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She would now then confess the simple truth, as she saw right well +that wicked people had stolen after and watched her at nights. That she +had been to seek for amber on the mountain, and that to drive away fear +she had, as she was wont to do at her work, recited the Latin <i>carmen</i> +which her father had made on the illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus: when +young Rüdiger of Nienkerken, who had ofttimes been at her father's house +and talked of love to her, came out of the coppice, and when she cried out +for fear, spoke to her in Latin, and clasped her in his arms. That he wore +a great wolf's-skin coat, so that folks should not know him if they met +him, and tell the lord his father that he had been on the mountain by +night. +</p> + +<p> +At this her confession I fell into sheer despair, and cried in great +wrath, "O thou ungodly and undutiful child, after all, then, thou hast a +paramour! Did not I forbid thee to go up the mountain by night? What didst +thou want on the mountain by night?" and I began to moan and weep and +wring my hands, so that <i>Dom. Consul</i> even had pity on me, and drew near +to comfort me. Meanwhile she herself came towards me, and began to defend +herself, saying, with many tears, that she had gone up the mountain by +night, against my commands, to get so much amber that she might secretly +buy for me, against my birthday, the <i>Opera Sancti Augustim</i>, which the +Cantor at Wolgast wanted to sell. That it was not her fault that the young +lord lay in wait for her one night; and that she would swear to me, by the +living God, that nought that was unseemly had happened between them there, +and that she was still a maid. +</p> + +<p> +And herewith the first hearing was at end, for after <i>Dom. Consul</i> had +whispered somewhat into the ear of the Sheriff, he called in the constable +again, and bade him keep good watch over <i>Rea</i>; <i>item</i>, not to leave her +at large in her dungeon any longer, but to put her in chains. These words +pierced my very heart, and I besought his worship to consider my sacred +office, and my ancient noble birth, and not to do me such dishonour as to +put my daughter in chains. That I would answer for her to the worshipful +court with my own head that she would not escape. Whereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i>, +after he had gone to look at the dungeon himself, granted me my request, +and commanded the constable to leave her as she had been hitherto. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Nineteenth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW SATAN, BY THE PERMISSION OF THE MOST RIGHTEOUS GOD, SOUGHT ALTOGETHER +TO RUIN US, AND HOW WE LOST ALL HOPE +</h3> + +<p> +The same day, at about three in the afternoon, when I was gone to Conrad +Seep his alehouse to eat something, seeing that it was now nearly two days +since I had tasted aught save my tears, and he had placed before me some +bread and sausage, together with a mug of beer, the constable came into +the room and greeted me from the Sheriff, without, however, so much as +touching his cap, asking whether I would not dine with his lordship; that +his lordship had not remembered till now that I belike was still fasting, +seeing the trial had lasted so long. Hereupon I made answer to the +constable that I already had my dinner before me, as he saw himself, and +desired that his lordship would hold me excused. Hereat the fellow +wondered greatly, and answered; did I not see that his lordship wished me +well, albeit I had preached at him as though he were a Jew? I should think +on my daughter, and be somewhat more ready to do his lordship's will, +whereby peradventure all would yet end well. For his lordship was not such +a rough ass as <i>Dom. Consul</i>, and meant well by my child and me, as +beseemed a righteous magistrate. +</p> + +<p> +After I had with some trouble rid myself of this impudent fox, I tried to +eat a bit, but nothing would go down save the beer. I therefore soon sat +and thought again whether I would not lodge with Conrad Seep, so as to be +always near my child; <i>item</i>, whether I should not hand over my poor +misguided flock to M. Vigelius, the pastor of Benz, for such time as the +Lord still should prove me. In about an hour I saw through the window how +that an empty coach drove to the castle, and the Sheriff and <i>Dom. Consul</i> +straightway stepped thereinto with my child; <i>item</i>, the constable climbed +up behind. Hereupon I left everything on the table and ran to the coach, +asking humbly whither they were about to take my poor child; and when I +heard they were going to the Streckelberg to look after the amber, I +begged them to take me also, and to suffer me to sit by my child, for who +could tell how much longer I might yet sit by her! This was granted to me, +and on the way the Sheriff ordered me to take up my abode in the castle +and to dine at his table as often as I pleased, and that he would, +moreover, send my child her meat from his own table. For that he had a +Christian heart, and well knew that we were to forgive our enemies. But I +refused his kindness with humble thanks, as my child did also, seeing we +were not yet so poor that we could not maintain ourselves. As we passed by +the watermill the ungodly varlet there again thrust his head out of a hole +and pulled wry faces at my child; but, dear reader, he got something to +remember it by; for the Sheriff beckoned to the constable to fetch the +fellow out, and after he had reproached him with the tricks he had twice +played my child, the constable had to take the coachman his new whip and +to give him fifty lashes, which, God knows, were not laid on with a +feather. He bellowed like a bull, which, however, no one heard for the +noise of the mill-wheels, and when at last he did as though he could not +stir, we left him lying on the ground and went on our way. +</p> + +<p> +As we drove through Uekeritze a number of people flocked together, but +were quiet enough, save one fellow who, <i>salvâ veniâ</i>, mocked at us with +unseemly gestures in the midst of the road when he saw us coming. The +constable had to jump down again, but could not catch him, and the others +would not give him up, but pretended that they had only looked at our +coach and had not marked him. May be this was true! And I am therefore +inclined to think that it was Satan himself who did it to mock at us; for +mark, for God's sake, what happened to us on the Streckelberg! Alas! +through the delusions of the foul fiend, we could not find the spot where +we had dug for the amber. For when we came to where we thought it must be, +a huge hill of sand had been heaped up as by a whirlwind, and the +fir-twigs which my child had covered over it were gone. She was near +falling in a swound when she saw this, and wrung her hands and cried out +with her Saviour, "My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me!" +</p> + +<p> +Howbeit, the constable and the coachman were ordered to dig, but not one +bit of amber was to be found, even so big as a grain of corn, whereupon +<i>Dom. Consul</i> shook his head and violently upbraided my child. And when I +answered that Satan himself, as it seemed, had filled up the hollow in +order to bring us altogether into his power, the constable was ordered to +fetch a long stake out of the coppice which we might thrust still deeper +into the sand. But no hard <i>objectum</i> was anywhere to be felt, +notwithstanding the Sheriff, <i>Dom. Consul</i>, and myself in my anguish did +try everywhere with the stake. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon my child besought her judges to go with her to Coserow, where she +still had much amber in her coffer which she had found here, and that if +it were the gift of the devil it would all be changed, since it was well +known that all the presents the devil makes to witches straightway turn to +mud and ashes. +</p> + +<p> +But, God be merciful to us, God be merciful to us! when we returned to +Coserow, amid the wonderment of all the village, and my daughter went to +her coffer, the things therein were all tossed about, and the amber gone. +Hereupon she shrieked so loud that it would have softened a stone, and +cried out: "The wicked constable hath done this! when he fetched the salve +out of my coffer, he stole the amber from me, unhappy maid." But the +constable, who stood by, would have torn her hair, and cried out, "Thou +witch, thou damned witch, is it not enough that thou hast belied my lord, +but thou must now belie me too?" But <i>Dom. Consul</i> forbade him, so that he +did not dare lay hands upon her. <i>Item</i>, all the money was gone which she +had hoarded up from the amber she had privately sold, and which she +thought already came to about ten florins. +</p> + +<p> +But the gown which she had worn at the arrival of the most illustrious +King Gustavus Adolphus, as well as the golden chain with his effigy which +he had given her, I had locked up, as though it were a relic, in the chest +in the vestry, among the altar and pulpit cloths, and there we found them +still; and when I excused myself therefore, saying that I had thought to +have saved them up for her there against her bridal day, she gazed with +fixed and glazed eyes into the box, and cried out, "Yes, against the day +when I shall be burnt; O Jesu, Jesu, Jesu!" Hereat <i>Dom. Consul</i> shuddered +and said, "See how thou still dost smite thyself with thine own words! For +the sake of God and thy salvation, confess, for if thou knowest thyself to +be innocent, how, then, canst thou think that thou wilt be burnt?" But she +still looked him fixedly in the face, and cried aloud in Latin, +"<i>Innocentia, quid est innocentia? Ubi libido dominatur, innocentia leve +praesidium est</i>." +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> again shuddered, so that his beard wagged, and +said, "What, dost thou indeed know Latin? Where didst thou learn the +Latin?" And when I answered this question as well as I was able for +sobbing, he shook his head and said, "I never in my life heard of a woman +that knew Latin." Upon this he knelt down before her coffer, and turned +over everything therein, drew it away from the wall, and when he found +nothing he bade us show him her bed, and did the same with that. This, at +length, vexed the Sheriff, who asked him whether they should not drive +back again, seeing that night was coming on. But he answered, "Nay, I must +first have the written paction which Satan has given her"; and he went on +with his search until it was almost dark. But they found nothing at all, +although <i>Dom. Consul</i>, together with the constable, passed over no hole +or corner, even in the kitchen and cellar. Hereupon he got up again into +the coach, muttering to himself, and bade my daughter sit so that she +should not look upon him. +</p> + +<p> +And now we once more had the same <i>spectaculum</i> with the accursed old +witch Lizzie Kolken, seeing that she again sat at her door as we drove by, +and began to sing at the top of her voice, "We praise thee, O Lord." But +she screeched like a stuck pig, so that <i>Dom. Consul</i> was amazed thereat, +and when he had heard who she was, he asked the Sheriff whether he would +not that she should be seized by the constable and be tied behind the +coach to run after it, as we had no room for her elsewhere; for that he +had often been told that all old women who had red squinting eyes and +sharp voices were witches, not to mention the suspicious things which +<i>Rea</i> had declared against her. But he answered that he could not do this, +seeing that old Lizzie was a woman in good repute and fearing God as <i>Dom. +Consul</i> might learn for himself; but that, nevertheless, he had had her +summoned for the morrow, together with the other witnesses. +</p> + +<p> +Yea, in truth, an excellently devout and worthy woman!--for scarcely were +we out of the village, when so fearful a storm of thunder, lightning, +wind, and hail burst over our heads, that the corn all around us was +beaten down as with a flail, and the horses before the coach were quite +maddened; however, it did not last long. But my poor child had to bear all +the blame again, inasmuch as <i>Dom. Consul</i> thought that it was not old +Lizzie, which, nevertheless, was as clear as the sun at noonday! but my +poor daughter who brewed the storm;--for, beloved reader, what could it +have profited her, even if she had known the black art? This, however, did +not strike <i>Dom. Consul</i>, and Satan, by the permission of the +all-righteous God, was presently to use us still worse; for just as we got +to the Master's Dam, he came flying over us in the shape of a stork, and +dropped a frog so exactly over us that it fell into my daughter her lap: +she gave a shrill scream, but I whispered her to sit still, and that I +would secretly throw the frog away by one leg. +</p> + +<p> +But the constable had seen it, and cried out, "Hey, sirs! hey, look at the +cursed witch! what has the devil just thrown into her lap?" Whereupon the +Sheriff and <i>Dom. Consul</i> looked round and saw the frog, which crawled in +her lap, and the constable after he had blown upon it three times, took it +up and showed it to their lordships. Hereat <i>Dom. Consul</i> began to spew, +and when he had done, he ordered the coachman to stop, got down from the +coach, and said we might drive home, that he felt qualmish, and would go +afoot and see if he got better. But first he privately whispered to the +constable, which, howbeit, we heard right well, that when he got home he +should lay my poor child in chains, but not so as to hurt her much; to +which neither she nor I could answer save by tears and sobs. But the +Sheriff had heard it too, and when his worship was out of sight he began +to stroke my child her cheeks from behind her back, telling her to be +easy, as he also had a word to say in the matter, and that the constable +should not lay her in chains. But that she must leave off being so hard to +him as she had been hitherto, and come and sit on the seat beside him, +that he might privately give her some good advice as to what was to be +done. To this she answered, with many tears, that she wished to sit only +by her father, as she knew not how much longer she might sit by him at +all; and she begged for nothing more save that his lordship would leave +her in peace. But this he would not do, but pinched her back and sides +with his knees; and as she bore with this, seeing that there was no help +for it, he waxed bolder, taking it for a good sign. Meanwhile <i>Dom. +Consul</i> called out close behind us (for being frightened he ran just after +the coach), "Constable, constable, come here quick; here lies a hedgehog +in the midst of the road!" whereupon the constable jumped down from the +coach. +</p> + +<p> +This made the Sheriff still bolder; and at last my child rose up and said, +"Father, let us also go afoot; I can no longer guard myself from him here +behind!" But he pulled her down again by her clothes, and cried out +angrily, "Wait, thou wicked witch, I will help thee to go afoot if thou +art so wilful; thou shalt be chained to the block this very night." +Whereupon she answered, "Do you do that which you cannot help doing; the +righteous God, it is to be hoped, will one day do unto you what He cannot +help doing." +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile we had reached the castle, and scarcely were we got out of the +coach, when <i>Dom. Consul</i>, who had run till he was all of a sweat, came up +together with the constable, and straightway gave over my child into his +charge, so that I had scarce time to bid her farewell. I was left standing +on the floor below, wringing my hands in the dark, and hearkened whither +they were leading her, inasmuch as I had not the heart to follow, when +<i>Dom. Consul</i>, who had stepped into a room with the Sheriff, looked out at +the door again, and called after the constable to bring <i>Rea</i> once more +before them. And when he had done so, and I went into the room with them, +<i>Dom. Consul</i> held a letter in his hand, and, after spitting thrice, he +began thus: "Wilt thou still deny, thou stubborn witch? Hear what the old +knight, Hans von Nienkerken, writes to the court!" Whereupon he read out +to us that his son was so disturbed by the tale the accursed witch had +told of him that he had fallen sick from that very hour, and that he, the +father, was not much better. That his son Rüdiger had indeed at times, +when he went that way, been to see Pastor Schweidler, whom he had first +known upon a journey; but that he swore that he wished he might turn black +if he had ever used any folly or jesting with the cursed devil's whore his +daughter; much less ever been with her by night on the Streckelberg, or +embraced her there. +</p> + +<p> +At this dreadful news we both (I mean my child and I) fell down in a +swound together, seeing that we had rested our last hopes on the young +lord; and I know not what further happened. For when I came to myself, my +host, Conrad Seep, was standing over me, holding a funnel between my +teeth, through which he ladled some warm beer down my throat, and I never +felt more wretched in all my life; insomuch that Master Seep had to +undress me like a little child, and to help me into bed. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twentieth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +OF THE MALICE OF THE GOVERNOR AND OF OLD LIZZIE: +<i>ITEM</i>, OF THE EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES +</h3> + +<p> +The next morning my hairs, which till <i>datum</i> had been mingled with grey, +were white as snow, albeit the Lord otherwise blessed me wondrously. For +near daybreak a nightingale flew into the elder-bush beneath my window, +and sang so sweetly that straightway I thought it must be a good angel. +For after I had hearkened a while to it, I was all at once able again to +pray, which since last Sunday I could not do; and the spirit of our Lord +Jesus Christ began to speak within me, "Abba, Father"; and straightway I +was of good cheer, trusting that God would once more be gracious unto me +his wretched child; and when I had given him thanks for such great mercy, +I fell into a refreshing slumber, and slept so long that the blessed sun +stood high in the heavens when I awoke. +</p> + +<p> +And seeing that my heart was still of good cheer, I sat up in my bed, and +sang with a loud voice, "Be not dismayed, thou little flock": whereupon +Master Seep came into the room, thinking I had called him. But he stood +reverently waiting till I had done; and after marvelling at my snow-white +hair, he told me it was already seven; <i>item</i>, that half my congregation, +among others my ploughman, Claus Neels, were already assembled in his +house to bear witness that day. When I heard this, I bade mine host +forthwith send Claus to the castle, to ask when the court would open, and +he brought word back that no one knew, seeing that <i>Dom. Consul</i> was +already gone that morning to Mellenthin to see old Nienkerken, and was not +yet come back. This message gave me good courage, and I asked the fellow +whether he also had come to bear witness against my poor child? To which +he answered, "Nay, I know nought save good of her, and I would give the +fellows their due, only--" +</p> + +<p> +These words surprised me, and I vehemently urged him to open his heart to +me. But he began to weep, and at last said that he knew nothing. Alas! he +knew but too much, and could then have saved my poor child if he had +willed. But from fear of the torture he held his peace, as he since owned; +and I will here relate what had befallen him that very morning. +</p> + +<p> +He had set out betimes that morning, so as to be alone with his +sweetheart, who was to go along with him (she is Steffen of Zempin his +daughter, not farmer Steffen, but the lame gouty Steffen), and had got to +Pudgla about five, where he found no one in the ale-house save old Lizzie +Kolken, who straightway hobbled up to the castle; and when his sweetheart +was gone home again, time hung heavy on his hands, and he climbed over the +wall into the castle garden, where he threw himself on his face behind a +hedge to sleep. But before long the Sheriff came with old Lizzie, and +after they had looked all round and seen no one, they went into an arbour +close by him, and conversed as follows:-- +</p> + +<p> +<i>Ille</i>. Now that they were alone together, what did she want of him? +</p> + +<p> +<i>Illa</i>. She came to get the money for the witchcraft she had contrived in +the village. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Ille</i>. Of what use had all this witchcraft been to him? My child, so far +from being frightened, defied him more and more; and he doubted whether he +should ever have his will of her. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Illa</i>. He should only have patience; when she was laid upon the rack she +would soon learn to be fond. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Ille</i>. That might be, but till then she (Lizzie) should get no money. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Illa</i>. What! Must she then do his cattle a mischief? +</p> + +<p> +<i>Ille</i>. Yes, if she felt chilly, and wanted a burning fagot to warm her +<i>podex</i>, she had better. Moreover, he thought that she had bewitched him, +seeing that his desire for the parson's daughter was such as he had never +felt before. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Illa</i>. (Laughing.) He had said the same thing some thirty years ago, when +he first came after her. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Ille</i>. Ugh! thou old baggage, don't remind me of such things, but see to +it that you get three witnesses, as I told you before, or else methinks +they will rack your old joints for you after all. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Illa</i>. She had the three witnesses ready, and would leave the rest to +him. But that if she were racked she would reveal all she knew. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Ille</i>. She should hold her ugly tongue, and go to the devil. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Illa</i>. So she would, but first she must have her money. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Ille</i>. She should have no money till he had had his will of my daughter. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Illa</i>. He might at least pay her for her little pig which she herself had +bewitched to death, in order that she might not get into evil repute. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Ille</i>. She might choose one when his pigs were driven by, and say she had +paid for it. Hereupon, said my Claus, the pigs were driven by, and one ran +into the garden, the door being open, and as the swineherd followed it, +they parted; but the witch muttered to herself, "Now help, devil, help, +that I may--" but he heard no further. +</p> + +<p> +The cowardly fellow, however, hid all this from me, as I have said above, +and only said, with tears, that he knew nothing. I believed him, and sat +down at the window to see when <i>Dom. Consul</i> should return; and when I saw +him I rose and went to the castle, where the constable, who was already +there with my child, met me before the judgment-chamber. Alas! she looked +more joyful than I had seen her for a long time, and smiled at me with her +sweet little mouth: but when she saw my snow-white hair, she gave a cry, +which made <i>Dom. Consul</i> throw open the door of the judgment-chamber, and +say, "Ha, ha! thou knowest well what news I have brought thee; come in, +thou stubborn devil's brat!" Whereupon we stepped into the chamber to him, +and he lift up his voice and spake to me, after he had sat down with the +Sheriff, who was by. +</p> + +<p> +He said that yestereven, after he had caused me to be carried like one +dead to Master Seep his ale-house, and that my stubborn child had been +brought to life again, he had once more adjured her, to the utmost of his +power, no longer to lie before the face of the living God, but to confess +the truth; whereupon she had borne herself very unruly, and had wrung her +hands and wept and sobbed, and at last answered that the young <i>nobilis</i> +never could have said such things, but that his father must have written +them, who hated her, as she had plainly seen when the Swedish king was at +Coserow. That he, <i>Dom. Consul</i>, had indeed doubted the truth of this at +the time, but as a just judge had gone that morning right early with the +<i>scriba</i> to Mellenthin, to question the young lord himself. +</p> + +<p> +That I might now see myself what horrible malice was in my daughter. For +that the old knight had led him to his son's bedside, who still lay sick +from vexation, and that he had confirmed all his father had written, and +had cursed the scandalous she-devil (as he called my daughter) for seeking +to rob him of his knightly honour. "What sayest thou now?" he continued; +"wilt thou still deny thy great wickedness? See here the <i>protocollum</i> +which the young lord hath signed <i>manu propriâ</i>!" But the wretched maid +had meanwhile fallen on the ground again, and the constable had no sooner +seen this than he ran into the kitchen, and came back with a burning +brimstone match, which he was about to hold under her nose. +</p> + +<p> +But I hindered him, and sprinkled her face with water, so that she opened +her eyes, and raised herself up by a table. She then stood a while, +without saying a word or regarding my sorrow. At last she smiled sadly, +and spake thus: That she clearly saw how true was that spoken by the Holy +Ghost, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man"; and that the +faithlessness of the young lord had surely broken her poor heart if the +all-merciful God had not graciously prevented him, and sent her a dream +that night, which she would tell, not hoping to persuade the judges, but +to raise up the white head of her poor father. +</p> + +<p> +"After I had sat and watched all the night," quoth she, "towards morning I +heard a nightingale sing in the castle-garden so sweetly that my eyes +closed, and I slept. Then methought I was a lamb, grazing quietly in my +meadow at Coserow. Suddenly the Sheriff jumped over the hedge and turned +into a wolf, who seized me in his jaws, and ran with me towards the +Streckelberg, where he had his lair. I, poor little lamb, trembled and +bleated in vain, and saw death before my eyes, when he laid me down before +his lair, where lay the she-wolf and her young. But behold a hand, like +the hand of a man, straightway came out of the bushes and touched the +wolves, each one with one finger, and crushed them so that nought was left +of them save a grey powder. Hereupon the hand took me up, and carried me +back to my meadow." +</p> + +<p> +Only think, beloved reader, how I felt when I heard all this, and about +the dear nightingale too, which no one can doubt to have been the servant +of God. I clasped my child with many tears, and told her what had happened +to me, and we both won such courage and confidence as we had never yet +felt, to the wonderment of <i>Dom. Consul</i>, as it seemed; but the Sheriff +turned as pale as a sheet when she stepped towards their worships and +said, "And now do with me as you will, the lamb fears not, for she is in +the hands of the Good Shepherd!" Meanwhile <i>Dom. Camerarius</i> came in with +the <i>scriba</i>, but was terrified as he chanced to touch my daughter's apron +with the skirts of his coat; and stood and scraped at his coat as a woman +scrapes a fish. At last, after he had spat out thrice, he asked the court +whether it would not begin to examine witnesses, seeing that all the +people had been waiting some time both in the castle and at the ale-house. +Hereunto they agreed, and the constable was ordered to guard my child in +his room, until it should please the court to summon her. I therefore went +with her, but, we had to endure much from the impudent rogue, seeing he +was not ashamed to lay his arm round my child her shoulders and to ask for +a kiss <i>in meâ presentiâ</i>. But, before I could get out a word, she tore +herself from him, and said, "Ah, thou wicked knave, must I complain of +thee to the court; hast thou forgotten what thou hast already done to me?" +To which, he answered, laughing, "See, see! how coy"; and still sought to +persuade her to be more willing, and not to forget her own interest; for +that he meant as well by her as his master; she might believe it or not; +with many other scandalous words besides which I have forgot; for I took +my child upon my knees and laid my head on her neck, and we sat and wept. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twenty-first Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +DE CONFRONTATIONE TESTIUM +</h3> + +<p> +When we were summoned before the court again, the whole court was full of +people, and some shuddered when they saw us, but others wept; my child +told the same tale as before. But when our old Ilse was called, who sat on +a bench behind, so that we had not seen her, the strength wherewith the +Lord had gifted her was again at an end, and she repeated the words of our +Saviour, "He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me": +and she held fast by my chair. Old Ilse, too, could not walk straight for +very grief, nor could she speak for tears, but she twisted and wound +herself about before the court like a woman in travail. But when Dom. +Consul threatened that the constable should presently help her to her +words, she testified that my child had very often got up in the night and +called aloud upon the foul fiend. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had ever heard Satan answer her? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She never had heard him at all. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had perceived that <i>Rea</i> had a familiar spirit, and in +what shape? She should think upon her oath, and speak the truth. +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She had never seen one. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had ever heard her fly up the chimney? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Nay, she had always gone softly out at the door. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she never at mornings had missed her broom or pitch-fork? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Once the broom was gone, but she had found it again behind the stove, +and may be left it there herself by mistake. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had never heard <i>Rea</i> cast a spell or wish harm to this +or that person? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. No, never; she had always wished her neighbours nothing but good, and +even in the time of bitter famine had taken the bread out of her own mouth +to give it to others. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she did not know the salve which had been found in <i>Rea</i> her +coffer? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Oh, yes! her young mistress had brought it back from Wolgast for her +skin, and had once given her some when she had chapped hands, and it had +done her a vast deal of good. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had anything further to say? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. No, nothing but good. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon my man Claus Neels was called up. He also came forward in tears, +but answered every question with a "Nay," and at last testified that he +had never seen nor heard anything bad of my child, and knew nought of her +doings by night, seeing that he slept in the stable with the horses; and +that he firmly believed that evil folks--and here he looked at old +Lizzie--had brought this misfortune upon her, and that she was quite +innocent. +</p> + +<p> +When it came to the turn of this old limb of Satan, who was to be the +chief witness, my child again declared that she would not accept old +Lizzie's testimony against her, and called upon the court for justice, for +that she had hated her from her youth up, and had been longer by habit and +repute a witch than she herself. +</p> + +<p> +But the old hag cried out, "God forgive thee thy sins; the whole village +knows that I am a devout woman, and one serving the Lord in all things"; +whereupon she called up old Zuter Witthahn and my church-warden Claus +Bulk, who bore witness hereto. But old Paasch stood and shook his head; +nevertheless when my child said, "Paasch, wherefore dost thou shake thy +head?" he started, and answered, "Oh, nothing!" +</p> + +<p> +Howbeit, <i>Dom. Consul</i> likewise perceived this, and asked him, whether he +had any charge to bring against old Lizzie; if so, he should give glory to +God, and state the same; <i>item</i>, it was competent to every one so to do; +indeed the court required of him to speak out all he knew. +</p> + +<p> +But from fear of the old dragon, all were still as mice, so that you might +have heard the flies buzz about the inkstand. I then stood up, wretched as +I was, and stretched out my arms over my amazed and faint-hearted people +and spake, "Can ye thus crucify me together with my poor child? Have I +deserved this at your hands? Speak, then; alas, will none speak?" I heard, +indeed, how several wept aloud, but not one spake; and hereupon my poor +child was forced to submit. +</p> + +<p> +And the malice of the old hag was such that she not only accused my child +of the most horrible witchcraft, but also reckoned to a day when she had +given herself up to Satan to rob her of her maiden honour; and she said +that Satan had, without doubt, then defiled her when she could no longer +heal the cattle, and when they all died. Hereupon my child said nought, +save that she cast down her eyes and blushed deep, for shame at such +filthiness; and to the other blasphemous slander which the old hag uttered +with many tears, namely, that my daughter had given up her (Lizzie's) +husband, body and soul, to Satan, she answered as she had done before. But +when the old hag came to her re-baptism in the sea, and gave out that +while seeking for strawberries in the coppice she had recognised my +child's voice, and stolen towards her, and perceived these devil's doings, +my child fell in smiling, and answered, "Oh, thou evil woman! how couldst +thou hear my voice speaking down by the sea, being thyself in the forest +upon the mountain? surely thou liest, seeing that the murmur of the waves +would make that impossible." This angered the old dragon, and seeking to +get out of the blunder she fell still deeper into it, for she said, "I saw +thee move thy lips, and from that I knew that thou didst call upon thy +paramour the devil!" for my child straight-way replied, "Oh, thou ungodly +woman! thou saidst thou wert in the forest when thou didst hear my voice; +how then up in the forest couldst thou see whether I, who was below by the +water, moved my lips or not?"-- +</p> + +<p> +Such contradictions amazed even <i>Dom. Consul</i>, and he began to threaten +the old hag with the rack if she told such lies; whereupon she answered +and said, "List, then, whether I lie! When she went naked into the water +she had no mark on her body, but when she came out again I saw that she +had between her breasts a mark the size of a silver penny, whence I +perceived that the devil had given it her, although I had not seen him +about her, nor, indeed, had I seen any one, either spirit or child of man, +for she seemed to be quite alone." +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon the Sheriff jumped up from his seat, and cried, "Search must +straightway be made for this mark"; whereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> answered, +"Yea, but not by us, but by two women of good repute," for he would not +hearken to what my child said, that it was a mole, and that she had had it +from her youth up, wherefore the constable his wife was sent for, and +<i>Dom. Consul</i> muttered somewhat into her ear, and as prayers and tears +were of no avail, my child was forced to go with her. Howbeit, she +obtained this favour, that old Lizzie Kolken was not to follow her, as she +would have done, but our old maid Ilse. I, too, went in my sorrow, seeing +that I knew not what the women might do to her. She wept bitterly as they +undressed her, and held her hands over her eyes for very shame. +</p> + +<p> +Well-a-day, her body was just as white as my departed wife's; although in +her childhood, as I remember, she was very yellow, and I saw with +amazement the mole between her breasts, whereof I had never heard aught +before. But she suddenly screamed violently and started back, seeing that +the constable his wife, when nobody watched her, had run a needle into the +mole, so deep that the red blood ran down over her breasts. I was sorely +angered thereat, but the woman said that she had done it by order of the +judge, which, indeed, was true; for when we came back into court, and the +Sheriff asked how it was, she testified that there was a mark of the size +of a silver penny, of a yellowish colour, but that it had feeling, seeing +that <i>Rea</i> had screamed aloud when she had, unperceived, driven a needle +therein. Meanwhile, however, <i>Dom. Camerarius</i> suddenly rose, and, +stepping up to my child, drew her eyelids asunder, and cried out, +beginning to tremble, "Behold the sign which never fails": whereupon the +whole court started to their feet, and looked at the little spot under her +right eyelid, which in truth had been left there by a stye, but this none +would believe. <i>Dom. Consul</i> now said, "See, Satan hath marked thee on +body and soul! and thou dost still continue to lie unto the Holy Ghost; +but it shall not avail thee, and thy punishment will only be the heavier. +Oh, thou shameless woman! thou hast refused to accept the testimony of old +Lizzie; wilt thou also refuse that of these people, who have all heard +thee on the mountain call upon the devil thy paramour, and seen him appear +in the likeness of a hairy giant, and kiss and caress thee?" +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon old Paasch, goodwife Witthahn, and Zuter came forward and bare +witness, that they had seen this happen about midnight, and that on this +declaration they would live and die; that old Lizzie had awakened them one +Saturday night about eleven o'clock, had given them a can of beer, and +persuaded them to follow the parson's daughter privately, and to see what +she did upon the mountain. At first they refused but in order to get at +the truth about the witchcraft in the village, they had at last, after a +devout prayer, consented, and had followed her in God's name. +</p> + +<p> +They had soon through the bushes seen the witch in the moonshine; she +seemed to dig, and spake in some strange tongue the while, whereupon the +grim arch-fiend suddenly appeared, and fell upon her neck. Hereupon they +ran away in consternation, but, by the help of the Almighty God, on whom +from the very first they had set their faith, they were preserved from the +power of the Evil One. For, notwithstanding he had turned round on hearing +a rustling in the bushes, he had had no power to harm them. +</p> + +<p> +Finally, it was even charged to my child as a crime, that she had fainted +on the road from Coserow to Pudgla, and none would believe that this had +been caused by vexation at old Lizzie her singing, and not from a bad +conscience, as stated by the judge. +</p> + +<p> +When all the witnesses had been examined, <i>Dom. Consul</i> asked her whether +she had brewed the storm, what was the meaning of the frog that dropped +into her lap, <i>item</i>, the hedgehog which lay directly in his path? To all +of which she answered, that she had caused the one as little as she knew +of the other. Whereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> shook his head, and asked her, last +of all, whether she would have an advocate, or trust entirely in the good +judgment of the court. To this she gave answer that she would by all means +have an advocate. Wherefore I sent my ploughman, Claus Neels, the next day +to Wolgast to fetch the <i>Syndicus</i> Michelsen, who is a worthy man, and in +whose house I have been many times when I went to the town, seeing that he +courteously invited me. +</p> + +<p> +I must also note here that at this time my old Ilse came back to live with +me; for after the witnesses were gone she stayed behind in the chamber, +and came boldly up to me, and besought me to suffer her once more to serve +her old master and her dear young mistress; for that now she had saved her +poor soul, and confessed all she knew. Wherefore she could no longer bear +to see her old masters in such woeful plight, without so much as a +mouthful of victuals, seeing that she had heard that old wife Seep, who +had till <i>datum</i> prepared the food for me and my child, often let the +porridge burn; <i>item</i>, oversalted the fish and the meat. Moreover, that I +was so weakened by age and misery, that I needed help and support, which +she would faithfully give me, and was ready to sleep in the stable, if +needs must be; that she wanted no wages for it, I was only not to turn her +away. Such kindness made my daughter to weep, and she said to me, "Behold, +father, the good folks come back to us again; think you, then, that the +good angels will forsake us for ever? I thank thee, old Use; thou shall +indeed prepare my food for me, and always bring it as far as the +prison-door, if thou mayest come no further; and mark, then, I pray thee, +what the constable does therewith." +</p> + +<p> +This the maid promised to do, and from this time forth took up her abode +in the stable. May God repay her at the day of judgment for what she then +did for me and for my poor child! +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twenty-second Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW THE <i>SYNDICUS DOM.</i> MICHELSEN ARRIVED AND PREPARED HIS DEFENCE OF MY +POOR CHILD +</h3> + +<p> +The next day, at about three o'clock P.M., <i>Dom. Syndicus</i> came driving +up, and got out of his coach at my inn. He had a huge bag full of books +with him, but was not so friendly in his manner as was usual with him, but +very grave and silent. And after he had saluted me in my own room, and had +asked how it was possible for my child to have come to such misfortune, I +related to him the whole affair, whereat, however, he only shook his head. +On my asking him whether he would not see my child that same day, he +answered, "Nay"; he would rather first study the <i>acta</i>. And after he had +eaten of some wild duck-which my old Ilse had roasted for him, he would +tarry no longer, but straightway went up to the castle, whence he did not +return till the following afternoon. His manner was not more friendly now +than at his first coming, and I followed him with sighs when he asked me +to lead him to my daughter. As we went in with the constable, and I, for +the first time, saw my child in chains before me--she who in her whole +life had never hurt a worm--I again felt as though I should die for very +grief. But she smiled and cried out to <i>Dom. Syndicus</i>, "Are you indeed +the good angel who will cause my chains to fall from my hands, as was done +of yore to St. Peter?" To which he replied, with a sigh, "May the Almighty +God grant it"; and as, save the chair whereon my child sat against the +wall, there was none other in the dungeon (which was a filthy and stinking +hole, wherein were more wood-lice than ever I saw in my life), <i>Dom. +Syndicus</i> and I sat down on her bed, which had been left for her at my +prayer; and he ordered the constable to go his ways until he should call +him back. Hereupon he asked my child what she had to say in her +justification; and she had not gone far in her defence when I perceived, +from the shadow at the door, that some one must be standing without. I +therefore went quickly to the door, which was half open, and found the +impudent constable, who stood there to listen. This so angered <i>Dom. +Syndicus</i> that he snatched up his staff in order to hasten his going, but +the arch-rogue took to his heels as soon as he saw this. My child took +this opportunity to tell her worshipful defensor what she had suffered +from the impudence of this fellow, and to beg that some other constable +might be set over her, seeing that this one had come to her last night +again with evil designs, so that she at last had shrieked aloud and beaten +him on the head with her chains; whereupon he had left her. This <i>Dom. +Syndicus</i> promised to obtain for her; but with regard to the <i>defensio</i>, +wherewith she now went on, he thought it would be better to make no +further mention of the <i>impetus</i> which the Sheriff had made on her +chastity. "For," said he, "as the princely central court at Wolgast has to +give sentence upon thee, this statement would do thee far more harm than +good, seeing that the <i>praeses</i> thereof is a cousin of the Sheriff, and +ofttimes goes a-hunting with him. Besides, thou being charged with a +capital crime hast no <i>fides</i>, especially as thou canst bring no witnesses +against him. Thou couldst, therefore, gain no belief even if thou didst +confirm the charge on the rack, wherefrom, moreover, I am come hither to +save thee by my <i>defensio</i>." These reasons seemed sufficient to us both, +and we resolved to leave vengeance to Almighty God, who seeth in secret, +and to complain of our wrongs to him, as we might not complain to men. But +all my daughter said about old Lizzie--<i>item</i>, of the good report wherein +she herself had, till now, stood with everybody--he said he would write +down, and add thereunto as much and as well of his own as he was able, so +as, by the help of Almighty God, to save her from the torture. That she +was to make herself easy and commend herself to God; within two days he +hoped to have his <i>defensio</i> ready and to read it to her. And now, when he +called the constable back again, the fellow did not come, but sent his +wife to lock the prison, and I took leave of my child with many tears: +<i>Dom. Syndicus</i> told the woman the while what her impudent rogue of a +husband had done, that she might let him hear more of it. Then he sent the +woman away again and came back to my daughter, saying that he had +forgotten to ascertain whether she really knew the Latin tongue, and that +she was to say her <i>defensio</i> over again in Latin, if she was able. +Hereupon she began and went on therewith for a quarter of an hour or more, +in such wise that not only <i>Dom. Syndicus</i> but I myself also was amazed, +seeing that she did not stop for a single word, save the word +"hedgehog," which we both had forgotten at the moment when she asked us +what it was.--<i>Summa. Dom. Syndicus</i> grew far more gracious when she had +finished her oration, and took leave of her, promising that he would set +to work forthwith. +</p> + +<p> +After this I did not see him again till the morning of the third day at +ten o'clock, seeing that he sat at work in a room at the castle, which the +Sheriff had given him, and also ate there, as he sent me word by old Ilse +when she carried him his breakfast next day. +</p> + +<p> +At the above-named time he sent the new constable for me, who, meanwhile, +had been fetched from Uzdom at his desire. For the Sheriff was exceeding +wroth when he heard that the impudent fellow had attempted my child in the +prison, and cried out in a rage, "S'death, and 'ouns, I'll mend thy +coaxing!" Whereupon he gave him a sound thrashing with a dog-whip he held +in his hand, to make sure that she should be at peace from him. +</p> + +<p> +But, alas! the new constable was even worse than the old, as will be shown +hereafter. His name was Master Köppner, and he was a tall fellow with a +grim face, and a mouth so wide that at every word he said the spittle ran +out at the corners, and stuck in his long beard like soap-suds, so that my +child had an especial fear and loathing of him. Moreover, on all occasions +he seemed to laugh in mockery and scorn, as he did when he opened the +prison-door to us, and saw my poor child sitting in her grief and +distress. But he straightway left us without waiting to be told, whereupon +<i>Dom. Syndicus</i> drew his defence out of his pocket, and read it to us; we +have remembered the main points thereof, and I will recount them here, but +most of the <i>auctores</i> we have forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +1. He began by saying that my daughter had ever till now stood in good +repute, as not only the whole village, but even my servants bore witness; +<i>ergo</i>, she could not be a witch, inasmuch as the Saviour hath said, "A +good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring +forth good fruit" (Matt. vii.). +</p> + +<p> +2. With regard to the witchcraft in the village, that belike was the +contrivance of old Lizzie, seeing that she bore a great hatred towards +<i>Rea</i>, and had long been in evil repute, for that the parishioners dared +not to speak out, only from fear of the old witch; wherefore Zuter, her +little girl, must be examined, who had heard old Lizzie her goodman tell +her she had a familiar spirit, and that he would tell it to the parson; +for that notwithstanding the above-named was but a child, still it was +written in Psalm viii., "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou +ordained strength...."; and the Saviour himself appealed (Matt. xxi.) to +the testimony of little children. +</p> + +<p> +3. Furthermore, old Lizzie might have bewitched the crops, <i>item</i>, the +fruit-trees, inasmuch as none could believe that <i>Rea</i>, who had ever shown +herself a dutiful child, would have bewitched her own father's corn, or +made caterpillars come on his trees; for no one, according to Scripture, +can serve two masters. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Item</i>, she (old Lizzie) might very well have been the woodpecker that was +seen by <i>Rea</i> and old Paasch on the Streckelberg, and herself have given +over her goodman to the Evil One for fear of the parson, inasmuch as +Spitzel <i>De Expugnatione Orci</i> asserts; <i>item</i>, the <i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> +proves beyond doubt that the wicked children of Satan ofttimes change +themselves into all manner of beasts, as the foul fiend himself likewise +seduced our first parents in the shape of a serpent (Gen. iii.). +</p> + +<p> +5. That old Lizzie had most likely made the wild weather when <i>Dom. +Consul</i> was coming home with <i>Rea</i> from the Streckelberg, seeing it was +impossible that <i>Rea</i> could have done it, as she was sitting in the coach, +whereas witches when they raise storms always stand in the water, and +throw it over their heads backwards; <i>item</i>, beat the stones soundly with +a stick, as Hannold relates. Wherefore she too, may be, knew best about +the frog and the hedgehog. +</p> + +<p> +6. That <i>Rea</i> was erroneously charged with that as a <i>crimen</i> which ought +rather to serve as her justification, namely, her sudden riches. For the +<i>Malleus Maleficarum</i> expressly says that a witch can never grow rich, +seeing that Satan, to do dishonour to God, always buys them for a vile +price, so that they should not betray themselves by their riches. +Wherefore that as <i>Rea</i> had grown rich, she could not have got her wealth +from the foul fiend, but it must be true that she had found amber on the +mountain; that the spells of old Lizzie might have been the cause why they +could not find the vein of amber again, or that the sea might have washed +away the cliff below, as often happens, whereupon the top had slipped +down, so that only a <i>miraculum naturale</i> had taken place. The proof which +he brought forward from Scripture we have quite forgotten, seeing it was +but middling. +</p> + +<p> +7. With regard to her re-baptism, the old hag had said herself that she +had not seen the devil or any other spirit or man about <i>Rea</i>, wherefore +she might in truth have been only naturally bathing, in order to greet the +King of Sweden next day, seeing that the weather was hot, and that bathing +was not of itself sufficient to impair the modesty of a maiden. For that +she had as little thought any would see her as Bathsheba the daughter of +Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, who in like manner did bathe +herself, as is written (2 Sam. xi. 2), without knowing that David could +see her. Neither could her mark be a mark given by Satan, inasmuch as +there was feeling therein; <i>ergo</i>, it must be a natural mole, and it was a +lie that she had it not before bathing. Moreover, that on this point the +old harlot was nowise to be believed, seeing that she had fallen from one +contradiction into another about it, as stated in the <i>acta</i>. +</p> + +<p> +8. Neither was it just to accuse <i>Rea</i> of having bewitched Paasch his +little daughter; for as old Lizzie was going in and out of the room, nay, +even sat herself down on the little girl her belly when the pastor went to +see her, it most likely was that wicked woman (who was known to have a +great spite against <i>Rea</i>) that contrived the spell through the power of +the foul fiend, and by permission of the all-just God; for that Satan was +"a liar and the father of it," as our Lord Christ says (John viii.). +</p> + +<p> +9. With regard to the appearance of the foul fiend on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant, that indeed was the heaviest <i>gravamen</i>, inasmuch +as not only old Lizzie, but likewise three trustworthy witnesses, had seen +him. But who could tell whether it was not old Lizzie herself who had +contrived this devilish apparition in order to ruin her enemy altogether; +for that notwithstanding the apparition was not the young nobleman, as +<i>Rea</i> had declared it to be, it still was very likely that she had not +lied, but had mistaken Satan for the young lord, as he appeared in his +shape; <i>exemplum</i>, for this was to be found even in Scripture: for that +all <i>Theologi</i> of the whole Protestant Church were agreed that the vision +which the witch of Endor showed to King Saul was not Samuel himself, but +the arch-fiend; nevertheless, Saul had taken it for Samuel. In like manner +the old harlot might have conjured up the devil before <i>Rea</i>, who did not +perceive that it was not the young lord, but Satan, who had put on that +shape in order to seduce her; for as <i>Rea</i> was a fair woman, none could +wonder that the devil gave himself more trouble for her than for an old +withered hag, seeing he has ever sought after fair women to lie with them. +</p> + +<p> +Lastly, he argued that <i>Rea</i> was in nowise marked as a witch, for that she +neither had bleared and squinting eyes nor a hooked nose, whereas old +Lizzie had both, which Theophrastus Paracelsus declares to be an unfailing +mark of a witch, saying, "Nature marketh none thus unless by abortion, for +these are the chiefest signs whereby witches be known whom the spirit +<i>Asiendens</i> hath subdued unto himself." +</p> + +<p> +When <i>Dom. Syndicus</i> had read his <i>defensio</i>, my daughter was so rejoiced +thereat that she would have kissed his hand, but he snatched it from her +and breathed upon it thrice, whereby we could easily see that he himself +was nowise in earnest with his <i>defensio</i>. Soon after he took leave in an +ill-humour, after commending her to the care of the Most High, and begged +that I would make my farewell as short as might be, seeing that he +purposed to return home that very day, the which, alas! I very unwillingly +did. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twenty-third Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS SENTENCED TO BE PUT TO THE QUESTION +</h3> + +<p> +After <i>acta</i> had been sent to the honourable the central court, about +fourteen days passed over before any answer was received. My lord the +Sheriff was especially gracious toward me the while, and allowed me to see +my daughter as often as I would (seeing that the rest of the court were +gone home), wherefore I was with her nearly all day. And when the +constable grew impatient of keeping watch over me, I gave him a fee to +lock me in together with my child. And the all-merciful God was gracious +unto us, and caused us often and gladly to pray, for we had a steadfast +hope, believing that the cross we had seen in the heavens would now soon +pass away from us, and that the ravening wolf would receive his reward +when the honourable high court had read through the <i>acta</i>, and should +come to the excellent <i>defensio</i> which <i>Dom. Syndicus</i> had constructed for +my child. Wherefore I began to be of good cheer again, especially when I +saw my daughter her cheeks growing of a right lovely red. But on Thursday, +25th <i>mensis Augusti</i>, at noon, the worshipful court drove into the +castle-yard again as I sat in the prison with my child, as I was wont; and +old Ilse brought us our food, but could not tell us the news for weeping. +But the tall constable peeped in at the door, grinning, and cried, "Oh, +ho! they are come, they are come, they are come; now the tickling will +begin": whereat my poor child shuddered, but less at the news than at +sight of the fellow himself. Scarce was he gone than he came back again to +take off her chains and to fetch her away. So I followed her into the +judgment-chamber, where <i>Dom. Consul</i> read out the sentence of the +honourable high court as follows:--That she should once more be questioned +in kindness touching the articles contained in the indictment; and if she +then continued stubborn she should be subjected to the <i>peine forte et +dure</i>, for that the <i>defensio</i> she had set up did not suffice, and that +there were <i>indicia legitima praegnantia et sufficientia ad torturam +ipsam</i>; to wit-- +</p> + +<p> +1. <i>Mala fama</i>. +</p> + +<p> +2. <i>Maleficium, publicè commissum</i>. +</p> + +<p> +3. <i>Apparitio daemonis in monte</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon the most honourable central court cited about 20 <i>auctores</i>, +whereof, howbeit, we remember but little. When <i>Dom. Consul</i> had read out +this to my child, he once more lift up his voice and admonished her with +many words to confess of her own free-will, for that the truth must now +come to light. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon she steadfastly replied, that after the <i>defensio</i> of <i>Dom. +Syndicus</i> she had indeed hoped for a better sentence; but that, as it was +the will of God to try her yet more hardly, she resigned herself +altogether into His gracious hands, and could not confess aught save what +she had said before, namely, that she was innocent, and that evil men had +brought this misery upon her. Hereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> motioned the +constable, who straightway opened the door of the next room, and admitted +<i>Pastor Benzensis</i> in his surplice, who had been sent for by the court to +admonish her still better out of the word of God. He heaved a deep sigh, +and said, "Mary, Mary, is it thus I must meet thee again?" Whereupon she +began to weep bitterly, and to protest her innocence afresh. But he heeded +not her distress, and as soon as he had heard her pray, "Our Father," "The +eyes of all wait upon thee," and "God the Father dwell with us," he lift +up his voice and declared to her the hatred of the living God to all +witches and warlocks, seeing that not only is the punishment of fire +awarded to them in the Old Testament, but that the Holy Ghost expressly +saith in the New Testament (Gal. v.), "That they which do such things +shall not inherit the kingdom of God"; but "shall have their part in the +lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" +(Apocal. xxi.). Wherefore she must not be stubborn nor murmur against the +court when she was tormented, seeing that it was all done out of Christian +love, and to save her poor soul. That, for the sake of God and her +salvation, she should no longer delay repentance, and thereby cause her +body to be tormented, and give over her wretched soul to Satan, who +certainly would not fulfil those promises in hell which he had made her +here upon earth; seeing that "He was a murderer from the beginning--a liar +and the father of it" (John viii.). "Oh!" cried he, "Mary, my child, who +so oft hast sat upon my knees, and for whom I now cry every morning and +every night unto my God, if thou wilt have no pity upon thee and me, have +pity at least upon thy worthy father, whom I cannot look upon without +tears, seeing that his hairs have turned snow-white within a few days, and +save thy soul, my child, and confess! Behold, thy Heavenly Father grieveth +over thee no less than thy fleshly father, and the holy angels veil their +faces for sorrow that thou, who wert once their darling sister, art now +become the sister and bride of the devil. Return therefore, and repent! +This day thy Saviour calleth thee, poor stray lamb, back into His flock, +'And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath +bound ... be loosed from this bond?' Such are His merciful words (Luke +xiii.); <i>item</i>, 'Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I +will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful' (Jer. +iii.). Return then, thou back-sliding soul, unto the Lord thy God! He who +heard the prayer of the idolatrous Manasseh when 'he besought the Lord his +God and humbled himself' (2 Chron. xxxiii.); who, through Paul, accepted +the repentance of the sorcerers at Ephesus (Acts xix.), the same merciful +God now crieth unto thee as unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, +'Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent' (Apocal. +ii.). Oh, Mary, Mary, remember, my child, from whence thou art fallen, and +repent!" +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon he held his peace, and it was some time before she could say a +word for tears and sobs; but at last she answered, "If lies are no less +hateful to God than witchcraft, I may not lie, but must rather declare, to +the glory of God, as I have ever declared, that I am innocent." +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon <i>Dom. Consul</i> was exceeding wroth, and frowned and asked the tall +constable if all was ready, <i>item</i>, whether the women were at hand to +undress <i>Rea</i>; whereupon he answered with a grin, as he was wont, "Ho, ho, +I have never been wanting in my duty, nor will I be wanting to-day; I will +tickle her in such wise that she shall soon confess." +</p> + +<p> +When he had said this, <i>Dom. Consul</i> turned to my daughter, and said, +"Thou art a foolish thing, and knowest not the torment which awaits thee, +and therefore is it that thou still art stubborn. Now, then, follow me to +the torture-chamber, where the executioner shall show thee the +<i>instrumenta</i>; and thou mayest yet think better of it when thou hast seen +what the question is like." +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon he went into another room, and the constable followed him with my +child. And when I would have gone after them, <i>Pastor Benzensis</i> held me +back, with many tears, and conjured me not to do so, but to tarry where I +was. But I hearkened not unto him, and tore myself from him, and swore +that so long as a single vein should beat in my wretched body I would +never forsake my child. I therefore went into the next room, and from +thence down into a vault, where was the torture-chamber, wherein were no +windows, so that those without might not hear the cries of the tormented. +Two torches were already burning there when I went in, and although <i>Dom. +Consul</i> would at first have sent me away, after a while he had pity upon +me, so that he suffered me to stay. +</p> + +<p> +And now that hell-hound the constable stepped forward, and first showed my +poor child the ladder, saying with savage glee, "See here! first of all +thou wilt be laid on that, and thy hands and feet will be tied. Next, the +thumb-screw here will be put upon thee, which straightway will make the +blood to spirt out at the tips of thy fingers; thou mayest see that they +are still red with the blood of old Gussy Biehlke, who was burnt last +year, and who, like thee, would not confess at first. If thou still wilt +not confess, I shall next put these Spanish boots on thee, and should they +be too large, I shall just drive in a wedge, so that the calf, which is +now at the back of thy leg, will be driven to the front, and the blood +will shoot out of thy feet, as when thou squeezest blackberries in a bag. +</p> + +<p> +"Again, if thou wilt not yet confess--holla!" shouted he, and kicked open +a door behind him, so that the whole vault shook, and my poor child fell +upon her knees for fright. Before long two women brought in a bubbling +caldron, full of boiling pitch and brimstone. This caldron the hell-hound +ordered them to set down on the ground, and drew forth, from under the red +cloak he wore, a goose's wing, wherefrom he plucked five or six quills, +which he dipped into the boiling brimstone. After he had held them a while +in the caldron he threw them upon the earth, where they twisted about and +spirted the brimstone on all sides. And then he called to my poor child +again, "See! these quills I shall throw upon thy white loins, and the +burning brimstone will presently eat into thy flesh down to the very +bones, so that thou wilt thereby have a foretaste of the joys which await +thee in hell." +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="images/illp202.jpg"><img src="images/illp202_th.jpg" alt="The Torture Chamber"></a> +</p> + +<p> +When he had spoken thus far, amid sneers and laughter, I was so overcome +with rage that I sprang forth out of the corner where I stood leaning my +trembling joints against an old barrel, and cried, "O, thou hellish dog! +sayest thou this of thyself, or have others bidden thee?" Whereupon, +however, the fellow gave me such a blow upon the breast that I fell +backwards against the wall, and <i>Dom. Consul</i> called out in great wrath, +"You old fool, if you needs must stay here, at any rate leave the +constable in peace, for if not I will have you thrust out of the chamber +forthwith. The constable has said no more than is his duty; and it will +thus happen to thy child if she confess not, and if it appear that the +foul fiend have given her some charm against the torture." Hereupon this +hell-hound went on to speak to my poor child, without heeding me, save +that he laughed in my face: "Look here! when thou hast thus been well +shorn, ho, ho, ho! I shall pull thee up by means of these two rings in the +floor and the roof, stretch thy arms above thy head, and bind them fast to +the ceiling; whereupon I shall take these two torches, and hold them under +thy shoulders, till thy skin will presently become like the rind of a +smoked ham. Then thy hellish paramour will help thee no longer, and thou +wilt confess the truth. And now thou hast seen and heard all that I shall +do to thee, in the name of God, and by order of the magistrates." +</p> + +<p> +And now <i>Dom. Consul</i> once more came forward and admonished her to confess +the truth. But she abode by what she had said from the first; whereupon he +delivered her over to the two women who had brought in the caldron, to +strip her naked as she was born, and to clothe her in the black +torture-shift; after which they were once more to lead her barefooted up +the steps before the worshipful court. But one of these women was the +Sheriff his housekeeper (the other was the impudent constable his wife), +and my daughter said that she would not suffer herself to be touched save +by honest women, and assuredly not by the housekeeper, and begged <i>Dom. +Consul</i> to send for her maid, who was sitting in her prison reading the +Bible, if he knew of no other decent woman at hand. Hereupon the +housekeeper began to pour forth a wondrous deal of railing and ill words, +but <i>Dom. Consul</i> rebuked her, and answered my daughter that he would let +her have her wish in this matter too, and bade the impudent constable his +wife call the maid hither from out of the prison. After he had said this, +he took me by the arm, and prayed me so long to go up with him, for that +no harm would happen to my daughter as yet, that I did as he would have +me. +</p> + +<p> +Before long she herself came up, led between the two women, barefooted, +and in the black torture-shift, but so pale that I myself should scarce +have known her. The hateful constable, who followed close behind, seized +her by the hand, and led her before the worshipful court. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon the admonitions began all over again, and <i>Dom. Consul</i> bade her +look upon the brown spots that were upon the black shift, for that they +were the blood of old wife Bichlke, and to consider that within a few +minutes it would in like manner be stained with her own blood. Hereupon +she answered, "I have considered that right well, but I hope that my +faithful Saviour, who hath laid this torment upon me, being innocent, will +likewise help me to bear it, as he helped the holy martyrs of old; for if +these, through God's help, overcame by faith the torments inflicted on +them by blind heathens, I also can overcome the torture inflicted on me by +blind heathens, who, indeed, call themselves Christians, but who are more +cruel than those of yore; for the old heathens only caused the holy +virgins to be torn of savage beasts, but ye which have received the new +commandment, 'That ye love one another; as your Saviour hath loved you, +that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are his +disciples' (St. John xiii.); yourselves will act the part of savage +beasts, and tear with your own hands the body of an innocent maiden, your +sister, who has never done aught to harm you. Do, then, as ye list, but +have a care how ye will answer it to the highest Judge of all. Again, I +say, the lamb feareth nought, for it is in the hand of the good Shepherd." +</p> + +<p> +When my matchless child had thus spoken, <i>Dom. Consul</i> rose, pulled off +the black skull-cap which he ever wore, because the top of his head was +already bald, bowed to the court, and said, "We hereby make known to the +worshipful court that the question ordinary and extraordinary of the +stubborn and blaspheming witch, Mary Schweidler, is about to begin, in the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon all the court rose save the Sheriff, who had got up before, and +was walking uneasily up and down in the room. But of all that now follows, +and of what I myself did, I remember not one word, but will relate it all +as I have received it from my daughter and other <i>testes</i>, and they have +told me as follows:-- +</p> + +<p> +That when <i>Dom. Consul</i> after these words had taken up the hour-glass +which stood upon the table, and walked on before, I would go with him, +whereupon <i>Pastor Benzensis</i> first prayed me with many words and tears to +desist from my purpose, and when that was of no avail my child herself +stroked my cheeks, saying, "Father, have you ever read that the Blessed +Virgin stood by when her guileless Son was scourged? Depart, therefore, +from me. You shall stand by the pile whereon I am burned, that I promise +you; for in like manner did the Blessed Virgin stand at the foot of the +cross. But, now, go; go, I pray you, for you will not be able to bear it, +neither shall I." +</p> + +<p> +And when this also failed, <i>Dom. Consul</i> bade the constable seize me, and +by main force lock me into another room; whereupon, however, I tore myself +away, and fell at his feet, conjuring him by the wounds of Christ not to +tear me from my child; that I would never forget his kindness and mercy, +but pray for him day and night; nay, that at the day of judgment I would +be his intercessor with God and the holy angels if that he would but let +me go with my child; that I would be quite quiet, and not speak one single +word, but that I must go with my child, etc. +</p> + +<p> +This so moved the worthy man that he burst into tears, and so trembled +with pity for me that the hour-glass fell from his hands and rolled right +before the feet of the Sheriff, as though God himself would signify to him +that his glass was soon to run out; and, indeed, he understood it right +well, for he grew white as any chalk when he picked it up and gave it back +to <i>Dom. Consul</i>. The latter at last gave way, saying that this day would +make him ten years older; but he bade the impudent constable (who also +went with us) lead me away if I made any <i>rumor</i> during the torture. And +hereupon the whole court went below, save the Sheriff, who said his head +ached, and that he believed his old <i>malum</i>, the gout, was coming upon him +again, wherefore he went into another chamber; <i>item, Pastor Benzensis</i> +likewise departed. +</p> + +<p> +Down in the vault the constable first brought in tables and chairs, +whereon the court sat, and <i>Dom. Consul</i> also pushed a chair toward me, +but I sat not thereon, but threw myself upon my knees in a corner. When +this was done they began again with their vile admonitions, and as my +child, like her guileless Saviour before His unrighteous judges, answered +not a word, <i>Dom. Consul</i> rose up and bade the tall constable lay her on +the torture-bench. +</p> + +<p> +She shook like an aspen leaf when he bound her hands and feet; and when he +was about to bind over her sweet eyes a nasty old filthy clout wherein my +maid had seen him carry fish but the day before, and which was still all +over shining scales, I perceived it, and pulled off my silken neckerchief, +begging him to use that instead, which he did. Hereupon the thumb-screw +was put on her, and she was once more asked whether she would confess +freely, but she only shook her poor blinded head and sighed with her dying +Saviour, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" and then in Greek, "Thee mou, Thee +mou, iuati me egkatelipes"; Whereat <i>Dom. Consul</i> started back, and made +the sign of the cross (for inasmuch as he knew no Greek, he believed, as +he afterwards said himself, that she was calling upon the devil to help +her), and then called to the constable with a loud voice, "Screw!" +</p> + +<p> +But when I heard this I gave such a cry that the whole vault shook; and +when my poor child, who was dying of terror and despair, had heard my +voice she first struggled with her bound hands and feet like a lamb that +lies dying in the slaughter-house, and then cried out, "Loose me, and I +will confess whatsoe'er you will." Hereat <i>Dom. Consul</i> so greatly +rejoiced, that while the constable unbound her, he fell on his knees, and +thanked God for having spared him this anguish. But no sooner was my poor +desperate child unbound, and had laid aside her crown of thorns (I mean my +silken neckerchief), than she jumped off the ladder, and flung herself +upon me, who lay for dead in a corner in a deep swound. +</p> + +<p> +This greatly angered the worshipful court, and when the constable had +borne me away, <i>Rea</i> was admonished to make her confession according to +promise. But seeing she was too weak to stand upon her feet, <i>Dom. Consul</i> +gave her a chair to sit upon, although <i>Dom. Camerarius</i> grumbled thereat, +and these were the chief questions which were put to her by order of the +most honourable high central court, as <i>Dom. Consul</i> said, and which were +registered <i>ad protocollum</i>. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she could bewitch? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Yes, she could bewitch. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Who taught her to do so? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Satan himself. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. How many devils had she? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. One devil was enough for her. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. What was this devil called? +</p> + +<p> +<i>Illa</i> (considering). His name was <i>Disidaemonia</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Hereat <i>Dom. Consul</i> shuddered, and said that that must be a very terrible +devil indeed, for that he had never heard such a name before, and that she +must spell it, so that <i>Scriba</i> might make no <i>error</i>; which she did, and +he then went on as follows:-- +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. In what shape had he appeared to her? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. In the shape of the Sheriff, and sometimes as a goat with terrible +horns. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether Satan had re-baptized her, and where? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. In the sea. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. What name had he given her? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>.--. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether any of the neighbors had been by when she was re-baptized, +and which of them? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. Hereupon my matchless child cast up her eyes towards heaven, as +though doubting whether she should file old Lizzie or not, but at last she +said, "No." +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. She must have had sponsors; who were they? and what gift had they +given her as christening money? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. There were none there save spirits; wherefore old Lizzie could see no +one when she came and looked on at her re-baptism. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had ever lived with the devil? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She never had lived anywhere save in her father's house. +</p> + +<p> +She did not choose to understand. He meant whether she had ever played the +wanton with Satan, and known him carnally? Hereupon she blushed, and was +so ashamed that she covered her face with her hands, and presently began +to weep and to sob: and as, after many questions, she gave no answer, she +was again admonished to speak the truth, or that the executioner should +lift her up on the ladder again. At last she said, "No!" which, howbeit, +the worshipful court would not believe, and bade the executioner seize her +again, whereupon she answered, "Yes!" +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had found the devil hot or cold? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. She did not remember which. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether she had ever conceived by Satan, and given birth to a +changeling, and of what shape? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. No, never. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Q</i>. Whether the foul fiend had given her any sign or mark about her body, +and in what part thereof? +</p> + +<p> +<i>R</i>. That the mark had already been seen by the worshipful court. +</p> + +<p> +She was next charged with all the witchcraft done in the village, and +owned to it all, save that she still said that she knew nought of old +Seden his death, <i>item</i>, of little Paasch her sickness, nor, lastly, would +she confess that she had, by the help of the foul fiend, raked up my crop +or conjured the caterpillars into my orchard. And albeit they again +threatened her with the question, and even ordered the executioner to lay +her on the bench and put on the thumb-screw to frighten her, she remained +firm and said, "Why should you torture me, seeing that I have confessed +far heavier crimes than these, which it will not save my life to deny?" +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon the worshipful court at last were satisfied, and suffered her to +be lifted off the torture-bench, especially as she confessed the +<i>articulus principals</i>; to wit, that Satan had really appeared to her on +the mountain in the shape of a hairy giant. Of the storm and the frog, +<i>item</i>, of the hedgehog, nothing was said, inasmuch as the worshipful +court had by this time seen the folly of supposing that she could have +brewed a storm while she quietly sat in the coach. Lastly, she prayed that +it might be granted to her to suffer death clothed in the garments which +she had worn when she went to greet the King of Sweden; <i>item</i>, that they +would suffer her wretched father to be driven with her to the stake, and +to stand by while she was burned, seeing that she had promised him this in +the presence of the worshipful court. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon she was once more given into the charge of the tall constable, +who was ordered to put her into a stronger and severer prison. But he had +not led her out of the chamber before the Sheriff his bastard, whom he had +had by the housekeeper, came into the vault with a drum, and kept drumming +and crying out, "Come to the roast goose! come to the roast goose!" +whereat <i>Dom. Consul</i> was exceeding wroth, and ran after him, but he could +not catch him, seeing that the young varlet knew all the ins and outs of +the vault. Without doubt it was the Lord who sent me the swound, so that I +should be spared this fresh grief; wherefore to Him alone be honour and +glory. Amen. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twenty-fourth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW IN MY PRESENCE THE DEVIL FETCHED OLD LIZZIE KOLKEN +</h3> + +<p> +When I recovered from my above-mentioned swound, I found my host, his +wife, and my old maid standing over me, and pouring warm beer down my +throat. The faithful old creature shrieked for joy when I opened my eyes +again, and then told me that my daughter had not suffered herself to be +racked, but had freely confessed her crimes and filed herself as a witch. +This seemed pleasant news to me in my misery, inasmuch as I deemed the +death by fire to be a less heavy punishment than the torture. Howbeit when +I would have prayed I could not, whereat I again fell into heavy grief and +despair, fearing that the Holy Ghost had altogether turned away His face +from me, wretched man that I was. And albeit the old maid, when she had +seen this, came and stood before my bed and began to pray aloud to me; it +was all in vain, and I remained a hardened sinner. But the Lord had pity +upon me, although I deserved it not, insomuch that I presently fell into a +deep sleep, and did not awake until next morning when the prayer-bell +rang; and then I was once more able to pray, whereat I greatly rejoiced, +and still thanked God in my heart, when my ploughman Claus Neels came in +and told me that he had come yesterday to tell me about my oats, seeing +that he had gotten them all in; and that the constable came with him who +had been to fetch old Lizzie Kolken, inasmuch as the honourable high court +had ordered her to be brought up for trial. Hereat the whole village +rejoiced, but <i>Rea</i> herself laughed, and shouted, and sang, and told him +and the constable by the way (for the constable had let her get up behind +for a short time), that this should bring great luck to the Sheriff. They +need only bring her up before the court, and in good sooth she would not +hold her tongue within her teeth, but that all men should marvel at her +confession; that such a court as that was a laughing-stock to her, and +that she spat, <i>salvâ veniâ</i>, upon the whole brotherhood, <i>et cet</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Upon hearing this I once more felt a strong hope, and rose to go to old +Lizzie. But I was not quite dressed before she sent the impudent constable +to beg that I would go to her with all speed and give her the sacrament, +seeing that she had become very weak during the night. I had my own +thoughts on the matter, and followed the constable as fast as I could, +though not to give her the sacrament, as indeed anybody may suppose. But +in my haste, I, weak old man that I was, forgot to take my witnesses with +me; for all the misery I had hitherto suffered had so clouded my senses +that it never once came into my head. None followed me save the impudent +constable; and it will soon appear how that this villain had given himself +over body and soul to Satan to destroy my child, whereas he might have +saved her. For when he had opened the prison (it was the same cell wherein +my child had first been shut up), we found old Lizzie lying on the ground +on a truss of straw, with a broom for a pillow (as though she were to fly +to hell upon it, as she no longer could fly to Blockula), so that I +shuddered when I caught sight of her. Scarce was I come in when she cried +out fearfully, "I'm a witch, I'm a witch! Have pity upon me, and give me +the sacrament quick, and I will confess everything to you!" And when I +said to her, "Confess, then!" she owned that she, with the help of the +Sheriff, had contrived all the witchcraft in the village, and that my +child was as innocent thereof as the blessed sun in heaven. Howbeit that +the Sheriff had the greatest guilt, inasmuch as he was a warlock and a +witch's priest, and had a spirit far stronger than hers, called Dudaim, +which spirit had given her such a blow on the head in the night as she +should never recover. This same Dudaim it was that had raked up the crops, +heaped sand over the amber, made the storm, and dropped the frog into my +daughter her lap; <i>item</i>, carried off her old goodman through the air. +</p> + +<p> +And when I asked her how that could be, seeing that her goodman had been a +child of God until very near his end, and much given to prayer; albeit I +had indeed marvelled why he had other thoughts in his last illness; she +answered that one day he had seen her spirit, which she kept in a chest, +in the shape of a black cat, and whose name was Kit, and had threatened +that he would tell me of it; whereupon she, being frightened, had caused +her spirit to make him so ill that he despaired of ever getting over it. +Thereupon she had comforted him, saying that she would presently heal him +if he would deny God, who, as he well saw, could not help him. This he +promised to do; and when she had straight-way made him quite hearty again, +they took the silver which I had scraped off the new sacrament cup, and +went by night down to the seashore, where he had to throw it into the sea +with these words: "When this silver returns again to the chalice, then +shall my soul return to God." Whereupon the Sheriff, who was by, +re-baptized him in the name of Satan, and called him Jack. He had had no +sponsors save only herself, old Lizzie. Moreover, that on St. John's Eve, +when he went with them to Blockula for the first time (the Herrenberg was +their Blockula), they had talked of my daughter, and Satan himself had +sworn to the Sheriff that he should have her. For that he would show the +old one (wherewith the villain meant God) what he could do, and that he +would make the carpenter's son sweat for vexation (fie upon thee, thou +arch villain, that thou couldst thus speak of my blessed Saviour!). +Whereupon her old goodman had grumbled, and as they had never rightly +trusted him, the spirit Dudaim one day flew off with him through the air +by the Sheriff's order, seeing that her own spirit, called Kit, was too +weak to carry him. That the same Dudaim had also been the woodpecker who +afterwards 'ticed my daughter and old Paasch to the spot with his cries, +in order to ruin her. But that the giant who had appeared on the +Streckelberg was not a devil, but the young lord of Mellenthin himself, as +her spirit, Kit, had told her. +</p> + +<p> +And this she said was nothing but the truth, whereby she would live and +die; and she begged me, for the love of God, to take pity upon her, and, +after her repentant confession, to speak forgiveness of her sins, and to +give her the Lord's Supper; for that her spirit stood there behind the +stove, grinning like a rogue, because he saw that it was all up with her +now. But I answered, "I would sooner give the sacrament to an old sow than +to thee, thou accursed witch, who not only didst give over thine own +husband to Satan, but hast likewise tortured me and my poor child almost +unto death with pains like those of hell." Before she could make any +answer, a loathsome insect, about as long as my finger, and with a yellow +tail, crawled in under the door of the prison. When she espied it she gave +a yell, such as I never before heard, and never wish to hear again. For +once, when I was in Silesia, in my youth, I saw one of the enemy's +soldiers spear a child before its mother's face, and I thought that a +fearful shriek which the mother gave; but her cry was child's play to the +cry of old Lizzie. All my hair stood on end, and her own red hair grew so +stiff that it was like the twigs of the broom whereon she lay; and then +she howled, "That is the spirit Dudaim, whom the accursed Sheriff has sent +to me--the sacrament, for the love of God, the sacrament!--I will confess +a great deal more--I have been a witch these thirty years!--the sacrament, +the sacrament!" While she thus bellowed and flung about her arms and legs, +the loathsome insect rose into the air, and buzzed and whizzed about her +where she lay, insomuch that it was fearful to see and to hear. And this +she-devil called by turns on God, on her spirit Kit, and on me, to help +her, till the insect all of a sudden darted into her open jaws, whereupon +she straightway gave up the ghost, and turned all black and blue like a +blackberry. +</p> + +<p> +I heard nothing more save that the window rattled, not very loud, but as +though one had thrown a pea against it, whereby I straightway perceived +that Satan had just flown through it with her soul. May the all-merciful +God keep every mother's child from such an end, for the sake of Jesus +Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour! Amen. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as I was somewhat recovered, which, however, was not for a long +time, inasmuch as my blood had turned to ice, and my feet were as stiff as +a stake; I began to call out after the impudent constable, but he was no +longer in the prison. Thereat I greatly marvelled, seeing that I had seen +him there but just before the vermin crawled in, and straightway I +suspected no good, as, indeed, it turned out; for when at last he came +upon my calling him, and I told him to let this carrion be carted out +which had just died in the name of the devil, he did as though he was +amazed; and when I desired him that he would bear witness to the innocence +of my daughter, which the old hag had confessed on her death-bed, he +pretended to be yet more amazed, and said that he had heard nothing. This +went through my heart like a sword, and I leaned against a pillar without, +where I stood for a long time: but as soon as I was come to myself I went +to <i>Dom. Consul</i>, who was about to go to Usedom and already sat in his +coach. At my humble prayer he went back into the judgment-chamber with the +<i>Camerarius</i> and the <i>Scriba</i>, whereupon I told all that had taken place, +and how the wicked constable denied that he had heard the same. But they +say that I talked a great deal of nonsense beside; among other things, +that all the little fishes had swam into the vault to release my daughter. +Nevertheless, <i>Dom. Consul</i>, who often shook his head, sent for the +impudent constable, and asked him for his testimony. But the fellow +pretended that as soon as he saw that old Lizzie wished to confess, he had +gone away, so as not to get any more hard words, wherefore he had heard +nothing. Hereupon I, as <i>Dom. Consul</i> afterwards told the pastor of Benz, +clenched my fists and answered, "What, thou arch-rogue, didst thou not +crawl about the room in the shape of a reptile?" whereupon he would +hearken to me no longer, thinking me distraught, nor would he make the +constable take an oath, but left me standing in the midst of the room, and +got into his coach again. +</p> + +<p> +Neither do I know how I got out of the room; but next morning when the sun +rose, and I found myself lying in bed at Master Seep his ale-house, the +whole <i>casus</i> seemed to me like a dream; neither was I able to rise, but +lay a-bed all the blessed Saturday and Sunday, talking all manner of +<i>allotria</i>. It was not till towards evening on Sunday, when I began to +vomit and threw up green bile (no wonder!), that I got somewhat better. +About this time <i>Pastor Benzensis</i> came to my bedside, and told me how +distractedly I had borne myself, but so comforted me from the word of God, +that I was once more able to pray from my heart. May the merciful God +reward my dear gossip, therefore, at the day of judgment! For prayer is +almost as brave a comforter as the Holy Ghost himself, from whom it comes; +and I shall ever consider that so long as a man can still pray, his +misfortunes are not unbearable, even though in all else "his flesh and his +heart faileth" (Psalm lxxiii.). +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twenty-fifth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW SATAN SIFTED ME LIKE WHEAT, WHEREAS MY DAUGHTER WITHSTOOD HIM RIGHT +BRAVELY +</h3> + +<p> +On Monday I left my bed betimes, and as I felt in passable good case, I +went up to the castle to see whether I might peradventure get to my +daughter, but I could not find either constable, albeit I had brought a +few groats with me to give them as beer-money; neither would the folks +that I met tell me where they were; <i>item</i>, the impudent constable his +wife, who was in the kitchen making brimstone matches. And when I asked +her when her husband would come back, she said not before to-morrow +morning early; <i>item</i>, that the other constable would not be here any +sooner. Hereupon I begged her to lead me to my daughter herself, at the +same time showing her the two groats; but she answered that she had not +the keys, and knew not how to get at them: moreover, she said she did not +know where my child was now shut up, seeing that I would have spoken to +her through the door; <i>item</i>, the cook, the huntsman, and whomsoever else +I met in my sorrow, said they knew not in what hole the witch might lie. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon I went all round about the castle, and laid my ear against every +little window that looked as though it might be her window, and cried, +"Mary, my child, where art thou?" <i>Item</i>, at every grating I found I +kneeled down, bowed my head, and called in like manner into the vault +below. But all in vain; I got no answer anywhere. The Sheriff at length +saw what I was about, and came down out of the castle to me with a very +gracious air, and, taking me by the hand, he asked me what I sought? But +when I answered him that I had not seen my only child since last Thursday, +and prayed him to show pity upon me, and let me be led to her, he said +that could not be, but that I was to come up into his chamber, and talk +further of the matter. By the way he said, "Well, so the old witch told +you fine things about me, but you see how Almighty God has sent his +righteous judgment upon her. She has long been ripe for the fire; but my +great long-suffering, wherein a good magistrate should ever strive to be +like unto the Lord, has made me overlook it till <i>datum</i>, and in return +for my goodness she raises this outcry against me." And when I replied, +"How does your Lordship know that the witch raised such an outcry against +you?" he first began to stammer, and then said, "Why, you yourself charged +me thereon before the judge. But I bear you no anger therefor, and God +knows that I pity you, who are a poor, weak old man, and would gladly help +you if I were able." Meanwhile he led me up four or five flights of +stairs, so that I, old man that I am, could follow him no further, and +stood still gasping for breath. But he took me by the hand and said, +"Come, I must first show you how matters really stand, or I fear you will +not accept my help, but will plunge yourself into destruction." Hereupon +we stepped out upon a terrace at the top of the castle, which looked +toward the water; and the villain went on to say, "Reverend Abraham, can +you see well afar off?" and when I answered that I once could see very +well, but that the many tears I had shed had now peradventure dimmed my +eyes, he pointed to the Streckelberg, and said, "Do you, then, see nothing +there?" <i>Ego</i>. "Nought save a black speck, which I cannot make out." +<i>Ille</i>. "Know, then, that that is the pile whereon your daughter is to +burn at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, and which the constables are now +raising." When this hell-hound had thus spoken, I gave a loud cry and +swounded. Oh, blessed Lord! I know not how I lived through such distress; +thou alone didst strengthen me beyond nature, in order, "after so much +weeping and wailing, to heap joys and blessings upon me; without thee I +never could have lived through such misery: therefore to thy name ever be +all honour and glory, O thou God of Israel!" +</p> + +<p> +When I came again to myself I lay on a bed in a fine room, and perceived a +taste in my mouth like wine. But as I saw none near me save the Sheriff, +who held a pitcher in his hand, I shuddered and closed mine eyes, +considering what I should say or do. This he presently observed, and said, +"Do not shudder thus; I mean well by you, and only wish to put a question +to you, which you must answer me on your conscience as a priest. Say, +reverend Abraham, which is the greater sin, to commit whoredom, or to take +the lives of two persons?" and when I answered him, "To take the lives of +two persons," he went on, "Well, then, is not that what your stubborn +child is about to do? Rather than give herself up to me, who have ever +desired to save her, and who can even yet save her, albeit her pile is now +being raised, she will take away her own life and that of her wretched +father, for I scarcely think that you, poor man, will outlive this sorrow. +Wherefore do you, for God his sake, persuade her to think better of it +while I am yet able to save her. For know that about ten miles from hence +I have a small house in the midst of the forest, where no human being ever +goes; thither will I send her this very night, and you may dwell there +with her all the days of your life, if so it please you. You shall live as +well as you can possibly desire, and to-morrow morning I will spread a +report betimes that the witch and her father have run away together during +the night, and that nobody knows whither they are gone." Thus spake the +serpent to me, as whilom to our mother Eve; and, wretched sinner that I +am, the tree of death which he showed me seemed to me also to be a tree of +life, so pleasant was it to the eye. Nevertheless I answered, "My child +will never save her miserable life by doing aught to peril the salvation +of her soul." But now, too, the serpent was more cunning than all the +beasts of the field (especially such an old fool as I), and spake thus: +"Why, who would have her peril the salvation of her soul? Reverend +Abraham, must I teach you Scripture? Did not our Lord Christ pardon Mary +Magdalene, who lived in open whoredom? and did he not speak forgiveness to +the poor adulteress who had committed a still greater <i>crimen?</i> nay, more, +doth not St. Paul expressly say that the harlot Rahab was saved, Hebrews +xi.? <i>item</i>, St. James ii. says the same. But where have ye read that any +one was saved who had wantonly taken her own life and that of her father? +Wherefore, for the love of God, persuade your child not to give herself +up, body and soul, to the devil, by her stubbornness, but to suffer +herself to be saved while it is yet time. You can abide with her, and pray +away all the sins she may commit, and likewise aid me with your prayers, +who freely own that I am a miserable sinner, and have done you much evil, +though not so much evil by far, reverend Abraham, as David did to Uriah, +and he was saved, notwithstanding he put the man to a shameful death, and +afterwards lay with his wife. Wherefore I, poor man, likewise hope to be +saved, seeing that my desire for your daughter is still greater than that +which this David felt for Bathsheba; and I will gladly make it all up to +you twofold as soon as we are in my cottage." +</p> + +<p> +When the tempter had thus spoken, methought his words were sweeter than +honey, and I answered, "Alas, my lord, I am ashamed to appear before her +face with such a proposal." Whereupon he straightway said, "Then do you +write it to her; come, here is pen, ink, and paper." +</p> + +<p> +And now, like Eve, I took the fruit and ate, and gave it to my child that +she might eat also; that is to say, that I recapitulated on paper all that +Satan had prompted, but in the Latin tongue, for I was ashamed to write it +in mine own; and lastly I conjured her not to take away her own life and +mine, but to submit to the wondrous will of God. Neither were mine eyes +opened when I had eaten (that is, written), nor did I perceive that the +ink was gall instead of honey, and I translated my letter to the Sheriff +(seeing that he understood no Latin), smiling like a drunken man the +while; whereupon he clapped me on the shoulder, and after I had made fast +the letter with his signet, he called his huntsman, and gave it to him to +carry to my daughter; <i>item</i>, he sent her pen, ink, and paper, together +with his signet, in order that she might answer it forthwith. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile he talked with me right graciously, praising my child and me, +and made me drink to him many times from his great pitcher, wherein was +most goodly wine; moreover, he went to a cupboard and brought out cakes +for me to eat, saying that I should now have such every day. But when the +huntsman came back in about half an hour with her answer, and I had read +the same, then, first, were mine eyes opened, and I knew good and evil; +had I had a fig-leaf, I should have covered them therewith for shame; but +as it was, I held my hand over them and wept so bitterly that the Sheriff +waxed very wroth, and cursing bade me tell him what she had written. +Thereupon I interpreted the letter to him, the which I likewise place +here, in order that all may see my folly, and the wisdom of my child. It +was as follows:-- +</p> + +<p> +"IESVS! +</p> + +<p> +"Pater infelix! +</p> + +<p> +"Ego cras non magis pallebo rogum aspectura, et rogus non magis erubescet, +me suscipiens, quam pallui et iterum erubescui, literas tuas legens. Quid? +et te, pium patrem, pium servum Domini, ita Satanas sollicitavit, ut +communionem facias cum inimicis meis, et non intelligas: in tali vitâ esse +mortem, et in tali morte vitam? Scilicet si clementissimus Deus Mariae +Magdalenae aliisque ignovit, ignovit, quia resipiscerent ob carnis +debilitatem, et non iterum peccarent. Et ego peccarem cum quavis +detestatione carnis, et non semel, sed iterum atque iterum sine reversione +usque ad mortem? Quomodo clementissimus Deus haec sceleratissima ignoscere +posset? infelix pater! recordare quid mihi dixisti de sanctis martyribus +et virginibus Domini, qua omnes mallent vitam quam pudicitiam perdere. His +et ego sequar, et sponsus meus, Jesus Christus, et mihi miserae, ut spero, +coronam aeternam dabit, quamvis eum non minus offendi ob debilitatem +carnis ut Maria, et me sontem declaravi, cum insons sum. Fac igitur, ut +valeas et ora pro me apud Deum et non apud Satanam, ut et ego mox coram +Deo pro te orare possim. +</p> + +<p> +"MARIA S., captiva." +</p> + +<p> +When the Sheriff heard this, he flung the pitcher which he held in his +hand to the ground, so that it flew in pieces, and cried, "The cursed +devil's whore! the constable shall make her squeak for this a good hour +longer"; with many more such things beside, which he said in his malice, +and which I have now forgotten; but he soon became quite gracious again, +and said, "She is foolish; do you go to her and see whether you cannot +persuade her to her own good as well as yours; the huntsman shall let you +in, and should the fellow listen, give him a good box on the ears in my +name; do you hear, reverend Abraham? Go now forthwith and bring me back an +answer as quickly as possible!" I therefore followed the huntsman, who led +me into a vault where was no light save what fell through a hole no bigger +than a crown-piece; and here my daughter sat upon her bed and wept. Any +one may guess that I straightway began to weep too, and was no better able +to speak than she. We thus lay mute in each other's arms for a long time, +until I at last begged her to forgive me for my letter, but of the Sheriff +his message I said nought, although I had purposed so to do. But before +long we heard the Sheriff himself call down into the vault from above, +"What (and here he gave me a heavy curse) are you doing there so long? +Come up this moment, reverend Johannes!" Thus I had scarce time to +give her one kiss before the huntsman came back with the keys and forced +us to part; albeit we had as yet scarcely spoken, save that I had told her +in a few words what had happened with old Lizzie. It would be hard to +believe into what grievous anger the Sheriff fell when I told him that my +daughter remained firm and would not hearken unto him; he struck me on the +breast, and said, "Go to the devil then, thou infamous parson!" and when I +turned myself away and would have gone, he pulled me back, and said, "If +thou breathest but one word of all that has passed, I will have thee burnt +too, thou grey-headed old father of a witch; so look to it!" Hereupon I +plucked up a heart, and answered that that would be the greatest joy to +me, especially if I could be burnt to-morrow with my child. Hereunto he +made no answer, but clapped to the door behind me. Well, clap the door as +thou wilt, I greatly fear that the just God will one day clap the doors of +heaven in thy face! +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twenty-sixth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW I RECEIVED THE HOLY SACRAMENT WITH MY DAUGHTER AND THE OLD +MAIDSERVANT, AND HOW SHE WAS THEN LED FOR THE LAST TIME BEFORE THE COURT, +WITH THE DRAWN SWORD AND THE OUTCRY, TO RECEIVE SENTENCE +</h3> + +<p> +Now any one would think that during that heavy Tuesday night I should not +have been able to close mine eyes; but know, dear reader, that the Lord +can do more than we can ask or understand, and that his mercy is new every +morning. For toward daybreak I fell asleep as quietly as though I had had +no care upon my heart; and when I awoke I was able to pray more heartily +than I had done for a long time; so that, in the midst of my tribulation, +I wept for joy at such great mercy from the Lord. But I prayed for nought +save that he would endow my child with strength and courage to suffer the +martyrdom he had laid upon her with Christian patience, and to send his +angel to me, woeful man, so to pierce my heart with grief when I should +see my child burn that it might straightway cease to beat, and I might +presently follow her. And thus I still prayed when the maid came in all +dressed in black, and with the silken raiment of my sweet lamb hanging +over her arm; and she told me, with many tears, that the dead-bell had +already tolled from the castle tower, for the first time, and that my +child had sent for her to dress her, seeing that the court was already +come from Usedom, and that in about two hours she was to set out on her +last journey. Moreover, she had sent her word that she was to take her +some blue and yellow flowers for a garland; wherefore she asked me what +flowers she should take; and seeing that a jar filled with fire lilies and +forget-me-nots stood in my window, which she had placed there yesterday, I +said, "Thou canst gather no better flowers for her than these, wherefore +do thou carry them to her, and tell her that I will follow thee in about +half an hour, in order to receive the sacrament with her." Hereupon the +faithful old creature prayed me to suffer her to go to the sacrament with +us, the which I promised her. And scarce had I dressed myself and put on +my surplice when <i>Pastor Benzensis</i> came in at the door and fell upon my +neck, weeping, and as mute as a fish. As soon as he came to his speech +again he told me of the great <i>miraculum</i> (<i>daemonis</i> I mean) which had +befallen at the burial of old Lizzie. For that, just as the bearers were +about to lower the coffin into the grave, a noise was heard therein, as +though of a carpenter boring through a deal board; wherefore they thought +the old hag must be come to life again, and opened the coffin. But there +she lay as before, all black and blue in the face, and as cold as ice; but +her eyes had started wide open, so that all were horror-stricken, and +expected some devilish apparition; and, indeed, a live rat presently +jumped out of the coffin and ran into a skull which lay beside the grave. +Thereupon they all ran away, seeing that old Lizzie had ever been in evil +repute as a witch. Howbeit at last he himself went near the grave again, +whereupon the rat disappeared, and all the others took courage and +followed him. This the man told me, and any one may guess that this was in +fact Satan, who had flown down the hag her throat as an insect, whereas +his proper shape was that of a rat: albeit I wonder what he could so long +have been about in the carrion; unless indeed it were that the evil +spirits are as fond of all that is loathsome as the angels of God are of +all that is fair and lovely. Be that as it may; <i>Summa</i>: I was not a +little shocked at what he told me, and asked him what he now thought of +the Sheriff? whereupon he shrugged his shoulders, and said that he had +indeed been a wicked fellow as long as he could remember him, and that it +was full ten years since he had given him any first-fruits; but that he +did not believe that he was a warlock, as old Lizzie had said. For +although he had indeed never been to the table of the Lord in his church, +he had heard that he often went at Stettin, with his Princely Highness the +Duke, and that the pastor at the castle church had shown him the entry in +his communion-book. Wherefore he likewise could not believe that he had +brought this misery upon my daughter, if she were innocent, as the hag had +said; besides, that my daughter had freely confessed herself a witch. +Hereupon I answered, that she had done that for fear of the torture; but +that she was not afraid of death; whereupon I told him, with many sighs, +how the sheriff had yesterday tempted me, miserable and unfaithful +servant, to evil, insomuch that I had been willing to sell my only child +to him and to Satan, and was not worthy to receive the sacrament to-day. +Likewise how much more steadfast a faith my daughter had than I, as he +might see from her letter, which I still carried in my pocket; herewith I +gave it into his hand, and when he had read it, he sighed as though he had +been himself a father, and said, "Were this true, I should sink into the +earth for sorrow; but come, brother, come, that I may prove her faith +myself." +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon we went up to the castle, and on our way we found the greensward +before the hunting-lodge, <i>item</i>, the whole space in front of the castle, +already crowded with people, who, nevertheless, were quite quiet as we +went by: we gave our names again to the huntsman. (I have never been able +to remember his name, seeing that he was a Polak; he was not, however, the +same fellow who wooed my child, and whom the Sheriff had therefore turned +off.) The man presently ushered us into a fine large room, whither my +child had been led when taken out of her prison. The maid had already +dressed her, and she looked lovely as an angel. She wore the chain of gold +with the effigy round her neck again, <i>item</i>, the garland in her hair, and +she smiled as we entered, saying, "I am ready!" Whereat the reverend +Martinus was sorely angered and shocked, saying, "Ah, thou ungodly woman, +let no one tell me further of thine innocence! Thou art about to go to the +holy sacrament, and from thence to death, and thou flauntest as a child of +this world about to go to the dancing-room." Whereupon she answered and +said, "Be not wroth with me, dear godfather, because that I would go into +the presence of my good King of Heaven in the same garments wherein I +appeared some time since before the good King of Sweden. For it +strengthens my weak and trembling flesh, seeing I hope that my righteous +Saviour will in like manner take me to his heart, and will also hand his +effigy upon my neck when I stretch out my hands to him in all humility, +and recite my <i>carmen</i>, saying, 'O Lamb of God, innocently slain upon the +cross, give my thy peace, O Jesu!'" These words softened my dear gossip, +and he spoke, saying, "Ah, child, child, I thought to have reproached +thee, but thou hast constrained me to weep with thee: art thou, then, +indeed innocent?" "Verily," said she, "to you, my honoured godfather, I +may now own that I am innocent, as truly as I trust that God will aid me +in my last hour through Jesus Christ. Amen." +</p> + +<p> +When the maid heard this, she made such outcries that I repented that I +had suffered her to be present, and we all had enough to do to comfort her +from the word of God till she became somewhat more tranquil; and when this +was done, my dear gossip thus spake to my child: "If, indeed, thou dost so +steadfastly maintain thine innocence, it is my duty, according to my +conscience as a priest, to inform the worshipful court thereof"; and he +was about to leave the room. But she withheld him, and fell upon the +ground and clasped his knees, saying, "I beseech you, by the wounds of +Jesus, to be silent. They would stretch me on the rack again, and uncover +my nakedness, and I, wretched weak woman, would in such torture confess +all that they would have me, especially if my father again be there, +whereby both my soul and my body are tortured at once: wherefore stay, I +pray you, stay; is it, then, a misfortune to die innocent, and is it not +better to die innocent than guilty?" +</p> + +<p> +My good gossip at last gave way, and after standing awhile and praying to +himself, he wiped away his tears, and then spake the exhortation to +confession, in the words of Isaiah xliii. 1, 2, "But now thus saith the +Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear +not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art +mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and +through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest +through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle +upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy +Saviour." +</p> + +<p> +And when he had ended this comfortable address, and asked her whether she +would willingly bear until her last hour that cross which the most +merciful God according to his unsearchable will had laid upon her, she +spake such beautiful words that my gossip afterwards said he should not +forget them so long as he should live, seeing that he had never witnessed +a bearing at once so full of faith and joy, and withal so deeply +sorrowful. She spake after this manner: "Oh, holy cross, which my Jesus +hath sanctified by his innocent suffering; oh, dear cross, which is laid +upon me by the hand of a merciful Father; oh, blessed cross, whereby I am +made like unto my Lord Jesus, and am called unto eternal glory and +blessedness: how! shall I not willingly bear thee, thou sweet cross of my +bridegroom, of my brother?" The reverend Johannes had scarce given us +absolution, and after this, with many tears, the holy sacrament, when we +heard a loud trampling upon the floor, and presently the impudent +constable looked into the room and asked whether we were ready, seeing +that the worshipful court was now waiting for us; and when he had been +told that we were ready, my child would have first taken leave of me, but +I forbade her, saying, "Not so; thou knowest that which thou hast promised +me; ... 'and whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will +lodge: ... where thou diest will I die ...' if that the Lord, as I hope, +will hear the ardent sighs of my poor soul." Hereupon she let me go, and +embraced only the old maid-servant, thanking her for all the kindness she +had shown her from her youth up, and begging her not to go with her to +make her death yet more bitter by her cries. The faithful old creature was +unable for a long time to say a word for tears. Howbeit at last she begged +forgiveness of my child for that she unwittingly accused her, and said, +that out of her wages she had bought five pounds' weight of flax to hasten +her death; that the shepherd of Pudgla had that very morning taken it with +him to Coserow, and that she should wind it closely round her body; for +that she had seen how old wife Schurne, who was burnt in Liepe, had +suffered great torments before she came to her death, by reason of the +damp wood. +</p> + +<p> +But ere my child could thank her for this, the dreadful outcry of blood +began in the judgment-chamber; for a voice cried as loudly as might be, +"Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath +fallen off from the living God!" Then all the folk without cried, "Woe +upon the accursed witch!" When I heard this I fell back against the wall, +but my sweet child stroked my cheeks with her darling hands, and said, +"Father, father, do but remember that the people likewise cried out +against the innocent Jesus, 'Crucify him, crucify him!' Shall not we then +drink of the cup which our Heavenly Father hath prepared for us?" +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon the door opened, and the constable walked in, amid a great tumult +among the people, holding a drawn sword in his hand, which he bowed thrice +before my child, and cried, "Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, +because that she hath fallen off from the living God!" and all the folks +in the hall and without the castle cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon +the accursed witch!" +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon he said, "Mary Schweidler, come before the high and worshipful +court to hear sentence of death passed upon thee!" Whereupon she followed +him with us two miserable men (for <i>Pastor Benzensis</i> was no less cast +down than myself). As for the old maid-servant, she lay on the ground for +dead. +</p> + +<p> +After we had with great pains pushed our way through all the people, the +constable stood still before the open judgment-chamber, and once more +bowed his sword before my child and cried for the third time, "Woe upon +the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath fallen off from +the living God!" And all the people, as well as the cruel judges +themselves, cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon the accursed witch!" +</p> + +<p> +When we had entered the room, <i>Dom. Consul</i> first asked my worthy gossip +whether the witch had abode by her free avowal in confession; whereupon, +after considering a short time, he answered, that he had best ask herself, +for there she stood. According, taking up a paper which lay before him on +the table, he spake as follows:--"Mary Schweidler, now that thou hast +confessed, and received the holy and most honourable sacrament of the +Lord's Supper, answer me once again these following questions:-- +</p> + +<p> +"1. Is it true that thou hast fallen off from the living God and given +thyself up to Satan? +</p> + +<p> +"2. Is it true that thou hadst a spirit called <i>Disidaemonia</i>, who +re-baptized thee and carnally knew thee? +</p> + +<p> +"3. Is it true that thou hast done all manner of mischief to the cattle? +</p> + +<p> +"4. Is it true that Satan appeared to thee on the Streckelberg in the +likeness of a hairy giant?" +</p> + +<p> +When she had with many sighs said "Yes" to all these questions, he rose, +took a wand in one hand and a second paper in the other, put his +spectacles on his nose, and said, "Now, then, hear thy sentence." (This +sentence I since copied: he would not let me see the other <i>Acta</i>, but +pretended that they were at Wolgast. The sentence, however, was word for +word as follows.) +</p> + +<p> +"We, the Sheriff and the Justices appointed to serve the high and +worshipful criminal court. Inasmuch as Mary Schweidler, the daughter of +Abraham Schweidlerus, the pastor of Coserow, hath, after the appointed +inquisition, repeatedly made free confession that she hath a devil named +<i>Disidaemonia</i>, the which did re-baptize her in the sea, and did also know +her carnally; <i>item</i>, that she by his help did mischief to the cattle; +that he also appeared to her on the Streckelberg in the likeness of a +hairy giant. We do therefore by these presents make known and direct that +<i>Rea</i> be first duly torn four times on each breast with red-hot iron +pincers, and after that be burned to death by fire, as a rightful +punishment to herself and a warning to others. Nevertheless we, in pity +for her youth, are pleased of our mercy to spare her the tearing with +red-hot pincers, so that she shall only suffer death by the simple +punishment of fire. Wherefore she is hereby condemned and judged +accordingly on the part of the criminal court. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Publicatum</i> at the castle of Pudgla, the 30th day <i>mensis Augusti, anno +Salutis</i> 1630." +</p> + +<p> +As he spake the last word he brake his wand in two and threw the pieces +before the feet of my innocent lamb, saying to the constable, "Now, do +your duty!" But so many folks, both men and women, threw themselves on the +ground to seize the pieces of the wand (seeing they are said to be good +for the gout in the joints, <i>item</i>, for cattle when troubled with lice), +that the constable fell to the earth over a woman who was on her knees +before him, and his approaching death was thus foreshadowed to him by the +righteous God. Something of the same sort likewise befell the Sheriff now +for the second time; for when the worshipful court rose, throwing down +tables, stools, and benches, a table, under which two boys were fighting +for the pieces of the wand, fell right upon his foot, whereupon he flew +into a violent rage, and threatened the people with his fist, saying that +they should have fifty right good lashes a-piece, both men and women, if +they were not quiet forthwith, and did not depart peaceably out of the +room. This frighted them, and after the people were gone out into the +street, the constable took a rope out of his pocket, wherewith he bound my +lamb her hands so tightly behind her back that she cried aloud; but when +she saw how this wrung my heart, she straightway constrained herself and +said, "Oh, father, remember that it fared no better with the blessed +Saviour!" Howbeit, when my dear gossip, who stood behind her, saw that her +little hands, and more especially her nails, had turned black and blue, he +spoke for her to the worshipful court, whereupon the abominable Sheriff +only said, "Oh, let her be; let her feel what it is to fall off from the +living God." But <i>Dom. Consul</i> was more merciful, inasmuch as, after +feeling the cords, he bade the constable bind her hands less cruelly and +slacken the rope a little, which accordingly he was forced to do. But my +dear gossip was not content herewith, and begged that she might sit in the +cart without being bound, so that she should be able to hold her +hymn-book, for he had summoned the school to sing a hymn by the way for +her comfort, and he was ready to answer for it with his own head that she +should not escape out of the cart. Moreover; it is the custom for fellows +with pitchforks always to go with the carts wherein condemned criminals, +and more especially witches, are carried to execution. But this the cruel +Sheriff would not suffer, and the rope was left upon her hands, and the +impudent constable seized her by the arm and led her from the +judgment-chamber. But in the hall we saw a great <i>scandalum</i>, which again +pierced my very heart. For the housekeeper and the impudent constable his +wife were fighting for my child her bed, and her linen, and wearing +apparel, which the housekeeper had taken for herself, and which the other +woman wanted to have. The latter now called to her husband to help her, +whereupon he straightway let go my daughter and struck the housekeeper on +her mouth with his fist, so that the blood ran out therefrom, and she +shrieked and wailed fearfully to the Sheriff, who followed us with the +court. He threatened them both in vain, and said that when he came back he +would inquire into the matter and give to each her due share. But they +would not hearken to this, until my daughter asked <i>Dom. Consul</i> whether +every dying person, even a condemned criminal, had power to leave his +goods and chattels to whomsoever he would? and when he answered, "Yes, all +but the clothes, which belong of right to the executioner," she said, +"Well, then, the constable may take my clothes, but none shall have my bed +save my faithful old maid-servant Ilse!" Hereupon the housekeeper began to +curse and revile my child loudly, who heeded her not, but stepped out at +the door toward the cart, where there stood so many people that nought +could be seen save head against head. The folks crowded about us so +tumultuously that the Sheriff, who, meanwhile, had mounted his grey horse, +constantly smote them right and left across their eyes with his +riding-whip, but they nevertheless would scarce fall back. Howbeit, at +length he cleared the way, and when about ten fellows with long +pitchforks, who for the most part also had rapiers at their sides, had +placed themselves round about our cart, the constable lifted my daughter +up into it, and bound her fast to the rail. Old Paasch, who stood by, +lifted me up, and my dear gossip was likewise forced to be lifted in, so +weak had he become from all the distress. He motioned his sexton, Master +Krekow, to walk before the cart with the school, and bade him from time to +time lead a verse of the goodly hymn, "On God alone I rest my fate," which +he promised to do. And here I will also note, that I myself sat down upon +the straw by my daughter, and that our dear confessor the reverend +Martinus sat backwards. The constable was perched up behind with his drawn +sword. When all this was done, <i>item</i>, the court mounted up into another +carriage, the Sheriff gave the order to set out. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twenty-seventh Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +OF THAT WHICH BEFELL US BY THE WAY: <i>ITEM</i>, OF THE FEARFUL DEATH OF THE +SHERIFF AT THE MILL +</h3> + +<p> +We met with many wonders by the way, and with great sorrow; for hard by +the bridge, over the brook which runs into the Schmolle, stood the +housekeeper her hateful boy, who beat a drum and cried aloud, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon the crowd set up a loud +laugh, and called out after him, "Yes, indeed, to the roast goose! to the +roast goose!" Howbeit, when Master Krekow led the second verse the folks +became somewhat quieter again, and most of them joined in singing it from +their books, which they had brought with them. But when he ceased singing +awhile the noise began again as bad as before. Some cried out, "The devil +hath given her these clothes, and hath adorned her after that fashion"; +and seeing the Sheriff had ridden on before, they came close round the +cart, and felt her garments, more especially the women and young maidens. +Others, again, called loudly, as the young varlet had done, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon one fellow answered, "She +will not let herself be roasted yet; mind ye that: she will quench the +fire!" This, and much filthiness beside, which I may not for very shame +write down, we were forced to hear, and it especially cut me to the heart +to hear a fellow swear that he would have some of her ashes, seeing he had +not been able to get any of the wand, and that nought was better for the +fever and the gout than the ashes of a witch. I motioned the <i>Custos</i> to +begin singing again, whereupon the folks were once more quiet for a +while--<i>i.e.</i>, for so long as the verse lasted; but afterwards they rioted +worse than before. But we were now come among the meadows, and when my +child saw the beauteous flowers which grew along the sides of the ditches, +she fell into deep thought, and began again to recite aloud the sweet song +of St. Augustinus as follows:-- +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum, +<br> Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, +<br> Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt, +<br> Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, +<br> Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum, +<br> Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum, +<br> Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. +</p> + +<p> +By this <i>Casus</i> we gained that all the folk ran cursing away from the +cart, and followed us at the distance of a good musket-shot, thinking +that my child was calling on Satan to help her. Only one lad, of about +five-and-twenty, whom, however, I did not know, tarried a few paces behind +the cart, until his father came, and seeing he would not go away +willingly, pushed him into the ditch, so that he sank up to his loins +in the water. Thereat even my poor child smiled, and asked me whether I +did not know any more Latin hymns wherewith to keep the stupid and +foul-mouthed people still further from us. But, dear reader, how could I +then have been able to recite Latin hymns, even had I known any? But my +<i>confrater</i>, the reverend Martinus, knew such an one; albeit it is indeed +heretical; nevertheless, seeing that it above measure pleased my child, +and that she made him repeat to her sundry verses thereof three and four +times, until she could say them after him, I said nought; otherwise I have +ever been very severe against aught that is heretical. Howbeit I comforted +myself therewith that our Lord God would forgive her in consideration of +her ignorance. And the first line ran as follows:--<i>Dies irae, dies ilia</i>. +But these two verses pleased her more than all the rest, and she recited +them many times with great edification, wherefore I will insert them here. +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + Judex ergo cum sedebit +<br> Quidquid latet apparebit, +<br> Nil inultum remanebit: +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + <i>Item</i>, +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + Rex tremends majestatis! +<br> Qui salvandos salvas gratis, +<br> Salva me, fons pietatis! +</p> + +<p> +When the men with the pitchforks, who were round about the cart, heard +this, and at the same time saw a heavy storm coming up from the +Achterwater, they straightway thought no other but that my child had made +it; and, moreover, the folk behind cried out, "The witch hath done this; +the damned witch hath done this!" and all the ten, save one, who stayed +behind, jumped over the ditch, and ran away. But <i>Dom. Consul</i>, who, +together with the worshipful court, drove behind us, no sooner saw this +than he called to the constable, "What is the meaning of all this?" +Whereupon the constable cried aloud to the Sheriff, who was a little way +on before us, but who straightway turned him about, and when he had heard +the cause, called after the fellows that he would hang them all up on the +first tree, and feed his falcons with their flesh, if they did not return +forthwith. This threat had its effect; and when they came back he gave +each of them about half a dozen strokes with his riding-whip, whereupon +they tarried in their places, but as far off from the cart as they could +for the ditch. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, however, the storm came up from the southward, with thunder, +lightning, hail, and such a wind, as though the all-righteous God would +manifest his wrath against these ruthless murderers; and the tops of the +lofty beeches around us were beaten together like besoms, so that our cart +was covered with leaves as with hail, and no one could hear his own voice +for the noise. This happened just as we were entering the forest from the +convent dam, and the Sheriff now rode close behind us, beside the coach +wherein was <i>Dom. Consul</i>. Moreover, just as we were crossing the bridge +over the mill-race, we were seized by the blast, which swept up a hollow +from the Achterwater with such force that we conceived it must drive our +cart down the abyss, which was at least forty feet deep or more; and +seeing that, at the same time, the horses did as though they were upon +ice, and could not stand, the driver halted to let the storm pass over, +the which the Sheriff no sooner perceived than he galloped up and bade him +go on forthwith. Whereupon the man flogged on the horses, but they slipped +about after so strange a fashion that our guards with the pitchforks fell +back, and my child cried aloud for fear; and when we were come to the +place where the great waterwheel turned just below us, the driver fell +with his horse, which broke one of its legs. Then the constable jumped +down from the cart, but straightway fell too on the slippery ground; +<i>item</i>, the driver, after getting on his legs again, fell a second time. +Hereupon the Sheriff, with a curse, spurred on his grey charger, which +likewise began to slip as our horses had also done. Nevertheless, he came +sliding towards us, without, however, falling down; and when he saw that +the horse with the broken leg still tried to get up, but always +straightway fell again on the slippery ground, he hallooed and beckoned +the fellows with pitchforks to come and unharness the mare; <i>item</i>, to +push the cart over the bridge, lest it should be carried down the +precipice. Presently a long flash of lightning shot into the water below +us, followed by a clap of thunder so sudden and so awful that the whole +bridge shook, and the Sheriff his horse (our horses stood quite still) +started back a few paces, lost its footing, and, together with its rider, +shot headlong down upon the great mill-wheel below, whereupon a fearful +cry arose from all those that stood behind us on the bridge. For a while +nought could be seen for the white foam, until the Sheriff his legs and +body were borne up into the air by the wheel, his head being stuck fast +between the fellies; and thus, fearful to behold, he went round and round +upon the wheel. Naught ailed the grey charger, which swam about in the +mill-pond below. When I saw this I seized the hand of my innocent lamb, +and cried, "Behold, Mary, our Lord God yet liveth! 'and he rode upon a +cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. Then did +he beat them small as the dust before the wind; he did cast them out as +the dirt in the streets.' Look down, and see what the Almighty God hath +done." While she hereupon raised her eyes towards heaven with a sigh, we +heard <i>Dom. Consul</i> calling out behind us as loudly as he could: and +seeing that none could understand his words for the fearful storm and the +tumult of the waters, he jumped down from the coach, and would have +crossed the bridge on foot, but straightway he fell upon his nose, so that +it bled, and he crept back again on his hands and feet, and held a long +talk with <i>Dom. Camerarius</i>, who, howbeit, did not stir out of the coach. +Meanwhile the driver and the constable had unyoked the maimed horse, bound +it, and dragged it off the bridge, and now they came back to the cart and +bade us get down therefrom and cross the bridge on foot, the which we did +after the constable had unbound my child with many curses and ill words, +threatening that, in return for her malice, he would keep her roasting +till late in the evening. (I could not blame him much therefore; for truly +this was a strange thing!) But albeit my child herself got safe across, we +two--I mean reverend Martinus and myself--like all the others, fell two or +three times to the ground. At length we all, by God his grace, got safe +and sound to the miller's house, where the constable delivered my child +into the miller his hands, to guard her on forfeit of his life, while he +ran down to the mill-pond to save the Sheriff his grey charger. The driver +was bidden the while to get the cart and the other horses off the +bewitched bridge. We had, however, stood but a short time with the miller, +under the great oak before his door, when <i>Dom. Consul</i>, with the +worshipful court, and all the folks, came over the little bridge, which is +but a couple of musket-shots off from the first one, and he could scarce +prevent the crowd from falling upon my child and tearing her in pieces, +seeing that they all, as well as <i>Dom. Consul</i> himself, imagined that none +other but she had brewed the storm and bewitched the bridge (especially as +she herself had not fallen thereon), and had likewise caused the Sheriff +his death; all of which, nevertheless, were foul lies, as ye shall +hereafter hear. He, therefore, railed at her for a cursed she-devil, who, +even after having confessed and received the holy Sacrament, had not yet +renounced Satan; but that nought should save her, and she should, +nevertheless, receive her reward. And, seeing that she kept silence, I +hereupon answered, "Did he not see that the all-righteous God had so +ordered it, that the Sheriff, who would have robbed my innocent child of +her honour and her life, had here forfeited his own life as a fearful +example to others?" But <i>Dom. Consul</i> would not see this, and said that a +child might perceive that our Lord God had not made this storm, or did I +peradventure believe that our Lord God had likewise bewitched the bridge? +I had better cease to justify my wicked child, and rather begin to exhort +her to repent, seeing that this was the second time that she had brewed a +storm, and that no man with a grain of sense could believe what I said, +etc. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the miller had already stopped the mill, <i>item</i>, turned off the +water, and some four or five fellows had gone with the constable down to +the great water-wheel to take the Sheriff out of the fellies, wherein he +had till <i>datum</i> still been carried round and round. This they could not +do until they had first sawn out one of the fellies; and when at last they +brought him to the bank, his neck was found to be broken, and he was as +blue as a corn-flower. Moreover, his throat was frightfully torn, and the +blood ran out of his nose and mouth. If the people had not reviled my +child before, they reviled her doubly now, and would have thrown dirt and +stones at her, had not the worshipful court interfered with might and +main, saying that she would presently receive her well-deserved +punishment. +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="images/illp226.jpg"><img src="images/illp226_th.jpg" alt="The Doom of the Wheel"></a> +</p> + +<p> +Also, my dear gossip, the Reverend Martinus, climbed up into the cart +again, and admonished the people not to forestall the law; and seeing that +the storm had somewhat abated, he could now be heard. And when they had +become somewhat more quiet, <i>Dom. Consul</i> left the corpse of the Sheriff +in charge with the miller, until such time as, by God's help, he should +return. <i>Item</i>, he caused the grey charger to be tied up to the oak-tree +till the same time, seeing that the miller swore that he had no room in +the mill, inasmuch as his stable was filled with straw; but that he would +give the grey horse some hay, and keep good watch over him. And now were +we wretched creatures forced to get into the cart again, after that the +unsearchable will of God had once more dashed all our hopes. The constable +gnashed his teeth with rage, while he took the cords out of his pocket to +bind my poor child to the rail withal. As I saw right well what he was +about to do, I pulled a few groats out of my pocket, and whispered into +his ear, "Be merciful, for she cannot possibly run away, and do you +hereafter help her to die quickly, and you shall get ten groats more from +me!" This worked well, and albeit he pretended before the people to pull +the ropes tight, seeing they all cried out with might and main, "Haul +hard, haul hard!" in truth he bound her hands more gently than before, and +even without making her fast to the rail; but he sat up behind us again +with the naked sword, and after that <i>Dom. Consul</i> had prayed aloud, "God +the Father, dwell with us," likewise the <i>Custos</i> had led another hymn (I +know not what he sang, neither does my child), we went on our way, +according to the unfathomable will of God, after this fashion: the +worshipful court went before, whereas all the folks, to our great joy, +fell back, and the fellows with the pitchforks lingered a good way behind +us, now that the Sheriff was dead. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twenty-eighth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +HOW MY DAUGHTER WAS AT LENGTH SAVED BY THE HELP OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL, YEA, +OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL GOD +</h3> + +<p> +Meanwhile, by reason of my unbelief, wherewith Satan again tempted me, I +had become so weak that I was forced to lean my back against the constable +his knees, and expected not to live till even we should come to the +mountain; for the last hope I had cherished was now gone, and I saw that +my innocent lamb was in the same plight. Moreover, the reverend Martinus +began to upbraid her, saying that he, too, now saw that all her oaths were +lies, and that she really could brew storms. Hereupon, she answered with a +smile, although, indeed, she was as white as a sheet, "Alas, reverend +godfather, do you then really believe that the weather and the storms no +longer obey our Lord God? Are storms, then, so rare at this season of the +year, that none save the foul fiend can cause them? Nay, I have never +broken the baptismal vow you once made in my name, nor will I ever break +it, as I hope that God will be merciful to me in my last hour, which is +now at hand." But the reverend Martinus shook his head doubtingly, and +said, "The Evil One must have promised thee much, seeing thou remainest so +stubborn even unto thy life's end, and blasphemest the Lord thy God; but +wait, and thou wilt soon learn with horror that the devil 'is a liar, and +the father of it'" (St. John viii.). Whilst he yet spake this, and more of +a like kind, we came to Uekeritze, where all the people, both great and +small, rushed out of their doors, also Jacob Schwarten his wife, who, as +we afterwards heard, had only been brought to bed the night before, and +her goodman came running after her to fetch her back, in vain. She told +him he was a fool, and had been one for many a weary day, and that if she +had to crawl up the mountain on her bare knees, she would go to see the +parson's witch burned; that she had reckoned upon it for so long, and if +he did not let her go, she would give him a thump on the chaps, etc. +</p> + +<p> +Thus did the coarse and foul-mouthed people riot around the cart wherein +we sat, and as they knew not what had befallen, they ran so near us that +the wheel went over the foot of a boy. Nevertheless, they all crowded up +again, more especially the lasses, and felt my daughter her clothes, and +would even see her shoes and stockings, and asked her how she felt. +<i>Item</i>, one fellow asked whether she would drink somewhat, with many more +fooleries besides, till at last, when several came and asked her for her +garland and her golden chain, she turned towards me and smiled, saying, +"Father, I must begin to speak some Latin again, otherwise the folks will +leave me no peace." But it was not wanted this time; for our guards, with +the pitchforks, had now reached the hindmost, and, doubtless, told them +what had happened, as we presently heard a great shouting behind us, for +the love of God to turn back before the witch did them a mischief; and as +Jacob Schwarten his wife heeded it not, but still plagued my child to give +her her apron to make a christening coat for her baby, for that it was +pity to let it be burnt, her goodman gave her such a thump on her back +with a knotted stick which he had pulled out of the hedge that she fell +down with loud shrieks; and when he went to help her up she pulled him +down by his hair, and, as reverend Martinus said, now executed what she +had threatened; inasmuch as she struck him on the nose with her fist with +might and main, until the other people came running up to them, and held +her back. Meanwhile, however, the storm had almost passed over, and sank +down toward the sea. +</p> + +<p> +And when we had gone through the little wood, we suddenly saw the +Streckelberg before us, covered with people, and the pile and stake upon +the top, upon the which the tall constable jumped up when he saw us +coming, and beckoned with his cap with all his might. Thereat my senses +left me, and my sweet lamb was not much better; for she bent to and fro +like a reed, and stretching her bound hands towards heaven, she once more +cried out: +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + Rex tremendae majestatis! +<br> Qui salvandos salvas gratis, +<br> Salva me, fons pietatis! +</p> + +<p> +And, behold, scarce had she spoken these words, when the sun came out and +formed a rainbow right over the mountain most pleasant to behold; and it +is clear that this was a sign from the merciful God, such as he often +gives us, but which we blind and unbelieving men do not rightly mark. +Neither did my child heed it; for albeit she thought upon that first +rainbow which shadowed forth our troubles, yet it seemed to her impossible +that she could now be saved, wherefore she grew so faint, that she no +longer heeded the blessed sign of mercy, and her head fell forward (for +she could no longer lean it upon me, seeing that I lay my length at the +bottom of the cart), till her garland almost touched my worthy gossip his +knees. Thereupon he bade the driver stop for a moment, and pulled out a +small flask filled with wine, which he always carries in his pocket when +witches are to be burnt, in order to comfort them therewith in their +terror. (Henceforth, I myself will ever do the like, for this fashion of +my dear gossip pleases me well.) He first poured some of this wine down my +throat, and afterwards down my child's; and we had scarce come to +ourselves again, when a fearful noise and tumult arose among the people +behind us, and they not only cried out in deadly fear, "The Sheriff is +come back! the Sheriff is come again!" but as they could neither run away +forwards or backwards (being afraid of the ghost behind and of my child +before them), they ran on either side, some rushing into the coppice, and +others wading into the Achterwater up to their necks. <i>Item</i>, as soon as +<i>Dom. Camerarius</i> saw the ghost come out of the coppice with a grey hat +and a grey feather, such as the Sheriff wore, riding on the grey charger, +he crept under a bundle of straw in the cart: and <i>Dom. Consul</i> cursed my +child again, and bade the coachman drive on as madly as they could, even +should all the horses die of it, when the impudent constable behind us +called to him, "It is not the Sheriff, but the young lord of Nienkerken, +who will surely seek to save the witch: shall I, then, cut her throat with +my sword?" At these fearful words my child and I came to ourselves again, +and the fellow had already lift up his naked sword to smite her, seeing +<i>Dom. Consul</i> had made him a sign with his hand, when my dear gossip, who +saw it, pulled my child with all his strength back into his lap. (May God +reward him on the day of judgment, for I never can.) The villain would +have stabbed her as she lay in his lap; but the young lord was already +there, and seeing what he was about to do, thrust the boarspear, which he +held in his hand, in between the constable's shoulders, so that he fell +headlong on the earth, and his own sword, by the guidance of the most +righteous God, went into his ribs on one side, and out again at the other. +He lay there and bellowed, but the young lord heeded him not, but said to +my child, "Sweet maid, God be praised that you are safe!" When, however, +he saw her bound hands, he gnashed his teeth, and, cursing her judges, he +jumped off his horse, and cut the rope with his sword, which he held in +his right hand, took her hand in his, and said, "Alas, sweet maid, how +have I sorrowed for you! but I could not save you, as I myself also lay in +chains, which you may see from my looks." +</p> + +<p> +But my child could answer him never a word, and fell into a swound again +for joy; howbeit, she soon came to herself again, seeing my dear gossip +still had a little wine by him. Meanwhile the dear young lord did me some +injustice, which, however, I freely forgive him; for he railed at me and +called me an old woman, who could do nought save weep and wail. Why had I +not journeyed after the Swedish king, or why had I not gone to Mellenthin +myself to fetch his testimony, as I knew right well what he thought about +witchcraft? (But, blessed God, how could I do otherwise than believe the +judge, who had been there? Others, besides old women, would have done the +same; and I never once thought of the Swedish king; and say, dear reader, +how could I have journeyed after him, and left my own child? But young +folks do not think of these things seeing they know not what a father +feels.) +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, however, <i>Dom. Camerarius</i>, having heard that it was the young +lord, had again crept out from beneath the straw, <i>item, Dom. Consul</i> had +jumped down from the coach and ran towards us, railing at him loudly, and +asking him by what power and authority he acted thus, seeing that he +himself had heretofore denounced the ungodly witch? But the young lord +pointed with his sword to his people, who now came riding out of the +coppice, about eighteen strong, armed with sabres, pikes, and muskets, and +said, "There is my authority, and I would let you feel it on your back if +I did not know that you were but a stupid ass. When did you hear any +testimony from me against this virtuous maiden? You lie in your throat if +you say you did." And as <i>Dom. Consul</i> stood and straightway forswore +himself, the young lord, to the astonishment of all, related as +follows:--That as soon as he heard of the misfortune which had befallen me +and my child, he ordered his horse to be saddled forthwith, in order to +ride to Pudgla to bear witness to our innocence: this, however, his old +father would nowise suffer, thinking that his nobility would receive a +stain if it came to be known that his son had conversed with a reputed +witch by night on the Streckelberg. He had caused him therefore, as +prayers and threats were of no avail, to be bound hand and foot, and +confined in the donjon-keep, where till <i>datum</i> an old servant had watched +him, who refused to let him escape, notwithstanding he offered him any sum +of money; whereupon he fell into the greatest anguish and despair at the +thought that innocent blood would be shed on his account; but that the +all-righteous God had graciously spared him this sorrow; for his father +had fallen sick from vexation, and lay a-bed all this time, and it so +happened that this very morning about prayer-time the huntsman, in +shooting at a wild duck in the moat, had by chance sorely wounded his +father's favourite dog, called Packan, which had crept howling to his +father's bedside, and had died there; whereupon the old man, who was weak, +was so angered that he was presently seized with a fit and gave up the +ghost too. Hereupon his people released him, and after he had closed his +father's eyes and prayed an "Our Father" over him, he straightway set out +with all the people he could find in the castle in order to save the +innocent maiden. For he testified here himself before all, on the word and +honour of a knight, nay, more, by his hopes of salvation, that he himself +was that devil which had appeared to the maiden on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant; for having heard by common report that she +ofttimes went thither, he greatly desired to know what she did there, and +that from fear of his hard father he disguised himself in a wolf's skin, +so that none might know him, and he had already spent two nights there, +when on the third the maiden came, and he then saw her dig for amber on +the mountain, and that she did not call upon Satan, but recited a Latin +<i>carmen</i> aloud to herself. This he would have testified at Pudgla, but, +from the cause aforesaid, he had not been able: moreover, his father had +laid his cousin, Claus von Nienkerken, who was there on a visit, in his +bed, and made him bear false witness; for as <i>Dom. Consul</i> had not seen +him (I mean the young lord) for many a long year, seeing he had studied in +foreign parts, his father thought that he might easily be deceived, which +accordingly happened. +</p> + +<p> +When the worthy young lord had stated this before <i>Dom. Consul</i> and all +the people, which flocked together on hearing that the young lord was no +ghost, I felt as though a millstone had been taken off my heart; and +seeing that the people (who had already pulled the constable from under +the cart, and crowded round him, like a swarm of bees) cried to me that he +was dying, but desired first to confess somewhat to me, I jumped from the +cart as lightly as a young bachelor, and called to <i>Dom. Consul</i> and the +young lord to go with me, seeing that I could easily guess what he had on +his mind. He sat upon a stone, and the blood gushed from his side like a +fountain (now that they had drawn out the sword); he whimpered on seeing +me, and said that he had in truth hearkened behind the door to all that +old Lizzie had confessed to me, namely, that she herself, together with +the Sheriff, had worked all the witchcraft on man and beast, to frighten +my poor child, and force her to play the wanton. That he had hidden this, +seeing that the Sheriff had promised him a great reward for so doing; but +that he would now confess it freely, since God had brought my child her +innocence to light. Wherefore he besought my child and myself to forgive +him. And when <i>Dom. Consul</i> shook his head, and asked whether he would +live and die on the truth of this confession, he answered, "Yes!" and +straightway fell on his side to the earth and gave up the ghost. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile time hung heavy with the people on the mountain, who had come +from Coserow, from Zitze, from Gnitze, etc., to see my child burnt, and +they all came running down the hill in long rows like geese, one after the +other, to see what had happened. And among them was my ploughman, Claus +Neels. When the worthy fellow saw and heard what had befallen us, he began +to weep aloud for joy; and straightway he too told what he had heard the +Sheriff say to old Lizzie in the garden, and how he had promised a pig in +the room of her own little pig, which she had herself bewitched to death +in order to bring my child into evil repute. <i>Summa</i>: all that I have +noted above, and which till <i>datum</i> he had kept to himself for fear of the +question. Hereat all the people marvelled, and gently bewailed her +misfortunes; and many came, among them old Paasch, and would have kissed +my daughter her hands and feet, as also mine own, and praised us now as +much as they had before reviled us. But thus it ever is with the people. +Wherefore my departed father used to say: +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + The people's hate is death, +<br> Their love a passing breath! +</p> + +<p> +My dear gossip ceased not from fondling my child, holding her in his lap, +and weeping over her like a father (for I could not have wept more myself +than he wept). Howbeit she herself wept not, but begged the young lord to +send one of his horsemen to her faithful old maid-servant at Pudgla, to +tell her what had befallen us, which he straightway did to please her. But +the worshipful court (for <i>Dom. Gamerarius</i> and the <i>scriba</i> had now +plucked up a heart, and had come down from the coach) was not yet +satisfied, and <i>Dom. Consul</i> began to tell the young lord about the +bewitched bridge, which none other save my daughter could have bewitched. +Hereto the young lord gave answer that this was indeed a strange thing, +inasmuch as his own horse had also broken a leg thereon, whereupon he had +taken the Sheriff his horse, which he saw tied up at the mill; but he did +not think that this could be laid to the charge of the maiden, but that it +came about by natural means, as he had half discovered already, although +he had not had time to search the matter thoroughly. Wherefore he besought +the worshipful court and all the people, together with my child herself, +to return back thither, where, with God's help, he would clear her from +this suspicion also, and prove her perfect innocence before them all. +</p> + +<p> +Thereunto the worshipful court agreed; and the young lord, having given +the Sheriff his grey charger to my ploughman to carry the corpse, which +had been laid across the horse's neck, to Coserow, the young lord got into +the cart by us, but did not seat himself beside my child, but backward by +my dear gossip: moreover, he bade one of his own people drive us instead +of the old coachman, and thus we turned back in God his name. <i>Custos +Benzensis</i>, who, with the children, had run in among the vetches by the +wayside (my defunct <i>Custos</i> would not have done so, he had more courage), +went on before again with the young folks, and by command of his reverence +the pastor led the Ambrosian <i>Te Deum</i>, which deeply moved us all, more +especially my child, insomuch that her book was wetted with her tears, and +she at length laid it down and said, at the same time giving her hand to +the young lord, "How can I thank God and you for that which you have done +for me this day?" Whereupon the young lord answered, saying, "I have +greater cause to thank God than yourself, sweet maid, seeing that you have +suffered in your dungeon unjustly, but I justly, inasmuch as by my +thoughtlessness I brought this misery upon you. Believe me that this +morning when, in my donjon-keep, I first heard the sound of the dead-bell, +I thought to have died; and when it tolled for the third time, I should +have gone distraught in my grief, had not the Almighty God at that moment +taken the life of my strange father, so that your innocent life should be +saved by me. Wherefore I have vowed a new tower, and whatsoe'er beside may +be needful, to the blessed house of God; for nought more bitter could have +befallen me on earth than your death, sweet maid, and nought more sweet +than your life!" +</p> + +<p> +But at these words my child only wept and sighed; and when he looked on +her, she cast down her eyes and trembled, so that I straightway perceived +that my sorrows were not yet come to an end, but that another barrel of +tears was just tapped for me, and so indeed it was. Moreover, the ass of a +<i>Custos</i>, having finished the <i>Te Deum</i> before we were come to the bridge, +straightway struck up the next following hymn, which was a funeral one, +beginning, "The body let us now inter." (God be praised that no harm has +come of it till <i>datum</i>.) My beloved gossip rated him not a little, and +threatened him that for his stupidity he should not get the money for the +shoes which he had promised him out of the Church-dues. But my child +comforted him, and promised him a pair of shoes at her own charges, seeing +that peradventure a funeral hymn was better for her than a song of +gladness. +</p> + +<p> +And when this vexed the young lord, and he said, "How now, sweet maid, you +know not how enough to thank God and me for your rescue, and yet you speak +thus?" She answered, smiling sadly, that she had only spoken thus to +comfort the poor <i>Custos</i>. But I straightway saw that she was in earnest, +for that she felt that although she had escaped one fire, she already +burned in another. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile we were come to the bridge again, and all the folks stood still, +and gazed open-mouthed, when the young lord jumped down from the cart, and +after stabbing his horse, which still lay kicking on the bridge, went on +his knees, and felt here and there with his hand. At length he called to +the worshipful court to draw near, for that he had found out the +witchcraft. But none save <i>Dom. Consul</i> and a few fellows out of the +crowd, among whom was old Paasch, would follow him; <i>item</i>, my dear gossip +and myself, and the young lord, showed us a lump of tallow about the size +of a large walnut, which lay on the ground, and wherewith the whole bridge +had been smeared, so that it looked quite white, but, which all the folks +in their fright had taken for flour out of the mill; <i>item</i>, with some +other <i>materia</i>, which stunk like fitchock's dung, but what it was we +could not find out. Soon after a fellow found another bit of tallow, and +showed it to the people; whereupon I cried, "Aha! none hath done this but +that ungodly miller's man, in revenge for the stripes which the Sheriff +gave him for reviling my child." Whereupon I told what he had done, and +<i>Dom. Consul</i>, who also had heard thereof, straightway sent for the +miller. + +He, however, did as though he knew nought of the matter, and only said +that his man had left his service about an hour ago. But a young lass, the +miller's maid-servant, said that that very morning, before daybreak, when +she had got up to let out the cattle, she had seen the man scouring the +bridge. But that she had given it no further heed, and had gone to sleep +for another hour; and she pretended to know no more than the miller +whither the rascal was gone. When the young lord had heard this news, he +got up into the cart, and began to address the people, seeking to persuade +them no longer to believe in witchcraft, now that they had seen what it +really was. When I heard this, I was horror-stricken (as was but right) in +my conscience, as a priest, and I got upon the cartwheel, and whispered +into his ear, for God his sake, to leave this <i>materia</i>, seeing that if +the people no longer feared the devil, neither would they fear our Lord +God. +</p> + +<p> +The dear young lord forthwith did as I would have him, and only asked the +people whether they now held my child to be perfectly innocent? and when +they had answered, "Yes!" he begged them to go quietly home, and to thank +God that he had saved innocent blood. That he, too, would now return home, +and that he hoped that none would molest me and my child if he let us +return to Coserow alone. Hereupon he turned hastily towards her, took her +hand and said: "Farewell, sweet maid, I trust that I shall soon clear your +honour before the world, but do you thank God therefor, not me." He then +did the like to me and to my dear gossip, whereupon he jumped down from +the cart, and went and sat beside <i>Dom. Consul</i> in his coach. The latter +also spake a few words to the people, and likewise begged my child and me +to forgive him (and I must say it to his honour, that the tears ran down +his cheeks the while), but he was so hurried by the young lord that he +brake short his discourse, and they drove off over the little bridge, +without so much as looking back. Only <i>Dom. Consul</i> looked round once, and +called out to me, that in his hurry he had forgotten to tell the +executioner that no one was to be burned to-day: I was therefore to send +the churchwarden of Uekeritze up the mountain, to say so in his name; the +which I did. And the bloodhound was still on the mountain, albeit he had +long since heard what had befallen; and when the bailiff gave him the +orders of the worshipful court, he began to curse so fearfully that it +might have awakened the dead; moreover, he plucked off his cap, and +trampled it under foot, so that any one might have guessed what he felt. +</p> + +<p> +But to return to ourselves, my child sat as still and as white as a pillar +of salt, after the young lord had left her so suddenly and so unawares, +but she was somewhat comforted when the old maid-servant came running with +her coats tucked up to her knees, and carrying her shoes and stockings in +her hands. We heard her afar off, as the mill had stopped, blubbering for +joy, and she fell at least three times on the bridge, but at last she got +over safe, and kissed now mine and now my child her hands and feet; +begging us only not to turn her away, but to keep her until her life's +end; the which we promised to do. She had to climb up behind where the +impudent constable had sat, seeing that my dear gossip would not leave me +until I should be back in mine own manse. And as the young lord his +servant had got up behind the coach, old Paasch drove us home, and all the +folks who had waited till <i>datum</i> ran beside the cart, praising and +pitying as much as they had before scorned and reviled us. Scarce, +however, had we passed through Uekeritze, when we again heard cries of +"Here comes the young lord, here comes the young lord!" so that my child +started up for joy, and became as red as a rose; but some of the folks ran +into the buckwheat, by the road, again, thinking it was another ghost. It +was, however, in truth, the young lord who galloped up on a black horse, +calling out as he drew near us, "Notwithstanding the haste I am in, sweet +maid, I must return and give you safe-conduct home, seeing that I have +just heard that the filthy people reviled you by the way, and I know not +whether you are yet safe." Hereupon he urged old Paasch to mend his pace, +and as his kicking and trampling did not even make the horses trot, the +young lord struck the saddle-horse from time to time with the flat of his +sword, so that we soon reached the village and the manse. Howbeit, when I +prayed him to dismount a while, he would not, but excused himself, saying +that he must still ride through Usedom to Anclam, but charged old Paasch, +who was our bailiff, to watch over my child as the apple of his eye, and +should anything unusual happen he was straightway to inform the town-clerk +at Pudgla, or <i>Dom. Consul</i> at Usedom, thereof, and when Paasch had +promised to do this, he waved his hand to us, and galloped off as fast as +he could. +</p> + +<p> +But before he got round the corner by Pagel his house, he turned back for +the third time: and when we wondered thereat, he said we must forgive him, +seeing his thoughts wandered to-day. +</p> + +<p> +That I had formerly told him that I still had my patent of nobility, the +which he begged me to lend him for a time. Hereupon I answered that I must +first seek for it, and that he had best dismount the while. But he would +not, and again excused himself, saying he had no time. He therefore stayed +without the door, until I brought him the patent, whereupon he thanked me +and said, "Do not wonder hereat, you will soon see what my purpose is." +Whereupon he struck his spurs into his horse's sides and did not come back +again. +<br> +<br> +<br> +</p> + +<h2><i>The Twenty-ninth Chapter</i></h2> + +<h3> +OF OUR NEXT GREAT SORROW, AND FINAL JOY +</h3> + +<p> +And now might we have been at rest, and have thanked God on our knees by +day and night. For, besides mercifully saving us out of such great +tribulation, he turned the hearts of my beloved flock, so that they knew +not how to do enough for us. Every day they brought us fish, meat, eggs, +sausages, and whatsoe'er besides they could give me, and which I have +since forgotten. Moreover they, every one of them, came to church the next +Sunday, great and small (except goodwife Kliene of Zempin, who had just +got a boy, and still kept her bed), and I preached a thanks-giving sermon +on Job v. 17, 18, and 19 verses, "Behold, happy is the man whom God +correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: for +he maketh sore, and bindeth up; and his hands make whole. He shall deliver +thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee." And +during my sermon I was ofttimes forced to stop by reason of all the +weeping, and to let them blow their noses. And I might truly have compared +myself to Job, after that the Lord had mercifully released him from his +troubles, had it not been for my child, who prepared much fresh grief for +me. +</p> + +<p> +She had wept when the young lord would not dismount, and now that he came +not again, she grew more uneasy from day to day. She sat and read first +the Bible, then the hymn-book, <i>item</i>, the history of Dido in <i>Virgilius</i>, +or she climbed up the mountain to fetch flowers (likewise sought after the +vein of amber there, but found it not, which shows the cunning and malice +of Satan). I saw this for a while with many sighs, but spake not a word +(for, dear reader, what could I say?) until it grew worse and worse; and +as she now recited her <i>carmina</i> more than ever both at home and abroad, I +feared lest the people should again repute her a witch, and one day I +followed her up the mountain. Well-a-day, she sat on the pile, which still +stood there, but with her face turned towards the sea, reciting the +<i>versus</i> where Dido mounts the funeral pile in order to stab herself for +love of AEneas:-- +</p> + +<p class="ind"> + At trepida et coeptis immanibus effera Dido +<br> Sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementes +<br> Interfusa genas, et pallida morte futurâ +<br> Interiora domus irrumpit limina et altos +<br> Conscendit furibunda rogos.... +</p> + +<p> +When I saw this, and heard how things really stood with her, I was +affrighted beyond measure, and cried, "Mary, my child, what art thou +doing?" She started when she heard my voice, but sat still on the pile, +and answered, as she covered her face with her apron, "Father, I am +burning my heart." I drew near to her and pulled the apron from her face, +saying, "Wilt thou, then, again kill me with grief?" whereupon she covered +her face with her hands, and moaned, "Alas, father, wherefore was I not +burned here? My torment would then have endured but for a moment, but now +it will last as long as I live!" I still did as though I had seen nought, +and said, "Wherefore, dear child, dost thou suffer such torment?" +whereupon she answered, "I have long been ashamed to tell you; for the +young lord, the young lord, my father, do I suffer this torment! He no +longer thinks of me; and albeit he saved my life he scorns me, or he would +surely have dismounted and come in a while; but we are of far too low +degree for him!" Hereupon I indeed began to comfort her and to persuade +her to think no more of the young lord; but the more I comforted her, the +worse she grew. Nevertheless I saw that she did yet in secret cherish a +strong hope by reason of the patent of nobility which he had made me give +him. I would not take this hope from her, seeing that I felt the same +myself, and to comfort her I flattered her hopes, whereupon she was more +quiet for some days, and did not go up the mountain, the which I had +forbidden her. Moreover, she began again to teach little Paasch her +god-daughter, out of whom, by the help of the all-righteous God, Satan was +now altogether departed. But she still pined, and was as white as a sheet; +and when soon after a report came that none in the castle at Mellenthin +knew what was become of the young lord, and that they thought he had been +killed, her grief became so great that I had to send my ploughman on +horseback to Mellenthin to gain tidings of him. And she looked at least +twenty times out of the door and over the paling to watch for his return; +and when she saw him coming she ran out to meet him as far as the corner +by Pagels. But, blessed God! he brought us even worse news than we had +heard before, saying, that the people at the castle had told him that +their young master had ridden away the self-same day whereon he had +rescued the maiden. That he had, indeed, returned after three days to his +father's funeral, but had straightway ridden off again, and that for five +weeks they had heard nothing further of him, and knew not whither he was +gone, but supposed that some wicked ruffians had killed him. +</p> + +<p> +And now my grief was greater than ever it had been before; so patient and +resigned to the will of God as my child had shown herself heretofore, and +no martyr could have met her last hour stronger in God and Christ, so +impatient and despairing was she now. She gave up all hope, and took it +into her head that in these heavy times of war the young lord had been +killed by robbers. Nought availed with her, not even prayer, for when I +called upon God with her, on my knees, she straightway began so grievously +to bewail that the Lord had cast her off, and that she was condemned to +nought save misfortunes in this world; that it pierced through my heart +like a knife, and my thoughts forsook me at her words. She lay also at +night, and "like a crane or a swallow so did she chatter; she did mourn +like a dove; her eyes did fail with looking upward," because no sleep came +upon her eyelids. I called to her from my bed, "Dear child, wilt thou, +then, never cease? sleep, I pray thee!" and she answered and said, "Do you +sleep, dearest father; I cannot sleep until I sleep the sleep of death. +Alas, my father; that I was not burned!" But how could I sleep when she +could not? I indeed said, each morning, that I had slept a while, in order +to content her; but it was not so; but, like David, "all the night made I +my bed to swim; I watered my couch with my tears." Moreover I again fell +into heavy unbelief, so that I neither could nor would pray. Nevertheless +the Lord "did not deal with me after my sins, nor reward me according to +mine iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great was +his mercy toward" me, miserable sinner! +</p> + +<p> +For mark what happened on the very next Saturday! Behold, our old +maid-servant came running in at the door, quite out of breath, saying that +a horseman was coming over the Master's Mount, with a tall plume waving on +his hat, and that she believed it was the young lord. When my child, who +sat upon the bench combing her hair, heard this, she gave a shriek of joy, +which would have moved a stone under the earth, and straightway ran out of +the room to look over the paling. She presently came running in again, +fell upon my neck, and cried without ceasing, "The young lord! the young +lord!" whereupon she would have run out to meet him, but I forbade her, +saying she had better first bind up her hair, which she then remembered, +and laughing, weeping, and praying, all at once, she bound up her long +hair. And now the young lord came galloping round the corner, attired in a +green velvet doublet with red silk sleeves, and a grey hat with a heron's +feather therein; <i>summa</i>, gaily dressed as beseems a wooer. And when we +now ran out at the door, he called aloud to my child in the Latin, from +afar off, "<i>Quomodo stat dulcissima virgo?</i>" Whereupon she gave answer, +saying, "<i>Bene te aspecto.</i>" He then sprang smiling off his horse, and +gave it into the charge of my ploughman, who meanwhile had come up +together with the maid; but he was affrighted when he saw my child so +pale, and taking her hand spake in the vulgar tongue, "My God! what is it +ails you, sweet maid? you look more pale than when about to go to the +stake." Whereupon she answered, "I have been at the stake daily since you +left us, good my lord, without coming into our house, or so much as +sending us tidings of whither you were gone." +</p> + +<p> +This pleased him well, and he said, "Let us first of all go into the +chamber, and you shall hear all." And when he had wiped the sweat from +his brow, and sat down on the bench beside my child, he spake as +follows:--That he had straightway promised her that he would clear her +honour before the whole world, and the self-same day whereon he left us he +made the worshipful court draw up an authentic record of all that had +taken place, more especially the confession of the impudent constable, +<i>item</i>, that of my ploughboy, Claus Neels; wherewith he rode throughout +the same night, as he had promised, to Anclam, and next day to Stettin, to +our gracious sovereign Duke Bogislaw: who marvelled greatly when he heard +of the wickedness of his Sheriff, and of that which he had done to my +child: moreover, he asked whether she were the pastor's daughter who once +upon a time had found the signet-ring of his Princely Highness Philippus +Julius of most Christian memory in the castle garden at Wolgast? and as he +did not know thereof, the Duke asked, whether she knew Latin? And he, the +young lord, answered yes, that she knew the Latin better than he did +himself. His Princely Highness said, "Then, indeed, it must be the same," +and straightway he put on his spectacles, and read the <i>acta</i> himself. +Hereupon, and after his Princely Highness had read the record of the +worshipful court, shaking his head the while, the young lord humbly +besought his Princely Highness to give him an <i>amende honorable</i> for my +child, <i>item, literas commendatitias</i> for himself to our most gracious +Emperor at Vienna, to beg for a renewal of my patent of nobility, seeing +that he was determined to marry none other maiden than my daughter so long +as he lived. +</p> + +<p> +When my child heard this, she gave a cry of joy, and fell back in a swound +with her head against the wall. But the young lord caught her in his arms, +and gave her three kisses (which I could not then deny him, seeing, as I +did with joy, how matters went), and when she came to herself again, he +asked her, whether she would not have him, seeing that she had given a cry +at his words? Whereupon she said, "Whether I will not have you, my lord! +Alas! I love you as dearly as my God and my Saviour! You first saved my +life, and now you have snatched my heart from the stake, whereon, without +you, it would have burned all the days of my life!" Hereupon I wept for +joy, when he drew her into his lap, and she clasped his neck with her +little hands. +</p> + +<p> +They thus sat and toyed a while, till the young lord again perceived me, +and said, "What say you thereto; I trust it is also your will, reverend +Abraham?" Now, dear reader, what could I say, save my hearty good-will? +seeing that I wept for very joy, as did my child, and I answered, how +should it not be my will, seeing that it was the will of God? But whether +the worthy, good young lord had likewise considered that he would stain +his noble name if he took to wife my child, who had been habit and repute +a witch, and had been well-nigh bound to the stake? +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon he said, By no means; for that he had long since prevented this, +and he proceeded to tell us how he had done it, namely, his Princely +Highness had promised him to make ready all the <i>scripta</i> which he +required, within four days, when he hoped to be back from his father's +burial. He therefore rode straightway back to Mellenthin, and after paying +the last honour to my lord his father, he presently set forth on his way +again, and found that his Princely Highness had kept his word meanwhile. +With these <i>scripta</i> he rode to Vienna, and albeit he met with many pains, +troubles, and dangers by the way (which he would relate to us at some +other time), he nevertheless reached the city safely. There he by chance +met with a Jesuit with whom he had once upon a time had his <i>locamentum</i> +for a few days at Prague, while he was yet a <i>studiosus</i>, and this man, +having heard his business, bade him be of good cheer, seeing that his +Imperial Majesty stood sorely in need of money in these hard times of war, +and that he, the Jesuit, would manage it all for him. This he really did, +and his Imperial Majesty not only renewed my patent of nobility, but +likewise confirmed the <i>amende honorable</i> to my child granted by his +Princely Highness the Duke, so that he might now maintain the honour of +his betrothed bride against all the world, as also hereafter that of his +wife. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon he drew forth the <i>acta</i> from his bosom, and put them into my +hand, saying, "And now, reverend Abraham, you must also do me a pleasure, +to wit, to-morrow morning, when I hope to go with my betrothed bride to +the Lord's table, you must publish the banns between me and your daughter, +and on the day after you must marry us. Do not say nay thereto, for my +pastor, the reverend Philippus, says that this is no uncommon custom among +the nobles in Pomerania, and I have already given notice of the wedding +for Monday at mine own castle, whither we will then go, and where I +purpose to bed my bride." I should have found much to say against this +request, more especially that in honour of the Holy Trinity he should +suffer himself to be called three times in church according to custom, and +that he should delay a while the espousals; but when I perceived that my +child would gladly have the marriage held right soon, for she sighed and +grew red as scarlet, I had not the heart to refuse them, but promised all +they asked. Whereupon I exhorted them both to prayer, and when I had laid +my hands upon their heads, I thanked the Lord more deeply than I had ever +yet thanked him, so that at last I could no longer speak for tears, seeing +that they drowned my voice. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the young lord his coach had driven up to the door, filled with +chests and coffers: and he said, "Now, sweet maid, you shall see what I +have brought you," and he bade them bring all the things into the room. +Dear reader, what fine things were there, such as I had never seen in all +my life! All that women can use was there, especially of clothes, to wit, +bodices, plaited gowns, long robes, some of them bordered with fur, veils, +aprons, <i>item</i>, the bridal shift with gold fringes, whereon the merry lord +had laid some six or seven bunches of myrtle to make herself a wreath +withal. <i>Item</i>, there was no end to the rings, neck-chains, eardrops, +etc., the which I have in part forgotten. Neither did the young lord leave +me without a gift, seeing he had brought me a new surplice (the enemy had +robbed me of my old one), also doublets, hosen, and shoes, <i>summa</i>, +whatsoever appertains to a man's attire; wherefore I secretly besought the +Lord not to punish us again in his sore displeasure for such pomps and +vanities. When my child beheld all these things she was grieved that she +could bestow upon him nought save her heart alone, and the chain of the +Swedish king, the which she hung round his neck, and begged him, weeping +the while, to take it as a bridal gift. This he at length promised to do, +and likewise to carry it with him into the grave: but that my child must +first wear it at her wedding, as well as the blue silken gown, for that +this and no other should be her bridal dress, and this he made her promise +to do. +</p> + +<p> +And now a merry chance befell with the old maid, the which I will here +note. For when the faithful old soul had heard what had taken place, she +was beside herself for joy, danced and clapped her hands, and at last said +to my child, "Now to be sure you will not weep when the young lord is to +lie in your bed," whereat my child blushed scarlet for shame, and ran out +of the room; and when the young lord would know what she meant therewith, +she told him that he had already once slept in my child her bed when he +came from Gutzkow with me, whereupon he bantered her all the evening after +that she was come back again. Moreover, he promised the maid that as she +had once made my child her bed for him, she should make it again, and that +on the day after to-morrow she and the ploughman too should go with us to +Mellenthin, so that masters and servants should all rejoice together after +such great distress. +</p> + +<p> +And seeing that the dear young lord would stop the night under my roof, I +made him lie in the small closet together with me (for I could not know +what might happen). He soon slept like a top, but no sleep came into my +eyes, for very joy, and I prayed the livelong blessed night, or thought +over my sermon. Only near morning I dozed a little; and when I rose the +young lord already sat in the next room with my child, who wore the black +silken gown which he had brought her, and, strange to say, she looked +fresher than even when the Swedish king came, so that I never in all my +life saw her look fresher or fairer. <i>Item</i>, the young lord wore his black +doublet, and picked out for her the best bits of myrtle for the wreath she +was twisting. But when she saw me, she straightway laid the wreath beside +her on the bench, folded her little hands, and said the morning prayer, as +she was ever wont to do, which humility pleased the young lord right well, +and he begged her that in future she would ever do the like with him, the +which she promised. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after we went to the blessed church to confession, and all the folk +stood gaping open-mouthed because the young lord led my child on his arm. +But they wondered far more when, after the sermon, I first read to them in +the vulgar tongue the <i>amende honorable</i> to my child from his Princely +Highness, together with the confirmation of the same by his Imperial +Majesty, and after that my patent of nobility; and, lastly, began to +publish the banns between my child and the young lord. Dear reader, there +arose a murmur throughout the church like the buzzing of a swarm of bees. +(N.B. These <i>scripta</i> were burnt in the fire which broke out in the castle +a year ago, as I shall hereafter relate, wherefore I cannot insert them +here <i>in origne</i>.) +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon my dear children went together with much people to the Lord's +table, and after church nearly all the folks crowded round them and wished +them joy. <i>Item</i>, old Paasch came to our house again that afternoon, and +once more besought my daughter's forgiveness because that he had +unwittingly offended her; that he would gladly give her a marriage-gift, +but that he now had nothing at all; howbeit that his wife should set one +of her hens in the spring, and he would take the chickens to her at +Mellenthin himself. This made us all to laugh, more especially the young +lord, who at last said: "As thou wilt bring me a marriage-gift, thou must +also be asked to the wedding, wherefore thou mayest come to-morrow with +the rest." +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<a href="images/illp242.jpg"><img src="images/illp242_th.jpg" alt="The Bridal Gifts"></a> +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon my child said: "And your little Mary, my god-child, shall come +too, and be my bridemaiden, if my lord allows it." Whereupon she began to +tell the young lord all that that had befallen the child by the malice of +Satan, and how they laid it to her charge until such time as the +all-righteous God brought her innocence to light; and she begged that +since her dear lord had commanded her to wear the same garments at her +wedding which she had worn to salute the Swedish king, and afterwards to +go to the stake, he would likewise suffer her to take for her bridemaiden +her little god-child, as <i>indicium secundum</i> of her sorrows. +</p> + +<p> +And when he had promised her this, she told old Paasch to send hither his +child to her, that she might fit a new gown upon her which she had cut out +for her a week ago, and which the maid would finish sewing this very day. +This so went to the heart of the good old fellow that he began to weep +aloud, and at last said, she should not do all this for nothing, for +instead of the one hen his wife should set three for her in the spring. +</p> + +<p> +When he was gone, and the young lord did nought save talk with his +betrothed bride, both in the vulgar and in the Latin tongue, I did +better--namely, went up the mountain to pray, wherein, moreover, I +followed my child's example, and clomb up upon the pile, there in +loneliness to offer up my whole heart to the Lord as an offering of +thanksgiving, seeing that with this sacrifice he is well pleased, as +in Ps. li. 19, "The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and +contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise." +</p> + +<p> +That night the young lord again lay in my room, but next morning, when the +sun had scarce risen-- +</p> + +<hr> + +<p> +Here end these interesting communications, which I do not intend to dilute +with any additions of my own. My readers, more especially those of the +fair sex, can picture to themselves at pleasure the future happiness of +this excellent pair. +</p> + +<p> +All further historical traces of their existence, as well as that of the +pastor, have disappeared, and nothing remains but a tablet fixed in the +wall of the church at Mellenthin, on which the incomparable lord, and his +yet more incomparable wife, are represented. On his faithful breast still +hangs "the golden chain, with the effigy of the Swedish King." They both +seem to have died within a short time of each other, and to have been +buried in the same coffin. For in the vault under the church there is +still a large double coffin, in which, according to tradition, lies a +chain of gold of incalculable value. Some twenty years ago, the owner of +Mellenthin, whose unequalled extravagance had reduced him to the verge of +beggary, attempted to open the coffin in order to take out this precious +relic, but he was not able. It appeared as if some powerful spell held it +firmly together; and it has remained unopened down to the present time. +May it remain so until the last awful day, and may the impious hand of +avarice or curiosity never desecrate these holy ashes of holy beings! +</p> + +<h2>FINIS</h2> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Amber Witch, by Wilhelm Meinhold + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + +***** This file should be named 8743-h.htm or 8743-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/7/4/8743/ + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Amber Witch + +Author: Wilhelm Meinhold + +Posting Date: June 16, 2013 [EBook #8743] +Release Date: August, 2005 +First Posted: August 8, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + +THE AMBER WITCH + +by + +Wilhelm Meinhold + + +The most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known. Printed from an +imperfect manuscript by her father Abraham Schweidler, the pastor of +Coserow, in the Island of Usedom. + + +Translated from the German by Lady Duff Gordon. + +Original publication date: 1846. + + + + +PREFACE + + +In laying before the public this deeply affecting and romantic trial, +which I have not without reason called on the title-page the most +interesting of all trials for witchcraft ever known, I will first give +some account of the history of the manuscript. + +At Coserow, in the Island of Usedom, my former cure, the same which was +held by our worthy author some two hundred years ago, there existed +under a seat in the choir of the church a sort of niche, nearly on a +level with the floor. I had, indeed, often seen a heap of various +writings in this recess; but owing to my short sight, and the darkness +of the place, I had taken them for antiquated hymn-books, which were +lying about in great numbers. But one day, while I was teaching in the +church, I looked for a paper mark in the Catechism of one of the boys, +which I could not immediately find; and my old sexton, who was past +eighty (and who, although called Appelmann, was thoroughly unlike his +namesake in our story, being a very worthy, although a most ignorant +man), stooped down to the said niche, and took from it a folio volume +which I had never before observed, out of which he, without the slightest +hesitation, tore a strip of paper suited to my purpose, and reached it to +me. I immediately seized upon the book, and, after a few minutes' perusal, +I know not which was greater, my astonishment or my vexation at this +costly prize. The manuscript, which was bound in vellum, was not only +defective both at the beginning and at the end, but several leaves had +even been torn out here and there in the middle. I scolded the old man as +I had never done during the whole course of my life; but he excused +himself, saying that one of my predecessors had given him the manuscript +for waste paper, as it had lain about there ever since the memory of man, +and he had often been in want of paper to twist round the altar candles, +etc. The aged and half-blind pastor had mistaken the folio for old +parochial accounts which could be of no more use to any one.[1] + +No sooner had I reached home than I fell to work upon my new acquisition, +and after reading a bit here and there with considerable trouble, my +interest was powerfully excited by the contents. + +I soon felt the necessity of making myself better acquainted with the +nature and conduct of these witch trials, with the proceedings, nay, +even with the history of the whole period in which these events occur. +But the more I read of these extraordinary stories, the more was I +confounded; and neither the trivial Beeker (_die bezauberte Welt_, the +enchanted world), nor the more careful Horst (_Zauberbibliothek_, the +library of magic), to which, as well as to several other works on the +same subject, I had flown for information, could resolve my doubts, but +rather served to increase them. + +Not alone is the demoniacal character, which pervades nearly all these +fearful stories, so deeply marked, as to fill the attentive reader with +feelings of alternate horror and dismay, but the eternal and unchangeable +laws of human feeling and action are often arrested in a manner so +violent and unforeseen, that the understanding is entirely baffled. For +instance, one of the original trials which a friend of mine, a lawyer, +discovered in our province, contains the account of a mother, who, after +she had suffered the torture, and received the holy Sacrament, and was +on the point of going to the stake, so utterly lost all maternal feeling, +that her conscience obliged her to accuse as a witch her only dearly-loved +daughter, a girl of fifteen, against whom no one had ever entertained a +suspicion, in order, as she said, to save her poor soul. The court, justly +amazed at an event which probably has never since been paralleled, caused +the state of the mother's mind to be examined both by clergymen and +physicians, whose original testimonies are still appended to the records, +and are all highly favourable to her soundness of mind. The unfortunate +daughter, whose name was Elizabeth Hegel, was actually executed on the +strength of her mother's accusation.[2] + +The explanation commonly received at the present day, that these +phenomena were produced by means of animal magnetism, is utterly +insufficient. How, for instance, could this account for the deeply +demoniacal nature of old Lizzie Kolken as exhibited in the following +pages? It is utterly incomprehensible, and perfectly explains why the +old pastor, notwithstanding the horrible deceits practised on him in +the person of his daughter, retained as firm a faith in the truth of +witchcraft as in that of the Gospel. + +During the earlier centuries of the middle ages little was known of +witchcraft. The crime of magic, when it did occur, was leniently +punished. For instance, the Council of Ancyra (314) ordained the whole +punishment of witches to consist in expulsion from the Christian +community. The Visigoths punished them with stripes, and Charlemagne, +by advice of his bishops, confined them in prison until such time as +they should sincerely repent.[3] It was not until very soon before +the Reformation, that Innocent VIII. lamented that the complaints of +universal Christendom against the evil practices of these women had +become so general and so loud, that the most vigorous measures must be +taken against them; and towards the end of the year 1489, he caused the +notorious Hammer for Witches (_Malleus Maleficarum_) to be published, +according to which proceedings were set on foot with the most fanatical +zeal, not only in Catholic, but, strange to say, even in Protestant +Christendom, which in other respects abhorred everything belonging +to Catholicism. Indeed, the Protestants far outdid the Catholics in +cruelty, until, among the latter, the noble-minded Jesuit, J. Spee, and +among the former, but not until seventy years later, the excellent +Thomasius, by degrees put a stop to these horrors. + +After careful examination into the nature and characteristics of +witchcraft, I soon perceived that among all these strange and often +romantic stories, not one surpassed my 'amber witch' in lively interest; +and I determined to throw her adventures into the form of a romance. +Fortunately, however, I was soon convinced that her story was already in +itself the most interesting of all romances; and that I should do far +better to leave it in its original antiquated form, omitting whatever +would be uninteresting to modern readers, or so universally known as to +need no repetition. I have therefore attempted, not indeed to supply +what is missing at the beginning and end, but to restore those leaves +which have been torn out of the middle, imitating, as accurately as I +was able, the language and manner of the old biographer, in order that +the difference between the original narrative and my own interpolations +might not be too evident. + +This I have done with much trouble, and after many ineffectual attempts; +but I refrain from pointing out the particular passages which I have +supplied, so as not to disturb the historical interest of the greater +part of my readers. For modern criticism, which has now attained to a +degree of acuteness never before equalled, such a confession would be +entirely superfluous, as critics will easily distinguish the passages +where Pastor Schweidler speaks from those written by Pastor Meinhold. + +I am, nevertheless, bound to give the public some account of what I have +omitted, namely,-- + +1st. Such long prayers as were not very remarkable for Christian unction. + +2d. Well-known stories out of the Thirty Years' War. + +3d. Signs and wonders in the heavens, which were seen here and there, +and which are recorded by other Pomeranian writers of these fearful +times; for instance, by Micraelius.[4] But when these events formed part +of the tale itself, as, for instance, the cross on the Streckelberg, I, +of course, allowed them to stand. + +4th. The specification of the whole income of the church at Coserow, +before and during the terrible times of the Thirty Years' War. + +5th. The enumeration of the dwellings left standing, after the +devastations made by the enemy in every village throughout the parish. + +6th. The names of the districts to which this or that member of the +congregation had emigrated. + +7th. A ground plan and description of the old Manse. + +I have likewise here and there ventured to make a few changes in the +language, as my author is not always consistent in the use of his words +or in his orthography. The latter I have, however, with very few +exceptions, retained. + +And thus I lay before the gracious reader a work, glowing with the fire +of heaven, as well as with that of hell. + +MEINHOLD. + +[1] The original manuscript does indeed contain several accounts which +at first sight may have led to this mistake; besides, the handwriting +is extremely difficult to read, and in several places the paper is +discoloured and decayed. + +[2] It is my intention to publish this trial also, as it possesses very +great psychological interest. + +[3] Horst, _Zauberbibliothek_, vi. p. 231. + +[4] _Vom Alten Pommerlande_ (of old Pomerania), book v. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The origin of our biographer cannot be traced with any degree of +certainty, owing to the loss of the first part of his manuscript. It is, +however, pretty clear that he was not a Pomeranian, as he says he was in +Silesia in his youth, and mentions relations scattered far and wide, not +only at Hamburg and Cologne, but even at Antwerp; above all, his south +German language betrays a foreign origin, and he makes use of words which +are, I believe, peculiar to Swabia. He must, however, have been living for +a long time in Pomerania at the time he wrote, as he even more frequently +uses Low-German expressions, such as occur in contemporary native +Pomeranian writers. + +Since he sprang from an ancient noble family, as he says on several +occasions, it is possible that some particulars relating to the +Schweidlers might be discovered in the family records of the seventeenth +century which would give a clew to his native country; but I have sought +for that name in all the sources of information accessible to me, in vain, +and am led to suspect that our author, like many of his contemporaries, +laid aside his nobility and changed his name when he took holy orders. + +I will not, however, venture on any further conjectures; the manuscript, +of which six chapters are missing, begins with the words "Imperialists +plundered," and evidently the previous pages must have contained an +account of the breaking out of the Thirty Years' War in the island of +Usedom. It goes on as follows:-- + +"Coffers, chests, and closets were all plundered and broken to pieces, +and my surplice also was torn, so that I remained in great distress and +tribulation. But my poor little daughter they did not find, seeing that +I had hidden her in the stable, which was dark, without which I doubt +not they would have made my heart heavy indeed. The lewd dogs would even +have been rude to my old maid Ilse, a woman hard upon fifty, if an old +cornet had not forbidden them. Wherefore I gave thanks to my Maker when +the wild guests were gone, that I had first saved my child from their +clutches, although not one dust of flour, nor one grain of corn, one +morsel of meat even of a finger's length was left, and I knew not how I +should any longer support my own life, and my poor child's. _Item_, I +thanked God that I had likewise secured the _vasa sacra_, which I had +forthwith buried in the church in front of the altar, in presence of the +two churchwardens, Hinrich Seden and Claus Bulken, of Uekeritze, +commending them to the care of God. And now because, as I have already +said, I was suffering the pangs of hunger, I wrote to his lordship the +Sheriff Wittich V. Appelmann, at Pudgla, that for the love of God and +his holy Gospel he should send me that which his highness' grace +Philippus Julius had allowed me as _praestanda_ from the convent at +Pudgla, to wit, thirty bushels of barley and twenty-five marks of +silver, which, howbeit his lordship had always withheld from me hitherto +(for he was a very hard inhuman man, as he despised the holy Gospel and +the preaching of the Word, and openly, without shame, reviled the +servants of God, saying that they were useless feeders, and that Luther +had but half cleansed the pigstye of the Church--God mend it!). But he +answered me nothing, and I should have perished for want if Hinrich +Seden had not begged for me in the parish. May God reward the honest +fellow for it in eternity! Moreover, he was then growing old, and was +sorely plagued by his wicked wife Lizzie Kolken. Methought when I +married them that it would not turn out over well, seeing that she was +in common report of having long lived in unchastity with Wittich +Appelmann, who had ever been an arch-rogue, and especially an arrant +whoremaster, and such the Lord never blesses. This same Seden now +brought me five loaves, two sausages, and a goose, which old goodwife +Paal, at Loddin, had given him; also a flitch of bacon from the farmer +Jack Tewert. But he said I must shield him from his wife, who would have +had half for herself, and when he denied her she cursed him, and wished +him gout in his head, whereupon he straightway felt a pain in his right +cheek, and it was quite hard and heavy already. At such shocking news I +was affrighted, as became a good pastor, and asked whether peradventure +he believed that she stood in evil communication with Satan, and could +bewitch folks? But he said nothing, and shrugged his shoulders. So I +sent for old Lizzie to come to me, who was a tall, meagre woman of about +sixty, with squinting eyes, so that she could not look any one in the +face; likewise with quite red hair, and indeed her goodman had the same. +But though I diligently admonished her out of God's Word, she made no +answer until at last I said, 'Wilt thou unbewitch thy goodman (for I +saw from the window how that he was raving in the street like a madman), +or wilt thou that I should inform the magistrate of thy deeds?' Then, +indeed, she gave in, and promised that he should soon be better (and so +he was); moreover she begged that I would give her some bread and some +bacon, inasmuch as it was three days since she had a bit of anything to +put between her lips, saving always her tongue. So my daughter gave her +half a loaf, and a piece of bacon about two handsbreadths large; but she +did not think it enough, and muttered between her teeth; whereupon my +daughter said, 'If thou art not content, thou old witch, go thy ways and +help thy goodman; see how he has laid his head on Zabel's fence, and +stamps with his feet for pain.' Whereupon she went away, but still kept +muttering between her teeth, 'Yea, forsooth, I will help him and thee +too.'" + + + + +_The Seventh Chapter_ + + +HOW THE IMPERIALISTS ROBBED ME OF ALL THAT WAS LEFT, AND LIKEWISE BROKE +INTO THE CHURCH AND STOLE THE _VASA SACRA_; ALSO WHAT MORE BEFELL US + +After a few days, when we had eaten almost all our food, my last cow fell +down dead (the wolves had already devoured the others, as mentioned +above), not without a strong suspicion that Lizzie had a hand in it, +seeing that the poor beast had eaten heartily the day before; but I leave +that to a higher judge, seeing that I would not willingly calumniate any +one; and it may have been the will of God, whose wrath I have well +deserved. _Summa_, I was once more in great need, and my daughter Mary +pierced my heart with her sighs, when the cry was raised that another +troop of Imperialists was come to Uekeritze, and was marauding there more +cruelly than ever, and, moreover, had burnt half the village. Wherefore I +no longer thought myself safe in my cottage; and after I had commended +everything to the Lord in a fervent prayer, I went up with my daughter and +old Ilse into the Streckelberg, where I already had looked out for +ourselves a hole like a cavern, well grown over with brambles, against the +time when the troubles should drive us thither. We therefore took with us +all we had left to us for the support of our bodies, and fled into the +woods, sighing and weeping, whither we soon were followed by the old men, +and the women and children; these raised a great cry of hunger when they +saw my daughter sitting on a log and eating a bit of bread and meat, and +the little things came with their tiny hands stretched out and cried "Have +some too, have some too." Therefore, being justly moved by such great +distress, I hindered not my daughter from sharing all the bread and meat +that remained among the hungry children. But first I made them pray--"The +eyes of all wait upon thee"; upon which words I then spake comfortably to +the people, telling them that the Lord, who had now fed their little +children, would find means to fill their own bellies, and that they must +not be weary of trusting in him. + +This comfort did not, however, last long; for after we had rested within +and around the cavern for about two hours, the bells in the village began +to ring so dolefully that it went nigh to break all our hearts, the more +as loud firing was heard between-whiles; _item_, the cries of men and the +barking of dogs resounded, so that we could easily guess that the enemy +was in the village. I had enough to do to keep the women quiet, that they +might not by their senseless lamentations betray our hiding-place to the +cruel enemy; and more still when it began to smell smoky, and presently +the bright flames gleamed through the trees. I therefore sent old Paasch +up to the top of the hill, that he might look around and see how matters +stood, but told him to take good care that they did not see him from the +village, seeing that the twilight had but just begun. + +This he promised, and soon returned with the news that about twenty +horsemen had galloped out of the village towards the Damerow, but that +half the village was in flames. _Item_, he told us that by a wonderful +dispensation of God a great number of birds had appeared in the +juniper-bushes and elsewhere, and that if we could catch them they would be +excellent food for us. I therefore climbed up the hill myself, and having +found everything as he had said, and also perceived that the fire had, by +the help of God's mercy, abated in the village; _item_, that my cottage +was left standing, far beyond my merits and deserts; I came down again and +comforted the people, saying, "The Lord hath given us a sign, and he will +feed us, as he fed the people of Israel in the wilderness; for he has sent +us a fine flight of fieldfares across the barren sea, so that they whirr +out of every bush as ye come near it. Who will now run down into the +village, and cut off the mane and tail of my dead cow which lies out behind +on the common?" (for there was no horsehair in all the village, seeing that +the enemy had long since carried off or stabbed all the horses). But no one +would go, for fear was stronger even than hunger, till my old Ilse spoke, +and said, "I will go, for I fear nothing, when I walk in the ways of God; +only give me a good stick." When old Paasch had lent her his staff, she +began to sing, "God the Father be with us," and was soon out of sight among +the bushes. Meanwhile I exhorted the people to set to work directly, and to +cut little wands for springes, and to gather berries while the moon still +shone; there were a great quantity of mountain-ash and elder-bushes all +about the mountain. I myself and my daughter Mary stayed to guard the +little children, because it was not safe there from wolves. We therefore +made a blazing fire, sat ourselves around it, and heard the little folks +say the Ten Commandments, when there was a rustling and crackling behind +us, and my daughter jumped up and ran into the cavern, crying, "_Proh dolor +hostis_!" But it was only some of the able-bodied men who had stayed behind +in the village, and who now came to bring us word how things stood there. I +therefore called to her directly, "_Emergas amici_" whereupon she came +skipping joyously out, and sat down again by the fire, and forthwith my +warden Hinrich Seden related all that had happened, and how his life had +only been saved by means of his wife Lizzie Kolken; but that Jurgen Flatow, +Chim Burse, Claus Peer, and Chim Seideritz were killed, and the last named +of them left lying on the church steps. The wicked incendiaries had burned +down twelve sheds, and it was not their fault that the whole village was +not destroyed, but only in consequence of the wind not being in the quarter +that suited their purpose. Meanwhile they tolled the bells in mockery and +scorn, to see whether any one would come and quench the fire; and that when +he and the three other young fellows came forward they fired off their +muskets at them, but, by God's help, none of them were hit. Hereupon his +three comrades jumped over the paling and escaped; but him they caught, and +had already taken aim at him with their firelocks, when his wife Lizzie +Kolken came out of the church with another troop and beckoned to them to +leave him in peace. But they stabbed Lene Hebers as she lay in childbed, +speared the child, and flung it over Claus Peer's hedge among the nettles, +where it was yet lying when they came away. There was not a living soul +left in the village, and still less a morsel of bread, so that unless the +Lord took pity on their need they must all die miserably of hunger. + +(Now who is to believe that such people can call themselves Christians!) + +I next inquired, when he had done speaking (but with many sighs, as any +one may guess), after my cottage; but of that they knew nought save that +it was still standing. I thanked the Lord therefore with a quiet sigh; +and having asked old Seden what his wife had been doing in the church, I +thought I should have died for grief when I heard that the villains came +out of it with both the chalices and patens in their hands. I therefore +spoke very sharply to old Lizzie, who now came slinking through the +bushes; but she answered insolently that the strange soldiers had forced +her to open the church, as her goodman had crept behind the hedge, and +nobody else was there; that they had gone straight up to the altar, and +seeing that one of the stones was not well fitted (which, truly, was an +arch-lie), had begun to dig with their swords till they found the chalices +and patens; or somebody else might have betrayed the spot to them, so I +need not always to lay the blame on her, and rate her so hardly. + +Meanwhile the old men and the women came with a good store of berries; +_item_, my old maid, with the cow's tail and mane, who brought word that +the whole house was turned upside down, the windows all broken, and the +books and writings trampled in the dirt in the midst of the street, and +the doors torn off their hinges. This, however, was a less sorrow to me +than the chalices; and I only bade the people make springes and snares, +in order next morning to begin our fowling, with the help of Almighty God. +I therefore scraped the rods myself until near midnight; and when we had +made ready a good quantity, I told old Seden to repeat the evening +blessing, which we all heard on our knees; after which I wound up with +a prayer, and then admonished the people to creep in under the bushes +to keep them from the cold (seeing that it was now about the end of +September, and the wind blew very fresh from the sea), the men apart, and +the women also apart by themselves. I myself went up with my daughter and +my maid into the cavern, where I had not slept long before I heard old +Seden moaning bitterly because, as he said, he was seized with the colic. +I therefore got up and gave him my place, and sat down again by the fire +to cut springes, till I fell asleep for half an hour; and then morning +broke, and by that time he had got better, and I woke the people to +morning prayer. This time old Paasch had to say it, but could not get +through with it properly, so that I had to help him. Whether he had forgot +it, or whether he was frightened, I cannot say. _Summa_. After we had all +prayed most devoutly, we presently set to work, wedging the springes into +the trees, and hanging berries all around them; while my daughter took +care of the children, and looked for blackberries for their breakfast. Now +we wedged the snares right across the wood along the road to Uekeritze; +and mark what a wondrous act of mercy befell from gracious God! As I +stepped into the road with the hatchet in my hand (it was Seden his +hatchet, which he had fetched out of the village early in the morning), I +caught sight of a loaf as long as my arm, which a raven was pecking, and +which doubtless one of the Imperial troopers had dropped out of his +knapsack the day before, for there were fresh hoofmarks in the sand by it. +So I secretly buttoned the breast of my coat over it, so that none should +perceive anything, although the aforesaid Paasch was close behind me; +_item_, all the rest followed at no great distance. Now, having set the +springes so very early, towards noon we found such a great number of birds +taken in them that Katy Berow, who went beside me while I took them out, +scarce could hold them all in her apron; and at the other end old Pagels +pulled nearly as many out of his doublet and coat pockets. My daughter +then sat down with the rest of the womankind to pluck the birds; and +as there was no salt (indeed it was long since most of us had tasted +any), she desired two men to go down to the sea, and to fetch a little +salt-water in an iron pot borrowed from Staffer Zuter; and so they did. In +this water we first dipped the birds, and then roasted them at a large +fire, while our mouths watered only at the sweet savour of them, seeing it +was so long since we had tasted any food. + +And now when all was ready, and the people seated on the earth, I said, +"Behold how the Lord still feeds his people Israel in the wilderness with +fresh quails: if now he did yet more, and sent us a piece of manna bread +from heaven, what think ye? Would ye then ever weary of believing in him, +and not rather willingly endure all want, tribulation, hunger and thirst, +which he may hereafter lay upon you according to his gracious will?" +Whereupon they all answered and said, "Yea, surely!" _Ego_: "Will you then +promise me this in truth?" And they said again, "Yea, that will we!" Then +with tears I drew forth the loaf from my breast, held it on high, and +cried, "Behold, then, thou poor believing little flock, how sweet a manna +loaf your faithful Redeemer hath sent ye through me!" Whereupon they all +wept, sobbed and groaned; and the little children again came running up +and held out their hands, crying, "See, bread, bread!" But as I myself +could not pray for heaviness of soul, I bade Paasch his little girl say +the _Gratias_ the while my Mary cut up the loaf and gave to each his +share. And now we all joyfully began to eat our meat from God in the +wilderness. + +Meanwhile I had to tell in what manner I had found the blessed manna +bread, wherein I neglected not again to exhort them to lay to heart this +great sign and wonder, how that God in his mercy had done to them as of +old to the prophet Elijah, to whom a raven brought bread in his great need +in the wilderness; as likewise this bread had been given to me by means of +a raven, which showed it to me, when otherwise I might have passed it by +in my heaviness without ever seeing it. + +When we were satisfied with food, I said the thanksgiving from Luke xii. +24, where the Lord saith, "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor +reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: +how much more are ye better than the fowls?" But our sins stank before +the Lord. For old Lizzie, as I afterwards heard, would not eat her +birds because she thought them unsavoury, but threw them among the +juniper-bushes; whereupon the wrath of the Lord was kindled against us as +of old against the people of Israel, and at night we found but seven birds +in the snares, and next morning but two. Neither did any raven come again +to give us bread. Wherefore I rebuked old Lizzie, and admonished the +people to take upon themselves willingly the righteous chastisement of the +Most High God, to pray without ceasing, to return to their desolate +dwellings, and to see whether the all-merciful God would peradventure give +them more on the sea. That I also would call upon him with prayer night +and day, remaining for a time in the cavern with my daughter and the maid +to watch the springes, and see whether his wrath might be turned from us. +That they should meanwhile put my manse to rights to the best of their +power, seeing that the cold was become very irksome to me. This they +promised me, and departed with many sighs. What a little flock! I counted +but twenty-five souls where there used to be above eighty: all the rest +had been slain by hunger, pestilence, or the sword. I then abode a while +alone and sorrowing in the cave, praying to God, and sent my daughter with +the maid into the village to see how things stood at the manse; _item_, to +gather together the books and papers, and also to bring me word whether +Hinze the carpenter, whom I had straightway sent back to the village, had +knocked together some coffins for the poor corpses, so that I might bury +them next day. I then went to look at the springes, but found only one +single little bird, whereby I saw that the wrath of God had not yet passed +away. Howbeit, I found a fine blackberry bush, from which I gathered +nearly a pint of berries, and put them, together with the bird, in Staffer +Zuter his pot, which the honest fellow had left with us for a while, and +set them on the fire for supper against my child and the maid should +return. It was not long before they came through the coppice and told me +of the fearful devastation which Satan had made in the village and manse +by the permission of all-righteous God. My child had gathered together a +few books, which she brought with her, above all, a _Virgilius_ and a +Greek Bible. And after she had told me that the carpenter would not have +done till next day, and we had satisfied the cravings of hunger, I made +her read to me again, for the greater strengthening of my faith, the +_locus_ about the blessed raven from the Greek of Luke, at the twelfth +chapter; also, the beautiful _locus parallelus_, Matt. vi. After which the +maid said the evening blessing, and we all went into the cave to rest for +the night. When I awoke next morning, just as the blessed sun rose out the +sea and peeped over the mountain, I heard my poor hungry child already +standing outside the cave reciting the beautiful verses about the joys of +paradise which St. Augustine wrote and I had taught her. She sobbed for +grief as she spoke the words:-- + + Uno pane vivunt cives utriusque patriae; + Avidi et semper pleni, quod habent desiderant. + Non sacietas fastidit, neque fames cruciat; + Inhiantes semper edunt, et edentes inhiant. + Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum; + Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, + Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt; + Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, + Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum. + Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum. + Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. + +At these words my own heart was melted; and when she ceased from speaking, +I asked, "What art thou doing, my child?" Whereupon she answered, "Father, +I am eating." Thereat my tears now indeed began to flow, and I praised her +for feeding her soul, as she had no meat for her body. I had not, however, +spoken long, before she cried to me to come and look at the great wonder +that had risen out of the sea, and already appeared over the cave. For +behold a cloud, in shape just like a cross, came over us, and let great +heavy drops, as big or bigger than large peas, fall on our heads, after +which it sank behind the coppice. I presently arose and ran up the +mountain with my daughter to look after it. It floated on towards the +Achterwater, where it spread itself out into a long blue streak, whereon +the sun shone so brightly that it seemed like a golden bridge on which, as +my child said, the blessed angels danced. I fell on my knees with her and +thanked the Lord that our cross had passed away from us; but, alas! our +cross was yet to come, as will be told hereafter. + + + + +_The Eighth Chapter_ + + +HOW OUR NEED WAXED SORER AND SORER, AND HOW I SENT OLD ILSE WITH ANOTHER +LETTER TO PUDGLA, AND HOW HEAVY A MISFORTUNE THIS BROUGHT UPON ME + +Next day, when I had buried the poor corpses amid the lamentations of the +whole village (by the same token that they were all buried under where the +lime-tree overhangs the wall), I heard with many sighs that neither the +sea nor the Achterwater would yield anything. It was now ten days since +the poor people had caught a single fish. I therefore went out into the +field, musing how the wrath of the just God might be turned from us, +seeing that the cruel winter was now at hand, and neither corn, apples, +fish nor flesh to be found in the village, nor even throughout all the +parish. There was indeed plenty of game in the forests of Coserow and +Uekeritze; but the old forest ranger, Zabel Nehring, had died last year of +the plague, and there was no new one in his place. Nor was there a musket +nor a grain of powder to be found in all the parish; the enemy had robbed +and broken everything: we were therefore forced, day after day, to see +how the stags and the roes, the hares and the wild boars, _et cet_., ran +past us, when we would so gladly have had them in our bellies, but had no +means of getting at them: for they were too cunning to let themselves be +caught in pit-falls. Nevertheless, Claus Peer succeeded in trapping a roe, +and gave me a piece of it, for which may God reward him. _Item_, of +domestic cattle there was not a head left; neither was there a dog, nor +a cat, which the people had not either eaten in their extreme hunger, +or knocked on the head or drowned long since. Albeit old farmer Paasch +still owned two cows; _item_, an old man in Uekeritze was said to have +one little pig:--this was all. Thus, then, nearly all the people lived on +blackberries and other wild fruits: the which also soon grew to be scarce, +as may easily be guessed. Besides all this, a boy of fourteen was missing +(old Labahn his son) and was never more heard of, so that I shrewdly think +that the wolves devoured him. + +And now let any Christian judge by his own heart in what sorrow and +heaviness I took my staff in my hand, seeing that my child fell away like +a shadow from pinching hunger; although I myself, being old, did not, by +the help of God's mercy, find any great failing in my strength. While I +thus went continually weeping before the Lord, on the way to Uekeritze, I +fell in with an old beggar with his wallet, sitting on a stone, and eating +a piece of God's rare gift, to wit, a bit of bread. Then truly did my poor +mouth so fill with water that I was forced to bow my head and let it run +upon the earth before I could ask, "Who art thou? and whence comest thou? +seeing that thou hast bread." Whereupon he answered that he was a poor man +of Bannemin, from whom the enemy had taken all; and as he had heard that +the Lieper Winkel had long been in peace, he had travelled thither to beg. +I straightway answered him, "Oh, poor beggar-man, spare to me, a sorrowful +servant of Christ, who is poorer even than thyself, one little slice of +bread for his wretched child; for thou must know that I am the pastor of +this village, and that my daughter is dying of hunger. I beseech thee by +the living God not to let me depart without taking pity on me, as pity +also hath been shown to thee!" But the beggar-man would give me none, +saying that he himself had a wife and four children, who were likewise +staggering towards death's door under the bitter pangs of hunger; that the +famine was sorer far in Bannemin than here, where we still had berries; +whether I had not heard that but a few days ago a woman (he told me her +name, but horror made me forget it) had there killed her own child, and +devoured it from hunger? That he could not therefore help me, and I might +go to the Lieper Winkel myself. + +I was horror-stricken at his tale, as is easy to guess, for we in our own +trouble had not yet heard of it, there being little or no traffic between +one village and another; and thinking on Jerusalem, and sheer despairing +because the Lord had visited us, as of old that ungodly city, although we +had not betrayed or crucified him, I almost forgot all my necessities, and +took my staff in my hand to depart. But I had not gone more than a few +yards when the beggar called me to stop, and when I turned myself round he +came towards me with a good hunch of bread which he had taken out of his +wallet, and said, "There! but pray for me also, so that I may reach my +home; for if on the road they smell that I have bread, my own brother +would strike me dead, I believe." This I promised with joy, and instantly +turned back to take to my child the gift hidden in my pocket. And behold, +when I came to the road which leads to Loddin, I could scarce trust my +eyes (before I had overlooked it in my distress) when I saw my glebe, +which could produce seven bushels, ploughed, sown, and in stalk; the +blessed crop of rye had already shot lustily out of the earth a finger's +length in height. I could not choose but think that the Evil One had +deceived me with a false show, yet, however hard I rubbed my eyes, rye it +was and rye it remained. And seeing that old Paasch his piece of land +which joined mine was in like manner sown, and that the blades had shot up +to the same height, I soon guessed that the good fellow had done this +deed, seeing that all the other land lay waste. Wherefore, I readily +forgave him for not knowing the morning prayer; and thanking the Lord for +so much love from my flock, and earnestly beseeching him to grant me +strength and faith to bear with them steadfastly and patiently all the +troubles and adversities which it might please him henceforward to lay +upon us, according to his divine pleasure, I ran rather than walked back +into the village to old Paasch his farm, where I found him just about to +kill his cow, which he was slaughtering from grim hunger. "God bless +thee," said I, "worthy friend, for sowing my field; how shall I reward +thee?" But the old man answered, "Let that be, and do you pray for us"; +and when I gladly promised this and asked him how he had kept his corn +safe from the savage enemy, he told me that he had hidden it secretly in +the caves of the Streckelberg, but that now all his store was used up. +Meanwhile he cut a fine large piece of meat from the top of the loin, and +said, "There is something for you, and when that is gone you can come +again for more." As I was then about to go with many thanks, his little +Mary, a child nearly seven years old, the same who had said the _Gratias_ +on the Streckelberg, seized me by the hand and wanted to go to school to +my daughter; for since my _Custos_, as above mentioned, departed this life +in the plague, she had to teach the few little ones there were in the +village; this, however, had long been abandoned. I could not, therefore, +deny her, although I feared that my child would share her bread with her, +seeing that she dearly loved the little maid, who was her godchild; and so +indeed it happened; for when the child saw me take out the bread, she +shrieked for joy, and began to scramble up on the bench. Thus she also got +a piece of the slice, our maid got another, and my child put the third +piece into her own mouth, as I wished for none, but said that I felt no +signs of hunger and would wait until the meat was boiled, the which I now +threw upon the bench. It was a goodly sight to see the joy which my poor +child felt when I then also told her about the rye. She fell upon my neck, +wept, sobbed, then took the little one up in her arms, danced about the +room with her, and recited as she was wont, all manner of Latin _versus_, +which she knew by heart. Then she would prepare a right good supper for +us, as a little salt was still left in the bottom of a barrel of meat +which the Imperialists had broken up. I let her take her own way, and +having scraped some soot from the chimney and mixed it with water, I tore +a blank leaf out of _Virgilius_, and wrote to the _Pastor Liepensis_, his +reverence Abraham Tiburtius, praying that for God his sake he would take +our necessities to heart, and would exhort his parishioners to save us +from dying of grim hunger, and charitably to spare to us some meat and +drink, according as the all-merciful God had still left some to them, +seeing that a beggar had told me that they had long been in peace from +the terrible enemy. I knew not, however, wherewithal to seal the letter, +until I found in the church a little wax still sticking to a wooden +altar-candlestick, which the Imperialists had not thought it worth their +while to steal, for they had only taken the brass ones. I sent three +fellows in a boat with Hinrich Seden, the churchwarden, with this letter +to Liepe. + +First, however, I asked my old Ilse, who was born in Liepe, whether she +would not rather return home, seeing how matters stood, and that I, for +the present at least, could not give her a stiver of her wages (mark that +she had already saved up a small sum, seeing that she had lived in my +service above twenty years, but the soldiers had taken it all). Howbeit, I +could nowise persuade her to this, but she wept bitterly, and besought me +only to let her stay with the good damsel whom she had rocked in her +cradle. She would cheerfully hunger with us if it needs must be, so that +she were not turned away. Whereupon I yielded to her, and the others went +alone. + +Meanwhile the broth was ready, but scarce had we said the _Gratias_, and +were about to begin our meal, when all the children of the village, seven +in number, came to the door, and wanted bread, as they had heard we had +some from my daughter her little godchild. Her heart again melted, and +notwithstanding I besought her to harden herself against them, she +comforted me with the message to Liepe, and poured out for each child a +portion of broth on a wooden platter (for these also had been despised by +the enemy), and put into their little hands a bit of meat, so that all our +store was eaten up at once. We were, therefore, left fasting next morning, +till towards mid-day, when the whole village gathered together in a meadow +on the banks of the river to see the boat return. But, God be merciful to +us, we had cherished vain hopes! six loaves and a sheep, _item_, a quarter +of apples, was all they had brought. His reverence Abraham Tiburtius wrote +to me that after the cry of their wealth had spread throughout the island, +so many beggars had flocked thither that it was impossible to be just to +all, seeing that they themselves did not know how it might fare with them +in these heavy troublous times. Meanwhile he would see whether he could +raise any more. I therefore with many sighs had the small pittance carried +to the manse, and though two loaves were, as _Pastor Liepensis_ said in +his letter, for me alone, I gave them up to be shared among all alike, +whereat all were content save Seden his squint-eyed wife, who would have +had somewhat _extra_ on the score of her husband's journey, which, +however, as may be easily guessed, she did not get; wherefore she again +muttered certain words between her teeth as she went away, which, however, +no one understood. Truly she was an ill woman, and not to be moved by the +word of God. + +Any one may judge for himself that such a store could not last long; and +as all my parishioners felt an ardent longing after spiritual food, and +as I and the churchwardens could only get together about sixteen +farthings in the whole parish, which was not enough to buy bread and +wine, the thought struck me once more to inform my lord the Sheriff of +our need. With how heavy a heart I did this may be easily guessed, but +necessity knows no law. I therefore tore the last blank leaf out of +_Virgilius_, and begged that, for the sake of the Holy Trinity, his +lordship would mercifully consider mine own distress and that of the +whole parish, and bestow a little money to enable me to administer the +holy sacrament for the comfort of afflicted souls; also, if possible, +to buy a cup, were it only of tin, since the enemy had plundered us of +ours, and I should otherwise be forced to consecrate the sacred elements +in an earthen vessel. _Item_, I besought him to have pity on our bodily +wants, and at last to send me the first-fruits which had stood over for +so many years. That I did not want it for myself alone, but would +willingly share it with my parishioners, until such time as God in his +mercy should give us more. + +Here a huge blot fell upon my paper; for the windows being boarded up, the +room was dark, and but little light came through two small panes of glass +which I had broken out of the church, and stuck in between the boards; +this, perhaps, was the reason why I did not see better. However, as I +could not anywhere get another piece of paper, I let it pass, and ordered +the maid, whom I sent with the letter to Pudgla, to excuse the same to his +lordship the Sheriff, the which she promised to do, seeing that I could +not add a word more on the paper, as it was written all over. I then +sealed it as I had done before. + +But the poor creature came back trembling for fear and bitterly weeping, +and said that his lordship had kicked her out of the castle-gate, and had +threatened to set her in the stocks if she ever came before him again. +"Did the parson think that he was as free with his money as I seemed to be +with my ink? I surely had water enough to celebrate the Lord's supper +wherewithal. For if the Son of God had once changed the water into wine, +he could surely do the like again. If I had no cup, I might water my flock +out of a bucket, as he did himself"; with many more blasphemies, such as +he afterwards wrote to me, and by which, as may easily be guessed, I was +filled with horror. Touching the first-fruits, as she told me he said +nothing at all. In such great spiritual and bodily need the blessed Sunday +came round, when nearly all the congregation would have come to the Lord's +table, but could not. I therefore spoke on the words of St. Augustine, +_crede et manducasti_, and represented that the blame was not mine, and +truly told what had happened to my poor maid at Pudgla, passing over much +in silence, and only praying God to awaken the hearts of magistrates for +our good. Peradventure I may have spoken more harshly than I meant. I know +not, only that I spoke that which was in my heart. At the end I made all +the congregation stay on their knees for nearly an hour, and call upon the +Lord for his holy sacrament; _item_, for the relief of their bodily wants, +as had been done every Sunday, and at all the daily prayers I had been +used to read ever since the heavy time of the plague. Last of all I led +the glorious hymn, "When in greatest need we be," which was no sooner +finished than my new churchwarden, Claus Bulk of Uekeritze, who had +formerly been a groom with his lordship, and whom he had now put into a +farm, ran off to Pudgla, and told him all that had taken place in the +church. Whereat his lordship was greatly angered, insomuch that he +summoned the whole parish, which still numbered about 150 souls, without +counting the children, and dictated _ad protocollum_ whatsoever they could +remember of the sermon, seeing that he meant to inform his princely grace +the Duke of Pomerania of the blasphemous lies which I had vomited against +him, and which must sorely offend every Christian heart. _Item_, what an +avaricious wretch I must be to be always wanting something of him, and to +be daily, so to say, pestering him in these hard times with my filthy +letters, when he had not enough to eat himself. This he said should break +the parson his neck, since his princely grace did all that he asked of +him, and that no one in the parish need give me anything more, but only +let me go my ways. He would soon take care that they should have quite a +different sort of parson from what I was. + +(Now I would like to see the man who could make up his mind to come into +the midst of such wretchedness at all.) + +This news was brought to me in the selfsame night, and gave me a great +fright, as I now saw that I should not have a gracious master in his +lordship, but should all the time of my miserable life, even if I could +anyhow support it, find in him an ungracious lord. But I soon felt some +comfort, when Chim Krueger from Uekeritze, who brought me the news, took a +little bit of his sucking-pig out of his pocket and gave it to me. +Meanwhile old Paasch came in and said the same, and likewise brought me a +piece of his old cow; _item_, my other warden, Hinrich Seden, with a slice +of bread, and a fish which he had taken in his net, all saying they wished +for no better priest than me, and that I was only to pray to the merciful +Lord to bestow more upon them, whereupon I should want for nothing. +Meanwhile I must be quiet and not betray them. All this I promised, and my +daughter Mary took the blessed gifts of God off the table and carried them +into the inner chamber. But, alas! next morning, when she would have put +the meat into the caldron, it was all gone. I know not who prepared this +new sorrow for me, but much believe it was Hinrich Seden his wicked wife, +seeing he can never hold his tongue, and most likely told her everything. +Moreover, Paasch his little daughter saw that she had meat in her pot next +day; _item_, that she had quarrelled with her husband, and had flung the +fish-board at him, whereon some fresh fish-scales were sticking: she had, +however, presently recollected herself when she saw the child. (Shame on +thee, thou old witch, it is true enough, I dare say!) Hereupon nought was +left us but to feed our poor souls with the word of God. But even our +souls were so cast down that they could receive nought, any more than our +bellies; my poor child, especially, from day to day grew paler, greyer, +and yellower, and always threw up all her food, seeing she ate it without +salt or bread. I had long wondered that the bread from Liepe was not yet +done, but that every day at dinner I still had a morsel. I had often +asked, "Whence comes all this blessed bread? I believe, after all, you +save the whole for me, and take none for yourself or the maid." But they +both then lifted to their mouths a piece of fir-tree bark, which they had +cut to look like bread, and laid by their plates; and as the room was +dark, I did not find out their deceit, but thought that they, too, were +eating bread. But at last the maid told me of it, so that I should allow +it no longer, as my daughter would not listen to her. It is not hard to +guess how my heart was wrung when I saw my poor child lying on her bed of +moss struggling with grim hunger. But things were to go yet harder with +me, for the Lord in his anger would break me in pieces like a potter's +vessel. For behold, on the evening of the same day, old Paasch came +running to me, complaining that all his and my corn in the field had been +pulled up and miserably destroyed, and that it must have been done by +Satan himself, as there was not a trace either of oxen or horses. At these +words my poor child screamed aloud and fainted. I would have run to help +her, but could not reach her bed, and fell on the ground myself for bitter +grief. The loud cries of the maid and old Paasch soon brought us both to +our senses. But I could not rise from the ground alone, for the Lord had +bruised all my bones. I besought them, therefore, when they would have +helped me, to leave me where I was; and when they would not, I cried out +that I must again fall on the ground to pray, and begged them all save my +daughter to depart out of the room. This they did, but the prayer would +not come. I fell into heavy doubting and despair, and murmured against the +Lord that he plagued me more sorely than Lazarus or Job. Wretch that I +was, I cried, "Thou didst leave to Lazarus at least the crumbs and the +pitiful dogs, but to me thou hast left nothing, and I myself am less in +thy sight even than a dog; and Job thou didst not afflict until thou hadst +mercifully taken away his children, but to me thou hast left my poor +little daughter, that her torments may increase mine own a thousandfold. +Behold, then, I can only pray that thou wilt take her from the earth, so +that my grey head may gladly follow her to the grave! Woe is me, ruthless +father, what have I done? I have eaten bread, and suffered my child to +hunger! Oh, Lord Jesu, who hast said, 'What man is there of you, whom if +his son ask bread will he give him a stone?' Behold I am that man!--behold +I am that ruthless father! I have eaten bread and have given wood to my +child! Punish me; I will bear it and lie still. Oh, righteous Jesu, I have +eaten bread, and have given wood to my child!" As I did not speak, but +rather shrieked these words, wringing my hands the while, my child fell +upon my neck, sobbing, and chid me for murmuring against the Lord, seeing +that even she, a weak and frail woman, had never doubted his mercy, so +that with shame and repentance I presently came to myself, and humbled +myself before the Lord for such heavy sin. + +Meanwhile the maid had run into the village with loud cries to see if she +could get anything for her poor young mistress, but the people had already +eaten their noontide meal, and most of them were gone to sea to seek their +blessed supper; thus she could find nothing, seeing that old wife Seden, +who alone had any victuals, would give her none, although she prayed her +by Jesu's wounds. + +She was telling us this when we heard a noise in the chamber, and +presently Lizzie her worthy old husband, who had got in at the window by +stealth, brought us a pot of good broth, which he had taken off the fire +whilst his wife was gone for a moment into the garden. He well knew that +his wife would make him pay for it, but that he did not mind, so the young +mistress would but drink it, and she would find it salted and all. He +would make haste out of the window again, and see that he got home before +his wife, that she might not find out where he had been. But my daughter +would not touch the broth, which sorely vexed him, so that he set it down +on the ground cursing, and ran out of the room. It was not long before his +squint-eyed wife came in at the front door, and when she saw the pot still +steaming on the ground, she cried out, "Thou thief, thou cursed thieving +carcass!" and would have flown at the face of my maid. But I threatened +her, and told her all that had happened, and that if she would not believe +me she might go into the chamber and look out of the window, whence she +might still, belike, see her good man running home. This she did, and +presently we heard her calling after him, "Wait, and the devil shall tear +off thine arms; only wait till thou art home again!" After this she came +back, and, muttering something, took the pot off the ground. I begged her, +for the love of God, to spare a little to my child; but she mocked at me +and said, "You can preach to her, as you did to me," and walked towards +the door with the pot. My child indeed besought me to let her go, but I +could not help calling after her, "For the love of God, one good sup, or +my poor child must give up the ghost: wilt thou that at the day of +judgment God should have mercy on thee, so show mercy this day to me and +mine!" But she scoffed at us again, and cried out, "Let her cook herself +some bacon," and went out at the door. I then sent the maid after her with +the hour-glass which stood before me on the table, to offer it to her for +a good sup out of the pot; but the maid brought it back, saying that she +would not have it. Alas, how I wept and sobbed, as my poor dying child +with a loud sigh buried her head again in the moss! Yet the merciful God +was more gracious to me than my unbelief had deserved; for when the +hard-hearted woman bestowed a little broth on her neighbour, old Paasch, +he presently brought it to my child, having heard from the maid how it +stood with her; and I believe that this broth, under God, alone saved her +life, for she raised her head as soon as she had supped it, and was able +to go about the house again in an hour. May God reward the good fellow for +it! Thus I had some joy in the midst of my trouble. But while I sat by the +fireside in the evening musing on my fate, my grief again broke forth, and +I made up my mind to leave my house, and even my cure, and to wander +through the wide world with my daughter as a beggar. God knows I had cause +enough for it; for now that all my hopes were dashed, seeing that my field +was quite ruined, and that the Sheriff had become my bitter enemy; +moreover, that it was five years since I had had a wedding, _item_, but +two christenings during the past year, I saw my own and my daughter's +death staring me in the face, and no prospect of better times at hand. Our +want was increased by the great fears of the congregation; for although +by God's wondrous mercy they had already begun to take good draughts of +fish both in the sea and the Achterwater, and many of the people in the +other villages had already gotten bread, salt, oatmeal, etc., from the +Polters and Quatzners, of Anklam and Lassan in exchange for their fish; +nevertheless, they brought me nothing, fearing lest it might be told at +Pudgla, and make his lordship ungracious to them. I therefore beckoned my +daughter to me, and told her what was in my thoughts, saying that God in +his mercy could any day bestow on me another cure if I was found worthy in +his sight of such a favour, seeing that these terrible days of pestilence +and war had called away many of the servants of his word, and that I had +not fled like a hireling from his flock, but on the contrary, till _datum_ +shared sorrow and death with it. Whether she were able to walk five or ten +miles a day; for that then we would beg our way to Hamburg, to my departed +wife her step-brother, Martin Behring, who is a great merchant in that +city. + +This at first sounded strange to her, seeing that she had very seldom been +out of our parish, and that her departed mother and her little brother lay +in our churchyard. She asked, "Who was to make up their graves and plant +flowers on them? _Item_, as the Lord had given her a smooth face, what I +should do if in these wild and cruel times she were attacked on the +highways by marauding soldiers or other villains, seeing that I was a weak +old man and unable to defend her; _item_, wherewithal should we shield +ourselves from the frost, as the winter was setting in and the enemy had +robbed us of our clothes, so that we had scarce enough left to cover our +nakedness?" All this I had not considered, and was forced to own that she +was right; so after much discussion we determined to leave it this night +to the Lord, and to do whatever he should put into our hearts next +morning. At any rate, we saw that we could in nowise keep the old maid any +longer; I therefore called her out of the kitchen, and told her she had +better go early next morning to Liepe, as there still was food there, +whereas here she must starve, seeing that perhaps we ourselves might leave +the parish and the country to-morrow. I thanked her for the love and faith +she had shown us, and begged her at last, amid the loud sobs of my poor +daughter, to depart forthwith privately, and not to make our hearts still +heavier by leave-taking; that old Paasch was going a-fishing to-night on +the Achterwater, as he had told me, and no doubt would readily set her on +shore at Gruessow, where she had friends, and could eat her fill even +to-day. She could not say a word for weeping, but when she saw that I was +really in earnest she went out of the room. Not long after we heard the +house-door shut to, whereupon my daughter moaned, "She is gone already," +and ran straight to the window to look after her. "Yes," cried she, as she +saw her through the little panes, "she is really gone"; and she wrung her +hands and would not be comforted. At last, however, she was quieted when I +spoke of the maid Hagar, whom Abraham had likewise cast off, but on whom +the Lord had nevertheless shown mercy in the wilderness; and hereupon we +commended ourselves to the Lord, and stretched ourselves on our couches of +moss. + + + + +_The Ninth Chapter_ + + +HOW THE OLD MAID-SERVANT HUMBLED ME BY HER FAITH, AND THE LORD YET BLESSED +ME HIS UNWORTHY SERVANT + +"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy +name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who +forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who +redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving +kindness and tender mercies" (Psalm ciii.). + +Alas! wretched man that I am, how shall I understand all the benefits and +mercies which the Lord bestowed upon me the very next day? I now wept for +joy, as of late I had done for sorrow; and my child danced about the room +like a young roe, and would not go to bed, but only cry and dance, and +between-whiles repeat the 103rd Psalm, then dance and cry again until +morning broke. But as she was still very weak, I rebuked her presumption, +seeing that this was tempting the Lord; and now mark what had happened. + +After we had both woke in the morning with deep sighs, and called upon the +Lord to manifest to us in our hearts what we should do, we still could not +make up our minds. I therefore called to my child, if she felt strong +enough, to leave her bed and light a fire in the stove herself, as our +maid was gone; that we would then consider the matter further. She +accordingly got up, but came back in an instant with cries of joy, because +the maid had privately stolen back into the house, and had already made +a fire. Hereupon I sent for her to my bedside, and wondered at her +disobedience, and asked what she now wanted here but to torment me and +my daughter still more, and why she did not go yesterday with old Paasch? +But she lamented and wept so sore that she scarce could speak, and I +understood only thus much--that she had eaten with us, and would likewise +starve with us, for that she could never part from her young mistress, +whom she had known from her cradle. Such faithful love moved me so, that I +said almost with tears, "But hast thou not heard that my daughter and I +have determined to wander as beggars about the country; where, then, wilt +thou remain?" To this she answered that neither would she stay behind, +seeing it was more fitting for her to beg than for us; but that she could +not yet see why I wished to go out into the wide world; whether I had +already forgotten that I had said in my induction sermon that I would +abide with my flock in affliction and in death? That I should stay yet +a little longer where I was, and send her to Liepe, as she hoped to get +something worth having for us there from her friends and others. These +words, especially those about my induction sermon, fell heavy on my +conscience, and I was ashamed of my want of faith, since not my daughter +only, but yet more even my maid, had stronger faith than I, who +nevertheless professed to be a servant of God's word. I believed that the +Lord--to keep me, poor fearful hireling, and at the same time to humble +me--had awakened the spirit of this poor maid-servant to prove me, as the +maid in the palace of the high-priest had also proved the fearful St. +Peter. Wherefore I turned my face towards the wall, like Hezekiah, and +humbled myself before the Lord, which scarce had I done before my child +ran into the room again, with a cry of joy; for behold, some Christian +heart had stolen quietly into the house in the night, and had laid in the +chamber two loaves, a good piece of meat, a bag of oatmeal, _item_, a bag +of salt, holding near a pint. Any one may guess what shouts of joy we all +raised. Neither was I ashamed to confess my sins before my maid; and in +our common morning prayer, which we said on our knees, I made fresh vows +to the Lord of obedience and faith. Thus we had that morning a grand +breakfast, and sent something to old Paasch besides; _item_, my daughter +again sent for all the little children to come, and kindly fed them with +our store before they said their tasks; and when in my heart of little +faith I sighed thereat, although I said nought, she smiled, and said, +"Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take +thought for the things of itself." + +The Holy Ghost spoke by her, as I cannot but believe, nor thou either, +beloved reader: for mark what happened. In the afternoon she (I mean my +child) went up the Streckelberg to seek for blackberries, as old Paasch +had told her, through the maid, that a few bushes were still left. The +maid was chopping wood in the yard, to which end she had borrowed old +Paasch his axe, for the Imperialist thieves had thrown away mine, so that +it could nowhere be found; and I myself was pacing up and down in the +room, meditating my sermon; when my child, with her apron full, came +quickly in at the door, quite red and with beaming eyes, and scarce able +for joy to say more than "Father, father, what have I got?" "Well," quoth +I, "what hast thou got, my child?" Whereupon she opened her apron, and I +scarce trusted my eyes when I saw, instead of the blackberries which she +had gone to seek, two shining pieces of amber, each nearly as big as a +man's head, not to mention the small pieces, some of which were as large +as my hand, and that, God knows, is no small one. "Child of my heart," +cried I, "how camest thou by this blessing from God?" As soon as she could +fetch her breath, she told me as follows:-- + +That while she was seeking for blackberries in a dell near the shore she +saw somewhat glistening in the sun, and on coming near she found this +wondrous godsend, seeing that the wind had blown the sand away from off a +black vein of amber. That she straightway had broken off these pieces with +a stick, and that there was plenty more to be got, seeing that it rattled +about under the stick when she thrust it into the sand, neither could she +force it farther than, at most, a foot deep into the ground; _item,_ she +told me that she had covered the place all over again with sand, and swept +it smooth with her apron, so as to leave no traces. + +Moreover, that no stranger was at all likely to go thither, seeing that no +blackberries grew very near, and she had gone to the spot, moved by +curiosity and a wish to look upon the sea, rather than from any need; but +that she could easily find the place again herself, inasmuch as she had +marked it with three little stones. What was our first act after the +all-merciful God had rescued us out of such misery, nay, even, as it +seemed, endowed us with great riches, any one may guess. When we at length +got up off our knees, my child would straightway have run to tell the maid +our joyful news. But I forbade her, seeing that we could not be sure that +the maid might not tell it again to her friends, albeit in all other +things she was a faithful woman and feared God; but that if she did that, +the Sheriff would be sure to hear of it, and to seize upon our treasure +for his princely highness the Duke--that is to say, for himself; and that +nought would be left to us but the sight thereof, and our want would begin +all over again; that we therefore would say, when folks asked about the +luck that had befallen us, that my deceased brother, who was a councillor +at Rotterdam, had left us a good lump of money; and, indeed, it was true +that I had inherited near two hundred florins from him a year ago, which, +however, the soldiery (as mentioned above) cruelly robbed me of; _item,_ +that I would go to Wolgast myself next day and sell the little bits as +best I might, saying that thou hadst picked them up by the seaside; thou +mayest tell the maid the same, if thou wilt, but show the larger pieces to +no one, and I will send them to thy uncle at Hamburg to be turned into +money for us; perchance I may be able to sell one of them at Wolgast, if I +find occasion, so as to buy clothes enough for the winter for thee and for +me, wherefore thou, too, mayst go with me. We will take the few farthings +which the congregation have brought together to pay the ferry, and thou +canst order the maid to wait for us till eventide at the water-side to +carry home the victuals. She agreed to all this, but said we had better +first break off some more amber, so that we might get a good round sum for +it at Hamburg; and I thought so too, wherefore we stopped at home next +day, seeing that we did not want for food, and that my child, as well as +myself, both wished to refresh ourselves a little before we set out on our +journey; _item_, we likewise bethought us that old Master Rothoog, of +Loddin, who is a cabinetmaker, might knock together a little box for us to +put the amber in, wherefore I sent the maid to him in the afternoon. +Meanwhile we ourselves went up the Streckelberg, where I cut a young +fir-tree with my pocket-knife, which I had saved from the enemy, and +shaped it like a spade, so that I might be better able to dig deep +therewith. First, however, we looked about us well on the mountain, and, +seeing nobody, my daughter walked on to the place, which she straightway +found again. Great God! what a mass of amber was there! The vein was hard +upon twenty feet long, as near as I could feel, and the depth of it I +could not sound. Nevertheless, save four good-sized pieces, none, however, +so big as those of yesterday, we this day only broke out little splinters, +such as the apothecaries bruise for incense. After we had most carefully +covered and smoothed over the place, a great mishap was very near +befalling us; for we met Witthan her little girl, who was seeking +blackberries, and she asked what my daughter carried in her apron, who +straightway grew red, and stammered so that our secret would have been +betrayed if I had not presently said, "What is that to thee? She has got +fir-apples for firing," which the child believed. Wherefore we resolved in +future only to go up the mountain at night by moonlight, and we went home +and got there before the maid, and hid our treasure in the bedstead, so +that she should not see it. + + + + +_The Tenth Chapter_ + + +HOW WE JOURNEYED TO WOLGAST, AND MADE GOOD BARTER THERE + +Two days after, so says my daughter, but old Ilse thinks it was three +(and I myself know not which is true), we at last went to the town, +seeing that Master Rothoog had not got the box ready before. My daughter +covered it over with a piece of my departed wife her wedding-gown, which +the Imperialists had indeed torn to pieces, but as they had left it +lying outside, the wind had blown it into the orchard, where we found +it. It was very shabby before, otherwise I doubt not they would have +carried it off with them. On account of the box, we took old Ilse with +us, who had to carry it, and, as amber is very light ware, she readily +believed that the box held nothing but eatables. At daybreak, then, we +took our staves in our hands and set out with God. Near Zitze, a hare +ran across the road before us, which they say bodes no good. Well-a-day! +When we came near Bannemin I asked a fellow if it was true that here a +mother had slaughtered her own child from hunger, as I had heard. He +said it was, and that the old woman's name was Zisse; but that God had +been wroth at such a horrid deed, and she had got no good by it, seeing +that she vomited so much upon eating it that she forthwith gave up the +ghost. On the whole, he thought things were already going rather better +with the parish, as Almighty God had richly blessed them with fish, both +out of the sea and the Achterwater. Nevertheless a great number of +people had died of hunger here also. He told us that their vicar, +his reverence Johannes Lampius, had had his house burnt down by the +Imperialists, and was lying in a hovel near the church. I sent him +my greeting, desiring that he would soon come to visit me (which the +fellow promised he would take care to deliver to him), for the reverend +Johannes is a pious and learned man, and has also composed sundry Latin +_Chronosticha_ on these wretched times, in _metrum heroicum_, which, I +must say, please me greatly. When we had crossed the ferry we went in at +Sehms his house, on the Castle Green, who keeps an ale-house; he told us +that the pestilence had not yet altogether ceased in the town; whereat I +was much afraid, more especially as he described to us so many other +horrors and miseries of these fearful times, both here and in other +places, _e.g._ of the great famine in the island of Ruegen, where a +number of people had grown as black as Moors from hunger; a wondrous +thing if it be true, and one might almost gather therefrom how the first +blackamoors came about. But be that as it may. _Summa_. When Master +Sehms had told us all the news he had heard, and we had thus learnt, +to our great comfort, that the Lord had not visited us only in these +times of heavy need, I called him aside into a chamber and asked him +whether I could not here find means to get money for a piece of amber +which my daughter had found by the sea. At first he said "No"; but then +recollecting, he began, "Stay, let me see, at Nicolas Graeke's, the inn +at the castle, there are two great Dutch merchants--Dieterich von +Pehnen and Jacob Kiekebusch--who are come to buy pitch and boards, +_item_ timber for ships and beams; perchance they may like to cheapen +your amber too; but you had better go up to the castle yourself, for I +do not know for certain whether they still are there." This I did, +although I had not yet eaten anything in the man's house, seeing that I +wanted to know first what sort of bargain I might make, and to save the +farthings belonging to the church until then. So I went into the +castle-yard. Gracious God! what a desert had even his Princely Highness' +house become within a short time! The Danes had ruined the stables and +hunting-lodge, Anno 1628; _item_, destroyed several rooms in the castle; +and in the _locamentum_ of his Princely Highness Duke Philippus, where, +Anno 22, he so graciously entertained me and my child, as will be told +further on, now dwelt the innkeeper Nicolas Graeke; and all the fair +tapestries, whereon was represented the pilgrimage to Jerusalem of his +Princely Highness Bogislaus X, were torn down and the walls left grey +and bare. At this sight my heart was sorely grieved; but I presently +inquired for the merchants, who sat at the table drinking their parting +cup, with their travelling equipments already lying by them, seeing that +they were just going to set out on their way to Stettin; straightway one +of them jumped up from his liquor--a little fellow with a right noble +paunch and a black plaster on his nose--and asked me what I would of +them? I took him aside into a window, and told him I had some fine +amber, if he had a mind to buy it of me, which he straightway agreed to +do. And when he had whispered somewhat into the ear of his fellow, he +began to look very pleasant, and reached me the pitcher before we went +to my inn. I drank to him right heartily, seeing that (as I have already +said) I was still fasting, so that I felt my very heart warmed by it in +an instant. (Gracious God, what can go beyond a good draught of wine +taken within measure!) After this we went to my inn, and told the maid +to carry the box on one side into a small chamber. I had scarce opened +it and taken away the gown, when the man (whose name was Dieterich von +Pehnen, as he had told me by the way) held up both hands for joy, and +said he had never seen such wealth of amber, and how had I come by it? I +answered that my child had found it on the sea-shore; whereat he +wondered greatly that we had so much amber here, and offered me three +hundred florins for the whole box. I was quite beside myself for joy at +such an offer, but took care not to let him see it, and bargained with +him till I got five hundred florins, and I was to go with him to the +castle and take the money forthwith. Hereupon I ordered mine host to +make ready at once a mug of beer and a good dinner for my child, and +went back to the castle with the man and the maid, who carried the box, +begging him, in order to avoid common talk, to say nothing of my good +fortune to mine host, nor, indeed, to any one else in the town, and to +count out the money to me privately, seeing that I could not be sure +that the thieves might not lay in wait for me on the road home if they +heard of it, and this the man did; for he whispered something into the +ear of his fellow, who straightway opened his leathern surcoat, _item_ +his doublet and hose, and unbuckled from his paunch a well-filled purse, +which he gave to him. _Summa_. Before long I had my riches in my pocket, +and, moreover, the man begged me to write to him at Amsterdam whenever I +found any more amber, the which I promised to do. But the worthy fellow +(as I have since heard) died of the plague at Stettin, together with his +companion--truly I wish it had happened otherwise. Shortly after I was +very near getting into great trouble; for, as I had an extreme longing +to fall on my knees, so that I could not wait until such time as I +should have got back to my inn, I went up three or four steps of the +castle stairs and entered into a small chamber, where I humbled myself +before the Lord. But the host, Nicolas Graeke, followed me, thinking I +was a thief, and would have stopped me, so that I knew not how to excuse +myself by saying that I had been made drunken by the wine which the +strange merchants had given to me (for he had seen what a good pull I +had made at it), seeing I had not broken my fast that morning, and that +I was looking for a chamber wherein I might sleep a while, which lie he +believed (if, in truth, it were a lie, for I was really drunken, though +not with wine, but with love and gratitude to my Maker), and accordingly +he let me go. + +But I must now tell my story of his Princely Highness, as I promised +above. Anno 22, as I chanced to walk with my daughter, who was then a +child of about twelve years old, in the castle-garden at Wolgast, and was +showing her the beautiful flowers that grew there, it chanced that as we +came round from behind some bushes we espied my gracious lord the Duke +Philippus Julius, with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff, who lay +here on a visit, standing on a mount and conversing, wherefore we were +about to return. But as my gracious lords presently walked on toward the +drawbridge, we went to look at the mount where they had stood; of a sudden +my little girl shouted loudly for joy, seeing that she found on the earth +a costly signet-ring, which one of their Princely Highnesses doubtless +had dropped. I therefore said, "Come and we will follow our gracious lords +with all speed, and thou shall say to them in Latin, '_Serenissimi +principes, quis vestrum hunc annulum deperdidit_?' (for, as I have +mentioned above, I had instructed her in the Latin tongue ever since her +seventh year); and if one of them says '_Ego_,' give to him the ring. +_Item_.--Should he ask thee in Latin to whom thou belongest, be not +abashed, and say '_Ego sum filia pastoris Coserowiensis_'; for thou wilt +thus find favour in the eyes of their Princely Highnesses, for they are +both gracious gentlemen, more especially the taller one, who is our +gracious ruler, Philippus Julius himself." This she promised to do; but as +she trembled sorely as she went, I encouraged her yet more and promised +her a new gown if she did it, seeing that even as a little child she would +have given a great deal for fine clothes. As soon, then, as we were come +into the courtyard, I stood by the statue of his Princely Highness Ernest +Ludewig, and whispered her to run boldly after them, as their Princely +Highnesses were only a few steps before us, and had already turned toward +the great entrance. This she did, but of a sudden she stood still, and +would have turned back, because she was frightened by the spurs of their +Princely Highnesses, as she afterwards told me, seeing that they rattled +and jingled very loudly. + +But my gracious lady the Duchess Agnes saw her from the open window +wherein she lay, and called to his Princely Highness, "My lord, there is a +little maiden behind you, who, it seems, would speak with you," whereupon +his Princely Highness straightway turned him round, smiling pleasantly, so +that my little maid presently took courage, and, holding up the ring, +spoke in Latin as I had told her. Hereat both the princes wondered beyond +measure, and after my gracious Duke Philippus had felt his finger, he +answered, "_Dulcissima puella, ego perdidi_"; whereupon she gave it to +him. Then he patted her cheek, and again asked, "_Sed quaenam es, et unde +venis?_" whereupon she boldly gave her answer, and at the same time +pointed with her finger to where I stood by the statue; whereupon his +Princely Highness motioned me to draw near. My gracious lady saw all that +passed from the window, but all at once she left it. She, however, +came back to it again before I had time even humbly to draw near to my +gracious lord, and beckoned to my child, and held a cake out of the window +for her. On my telling her, she ran up to the window, but her Princely +Highness could not reach so low nor she so high above her as to take it, +wherefore my gracious lady commanded her to come up into the castle, and +as she looked anxiously round after me, motioned me also, as did my +gracious lord himself, who presently took the timid little maid by the +hand and went up with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff. My +gracious lady came to meet us at the door, and caressed and embraced my +little daughter, so that she soon grew quite bold and ate the cake. When +my gracious lord had asked me my name, _item_, why I had in so singular a +manner taught my daughter the Latin tongue, I answered that I had heard +much from a cousin at Cologne of Maria Schurman, and as I had observed a +very excellent _ingenium_ in my child, and also had time enough in my +lonely cure, I did not hesitate to take her in hand, and teach her from +her youth up, seeing I had no boy alive. Hereat their Princely Highnesses +marvelled greatly, and put some more questions to her in Latin, which she +answered without any prompting from me. Whereupon my gracious lord Duke +Philippus said in the vulgar tongue, "When thou art grown up and art one +day to be married, tell it to me, and thou shall then have another ring +from me, and whatsoever else pertains to a bride, for thou hast this day +done me good service, seeing that this ring is a precious jewel to me, as +I had it from my wife." Hereupon I whispered her to kiss his Princely +Highness' hand for such a promise, and so she did. + +(But alas! most gracious God, it is one thing to promise, and quite +another to hold. Where is his Princely Highness at this time? Wherefore +let me ever keep in mind that "thou only art faithful, and that which thou +hast promised thou wilt surely hold." Psalm xxxiii. 4. Amen.) + +_Item_. When his Princely Highness had also inquired concerning myself +and my cure, and heard that I was of ancient and noble family, and my +_salarium_ very small, he called from the window to his chancellor, +D. Rungius, who stood without, looking at the sun-dial, and told him that +I was to have an addition from the convent at Pudgla, _item_ from the +crown-lands at Ernsthoff, as I mentioned above; but, more's the pity, I +never have received the same, although the _instrumentum donationis_ was +sent me soon after by his Princely Highness' chancellor. + +Then cakes were brought for me also, _item_, a glass of foreign wine in a +glass painted with armorial bearings, whereupon I humbly took my leave, +together with my daughter. + +However, to come back to my bargain, anybody may guess what joy my child +felt when I showed her the fair ducats and florins I had gotten for the +amber. To the maid, however, we said that we had inherited such riches +from my brother in Holland; and after we had again given thanks to the +Lord on our knees, and eaten our dinner, we bought in a great store of +bread, salt, meat, and stock-fish: _item_, of clothes, seeing that I +provided what was needful for us three throughout the winter from the +cloth-merchant. Moreover, for my daughter I bought a hair-net and a +scarlet silk bodice, with a black apron and white petticoat, _item_, a +fine pair of earrings, as she begged hard for them; and as soon as I had +ordered the needful from the cordwainer we set out on our way homewards, +as it began to grow very dark; but we could not carry nearly all we had +bought. Wherefore we were forced to get a peasant from Bannemin to help +us, who likewise was come into the town; and as I found out from him +that the fellow who gave me the piece of bread was a poor cotter called +Pantermehl, who dwelt in the village by the roadside, I shoved a couple of +loaves in at his house-door without his knowing it, and we went on our way +by the bright moonlight, so that by the help of God we got home about ten +o'clock at night. I likewise gave a loaf to the other fellow, though truly +he deserved it not, seeing that he would go with us no further than to +Zitze. But I let him go, for I, too, had not deserved that the Lord should +so greatly bless me. + + + + +_The Eleventh Chapter_ + + +HOW I FED ALL THE CONGREGATION: +_ITEM_, HOW I JOURNEYED TO THE HORSE FAIR AT GUeTZKOW, AND WHAT BEFELL +ME THERE + +Next morning my daughter cut up the blessed bread, and sent to every one +in the village a good large piece. But as we saw that our store would +soon run low, we sent the maid with a truck, which we bought of Adam +Lempken, to Wolgast to buy more bread, which she did. _Item_, I gave +notice throughout the parish that on Sunday next I should administer the +blessed sacrament, and in the meantime I bought up all the large fish +that the people of the village had caught. And when the blessed Sunday +was come I first heard the confessions of the whole parish, and after +that I preached a sermon on Matt. xv. 32--"I have compassion on the +multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." I first applied the same to +spiritual food only, and there arose a great sighing from both the men +and the women, when, at the end, I pointed to the altar, whereon stood +the blessed food for the soul, and repeated the words, "I have compassion +on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." (N.B.--The pewter +cup I had borrowed at Wolgast, and bought there a little earthenware +plate for a paten till such time as Master Bloom should have made ready +the silver cup and paten I had bespoke.) Thereupon as soon as I had +consecrated and administered the blessed sacrament, _item_, led the +closing hymn, and every one had silently prayed his "Our Father" before +going out of church, I came out of the confessional again, and motioned +the people to stay yet a while, as the blessed Saviour would feed not +only their souls, but their bodies also, seeing that he still had the +same compassion on his people as of old on the people at the Sea of +Galilee, as they should presently see. Then I went into the tower and +fetched out two baskets which the maid had bought at Wolgast, and which I +had hidden there in good time; set them down in front of the altar, and +took off the napkins with which they were covered, whereupon a very loud +shout arose, inasmuch as they saw one filled with broiled fish and the +other with bread, which we had put into them privately. Hereupon, like +our Saviour, I gave thanks and brake it, and gave it to the churchwarden +Hinrich Seden, that he might distribute it among the men, and to my +daughter for the women. Whereupon I made application of the text, "I have +compassion on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat," to the +food of the body also; and walking up and down in the church, amid great +outcries from all, I exhorted them alway to trust in God's mercy, to pray +without ceasing, to work diligently, and to consent to no sin. What was +left I made them gather up for their children and the old people who were +left at home. + +After church, when I had scarce put off my surplice, Hinrich Seden his +squint-eyed wife came and impudently asked for more for her husband's +journey to Liepe; neither had she had anything for herself, seeing she had +not come to church. This angered me sore, and I said to her, "Why wast thou +not at church? Nevertheless, if thou hadst come humbly to me thou shouldst +have gotten somewhat even now, but as thou comest impudently, I will give +thee nought: think on what thou didst to me and to my child." But she stood +at the door and glowered impudently about the room till my daughter took +her by the arm and led her out, saying, "Hear'st thou, thou shalt come back +humbly before thou gett'st anything, but when thou comest thus, thou also +shalt have thy share, for we will no longer reckon with thee an eye for an +eye, and a tooth for a tooth; let the Lord do that if such be his will, but +we will gladly forgive thee!" Hereupon she at last went out at the door, +muttering to herself as she was wont; but she spat several times in the +street, as we saw from the window. + +Soon after I made up my mind to take into my service a lad, near upon +twenty years of age, called Claus Neels, seeing that his father, old +Neels of Loddin, begged hard that I would do so, besides which the lad +pleased me well in manners and otherwise. Then, as we had a good harvest +this year, I resolved to buy me a couple of horses forthwith, and to sow +my field again; for although it was now late in the year, I thought that +the most merciful God might bless the crop with increase if it seemed +good to him. + +Neither did I feel much care with respect to food for them, inasmuch as +there was a great plenty of hay in the neighbourhood, seeing that all the +cattle had been killed or driven away (as related above). I therefore made +up my mind to go in God's name with my new ploughman to Guetzkow, whither a +great many Mecklenburg horses were brought to the fair, seeing that times +were not yet so bad there as with us. Meanwhile I went a few more times up +the Streckelberg with my daughter at night, and by moonlight, but found +very little; so that we began to think our luck had come to an end, when, +on the third night, we broke off some pieces of amber bigger even than +those the two Dutchmen had bought. These I resolved to send to my wife's +brother, Martin Behring, at Hamburg, seeing that the schipper Wulff of +Wolgast intends, as I am told, to sail thither this very autumn, with +pitch and wood for shipbuilding. I accordingly packed it all up in a +strong chest, which I carried with me to Wolgast when I started with my +man on my journey to Guetzkow. Of this journey I will only relate thus +much, that there were plenty of horses and very few buyers in the market. +Wherefore I bought a pair of fine black horses for twenty florins apiece; +_item_, a cart for five florins; _item_, twenty-five bushels of rye, which +also came from Mecklenburg, at one florin the bushel, whereas it is hardly +to be had now at Wolgast for love or money, and costs three florins or +more the bushel. I might therefore have made a good bargain in rye at +Guetzkow if it had become my office, and had I not, moreover, been afraid +lest the robbers, who swarm in these evil times, should take away my corn, +and ill-use and perchance murder me into the bargain, as has happened to +sundry people already. For, at this time especially, such robberies were +carried on after a strange and frightful fashion on Strellin heath at +Guetzkow; but by God's help it all came to light just as I journeyed +thither with my man-servant to the fair, and I will here tell how it +happened. Some months before a man had been broken on the wheel at +Guetzkow, because, being tempted of Satan, he murdered a travelling +workman. The man, however, straightway began to walk after so fearful a +fashion, that in the evening and night-season he sprang down from the +wheel in his gallows' dress whenever a cart passed by the gallows, which +stands hard by the road to Wolgast, and jumped up behind the people, who +in horror and dismay flogged on their horses, and thereby made a great +rattling on the log embankment which leads beside the gallows into a +little wood called the Kraulin. And it was a strange thing that on the +same night the travellers were almost always robbed or murdered on +Strellin heath. Hereupon the magistrates had the man taken down from the +wheel and buried under the gallows, in hopes of laying his ghost. But it +went on just as before, sitting at night snow-white on the wheel, so that +none durst any longer travel the road to Wolgast. Until at last it +happened that, at the time of the above-named fair, young Ruediger von +Nienkerken of Mellenthin, in Usedom, who had been studying at Wittenberg +and elsewhere, and was now on his way home, came this road by night with +his carriage. Just before, at the inn, I myself had tried to persuade him +to stop the night at Guetzkow on account of the ghost, and to go on his +journey with me next morning, but he would not. Now as soon as this young +lord drove along the road, he also espied the apparition sitting on the +wheel, and scarcely had he passed the gallows when the ghost jumped down +and ran after him. The driver was horribly afraid, and lashed on the +horses, as everybody else had done before, and they, taking fright, +galloped away over the log-road with a marvellous clatter. Meanwhile, +however, the young nobleman saw by the light of the moon how that the +apparition flattened a ball of horse-dung whereon it trod, and straightway +felt sure within himself that it was no ghost. Whereupon he called to the +driver to stop; and as the man would not hearken to him, he sprang out of +the carriage, drew his rapier, and hastened to attack the ghost. When the +ghost saw this he would have turned and fled, but the young nobleman gave +him such a blow on the head with his fist that he fell upon the ground +with a loud wailing. _Summa_: the young lord, having called back his +driver, dragged the ghost into the town again, where he turned out to be a +shoemaker called Schwelm. + +I also, on seeing such a great crowd, ran thither with many others to +look at the fellow. He trembled like an aspen leaf; and when he was +roughly told to make a clean breast, whereby he might peradventure save +his own life, if it appeared that he had murdered no one, he confessed +that he had got his wife to make him a gallows' dress, which he had +put on, and had sat on the wheel before the dead man, when, from the +darkness and the distance, no one could see that the two were sitting +there together; and this he did more especially when he knew that a +cart was going from the town to Wolgast. When the cart came by, and he +jumped down and ran after it, all the people were so affrighted that +they no longer kept their eyes upon the gallows, but only on him, +flogged the horses, and galloped with much noise and clatter over the +log embankment. This was heard by his fellows in Strellin and Dammbecke +(two villages which are about three-fourths on the way), who held +themselves ready to unyoke the horses and to plunder the travellers +when they came up with them. That after the dead man was buried he +could play the ghost more easily still, etc. That this was the whole +truth, and that he himself had never in his life robbed, still less +murdered, any one; wherefore he begged to be forgiven: that all the +robberies and murders which had happened had been done by his fellows +alone. Ah, thou cunning knave! But I heard afterwards that he and his +fellows were broken on the wheel together, as was but fair. + +And now to come back to my journey. The young nobleman abode that night +with me at the inn, and early next morning we both set forth; and as we +had grown into good-fellowship together, I got into his coach with him, +as he offered me, so as to talk by the way, and my Claus drove behind +us. I soon found that he was a well-bred, honest, and learned gentleman, +seeing that he despised the wild student life, and was glad that he had +now done with their scandalous drinking-bouts: moreover, he talked his +Latin readily. I had therefore much pleasure with him in the coach. +However, at Wolgast the rope of the ferry-boat broke, so that we were +carried down the stream to Zeuzin, and at length we only got ashore with +great trouble. Meanwhile it grew late, and we did not get into Coserow +till nine, when I asked the young lord to abide the night with me, which +he agreed to do. We found my child sitting in the chimney-corner, making +a petticoat for her little god-daughter out of her own old clothes. She +was greatly frighted, and changed colour when she saw the young lord +come in with me, and heard that he was to lie there that night, seeing +that as yet we had no more beds than we had bought for our own need from +old Zabel Nehring the forest ranger his widow, at Uekeritze. Wherefore +she took me aside: What was to be done? My bed was in an ill plight, her +little god-child having lain on it that morning; and she could nowise +put the young nobleman into hers, although she would willingly creep in +by the maid herself. And when I asked her why not? she blushed scarlet +and began to cry, and would not show herself again the whole evening, so +that the maid had to see to everything, even to the putting white sheets +on my child's bed for the young lord, as she would not do it herself. I +only tell this to show how maidens are. For next morning she came into +the room with her red silk bodice, and the net on her hair, and the +apron; _summa_, dressed in all the things I had bought her at Wolgast, +so that the young lord was amazed, and talked much with her over the +morning meal. Whereupon he took his leave, and desired me to visit him +at his castle. + +[Illustration: The Gallows Ghost] + + + + +_The Twelfth Chapter_ + + +WHAT FURTHER JOY AND SORROW BEFELL US: +_ITEM_, HOW WITTICH APPELMANN RODE TO DAMEROW TO THE WOLFHUNT, AND WHAT HE +PROPOSED TO MY DAUGHTER + +The Lord blessed my parish wonderfully this winter, inasmuch as not only a +great quantity of fish were caught and sold in all the villages, but in +Coserow they even killed four seals: _item_, the great storm of the 12th +of December threw a goodly quantity of amber on the shore, so that many +found amber, although no very large pieces, and they began to buy cows and +sheep from Liepe and other places, as I myself also bought two cows; +_item_, my grain which I had sown, half on my own field and half on old +Paasch's, sprang up bravely and gladly, as the Lord had till _datum_ +bestowed on us an open winter; but so soon as it had shot up a finger's +length, we found it one morning again torn up and ruined, and this time +also by the devil's doings, since now, as before, not the smallest trace +of oxen or of horses was to be seen in the field. May the righteous God, +however, reward it, as indeed he already has done. Amen. + +Meanwhile, however, something uncommon happened. For one morning, as I +have heard, when Lord Wittich saw out of the window that the daughter of +his fisherman, a child of sixteen, whom he had diligently pursued, went +into the coppice to gather dry sticks, he went thither too; wherefore, I +will not say, but every one may guess for himself. When he had gone some +way along the convent mound, and was come to the first bridge, where the +mountain-ash stands, he saw two wolves coming towards him; and as he had +no weapon with him, save a staff, he climbed up into a tree; whereupon the +wolves trotted round it, blinked at him with their eyes, licked their +lips, and at last jumped with their fore-paws up against the tree, +snapping at him; he then saw that one was a he-wolf, a great fat brute +with only one eye. Hereupon in his fright he began to scream, and the +long-suffering of God was again shown to him, without, however, making him +wiser; for the maiden, who had crept behind a juniper-bush in the field +when she saw the Sheriff coming, ran back again to the castle and called +together a number of people, who came and drove away the wolves, and +rescued his lordship. He then ordered a great wolf-hunt to be held next +day in the convent wood, and he who brought the one-eyed monster, dead or +alive, was to have a barrel of beer for his pains. Still they could not +catch him, albeit they that day took four wolves in their nets, and killed +them. He therefore straightway ordered a wolf-hunt to be held in my +parish. But when the fellow came to toll the bell for a wolf-hunt, he did +not stop a while, as is the wont for wolf-hunts, but loudly rang the bell +on, _sine mora_, so that all the folk thought a fire had broken out, and +ran screaming out of their houses. My child also came running out (I +myself had driven to visit a sick person at Zempin, seeing that walking +began to be wearisome to me, and that I could now afford to be more at +mine ease); but she had not stood long, and was asking the reason of the +ringing, when the Sheriff himself, on his grey charger, with three +cart-loads of toils and nets following him, galloped up and ordered the +people straightway to go into the forest and to drive the wolves with +rattles. Hereupon he, with his hunters and a few men whom he had picked +out of the crowd, were to ride on and spread the nets behind Damerow, +seeing that the island is wondrous narrow there, and the wolf dreads the +water. When he saw my daughter he turned his horse round, chucked her +under the chin, and graciously asked her who she was, and whence she came? +When he had heard it, he said she was as fair as an angel, and that he had +not known till now that the parson here had so beauteous a girl. He then +rode off, looking round at her two or three times. At the first beating +they found the one-eyed wolf, who lay in the rushes near the water. Hereat +his lordship rejoiced greatly, and made the grooms drag him out of the net +with long iron hooks, and hold him there for near an hour, while my lord +slowly and cruelly tortured him to death, laughing heartily the while, +which is a _prognosticon_ of what he afterwards did with my poor child, +for wolf or lamb is all one to this villain. Just God! But I will not be +beforehand with my tale. + +Next day came old Seden his squint-eyed wife, limping like a lame dog, and +put it to my daughter whether she would not go into the service of the +Sheriff; praised him as a good and pious man; and vowed that all the world +said of him were foul lies, as she herself could bear witness, seeing that +she had lived in his service for above ten years. _Item_, she praised the +good cheer they had there, and the handsome beer-money that the great +lords who often lay there gave the servants which waited upon them; that +she herself had more than once received a rose-noble from his Princely +Highness Duke Ernest Ludewig; moreover, many pretty fellows came there, +which might make her fortune, inasmuch as she was a fair woman, and might +take her choice of a husband; whereas here in Coserow, where nobody ever +came, she might wait till she was old and ugly before she got a curch on +her head, etc. Hereat my daughter was beyond measure angered, and +answered, "Ah! thou old witch, and who has told thee that I wish to go +into service to get a curch on my head? Go thy ways, and never enter the +house again, for I have nought to do with thee." Whereupon she walked away +again, muttering between her teeth. + +Scarce had a few days passed, and I was standing in the chamber with the +glazier, who was putting in new windows, when I heard my daughter scream +in the kitchen. Whereupon I straightway ran in thither, and was shocked +and affrighted when I saw the Sheriff himself standing in the corner with +his arm round my child her neck; he, however, presently let her go, and +said: "Aha, reverend Abraham, what a coy little fool you have for a +daughter! I wanted to greet her with a kiss, as I always use to do, and +she struggled and cried out as if I had been some young fellow who had +stolen in upon her, whereas I might be her father twice over." As I +answered nought, he went on to say that he had done it to encourage her, +seeing that he desired to take her into his service, as indeed I knew, +with more excuses of the same kind which I have forgot. Hereupon I pressed +him to come into the room, seeing that after all he was the ruler set over +me by God, and humbly asked what his lordship desired of me. Whereupon he +answered me graciously that it was true he had just cause for anger +against me, seeing that I had preached at him before the whole +congregation, but that he was ready to forgive me, and to have the +complaint he had sent in _contra me_ to his Princely Highness at Stettin, +and which might easily cost me my place, returned to him if I would but do +his will. And when I asked what his Lordship's will might be, and excused +myself as best I might with regard to the sermon, he answered that he +stood in great need of a faithful housekeeper whom he could set over the +other women-folk; and as he had learnt that my daughter was a faithful and +trustworthy person, he would that I should send her into his service. "See +there," said he to her, and pinched her cheek the while, "I want to lead +you to honour, though you are such a young creature, and yet you cry out +as if I were going to bring you to dishonour. Fie upon you!" (My child +still remembers all this _verbotenus_; I myself should have forgot it a +hundred times over in all the wretchedness I since underwent.) But she was +offended at his words, and, jumping up from her seat, she answered +shortly, "I thank your lordship for the honour, but will only keep house +for my papa, which is a better honour for me"; whereupon he turned to me +and asked what I said to that. I must own that I was not a little +affrighted, inasmuch as I thought of the future and of the credit in which +the Sheriff stood with his Princely Highness. I therefore answered with +all humility that I could not force my child, and that I loved to have her +about me, seeing that my dear huswife had departed this life during the +heavy pestilence, and I had no child but only her. That I hoped therefore +his lordship would not be displeased with me that I could not send her +into his lordship's service. This angered him sore, and after disputing +some time longer in vain he took leave, not without threats that he would +make me pay for it. _Item_, my man, who was standing in the stable, heard +him say as he went round the corner, "I will have her yet, in spite of +him!" + +I was already quite disheartened by all this, when, on the Sunday +following, there came his huntsman Johannes Kurt, a tall, handsome fellow, +and smartly dressed. He brought a roebuck tied before him on his horse, +and said that his lordship had sent it to me for a present, in hopes that +I would think better of his offer, seeing that he had been ever since +seeking on all sides for a housekeeper in vain. Moreover, that if I +changed my mind about it his lordship would speak for me to his Princely +Highness, so that the dotation of Duke Philippus Julius should be paid to +me out of the princely _aerarium_, etc. But the young fellow got the same +answer as his master had done, and I desired him to take the roebuck away +with him again. But this he refused to do; and as I had by chance told him +at first that game was my favourite meat, he promised to supply me with it +abundantly, seeing that there was plenty of game in the forest, and that +he often went a-hunting on the Streckelberg; moreover, that I (he meant my +daughter) pleased him uncommonly, the more because I would not do his +master's will, who, as he told me in confidence, would never leave any +girl in peace, and certainly would not let my damsel alone. Although I had +rejected his game, he brought it notwithstanding, and in the course of +three weeks he was sure to come four or five times, and grew more and more +sweet upon my daughter. He talked a vast deal about his good place, and +how he was in search of a good huswife, whence we soon guessed what +quarter the wind blew from. _Ergo_, my daughter told him that if he was +seeking for a huswife she wondered that he lost his time in riding to +Coserow to no purpose, for that she knew of no huswife for him there, +which vexed him so sore that he never came again. + +And now any one would think that the grapes were sour even for the +Sheriff; nevertheless he came riding to us soon after, and without more +ado asked my daughter in marriage for his huntsman. Moreover, he promised +to build him a house of his own in the forest; _item_, to give him pots +and kettles, crockery, bedding, etc., seeing that he had stood god-father +to the young fellow, who, moreover, had ever borne himself well during +seven years he had been in his service. Hereupon my daughter answered that +his lordship had already heard that she would keep house for nobody but +her papa, and that she was still much too young to become a huswife. + +This, however, did not seem to anger him, but after he had talked a long +time to no purpose, he took leave quite kindly, like a cat which pretends +to let a mouse go, and creeps behind the corners, but she is not in +earnest, and presently springs out upon it again. For doubtless he saw +that he had set to work stupidly; wherefore he went away in order to begin +his attack again after a better fashion, and Satan went with him, as +whilom with Judas Iscariot. + + + + +_The Thirteenth Chapter_ + + +WHAT MORE HAPPENED DURING THE WINTER: +_ITEM_, HOW IN THE SPRING WITCHCRAFT BEGAN IN THE VILLAGE + +Nothing else of note happened during the winter, save that the merciful +God bestowed a great plenty of fish, both from the Achterwater and the +sea, and the parish again had good food; so that it might be said of us, +as it is written, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great +mercies will I gather thee." Wherefore we were not weary of praising the +Lord; and the whole congregation did much for the church, buying new +pulpit and altar cloths, seeing that the enemy had stolen the old ones. +_Item_, they desired to make good to me the money I had paid for the new +cups, which, however, I would not take. + +There were still, however, about ten peasants in the parish who had not +been able to buy their seed-corn for the spring, inasmuch as they had +spent all their earnings on cattle and corn for bread. I therefore made an +agreement with them that I would lend them the money for it, and that if +they could not repay me this year, they might the next, which offer they +thankfully took; and we sent seven waggons to Friedland, in Mecklenburg, +to fetch seed-corn for us all. For my beloved brother-in-law, Martin +Behring, in Hamburg, had already sent me by the schipper Wulf, who had +sailed home by Christmas, 700 florins for the amber: may the Lord prosper +it with him! + +Old Thiemcke died this winter in Loddin, who used to be the midwife in the +parish, and had also brought my child into the world. Of late, however, +she had had but little to do, seeing that in this year I only baptized two +children, namely, Jung his son in Uekeritze, and Lene Hebers her little +daughter, the same whom the Imperialists afterwards speared. _Item_, it +was now full five years since I had married the last couple. Hence any one +may guess that I might have starved to death had not the righteous God so +mercifully considered and blessed me in other ways. Wherefore to him alone +be all honour and glory. Amen. + +Meanwhile, however, it so happened that, not long after the Sheriff had +last been here, witchcraft began in the village. I sat reading with my +child the second book of _Virgilius_ of the fearful destruction of the +city of Troy, which was more terrible even than that of our own village, +when a cry arose that our old neighbour Zabel his red cow, which he had +bought only a few days before, had stretched out all-fours and seemed +about to die; and this was the more strange as she had fed heartily but +half an hour before. My child was therefore begged to go and pluck three +hairs from its tail, and bury them under the threshold of the stall; for +it was well known that if this was done by a pure maid the cow would get +better. My child then did as they would have her, seeing that she is the +only maid in the whole village (for the others are still children); and +the cow got better from that very hour, whereat all the folks were amazed. +But it was not long before the same thing befell Witthahn her pig, whilst +it was feeding heartily. She too came running to beg my child for God's +sake to take compassion on her, and to do something for her pig, as ill +men had bewitched it. Hereupon she had pity on her also, and it did as +much good as it had done before. But the woman, who was _gravida_, was +straightway taken in labour from the fright; and my child was scarce out +of the pigsty when the woman went into her cottage, wailing and holding by +the wall, and called together all the woman of the neighbourhood, seeing +that the proper midwife was dead, as mentioned above; and before long +something shot to the ground from under her; and when the women stooped +down to pick it up, the devil's imp, which had wings like a bat, flew up +off the ground, whizzed and buzzed about the room, and then shot out of +the window with a great noise, so that the glass clattered down into the +street. When they looked after it nothing was to be found. Any one may +judge for himself what a great noise this made in all the neighbourhood; +and the whole village believed that it was no one but old Seden his +squint-eyed wife that had brought forth such a devil's brat. + +But the people soon knew not what to believe. For that woman her cow got +the same thing as all the other cows; wherefore she too came lamenting, +and begged my daughter to take pity on her, as on the rest, and to cure +her poor cow for the love of God. That if she had taken it ill of her that +she had said anything about going into service with the Sheriff, she could +only say she had done it for the best, etc. _Summa_, she talked over my +unhappy child to go and cure her cow. + +Meanwhile I was on my knees every Sunday before the Lord with the whole +congregation, praying that he would not allow the Evil One to take from us +that which his mercy had once more bestowed upon us after such extreme +want. _Item_, that he would bring to light the _auctor_ of such devilish +works, so that he might receive the punishment he deserved. + +But all was of no avail. For a very few days had passed when the mischief +befell Stoffer Zuter his spotted cow, and he, too, like all the rest, came +running to fetch my daughter; she accordingly went with him, but could do +no good, and the beast died under her hands. + +_Item_, Katy Berow had bought a little pig with the money my daughter had +paid her in the winter for spinning, and the poor woman kept it like a +child, and let it run about her room. This little pig got the mischief, +like all the rest, in the twinkling of an eye; and when my daughter was +called it grew no better, but also died under her hands; whereupon the +poor woman made a great outcry and tore her hair for grief, so that my +child was moved to pity her, and promised her another pig next time my sow +should litter. Meantime another week passed over, during which I went on, +together with the whole congregation, to call upon the Lord for his +merciful help, but all in vain, when the same thing happened to old wife +Seden her little pig. Whereupon she again came running for my daughter +with loud outcries, and although my child told her that she must have seen +herself that nothing she could do for the cattle cured them any longer, +she ceased not to beg and pray her and to lament till she went forth to do +what she could for her with the help of God. But it was all to no purpose, +inasmuch as the little pig died before she left the sty. What think you +this devil's whore then did? After she had run screaming through the +village she said that any one might see that my daughter was no longer a +maid, else why could she now do no good to the cattle, whereas she had +formerly cured them? She supposed my child had lost her maiden honour on +the Streckelberg, whither she went so often this spring, and that God only +knew who had taken it! But she said no more then, and we did not hear the +whole until afterwards. And it is indeed true that my child had often +walked on the Streckelberg this spring, both with me and also alone, in +order to seek for flowers and to look upon the blessed sea, while she +recited aloud, as she was wont, such verses out of _Virgilius_ as pleased +her best (for whatever she read a few times, that she remembered). + +Neither did I forbid her to take these walks, for there were no wolves now +left on the Streckelberg, and even if there had been they always fly +before a human creature in the summer season. Howbeit, I forbade her to +dig for amber. For as it now lay deep, and we knew not what to do with the +earth we threw up, I resolved to tempt the Lord no further, but to wait +till my store of money grew very scant before we would dig any more. + +But my child did not do as I had bidden her, although she had promised she +would, and of this her disobedience came all our misery. (Oh, blessed +Lord, how grave a matter is thy holy fourth commandment!) For as his +reverence Johannes Lampius, of Crummin, who visited me this spring, had +told me that the Cantor of Wolgast wanted to sell the _Opp. St. +Augustini_, and I had said before her that I desired above all things to +buy that book, but had not money enough left, she got up in the night +without my knowledge to dig for amber, meaning to sell it as best she +might at Wolgast, in order secretly to present me with the _Opp. St. +Augustini_ on my birthday, which falls on the 28th _mensis Augusti_. She +had always covered over the earth she cast up with twigs of fir, whereof +there were plenty in the forest, so that no one should perceive anything +of it. + +Meanwhile, however, it befell that the young _nobilis_ Ruediger of +Nienkerken came riding one day to gather news of the terrible witchcraft +that went on in the village. When I had told him all about it he shook his +head doubtingly, and said he believed that all witchcraft was nothing but +lies and deceit; whereat I was struck with great horror, inasmuch as I had +hitherto held the young lord to be a wiser man, and now could not but see +that he was an Atheist. He guessed what my thoughts were, and with a smile +he answered me by asking whether I had ever read Johannes Wierus, who +would hear nothing of witchcraft, and who argued that all witches were +melancholy persons who only imagined to themselves that they had a +_pactum_ with the devil; and that to him they seemed more worthy of pity +than of punishment? Hereupon I answered that I had not indeed read any +such book (for say, who can read all that fools write?), but that the +appearances here and in all other places proved that it was a monstrous +error to deny the reality of witchcraft, inasmuch as people might then +likewise deny that there were such things as murder, adultery, and theft. + +But he called my _argumentum_ a _dilemma_, and after he had discoursed a +great deal of the devil, all of which I have forgotten, seeing it savoured +strangely of heresy, he said he would relate to me a piece of witchcraft +which he himself had seen at Wittenberg. + +It seems that one morning, as an Imperial captain mounted his good charger +at the Elstergate in order to review his company, the horse presently +began to rage furiously, reared, tossed his head, snorted, kicked, and +roared, not as horses used to neigh, but with a sound as though the voice +came from a human throat, so that all the folks were amazed, and thought +the horse bewitched. It presently threw the captain, and crushed his head +with its hoof, so that he lay writhing on the ground, and straightway set +off at full speed. Hereupon a trooper fired his carabine at the bewitched +horse, which fell in the midst of the road, and presently died. That he, +Ruediger, had then drawn near, together with many others, seeing that the +colonel had forthwith given orders to the surgeon of the regiment to cut +open the horse and see in what state it was inwardly. However, that +everything was quite right, and both the surgeon and army physician +testified that the horse was thoroughly sound; whereupon all the people +cried out more than ever about witchcraft. Meanwhile he himself (I mean +the young _nobilis_) saw a thin smoke coming out from the horse's +nostrils, and on stooping down to look what it might be, he drew out a +match as long as my finger, which still smouldered, and which some wicked +fellow had privately thrust into its nose with a pin. Hereupon all +thoughts of witchcraft were at an end, and search was made for the +culprit, who was presently found to be no other than the captain's own +groom. For one day that his master had dusted his jacket for him he swore +an oath that he would have his revenge, which indeed the provost-marshal +himself had heard as he chanced to be standing in the stable. _Item_, +another soldier bore witness that he had seen the fellow cut a piece off +the fuse not long before he led out his master's horse. And thus thought +the young lord, would it be with all witchcraft if it were sifted to the +bottom; like as I myself had seen at Guetzkow, where the devil's apparition +turned out to be a cordwainer, and that one day I should own that it was +the same sort of thing here in our village. By reason of this speech I +liked not the young nobleman from that hour forward, believing him to be +an Atheist. Though, indeed, afterwards, I have had cause to see that he +was in the right, more's the pity; for had it not been for him what would +have become of my daughter? + +But I will say nothing beforehand.--_Summa_: I walked about the room in +great displeasure at his words, while the young lord began to argue with +my daughter upon witchcraft, now in Latin, and now in the vulgar tongue, +as the words came into his mouth, and wanted to hear her mind about it. +But she answered that she was a foolish thing, and could have no opinion +on the matter; but that, nevertheless, she believed that what happened in +the village could not be by natural means. Hereupon the maid called me out +of the room (I forget what she wanted of me); but when I came back again +my daughter was as red as scarlet, and the nobleman stood close before +her. I therefore asked her, as soon as he had ridden off, whether anything +had happened, which she at first denied, but afterwards owned that he had +said to her while I was gone that he knew but one person who could +bewitch; and when she asked him who that person was, he caught hold of her +hand and said, "It is yourself, sweet maid; for you have thrown a spell +upon my heart, as I feel right well!" But that he said nothing further, +but only gazed on her face with eager eyes, and this it was that made her +so red. + +But this is the way with maidens; they ever have their secrets if one's +back is turned but for a minute; and the proverb + + To drive a goose and watch a maid + Needs the devil himself to aid + +is but too true, as will be shown hereafter, more's the pity! + + + + +_The Fourteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW OLD SEDEN DISAPPEARED ALL ON A SUDDEN: +_ITEM_, HOW THE GREAT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS CAME TO POMERANIA, AND TOOK THE +FORT AT PEENEMUeNDE + +We were now left for some time in peace from witchcraft; unless, indeed, I +reckon the caterpillars, which miserably destroyed my orchard, and which +truly were a strange thing; for the trees blossomed so fair and sweetly +that one day as we were walking under them, and praising the almighty +power of the most merciful God, my child said, "If the Lord goes on to +bless us so abundantly, it will be Christmas Eve with us every night of +next winter!" But things soon fell out far otherwise; for all in a moment +the trees were covered with such swarms of caterpillars (great and small, +and of every shape and colour) that one might have measured them by the +bushel, and before long my poor trees looked like brooms, and the blessed +fruit--which was so well set--all fell off, and was scarce good enough for +the pigs. I do not choose to lay this to any one, though I had my own +private thoughts upon the matter, and have them yet. However, my barley, +whereof I had sown about three bushels out on the common, shot up bravely. +On my field I had sown nothing, seeing that I dreaded the malice of Satan. +Neither was corn at all plentiful throughout the parish--in part because +they had sown no winter crops, and in part because the summer crops did +not prosper. However, in all the villages a great supply of fish was +caught by the mercy of God, especially herring; but they were very low in +price. Moreover, they killed many seals; and at Whitsuntide I myself +killed one as I walked by the sea with my daughter. The creature lay on a +rock close to the water, snoring like a Christian. Thereupon I pulled off +my shoes and drew near him softly, so that he heard me not, and then +struck him over his nose with my staff (for a seal cannot bear much on his +nose), so that he tumbled over into the water; but he was quite stunned, +and I could easily kill him outright. It was a fat beast, though not very +large; and we melted forty pots of train-oil out of his fat, which we put +by for a winter store. + +Meanwhile, however, something seized old Seden all at once, so that he +wished to receive the holy sacrament. When I went to him he could give no +reason for it; or perhaps he would give none for fear of his old Lizzie, +who was always watching him with her squinting eyes, and would not leave +the room. However, Zuter his little girl, a child near twelve years old, +said that a few days before, while she was plucking grass for the cattle +under the garden-hedge by the road, she heard the husband and wife +quarrelling violently again, and that the goodman threw in her teeth that +he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit, and that he +would straightway go and tell it to the priest. Albeit this is only a +child's tale, it may be true for all that, seeing that children and fools, +they say, speak the truth. + +But be that as it may. _Summa_, my old warden grew worse and worse; and +though I visited him every morning and evening--as I use to do to my +sick--in order to pray with him, and often observed that he had somewhat +on his mind, nevertheless he could not disburthen himself of it, seeing +that old Lizzie never left her post. + +This went on for a while, when at last one day, about noon, he sent to beg +me to scrape a little silver off the new sacramental cup, because he had +been told that he should get better if he took it mixed with the dung of +fowls. For some time I would not consent, seeing that I straightway +suspected that there was some devilish mischief behind it; but he begged +and prayed, till I did as he would have me. + +And lo and behold, he mended from that very hour; so that when I went to +pray with him at evening, I found him already sitting on the bench with a +bowl between his knees, out of which he was supping broth. However, he +would not pray (which was strange, seeing that he used to pray so gladly, +and often could not wait patiently for my coming, insomuch that he sent +after me two or three times if I was not at hand, or elsewhere employed); +but he told me he had prayed already, and that he would give me the cock +whose dung he had taken for my trouble, as it was a fine large cock, and +he had nothing better to offer for my Sunday's dinner. And as the poultry +was by this time gone to roost, he went up to the perch which was behind +the stove, and reached down the cock, and put it under the arm of the +maid, who was just come to call me away. + +Not for all the world, however, would I have eaten the cock, but I turned +it out to breed. I went to him once more, and asked whether I should give +thanks to the Lord next Sunday for his recovery; whereupon he answered +that I might do as I pleased in the matter. Hereat I shook my head, and +left the house, resolving to send for him as soon as ever I should hear +that his old Lizzie was from home (for she often went to fetch flax to +spin from the Sheriff). But mark what befell within a few days! We heard +an outcry that old Seden was missing, and that no one could tell what had +become of him. His wife thought he had gone up into the Streckelberg, +whereupon the accursed witch ran howling to our house and asked my +daughter whether she had not seen anything of her goodman, seeing that she +went up the mountain every day. My daughter said she had not; but, woe is +me, she was soon to hear enough of him; for one morning, before sunrise, +as she came down into the wood on her way back from her forbidden digging +after amber, she heard a woodpecker (which no doubt was old Lizzie +herself) crying so dolefully, close beside her, that she went in among the +bushes to see what was the matter. There was the woodpecker sitting on the +ground before a bunch of hair, which was red, and just like what old +Seden's had been, and as soon as it espied her it flew up, with its beak +full of the hair and slipped into a hollow tree. While my daughter still +stood looking at this devil's work, up came old Paasch--who also had heard +the cries of the woodpecker, as he was cutting roofing shingles on the +mountain, with his boy--and was likewise struck with horror when he saw +the hair on the ground. At first they thought a wolf must have eaten him, +and searched all about, but could not find a single bone. On looking up +they fancied they saw something red at the very top of the tree, so they +made the boy climb up, and he forthwith cried out that here, too, there +was a great bunch of red hair stuck to some leaves as if with pitch, but +that it was not pitch, but something speckled red and white, like +fishguts; _item_, that the leaves all around, even where there was no +hair, were stained and spotted, and had a very ill smell. Hereupon the +lad, at his master's bidding, threw down the clotted branch, and they two +below straightway judged that this was the hair and brains of old Seden, +and that the devil had carried him off bodily, because he would not pray +nor give thanks to the Lord for his recovery. I myself believed the same, +and told it on the Sunday as a warning to the congregation. But further on +it will be seen that the Lord had yet greater cause for giving him into +the hands of Satan, inasmuch as he had been talked over by his wicked wife +to renounce his Maker in the hopes of getting better. Now, however, this +devil's whore did as if her heart was broken, tearing out her red hair by +whole handsful when she heard about the woodpecker from my child and old +Paasch, and bewailing that she was now a poor widow, and who was to take +care of her for the future, etc. + +Meanwhile we celebrated on this barren shore, as best we could and might, +together with the whole Protestant Church, the 25th day _mensis Junii_, +whereon, one hundred years ago, the Estates of the holy Roman Empire laid +their confession before the most high and mighty Emperor Carolus V., at +Augsburg; and I preached a sermon on Matt. x. 32, of the right confession +of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whereupon the whole congregation +came to the Sacrament. Now, towards the evening of the selfsame day, as I +walked with my daughter by the sea-shore, we saw several hundred sail of +ships, both great and small, round about Ruden, and plainly heard firing, +whereupon we judged forthwith that this must be the most high and mighty +King Gustavus Adolphus, who was now coming, as he had promised, to the aid +of poor persecuted Christendom. While we were still debating, a boat +sailed towards us from Oie wherein was Kate Berow her son, who is a farmer +there, and was coming to see his old mother. The same told us that it +really was the king, who had this morning run before Ruden with his fleet +from Ruegen; that a few men of Oie were fishing there at the time, and saw +how he went ashore with his officers, and straightway bared his head and +fell upon his knees. + +Thus, then, most gracious God, did I thy unworthy servant enjoy a still +greater happiness and delight that blessed evening than I had done on the +blessed morn; and any one may think that I delayed not for a moment to +fall on my knees with my child, and to follow the example of the king. And +God knows I never in my life prayed so fervently as that evening, whereon +the Lord showed such a wondrous sign upon us as to cause the deliverer of +his poor Christian people to come among them on the very day when they had +everywhere called upon him, on their knees, for his gracious help against +the murderous wiles of the Pope and the devil. That night I could not +sleep for joy, but went quite early in the morning to Damerow, where +something had befallen Vithe his boy. I supposed that he, too, was +bewitched; but this time it was not witchcraft, seeing that the boy had +eaten something unwholesome in the forest. He could not tell what kind of +berries they were; but the _malum_, which turned all his skin bright +scarlet, soon passed over. As I therefore was returning home shortly +after, I met a messenger from Peenemuende, whom his Majesty the high and +mighty King Gustavus Adolphus had sent to tell the Sheriff that on the +29th of June, at ten o'clock in the morning, he was to send three guides +to meet his Majesty at Coserow, and to guide him through the woods to +Swine, where the Imperialists were encamped. _Item_, he related how his +Majesty had taken the fort at Peenemuende yesterday (doubtless the cause of +the firing we heard last evening), and that the Imperialists had run away +as fast as they could, and played the bushranger properly; for after +setting their camp on fire they all fled into the woods and coppices, and +part escaped to Wolgast and part to Swine. + +Straightway I resolved in my joy to invent a _carmen gratulatorium_ to his +Majesty, whom, by the grace of Almighty God, I was to see, the which my +little daughter might present to him. + +I accordingly proposed it to her as soon as I got home, and she +straightway fell on my neck for joy, and then began to dance about the +room. But when she had considered a little, she thought her clothes were +not good enough to wear before his Majesty, and that I should buy her a +blue silk gown, with a yellow apron, seeing that these were the Swedish +colours, and would please his Majesty right well. For a long time I would +not, seeing that I hate this kind of pride; but she teased me with her +kisses and coaxing words, till I, like an old fool, said yes, and ordered +my ploughman to drive her over to Wolgast to-day to buy the stuff. +Wherefore I think that the just God, who hateth the proud, and showeth +mercy on the humble, did rightly chastise me for such pride. For I myself +felt a sinful pleasure when she came back with two women who were to help +her to sew, and laid the stuff before me. Next day she set to work at +sunrise to sew, and I composed my _carmen_ the while. I had not got very +far in it when the young Lord Ruediger of Nienkerken came riding up, in +order, as he said, to inquire whether his Majesty were indeed going to +march through Coserow. And when I told him all I knew of the matter, +_item_ informed him of our plan, he praised it exceedingly, and instructed +my daughter (who looked more kindly upon him to-day than I altogether +liked) how the Swedes use to pronounce the Latin, as _ratscho_ pro _ratio, +uet_ pro _ut, schis_ pro _scis_, etc., so that she might be able to answer +his Majesty with all due readiness. He said, moreover, that he had held +much converse with Swedes at Wittenberg, as well as at Griepswald, +wherefore if she pleased they might act a short _colloquium_, wherein he +would play the king. Hereupon he sat down on the bench before her, and +they both began chattering together, which vexed me sore, especially when +I saw that she made but small haste with her needle the while. But say, +dear reader, what was I to do? Wherefore I went my ways, and let them +chatter till near noon, when the young lord at last took leave. But he +promised to come again on Tuesday, when the king was here, and believed +that the whole island would flock together at Coserow. As soon as he was +gone, seeing that my _vena poetica_ (as may be easily guessed) was still +stopped up, I had the horses put to and drove all over the parish, +exhorting the people in every village to be at the Giant's Stone by +Coserow at nine o'clock on Tuesday, and that they were all to fall on +their knees as soon as they should see the king coming and that I knelt +down; _item_, to join at once in singing the Ambrosian hymn of praise, +which I should lead off as soon as the bells began to ring. This they all +promised to do; and after I had again exhorted them to it on Sunday in +church, and prayed to the Lord for his Majesty out of the fulness of my +heart, we scarce could await the blessed Tuesday for joyful impatience. + + + + +_The Fifteenth Chapter_ + + +OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY KING GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND WHAT +BEFELL THEREAT + +Meanwhile I finished my _carmen_ in _metrum elegiacum_, which my daughter +transcribed (seeing that her handwriting is fairer than mine) and +diligently learned, so that she might say it to his Majesty. _Item_, her +clothes were gotten ready, and became her purely; and on Monday she went +up to the Streckelberg, although the heat was such that the crows gasped +on the hedges; for she wanted to gather flowers for a garland she designed +to wear, and which was also to be blue and yellow. Towards evening she +came home with her apron filled with all manner of flowers; but her hair +was quite wet, and hung all matted about her shoulders. (My God, my God, +was everything to come together to destroy me, wretched man that I am!) I +asked, therefore, where she had been that her hair was so wet and matted: +whereupon she answered that she had gathered flowers round the Koelpin, and +from thence she had gone down to the sea-shore, where she had bathed in +the sea, seeing that it was very hot and no one could see her. Thus, said +she, jesting, she should appear before his Majesty to-morrow doubly a +clean maid. This displeased me at the time, and I looked grave, although I +said nought. + +Next morning at six o'clock all the people were already at the Giant's +Stone, men, women, and children. _Summa_, everybody that was able to walk +was there. At eight o'clock my daughter was already dressed in all her +bravery, namely, a blue silken gown, with a yellow apron and kerchief, and +a yellow hair-net, with a garland of blue and yellow flowers round her +head. It was not long before my young lord arrived, finely dressed, as +became a nobleman. He wanted to inquire, as he said, by which road I +should go up to the Stone with my daughter, seeing that his father, Hans +von Nienkerken, _item_ Wittich Appelmann and the Lepels of Gnitze, were +also going, and that there was much people on all the high roads, as +though a fair was being held. But I straightway perceived that all he +wanted was to see my daughter, inasmuch as he presently occupied himself +about her, and began chattering with her in the Latin again. He made her +repeat to him the _carmen_ to his Majesty; whereupon he, in the person of +the king, answered her: "_Dulcissima et venustissima puella, quae mihi in +coloribus caeli, ut angelus Domini appares utinam semper mecum esses, +nunquam mihi male caderet_"; whereupon she grew red, as likewise did I, +but from vexation, as may be easily guessed. I therefore begged that his +lordship would but go forward toward the Stone, seeing that my daughter +had yet to help me on with my surplice; whereupon, however, he answered +that he would wait for us the while in the chamber, and that we might then +go together. _Summa_, I blessed myself from this young lord; but what +could I do? As he would not go, I was forced to wink at it all; and before +long we went up to the Stone, where I straight-way chose three sturdy +fellows from the crowd, and sent them up the steeple, that they might +begin to ring the bells as soon as they should see me get up upon the +Stone and wave my napkin. This they promised to do, and straightway +departed; whereupon I sat down on the Stone with my daughter, thinking +that the young lord would surely stand apart, as became his dignity; +albeit he did not, but sat down with us on the Stone. And we three sat +there all alone, and all the folk looked at us, but none drew near to see +my child's fine clothes, not even the young lasses, as is their wont to +do; but this I did not observe till afterwards, when I heard how matters +stood with us even then. Towards nine o'clock Hans von Nienkerken and +Wittich Appelmann galloped up, and old Nienkerken called to his son in an +angry voice: and seeing that the young lord heard him not, he rode up to +the Stone, and cried out so loud that all the folk might hear, "Canst thou +not hearken, boy, when thy father calls thee?" Whereupon Ruediger followed +him in much displeasure, and we saw from a distance how the old lord +seemed to threaten his son, and spat out before him; but knew not what +this might signify: we were to learn it soon enough, though, more's the +pity! Soon after the two Lepels of Gnitze came from the Damerow; and the +noblemen saluted one other on the green sward close beside us, but without +looking on us. And I heard the Lepels say that nought could yet be seen of +his Majesty, but that the coastguard fleet around Ruden was in motion, and +that several hundred ships were sailing this way. As soon as this news was +known, all the folk ran to the sea-shore (which is but a step from the +Stone); and the noblemen rode thither too, all save Wittich, who had +dismounted, and who, when he saw that I sent old Paasch his boy up into a +tall oak-tree to look out for the king, straightway busied himself about +my daughter again, who now sat all alone upon the Stone: "Why had she not +taken his huntsman? and whether she would not change her mind on the +matter and have him now, or else come into service with him (the Sheriff) +himself? for that if she would not, he believed she might be sorry for it +one day." Whereupon she answered him (as she told me), that there was but +one thing she was sorry for, namely, that his lordship would take so much +useless pains upon her; whereupon she rose with all haste and came to +where I stood under the tree, looking after the lad who was climbing up +it. But our old Ilse said that he swore a great curse when my daughter +turned her back upon him, and went straightway into the alder-grove close +by the high road, where stood the old witch Lizzie Kolken. + +Meanwhile I went with my daughter to the sea-shore, and found it quite +true that the whole fleet was sailing over from Ruden and Oie towards +Wollin, and several ships passed so close before us that we could see the +soldiers standing upon them and the flashing of their arms. _Item_, we +heard the horses neigh and the soldiery laugh. On one ship, too, they were +drumming, and on another cattle lowed and sheep bleated. Whilst we yet +gazed we saw smoke come out from one of the ships, followed by a great +noise, and presently we were aware of the ball bounding over the water, +which foamed and splashed on either side, and coming straight towards us. +Hereupon the crowd ran away on every side with loud cries, and we plainly +heard the soldiery in the ships laugh thereat. But the ball flew up and +struck into the midst of an oak hard by Paasch his boy, so that nearly two +cartloads of boughs fell to the earth with a great crash, and covered all +the road by which his Majesty was to come. Hereupon the boy would stop no +longer in the tree, however much I exhorted him thereto, but cried out to +us as he came down that a great troop of soldiers was marching out of the +forest by Damerow, and that likely enough the king was among them. +Hereupon the Sheriff ordered the road to be cleared forthwith, and this +was some time a-doing, seeing that the thick boughs were stuck fast in the +trees all around; the nobles, as soon as all was made ready, would have +ridden to meet his Majesty, but stayed still on the little green sward, +because we already heard the noise of horses, carriages, and voices close +to us in the forest. + +It was not long before the cannons broke through the brushwood with the +three guides seated upon them. And seeing that one of them was known to me +(it was Stoffer Krauthahn of Peenemuende), I drew near and begged him that +he would tell me when the king should come. But he answered that he was +going forward with the cannon to Coserow, and that I was only to watch for +a tall dark man, with a hat and feather and a gold chain round his neck, +for that that was the king, and that he rode next after the great standard +whereon was a yellow lion. + +Wherefore I narrowly watched the procession as it wound out of the forest. +And next after the artillery came the Finnish and Lapland bowmen, who went +clothed all in furs, although it was now the height of summer, whereat I +greatly wondered. After these there came much people, but I know not what +they were. Presently I espied over the hazel-tree which stood in my way so +that I could not see everything as soon as it came forth out of the +coppice, the great flag with the lion on it, and behind that the head of a +very dark man with a golden chain round his neck, whereupon straightway I +judged this must be the king. I therefore waved my napkin toward the +steeple, whereupon the bells forthwith rang out, and while the dark man +rode nearer to us, I pulled off my skull-cap, fell upon my knees, and led +the Ambrosian hymn of praise, and all the people plucked their hats from +their heads and knelt down on the ground all around, singing after me; +men, women, and children, save only the nobles, who stood still on the +green sward, and did not take off their hats and behave with attention +until they saw that his Majesty drew in his horse. (It was a coal-black +charger, and stopped with its two fore-feet right upon my field, which I +took as a sign of good fortune.) When we had finished, the Sheriff quickly +got off his horse, and would have approached the king with his three +guides, who followed after him; _item_, I had taken my child by the hand, +and would also have drawn near to the king. Howbeit, his Majesty motioned +away the Sheriff and beckoned us to approach, whereupon I wished his +Majesty joy in the Latin tongue, and extolled his magnanimous heart, +seeing that he had deigned to visit German ground for the protection and +aid of poor persecuted Christendom; and praised it as a sign from God that +such had happened on this the high festival of our poor church, and I +prayed his Majesty graciously to receive what my daughter desired to +present to him; whereupon his Majesty looked on her and smiled pleasantly. +Such gracious bearing made her bold again, albeit she trembled visibly +just before, and she reached him a blue and yellow wreath, whereon lay the +_carmen_, saying, "_Accipe hanc vilem coronam et haec_" whereupon she +began to recite the _carmen_. Meanwhile his Majesty grew more and more +gracious, looking now on her and now on the _carmen_, and nodded with +especial kindness towards the end, which was as follows:-- + + Tempus erit, quo tu reversus ab hostibus ultor + Intrabis patriae libera regna meae; + Tunc meliora student nostrae tibi carmina musae, + Tunc tua, maxime rex, Martia facta canam. + Tu modo versiculis ne spernas vilibus ausum + Auguror et res est ista futura brevi! + Sis foelix, fortisque diu, vive optime princeps, + Omnia, et ut possis vincere, dura. Vale! + +As soon as she held her peace, his Majesty said, "_Propius accedas, patria +virgo, ut te osculer_"; whereupon she drew near to his horse, blushing +deeply. I thought he would only have kissed her forehead, as potentates +commonly use to do, but not at all! he kissed her lips with a loud smack, +and the long feathers on his hat drooped over her neck, so that I was +quite afraid for her again. But he soon raised up his head, and taking off +his gold chain, whereon dangled his own effigy, he hung it round my +child's neck with these words: "_Hocce tuce pulchritudim! et si favente +Deo redux fuero victor, promissum carmen et praeterea duo oscula +exspecto_." + +Hereupon the Sheriff with his three men again came forward and bowed down +to the ground before his Majesty. But as he knew no Latin, _item_ no +Italian nor French, I had to act as interpreter. For his Majesty inquired +how far it was to Swine, and whether there was still much foreign soldiery +there: And the Sheriff thought there were still about 200 Croats in the +camp; whereupon his Majesty spurred on his horse, and nodding graciously, +cried "_Valete_!" And now came the rest of the troops, about 3000 strong, +out of the coppice, which likewise had a valiant bearing, and attempted no +fooleries, as troops are wont to do, when they passed by us and the women, +but marched on in honest quietness, and we followed the train until the +forest beyond Coserow, where we commended it to the care of the Almighty, +and every one went on his way home. + + + + +_The Sixteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW LITTLE MARY PAASCH WAS SORELY PLAGUED OF THE DEVIL, AND THE WHOLE +PARISH FELL OFF FROM ME + +Before I proceed any further I will first mark that the illustrious King +Gustavus Adolphus, as we presently heard, had cut down the 300 Croats at +Swine, and was thence gone by sea to Stettin. May God be for ever gracious +to him! Amen. + +But my sorrows increased from day to day, seeing that the devil now played +pranks such as he never had played before. I had begun to think that the +ears of God had hearkened to our ardent prayers, but it pleased him to try +us yet more hardly than ever. For, a few days after the arrival of the +most illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus, it was bruited about that my +child her little god-daughter was possessed of the Evil One, and tumbled +about most piteously on her bed, insomuch that no one was able to hold +her. My child straightway went to see her little god-daughter, but +presently came weeping home. Old Paasch would not suffer her even to come +near her, but railed at her very angrily, and said that she should never +come within his doors again, as his child had got the mischief from the +white roll which she had given her that morning. It was true that my child +had given her a roll, seeing that the maid had been the day before to +Wolgast and had brought back a napkin full of them. + +Such news vexed me sore, and after putting on my cassock I went to old +Paasch his house to exorcise the foul fiend and to remove such disgrace +from my child. I found the old man standing on the floor by the cockloft +steps weeping; and after I had spoken "The peace of God," I asked him +first of all whether he really believed that his little Mary had been +bewitched by means of the roll which my child had given her? He said, +"Yes!" And when I answered that in that case I also must have been +bewitched, _item_ Pagel his little girl, seeing that we both had eaten of +the rolls, he was silent, and asked me with a sigh, whether I would not go +into the room and see for myself how matters stood. I then entered with +"The peace of God," and found six people standing round little Mary her +bed; her eyes were shut, and she was as stiff as a board; wherefore Kit +Wells (who was a young and sturdy fellow) seized the little child by one +leg and held her out like a hedgestake, so that I might see how the devil +plagued her. I now said a prayer, and Satan, perceiving that a servant of +Christ was come, began to tear the child so fearfully that it was pitiful +to behold; for she flung about her hands and feet so that four strong men +were scarce able to hold her: _item_ she was afflicted with extraordinary +risings and fallings of her belly, as if a living creature were therein, +so that at last the old witch Lizzie Kolken sat herself upon her belly, +whereupon the child seemed to be somewhat better, and I told her to repeat +the Apostles' Creed, so as to see whether it really were the devil who +possessed her. She straightway grew worse than before, and began to gnash +her teeth, to roll her eyes, and to strike so hard with her hands and feet +that she flung her father, who held one of her legs, right into the middle +of the room, and then struck her foot so hard against the bedstead that +the blood flowed, and Lizzie Kolken was thrown about on her belly as +though she had been in a swing. And as I ceased not, but exorcised Satan +that he should leave her, she began to howl and to bark like a dog, _item_ +to laugh, and spoke at last, with a gruff bass voice, like an old man's, +"I will not depart." But he should soon have been forced to depart out of +her, had not both father and mother besought me by God's holy Sacrament to +leave their poor child in peace, seeing that nothing did her any good, but +rather made her worse. I was therefore forced to desist, and only +admonished the parents to seek for help, like the Canaanitish woman, in +true repentance and incessant prayer, and with her to sigh in constant +faith, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Thou Son of David, my daughter is +grievously vexed of a devil," Matthew xv.; that the heart of our Lord +would then melt, so that he would have mercy on their child, and command +Satan to depart from her. _Item_, I promised to pray for the little child +on the following Sunday with the whole congregation, and told them to +bring her, if it were any ways possible, to the church, seeing that the +ardent prayer of the whole congregation has power to rise beyond the +clouds. This they promised to do, and I then went home sorely troubled, +where I soon learned that she was somewhat better; thus it still is sure +that Satan hates nothing so much, after the Lord Jesus, as the servants of +the Gospel. But wait, and I shall even yet "bruise thy head with my heel" +(Genesis, chap, iii.); nought shall avail thee. + +Howbeit before the blessed Sunday came, I perceived that many of my people +went out of my way, both in the village and elsewhere in the parish, where +I went to visit sundry sick folks. When I went to Uekeritze to see young +Tittlewitz, there even befell me as follows:--Claus Pieper the peasant +stood in his yard chopping wood, and on seeing me he flung the axe out of +his hand so hastily that it stuck in the ground, and he ran towards the +pigsty, making the sign of the cross. I motioned him to stop, and asked +why he thus ran from me, his confessor? Whether, peradventure, he also +believed that my daughter had bewitched her little god-child? "_Ille_. +Yes, he believed it, because the whole parish did. _Ego_. Why, then, had +she been so kind to her formerly, and kept her like a sister through the +worst of the famine? _Ille_. This was not the only mischief she had done. +_Ego_. What, then, had she done besides? _Ille_. That was all one to me. +_Ego_. He should tell me, or I would complain to the magistrate. _Ille_. +That I might do, if I pleased." Whereupon he went his way insolently. Any +one may guess that I was not slow to inquire everywhere what people +thought my daughter had done; but no one would tell me anything, and I +might have grieved to death at such evil reports. Moreover not one child +came during this whole week to school to my daughter; and when I sent out +the maid to ask the reason she brought back word that the children were +ill, or that the parents wanted them for their work. I thought and +thought, but all to no purpose, until the blessed Sunday came round when I +meant to have held a great Sacrament, seeing that many people had made +known their intention to come to the Lord's table. It seemed strange to me +that I saw no one standing (as was their wont) about the church door; I +thought, however, that they might have gone into the houses. But when I +went into the church with my daughter, there were not more than six people +assembled, among whom was old Lizzie Kolken; and the accursed witch no +sooner saw my daughter follow me than she made the sign of the cross and +ran out of the door under the steeple; whereupon the five others, among +them mine own church-warden Claus Bulken (I had not appointed any one in +the room of old Seden), followed her. I was so horror-struck that my blood +curdled, and I began to tremble, so that I fell with my shoulder against +the confessional. My child, to whom I had as yet told nothing, in order to +spare her, then asked me, "Father, what is the matter with all the people; +are they, too, bewitched?" Whereupon I came to myself again and went into +the churchyard to look after them. But all were gone save my churchwarden, +Claus Bulken, who stood under the lime-tree, whistling to himself. I +stepped up to him and asked what had come to the people? Whereupon he +answered he could not tell; and when I asked him again why, then, he +himself had left the church, he said, What was he to do there alone, +seeing that no collection could be made? I then implored him to tell me +the truth, and what horrid suspicion had arisen against me in the parish? +But he answered, I should very soon find it out for myself; and he jumped +over the wall and went into old Lizzie her house, which stands close by +the churchyard. + +My child had made ready some veal broth for dinner, for which I mostly use +to leave everything else; but I could not swallow one spoonful, but sat +resting my head on my hand, and doubted whether I should tell her or no. +Meanwhile the old maid came in ready for a journey, and with a bundle in +her hand, and begged me with tears to give her leave to go. My poor child +turned pale as a corpse, and asked in amaze what had come to her? but she +merely answered, "Nothing!" and wiped her eyes with her apron. When I +recovered my speech, which had well-nigh left me at seeing that this +faithful old creature was also about to forsake me, I began to question +her why she wished to go; she who had dwelt with me so long, and who would +not forsake us even in the great famine, but had faithfully borne up +against it, and, indeed, had humbled me by her faith, and had exhorted me +to stand out gallantly to the last, for which I should be grateful to her +as long as I lived. Hereupon she merely wept and sobbed yet more, and at +length brought out that she still had an old mother of eighty living in +Liepe, and that she wished to go and nurse her till her end. Hereupon my +daughter jumped up and answered with tears, "Alas, old Ilse, why wilt thou +leave us, for thy mother is with thy brother? Do but tell me why thou wilt +forsake me, and what harm have I done thee, that I may make it good to +thee again." But she hid her face in her apron and sobbed and could not +get out a single word; whereupon my child drew away the apron from her +face, and would have stroked her cheeks to make her speak. But when Ilse +saw this she struck my poor child's hand and cried, "Ugh!" spat out before +her, and straightway went out at the door. Such a thing she had never done +even when my child was a little girl, and we were both so shocked that we +could neither of us say a word. + +Before long my poor child gave a loud cry, and cast herself upon the +bench, weeping and wailing, "What has happened, what has happened?" I +therefore thought I ought to tell her what I had heard--namely, that she +was looked upon as a witch. Whereat she began to smile instead of weeping +any more, and ran out of the door to overtake the maid, who had already +left the house, as we had seen. She returned after an hour, crying out +that all the people in the village had run away from her when she would +have asked them whither the maid was gone. _Item_, the little children, +for whom she had kept school, had screamed, and had hidden themselves from +her; also no one would answer her a single word, but all spat out before +her, as the maid had done. On her way home she had seen a boat on the +water, and had run as fast as she could to the shore, and called with +might and main after old Ilse, who was in the boat. But she had taken no +notice of her, not even once to look round after her, but had motioned her +to be gone. And now she went on to weep and to sob the whole day and the +whole night, so that I was more miserable than even in the time of the +great famine. But the worst was yet to come, as will be shown in the +following chapter. + + + + +_The Seventeenth Chapter_ + + +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS TAKEN UP FOR A WITCH, AND CARRIED TO PUDGLA + +The next day, Monday, the 12th July, at about eight in the morning, while +we sat in our grief, wondering who could have prepared such great sorrow +for us, and speedily agreed that it could be none other than the accursed +witch Lizzie Kolken, a coach with four horses drove quickly up to the +door, wherein sat six fellows, who straightway all jumped out. Two went +and stood at the front, two at the back door, and two more, one of whom +was the constable Jacob Knake, came into the room, and handed me a warrant +from the Sheriff for the arrest of my daughter, as in common repute of +being a wicked witch, and for her examination before the criminal court. +Any one may guess how my heart sank within me when I read this. I dropped +to the earth like a felled tree, and when I came to myself my child had +thrown herself upon me with loud cries, and her hot tears ran down over my +face. When she saw that I came to myself, she began to praise God therefor +with a loud voice, and essayed to comfort me, saying that she was +innocent, and should appear with a clean conscience before her judges. +_Item_, she repeated to me the beautiful text from Matthew, chap. v.: +"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall +say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." + +And she begged me to rise and to throw my cassock over my doublet, and go +with her, for that without me she would not suffer herself to be carried +before the Sheriff. Meanwhile, however, all the village--men, women, and +children--had thronged together before my door; but they remained quiet, +and only peeped in at the windows, as though they would have looked right +through the house. When we had both made us ready, and the constable, who +at first would not take me with them, had thought better of it, by reason +of a good fee which my daughter gave him, we walked to the coach; but I +was so helpless that I could not get up into it. + +Old Paasch, when he saw this, came and helped me up into the coach, +saying, "God comfort ye! Alas, that you should ever see your child to come +to this!" and he kissed my hand to take leave. + +A few others came up to the coach, and would have done likewise; but I +besought them not to make my heart still heavier, and to take Christian +charge of my house and my affairs until I should return. Also to pray +diligently for me and my daughter, so that the Evil One, who had long gone +about our village like a roaring lion, and who now threatened to devour +me, might not prevail against us, but might be forced to depart from me +and from my child as from our guileless Saviour in the wilderness. But to +this none answered a word; and I heard right well, as we drove away, that +many spat out after us, and one said (my child thought it was Berow her +voice), "We would far sooner lay fire under thy coats than pray for thee." +We were still sighing over such words as these when we came near to the +churchyard, and there sat the accursed witch Lizzie Kolken at the door of +her house with her hymn-book in her lap, screeching out at the top of her +voice, "God the Father, dwell with us," as we drove past her; the which +vexed my poor child so sore that she swounded, and fell like one dead upon +me. I begged the driver to stop, and called to old Lizzie to bring us a +pitcher of water; but she did as though she had not heard me, and went on +to sing so that it rang again. Whereupon the constable jumped down, and at +my request ran back to my house to fetch a pitcher of water; and he +presently came back with it, and the people after him, who began to say +aloud that my child's bad conscience had stricken her, and that she had +now betrayed herself. Wherefore I thanked God when she came to life again, +and we could leave the village. But at Uekeritze it was just the same, for +all the people had flocked together, and were standing on the green before +Labahn his house when we went by. + +Nevertheless, they were quiet enough as we drove past, albeit some few +cried, "How can it be, how can it be?" I heard nothing else. But in the +forest near the watermill the miller and all his men ran out and shouted, +laughing, "Look at the witch, look at the witch!" Whereupon one of the men +struck at my poor child with the sack which he held in his hand, so that +she turned quite white, and the flour flew all about the coach like a +cloud. When I rebuked him, the wicked rogue laughed and said, that if no +other smoke than that ever came under her nose, so much the better for +her. _Item_, it was worse in Pudgla than even at the mill. The people +stood so thick on the hill, before the castle, that we could scarce force +our way through, and the Sheriff caused the death-bell in the castle-tower +to toll as an _avisum_. Whereupon more and more people came running out of +the ale-houses and cottages. Some cried out, "Is that the witch?" Others, +again, "Look at the parson's witch! the parson's witch!" and much more, +which for very shame I may not write. They scraped up the mud out of the +gutter which ran from the castle-kitchen and threw it upon us; _item_, a +great stone, the which struck one of the horses so that it shied, and +belike would have upset the coach had not a man sprung forward and held it +in. All this happened before the castle-gates, where the Sheriff stood +smiling and looking on, with a heron's feather stuck in his grey hat. But +so soon as the horse was quiet again, he came to the coach and mocked at +my child, saying, "See, young maid, thou wouldst not come to me, and here +thou art nevertheless!" Whereupon she answered, "Yea, I come; and may you +one day come before your judge as I come before you"; whereunto I said, +Amen, and asked him how his lordship could answer before God and man for +what he had done to a wretched man like myself and to my child? But he +answered, saying, Why had I come with her? And when I told him of the rude +people here, _item_, of the churlish miller's man, he said that it was not +his fault, and threatened the people all around with his fist, for they +were making a great noise. Thereupon he commanded my child to get down and +to follow him, and went before her into the castle; motioned the +constable, who would have gone with them, to stay at the foot of the +steps, and began to mount the winding staircase to the upper rooms alone +with my child. + +But she whispered me privately, "Do not leave me, father"; and I presently +followed softly after them. Hearing by their voices in which chamber they +were, I laid my ear against the door to listen. And the villain offered to +her that if she would love him nought should harm her, saying he had power +to save her from the people; but that if she would not, she should go +before the court next day, and she might guess herself how it would fare +with her, seeing that he had many witnesses to prove that she had played +the wanton with Satan, and had suffered him to kiss her. Hereupon she was +silent, and only sobbed, which the arch-rogue took as a good sign, and +went on: "If you have had Satan himself for a sweetheart, you surely may +love me." And he went to her and would have taken her in his arms, as I +perceived; for she gave a loud scream, and flew to the door; but he held +her fast, and begged and threatened as the devil prompted him. I was about +to go in when I heard her strike him in the face, saying, "Get thee behind +me, Satan," so that he let her go. Whereupon she ran out at the door so +suddenly that she threw me on the ground, and fell upon me with a loud +cry. Hereat the Sheriff, who had followed her, started, but presently +cried out, "Wait, thou prying parson, I will teach thee to listen!" and +ran out and beckoned to the constable who stood on the steps below. He +bade him first shut me up in one dungeon, seeing that I was an +eavesdropper, and then return and thrust my child into another. But he +thought better of it when we had come halfway down the winding-stair, and +said he would excuse me this time, and that the constable might let me go, +and only lock up my child very fast, and bring the key to him, seeing she +was a stubborn person, as he had seen at the very first hearing which he +had given her. + +Hereupon my poor child was torn from me, and I fell in a swound upon the +steps. I know not how I got down them; but when I came to myself, I was in +the constable his room, and his wife was throwing water in my face. There +I passed the night sitting in a chair, and sorrowed more than I prayed, +seeing that my faith was greatly shaken, and the Lord came not to +strengthen it. + + + + +_The Eighteenth Chapter_ + + +OF THE FIRST TRIAL, AND WHAT CAME THEREOF + +Next morning, as I walked up and down in the court, seeing that I had many +times asked the constable in vain to lead me to my child (he would not +even tell me where she lay), and for very disquietude I had at last begun +to wander about there; about six o'clock there came a coach from Uzdom, +wherein sat his worship, Master Samuel Pieper, _consul dirigens_, _item_, +the _camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel, and a _scriba_, whose name, indeed, I +heard, but have forgotten it again; and my daughter forgot it too, albeit +in other things she has an excellent memory, and, indeed, told me most of +what follows, for my old head well-nigh burst, so that I myself could +remember but little. I straightway went up to the coach, and begged that +the worshipful court would suffer me to be present at the trial, seeing +that my daughter was yet in her nonage, but which the Sheriff, who +meanwhile had stepped up to the coach from the terrace, whence he had seen +all, had denied me. But his worship Master Samuel Pieper, who was a little +round man, with a fat paunch, and a beard mingled with grey hanging down +to his middle, reached me his hand, and condoled with me like a Christian +in my trouble: I might come into court in God's name; and he wished with +all his heart that all whereof my daughter was filed might prove to be +foul lies. Nevertheless I had still to wait two hours before their +worships came down the winding stair again. At last towards nine o'clock +I heard the constable moving about the chairs and benches in the +judgment-chamber; and as I conceived that the time was now come, I went in +and sat myself down on a bench. No one, however, was yet there, save the +constable and his young daughter, who was wiping the table, and held a +rosebud between her lips. I was fain to beg her to give it me, so that I +might have it to smell to; and I believe that I should have been carried +dead out of the room that day if I had not had it. God is thus able to +preserve our lives even by means of a poor flower, if so he wills it! + +At length their worships came in and sat round the table, whereupon _Dom. +Consul_ motioned the constable to fetch in my child. Meanwhile he asked +the Sheriff whether he had put _Rea_ in chains, and when he said No, he +gave him such a reprimand that it went through my very marrow. But the +Sheriff excused himself, saying that he had not done so from regard to her +quality, but had locked her up in so fast a dungeon that she could not +possibly escape therefrom. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ answered that much is +possible to the devil, and that they would have to answer for it should +_Rea_ escape. This angered the Sheriff, and he replied that if the devil +could convey her through walls seven feet thick, and through three doors, +he could very easily break her chains too. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ said +that hereafter he would look at the prison himself; and I think that the +Sheriff had been so kind only because he yet hoped (as, indeed, will +hereafter be shown) to talk over my daughter to let him have his will of +her. + +And now the door opened, and my poor child came in with the constable, but +walking backwards, and without her shoes, the which she was forced to +leave without. The fellow had seized her by her long hair, and thus +dragged her up to the table, when first she was to turn round and look +upon her judges. He had a vast deal to say in the matter, and was in every +way a bold and impudent rogue, as will soon be shown. After _Dom. Consul_ +had heaved a deep sigh, and gazed at her from head to foot, he first asked +her her name, and how old she was; _item_, if she knew why she was +summoned before them? On the last point she answered that the Sheriff had +already told her father the reason; that she wished not to wrong any one, +but thought that the Sheriff himself had brought upon her the repute of a +witch, in order to gain her to his wicked will. Hereupon she told all his +ways with her, from the very first, and how he would by all means have had +her for his housekeeper; and that when she would not (although he had many +times come himself to her father his house), one day, as he went out of +the door, he had muttered in his beard, "I will have her, despite of all!" +which their servant Claus Neels had heard, as he stood in the stable; and +he had also sought to gain his ends by means of an ungodly woman, one +Lizzie Kolken, who had formerly been in his service; that this woman, +belike, had contrived the spells which they laid to her charge: she +herself knew nothing of witchcraft; _item_, she related what the Sheriff +had done to her the evening before, when she had just come, and when he +for the first time spoke out plainly, thinking that she was then +altogether in his power: nay, more, that he had come to her that very +night again, in her dungeon, and had made her the same offers, saying that +he would set her free if she would let him have his will of her; and that +when she denied him, he had struggled with her, whereupon she had screamed +aloud, and had scratched him across the nose, as might yet be seen, +whereupon he had left her; wherefore she would not acknowledge the Sheriff +as her judge, and trusted in God to save her from the hand of her enemies, +as of old he had saved the chaste Susannah.-- + +When she now held her peace amid loud sobs, _Dom. Consul_ started up after +he had looked, as we all did, at the Sheriff's nose, and had in truth +espied the scar upon it, and cried out in amaze, "Speak, for God his sake, +speak, what is this that I hear of your lordship?" Whereupon the Sheriff, +without changing colour, answered that although, indeed, he was not called +upon to say anything to their worships, seeing that he was the head of the +court, and that _Rea_, as appeared from numberless _indicia_, was a wicked +witch, and therefore could not bear witness against him or any one else; +he, nevertheless, would speak, so as to give no cause of scandal to the +court; that all the charges brought against him by this person were foul +lies; it was, indeed, true, that he would have hired her for a +housekeeper, whereof he stood greatly in need, seeing that his old Dorothy +was already growing infirm; it was also true that he had yesterday +questioned her in private, hoping to get her to confess by fair means, +whereby her sentence would be softened, inasmuch as he had pity on her +great youth; but that he had not said one naughty word to her, nor had he +been to her in the night; and that it was his little lap-dog, called +Below, which had scratched him, while he played with it that very morning; +that his old Dorothy could bear witness to this, and that the cunning +witch had only made use of this wile to divide the court against itself, +thereby and with the devil's help, to gain her own advantage, inasmuch as +she was a most cunning creature, as the court would soon find out. + +Hereupon I plucked up a heart, and declared that all my daughter had said +was true, and that the evening before I myself had heard, through the +door, how his lordship had made offers to her, and would have done +wantonness with her; _item_, that he had already sought to kiss her once +at Coserow; _item_, the troubles which his lordship had formerly brought +upon me in the matter of the first-fruits. + +Howbeit the Sheriff presently talked me down, saying, that if I had +slandered him, an innocent man, in church, from the pulpit, as the whole +congregation could bear witness, I should doubtless find it easy to do as +much here, before the court; not to mention that a father could, in no +case, be a witness for his own child. + +But _Dom. Consul_ seemed quite confounded, and was silent, and leaned his +head on the table, as in deep thought. Meanwhile the impudent constable +began to finger his beard from under his arm; and _Dom. Consul_ thinking +it was a fly, struck at him with his hand, without even looking up; but +when he felt the constable his hand, he jumped up and asked him what he +wanted? Whereupon the fellow answered, "Oh, only a louse was creeping +there, and I would have caught it." + +At such impudence his worship was so exceeding wroth that he struck the +constable on the mouth, and ordered him, on pain of heavy punishment, to +leave the room. + +Hereupon he turned to the Sheriff, and cried, angrily, "Why, in the name +of all the ten devils, is it thus your lordship keeps the constable in +order? and truly, in this whole matter, there is something which passes my +understanding." But the Sheriff answered, "Not so; should you not +understand it all when you think upon the eels?" + +Hereat _Dom. Consul_ of a sudden turned ghastly pale, and began to +tremble, as it appeared to me, and called the Sheriff aside into another +chamber. I have never been able to learn what that about the eels could +mean.-- + +Meanwhile _Dominus Camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel sat biting his pen, and +looking furiously--now at me, and now at my child, but said not a word; +neither did he answer _Scriba_, who often whispered somewhat into his ear, +save by a growl. At length both their worships came back into the chamber +together, and _Dom. Consul_, after he and the Sheriff had seated +themselves, began to reproach my poor child violently, saying that she had +sought to make a disturbance in the worshipful court; that his lordship +had shown him the very dog which had scratched his nose, and that, +moreover, the fact had been sworn to by the old housekeeper. + +(Truly _she_ was not likely to betray him, for the old harlot had lived +with him for years, and she had a good big boy by him, as will be seen +hereafter.) + +_Item_, he said that so many _indicia_ of her guilt had come to light, +that it was impossible to believe anything she might say; she was +therefore to give glory to God, and openly to confess everything, so as to +soften her punishment; whereby she might perchance, in pity for her youth, +escape with life, etc. + +Hereupon he put his spectacles on his nose, and began to cross-question +her, during near four hours, from a paper which he held in his hand. These +were the main articles, as far as we both can remember: + +_Quaestio_. Whether she could bewitch? + +_Responsio_. No; she knew nothing of witchcraft. + +_Q_. Whether she could charm? + +_R_. Of that she knew as little. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever been on the Blocksberg? + +_R_. That was too far off for her; she knew few hills save the +Streckelberg, where she had been very often. + +_Q_. What had she done there? + +_R_. She had looked out over the sea, or gathered flowers; _item_, at +times carried home an apronful of dry brushwood. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever called upon the devil there? + +_R_. That had never come into her mind. + +_Q_. Whether, then, the devil had appeared to her there, uncalled? + +_R_. God defend her from such a thing. + +_Q_. So she could not bewitch? + +_R_. No. + +_Q_. What, then, befell Kit Zuter his spotted cow, that it suddenly died +in her presence? + +_R_. She did not know; and that was a strange question. + +_Q_. Then it would be as strange a question, why Katie Berow her little +pig had died? + +_R_. Assuredly; she wondered what they would lay to her charge. + +_Q_. Then she had not bewitched them? + +_R_. No; God forbid it. + +_Q_. Why, then, if she were innocent, had she promised old Katie another +little pig, when her sow should litter? + +_R_. She did that out of kind-heartedness. (And hereupon she began to weep +bitterly, and said she plainly saw that she had to thank old Lizzie Kolken +for all this, inasmuch as she had often threatened her when she would not +fulfil all her greedy desires, for she wanted everything that came in her +way; moreover, that Lizzie had gone all about the village when the cattle +were bewitched, persuading the people that if only a pure maid pulled a +few hairs out of the beasts' tails they would get better. That she pitied +them, and knowing herself to be a maid, went to help them; and indeed, at +first it cured them, but latterly not.) + +_Q_. What cattle had she cured? + +_R_. Zabel his red cow; _item_, Witthan her pig, and old Lizzie's own cow. + +_Q_. Why could she afterwards cure them no more? + +_R_. She did not know, but thought--albeit she had no wish to fyle any +one--that old Lizzie Kolken, who for many a long year had been in common +repute as a witch, had done it all, and bewitched the cows in her name and +then charmed them back again, as she pleased, only to bring her to +misfortune. + +_Q_. Why, then, had old Lizzie bewitched her own cow, _item_, suffered her +own pig to die, if it was she that had made all the disturbance in the +village, and could really charm? + +_R_. She did not know; but belike there was some one (and here she looked +at the Sheriff) who paid her double for it all. + +_Q_. It was in vain that she sought to shift the guilt from off herself; +had she not bewitched old Paasch his crop, nay, even her own father's, and +caused it to be trodden down by the devil, _item_, conjured all the +caterpillars into her father's orchard? + +_R_. The question was almost as monstrous as the deed would have been. +There sat her father, and his worship might ask him whether she ever had +shown herself an undutiful child to him. (Hereupon I would have risen to +speak, but _Dom. Consul_ suffered me not to open my mouth, but went on +with his examination; whereupon I remained silent and downcast.) + +_Q_. Whether she did likewise deny that it was through her malice that the +woman Witthan had given birth to a devil's imp, which straight-way started +up and flew out at the window, so that when the midwife sought for it it +had disappeared? + +_R_. Truly she did; and indeed she had all the days of her life done good +to the people instead of harm, for during the terrible famine she had +often taken the bread out of her own mouth to share it among the others, +especially the little children. To this the whole parish must needs bear +witness, if they were asked; whereas witches and warlocks always did evil +and no good to men, as our Lord Jesus taught (Matt. xii.), when the +Pharisees blasphemed him, saying that he cast out devils by Beelzebub the +prince of the devils; hence his worship might see whether she could in +truth be a witch. + +_Q_. He would soon teach her to talk of blasphemies; he saw that her +tongue was well hung; but she must answer the questions he asked her, and +say nothing more. The question was not _what_ good she had done to the +poor, but _wherewithal_ she had done it; she must now show how she and her +father had of a sudden grown so rich that she could go pranking about in +silken raiment, whereas she used to be so very poor? + +Hereupon she looked towards me, and said, "Father, shall I tell?" +Whereupon I answered, "Yes, my child, now thou must openly tell all, even +though we thereby become beggars." She accordingly told how, when our need +was sorest, she had found the amber, and how much we had gotten for it +from the Dutch merchants. + +_Q_. What were the names of these merchants? + +_R_. Dieterich von Pehnen and Jakob Kiekebusch; but, as we have heard from +a schipper, they since died of the plague at Stettin. + +_Q_. Why had we said nothing of such a godsend? + +_R_. Out of fear of our enemy the Sheriff, who, as it seemed, had +condemned us to die of hunger, inasmuch as he forbade the parishioners, +under pain of heavy displeasure, to supply us with anything, saying, that +he would send them a better parson. + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the Sheriff sharply in the face, who +answered that it was true he had said this, seeing that the parson had +preached at him in the most scandalous manner from the pulpit; but that he +knew very well, at the time, that they were far enough from dying of +hunger. + +_Q_. How came so much amber on the Streckelberg? She had best confess at +once that the devil had brought it to her. + +_R_. She knew nothing about that. But there was a great vein of amber +there, as she could show to them all that very day; and she had broken out +the amber, and covered the hole well over with fir-twigs, so that none +should find it. + +_Q_. When had she gone up the Streckelberg; by day or by night? + +_R_. Hereupon she blushed, and for a moment held her peace; but presently +made answer, "Sometimes by day, and sometimes by night." + +_Q_. Why did she hesitate? She had better make a full confession of all, +so that her punishment might be less heavy. Had she not there given over +old Seden to Satan, who had carried him off through the air, and left only +a part of his hair and brains sticking to the top of an oak? + +_R_. She did not know whether that was his hair and brains at all, nor how +it came there. She went to the tree one morning because she heard a +woodpecker cry so dolefully. _Item_, old Paasch, who also had heard the +cries, came up with his axe in his hand. + +_Q_. Whether the woodpecker was not the devil himself, who had carried off +old Seden? + +_R_. She did not know: but he must have been dead some time, seeing that +the blood and brains which the lad fetched down out of the tree were quite +dried up. + +_Q_. How and when, then, had he come by his death? + +_R_. That Almighty God only knew. But Zuter his little girl had said, that +one day, while she gathered nettles for the cows under Seden his hedge, +she heard the goodman threaten his squint-eyed wife that he would tell the +parson that he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit; +whereupon the goodman had presently disappeared. But that this was a +child's tale, and she would fyle no one on the strength of it. + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the Sheriff steadily in the face, and +said, "Old Lizzie Kolken must be brought before us this very day": whereto +the Sheriff made no answer; and he went on to ask, + +_Q_. Whether, then, she still maintained that she knew nothing of the +devil? + +_R_. She maintained it now, and would maintain it until her life's end. + +_Q_. And nevertheless, as had been seen by witnesses, she had been +re-baptized by him in the sea in broad daylight.--Here again she blushed, +and for a moment was silent. + +_Q_. Why did she blush again? She should for God his sake think on her +salvation, and confess the truth. + +_R_. She had bathed herself in the sea, seeing that the day was very hot; +that was the whole truth. + +_Q_. What chaste maiden would ever bathe in the sea? Thou liest; or wilt +thou even yet deny that thou didst bewitch old Paasch his little girl with +a white roll? + +_R_. Alas! alas! she loved the child as though it were her own little +sister; not only had she taught her as well as all the other children +without reward, but during the heavy famine she had often taken the bit +from her own mouth to put it into the little child's. How, then, could she +have wished to do her such grievous harm? + +_Q_. Wilt thou even yet deny?--Reverend Abraham, how stubborn is your +child! See here, is this no witches' salve, which the constable fetched +out of thy coffer last night? Is this no witches' salve, eh? + +_R_. It was a salve for the skin, which would make it soft and white, as +the apothecary at Wolgast had told her, of whom she bought it. + +_Q_. Hereupon he shook his head, and went on: How! wilt thou then lastly +deny that on this last Saturday the both July, at twelve o'clock at night, +thou didst on the Streckelberg call upon thy paramour the devil in +dreadful words, whereupon he appeared to thee in the shape of a great +hairy giant, and clipped thee and toyed with thee? + +At these words she grew more pale than a corpse, and tottered so that she +was forced to hold by a chair: and I, wretched man, who would readily have +sworn away my life for her, when I saw and heard this, my senses forsook +me, so that I fell down from the bench, and _Dom. Consul_ had to call in +the constable to help me up. + +When I had come to myself a little, and the impudent varlet saw our common +consternation, he cried out, grinning at the court the while, 'Is it all +out? is it all out? has she confessed?' Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ again +showed him the door with a sharp rebuke, as might have been expected; and +it is said that this knave played the pimp for the Sheriff, and indeed I +think he would not otherwise have been so bold. + +_Summa_: I should well-nigh have perished in my distress, but for the +little rose, which by the help of God's mercy kept me up bravely; and now +the whole court rose and exhorted my poor fainting child, by the living +God, and as she would save her soul, to deny no longer, but in pity to +herself and her father to confess the truth. + +[Illustration: The Apparition on the Streckelberg] + +Hereupon she heaved a deep sigh, and grew as red as she had been pale +before, insomuch that even her hand upon the chair was like scarlet, and +she did not raise her eyes from the ground. + +_R_. She would now then confess the simple truth, as she saw right well +that wicked people had stolen after and watched her at nights. That she +had been to seek for amber on the mountain, and that to drive away fear +she had, as she was wont to do at her work, recited the Latin _carmen_ +which her father had made on the illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus: when +young Ruediger of Nienkerken, who had ofttimes been at her father's house +and talked of love to her, came out of the coppice, and when she cried out +for fear, spoke to her in Latin, and clasped her in his arms. That he wore +a great wolf's-skin coat, so that folks should not know him if they met +him, and tell the lord his father that he had been on the mountain by +night. + +At this her confession I fell into sheer despair, and cried in great +wrath, "O thou ungodly and undutiful child, after all, then, thou hast a +paramour! Did not I forbid thee to go up the mountain by night? What didst +thou want on the mountain by night?" and I began to moan and weep and +wring my hands, so that _Dom. Consul_ even had pity on me, and drew near +to comfort me. Meanwhile she herself came towards me, and began to defend +herself, saying, with many tears, that she had gone up the mountain by +night, against my commands, to get so much amber that she might secretly +buy for me, against my birthday, the _Opera Sancti Augustim_, which the +Cantor at Wolgast wanted to sell. That it was not her fault that the young +lord lay in wait for her one night; and that she would swear to me, by the +living God, that nought that was unseemly had happened between them there, +and that she was still a maid. + +And herewith the first hearing was at end, for after _Dom. Consul_ had +whispered somewhat into the ear of the Sheriff, he called in the constable +again, and bade him keep good watch over _Rea_; _item_, not to leave her +at large in her dungeon any longer, but to put her in chains. These words +pierced my very heart, and I besought his worship to consider my sacred +office, and my ancient noble birth, and not to do me such dishonour as to +put my daughter in chains. That I would answer for her to the worshipful +court with my own head that she would not escape. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_, +after he had gone to look at the dungeon himself, granted me my request, +and commanded the constable to leave her as she had been hitherto. + + + + +_The Nineteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW SATAN, BY THE PERMISSION OF THE MOST RIGHTEOUS GOD, SOUGHT ALTOGETHER +TO RUIN US, AND HOW WE LOST ALL HOPE + +The same day, at about three in the afternoon, when I was gone to Conrad +Seep his alehouse to eat something, seeing that it was now nearly two days +since I had tasted aught save my tears, and he had placed before me some +bread and sausage, together with a mug of beer, the constable came into +the room and greeted me from the Sheriff, without, however, so much as +touching his cap, asking whether I would not dine with his lordship; that +his lordship had not remembered till now that I belike was still fasting, +seeing the trial had lasted so long. Hereupon I made answer to the +constable that I already had my dinner before me, as he saw himself, and +desired that his lordship would hold me excused. Hereat the fellow +wondered greatly, and answered; did I not see that his lordship wished me +well, albeit I had preached at him as though he were a Jew? I should think +on my daughter, and be somewhat more ready to do his lordship's will, +whereby peradventure all would yet end well. For his lordship was not such +a rough ass as _Dom. Consul_, and meant well by my child and me, as +beseemed a righteous magistrate. + +After I had with some trouble rid myself of this impudent fox, I tried to +eat a bit, but nothing would go down save the beer. I therefore soon sat +and thought again whether I would not lodge with Conrad Seep, so as to be +always near my child; _item_, whether I should not hand over my poor +misguided flock to M. Vigelius, the pastor of Benz, for such time as the +Lord still should prove me. In about an hour I saw through the window how +that an empty coach drove to the castle, and the Sheriff and _Dom. Consul_ +straightway stepped thereinto with my child; _item_, the constable climbed +up behind. Hereupon I left everything on the table and ran to the coach, +asking humbly whither they were about to take my poor child; and when I +heard they were going to the Streckelberg to look after the amber, I +begged them to take me also, and to suffer me to sit by my child, for who +could tell how much longer I might yet sit by her! This was granted to me, +and on the way the Sheriff ordered me to take up my abode in the castle +and to dine at his table as often as I pleased, and that he would, +moreover, send my child her meat from his own table. For that he had a +Christian heart, and well knew that we were to forgive our enemies. But I +refused his kindness with humble thanks, as my child did also, seeing we +were not yet so poor that we could not maintain ourselves. As we passed by +the watermill the ungodly varlet there again thrust his head out of a hole +and pulled wry faces at my child; but, dear reader, he got something to +remember it by; for the Sheriff beckoned to the constable to fetch the +fellow out, and after he had reproached him with the tricks he had twice +played my child, the constable had to take the coachman his new whip and +to give him fifty lashes, which, God knows, were not laid on with a +feather. He bellowed like a bull, which, however, no one heard for the +noise of the mill-wheels, and when at last he did as though he could not +stir, we left him lying on the ground and went on our way. + +As we drove through Uekeritze a number of people flocked together, but +were quiet enough, save one fellow who, _salva venia_, mocked at us with +unseemly gestures in the midst of the road when he saw us coming. The +constable had to jump down again, but could not catch him, and the others +would not give him up, but pretended that they had only looked at our +coach and had not marked him. May be this was true! And I am therefore +inclined to think that it was Satan himself who did it to mock at us; for +mark, for God's sake, what happened to us on the Streckelberg! Alas! +through the delusions of the foul fiend, we could not find the spot where +we had dug for the amber. For when we came to where we thought it must be, +a huge hill of sand had been heaped up as by a whirlwind, and the +fir-twigs which my child had covered over it were gone. She was near +falling in a swound when she saw this, and wrung her hands and cried out +with her Saviour, "My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me!" + +Howbeit, the constable and the coachman were ordered to dig, but not one +bit of amber was to be found, even so big as a grain of corn, whereupon +_Dom. Consul_ shook his head and violently upbraided my child. And when I +answered that Satan himself, as it seemed, had filled up the hollow in +order to bring us altogether into his power, the constable was ordered to +fetch a long stake out of the coppice which we might thrust still deeper +into the sand. But no hard _objectum_ was anywhere to be felt, +notwithstanding the Sheriff, _Dom. Consul_, and myself in my anguish did +try everywhere with the stake. + +Hereupon my child besought her judges to go with her to Coserow, where she +still had much amber in her coffer which she had found here, and that if +it were the gift of the devil it would all be changed, since it was well +known that all the presents the devil makes to witches straightway turn to +mud and ashes. + +But, God be merciful to us, God be merciful to us! when we returned to +Coserow, amid the wonderment of all the village, and my daughter went to +her coffer, the things therein were all tossed about, and the amber gone. +Hereupon she shrieked so loud that it would have softened a stone, and +cried out: "The wicked constable hath done this! when he fetched the salve +out of my coffer, he stole the amber from me, unhappy maid." But the +constable, who stood by, would have torn her hair, and cried out, "Thou +witch, thou damned witch, is it not enough that thou hast belied my lord, +but thou must now belie me too?" But _Dom. Consul_ forbade him, so that he +did not dare lay hands upon her. _Item_, all the money was gone which she +had hoarded up from the amber she had privately sold, and which she +thought already came to about ten florins. + +But the gown which she had worn at the arrival of the most illustrious +King Gustavus Adolphus, as well as the golden chain with his effigy which +he had given her, I had locked up, as though it were a relic, in the chest +in the vestry, among the altar and pulpit cloths, and there we found them +still; and when I excused myself therefore, saying that I had thought to +have saved them up for her there against her bridal day, she gazed with +fixed and glazed eyes into the box, and cried out, "Yes, against the day +when I shall be burnt; O Jesu, Jesu, Jesu!" Hereat _Dom. Consul_ shuddered +and said, "See how thou still dost smite thyself with thine own words! For +the sake of God and thy salvation, confess, for if thou knowest thyself to +be innocent, how, then, canst thou think that thou wilt be burnt?" But she +still looked him fixedly in the face, and cried aloud in Latin, +"_Innocentia, quid est innocentia? Ubi libido dominatur, innocentia leve +praesidium est_." + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again shuddered, so that his beard wagged, and +said, "What, dost thou indeed know Latin? Where didst thou learn the +Latin?" And when I answered this question as well as I was able for +sobbing, he shook his head and said, "I never in my life heard of a woman +that knew Latin." Upon this he knelt down before her coffer, and turned +over everything therein, drew it away from the wall, and when he found +nothing he bade us show him her bed, and did the same with that. This, at +length, vexed the Sheriff, who asked him whether they should not drive +back again, seeing that night was coming on. But he answered, "Nay, I must +first have the written paction which Satan has given her"; and he went on +with his search until it was almost dark. But they found nothing at all, +although _Dom. Consul_, together with the constable, passed over no hole +or corner, even in the kitchen and cellar. Hereupon he got up again into +the coach, muttering to himself, and bade my daughter sit so that she +should not look upon him. + +And now we once more had the same _spectaculum_ with the accursed old +witch Lizzie Kolken, seeing that she again sat at her door as we drove by, +and began to sing at the top of her voice, "We praise thee, O Lord." But +she screeched like a stuck pig, so that _Dom. Consul_ was amazed thereat, +and when he had heard who she was, he asked the Sheriff whether he would +not that she should be seized by the constable and be tied behind the +coach to run after it, as we had no room for her elsewhere; for that he +had often been told that all old women who had red squinting eyes and +sharp voices were witches, not to mention the suspicious things which +_Rea_ had declared against her. But he answered that he could not do this, +seeing that old Lizzie was a woman in good repute and fearing God as _Dom. +Consul_ might learn for himself; but that, nevertheless, he had had her +summoned for the morrow, together with the other witnesses. + +Yea, in truth, an excellently devout and worthy woman!--for scarcely were +we out of the village, when so fearful a storm of thunder, lightning, +wind, and hail burst over our heads, that the corn all around us was +beaten down as with a flail, and the horses before the coach were quite +maddened; however, it did not last long. But my poor child had to bear all +the blame again, inasmuch as _Dom. Consul_ thought that it was not old +Lizzie, which, nevertheless, was as clear as the sun at noonday! but my +poor daughter who brewed the storm;--for, beloved reader, what could it +have profited her, even if she had known the black art? This, however, did +not strike _Dom. Consul_, and Satan, by the permission of the +all-righteous God, was presently to use us still worse; for just as we got +to the Master's Dam, he came flying over us in the shape of a stork, and +dropped a frog so exactly over us that it fell into my daughter her lap: +she gave a shrill scream, but I whispered her to sit still, and that I +would secretly throw the frog away by one leg. + +But the constable had seen it, and cried out, "Hey, sirs! hey, look at the +cursed witch! what has the devil just thrown into her lap?" Whereupon the +Sheriff and _Dom. Consul_ looked round and saw the frog, which crawled in +her lap, and the constable after he had blown upon it three times, took it +up and showed it to their lordships. Hereat _Dom. Consul_ began to spew, +and when he had done, he ordered the coachman to stop, got down from the +coach, and said we might drive home, that he felt qualmish, and would go +afoot and see if he got better. But first he privately whispered to the +constable, which, howbeit, we heard right well, that when he got home he +should lay my poor child in chains, but not so as to hurt her much; to +which neither she nor I could answer save by tears and sobs. But the +Sheriff had heard it too, and when his worship was out of sight he began +to stroke my child her cheeks from behind her back, telling her to be +easy, as he also had a word to say in the matter, and that the constable +should not lay her in chains. But that she must leave off being so hard to +him as she had been hitherto, and come and sit on the seat beside him, +that he might privately give her some good advice as to what was to be +done. To this she answered, with many tears, that she wished to sit only +by her father, as she knew not how much longer she might sit by him at +all; and she begged for nothing more save that his lordship would leave +her in peace. But this he would not do, but pinched her back and sides +with his knees; and as she bore with this, seeing that there was no help +for it, he waxed bolder, taking it for a good sign. Meanwhile _Dom. +Consul_ called out close behind us (for being frightened he ran just after +the coach), "Constable, constable, come here quick; here lies a hedgehog +in the midst of the road!" whereupon the constable jumped down from the +coach. + +This made the Sheriff still bolder; and at last my child rose up and said, +"Father, let us also go afoot; I can no longer guard myself from him here +behind!" But he pulled her down again by her clothes, and cried out +angrily, "Wait, thou wicked witch, I will help thee to go afoot if thou +art so wilful; thou shalt be chained to the block this very night." +Whereupon she answered, "Do you do that which you cannot help doing; the +righteous God, it is to be hoped, will one day do unto you what He cannot +help doing." + +Meanwhile we had reached the castle, and scarcely were we got out of the +coach, when _Dom. Consul_, who had run till he was all of a sweat, came up +together with the constable, and straightway gave over my child into his +charge, so that I had scarce time to bid her farewell. I was left standing +on the floor below, wringing my hands in the dark, and hearkened whither +they were leading her, inasmuch as I had not the heart to follow, when +_Dom. Consul_, who had stepped into a room with the Sheriff, looked out at +the door again, and called after the constable to bring _Rea_ once more +before them. And when he had done so, and I went into the room with them, +_Dom. Consul_ held a letter in his hand, and, after spitting thrice, he +began thus: "Wilt thou still deny, thou stubborn witch? Hear what the old +knight, Hans von Nienkerken, writes to the court!" Whereupon he read out +to us that his son was so disturbed by the tale the accursed witch had +told of him that he had fallen sick from that very hour, and that he, the +father, was not much better. That his son Ruediger had indeed at times, +when he went that way, been to see Pastor Schweidler, whom he had first +known upon a journey; but that he swore that he wished he might turn black +if he had ever used any folly or jesting with the cursed devil's whore his +daughter; much less ever been with her by night on the Streckelberg, or +embraced her there. + +At this dreadful news we both (I mean my child and I) fell down in a +swound together, seeing that we had rested our last hopes on the young +lord; and I know not what further happened. For when I came to myself, my +host, Conrad Seep, was standing over me, holding a funnel between my +teeth, through which he ladled some warm beer down my throat, and I never +felt more wretched in all my life; insomuch that Master Seep had to +undress me like a little child, and to help me into bed. + + + + +_The Twentieth Chapter_ + + +OF THE MALICE OF THE GOVERNOR AND OF OLD LIZZIE: +_ITEM_, OF THE EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES + +The next morning my hairs, which till _datum_ had been mingled with grey, +were white as snow, albeit the Lord otherwise blessed me wondrously. For +near daybreak a nightingale flew into the elder-bush beneath my window, +and sang so sweetly that straightway I thought it must be a good angel. +For after I had hearkened a while to it, I was all at once able again to +pray, which since last Sunday I could not do; and the spirit of our Lord +Jesus Christ began to speak within me, "Abba, Father"; and straightway I +was of good cheer, trusting that God would once more be gracious unto me +his wretched child; and when I had given him thanks for such great mercy, +I fell into a refreshing slumber, and slept so long that the blessed sun +stood high in the heavens when I awoke. + +And seeing that my heart was still of good cheer, I sat up in my bed, and +sang with a loud voice, "Be not dismayed, thou little flock": whereupon +Master Seep came into the room, thinking I had called him. But he stood +reverently waiting till I had done; and after marvelling at my snow-white +hair, he told me it was already seven; _item_, that half my congregation, +among others my ploughman, Claus Neels, were already assembled in his +house to bear witness that day. When I heard this, I bade mine host +forthwith send Claus to the castle, to ask when the court would open, and +he brought word back that no one knew, seeing that _Dom. Consul_ was +already gone that morning to Mellenthin to see old Nienkerken, and was not +yet come back. This message gave me good courage, and I asked the fellow +whether he also had come to bear witness against my poor child? To which +he answered, "Nay, I know nought save good of her, and I would give the +fellows their due, only--" + +These words surprised me, and I vehemently urged him to open his heart to +me. But he began to weep, and at last said that he knew nothing. Alas! he +knew but too much, and could then have saved my poor child if he had +willed. But from fear of the torture he held his peace, as he since owned; +and I will here relate what had befallen him that very morning. + +He had set out betimes that morning, so as to be alone with his +sweetheart, who was to go along with him (she is Steffen of Zempin his +daughter, not farmer Steffen, but the lame gouty Steffen), and had got to +Pudgla about five, where he found no one in the ale-house save old Lizzie +Kolken, who straightway hobbled up to the castle; and when his sweetheart +was gone home again, time hung heavy on his hands, and he climbed over the +wall into the castle garden, where he threw himself on his face behind a +hedge to sleep. But before long the Sheriff came with old Lizzie, and +after they had looked all round and seen no one, they went into an arbour +close by him, and conversed as follows:-- + +_Ille_. Now that they were alone together, what did she want of him? + +_Illa_. She came to get the money for the witchcraft she had contrived in +the village. + +_Ille_. Of what use had all this witchcraft been to him? My child, so far +from being frightened, defied him more and more; and he doubted whether he +should ever have his will of her. + +_Illa_. He should only have patience; when she was laid upon the rack she +would soon learn to be fond. + +_Ille_. That might be, but till then she (Lizzie) should get no money. + +_Illa_. What! Must she then do his cattle a mischief? + +_Ille_. Yes, if she felt chilly, and wanted a burning fagot to warm her +_podex_, she had better. Moreover, he thought that she had bewitched him, +seeing that his desire for the parson's daughter was such as he had never +felt before. + +_Illa_. (Laughing.) He had said the same thing some thirty years ago, when +he first came after her. + +_Ille_. Ugh! thou old baggage, don't remind me of such things, but see to +it that you get three witnesses, as I told you before, or else methinks +they will rack your old joints for you after all. + +_Illa_. She had the three witnesses ready, and would leave the rest to +him. But that if she were racked she would reveal all she knew. + +_Ille_. She should hold her ugly tongue, and go to the devil. + +_Illa_. So she would, but first she must have her money. + +_Ille_. She should have no money till he had had his will of my daughter. + +_Illa_. He might at least pay her for her little pig which she herself had +bewitched to death, in order that she might not get into evil repute. + +_Ille_. She might choose one when his pigs were driven by, and say she had +paid for it. Hereupon, said my Claus, the pigs were driven by, and one ran +into the garden, the door being open, and as the swineherd followed it, +they parted; but the witch muttered to herself, "Now help, devil, help, +that I may--" but he heard no further. + +The cowardly fellow, however, hid all this from me, as I have said above, +and only said, with tears, that he knew nothing. I believed him, and sat +down at the window to see when _Dom. Consul_ should return; and when I saw +him I rose and went to the castle, where the constable, who was already +there with my child, met me before the judgment-chamber. Alas! she looked +more joyful than I had seen her for a long time, and smiled at me with her +sweet little mouth: but when she saw my snow-white hair, she gave a cry, +which made _Dom. Consul_ throw open the door of the judgment-chamber, and +say, "Ha, ha! thou knowest well what news I have brought thee; come in, +thou stubborn devil's brat!" Whereupon we stepped into the chamber to him, +and he lift up his voice and spake to me, after he had sat down with the +Sheriff, who was by. + +He said that yestereven, after he had caused me to be carried like one +dead to Master Seep his ale-house, and that my stubborn child had been +brought to life again, he had once more adjured her, to the utmost of his +power, no longer to lie before the face of the living God, but to confess +the truth; whereupon she had borne herself very unruly, and had wrung her +hands and wept and sobbed, and at last answered that the young _nobilis_ +never could have said such things, but that his father must have written +them, who hated her, as she had plainly seen when the Swedish king was at +Coserow. That he, _Dom. Consul_, had indeed doubted the truth of this at +the time, but as a just judge had gone that morning right early with the +_scriba_ to Mellenthin, to question the young lord himself. + +That I might now see myself what horrible malice was in my daughter. For +that the old knight had led him to his son's bedside, who still lay sick +from vexation, and that he had confirmed all his father had written, and +had cursed the scandalous she-devil (as he called my daughter) for seeking +to rob him of his knightly honour. "What sayest thou now?" he continued; +"wilt thou still deny thy great wickedness? See here the _protocollum_ +which the young lord hath signed _manu propria_!" But the wretched maid +had meanwhile fallen on the ground again, and the constable had no sooner +seen this than he ran into the kitchen, and came back with a burning +brimstone match, which he was about to hold under her nose. + +But I hindered him, and sprinkled her face with water, so that she opened +her eyes, and raised herself up by a table. She then stood a while, +without saying a word or regarding my sorrow. At last she smiled sadly, +and spake thus: That she clearly saw how true was that spoken by the Holy +Ghost, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man"; and that the +faithlessness of the young lord had surely broken her poor heart if the +all-merciful God had not graciously prevented him, and sent her a dream +that night, which she would tell, not hoping to persuade the judges, but +to raise up the white head of her poor father. + +"After I had sat and watched all the night," quoth she, "towards morning I +heard a nightingale sing in the castle-garden so sweetly that my eyes +closed, and I slept. Then methought I was a lamb, grazing quietly in my +meadow at Coserow. Suddenly the Sheriff jumped over the hedge and turned +into a wolf, who seized me in his jaws, and ran with me towards the +Streckelberg, where he had his lair. I, poor little lamb, trembled and +bleated in vain, and saw death before my eyes, when he laid me down before +his lair, where lay the she-wolf and her young. But behold a hand, like +the hand of a man, straightway came out of the bushes and touched the +wolves, each one with one finger, and crushed them so that nought was left +of them save a grey powder. Hereupon the hand took me up, and carried me +back to my meadow." + +Only think, beloved reader, how I felt when I heard all this, and about +the dear nightingale too, which no one can doubt to have been the servant +of God. I clasped my child with many tears, and told her what had happened +to me, and we both won such courage and confidence as we had never yet +felt, to the wonderment of _Dom. Consul_, as it seemed; but the Sheriff +turned as pale as a sheet when she stepped towards their worships and +said, "And now do with me as you will, the lamb fears not, for she is in +the hands of the Good Shepherd!" Meanwhile _Dom. Camerarius_ came in with +the _scriba_, but was terrified as he chanced to touch my daughter's apron +with the skirts of his coat; and stood and scraped at his coat as a woman +scrapes a fish. At last, after he had spat out thrice, he asked the court +whether it would not begin to examine witnesses, seeing that all the +people had been waiting some time both in the castle and at the ale-house. +Hereunto they agreed, and the constable was ordered to guard my child in +his room, until it should please the court to summon her. I therefore went +with her, but, we had to endure much from the impudent rogue, seeing he +was not ashamed to lay his arm round my child her shoulders and to ask for +a kiss _in mea presentia_. But, before I could get out a word, she tore +herself from him, and said, "Ah, thou wicked knave, must I complain of +thee to the court; hast thou forgotten what thou hast already done to me?" +To which, he answered, laughing, "See, see! how coy"; and still sought to +persuade her to be more willing, and not to forget her own interest; for +that he meant as well by her as his master; she might believe it or not; +with many other scandalous words besides which I have forgot; for I took +my child upon my knees and laid my head on her neck, and we sat and wept. + + + + +_The Twenty-first Chapter_ + + +DE CONFRONTATIONE TESTIUM + +When we were summoned before the court again, the whole court was full of +people, and some shuddered when they saw us, but others wept; my child +told the same tale as before. But when our old Ilse was called, who sat on +a bench behind, so that we had not seen her, the strength wherewith the +Lord had gifted her was again at an end, and she repeated the words of our +Saviour, "He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me": +and she held fast by my chair. Old Ilse, too, could not walk straight for +very grief, nor could she speak for tears, but she twisted and wound +herself about before the court like a woman in travail. But when Dom. +Consul threatened that the constable should presently help her to her +words, she testified that my child had very often got up in the night and +called aloud upon the foul fiend. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever heard Satan answer her? + +_R_. She never had heard him at all. + +_Q_. Whether she had perceived that _Rea_ had a familiar spirit, and in +what shape? She should think upon her oath, and speak the truth. + +_R_. She had never seen one. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever heard her fly up the chimney? + +_R_. Nay, she had always gone softly out at the door. + +_Q_. Whether she never at mornings had missed her broom or pitch-fork? + +_R_. Once the broom was gone, but she had found it again behind the stove, +and may be left it there herself by mistake. + +_Q_. Whether she had never heard _Rea_ cast a spell or wish harm to this +or that person? + +_R_. No, never; she had always wished her neighbours nothing but good, and +even in the time of bitter famine had taken the bread out of her own mouth +to give it to others. + +_Q_. Whether she did not know the salve which had been found in _Rea_ her +coffer? + +_R_. Oh, yes! her young mistress had brought it back from Wolgast for her +skin, and had once given her some when she had chapped hands, and it had +done her a vast deal of good. + +_Q_. Whether she had anything further to say? + +_R_. No, nothing but good. + +Hereupon my man Claus Neels was called up. He also came forward in tears, +but answered every question with a "Nay," and at last testified that he +had never seen nor heard anything bad of my child, and knew nought of her +doings by night, seeing that he slept in the stable with the horses; and +that he firmly believed that evil folks--and here he looked at old +Lizzie--had brought this misfortune upon her, and that she was quite +innocent. + +When it came to the turn of this old limb of Satan, who was to be the +chief witness, my child again declared that she would not accept old +Lizzie's testimony against her, and called upon the court for justice, for +that she had hated her from her youth up, and had been longer by habit and +repute a witch than she herself. + +But the old hag cried out, "God forgive thee thy sins; the whole village +knows that I am a devout woman, and one serving the Lord in all things"; +whereupon she called up old Zuter Witthahn and my church-warden Claus +Bulk, who bore witness hereto. But old Paasch stood and shook his head; +nevertheless when my child said, "Paasch, wherefore dost thou shake thy +head?" he started, and answered, "Oh, nothing!" + +Howbeit, _Dom. Consul_ likewise perceived this, and asked him, whether he +had any charge to bring against old Lizzie; if so, he should give glory to +God, and state the same; _item_, it was competent to every one so to do; +indeed the court required of him to speak out all he knew. + +But from fear of the old dragon, all were still as mice, so that you might +have heard the flies buzz about the inkstand. I then stood up, wretched as +I was, and stretched out my arms over my amazed and faint-hearted people +and spake, "Can ye thus crucify me together with my poor child? Have I +deserved this at your hands? Speak, then; alas, will none speak?" I heard, +indeed, how several wept aloud, but not one spake; and hereupon my poor +child was forced to submit. + +And the malice of the old hag was such that she not only accused my child +of the most horrible witchcraft, but also reckoned to a day when she had +given herself up to Satan to rob her of her maiden honour; and she said +that Satan had, without doubt, then defiled her when she could no longer +heal the cattle, and when they all died. Hereupon my child said nought, +save that she cast down her eyes and blushed deep, for shame at such +filthiness; and to the other blasphemous slander which the old hag uttered +with many tears, namely, that my daughter had given up her (Lizzie's) +husband, body and soul, to Satan, she answered as she had done before. But +when the old hag came to her re-baptism in the sea, and gave out that +while seeking for strawberries in the coppice she had recognised my +child's voice, and stolen towards her, and perceived these devil's doings, +my child fell in smiling, and answered, "Oh, thou evil woman! how couldst +thou hear my voice speaking down by the sea, being thyself in the forest +upon the mountain? surely thou liest, seeing that the murmur of the waves +would make that impossible." This angered the old dragon, and seeking to +get out of the blunder she fell still deeper into it, for she said, "I saw +thee move thy lips, and from that I knew that thou didst call upon thy +paramour the devil!" for my child straight-way replied, "Oh, thou ungodly +woman! thou saidst thou wert in the forest when thou didst hear my voice; +how then up in the forest couldst thou see whether I, who was below by the +water, moved my lips or not?"-- + +Such contradictions amazed even _Dom. Consul_, and he began to threaten +the old hag with the rack if she told such lies; whereupon she answered +and said, "List, then, whether I lie! When she went naked into the water +she had no mark on her body, but when she came out again I saw that she +had between her breasts a mark the size of a silver penny, whence I +perceived that the devil had given it her, although I had not seen him +about her, nor, indeed, had I seen any one, either spirit or child of man, +for she seemed to be quite alone." + +Hereupon the Sheriff jumped up from his seat, and cried, "Search must +straightway be made for this mark"; whereupon _Dom. Consul_ answered, +"Yea, but not by us, but by two women of good repute," for he would not +hearken to what my child said, that it was a mole, and that she had had it +from her youth up, wherefore the constable his wife was sent for, and +_Dom. Consul_ muttered somewhat into her ear, and as prayers and tears +were of no avail, my child was forced to go with her. Howbeit, she +obtained this favour, that old Lizzie Kolken was not to follow her, as she +would have done, but our old maid Ilse. I, too, went in my sorrow, seeing +that I knew not what the women might do to her. She wept bitterly as they +undressed her, and held her hands over her eyes for very shame. + +Well-a-day, her body was just as white as my departed wife's; although in +her childhood, as I remember, she was very yellow, and I saw with +amazement the mole between her breasts, whereof I had never heard aught +before. But she suddenly screamed violently and started back, seeing that +the constable his wife, when nobody watched her, had run a needle into the +mole, so deep that the red blood ran down over her breasts. I was sorely +angered thereat, but the woman said that she had done it by order of the +judge, which, indeed, was true; for when we came back into court, and the +Sheriff asked how it was, she testified that there was a mark of the size +of a silver penny, of a yellowish colour, but that it had feeling, seeing +that _Rea_ had screamed aloud when she had, unperceived, driven a needle +therein. Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_ suddenly rose, and, +stepping up to my child, drew her eyelids asunder, and cried out, +beginning to tremble, "Behold the sign which never fails": whereupon the +whole court started to their feet, and looked at the little spot under her +right eyelid, which in truth had been left there by a stye, but this none +would believe. _Dom. Consul_ now said, "See, Satan hath marked thee on +body and soul! and thou dost still continue to lie unto the Holy Ghost; +but it shall not avail thee, and thy punishment will only be the heavier. +Oh, thou shameless woman! thou hast refused to accept the testimony of old +Lizzie; wilt thou also refuse that of these people, who have all heard +thee on the mountain call upon the devil thy paramour, and seen him appear +in the likeness of a hairy giant, and kiss and caress thee?" + +Hereupon old Paasch, goodwife Witthahn, and Zuter came forward and bare +witness, that they had seen this happen about midnight, and that on this +declaration they would live and die; that old Lizzie had awakened them one +Saturday night about eleven o'clock, had given them a can of beer, and +persuaded them to follow the parson's daughter privately, and to see what +she did upon the mountain. At first they refused but in order to get at +the truth about the witchcraft in the village, they had at last, after a +devout prayer, consented, and had followed her in God's name. + +They had soon through the bushes seen the witch in the moonshine; she +seemed to dig, and spake in some strange tongue the while, whereupon the +grim arch-fiend suddenly appeared, and fell upon her neck. Hereupon they +ran away in consternation, but, by the help of the Almighty God, on whom +from the very first they had set their faith, they were preserved from the +power of the Evil One. For, notwithstanding he had turned round on hearing +a rustling in the bushes, he had had no power to harm them. + +Finally, it was even charged to my child as a crime, that she had fainted +on the road from Coserow to Pudgla, and none would believe that this had +been caused by vexation at old Lizzie her singing, and not from a bad +conscience, as stated by the judge. + +When all the witnesses had been examined, _Dom. Consul_ asked her whether +she had brewed the storm, what was the meaning of the frog that dropped +into her lap, _item_, the hedgehog which lay directly in his path? To all +of which she answered, that she had caused the one as little as she knew +of the other. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked her, last +of all, whether she would have an advocate, or trust entirely in the good +judgment of the court. To this she gave answer that she would by all means +have an advocate. Wherefore I sent my ploughman, Claus Neels, the next day +to Wolgast to fetch the _Syndicus_ Michelsen, who is a worthy man, and in +whose house I have been many times when I went to the town, seeing that he +courteously invited me. + +I must also note here that at this time my old Ilse came back to live with +me; for after the witnesses were gone she stayed behind in the chamber, +and came boldly up to me, and besought me to suffer her once more to serve +her old master and her dear young mistress; for that now she had saved her +poor soul, and confessed all she knew. Wherefore she could no longer bear +to see her old masters in such woeful plight, without so much as a +mouthful of victuals, seeing that she had heard that old wife Seep, who +had till _datum_ prepared the food for me and my child, often let the +porridge burn; _item_, oversalted the fish and the meat. Moreover, that I +was so weakened by age and misery, that I needed help and support, which +she would faithfully give me, and was ready to sleep in the stable, if +needs must be; that she wanted no wages for it, I was only not to turn her +away. Such kindness made my daughter to weep, and she said to me, "Behold, +father, the good folks come back to us again; think you, then, that the +good angels will forsake us for ever? I thank thee, old Use; thou shall +indeed prepare my food for me, and always bring it as far as the +prison-door, if thou mayest come no further; and mark, then, I pray thee, +what the constable does therewith." + +This the maid promised to do, and from this time forth took up her abode +in the stable. May God repay her at the day of judgment for what she then +did for me and for my poor child! + + + + +_The Twenty-second Chapter_ + + +HOW THE _SYNDICUS DOM._ MICHELSEN ARRIVED AND PREPARED HIS DEFENCE OF MY +POOR CHILD + +The next day, at about three o'clock P.M., _Dom. Syndicus_ came driving +up, and got out of his coach at my inn. He had a huge bag full of books +with him, but was not so friendly in his manner as was usual with him, but +very grave and silent. And after he had saluted me in my own room, and had +asked how it was possible for my child to have come to such misfortune, I +related to him the whole affair, whereat, however, he only shook his head. +On my asking him whether he would not see my child that same day, he +answered, "Nay"; he would rather first study the _acta_. And after he had +eaten of some wild duck-which my old Ilse had roasted for him, he would +tarry no longer, but straightway went up to the castle, whence he did not +return till the following afternoon. His manner was not more friendly now +than at his first coming, and I followed him with sighs when he asked me +to lead him to my daughter. As we went in with the constable, and I, for +the first time, saw my child in chains before me--she who in her whole +life had never hurt a worm--I again felt as though I should die for very +grief. But she smiled and cried out to _Dom. Syndicus_, "Are you indeed +the good angel who will cause my chains to fall from my hands, as was done +of yore to St. Peter?" To which he replied, with a sigh, "May the Almighty +God grant it"; and as, save the chair whereon my child sat against the +wall, there was none other in the dungeon (which was a filthy and stinking +hole, wherein were more wood-lice than ever I saw in my life), _Dom. +Syndicus_ and I sat down on her bed, which had been left for her at my +prayer; and he ordered the constable to go his ways until he should call +him back. Hereupon he asked my child what she had to say in her +justification; and she had not gone far in her defence when I perceived, +from the shadow at the door, that some one must be standing without. I +therefore went quickly to the door, which was half open, and found the +impudent constable, who stood there to listen. This so angered _Dom. +Syndicus_ that he snatched up his staff in order to hasten his going, but +the arch-rogue took to his heels as soon as he saw this. My child took +this opportunity to tell her worshipful defensor what she had suffered +from the impudence of this fellow, and to beg that some other constable +might be set over her, seeing that this one had come to her last night +again with evil designs, so that she at last had shrieked aloud and beaten +him on the head with her chains; whereupon he had left her. This _Dom. +Syndicus_ promised to obtain for her; but with regard to the _defensio_, +wherewith she now went on, he thought it would be better to make no +further mention of the _impetus_ which the Sheriff had made on her +chastity. "For," said he, "as the princely central court at Wolgast has to +give sentence upon thee, this statement would do thee far more harm than +good, seeing that the _praeses_ thereof is a cousin of the Sheriff, and +ofttimes goes a-hunting with him. Besides, thou being charged with a +capital crime hast no _fides_, especially as thou canst bring no witnesses +against him. Thou couldst, therefore, gain no belief even if thou didst +confirm the charge on the rack, wherefrom, moreover, I am come hither to +save thee by my _defensio_." These reasons seemed sufficient to us both, +and we resolved to leave vengeance to Almighty God, who seeth in secret, +and to complain of our wrongs to him, as we might not complain to men. But +all my daughter said about old Lizzie--_item_, of the good report wherein +she herself had, till now, stood with everybody--he said he would write +down, and add thereunto as much and as well of his own as he was able, so +as, by the help of Almighty God, to save her from the torture. That she +was to make herself easy and commend herself to God; within two days he +hoped to have his _defensio_ ready and to read it to her. And now, when he +called the constable back again, the fellow did not come, but sent his +wife to lock the prison, and I took leave of my child with many tears: +_Dom. Syndicus_ told the woman the while what her impudent rogue of a +husband had done, that she might let him hear more of it. Then he sent the +woman away again and came back to my daughter, saying that he had +forgotten to ascertain whether she really knew the Latin tongue, and that +she was to say her _defensio_ over again in Latin, if she was able. +Hereupon she began and went on therewith for a quarter of an hour or more, +in such wise that not only _Dom. Syndicus_ but I myself also was amazed, +seeing that she did not stop for a single word, save the word +"hedgehog," which we both had forgotten at the moment when she asked us +what it was.--_Summa. Dom. Syndicus_ grew far more gracious when she had +finished her oration, and took leave of her, promising that he would set +to work forthwith. + +After this I did not see him again till the morning of the third day at +ten o'clock, seeing that he sat at work in a room at the castle, which the +Sheriff had given him, and also ate there, as he sent me word by old Ilse +when she carried him his breakfast next day. + +At the above-named time he sent the new constable for me, who, meanwhile, +had been fetched from Uzdom at his desire. For the Sheriff was exceeding +wroth when he heard that the impudent fellow had attempted my child in the +prison, and cried out in a rage, "S'death, and 'ouns, I'll mend thy +coaxing!" Whereupon he gave him a sound thrashing with a dog-whip he held +in his hand, to make sure that she should be at peace from him. + +But, alas! the new constable was even worse than the old, as will be shown +hereafter. His name was Master Koeppner, and he was a tall fellow with a +grim face, and a mouth so wide that at every word he said the spittle ran +out at the corners, and stuck in his long beard like soap-suds, so that my +child had an especial fear and loathing of him. Moreover, on all occasions +he seemed to laugh in mockery and scorn, as he did when he opened the +prison-door to us, and saw my poor child sitting in her grief and +distress. But he straightway left us without waiting to be told, whereupon +_Dom. Syndicus_ drew his defence out of his pocket, and read it to us; we +have remembered the main points thereof, and I will recount them here, but +most of the _auctores_ we have forgotten. + +1. He began by saying that my daughter had ever till now stood in good +repute, as not only the whole village, but even my servants bore witness; +_ergo_, she could not be a witch, inasmuch as the Saviour hath said, "A +good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring +forth good fruit" (Matt. vii.). + +2. With regard to the witchcraft in the village, that belike was the +contrivance of old Lizzie, seeing that she bore a great hatred towards +_Rea_, and had long been in evil repute, for that the parishioners dared +not to speak out, only from fear of the old witch; wherefore Zuter, her +little girl, must be examined, who had heard old Lizzie her goodman tell +her she had a familiar spirit, and that he would tell it to the parson; +for that notwithstanding the above-named was but a child, still it was +written in Psalm viii., "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou +ordained strength...."; and the Saviour himself appealed (Matt. xxi.) to +the testimony of little children. + +3. Furthermore, old Lizzie might have bewitched the crops, _item_, the +fruit-trees, inasmuch as none could believe that _Rea_, who had ever shown +herself a dutiful child, would have bewitched her own father's corn, or +made caterpillars come on his trees; for no one, according to Scripture, +can serve two masters. + +_Item_, she (old Lizzie) might very well have been the woodpecker that was +seen by _Rea_ and old Paasch on the Streckelberg, and herself have given +over her goodman to the Evil One for fear of the parson, inasmuch as +Spitzel _De Expugnatione Orci_ asserts; _item_, the _Malleus Maleficarum_ +proves beyond doubt that the wicked children of Satan ofttimes change +themselves into all manner of beasts, as the foul fiend himself likewise +seduced our first parents in the shape of a serpent (Gen. iii.). + +5. That old Lizzie had most likely made the wild weather when _Dom. +Consul_ was coming home with _Rea_ from the Streckelberg, seeing it was +impossible that _Rea_ could have done it, as she was sitting in the coach, +whereas witches when they raise storms always stand in the water, and +throw it over their heads backwards; _item_, beat the stones soundly with +a stick, as Hannold relates. Wherefore she too, may be, knew best about +the frog and the hedgehog. + +6. That _Rea_ was erroneously charged with that as a _crimen_ which ought +rather to serve as her justification, namely, her sudden riches. For the +_Malleus Maleficarum_ expressly says that a witch can never grow rich, +seeing that Satan, to do dishonour to God, always buys them for a vile +price, so that they should not betray themselves by their riches. +Wherefore that as _Rea_ had grown rich, she could not have got her wealth +from the foul fiend, but it must be true that she had found amber on the +mountain; that the spells of old Lizzie might have been the cause why they +could not find the vein of amber again, or that the sea might have washed +away the cliff below, as often happens, whereupon the top had slipped +down, so that only a _miraculum naturale_ had taken place. The proof which +he brought forward from Scripture we have quite forgotten, seeing it was +but middling. + +7. With regard to her re-baptism, the old hag had said herself that she +had not seen the devil or any other spirit or man about _Rea_, wherefore +she might in truth have been only naturally bathing, in order to greet the +King of Sweden next day, seeing that the weather was hot, and that bathing +was not of itself sufficient to impair the modesty of a maiden. For that +she had as little thought any would see her as Bathsheba the daughter of +Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, who in like manner did bathe +herself, as is written (2 Sam. xi. 2), without knowing that David could +see her. Neither could her mark be a mark given by Satan, inasmuch as +there was feeling therein; _ergo_, it must be a natural mole, and it was a +lie that she had it not before bathing. Moreover, that on this point the +old harlot was nowise to be believed, seeing that she had fallen from one +contradiction into another about it, as stated in the _acta_. + +8. Neither was it just to accuse _Rea_ of having bewitched Paasch his +little daughter; for as old Lizzie was going in and out of the room, nay, +even sat herself down on the little girl her belly when the pastor went to +see her, it most likely was that wicked woman (who was known to have a +great spite against _Rea_) that contrived the spell through the power of +the foul fiend, and by permission of the all-just God; for that Satan was +"a liar and the father of it," as our Lord Christ says (John viii.). + +9. With regard to the appearance of the foul fiend on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant, that indeed was the heaviest _gravamen_, inasmuch +as not only old Lizzie, but likewise three trustworthy witnesses, had seen +him. But who could tell whether it was not old Lizzie herself who had +contrived this devilish apparition in order to ruin her enemy altogether; +for that notwithstanding the apparition was not the young nobleman, as +_Rea_ had declared it to be, it still was very likely that she had not +lied, but had mistaken Satan for the young lord, as he appeared in his +shape; _exemplum_, for this was to be found even in Scripture: for that +all _Theologi_ of the whole Protestant Church were agreed that the vision +which the witch of Endor showed to King Saul was not Samuel himself, but +the arch-fiend; nevertheless, Saul had taken it for Samuel. In like manner +the old harlot might have conjured up the devil before _Rea_, who did not +perceive that it was not the young lord, but Satan, who had put on that +shape in order to seduce her; for as _Rea_ was a fair woman, none could +wonder that the devil gave himself more trouble for her than for an old +withered hag, seeing he has ever sought after fair women to lie with them. + +Lastly, he argued that _Rea_ was in nowise marked as a witch, for that she +neither had bleared and squinting eyes nor a hooked nose, whereas old +Lizzie had both, which Theophrastus Paracelsus declares to be an unfailing +mark of a witch, saying, "Nature marketh none thus unless by abortion, for +these are the chiefest signs whereby witches be known whom the spirit +_Asiendens_ hath subdued unto himself." + +When _Dom. Syndicus_ had read his _defensio_, my daughter was so rejoiced +thereat that she would have kissed his hand, but he snatched it from her +and breathed upon it thrice, whereby we could easily see that he himself +was nowise in earnest with his _defensio_. Soon after he took leave in an +ill-humour, after commending her to the care of the Most High, and begged +that I would make my farewell as short as might be, seeing that he +purposed to return home that very day, the which, alas! I very unwillingly +did. + + + + +_The Twenty-third Chapter_ + + +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS SENTENCED TO BE PUT TO THE QUESTION + +After _acta_ had been sent to the honourable the central court, about +fourteen days passed over before any answer was received. My lord the +Sheriff was especially gracious toward me the while, and allowed me to see +my daughter as often as I would (seeing that the rest of the court were +gone home), wherefore I was with her nearly all day. And when the +constable grew impatient of keeping watch over me, I gave him a fee to +lock me in together with my child. And the all-merciful God was gracious +unto us, and caused us often and gladly to pray, for we had a steadfast +hope, believing that the cross we had seen in the heavens would now soon +pass away from us, and that the ravening wolf would receive his reward +when the honourable high court had read through the _acta_, and should +come to the excellent _defensio_ which _Dom. Syndicus_ had constructed for +my child. Wherefore I began to be of good cheer again, especially when I +saw my daughter her cheeks growing of a right lovely red. But on Thursday, +25th _mensis Augusti_, at noon, the worshipful court drove into the +castle-yard again as I sat in the prison with my child, as I was wont; and +old Ilse brought us our food, but could not tell us the news for weeping. +But the tall constable peeped in at the door, grinning, and cried, "Oh, +ho! they are come, they are come, they are come; now the tickling will +begin": whereat my poor child shuddered, but less at the news than at +sight of the fellow himself. Scarce was he gone than he came back again to +take off her chains and to fetch her away. So I followed her into the +judgment-chamber, where _Dom. Consul_ read out the sentence of the +honourable high court as follows:--That she should once more be questioned +in kindness touching the articles contained in the indictment; and if she +then continued stubborn she should be subjected to the _peine forte et +dure_, for that the _defensio_ she had set up did not suffice, and that +there were _indicia legitima praegnantia et sufficientia ad torturam +ipsam_; to wit-- + +1. _Mala fama_. + +2. _Maleficium, publice commissum_. + +3. _Apparitio daemonis in monte_. + +Whereupon the most honourable central court cited about 20 _auctores_, +whereof, howbeit, we remember but little. When _Dom. Consul_ had read out +this to my child, he once more lift up his voice and admonished her with +many words to confess of her own free-will, for that the truth must now +come to light. + +Hereupon she steadfastly replied, that after the _defensio_ of _Dom. +Syndicus_ she had indeed hoped for a better sentence; but that, as it was +the will of God to try her yet more hardly, she resigned herself +altogether into His gracious hands, and could not confess aught save what +she had said before, namely, that she was innocent, and that evil men had +brought this misery upon her. Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ motioned the +constable, who straightway opened the door of the next room, and admitted +_Pastor Benzensis_ in his surplice, who had been sent for by the court to +admonish her still better out of the word of God. He heaved a deep sigh, +and said, "Mary, Mary, is it thus I must meet thee again?" Whereupon she +began to weep bitterly, and to protest her innocence afresh. But he heeded +not her distress, and as soon as he had heard her pray, "Our Father," "The +eyes of all wait upon thee," and "God the Father dwell with us," he lift +up his voice and declared to her the hatred of the living God to all +witches and warlocks, seeing that not only is the punishment of fire +awarded to them in the Old Testament, but that the Holy Ghost expressly +saith in the New Testament (Gal. v.), "That they which do such things +shall not inherit the kingdom of God"; but "shall have their part in the +lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" +(Apocal. xxi.). Wherefore she must not be stubborn nor murmur against the +court when she was tormented, seeing that it was all done out of Christian +love, and to save her poor soul. That, for the sake of God and her +salvation, she should no longer delay repentance, and thereby cause her +body to be tormented, and give over her wretched soul to Satan, who +certainly would not fulfil those promises in hell which he had made her +here upon earth; seeing that "He was a murderer from the beginning--a liar +and the father of it" (John viii.). "Oh!" cried he, "Mary, my child, who +so oft hast sat upon my knees, and for whom I now cry every morning and +every night unto my God, if thou wilt have no pity upon thee and me, have +pity at least upon thy worthy father, whom I cannot look upon without +tears, seeing that his hairs have turned snow-white within a few days, and +save thy soul, my child, and confess! Behold, thy Heavenly Father grieveth +over thee no less than thy fleshly father, and the holy angels veil their +faces for sorrow that thou, who wert once their darling sister, art now +become the sister and bride of the devil. Return therefore, and repent! +This day thy Saviour calleth thee, poor stray lamb, back into His flock, +'And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath +bound ... be loosed from this bond?' Such are His merciful words (Luke +xiii.); _item_, 'Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I +will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful' (Jer. +iii.). Return then, thou back-sliding soul, unto the Lord thy God! He who +heard the prayer of the idolatrous Manasseh when 'he besought the Lord his +God and humbled himself' (2 Chron. xxxiii.); who, through Paul, accepted +the repentance of the sorcerers at Ephesus (Acts xix.), the same merciful +God now crieth unto thee as unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, +'Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent' (Apocal. +ii.). Oh, Mary, Mary, remember, my child, from whence thou art fallen, and +repent!" + +Hereupon he held his peace, and it was some time before she could say a +word for tears and sobs; but at last she answered, "If lies are no less +hateful to God than witchcraft, I may not lie, but must rather declare, to +the glory of God, as I have ever declared, that I am innocent." + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and frowned and asked the tall +constable if all was ready, _item_, whether the women were at hand to +undress _Rea_; whereupon he answered with a grin, as he was wont, "Ho, ho, +I have never been wanting in my duty, nor will I be wanting to-day; I will +tickle her in such wise that she shall soon confess." + +When he had said this, _Dom. Consul_ turned to my daughter, and said, +"Thou art a foolish thing, and knowest not the torment which awaits thee, +and therefore is it that thou still art stubborn. Now, then, follow me to +the torture-chamber, where the executioner shall show thee the +_instrumenta_; and thou mayest yet think better of it when thou hast seen +what the question is like." + +Hereupon he went into another room, and the constable followed him with my +child. And when I would have gone after them, _Pastor Benzensis_ held me +back, with many tears, and conjured me not to do so, but to tarry where I +was. But I hearkened not unto him, and tore myself from him, and swore +that so long as a single vein should beat in my wretched body I would +never forsake my child. I therefore went into the next room, and from +thence down into a vault, where was the torture-chamber, wherein were no +windows, so that those without might not hear the cries of the tormented. +Two torches were already burning there when I went in, and although _Dom. +Consul_ would at first have sent me away, after a while he had pity upon +me, so that he suffered me to stay. + +And now that hell-hound the constable stepped forward, and first showed my +poor child the ladder, saying with savage glee, "See here! first of all +thou wilt be laid on that, and thy hands and feet will be tied. Next, the +thumb-screw here will be put upon thee, which straightway will make the +blood to spirt out at the tips of thy fingers; thou mayest see that they +are still red with the blood of old Gussy Biehlke, who was burnt last +year, and who, like thee, would not confess at first. If thou still wilt +not confess, I shall next put these Spanish boots on thee, and should they +be too large, I shall just drive in a wedge, so that the calf, which is +now at the back of thy leg, will be driven to the front, and the blood +will shoot out of thy feet, as when thou squeezest blackberries in a bag. + +"Again, if thou wilt not yet confess--holla!" shouted he, and kicked open +a door behind him, so that the whole vault shook, and my poor child fell +upon her knees for fright. Before long two women brought in a bubbling +caldron, full of boiling pitch and brimstone. This caldron the hell-hound +ordered them to set down on the ground, and drew forth, from under the red +cloak he wore, a goose's wing, wherefrom he plucked five or six quills, +which he dipped into the boiling brimstone. After he had held them a while +in the caldron he threw them upon the earth, where they twisted about and +spirted the brimstone on all sides. And then he called to my poor child +again, "See! these quills I shall throw upon thy white loins, and the +burning brimstone will presently eat into thy flesh down to the very +bones, so that thou wilt thereby have a foretaste of the joys which await +thee in hell." + +[Illustration: The Torture Chamber] + +When he had spoken thus far, amid sneers and laughter, I was so overcome +with rage that I sprang forth out of the corner where I stood leaning my +trembling joints against an old barrel, and cried, "O, thou hellish dog! +sayest thou this of thyself, or have others bidden thee?" Whereupon, +however, the fellow gave me such a blow upon the breast that I fell +backwards against the wall, and _Dom. Consul_ called out in great wrath, +"You old fool, if you needs must stay here, at any rate leave the +constable in peace, for if not I will have you thrust out of the chamber +forthwith. The constable has said no more than is his duty; and it will +thus happen to thy child if she confess not, and if it appear that the +foul fiend have given her some charm against the torture." Hereupon this +hell-hound went on to speak to my poor child, without heeding me, save +that he laughed in my face: "Look here! when thou hast thus been well +shorn, ho, ho, ho! I shall pull thee up by means of these two rings in the +floor and the roof, stretch thy arms above thy head, and bind them fast to +the ceiling; whereupon I shall take these two torches, and hold them under +thy shoulders, till thy skin will presently become like the rind of a +smoked ham. Then thy hellish paramour will help thee no longer, and thou +wilt confess the truth. And now thou hast seen and heard all that I shall +do to thee, in the name of God, and by order of the magistrates." + +And now _Dom. Consul_ once more came forward and admonished her to confess +the truth. But she abode by what she had said from the first; whereupon he +delivered her over to the two women who had brought in the caldron, to +strip her naked as she was born, and to clothe her in the black +torture-shift; after which they were once more to lead her barefooted up +the steps before the worshipful court. But one of these women was the +Sheriff his housekeeper (the other was the impudent constable his wife), +and my daughter said that she would not suffer herself to be touched save +by honest women, and assuredly not by the housekeeper, and begged _Dom. +Consul_ to send for her maid, who was sitting in her prison reading the +Bible, if he knew of no other decent woman at hand. Hereupon the +housekeeper began to pour forth a wondrous deal of railing and ill words, +but _Dom. Consul_ rebuked her, and answered my daughter that he would let +her have her wish in this matter too, and bade the impudent constable his +wife call the maid hither from out of the prison. After he had said this, +he took me by the arm, and prayed me so long to go up with him, for that +no harm would happen to my daughter as yet, that I did as he would have +me. + +Before long she herself came up, led between the two women, barefooted, +and in the black torture-shift, but so pale that I myself should scarce +have known her. The hateful constable, who followed close behind, seized +her by the hand, and led her before the worshipful court. + +Hereupon the admonitions began all over again, and _Dom. Consul_ bade her +look upon the brown spots that were upon the black shift, for that they +were the blood of old wife Bichlke, and to consider that within a few +minutes it would in like manner be stained with her own blood. Hereupon +she answered, "I have considered that right well, but I hope that my +faithful Saviour, who hath laid this torment upon me, being innocent, will +likewise help me to bear it, as he helped the holy martyrs of old; for if +these, through God's help, overcame by faith the torments inflicted on +them by blind heathens, I also can overcome the torture inflicted on me by +blind heathens, who, indeed, call themselves Christians, but who are more +cruel than those of yore; for the old heathens only caused the holy +virgins to be torn of savage beasts, but ye which have received the new +commandment, 'That ye love one another; as your Saviour hath loved you, +that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are his +disciples' (St. John xiii.); yourselves will act the part of savage +beasts, and tear with your own hands the body of an innocent maiden, your +sister, who has never done aught to harm you. Do, then, as ye list, but +have a care how ye will answer it to the highest Judge of all. Again, I +say, the lamb feareth nought, for it is in the hand of the good Shepherd." + +When my matchless child had thus spoken, _Dom. Consul_ rose, pulled off +the black skull-cap which he ever wore, because the top of his head was +already bald, bowed to the court, and said, "We hereby make known to the +worshipful court that the question ordinary and extraordinary of the +stubborn and blaspheming witch, Mary Schweidler, is about to begin, in the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." + +Hereupon all the court rose save the Sheriff, who had got up before, and +was walking uneasily up and down in the room. But of all that now follows, +and of what I myself did, I remember not one word, but will relate it all +as I have received it from my daughter and other _testes_, and they have +told me as follows:-- + +That when _Dom. Consul_ after these words had taken up the hour-glass +which stood upon the table, and walked on before, I would go with him, +whereupon _Pastor Benzensis_ first prayed me with many words and tears to +desist from my purpose, and when that was of no avail my child herself +stroked my cheeks, saying, "Father, have you ever read that the Blessed +Virgin stood by when her guileless Son was scourged? Depart, therefore, +from me. You shall stand by the pile whereon I am burned, that I promise +you; for in like manner did the Blessed Virgin stand at the foot of the +cross. But, now, go; go, I pray you, for you will not be able to bear it, +neither shall I." + +And when this also failed, _Dom. Consul_ bade the constable seize me, and +by main force lock me into another room; whereupon, however, I tore myself +away, and fell at his feet, conjuring him by the wounds of Christ not to +tear me from my child; that I would never forget his kindness and mercy, +but pray for him day and night; nay, that at the day of judgment I would +be his intercessor with God and the holy angels if that he would but let +me go with my child; that I would be quite quiet, and not speak one single +word, but that I must go with my child, etc. + +This so moved the worthy man that he burst into tears, and so trembled +with pity for me that the hour-glass fell from his hands and rolled right +before the feet of the Sheriff, as though God himself would signify to him +that his glass was soon to run out; and, indeed, he understood it right +well, for he grew white as any chalk when he picked it up and gave it back +to _Dom. Consul_. The latter at last gave way, saying that this day would +make him ten years older; but he bade the impudent constable (who also +went with us) lead me away if I made any _rumor_ during the torture. And +hereupon the whole court went below, save the Sheriff, who said his head +ached, and that he believed his old _malum_, the gout, was coming upon him +again, wherefore he went into another chamber; _item, Pastor Benzensis_ +likewise departed. + +Down in the vault the constable first brought in tables and chairs, +whereon the court sat, and _Dom. Consul_ also pushed a chair toward me, +but I sat not thereon, but threw myself upon my knees in a corner. When +this was done they began again with their vile admonitions, and as my +child, like her guileless Saviour before His unrighteous judges, answered +not a word, _Dom. Consul_ rose up and bade the tall constable lay her on +the torture-bench. + +She shook like an aspen leaf when he bound her hands and feet; and when he +was about to bind over her sweet eyes a nasty old filthy clout wherein my +maid had seen him carry fish but the day before, and which was still all +over shining scales, I perceived it, and pulled off my silken neckerchief, +begging him to use that instead, which he did. Hereupon the thumb-screw +was put on her, and she was once more asked whether she would confess +freely, but she only shook her poor blinded head and sighed with her dying +Saviour, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" and then in Greek, "Thee mou, Thee +mou, iuati me egkatelipes"; Whereat _Dom. Consul_ started back, and made +the sign of the cross (for inasmuch as he knew no Greek, he believed, as +he afterwards said himself, that she was calling upon the devil to help +her), and then called to the constable with a loud voice, "Screw!" + +But when I heard this I gave such a cry that the whole vault shook; and +when my poor child, who was dying of terror and despair, had heard my +voice she first struggled with her bound hands and feet like a lamb that +lies dying in the slaughter-house, and then cried out, "Loose me, and I +will confess whatsoe'er you will." Hereat _Dom. Consul_ so greatly +rejoiced, that while the constable unbound her, he fell on his knees, and +thanked God for having spared him this anguish. But no sooner was my poor +desperate child unbound, and had laid aside her crown of thorns (I mean my +silken neckerchief), than she jumped off the ladder, and flung herself +upon me, who lay for dead in a corner in a deep swound. + +This greatly angered the worshipful court, and when the constable had +borne me away, _Rea_ was admonished to make her confession according to +promise. But seeing she was too weak to stand upon her feet, _Dom. Consul_ +gave her a chair to sit upon, although _Dom. Camerarius_ grumbled thereat, +and these were the chief questions which were put to her by order of the +most honourable high central court, as _Dom. Consul_ said, and which were +registered _ad protocollum_. + +_Q_. Whether she could bewitch? + +_R_. Yes, she could bewitch. + +_Q_. Who taught her to do so? + +_R_. Satan himself. + +_Q_. How many devils had she? + +_R_. One devil was enough for her. + +_Q_. What was this devil called? + +_Illa_ (considering). His name was _Disidaemonia_. + +Hereat _Dom. Consul_ shuddered, and said that that must be a very terrible +devil indeed, for that he had never heard such a name before, and that she +must spell it, so that _Scriba_ might make no _error_; which she did, and +he then went on as follows:-- + +_Q_. In what shape had he appeared to her? + +_R_. In the shape of the Sheriff, and sometimes as a goat with terrible +horns. + +_Q_. Whether Satan had re-baptized her, and where? + +_R_. In the sea. + +_Q_. What name had he given her? + +_R_.--. + +_Q_. Whether any of the neighbors had been by when she was re-baptized, +and which of them? + +_R_. Hereupon my matchless child cast up her eyes towards heaven, as +though doubting whether she should file old Lizzie or not, but at last she +said, "No." + +_Q_. She must have had sponsors; who were they? and what gift had they +given her as christening money? + +_R_. There were none there save spirits; wherefore old Lizzie could see no +one when she came and looked on at her re-baptism. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever lived with the devil? + +_R_. She never had lived anywhere save in her father's house. + +She did not choose to understand. He meant whether she had ever played the +wanton with Satan, and known him carnally? Hereupon she blushed, and was +so ashamed that she covered her face with her hands, and presently began +to weep and to sob: and as, after many questions, she gave no answer, she +was again admonished to speak the truth, or that the executioner should +lift her up on the ladder again. At last she said, "No!" which, howbeit, +the worshipful court would not believe, and bade the executioner seize her +again, whereupon she answered, "Yes!" + +_Q_. Whether she had found the devil hot or cold? + +_R_. She did not remember which. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever conceived by Satan, and given birth to a +changeling, and of what shape? + +_R_. No, never. + +_Q_. Whether the foul fiend had given her any sign or mark about her body, +and in what part thereof? + +_R_. That the mark had already been seen by the worshipful court. + +She was next charged with all the witchcraft done in the village, and +owned to it all, save that she still said that she knew nought of old +Seden his death, _item_, of little Paasch her sickness, nor, lastly, would +she confess that she had, by the help of the foul fiend, raked up my crop +or conjured the caterpillars into my orchard. And albeit they again +threatened her with the question, and even ordered the executioner to lay +her on the bench and put on the thumb-screw to frighten her, she remained +firm and said, "Why should you torture me, seeing that I have confessed +far heavier crimes than these, which it will not save my life to deny?" + +Hereupon the worshipful court at last were satisfied, and suffered her to +be lifted off the torture-bench, especially as she confessed the +_articulus principals_; to wit, that Satan had really appeared to her on +the mountain in the shape of a hairy giant. Of the storm and the frog, +_item_, of the hedgehog, nothing was said, inasmuch as the worshipful +court had by this time seen the folly of supposing that she could have +brewed a storm while she quietly sat in the coach. Lastly, she prayed that +it might be granted to her to suffer death clothed in the garments which +she had worn when she went to greet the King of Sweden; _item_, that they +would suffer her wretched father to be driven with her to the stake, and +to stand by while she was burned, seeing that she had promised him this in +the presence of the worshipful court. + +Hereupon she was once more given into the charge of the tall constable, +who was ordered to put her into a stronger and severer prison. But he had +not led her out of the chamber before the Sheriff his bastard, whom he had +had by the housekeeper, came into the vault with a drum, and kept drumming +and crying out, "Come to the roast goose! come to the roast goose!" +whereat _Dom. Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and ran after him, but he could +not catch him, seeing that the young varlet knew all the ins and outs of +the vault. Without doubt it was the Lord who sent me the swound, so that I +should be spared this fresh grief; wherefore to Him alone be honour and +glory. Amen. + + + + +_The Twenty-fourth Chapter_ + + +HOW IN MY PRESENCE THE DEVIL FETCHED OLD LIZZIE KOLKEN + +When I recovered from my above-mentioned swound, I found my host, his +wife, and my old maid standing over me, and pouring warm beer down my +throat. The faithful old creature shrieked for joy when I opened my eyes +again, and then told me that my daughter had not suffered herself to be +racked, but had freely confessed her crimes and filed herself as a witch. +This seemed pleasant news to me in my misery, inasmuch as I deemed the +death by fire to be a less heavy punishment than the torture. Howbeit when +I would have prayed I could not, whereat I again fell into heavy grief and +despair, fearing that the Holy Ghost had altogether turned away His face +from me, wretched man that I was. And albeit the old maid, when she had +seen this, came and stood before my bed and began to pray aloud to me; it +was all in vain, and I remained a hardened sinner. But the Lord had pity +upon me, although I deserved it not, insomuch that I presently fell into a +deep sleep, and did not awake until next morning when the prayer-bell +rang; and then I was once more able to pray, whereat I greatly rejoiced, +and still thanked God in my heart, when my ploughman Claus Neels came in +and told me that he had come yesterday to tell me about my oats, seeing +that he had gotten them all in; and that the constable came with him who +had been to fetch old Lizzie Kolken, inasmuch as the honourable high court +had ordered her to be brought up for trial. Hereat the whole village +rejoiced, but _Rea_ herself laughed, and shouted, and sang, and told him +and the constable by the way (for the constable had let her get up behind +for a short time), that this should bring great luck to the Sheriff. They +need only bring her up before the court, and in good sooth she would not +hold her tongue within her teeth, but that all men should marvel at her +confession; that such a court as that was a laughing-stock to her, and +that she spat, _salva venia_, upon the whole brotherhood, _et cet_. + +Upon hearing this I once more felt a strong hope, and rose to go to old +Lizzie. But I was not quite dressed before she sent the impudent constable +to beg that I would go to her with all speed and give her the sacrament, +seeing that she had become very weak during the night. I had my own +thoughts on the matter, and followed the constable as fast as I could, +though not to give her the sacrament, as indeed anybody may suppose. But +in my haste, I, weak old man that I was, forgot to take my witnesses with +me; for all the misery I had hitherto suffered had so clouded my senses +that it never once came into my head. None followed me save the impudent +constable; and it will soon appear how that this villain had given himself +over body and soul to Satan to destroy my child, whereas he might have +saved her. For when he had opened the prison (it was the same cell wherein +my child had first been shut up), we found old Lizzie lying on the ground +on a truss of straw, with a broom for a pillow (as though she were to fly +to hell upon it, as she no longer could fly to Blockula), so that I +shuddered when I caught sight of her. Scarce was I come in when she cried +out fearfully, "I'm a witch, I'm a witch! Have pity upon me, and give me +the sacrament quick, and I will confess everything to you!" And when I +said to her, "Confess, then!" she owned that she, with the help of the +Sheriff, had contrived all the witchcraft in the village, and that my +child was as innocent thereof as the blessed sun in heaven. Howbeit that +the Sheriff had the greatest guilt, inasmuch as he was a warlock and a +witch's priest, and had a spirit far stronger than hers, called Dudaim, +which spirit had given her such a blow on the head in the night as she +should never recover. This same Dudaim it was that had raked up the crops, +heaped sand over the amber, made the storm, and dropped the frog into my +daughter her lap; _item_, carried off her old goodman through the air. + +And when I asked her how that could be, seeing that her goodman had been a +child of God until very near his end, and much given to prayer; albeit I +had indeed marvelled why he had other thoughts in his last illness; she +answered that one day he had seen her spirit, which she kept in a chest, +in the shape of a black cat, and whose name was Kit, and had threatened +that he would tell me of it; whereupon she, being frightened, had caused +her spirit to make him so ill that he despaired of ever getting over it. +Thereupon she had comforted him, saying that she would presently heal him +if he would deny God, who, as he well saw, could not help him. This he +promised to do; and when she had straight-way made him quite hearty again, +they took the silver which I had scraped off the new sacrament cup, and +went by night down to the seashore, where he had to throw it into the sea +with these words: "When this silver returns again to the chalice, then +shall my soul return to God." Whereupon the Sheriff, who was by, +re-baptized him in the name of Satan, and called him Jack. He had had no +sponsors save only herself, old Lizzie. Moreover, that on St. John's Eve, +when he went with them to Blockula for the first time (the Herrenberg was +their Blockula), they had talked of my daughter, and Satan himself had +sworn to the Sheriff that he should have her. For that he would show the +old one (wherewith the villain meant God) what he could do, and that he +would make the carpenter's son sweat for vexation (fie upon thee, thou +arch villain, that thou couldst thus speak of my blessed Saviour!). +Whereupon her old goodman had grumbled, and as they had never rightly +trusted him, the spirit Dudaim one day flew off with him through the air +by the Sheriff's order, seeing that her own spirit, called Kit, was too +weak to carry him. That the same Dudaim had also been the woodpecker who +afterwards 'ticed my daughter and old Paasch to the spot with his cries, +in order to ruin her. But that the giant who had appeared on the +Streckelberg was not a devil, but the young lord of Mellenthin himself, as +her spirit, Kit, had told her. + +And this she said was nothing but the truth, whereby she would live and +die; and she begged me, for the love of God, to take pity upon her, and, +after her repentant confession, to speak forgiveness of her sins, and to +give her the Lord's Supper; for that her spirit stood there behind the +stove, grinning like a rogue, because he saw that it was all up with her +now. But I answered, "I would sooner give the sacrament to an old sow than +to thee, thou accursed witch, who not only didst give over thine own +husband to Satan, but hast likewise tortured me and my poor child almost +unto death with pains like those of hell." Before she could make any +answer, a loathsome insect, about as long as my finger, and with a yellow +tail, crawled in under the door of the prison. When she espied it she gave +a yell, such as I never before heard, and never wish to hear again. For +once, when I was in Silesia, in my youth, I saw one of the enemy's +soldiers spear a child before its mother's face, and I thought that a +fearful shriek which the mother gave; but her cry was child's play to the +cry of old Lizzie. All my hair stood on end, and her own red hair grew so +stiff that it was like the twigs of the broom whereon she lay; and then +she howled, "That is the spirit Dudaim, whom the accursed Sheriff has sent +to me--the sacrament, for the love of God, the sacrament!--I will confess +a great deal more--I have been a witch these thirty years!--the sacrament, +the sacrament!" While she thus bellowed and flung about her arms and legs, +the loathsome insect rose into the air, and buzzed and whizzed about her +where she lay, insomuch that it was fearful to see and to hear. And this +she-devil called by turns on God, on her spirit Kit, and on me, to help +her, till the insect all of a sudden darted into her open jaws, whereupon +she straightway gave up the ghost, and turned all black and blue like a +blackberry. + +I heard nothing more save that the window rattled, not very loud, but as +though one had thrown a pea against it, whereby I straightway perceived +that Satan had just flown through it with her soul. May the all-merciful +God keep every mother's child from such an end, for the sake of Jesus +Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour! Amen. + +As soon as I was somewhat recovered, which, however, was not for a long +time, inasmuch as my blood had turned to ice, and my feet were as stiff as +a stake; I began to call out after the impudent constable, but he was no +longer in the prison. Thereat I greatly marvelled, seeing that I had seen +him there but just before the vermin crawled in, and straightway I +suspected no good, as, indeed, it turned out; for when at last he came +upon my calling him, and I told him to let this carrion be carted out +which had just died in the name of the devil, he did as though he was +amazed; and when I desired him that he would bear witness to the innocence +of my daughter, which the old hag had confessed on her death-bed, he +pretended to be yet more amazed, and said that he had heard nothing. This +went through my heart like a sword, and I leaned against a pillar without, +where I stood for a long time: but as soon as I was come to myself I went +to _Dom. Consul_, who was about to go to Usedom and already sat in his +coach. At my humble prayer he went back into the judgment-chamber with the +_Camerarius_ and the _Scriba_, whereupon I told all that had taken place, +and how the wicked constable denied that he had heard the same. But they +say that I talked a great deal of nonsense beside; among other things, +that all the little fishes had swam into the vault to release my daughter. +Nevertheless, _Dom. Consul_, who often shook his head, sent for the +impudent constable, and asked him for his testimony. But the fellow +pretended that as soon as he saw that old Lizzie wished to confess, he had +gone away, so as not to get any more hard words, wherefore he had heard +nothing. Hereupon I, as _Dom. Consul_ afterwards told the pastor of Benz, +clenched my fists and answered, "What, thou arch-rogue, didst thou not +crawl about the room in the shape of a reptile?" whereupon he would +hearken to me no longer, thinking me distraught, nor would he make the +constable take an oath, but left me standing in the midst of the room, and +got into his coach again. + +Neither do I know how I got out of the room; but next morning when the sun +rose, and I found myself lying in bed at Master Seep his ale-house, the +whole _casus_ seemed to me like a dream; neither was I able to rise, but +lay a-bed all the blessed Saturday and Sunday, talking all manner of +_allotria_. It was not till towards evening on Sunday, when I began to +vomit and threw up green bile (no wonder!), that I got somewhat better. +About this time _Pastor Benzensis_ came to my bedside, and told me how +distractedly I had borne myself, but so comforted me from the word of God, +that I was once more able to pray from my heart. May the merciful God +reward my dear gossip, therefore, at the day of judgment! For prayer is +almost as brave a comforter as the Holy Ghost himself, from whom it comes; +and I shall ever consider that so long as a man can still pray, his +misfortunes are not unbearable, even though in all else "his flesh and his +heart faileth" (Psalm lxxiii.). + + + + +_The Twenty-fifth Chapter_ + + +HOW SATAN SIFTED ME LIKE WHEAT, WHEREAS MY DAUGHTER WITHSTOOD HIM RIGHT +BRAVELY + +On Monday I left my bed betimes, and as I felt in passable good case, I +went up to the castle to see whether I might peradventure get to my +daughter, but I could not find either constable, albeit I had brought a +few groats with me to give them as beer-money; neither would the folks +that I met tell me where they were; _item_, the impudent constable his +wife, who was in the kitchen making brimstone matches. And when I asked +her when her husband would come back, she said not before to-morrow +morning early; _item_, that the other constable would not be here any +sooner. Hereupon I begged her to lead me to my daughter herself, at the +same time showing her the two groats; but she answered that she had not +the keys, and knew not how to get at them: moreover, she said she did not +know where my child was now shut up, seeing that I would have spoken to +her through the door; _item_, the cook, the huntsman, and whomsoever else +I met in my sorrow, said they knew not in what hole the witch might lie. + +Hereupon I went all round about the castle, and laid my ear against every +little window that looked as though it might be her window, and cried, +"Mary, my child, where art thou?" _Item_, at every grating I found I +kneeled down, bowed my head, and called in like manner into the vault +below. But all in vain; I got no answer anywhere. The Sheriff at length +saw what I was about, and came down out of the castle to me with a very +gracious air, and, taking me by the hand, he asked me what I sought? But +when I answered him that I had not seen my only child since last Thursday, +and prayed him to show pity upon me, and let me be led to her, he said +that could not be, but that I was to come up into his chamber, and talk +further of the matter. By the way he said, "Well, so the old witch told +you fine things about me, but you see how Almighty God has sent his +righteous judgment upon her. She has long been ripe for the fire; but my +great long-suffering, wherein a good magistrate should ever strive to be +like unto the Lord, has made me overlook it till _datum_, and in return +for my goodness she raises this outcry against me." And when I replied, +"How does your Lordship know that the witch raised such an outcry against +you?" he first began to stammer, and then said, "Why, you yourself charged +me thereon before the judge. But I bear you no anger therefor, and God +knows that I pity you, who are a poor, weak old man, and would gladly help +you if I were able." Meanwhile he led me up four or five flights of +stairs, so that I, old man that I am, could follow him no further, and +stood still gasping for breath. But he took me by the hand and said, +"Come, I must first show you how matters really stand, or I fear you will +not accept my help, but will plunge yourself into destruction." Hereupon +we stepped out upon a terrace at the top of the castle, which looked +toward the water; and the villain went on to say, "Reverend Abraham, can +you see well afar off?" and when I answered that I once could see very +well, but that the many tears I had shed had now peradventure dimmed my +eyes, he pointed to the Streckelberg, and said, "Do you, then, see nothing +there?" _Ego_. "Nought save a black speck, which I cannot make out." +_Ille_. "Know, then, that that is the pile whereon your daughter is to +burn at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, and which the constables are now +raising." When this hell-hound had thus spoken, I gave a loud cry and +swounded. Oh, blessed Lord! I know not how I lived through such distress; +thou alone didst strengthen me beyond nature, in order, "after so much +weeping and wailing, to heap joys and blessings upon me; without thee I +never could have lived through such misery: therefore to thy name ever be +all honour and glory, O thou God of Israel!" + +When I came again to myself I lay on a bed in a fine room, and perceived a +taste in my mouth like wine. But as I saw none near me save the Sheriff, +who held a pitcher in his hand, I shuddered and closed mine eyes, +considering what I should say or do. This he presently observed, and said, +"Do not shudder thus; I mean well by you, and only wish to put a question +to you, which you must answer me on your conscience as a priest. Say, +reverend Abraham, which is the greater sin, to commit whoredom, or to take +the lives of two persons?" and when I answered him, "To take the lives of +two persons," he went on, "Well, then, is not that what your stubborn +child is about to do? Rather than give herself up to me, who have ever +desired to save her, and who can even yet save her, albeit her pile is now +being raised, she will take away her own life and that of her wretched +father, for I scarcely think that you, poor man, will outlive this sorrow. +Wherefore do you, for God his sake, persuade her to think better of it +while I am yet able to save her. For know that about ten miles from hence +I have a small house in the midst of the forest, where no human being ever +goes; thither will I send her this very night, and you may dwell there +with her all the days of your life, if so it please you. You shall live as +well as you can possibly desire, and to-morrow morning I will spread a +report betimes that the witch and her father have run away together during +the night, and that nobody knows whither they are gone." Thus spake the +serpent to me, as whilom to our mother Eve; and, wretched sinner that I +am, the tree of death which he showed me seemed to me also to be a tree of +life, so pleasant was it to the eye. Nevertheless I answered, "My child +will never save her miserable life by doing aught to peril the salvation +of her soul." But now, too, the serpent was more cunning than all the +beasts of the field (especially such an old fool as I), and spake thus: +"Why, who would have her peril the salvation of her soul? Reverend +Abraham, must I teach you Scripture? Did not our Lord Christ pardon Mary +Magdalene, who lived in open whoredom? and did he not speak forgiveness to +the poor adulteress who had committed a still greater _crimen?_ nay, more, +doth not St. Paul expressly say that the harlot Rahab was saved, Hebrews +xi.? _item_, St. James ii. says the same. But where have ye read that any +one was saved who had wantonly taken her own life and that of her father? +Wherefore, for the love of God, persuade your child not to give herself +up, body and soul, to the devil, by her stubbornness, but to suffer +herself to be saved while it is yet time. You can abide with her, and pray +away all the sins she may commit, and likewise aid me with your prayers, +who freely own that I am a miserable sinner, and have done you much evil, +though not so much evil by far, reverend Abraham, as David did to Uriah, +and he was saved, notwithstanding he put the man to a shameful death, and +afterwards lay with his wife. Wherefore I, poor man, likewise hope to be +saved, seeing that my desire for your daughter is still greater than that +which this David felt for Bathsheba; and I will gladly make it all up to +you twofold as soon as we are in my cottage." + +When the tempter had thus spoken, methought his words were sweeter than +honey, and I answered, "Alas, my lord, I am ashamed to appear before her +face with such a proposal." Whereupon he straightway said, "Then do you +write it to her; come, here is pen, ink, and paper." + +And now, like Eve, I took the fruit and ate, and gave it to my child that +she might eat also; that is to say, that I recapitulated on paper all that +Satan had prompted, but in the Latin tongue, for I was ashamed to write it +in mine own; and lastly I conjured her not to take away her own life and +mine, but to submit to the wondrous will of God. Neither were mine eyes +opened when I had eaten (that is, written), nor did I perceive that the +ink was gall instead of honey, and I translated my letter to the Sheriff +(seeing that he understood no Latin), smiling like a drunken man the +while; whereupon he clapped me on the shoulder, and after I had made fast +the letter with his signet, he called his huntsman, and gave it to him to +carry to my daughter; _item_, he sent her pen, ink, and paper, together +with his signet, in order that she might answer it forthwith. + +Meanwhile he talked with me right graciously, praising my child and me, +and made me drink to him many times from his great pitcher, wherein was +most goodly wine; moreover, he went to a cupboard and brought out cakes +for me to eat, saying that I should now have such every day. But when the +huntsman came back in about half an hour with her answer, and I had read +the same, then, first, were mine eyes opened, and I knew good and evil; +had I had a fig-leaf, I should have covered them therewith for shame; but +as it was, I held my hand over them and wept so bitterly that the Sheriff +waxed very wroth, and cursing bade me tell him what she had written. +Thereupon I interpreted the letter to him, the which I likewise place +here, in order that all may see my folly, and the wisdom of my child. It +was as follows:-- + +"IESVS! + +"Pater infelix! + +"Ego cras non magis pallebo rogum aspectura, et rogus non magis erubescet, +me suscipiens, quam pallui et iterum erubescui, literas tuas legens. Quid? +et te, pium patrem, pium servum Domini, ita Satanas sollicitavit, ut +communionem facias cum inimicis meis, et non intelligas: in tali vita esse +mortem, et in tali morte vitam? Scilicet si clementissimus Deus Mariae +Magdalenae aliisque ignovit, ignovit, quia resipiscerent ob carnis +debilitatem, et non iterum peccarent. Et ego peccarem cum quavis +detestatione carnis, et non semel, sed iterum atque iterum sine reversione +usque ad mortem? Quomodo clementissimus Deus haec sceleratissima ignoscere +posset? infelix pater! recordare quid mihi dixisti de sanctis martyribus +et virginibus Domini, qua omnes mallent vitam quam pudicitiam perdere. His +et ego sequar, et sponsus meus, Jesus Christus, et mihi miserae, ut spero, +coronam aeternam dabit, quamvis eum non minus offendi ob debilitatem +carnis ut Maria, et me sontem declaravi, cum insons sum. Fac igitur, ut +valeas et ora pro me apud Deum et non apud Satanam, ut et ego mox coram +Deo pro te orare possim. + +"MARIA S., captiva." + +When the Sheriff heard this, he flung the pitcher which he held in his +hand to the ground, so that it flew in pieces, and cried, "The cursed +devil's whore! the constable shall make her squeak for this a good hour +longer"; with many more such things beside, which he said in his malice, +and which I have now forgotten; but he soon became quite gracious again, +and said, "She is foolish; do you go to her and see whether you cannot +persuade her to her own good as well as yours; the huntsman shall let you +in, and should the fellow listen, give him a good box on the ears in my +name; do you hear, reverend Abraham? Go now forthwith and bring me back an +answer as quickly as possible!" I therefore followed the huntsman, who led +me into a vault where was no light save what fell through a hole no bigger +than a crown-piece; and here my daughter sat upon her bed and wept. Any +one may guess that I straightway began to weep too, and was no better able +to speak than she. We thus lay mute in each other's arms for a long time, +until I at last begged her to forgive me for my letter, but of the Sheriff +his message I said nought, although I had purposed so to do. But before +long we heard the Sheriff himself call down into the vault from above, +"What (and here he gave me a heavy curse) are you doing there so long? +Come up this moment, reverend Johannes!" Thus I had scarce time to +give her one kiss before the huntsman came back with the keys and forced +us to part; albeit we had as yet scarcely spoken, save that I had told her +in a few words what had happened with old Lizzie. It would be hard to +believe into what grievous anger the Sheriff fell when I told him that my +daughter remained firm and would not hearken unto him; he struck me on the +breast, and said, "Go to the devil then, thou infamous parson!" and when I +turned myself away and would have gone, he pulled me back, and said, "If +thou breathest but one word of all that has passed, I will have thee burnt +too, thou grey-headed old father of a witch; so look to it!" Hereupon I +plucked up a heart, and answered that that would be the greatest joy to +me, especially if I could be burnt to-morrow with my child. Hereunto he +made no answer, but clapped to the door behind me. Well, clap the door as +thou wilt, I greatly fear that the just God will one day clap the doors of +heaven in thy face! + + + + +_The Twenty-sixth Chapter_ + + +HOW I RECEIVED THE HOLY SACRAMENT WITH MY DAUGHTER AND THE OLD +MAIDSERVANT, AND HOW SHE WAS THEN LED FOR THE LAST TIME BEFORE THE COURT, +WITH THE DRAWN SWORD AND THE OUTCRY, TO RECEIVE SENTENCE + +Now any one would think that during that heavy Tuesday night I should not +have been able to close mine eyes; but know, dear reader, that the Lord +can do more than we can ask or understand, and that his mercy is new every +morning. For toward daybreak I fell asleep as quietly as though I had had +no care upon my heart; and when I awoke I was able to pray more heartily +than I had done for a long time; so that, in the midst of my tribulation, +I wept for joy at such great mercy from the Lord. But I prayed for nought +save that he would endow my child with strength and courage to suffer the +martyrdom he had laid upon her with Christian patience, and to send his +angel to me, woeful man, so to pierce my heart with grief when I should +see my child burn that it might straightway cease to beat, and I might +presently follow her. And thus I still prayed when the maid came in all +dressed in black, and with the silken raiment of my sweet lamb hanging +over her arm; and she told me, with many tears, that the dead-bell had +already tolled from the castle tower, for the first time, and that my +child had sent for her to dress her, seeing that the court was already +come from Usedom, and that in about two hours she was to set out on her +last journey. Moreover, she had sent her word that she was to take her +some blue and yellow flowers for a garland; wherefore she asked me what +flowers she should take; and seeing that a jar filled with fire lilies and +forget-me-nots stood in my window, which she had placed there yesterday, I +said, "Thou canst gather no better flowers for her than these, wherefore +do thou carry them to her, and tell her that I will follow thee in about +half an hour, in order to receive the sacrament with her." Hereupon the +faithful old creature prayed me to suffer her to go to the sacrament with +us, the which I promised her. And scarce had I dressed myself and put on +my surplice when _Pastor Benzensis_ came in at the door and fell upon my +neck, weeping, and as mute as a fish. As soon as he came to his speech +again he told me of the great _miraculum_ (_daemonis_ I mean) which had +befallen at the burial of old Lizzie. For that, just as the bearers were +about to lower the coffin into the grave, a noise was heard therein, as +though of a carpenter boring through a deal board; wherefore they thought +the old hag must be come to life again, and opened the coffin. But there +she lay as before, all black and blue in the face, and as cold as ice; but +her eyes had started wide open, so that all were horror-stricken, and +expected some devilish apparition; and, indeed, a live rat presently +jumped out of the coffin and ran into a skull which lay beside the grave. +Thereupon they all ran away, seeing that old Lizzie had ever been in evil +repute as a witch. Howbeit at last he himself went near the grave again, +whereupon the rat disappeared, and all the others took courage and +followed him. This the man told me, and any one may guess that this was in +fact Satan, who had flown down the hag her throat as an insect, whereas +his proper shape was that of a rat: albeit I wonder what he could so long +have been about in the carrion; unless indeed it were that the evil +spirits are as fond of all that is loathsome as the angels of God are of +all that is fair and lovely. Be that as it may; _Summa_: I was not a +little shocked at what he told me, and asked him what he now thought of +the Sheriff? whereupon he shrugged his shoulders, and said that he had +indeed been a wicked fellow as long as he could remember him, and that it +was full ten years since he had given him any first-fruits; but that he +did not believe that he was a warlock, as old Lizzie had said. For +although he had indeed never been to the table of the Lord in his church, +he had heard that he often went at Stettin, with his Princely Highness the +Duke, and that the pastor at the castle church had shown him the entry in +his communion-book. Wherefore he likewise could not believe that he had +brought this misery upon my daughter, if she were innocent, as the hag had +said; besides, that my daughter had freely confessed herself a witch. +Hereupon I answered, that she had done that for fear of the torture; but +that she was not afraid of death; whereupon I told him, with many sighs, +how the sheriff had yesterday tempted me, miserable and unfaithful +servant, to evil, insomuch that I had been willing to sell my only child +to him and to Satan, and was not worthy to receive the sacrament to-day. +Likewise how much more steadfast a faith my daughter had than I, as he +might see from her letter, which I still carried in my pocket; herewith I +gave it into his hand, and when he had read it, he sighed as though he had +been himself a father, and said, "Were this true, I should sink into the +earth for sorrow; but come, brother, come, that I may prove her faith +myself." + +Hereupon we went up to the castle, and on our way we found the greensward +before the hunting-lodge, _item_, the whole space in front of the castle, +already crowded with people, who, nevertheless, were quite quiet as we +went by: we gave our names again to the huntsman. (I have never been able +to remember his name, seeing that he was a Polak; he was not, however, the +same fellow who wooed my child, and whom the Sheriff had therefore turned +off.) The man presently ushered us into a fine large room, whither my +child had been led when taken out of her prison. The maid had already +dressed her, and she looked lovely as an angel. She wore the chain of gold +with the effigy round her neck again, _item_, the garland in her hair, and +she smiled as we entered, saying, "I am ready!" Whereat the reverend +Martinus was sorely angered and shocked, saying, "Ah, thou ungodly woman, +let no one tell me further of thine innocence! Thou art about to go to the +holy sacrament, and from thence to death, and thou flauntest as a child of +this world about to go to the dancing-room." Whereupon she answered and +said, "Be not wroth with me, dear godfather, because that I would go into +the presence of my good King of Heaven in the same garments wherein I +appeared some time since before the good King of Sweden. For it +strengthens my weak and trembling flesh, seeing I hope that my righteous +Saviour will in like manner take me to his heart, and will also hand his +effigy upon my neck when I stretch out my hands to him in all humility, +and recite my _carmen_, saying, 'O Lamb of God, innocently slain upon the +cross, give my thy peace, O Jesu!'" These words softened my dear gossip, +and he spoke, saying, "Ah, child, child, I thought to have reproached +thee, but thou hast constrained me to weep with thee: art thou, then, +indeed innocent?" "Verily," said she, "to you, my honoured godfather, I +may now own that I am innocent, as truly as I trust that God will aid me +in my last hour through Jesus Christ. Amen." + +When the maid heard this, she made such outcries that I repented that I +had suffered her to be present, and we all had enough to do to comfort her +from the word of God till she became somewhat more tranquil; and when this +was done, my dear gossip thus spake to my child: "If, indeed, thou dost so +steadfastly maintain thine innocence, it is my duty, according to my +conscience as a priest, to inform the worshipful court thereof"; and he +was about to leave the room. But she withheld him, and fell upon the +ground and clasped his knees, saying, "I beseech you, by the wounds of +Jesus, to be silent. They would stretch me on the rack again, and uncover +my nakedness, and I, wretched weak woman, would in such torture confess +all that they would have me, especially if my father again be there, +whereby both my soul and my body are tortured at once: wherefore stay, I +pray you, stay; is it, then, a misfortune to die innocent, and is it not +better to die innocent than guilty?" + +My good gossip at last gave way, and after standing awhile and praying to +himself, he wiped away his tears, and then spake the exhortation to +confession, in the words of Isaiah xliii. 1, 2, "But now thus saith the +Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear +not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art +mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and +through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest +through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle +upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy +Saviour." + +And when he had ended this comfortable address, and asked her whether she +would willingly bear until her last hour that cross which the most +merciful God according to his unsearchable will had laid upon her, she +spake such beautiful words that my gossip afterwards said he should not +forget them so long as he should live, seeing that he had never witnessed +a bearing at once so full of faith and joy, and withal so deeply +sorrowful. She spake after this manner: "Oh, holy cross, which my Jesus +hath sanctified by his innocent suffering; oh, dear cross, which is laid +upon me by the hand of a merciful Father; oh, blessed cross, whereby I am +made like unto my Lord Jesus, and am called unto eternal glory and +blessedness: how! shall I not willingly bear thee, thou sweet cross of my +bridegroom, of my brother?" The reverend Johannes had scarce given us +absolution, and after this, with many tears, the holy sacrament, when we +heard a loud trampling upon the floor, and presently the impudent +constable looked into the room and asked whether we were ready, seeing +that the worshipful court was now waiting for us; and when he had been +told that we were ready, my child would have first taken leave of me, but +I forbade her, saying, "Not so; thou knowest that which thou hast promised +me; ... 'and whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will +lodge: ... where thou diest will I die ...' if that the Lord, as I hope, +will hear the ardent sighs of my poor soul." Hereupon she let me go, and +embraced only the old maid-servant, thanking her for all the kindness she +had shown her from her youth up, and begging her not to go with her to +make her death yet more bitter by her cries. The faithful old creature was +unable for a long time to say a word for tears. Howbeit at last she begged +forgiveness of my child for that she unwittingly accused her, and said, +that out of her wages she had bought five pounds' weight of flax to hasten +her death; that the shepherd of Pudgla had that very morning taken it with +him to Coserow, and that she should wind it closely round her body; for +that she had seen how old wife Schurne, who was burnt in Liepe, had +suffered great torments before she came to her death, by reason of the +damp wood. + +But ere my child could thank her for this, the dreadful outcry of blood +began in the judgment-chamber; for a voice cried as loudly as might be, +"Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath +fallen off from the living God!" Then all the folk without cried, "Woe +upon the accursed witch!" When I heard this I fell back against the wall, +but my sweet child stroked my cheeks with her darling hands, and said, +"Father, father, do but remember that the people likewise cried out +against the innocent Jesus, 'Crucify him, crucify him!' Shall not we then +drink of the cup which our Heavenly Father hath prepared for us?" + +Hereupon the door opened, and the constable walked in, amid a great tumult +among the people, holding a drawn sword in his hand, which he bowed thrice +before my child, and cried, "Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, +because that she hath fallen off from the living God!" and all the folks +in the hall and without the castle cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon +the accursed witch!" + +Hereupon he said, "Mary Schweidler, come before the high and worshipful +court to hear sentence of death passed upon thee!" Whereupon she followed +him with us two miserable men (for _Pastor Benzensis_ was no less cast +down than myself). As for the old maid-servant, she lay on the ground for +dead. + +After we had with great pains pushed our way through all the people, the +constable stood still before the open judgment-chamber, and once more +bowed his sword before my child and cried for the third time, "Woe upon +the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath fallen off from +the living God!" And all the people, as well as the cruel judges +themselves, cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon the accursed witch!" + +When we had entered the room, _Dom. Consul_ first asked my worthy gossip +whether the witch had abode by her free avowal in confession; whereupon, +after considering a short time, he answered, that he had best ask herself, +for there she stood. According, taking up a paper which lay before him on +the table, he spake as follows:--"Mary Schweidler, now that thou hast +confessed, and received the holy and most honourable sacrament of the +Lord's Supper, answer me once again these following questions:-- + +"1. Is it true that thou hast fallen off from the living God and given +thyself up to Satan? + +"2. Is it true that thou hadst a spirit called _Disidaemonia_, who +re-baptized thee and carnally knew thee? + +"3. Is it true that thou hast done all manner of mischief to the cattle? + +"4. Is it true that Satan appeared to thee on the Streckelberg in the +likeness of a hairy giant?" + +When she had with many sighs said "Yes" to all these questions, he rose, +took a wand in one hand and a second paper in the other, put his +spectacles on his nose, and said, "Now, then, hear thy sentence." (This +sentence I since copied: he would not let me see the other _Acta_, but +pretended that they were at Wolgast. The sentence, however, was word for +word as follows.) + +"We, the Sheriff and the Justices appointed to serve the high and +worshipful criminal court. Inasmuch as Mary Schweidler, the daughter of +Abraham Schweidlerus, the pastor of Coserow, hath, after the appointed +inquisition, repeatedly made free confession that she hath a devil named +_Disidaemonia_, the which did re-baptize her in the sea, and did also know +her carnally; _item_, that she by his help did mischief to the cattle; +that he also appeared to her on the Streckelberg in the likeness of a +hairy giant. We do therefore by these presents make known and direct that +_Rea_ be first duly torn four times on each breast with red-hot iron +pincers, and after that be burned to death by fire, as a rightful +punishment to herself and a warning to others. Nevertheless we, in pity +for her youth, are pleased of our mercy to spare her the tearing with +red-hot pincers, so that she shall only suffer death by the simple +punishment of fire. Wherefore she is hereby condemned and judged +accordingly on the part of the criminal court. + +"_Publicatum_ at the castle of Pudgla, the 30th day _mensis Augusti, anno +Salutis_ 1630." + +As he spake the last word he brake his wand in two and threw the pieces +before the feet of my innocent lamb, saying to the constable, "Now, do +your duty!" But so many folks, both men and women, threw themselves on the +ground to seize the pieces of the wand (seeing they are said to be good +for the gout in the joints, _item_, for cattle when troubled with lice), +that the constable fell to the earth over a woman who was on her knees +before him, and his approaching death was thus foreshadowed to him by the +righteous God. Something of the same sort likewise befell the Sheriff now +for the second time; for when the worshipful court rose, throwing down +tables, stools, and benches, a table, under which two boys were fighting +for the pieces of the wand, fell right upon his foot, whereupon he flew +into a violent rage, and threatened the people with his fist, saying that +they should have fifty right good lashes a-piece, both men and women, if +they were not quiet forthwith, and did not depart peaceably out of the +room. This frighted them, and after the people were gone out into the +street, the constable took a rope out of his pocket, wherewith he bound my +lamb her hands so tightly behind her back that she cried aloud; but when +she saw how this wrung my heart, she straightway constrained herself and +said, "Oh, father, remember that it fared no better with the blessed +Saviour!" Howbeit, when my dear gossip, who stood behind her, saw that her +little hands, and more especially her nails, had turned black and blue, he +spoke for her to the worshipful court, whereupon the abominable Sheriff +only said, "Oh, let her be; let her feel what it is to fall off from the +living God." But _Dom. Consul_ was more merciful, inasmuch as, after +feeling the cords, he bade the constable bind her hands less cruelly and +slacken the rope a little, which accordingly he was forced to do. But my +dear gossip was not content herewith, and begged that she might sit in the +cart without being bound, so that she should be able to hold her +hymn-book, for he had summoned the school to sing a hymn by the way for +her comfort, and he was ready to answer for it with his own head that she +should not escape out of the cart. Moreover; it is the custom for fellows +with pitchforks always to go with the carts wherein condemned criminals, +and more especially witches, are carried to execution. But this the cruel +Sheriff would not suffer, and the rope was left upon her hands, and the +impudent constable seized her by the arm and led her from the +judgment-chamber. But in the hall we saw a great _scandalum_, which again +pierced my very heart. For the housekeeper and the impudent constable his +wife were fighting for my child her bed, and her linen, and wearing +apparel, which the housekeeper had taken for herself, and which the other +woman wanted to have. The latter now called to her husband to help her, +whereupon he straightway let go my daughter and struck the housekeeper on +her mouth with his fist, so that the blood ran out therefrom, and she +shrieked and wailed fearfully to the Sheriff, who followed us with the +court. He threatened them both in vain, and said that when he came back he +would inquire into the matter and give to each her due share. But they +would not hearken to this, until my daughter asked _Dom. Consul_ whether +every dying person, even a condemned criminal, had power to leave his +goods and chattels to whomsoever he would? and when he answered, "Yes, all +but the clothes, which belong of right to the executioner," she said, +"Well, then, the constable may take my clothes, but none shall have my bed +save my faithful old maid-servant Ilse!" Hereupon the housekeeper began to +curse and revile my child loudly, who heeded her not, but stepped out at +the door toward the cart, where there stood so many people that nought +could be seen save head against head. The folks crowded about us so +tumultuously that the Sheriff, who, meanwhile, had mounted his grey horse, +constantly smote them right and left across their eyes with his +riding-whip, but they nevertheless would scarce fall back. Howbeit, at +length he cleared the way, and when about ten fellows with long +pitchforks, who for the most part also had rapiers at their sides, had +placed themselves round about our cart, the constable lifted my daughter +up into it, and bound her fast to the rail. Old Paasch, who stood by, +lifted me up, and my dear gossip was likewise forced to be lifted in, so +weak had he become from all the distress. He motioned his sexton, Master +Krekow, to walk before the cart with the school, and bade him from time to +time lead a verse of the goodly hymn, "On God alone I rest my fate," which +he promised to do. And here I will also note, that I myself sat down upon +the straw by my daughter, and that our dear confessor the reverend +Martinus sat backwards. The constable was perched up behind with his drawn +sword. When all this was done, _item_, the court mounted up into another +carriage, the Sheriff gave the order to set out. + + + + +_The Twenty-seventh Chapter_ + + +OF THAT WHICH BEFELL US BY THE WAY: _ITEM_, OF THE FEARFUL DEATH OF THE +SHERIFF AT THE MILL + +We met with many wonders by the way, and with great sorrow; for hard by +the bridge, over the brook which runs into the Schmolle, stood the +housekeeper her hateful boy, who beat a drum and cried aloud, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon the crowd set up a loud +laugh, and called out after him, "Yes, indeed, to the roast goose! to the +roast goose!" Howbeit, when Master Krekow led the second verse the folks +became somewhat quieter again, and most of them joined in singing it from +their books, which they had brought with them. But when he ceased singing +awhile the noise began again as bad as before. Some cried out, "The devil +hath given her these clothes, and hath adorned her after that fashion"; +and seeing the Sheriff had ridden on before, they came close round the +cart, and felt her garments, more especially the women and young maidens. +Others, again, called loudly, as the young varlet had done, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon one fellow answered, "She +will not let herself be roasted yet; mind ye that: she will quench the +fire!" This, and much filthiness beside, which I may not for very shame +write down, we were forced to hear, and it especially cut me to the heart +to hear a fellow swear that he would have some of her ashes, seeing he had +not been able to get any of the wand, and that nought was better for the +fever and the gout than the ashes of a witch. I motioned the _Custos_ to +begin singing again, whereupon the folks were once more quiet for a +while--_i.e._, for so long as the verse lasted; but afterwards they rioted +worse than before. But we were now come among the meadows, and when my +child saw the beauteous flowers which grew along the sides of the ditches, +she fell into deep thought, and began again to recite aloud the sweet song +of St. Augustinus as follows:-- + + Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum, + Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, + Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt, + Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, + Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum, + Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum, + Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. + +By this _Casus_ we gained that all the folk ran cursing away from the +cart, and followed us at the distance of a good musket-shot, thinking +that my child was calling on Satan to help her. Only one lad, of about +five-and-twenty, whom, however, I did not know, tarried a few paces behind +the cart, until his father came, and seeing he would not go away +willingly, pushed him into the ditch, so that he sank up to his loins +in the water. Thereat even my poor child smiled, and asked me whether I +did not know any more Latin hymns wherewith to keep the stupid and +foul-mouthed people still further from us. But, dear reader, how could I +then have been able to recite Latin hymns, even had I known any? But my +_confrater_, the reverend Martinus, knew such an one; albeit it is indeed +heretical; nevertheless, seeing that it above measure pleased my child, +and that she made him repeat to her sundry verses thereof three and four +times, until she could say them after him, I said nought; otherwise I have +ever been very severe against aught that is heretical. Howbeit I comforted +myself therewith that our Lord God would forgive her in consideration of +her ignorance. And the first line ran as follows:--_Dies irae, dies ilia_. +But these two verses pleased her more than all the rest, and she recited +them many times with great edification, wherefore I will insert them here. + + Judex ergo cum sedebit + Quidquid latet apparebit, + Nil inultum remanebit: + + _Item_, + + Rex tremends majestatis! + Qui salvandos salvas gratis, + Salva me, fons pietatis! + +When the men with the pitchforks, who were round about the cart, heard +this, and at the same time saw a heavy storm coming up from the +Achterwater, they straightway thought no other but that my child had made +it; and, moreover, the folk behind cried out, "The witch hath done this; +the damned witch hath done this!" and all the ten, save one, who stayed +behind, jumped over the ditch, and ran away. But _Dom. Consul_, who, +together with the worshipful court, drove behind us, no sooner saw this +than he called to the constable, "What is the meaning of all this?" +Whereupon the constable cried aloud to the Sheriff, who was a little way +on before us, but who straightway turned him about, and when he had heard +the cause, called after the fellows that he would hang them all up on the +first tree, and feed his falcons with their flesh, if they did not return +forthwith. This threat had its effect; and when they came back he gave +each of them about half a dozen strokes with his riding-whip, whereupon +they tarried in their places, but as far off from the cart as they could +for the ditch. + +Meanwhile, however, the storm came up from the southward, with thunder, +lightning, hail, and such a wind, as though the all-righteous God would +manifest his wrath against these ruthless murderers; and the tops of the +lofty beeches around us were beaten together like besoms, so that our cart +was covered with leaves as with hail, and no one could hear his own voice +for the noise. This happened just as we were entering the forest from the +convent dam, and the Sheriff now rode close behind us, beside the coach +wherein was _Dom. Consul_. Moreover, just as we were crossing the bridge +over the mill-race, we were seized by the blast, which swept up a hollow +from the Achterwater with such force that we conceived it must drive our +cart down the abyss, which was at least forty feet deep or more; and +seeing that, at the same time, the horses did as though they were upon +ice, and could not stand, the driver halted to let the storm pass over, +the which the Sheriff no sooner perceived than he galloped up and bade him +go on forthwith. Whereupon the man flogged on the horses, but they slipped +about after so strange a fashion that our guards with the pitchforks fell +back, and my child cried aloud for fear; and when we were come to the +place where the great waterwheel turned just below us, the driver fell +with his horse, which broke one of its legs. Then the constable jumped +down from the cart, but straightway fell too on the slippery ground; +_item_, the driver, after getting on his legs again, fell a second time. +Hereupon the Sheriff, with a curse, spurred on his grey charger, which +likewise began to slip as our horses had also done. Nevertheless, he came +sliding towards us, without, however, falling down; and when he saw that +the horse with the broken leg still tried to get up, but always +straightway fell again on the slippery ground, he hallooed and beckoned +the fellows with pitchforks to come and unharness the mare; _item_, to +push the cart over the bridge, lest it should be carried down the +precipice. Presently a long flash of lightning shot into the water below +us, followed by a clap of thunder so sudden and so awful that the whole +bridge shook, and the Sheriff his horse (our horses stood quite still) +started back a few paces, lost its footing, and, together with its rider, +shot headlong down upon the great mill-wheel below, whereupon a fearful +cry arose from all those that stood behind us on the bridge. For a while +nought could be seen for the white foam, until the Sheriff his legs and +body were borne up into the air by the wheel, his head being stuck fast +between the fellies; and thus, fearful to behold, he went round and round +upon the wheel. Naught ailed the grey charger, which swam about in the +mill-pond below. When I saw this I seized the hand of my innocent lamb, +and cried, "Behold, Mary, our Lord God yet liveth! 'and he rode upon a +cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. Then did +he beat them small as the dust before the wind; he did cast them out as +the dirt in the streets.' Look down, and see what the Almighty God hath +done." While she hereupon raised her eyes towards heaven with a sigh, we +heard _Dom. Consul_ calling out behind us as loudly as he could: and +seeing that none could understand his words for the fearful storm and the +tumult of the waters, he jumped down from the coach, and would have +crossed the bridge on foot, but straightway he fell upon his nose, so that +it bled, and he crept back again on his hands and feet, and held a long +talk with _Dom. Camerarius_, who, howbeit, did not stir out of the coach. +Meanwhile the driver and the constable had unyoked the maimed horse, bound +it, and dragged it off the bridge, and now they came back to the cart and +bade us get down therefrom and cross the bridge on foot, the which we did +after the constable had unbound my child with many curses and ill words, +threatening that, in return for her malice, he would keep her roasting +till late in the evening. (I could not blame him much therefore; for truly +this was a strange thing!) But albeit my child herself got safe across, we +two--I mean reverend Martinus and myself--like all the others, fell two or +three times to the ground. At length we all, by God his grace, got safe +and sound to the miller's house, where the constable delivered my child +into the miller his hands, to guard her on forfeit of his life, while he +ran down to the mill-pond to save the Sheriff his grey charger. The driver +was bidden the while to get the cart and the other horses off the +bewitched bridge. We had, however, stood but a short time with the miller, +under the great oak before his door, when _Dom. Consul_, with the +worshipful court, and all the folks, came over the little bridge, which is +but a couple of musket-shots off from the first one, and he could scarce +prevent the crowd from falling upon my child and tearing her in pieces, +seeing that they all, as well as _Dom. Consul_ himself, imagined that none +other but she had brewed the storm and bewitched the bridge (especially as +she herself had not fallen thereon), and had likewise caused the Sheriff +his death; all of which, nevertheless, were foul lies, as ye shall +hereafter hear. He, therefore, railed at her for a cursed she-devil, who, +even after having confessed and received the holy Sacrament, had not yet +renounced Satan; but that nought should save her, and she should, +nevertheless, receive her reward. And, seeing that she kept silence, I +hereupon answered, "Did he not see that the all-righteous God had so +ordered it, that the Sheriff, who would have robbed my innocent child of +her honour and her life, had here forfeited his own life as a fearful +example to others?" But _Dom. Consul_ would not see this, and said that a +child might perceive that our Lord God had not made this storm, or did I +peradventure believe that our Lord God had likewise bewitched the bridge? +I had better cease to justify my wicked child, and rather begin to exhort +her to repent, seeing that this was the second time that she had brewed a +storm, and that no man with a grain of sense could believe what I said, +etc. + +Meanwhile the miller had already stopped the mill, _item_, turned off the +water, and some four or five fellows had gone with the constable down to +the great water-wheel to take the Sheriff out of the fellies, wherein he +had till _datum_ still been carried round and round. This they could not +do until they had first sawn out one of the fellies; and when at last they +brought him to the bank, his neck was found to be broken, and he was as +blue as a corn-flower. Moreover, his throat was frightfully torn, and the +blood ran out of his nose and mouth. If the people had not reviled my +child before, they reviled her doubly now, and would have thrown dirt and +stones at her, had not the worshipful court interfered with might and +main, saying that she would presently receive her well-deserved +punishment. + +[Illustration: The Doom of the Wheel] + +Also, my dear gossip, the Reverend Martinus, climbed up into the cart +again, and admonished the people not to forestall the law; and seeing that +the storm had somewhat abated, he could now be heard. And when they had +become somewhat more quiet, _Dom. Consul_ left the corpse of the Sheriff +in charge with the miller, until such time as, by God's help, he should +return. _Item_, he caused the grey charger to be tied up to the oak-tree +till the same time, seeing that the miller swore that he had no room in +the mill, inasmuch as his stable was filled with straw; but that he would +give the grey horse some hay, and keep good watch over him. And now were +we wretched creatures forced to get into the cart again, after that the +unsearchable will of God had once more dashed all our hopes. The constable +gnashed his teeth with rage, while he took the cords out of his pocket to +bind my poor child to the rail withal. As I saw right well what he was +about to do, I pulled a few groats out of my pocket, and whispered into +his ear, "Be merciful, for she cannot possibly run away, and do you +hereafter help her to die quickly, and you shall get ten groats more from +me!" This worked well, and albeit he pretended before the people to pull +the ropes tight, seeing they all cried out with might and main, "Haul +hard, haul hard!" in truth he bound her hands more gently than before, and +even without making her fast to the rail; but he sat up behind us again +with the naked sword, and after that _Dom. Consul_ had prayed aloud, "God +the Father, dwell with us," likewise the _Custos_ had led another hymn (I +know not what he sang, neither does my child), we went on our way, +according to the unfathomable will of God, after this fashion: the +worshipful court went before, whereas all the folks, to our great joy, +fell back, and the fellows with the pitchforks lingered a good way behind +us, now that the Sheriff was dead. + + + + +_The Twenty-eighth Chapter_ + + +HOW MY DAUGHTER WAS AT LENGTH SAVED BY THE HELP OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL, YEA, +OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL GOD + +Meanwhile, by reason of my unbelief, wherewith Satan again tempted me, I +had become so weak that I was forced to lean my back against the constable +his knees, and expected not to live till even we should come to the +mountain; for the last hope I had cherished was now gone, and I saw that +my innocent lamb was in the same plight. Moreover, the reverend Martinus +began to upbraid her, saying that he, too, now saw that all her oaths were +lies, and that she really could brew storms. Hereupon, she answered with a +smile, although, indeed, she was as white as a sheet, "Alas, reverend +godfather, do you then really believe that the weather and the storms no +longer obey our Lord God? Are storms, then, so rare at this season of the +year, that none save the foul fiend can cause them? Nay, I have never +broken the baptismal vow you once made in my name, nor will I ever break +it, as I hope that God will be merciful to me in my last hour, which is +now at hand." But the reverend Martinus shook his head doubtingly, and +said, "The Evil One must have promised thee much, seeing thou remainest so +stubborn even unto thy life's end, and blasphemest the Lord thy God; but +wait, and thou wilt soon learn with horror that the devil 'is a liar, and +the father of it'" (St. John viii.). Whilst he yet spake this, and more of +a like kind, we came to Uekeritze, where all the people, both great and +small, rushed out of their doors, also Jacob Schwarten his wife, who, as +we afterwards heard, had only been brought to bed the night before, and +her goodman came running after her to fetch her back, in vain. She told +him he was a fool, and had been one for many a weary day, and that if she +had to crawl up the mountain on her bare knees, she would go to see the +parson's witch burned; that she had reckoned upon it for so long, and if +he did not let her go, she would give him a thump on the chaps, etc. + +Thus did the coarse and foul-mouthed people riot around the cart wherein +we sat, and as they knew not what had befallen, they ran so near us that +the wheel went over the foot of a boy. Nevertheless, they all crowded up +again, more especially the lasses, and felt my daughter her clothes, and +would even see her shoes and stockings, and asked her how she felt. +_Item_, one fellow asked whether she would drink somewhat, with many more +fooleries besides, till at last, when several came and asked her for her +garland and her golden chain, she turned towards me and smiled, saying, +"Father, I must begin to speak some Latin again, otherwise the folks will +leave me no peace." But it was not wanted this time; for our guards, with +the pitchforks, had now reached the hindmost, and, doubtless, told them +what had happened, as we presently heard a great shouting behind us, for +the love of God to turn back before the witch did them a mischief; and as +Jacob Schwarten his wife heeded it not, but still plagued my child to give +her her apron to make a christening coat for her baby, for that it was +pity to let it be burnt, her goodman gave her such a thump on her back +with a knotted stick which he had pulled out of the hedge that she fell +down with loud shrieks; and when he went to help her up she pulled him +down by his hair, and, as reverend Martinus said, now executed what she +had threatened; inasmuch as she struck him on the nose with her fist with +might and main, until the other people came running up to them, and held +her back. Meanwhile, however, the storm had almost passed over, and sank +down toward the sea. + +And when we had gone through the little wood, we suddenly saw the +Streckelberg before us, covered with people, and the pile and stake upon +the top, upon the which the tall constable jumped up when he saw us +coming, and beckoned with his cap with all his might. Thereat my senses +left me, and my sweet lamb was not much better; for she bent to and fro +like a reed, and stretching her bound hands towards heaven, she once more +cried out: + + Rex tremendae majestatis! + Qui salvandos salvas gratis, + Salva me, fons pietatis! + +And, behold, scarce had she spoken these words, when the sun came out and +formed a rainbow right over the mountain most pleasant to behold; and it +is clear that this was a sign from the merciful God, such as he often +gives us, but which we blind and unbelieving men do not rightly mark. +Neither did my child heed it; for albeit she thought upon that first +rainbow which shadowed forth our troubles, yet it seemed to her impossible +that she could now be saved, wherefore she grew so faint, that she no +longer heeded the blessed sign of mercy, and her head fell forward (for +she could no longer lean it upon me, seeing that I lay my length at the +bottom of the cart), till her garland almost touched my worthy gossip his +knees. Thereupon he bade the driver stop for a moment, and pulled out a +small flask filled with wine, which he always carries in his pocket when +witches are to be burnt, in order to comfort them therewith in their +terror. (Henceforth, I myself will ever do the like, for this fashion of +my dear gossip pleases me well.) He first poured some of this wine down my +throat, and afterwards down my child's; and we had scarce come to +ourselves again, when a fearful noise and tumult arose among the people +behind us, and they not only cried out in deadly fear, "The Sheriff is +come back! the Sheriff is come again!" but as they could neither run away +forwards or backwards (being afraid of the ghost behind and of my child +before them), they ran on either side, some rushing into the coppice, and +others wading into the Achterwater up to their necks. _Item_, as soon as +_Dom. Camerarius_ saw the ghost come out of the coppice with a grey hat +and a grey feather, such as the Sheriff wore, riding on the grey charger, +he crept under a bundle of straw in the cart: and _Dom. Consul_ cursed my +child again, and bade the coachman drive on as madly as they could, even +should all the horses die of it, when the impudent constable behind us +called to him, "It is not the Sheriff, but the young lord of Nienkerken, +who will surely seek to save the witch: shall I, then, cut her throat with +my sword?" At these fearful words my child and I came to ourselves again, +and the fellow had already lift up his naked sword to smite her, seeing +_Dom. Consul_ had made him a sign with his hand, when my dear gossip, who +saw it, pulled my child with all his strength back into his lap. (May God +reward him on the day of judgment, for I never can.) The villain would +have stabbed her as she lay in his lap; but the young lord was already +there, and seeing what he was about to do, thrust the boarspear, which he +held in his hand, in between the constable's shoulders, so that he fell +headlong on the earth, and his own sword, by the guidance of the most +righteous God, went into his ribs on one side, and out again at the other. +He lay there and bellowed, but the young lord heeded him not, but said to +my child, "Sweet maid, God be praised that you are safe!" When, however, +he saw her bound hands, he gnashed his teeth, and, cursing her judges, he +jumped off his horse, and cut the rope with his sword, which he held in +his right hand, took her hand in his, and said, "Alas, sweet maid, how +have I sorrowed for you! but I could not save you, as I myself also lay in +chains, which you may see from my looks." + +But my child could answer him never a word, and fell into a swound again +for joy; howbeit, she soon came to herself again, seeing my dear gossip +still had a little wine by him. Meanwhile the dear young lord did me some +injustice, which, however, I freely forgive him; for he railed at me and +called me an old woman, who could do nought save weep and wail. Why had I +not journeyed after the Swedish king, or why had I not gone to Mellenthin +myself to fetch his testimony, as I knew right well what he thought about +witchcraft? (But, blessed God, how could I do otherwise than believe the +judge, who had been there? Others, besides old women, would have done the +same; and I never once thought of the Swedish king; and say, dear reader, +how could I have journeyed after him, and left my own child? But young +folks do not think of these things seeing they know not what a father +feels.) + +Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_, having heard that it was the young +lord, had again crept out from beneath the straw, _item, Dom. Consul_ had +jumped down from the coach and ran towards us, railing at him loudly, and +asking him by what power and authority he acted thus, seeing that he +himself had heretofore denounced the ungodly witch? But the young lord +pointed with his sword to his people, who now came riding out of the +coppice, about eighteen strong, armed with sabres, pikes, and muskets, and +said, "There is my authority, and I would let you feel it on your back if +I did not know that you were but a stupid ass. When did you hear any +testimony from me against this virtuous maiden? You lie in your throat if +you say you did." And as _Dom. Consul_ stood and straightway forswore +himself, the young lord, to the astonishment of all, related as +follows:--That as soon as he heard of the misfortune which had befallen me +and my child, he ordered his horse to be saddled forthwith, in order to +ride to Pudgla to bear witness to our innocence: this, however, his old +father would nowise suffer, thinking that his nobility would receive a +stain if it came to be known that his son had conversed with a reputed +witch by night on the Streckelberg. He had caused him therefore, as +prayers and threats were of no avail, to be bound hand and foot, and +confined in the donjon-keep, where till _datum_ an old servant had watched +him, who refused to let him escape, notwithstanding he offered him any sum +of money; whereupon he fell into the greatest anguish and despair at the +thought that innocent blood would be shed on his account; but that the +all-righteous God had graciously spared him this sorrow; for his father +had fallen sick from vexation, and lay a-bed all this time, and it so +happened that this very morning about prayer-time the huntsman, in +shooting at a wild duck in the moat, had by chance sorely wounded his +father's favourite dog, called Packan, which had crept howling to his +father's bedside, and had died there; whereupon the old man, who was weak, +was so angered that he was presently seized with a fit and gave up the +ghost too. Hereupon his people released him, and after he had closed his +father's eyes and prayed an "Our Father" over him, he straightway set out +with all the people he could find in the castle in order to save the +innocent maiden. For he testified here himself before all, on the word and +honour of a knight, nay, more, by his hopes of salvation, that he himself +was that devil which had appeared to the maiden on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant; for having heard by common report that she +ofttimes went thither, he greatly desired to know what she did there, and +that from fear of his hard father he disguised himself in a wolf's skin, +so that none might know him, and he had already spent two nights there, +when on the third the maiden came, and he then saw her dig for amber on +the mountain, and that she did not call upon Satan, but recited a Latin +_carmen_ aloud to herself. This he would have testified at Pudgla, but, +from the cause aforesaid, he had not been able: moreover, his father had +laid his cousin, Claus von Nienkerken, who was there on a visit, in his +bed, and made him bear false witness; for as _Dom. Consul_ had not seen +him (I mean the young lord) for many a long year, seeing he had studied in +foreign parts, his father thought that he might easily be deceived, which +accordingly happened. + +When the worthy young lord had stated this before _Dom. Consul_ and all +the people, which flocked together on hearing that the young lord was no +ghost, I felt as though a millstone had been taken off my heart; and +seeing that the people (who had already pulled the constable from under +the cart, and crowded round him, like a swarm of bees) cried to me that he +was dying, but desired first to confess somewhat to me, I jumped from the +cart as lightly as a young bachelor, and called to _Dom. Consul_ and the +young lord to go with me, seeing that I could easily guess what he had on +his mind. He sat upon a stone, and the blood gushed from his side like a +fountain (now that they had drawn out the sword); he whimpered on seeing +me, and said that he had in truth hearkened behind the door to all that +old Lizzie had confessed to me, namely, that she herself, together with +the Sheriff, had worked all the witchcraft on man and beast, to frighten +my poor child, and force her to play the wanton. That he had hidden this, +seeing that the Sheriff had promised him a great reward for so doing; but +that he would now confess it freely, since God had brought my child her +innocence to light. Wherefore he besought my child and myself to forgive +him. And when _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked whether he would +live and die on the truth of this confession, he answered, "Yes!" and +straightway fell on his side to the earth and gave up the ghost. + +Meanwhile time hung heavy with the people on the mountain, who had come +from Coserow, from Zitze, from Gnitze, etc., to see my child burnt, and +they all came running down the hill in long rows like geese, one after the +other, to see what had happened. And among them was my ploughman, Claus +Neels. When the worthy fellow saw and heard what had befallen us, he began +to weep aloud for joy; and straightway he too told what he had heard the +Sheriff say to old Lizzie in the garden, and how he had promised a pig in +the room of her own little pig, which she had herself bewitched to death +in order to bring my child into evil repute. _Summa_: all that I have +noted above, and which till _datum_ he had kept to himself for fear of the +question. Hereat all the people marvelled, and gently bewailed her +misfortunes; and many came, among them old Paasch, and would have kissed +my daughter her hands and feet, as also mine own, and praised us now as +much as they had before reviled us. But thus it ever is with the people. +Wherefore my departed father used to say: + + The people's hate is death, + Their love a passing breath! + +My dear gossip ceased not from fondling my child, holding her in his lap, +and weeping over her like a father (for I could not have wept more myself +than he wept). Howbeit she herself wept not, but begged the young lord to +send one of his horsemen to her faithful old maid-servant at Pudgla, to +tell her what had befallen us, which he straightway did to please her. But +the worshipful court (for _Dom. Gamerarius_ and the _scriba_ had now +plucked up a heart, and had come down from the coach) was not yet +satisfied, and _Dom. Consul_ began to tell the young lord about the +bewitched bridge, which none other save my daughter could have bewitched. +Hereto the young lord gave answer that this was indeed a strange thing, +inasmuch as his own horse had also broken a leg thereon, whereupon he had +taken the Sheriff his horse, which he saw tied up at the mill; but he did +not think that this could be laid to the charge of the maiden, but that it +came about by natural means, as he had half discovered already, although +he had not had time to search the matter thoroughly. Wherefore he besought +the worshipful court and all the people, together with my child herself, +to return back thither, where, with God's help, he would clear her from +this suspicion also, and prove her perfect innocence before them all. + +Thereunto the worshipful court agreed; and the young lord, having given +the Sheriff his grey charger to my ploughman to carry the corpse, which +had been laid across the horse's neck, to Coserow, the young lord got into +the cart by us, but did not seat himself beside my child, but backward by +my dear gossip: moreover, he bade one of his own people drive us instead +of the old coachman, and thus we turned back in God his name. _Custos +Benzensis_, who, with the children, had run in among the vetches by the +wayside (my defunct _Custos_ would not have done so, he had more courage), +went on before again with the young folks, and by command of his reverence +the pastor led the Ambrosian _Te Deum_, which deeply moved us all, more +especially my child, insomuch that her book was wetted with her tears, and +she at length laid it down and said, at the same time giving her hand to +the young lord, "How can I thank God and you for that which you have done +for me this day?" Whereupon the young lord answered, saying, "I have +greater cause to thank God than yourself, sweet maid, seeing that you have +suffered in your dungeon unjustly, but I justly, inasmuch as by my +thoughtlessness I brought this misery upon you. Believe me that this +morning when, in my donjon-keep, I first heard the sound of the dead-bell, +I thought to have died; and when it tolled for the third time, I should +have gone distraught in my grief, had not the Almighty God at that moment +taken the life of my strange father, so that your innocent life should be +saved by me. Wherefore I have vowed a new tower, and whatsoe'er beside may +be needful, to the blessed house of God; for nought more bitter could have +befallen me on earth than your death, sweet maid, and nought more sweet +than your life!" + +But at these words my child only wept and sighed; and when he looked on +her, she cast down her eyes and trembled, so that I straightway perceived +that my sorrows were not yet come to an end, but that another barrel of +tears was just tapped for me, and so indeed it was. Moreover, the ass of a +_Custos_, having finished the _Te Deum_ before we were come to the bridge, +straightway struck up the next following hymn, which was a funeral one, +beginning, "The body let us now inter." (God be praised that no harm has +come of it till _datum_.) My beloved gossip rated him not a little, and +threatened him that for his stupidity he should not get the money for the +shoes which he had promised him out of the Church-dues. But my child +comforted him, and promised him a pair of shoes at her own charges, seeing +that peradventure a funeral hymn was better for her than a song of +gladness. + +And when this vexed the young lord, and he said, "How now, sweet maid, you +know not how enough to thank God and me for your rescue, and yet you speak +thus?" She answered, smiling sadly, that she had only spoken thus to +comfort the poor _Custos_. But I straightway saw that she was in earnest, +for that she felt that although she had escaped one fire, she already +burned in another. + +Meanwhile we were come to the bridge again, and all the folks stood still, +and gazed open-mouthed, when the young lord jumped down from the cart, and +after stabbing his horse, which still lay kicking on the bridge, went on +his knees, and felt here and there with his hand. At length he called to +the worshipful court to draw near, for that he had found out the +witchcraft. But none save _Dom. Consul_ and a few fellows out of the +crowd, among whom was old Paasch, would follow him; _item_, my dear gossip +and myself, and the young lord, showed us a lump of tallow about the size +of a large walnut, which lay on the ground, and wherewith the whole bridge +had been smeared, so that it looked quite white, but, which all the folks +in their fright had taken for flour out of the mill; _item_, with some +other _materia_, which stunk like fitchock's dung, but what it was we +could not find out. Soon after a fellow found another bit of tallow, and +showed it to the people; whereupon I cried, "Aha! none hath done this but +that ungodly miller's man, in revenge for the stripes which the Sheriff +gave him for reviling my child." Whereupon I told what he had done, and +_Dom. Consul_, who also had heard thereof, straightway sent for the +miller. + +He, however, did as though he knew nought of the matter, and only said +that his man had left his service about an hour ago. But a young lass, the +miller's maid-servant, said that that very morning, before daybreak, when +she had got up to let out the cattle, she had seen the man scouring the +bridge. But that she had given it no further heed, and had gone to sleep +for another hour; and she pretended to know no more than the miller +whither the rascal was gone. When the young lord had heard this news, he +got up into the cart, and began to address the people, seeking to persuade +them no longer to believe in witchcraft, now that they had seen what it +really was. When I heard this, I was horror-stricken (as was but right) in +my conscience, as a priest, and I got upon the cartwheel, and whispered +into his ear, for God his sake, to leave this _materia_, seeing that if +the people no longer feared the devil, neither would they fear our Lord +God. + +The dear young lord forthwith did as I would have him, and only asked the +people whether they now held my child to be perfectly innocent? and when +they had answered, "Yes!" he begged them to go quietly home, and to thank +God that he had saved innocent blood. That he, too, would now return home, +and that he hoped that none would molest me and my child if he let us +return to Coserow alone. Hereupon he turned hastily towards her, took her +hand and said: "Farewell, sweet maid, I trust that I shall soon clear your +honour before the world, but do you thank God therefor, not me." He then +did the like to me and to my dear gossip, whereupon he jumped down from +the cart, and went and sat beside _Dom. Consul_ in his coach. The latter +also spake a few words to the people, and likewise begged my child and me +to forgive him (and I must say it to his honour, that the tears ran down +his cheeks the while), but he was so hurried by the young lord that he +brake short his discourse, and they drove off over the little bridge, +without so much as looking back. Only _Dom. Consul_ looked round once, and +called out to me, that in his hurry he had forgotten to tell the +executioner that no one was to be burned to-day: I was therefore to send +the churchwarden of Uekeritze up the mountain, to say so in his name; the +which I did. And the bloodhound was still on the mountain, albeit he had +long since heard what had befallen; and when the bailiff gave him the +orders of the worshipful court, he began to curse so fearfully that it +might have awakened the dead; moreover, he plucked off his cap, and +trampled it under foot, so that any one might have guessed what he felt. + +But to return to ourselves, my child sat as still and as white as a pillar +of salt, after the young lord had left her so suddenly and so unawares, +but she was somewhat comforted when the old maid-servant came running with +her coats tucked up to her knees, and carrying her shoes and stockings in +her hands. We heard her afar off, as the mill had stopped, blubbering for +joy, and she fell at least three times on the bridge, but at last she got +over safe, and kissed now mine and now my child her hands and feet; +begging us only not to turn her away, but to keep her until her life's +end; the which we promised to do. She had to climb up behind where the +impudent constable had sat, seeing that my dear gossip would not leave me +until I should be back in mine own manse. And as the young lord his +servant had got up behind the coach, old Paasch drove us home, and all the +folks who had waited till _datum_ ran beside the cart, praising and +pitying as much as they had before scorned and reviled us. Scarce, +however, had we passed through Uekeritze, when we again heard cries of +"Here comes the young lord, here comes the young lord!" so that my child +started up for joy, and became as red as a rose; but some of the folks ran +into the buckwheat, by the road, again, thinking it was another ghost. It +was, however, in truth, the young lord who galloped up on a black horse, +calling out as he drew near us, "Notwithstanding the haste I am in, sweet +maid, I must return and give you safe-conduct home, seeing that I have +just heard that the filthy people reviled you by the way, and I know not +whether you are yet safe." Hereupon he urged old Paasch to mend his pace, +and as his kicking and trampling did not even make the horses trot, the +young lord struck the saddle-horse from time to time with the flat of his +sword, so that we soon reached the village and the manse. Howbeit, when I +prayed him to dismount a while, he would not, but excused himself, saying +that he must still ride through Usedom to Anclam, but charged old Paasch, +who was our bailiff, to watch over my child as the apple of his eye, and +should anything unusual happen he was straightway to inform the town-clerk +at Pudgla, or _Dom. Consul_ at Usedom, thereof, and when Paasch had +promised to do this, he waved his hand to us, and galloped off as fast as +he could. + +But before he got round the corner by Pagel his house, he turned back for +the third time: and when we wondered thereat, he said we must forgive him, +seeing his thoughts wandered to-day. + +That I had formerly told him that I still had my patent of nobility, the +which he begged me to lend him for a time. Hereupon I answered that I must +first seek for it, and that he had best dismount the while. But he would +not, and again excused himself, saying he had no time. He therefore stayed +without the door, until I brought him the patent, whereupon he thanked me +and said, "Do not wonder hereat, you will soon see what my purpose is." +Whereupon he struck his spurs into his horse's sides and did not come back +again. + + + + +_The Twenty-ninth Chapter_ + + +OF OUR NEXT GREAT SORROW, AND FINAL JOY + +And now might we have been at rest, and have thanked God on our knees by +day and night. For, besides mercifully saving us out of such great +tribulation, he turned the hearts of my beloved flock, so that they knew +not how to do enough for us. Every day they brought us fish, meat, eggs, +sausages, and whatsoe'er besides they could give me, and which I have +since forgotten. Moreover they, every one of them, came to church the next +Sunday, great and small (except goodwife Kliene of Zempin, who had just +got a boy, and still kept her bed), and I preached a thanks-giving sermon +on Job v. 17, 18, and 19 verses, "Behold, happy is the man whom God +correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: for +he maketh sore, and bindeth up; and his hands make whole. He shall deliver +thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee." And +during my sermon I was ofttimes forced to stop by reason of all the +weeping, and to let them blow their noses. And I might truly have compared +myself to Job, after that the Lord had mercifully released him from his +troubles, had it not been for my child, who prepared much fresh grief for +me. + +She had wept when the young lord would not dismount, and now that he came +not again, she grew more uneasy from day to day. She sat and read first +the Bible, then the hymn-book, _item_, the history of Dido in _Virgilius_, +or she climbed up the mountain to fetch flowers (likewise sought after the +vein of amber there, but found it not, which shows the cunning and malice +of Satan). I saw this for a while with many sighs, but spake not a word +(for, dear reader, what could I say?) until it grew worse and worse; and +as she now recited her _carmina_ more than ever both at home and abroad, I +feared lest the people should again repute her a witch, and one day I +followed her up the mountain. Well-a-day, she sat on the pile, which still +stood there, but with her face turned towards the sea, reciting the +_versus_ where Dido mounts the funeral pile in order to stab herself for +love of AEneas:-- + + At trepida et coeptis immanibus effera Dido + Sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementes + Interfusa genas, et pallida morte futura + Interiora domus irrumpit limina et altos + Conscendit furibunda rogos.... + +When I saw this, and heard how things really stood with her, I was +affrighted beyond measure, and cried, "Mary, my child, what art thou +doing?" She started when she heard my voice, but sat still on the pile, +and answered, as she covered her face with her apron, "Father, I am +burning my heart." I drew near to her and pulled the apron from her face, +saying, "Wilt thou, then, again kill me with grief?" whereupon she covered +her face with her hands, and moaned, "Alas, father, wherefore was I not +burned here? My torment would then have endured but for a moment, but now +it will last as long as I live!" I still did as though I had seen nought, +and said, "Wherefore, dear child, dost thou suffer such torment?" +whereupon she answered, "I have long been ashamed to tell you; for the +young lord, the young lord, my father, do I suffer this torment! He no +longer thinks of me; and albeit he saved my life he scorns me, or he would +surely have dismounted and come in a while; but we are of far too low +degree for him!" Hereupon I indeed began to comfort her and to persuade +her to think no more of the young lord; but the more I comforted her, the +worse she grew. Nevertheless I saw that she did yet in secret cherish a +strong hope by reason of the patent of nobility which he had made me give +him. I would not take this hope from her, seeing that I felt the same +myself, and to comfort her I flattered her hopes, whereupon she was more +quiet for some days, and did not go up the mountain, the which I had +forbidden her. Moreover, she began again to teach little Paasch her +god-daughter, out of whom, by the help of the all-righteous God, Satan was +now altogether departed. But she still pined, and was as white as a sheet; +and when soon after a report came that none in the castle at Mellenthin +knew what was become of the young lord, and that they thought he had been +killed, her grief became so great that I had to send my ploughman on +horseback to Mellenthin to gain tidings of him. And she looked at least +twenty times out of the door and over the paling to watch for his return; +and when she saw him coming she ran out to meet him as far as the corner +by Pagels. But, blessed God! he brought us even worse news than we had +heard before, saying, that the people at the castle had told him that +their young master had ridden away the self-same day whereon he had +rescued the maiden. That he had, indeed, returned after three days to his +father's funeral, but had straightway ridden off again, and that for five +weeks they had heard nothing further of him, and knew not whither he was +gone, but supposed that some wicked ruffians had killed him. + +And now my grief was greater than ever it had been before; so patient and +resigned to the will of God as my child had shown herself heretofore, and +no martyr could have met her last hour stronger in God and Christ, so +impatient and despairing was she now. She gave up all hope, and took it +into her head that in these heavy times of war the young lord had been +killed by robbers. Nought availed with her, not even prayer, for when I +called upon God with her, on my knees, she straightway began so grievously +to bewail that the Lord had cast her off, and that she was condemned to +nought save misfortunes in this world; that it pierced through my heart +like a knife, and my thoughts forsook me at her words. She lay also at +night, and "like a crane or a swallow so did she chatter; she did mourn +like a dove; her eyes did fail with looking upward," because no sleep came +upon her eyelids. I called to her from my bed, "Dear child, wilt thou, +then, never cease? sleep, I pray thee!" and she answered and said, "Do you +sleep, dearest father; I cannot sleep until I sleep the sleep of death. +Alas, my father; that I was not burned!" But how could I sleep when she +could not? I indeed said, each morning, that I had slept a while, in order +to content her; but it was not so; but, like David, "all the night made I +my bed to swim; I watered my couch with my tears." Moreover I again fell +into heavy unbelief, so that I neither could nor would pray. Nevertheless +the Lord "did not deal with me after my sins, nor reward me according to +mine iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great was +his mercy toward" me, miserable sinner! + +For mark what happened on the very next Saturday! Behold, our old +maid-servant came running in at the door, quite out of breath, saying that +a horseman was coming over the Master's Mount, with a tall plume waving on +his hat, and that she believed it was the young lord. When my child, who +sat upon the bench combing her hair, heard this, she gave a shriek of joy, +which would have moved a stone under the earth, and straightway ran out of +the room to look over the paling. She presently came running in again, +fell upon my neck, and cried without ceasing, "The young lord! the young +lord!" whereupon she would have run out to meet him, but I forbade her, +saying she had better first bind up her hair, which she then remembered, +and laughing, weeping, and praying, all at once, she bound up her long +hair. And now the young lord came galloping round the corner, attired in a +green velvet doublet with red silk sleeves, and a grey hat with a heron's +feather therein; _summa_, gaily dressed as beseems a wooer. And when we +now ran out at the door, he called aloud to my child in the Latin, from +afar off, "_Quomodo stat dulcissima virgo?_" Whereupon she gave answer, +saying, "_Bene te aspecto._" He then sprang smiling off his horse, and +gave it into the charge of my ploughman, who meanwhile had come up +together with the maid; but he was affrighted when he saw my child so +pale, and taking her hand spake in the vulgar tongue, "My God! what is it +ails you, sweet maid? you look more pale than when about to go to the +stake." Whereupon she answered, "I have been at the stake daily since you +left us, good my lord, without coming into our house, or so much as +sending us tidings of whither you were gone." + +This pleased him well, and he said, "Let us first of all go into the +chamber, and you shall hear all." And when he had wiped the sweat from +his brow, and sat down on the bench beside my child, he spake as +follows:--That he had straightway promised her that he would clear her +honour before the whole world, and the self-same day whereon he left us he +made the worshipful court draw up an authentic record of all that had +taken place, more especially the confession of the impudent constable, +_item_, that of my ploughboy, Claus Neels; wherewith he rode throughout +the same night, as he had promised, to Anclam, and next day to Stettin, to +our gracious sovereign Duke Bogislaw: who marvelled greatly when he heard +of the wickedness of his Sheriff, and of that which he had done to my +child: moreover, he asked whether she were the pastor's daughter who once +upon a time had found the signet-ring of his Princely Highness Philippus +Julius of most Christian memory in the castle garden at Wolgast? and as he +did not know thereof, the Duke asked, whether she knew Latin? And he, the +young lord, answered yes, that she knew the Latin better than he did +himself. His Princely Highness said, "Then, indeed, it must be the same," +and straightway he put on his spectacles, and read the _acta_ himself. +Hereupon, and after his Princely Highness had read the record of the +worshipful court, shaking his head the while, the young lord humbly +besought his Princely Highness to give him an _amende honorable_ for my +child, _item, literas commendatitias_ for himself to our most gracious +Emperor at Vienna, to beg for a renewal of my patent of nobility, seeing +that he was determined to marry none other maiden than my daughter so long +as he lived. + +When my child heard this, she gave a cry of joy, and fell back in a swound +with her head against the wall. But the young lord caught her in his arms, +and gave her three kisses (which I could not then deny him, seeing, as I +did with joy, how matters went), and when she came to herself again, he +asked her, whether she would not have him, seeing that she had given a cry +at his words? Whereupon she said, "Whether I will not have you, my lord! +Alas! I love you as dearly as my God and my Saviour! You first saved my +life, and now you have snatched my heart from the stake, whereon, without +you, it would have burned all the days of my life!" Hereupon I wept for +joy, when he drew her into his lap, and she clasped his neck with her +little hands. + +They thus sat and toyed a while, till the young lord again perceived me, +and said, "What say you thereto; I trust it is also your will, reverend +Abraham?" Now, dear reader, what could I say, save my hearty good-will? +seeing that I wept for very joy, as did my child, and I answered, how +should it not be my will, seeing that it was the will of God? But whether +the worthy, good young lord had likewise considered that he would stain +his noble name if he took to wife my child, who had been habit and repute +a witch, and had been well-nigh bound to the stake? + +Hereupon he said, By no means; for that he had long since prevented this, +and he proceeded to tell us how he had done it, namely, his Princely +Highness had promised him to make ready all the _scripta_ which he +required, within four days, when he hoped to be back from his father's +burial. He therefore rode straightway back to Mellenthin, and after paying +the last honour to my lord his father, he presently set forth on his way +again, and found that his Princely Highness had kept his word meanwhile. +With these _scripta_ he rode to Vienna, and albeit he met with many pains, +troubles, and dangers by the way (which he would relate to us at some +other time), he nevertheless reached the city safely. There he by chance +met with a Jesuit with whom he had once upon a time had his _locamentum_ +for a few days at Prague, while he was yet a _studiosus_, and this man, +having heard his business, bade him be of good cheer, seeing that his +Imperial Majesty stood sorely in need of money in these hard times of war, +and that he, the Jesuit, would manage it all for him. This he really did, +and his Imperial Majesty not only renewed my patent of nobility, but +likewise confirmed the _amende honorable_ to my child granted by his +Princely Highness the Duke, so that he might now maintain the honour of +his betrothed bride against all the world, as also hereafter that of his +wife. + +Hereupon he drew forth the _acta_ from his bosom, and put them into my +hand, saying, "And now, reverend Abraham, you must also do me a pleasure, +to wit, to-morrow morning, when I hope to go with my betrothed bride to +the Lord's table, you must publish the banns between me and your daughter, +and on the day after you must marry us. Do not say nay thereto, for my +pastor, the reverend Philippus, says that this is no uncommon custom among +the nobles in Pomerania, and I have already given notice of the wedding +for Monday at mine own castle, whither we will then go, and where I +purpose to bed my bride." I should have found much to say against this +request, more especially that in honour of the Holy Trinity he should +suffer himself to be called three times in church according to custom, and +that he should delay a while the espousals; but when I perceived that my +child would gladly have the marriage held right soon, for she sighed and +grew red as scarlet, I had not the heart to refuse them, but promised all +they asked. Whereupon I exhorted them both to prayer, and when I had laid +my hands upon their heads, I thanked the Lord more deeply than I had ever +yet thanked him, so that at last I could no longer speak for tears, seeing +that they drowned my voice. + +Meanwhile the young lord his coach had driven up to the door, filled with +chests and coffers: and he said, "Now, sweet maid, you shall see what I +have brought you," and he bade them bring all the things into the room. +Dear reader, what fine things were there, such as I had never seen in all +my life! All that women can use was there, especially of clothes, to wit, +bodices, plaited gowns, long robes, some of them bordered with fur, veils, +aprons, _item_, the bridal shift with gold fringes, whereon the merry lord +had laid some six or seven bunches of myrtle to make herself a wreath +withal. _Item_, there was no end to the rings, neck-chains, eardrops, +etc., the which I have in part forgotten. Neither did the young lord leave +me without a gift, seeing he had brought me a new surplice (the enemy had +robbed me of my old one), also doublets, hosen, and shoes, _summa_, +whatsoever appertains to a man's attire; wherefore I secretly besought the +Lord not to punish us again in his sore displeasure for such pomps and +vanities. When my child beheld all these things she was grieved that she +could bestow upon him nought save her heart alone, and the chain of the +Swedish king, the which she hung round his neck, and begged him, weeping +the while, to take it as a bridal gift. This he at length promised to do, +and likewise to carry it with him into the grave: but that my child must +first wear it at her wedding, as well as the blue silken gown, for that +this and no other should be her bridal dress, and this he made her promise +to do. + +And now a merry chance befell with the old maid, the which I will here +note. For when the faithful old soul had heard what had taken place, she +was beside herself for joy, danced and clapped her hands, and at last said +to my child, "Now to be sure you will not weep when the young lord is to +lie in your bed," whereat my child blushed scarlet for shame, and ran out +of the room; and when the young lord would know what she meant therewith, +she told him that he had already once slept in my child her bed when he +came from Gutzkow with me, whereupon he bantered her all the evening after +that she was come back again. Moreover, he promised the maid that as she +had once made my child her bed for him, she should make it again, and that +on the day after to-morrow she and the ploughman too should go with us to +Mellenthin, so that masters and servants should all rejoice together after +such great distress. + +And seeing that the dear young lord would stop the night under my roof, I +made him lie in the small closet together with me (for I could not know +what might happen). He soon slept like a top, but no sleep came into my +eyes, for very joy, and I prayed the livelong blessed night, or thought +over my sermon. Only near morning I dozed a little; and when I rose the +young lord already sat in the next room with my child, who wore the black +silken gown which he had brought her, and, strange to say, she looked +fresher than even when the Swedish king came, so that I never in all my +life saw her look fresher or fairer. _Item_, the young lord wore his black +doublet, and picked out for her the best bits of myrtle for the wreath she +was twisting. But when she saw me, she straightway laid the wreath beside +her on the bench, folded her little hands, and said the morning prayer, as +she was ever wont to do, which humility pleased the young lord right well, +and he begged her that in future she would ever do the like with him, the +which she promised. + +Soon after we went to the blessed church to confession, and all the folk +stood gaping open-mouthed because the young lord led my child on his arm. +But they wondered far more when, after the sermon, I first read to them in +the vulgar tongue the _amende honorable_ to my child from his Princely +Highness, together with the confirmation of the same by his Imperial +Majesty, and after that my patent of nobility; and, lastly, began to +publish the banns between my child and the young lord. Dear reader, there +arose a murmur throughout the church like the buzzing of a swarm of bees. +(N.B. These _scripta_ were burnt in the fire which broke out in the castle +a year ago, as I shall hereafter relate, wherefore I cannot insert them +here _in origne_.) + +Hereupon my dear children went together with much people to the Lord's +table, and after church nearly all the folks crowded round them and wished +them joy. _Item_, old Paasch came to our house again that afternoon, and +once more besought my daughter's forgiveness because that he had +unwittingly offended her; that he would gladly give her a marriage-gift, +but that he now had nothing at all; howbeit that his wife should set one +of her hens in the spring, and he would take the chickens to her at +Mellenthin himself. This made us all to laugh, more especially the young +lord, who at last said: "As thou wilt bring me a marriage-gift, thou must +also be asked to the wedding, wherefore thou mayest come to-morrow with +the rest." + +[Illustration: The Bridal Gifts] + +Whereupon my child said: "And your little Mary, my god-child, shall come +too, and be my bridemaiden, if my lord allows it." Whereupon she began to +tell the young lord all that that had befallen the child by the malice of +Satan, and how they laid it to her charge until such time as the +all-righteous God brought her innocence to light; and she begged that +since her dear lord had commanded her to wear the same garments at her +wedding which she had worn to salute the Swedish king, and afterwards to +go to the stake, he would likewise suffer her to take for her bridemaiden +her little god-child, as _indicium secundum_ of her sorrows. + +And when he had promised her this, she told old Paasch to send hither his +child to her, that she might fit a new gown upon her which she had cut out +for her a week ago, and which the maid would finish sewing this very day. +This so went to the heart of the good old fellow that he began to weep +aloud, and at last said, she should not do all this for nothing, for +instead of the one hen his wife should set three for her in the spring. + +When he was gone, and the young lord did nought save talk with his +betrothed bride, both in the vulgar and in the Latin tongue, I did +better--namely, went up the mountain to pray, wherein, moreover, I +followed my child's example, and clomb up upon the pile, there in +loneliness to offer up my whole heart to the Lord as an offering of +thanksgiving, seeing that with this sacrifice he is well pleased, as +in Ps. li. 19, "The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and +contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise." + +That night the young lord again lay in my room, but next morning, when the +sun had scarce risen-- + +* * * * * + +Here end these interesting communications, which I do not intend to dilute +with any additions of my own. My readers, more especially those of the +fair sex, can picture to themselves at pleasure the future happiness of +this excellent pair. + +All further historical traces of their existence, as well as that of the +pastor, have disappeared, and nothing remains but a tablet fixed in the +wall of the church at Mellenthin, on which the incomparable lord, and his +yet more incomparable wife, are represented. On his faithful breast still +hangs "the golden chain, with the effigy of the Swedish King." They both +seem to have died within a short time of each other, and to have been +buried in the same coffin. For in the vault under the church there is +still a large double coffin, in which, according to tradition, lies a +chain of gold of incalculable value. Some twenty years ago, the owner of +Mellenthin, whose unequalled extravagance had reduced him to the verge of +beggary, attempted to open the coffin in order to take out this precious +relic, but he was not able. It appeared as if some powerful spell held it +firmly together; and it has remained unopened down to the present time. +May it remain so until the last awful day, and may the impious hand of +avarice or curiosity never desecrate these holy ashes of holy beings! + +FINIS + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Amber Witch, by Wilhelm Meinhold + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + +***** This file should be named 8743.txt or 8743.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/7/4/8743/ + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Amber Witch + +Author: Wilhelm Meinhold + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8743] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 8, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +THE AMBER WITCH + +by + +Wilhelm Meinhold + + +The most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known. Printed from an +imperfect manuscript by her father Abraham Schweidler, the pastor of +Coserow, in the Island of Usedom. + +Translated from the German by Lady Duff Gordon. + +Original publication date: 1846. + + + + +PREFACE + + +In laying before the public this deeply affecting and romantic trial, +which I have not without reason called on the title-page the most +interesting of all trials for witchcraft ever known, I will first give +some account of the history of the manuscript. + +At Coserow, in the Island of Usedom, my former cure, the same which was +held by our worthy author some two hundred years ago, there existed +under a seat in the choir of the church a sort of niche, nearly on a +level with the floor. I had, indeed, often seen a heap of various +writings in this recess; but owing to my short sight, and the darkness +of the place, I had taken them for antiquated hymn-books, which were +lying about in great numbers. But one day, while I was teaching in the +church, I looked for a paper mark in the Catechism of one of the boys, +which I could not immediately find; and my old sexton, who was past +eighty (and who, although called Appelmann, was thoroughly unlike his +namesake in our story, being a very worthy, although a most ignorant +man), stooped down to the said niche, and took from it a folio volume +which I had never before observed, out of which he, without the slightest +hesitation, tore a strip of paper suited to my purpose, and reached it to +me. I immediately seized upon the book, and, after a few minutes' perusal, +I know not which was greater, my astonishment or my vexation at this +costly prize. The manuscript, which was bound in vellum, was not only +defective both at the beginning and at the end, but several leaves had +even been torn out here and there in the middle. I scolded the old man as +I had never done during the whole course of my life; but he excused +himself, saying that one of my predecessors had given him the manuscript +for waste paper, as it had lain about there ever since the memory of man, +and he had often been in want of paper to twist round the altar candles, +etc. The aged and half-blind pastor had mistaken the folio for old +parochial accounts which could be of no more use to any one.[1] + +No sooner had I reached home than I fell to work upon my new acquisition, +and after reading a bit here and there with considerable trouble, my +interest was powerfully excited by the contents. + +I soon felt the necessity of making myself better acquainted with the +nature and conduct of these witch trials, with the proceedings, nay, +even with the history of the whole period in which these events occur. +But the more I read of these extraordinary stories, the more was I +confounded; and neither the trivial Beeker (_die bezauberte Welt_, the +enchanted world), nor the more careful Horst (_Zauberbibliothek_, the +library of magic), to which, as well as to several other works on the +same subject, I had flown for information, could resolve my doubts, but +rather served to increase them. + +Not alone is the demoniacal character, which pervades nearly all these +fearful stories, so deeply marked, as to fill the attentive reader with +feelings of alternate horror and dismay, but the eternal and unchangeable +laws of human feeling and action are often arrested in a manner so +violent and unforeseen, that the understanding is entirely baffled. For +instance, one of the original trials which a friend of mine, a lawyer, +discovered in our province, contains the account of a mother, who, after +she had suffered the torture, and received the holy Sacrament, and was +on the point of going to the stake, so utterly lost all maternal feeling, +that her conscience obliged her to accuse as a witch her only dearly-loved +daughter, a girl of fifteen, against whom no one had ever entertained a +suspicion, in order, as she said, to save her poor soul. The court, justly +amazed at an event which probably has never since been paralleled, caused +the state of the mother's mind to be examined both by clergymen and +physicians, whose original testimonies are still appended to the records, +and are all highly favourable to her soundness of mind. The unfortunate +daughter, whose name was Elizabeth Hegel, was actually executed on the +strength of her mother's accusation.[2] + +The explanation commonly received at the present day, that these +phenomena were produced by means of animal magnetism, is utterly +insufficient. How, for instance, could this account for the deeply +demoniacal nature of old Lizzie Kolken as exhibited in the following +pages? It is utterly incomprehensible, and perfectly explains why the +old pastor, notwithstanding the horrible deceits practised on him in +the person of his daughter, retained as firm a faith in the truth of +witchcraft as in that of the Gospel. + +During the earlier centuries of the middle ages little was known of +witchcraft. The crime of magic, when it did occur, was leniently +punished. For instance, the Council of Ancyra (314) ordained the whole +punishment of witches to consist in expulsion from the Christian +community. The Visigoths punished them with stripes, and Charlemagne, +by advice of his bishops, confined them in prison until such time as +they should sincerely repent.[3] It was not until very soon before +the Reformation, that Innocent VIII. lamented that the complaints of +universal Christendom against the evil practices of these women had +become so general and so loud, that the most vigorous measures must be +taken against them; and towards the end of the year 1489, he caused the +notorious Hammer for Witches (_Malleus Maleficarum_) to be published, +according to which proceedings were set on foot with the most fanatical +zeal, not only in Catholic, but, strange to say, even in Protestant +Christendom, which in other respects abhorred everything belonging +to Catholicism. Indeed, the Protestants far outdid the Catholics in +cruelty, until, among the latter, the noble-minded Jesuit, J. Spee, and +among the former, but not until seventy years later, the excellent +Thomasius, by degrees put a stop to these horrors. + +After careful examination into the nature and characteristics of +witchcraft, I soon perceived that among all these strange and often +romantic stories, not one surpassed my 'amber witch' in lively interest; +and I determined to throw her adventures into the form of a romance. +Fortunately, however, I was soon convinced that her story was already in +itself the most interesting of all romances; and that I should do far +better to leave it in its original antiquated form, omitting whatever +would be uninteresting to modern readers, or so universally known as to +need no repetition. I have therefore attempted, not indeed to supply +what is missing at the beginning and end, but to restore those leaves +which have been torn out of the middle, imitating, as accurately as I +was able, the language and manner of the old biographer, in order that +the difference between the original narrative and my own interpolations +might not be too evident. + +This I have done with much trouble, and after many ineffectual attempts; +but I refrain from pointing out the particular passages which I have +supplied, so as not to disturb the historical interest of the greater +part of my readers. For modern criticism, which has now attained to a +degree of acuteness never before equalled, such a confession would be +entirely superfluous, as critics will easily distinguish the passages +where Pastor Schweidler speaks from those written by Pastor Meinhold. + +I am, nevertheless, bound to give the public some account of what I have +omitted, namely,-- + +1st. Such long prayers as were not very remarkable for Christian unction. + +2d. Well-known stories out of the Thirty Years' War. + +3d. Signs and wonders in the heavens, which were seen here and there, +and which are recorded by other Pomeranian writers of these fearful +times; for instance, by Micraelius.[4] But when these events formed part +of the tale itself, as, for instance, the cross on the Streckelberg, I, +of course, allowed them to stand. + +4th. The specification of the whole income of the church at Coserow, +before and during the terrible times of the Thirty Years' War. + +5th. The enumeration of the dwellings left standing, after the +devastations made by the enemy in every village throughout the parish. + +6th. The names of the districts to which this or that member of the +congregation had emigrated. + +7th. A ground plan and description of the old Manse. + +I have likewise here and there ventured to make a few changes in the +language, as my author is not always consistent in the use of his words +or in his orthography. The latter I have, however, with very few +exceptions, retained. + +And thus I lay before the gracious reader a work, glowing with the fire +of heaven, as well as with that of hell. + +MEINHOLD. + +[1] The original manuscript does indeed contain several accounts which +at first sight may have led to this mistake; besides, the handwriting +is extremely difficult to read, and in several places the paper is +discoloured and decayed. + +[2] It is my intention to publish this trial also, as it possesses very +great psychological interest. + +[3] Horst, _Zauberbibliothek_, vi. p. 231. + +[4] _Vom Alten Pommerlande_ (of old Pomerania), book v. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The origin of our biographer cannot be traced with any degree of +certainty, owing to the loss of the first part of his manuscript. It is, +however, pretty clear that he was not a Pomeranian, as he says he was in +Silesia in his youth, and mentions relations scattered far and wide, not +only at Hamburg and Cologne, but even at Antwerp; above all, his south +German language betrays a foreign origin, and he makes use of words which +are, I believe, peculiar to Swabia. He must, however, have been living for +a long time in Pomerania at the time he wrote, as he even more frequently +uses Low-German expressions, such as occur in contemporary native +Pomeranian writers. + +Since he sprang from an ancient noble family, as he says on several +occasions, it is possible that some particulars relating to the +Schweidlers might be discovered in the family records of the seventeenth +century which would give a clew to his native country; but I have sought +for that name in all the sources of information accessible to me, in vain, +and am led to suspect that our author, like many of his contemporaries, +laid aside his nobility and changed his name when he took holy orders. + +I will not, however, venture on any further conjectures; the manuscript, +of which six chapters are missing, begins with the words "Imperialists +plundered," and evidently the previous pages must have contained an +account of the breaking out of the Thirty Years' War in the island of +Usedom. It goes on as follows:-- + +"Coffers, chests, and closets were all plundered and broken to pieces, +and my surplice also was torn, so that I remained in great distress and +tribulation. But my poor little daughter they did not find, seeing that +I had hidden her in the stable, which was dark, without which I doubt +not they would have made my heart heavy indeed. The lewd dogs would even +have been rude to my old maid Ilse, a woman hard upon fifty, if an old +cornet had not forbidden them. Wherefore I gave thanks to my Maker when +the wild guests were gone, that I had first saved my child from their +clutches, although not one dust of flour, nor one grain of corn, one +morsel of meat even of a finger's length was left, and I knew not how I +should any longer support my own life, and my poor child's. _Item_, I +thanked God that I had likewise secured the _vasa sacra_, which I had +forthwith buried in the church in front of the altar, in presence of the +two churchwardens, Hinrich Seden and Claus Bulken, of Uekeritze, +commending them to the care of God. And now because, as I have already +said, I was suffering the pangs of hunger, I wrote to his lordship the +Sheriff Wittich V. Appelmann, at Pudgla, that for the love of God and +his holy Gospel he should send me that which his highness' grace +Philippus Julius had allowed me as _praestanda_ from the convent at +Pudgla, to wit, thirty bushels of barley and twenty-five marks of +silver, which, howbeit his lordship had always withheld from me hitherto +(for he was a very hard inhuman man, as he despised the holy Gospel and +the preaching of the Word, and openly, without shame, reviled the +servants of God, saying that they were useless feeders, and that Luther +had but half cleansed the pigstye of the Church--God mend it!). But he +answered me nothing, and I should have perished for want if Hinrich +Seden had not begged for me in the parish. May God reward the honest +fellow for it in eternity! Moreover, he was then growing old, and was +sorely plagued by his wicked wife Lizzie Kolken. Methought when I +married them that it would not turn out over well, seeing that she was +in common report of having long lived in unchastity with Wittich +Appelmann, who had ever been an arch-rogue, and especially an arrant +whoremaster, and such the Lord never blesses. This same Seden now +brought me five loaves, two sausages, and a goose, which old goodwife +Paal, at Loddin, had given him; also a flitch of bacon from the farmer +Jack Tewert. But he said I must shield him from his wife, who would have +had half for herself, and when he denied her she cursed him, and wished +him gout in his head, whereupon he straightway felt a pain in his right +cheek, and it was quite hard and heavy already. At such shocking news I +was affrighted, as became a good pastor, and asked whether peradventure +he believed that she stood in evil communication with Satan, and could +bewitch folks? But he said nothing, and shrugged his shoulders. So I +sent for old Lizzie to come to me, who was a tall, meagre woman of about +sixty, with squinting eyes, so that she could not look any one in the +face; likewise with quite red hair, and indeed her goodman had the same. +But though I diligently admonished her out of God's Word, she made no +answer until at last I said, 'Wilt thou unbewitch thy goodman (for I +saw from the window how that he was raving in the street like a madman), +or wilt thou that I should inform the magistrate of thy deeds?' Then, +indeed, she gave in, and promised that he should soon be better (and so +he was); moreover she begged that I would give her some bread and some +bacon, inasmuch as it was three days since she had a bit of anything to +put between her lips, saving always her tongue. So my daughter gave her +half a loaf, and a piece of bacon about two handsbreadths large; but she +did not think it enough, and muttered between her teeth; whereupon my +daughter said, 'If thou art not content, thou old witch, go thy ways and +help thy goodman; see how he has laid his head on Zabel's fence, and +stamps with his feet for pain.' Whereupon she went away, but still kept +muttering between her teeth, 'Yea, forsooth, I will help him and thee +too.'" + + + + +_The Seventh Chapter_ + + +HOW THE IMPERIALISTS ROBBED ME OF ALL THAT WAS LEFT, AND LIKEWISE BROKE +INTO THE CHURCH AND STOLE THE _VASA SACRA_; ALSO WHAT MORE BEFELL US + +After a few days, when we had eaten almost all our food, my last cow fell +down dead (the wolves had already devoured the others, as mentioned +above), not without a strong suspicion that Lizzie had a hand in it, +seeing that the poor beast had eaten heartily the day before; but I leave +that to a higher judge, seeing that I would not willingly calumniate any +one; and it may have been the will of God, whose wrath I have well +deserved. _Summa_, I was once more in great need, and my daughter Mary +pierced my heart with her sighs, when the cry was raised that another +troop of Imperialists was come to Uekeritze, and was marauding there more +cruelly than ever, and, moreover, had burnt half the village. Wherefore I +no longer thought myself safe in my cottage; and after I had commended +everything to the Lord in a fervent prayer, I went up with my daughter and +old Ilse into the Streckelberg, where I already had looked out for +ourselves a hole like a cavern, well grown over with brambles, against the +time when the troubles should drive us thither. We therefore took with us +all we had left to us for the support of our bodies, and fled into the +woods, sighing and weeping, whither we soon were followed by the old men, +and the women and children; these raised a great cry of hunger when they +saw my daughter sitting on a log and eating a bit of bread and meat, and +the little things came with their tiny hands stretched out and cried "Have +some too, have some too." Therefore, being justly moved by such great +distress, I hindered not my daughter from sharing all the bread and meat +that remained among the hungry children. But first I made them pray--"The +eyes of all wait upon thee"; upon which words I then spake comfortably to +the people, telling them that the Lord, who had now fed their little +children, would find means to fill their own bellies, and that they must +not be weary of trusting in him. + +This comfort did not, however, last long; for after we had rested within +and around the cavern for about two hours, the bells in the village began +to ring so dolefully that it went nigh to break all our hearts, the more +as loud firing was heard between-whiles; _item_, the cries of men and the +barking of dogs resounded, so that we could easily guess that the enemy +was in the village. I had enough to do to keep the women quiet, that they +might not by their senseless lamentations betray our hiding-place to the +cruel enemy; and more still when it began to smell smoky, and presently +the bright flames gleamed through the trees. I therefore sent old Paasch +up to the top of the hill, that he might look around and see how matters +stood, but told him to take good care that they did not see him from the +village, seeing that the twilight had but just begun. + +This he promised, and soon returned with the news that about twenty +horsemen had galloped out of the village towards the Damerow, but that +half the village was in flames. _Item_, he told us that by a wonderful +dispensation of God a great number of birds had appeared in the +juniper-bushes and elsewhere, and that if we could catch them they would be +excellent food for us. I therefore climbed up the hill myself, and having +found everything as he had said, and also perceived that the fire had, by +the help of God's mercy, abated in the village; _item_, that my cottage +was left standing, far beyond my merits and deserts; I came down again and +comforted the people, saying, "The Lord hath given us a sign, and he will +feed us, as he fed the people of Israel in the wilderness; for he has sent +us a fine flight of fieldfares across the barren sea, so that they whirr +out of every bush as ye come near it. Who will now run down into the +village, and cut off the mane and tail of my dead cow which lies out behind +on the common?" (for there was no horsehair in all the village, seeing that +the enemy had long since carried off or stabbed all the horses). But no one +would go, for fear was stronger even than hunger, till my old Ilse spoke, +and said, "I will go, for I fear nothing, when I walk in the ways of God; +only give me a good stick." When old Paasch had lent her his staff, she +began to sing, "God the Father be with us," and was soon out of sight among +the bushes. Meanwhile I exhorted the people to set to work directly, and to +cut little wands for springes, and to gather berries while the moon still +shone; there were a great quantity of mountain-ash and elder-bushes all +about the mountain. I myself and my daughter Mary stayed to guard the +little children, because it was not safe there from wolves. We therefore +made a blazing fire, sat ourselves around it, and heard the little folks +say the Ten Commandments, when there was a rustling and crackling behind +us, and my daughter jumped up and ran into the cavern, crying, "_Proh dolor +hostis_!" But it was only some of the able-bodied men who had stayed behind +in the village, and who now came to bring us word how things stood there. I +therefore called to her directly, "_Emergas amici_" whereupon she came +skipping joyously out, and sat down again by the fire, and forthwith my +warden Hinrich Seden related all that had happened, and how his life had +only been saved by means of his wife Lizzie Kolken; but that Jurgen Flatow, +Chim Burse, Claus Peer, and Chim Seideritz were killed, and the last named +of them left lying on the church steps. The wicked incendiaries had burned +down twelve sheds, and it was not their fault that the whole village was +not destroyed, but only in consequence of the wind not being in the quarter +that suited their purpose. Meanwhile they tolled the bells in mockery and +scorn, to see whether any one would come and quench the fire; and that when +he and the three other young fellows came forward they fired off their +muskets at them, but, by God's help, none of them were hit. Hereupon his +three comrades jumped over the paling and escaped; but him they caught, and +had already taken aim at him with their firelocks, when his wife Lizzie +Kolken came out of the church with another troop and beckoned to them to +leave him in peace. But they stabbed Lene Hebers as she lay in childbed, +speared the child, and flung it over Claus Peer's hedge among the nettles, +where it was yet lying when they came away. There was not a living soul +left in the village, and still less a morsel of bread, so that unless the +Lord took pity on their need they must all die miserably of hunger. + +(Now who is to believe that such people can call themselves Christians!) + +I next inquired, when he had done speaking (but with many sighs, as any +one may guess), after my cottage; but of that they knew nought save that +it was still standing. I thanked the Lord therefore with a quiet sigh; +and having asked old Seden what his wife had been doing in the church, I +thought I should have died for grief when I heard that the villains came +out of it with both the chalices and patens in their hands. I therefore +spoke very sharply to old Lizzie, who now came slinking through the +bushes; but she answered insolently that the strange soldiers had forced +her to open the church, as her goodman had crept behind the hedge, and +nobody else was there; that they had gone straight up to the altar, and +seeing that one of the stones was not well fitted (which, truly, was an +arch-lie), had begun to dig with their swords till they found the chalices +and patens; or somebody else might have betrayed the spot to them, so I +need not always to lay the blame on her, and rate her so hardly. + +Meanwhile the old men and the women came with a good store of berries; +_item_, my old maid, with the cow's tail and mane, who brought word that +the whole house was turned upside down, the windows all broken, and the +books and writings trampled in the dirt in the midst of the street, and +the doors torn off their hinges. This, however, was a less sorrow to me +than the chalices; and I only bade the people make springes and snares, +in order next morning to begin our fowling, with the help of Almighty God. +I therefore scraped the rods myself until near midnight; and when we had +made ready a good quantity, I told old Seden to repeat the evening +blessing, which we all heard on our knees; after which I wound up with +a prayer, and then admonished the people to creep in under the bushes +to keep them from the cold (seeing that it was now about the end of +September, and the wind blew very fresh from the sea), the men apart, and +the women also apart by themselves. I myself went up with my daughter and +my maid into the cavern, where I had not slept long before I heard old +Seden moaning bitterly because, as he said, he was seized with the colic. +I therefore got up and gave him my place, and sat down again by the fire +to cut springes, till I fell asleep for half an hour; and then morning +broke, and by that time he had got better, and I woke the people to +morning prayer. This time old Paasch had to say it, but could not get +through with it properly, so that I had to help him. Whether he had forgot +it, or whether he was frightened, I cannot say. _Summa_. After we had all +prayed most devoutly, we presently set to work, wedging the springes into +the trees, and hanging berries all around them; while my daughter took +care of the children, and looked for blackberries for their breakfast. Now +we wedged the snares right across the wood along the road to Uekeritze; +and mark what a wondrous act of mercy befell from gracious God! As I +stepped into the road with the hatchet in my hand (it was Seden his +hatchet, which he had fetched out of the village early in the morning), I +caught sight of a loaf as long as my arm, which a raven was pecking, and +which doubtless one of the Imperial troopers had dropped out of his +knapsack the day before, for there were fresh hoofmarks in the sand by it. +So I secretly buttoned the breast of my coat over it, so that none should +perceive anything, although the aforesaid Paasch was close behind me; +_item_, all the rest followed at no great distance. Now, having set the +springes so very early, towards noon we found such a great number of birds +taken in them that Katy Berow, who went beside me while I took them out, +scarce could hold them all in her apron; and at the other end old Pagels +pulled nearly as many out of his doublet and coat pockets. My daughter +then sat down with the rest of the womankind to pluck the birds; and +as there was no salt (indeed it was long since most of us had tasted +any), she desired two men to go down to the sea, and to fetch a little +salt-water in an iron pot borrowed from Staffer Zuter; and so they did. In +this water we first dipped the birds, and then roasted them at a large +fire, while our mouths watered only at the sweet savour of them, seeing it +was so long since we had tasted any food. + +And now when all was ready, and the people seated on the earth, I said, +"Behold how the Lord still feeds his people Israel in the wilderness with +fresh quails: if now he did yet more, and sent us a piece of manna bread +from heaven, what think ye? Would ye then ever weary of believing in him, +and not rather willingly endure all want, tribulation, hunger and thirst, +which he may hereafter lay upon you according to his gracious will?" +Whereupon they all answered and said, "Yea, surely!" _Ego_: "Will you then +promise me this in truth?" And they said again, "Yea, that will we!" Then +with tears I drew forth the loaf from my breast, held it on high, and +cried, "Behold, then, thou poor believing little flock, how sweet a manna +loaf your faithful Redeemer hath sent ye through me!" Whereupon they all +wept, sobbed and groaned; and the little children again came running up +and held out their hands, crying, "See, bread, bread!" But as I myself +could not pray for heaviness of soul, I bade Paasch his little girl say +the _Gratias_ the while my Mary cut up the loaf and gave to each his +share. And now we all joyfully began to eat our meat from God in the +wilderness. + +Meanwhile I had to tell in what manner I had found the blessed manna +bread, wherein I neglected not again to exhort them to lay to heart this +great sign and wonder, how that God in his mercy had done to them as of +old to the prophet Elijah, to whom a raven brought bread in his great need +in the wilderness; as likewise this bread had been given to me by means of +a raven, which showed it to me, when otherwise I might have passed it by +in my heaviness without ever seeing it. + +When we were satisfied with food, I said the thanksgiving from Luke xii. +24, where the Lord saith, "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor +reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: +how much more are ye better than the fowls?" But our sins stank before +the Lord. For old Lizzie, as I afterwards heard, would not eat her +birds because she thought them unsavoury, but threw them among the +juniper-bushes; whereupon the wrath of the Lord was kindled against us as +of old against the people of Israel, and at night we found but seven birds +in the snares, and next morning but two. Neither did any raven come again +to give us bread. Wherefore I rebuked old Lizzie, and admonished the +people to take upon themselves willingly the righteous chastisement of the +Most High God, to pray without ceasing, to return to their desolate +dwellings, and to see whether the all-merciful God would peradventure give +them more on the sea. That I also would call upon him with prayer night +and day, remaining for a time in the cavern with my daughter and the maid +to watch the springes, and see whether his wrath might be turned from us. +That they should meanwhile put my manse to rights to the best of their +power, seeing that the cold was become very irksome to me. This they +promised me, and departed with many sighs. What a little flock! I counted +but twenty-five souls where there used to be above eighty: all the rest +had been slain by hunger, pestilence, or the sword. I then abode a while +alone and sorrowing in the cave, praying to God, and sent my daughter with +the maid into the village to see how things stood at the manse; _item_, to +gather together the books and papers, and also to bring me word whether +Hinze the carpenter, whom I had straightway sent back to the village, had +knocked together some coffins for the poor corpses, so that I might bury +them next day. I then went to look at the springes, but found only one +single little bird, whereby I saw that the wrath of God had not yet passed +away. Howbeit, I found a fine blackberry bush, from which I gathered +nearly a pint of berries, and put them, together with the bird, in Staffer +Zuter his pot, which the honest fellow had left with us for a while, and +set them on the fire for supper against my child and the maid should +return. It was not long before they came through the coppice and told me +of the fearful devastation which Satan had made in the village and manse +by the permission of all-righteous God. My child had gathered together a +few books, which she brought with her, above all, a _Virgilius_ and a +Greek Bible. And after she had told me that the carpenter would not have +done till next day, and we had satisfied the cravings of hunger, I made +her read to me again, for the greater strengthening of my faith, the +_locus_ about the blessed raven from the Greek of Luke, at the twelfth +chapter; also, the beautiful _locus parallelus_, Matt. vi. After which the +maid said the evening blessing, and we all went into the cave to rest for +the night. When I awoke next morning, just as the blessed sun rose out the +sea and peeped over the mountain, I heard my poor hungry child already +standing outside the cave reciting the beautiful verses about the joys of +paradise which St. Augustine wrote and I had taught her. She sobbed for +grief as she spoke the words:-- + + Uno pane vivunt cives utriusque patriae; + Avidi et semper pleni, quod habent desiderant. + Non sacietas fastidit, neque fames cruciat; + Inhiantes semper edunt, et edentes inhiant. + Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum; + Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, + Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt; + Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, + Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum. + Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum. + Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. + +At these words my own heart was melted; and when she ceased from speaking, +I asked, "What art thou doing, my child?" Whereupon she answered, "Father, +I am eating." Thereat my tears now indeed began to flow, and I praised her +for feeding her soul, as she had no meat for her body. I had not, however, +spoken long, before she cried to me to come and look at the great wonder +that had risen out of the sea, and already appeared over the cave. For +behold a cloud, in shape just like a cross, came over us, and let great +heavy drops, as big or bigger than large peas, fall on our heads, after +which it sank behind the coppice. I presently arose and ran up the +mountain with my daughter to look after it. It floated on towards the +Achterwater, where it spread itself out into a long blue streak, whereon +the sun shone so brightly that it seemed like a golden bridge on which, as +my child said, the blessed angels danced. I fell on my knees with her and +thanked the Lord that our cross had passed away from us; but, alas! our +cross was yet to come, as will be told hereafter. + + + + +_The Eighth Chapter_ + + +HOW OUR NEED WAXED SORER AND SORER, AND HOW I SENT OLD ILSE WITH ANOTHER +LETTER TO PUDGLA, AND HOW HEAVY A MISFORTUNE THIS BROUGHT UPON ME + +Next day, when I had buried the poor corpses amid the lamentations of the +whole village (by the same token that they were all buried under where the +lime-tree overhangs the wall), I heard with many sighs that neither the +sea nor the Achterwater would yield anything. It was now ten days since +the poor people had caught a single fish. I therefore went out into the +field, musing how the wrath of the just God might be turned from us, +seeing that the cruel winter was now at hand, and neither corn, apples, +fish nor flesh to be found in the village, nor even throughout all the +parish. There was indeed plenty of game in the forests of Coserow and +Uekeritze; but the old forest ranger, Zabel Nehring, had died last year of +the plague, and there was no new one in his place. Nor was there a musket +nor a grain of powder to be found in all the parish; the enemy had robbed +and broken everything: we were therefore forced, day after day, to see +how the stags and the roes, the hares and the wild boars, _et cet_., ran +past us, when we would so gladly have had them in our bellies, but had no +means of getting at them: for they were too cunning to let themselves be +caught in pit-falls. Nevertheless, Claus Peer succeeded in trapping a roe, +and gave me a piece of it, for which may God reward him. _Item_, of +domestic cattle there was not a head left; neither was there a dog, nor +a cat, which the people had not either eaten in their extreme hunger, +or knocked on the head or drowned long since. Albeit old farmer Paasch +still owned two cows; _item_, an old man in Uekeritze was said to have +one little pig:--this was all. Thus, then, nearly all the people lived on +blackberries and other wild fruits: the which also soon grew to be scarce, +as may easily be guessed. Besides all this, a boy of fourteen was missing +(old Labahn his son) and was never more heard of, so that I shrewdly think +that the wolves devoured him. + +And now let any Christian judge by his own heart in what sorrow and +heaviness I took my staff in my hand, seeing that my child fell away like +a shadow from pinching hunger; although I myself, being old, did not, by +the help of God's mercy, find any great failing in my strength. While I +thus went continually weeping before the Lord, on the way to Uekeritze, I +fell in with an old beggar with his wallet, sitting on a stone, and eating +a piece of God's rare gift, to wit, a bit of bread. Then truly did my poor +mouth so fill with water that I was forced to bow my head and let it run +upon the earth before I could ask, "Who art thou? and whence comest thou? +seeing that thou hast bread." Whereupon he answered that he was a poor man +of Bannemin, from whom the enemy had taken all; and as he had heard that +the Lieper Winkel had long been in peace, he had travelled thither to beg. +I straightway answered him, "Oh, poor beggar-man, spare to me, a sorrowful +servant of Christ, who is poorer even than thyself, one little slice of +bread for his wretched child; for thou must know that I am the pastor of +this village, and that my daughter is dying of hunger. I beseech thee by +the living God not to let me depart without taking pity on me, as pity +also hath been shown to thee!" But the beggar-man would give me none, +saying that he himself had a wife and four children, who were likewise +staggering towards death's door under the bitter pangs of hunger; that the +famine was sorer far in Bannemin than here, where we still had berries; +whether I had not heard that but a few days ago a woman (he told me her +name, but horror made me forget it) had there killed her own child, and +devoured it from hunger? That he could not therefore help me, and I might +go to the Lieper Winkel myself. + +I was horror-stricken at his tale, as is easy to guess, for we in our own +trouble had not yet heard of it, there being little or no traffic between +one village and another; and thinking on Jerusalem, and sheer despairing +because the Lord had visited us, as of old that ungodly city, although we +had not betrayed or crucified him, I almost forgot all my necessities, and +took my staff in my hand to depart. But I had not gone more than a few +yards when the beggar called me to stop, and when I turned myself round he +came towards me with a good hunch of bread which he had taken out of his +wallet, and said, "There! but pray for me also, so that I may reach my +home; for if on the road they smell that I have bread, my own brother +would strike me dead, I believe." This I promised with joy, and instantly +turned back to take to my child the gift hidden in my pocket. And behold, +when I came to the road which leads to Loddin, I could scarce trust my +eyes (before I had overlooked it in my distress) when I saw my glebe, +which could produce seven bushels, ploughed, sown, and in stalk; the +blessed crop of rye had already shot lustily out of the earth a finger's +length in height. I could not choose but think that the Evil One had +deceived me with a false show, yet, however hard I rubbed my eyes, rye it +was and rye it remained. And seeing that old Paasch his piece of land +which joined mine was in like manner sown, and that the blades had shot up +to the same height, I soon guessed that the good fellow had done this +deed, seeing that all the other land lay waste. Wherefore, I readily +forgave him for not knowing the morning prayer; and thanking the Lord for +so much love from my flock, and earnestly beseeching him to grant me +strength and faith to bear with them steadfastly and patiently all the +troubles and adversities which it might please him henceforward to lay +upon us, according to his divine pleasure, I ran rather than walked back +into the village to old Paasch his farm, where I found him just about to +kill his cow, which he was slaughtering from grim hunger. "God bless +thee," said I, "worthy friend, for sowing my field; how shall I reward +thee?" But the old man answered, "Let that be, and do you pray for us"; +and when I gladly promised this and asked him how he had kept his corn +safe from the savage enemy, he told me that he had hidden it secretly in +the caves of the Streckelberg, but that now all his store was used up. +Meanwhile he cut a fine large piece of meat from the top of the loin, and +said, "There is something for you, and when that is gone you can come +again for more." As I was then about to go with many thanks, his little +Mary, a child nearly seven years old, the same who had said the _Gratias_ +on the Streckelberg, seized me by the hand and wanted to go to school to +my daughter; for since my _Custos_, as above mentioned, departed this life +in the plague, she had to teach the few little ones there were in the +village; this, however, had long been abandoned. I could not, therefore, +deny her, although I feared that my child would share her bread with her, +seeing that she dearly loved the little maid, who was her godchild; and so +indeed it happened; for when the child saw me take out the bread, she +shrieked for joy, and began to scramble up on the bench. Thus she also got +a piece of the slice, our maid got another, and my child put the third +piece into her own mouth, as I wished for none, but said that I felt no +signs of hunger and would wait until the meat was boiled, the which I now +threw upon the bench. It was a goodly sight to see the joy which my poor +child felt when I then also told her about the rye. She fell upon my neck, +wept, sobbed, then took the little one up in her arms, danced about the +room with her, and recited as she was wont, all manner of Latin _versus_, +which she knew by heart. Then she would prepare a right good supper for +us, as a little salt was still left in the bottom of a barrel of meat +which the Imperialists had broken up. I let her take her own way, and +having scraped some soot from the chimney and mixed it with water, I tore +a blank leaf out of _Virgilius_, and wrote to the _Pastor Liepensis_, his +reverence Abraham Tiburtius, praying that for God his sake he would take +our necessities to heart, and would exhort his parishioners to save us +from dying of grim hunger, and charitably to spare to us some meat and +drink, according as the all-merciful God had still left some to them, +seeing that a beggar had told me that they had long been in peace from +the terrible enemy. I knew not, however, wherewithal to seal the letter, +until I found in the church a little wax still sticking to a wooden +altar-candlestick, which the Imperialists had not thought it worth their +while to steal, for they had only taken the brass ones. I sent three +fellows in a boat with Hinrich Seden, the churchwarden, with this letter +to Liepe. + +First, however, I asked my old Ilse, who was born in Liepe, whether she +would not rather return home, seeing how matters stood, and that I, for +the present at least, could not give her a stiver of her wages (mark that +she had already saved up a small sum, seeing that she had lived in my +service above twenty years, but the soldiers had taken it all). Howbeit, I +could nowise persuade her to this, but she wept bitterly, and besought me +only to let her stay with the good damsel whom she had rocked in her +cradle. She would cheerfully hunger with us if it needs must be, so that +she were not turned away. Whereupon I yielded to her, and the others went +alone. + +Meanwhile the broth was ready, but scarce had we said the _Gratias_, and +were about to begin our meal, when all the children of the village, seven +in number, came to the door, and wanted bread, as they had heard we had +some from my daughter her little godchild. Her heart again melted, and +notwithstanding I besought her to harden herself against them, she +comforted me with the message to Liepe, and poured out for each child a +portion of broth on a wooden platter (for these also had been despised by +the enemy), and put into their little hands a bit of meat, so that all our +store was eaten up at once. We were, therefore, left fasting next morning, +till towards mid-day, when the whole village gathered together in a meadow +on the banks of the river to see the boat return. But, God be merciful to +us, we had cherished vain hopes! six loaves and a sheep, _item_, a quarter +of apples, was all they had brought. His reverence Abraham Tiburtius wrote +to me that after the cry of their wealth had spread throughout the island, +so many beggars had flocked thither that it was impossible to be just to +all, seeing that they themselves did not know how it might fare with them +in these heavy troublous times. Meanwhile he would see whether he could +raise any more. I therefore with many sighs had the small pittance carried +to the manse, and though two loaves were, as _Pastor Liepensis_ said in +his letter, for me alone, I gave them up to be shared among all alike, +whereat all were content save Seden his squint-eyed wife, who would have +had somewhat _extra_ on the score of her husband's journey, which, +however, as may be easily guessed, she did not get; wherefore she again +muttered certain words between her teeth as she went away, which, however, +no one understood. Truly she was an ill woman, and not to be moved by the +word of God. + +Any one may judge for himself that such a store could not last long; and +as all my parishioners felt an ardent longing after spiritual food, and +as I and the churchwardens could only get together about sixteen +farthings in the whole parish, which was not enough to buy bread and +wine, the thought struck me once more to inform my lord the Sheriff of +our need. With how heavy a heart I did this may be easily guessed, but +necessity knows no law. I therefore tore the last blank leaf out of +_Virgilius_, and begged that, for the sake of the Holy Trinity, his +lordship would mercifully consider mine own distress and that of the +whole parish, and bestow a little money to enable me to administer the +holy sacrament for the comfort of afflicted souls; also, if possible, +to buy a cup, were it only of tin, since the enemy had plundered us of +ours, and I should otherwise be forced to consecrate the sacred elements +in an earthen vessel. _Item_, I besought him to have pity on our bodily +wants, and at last to send me the first-fruits which had stood over for +so many years. That I did not want it for myself alone, but would +willingly share it with my parishioners, until such time as God in his +mercy should give us more. + +Here a huge blot fell upon my paper; for the windows being boarded up, the +room was dark, and but little light came through two small panes of glass +which I had broken out of the church, and stuck in between the boards; +this, perhaps, was the reason why I did not see better. However, as I +could not anywhere get another piece of paper, I let it pass, and ordered +the maid, whom I sent with the letter to Pudgla, to excuse the same to his +lordship the Sheriff, the which she promised to do, seeing that I could +not add a word more on the paper, as it was written all over. I then +sealed it as I had done before. + +But the poor creature came back trembling for fear and bitterly weeping, +and said that his lordship had kicked her out of the castle-gate, and had +threatened to set her in the stocks if she ever came before him again. +"Did the parson think that he was as free with his money as I seemed to be +with my ink? I surely had water enough to celebrate the Lord's supper +wherewithal. For if the Son of God had once changed the water into wine, +he could surely do the like again. If I had no cup, I might water my flock +out of a bucket, as he did himself"; with many more blasphemies, such as +he afterwards wrote to me, and by which, as may easily be guessed, I was +filled with horror. Touching the first-fruits, as she told me he said +nothing at all. In such great spiritual and bodily need the blessed Sunday +came round, when nearly all the congregation would have come to the Lord's +table, but could not. I therefore spoke on the words of St. Augustine, +_crede et manducasti_, and represented that the blame was not mine, and +truly told what had happened to my poor maid at Pudgla, passing over much +in silence, and only praying God to awaken the hearts of magistrates for +our good. Peradventure I may have spoken more harshly than I meant. I know +not, only that I spoke that which was in my heart. At the end I made all +the congregation stay on their knees for nearly an hour, and call upon the +Lord for his holy sacrament; _item_, for the relief of their bodily wants, +as had been done every Sunday, and at all the daily prayers I had been +used to read ever since the heavy time of the plague. Last of all I led +the glorious hymn, "When in greatest need we be," which was no sooner +finished than my new churchwarden, Claus Bulk of Uekeritze, who had +formerly been a groom with his lordship, and whom he had now put into a +farm, ran off to Pudgla, and told him all that had taken place in the +church. Whereat his lordship was greatly angered, insomuch that he +summoned the whole parish, which still numbered about 150 souls, without +counting the children, and dictated _ad protocollum_ whatsoever they could +remember of the sermon, seeing that he meant to inform his princely grace +the Duke of Pomerania of the blasphemous lies which I had vomited against +him, and which must sorely offend every Christian heart. _Item_, what an +avaricious wretch I must be to be always wanting something of him, and to +be daily, so to say, pestering him in these hard times with my filthy +letters, when he had not enough to eat himself. This he said should break +the parson his neck, since his princely grace did all that he asked of +him, and that no one in the parish need give me anything more, but only +let me go my ways. He would soon take care that they should have quite a +different sort of parson from what I was. + +(Now I would like to see the man who could make up his mind to come into +the midst of such wretchedness at all.) + +This news was brought to me in the selfsame night, and gave me a great +fright, as I now saw that I should not have a gracious master in his +lordship, but should all the time of my miserable life, even if I could +anyhow support it, find in him an ungracious lord. But I soon felt some +comfort, when Chim Krueger from Uekeritze, who brought me the news, took a +little bit of his sucking-pig out of his pocket and gave it to me. +Meanwhile old Paasch came in and said the same, and likewise brought me a +piece of his old cow; _item_, my other warden, Hinrich Seden, with a slice +of bread, and a fish which he had taken in his net, all saying they wished +for no better priest than me, and that I was only to pray to the merciful +Lord to bestow more upon them, whereupon I should want for nothing. +Meanwhile I must be quiet and not betray them. All this I promised, and my +daughter Mary took the blessed gifts of God off the table and carried them +into the inner chamber. But, alas! next morning, when she would have put +the meat into the caldron, it was all gone. I know not who prepared this +new sorrow for me, but much believe it was Hinrich Seden his wicked wife, +seeing he can never hold his tongue, and most likely told her everything. +Moreover, Paasch his little daughter saw that she had meat in her pot next +day; _item_, that she had quarrelled with her husband, and had flung the +fish-board at him, whereon some fresh fish-scales were sticking: she had, +however, presently recollected herself when she saw the child. (Shame on +thee, thou old witch, it is true enough, I dare say!) Hereupon nought was +left us but to feed our poor souls with the word of God. But even our +souls were so cast down that they could receive nought, any more than our +bellies; my poor child, especially, from day to day grew paler, greyer, +and yellower, and always threw up all her food, seeing she ate it without +salt or bread. I had long wondered that the bread from Liepe was not yet +done, but that every day at dinner I still had a morsel. I had often +asked, "Whence comes all this blessed bread? I believe, after all, you +save the whole for me, and take none for yourself or the maid." But they +both then lifted to their mouths a piece of fir-tree bark, which they had +cut to look like bread, and laid by their plates; and as the room was +dark, I did not find out their deceit, but thought that they, too, were +eating bread. But at last the maid told me of it, so that I should allow +it no longer, as my daughter would not listen to her. It is not hard to +guess how my heart was wrung when I saw my poor child lying on her bed of +moss struggling with grim hunger. But things were to go yet harder with +me, for the Lord in his anger would break me in pieces like a potter's +vessel. For behold, on the evening of the same day, old Paasch came +running to me, complaining that all his and my corn in the field had been +pulled up and miserably destroyed, and that it must have been done by +Satan himself, as there was not a trace either of oxen or horses. At these +words my poor child screamed aloud and fainted. I would have run to help +her, but could not reach her bed, and fell on the ground myself for bitter +grief. The loud cries of the maid and old Paasch soon brought us both to +our senses. But I could not rise from the ground alone, for the Lord had +bruised all my bones. I besought them, therefore, when they would have +helped me, to leave me where I was; and when they would not, I cried out +that I must again fall on the ground to pray, and begged them all save my +daughter to depart out of the room. This they did, but the prayer would +not come. I fell into heavy doubting and despair, and murmured against the +Lord that he plagued me more sorely than Lazarus or Job. Wretch that I +was, I cried, "Thou didst leave to Lazarus at least the crumbs and the +pitiful dogs, but to me thou hast left nothing, and I myself am less in +thy sight even than a dog; and Job thou didst not afflict until thou hadst +mercifully taken away his children, but to me thou hast left my poor +little daughter, that her torments may increase mine own a thousandfold. +Behold, then, I can only pray that thou wilt take her from the earth, so +that my grey head may gladly follow her to the grave! Woe is me, ruthless +father, what have I done? I have eaten bread, and suffered my child to +hunger! Oh, Lord Jesu, who hast said, 'What man is there of you, whom if +his son ask bread will he give him a stone?' Behold I am that man!--behold +I am that ruthless father! I have eaten bread and have given wood to my +child! Punish me; I will bear it and lie still. Oh, righteous Jesu, I have +eaten bread, and have given wood to my child!" As I did not speak, but +rather shrieked these words, wringing my hands the while, my child fell +upon my neck, sobbing, and chid me for murmuring against the Lord, seeing +that even she, a weak and frail woman, had never doubted his mercy, so +that with shame and repentance I presently came to myself, and humbled +myself before the Lord for such heavy sin. + +Meanwhile the maid had run into the village with loud cries to see if she +could get anything for her poor young mistress, but the people had already +eaten their noontide meal, and most of them were gone to sea to seek their +blessed supper; thus she could find nothing, seeing that old wife Seden, +who alone had any victuals, would give her none, although she prayed her +by Jesu's wounds. + +She was telling us this when we heard a noise in the chamber, and +presently Lizzie her worthy old husband, who had got in at the window by +stealth, brought us a pot of good broth, which he had taken off the fire +whilst his wife was gone for a moment into the garden. He well knew that +his wife would make him pay for it, but that he did not mind, so the young +mistress would but drink it, and she would find it salted and all. He +would make haste out of the window again, and see that he got home before +his wife, that she might not find out where he had been. But my daughter +would not touch the broth, which sorely vexed him, so that he set it down +on the ground cursing, and ran out of the room. It was not long before his +squint-eyed wife came in at the front door, and when she saw the pot still +steaming on the ground, she cried out, "Thou thief, thou cursed thieving +carcass!" and would have flown at the face of my maid. But I threatened +her, and told her all that had happened, and that if she would not believe +me she might go into the chamber and look out of the window, whence she +might still, belike, see her good man running home. This she did, and +presently we heard her calling after him, "Wait, and the devil shall tear +off thine arms; only wait till thou art home again!" After this she came +back, and, muttering something, took the pot off the ground. I begged her, +for the love of God, to spare a little to my child; but she mocked at me +and said, "You can preach to her, as you did to me," and walked towards +the door with the pot. My child indeed besought me to let her go, but I +could not help calling after her, "For the love of God, one good sup, or +my poor child must give up the ghost: wilt thou that at the day of +judgment God should have mercy on thee, so show mercy this day to me and +mine!" But she scoffed at us again, and cried out, "Let her cook herself +some bacon," and went out at the door. I then sent the maid after her with +the hour-glass which stood before me on the table, to offer it to her for +a good sup out of the pot; but the maid brought it back, saying that she +would not have it. Alas, how I wept and sobbed, as my poor dying child +with a loud sigh buried her head again in the moss! Yet the merciful God +was more gracious to me than my unbelief had deserved; for when the +hard-hearted woman bestowed a little broth on her neighbour, old Paasch, +he presently brought it to my child, having heard from the maid how it +stood with her; and I believe that this broth, under God, alone saved her +life, for she raised her head as soon as she had supped it, and was able +to go about the house again in an hour. May God reward the good fellow for +it! Thus I had some joy in the midst of my trouble. But while I sat by the +fireside in the evening musing on my fate, my grief again broke forth, and +I made up my mind to leave my house, and even my cure, and to wander +through the wide world with my daughter as a beggar. God knows I had cause +enough for it; for now that all my hopes were dashed, seeing that my field +was quite ruined, and that the Sheriff had become my bitter enemy; +moreover, that it was five years since I had had a wedding, _item_, but +two christenings during the past year, I saw my own and my daughter's +death staring me in the face, and no prospect of better times at hand. Our +want was increased by the great fears of the congregation; for although +by God's wondrous mercy they had already begun to take good draughts of +fish both in the sea and the Achterwater, and many of the people in the +other villages had already gotten bread, salt, oatmeal, etc., from the +Polters and Quatzners, of Anklam and Lassan in exchange for their fish; +nevertheless, they brought me nothing, fearing lest it might be told at +Pudgla, and make his lordship ungracious to them. I therefore beckoned my +daughter to me, and told her what was in my thoughts, saying that God in +his mercy could any day bestow on me another cure if I was found worthy in +his sight of such a favour, seeing that these terrible days of pestilence +and war had called away many of the servants of his word, and that I had +not fled like a hireling from his flock, but on the contrary, till _datum_ +shared sorrow and death with it. Whether she were able to walk five or ten +miles a day; for that then we would beg our way to Hamburg, to my departed +wife her step-brother, Martin Behring, who is a great merchant in that +city. + +This at first sounded strange to her, seeing that she had very seldom been +out of our parish, and that her departed mother and her little brother lay +in our churchyard. She asked, "Who was to make up their graves and plant +flowers on them? _Item_, as the Lord had given her a smooth face, what I +should do if in these wild and cruel times she were attacked on the +highways by marauding soldiers or other villains, seeing that I was a weak +old man and unable to defend her; _item_, wherewithal should we shield +ourselves from the frost, as the winter was setting in and the enemy had +robbed us of our clothes, so that we had scarce enough left to cover our +nakedness?" All this I had not considered, and was forced to own that she +was right; so after much discussion we determined to leave it this night +to the Lord, and to do whatever he should put into our hearts next +morning. At any rate, we saw that we could in nowise keep the old maid any +longer; I therefore called her out of the kitchen, and told her she had +better go early next morning to Liepe, as there still was food there, +whereas here she must starve, seeing that perhaps we ourselves might leave +the parish and the country to-morrow. I thanked her for the love and faith +she had shown us, and begged her at last, amid the loud sobs of my poor +daughter, to depart forthwith privately, and not to make our hearts still +heavier by leave-taking; that old Paasch was going a-fishing to-night on +the Achterwater, as he had told me, and no doubt would readily set her on +shore at Gruessow, where she had friends, and could eat her fill even +to-day. She could not say a word for weeping, but when she saw that I was +really in earnest she went out of the room. Not long after we heard the +house-door shut to, whereupon my daughter moaned, "She is gone already," +and ran straight to the window to look after her. "Yes," cried she, as she +saw her through the little panes, "she is really gone"; and she wrung her +hands and would not be comforted. At last, however, she was quieted when I +spoke of the maid Hagar, whom Abraham had likewise cast off, but on whom +the Lord had nevertheless shown mercy in the wilderness; and hereupon we +commended ourselves to the Lord, and stretched ourselves on our couches of +moss. + + + + +_The Ninth Chapter_ + + +HOW THE OLD MAID-SERVANT HUMBLED ME BY HER FAITH, AND THE LORD YET BLESSED +ME HIS UNWORTHY SERVANT + +"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy +name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who +forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who +redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving +kindness and tender mercies" (Psalm ciii.). + +Alas! wretched man that I am, how shall I understand all the benefits and +mercies which the Lord bestowed upon me the very next day? I now wept for +joy, as of late I had done for sorrow; and my child danced about the room +like a young roe, and would not go to bed, but only cry and dance, and +between-whiles repeat the 103rd Psalm, then dance and cry again until +morning broke. But as she was still very weak, I rebuked her presumption, +seeing that this was tempting the Lord; and now mark what had happened. + +After we had both woke in the morning with deep sighs, and called upon the +Lord to manifest to us in our hearts what we should do, we still could not +make up our minds. I therefore called to my child, if she felt strong +enough, to leave her bed and light a fire in the stove herself, as our +maid was gone; that we would then consider the matter further. She +accordingly got up, but came back in an instant with cries of joy, because +the maid had privately stolen back into the house, and had already made +a fire. Hereupon I sent for her to my bedside, and wondered at her +disobedience, and asked what she now wanted here but to torment me and +my daughter still more, and why she did not go yesterday with old Paasch? +But she lamented and wept so sore that she scarce could speak, and I +understood only thus much--that she had eaten with us, and would likewise +starve with us, for that she could never part from her young mistress, +whom she had known from her cradle. Such faithful love moved me so, that I +said almost with tears, "But hast thou not heard that my daughter and I +have determined to wander as beggars about the country; where, then, wilt +thou remain?" To this she answered that neither would she stay behind, +seeing it was more fitting for her to beg than for us; but that she could +not yet see why I wished to go out into the wide world; whether I had +already forgotten that I had said in my induction sermon that I would +abide with my flock in affliction and in death? That I should stay yet +a little longer where I was, and send her to Liepe, as she hoped to get +something worth having for us there from her friends and others. These +words, especially those about my induction sermon, fell heavy on my +conscience, and I was ashamed of my want of faith, since not my daughter +only, but yet more even my maid, had stronger faith than I, who +nevertheless professed to be a servant of God's word. I believed that the +Lord--to keep me, poor fearful hireling, and at the same time to humble +me--had awakened the spirit of this poor maid-servant to prove me, as the +maid in the palace of the high-priest had also proved the fearful St. +Peter. Wherefore I turned my face towards the wall, like Hezekiah, and +humbled myself before the Lord, which scarce had I done before my child +ran into the room again, with a cry of joy; for behold, some Christian +heart had stolen quietly into the house in the night, and had laid in the +chamber two loaves, a good piece of meat, a bag of oatmeal, _item_, a bag +of salt, holding near a pint. Any one may guess what shouts of joy we all +raised. Neither was I ashamed to confess my sins before my maid; and in +our common morning prayer, which we said on our knees, I made fresh vows +to the Lord of obedience and faith. Thus we had that morning a grand +breakfast, and sent something to old Paasch besides; _item_, my daughter +again sent for all the little children to come, and kindly fed them with +our store before they said their tasks; and when in my heart of little +faith I sighed thereat, although I said nought, she smiled, and said, +"Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take +thought for the things of itself." + +The Holy Ghost spoke by her, as I cannot but believe, nor thou either, +beloved reader: for mark what happened. In the afternoon she (I mean my +child) went up the Streckelberg to seek for blackberries, as old Paasch +had told her, through the maid, that a few bushes were still left. The +maid was chopping wood in the yard, to which end she had borrowed old +Paasch his axe, for the Imperialist thieves had thrown away mine, so that +it could nowhere be found; and I myself was pacing up and down in the +room, meditating my sermon; when my child, with her apron full, came +quickly in at the door, quite red and with beaming eyes, and scarce able +for joy to say more than "Father, father, what have I got?" "Well," quoth +I, "what hast thou got, my child?" Whereupon she opened her apron, and I +scarce trusted my eyes when I saw, instead of the blackberries which she +had gone to seek, two shining pieces of amber, each nearly as big as a +man's head, not to mention the small pieces, some of which were as large +as my hand, and that, God knows, is no small one. "Child of my heart," +cried I, "how camest thou by this blessing from God?" As soon as she could +fetch her breath, she told me as follows:-- + +That while she was seeking for blackberries in a dell near the shore she +saw somewhat glistening in the sun, and on coming near she found this +wondrous godsend, seeing that the wind had blown the sand away from off a +black vein of amber. That she straightway had broken off these pieces with +a stick, and that there was plenty more to be got, seeing that it rattled +about under the stick when she thrust it into the sand, neither could she +force it farther than, at most, a foot deep into the ground; _item,_ she +told me that she had covered the place all over again with sand, and swept +it smooth with her apron, so as to leave no traces. + +Moreover, that no stranger was at all likely to go thither, seeing that no +blackberries grew very near, and she had gone to the spot, moved by +curiosity and a wish to look upon the sea, rather than from any need; but +that she could easily find the place again herself, inasmuch as she had +marked it with three little stones. What was our first act after the +all-merciful God had rescued us out of such misery, nay, even, as it +seemed, endowed us with great riches, any one may guess. When we at length +got up off our knees, my child would straightway have run to tell the maid +our joyful news. But I forbade her, seeing that we could not be sure that +the maid might not tell it again to her friends, albeit in all other +things she was a faithful woman and feared God; but that if she did that, +the Sheriff would be sure to hear of it, and to seize upon our treasure +for his princely highness the Duke--that is to say, for himself; and that +nought would be left to us but the sight thereof, and our want would begin +all over again; that we therefore would say, when folks asked about the +luck that had befallen us, that my deceased brother, who was a councillor +at Rotterdam, had left us a good lump of money; and, indeed, it was true +that I had inherited near two hundred florins from him a year ago, which, +however, the soldiery (as mentioned above) cruelly robbed me of; _item,_ +that I would go to Wolgast myself next day and sell the little bits as +best I might, saying that thou hadst picked them up by the seaside; thou +mayest tell the maid the same, if thou wilt, but show the larger pieces to +no one, and I will send them to thy uncle at Hamburg to be turned into +money for us; perchance I may be able to sell one of them at Wolgast, if I +find occasion, so as to buy clothes enough for the winter for thee and for +me, wherefore thou, too, mayst go with me. We will take the few farthings +which the congregation have brought together to pay the ferry, and thou +canst order the maid to wait for us till eventide at the water-side to +carry home the victuals. She agreed to all this, but said we had better +first break off some more amber, so that we might get a good round sum for +it at Hamburg; and I thought so too, wherefore we stopped at home next +day, seeing that we did not want for food, and that my child, as well as +myself, both wished to refresh ourselves a little before we set out on our +journey; _item_, we likewise bethought us that old Master Rothoog, of +Loddin, who is a cabinetmaker, might knock together a little box for us to +put the amber in, wherefore I sent the maid to him in the afternoon. +Meanwhile we ourselves went up the Streckelberg, where I cut a young +fir-tree with my pocket-knife, which I had saved from the enemy, and +shaped it like a spade, so that I might be better able to dig deep +therewith. First, however, we looked about us well on the mountain, and, +seeing nobody, my daughter walked on to the place, which she straightway +found again. Great God! what a mass of amber was there! The vein was hard +upon twenty feet long, as near as I could feel, and the depth of it I +could not sound. Nevertheless, save four good-sized pieces, none, however, +so big as those of yesterday, we this day only broke out little splinters, +such as the apothecaries bruise for incense. After we had most carefully +covered and smoothed over the place, a great mishap was very near +befalling us; for we met Witthan her little girl, who was seeking +blackberries, and she asked what my daughter carried in her apron, who +straightway grew red, and stammered so that our secret would have been +betrayed if I had not presently said, "What is that to thee? She has got +fir-apples for firing," which the child believed. Wherefore we resolved in +future only to go up the mountain at night by moonlight, and we went home +and got there before the maid, and hid our treasure in the bedstead, so +that she should not see it. + + + + +_The Tenth Chapter_ + + +HOW WE JOURNEYED TO WOLGAST, AND MADE GOOD BARTER THERE + +Two days after, so says my daughter, but old Ilse thinks it was three +(and I myself know not which is true), we at last went to the town, +seeing that Master Rothoog had not got the box ready before. My daughter +covered it over with a piece of my departed wife her wedding-gown, which +the Imperialists had indeed torn to pieces, but as they had left it +lying outside, the wind had blown it into the orchard, where we found +it. It was very shabby before, otherwise I doubt not they would have +carried it off with them. On account of the box, we took old Ilse with +us, who had to carry it, and, as amber is very light ware, she readily +believed that the box held nothing but eatables. At daybreak, then, we +took our staves in our hands and set out with God. Near Zitze, a hare +ran across the road before us, which they say bodes no good. Well-a-day! +When we came near Bannemin I asked a fellow if it was true that here a +mother had slaughtered her own child from hunger, as I had heard. He +said it was, and that the old woman's name was Zisse; but that God had +been wroth at such a horrid deed, and she had got no good by it, seeing +that she vomited so much upon eating it that she forthwith gave up the +ghost. On the whole, he thought things were already going rather better +with the parish, as Almighty God had richly blessed them with fish, both +out of the sea and the Achterwater. Nevertheless a great number of +people had died of hunger here also. He told us that their vicar, +his reverence Johannes Lampius, had had his house burnt down by the +Imperialists, and was lying in a hovel near the church. I sent him +my greeting, desiring that he would soon come to visit me (which the +fellow promised he would take care to deliver to him), for the reverend +Johannes is a pious and learned man, and has also composed sundry Latin +_Chronosticha_ on these wretched times, in _metrum heroicum_, which, I +must say, please me greatly. When we had crossed the ferry we went in at +Sehms his house, on the Castle Green, who keeps an ale-house; he told us +that the pestilence had not yet altogether ceased in the town; whereat I +was much afraid, more especially as he described to us so many other +horrors and miseries of these fearful times, both here and in other +places, _e.g._ of the great famine in the island of Ruegen, where a +number of people had grown as black as Moors from hunger; a wondrous +thing if it be true, and one might almost gather therefrom how the first +blackamoors came about. But be that as it may. _Summa_. When Master +Sehms had told us all the news he had heard, and we had thus learnt, +to our great comfort, that the Lord had not visited us only in these +times of heavy need, I called him aside into a chamber and asked him +whether I could not here find means to get money for a piece of amber +which my daughter had found by the sea. At first he said "No"; but then +recollecting, he began, "Stay, let me see, at Nicolas Graeke's, the inn +at the castle, there are two great Dutch merchants--Dieterich von +Pehnen and Jacob Kiekebusch--who are come to buy pitch and boards, +_item_ timber for ships and beams; perchance they may like to cheapen +your amber too; but you had better go up to the castle yourself, for I +do not know for certain whether they still are there." This I did, +although I had not yet eaten anything in the man's house, seeing that I +wanted to know first what sort of bargain I might make, and to save the +farthings belonging to the church until then. So I went into the +castle-yard. Gracious God! what a desert had even his Princely Highness' +house become within a short time! The Danes had ruined the stables and +hunting-lodge, Anno 1628; _item_, destroyed several rooms in the castle; +and in the _locamentum_ of his Princely Highness Duke Philippus, where, +Anno 22, he so graciously entertained me and my child, as will be told +further on, now dwelt the innkeeper Nicolas Graeke; and all the fair +tapestries, whereon was represented the pilgrimage to Jerusalem of his +Princely Highness Bogislaus X, were torn down and the walls left grey +and bare. At this sight my heart was sorely grieved; but I presently +inquired for the merchants, who sat at the table drinking their parting +cup, with their travelling equipments already lying by them, seeing that +they were just going to set out on their way to Stettin; straightway one +of them jumped up from his liquor--a little fellow with a right noble +paunch and a black plaster on his nose--and asked me what I would of +them? I took him aside into a window, and told him I had some fine +amber, if he had a mind to buy it of me, which he straightway agreed to +do. And when he had whispered somewhat into the ear of his fellow, he +began to look very pleasant, and reached me the pitcher before we went +to my inn. I drank to him right heartily, seeing that (as I have already +said) I was still fasting, so that I felt my very heart warmed by it in +an instant. (Gracious God, what can go beyond a good draught of wine +taken within measure!) After this we went to my inn, and told the maid +to carry the box on one side into a small chamber. I had scarce opened +it and taken away the gown, when the man (whose name was Dieterich von +Pehnen, as he had told me by the way) held up both hands for joy, and +said he had never seen such wealth of amber, and how had I come by it? I +answered that my child had found it on the sea-shore; whereat he +wondered greatly that we had so much amber here, and offered me three +hundred florins for the whole box. I was quite beside myself for joy at +such an offer, but took care not to let him see it, and bargained with +him till I got five hundred florins, and I was to go with him to the +castle and take the money forthwith. Hereupon I ordered mine host to +make ready at once a mug of beer and a good dinner for my child, and +went back to the castle with the man and the maid, who carried the box, +begging him, in order to avoid common talk, to say nothing of my good +fortune to mine host, nor, indeed, to any one else in the town, and to +count out the money to me privately, seeing that I could not be sure +that the thieves might not lay in wait for me on the road home if they +heard of it, and this the man did; for he whispered something into the +ear of his fellow, who straightway opened his leathern surcoat, _item_ +his doublet and hose, and unbuckled from his paunch a well-filled purse, +which he gave to him. _Summa_. Before long I had my riches in my pocket, +and, moreover, the man begged me to write to him at Amsterdam whenever I +found any more amber, the which I promised to do. But the worthy fellow +(as I have since heard) died of the plague at Stettin, together with his +companion--truly I wish it had happened otherwise. Shortly after I was +very near getting into great trouble; for, as I had an extreme longing +to fall on my knees, so that I could not wait until such time as I +should have got back to my inn, I went up three or four steps of the +castle stairs and entered into a small chamber, where I humbled myself +before the Lord. But the host, Nicolas Graeke, followed me, thinking I +was a thief, and would have stopped me, so that I knew not how to excuse +myself by saying that I had been made drunken by the wine which the +strange merchants had given to me (for he had seen what a good pull I +had made at it), seeing I had not broken my fast that morning, and that +I was looking for a chamber wherein I might sleep a while, which lie he +believed (if, in truth, it were a lie, for I was really drunken, though +not with wine, but with love and gratitude to my Maker), and accordingly +he let me go. + +But I must now tell my story of his Princely Highness, as I promised +above. Anno 22, as I chanced to walk with my daughter, who was then a +child of about twelve years old, in the castle-garden at Wolgast, and was +showing her the beautiful flowers that grew there, it chanced that as we +came round from behind some bushes we espied my gracious lord the Duke +Philippus Julius, with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff, who lay +here on a visit, standing on a mount and conversing, wherefore we were +about to return. But as my gracious lords presently walked on toward the +drawbridge, we went to look at the mount where they had stood; of a sudden +my little girl shouted loudly for joy, seeing that she found on the earth +a costly signet-ring, which one of their Princely Highnesses doubtless +had dropped. I therefore said, "Come and we will follow our gracious lords +with all speed, and thou shall say to them in Latin, '_Serenissimi +principes, quis vestrum hunc annulum deperdidit_?' (for, as I have +mentioned above, I had instructed her in the Latin tongue ever since her +seventh year); and if one of them says '_Ego_,' give to him the ring. +_Item_.--Should he ask thee in Latin to whom thou belongest, be not +abashed, and say '_Ego sum filia pastoris Coserowiensis_'; for thou wilt +thus find favour in the eyes of their Princely Highnesses, for they are +both gracious gentlemen, more especially the taller one, who is our +gracious ruler, Philippus Julius himself." This she promised to do; but as +she trembled sorely as she went, I encouraged her yet more and promised +her a new gown if she did it, seeing that even as a little child she would +have given a great deal for fine clothes. As soon, then, as we were come +into the courtyard, I stood by the statue of his Princely Highness Ernest +Ludewig, and whispered her to run boldly after them, as their Princely +Highnesses were only a few steps before us, and had already turned toward +the great entrance. This she did, but of a sudden she stood still, and +would have turned back, because she was frightened by the spurs of their +Princely Highnesses, as she afterwards told me, seeing that they rattled +and jingled very loudly. + +But my gracious lady the Duchess Agnes saw her from the open window +wherein she lay, and called to his Princely Highness, "My lord, there is a +little maiden behind you, who, it seems, would speak with you," whereupon +his Princely Highness straightway turned him round, smiling pleasantly, so +that my little maid presently took courage, and, holding up the ring, +spoke in Latin as I had told her. Hereat both the princes wondered beyond +measure, and after my gracious Duke Philippus had felt his finger, he +answered, "_Dulcissima puella, ego perdidi_"; whereupon she gave it to +him. Then he patted her cheek, and again asked, "_Sed quaenam es, et unde +venis?_" whereupon she boldly gave her answer, and at the same time +pointed with her finger to where I stood by the statue; whereupon his +Princely Highness motioned me to draw near. My gracious lady saw all that +passed from the window, but all at once she left it. She, however, +came back to it again before I had time even humbly to draw near to my +gracious lord, and beckoned to my child, and held a cake out of the window +for her. On my telling her, she ran up to the window, but her Princely +Highness could not reach so low nor she so high above her as to take it, +wherefore my gracious lady commanded her to come up into the castle, and +as she looked anxiously round after me, motioned me also, as did my +gracious lord himself, who presently took the timid little maid by the +hand and went up with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff. My +gracious lady came to meet us at the door, and caressed and embraced my +little daughter, so that she soon grew quite bold and ate the cake. When +my gracious lord had asked me my name, _item_, why I had in so singular a +manner taught my daughter the Latin tongue, I answered that I had heard +much from a cousin at Cologne of Maria Schurman, and as I had observed a +very excellent _ingenium_ in my child, and also had time enough in my +lonely cure, I did not hesitate to take her in hand, and teach her from +her youth up, seeing I had no boy alive. Hereat their Princely Highnesses +marvelled greatly, and put some more questions to her in Latin, which she +answered without any prompting from me. Whereupon my gracious lord Duke +Philippus said in the vulgar tongue, "When thou art grown up and art one +day to be married, tell it to me, and thou shall then have another ring +from me, and whatsoever else pertains to a bride, for thou hast this day +done me good service, seeing that this ring is a precious jewel to me, as +I had it from my wife." Hereupon I whispered her to kiss his Princely +Highness' hand for such a promise, and so she did. + +(But alas! most gracious God, it is one thing to promise, and quite +another to hold. Where is his Princely Highness at this time? Wherefore +let me ever keep in mind that "thou only art faithful, and that which thou +hast promised thou wilt surely hold." Psalm xxxiii. 4. Amen.) + +_Item_. When his Princely Highness had also inquired concerning myself +and my cure, and heard that I was of ancient and noble family, and my +_salarium_ very small, he called from the window to his chancellor, +D. Rungius, who stood without, looking at the sun-dial, and told him that +I was to have an addition from the convent at Pudgla, _item_ from the +crown-lands at Ernsthoff, as I mentioned above; but, more's the pity, I +never have received the same, although the _instrumentum donationis_ was +sent me soon after by his Princely Highness' chancellor. + +Then cakes were brought for me also, _item_, a glass of foreign wine in a +glass painted with armorial bearings, whereupon I humbly took my leave, +together with my daughter. + +However, to come back to my bargain, anybody may guess what joy my child +felt when I showed her the fair ducats and florins I had gotten for the +amber. To the maid, however, we said that we had inherited such riches +from my brother in Holland; and after we had again given thanks to the +Lord on our knees, and eaten our dinner, we bought in a great store of +bread, salt, meat, and stock-fish: _item_, of clothes, seeing that I +provided what was needful for us three throughout the winter from the +cloth-merchant. Moreover, for my daughter I bought a hair-net and a +scarlet silk bodice, with a black apron and white petticoat, _item_, a +fine pair of earrings, as she begged hard for them; and as soon as I had +ordered the needful from the cordwainer we set out on our way homewards, +as it began to grow very dark; but we could not carry nearly all we had +bought. Wherefore we were forced to get a peasant from Bannemin to help +us, who likewise was come into the town; and as I found out from him +that the fellow who gave me the piece of bread was a poor cotter called +Pantermehl, who dwelt in the village by the roadside, I shoved a couple of +loaves in at his house-door without his knowing it, and we went on our way +by the bright moonlight, so that by the help of God we got home about ten +o'clock at night. I likewise gave a loaf to the other fellow, though truly +he deserved it not, seeing that he would go with us no further than to +Zitze. But I let him go, for I, too, had not deserved that the Lord should +so greatly bless me. + + + + +_The Eleventh Chapter_ + + +HOW I FED ALL THE CONGREGATION: +_ITEM_, HOW I JOURNEYED TO THE HORSE FAIR AT GUeTZKOW, AND WHAT BEFELL +ME THERE + +Next morning my daughter cut up the blessed bread, and sent to every one +in the village a good large piece. But as we saw that our store would +soon run low, we sent the maid with a truck, which we bought of Adam +Lempken, to Wolgast to buy more bread, which she did. _Item_, I gave +notice throughout the parish that on Sunday next I should administer the +blessed sacrament, and in the meantime I bought up all the large fish +that the people of the village had caught. And when the blessed Sunday +was come I first heard the confessions of the whole parish, and after +that I preached a sermon on Matt. xv. 32--"I have compassion on the +multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." I first applied the same to +spiritual food only, and there arose a great sighing from both the men +and the women, when, at the end, I pointed to the altar, whereon stood +the blessed food for the soul, and repeated the words, "I have compassion +on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." (N.B.--The pewter +cup I had borrowed at Wolgast, and bought there a little earthenware +plate for a paten till such time as Master Bloom should have made ready +the silver cup and paten I had bespoke.) Thereupon as soon as I had +consecrated and administered the blessed sacrament, _item_, led the +closing hymn, and every one had silently prayed his "Our Father" before +going out of church, I came out of the confessional again, and motioned +the people to stay yet a while, as the blessed Saviour would feed not +only their souls, but their bodies also, seeing that he still had the +same compassion on his people as of old on the people at the Sea of +Galilee, as they should presently see. Then I went into the tower and +fetched out two baskets which the maid had bought at Wolgast, and which I +had hidden there in good time; set them down in front of the altar, and +took off the napkins with which they were covered, whereupon a very loud +shout arose, inasmuch as they saw one filled with broiled fish and the +other with bread, which we had put into them privately. Hereupon, like +our Saviour, I gave thanks and brake it, and gave it to the churchwarden +Hinrich Seden, that he might distribute it among the men, and to my +daughter for the women. Whereupon I made application of the text, "I have +compassion on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat," to the +food of the body also; and walking up and down in the church, amid great +outcries from all, I exhorted them alway to trust in God's mercy, to pray +without ceasing, to work diligently, and to consent to no sin. What was +left I made them gather up for their children and the old people who were +left at home. + +After church, when I had scarce put off my surplice, Hinrich Seden his +squint-eyed wife came and impudently asked for more for her husband's +journey to Liepe; neither had she had anything for herself, seeing she had +not come to church. This angered me sore, and I said to her, "Why wast thou +not at church? Nevertheless, if thou hadst come humbly to me thou shouldst +have gotten somewhat even now, but as thou comest impudently, I will give +thee nought: think on what thou didst to me and to my child." But she stood +at the door and glowered impudently about the room till my daughter took +her by the arm and led her out, saying, "Hear'st thou, thou shalt come back +humbly before thou gett'st anything, but when thou comest thus, thou also +shalt have thy share, for we will no longer reckon with thee an eye for an +eye, and a tooth for a tooth; let the Lord do that if such be his will, but +we will gladly forgive thee!" Hereupon she at last went out at the door, +muttering to herself as she was wont; but she spat several times in the +street, as we saw from the window. + +Soon after I made up my mind to take into my service a lad, near upon +twenty years of age, called Claus Neels, seeing that his father, old +Neels of Loddin, begged hard that I would do so, besides which the lad +pleased me well in manners and otherwise. Then, as we had a good harvest +this year, I resolved to buy me a couple of horses forthwith, and to sow +my field again; for although it was now late in the year, I thought that +the most merciful God might bless the crop with increase if it seemed +good to him. + +Neither did I feel much care with respect to food for them, inasmuch as +there was a great plenty of hay in the neighbourhood, seeing that all the +cattle had been killed or driven away (as related above). I therefore made +up my mind to go in God's name with my new ploughman to Guetzkow, whither a +great many Mecklenburg horses were brought to the fair, seeing that times +were not yet so bad there as with us. Meanwhile I went a few more times up +the Streckelberg with my daughter at night, and by moonlight, but found +very little; so that we began to think our luck had come to an end, when, +on the third night, we broke off some pieces of amber bigger even than +those the two Dutchmen had bought. These I resolved to send to my wife's +brother, Martin Behring, at Hamburg, seeing that the schipper Wulff of +Wolgast intends, as I am told, to sail thither this very autumn, with +pitch and wood for shipbuilding. I accordingly packed it all up in a +strong chest, which I carried with me to Wolgast when I started with my +man on my journey to Guetzkow. Of this journey I will only relate thus +much, that there were plenty of horses and very few buyers in the market. +Wherefore I bought a pair of fine black horses for twenty florins apiece; +_item_, a cart for five florins; _item_, twenty-five bushels of rye, which +also came from Mecklenburg, at one florin the bushel, whereas it is hardly +to be had now at Wolgast for love or money, and costs three florins or +more the bushel. I might therefore have made a good bargain in rye at +Guetzkow if it had become my office, and had I not, moreover, been afraid +lest the robbers, who swarm in these evil times, should take away my corn, +and ill-use and perchance murder me into the bargain, as has happened to +sundry people already. For, at this time especially, such robberies were +carried on after a strange and frightful fashion on Strellin heath at +Guetzkow; but by God's help it all came to light just as I journeyed +thither with my man-servant to the fair, and I will here tell how it +happened. Some months before a man had been broken on the wheel at +Guetzkow, because, being tempted of Satan, he murdered a travelling +workman. The man, however, straightway began to walk after so fearful a +fashion, that in the evening and night-season he sprang down from the +wheel in his gallows' dress whenever a cart passed by the gallows, which +stands hard by the road to Wolgast, and jumped up behind the people, who +in horror and dismay flogged on their horses, and thereby made a great +rattling on the log embankment which leads beside the gallows into a +little wood called the Kraulin. And it was a strange thing that on the +same night the travellers were almost always robbed or murdered on +Strellin heath. Hereupon the magistrates had the man taken down from the +wheel and buried under the gallows, in hopes of laying his ghost. But it +went on just as before, sitting at night snow-white on the wheel, so that +none durst any longer travel the road to Wolgast. Until at last it +happened that, at the time of the above-named fair, young Ruediger von +Nienkerken of Mellenthin, in Usedom, who had been studying at Wittenberg +and elsewhere, and was now on his way home, came this road by night with +his carriage. Just before, at the inn, I myself had tried to persuade him +to stop the night at Guetzkow on account of the ghost, and to go on his +journey with me next morning, but he would not. Now as soon as this young +lord drove along the road, he also espied the apparition sitting on the +wheel, and scarcely had he passed the gallows when the ghost jumped down +and ran after him. The driver was horribly afraid, and lashed on the +horses, as everybody else had done before, and they, taking fright, +galloped away over the log-road with a marvellous clatter. Meanwhile, +however, the young nobleman saw by the light of the moon how that the +apparition flattened a ball of horse-dung whereon it trod, and straightway +felt sure within himself that it was no ghost. Whereupon he called to the +driver to stop; and as the man would not hearken to him, he sprang out of +the carriage, drew his rapier, and hastened to attack the ghost. When the +ghost saw this he would have turned and fled, but the young nobleman gave +him such a blow on the head with his fist that he fell upon the ground +with a loud wailing. _Summa_: the young lord, having called back his +driver, dragged the ghost into the town again, where he turned out to be a +shoemaker called Schwelm. + +I also, on seeing such a great crowd, ran thither with many others to +look at the fellow. He trembled like an aspen leaf; and when he was +roughly told to make a clean breast, whereby he might peradventure save +his own life, if it appeared that he had murdered no one, he confessed +that he had got his wife to make him a gallows' dress, which he had +put on, and had sat on the wheel before the dead man, when, from the +darkness and the distance, no one could see that the two were sitting +there together; and this he did more especially when he knew that a +cart was going from the town to Wolgast. When the cart came by, and he +jumped down and ran after it, all the people were so affrighted that +they no longer kept their eyes upon the gallows, but only on him, +flogged the horses, and galloped with much noise and clatter over the +log embankment. This was heard by his fellows in Strellin and Dammbecke +(two villages which are about three-fourths on the way), who held +themselves ready to unyoke the horses and to plunder the travellers +when they came up with them. That after the dead man was buried he +could play the ghost more easily still, etc. That this was the whole +truth, and that he himself had never in his life robbed, still less +murdered, any one; wherefore he begged to be forgiven: that all the +robberies and murders which had happened had been done by his fellows +alone. Ah, thou cunning knave! But I heard afterwards that he and his +fellows were broken on the wheel together, as was but fair. + +And now to come back to my journey. The young nobleman abode that night +with me at the inn, and early next morning we both set forth; and as we +had grown into good-fellowship together, I got into his coach with him, +as he offered me, so as to talk by the way, and my Claus drove behind +us. I soon found that he was a well-bred, honest, and learned gentleman, +seeing that he despised the wild student life, and was glad that he had +now done with their scandalous drinking-bouts: moreover, he talked his +Latin readily. I had therefore much pleasure with him in the coach. +However, at Wolgast the rope of the ferry-boat broke, so that we were +carried down the stream to Zeuzin, and at length we only got ashore with +great trouble. Meanwhile it grew late, and we did not get into Coserow +till nine, when I asked the young lord to abide the night with me, which +he agreed to do. We found my child sitting in the chimney-corner, making +a petticoat for her little god-daughter out of her own old clothes. She +was greatly frighted, and changed colour when she saw the young lord +come in with me, and heard that he was to lie there that night, seeing +that as yet we had no more beds than we had bought for our own need from +old Zabel Nehring the forest ranger his widow, at Uekeritze. Wherefore +she took me aside: What was to be done? My bed was in an ill plight, her +little god-child having lain on it that morning; and she could nowise +put the young nobleman into hers, although she would willingly creep in +by the maid herself. And when I asked her why not? she blushed scarlet +and began to cry, and would not show herself again the whole evening, so +that the maid had to see to everything, even to the putting white sheets +on my child's bed for the young lord, as she would not do it herself. I +only tell this to show how maidens are. For next morning she came into +the room with her red silk bodice, and the net on her hair, and the +apron; _summa_, dressed in all the things I had bought her at Wolgast, +so that the young lord was amazed, and talked much with her over the +morning meal. Whereupon he took his leave, and desired me to visit him +at his castle. + +[Illustration: The Gallows Ghost] + + + + +_The Twelfth Chapter_ + + +WHAT FURTHER JOY AND SORROW BEFELL US: +_ITEM_, HOW WITTICH APPELMANN RODE TO DAMEROW TO THE WOLFHUNT, AND WHAT HE +PROPOSED TO MY DAUGHTER + +The Lord blessed my parish wonderfully this winter, inasmuch as not only a +great quantity of fish were caught and sold in all the villages, but in +Coserow they even killed four seals: _item_, the great storm of the 12th +of December threw a goodly quantity of amber on the shore, so that many +found amber, although no very large pieces, and they began to buy cows and +sheep from Liepe and other places, as I myself also bought two cows; +_item_, my grain which I had sown, half on my own field and half on old +Paasch's, sprang up bravely and gladly, as the Lord had till _datum_ +bestowed on us an open winter; but so soon as it had shot up a finger's +length, we found it one morning again torn up and ruined, and this time +also by the devil's doings, since now, as before, not the smallest trace +of oxen or of horses was to be seen in the field. May the righteous God, +however, reward it, as indeed he already has done. Amen. + +Meanwhile, however, something uncommon happened. For one morning, as I +have heard, when Lord Wittich saw out of the window that the daughter of +his fisherman, a child of sixteen, whom he had diligently pursued, went +into the coppice to gather dry sticks, he went thither too; wherefore, I +will not say, but every one may guess for himself. When he had gone some +way along the convent mound, and was come to the first bridge, where the +mountain-ash stands, he saw two wolves coming towards him; and as he had +no weapon with him, save a staff, he climbed up into a tree; whereupon the +wolves trotted round it, blinked at him with their eyes, licked their +lips, and at last jumped with their fore-paws up against the tree, +snapping at him; he then saw that one was a he-wolf, a great fat brute +with only one eye. Hereupon in his fright he began to scream, and the +long-suffering of God was again shown to him, without, however, making him +wiser; for the maiden, who had crept behind a juniper-bush in the field +when she saw the Sheriff coming, ran back again to the castle and called +together a number of people, who came and drove away the wolves, and +rescued his lordship. He then ordered a great wolf-hunt to be held next +day in the convent wood, and he who brought the one-eyed monster, dead or +alive, was to have a barrel of beer for his pains. Still they could not +catch him, albeit they that day took four wolves in their nets, and killed +them. He therefore straightway ordered a wolf-hunt to be held in my +parish. But when the fellow came to toll the bell for a wolf-hunt, he did +not stop a while, as is the wont for wolf-hunts, but loudly rang the bell +on, _sine mora_, so that all the folk thought a fire had broken out, and +ran screaming out of their houses. My child also came running out (I +myself had driven to visit a sick person at Zempin, seeing that walking +began to be wearisome to me, and that I could now afford to be more at +mine ease); but she had not stood long, and was asking the reason of the +ringing, when the Sheriff himself, on his grey charger, with three +cart-loads of toils and nets following him, galloped up and ordered the +people straightway to go into the forest and to drive the wolves with +rattles. Hereupon he, with his hunters and a few men whom he had picked +out of the crowd, were to ride on and spread the nets behind Damerow, +seeing that the island is wondrous narrow there, and the wolf dreads the +water. When he saw my daughter he turned his horse round, chucked her +under the chin, and graciously asked her who she was, and whence she came? +When he had heard it, he said she was as fair as an angel, and that he had +not known till now that the parson here had so beauteous a girl. He then +rode off, looking round at her two or three times. At the first beating +they found the one-eyed wolf, who lay in the rushes near the water. Hereat +his lordship rejoiced greatly, and made the grooms drag him out of the net +with long iron hooks, and hold him there for near an hour, while my lord +slowly and cruelly tortured him to death, laughing heartily the while, +which is a _prognosticon_ of what he afterwards did with my poor child, +for wolf or lamb is all one to this villain. Just God! But I will not be +beforehand with my tale. + +Next day came old Seden his squint-eyed wife, limping like a lame dog, and +put it to my daughter whether she would not go into the service of the +Sheriff; praised him as a good and pious man; and vowed that all the world +said of him were foul lies, as she herself could bear witness, seeing that +she had lived in his service for above ten years. _Item_, she praised the +good cheer they had there, and the handsome beer-money that the great +lords who often lay there gave the servants which waited upon them; that +she herself had more than once received a rose-noble from his Princely +Highness Duke Ernest Ludewig; moreover, many pretty fellows came there, +which might make her fortune, inasmuch as she was a fair woman, and might +take her choice of a husband; whereas here in Coserow, where nobody ever +came, she might wait till she was old and ugly before she got a curch on +her head, etc. Hereat my daughter was beyond measure angered, and +answered, "Ah! thou old witch, and who has told thee that I wish to go +into service to get a curch on my head? Go thy ways, and never enter the +house again, for I have nought to do with thee." Whereupon she walked away +again, muttering between her teeth. + +Scarce had a few days passed, and I was standing in the chamber with the +glazier, who was putting in new windows, when I heard my daughter scream +in the kitchen. Whereupon I straightway ran in thither, and was shocked +and affrighted when I saw the Sheriff himself standing in the corner with +his arm round my child her neck; he, however, presently let her go, and +said: "Aha, reverend Abraham, what a coy little fool you have for a +daughter! I wanted to greet her with a kiss, as I always use to do, and +she struggled and cried out as if I had been some young fellow who had +stolen in upon her, whereas I might be her father twice over." As I +answered nought, he went on to say that he had done it to encourage her, +seeing that he desired to take her into his service, as indeed I knew, +with more excuses of the same kind which I have forgot. Hereupon I pressed +him to come into the room, seeing that after all he was the ruler set over +me by God, and humbly asked what his lordship desired of me. Whereupon he +answered me graciously that it was true he had just cause for anger +against me, seeing that I had preached at him before the whole +congregation, but that he was ready to forgive me, and to have the +complaint he had sent in _contra me_ to his Princely Highness at Stettin, +and which might easily cost me my place, returned to him if I would but do +his will. And when I asked what his Lordship's will might be, and excused +myself as best I might with regard to the sermon, he answered that he +stood in great need of a faithful housekeeper whom he could set over the +other women-folk; and as he had learnt that my daughter was a faithful and +trustworthy person, he would that I should send her into his service. "See +there," said he to her, and pinched her cheek the while, "I want to lead +you to honour, though you are such a young creature, and yet you cry out +as if I were going to bring you to dishonour. Fie upon you!" (My child +still remembers all this _verbotenus_; I myself should have forgot it a +hundred times over in all the wretchedness I since underwent.) But she was +offended at his words, and, jumping up from her seat, she answered +shortly, "I thank your lordship for the honour, but will only keep house +for my papa, which is a better honour for me"; whereupon he turned to me +and asked what I said to that. I must own that I was not a little +affrighted, inasmuch as I thought of the future and of the credit in which +the Sheriff stood with his Princely Highness. I therefore answered with +all humility that I could not force my child, and that I loved to have her +about me, seeing that my dear huswife had departed this life during the +heavy pestilence, and I had no child but only her. That I hoped therefore +his lordship would not be displeased with me that I could not send her +into his lordship's service. This angered him sore, and after disputing +some time longer in vain he took leave, not without threats that he would +make me pay for it. _Item_, my man, who was standing in the stable, heard +him say as he went round the corner, "I will have her yet, in spite of +him!" + +I was already quite disheartened by all this, when, on the Sunday +following, there came his huntsman Johannes Kurt, a tall, handsome fellow, +and smartly dressed. He brought a roebuck tied before him on his horse, +and said that his lordship had sent it to me for a present, in hopes that +I would think better of his offer, seeing that he had been ever since +seeking on all sides for a housekeeper in vain. Moreover, that if I +changed my mind about it his lordship would speak for me to his Princely +Highness, so that the dotation of Duke Philippus Julius should be paid to +me out of the princely _aerarium_, etc. But the young fellow got the same +answer as his master had done, and I desired him to take the roebuck away +with him again. But this he refused to do; and as I had by chance told him +at first that game was my favourite meat, he promised to supply me with it +abundantly, seeing that there was plenty of game in the forest, and that +he often went a-hunting on the Streckelberg; moreover, that I (he meant my +daughter) pleased him uncommonly, the more because I would not do his +master's will, who, as he told me in confidence, would never leave any +girl in peace, and certainly would not let my damsel alone. Although I had +rejected his game, he brought it notwithstanding, and in the course of +three weeks he was sure to come four or five times, and grew more and more +sweet upon my daughter. He talked a vast deal about his good place, and +how he was in search of a good huswife, whence we soon guessed what +quarter the wind blew from. _Ergo_, my daughter told him that if he was +seeking for a huswife she wondered that he lost his time in riding to +Coserow to no purpose, for that she knew of no huswife for him there, +which vexed him so sore that he never came again. + +And now any one would think that the grapes were sour even for the +Sheriff; nevertheless he came riding to us soon after, and without more +ado asked my daughter in marriage for his huntsman. Moreover, he promised +to build him a house of his own in the forest; _item_, to give him pots +and kettles, crockery, bedding, etc., seeing that he had stood god-father +to the young fellow, who, moreover, had ever borne himself well during +seven years he had been in his service. Hereupon my daughter answered that +his lordship had already heard that she would keep house for nobody but +her papa, and that she was still much too young to become a huswife. + +This, however, did not seem to anger him, but after he had talked a long +time to no purpose, he took leave quite kindly, like a cat which pretends +to let a mouse go, and creeps behind the corners, but she is not in +earnest, and presently springs out upon it again. For doubtless he saw +that he had set to work stupidly; wherefore he went away in order to begin +his attack again after a better fashion, and Satan went with him, as +whilom with Judas Iscariot. + + + + +_The Thirteenth Chapter_ + + +WHAT MORE HAPPENED DURING THE WINTER: +_ITEM_, HOW IN THE SPRING WITCHCRAFT BEGAN IN THE VILLAGE + +Nothing else of note happened during the winter, save that the merciful +God bestowed a great plenty of fish, both from the Achterwater and the +sea, and the parish again had good food; so that it might be said of us, +as it is written, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great +mercies will I gather thee." Wherefore we were not weary of praising the +Lord; and the whole congregation did much for the church, buying new +pulpit and altar cloths, seeing that the enemy had stolen the old ones. +_Item_, they desired to make good to me the money I had paid for the new +cups, which, however, I would not take. + +There were still, however, about ten peasants in the parish who had not +been able to buy their seed-corn for the spring, inasmuch as they had +spent all their earnings on cattle and corn for bread. I therefore made an +agreement with them that I would lend them the money for it, and that if +they could not repay me this year, they might the next, which offer they +thankfully took; and we sent seven waggons to Friedland, in Mecklenburg, +to fetch seed-corn for us all. For my beloved brother-in-law, Martin +Behring, in Hamburg, had already sent me by the schipper Wulf, who had +sailed home by Christmas, 700 florins for the amber: may the Lord prosper +it with him! + +Old Thiemcke died this winter in Loddin, who used to be the midwife in the +parish, and had also brought my child into the world. Of late, however, +she had had but little to do, seeing that in this year I only baptized two +children, namely, Jung his son in Uekeritze, and Lene Hebers her little +daughter, the same whom the Imperialists afterwards speared. _Item_, it +was now full five years since I had married the last couple. Hence any one +may guess that I might have starved to death had not the righteous God so +mercifully considered and blessed me in other ways. Wherefore to him alone +be all honour and glory. Amen. + +Meanwhile, however, it so happened that, not long after the Sheriff had +last been here, witchcraft began in the village. I sat reading with my +child the second book of _Virgilius_ of the fearful destruction of the +city of Troy, which was more terrible even than that of our own village, +when a cry arose that our old neighbour Zabel his red cow, which he had +bought only a few days before, had stretched out all-fours and seemed +about to die; and this was the more strange as she had fed heartily but +half an hour before. My child was therefore begged to go and pluck three +hairs from its tail, and bury them under the threshold of the stall; for +it was well known that if this was done by a pure maid the cow would get +better. My child then did as they would have her, seeing that she is the +only maid in the whole village (for the others are still children); and +the cow got better from that very hour, whereat all the folks were amazed. +But it was not long before the same thing befell Witthahn her pig, whilst +it was feeding heartily. She too came running to beg my child for God's +sake to take compassion on her, and to do something for her pig, as ill +men had bewitched it. Hereupon she had pity on her also, and it did as +much good as it had done before. But the woman, who was _gravida_, was +straightway taken in labour from the fright; and my child was scarce out +of the pigsty when the woman went into her cottage, wailing and holding by +the wall, and called together all the woman of the neighbourhood, seeing +that the proper midwife was dead, as mentioned above; and before long +something shot to the ground from under her; and when the women stooped +down to pick it up, the devil's imp, which had wings like a bat, flew up +off the ground, whizzed and buzzed about the room, and then shot out of +the window with a great noise, so that the glass clattered down into the +street. When they looked after it nothing was to be found. Any one may +judge for himself what a great noise this made in all the neighbourhood; +and the whole village believed that it was no one but old Seden his +squint-eyed wife that had brought forth such a devil's brat. + +But the people soon knew not what to believe. For that woman her cow got +the same thing as all the other cows; wherefore she too came lamenting, +and begged my daughter to take pity on her, as on the rest, and to cure +her poor cow for the love of God. That if she had taken it ill of her that +she had said anything about going into service with the Sheriff, she could +only say she had done it for the best, etc. _Summa_, she talked over my +unhappy child to go and cure her cow. + +Meanwhile I was on my knees every Sunday before the Lord with the whole +congregation, praying that he would not allow the Evil One to take from us +that which his mercy had once more bestowed upon us after such extreme +want. _Item_, that he would bring to light the _auctor_ of such devilish +works, so that he might receive the punishment he deserved. + +But all was of no avail. For a very few days had passed when the mischief +befell Stoffer Zuter his spotted cow, and he, too, like all the rest, came +running to fetch my daughter; she accordingly went with him, but could do +no good, and the beast died under her hands. + +_Item_, Katy Berow had bought a little pig with the money my daughter had +paid her in the winter for spinning, and the poor woman kept it like a +child, and let it run about her room. This little pig got the mischief, +like all the rest, in the twinkling of an eye; and when my daughter was +called it grew no better, but also died under her hands; whereupon the +poor woman made a great outcry and tore her hair for grief, so that my +child was moved to pity her, and promised her another pig next time my sow +should litter. Meantime another week passed over, during which I went on, +together with the whole congregation, to call upon the Lord for his +merciful help, but all in vain, when the same thing happened to old wife +Seden her little pig. Whereupon she again came running for my daughter +with loud outcries, and although my child told her that she must have seen +herself that nothing she could do for the cattle cured them any longer, +she ceased not to beg and pray her and to lament till she went forth to do +what she could for her with the help of God. But it was all to no purpose, +inasmuch as the little pig died before she left the sty. What think you +this devil's whore then did? After she had run screaming through the +village she said that any one might see that my daughter was no longer a +maid, else why could she now do no good to the cattle, whereas she had +formerly cured them? She supposed my child had lost her maiden honour on +the Streckelberg, whither she went so often this spring, and that God only +knew who had taken it! But she said no more then, and we did not hear the +whole until afterwards. And it is indeed true that my child had often +walked on the Streckelberg this spring, both with me and also alone, in +order to seek for flowers and to look upon the blessed sea, while she +recited aloud, as she was wont, such verses out of _Virgilius_ as pleased +her best (for whatever she read a few times, that she remembered). + +Neither did I forbid her to take these walks, for there were no wolves now +left on the Streckelberg, and even if there had been they always fly +before a human creature in the summer season. Howbeit, I forbade her to +dig for amber. For as it now lay deep, and we knew not what to do with the +earth we threw up, I resolved to tempt the Lord no further, but to wait +till my store of money grew very scant before we would dig any more. + +But my child did not do as I had bidden her, although she had promised she +would, and of this her disobedience came all our misery. (Oh, blessed +Lord, how grave a matter is thy holy fourth commandment!) For as his +reverence Johannes Lampius, of Crummin, who visited me this spring, had +told me that the Cantor of Wolgast wanted to sell the _Opp. St. +Augustini_, and I had said before her that I desired above all things to +buy that book, but had not money enough left, she got up in the night +without my knowledge to dig for amber, meaning to sell it as best she +might at Wolgast, in order secretly to present me with the _Opp. St. +Augustini_ on my birthday, which falls on the 28th _mensis Augusti_. She +had always covered over the earth she cast up with twigs of fir, whereof +there were plenty in the forest, so that no one should perceive anything +of it. + +Meanwhile, however, it befell that the young _nobilis_ Ruediger of +Nienkerken came riding one day to gather news of the terrible witchcraft +that went on in the village. When I had told him all about it he shook his +head doubtingly, and said he believed that all witchcraft was nothing but +lies and deceit; whereat I was struck with great horror, inasmuch as I had +hitherto held the young lord to be a wiser man, and now could not but see +that he was an Atheist. He guessed what my thoughts were, and with a smile +he answered me by asking whether I had ever read Johannes Wierus, who +would hear nothing of witchcraft, and who argued that all witches were +melancholy persons who only imagined to themselves that they had a +_pactum_ with the devil; and that to him they seemed more worthy of pity +than of punishment? Hereupon I answered that I had not indeed read any +such book (for say, who can read all that fools write?), but that the +appearances here and in all other places proved that it was a monstrous +error to deny the reality of witchcraft, inasmuch as people might then +likewise deny that there were such things as murder, adultery, and theft. + +But he called my _argumentum_ a _dilemma_, and after he had discoursed a +great deal of the devil, all of which I have forgotten, seeing it savoured +strangely of heresy, he said he would relate to me a piece of witchcraft +which he himself had seen at Wittenberg. + +It seems that one morning, as an Imperial captain mounted his good charger +at the Elstergate in order to review his company, the horse presently +began to rage furiously, reared, tossed his head, snorted, kicked, and +roared, not as horses used to neigh, but with a sound as though the voice +came from a human throat, so that all the folks were amazed, and thought +the horse bewitched. It presently threw the captain, and crushed his head +with its hoof, so that he lay writhing on the ground, and straightway set +off at full speed. Hereupon a trooper fired his carabine at the bewitched +horse, which fell in the midst of the road, and presently died. That he, +Ruediger, had then drawn near, together with many others, seeing that the +colonel had forthwith given orders to the surgeon of the regiment to cut +open the horse and see in what state it was inwardly. However, that +everything was quite right, and both the surgeon and army physician +testified that the horse was thoroughly sound; whereupon all the people +cried out more than ever about witchcraft. Meanwhile he himself (I mean +the young _nobilis_) saw a thin smoke coming out from the horse's +nostrils, and on stooping down to look what it might be, he drew out a +match as long as my finger, which still smouldered, and which some wicked +fellow had privately thrust into its nose with a pin. Hereupon all +thoughts of witchcraft were at an end, and search was made for the +culprit, who was presently found to be no other than the captain's own +groom. For one day that his master had dusted his jacket for him he swore +an oath that he would have his revenge, which indeed the provost-marshal +himself had heard as he chanced to be standing in the stable. _Item_, +another soldier bore witness that he had seen the fellow cut a piece off +the fuse not long before he led out his master's horse. And thus thought +the young lord, would it be with all witchcraft if it were sifted to the +bottom; like as I myself had seen at Guetzkow, where the devil's apparition +turned out to be a cordwainer, and that one day I should own that it was +the same sort of thing here in our village. By reason of this speech I +liked not the young nobleman from that hour forward, believing him to be +an Atheist. Though, indeed, afterwards, I have had cause to see that he +was in the right, more's the pity; for had it not been for him what would +have become of my daughter? + +But I will say nothing beforehand.--_Summa_: I walked about the room in +great displeasure at his words, while the young lord began to argue with +my daughter upon witchcraft, now in Latin, and now in the vulgar tongue, +as the words came into his mouth, and wanted to hear her mind about it. +But she answered that she was a foolish thing, and could have no opinion +on the matter; but that, nevertheless, she believed that what happened in +the village could not be by natural means. Hereupon the maid called me out +of the room (I forget what she wanted of me); but when I came back again +my daughter was as red as scarlet, and the nobleman stood close before +her. I therefore asked her, as soon as he had ridden off, whether anything +had happened, which she at first denied, but afterwards owned that he had +said to her while I was gone that he knew but one person who could +bewitch; and when she asked him who that person was, he caught hold of her +hand and said, "It is yourself, sweet maid; for you have thrown a spell +upon my heart, as I feel right well!" But that he said nothing further, +but only gazed on her face with eager eyes, and this it was that made her +so red. + +But this is the way with maidens; they ever have their secrets if one's +back is turned but for a minute; and the proverb + + To drive a goose and watch a maid + Needs the devil himself to aid + +is but too true, as will be shown hereafter, more's the pity! + + + + +_The Fourteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW OLD SEDEN DISAPPEARED ALL ON A SUDDEN: +_ITEM_, HOW THE GREAT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS CAME TO POMERANIA, AND TOOK THE +FORT AT PEENEMUeNDE + +We were now left for some time in peace from witchcraft; unless, indeed, I +reckon the caterpillars, which miserably destroyed my orchard, and which +truly were a strange thing; for the trees blossomed so fair and sweetly +that one day as we were walking under them, and praising the almighty +power of the most merciful God, my child said, "If the Lord goes on to +bless us so abundantly, it will be Christmas Eve with us every night of +next winter!" But things soon fell out far otherwise; for all in a moment +the trees were covered with such swarms of caterpillars (great and small, +and of every shape and colour) that one might have measured them by the +bushel, and before long my poor trees looked like brooms, and the blessed +fruit--which was so well set--all fell off, and was scarce good enough for +the pigs. I do not choose to lay this to any one, though I had my own +private thoughts upon the matter, and have them yet. However, my barley, +whereof I had sown about three bushels out on the common, shot up bravely. +On my field I had sown nothing, seeing that I dreaded the malice of Satan. +Neither was corn at all plentiful throughout the parish--in part because +they had sown no winter crops, and in part because the summer crops did +not prosper. However, in all the villages a great supply of fish was +caught by the mercy of God, especially herring; but they were very low in +price. Moreover, they killed many seals; and at Whitsuntide I myself +killed one as I walked by the sea with my daughter. The creature lay on a +rock close to the water, snoring like a Christian. Thereupon I pulled off +my shoes and drew near him softly, so that he heard me not, and then +struck him over his nose with my staff (for a seal cannot bear much on his +nose), so that he tumbled over into the water; but he was quite stunned, +and I could easily kill him outright. It was a fat beast, though not very +large; and we melted forty pots of train-oil out of his fat, which we put +by for a winter store. + +Meanwhile, however, something seized old Seden all at once, so that he +wished to receive the holy sacrament. When I went to him he could give no +reason for it; or perhaps he would give none for fear of his old Lizzie, +who was always watching him with her squinting eyes, and would not leave +the room. However, Zuter his little girl, a child near twelve years old, +said that a few days before, while she was plucking grass for the cattle +under the garden-hedge by the road, she heard the husband and wife +quarrelling violently again, and that the goodman threw in her teeth that +he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit, and that he +would straightway go and tell it to the priest. Albeit this is only a +child's tale, it may be true for all that, seeing that children and fools, +they say, speak the truth. + +But be that as it may. _Summa_, my old warden grew worse and worse; and +though I visited him every morning and evening--as I use to do to my +sick--in order to pray with him, and often observed that he had somewhat +on his mind, nevertheless he could not disburthen himself of it, seeing +that old Lizzie never left her post. + +This went on for a while, when at last one day, about noon, he sent to beg +me to scrape a little silver off the new sacramental cup, because he had +been told that he should get better if he took it mixed with the dung of +fowls. For some time I would not consent, seeing that I straightway +suspected that there was some devilish mischief behind it; but he begged +and prayed, till I did as he would have me. + +And lo and behold, he mended from that very hour; so that when I went to +pray with him at evening, I found him already sitting on the bench with a +bowl between his knees, out of which he was supping broth. However, he +would not pray (which was strange, seeing that he used to pray so gladly, +and often could not wait patiently for my coming, insomuch that he sent +after me two or three times if I was not at hand, or elsewhere employed); +but he told me he had prayed already, and that he would give me the cock +whose dung he had taken for my trouble, as it was a fine large cock, and +he had nothing better to offer for my Sunday's dinner. And as the poultry +was by this time gone to roost, he went up to the perch which was behind +the stove, and reached down the cock, and put it under the arm of the +maid, who was just come to call me away. + +Not for all the world, however, would I have eaten the cock, but I turned +it out to breed. I went to him once more, and asked whether I should give +thanks to the Lord next Sunday for his recovery; whereupon he answered +that I might do as I pleased in the matter. Hereat I shook my head, and +left the house, resolving to send for him as soon as ever I should hear +that his old Lizzie was from home (for she often went to fetch flax to +spin from the Sheriff). But mark what befell within a few days! We heard +an outcry that old Seden was missing, and that no one could tell what had +become of him. His wife thought he had gone up into the Streckelberg, +whereupon the accursed witch ran howling to our house and asked my +daughter whether she had not seen anything of her goodman, seeing that she +went up the mountain every day. My daughter said she had not; but, woe is +me, she was soon to hear enough of him; for one morning, before sunrise, +as she came down into the wood on her way back from her forbidden digging +after amber, she heard a woodpecker (which no doubt was old Lizzie +herself) crying so dolefully, close beside her, that she went in among the +bushes to see what was the matter. There was the woodpecker sitting on the +ground before a bunch of hair, which was red, and just like what old +Seden's had been, and as soon as it espied her it flew up, with its beak +full of the hair and slipped into a hollow tree. While my daughter still +stood looking at this devil's work, up came old Paasch--who also had heard +the cries of the woodpecker, as he was cutting roofing shingles on the +mountain, with his boy--and was likewise struck with horror when he saw +the hair on the ground. At first they thought a wolf must have eaten him, +and searched all about, but could not find a single bone. On looking up +they fancied they saw something red at the very top of the tree, so they +made the boy climb up, and he forthwith cried out that here, too, there +was a great bunch of red hair stuck to some leaves as if with pitch, but +that it was not pitch, but something speckled red and white, like +fishguts; _item_, that the leaves all around, even where there was no +hair, were stained and spotted, and had a very ill smell. Hereupon the +lad, at his master's bidding, threw down the clotted branch, and they two +below straightway judged that this was the hair and brains of old Seden, +and that the devil had carried him off bodily, because he would not pray +nor give thanks to the Lord for his recovery. I myself believed the same, +and told it on the Sunday as a warning to the congregation. But further on +it will be seen that the Lord had yet greater cause for giving him into +the hands of Satan, inasmuch as he had been talked over by his wicked wife +to renounce his Maker in the hopes of getting better. Now, however, this +devil's whore did as if her heart was broken, tearing out her red hair by +whole handsful when she heard about the woodpecker from my child and old +Paasch, and bewailing that she was now a poor widow, and who was to take +care of her for the future, etc. + +Meanwhile we celebrated on this barren shore, as best we could and might, +together with the whole Protestant Church, the 25th day _mensis Junii_, +whereon, one hundred years ago, the Estates of the holy Roman Empire laid +their confession before the most high and mighty Emperor Carolus V., at +Augsburg; and I preached a sermon on Matt. x. 32, of the right confession +of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whereupon the whole congregation +came to the Sacrament. Now, towards the evening of the selfsame day, as I +walked with my daughter by the sea-shore, we saw several hundred sail of +ships, both great and small, round about Ruden, and plainly heard firing, +whereupon we judged forthwith that this must be the most high and mighty +King Gustavus Adolphus, who was now coming, as he had promised, to the aid +of poor persecuted Christendom. While we were still debating, a boat +sailed towards us from Oie wherein was Kate Berow her son, who is a farmer +there, and was coming to see his old mother. The same told us that it +really was the king, who had this morning run before Ruden with his fleet +from Ruegen; that a few men of Oie were fishing there at the time, and saw +how he went ashore with his officers, and straightway bared his head and +fell upon his knees. + +Thus, then, most gracious God, did I thy unworthy servant enjoy a still +greater happiness and delight that blessed evening than I had done on the +blessed morn; and any one may think that I delayed not for a moment to +fall on my knees with my child, and to follow the example of the king. And +God knows I never in my life prayed so fervently as that evening, whereon +the Lord showed such a wondrous sign upon us as to cause the deliverer of +his poor Christian people to come among them on the very day when they had +everywhere called upon him, on their knees, for his gracious help against +the murderous wiles of the Pope and the devil. That night I could not +sleep for joy, but went quite early in the morning to Damerow, where +something had befallen Vithe his boy. I supposed that he, too, was +bewitched; but this time it was not witchcraft, seeing that the boy had +eaten something unwholesome in the forest. He could not tell what kind of +berries they were; but the _malum_, which turned all his skin bright +scarlet, soon passed over. As I therefore was returning home shortly +after, I met a messenger from Peenemuende, whom his Majesty the high and +mighty King Gustavus Adolphus had sent to tell the Sheriff that on the +29th of June, at ten o'clock in the morning, he was to send three guides +to meet his Majesty at Coserow, and to guide him through the woods to +Swine, where the Imperialists were encamped. _Item_, he related how his +Majesty had taken the fort at Peenemuende yesterday (doubtless the cause of +the firing we heard last evening), and that the Imperialists had run away +as fast as they could, and played the bushranger properly; for after +setting their camp on fire they all fled into the woods and coppices, and +part escaped to Wolgast and part to Swine. + +Straightway I resolved in my joy to invent a _carmen gratulatorium_ to his +Majesty, whom, by the grace of Almighty God, I was to see, the which my +little daughter might present to him. + +I accordingly proposed it to her as soon as I got home, and she +straightway fell on my neck for joy, and then began to dance about the +room. But when she had considered a little, she thought her clothes were +not good enough to wear before his Majesty, and that I should buy her a +blue silk gown, with a yellow apron, seeing that these were the Swedish +colours, and would please his Majesty right well. For a long time I would +not, seeing that I hate this kind of pride; but she teased me with her +kisses and coaxing words, till I, like an old fool, said yes, and ordered +my ploughman to drive her over to Wolgast to-day to buy the stuff. +Wherefore I think that the just God, who hateth the proud, and showeth +mercy on the humble, did rightly chastise me for such pride. For I myself +felt a sinful pleasure when she came back with two women who were to help +her to sew, and laid the stuff before me. Next day she set to work at +sunrise to sew, and I composed my _carmen_ the while. I had not got very +far in it when the young Lord Ruediger of Nienkerken came riding up, in +order, as he said, to inquire whether his Majesty were indeed going to +march through Coserow. And when I told him all I knew of the matter, +_item_ informed him of our plan, he praised it exceedingly, and instructed +my daughter (who looked more kindly upon him to-day than I altogether +liked) how the Swedes use to pronounce the Latin, as _ratscho_ pro _ratio, +uet_ pro _ut, schis_ pro _scis_, etc., so that she might be able to answer +his Majesty with all due readiness. He said, moreover, that he had held +much converse with Swedes at Wittenberg, as well as at Griepswald, +wherefore if she pleased they might act a short _colloquium_, wherein he +would play the king. Hereupon he sat down on the bench before her, and +they both began chattering together, which vexed me sore, especially when +I saw that she made but small haste with her needle the while. But say, +dear reader, what was I to do? Wherefore I went my ways, and let them +chatter till near noon, when the young lord at last took leave. But he +promised to come again on Tuesday, when the king was here, and believed +that the whole island would flock together at Coserow. As soon as he was +gone, seeing that my _vena poetica_ (as may be easily guessed) was still +stopped up, I had the horses put to and drove all over the parish, +exhorting the people in every village to be at the Giant's Stone by +Coserow at nine o'clock on Tuesday, and that they were all to fall on +their knees as soon as they should see the king coming and that I knelt +down; _item_, to join at once in singing the Ambrosian hymn of praise, +which I should lead off as soon as the bells began to ring. This they all +promised to do; and after I had again exhorted them to it on Sunday in +church, and prayed to the Lord for his Majesty out of the fulness of my +heart, we scarce could await the blessed Tuesday for joyful impatience. + + + + +_The Fifteenth Chapter_ + + +OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY KING GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND WHAT +BEFELL THEREAT + +Meanwhile I finished my _carmen_ in _metrum elegiacum_, which my daughter +transcribed (seeing that her handwriting is fairer than mine) and +diligently learned, so that she might say it to his Majesty. _Item_, her +clothes were gotten ready, and became her purely; and on Monday she went +up to the Streckelberg, although the heat was such that the crows gasped +on the hedges; for she wanted to gather flowers for a garland she designed +to wear, and which was also to be blue and yellow. Towards evening she +came home with her apron filled with all manner of flowers; but her hair +was quite wet, and hung all matted about her shoulders. (My God, my God, +was everything to come together to destroy me, wretched man that I am!) I +asked, therefore, where she had been that her hair was so wet and matted: +whereupon she answered that she had gathered flowers round the Koelpin, and +from thence she had gone down to the sea-shore, where she had bathed in +the sea, seeing that it was very hot and no one could see her. Thus, said +she, jesting, she should appear before his Majesty to-morrow doubly a +clean maid. This displeased me at the time, and I looked grave, although I +said nought. + +Next morning at six o'clock all the people were already at the Giant's +Stone, men, women, and children. _Summa_, everybody that was able to walk +was there. At eight o'clock my daughter was already dressed in all her +bravery, namely, a blue silken gown, with a yellow apron and kerchief, and +a yellow hair-net, with a garland of blue and yellow flowers round her +head. It was not long before my young lord arrived, finely dressed, as +became a nobleman. He wanted to inquire, as he said, by which road I +should go up to the Stone with my daughter, seeing that his father, Hans +von Nienkerken, _item_ Wittich Appelmann and the Lepels of Gnitze, were +also going, and that there was much people on all the high roads, as +though a fair was being held. But I straightway perceived that all he +wanted was to see my daughter, inasmuch as he presently occupied himself +about her, and began chattering with her in the Latin again. He made her +repeat to him the _carmen_ to his Majesty; whereupon he, in the person of +the king, answered her: "_Dulcissima et venustissima puella, quae mihi in +coloribus caeli, ut angelus Domini appares utinam semper mecum esses, +nunquam mihi male caderet_"; whereupon she grew red, as likewise did I, +but from vexation, as may be easily guessed. I therefore begged that his +lordship would but go forward toward the Stone, seeing that my daughter +had yet to help me on with my surplice; whereupon, however, he answered +that he would wait for us the while in the chamber, and that we might then +go together. _Summa_, I blessed myself from this young lord; but what +could I do? As he would not go, I was forced to wink at it all; and before +long we went up to the Stone, where I straight-way chose three sturdy +fellows from the crowd, and sent them up the steeple, that they might +begin to ring the bells as soon as they should see me get up upon the +Stone and wave my napkin. This they promised to do, and straightway +departed; whereupon I sat down on the Stone with my daughter, thinking +that the young lord would surely stand apart, as became his dignity; +albeit he did not, but sat down with us on the Stone. And we three sat +there all alone, and all the folk looked at us, but none drew near to see +my child's fine clothes, not even the young lasses, as is their wont to +do; but this I did not observe till afterwards, when I heard how matters +stood with us even then. Towards nine o'clock Hans von Nienkerken and +Wittich Appelmann galloped up, and old Nienkerken called to his son in an +angry voice: and seeing that the young lord heard him not, he rode up to +the Stone, and cried out so loud that all the folk might hear, "Canst thou +not hearken, boy, when thy father calls thee?" Whereupon Ruediger followed +him in much displeasure, and we saw from a distance how the old lord +seemed to threaten his son, and spat out before him; but knew not what +this might signify: we were to learn it soon enough, though, more's the +pity! Soon after the two Lepels of Gnitze came from the Damerow; and the +noblemen saluted one other on the green sward close beside us, but without +looking on us. And I heard the Lepels say that nought could yet be seen of +his Majesty, but that the coastguard fleet around Ruden was in motion, and +that several hundred ships were sailing this way. As soon as this news was +known, all the folk ran to the sea-shore (which is but a step from the +Stone); and the noblemen rode thither too, all save Wittich, who had +dismounted, and who, when he saw that I sent old Paasch his boy up into a +tall oak-tree to look out for the king, straightway busied himself about +my daughter again, who now sat all alone upon the Stone: "Why had she not +taken his huntsman? and whether she would not change her mind on the +matter and have him now, or else come into service with him (the Sheriff) +himself? for that if she would not, he believed she might be sorry for it +one day." Whereupon she answered him (as she told me), that there was but +one thing she was sorry for, namely, that his lordship would take so much +useless pains upon her; whereupon she rose with all haste and came to +where I stood under the tree, looking after the lad who was climbing up +it. But our old Ilse said that he swore a great curse when my daughter +turned her back upon him, and went straightway into the alder-grove close +by the high road, where stood the old witch Lizzie Kolken. + +Meanwhile I went with my daughter to the sea-shore, and found it quite +true that the whole fleet was sailing over from Ruden and Oie towards +Wollin, and several ships passed so close before us that we could see the +soldiers standing upon them and the flashing of their arms. _Item_, we +heard the horses neigh and the soldiery laugh. On one ship, too, they were +drumming, and on another cattle lowed and sheep bleated. Whilst we yet +gazed we saw smoke come out from one of the ships, followed by a great +noise, and presently we were aware of the ball bounding over the water, +which foamed and splashed on either side, and coming straight towards us. +Hereupon the crowd ran away on every side with loud cries, and we plainly +heard the soldiery in the ships laugh thereat. But the ball flew up and +struck into the midst of an oak hard by Paasch his boy, so that nearly two +cartloads of boughs fell to the earth with a great crash, and covered all +the road by which his Majesty was to come. Hereupon the boy would stop no +longer in the tree, however much I exhorted him thereto, but cried out to +us as he came down that a great troop of soldiers was marching out of the +forest by Damerow, and that likely enough the king was among them. +Hereupon the Sheriff ordered the road to be cleared forthwith, and this +was some time a-doing, seeing that the thick boughs were stuck fast in the +trees all around; the nobles, as soon as all was made ready, would have +ridden to meet his Majesty, but stayed still on the little green sward, +because we already heard the noise of horses, carriages, and voices close +to us in the forest. + +It was not long before the cannons broke through the brushwood with the +three guides seated upon them. And seeing that one of them was known to me +(it was Stoffer Krauthahn of Peenemuende), I drew near and begged him that +he would tell me when the king should come. But he answered that he was +going forward with the cannon to Coserow, and that I was only to watch for +a tall dark man, with a hat and feather and a gold chain round his neck, +for that that was the king, and that he rode next after the great standard +whereon was a yellow lion. + +Wherefore I narrowly watched the procession as it wound out of the forest. +And next after the artillery came the Finnish and Lapland bowmen, who went +clothed all in furs, although it was now the height of summer, whereat I +greatly wondered. After these there came much people, but I know not what +they were. Presently I espied over the hazel-tree which stood in my way so +that I could not see everything as soon as it came forth out of the +coppice, the great flag with the lion on it, and behind that the head of a +very dark man with a golden chain round his neck, whereupon straightway I +judged this must be the king. I therefore waved my napkin toward the +steeple, whereupon the bells forthwith rang out, and while the dark man +rode nearer to us, I pulled off my skull-cap, fell upon my knees, and led +the Ambrosian hymn of praise, and all the people plucked their hats from +their heads and knelt down on the ground all around, singing after me; +men, women, and children, save only the nobles, who stood still on the +green sward, and did not take off their hats and behave with attention +until they saw that his Majesty drew in his horse. (It was a coal-black +charger, and stopped with its two fore-feet right upon my field, which I +took as a sign of good fortune.) When we had finished, the Sheriff quickly +got off his horse, and would have approached the king with his three +guides, who followed after him; _item_, I had taken my child by the hand, +and would also have drawn near to the king. Howbeit, his Majesty motioned +away the Sheriff and beckoned us to approach, whereupon I wished his +Majesty joy in the Latin tongue, and extolled his magnanimous heart, +seeing that he had deigned to visit German ground for the protection and +aid of poor persecuted Christendom; and praised it as a sign from God that +such had happened on this the high festival of our poor church, and I +prayed his Majesty graciously to receive what my daughter desired to +present to him; whereupon his Majesty looked on her and smiled pleasantly. +Such gracious bearing made her bold again, albeit she trembled visibly +just before, and she reached him a blue and yellow wreath, whereon lay the +_carmen_, saying, "_Accipe hanc vilem coronam et haec_" whereupon she +began to recite the _carmen_. Meanwhile his Majesty grew more and more +gracious, looking now on her and now on the _carmen_, and nodded with +especial kindness towards the end, which was as follows:-- + + Tempus erit, quo tu reversus ab hostibus ultor + Intrabis patriae libera regna meae; + Tunc meliora student nostrae tibi carmina musae, + Tunc tua, maxime rex, Martia facta canam. + Tu modo versiculis ne spernas vilibus ausum + Auguror et res est ista futura brevi! + Sis foelix, fortisque diu, vive optime princeps, + Omnia, et ut possis vincere, dura. Vale! + +As soon as she held her peace, his Majesty said, "_Propius accedas, patria +virgo, ut te osculer_"; whereupon she drew near to his horse, blushing +deeply. I thought he would only have kissed her forehead, as potentates +commonly use to do, but not at all! he kissed her lips with a loud smack, +and the long feathers on his hat drooped over her neck, so that I was +quite afraid for her again. But he soon raised up his head, and taking off +his gold chain, whereon dangled his own effigy, he hung it round my +child's neck with these words: "_Hocce tuce pulchritudim! et si favente +Deo redux fuero victor, promissum carmen et praeterea duo oscula +exspecto_." + +Hereupon the Sheriff with his three men again came forward and bowed down +to the ground before his Majesty. But as he knew no Latin, _item_ no +Italian nor French, I had to act as interpreter. For his Majesty inquired +how far it was to Swine, and whether there was still much foreign soldiery +there: And the Sheriff thought there were still about 200 Croats in the +camp; whereupon his Majesty spurred on his horse, and nodding graciously, +cried "_Valete_!" And now came the rest of the troops, about 3000 strong, +out of the coppice, which likewise had a valiant bearing, and attempted no +fooleries, as troops are wont to do, when they passed by us and the women, +but marched on in honest quietness, and we followed the train until the +forest beyond Coserow, where we commended it to the care of the Almighty, +and every one went on his way home. + + + + +_The Sixteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW LITTLE MARY PAASCH WAS SORELY PLAGUED OF THE DEVIL, AND THE WHOLE +PARISH FELL OFF FROM ME + +Before I proceed any further I will first mark that the illustrious King +Gustavus Adolphus, as we presently heard, had cut down the 300 Croats at +Swine, and was thence gone by sea to Stettin. May God be for ever gracious +to him! Amen. + +But my sorrows increased from day to day, seeing that the devil now played +pranks such as he never had played before. I had begun to think that the +ears of God had hearkened to our ardent prayers, but it pleased him to try +us yet more hardly than ever. For, a few days after the arrival of the +most illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus, it was bruited about that my +child her little god-daughter was possessed of the Evil One, and tumbled +about most piteously on her bed, insomuch that no one was able to hold +her. My child straightway went to see her little god-daughter, but +presently came weeping home. Old Paasch would not suffer her even to come +near her, but railed at her very angrily, and said that she should never +come within his doors again, as his child had got the mischief from the +white roll which she had given her that morning. It was true that my child +had given her a roll, seeing that the maid had been the day before to +Wolgast and had brought back a napkin full of them. + +Such news vexed me sore, and after putting on my cassock I went to old +Paasch his house to exorcise the foul fiend and to remove such disgrace +from my child. I found the old man standing on the floor by the cockloft +steps weeping; and after I had spoken "The peace of God," I asked him +first of all whether he really believed that his little Mary had been +bewitched by means of the roll which my child had given her? He said, +"Yes!" And when I answered that in that case I also must have been +bewitched, _item_ Pagel his little girl, seeing that we both had eaten of +the rolls, he was silent, and asked me with a sigh, whether I would not go +into the room and see for myself how matters stood. I then entered with +"The peace of God," and found six people standing round little Mary her +bed; her eyes were shut, and she was as stiff as a board; wherefore Kit +Wells (who was a young and sturdy fellow) seized the little child by one +leg and held her out like a hedgestake, so that I might see how the devil +plagued her. I now said a prayer, and Satan, perceiving that a servant of +Christ was come, began to tear the child so fearfully that it was pitiful +to behold; for she flung about her hands and feet so that four strong men +were scarce able to hold her: _item_ she was afflicted with extraordinary +risings and fallings of her belly, as if a living creature were therein, +so that at last the old witch Lizzie Kolken sat herself upon her belly, +whereupon the child seemed to be somewhat better, and I told her to repeat +the Apostles' Creed, so as to see whether it really were the devil who +possessed her. She straightway grew worse than before, and began to gnash +her teeth, to roll her eyes, and to strike so hard with her hands and feet +that she flung her father, who held one of her legs, right into the middle +of the room, and then struck her foot so hard against the bedstead that +the blood flowed, and Lizzie Kolken was thrown about on her belly as +though she had been in a swing. And as I ceased not, but exorcised Satan +that he should leave her, she began to howl and to bark like a dog, _item_ +to laugh, and spoke at last, with a gruff bass voice, like an old man's, +"I will not depart." But he should soon have been forced to depart out of +her, had not both father and mother besought me by God's holy Sacrament to +leave their poor child in peace, seeing that nothing did her any good, but +rather made her worse. I was therefore forced to desist, and only +admonished the parents to seek for help, like the Canaanitish woman, in +true repentance and incessant prayer, and with her to sigh in constant +faith, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Thou Son of David, my daughter is +grievously vexed of a devil," Matthew xv.; that the heart of our Lord +would then melt, so that he would have mercy on their child, and command +Satan to depart from her. _Item_, I promised to pray for the little child +on the following Sunday with the whole congregation, and told them to +bring her, if it were any ways possible, to the church, seeing that the +ardent prayer of the whole congregation has power to rise beyond the +clouds. This they promised to do, and I then went home sorely troubled, +where I soon learned that she was somewhat better; thus it still is sure +that Satan hates nothing so much, after the Lord Jesus, as the servants of +the Gospel. But wait, and I shall even yet "bruise thy head with my heel" +(Genesis, chap, iii.); nought shall avail thee. + +Howbeit before the blessed Sunday came, I perceived that many of my people +went out of my way, both in the village and elsewhere in the parish, where +I went to visit sundry sick folks. When I went to Uekeritze to see young +Tittlewitz, there even befell me as follows:--Claus Pieper the peasant +stood in his yard chopping wood, and on seeing me he flung the axe out of +his hand so hastily that it stuck in the ground, and he ran towards the +pigsty, making the sign of the cross. I motioned him to stop, and asked +why he thus ran from me, his confessor? Whether, peradventure, he also +believed that my daughter had bewitched her little god-child? "_Ille_. +Yes, he believed it, because the whole parish did. _Ego_. Why, then, had +she been so kind to her formerly, and kept her like a sister through the +worst of the famine? _Ille_. This was not the only mischief she had done. +_Ego_. What, then, had she done besides? _Ille_. That was all one to me. +_Ego_. He should tell me, or I would complain to the magistrate. _Ille_. +That I might do, if I pleased." Whereupon he went his way insolently. Any +one may guess that I was not slow to inquire everywhere what people +thought my daughter had done; but no one would tell me anything, and I +might have grieved to death at such evil reports. Moreover not one child +came during this whole week to school to my daughter; and when I sent out +the maid to ask the reason she brought back word that the children were +ill, or that the parents wanted them for their work. I thought and +thought, but all to no purpose, until the blessed Sunday came round when I +meant to have held a great Sacrament, seeing that many people had made +known their intention to come to the Lord's table. It seemed strange to me +that I saw no one standing (as was their wont) about the church door; I +thought, however, that they might have gone into the houses. But when I +went into the church with my daughter, there were not more than six people +assembled, among whom was old Lizzie Kolken; and the accursed witch no +sooner saw my daughter follow me than she made the sign of the cross and +ran out of the door under the steeple; whereupon the five others, among +them mine own church-warden Claus Bulken (I had not appointed any one in +the room of old Seden), followed her. I was so horror-struck that my blood +curdled, and I began to tremble, so that I fell with my shoulder against +the confessional. My child, to whom I had as yet told nothing, in order to +spare her, then asked me, "Father, what is the matter with all the people; +are they, too, bewitched?" Whereupon I came to myself again and went into +the churchyard to look after them. But all were gone save my churchwarden, +Claus Bulken, who stood under the lime-tree, whistling to himself. I +stepped up to him and asked what had come to the people? Whereupon he +answered he could not tell; and when I asked him again why, then, he +himself had left the church, he said, What was he to do there alone, +seeing that no collection could be made? I then implored him to tell me +the truth, and what horrid suspicion had arisen against me in the parish? +But he answered, I should very soon find it out for myself; and he jumped +over the wall and went into old Lizzie her house, which stands close by +the churchyard. + +My child had made ready some veal broth for dinner, for which I mostly use +to leave everything else; but I could not swallow one spoonful, but sat +resting my head on my hand, and doubted whether I should tell her or no. +Meanwhile the old maid came in ready for a journey, and with a bundle in +her hand, and begged me with tears to give her leave to go. My poor child +turned pale as a corpse, and asked in amaze what had come to her? but she +merely answered, "Nothing!" and wiped her eyes with her apron. When I +recovered my speech, which had well-nigh left me at seeing that this +faithful old creature was also about to forsake me, I began to question +her why she wished to go; she who had dwelt with me so long, and who would +not forsake us even in the great famine, but had faithfully borne up +against it, and, indeed, had humbled me by her faith, and had exhorted me +to stand out gallantly to the last, for which I should be grateful to her +as long as I lived. Hereupon she merely wept and sobbed yet more, and at +length brought out that she still had an old mother of eighty living in +Liepe, and that she wished to go and nurse her till her end. Hereupon my +daughter jumped up and answered with tears, "Alas, old Ilse, why wilt thou +leave us, for thy mother is with thy brother? Do but tell me why thou wilt +forsake me, and what harm have I done thee, that I may make it good to +thee again." But she hid her face in her apron and sobbed and could not +get out a single word; whereupon my child drew away the apron from her +face, and would have stroked her cheeks to make her speak. But when Ilse +saw this she struck my poor child's hand and cried, "Ugh!" spat out before +her, and straightway went out at the door. Such a thing she had never done +even when my child was a little girl, and we were both so shocked that we +could neither of us say a word. + +Before long my poor child gave a loud cry, and cast herself upon the +bench, weeping and wailing, "What has happened, what has happened?" I +therefore thought I ought to tell her what I had heard--namely, that she +was looked upon as a witch. Whereat she began to smile instead of weeping +any more, and ran out of the door to overtake the maid, who had already +left the house, as we had seen. She returned after an hour, crying out +that all the people in the village had run away from her when she would +have asked them whither the maid was gone. _Item_, the little children, +for whom she had kept school, had screamed, and had hidden themselves from +her; also no one would answer her a single word, but all spat out before +her, as the maid had done. On her way home she had seen a boat on the +water, and had run as fast as she could to the shore, and called with +might and main after old Ilse, who was in the boat. But she had taken no +notice of her, not even once to look round after her, but had motioned her +to be gone. And now she went on to weep and to sob the whole day and the +whole night, so that I was more miserable than even in the time of the +great famine. But the worst was yet to come, as will be shown in the +following chapter. + + + + +_The Seventeenth Chapter_ + + +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS TAKEN UP FOR A WITCH, AND CARRIED TO PUDGLA + +The next day, Monday, the 12th July, at about eight in the morning, while +we sat in our grief, wondering who could have prepared such great sorrow +for us, and speedily agreed that it could be none other than the accursed +witch Lizzie Kolken, a coach with four horses drove quickly up to the +door, wherein sat six fellows, who straightway all jumped out. Two went +and stood at the front, two at the back door, and two more, one of whom +was the constable Jacob Knake, came into the room, and handed me a warrant +from the Sheriff for the arrest of my daughter, as in common repute of +being a wicked witch, and for her examination before the criminal court. +Any one may guess how my heart sank within me when I read this. I dropped +to the earth like a felled tree, and when I came to myself my child had +thrown herself upon me with loud cries, and her hot tears ran down over my +face. When she saw that I came to myself, she began to praise God therefor +with a loud voice, and essayed to comfort me, saying that she was +innocent, and should appear with a clean conscience before her judges. +_Item_, she repeated to me the beautiful text from Matthew, chap. v.: +"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall +say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." + +And she begged me to rise and to throw my cassock over my doublet, and go +with her, for that without me she would not suffer herself to be carried +before the Sheriff. Meanwhile, however, all the village--men, women, and +children--had thronged together before my door; but they remained quiet, +and only peeped in at the windows, as though they would have looked right +through the house. When we had both made us ready, and the constable, who +at first would not take me with them, had thought better of it, by reason +of a good fee which my daughter gave him, we walked to the coach; but I +was so helpless that I could not get up into it. + +Old Paasch, when he saw this, came and helped me up into the coach, +saying, "God comfort ye! Alas, that you should ever see your child to come +to this!" and he kissed my hand to take leave. + +A few others came up to the coach, and would have done likewise; but I +besought them not to make my heart still heavier, and to take Christian +charge of my house and my affairs until I should return. Also to pray +diligently for me and my daughter, so that the Evil One, who had long gone +about our village like a roaring lion, and who now threatened to devour +me, might not prevail against us, but might be forced to depart from me +and from my child as from our guileless Saviour in the wilderness. But to +this none answered a word; and I heard right well, as we drove away, that +many spat out after us, and one said (my child thought it was Berow her +voice), "We would far sooner lay fire under thy coats than pray for thee." +We were still sighing over such words as these when we came near to the +churchyard, and there sat the accursed witch Lizzie Kolken at the door of +her house with her hymn-book in her lap, screeching out at the top of her +voice, "God the Father, dwell with us," as we drove past her; the which +vexed my poor child so sore that she swounded, and fell like one dead upon +me. I begged the driver to stop, and called to old Lizzie to bring us a +pitcher of water; but she did as though she had not heard me, and went on +to sing so that it rang again. Whereupon the constable jumped down, and at +my request ran back to my house to fetch a pitcher of water; and he +presently came back with it, and the people after him, who began to say +aloud that my child's bad conscience had stricken her, and that she had +now betrayed herself. Wherefore I thanked God when she came to life again, +and we could leave the village. But at Uekeritze it was just the same, for +all the people had flocked together, and were standing on the green before +Labahn his house when we went by. + +Nevertheless, they were quiet enough as we drove past, albeit some few +cried, "How can it be, how can it be?" I heard nothing else. But in the +forest near the watermill the miller and all his men ran out and shouted, +laughing, "Look at the witch, look at the witch!" Whereupon one of the men +struck at my poor child with the sack which he held in his hand, so that +she turned quite white, and the flour flew all about the coach like a +cloud. When I rebuked him, the wicked rogue laughed and said, that if no +other smoke than that ever came under her nose, so much the better for +her. _Item_, it was worse in Pudgla than even at the mill. The people +stood so thick on the hill, before the castle, that we could scarce force +our way through, and the Sheriff caused the death-bell in the castle-tower +to toll as an _avisum_. Whereupon more and more people came running out of +the ale-houses and cottages. Some cried out, "Is that the witch?" Others, +again, "Look at the parson's witch! the parson's witch!" and much more, +which for very shame I may not write. They scraped up the mud out of the +gutter which ran from the castle-kitchen and threw it upon us; _item_, a +great stone, the which struck one of the horses so that it shied, and +belike would have upset the coach had not a man sprung forward and held it +in. All this happened before the castle-gates, where the Sheriff stood +smiling and looking on, with a heron's feather stuck in his grey hat. But +so soon as the horse was quiet again, he came to the coach and mocked at +my child, saying, "See, young maid, thou wouldst not come to me, and here +thou art nevertheless!" Whereupon she answered, "Yea, I come; and may you +one day come before your judge as I come before you"; whereunto I said, +Amen, and asked him how his lordship could answer before God and man for +what he had done to a wretched man like myself and to my child? But he +answered, saying, Why had I come with her? And when I told him of the rude +people here, _item_, of the churlish miller's man, he said that it was not +his fault, and threatened the people all around with his fist, for they +were making a great noise. Thereupon he commanded my child to get down and +to follow him, and went before her into the castle; motioned the +constable, who would have gone with them, to stay at the foot of the +steps, and began to mount the winding staircase to the upper rooms alone +with my child. + +But she whispered me privately, "Do not leave me, father"; and I presently +followed softly after them. Hearing by their voices in which chamber they +were, I laid my ear against the door to listen. And the villain offered to +her that if she would love him nought should harm her, saying he had power +to save her from the people; but that if she would not, she should go +before the court next day, and she might guess herself how it would fare +with her, seeing that he had many witnesses to prove that she had played +the wanton with Satan, and had suffered him to kiss her. Hereupon she was +silent, and only sobbed, which the arch-rogue took as a good sign, and +went on: "If you have had Satan himself for a sweetheart, you surely may +love me." And he went to her and would have taken her in his arms, as I +perceived; for she gave a loud scream, and flew to the door; but he held +her fast, and begged and threatened as the devil prompted him. I was about +to go in when I heard her strike him in the face, saying, "Get thee behind +me, Satan," so that he let her go. Whereupon she ran out at the door so +suddenly that she threw me on the ground, and fell upon me with a loud +cry. Hereat the Sheriff, who had followed her, started, but presently +cried out, "Wait, thou prying parson, I will teach thee to listen!" and +ran out and beckoned to the constable who stood on the steps below. He +bade him first shut me up in one dungeon, seeing that I was an +eavesdropper, and then return and thrust my child into another. But he +thought better of it when we had come halfway down the winding-stair, and +said he would excuse me this time, and that the constable might let me go, +and only lock up my child very fast, and bring the key to him, seeing she +was a stubborn person, as he had seen at the very first hearing which he +had given her. + +Hereupon my poor child was torn from me, and I fell in a swound upon the +steps. I know not how I got down them; but when I came to myself, I was in +the constable his room, and his wife was throwing water in my face. There +I passed the night sitting in a chair, and sorrowed more than I prayed, +seeing that my faith was greatly shaken, and the Lord came not to +strengthen it. + + + + +_The Eighteenth Chapter_ + + +OF THE FIRST TRIAL, AND WHAT CAME THEREOF + +Next morning, as I walked up and down in the court, seeing that I had many +times asked the constable in vain to lead me to my child (he would not +even tell me where she lay), and for very disquietude I had at last begun +to wander about there; about six o'clock there came a coach from Uzdom, +wherein sat his worship, Master Samuel Pieper, _consul dirigens_, _item_, +the _camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel, and a _scriba_, whose name, indeed, I +heard, but have forgotten it again; and my daughter forgot it too, albeit +in other things she has an excellent memory, and, indeed, told me most of +what follows, for my old head well-nigh burst, so that I myself could +remember but little. I straightway went up to the coach, and begged that +the worshipful court would suffer me to be present at the trial, seeing +that my daughter was yet in her nonage, but which the Sheriff, who +meanwhile had stepped up to the coach from the terrace, whence he had seen +all, had denied me. But his worship Master Samuel Pieper, who was a little +round man, with a fat paunch, and a beard mingled with grey hanging down +to his middle, reached me his hand, and condoled with me like a Christian +in my trouble: I might come into court in God's name; and he wished with +all his heart that all whereof my daughter was filed might prove to be +foul lies. Nevertheless I had still to wait two hours before their +worships came down the winding stair again. At last towards nine o'clock +I heard the constable moving about the chairs and benches in the +judgment-chamber; and as I conceived that the time was now come, I went in +and sat myself down on a bench. No one, however, was yet there, save the +constable and his young daughter, who was wiping the table, and held a +rosebud between her lips. I was fain to beg her to give it me, so that I +might have it to smell to; and I believe that I should have been carried +dead out of the room that day if I had not had it. God is thus able to +preserve our lives even by means of a poor flower, if so he wills it! + +At length their worships came in and sat round the table, whereupon _Dom. +Consul_ motioned the constable to fetch in my child. Meanwhile he asked +the Sheriff whether he had put _Rea_ in chains, and when he said No, he +gave him such a reprimand that it went through my very marrow. But the +Sheriff excused himself, saying that he had not done so from regard to her +quality, but had locked her up in so fast a dungeon that she could not +possibly escape therefrom. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ answered that much is +possible to the devil, and that they would have to answer for it should +_Rea_ escape. This angered the Sheriff, and he replied that if the devil +could convey her through walls seven feet thick, and through three doors, +he could very easily break her chains too. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ said +that hereafter he would look at the prison himself; and I think that the +Sheriff had been so kind only because he yet hoped (as, indeed, will +hereafter be shown) to talk over my daughter to let him have his will of +her. + +And now the door opened, and my poor child came in with the constable, but +walking backwards, and without her shoes, the which she was forced to +leave without. The fellow had seized her by her long hair, and thus +dragged her up to the table, when first she was to turn round and look +upon her judges. He had a vast deal to say in the matter, and was in every +way a bold and impudent rogue, as will soon be shown. After _Dom. Consul_ +had heaved a deep sigh, and gazed at her from head to foot, he first asked +her her name, and how old she was; _item_, if she knew why she was +summoned before them? On the last point she answered that the Sheriff had +already told her father the reason; that she wished not to wrong any one, +but thought that the Sheriff himself had brought upon her the repute of a +witch, in order to gain her to his wicked will. Hereupon she told all his +ways with her, from the very first, and how he would by all means have had +her for his housekeeper; and that when she would not (although he had many +times come himself to her father his house), one day, as he went out of +the door, he had muttered in his beard, "I will have her, despite of all!" +which their servant Claus Neels had heard, as he stood in the stable; and +he had also sought to gain his ends by means of an ungodly woman, one +Lizzie Kolken, who had formerly been in his service; that this woman, +belike, had contrived the spells which they laid to her charge: she +herself knew nothing of witchcraft; _item_, she related what the Sheriff +had done to her the evening before, when she had just come, and when he +for the first time spoke out plainly, thinking that she was then +altogether in his power: nay, more, that he had come to her that very +night again, in her dungeon, and had made her the same offers, saying that +he would set her free if she would let him have his will of her; and that +when she denied him, he had struggled with her, whereupon she had screamed +aloud, and had scratched him across the nose, as might yet be seen, +whereupon he had left her; wherefore she would not acknowledge the Sheriff +as her judge, and trusted in God to save her from the hand of her enemies, +as of old he had saved the chaste Susannah.-- + +When she now held her peace amid loud sobs, _Dom. Consul_ started up after +he had looked, as we all did, at the Sheriff's nose, and had in truth +espied the scar upon it, and cried out in amaze, "Speak, for God his sake, +speak, what is this that I hear of your lordship?" Whereupon the Sheriff, +without changing colour, answered that although, indeed, he was not called +upon to say anything to their worships, seeing that he was the head of the +court, and that _Rea_, as appeared from numberless _indicia_, was a wicked +witch, and therefore could not bear witness against him or any one else; +he, nevertheless, would speak, so as to give no cause of scandal to the +court; that all the charges brought against him by this person were foul +lies; it was, indeed, true, that he would have hired her for a +housekeeper, whereof he stood greatly in need, seeing that his old Dorothy +was already growing infirm; it was also true that he had yesterday +questioned her in private, hoping to get her to confess by fair means, +whereby her sentence would be softened, inasmuch as he had pity on her +great youth; but that he had not said one naughty word to her, nor had he +been to her in the night; and that it was his little lap-dog, called +Below, which had scratched him, while he played with it that very morning; +that his old Dorothy could bear witness to this, and that the cunning +witch had only made use of this wile to divide the court against itself, +thereby and with the devil's help, to gain her own advantage, inasmuch as +she was a most cunning creature, as the court would soon find out. + +Hereupon I plucked up a heart, and declared that all my daughter had said +was true, and that the evening before I myself had heard, through the +door, how his lordship had made offers to her, and would have done +wantonness with her; _item_, that he had already sought to kiss her once +at Coserow; _item_, the troubles which his lordship had formerly brought +upon me in the matter of the first-fruits. + +Howbeit the Sheriff presently talked me down, saying, that if I had +slandered him, an innocent man, in church, from the pulpit, as the whole +congregation could bear witness, I should doubtless find it easy to do as +much here, before the court; not to mention that a father could, in no +case, be a witness for his own child. + +But _Dom. Consul_ seemed quite confounded, and was silent, and leaned his +head on the table, as in deep thought. Meanwhile the impudent constable +began to finger his beard from under his arm; and _Dom. Consul_ thinking +it was a fly, struck at him with his hand, without even looking up; but +when he felt the constable his hand, he jumped up and asked him what he +wanted? Whereupon the fellow answered, "Oh, only a louse was creeping +there, and I would have caught it." + +At such impudence his worship was so exceeding wroth that he struck the +constable on the mouth, and ordered him, on pain of heavy punishment, to +leave the room. + +Hereupon he turned to the Sheriff, and cried, angrily, "Why, in the name +of all the ten devils, is it thus your lordship keeps the constable in +order? and truly, in this whole matter, there is something which passes my +understanding." But the Sheriff answered, "Not so; should you not +understand it all when you think upon the eels?" + +Hereat _Dom. Consul_ of a sudden turned ghastly pale, and began to +tremble, as it appeared to me, and called the Sheriff aside into another +chamber. I have never been able to learn what that about the eels could +mean.-- + +Meanwhile _Dominus Camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel sat biting his pen, and +looking furiously--now at me, and now at my child, but said not a word; +neither did he answer _Scriba_, who often whispered somewhat into his ear, +save by a growl. At length both their worships came back into the chamber +together, and _Dom. Consul_, after he and the Sheriff had seated +themselves, began to reproach my poor child violently, saying that she had +sought to make a disturbance in the worshipful court; that his lordship +had shown him the very dog which had scratched his nose, and that, +moreover, the fact had been sworn to by the old housekeeper. + +(Truly _she_ was not likely to betray him, for the old harlot had lived +with him for years, and she had a good big boy by him, as will be seen +hereafter.) + +_Item_, he said that so many _indicia_ of her guilt had come to light, +that it was impossible to believe anything she might say; she was +therefore to give glory to God, and openly to confess everything, so as to +soften her punishment; whereby she might perchance, in pity for her youth, +escape with life, etc. + +Hereupon he put his spectacles on his nose, and began to cross-question +her, during near four hours, from a paper which he held in his hand. These +were the main articles, as far as we both can remember: + +_Quaestio_. Whether she could bewitch? + +_Responsio_. No; she knew nothing of witchcraft. + +_Q_. Whether she could charm? + +_R_. Of that she knew as little. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever been on the Blocksberg? + +_R_. That was too far off for her; she knew few hills save the +Streckelberg, where she had been very often. + +_Q_. What had she done there? + +_R_. She had looked out over the sea, or gathered flowers; _item_, at +times carried home an apronful of dry brushwood. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever called upon the devil there? + +_R_. That had never come into her mind. + +_Q_. Whether, then, the devil had appeared to her there, uncalled? + +_R_. God defend her from such a thing. + +_Q_. So she could not bewitch? + +_R_. No. + +_Q_. What, then, befell Kit Zuter his spotted cow, that it suddenly died +in her presence? + +_R_. She did not know; and that was a strange question. + +_Q_. Then it would be as strange a question, why Katie Berow her little +pig had died? + +_R_. Assuredly; she wondered what they would lay to her charge. + +_Q_. Then she had not bewitched them? + +_R_. No; God forbid it. + +_Q_. Why, then, if she were innocent, had she promised old Katie another +little pig, when her sow should litter? + +_R_. She did that out of kind-heartedness. (And hereupon she began to weep +bitterly, and said she plainly saw that she had to thank old Lizzie Kolken +for all this, inasmuch as she had often threatened her when she would not +fulfil all her greedy desires, for she wanted everything that came in her +way; moreover, that Lizzie had gone all about the village when the cattle +were bewitched, persuading the people that if only a pure maid pulled a +few hairs out of the beasts' tails they would get better. That she pitied +them, and knowing herself to be a maid, went to help them; and indeed, at +first it cured them, but latterly not.) + +_Q_. What cattle had she cured? + +_R_. Zabel his red cow; _item_, Witthan her pig, and old Lizzie's own cow. + +_Q_. Why could she afterwards cure them no more? + +_R_. She did not know, but thought--albeit she had no wish to fyle any +one--that old Lizzie Kolken, who for many a long year had been in common +repute as a witch, had done it all, and bewitched the cows in her name and +then charmed them back again, as she pleased, only to bring her to +misfortune. + +_Q_. Why, then, had old Lizzie bewitched her own cow, _item_, suffered her +own pig to die, if it was she that had made all the disturbance in the +village, and could really charm? + +_R_. She did not know; but belike there was some one (and here she looked +at the Sheriff) who paid her double for it all. + +_Q_. It was in vain that she sought to shift the guilt from off herself; +had she not bewitched old Paasch his crop, nay, even her own father's, and +caused it to be trodden down by the devil, _item_, conjured all the +caterpillars into her father's orchard? + +_R_. The question was almost as monstrous as the deed would have been. +There sat her father, and his worship might ask him whether she ever had +shown herself an undutiful child to him. (Hereupon I would have risen to +speak, but _Dom. Consul_ suffered me not to open my mouth, but went on +with his examination; whereupon I remained silent and downcast.) + +_Q_. Whether she did likewise deny that it was through her malice that the +woman Witthan had given birth to a devil's imp, which straight-way started +up and flew out at the window, so that when the midwife sought for it it +had disappeared? + +_R_. Truly she did; and indeed she had all the days of her life done good +to the people instead of harm, for during the terrible famine she had +often taken the bread out of her own mouth to share it among the others, +especially the little children. To this the whole parish must needs bear +witness, if they were asked; whereas witches and warlocks always did evil +and no good to men, as our Lord Jesus taught (Matt. xii.), when the +Pharisees blasphemed him, saying that he cast out devils by Beelzebub the +prince of the devils; hence his worship might see whether she could in +truth be a witch. + +_Q_. He would soon teach her to talk of blasphemies; he saw that her +tongue was well hung; but she must answer the questions he asked her, and +say nothing more. The question was not _what_ good she had done to the +poor, but _wherewithal_ she had done it; she must now show how she and her +father had of a sudden grown so rich that she could go pranking about in +silken raiment, whereas she used to be so very poor? + +Hereupon she looked towards me, and said, "Father, shall I tell?" +Whereupon I answered, "Yes, my child, now thou must openly tell all, even +though we thereby become beggars." She accordingly told how, when our need +was sorest, she had found the amber, and how much we had gotten for it +from the Dutch merchants. + +_Q_. What were the names of these merchants? + +_R_. Dieterich von Pehnen and Jakob Kiekebusch; but, as we have heard from +a schipper, they since died of the plague at Stettin. + +_Q_. Why had we said nothing of such a godsend? + +_R_. Out of fear of our enemy the Sheriff, who, as it seemed, had +condemned us to die of hunger, inasmuch as he forbade the parishioners, +under pain of heavy displeasure, to supply us with anything, saying, that +he would send them a better parson. + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the Sheriff sharply in the face, who +answered that it was true he had said this, seeing that the parson had +preached at him in the most scandalous manner from the pulpit; but that he +knew very well, at the time, that they were far enough from dying of +hunger. + +_Q_. How came so much amber on the Streckelberg? She had best confess at +once that the devil had brought it to her. + +_R_. She knew nothing about that. But there was a great vein of amber +there, as she could show to them all that very day; and she had broken out +the amber, and covered the hole well over with fir-twigs, so that none +should find it. + +_Q_. When had she gone up the Streckelberg; by day or by night? + +_R_. Hereupon she blushed, and for a moment held her peace; but presently +made answer, "Sometimes by day, and sometimes by night." + +_Q_. Why did she hesitate? She had better make a full confession of all, +so that her punishment might be less heavy. Had she not there given over +old Seden to Satan, who had carried him off through the air, and left only +a part of his hair and brains sticking to the top of an oak? + +_R_. She did not know whether that was his hair and brains at all, nor how +it came there. She went to the tree one morning because she heard a +woodpecker cry so dolefully. _Item_, old Paasch, who also had heard the +cries, came up with his axe in his hand. + +_Q_. Whether the woodpecker was not the devil himself, who had carried off +old Seden? + +_R_. She did not know: but he must have been dead some time, seeing that +the blood and brains which the lad fetched down out of the tree were quite +dried up. + +_Q_. How and when, then, had he come by his death? + +_R_. That Almighty God only knew. But Zuter his little girl had said, that +one day, while she gathered nettles for the cows under Seden his hedge, +she heard the goodman threaten his squint-eyed wife that he would tell the +parson that he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit; +whereupon the goodman had presently disappeared. But that this was a +child's tale, and she would fyle no one on the strength of it. + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the Sheriff steadily in the face, and +said, "Old Lizzie Kolken must be brought before us this very day": whereto +the Sheriff made no answer; and he went on to ask, + +_Q_. Whether, then, she still maintained that she knew nothing of the +devil? + +_R_. She maintained it now, and would maintain it until her life's end. + +_Q_. And nevertheless, as had been seen by witnesses, she had been +re-baptized by him in the sea in broad daylight.--Here again she blushed, +and for a moment was silent. + +_Q_. Why did she blush again? She should for God his sake think on her +salvation, and confess the truth. + +_R_. She had bathed herself in the sea, seeing that the day was very hot; +that was the whole truth. + +_Q_. What chaste maiden would ever bathe in the sea? Thou liest; or wilt +thou even yet deny that thou didst bewitch old Paasch his little girl with +a white roll? + +_R_. Alas! alas! she loved the child as though it were her own little +sister; not only had she taught her as well as all the other children +without reward, but during the heavy famine she had often taken the bit +from her own mouth to put it into the little child's. How, then, could she +have wished to do her such grievous harm? + +_Q_. Wilt thou even yet deny?--Reverend Abraham, how stubborn is your +child! See here, is this no witches' salve, which the constable fetched +out of thy coffer last night? Is this no witches' salve, eh? + +_R_. It was a salve for the skin, which would make it soft and white, as +the apothecary at Wolgast had told her, of whom she bought it. + +_Q_. Hereupon he shook his head, and went on: How! wilt thou then lastly +deny that on this last Saturday the both July, at twelve o'clock at night, +thou didst on the Streckelberg call upon thy paramour the devil in +dreadful words, whereupon he appeared to thee in the shape of a great +hairy giant, and clipped thee and toyed with thee? + +At these words she grew more pale than a corpse, and tottered so that she +was forced to hold by a chair: and I, wretched man, who would readily have +sworn away my life for her, when I saw and heard this, my senses forsook +me, so that I fell down from the bench, and _Dom. Consul_ had to call in +the constable to help me up. + +When I had come to myself a little, and the impudent varlet saw our common +consternation, he cried out, grinning at the court the while, 'Is it all +out? is it all out? has she confessed?' Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ again +showed him the door with a sharp rebuke, as might have been expected; and +it is said that this knave played the pimp for the Sheriff, and indeed I +think he would not otherwise have been so bold. + +_Summa_: I should well-nigh have perished in my distress, but for the +little rose, which by the help of God's mercy kept me up bravely; and now +the whole court rose and exhorted my poor fainting child, by the living +God, and as she would save her soul, to deny no longer, but in pity to +herself and her father to confess the truth. + +[Illustration: The Apparition on the Streckelberg] + +Hereupon she heaved a deep sigh, and grew as red as she had been pale +before, insomuch that even her hand upon the chair was like scarlet, and +she did not raise her eyes from the ground. + +_R_. She would now then confess the simple truth, as she saw right well +that wicked people had stolen after and watched her at nights. That she +had been to seek for amber on the mountain, and that to drive away fear +she had, as she was wont to do at her work, recited the Latin _carmen_ +which her father had made on the illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus: when +young Ruediger of Nienkerken, who had ofttimes been at her father's house +and talked of love to her, came out of the coppice, and when she cried out +for fear, spoke to her in Latin, and clasped her in his arms. That he wore +a great wolf's-skin coat, so that folks should not know him if they met +him, and tell the lord his father that he had been on the mountain by +night. + +At this her confession I fell into sheer despair, and cried in great +wrath, "O thou ungodly and undutiful child, after all, then, thou hast a +paramour! Did not I forbid thee to go up the mountain by night? What didst +thou want on the mountain by night?" and I began to moan and weep and +wring my hands, so that _Dom. Consul_ even had pity on me, and drew near +to comfort me. Meanwhile she herself came towards me, and began to defend +herself, saying, with many tears, that she had gone up the mountain by +night, against my commands, to get so much amber that she might secretly +buy for me, against my birthday, the _Opera Sancti Augustim_, which the +Cantor at Wolgast wanted to sell. That it was not her fault that the young +lord lay in wait for her one night; and that she would swear to me, by the +living God, that nought that was unseemly had happened between them there, +and that she was still a maid. + +And herewith the first hearing was at end, for after _Dom. Consul_ had +whispered somewhat into the ear of the Sheriff, he called in the constable +again, and bade him keep good watch over _Rea_; _item_, not to leave her +at large in her dungeon any longer, but to put her in chains. These words +pierced my very heart, and I besought his worship to consider my sacred +office, and my ancient noble birth, and not to do me such dishonour as to +put my daughter in chains. That I would answer for her to the worshipful +court with my own head that she would not escape. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_, +after he had gone to look at the dungeon himself, granted me my request, +and commanded the constable to leave her as she had been hitherto. + + + + +_The Nineteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW SATAN, BY THE PERMISSION OF THE MOST RIGHTEOUS GOD, SOUGHT ALTOGETHER +TO RUIN US, AND HOW WE LOST ALL HOPE + +The same day, at about three in the afternoon, when I was gone to Conrad +Seep his alehouse to eat something, seeing that it was now nearly two days +since I had tasted aught save my tears, and he had placed before me some +bread and sausage, together with a mug of beer, the constable came into +the room and greeted me from the Sheriff, without, however, so much as +touching his cap, asking whether I would not dine with his lordship; that +his lordship had not remembered till now that I belike was still fasting, +seeing the trial had lasted so long. Hereupon I made answer to the +constable that I already had my dinner before me, as he saw himself, and +desired that his lordship would hold me excused. Hereat the fellow +wondered greatly, and answered; did I not see that his lordship wished me +well, albeit I had preached at him as though he were a Jew? I should think +on my daughter, and be somewhat more ready to do his lordship's will, +whereby peradventure all would yet end well. For his lordship was not such +a rough ass as _Dom. Consul_, and meant well by my child and me, as +beseemed a righteous magistrate. + +After I had with some trouble rid myself of this impudent fox, I tried to +eat a bit, but nothing would go down save the beer. I therefore soon sat +and thought again whether I would not lodge with Conrad Seep, so as to be +always near my child; _item_, whether I should not hand over my poor +misguided flock to M. Vigelius, the pastor of Benz, for such time as the +Lord still should prove me. In about an hour I saw through the window how +that an empty coach drove to the castle, and the Sheriff and _Dom. Consul_ +straightway stepped thereinto with my child; _item_, the constable climbed +up behind. Hereupon I left everything on the table and ran to the coach, +asking humbly whither they were about to take my poor child; and when I +heard they were going to the Streckelberg to look after the amber, I +begged them to take me also, and to suffer me to sit by my child, for who +could tell how much longer I might yet sit by her! This was granted to me, +and on the way the Sheriff ordered me to take up my abode in the castle +and to dine at his table as often as I pleased, and that he would, +moreover, send my child her meat from his own table. For that he had a +Christian heart, and well knew that we were to forgive our enemies. But I +refused his kindness with humble thanks, as my child did also, seeing we +were not yet so poor that we could not maintain ourselves. As we passed by +the watermill the ungodly varlet there again thrust his head out of a hole +and pulled wry faces at my child; but, dear reader, he got something to +remember it by; for the Sheriff beckoned to the constable to fetch the +fellow out, and after he had reproached him with the tricks he had twice +played my child, the constable had to take the coachman his new whip and +to give him fifty lashes, which, God knows, were not laid on with a +feather. He bellowed like a bull, which, however, no one heard for the +noise of the mill-wheels, and when at last he did as though he could not +stir, we left him lying on the ground and went on our way. + +As we drove through Uekeritze a number of people flocked together, but +were quiet enough, save one fellow who, _salva venia_, mocked at us with +unseemly gestures in the midst of the road when he saw us coming. The +constable had to jump down again, but could not catch him, and the others +would not give him up, but pretended that they had only looked at our +coach and had not marked him. May be this was true! And I am therefore +inclined to think that it was Satan himself who did it to mock at us; for +mark, for God's sake, what happened to us on the Streckelberg! Alas! +through the delusions of the foul fiend, we could not find the spot where +we had dug for the amber. For when we came to where we thought it must be, +a huge hill of sand had been heaped up as by a whirlwind, and the +fir-twigs which my child had covered over it were gone. She was near +falling in a swound when she saw this, and wrung her hands and cried out +with her Saviour, "My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me!" + +Howbeit, the constable and the coachman were ordered to dig, but not one +bit of amber was to be found, even so big as a grain of corn, whereupon +_Dom. Consul_ shook his head and violently upbraided my child. And when I +answered that Satan himself, as it seemed, had filled up the hollow in +order to bring us altogether into his power, the constable was ordered to +fetch a long stake out of the coppice which we might thrust still deeper +into the sand. But no hard _objectum_ was anywhere to be felt, +notwithstanding the Sheriff, _Dom. Consul_, and myself in my anguish did +try everywhere with the stake. + +Hereupon my child besought her judges to go with her to Coserow, where she +still had much amber in her coffer which she had found here, and that if +it were the gift of the devil it would all be changed, since it was well +known that all the presents the devil makes to witches straightway turn to +mud and ashes. + +But, God be merciful to us, God be merciful to us! when we returned to +Coserow, amid the wonderment of all the village, and my daughter went to +her coffer, the things therein were all tossed about, and the amber gone. +Hereupon she shrieked so loud that it would have softened a stone, and +cried out: "The wicked constable hath done this! when he fetched the salve +out of my coffer, he stole the amber from me, unhappy maid." But the +constable, who stood by, would have torn her hair, and cried out, "Thou +witch, thou damned witch, is it not enough that thou hast belied my lord, +but thou must now belie me too?" But _Dom. Consul_ forbade him, so that he +did not dare lay hands upon her. _Item_, all the money was gone which she +had hoarded up from the amber she had privately sold, and which she +thought already came to about ten florins. + +But the gown which she had worn at the arrival of the most illustrious +King Gustavus Adolphus, as well as the golden chain with his effigy which +he had given her, I had locked up, as though it were a relic, in the chest +in the vestry, among the altar and pulpit cloths, and there we found them +still; and when I excused myself therefore, saying that I had thought to +have saved them up for her there against her bridal day, she gazed with +fixed and glazed eyes into the box, and cried out, "Yes, against the day +when I shall be burnt; O Jesu, Jesu, Jesu!" Hereat _Dom. Consul_ shuddered +and said, "See how thou still dost smite thyself with thine own words! For +the sake of God and thy salvation, confess, for if thou knowest thyself to +be innocent, how, then, canst thou think that thou wilt be burnt?" But she +still looked him fixedly in the face, and cried aloud in Latin, +"_Innocentia, quid est innocentia? Ubi libido dominatur, innocentia leve +praesidium est_." + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again shuddered, so that his beard wagged, and +said, "What, dost thou indeed know Latin? Where didst thou learn the +Latin?" And when I answered this question as well as I was able for +sobbing, he shook his head and said, "I never in my life heard of a woman +that knew Latin." Upon this he knelt down before her coffer, and turned +over everything therein, drew it away from the wall, and when he found +nothing he bade us show him her bed, and did the same with that. This, at +length, vexed the Sheriff, who asked him whether they should not drive +back again, seeing that night was coming on. But he answered, "Nay, I must +first have the written paction which Satan has given her"; and he went on +with his search until it was almost dark. But they found nothing at all, +although _Dom. Consul_, together with the constable, passed over no hole +or corner, even in the kitchen and cellar. Hereupon he got up again into +the coach, muttering to himself, and bade my daughter sit so that she +should not look upon him. + +And now we once more had the same _spectaculum_ with the accursed old +witch Lizzie Kolken, seeing that she again sat at her door as we drove by, +and began to sing at the top of her voice, "We praise thee, O Lord." But +she screeched like a stuck pig, so that _Dom. Consul_ was amazed thereat, +and when he had heard who she was, he asked the Sheriff whether he would +not that she should be seized by the constable and be tied behind the +coach to run after it, as we had no room for her elsewhere; for that he +had often been told that all old women who had red squinting eyes and +sharp voices were witches, not to mention the suspicious things which +_Rea_ had declared against her. But he answered that he could not do this, +seeing that old Lizzie was a woman in good repute and fearing God as _Dom. +Consul_ might learn for himself; but that, nevertheless, he had had her +summoned for the morrow, together with the other witnesses. + +Yea, in truth, an excellently devout and worthy woman!--for scarcely were +we out of the village, when so fearful a storm of thunder, lightning, +wind, and hail burst over our heads, that the corn all around us was +beaten down as with a flail, and the horses before the coach were quite +maddened; however, it did not last long. But my poor child had to bear all +the blame again, inasmuch as _Dom. Consul_ thought that it was not old +Lizzie, which, nevertheless, was as clear as the sun at noonday! but my +poor daughter who brewed the storm;--for, beloved reader, what could it +have profited her, even if she had known the black art? This, however, did +not strike _Dom. Consul_, and Satan, by the permission of the +all-righteous God, was presently to use us still worse; for just as we got +to the Master's Dam, he came flying over us in the shape of a stork, and +dropped a frog so exactly over us that it fell into my daughter her lap: +she gave a shrill scream, but I whispered her to sit still, and that I +would secretly throw the frog away by one leg. + +But the constable had seen it, and cried out, "Hey, sirs! hey, look at the +cursed witch! what has the devil just thrown into her lap?" Whereupon the +Sheriff and _Dom. Consul_ looked round and saw the frog, which crawled in +her lap, and the constable after he had blown upon it three times, took it +up and showed it to their lordships. Hereat _Dom. Consul_ began to spew, +and when he had done, he ordered the coachman to stop, got down from the +coach, and said we might drive home, that he felt qualmish, and would go +afoot and see if he got better. But first he privately whispered to the +constable, which, howbeit, we heard right well, that when he got home he +should lay my poor child in chains, but not so as to hurt her much; to +which neither she nor I could answer save by tears and sobs. But the +Sheriff had heard it too, and when his worship was out of sight he began +to stroke my child her cheeks from behind her back, telling her to be +easy, as he also had a word to say in the matter, and that the constable +should not lay her in chains. But that she must leave off being so hard to +him as she had been hitherto, and come and sit on the seat beside him, +that he might privately give her some good advice as to what was to be +done. To this she answered, with many tears, that she wished to sit only +by her father, as she knew not how much longer she might sit by him at +all; and she begged for nothing more save that his lordship would leave +her in peace. But this he would not do, but pinched her back and sides +with his knees; and as she bore with this, seeing that there was no help +for it, he waxed bolder, taking it for a good sign. Meanwhile _Dom. +Consul_ called out close behind us (for being frightened he ran just after +the coach), "Constable, constable, come here quick; here lies a hedgehog +in the midst of the road!" whereupon the constable jumped down from the +coach. + +This made the Sheriff still bolder; and at last my child rose up and said, +"Father, let us also go afoot; I can no longer guard myself from him here +behind!" But he pulled her down again by her clothes, and cried out +angrily, "Wait, thou wicked witch, I will help thee to go afoot if thou +art so wilful; thou shalt be chained to the block this very night." +Whereupon she answered, "Do you do that which you cannot help doing; the +righteous God, it is to be hoped, will one day do unto you what He cannot +help doing." + +Meanwhile we had reached the castle, and scarcely were we got out of the +coach, when _Dom. Consul_, who had run till he was all of a sweat, came up +together with the constable, and straightway gave over my child into his +charge, so that I had scarce time to bid her farewell. I was left standing +on the floor below, wringing my hands in the dark, and hearkened whither +they were leading her, inasmuch as I had not the heart to follow, when +_Dom. Consul_, who had stepped into a room with the Sheriff, looked out at +the door again, and called after the constable to bring _Rea_ once more +before them. And when he had done so, and I went into the room with them, +_Dom. Consul_ held a letter in his hand, and, after spitting thrice, he +began thus: "Wilt thou still deny, thou stubborn witch? Hear what the old +knight, Hans von Nienkerken, writes to the court!" Whereupon he read out +to us that his son was so disturbed by the tale the accursed witch had +told of him that he had fallen sick from that very hour, and that he, the +father, was not much better. That his son Ruediger had indeed at times, +when he went that way, been to see Pastor Schweidler, whom he had first +known upon a journey; but that he swore that he wished he might turn black +if he had ever used any folly or jesting with the cursed devil's whore his +daughter; much less ever been with her by night on the Streckelberg, or +embraced her there. + +At this dreadful news we both (I mean my child and I) fell down in a +swound together, seeing that we had rested our last hopes on the young +lord; and I know not what further happened. For when I came to myself, my +host, Conrad Seep, was standing over me, holding a funnel between my +teeth, through which he ladled some warm beer down my throat, and I never +felt more wretched in all my life; insomuch that Master Seep had to +undress me like a little child, and to help me into bed. + + + + +_The Twentieth Chapter_ + + +OF THE MALICE OF THE GOVERNOR AND OF OLD LIZZIE: +_ITEM_, OF THE EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES + +The next morning my hairs, which till _datum_ had been mingled with grey, +were white as snow, albeit the Lord otherwise blessed me wondrously. For +near daybreak a nightingale flew into the elder-bush beneath my window, +and sang so sweetly that straightway I thought it must be a good angel. +For after I had hearkened a while to it, I was all at once able again to +pray, which since last Sunday I could not do; and the spirit of our Lord +Jesus Christ began to speak within me, "Abba, Father"; and straightway I +was of good cheer, trusting that God would once more be gracious unto me +his wretched child; and when I had given him thanks for such great mercy, +I fell into a refreshing slumber, and slept so long that the blessed sun +stood high in the heavens when I awoke. + +And seeing that my heart was still of good cheer, I sat up in my bed, and +sang with a loud voice, "Be not dismayed, thou little flock": whereupon +Master Seep came into the room, thinking I had called him. But he stood +reverently waiting till I had done; and after marvelling at my snow-white +hair, he told me it was already seven; _item_, that half my congregation, +among others my ploughman, Claus Neels, were already assembled in his +house to bear witness that day. When I heard this, I bade mine host +forthwith send Claus to the castle, to ask when the court would open, and +he brought word back that no one knew, seeing that _Dom. Consul_ was +already gone that morning to Mellenthin to see old Nienkerken, and was not +yet come back. This message gave me good courage, and I asked the fellow +whether he also had come to bear witness against my poor child? To which +he answered, "Nay, I know nought save good of her, and I would give the +fellows their due, only--" + +These words surprised me, and I vehemently urged him to open his heart to +me. But he began to weep, and at last said that he knew nothing. Alas! he +knew but too much, and could then have saved my poor child if he had +willed. But from fear of the torture he held his peace, as he since owned; +and I will here relate what had befallen him that very morning. + +He had set out betimes that morning, so as to be alone with his +sweetheart, who was to go along with him (she is Steffen of Zempin his +daughter, not farmer Steffen, but the lame gouty Steffen), and had got to +Pudgla about five, where he found no one in the ale-house save old Lizzie +Kolken, who straightway hobbled up to the castle; and when his sweetheart +was gone home again, time hung heavy on his hands, and he climbed over the +wall into the castle garden, where he threw himself on his face behind a +hedge to sleep. But before long the Sheriff came with old Lizzie, and +after they had looked all round and seen no one, they went into an arbour +close by him, and conversed as follows:-- + +_Ille_. Now that they were alone together, what did she want of him? + +_Illa_. She came to get the money for the witchcraft she had contrived in +the village. + +_Ille_. Of what use had all this witchcraft been to him? My child, so far +from being frightened, defied him more and more; and he doubted whether he +should ever have his will of her. + +_Illa_. He should only have patience; when she was laid upon the rack she +would soon learn to be fond. + +_Ille_. That might be, but till then she (Lizzie) should get no money. + +_Illa_. What! Must she then do his cattle a mischief? + +_Ille_. Yes, if she felt chilly, and wanted a burning fagot to warm her +_podex_, she had better. Moreover, he thought that she had bewitched him, +seeing that his desire for the parson's daughter was such as he had never +felt before. + +_Illa_. (Laughing.) He had said the same thing some thirty years ago, when +he first came after her. + +_Ille_. Ugh! thou old baggage, don't remind me of such things, but see to +it that you get three witnesses, as I told you before, or else methinks +they will rack your old joints for you after all. + +_Illa_. She had the three witnesses ready, and would leave the rest to +him. But that if she were racked she would reveal all she knew. + +_Ille_. She should hold her ugly tongue, and go to the devil. + +_Illa_. So she would, but first she must have her money. + +_Ille_. She should have no money till he had had his will of my daughter. + +_Illa_. He might at least pay her for her little pig which she herself had +bewitched to death, in order that she might not get into evil repute. + +_Ille_. She might choose one when his pigs were driven by, and say she had +paid for it. Hereupon, said my Claus, the pigs were driven by, and one ran +into the garden, the door being open, and as the swineherd followed it, +they parted; but the witch muttered to herself, "Now help, devil, help, +that I may--" but he heard no further. + +The cowardly fellow, however, hid all this from me, as I have said above, +and only said, with tears, that he knew nothing. I believed him, and sat +down at the window to see when _Dom. Consul_ should return; and when I saw +him I rose and went to the castle, where the constable, who was already +there with my child, met me before the judgment-chamber. Alas! she looked +more joyful than I had seen her for a long time, and smiled at me with her +sweet little mouth: but when she saw my snow-white hair, she gave a cry, +which made _Dom. Consul_ throw open the door of the judgment-chamber, and +say, "Ha, ha! thou knowest well what news I have brought thee; come in, +thou stubborn devil's brat!" Whereupon we stepped into the chamber to him, +and he lift up his voice and spake to me, after he had sat down with the +Sheriff, who was by. + +He said that yestereven, after he had caused me to be carried like one +dead to Master Seep his ale-house, and that my stubborn child had been +brought to life again, he had once more adjured her, to the utmost of his +power, no longer to lie before the face of the living God, but to confess +the truth; whereupon she had borne herself very unruly, and had wrung her +hands and wept and sobbed, and at last answered that the young _nobilis_ +never could have said such things, but that his father must have written +them, who hated her, as she had plainly seen when the Swedish king was at +Coserow. That he, _Dom. Consul_, had indeed doubted the truth of this at +the time, but as a just judge had gone that morning right early with the +_scriba_ to Mellenthin, to question the young lord himself. + +That I might now see myself what horrible malice was in my daughter. For +that the old knight had led him to his son's bedside, who still lay sick +from vexation, and that he had confirmed all his father had written, and +had cursed the scandalous she-devil (as he called my daughter) for seeking +to rob him of his knightly honour. "What sayest thou now?" he continued; +"wilt thou still deny thy great wickedness? See here the _protocollum_ +which the young lord hath signed _manu propria_!" But the wretched maid +had meanwhile fallen on the ground again, and the constable had no sooner +seen this than he ran into the kitchen, and came back with a burning +brimstone match, which he was about to hold under her nose. + +But I hindered him, and sprinkled her face with water, so that she opened +her eyes, and raised herself up by a table. She then stood a while, +without saying a word or regarding my sorrow. At last she smiled sadly, +and spake thus: That she clearly saw how true was that spoken by the Holy +Ghost, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man"; and that the +faithlessness of the young lord had surely broken her poor heart if the +all-merciful God had not graciously prevented him, and sent her a dream +that night, which she would tell, not hoping to persuade the judges, but +to raise up the white head of her poor father. + +"After I had sat and watched all the night," quoth she, "towards morning I +heard a nightingale sing in the castle-garden so sweetly that my eyes +closed, and I slept. Then methought I was a lamb, grazing quietly in my +meadow at Coserow. Suddenly the Sheriff jumped over the hedge and turned +into a wolf, who seized me in his jaws, and ran with me towards the +Streckelberg, where he had his lair. I, poor little lamb, trembled and +bleated in vain, and saw death before my eyes, when he laid me down before +his lair, where lay the she-wolf and her young. But behold a hand, like +the hand of a man, straightway came out of the bushes and touched the +wolves, each one with one finger, and crushed them so that nought was left +of them save a grey powder. Hereupon the hand took me up, and carried me +back to my meadow." + +Only think, beloved reader, how I felt when I heard all this, and about +the dear nightingale too, which no one can doubt to have been the servant +of God. I clasped my child with many tears, and told her what had happened +to me, and we both won such courage and confidence as we had never yet +felt, to the wonderment of _Dom. Consul_, as it seemed; but the Sheriff +turned as pale as a sheet when she stepped towards their worships and +said, "And now do with me as you will, the lamb fears not, for she is in +the hands of the Good Shepherd!" Meanwhile _Dom. Camerarius_ came in with +the _scriba_, but was terrified as he chanced to touch my daughter's apron +with the skirts of his coat; and stood and scraped at his coat as a woman +scrapes a fish. At last, after he had spat out thrice, he asked the court +whether it would not begin to examine witnesses, seeing that all the +people had been waiting some time both in the castle and at the ale-house. +Hereunto they agreed, and the constable was ordered to guard my child in +his room, until it should please the court to summon her. I therefore went +with her, but, we had to endure much from the impudent rogue, seeing he +was not ashamed to lay his arm round my child her shoulders and to ask for +a kiss _in mea presentia_. But, before I could get out a word, she tore +herself from him, and said, "Ah, thou wicked knave, must I complain of +thee to the court; hast thou forgotten what thou hast already done to me?" +To which, he answered, laughing, "See, see! how coy"; and still sought to +persuade her to be more willing, and not to forget her own interest; for +that he meant as well by her as his master; she might believe it or not; +with many other scandalous words besides which I have forgot; for I took +my child upon my knees and laid my head on her neck, and we sat and wept. + + + + +_The Twenty-first Chapter_ + + +DE CONFRONTATIONE TESTIUM + +When we were summoned before the court again, the whole court was full of +people, and some shuddered when they saw us, but others wept; my child +told the same tale as before. But when our old Ilse was called, who sat on +a bench behind, so that we had not seen her, the strength wherewith the +Lord had gifted her was again at an end, and she repeated the words of our +Saviour, "He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me": +and she held fast by my chair. Old Ilse, too, could not walk straight for +very grief, nor could she speak for tears, but she twisted and wound +herself about before the court like a woman in travail. But when Dom. +Consul threatened that the constable should presently help her to her +words, she testified that my child had very often got up in the night and +called aloud upon the foul fiend. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever heard Satan answer her? + +_R_. She never had heard him at all. + +_Q_. Whether she had perceived that _Rea_ had a familiar spirit, and in +what shape? She should think upon her oath, and speak the truth. + +_R_. She had never seen one. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever heard her fly up the chimney? + +_R_. Nay, she had always gone softly out at the door. + +_Q_. Whether she never at mornings had missed her broom or pitch-fork? + +_R_. Once the broom was gone, but she had found it again behind the stove, +and may be left it there herself by mistake. + +_Q_. Whether she had never heard _Rea_ cast a spell or wish harm to this +or that person? + +_R_. No, never; she had always wished her neighbours nothing but good, and +even in the time of bitter famine had taken the bread out of her own mouth +to give it to others. + +_Q_. Whether she did not know the salve which had been found in _Rea_ her +coffer? + +_R_. Oh, yes! her young mistress had brought it back from Wolgast for her +skin, and had once given her some when she had chapped hands, and it had +done her a vast deal of good. + +_Q_. Whether she had anything further to say? + +_R_. No, nothing but good. + +Hereupon my man Claus Neels was called up. He also came forward in tears, +but answered every question with a "Nay," and at last testified that he +had never seen nor heard anything bad of my child, and knew nought of her +doings by night, seeing that he slept in the stable with the horses; and +that he firmly believed that evil folks--and here he looked at old +Lizzie--had brought this misfortune upon her, and that she was quite +innocent. + +When it came to the turn of this old limb of Satan, who was to be the +chief witness, my child again declared that she would not accept old +Lizzie's testimony against her, and called upon the court for justice, for +that she had hated her from her youth up, and had been longer by habit and +repute a witch than she herself. + +But the old hag cried out, "God forgive thee thy sins; the whole village +knows that I am a devout woman, and one serving the Lord in all things"; +whereupon she called up old Zuter Witthahn and my church-warden Claus +Bulk, who bore witness hereto. But old Paasch stood and shook his head; +nevertheless when my child said, "Paasch, wherefore dost thou shake thy +head?" he started, and answered, "Oh, nothing!" + +Howbeit, _Dom. Consul_ likewise perceived this, and asked him, whether he +had any charge to bring against old Lizzie; if so, he should give glory to +God, and state the same; _item_, it was competent to every one so to do; +indeed the court required of him to speak out all he knew. + +But from fear of the old dragon, all were still as mice, so that you might +have heard the flies buzz about the inkstand. I then stood up, wretched as +I was, and stretched out my arms over my amazed and faint-hearted people +and spake, "Can ye thus crucify me together with my poor child? Have I +deserved this at your hands? Speak, then; alas, will none speak?" I heard, +indeed, how several wept aloud, but not one spake; and hereupon my poor +child was forced to submit. + +And the malice of the old hag was such that she not only accused my child +of the most horrible witchcraft, but also reckoned to a day when she had +given herself up to Satan to rob her of her maiden honour; and she said +that Satan had, without doubt, then defiled her when she could no longer +heal the cattle, and when they all died. Hereupon my child said nought, +save that she cast down her eyes and blushed deep, for shame at such +filthiness; and to the other blasphemous slander which the old hag uttered +with many tears, namely, that my daughter had given up her (Lizzie's) +husband, body and soul, to Satan, she answered as she had done before. But +when the old hag came to her re-baptism in the sea, and gave out that +while seeking for strawberries in the coppice she had recognised my +child's voice, and stolen towards her, and perceived these devil's doings, +my child fell in smiling, and answered, "Oh, thou evil woman! how couldst +thou hear my voice speaking down by the sea, being thyself in the forest +upon the mountain? surely thou liest, seeing that the murmur of the waves +would make that impossible." This angered the old dragon, and seeking to +get out of the blunder she fell still deeper into it, for she said, "I saw +thee move thy lips, and from that I knew that thou didst call upon thy +paramour the devil!" for my child straight-way replied, "Oh, thou ungodly +woman! thou saidst thou wert in the forest when thou didst hear my voice; +how then up in the forest couldst thou see whether I, who was below by the +water, moved my lips or not?"-- + +Such contradictions amazed even _Dom. Consul_, and he began to threaten +the old hag with the rack if she told such lies; whereupon she answered +and said, "List, then, whether I lie! When she went naked into the water +she had no mark on her body, but when she came out again I saw that she +had between her breasts a mark the size of a silver penny, whence I +perceived that the devil had given it her, although I had not seen him +about her, nor, indeed, had I seen any one, either spirit or child of man, +for she seemed to be quite alone." + +Hereupon the Sheriff jumped up from his seat, and cried, "Search must +straightway be made for this mark"; whereupon _Dom. Consul_ answered, +"Yea, but not by us, but by two women of good repute," for he would not +hearken to what my child said, that it was a mole, and that she had had it +from her youth up, wherefore the constable his wife was sent for, and +_Dom. Consul_ muttered somewhat into her ear, and as prayers and tears +were of no avail, my child was forced to go with her. Howbeit, she +obtained this favour, that old Lizzie Kolken was not to follow her, as she +would have done, but our old maid Ilse. I, too, went in my sorrow, seeing +that I knew not what the women might do to her. She wept bitterly as they +undressed her, and held her hands over her eyes for very shame. + +Well-a-day, her body was just as white as my departed wife's; although in +her childhood, as I remember, she was very yellow, and I saw with +amazement the mole between her breasts, whereof I had never heard aught +before. But she suddenly screamed violently and started back, seeing that +the constable his wife, when nobody watched her, had run a needle into the +mole, so deep that the red blood ran down over her breasts. I was sorely +angered thereat, but the woman said that she had done it by order of the +judge, which, indeed, was true; for when we came back into court, and the +Sheriff asked how it was, she testified that there was a mark of the size +of a silver penny, of a yellowish colour, but that it had feeling, seeing +that _Rea_ had screamed aloud when she had, unperceived, driven a needle +therein. Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_ suddenly rose, and, +stepping up to my child, drew her eyelids asunder, and cried out, +beginning to tremble, "Behold the sign which never fails": whereupon the +whole court started to their feet, and looked at the little spot under her +right eyelid, which in truth had been left there by a stye, but this none +would believe. _Dom. Consul_ now said, "See, Satan hath marked thee on +body and soul! and thou dost still continue to lie unto the Holy Ghost; +but it shall not avail thee, and thy punishment will only be the heavier. +Oh, thou shameless woman! thou hast refused to accept the testimony of old +Lizzie; wilt thou also refuse that of these people, who have all heard +thee on the mountain call upon the devil thy paramour, and seen him appear +in the likeness of a hairy giant, and kiss and caress thee?" + +Hereupon old Paasch, goodwife Witthahn, and Zuter came forward and bare +witness, that they had seen this happen about midnight, and that on this +declaration they would live and die; that old Lizzie had awakened them one +Saturday night about eleven o'clock, had given them a can of beer, and +persuaded them to follow the parson's daughter privately, and to see what +she did upon the mountain. At first they refused but in order to get at +the truth about the witchcraft in the village, they had at last, after a +devout prayer, consented, and had followed her in God's name. + +They had soon through the bushes seen the witch in the moonshine; she +seemed to dig, and spake in some strange tongue the while, whereupon the +grim arch-fiend suddenly appeared, and fell upon her neck. Hereupon they +ran away in consternation, but, by the help of the Almighty God, on whom +from the very first they had set their faith, they were preserved from the +power of the Evil One. For, notwithstanding he had turned round on hearing +a rustling in the bushes, he had had no power to harm them. + +Finally, it was even charged to my child as a crime, that she had fainted +on the road from Coserow to Pudgla, and none would believe that this had +been caused by vexation at old Lizzie her singing, and not from a bad +conscience, as stated by the judge. + +When all the witnesses had been examined, _Dom. Consul_ asked her whether +she had brewed the storm, what was the meaning of the frog that dropped +into her lap, _item_, the hedgehog which lay directly in his path? To all +of which she answered, that she had caused the one as little as she knew +of the other. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked her, last +of all, whether she would have an advocate, or trust entirely in the good +judgment of the court. To this she gave answer that she would by all means +have an advocate. Wherefore I sent my ploughman, Claus Neels, the next day +to Wolgast to fetch the _Syndicus_ Michelsen, who is a worthy man, and in +whose house I have been many times when I went to the town, seeing that he +courteously invited me. + +I must also note here that at this time my old Ilse came back to live with +me; for after the witnesses were gone she stayed behind in the chamber, +and came boldly up to me, and besought me to suffer her once more to serve +her old master and her dear young mistress; for that now she had saved her +poor soul, and confessed all she knew. Wherefore she could no longer bear +to see her old masters in such woeful plight, without so much as a +mouthful of victuals, seeing that she had heard that old wife Seep, who +had till _datum_ prepared the food for me and my child, often let the +porridge burn; _item_, oversalted the fish and the meat. Moreover, that I +was so weakened by age and misery, that I needed help and support, which +she would faithfully give me, and was ready to sleep in the stable, if +needs must be; that she wanted no wages for it, I was only not to turn her +away. Such kindness made my daughter to weep, and she said to me, "Behold, +father, the good folks come back to us again; think you, then, that the +good angels will forsake us for ever? I thank thee, old Use; thou shall +indeed prepare my food for me, and always bring it as far as the +prison-door, if thou mayest come no further; and mark, then, I pray thee, +what the constable does therewith." + +This the maid promised to do, and from this time forth took up her abode +in the stable. May God repay her at the day of judgment for what she then +did for me and for my poor child! + + + + +_The Twenty-second Chapter_ + + +HOW THE _SYNDICUS DOM._ MICHELSEN ARRIVED AND PREPARED HIS DEFENCE OF MY +POOR CHILD + +The next day, at about three o'clock P.M., _Dom. Syndicus_ came driving +up, and got out of his coach at my inn. He had a huge bag full of books +with him, but was not so friendly in his manner as was usual with him, but +very grave and silent. And after he had saluted me in my own room, and had +asked how it was possible for my child to have come to such misfortune, I +related to him the whole affair, whereat, however, he only shook his head. +On my asking him whether he would not see my child that same day, he +answered, "Nay"; he would rather first study the _acta_. And after he had +eaten of some wild duck-which my old Ilse had roasted for him, he would +tarry no longer, but straightway went up to the castle, whence he did not +return till the following afternoon. His manner was not more friendly now +than at his first coming, and I followed him with sighs when he asked me +to lead him to my daughter. As we went in with the constable, and I, for +the first time, saw my child in chains before me--she who in her whole +life had never hurt a worm--I again felt as though I should die for very +grief. But she smiled and cried out to _Dom. Syndicus_, "Are you indeed +the good angel who will cause my chains to fall from my hands, as was done +of yore to St. Peter?" To which he replied, with a sigh, "May the Almighty +God grant it"; and as, save the chair whereon my child sat against the +wall, there was none other in the dungeon (which was a filthy and stinking +hole, wherein were more wood-lice than ever I saw in my life), _Dom. +Syndicus_ and I sat down on her bed, which had been left for her at my +prayer; and he ordered the constable to go his ways until he should call +him back. Hereupon he asked my child what she had to say in her +justification; and she had not gone far in her defence when I perceived, +from the shadow at the door, that some one must be standing without. I +therefore went quickly to the door, which was half open, and found the +impudent constable, who stood there to listen. This so angered _Dom. +Syndicus_ that he snatched up his staff in order to hasten his going, but +the arch-rogue took to his heels as soon as he saw this. My child took +this opportunity to tell her worshipful defensor what she had suffered +from the impudence of this fellow, and to beg that some other constable +might be set over her, seeing that this one had come to her last night +again with evil designs, so that she at last had shrieked aloud and beaten +him on the head with her chains; whereupon he had left her. This _Dom. +Syndicus_ promised to obtain for her; but with regard to the _defensio_, +wherewith she now went on, he thought it would be better to make no +further mention of the _impetus_ which the Sheriff had made on her +chastity. "For," said he, "as the princely central court at Wolgast has to +give sentence upon thee, this statement would do thee far more harm than +good, seeing that the _praeses_ thereof is a cousin of the Sheriff, and +ofttimes goes a-hunting with him. Besides, thou being charged with a +capital crime hast no _fides_, especially as thou canst bring no witnesses +against him. Thou couldst, therefore, gain no belief even if thou didst +confirm the charge on the rack, wherefrom, moreover, I am come hither to +save thee by my _defensio_." These reasons seemed sufficient to us both, +and we resolved to leave vengeance to Almighty God, who seeth in secret, +and to complain of our wrongs to him, as we might not complain to men. But +all my daughter said about old Lizzie--_item_, of the good report wherein +she herself had, till now, stood with everybody--he said he would write +down, and add thereunto as much and as well of his own as he was able, so +as, by the help of Almighty God, to save her from the torture. That she +was to make herself easy and commend herself to God; within two days he +hoped to have his _defensio_ ready and to read it to her. And now, when he +called the constable back again, the fellow did not come, but sent his +wife to lock the prison, and I took leave of my child with many tears: +_Dom. Syndicus_ told the woman the while what her impudent rogue of a +husband had done, that she might let him hear more of it. Then he sent the +woman away again and came back to my daughter, saying that he had +forgotten to ascertain whether she really knew the Latin tongue, and that +she was to say her _defensio_ over again in Latin, if she was able. +Hereupon she began and went on therewith for a quarter of an hour or more, +in such wise that not only _Dom. Syndicus_ but I myself also was amazed, +seeing that she did not stop for a single word, save the word +"hedgehog," which we both had forgotten at the moment when she asked us +what it was.--_Summa. Dom. Syndicus_ grew far more gracious when she had +finished her oration, and took leave of her, promising that he would set +to work forthwith. + +After this I did not see him again till the morning of the third day at +ten o'clock, seeing that he sat at work in a room at the castle, which the +Sheriff had given him, and also ate there, as he sent me word by old Ilse +when she carried him his breakfast next day. + +At the above-named time he sent the new constable for me, who, meanwhile, +had been fetched from Uzdom at his desire. For the Sheriff was exceeding +wroth when he heard that the impudent fellow had attempted my child in the +prison, and cried out in a rage, "S'death, and 'ouns, I'll mend thy +coaxing!" Whereupon he gave him a sound thrashing with a dog-whip he held +in his hand, to make sure that she should be at peace from him. + +But, alas! the new constable was even worse than the old, as will be shown +hereafter. His name was Master Koeppner, and he was a tall fellow with a +grim face, and a mouth so wide that at every word he said the spittle ran +out at the corners, and stuck in his long beard like soap-suds, so that my +child had an especial fear and loathing of him. Moreover, on all occasions +he seemed to laugh in mockery and scorn, as he did when he opened the +prison-door to us, and saw my poor child sitting in her grief and +distress. But he straightway left us without waiting to be told, whereupon +_Dom. Syndicus_ drew his defence out of his pocket, and read it to us; we +have remembered the main points thereof, and I will recount them here, but +most of the _auctores_ we have forgotten. + +1. He began by saying that my daughter had ever till now stood in good +repute, as not only the whole village, but even my servants bore witness; +_ergo_, she could not be a witch, inasmuch as the Saviour hath said, "A +good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring +forth good fruit" (Matt. vii.). + +2. With regard to the witchcraft in the village, that belike was the +contrivance of old Lizzie, seeing that she bore a great hatred towards +_Rea_, and had long been in evil repute, for that the parishioners dared +not to speak out, only from fear of the old witch; wherefore Zuter, her +little girl, must be examined, who had heard old Lizzie her goodman tell +her she had a familiar spirit, and that he would tell it to the parson; +for that notwithstanding the above-named was but a child, still it was +written in Psalm viii., "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou +ordained strength...."; and the Saviour himself appealed (Matt. xxi.) to +the testimony of little children. + +3. Furthermore, old Lizzie might have bewitched the crops, _item_, the +fruit-trees, inasmuch as none could believe that _Rea_, who had ever shown +herself a dutiful child, would have bewitched her own father's corn, or +made caterpillars come on his trees; for no one, according to Scripture, +can serve two masters. + +_Item_, she (old Lizzie) might very well have been the woodpecker that was +seen by _Rea_ and old Paasch on the Streckelberg, and herself have given +over her goodman to the Evil One for fear of the parson, inasmuch as +Spitzel _De Expugnatione Orci_ asserts; _item_, the _Malleus Maleficarum_ +proves beyond doubt that the wicked children of Satan ofttimes change +themselves into all manner of beasts, as the foul fiend himself likewise +seduced our first parents in the shape of a serpent (Gen. iii.). + +5. That old Lizzie had most likely made the wild weather when _Dom. +Consul_ was coming home with _Rea_ from the Streckelberg, seeing it was +impossible that _Rea_ could have done it, as she was sitting in the coach, +whereas witches when they raise storms always stand in the water, and +throw it over their heads backwards; _item_, beat the stones soundly with +a stick, as Hannold relates. Wherefore she too, may be, knew best about +the frog and the hedgehog. + +6. That _Rea_ was erroneously charged with that as a _crimen_ which ought +rather to serve as her justification, namely, her sudden riches. For the +_Malleus Maleficarum_ expressly says that a witch can never grow rich, +seeing that Satan, to do dishonour to God, always buys them for a vile +price, so that they should not betray themselves by their riches. +Wherefore that as _Rea_ had grown rich, she could not have got her wealth +from the foul fiend, but it must be true that she had found amber on the +mountain; that the spells of old Lizzie might have been the cause why they +could not find the vein of amber again, or that the sea might have washed +away the cliff below, as often happens, whereupon the top had slipped +down, so that only a _miraculum naturale_ had taken place. The proof which +he brought forward from Scripture we have quite forgotten, seeing it was +but middling. + +7. With regard to her re-baptism, the old hag had said herself that she +had not seen the devil or any other spirit or man about _Rea_, wherefore +she might in truth have been only naturally bathing, in order to greet the +King of Sweden next day, seeing that the weather was hot, and that bathing +was not of itself sufficient to impair the modesty of a maiden. For that +she had as little thought any would see her as Bathsheba the daughter of +Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, who in like manner did bathe +herself, as is written (2 Sam. xi. 2), without knowing that David could +see her. Neither could her mark be a mark given by Satan, inasmuch as +there was feeling therein; _ergo_, it must be a natural mole, and it was a +lie that she had it not before bathing. Moreover, that on this point the +old harlot was nowise to be believed, seeing that she had fallen from one +contradiction into another about it, as stated in the _acta_. + +8. Neither was it just to accuse _Rea_ of having bewitched Paasch his +little daughter; for as old Lizzie was going in and out of the room, nay, +even sat herself down on the little girl her belly when the pastor went to +see her, it most likely was that wicked woman (who was known to have a +great spite against _Rea_) that contrived the spell through the power of +the foul fiend, and by permission of the all-just God; for that Satan was +"a liar and the father of it," as our Lord Christ says (John viii.). + +9. With regard to the appearance of the foul fiend on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant, that indeed was the heaviest _gravamen_, inasmuch +as not only old Lizzie, but likewise three trustworthy witnesses, had seen +him. But who could tell whether it was not old Lizzie herself who had +contrived this devilish apparition in order to ruin her enemy altogether; +for that notwithstanding the apparition was not the young nobleman, as +_Rea_ had declared it to be, it still was very likely that she had not +lied, but had mistaken Satan for the young lord, as he appeared in his +shape; _exemplum_, for this was to be found even in Scripture: for that +all _Theologi_ of the whole Protestant Church were agreed that the vision +which the witch of Endor showed to King Saul was not Samuel himself, but +the arch-fiend; nevertheless, Saul had taken it for Samuel. In like manner +the old harlot might have conjured up the devil before _Rea_, who did not +perceive that it was not the young lord, but Satan, who had put on that +shape in order to seduce her; for as _Rea_ was a fair woman, none could +wonder that the devil gave himself more trouble for her than for an old +withered hag, seeing he has ever sought after fair women to lie with them. + +Lastly, he argued that _Rea_ was in nowise marked as a witch, for that she +neither had bleared and squinting eyes nor a hooked nose, whereas old +Lizzie had both, which Theophrastus Paracelsus declares to be an unfailing +mark of a witch, saying, "Nature marketh none thus unless by abortion, for +these are the chiefest signs whereby witches be known whom the spirit +_Asiendens_ hath subdued unto himself." + +When _Dom. Syndicus_ had read his _defensio_, my daughter was so rejoiced +thereat that she would have kissed his hand, but he snatched it from her +and breathed upon it thrice, whereby we could easily see that he himself +was nowise in earnest with his _defensio_. Soon after he took leave in an +ill-humour, after commending her to the care of the Most High, and begged +that I would make my farewell as short as might be, seeing that he +purposed to return home that very day, the which, alas! I very unwillingly +did. + + + + +_The Twenty-third Chapter_ + + +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS SENTENCED TO BE PUT TO THE QUESTION + +After _acta_ had been sent to the honourable the central court, about +fourteen days passed over before any answer was received. My lord the +Sheriff was especially gracious toward me the while, and allowed me to see +my daughter as often as I would (seeing that the rest of the court were +gone home), wherefore I was with her nearly all day. And when the +constable grew impatient of keeping watch over me, I gave him a fee to +lock me in together with my child. And the all-merciful God was gracious +unto us, and caused us often and gladly to pray, for we had a steadfast +hope, believing that the cross we had seen in the heavens would now soon +pass away from us, and that the ravening wolf would receive his reward +when the honourable high court had read through the _acta_, and should +come to the excellent _defensio_ which _Dom. Syndicus_ had constructed for +my child. Wherefore I began to be of good cheer again, especially when I +saw my daughter her cheeks growing of a right lovely red. But on Thursday, +25th _mensis Augusti_, at noon, the worshipful court drove into the +castle-yard again as I sat in the prison with my child, as I was wont; and +old Ilse brought us our food, but could not tell us the news for weeping. +But the tall constable peeped in at the door, grinning, and cried, "Oh, +ho! they are come, they are come, they are come; now the tickling will +begin": whereat my poor child shuddered, but less at the news than at +sight of the fellow himself. Scarce was he gone than he came back again to +take off her chains and to fetch her away. So I followed her into the +judgment-chamber, where _Dom. Consul_ read out the sentence of the +honourable high court as follows:--That she should once more be questioned +in kindness touching the articles contained in the indictment; and if she +then continued stubborn she should be subjected to the _peine forte et +dure_, for that the _defensio_ she had set up did not suffice, and that +there were _indicia legitima praegnantia et sufficientia ad torturam +ipsam_; to wit-- + +1. _Mala fama_. + +2. _Maleficium, publice commissum_. + +3. _Apparitio daemonis in monte_. + +Whereupon the most honourable central court cited about 20 _auctores_, +whereof, howbeit, we remember but little. When _Dom. Consul_ had read out +this to my child, he once more lift up his voice and admonished her with +many words to confess of her own free-will, for that the truth must now +come to light. + +Hereupon she steadfastly replied, that after the _defensio_ of _Dom. +Syndicus_ she had indeed hoped for a better sentence; but that, as it was +the will of God to try her yet more hardly, she resigned herself +altogether into His gracious hands, and could not confess aught save what +she had said before, namely, that she was innocent, and that evil men had +brought this misery upon her. Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ motioned the +constable, who straightway opened the door of the next room, and admitted +_Pastor Benzensis_ in his surplice, who had been sent for by the court to +admonish her still better out of the word of God. He heaved a deep sigh, +and said, "Mary, Mary, is it thus I must meet thee again?" Whereupon she +began to weep bitterly, and to protest her innocence afresh. But he heeded +not her distress, and as soon as he had heard her pray, "Our Father," "The +eyes of all wait upon thee," and "God the Father dwell with us," he lift +up his voice and declared to her the hatred of the living God to all +witches and warlocks, seeing that not only is the punishment of fire +awarded to them in the Old Testament, but that the Holy Ghost expressly +saith in the New Testament (Gal. v.), "That they which do such things +shall not inherit the kingdom of God"; but "shall have their part in the +lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" +(Apocal. xxi.). Wherefore she must not be stubborn nor murmur against the +court when she was tormented, seeing that it was all done out of Christian +love, and to save her poor soul. That, for the sake of God and her +salvation, she should no longer delay repentance, and thereby cause her +body to be tormented, and give over her wretched soul to Satan, who +certainly would not fulfil those promises in hell which he had made her +here upon earth; seeing that "He was a murderer from the beginning--a liar +and the father of it" (John viii.). "Oh!" cried he, "Mary, my child, who +so oft hast sat upon my knees, and for whom I now cry every morning and +every night unto my God, if thou wilt have no pity upon thee and me, have +pity at least upon thy worthy father, whom I cannot look upon without +tears, seeing that his hairs have turned snow-white within a few days, and +save thy soul, my child, and confess! Behold, thy Heavenly Father grieveth +over thee no less than thy fleshly father, and the holy angels veil their +faces for sorrow that thou, who wert once their darling sister, art now +become the sister and bride of the devil. Return therefore, and repent! +This day thy Saviour calleth thee, poor stray lamb, back into His flock, +'And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath +bound ... be loosed from this bond?' Such are His merciful words (Luke +xiii.); _item_, 'Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I +will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful' (Jer. +iii.). Return then, thou back-sliding soul, unto the Lord thy God! He who +heard the prayer of the idolatrous Manasseh when 'he besought the Lord his +God and humbled himself' (2 Chron. xxxiii.); who, through Paul, accepted +the repentance of the sorcerers at Ephesus (Acts xix.), the same merciful +God now crieth unto thee as unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, +'Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent' (Apocal. +ii.). Oh, Mary, Mary, remember, my child, from whence thou art fallen, and +repent!" + +Hereupon he held his peace, and it was some time before she could say a +word for tears and sobs; but at last she answered, "If lies are no less +hateful to God than witchcraft, I may not lie, but must rather declare, to +the glory of God, as I have ever declared, that I am innocent." + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and frowned and asked the tall +constable if all was ready, _item_, whether the women were at hand to +undress _Rea_; whereupon he answered with a grin, as he was wont, "Ho, ho, +I have never been wanting in my duty, nor will I be wanting to-day; I will +tickle her in such wise that she shall soon confess." + +When he had said this, _Dom. Consul_ turned to my daughter, and said, +"Thou art a foolish thing, and knowest not the torment which awaits thee, +and therefore is it that thou still art stubborn. Now, then, follow me to +the torture-chamber, where the executioner shall show thee the +_instrumenta_; and thou mayest yet think better of it when thou hast seen +what the question is like." + +Hereupon he went into another room, and the constable followed him with my +child. And when I would have gone after them, _Pastor Benzensis_ held me +back, with many tears, and conjured me not to do so, but to tarry where I +was. But I hearkened not unto him, and tore myself from him, and swore +that so long as a single vein should beat in my wretched body I would +never forsake my child. I therefore went into the next room, and from +thence down into a vault, where was the torture-chamber, wherein were no +windows, so that those without might not hear the cries of the tormented. +Two torches were already burning there when I went in, and although _Dom. +Consul_ would at first have sent me away, after a while he had pity upon +me, so that he suffered me to stay. + +And now that hell-hound the constable stepped forward, and first showed my +poor child the ladder, saying with savage glee, "See here! first of all +thou wilt be laid on that, and thy hands and feet will be tied. Next, the +thumb-screw here will be put upon thee, which straightway will make the +blood to spirt out at the tips of thy fingers; thou mayest see that they +are still red with the blood of old Gussy Biehlke, who was burnt last +year, and who, like thee, would not confess at first. If thou still wilt +not confess, I shall next put these Spanish boots on thee, and should they +be too large, I shall just drive in a wedge, so that the calf, which is +now at the back of thy leg, will be driven to the front, and the blood +will shoot out of thy feet, as when thou squeezest blackberries in a bag. + +"Again, if thou wilt not yet confess--holla!" shouted he, and kicked open +a door behind him, so that the whole vault shook, and my poor child fell +upon her knees for fright. Before long two women brought in a bubbling +caldron, full of boiling pitch and brimstone. This caldron the hell-hound +ordered them to set down on the ground, and drew forth, from under the red +cloak he wore, a goose's wing, wherefrom he plucked five or six quills, +which he dipped into the boiling brimstone. After he had held them a while +in the caldron he threw them upon the earth, where they twisted about and +spirted the brimstone on all sides. And then he called to my poor child +again, "See! these quills I shall throw upon thy white loins, and the +burning brimstone will presently eat into thy flesh down to the very +bones, so that thou wilt thereby have a foretaste of the joys which await +thee in hell." + +[Illustration: The Torture Chamber] + +When he had spoken thus far, amid sneers and laughter, I was so overcome +with rage that I sprang forth out of the corner where I stood leaning my +trembling joints against an old barrel, and cried, "O, thou hellish dog! +sayest thou this of thyself, or have others bidden thee?" Whereupon, +however, the fellow gave me such a blow upon the breast that I fell +backwards against the wall, and _Dom. Consul_ called out in great wrath, +"You old fool, if you needs must stay here, at any rate leave the +constable in peace, for if not I will have you thrust out of the chamber +forthwith. The constable has said no more than is his duty; and it will +thus happen to thy child if she confess not, and if it appear that the +foul fiend have given her some charm against the torture." Hereupon this +hell-hound went on to speak to my poor child, without heeding me, save +that he laughed in my face: "Look here! when thou hast thus been well +shorn, ho, ho, ho! I shall pull thee up by means of these two rings in the +floor and the roof, stretch thy arms above thy head, and bind them fast to +the ceiling; whereupon I shall take these two torches, and hold them under +thy shoulders, till thy skin will presently become like the rind of a +smoked ham. Then thy hellish paramour will help thee no longer, and thou +wilt confess the truth. And now thou hast seen and heard all that I shall +do to thee, in the name of God, and by order of the magistrates." + +And now _Dom. Consul_ once more came forward and admonished her to confess +the truth. But she abode by what she had said from the first; whereupon he +delivered her over to the two women who had brought in the caldron, to +strip her naked as she was born, and to clothe her in the black +torture-shift; after which they were once more to lead her barefooted up +the steps before the worshipful court. But one of these women was the +Sheriff his housekeeper (the other was the impudent constable his wife), +and my daughter said that she would not suffer herself to be touched save +by honest women, and assuredly not by the housekeeper, and begged _Dom. +Consul_ to send for her maid, who was sitting in her prison reading the +Bible, if he knew of no other decent woman at hand. Hereupon the +housekeeper began to pour forth a wondrous deal of railing and ill words, +but _Dom. Consul_ rebuked her, and answered my daughter that he would let +her have her wish in this matter too, and bade the impudent constable his +wife call the maid hither from out of the prison. After he had said this, +he took me by the arm, and prayed me so long to go up with him, for that +no harm would happen to my daughter as yet, that I did as he would have +me. + +Before long she herself came up, led between the two women, barefooted, +and in the black torture-shift, but so pale that I myself should scarce +have known her. The hateful constable, who followed close behind, seized +her by the hand, and led her before the worshipful court. + +Hereupon the admonitions began all over again, and _Dom. Consul_ bade her +look upon the brown spots that were upon the black shift, for that they +were the blood of old wife Bichlke, and to consider that within a few +minutes it would in like manner be stained with her own blood. Hereupon +she answered, "I have considered that right well, but I hope that my +faithful Saviour, who hath laid this torment upon me, being innocent, will +likewise help me to bear it, as he helped the holy martyrs of old; for if +these, through God's help, overcame by faith the torments inflicted on +them by blind heathens, I also can overcome the torture inflicted on me by +blind heathens, who, indeed, call themselves Christians, but who are more +cruel than those of yore; for the old heathens only caused the holy +virgins to be torn of savage beasts, but ye which have received the new +commandment, 'That ye love one another; as your Saviour hath loved you, +that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are his +disciples' (St. John xiii.); yourselves will act the part of savage +beasts, and tear with your own hands the body of an innocent maiden, your +sister, who has never done aught to harm you. Do, then, as ye list, but +have a care how ye will answer it to the highest Judge of all. Again, I +say, the lamb feareth nought, for it is in the hand of the good Shepherd." + +When my matchless child had thus spoken, _Dom. Consul_ rose, pulled off +the black skull-cap which he ever wore, because the top of his head was +already bald, bowed to the court, and said, "We hereby make known to the +worshipful court that the question ordinary and extraordinary of the +stubborn and blaspheming witch, Mary Schweidler, is about to begin, in the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." + +Hereupon all the court rose save the Sheriff, who had got up before, and +was walking uneasily up and down in the room. But of all that now follows, +and of what I myself did, I remember not one word, but will relate it all +as I have received it from my daughter and other _testes_, and they have +told me as follows:-- + +That when _Dom. Consul_ after these words had taken up the hour-glass +which stood upon the table, and walked on before, I would go with him, +whereupon _Pastor Benzensis_ first prayed me with many words and tears to +desist from my purpose, and when that was of no avail my child herself +stroked my cheeks, saying, "Father, have you ever read that the Blessed +Virgin stood by when her guileless Son was scourged? Depart, therefore, +from me. You shall stand by the pile whereon I am burned, that I promise +you; for in like manner did the Blessed Virgin stand at the foot of the +cross. But, now, go; go, I pray you, for you will not be able to bear it, +neither shall I." + +And when this also failed, _Dom. Consul_ bade the constable seize me, and +by main force lock me into another room; whereupon, however, I tore myself +away, and fell at his feet, conjuring him by the wounds of Christ not to +tear me from my child; that I would never forget his kindness and mercy, +but pray for him day and night; nay, that at the day of judgment I would +be his intercessor with God and the holy angels if that he would but let +me go with my child; that I would be quite quiet, and not speak one single +word, but that I must go with my child, etc. + +This so moved the worthy man that he burst into tears, and so trembled +with pity for me that the hour-glass fell from his hands and rolled right +before the feet of the Sheriff, as though God himself would signify to him +that his glass was soon to run out; and, indeed, he understood it right +well, for he grew white as any chalk when he picked it up and gave it back +to _Dom. Consul_. The latter at last gave way, saying that this day would +make him ten years older; but he bade the impudent constable (who also +went with us) lead me away if I made any _rumor_ during the torture. And +hereupon the whole court went below, save the Sheriff, who said his head +ached, and that he believed his old _malum_, the gout, was coming upon him +again, wherefore he went into another chamber; _item, Pastor Benzensis_ +likewise departed. + +Down in the vault the constable first brought in tables and chairs, +whereon the court sat, and _Dom. Consul_ also pushed a chair toward me, +but I sat not thereon, but threw myself upon my knees in a corner. When +this was done they began again with their vile admonitions, and as my +child, like her guileless Saviour before His unrighteous judges, answered +not a word, _Dom. Consul_ rose up and bade the tall constable lay her on +the torture-bench. + +She shook like an aspen leaf when he bound her hands and feet; and when he +was about to bind over her sweet eyes a nasty old filthy clout wherein my +maid had seen him carry fish but the day before, and which was still all +over shining scales, I perceived it, and pulled off my silken neckerchief, +begging him to use that instead, which he did. Hereupon the thumb-screw +was put on her, and she was once more asked whether she would confess +freely, but she only shook her poor blinded head and sighed with her dying +Saviour, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" and then in Greek, "Thee mou, Thee +mou, iuati me egkatelipes"; Whereat _Dom. Consul_ started back, and made +the sign of the cross (for inasmuch as he knew no Greek, he believed, as +he afterwards said himself, that she was calling upon the devil to help +her), and then called to the constable with a loud voice, "Screw!" + +But when I heard this I gave such a cry that the whole vault shook; and +when my poor child, who was dying of terror and despair, had heard my +voice she first struggled with her bound hands and feet like a lamb that +lies dying in the slaughter-house, and then cried out, "Loose me, and I +will confess whatsoe'er you will." Hereat _Dom. Consul_ so greatly +rejoiced, that while the constable unbound her, he fell on his knees, and +thanked God for having spared him this anguish. But no sooner was my poor +desperate child unbound, and had laid aside her crown of thorns (I mean my +silken neckerchief), than she jumped off the ladder, and flung herself +upon me, who lay for dead in a corner in a deep swound. + +This greatly angered the worshipful court, and when the constable had +borne me away, _Rea_ was admonished to make her confession according to +promise. But seeing she was too weak to stand upon her feet, _Dom. Consul_ +gave her a chair to sit upon, although _Dom. Camerarius_ grumbled thereat, +and these were the chief questions which were put to her by order of the +most honourable high central court, as _Dom. Consul_ said, and which were +registered _ad protocollum_. + +_Q_. Whether she could bewitch? + +_R_. Yes, she could bewitch. + +_Q_. Who taught her to do so? + +_R_. Satan himself. + +_Q_. How many devils had she? + +_R_. One devil was enough for her. + +_Q_. What was this devil called? + +_Illa_ (considering). His name was _Disidaemonia_. + +Hereat _Dom. Consul_ shuddered, and said that that must be a very terrible +devil indeed, for that he had never heard such a name before, and that she +must spell it, so that _Scriba_ might make no _error_; which she did, and +he then went on as follows:-- + +_Q_. In what shape had he appeared to her? + +_R_. In the shape of the Sheriff, and sometimes as a goat with terrible +horns. + +_Q_. Whether Satan had re-baptized her, and where? + +_R_. In the sea. + +_Q_. What name had he given her? + +_R_.--. + +_Q_. Whether any of the neighbors had been by when she was re-baptized, +and which of them? + +_R_. Hereupon my matchless child cast up her eyes towards heaven, as +though doubting whether she should file old Lizzie or not, but at last she +said, "No." + +_Q_. She must have had sponsors; who were they? and what gift had they +given her as christening money? + +_R_. There were none there save spirits; wherefore old Lizzie could see no +one when she came and looked on at her re-baptism. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever lived with the devil? + +_R_. She never had lived anywhere save in her father's house. + +She did not choose to understand. He meant whether she had ever played the +wanton with Satan, and known him carnally? Hereupon she blushed, and was +so ashamed that she covered her face with her hands, and presently began +to weep and to sob: and as, after many questions, she gave no answer, she +was again admonished to speak the truth, or that the executioner should +lift her up on the ladder again. At last she said, "No!" which, howbeit, +the worshipful court would not believe, and bade the executioner seize her +again, whereupon she answered, "Yes!" + +_Q_. Whether she had found the devil hot or cold? + +_R_. She did not remember which. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever conceived by Satan, and given birth to a +changeling, and of what shape? + +_R_. No, never. + +_Q_. Whether the foul fiend had given her any sign or mark about her body, +and in what part thereof? + +_R_. That the mark had already been seen by the worshipful court. + +She was next charged with all the witchcraft done in the village, and +owned to it all, save that she still said that she knew nought of old +Seden his death, _item_, of little Paasch her sickness, nor, lastly, would +she confess that she had, by the help of the foul fiend, raked up my crop +or conjured the caterpillars into my orchard. And albeit they again +threatened her with the question, and even ordered the executioner to lay +her on the bench and put on the thumb-screw to frighten her, she remained +firm and said, "Why should you torture me, seeing that I have confessed +far heavier crimes than these, which it will not save my life to deny?" + +Hereupon the worshipful court at last were satisfied, and suffered her to +be lifted off the torture-bench, especially as she confessed the +_articulus principals_; to wit, that Satan had really appeared to her on +the mountain in the shape of a hairy giant. Of the storm and the frog, +_item_, of the hedgehog, nothing was said, inasmuch as the worshipful +court had by this time seen the folly of supposing that she could have +brewed a storm while she quietly sat in the coach. Lastly, she prayed that +it might be granted to her to suffer death clothed in the garments which +she had worn when she went to greet the King of Sweden; _item_, that they +would suffer her wretched father to be driven with her to the stake, and +to stand by while she was burned, seeing that she had promised him this in +the presence of the worshipful court. + +Hereupon she was once more given into the charge of the tall constable, +who was ordered to put her into a stronger and severer prison. But he had +not led her out of the chamber before the Sheriff his bastard, whom he had +had by the housekeeper, came into the vault with a drum, and kept drumming +and crying out, "Come to the roast goose! come to the roast goose!" +whereat _Dom. Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and ran after him, but he could +not catch him, seeing that the young varlet knew all the ins and outs of +the vault. Without doubt it was the Lord who sent me the swound, so that I +should be spared this fresh grief; wherefore to Him alone be honour and +glory. Amen. + + + + +_The Twenty-fourth Chapter_ + + +HOW IN MY PRESENCE THE DEVIL FETCHED OLD LIZZIE KOLKEN + +When I recovered from my above-mentioned swound, I found my host, his +wife, and my old maid standing over me, and pouring warm beer down my +throat. The faithful old creature shrieked for joy when I opened my eyes +again, and then told me that my daughter had not suffered herself to be +racked, but had freely confessed her crimes and filed herself as a witch. +This seemed pleasant news to me in my misery, inasmuch as I deemed the +death by fire to be a less heavy punishment than the torture. Howbeit when +I would have prayed I could not, whereat I again fell into heavy grief and +despair, fearing that the Holy Ghost had altogether turned away His face +from me, wretched man that I was. And albeit the old maid, when she had +seen this, came and stood before my bed and began to pray aloud to me; it +was all in vain, and I remained a hardened sinner. But the Lord had pity +upon me, although I deserved it not, insomuch that I presently fell into a +deep sleep, and did not awake until next morning when the prayer-bell +rang; and then I was once more able to pray, whereat I greatly rejoiced, +and still thanked God in my heart, when my ploughman Claus Neels came in +and told me that he had come yesterday to tell me about my oats, seeing +that he had gotten them all in; and that the constable came with him who +had been to fetch old Lizzie Kolken, inasmuch as the honourable high court +had ordered her to be brought up for trial. Hereat the whole village +rejoiced, but _Rea_ herself laughed, and shouted, and sang, and told him +and the constable by the way (for the constable had let her get up behind +for a short time), that this should bring great luck to the Sheriff. They +need only bring her up before the court, and in good sooth she would not +hold her tongue within her teeth, but that all men should marvel at her +confession; that such a court as that was a laughing-stock to her, and +that she spat, _salva venia_, upon the whole brotherhood, _et cet_. + +Upon hearing this I once more felt a strong hope, and rose to go to old +Lizzie. But I was not quite dressed before she sent the impudent constable +to beg that I would go to her with all speed and give her the sacrament, +seeing that she had become very weak during the night. I had my own +thoughts on the matter, and followed the constable as fast as I could, +though not to give her the sacrament, as indeed anybody may suppose. But +in my haste, I, weak old man that I was, forgot to take my witnesses with +me; for all the misery I had hitherto suffered had so clouded my senses +that it never once came into my head. None followed me save the impudent +constable; and it will soon appear how that this villain had given himself +over body and soul to Satan to destroy my child, whereas he might have +saved her. For when he had opened the prison (it was the same cell wherein +my child had first been shut up), we found old Lizzie lying on the ground +on a truss of straw, with a broom for a pillow (as though she were to fly +to hell upon it, as she no longer could fly to Blockula), so that I +shuddered when I caught sight of her. Scarce was I come in when she cried +out fearfully, "I'm a witch, I'm a witch! Have pity upon me, and give me +the sacrament quick, and I will confess everything to you!" And when I +said to her, "Confess, then!" she owned that she, with the help of the +Sheriff, had contrived all the witchcraft in the village, and that my +child was as innocent thereof as the blessed sun in heaven. Howbeit that +the Sheriff had the greatest guilt, inasmuch as he was a warlock and a +witch's priest, and had a spirit far stronger than hers, called Dudaim, +which spirit had given her such a blow on the head in the night as she +should never recover. This same Dudaim it was that had raked up the crops, +heaped sand over the amber, made the storm, and dropped the frog into my +daughter her lap; _item_, carried off her old goodman through the air. + +And when I asked her how that could be, seeing that her goodman had been a +child of God until very near his end, and much given to prayer; albeit I +had indeed marvelled why he had other thoughts in his last illness; she +answered that one day he had seen her spirit, which she kept in a chest, +in the shape of a black cat, and whose name was Kit, and had threatened +that he would tell me of it; whereupon she, being frightened, had caused +her spirit to make him so ill that he despaired of ever getting over it. +Thereupon she had comforted him, saying that she would presently heal him +if he would deny God, who, as he well saw, could not help him. This he +promised to do; and when she had straight-way made him quite hearty again, +they took the silver which I had scraped off the new sacrament cup, and +went by night down to the seashore, where he had to throw it into the sea +with these words: "When this silver returns again to the chalice, then +shall my soul return to God." Whereupon the Sheriff, who was by, +re-baptized him in the name of Satan, and called him Jack. He had had no +sponsors save only herself, old Lizzie. Moreover, that on St. John's Eve, +when he went with them to Blockula for the first time (the Herrenberg was +their Blockula), they had talked of my daughter, and Satan himself had +sworn to the Sheriff that he should have her. For that he would show the +old one (wherewith the villain meant God) what he could do, and that he +would make the carpenter's son sweat for vexation (fie upon thee, thou +arch villain, that thou couldst thus speak of my blessed Saviour!). +Whereupon her old goodman had grumbled, and as they had never rightly +trusted him, the spirit Dudaim one day flew off with him through the air +by the Sheriff's order, seeing that her own spirit, called Kit, was too +weak to carry him. That the same Dudaim had also been the woodpecker who +afterwards 'ticed my daughter and old Paasch to the spot with his cries, +in order to ruin her. But that the giant who had appeared on the +Streckelberg was not a devil, but the young lord of Mellenthin himself, as +her spirit, Kit, had told her. + +And this she said was nothing but the truth, whereby she would live and +die; and she begged me, for the love of God, to take pity upon her, and, +after her repentant confession, to speak forgiveness of her sins, and to +give her the Lord's Supper; for that her spirit stood there behind the +stove, grinning like a rogue, because he saw that it was all up with her +now. But I answered, "I would sooner give the sacrament to an old sow than +to thee, thou accursed witch, who not only didst give over thine own +husband to Satan, but hast likewise tortured me and my poor child almost +unto death with pains like those of hell." Before she could make any +answer, a loathsome insect, about as long as my finger, and with a yellow +tail, crawled in under the door of the prison. When she espied it she gave +a yell, such as I never before heard, and never wish to hear again. For +once, when I was in Silesia, in my youth, I saw one of the enemy's +soldiers spear a child before its mother's face, and I thought that a +fearful shriek which the mother gave; but her cry was child's play to the +cry of old Lizzie. All my hair stood on end, and her own red hair grew so +stiff that it was like the twigs of the broom whereon she lay; and then +she howled, "That is the spirit Dudaim, whom the accursed Sheriff has sent +to me--the sacrament, for the love of God, the sacrament!--I will confess +a great deal more--I have been a witch these thirty years!--the sacrament, +the sacrament!" While she thus bellowed and flung about her arms and legs, +the loathsome insect rose into the air, and buzzed and whizzed about her +where she lay, insomuch that it was fearful to see and to hear. And this +she-devil called by turns on God, on her spirit Kit, and on me, to help +her, till the insect all of a sudden darted into her open jaws, whereupon +she straightway gave up the ghost, and turned all black and blue like a +blackberry. + +I heard nothing more save that the window rattled, not very loud, but as +though one had thrown a pea against it, whereby I straightway perceived +that Satan had just flown through it with her soul. May the all-merciful +God keep every mother's child from such an end, for the sake of Jesus +Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour! Amen. + +As soon as I was somewhat recovered, which, however, was not for a long +time, inasmuch as my blood had turned to ice, and my feet were as stiff as +a stake; I began to call out after the impudent constable, but he was no +longer in the prison. Thereat I greatly marvelled, seeing that I had seen +him there but just before the vermin crawled in, and straightway I +suspected no good, as, indeed, it turned out; for when at last he came +upon my calling him, and I told him to let this carrion be carted out +which had just died in the name of the devil, he did as though he was +amazed; and when I desired him that he would bear witness to the innocence +of my daughter, which the old hag had confessed on her death-bed, he +pretended to be yet more amazed, and said that he had heard nothing. This +went through my heart like a sword, and I leaned against a pillar without, +where I stood for a long time: but as soon as I was come to myself I went +to _Dom. Consul_, who was about to go to Usedom and already sat in his +coach. At my humble prayer he went back into the judgment-chamber with the +_Camerarius_ and the _Scriba_, whereupon I told all that had taken place, +and how the wicked constable denied that he had heard the same. But they +say that I talked a great deal of nonsense beside; among other things, +that all the little fishes had swam into the vault to release my daughter. +Nevertheless, _Dom. Consul_, who often shook his head, sent for the +impudent constable, and asked him for his testimony. But the fellow +pretended that as soon as he saw that old Lizzie wished to confess, he had +gone away, so as not to get any more hard words, wherefore he had heard +nothing. Hereupon I, as _Dom. Consul_ afterwards told the pastor of Benz, +clenched my fists and answered, "What, thou arch-rogue, didst thou not +crawl about the room in the shape of a reptile?" whereupon he would +hearken to me no longer, thinking me distraught, nor would he make the +constable take an oath, but left me standing in the midst of the room, and +got into his coach again. + +Neither do I know how I got out of the room; but next morning when the sun +rose, and I found myself lying in bed at Master Seep his ale-house, the +whole _casus_ seemed to me like a dream; neither was I able to rise, but +lay a-bed all the blessed Saturday and Sunday, talking all manner of +_allotria_. It was not till towards evening on Sunday, when I began to +vomit and threw up green bile (no wonder!), that I got somewhat better. +About this time _Pastor Benzensis_ came to my bedside, and told me how +distractedly I had borne myself, but so comforted me from the word of God, +that I was once more able to pray from my heart. May the merciful God +reward my dear gossip, therefore, at the day of judgment! For prayer is +almost as brave a comforter as the Holy Ghost himself, from whom it comes; +and I shall ever consider that so long as a man can still pray, his +misfortunes are not unbearable, even though in all else "his flesh and his +heart faileth" (Psalm lxxiii.). + + + + +_The Twenty-fifth Chapter_ + + +HOW SATAN SIFTED ME LIKE WHEAT, WHEREAS MY DAUGHTER WITHSTOOD HIM RIGHT +BRAVELY + +On Monday I left my bed betimes, and as I felt in passable good case, I +went up to the castle to see whether I might peradventure get to my +daughter, but I could not find either constable, albeit I had brought a +few groats with me to give them as beer-money; neither would the folks +that I met tell me where they were; _item_, the impudent constable his +wife, who was in the kitchen making brimstone matches. And when I asked +her when her husband would come back, she said not before to-morrow +morning early; _item_, that the other constable would not be here any +sooner. Hereupon I begged her to lead me to my daughter herself, at the +same time showing her the two groats; but she answered that she had not +the keys, and knew not how to get at them: moreover, she said she did not +know where my child was now shut up, seeing that I would have spoken to +her through the door; _item_, the cook, the huntsman, and whomsoever else +I met in my sorrow, said they knew not in what hole the witch might lie. + +Hereupon I went all round about the castle, and laid my ear against every +little window that looked as though it might be her window, and cried, +"Mary, my child, where art thou?" _Item_, at every grating I found I +kneeled down, bowed my head, and called in like manner into the vault +below. But all in vain; I got no answer anywhere. The Sheriff at length +saw what I was about, and came down out of the castle to me with a very +gracious air, and, taking me by the hand, he asked me what I sought? But +when I answered him that I had not seen my only child since last Thursday, +and prayed him to show pity upon me, and let me be led to her, he said +that could not be, but that I was to come up into his chamber, and talk +further of the matter. By the way he said, "Well, so the old witch told +you fine things about me, but you see how Almighty God has sent his +righteous judgment upon her. She has long been ripe for the fire; but my +great long-suffering, wherein a good magistrate should ever strive to be +like unto the Lord, has made me overlook it till _datum_, and in return +for my goodness she raises this outcry against me." And when I replied, +"How does your Lordship know that the witch raised such an outcry against +you?" he first began to stammer, and then said, "Why, you yourself charged +me thereon before the judge. But I bear you no anger therefor, and God +knows that I pity you, who are a poor, weak old man, and would gladly help +you if I were able." Meanwhile he led me up four or five flights of +stairs, so that I, old man that I am, could follow him no further, and +stood still gasping for breath. But he took me by the hand and said, +"Come, I must first show you how matters really stand, or I fear you will +not accept my help, but will plunge yourself into destruction." Hereupon +we stepped out upon a terrace at the top of the castle, which looked +toward the water; and the villain went on to say, "Reverend Abraham, can +you see well afar off?" and when I answered that I once could see very +well, but that the many tears I had shed had now peradventure dimmed my +eyes, he pointed to the Streckelberg, and said, "Do you, then, see nothing +there?" _Ego_. "Nought save a black speck, which I cannot make out." +_Ille_. "Know, then, that that is the pile whereon your daughter is to +burn at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, and which the constables are now +raising." When this hell-hound had thus spoken, I gave a loud cry and +swounded. Oh, blessed Lord! I know not how I lived through such distress; +thou alone didst strengthen me beyond nature, in order, "after so much +weeping and wailing, to heap joys and blessings upon me; without thee I +never could have lived through such misery: therefore to thy name ever be +all honour and glory, O thou God of Israel!" + +When I came again to myself I lay on a bed in a fine room, and perceived a +taste in my mouth like wine. But as I saw none near me save the Sheriff, +who held a pitcher in his hand, I shuddered and closed mine eyes, +considering what I should say or do. This he presently observed, and said, +"Do not shudder thus; I mean well by you, and only wish to put a question +to you, which you must answer me on your conscience as a priest. Say, +reverend Abraham, which is the greater sin, to commit whoredom, or to take +the lives of two persons?" and when I answered him, "To take the lives of +two persons," he went on, "Well, then, is not that what your stubborn +child is about to do? Rather than give herself up to me, who have ever +desired to save her, and who can even yet save her, albeit her pile is now +being raised, she will take away her own life and that of her wretched +father, for I scarcely think that you, poor man, will outlive this sorrow. +Wherefore do you, for God his sake, persuade her to think better of it +while I am yet able to save her. For know that about ten miles from hence +I have a small house in the midst of the forest, where no human being ever +goes; thither will I send her this very night, and you may dwell there +with her all the days of your life, if so it please you. You shall live as +well as you can possibly desire, and to-morrow morning I will spread a +report betimes that the witch and her father have run away together during +the night, and that nobody knows whither they are gone." Thus spake the +serpent to me, as whilom to our mother Eve; and, wretched sinner that I +am, the tree of death which he showed me seemed to me also to be a tree of +life, so pleasant was it to the eye. Nevertheless I answered, "My child +will never save her miserable life by doing aught to peril the salvation +of her soul." But now, too, the serpent was more cunning than all the +beasts of the field (especially such an old fool as I), and spake thus: +"Why, who would have her peril the salvation of her soul? Reverend +Abraham, must I teach you Scripture? Did not our Lord Christ pardon Mary +Magdalene, who lived in open whoredom? and did he not speak forgiveness to +the poor adulteress who had committed a still greater _crimen?_ nay, more, +doth not St. Paul expressly say that the harlot Rahab was saved, Hebrews +xi.? _item_, St. James ii. says the same. But where have ye read that any +one was saved who had wantonly taken her own life and that of her father? +Wherefore, for the love of God, persuade your child not to give herself +up, body and soul, to the devil, by her stubbornness, but to suffer +herself to be saved while it is yet time. You can abide with her, and pray +away all the sins she may commit, and likewise aid me with your prayers, +who freely own that I am a miserable sinner, and have done you much evil, +though not so much evil by far, reverend Abraham, as David did to Uriah, +and he was saved, notwithstanding he put the man to a shameful death, and +afterwards lay with his wife. Wherefore I, poor man, likewise hope to be +saved, seeing that my desire for your daughter is still greater than that +which this David felt for Bathsheba; and I will gladly make it all up to +you twofold as soon as we are in my cottage." + +When the tempter had thus spoken, methought his words were sweeter than +honey, and I answered, "Alas, my lord, I am ashamed to appear before her +face with such a proposal." Whereupon he straightway said, "Then do you +write it to her; come, here is pen, ink, and paper." + +And now, like Eve, I took the fruit and ate, and gave it to my child that +she might eat also; that is to say, that I recapitulated on paper all that +Satan had prompted, but in the Latin tongue, for I was ashamed to write it +in mine own; and lastly I conjured her not to take away her own life and +mine, but to submit to the wondrous will of God. Neither were mine eyes +opened when I had eaten (that is, written), nor did I perceive that the +ink was gall instead of honey, and I translated my letter to the Sheriff +(seeing that he understood no Latin), smiling like a drunken man the +while; whereupon he clapped me on the shoulder, and after I had made fast +the letter with his signet, he called his huntsman, and gave it to him to +carry to my daughter; _item_, he sent her pen, ink, and paper, together +with his signet, in order that she might answer it forthwith. + +Meanwhile he talked with me right graciously, praising my child and me, +and made me drink to him many times from his great pitcher, wherein was +most goodly wine; moreover, he went to a cupboard and brought out cakes +for me to eat, saying that I should now have such every day. But when the +huntsman came back in about half an hour with her answer, and I had read +the same, then, first, were mine eyes opened, and I knew good and evil; +had I had a fig-leaf, I should have covered them therewith for shame; but +as it was, I held my hand over them and wept so bitterly that the Sheriff +waxed very wroth, and cursing bade me tell him what she had written. +Thereupon I interpreted the letter to him, the which I likewise place +here, in order that all may see my folly, and the wisdom of my child. It +was as follows:-- + +"IESVS! + +"Pater infelix! + +"Ego cras non magis pallebo rogum aspectura, et rogus non magis erubescet, +me suscipiens, quam pallui et iterum erubescui, literas tuas legens. Quid? +et te, pium patrem, pium servum Domini, ita Satanas sollicitavit, ut +communionem facias cum inimicis meis, et non intelligas: in tali vita esse +mortem, et in tali morte vitam? Scilicet si clementissimus Deus Mariae +Magdalenae aliisque ignovit, ignovit, quia resipiscerent ob carnis +debilitatem, et non iterum peccarent. Et ego peccarem cum quavis +detestatione carnis, et non semel, sed iterum atque iterum sine reversione +usque ad mortem? Quomodo clementissimus Deus haec sceleratissima ignoscere +posset? infelix pater! recordare quid mihi dixisti de sanctis martyribus +et virginibus Domini, qua omnes mallent vitam quam pudicitiam perdere. His +et ego sequar, et sponsus meus, Jesus Christus, et mihi miserae, ut spero, +coronam aeternam dabit, quamvis eum non minus offendi ob debilitatem +carnis ut Maria, et me sontem declaravi, cum insons sum. Fac igitur, ut +valeas et ora pro me apud Deum et non apud Satanam, ut et ego mox coram +Deo pro te orare possim. + +"MARIA S., captiva." + +When the Sheriff heard this, he flung the pitcher which he held in his +hand to the ground, so that it flew in pieces, and cried, "The cursed +devil's whore! the constable shall make her squeak for this a good hour +longer"; with many more such things beside, which he said in his malice, +and which I have now forgotten; but he soon became quite gracious again, +and said, "She is foolish; do you go to her and see whether you cannot +persuade her to her own good as well as yours; the huntsman shall let you +in, and should the fellow listen, give him a good box on the ears in my +name; do you hear, reverend Abraham? Go now forthwith and bring me back an +answer as quickly as possible!" I therefore followed the huntsman, who led +me into a vault where was no light save what fell through a hole no bigger +than a crown-piece; and here my daughter sat upon her bed and wept. Any +one may guess that I straightway began to weep too, and was no better able +to speak than she. We thus lay mute in each other's arms for a long time, +until I at last begged her to forgive me for my letter, but of the Sheriff +his message I said nought, although I had purposed so to do. But before +long we heard the Sheriff himself call down into the vault from above, +"What (and here he gave me a heavy curse) are you doing there so long? +Come up this moment, reverend Johannes!" Thus I had scarce time to +give her one kiss before the huntsman came back with the keys and forced +us to part; albeit we had as yet scarcely spoken, save that I had told her +in a few words what had happened with old Lizzie. It would be hard to +believe into what grievous anger the Sheriff fell when I told him that my +daughter remained firm and would not hearken unto him; he struck me on the +breast, and said, "Go to the devil then, thou infamous parson!" and when I +turned myself away and would have gone, he pulled me back, and said, "If +thou breathest but one word of all that has passed, I will have thee burnt +too, thou grey-headed old father of a witch; so look to it!" Hereupon I +plucked up a heart, and answered that that would be the greatest joy to +me, especially if I could be burnt to-morrow with my child. Hereunto he +made no answer, but clapped to the door behind me. Well, clap the door as +thou wilt, I greatly fear that the just God will one day clap the doors of +heaven in thy face! + + + + +_The Twenty-sixth Chapter_ + + +HOW I RECEIVED THE HOLY SACRAMENT WITH MY DAUGHTER AND THE OLD +MAIDSERVANT, AND HOW SHE WAS THEN LED FOR THE LAST TIME BEFORE THE COURT, +WITH THE DRAWN SWORD AND THE OUTCRY, TO RECEIVE SENTENCE + +Now any one would think that during that heavy Tuesday night I should not +have been able to close mine eyes; but know, dear reader, that the Lord +can do more than we can ask or understand, and that his mercy is new every +morning. For toward daybreak I fell asleep as quietly as though I had had +no care upon my heart; and when I awoke I was able to pray more heartily +than I had done for a long time; so that, in the midst of my tribulation, +I wept for joy at such great mercy from the Lord. But I prayed for nought +save that he would endow my child with strength and courage to suffer the +martyrdom he had laid upon her with Christian patience, and to send his +angel to me, woeful man, so to pierce my heart with grief when I should +see my child burn that it might straightway cease to beat, and I might +presently follow her. And thus I still prayed when the maid came in all +dressed in black, and with the silken raiment of my sweet lamb hanging +over her arm; and she told me, with many tears, that the dead-bell had +already tolled from the castle tower, for the first time, and that my +child had sent for her to dress her, seeing that the court was already +come from Usedom, and that in about two hours she was to set out on her +last journey. Moreover, she had sent her word that she was to take her +some blue and yellow flowers for a garland; wherefore she asked me what +flowers she should take; and seeing that a jar filled with fire lilies and +forget-me-nots stood in my window, which she had placed there yesterday, I +said, "Thou canst gather no better flowers for her than these, wherefore +do thou carry them to her, and tell her that I will follow thee in about +half an hour, in order to receive the sacrament with her." Hereupon the +faithful old creature prayed me to suffer her to go to the sacrament with +us, the which I promised her. And scarce had I dressed myself and put on +my surplice when _Pastor Benzensis_ came in at the door and fell upon my +neck, weeping, and as mute as a fish. As soon as he came to his speech +again he told me of the great _miraculum_ (_daemonis_ I mean) which had +befallen at the burial of old Lizzie. For that, just as the bearers were +about to lower the coffin into the grave, a noise was heard therein, as +though of a carpenter boring through a deal board; wherefore they thought +the old hag must be come to life again, and opened the coffin. But there +she lay as before, all black and blue in the face, and as cold as ice; but +her eyes had started wide open, so that all were horror-stricken, and +expected some devilish apparition; and, indeed, a live rat presently +jumped out of the coffin and ran into a skull which lay beside the grave. +Thereupon they all ran away, seeing that old Lizzie had ever been in evil +repute as a witch. Howbeit at last he himself went near the grave again, +whereupon the rat disappeared, and all the others took courage and +followed him. This the man told me, and any one may guess that this was in +fact Satan, who had flown down the hag her throat as an insect, whereas +his proper shape was that of a rat: albeit I wonder what he could so long +have been about in the carrion; unless indeed it were that the evil +spirits are as fond of all that is loathsome as the angels of God are of +all that is fair and lovely. Be that as it may; _Summa_: I was not a +little shocked at what he told me, and asked him what he now thought of +the Sheriff? whereupon he shrugged his shoulders, and said that he had +indeed been a wicked fellow as long as he could remember him, and that it +was full ten years since he had given him any first-fruits; but that he +did not believe that he was a warlock, as old Lizzie had said. For +although he had indeed never been to the table of the Lord in his church, +he had heard that he often went at Stettin, with his Princely Highness the +Duke, and that the pastor at the castle church had shown him the entry in +his communion-book. Wherefore he likewise could not believe that he had +brought this misery upon my daughter, if she were innocent, as the hag had +said; besides, that my daughter had freely confessed herself a witch. +Hereupon I answered, that she had done that for fear of the torture; but +that she was not afraid of death; whereupon I told him, with many sighs, +how the sheriff had yesterday tempted me, miserable and unfaithful +servant, to evil, insomuch that I had been willing to sell my only child +to him and to Satan, and was not worthy to receive the sacrament to-day. +Likewise how much more steadfast a faith my daughter had than I, as he +might see from her letter, which I still carried in my pocket; herewith I +gave it into his hand, and when he had read it, he sighed as though he had +been himself a father, and said, "Were this true, I should sink into the +earth for sorrow; but come, brother, come, that I may prove her faith +myself." + +Hereupon we went up to the castle, and on our way we found the greensward +before the hunting-lodge, _item_, the whole space in front of the castle, +already crowded with people, who, nevertheless, were quite quiet as we +went by: we gave our names again to the huntsman. (I have never been able +to remember his name, seeing that he was a Polak; he was not, however, the +same fellow who wooed my child, and whom the Sheriff had therefore turned +off.) The man presently ushered us into a fine large room, whither my +child had been led when taken out of her prison. The maid had already +dressed her, and she looked lovely as an angel. She wore the chain of gold +with the effigy round her neck again, _item_, the garland in her hair, and +she smiled as we entered, saying, "I am ready!" Whereat the reverend +Martinus was sorely angered and shocked, saying, "Ah, thou ungodly woman, +let no one tell me further of thine innocence! Thou art about to go to the +holy sacrament, and from thence to death, and thou flauntest as a child of +this world about to go to the dancing-room." Whereupon she answered and +said, "Be not wroth with me, dear godfather, because that I would go into +the presence of my good King of Heaven in the same garments wherein I +appeared some time since before the good King of Sweden. For it +strengthens my weak and trembling flesh, seeing I hope that my righteous +Saviour will in like manner take me to his heart, and will also hand his +effigy upon my neck when I stretch out my hands to him in all humility, +and recite my _carmen_, saying, 'O Lamb of God, innocently slain upon the +cross, give my thy peace, O Jesu!'" These words softened my dear gossip, +and he spoke, saying, "Ah, child, child, I thought to have reproached +thee, but thou hast constrained me to weep with thee: art thou, then, +indeed innocent?" "Verily," said she, "to you, my honoured godfather, I +may now own that I am innocent, as truly as I trust that God will aid me +in my last hour through Jesus Christ. Amen." + +When the maid heard this, she made such outcries that I repented that I +had suffered her to be present, and we all had enough to do to comfort her +from the word of God till she became somewhat more tranquil; and when this +was done, my dear gossip thus spake to my child: "If, indeed, thou dost so +steadfastly maintain thine innocence, it is my duty, according to my +conscience as a priest, to inform the worshipful court thereof"; and he +was about to leave the room. But she withheld him, and fell upon the +ground and clasped his knees, saying, "I beseech you, by the wounds of +Jesus, to be silent. They would stretch me on the rack again, and uncover +my nakedness, and I, wretched weak woman, would in such torture confess +all that they would have me, especially if my father again be there, +whereby both my soul and my body are tortured at once: wherefore stay, I +pray you, stay; is it, then, a misfortune to die innocent, and is it not +better to die innocent than guilty?" + +My good gossip at last gave way, and after standing awhile and praying to +himself, he wiped away his tears, and then spake the exhortation to +confession, in the words of Isaiah xliii. 1, 2, "But now thus saith the +Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear +not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art +mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and +through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest +through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle +upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy +Saviour." + +And when he had ended this comfortable address, and asked her whether she +would willingly bear until her last hour that cross which the most +merciful God according to his unsearchable will had laid upon her, she +spake such beautiful words that my gossip afterwards said he should not +forget them so long as he should live, seeing that he had never witnessed +a bearing at once so full of faith and joy, and withal so deeply +sorrowful. She spake after this manner: "Oh, holy cross, which my Jesus +hath sanctified by his innocent suffering; oh, dear cross, which is laid +upon me by the hand of a merciful Father; oh, blessed cross, whereby I am +made like unto my Lord Jesus, and am called unto eternal glory and +blessedness: how! shall I not willingly bear thee, thou sweet cross of my +bridegroom, of my brother?" The reverend Johannes had scarce given us +absolution, and after this, with many tears, the holy sacrament, when we +heard a loud trampling upon the floor, and presently the impudent +constable looked into the room and asked whether we were ready, seeing +that the worshipful court was now waiting for us; and when he had been +told that we were ready, my child would have first taken leave of me, but +I forbade her, saying, "Not so; thou knowest that which thou hast promised +me; ... 'and whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will +lodge: ... where thou diest will I die ...' if that the Lord, as I hope, +will hear the ardent sighs of my poor soul." Hereupon she let me go, and +embraced only the old maid-servant, thanking her for all the kindness she +had shown her from her youth up, and begging her not to go with her to +make her death yet more bitter by her cries. The faithful old creature was +unable for a long time to say a word for tears. Howbeit at last she begged +forgiveness of my child for that she unwittingly accused her, and said, +that out of her wages she had bought five pounds' weight of flax to hasten +her death; that the shepherd of Pudgla had that very morning taken it with +him to Coserow, and that she should wind it closely round her body; for +that she had seen how old wife Schurne, who was burnt in Liepe, had +suffered great torments before she came to her death, by reason of the +damp wood. + +But ere my child could thank her for this, the dreadful outcry of blood +began in the judgment-chamber; for a voice cried as loudly as might be, +"Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath +fallen off from the living God!" Then all the folk without cried, "Woe +upon the accursed witch!" When I heard this I fell back against the wall, +but my sweet child stroked my cheeks with her darling hands, and said, +"Father, father, do but remember that the people likewise cried out +against the innocent Jesus, 'Crucify him, crucify him!' Shall not we then +drink of the cup which our Heavenly Father hath prepared for us?" + +Hereupon the door opened, and the constable walked in, amid a great tumult +among the people, holding a drawn sword in his hand, which he bowed thrice +before my child, and cried, "Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, +because that she hath fallen off from the living God!" and all the folks +in the hall and without the castle cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon +the accursed witch!" + +Hereupon he said, "Mary Schweidler, come before the high and worshipful +court to hear sentence of death passed upon thee!" Whereupon she followed +him with us two miserable men (for _Pastor Benzensis_ was no less cast +down than myself). As for the old maid-servant, she lay on the ground for +dead. + +After we had with great pains pushed our way through all the people, the +constable stood still before the open judgment-chamber, and once more +bowed his sword before my child and cried for the third time, "Woe upon +the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath fallen off from +the living God!" And all the people, as well as the cruel judges +themselves, cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon the accursed witch!" + +When we had entered the room, _Dom. Consul_ first asked my worthy gossip +whether the witch had abode by her free avowal in confession; whereupon, +after considering a short time, he answered, that he had best ask herself, +for there she stood. According, taking up a paper which lay before him on +the table, he spake as follows:--"Mary Schweidler, now that thou hast +confessed, and received the holy and most honourable sacrament of the +Lord's Supper, answer me once again these following questions:-- + +"1. Is it true that thou hast fallen off from the living God and given +thyself up to Satan? + +"2. Is it true that thou hadst a spirit called _Disidaemonia_, who +re-baptized thee and carnally knew thee? + +"3. Is it true that thou hast done all manner of mischief to the cattle? + +"4. Is it true that Satan appeared to thee on the Streckelberg in the +likeness of a hairy giant?" + +When she had with many sighs said "Yes" to all these questions, he rose, +took a wand in one hand and a second paper in the other, put his +spectacles on his nose, and said, "Now, then, hear thy sentence." (This +sentence I since copied: he would not let me see the other _Acta_, but +pretended that they were at Wolgast. The sentence, however, was word for +word as follows.) + +"We, the Sheriff and the Justices appointed to serve the high and +worshipful criminal court. Inasmuch as Mary Schweidler, the daughter of +Abraham Schweidlerus, the pastor of Coserow, hath, after the appointed +inquisition, repeatedly made free confession that she hath a devil named +_Disidaemonia_, the which did re-baptize her in the sea, and did also know +her carnally; _item_, that she by his help did mischief to the cattle; +that he also appeared to her on the Streckelberg in the likeness of a +hairy giant. We do therefore by these presents make known and direct that +_Rea_ be first duly torn four times on each breast with red-hot iron +pincers, and after that be burned to death by fire, as a rightful +punishment to herself and a warning to others. Nevertheless we, in pity +for her youth, are pleased of our mercy to spare her the tearing with +red-hot pincers, so that she shall only suffer death by the simple +punishment of fire. Wherefore she is hereby condemned and judged +accordingly on the part of the criminal court. + +"_Publicatum_ at the castle of Pudgla, the 30th day _mensis Augusti, anno +Salutis_ 1630." + +As he spake the last word he brake his wand in two and threw the pieces +before the feet of my innocent lamb, saying to the constable, "Now, do +your duty!" But so many folks, both men and women, threw themselves on the +ground to seize the pieces of the wand (seeing they are said to be good +for the gout in the joints, _item_, for cattle when troubled with lice), +that the constable fell to the earth over a woman who was on her knees +before him, and his approaching death was thus foreshadowed to him by the +righteous God. Something of the same sort likewise befell the Sheriff now +for the second time; for when the worshipful court rose, throwing down +tables, stools, and benches, a table, under which two boys were fighting +for the pieces of the wand, fell right upon his foot, whereupon he flew +into a violent rage, and threatened the people with his fist, saying that +they should have fifty right good lashes a-piece, both men and women, if +they were not quiet forthwith, and did not depart peaceably out of the +room. This frighted them, and after the people were gone out into the +street, the constable took a rope out of his pocket, wherewith he bound my +lamb her hands so tightly behind her back that she cried aloud; but when +she saw how this wrung my heart, she straightway constrained herself and +said, "Oh, father, remember that it fared no better with the blessed +Saviour!" Howbeit, when my dear gossip, who stood behind her, saw that her +little hands, and more especially her nails, had turned black and blue, he +spoke for her to the worshipful court, whereupon the abominable Sheriff +only said, "Oh, let her be; let her feel what it is to fall off from the +living God." But _Dom. Consul_ was more merciful, inasmuch as, after +feeling the cords, he bade the constable bind her hands less cruelly and +slacken the rope a little, which accordingly he was forced to do. But my +dear gossip was not content herewith, and begged that she might sit in the +cart without being bound, so that she should be able to hold her +hymn-book, for he had summoned the school to sing a hymn by the way for +her comfort, and he was ready to answer for it with his own head that she +should not escape out of the cart. Moreover; it is the custom for fellows +with pitchforks always to go with the carts wherein condemned criminals, +and more especially witches, are carried to execution. But this the cruel +Sheriff would not suffer, and the rope was left upon her hands, and the +impudent constable seized her by the arm and led her from the +judgment-chamber. But in the hall we saw a great _scandalum_, which again +pierced my very heart. For the housekeeper and the impudent constable his +wife were fighting for my child her bed, and her linen, and wearing +apparel, which the housekeeper had taken for herself, and which the other +woman wanted to have. The latter now called to her husband to help her, +whereupon he straightway let go my daughter and struck the housekeeper on +her mouth with his fist, so that the blood ran out therefrom, and she +shrieked and wailed fearfully to the Sheriff, who followed us with the +court. He threatened them both in vain, and said that when he came back he +would inquire into the matter and give to each her due share. But they +would not hearken to this, until my daughter asked _Dom. Consul_ whether +every dying person, even a condemned criminal, had power to leave his +goods and chattels to whomsoever he would? and when he answered, "Yes, all +but the clothes, which belong of right to the executioner," she said, +"Well, then, the constable may take my clothes, but none shall have my bed +save my faithful old maid-servant Ilse!" Hereupon the housekeeper began to +curse and revile my child loudly, who heeded her not, but stepped out at +the door toward the cart, where there stood so many people that nought +could be seen save head against head. The folks crowded about us so +tumultuously that the Sheriff, who, meanwhile, had mounted his grey horse, +constantly smote them right and left across their eyes with his +riding-whip, but they nevertheless would scarce fall back. Howbeit, at +length he cleared the way, and when about ten fellows with long +pitchforks, who for the most part also had rapiers at their sides, had +placed themselves round about our cart, the constable lifted my daughter +up into it, and bound her fast to the rail. Old Paasch, who stood by, +lifted me up, and my dear gossip was likewise forced to be lifted in, so +weak had he become from all the distress. He motioned his sexton, Master +Krekow, to walk before the cart with the school, and bade him from time to +time lead a verse of the goodly hymn, "On God alone I rest my fate," which +he promised to do. And here I will also note, that I myself sat down upon +the straw by my daughter, and that our dear confessor the reverend +Martinus sat backwards. The constable was perched up behind with his drawn +sword. When all this was done, _item_, the court mounted up into another +carriage, the Sheriff gave the order to set out. + + + + +_The Twenty-seventh Chapter_ + + +OF THAT WHICH BEFELL US BY THE WAY: _ITEM_, OF THE FEARFUL DEATH OF THE +SHERIFF AT THE MILL + +We met with many wonders by the way, and with great sorrow; for hard by +the bridge, over the brook which runs into the Schmolle, stood the +housekeeper her hateful boy, who beat a drum and cried aloud, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon the crowd set up a loud +laugh, and called out after him, "Yes, indeed, to the roast goose! to the +roast goose!" Howbeit, when Master Krekow led the second verse the folks +became somewhat quieter again, and most of them joined in singing it from +their books, which they had brought with them. But when he ceased singing +awhile the noise began again as bad as before. Some cried out, "The devil +hath given her these clothes, and hath adorned her after that fashion"; +and seeing the Sheriff had ridden on before, they came close round the +cart, and felt her garments, more especially the women and young maidens. +Others, again, called loudly, as the young varlet had done, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon one fellow answered, "She +will not let herself be roasted yet; mind ye that: she will quench the +fire!" This, and much filthiness beside, which I may not for very shame +write down, we were forced to hear, and it especially cut me to the heart +to hear a fellow swear that he would have some of her ashes, seeing he had +not been able to get any of the wand, and that nought was better for the +fever and the gout than the ashes of a witch. I motioned the _Custos_ to +begin singing again, whereupon the folks were once more quiet for a +while--_i.e._, for so long as the verse lasted; but afterwards they rioted +worse than before. But we were now come among the meadows, and when my +child saw the beauteous flowers which grew along the sides of the ditches, +she fell into deep thought, and began again to recite aloud the sweet song +of St. Augustinus as follows:-- + + Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum, + Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, + Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt, + Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, + Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum, + Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum, + Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. + +By this _Casus_ we gained that all the folk ran cursing away from the +cart, and followed us at the distance of a good musket-shot, thinking +that my child was calling on Satan to help her. Only one lad, of about +five-and-twenty, whom, however, I did not know, tarried a few paces behind +the cart, until his father came, and seeing he would not go away +willingly, pushed him into the ditch, so that he sank up to his loins +in the water. Thereat even my poor child smiled, and asked me whether I +did not know any more Latin hymns wherewith to keep the stupid and +foul-mouthed people still further from us. But, dear reader, how could I +then have been able to recite Latin hymns, even had I known any? But my +_confrater_, the reverend Martinus, knew such an one; albeit it is indeed +heretical; nevertheless, seeing that it above measure pleased my child, +and that she made him repeat to her sundry verses thereof three and four +times, until she could say them after him, I said nought; otherwise I have +ever been very severe against aught that is heretical. Howbeit I comforted +myself therewith that our Lord God would forgive her in consideration of +her ignorance. And the first line ran as follows:--_Dies irae, dies ilia_. +But these two verses pleased her more than all the rest, and she recited +them many times with great edification, wherefore I will insert them here. + + Judex ergo cum sedebit + Quidquid latet apparebit, + Nil inultum remanebit: + + _Item_, + + Rex tremends majestatis! + Qui salvandos salvas gratis, + Salva me, fons pietatis! + +When the men with the pitchforks, who were round about the cart, heard +this, and at the same time saw a heavy storm coming up from the +Achterwater, they straightway thought no other but that my child had made +it; and, moreover, the folk behind cried out, "The witch hath done this; +the damned witch hath done this!" and all the ten, save one, who stayed +behind, jumped over the ditch, and ran away. But _Dom. Consul_, who, +together with the worshipful court, drove behind us, no sooner saw this +than he called to the constable, "What is the meaning of all this?" +Whereupon the constable cried aloud to the Sheriff, who was a little way +on before us, but who straightway turned him about, and when he had heard +the cause, called after the fellows that he would hang them all up on the +first tree, and feed his falcons with their flesh, if they did not return +forthwith. This threat had its effect; and when they came back he gave +each of them about half a dozen strokes with his riding-whip, whereupon +they tarried in their places, but as far off from the cart as they could +for the ditch. + +Meanwhile, however, the storm came up from the southward, with thunder, +lightning, hail, and such a wind, as though the all-righteous God would +manifest his wrath against these ruthless murderers; and the tops of the +lofty beeches around us were beaten together like besoms, so that our cart +was covered with leaves as with hail, and no one could hear his own voice +for the noise. This happened just as we were entering the forest from the +convent dam, and the Sheriff now rode close behind us, beside the coach +wherein was _Dom. Consul_. Moreover, just as we were crossing the bridge +over the mill-race, we were seized by the blast, which swept up a hollow +from the Achterwater with such force that we conceived it must drive our +cart down the abyss, which was at least forty feet deep or more; and +seeing that, at the same time, the horses did as though they were upon +ice, and could not stand, the driver halted to let the storm pass over, +the which the Sheriff no sooner perceived than he galloped up and bade him +go on forthwith. Whereupon the man flogged on the horses, but they slipped +about after so strange a fashion that our guards with the pitchforks fell +back, and my child cried aloud for fear; and when we were come to the +place where the great waterwheel turned just below us, the driver fell +with his horse, which broke one of its legs. Then the constable jumped +down from the cart, but straightway fell too on the slippery ground; +_item_, the driver, after getting on his legs again, fell a second time. +Hereupon the Sheriff, with a curse, spurred on his grey charger, which +likewise began to slip as our horses had also done. Nevertheless, he came +sliding towards us, without, however, falling down; and when he saw that +the horse with the broken leg still tried to get up, but always +straightway fell again on the slippery ground, he hallooed and beckoned +the fellows with pitchforks to come and unharness the mare; _item_, to +push the cart over the bridge, lest it should be carried down the +precipice. Presently a long flash of lightning shot into the water below +us, followed by a clap of thunder so sudden and so awful that the whole +bridge shook, and the Sheriff his horse (our horses stood quite still) +started back a few paces, lost its footing, and, together with its rider, +shot headlong down upon the great mill-wheel below, whereupon a fearful +cry arose from all those that stood behind us on the bridge. For a while +nought could be seen for the white foam, until the Sheriff his legs and +body were borne up into the air by the wheel, his head being stuck fast +between the fellies; and thus, fearful to behold, he went round and round +upon the wheel. Naught ailed the grey charger, which swam about in the +mill-pond below. When I saw this I seized the hand of my innocent lamb, +and cried, "Behold, Mary, our Lord God yet liveth! 'and he rode upon a +cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. Then did +he beat them small as the dust before the wind; he did cast them out as +the dirt in the streets.' Look down, and see what the Almighty God hath +done." While she hereupon raised her eyes towards heaven with a sigh, we +heard _Dom. Consul_ calling out behind us as loudly as he could: and +seeing that none could understand his words for the fearful storm and the +tumult of the waters, he jumped down from the coach, and would have +crossed the bridge on foot, but straightway he fell upon his nose, so that +it bled, and he crept back again on his hands and feet, and held a long +talk with _Dom. Camerarius_, who, howbeit, did not stir out of the coach. +Meanwhile the driver and the constable had unyoked the maimed horse, bound +it, and dragged it off the bridge, and now they came back to the cart and +bade us get down therefrom and cross the bridge on foot, the which we did +after the constable had unbound my child with many curses and ill words, +threatening that, in return for her malice, he would keep her roasting +till late in the evening. (I could not blame him much therefore; for truly +this was a strange thing!) But albeit my child herself got safe across, we +two--I mean reverend Martinus and myself--like all the others, fell two or +three times to the ground. At length we all, by God his grace, got safe +and sound to the miller's house, where the constable delivered my child +into the miller his hands, to guard her on forfeit of his life, while he +ran down to the mill-pond to save the Sheriff his grey charger. The driver +was bidden the while to get the cart and the other horses off the +bewitched bridge. We had, however, stood but a short time with the miller, +under the great oak before his door, when _Dom. Consul_, with the +worshipful court, and all the folks, came over the little bridge, which is +but a couple of musket-shots off from the first one, and he could scarce +prevent the crowd from falling upon my child and tearing her in pieces, +seeing that they all, as well as _Dom. Consul_ himself, imagined that none +other but she had brewed the storm and bewitched the bridge (especially as +she herself had not fallen thereon), and had likewise caused the Sheriff +his death; all of which, nevertheless, were foul lies, as ye shall +hereafter hear. He, therefore, railed at her for a cursed she-devil, who, +even after having confessed and received the holy Sacrament, had not yet +renounced Satan; but that nought should save her, and she should, +nevertheless, receive her reward. And, seeing that she kept silence, I +hereupon answered, "Did he not see that the all-righteous God had so +ordered it, that the Sheriff, who would have robbed my innocent child of +her honour and her life, had here forfeited his own life as a fearful +example to others?" But _Dom. Consul_ would not see this, and said that a +child might perceive that our Lord God had not made this storm, or did I +peradventure believe that our Lord God had likewise bewitched the bridge? +I had better cease to justify my wicked child, and rather begin to exhort +her to repent, seeing that this was the second time that she had brewed a +storm, and that no man with a grain of sense could believe what I said, +etc. + +Meanwhile the miller had already stopped the mill, _item_, turned off the +water, and some four or five fellows had gone with the constable down to +the great water-wheel to take the Sheriff out of the fellies, wherein he +had till _datum_ still been carried round and round. This they could not +do until they had first sawn out one of the fellies; and when at last they +brought him to the bank, his neck was found to be broken, and he was as +blue as a corn-flower. Moreover, his throat was frightfully torn, and the +blood ran out of his nose and mouth. If the people had not reviled my +child before, they reviled her doubly now, and would have thrown dirt and +stones at her, had not the worshipful court interfered with might and +main, saying that she would presently receive her well-deserved +punishment. + +[Illustration: The Doom of the Wheel] + +Also, my dear gossip, the Reverend Martinus, climbed up into the cart +again, and admonished the people not to forestall the law; and seeing that +the storm had somewhat abated, he could now be heard. And when they had +become somewhat more quiet, _Dom. Consul_ left the corpse of the Sheriff +in charge with the miller, until such time as, by God's help, he should +return. _Item_, he caused the grey charger to be tied up to the oak-tree +till the same time, seeing that the miller swore that he had no room in +the mill, inasmuch as his stable was filled with straw; but that he would +give the grey horse some hay, and keep good watch over him. And now were +we wretched creatures forced to get into the cart again, after that the +unsearchable will of God had once more dashed all our hopes. The constable +gnashed his teeth with rage, while he took the cords out of his pocket to +bind my poor child to the rail withal. As I saw right well what he was +about to do, I pulled a few groats out of my pocket, and whispered into +his ear, "Be merciful, for she cannot possibly run away, and do you +hereafter help her to die quickly, and you shall get ten groats more from +me!" This worked well, and albeit he pretended before the people to pull +the ropes tight, seeing they all cried out with might and main, "Haul +hard, haul hard!" in truth he bound her hands more gently than before, and +even without making her fast to the rail; but he sat up behind us again +with the naked sword, and after that _Dom. Consul_ had prayed aloud, "God +the Father, dwell with us," likewise the _Custos_ had led another hymn (I +know not what he sang, neither does my child), we went on our way, +according to the unfathomable will of God, after this fashion: the +worshipful court went before, whereas all the folks, to our great joy, +fell back, and the fellows with the pitchforks lingered a good way behind +us, now that the Sheriff was dead. + + + + +_The Twenty-eighth Chapter_ + + +HOW MY DAUGHTER WAS AT LENGTH SAVED BY THE HELP OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL, YEA, +OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL GOD + +Meanwhile, by reason of my unbelief, wherewith Satan again tempted me, I +had become so weak that I was forced to lean my back against the constable +his knees, and expected not to live till even we should come to the +mountain; for the last hope I had cherished was now gone, and I saw that +my innocent lamb was in the same plight. Moreover, the reverend Martinus +began to upbraid her, saying that he, too, now saw that all her oaths were +lies, and that she really could brew storms. Hereupon, she answered with a +smile, although, indeed, she was as white as a sheet, "Alas, reverend +godfather, do you then really believe that the weather and the storms no +longer obey our Lord God? Are storms, then, so rare at this season of the +year, that none save the foul fiend can cause them? Nay, I have never +broken the baptismal vow you once made in my name, nor will I ever break +it, as I hope that God will be merciful to me in my last hour, which is +now at hand." But the reverend Martinus shook his head doubtingly, and +said, "The Evil One must have promised thee much, seeing thou remainest so +stubborn even unto thy life's end, and blasphemest the Lord thy God; but +wait, and thou wilt soon learn with horror that the devil 'is a liar, and +the father of it'" (St. John viii.). Whilst he yet spake this, and more of +a like kind, we came to Uekeritze, where all the people, both great and +small, rushed out of their doors, also Jacob Schwarten his wife, who, as +we afterwards heard, had only been brought to bed the night before, and +her goodman came running after her to fetch her back, in vain. She told +him he was a fool, and had been one for many a weary day, and that if she +had to crawl up the mountain on her bare knees, she would go to see the +parson's witch burned; that she had reckoned upon it for so long, and if +he did not let her go, she would give him a thump on the chaps, etc. + +Thus did the coarse and foul-mouthed people riot around the cart wherein +we sat, and as they knew not what had befallen, they ran so near us that +the wheel went over the foot of a boy. Nevertheless, they all crowded up +again, more especially the lasses, and felt my daughter her clothes, and +would even see her shoes and stockings, and asked her how she felt. +_Item_, one fellow asked whether she would drink somewhat, with many more +fooleries besides, till at last, when several came and asked her for her +garland and her golden chain, she turned towards me and smiled, saying, +"Father, I must begin to speak some Latin again, otherwise the folks will +leave me no peace." But it was not wanted this time; for our guards, with +the pitchforks, had now reached the hindmost, and, doubtless, told them +what had happened, as we presently heard a great shouting behind us, for +the love of God to turn back before the witch did them a mischief; and as +Jacob Schwarten his wife heeded it not, but still plagued my child to give +her her apron to make a christening coat for her baby, for that it was +pity to let it be burnt, her goodman gave her such a thump on her back +with a knotted stick which he had pulled out of the hedge that she fell +down with loud shrieks; and when he went to help her up she pulled him +down by his hair, and, as reverend Martinus said, now executed what she +had threatened; inasmuch as she struck him on the nose with her fist with +might and main, until the other people came running up to them, and held +her back. Meanwhile, however, the storm had almost passed over, and sank +down toward the sea. + +And when we had gone through the little wood, we suddenly saw the +Streckelberg before us, covered with people, and the pile and stake upon +the top, upon the which the tall constable jumped up when he saw us +coming, and beckoned with his cap with all his might. Thereat my senses +left me, and my sweet lamb was not much better; for she bent to and fro +like a reed, and stretching her bound hands towards heaven, she once more +cried out: + + Rex tremendae majestatis! + Qui salvandos salvas gratis, + Salva me, fons pietatis! + +And, behold, scarce had she spoken these words, when the sun came out and +formed a rainbow right over the mountain most pleasant to behold; and it +is clear that this was a sign from the merciful God, such as he often +gives us, but which we blind and unbelieving men do not rightly mark. +Neither did my child heed it; for albeit she thought upon that first +rainbow which shadowed forth our troubles, yet it seemed to her impossible +that she could now be saved, wherefore she grew so faint, that she no +longer heeded the blessed sign of mercy, and her head fell forward (for +she could no longer lean it upon me, seeing that I lay my length at the +bottom of the cart), till her garland almost touched my worthy gossip his +knees. Thereupon he bade the driver stop for a moment, and pulled out a +small flask filled with wine, which he always carries in his pocket when +witches are to be burnt, in order to comfort them therewith in their +terror. (Henceforth, I myself will ever do the like, for this fashion of +my dear gossip pleases me well.) He first poured some of this wine down my +throat, and afterwards down my child's; and we had scarce come to +ourselves again, when a fearful noise and tumult arose among the people +behind us, and they not only cried out in deadly fear, "The Sheriff is +come back! the Sheriff is come again!" but as they could neither run away +forwards or backwards (being afraid of the ghost behind and of my child +before them), they ran on either side, some rushing into the coppice, and +others wading into the Achterwater up to their necks. _Item_, as soon as +_Dom. Camerarius_ saw the ghost come out of the coppice with a grey hat +and a grey feather, such as the Sheriff wore, riding on the grey charger, +he crept under a bundle of straw in the cart: and _Dom. Consul_ cursed my +child again, and bade the coachman drive on as madly as they could, even +should all the horses die of it, when the impudent constable behind us +called to him, "It is not the Sheriff, but the young lord of Nienkerken, +who will surely seek to save the witch: shall I, then, cut her throat with +my sword?" At these fearful words my child and I came to ourselves again, +and the fellow had already lift up his naked sword to smite her, seeing +_Dom. Consul_ had made him a sign with his hand, when my dear gossip, who +saw it, pulled my child with all his strength back into his lap. (May God +reward him on the day of judgment, for I never can.) The villain would +have stabbed her as she lay in his lap; but the young lord was already +there, and seeing what he was about to do, thrust the boarspear, which he +held in his hand, in between the constable's shoulders, so that he fell +headlong on the earth, and his own sword, by the guidance of the most +righteous God, went into his ribs on one side, and out again at the other. +He lay there and bellowed, but the young lord heeded him not, but said to +my child, "Sweet maid, God be praised that you are safe!" When, however, +he saw her bound hands, he gnashed his teeth, and, cursing her judges, he +jumped off his horse, and cut the rope with his sword, which he held in +his right hand, took her hand in his, and said, "Alas, sweet maid, how +have I sorrowed for you! but I could not save you, as I myself also lay in +chains, which you may see from my looks." + +But my child could answer him never a word, and fell into a swound again +for joy; howbeit, she soon came to herself again, seeing my dear gossip +still had a little wine by him. Meanwhile the dear young lord did me some +injustice, which, however, I freely forgive him; for he railed at me and +called me an old woman, who could do nought save weep and wail. Why had I +not journeyed after the Swedish king, or why had I not gone to Mellenthin +myself to fetch his testimony, as I knew right well what he thought about +witchcraft? (But, blessed God, how could I do otherwise than believe the +judge, who had been there? Others, besides old women, would have done the +same; and I never once thought of the Swedish king; and say, dear reader, +how could I have journeyed after him, and left my own child? But young +folks do not think of these things seeing they know not what a father +feels.) + +Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_, having heard that it was the young +lord, had again crept out from beneath the straw, _item, Dom. Consul_ had +jumped down from the coach and ran towards us, railing at him loudly, and +asking him by what power and authority he acted thus, seeing that he +himself had heretofore denounced the ungodly witch? But the young lord +pointed with his sword to his people, who now came riding out of the +coppice, about eighteen strong, armed with sabres, pikes, and muskets, and +said, "There is my authority, and I would let you feel it on your back if +I did not know that you were but a stupid ass. When did you hear any +testimony from me against this virtuous maiden? You lie in your throat if +you say you did." And as _Dom. Consul_ stood and straightway forswore +himself, the young lord, to the astonishment of all, related as +follows:--That as soon as he heard of the misfortune which had befallen me +and my child, he ordered his horse to be saddled forthwith, in order to +ride to Pudgla to bear witness to our innocence: this, however, his old +father would nowise suffer, thinking that his nobility would receive a +stain if it came to be known that his son had conversed with a reputed +witch by night on the Streckelberg. He had caused him therefore, as +prayers and threats were of no avail, to be bound hand and foot, and +confined in the donjon-keep, where till _datum_ an old servant had watched +him, who refused to let him escape, notwithstanding he offered him any sum +of money; whereupon he fell into the greatest anguish and despair at the +thought that innocent blood would be shed on his account; but that the +all-righteous God had graciously spared him this sorrow; for his father +had fallen sick from vexation, and lay a-bed all this time, and it so +happened that this very morning about prayer-time the huntsman, in +shooting at a wild duck in the moat, had by chance sorely wounded his +father's favourite dog, called Packan, which had crept howling to his +father's bedside, and had died there; whereupon the old man, who was weak, +was so angered that he was presently seized with a fit and gave up the +ghost too. Hereupon his people released him, and after he had closed his +father's eyes and prayed an "Our Father" over him, he straightway set out +with all the people he could find in the castle in order to save the +innocent maiden. For he testified here himself before all, on the word and +honour of a knight, nay, more, by his hopes of salvation, that he himself +was that devil which had appeared to the maiden on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant; for having heard by common report that she +ofttimes went thither, he greatly desired to know what she did there, and +that from fear of his hard father he disguised himself in a wolf's skin, +so that none might know him, and he had already spent two nights there, +when on the third the maiden came, and he then saw her dig for amber on +the mountain, and that she did not call upon Satan, but recited a Latin +_carmen_ aloud to herself. This he would have testified at Pudgla, but, +from the cause aforesaid, he had not been able: moreover, his father had +laid his cousin, Claus von Nienkerken, who was there on a visit, in his +bed, and made him bear false witness; for as _Dom. Consul_ had not seen +him (I mean the young lord) for many a long year, seeing he had studied in +foreign parts, his father thought that he might easily be deceived, which +accordingly happened. + +When the worthy young lord had stated this before _Dom. Consul_ and all +the people, which flocked together on hearing that the young lord was no +ghost, I felt as though a millstone had been taken off my heart; and +seeing that the people (who had already pulled the constable from under +the cart, and crowded round him, like a swarm of bees) cried to me that he +was dying, but desired first to confess somewhat to me, I jumped from the +cart as lightly as a young bachelor, and called to _Dom. Consul_ and the +young lord to go with me, seeing that I could easily guess what he had on +his mind. He sat upon a stone, and the blood gushed from his side like a +fountain (now that they had drawn out the sword); he whimpered on seeing +me, and said that he had in truth hearkened behind the door to all that +old Lizzie had confessed to me, namely, that she herself, together with +the Sheriff, had worked all the witchcraft on man and beast, to frighten +my poor child, and force her to play the wanton. That he had hidden this, +seeing that the Sheriff had promised him a great reward for so doing; but +that he would now confess it freely, since God had brought my child her +innocence to light. Wherefore he besought my child and myself to forgive +him. And when _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked whether he would +live and die on the truth of this confession, he answered, "Yes!" and +straightway fell on his side to the earth and gave up the ghost. + +Meanwhile time hung heavy with the people on the mountain, who had come +from Coserow, from Zitze, from Gnitze, etc., to see my child burnt, and +they all came running down the hill in long rows like geese, one after the +other, to see what had happened. And among them was my ploughman, Claus +Neels. When the worthy fellow saw and heard what had befallen us, he began +to weep aloud for joy; and straightway he too told what he had heard the +Sheriff say to old Lizzie in the garden, and how he had promised a pig in +the room of her own little pig, which she had herself bewitched to death +in order to bring my child into evil repute. _Summa_: all that I have +noted above, and which till _datum_ he had kept to himself for fear of the +question. Hereat all the people marvelled, and gently bewailed her +misfortunes; and many came, among them old Paasch, and would have kissed +my daughter her hands and feet, as also mine own, and praised us now as +much as they had before reviled us. But thus it ever is with the people. +Wherefore my departed father used to say: + + The people's hate is death, + Their love a passing breath! + +My dear gossip ceased not from fondling my child, holding her in his lap, +and weeping over her like a father (for I could not have wept more myself +than he wept). Howbeit she herself wept not, but begged the young lord to +send one of his horsemen to her faithful old maid-servant at Pudgla, to +tell her what had befallen us, which he straightway did to please her. But +the worshipful court (for _Dom. Gamerarius_ and the _scriba_ had now +plucked up a heart, and had come down from the coach) was not yet +satisfied, and _Dom. Consul_ began to tell the young lord about the +bewitched bridge, which none other save my daughter could have bewitched. +Hereto the young lord gave answer that this was indeed a strange thing, +inasmuch as his own horse had also broken a leg thereon, whereupon he had +taken the Sheriff his horse, which he saw tied up at the mill; but he did +not think that this could be laid to the charge of the maiden, but that it +came about by natural means, as he had half discovered already, although +he had not had time to search the matter thoroughly. Wherefore he besought +the worshipful court and all the people, together with my child herself, +to return back thither, where, with God's help, he would clear her from +this suspicion also, and prove her perfect innocence before them all. + +Thereunto the worshipful court agreed; and the young lord, having given +the Sheriff his grey charger to my ploughman to carry the corpse, which +had been laid across the horse's neck, to Coserow, the young lord got into +the cart by us, but did not seat himself beside my child, but backward by +my dear gossip: moreover, he bade one of his own people drive us instead +of the old coachman, and thus we turned back in God his name. _Custos +Benzensis_, who, with the children, had run in among the vetches by the +wayside (my defunct _Custos_ would not have done so, he had more courage), +went on before again with the young folks, and by command of his reverence +the pastor led the Ambrosian _Te Deum_, which deeply moved us all, more +especially my child, insomuch that her book was wetted with her tears, and +she at length laid it down and said, at the same time giving her hand to +the young lord, "How can I thank God and you for that which you have done +for me this day?" Whereupon the young lord answered, saying, "I have +greater cause to thank God than yourself, sweet maid, seeing that you have +suffered in your dungeon unjustly, but I justly, inasmuch as by my +thoughtlessness I brought this misery upon you. Believe me that this +morning when, in my donjon-keep, I first heard the sound of the dead-bell, +I thought to have died; and when it tolled for the third time, I should +have gone distraught in my grief, had not the Almighty God at that moment +taken the life of my strange father, so that your innocent life should be +saved by me. Wherefore I have vowed a new tower, and whatsoe'er beside may +be needful, to the blessed house of God; for nought more bitter could have +befallen me on earth than your death, sweet maid, and nought more sweet +than your life!" + +But at these words my child only wept and sighed; and when he looked on +her, she cast down her eyes and trembled, so that I straightway perceived +that my sorrows were not yet come to an end, but that another barrel of +tears was just tapped for me, and so indeed it was. Moreover, the ass of a +_Custos_, having finished the _Te Deum_ before we were come to the bridge, +straightway struck up the next following hymn, which was a funeral one, +beginning, "The body let us now inter." (God be praised that no harm has +come of it till _datum_.) My beloved gossip rated him not a little, and +threatened him that for his stupidity he should not get the money for the +shoes which he had promised him out of the Church-dues. But my child +comforted him, and promised him a pair of shoes at her own charges, seeing +that peradventure a funeral hymn was better for her than a song of +gladness. + +And when this vexed the young lord, and he said, "How now, sweet maid, you +know not how enough to thank God and me for your rescue, and yet you speak +thus?" She answered, smiling sadly, that she had only spoken thus to +comfort the poor _Custos_. But I straightway saw that she was in earnest, +for that she felt that although she had escaped one fire, she already +burned in another. + +Meanwhile we were come to the bridge again, and all the folks stood still, +and gazed open-mouthed, when the young lord jumped down from the cart, and +after stabbing his horse, which still lay kicking on the bridge, went on +his knees, and felt here and there with his hand. At length he called to +the worshipful court to draw near, for that he had found out the +witchcraft. But none save _Dom. Consul_ and a few fellows out of the +crowd, among whom was old Paasch, would follow him; _item_, my dear gossip +and myself, and the young lord, showed us a lump of tallow about the size +of a large walnut, which lay on the ground, and wherewith the whole bridge +had been smeared, so that it looked quite white, but, which all the folks +in their fright had taken for flour out of the mill; _item_, with some +other _materia_, which stunk like fitchock's dung, but what it was we +could not find out. Soon after a fellow found another bit of tallow, and +showed it to the people; whereupon I cried, "Aha! none hath done this but +that ungodly miller's man, in revenge for the stripes which the Sheriff +gave him for reviling my child." Whereupon I told what he had done, and +_Dom. Consul_, who also had heard thereof, straightway sent for the +miller. + +He, however, did as though he knew nought of the matter, and only said +that his man had left his service about an hour ago. But a young lass, the +miller's maid-servant, said that that very morning, before daybreak, when +she had got up to let out the cattle, she had seen the man scouring the +bridge. But that she had given it no further heed, and had gone to sleep +for another hour; and she pretended to know no more than the miller +whither the rascal was gone. When the young lord had heard this news, he +got up into the cart, and began to address the people, seeking to persuade +them no longer to believe in witchcraft, now that they had seen what it +really was. When I heard this, I was horror-stricken (as was but right) in +my conscience, as a priest, and I got upon the cartwheel, and whispered +into his ear, for God his sake, to leave this _materia_, seeing that if +the people no longer feared the devil, neither would they fear our Lord +God. + +The dear young lord forthwith did as I would have him, and only asked the +people whether they now held my child to be perfectly innocent? and when +they had answered, "Yes!" he begged them to go quietly home, and to thank +God that he had saved innocent blood. That he, too, would now return home, +and that he hoped that none would molest me and my child if he let us +return to Coserow alone. Hereupon he turned hastily towards her, took her +hand and said: "Farewell, sweet maid, I trust that I shall soon clear your +honour before the world, but do you thank God therefor, not me." He then +did the like to me and to my dear gossip, whereupon he jumped down from +the cart, and went and sat beside _Dom. Consul_ in his coach. The latter +also spake a few words to the people, and likewise begged my child and me +to forgive him (and I must say it to his honour, that the tears ran down +his cheeks the while), but he was so hurried by the young lord that he +brake short his discourse, and they drove off over the little bridge, +without so much as looking back. Only _Dom. Consul_ looked round once, and +called out to me, that in his hurry he had forgotten to tell the +executioner that no one was to be burned to-day: I was therefore to send +the churchwarden of Uekeritze up the mountain, to say so in his name; the +which I did. And the bloodhound was still on the mountain, albeit he had +long since heard what had befallen; and when the bailiff gave him the +orders of the worshipful court, he began to curse so fearfully that it +might have awakened the dead; moreover, he plucked off his cap, and +trampled it under foot, so that any one might have guessed what he felt. + +But to return to ourselves, my child sat as still and as white as a pillar +of salt, after the young lord had left her so suddenly and so unawares, +but she was somewhat comforted when the old maid-servant came running with +her coats tucked up to her knees, and carrying her shoes and stockings in +her hands. We heard her afar off, as the mill had stopped, blubbering for +joy, and she fell at least three times on the bridge, but at last she got +over safe, and kissed now mine and now my child her hands and feet; +begging us only not to turn her away, but to keep her until her life's +end; the which we promised to do. She had to climb up behind where the +impudent constable had sat, seeing that my dear gossip would not leave me +until I should be back in mine own manse. And as the young lord his +servant had got up behind the coach, old Paasch drove us home, and all the +folks who had waited till _datum_ ran beside the cart, praising and +pitying as much as they had before scorned and reviled us. Scarce, +however, had we passed through Uekeritze, when we again heard cries of +"Here comes the young lord, here comes the young lord!" so that my child +started up for joy, and became as red as a rose; but some of the folks ran +into the buckwheat, by the road, again, thinking it was another ghost. It +was, however, in truth, the young lord who galloped up on a black horse, +calling out as he drew near us, "Notwithstanding the haste I am in, sweet +maid, I must return and give you safe-conduct home, seeing that I have +just heard that the filthy people reviled you by the way, and I know not +whether you are yet safe." Hereupon he urged old Paasch to mend his pace, +and as his kicking and trampling did not even make the horses trot, the +young lord struck the saddle-horse from time to time with the flat of his +sword, so that we soon reached the village and the manse. Howbeit, when I +prayed him to dismount a while, he would not, but excused himself, saying +that he must still ride through Usedom to Anclam, but charged old Paasch, +who was our bailiff, to watch over my child as the apple of his eye, and +should anything unusual happen he was straightway to inform the town-clerk +at Pudgla, or _Dom. Consul_ at Usedom, thereof, and when Paasch had +promised to do this, he waved his hand to us, and galloped off as fast as +he could. + +But before he got round the corner by Pagel his house, he turned back for +the third time: and when we wondered thereat, he said we must forgive him, +seeing his thoughts wandered to-day. + +That I had formerly told him that I still had my patent of nobility, the +which he begged me to lend him for a time. Hereupon I answered that I must +first seek for it, and that he had best dismount the while. But he would +not, and again excused himself, saying he had no time. He therefore stayed +without the door, until I brought him the patent, whereupon he thanked me +and said, "Do not wonder hereat, you will soon see what my purpose is." +Whereupon he struck his spurs into his horse's sides and did not come back +again. + + + + +_The Twenty-ninth Chapter_ + + +OF OUR NEXT GREAT SORROW, AND FINAL JOY + +And now might we have been at rest, and have thanked God on our knees by +day and night. For, besides mercifully saving us out of such great +tribulation, he turned the hearts of my beloved flock, so that they knew +not how to do enough for us. Every day they brought us fish, meat, eggs, +sausages, and whatsoe'er besides they could give me, and which I have +since forgotten. Moreover they, every one of them, came to church the next +Sunday, great and small (except goodwife Kliene of Zempin, who had just +got a boy, and still kept her bed), and I preached a thanks-giving sermon +on Job v. 17, 18, and 19 verses, "Behold, happy is the man whom God +correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: for +he maketh sore, and bindeth up; and his hands make whole. He shall deliver +thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee." And +during my sermon I was ofttimes forced to stop by reason of all the +weeping, and to let them blow their noses. And I might truly have compared +myself to Job, after that the Lord had mercifully released him from his +troubles, had it not been for my child, who prepared much fresh grief for +me. + +She had wept when the young lord would not dismount, and now that he came +not again, she grew more uneasy from day to day. She sat and read first +the Bible, then the hymn-book, _item_, the history of Dido in _Virgilius_, +or she climbed up the mountain to fetch flowers (likewise sought after the +vein of amber there, but found it not, which shows the cunning and malice +of Satan). I saw this for a while with many sighs, but spake not a word +(for, dear reader, what could I say?) until it grew worse and worse; and +as she now recited her _carmina_ more than ever both at home and abroad, I +feared lest the people should again repute her a witch, and one day I +followed her up the mountain. Well-a-day, she sat on the pile, which still +stood there, but with her face turned towards the sea, reciting the +_versus_ where Dido mounts the funeral pile in order to stab herself for +love of AEneas:-- + + At trepida et coeptis immanibus effera Dido + Sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementes + Interfusa genas, et pallida morte futura + Interiora domus irrumpit limina et altos + Conscendit furibunda rogos.... + +When I saw this, and heard how things really stood with her, I was +affrighted beyond measure, and cried, "Mary, my child, what art thou +doing?" She started when she heard my voice, but sat still on the pile, +and answered, as she covered her face with her apron, "Father, I am +burning my heart." I drew near to her and pulled the apron from her face, +saying, "Wilt thou, then, again kill me with grief?" whereupon she covered +her face with her hands, and moaned, "Alas, father, wherefore was I not +burned here? My torment would then have endured but for a moment, but now +it will last as long as I live!" I still did as though I had seen nought, +and said, "Wherefore, dear child, dost thou suffer such torment?" +whereupon she answered, "I have long been ashamed to tell you; for the +young lord, the young lord, my father, do I suffer this torment! He no +longer thinks of me; and albeit he saved my life he scorns me, or he would +surely have dismounted and come in a while; but we are of far too low +degree for him!" Hereupon I indeed began to comfort her and to persuade +her to think no more of the young lord; but the more I comforted her, the +worse she grew. Nevertheless I saw that she did yet in secret cherish a +strong hope by reason of the patent of nobility which he had made me give +him. I would not take this hope from her, seeing that I felt the same +myself, and to comfort her I flattered her hopes, whereupon she was more +quiet for some days, and did not go up the mountain, the which I had +forbidden her. Moreover, she began again to teach little Paasch her +god-daughter, out of whom, by the help of the all-righteous God, Satan was +now altogether departed. But she still pined, and was as white as a sheet; +and when soon after a report came that none in the castle at Mellenthin +knew what was become of the young lord, and that they thought he had been +killed, her grief became so great that I had to send my ploughman on +horseback to Mellenthin to gain tidings of him. And she looked at least +twenty times out of the door and over the paling to watch for his return; +and when she saw him coming she ran out to meet him as far as the corner +by Pagels. But, blessed God! he brought us even worse news than we had +heard before, saying, that the people at the castle had told him that +their young master had ridden away the self-same day whereon he had +rescued the maiden. That he had, indeed, returned after three days to his +father's funeral, but had straightway ridden off again, and that for five +weeks they had heard nothing further of him, and knew not whither he was +gone, but supposed that some wicked ruffians had killed him. + +And now my grief was greater than ever it had been before; so patient and +resigned to the will of God as my child had shown herself heretofore, and +no martyr could have met her last hour stronger in God and Christ, so +impatient and despairing was she now. She gave up all hope, and took it +into her head that in these heavy times of war the young lord had been +killed by robbers. Nought availed with her, not even prayer, for when I +called upon God with her, on my knees, she straightway began so grievously +to bewail that the Lord had cast her off, and that she was condemned to +nought save misfortunes in this world; that it pierced through my heart +like a knife, and my thoughts forsook me at her words. She lay also at +night, and "like a crane or a swallow so did she chatter; she did mourn +like a dove; her eyes did fail with looking upward," because no sleep came +upon her eyelids. I called to her from my bed, "Dear child, wilt thou, +then, never cease? sleep, I pray thee!" and she answered and said, "Do you +sleep, dearest father; I cannot sleep until I sleep the sleep of death. +Alas, my father; that I was not burned!" But how could I sleep when she +could not? I indeed said, each morning, that I had slept a while, in order +to content her; but it was not so; but, like David, "all the night made I +my bed to swim; I watered my couch with my tears." Moreover I again fell +into heavy unbelief, so that I neither could nor would pray. Nevertheless +the Lord "did not deal with me after my sins, nor reward me according to +mine iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great was +his mercy toward" me, miserable sinner! + +For mark what happened on the very next Saturday! Behold, our old +maid-servant came running in at the door, quite out of breath, saying that +a horseman was coming over the Master's Mount, with a tall plume waving on +his hat, and that she believed it was the young lord. When my child, who +sat upon the bench combing her hair, heard this, she gave a shriek of joy, +which would have moved a stone under the earth, and straightway ran out of +the room to look over the paling. She presently came running in again, +fell upon my neck, and cried without ceasing, "The young lord! the young +lord!" whereupon she would have run out to meet him, but I forbade her, +saying she had better first bind up her hair, which she then remembered, +and laughing, weeping, and praying, all at once, she bound up her long +hair. And now the young lord came galloping round the corner, attired in a +green velvet doublet with red silk sleeves, and a grey hat with a heron's +feather therein; _summa_, gaily dressed as beseems a wooer. And when we +now ran out at the door, he called aloud to my child in the Latin, from +afar off, "_Quomodo stat dulcissima virgo?_" Whereupon she gave answer, +saying, "_Bene te aspecto._" He then sprang smiling off his horse, and +gave it into the charge of my ploughman, who meanwhile had come up +together with the maid; but he was affrighted when he saw my child so +pale, and taking her hand spake in the vulgar tongue, "My God! what is it +ails you, sweet maid? you look more pale than when about to go to the +stake." Whereupon she answered, "I have been at the stake daily since you +left us, good my lord, without coming into our house, or so much as +sending us tidings of whither you were gone." + +This pleased him well, and he said, "Let us first of all go into the +chamber, and you shall hear all." And when he had wiped the sweat from +his brow, and sat down on the bench beside my child, he spake as +follows:--That he had straightway promised her that he would clear her +honour before the whole world, and the self-same day whereon he left us he +made the worshipful court draw up an authentic record of all that had +taken place, more especially the confession of the impudent constable, +_item_, that of my ploughboy, Claus Neels; wherewith he rode throughout +the same night, as he had promised, to Anclam, and next day to Stettin, to +our gracious sovereign Duke Bogislaw: who marvelled greatly when he heard +of the wickedness of his Sheriff, and of that which he had done to my +child: moreover, he asked whether she were the pastor's daughter who once +upon a time had found the signet-ring of his Princely Highness Philippus +Julius of most Christian memory in the castle garden at Wolgast? and as he +did not know thereof, the Duke asked, whether she knew Latin? And he, the +young lord, answered yes, that she knew the Latin better than he did +himself. His Princely Highness said, "Then, indeed, it must be the same," +and straightway he put on his spectacles, and read the _acta_ himself. +Hereupon, and after his Princely Highness had read the record of the +worshipful court, shaking his head the while, the young lord humbly +besought his Princely Highness to give him an _amende honorable_ for my +child, _item, literas commendatitias_ for himself to our most gracious +Emperor at Vienna, to beg for a renewal of my patent of nobility, seeing +that he was determined to marry none other maiden than my daughter so long +as he lived. + +When my child heard this, she gave a cry of joy, and fell back in a swound +with her head against the wall. But the young lord caught her in his arms, +and gave her three kisses (which I could not then deny him, seeing, as I +did with joy, how matters went), and when she came to herself again, he +asked her, whether she would not have him, seeing that she had given a cry +at his words? Whereupon she said, "Whether I will not have you, my lord! +Alas! I love you as dearly as my God and my Saviour! You first saved my +life, and now you have snatched my heart from the stake, whereon, without +you, it would have burned all the days of my life!" Hereupon I wept for +joy, when he drew her into his lap, and she clasped his neck with her +little hands. + +They thus sat and toyed a while, till the young lord again perceived me, +and said, "What say you thereto; I trust it is also your will, reverend +Abraham?" Now, dear reader, what could I say, save my hearty good-will? +seeing that I wept for very joy, as did my child, and I answered, how +should it not be my will, seeing that it was the will of God? But whether +the worthy, good young lord had likewise considered that he would stain +his noble name if he took to wife my child, who had been habit and repute +a witch, and had been well-nigh bound to the stake? + +Hereupon he said, By no means; for that he had long since prevented this, +and he proceeded to tell us how he had done it, namely, his Princely +Highness had promised him to make ready all the _scripta_ which he +required, within four days, when he hoped to be back from his father's +burial. He therefore rode straightway back to Mellenthin, and after paying +the last honour to my lord his father, he presently set forth on his way +again, and found that his Princely Highness had kept his word meanwhile. +With these _scripta_ he rode to Vienna, and albeit he met with many pains, +troubles, and dangers by the way (which he would relate to us at some +other time), he nevertheless reached the city safely. There he by chance +met with a Jesuit with whom he had once upon a time had his _locamentum_ +for a few days at Prague, while he was yet a _studiosus_, and this man, +having heard his business, bade him be of good cheer, seeing that his +Imperial Majesty stood sorely in need of money in these hard times of war, +and that he, the Jesuit, would manage it all for him. This he really did, +and his Imperial Majesty not only renewed my patent of nobility, but +likewise confirmed the _amende honorable_ to my child granted by his +Princely Highness the Duke, so that he might now maintain the honour of +his betrothed bride against all the world, as also hereafter that of his +wife. + +Hereupon he drew forth the _acta_ from his bosom, and put them into my +hand, saying, "And now, reverend Abraham, you must also do me a pleasure, +to wit, to-morrow morning, when I hope to go with my betrothed bride to +the Lord's table, you must publish the banns between me and your daughter, +and on the day after you must marry us. Do not say nay thereto, for my +pastor, the reverend Philippus, says that this is no uncommon custom among +the nobles in Pomerania, and I have already given notice of the wedding +for Monday at mine own castle, whither we will then go, and where I +purpose to bed my bride." I should have found much to say against this +request, more especially that in honour of the Holy Trinity he should +suffer himself to be called three times in church according to custom, and +that he should delay a while the espousals; but when I perceived that my +child would gladly have the marriage held right soon, for she sighed and +grew red as scarlet, I had not the heart to refuse them, but promised all +they asked. Whereupon I exhorted them both to prayer, and when I had laid +my hands upon their heads, I thanked the Lord more deeply than I had ever +yet thanked him, so that at last I could no longer speak for tears, seeing +that they drowned my voice. + +Meanwhile the young lord his coach had driven up to the door, filled with +chests and coffers: and he said, "Now, sweet maid, you shall see what I +have brought you," and he bade them bring all the things into the room. +Dear reader, what fine things were there, such as I had never seen in all +my life! All that women can use was there, especially of clothes, to wit, +bodices, plaited gowns, long robes, some of them bordered with fur, veils, +aprons, _item_, the bridal shift with gold fringes, whereon the merry lord +had laid some six or seven bunches of myrtle to make herself a wreath +withal. _Item_, there was no end to the rings, neck-chains, eardrops, +etc., the which I have in part forgotten. Neither did the young lord leave +me without a gift, seeing he had brought me a new surplice (the enemy had +robbed me of my old one), also doublets, hosen, and shoes, _summa_, +whatsoever appertains to a man's attire; wherefore I secretly besought the +Lord not to punish us again in his sore displeasure for such pomps and +vanities. When my child beheld all these things she was grieved that she +could bestow upon him nought save her heart alone, and the chain of the +Swedish king, the which she hung round his neck, and begged him, weeping +the while, to take it as a bridal gift. This he at length promised to do, +and likewise to carry it with him into the grave: but that my child must +first wear it at her wedding, as well as the blue silken gown, for that +this and no other should be her bridal dress, and this he made her promise +to do. + +And now a merry chance befell with the old maid, the which I will here +note. For when the faithful old soul had heard what had taken place, she +was beside herself for joy, danced and clapped her hands, and at last said +to my child, "Now to be sure you will not weep when the young lord is to +lie in your bed," whereat my child blushed scarlet for shame, and ran out +of the room; and when the young lord would know what she meant therewith, +she told him that he had already once slept in my child her bed when he +came from Gutzkow with me, whereupon he bantered her all the evening after +that she was come back again. Moreover, he promised the maid that as she +had once made my child her bed for him, she should make it again, and that +on the day after to-morrow she and the ploughman too should go with us to +Mellenthin, so that masters and servants should all rejoice together after +such great distress. + +And seeing that the dear young lord would stop the night under my roof, I +made him lie in the small closet together with me (for I could not know +what might happen). He soon slept like a top, but no sleep came into my +eyes, for very joy, and I prayed the livelong blessed night, or thought +over my sermon. Only near morning I dozed a little; and when I rose the +young lord already sat in the next room with my child, who wore the black +silken gown which he had brought her, and, strange to say, she looked +fresher than even when the Swedish king came, so that I never in all my +life saw her look fresher or fairer. _Item_, the young lord wore his black +doublet, and picked out for her the best bits of myrtle for the wreath she +was twisting. But when she saw me, she straightway laid the wreath beside +her on the bench, folded her little hands, and said the morning prayer, as +she was ever wont to do, which humility pleased the young lord right well, +and he begged her that in future she would ever do the like with him, the +which she promised. + +Soon after we went to the blessed church to confession, and all the folk +stood gaping open-mouthed because the young lord led my child on his arm. +But they wondered far more when, after the sermon, I first read to them in +the vulgar tongue the _amende honorable_ to my child from his Princely +Highness, together with the confirmation of the same by his Imperial +Majesty, and after that my patent of nobility; and, lastly, began to +publish the banns between my child and the young lord. Dear reader, there +arose a murmur throughout the church like the buzzing of a swarm of bees. +(N.B. These _scripta_ were burnt in the fire which broke out in the castle +a year ago, as I shall hereafter relate, wherefore I cannot insert them +here _in origne_.) + +Hereupon my dear children went together with much people to the Lord's +table, and after church nearly all the folks crowded round them and wished +them joy. _Item_, old Paasch came to our house again that afternoon, and +once more besought my daughter's forgiveness because that he had +unwittingly offended her; that he would gladly give her a marriage-gift, +but that he now had nothing at all; howbeit that his wife should set one +of her hens in the spring, and he would take the chickens to her at +Mellenthin himself. This made us all to laugh, more especially the young +lord, who at last said: "As thou wilt bring me a marriage-gift, thou must +also be asked to the wedding, wherefore thou mayest come to-morrow with +the rest." + +[Illustration: The Bridal Gifts] + +Whereupon my child said: "And your little Mary, my god-child, shall come +too, and be my bridemaiden, if my lord allows it." Whereupon she began to +tell the young lord all that that had befallen the child by the malice of +Satan, and how they laid it to her charge until such time as the +all-righteous God brought her innocence to light; and she begged that +since her dear lord had commanded her to wear the same garments at her +wedding which she had worn to salute the Swedish king, and afterwards to +go to the stake, he would likewise suffer her to take for her bridemaiden +her little god-child, as _indicium secundum_ of her sorrows. + +And when he had promised her this, she told old Paasch to send hither his +child to her, that she might fit a new gown upon her which she had cut out +for her a week ago, and which the maid would finish sewing this very day. +This so went to the heart of the good old fellow that he began to weep +aloud, and at last said, she should not do all this for nothing, for +instead of the one hen his wife should set three for her in the spring. + +When he was gone, and the young lord did nought save talk with his +betrothed bride, both in the vulgar and in the Latin tongue, I did +better--namely, went up the mountain to pray, wherein, moreover, I +followed my child's example, and clomb up upon the pile, there in +loneliness to offer up my whole heart to the Lord as an offering of +thanksgiving, seeing that with this sacrifice he is well pleased, as +in Ps. li. 19, "The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and +contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise." + +That night the young lord again lay in my room, but next morning, when the +sun had scarce risen-- + +* * * * * + +Here end these interesting communications, which I do not intend to dilute +with any additions of my own. My readers, more especially those of the +fair sex, can picture to themselves at pleasure the future happiness of +this excellent pair. + +All further historical traces of their existence, as well as that of the +pastor, have disappeared, and nothing remains but a tablet fixed in the +wall of the church at Mellenthin, on which the incomparable lord, and his +yet more incomparable wife, are represented. On his faithful breast still +hangs "the golden chain, with the effigy of the Swedish King." They both +seem to have died within a short time of each other, and to have been +buried in the same coffin. For in the vault under the church there is +still a large double coffin, in which, according to tradition, lies a +chain of gold of incalculable value. Some twenty years ago, the owner of +Mellenthin, whose unequalled extravagance had reduced him to the verge of +beggary, attempted to open the coffin in order to take out this precious +relic, but he was not able. It appeared as if some powerful spell held it +firmly together; and it has remained unopened down to the present time. +May it remain so until the last awful day, and may the impious hand of +avarice or curiosity never desecrate these holy ashes of holy beings! + +FINIS + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Amber Witch, by Wilhelm Meinhold + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + +This file should be named 7ambw10.txt or 7ambw10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7ambw11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7ambw10a.txt + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Amber Witch + +Author: Wilhelm Meinhold + +Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8743] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 8, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + + + + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +THE AMBER WITCH + +by + +Wilhelm Meinhold + + +The most interesting trial for witchcraft ever known. Printed from an +imperfect manuscript by her father Abraham Schweidler, the pastor of +Coserow, in the Island of Usedom. + + +Translated from the German by Lady Duff Gordon. + +Original publication date: 1846. + + + + +PREFACE + + +In laying before the public this deeply affecting and romantic trial, +which I have not without reason called on the title-page the most +interesting of all trials for witchcraft ever known, I will first give +some account of the history of the manuscript. + +At Coserow, in the Island of Usedom, my former cure, the same which was +held by our worthy author some two hundred years ago, there existed +under a seat in the choir of the church a sort of niche, nearly on a +level with the floor. I had, indeed, often seen a heap of various +writings in this recess; but owing to my short sight, and the darkness +of the place, I had taken them for antiquated hymn-books, which were +lying about in great numbers. But one day, while I was teaching in the +church, I looked for a paper mark in the Catechism of one of the boys, +which I could not immediately find; and my old sexton, who was past +eighty (and who, although called Appelmann, was thoroughly unlike his +namesake in our story, being a very worthy, although a most ignorant +man), stooped down to the said niche, and took from it a folio volume +which I had never before observed, out of which he, without the slightest +hesitation, tore a strip of paper suited to my purpose, and reached it to +me. I immediately seized upon the book, and, after a few minutes' perusal, +I know not which was greater, my astonishment or my vexation at this +costly prize. The manuscript, which was bound in vellum, was not only +defective both at the beginning and at the end, but several leaves had +even been torn out here and there in the middle. I scolded the old man as +I had never done during the whole course of my life; but he excused +himself, saying that one of my predecessors had given him the manuscript +for waste paper, as it had lain about there ever since the memory of man, +and he had often been in want of paper to twist round the altar candles, +etc. The aged and half-blind pastor had mistaken the folio for old +parochial accounts which could be of no more use to any one.[1] + +No sooner had I reached home than I fell to work upon my new acquisition, +and after reading a bit here and there with considerable trouble, my +interest was powerfully excited by the contents. + +I soon felt the necessity of making myself better acquainted with the +nature and conduct of these witch trials, with the proceedings, nay, +even with the history of the whole period in which these events occur. +But the more I read of these extraordinary stories, the more was I +confounded; and neither the trivial Beeker (_die bezauberte Welt_, the +enchanted world), nor the more careful Horst (_Zauberbibliothek_, the +library of magic), to which, as well as to several other works on the +same subject, I had flown for information, could resolve my doubts, but +rather served to increase them. + +Not alone is the demoniacal character, which pervades nearly all these +fearful stories, so deeply marked, as to fill the attentive reader with +feelings of alternate horror and dismay, but the eternal and unchangeable +laws of human feeling and action are often arrested in a manner so +violent and unforeseen, that the understanding is entirely baffled. For +instance, one of the original trials which a friend of mine, a lawyer, +discovered in our province, contains the account of a mother, who, after +she had suffered the torture, and received the holy Sacrament, and was +on the point of going to the stake, so utterly lost all maternal feeling, +that her conscience obliged her to accuse as a witch her only dearly-loved +daughter, a girl of fifteen, against whom no one had ever entertained a +suspicion, in order, as she said, to save her poor soul. The court, justly +amazed at an event which probably has never since been paralleled, caused +the state of the mother's mind to be examined both by clergymen and +physicians, whose original testimonies are still appended to the records, +and are all highly favourable to her soundness of mind. The unfortunate +daughter, whose name was Elizabeth Hegel, was actually executed on the +strength of her mother's accusation.[2] + +The explanation commonly received at the present day, that these +phenomena were produced by means of animal magnetism, is utterly +insufficient. How, for instance, could this account for the deeply +demoniacal nature of old Lizzie Kolken as exhibited in the following +pages? It is utterly incomprehensible, and perfectly explains why the +old pastor, notwithstanding the horrible deceits practised on him in +the person of his daughter, retained as firm a faith in the truth of +witchcraft as in that of the Gospel. + +During the earlier centuries of the middle ages little was known of +witchcraft. The crime of magic, when it did occur, was leniently +punished. For instance, the Council of Ancyra (314) ordained the whole +punishment of witches to consist in expulsion from the Christian +community. The Visigoths punished them with stripes, and Charlemagne, +by advice of his bishops, confined them in prison until such time as +they should sincerely repent.[3] It was not until very soon before +the Reformation, that Innocent VIII. lamented that the complaints of +universal Christendom against the evil practices of these women had +become so general and so loud, that the most vigorous measures must be +taken against them; and towards the end of the year 1489, he caused the +notorious Hammer for Witches (_Malleus Maleficarum_) to be published, +according to which proceedings were set on foot with the most fanatical +zeal, not only in Catholic, but, strange to say, even in Protestant +Christendom, which in other respects abhorred everything belonging +to Catholicism. Indeed, the Protestants far outdid the Catholics in +cruelty, until, among the latter, the noble-minded Jesuit, J. Spee, and +among the former, but not until seventy years later, the excellent +Thomasius, by degrees put a stop to these horrors. + +After careful examination into the nature and characteristics of +witchcraft, I soon perceived that among all these strange and often +romantic stories, not one surpassed my 'amber witch' in lively interest; +and I determined to throw her adventures into the form of a romance. +Fortunately, however, I was soon convinced that her story was already in +itself the most interesting of all romances; and that I should do far +better to leave it in its original antiquated form, omitting whatever +would be uninteresting to modern readers, or so universally known as to +need no repetition. I have therefore attempted, not indeed to supply +what is missing at the beginning and end, but to restore those leaves +which have been torn out of the middle, imitating, as accurately as I +was able, the language and manner of the old biographer, in order that +the difference between the original narrative and my own interpolations +might not be too evident. + +This I have done with much trouble, and after many ineffectual attempts; +but I refrain from pointing out the particular passages which I have +supplied, so as not to disturb the historical interest of the greater +part of my readers. For modern criticism, which has now attained to a +degree of acuteness never before equalled, such a confession would be +entirely superfluous, as critics will easily distinguish the passages +where Pastor Schweidler speaks from those written by Pastor Meinhold. + +I am, nevertheless, bound to give the public some account of what I have +omitted, namely,-- + +1st. Such long prayers as were not very remarkable for Christian unction. + +2d. Well-known stories out of the Thirty Years' War. + +3d. Signs and wonders in the heavens, which were seen here and there, +and which are recorded by other Pomeranian writers of these fearful +times; for instance, by Micraelius.[4] But when these events formed part +of the tale itself, as, for instance, the cross on the Streckelberg, I, +of course, allowed them to stand. + +4th. The specification of the whole income of the church at Coserow, +before and during the terrible times of the Thirty Years' War. + +5th. The enumeration of the dwellings left standing, after the +devastations made by the enemy in every village throughout the parish. + +6th. The names of the districts to which this or that member of the +congregation had emigrated. + +7th. A ground plan and description of the old Manse. + +I have likewise here and there ventured to make a few changes in the +language, as my author is not always consistent in the use of his words +or in his orthography. The latter I have, however, with very few +exceptions, retained. + +And thus I lay before the gracious reader a work, glowing with the fire +of heaven, as well as with that of hell. + +MEINHOLD. + +[1] The original manuscript does indeed contain several accounts which +at first sight may have led to this mistake; besides, the handwriting +is extremely difficult to read, and in several places the paper is +discoloured and decayed. + +[2] It is my intention to publish this trial also, as it possesses very +great psychological interest. + +[3] Horst, _Zauberbibliothek_, vi. p. 231. + +[4] _Vom Alten Pommerlande_ (of old Pomerania), book v. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The origin of our biographer cannot be traced with any degree of +certainty, owing to the loss of the first part of his manuscript. It is, +however, pretty clear that he was not a Pomeranian, as he says he was in +Silesia in his youth, and mentions relations scattered far and wide, not +only at Hamburg and Cologne, but even at Antwerp; above all, his south +German language betrays a foreign origin, and he makes use of words which +are, I believe, peculiar to Swabia. He must, however, have been living for +a long time in Pomerania at the time he wrote, as he even more frequently +uses Low-German expressions, such as occur in contemporary native +Pomeranian writers. + +Since he sprang from an ancient noble family, as he says on several +occasions, it is possible that some particulars relating to the +Schweidlers might be discovered in the family records of the seventeenth +century which would give a clew to his native country; but I have sought +for that name in all the sources of information accessible to me, in vain, +and am led to suspect that our author, like many of his contemporaries, +laid aside his nobility and changed his name when he took holy orders. + +I will not, however, venture on any further conjectures; the manuscript, +of which six chapters are missing, begins with the words "Imperialists +plundered," and evidently the previous pages must have contained an +account of the breaking out of the Thirty Years' War in the island of +Usedom. It goes on as follows:-- + +"Coffers, chests, and closets were all plundered and broken to pieces, +and my surplice also was torn, so that I remained in great distress and +tribulation. But my poor little daughter they did not find, seeing that +I had hidden her in the stable, which was dark, without which I doubt +not they would have made my heart heavy indeed. The lewd dogs would even +have been rude to my old maid Ilse, a woman hard upon fifty, if an old +cornet had not forbidden them. Wherefore I gave thanks to my Maker when +the wild guests were gone, that I had first saved my child from their +clutches, although not one dust of flour, nor one grain of corn, one +morsel of meat even of a finger's length was left, and I knew not how I +should any longer support my own life, and my poor child's. _Item_, I +thanked God that I had likewise secured the _vasa sacra_, which I had +forthwith buried in the church in front of the altar, in presence of the +two churchwardens, Hinrich Seden and Claus Bulken, of Uekeritze, +commending them to the care of God. And now because, as I have already +said, I was suffering the pangs of hunger, I wrote to his lordship the +Sheriff Wittich V. Appelmann, at Pudgla, that for the love of God and +his holy Gospel he should send me that which his highness' grace +Philippus Julius had allowed me as _praestanda_ from the convent at +Pudgla, to wit, thirty bushels of barley and twenty-five marks of +silver, which, howbeit his lordship had always withheld from me hitherto +(for he was a very hard inhuman man, as he despised the holy Gospel and +the preaching of the Word, and openly, without shame, reviled the +servants of God, saying that they were useless feeders, and that Luther +had but half cleansed the pigstye of the Church--God mend it!). But he +answered me nothing, and I should have perished for want if Hinrich +Seden had not begged for me in the parish. May God reward the honest +fellow for it in eternity! Moreover, he was then growing old, and was +sorely plagued by his wicked wife Lizzie Kolken. Methought when I +married them that it would not turn out over well, seeing that she was +in common report of having long lived in unchastity with Wittich +Appelmann, who had ever been an arch-rogue, and especially an arrant +whoremaster, and such the Lord never blesses. This same Seden now +brought me five loaves, two sausages, and a goose, which old goodwife +Paal, at Loddin, had given him; also a flitch of bacon from the farmer +Jack Tewert. But he said I must shield him from his wife, who would have +had half for herself, and when he denied her she cursed him, and wished +him gout in his head, whereupon he straightway felt a pain in his right +cheek, and it was quite hard and heavy already. At such shocking news I +was affrighted, as became a good pastor, and asked whether peradventure +he believed that she stood in evil communication with Satan, and could +bewitch folks? But he said nothing, and shrugged his shoulders. So I +sent for old Lizzie to come to me, who was a tall, meagre woman of about +sixty, with squinting eyes, so that she could not look any one in the +face; likewise with quite red hair, and indeed her goodman had the same. +But though I diligently admonished her out of God's Word, she made no +answer until at last I said, 'Wilt thou unbewitch thy goodman (for I +saw from the window how that he was raving in the street like a madman), +or wilt thou that I should inform the magistrate of thy deeds?' Then, +indeed, she gave in, and promised that he should soon be better (and so +he was); moreover she begged that I would give her some bread and some +bacon, inasmuch as it was three days since she had a bit of anything to +put between her lips, saving always her tongue. So my daughter gave her +half a loaf, and a piece of bacon about two handsbreadths large; but she +did not think it enough, and muttered between her teeth; whereupon my +daughter said, 'If thou art not content, thou old witch, go thy ways and +help thy goodman; see how he has laid his head on Zabel's fence, and +stamps with his feet for pain.' Whereupon she went away, but still kept +muttering between her teeth, 'Yea, forsooth, I will help him and thee +too.'" + + + + +_The Seventh Chapter_ + + +HOW THE IMPERIALISTS ROBBED ME OF ALL THAT WAS LEFT, AND LIKEWISE BROKE +INTO THE CHURCH AND STOLE THE _VASA SACRA_; ALSO WHAT MORE BEFELL US + +After a few days, when we had eaten almost all our food, my last cow fell +down dead (the wolves had already devoured the others, as mentioned +above), not without a strong suspicion that Lizzie had a hand in it, +seeing that the poor beast had eaten heartily the day before; but I leave +that to a higher judge, seeing that I would not willingly calumniate any +one; and it may have been the will of God, whose wrath I have well +deserved. _Summa_, I was once more in great need, and my daughter Mary +pierced my heart with her sighs, when the cry was raised that another +troop of Imperialists was come to Uekeritze, and was marauding there more +cruelly than ever, and, moreover, had burnt half the village. Wherefore I +no longer thought myself safe in my cottage; and after I had commended +everything to the Lord in a fervent prayer, I went up with my daughter and +old Ilse into the Streckelberg, where I already had looked out for +ourselves a hole like a cavern, well grown over with brambles, against the +time when the troubles should drive us thither. We therefore took with us +all we had left to us for the support of our bodies, and fled into the +woods, sighing and weeping, whither we soon were followed by the old men, +and the women and children; these raised a great cry of hunger when they +saw my daughter sitting on a log and eating a bit of bread and meat, and +the little things came with their tiny hands stretched out and cried "Have +some too, have some too." Therefore, being justly moved by such great +distress, I hindered not my daughter from sharing all the bread and meat +that remained among the hungry children. But first I made them pray--"The +eyes of all wait upon thee"; upon which words I then spake comfortably to +the people, telling them that the Lord, who had now fed their little +children, would find means to fill their own bellies, and that they must +not be weary of trusting in him. + +This comfort did not, however, last long; for after we had rested within +and around the cavern for about two hours, the bells in the village began +to ring so dolefully that it went nigh to break all our hearts, the more +as loud firing was heard between-whiles; _item_, the cries of men and the +barking of dogs resounded, so that we could easily guess that the enemy +was in the village. I had enough to do to keep the women quiet, that they +might not by their senseless lamentations betray our hiding-place to the +cruel enemy; and more still when it began to smell smoky, and presently +the bright flames gleamed through the trees. I therefore sent old Paasch +up to the top of the hill, that he might look around and see how matters +stood, but told him to take good care that they did not see him from the +village, seeing that the twilight had but just begun. + +This he promised, and soon returned with the news that about twenty +horsemen had galloped out of the village towards the Damerow, but that +half the village was in flames. _Item_, he told us that by a wonderful +dispensation of God a great number of birds had appeared in the +juniper-bushes and elsewhere, and that if we could catch them they would be +excellent food for us. I therefore climbed up the hill myself, and having +found everything as he had said, and also perceived that the fire had, by +the help of God's mercy, abated in the village; _item_, that my cottage +was left standing, far beyond my merits and deserts; I came down again and +comforted the people, saying, "The Lord hath given us a sign, and he will +feed us, as he fed the people of Israel in the wilderness; for he has sent +us a fine flight of fieldfares across the barren sea, so that they whirr +out of every bush as ye come near it. Who will now run down into the +village, and cut off the mane and tail of my dead cow which lies out behind +on the common?" (for there was no horsehair in all the village, seeing that +the enemy had long since carried off or stabbed all the horses). But no one +would go, for fear was stronger even than hunger, till my old Ilse spoke, +and said, "I will go, for I fear nothing, when I walk in the ways of God; +only give me a good stick." When old Paasch had lent her his staff, she +began to sing, "God the Father be with us," and was soon out of sight among +the bushes. Meanwhile I exhorted the people to set to work directly, and to +cut little wands for springes, and to gather berries while the moon still +shone; there were a great quantity of mountain-ash and elder-bushes all +about the mountain. I myself and my daughter Mary stayed to guard the +little children, because it was not safe there from wolves. We therefore +made a blazing fire, sat ourselves around it, and heard the little folks +say the Ten Commandments, when there was a rustling and crackling behind +us, and my daughter jumped up and ran into the cavern, crying, "_Proh dolor +hostis_!" But it was only some of the able-bodied men who had stayed behind +in the village, and who now came to bring us word how things stood there. I +therefore called to her directly, "_Emergas amici_" whereupon she came +skipping joyously out, and sat down again by the fire, and forthwith my +warden Hinrich Seden related all that had happened, and how his life had +only been saved by means of his wife Lizzie Kolken; but that Jurgen Flatow, +Chim Burse, Claus Peer, and Chim Seideritz were killed, and the last named +of them left lying on the church steps. The wicked incendiaries had burned +down twelve sheds, and it was not their fault that the whole village was +not destroyed, but only in consequence of the wind not being in the quarter +that suited their purpose. Meanwhile they tolled the bells in mockery and +scorn, to see whether any one would come and quench the fire; and that when +he and the three other young fellows came forward they fired off their +muskets at them, but, by God's help, none of them were hit. Hereupon his +three comrades jumped over the paling and escaped; but him they caught, and +had already taken aim at him with their firelocks, when his wife Lizzie +Kolken came out of the church with another troop and beckoned to them to +leave him in peace. But they stabbed Lene Hebers as she lay in childbed, +speared the child, and flung it over Claus Peer's hedge among the nettles, +where it was yet lying when they came away. There was not a living soul +left in the village, and still less a morsel of bread, so that unless the +Lord took pity on their need they must all die miserably of hunger. + +(Now who is to believe that such people can call themselves Christians!) + +I next inquired, when he had done speaking (but with many sighs, as any +one may guess), after my cottage; but of that they knew nought save that +it was still standing. I thanked the Lord therefore with a quiet sigh; +and having asked old Seden what his wife had been doing in the church, I +thought I should have died for grief when I heard that the villains came +out of it with both the chalices and patens in their hands. I therefore +spoke very sharply to old Lizzie, who now came slinking through the +bushes; but she answered insolently that the strange soldiers had forced +her to open the church, as her goodman had crept behind the hedge, and +nobody else was there; that they had gone straight up to the altar, and +seeing that one of the stones was not well fitted (which, truly, was an +arch-lie), had begun to dig with their swords till they found the chalices +and patens; or somebody else might have betrayed the spot to them, so I +need not always to lay the blame on her, and rate her so hardly. + +Meanwhile the old men and the women came with a good store of berries; +_item_, my old maid, with the cow's tail and mane, who brought word that +the whole house was turned upside down, the windows all broken, and the +books and writings trampled in the dirt in the midst of the street, and +the doors torn off their hinges. This, however, was a less sorrow to me +than the chalices; and I only bade the people make springes and snares, +in order next morning to begin our fowling, with the help of Almighty God. +I therefore scraped the rods myself until near midnight; and when we had +made ready a good quantity, I told old Seden to repeat the evening +blessing, which we all heard on our knees; after which I wound up with +a prayer, and then admonished the people to creep in under the bushes +to keep them from the cold (seeing that it was now about the end of +September, and the wind blew very fresh from the sea), the men apart, and +the women also apart by themselves. I myself went up with my daughter and +my maid into the cavern, where I had not slept long before I heard old +Seden moaning bitterly because, as he said, he was seized with the colic. +I therefore got up and gave him my place, and sat down again by the fire +to cut springes, till I fell asleep for half an hour; and then morning +broke, and by that time he had got better, and I woke the people to +morning prayer. This time old Paasch had to say it, but could not get +through with it properly, so that I had to help him. Whether he had forgot +it, or whether he was frightened, I cannot say. _Summa_. After we had all +prayed most devoutly, we presently set to work, wedging the springes into +the trees, and hanging berries all around them; while my daughter took +care of the children, and looked for blackberries for their breakfast. Now +we wedged the snares right across the wood along the road to Uekeritze; +and mark what a wondrous act of mercy befell from gracious God! As I +stepped into the road with the hatchet in my hand (it was Seden his +hatchet, which he had fetched out of the village early in the morning), I +caught sight of a loaf as long as my arm, which a raven was pecking, and +which doubtless one of the Imperial troopers had dropped out of his +knapsack the day before, for there were fresh hoofmarks in the sand by it. +So I secretly buttoned the breast of my coat over it, so that none should +perceive anything, although the aforesaid Paasch was close behind me; +_item_, all the rest followed at no great distance. Now, having set the +springes so very early, towards noon we found such a great number of birds +taken in them that Katy Berow, who went beside me while I took them out, +scarce could hold them all in her apron; and at the other end old Pagels +pulled nearly as many out of his doublet and coat pockets. My daughter +then sat down with the rest of the womankind to pluck the birds; and +as there was no salt (indeed it was long since most of us had tasted +any), she desired two men to go down to the sea, and to fetch a little +salt-water in an iron pot borrowed from Staffer Zuter; and so they did. In +this water we first dipped the birds, and then roasted them at a large +fire, while our mouths watered only at the sweet savour of them, seeing it +was so long since we had tasted any food. + +And now when all was ready, and the people seated on the earth, I said, +"Behold how the Lord still feeds his people Israel in the wilderness with +fresh quails: if now he did yet more, and sent us a piece of manna bread +from heaven, what think ye? Would ye then ever weary of believing in him, +and not rather willingly endure all want, tribulation, hunger and thirst, +which he may hereafter lay upon you according to his gracious will?" +Whereupon they all answered and said, "Yea, surely!" _Ego_: "Will you then +promise me this in truth?" And they said again, "Yea, that will we!" Then +with tears I drew forth the loaf from my breast, held it on high, and +cried, "Behold, then, thou poor believing little flock, how sweet a manna +loaf your faithful Redeemer hath sent ye through me!" Whereupon they all +wept, sobbed and groaned; and the little children again came running up +and held out their hands, crying, "See, bread, bread!" But as I myself +could not pray for heaviness of soul, I bade Paasch his little girl say +the _Gratias_ the while my Mary cut up the loaf and gave to each his +share. And now we all joyfully began to eat our meat from God in the +wilderness. + +Meanwhile I had to tell in what manner I had found the blessed manna +bread, wherein I neglected not again to exhort them to lay to heart this +great sign and wonder, how that God in his mercy had done to them as of +old to the prophet Elijah, to whom a raven brought bread in his great need +in the wilderness; as likewise this bread had been given to me by means of +a raven, which showed it to me, when otherwise I might have passed it by +in my heaviness without ever seeing it. + +When we were satisfied with food, I said the thanksgiving from Luke xii. +24, where the Lord saith, "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor +reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: +how much more are ye better than the fowls?" But our sins stank before +the Lord. For old Lizzie, as I afterwards heard, would not eat her +birds because she thought them unsavoury, but threw them among the +juniper-bushes; whereupon the wrath of the Lord was kindled against us as +of old against the people of Israel, and at night we found but seven birds +in the snares, and next morning but two. Neither did any raven come again +to give us bread. Wherefore I rebuked old Lizzie, and admonished the +people to take upon themselves willingly the righteous chastisement of the +Most High God, to pray without ceasing, to return to their desolate +dwellings, and to see whether the all-merciful God would peradventure give +them more on the sea. That I also would call upon him with prayer night +and day, remaining for a time in the cavern with my daughter and the maid +to watch the springes, and see whether his wrath might be turned from us. +That they should meanwhile put my manse to rights to the best of their +power, seeing that the cold was become very irksome to me. This they +promised me, and departed with many sighs. What a little flock! I counted +but twenty-five souls where there used to be above eighty: all the rest +had been slain by hunger, pestilence, or the sword. I then abode a while +alone and sorrowing in the cave, praying to God, and sent my daughter with +the maid into the village to see how things stood at the manse; _item_, to +gather together the books and papers, and also to bring me word whether +Hinze the carpenter, whom I had straightway sent back to the village, had +knocked together some coffins for the poor corpses, so that I might bury +them next day. I then went to look at the springes, but found only one +single little bird, whereby I saw that the wrath of God had not yet passed +away. Howbeit, I found a fine blackberry bush, from which I gathered +nearly a pint of berries, and put them, together with the bird, in Staffer +Zuter his pot, which the honest fellow had left with us for a while, and +set them on the fire for supper against my child and the maid should +return. It was not long before they came through the coppice and told me +of the fearful devastation which Satan had made in the village and manse +by the permission of all-righteous God. My child had gathered together a +few books, which she brought with her, above all, a _Virgilius_ and a +Greek Bible. And after she had told me that the carpenter would not have +done till next day, and we had satisfied the cravings of hunger, I made +her read to me again, for the greater strengthening of my faith, the +_locus_ about the blessed raven from the Greek of Luke, at the twelfth +chapter; also, the beautiful _locus parallelus_, Matt. vi. After which the +maid said the evening blessing, and we all went into the cave to rest for +the night. When I awoke next morning, just as the blessed sun rose out the +sea and peeped over the mountain, I heard my poor hungry child already +standing outside the cave reciting the beautiful verses about the joys of +paradise which St. Augustine wrote and I had taught her. She sobbed for +grief as she spoke the words:-- + + Uno pane vivunt cives utriusque patriae; + Avidi et semper pleni, quod habent desiderant. + Non sacietas fastidit, neque fames cruciat; + Inhiantes semper edunt, et edentes inhiant. + Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum; + Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, + Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt; + Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, + Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum. + Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum. + Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. + +At these words my own heart was melted; and when she ceased from speaking, +I asked, "What art thou doing, my child?" Whereupon she answered, "Father, +I am eating." Thereat my tears now indeed began to flow, and I praised her +for feeding her soul, as she had no meat for her body. I had not, however, +spoken long, before she cried to me to come and look at the great wonder +that had risen out of the sea, and already appeared over the cave. For +behold a cloud, in shape just like a cross, came over us, and let great +heavy drops, as big or bigger than large peas, fall on our heads, after +which it sank behind the coppice. I presently arose and ran up the +mountain with my daughter to look after it. It floated on towards the +Achterwater, where it spread itself out into a long blue streak, whereon +the sun shone so brightly that it seemed like a golden bridge on which, as +my child said, the blessed angels danced. I fell on my knees with her and +thanked the Lord that our cross had passed away from us; but, alas! our +cross was yet to come, as will be told hereafter. + + + + +_The Eighth Chapter_ + + +HOW OUR NEED WAXED SORER AND SORER, AND HOW I SENT OLD ILSE WITH ANOTHER +LETTER TO PUDGLA, AND HOW HEAVY A MISFORTUNE THIS BROUGHT UPON ME + +Next day, when I had buried the poor corpses amid the lamentations of the +whole village (by the same token that they were all buried under where the +lime-tree overhangs the wall), I heard with many sighs that neither the +sea nor the Achterwater would yield anything. It was now ten days since +the poor people had caught a single fish. I therefore went out into the +field, musing how the wrath of the just God might be turned from us, +seeing that the cruel winter was now at hand, and neither corn, apples, +fish nor flesh to be found in the village, nor even throughout all the +parish. There was indeed plenty of game in the forests of Coserow and +Uekeritze; but the old forest ranger, Zabel Nehring, had died last year of +the plague, and there was no new one in his place. Nor was there a musket +nor a grain of powder to be found in all the parish; the enemy had robbed +and broken everything: we were therefore forced, day after day, to see +how the stags and the roes, the hares and the wild boars, _et cet_., ran +past us, when we would so gladly have had them in our bellies, but had no +means of getting at them: for they were too cunning to let themselves be +caught in pit-falls. Nevertheless, Claus Peer succeeded in trapping a roe, +and gave me a piece of it, for which may God reward him. _Item_, of +domestic cattle there was not a head left; neither was there a dog, nor +a cat, which the people had not either eaten in their extreme hunger, +or knocked on the head or drowned long since. Albeit old farmer Paasch +still owned two cows; _item_, an old man in Uekeritze was said to have +one little pig:--this was all. Thus, then, nearly all the people lived on +blackberries and other wild fruits: the which also soon grew to be scarce, +as may easily be guessed. Besides all this, a boy of fourteen was missing +(old Labahn his son) and was never more heard of, so that I shrewdly think +that the wolves devoured him. + +And now let any Christian judge by his own heart in what sorrow and +heaviness I took my staff in my hand, seeing that my child fell away like +a shadow from pinching hunger; although I myself, being old, did not, by +the help of God's mercy, find any great failing in my strength. While I +thus went continually weeping before the Lord, on the way to Uekeritze, I +fell in with an old beggar with his wallet, sitting on a stone, and eating +a piece of God's rare gift, to wit, a bit of bread. Then truly did my poor +mouth so fill with water that I was forced to bow my head and let it run +upon the earth before I could ask, "Who art thou? and whence comest thou? +seeing that thou hast bread." Whereupon he answered that he was a poor man +of Bannemin, from whom the enemy had taken all; and as he had heard that +the Lieper Winkel had long been in peace, he had travelled thither to beg. +I straightway answered him, "Oh, poor beggar-man, spare to me, a sorrowful +servant of Christ, who is poorer even than thyself, one little slice of +bread for his wretched child; for thou must know that I am the pastor of +this village, and that my daughter is dying of hunger. I beseech thee by +the living God not to let me depart without taking pity on me, as pity +also hath been shown to thee!" But the beggar-man would give me none, +saying that he himself had a wife and four children, who were likewise +staggering towards death's door under the bitter pangs of hunger; that the +famine was sorer far in Bannemin than here, where we still had berries; +whether I had not heard that but a few days ago a woman (he told me her +name, but horror made me forget it) had there killed her own child, and +devoured it from hunger? That he could not therefore help me, and I might +go to the Lieper Winkel myself. + +I was horror-stricken at his tale, as is easy to guess, for we in our own +trouble had not yet heard of it, there being little or no traffic between +one village and another; and thinking on Jerusalem, and sheer despairing +because the Lord had visited us, as of old that ungodly city, although we +had not betrayed or crucified him, I almost forgot all my necessities, and +took my staff in my hand to depart. But I had not gone more than a few +yards when the beggar called me to stop, and when I turned myself round he +came towards me with a good hunch of bread which he had taken out of his +wallet, and said, "There! but pray for me also, so that I may reach my +home; for if on the road they smell that I have bread, my own brother +would strike me dead, I believe." This I promised with joy, and instantly +turned back to take to my child the gift hidden in my pocket. And behold, +when I came to the road which leads to Loddin, I could scarce trust my +eyes (before I had overlooked it in my distress) when I saw my glebe, +which could produce seven bushels, ploughed, sown, and in stalk; the +blessed crop of rye had already shot lustily out of the earth a finger's +length in height. I could not choose but think that the Evil One had +deceived me with a false show, yet, however hard I rubbed my eyes, rye it +was and rye it remained. And seeing that old Paasch his piece of land +which joined mine was in like manner sown, and that the blades had shot up +to the same height, I soon guessed that the good fellow had done this +deed, seeing that all the other land lay waste. Wherefore, I readily +forgave him for not knowing the morning prayer; and thanking the Lord for +so much love from my flock, and earnestly beseeching him to grant me +strength and faith to bear with them steadfastly and patiently all the +troubles and adversities which it might please him henceforward to lay +upon us, according to his divine pleasure, I ran rather than walked back +into the village to old Paasch his farm, where I found him just about to +kill his cow, which he was slaughtering from grim hunger. "God bless +thee," said I, "worthy friend, for sowing my field; how shall I reward +thee?" But the old man answered, "Let that be, and do you pray for us"; +and when I gladly promised this and asked him how he had kept his corn +safe from the savage enemy, he told me that he had hidden it secretly in +the caves of the Streckelberg, but that now all his store was used up. +Meanwhile he cut a fine large piece of meat from the top of the loin, and +said, "There is something for you, and when that is gone you can come +again for more." As I was then about to go with many thanks, his little +Mary, a child nearly seven years old, the same who had said the _Gratias_ +on the Streckelberg, seized me by the hand and wanted to go to school to +my daughter; for since my _Custos_, as above mentioned, departed this life +in the plague, she had to teach the few little ones there were in the +village; this, however, had long been abandoned. I could not, therefore, +deny her, although I feared that my child would share her bread with her, +seeing that she dearly loved the little maid, who was her godchild; and so +indeed it happened; for when the child saw me take out the bread, she +shrieked for joy, and began to scramble up on the bench. Thus she also got +a piece of the slice, our maid got another, and my child put the third +piece into her own mouth, as I wished for none, but said that I felt no +signs of hunger and would wait until the meat was boiled, the which I now +threw upon the bench. It was a goodly sight to see the joy which my poor +child felt when I then also told her about the rye. She fell upon my neck, +wept, sobbed, then took the little one up in her arms, danced about the +room with her, and recited as she was wont, all manner of Latin _versus_, +which she knew by heart. Then she would prepare a right good supper for +us, as a little salt was still left in the bottom of a barrel of meat +which the Imperialists had broken up. I let her take her own way, and +having scraped some soot from the chimney and mixed it with water, I tore +a blank leaf out of _Virgilius_, and wrote to the _Pastor Liepensis_, his +reverence Abraham Tiburtius, praying that for God his sake he would take +our necessities to heart, and would exhort his parishioners to save us +from dying of grim hunger, and charitably to spare to us some meat and +drink, according as the all-merciful God had still left some to them, +seeing that a beggar had told me that they had long been in peace from +the terrible enemy. I knew not, however, wherewithal to seal the letter, +until I found in the church a little wax still sticking to a wooden +altar-candlestick, which the Imperialists had not thought it worth their +while to steal, for they had only taken the brass ones. I sent three +fellows in a boat with Hinrich Seden, the churchwarden, with this letter +to Liepe. + +First, however, I asked my old Ilse, who was born in Liepe, whether she +would not rather return home, seeing how matters stood, and that I, for +the present at least, could not give her a stiver of her wages (mark that +she had already saved up a small sum, seeing that she had lived in my +service above twenty years, but the soldiers had taken it all). Howbeit, I +could nowise persuade her to this, but she wept bitterly, and besought me +only to let her stay with the good damsel whom she had rocked in her +cradle. She would cheerfully hunger with us if it needs must be, so that +she were not turned away. Whereupon I yielded to her, and the others went +alone. + +Meanwhile the broth was ready, but scarce had we said the _Gratias_, and +were about to begin our meal, when all the children of the village, seven +in number, came to the door, and wanted bread, as they had heard we had +some from my daughter her little godchild. Her heart again melted, and +notwithstanding I besought her to harden herself against them, she +comforted me with the message to Liepe, and poured out for each child a +portion of broth on a wooden platter (for these also had been despised by +the enemy), and put into their little hands a bit of meat, so that all our +store was eaten up at once. We were, therefore, left fasting next morning, +till towards mid-day, when the whole village gathered together in a meadow +on the banks of the river to see the boat return. But, God be merciful to +us, we had cherished vain hopes! six loaves and a sheep, _item_, a quarter +of apples, was all they had brought. His reverence Abraham Tiburtius wrote +to me that after the cry of their wealth had spread throughout the island, +so many beggars had flocked thither that it was impossible to be just to +all, seeing that they themselves did not know how it might fare with them +in these heavy troublous times. Meanwhile he would see whether he could +raise any more. I therefore with many sighs had the small pittance carried +to the manse, and though two loaves were, as _Pastor Liepensis_ said in +his letter, for me alone, I gave them up to be shared among all alike, +whereat all were content save Seden his squint-eyed wife, who would have +had somewhat _extra_ on the score of her husband's journey, which, +however, as may be easily guessed, she did not get; wherefore she again +muttered certain words between her teeth as she went away, which, however, +no one understood. Truly she was an ill woman, and not to be moved by the +word of God. + +Any one may judge for himself that such a store could not last long; and +as all my parishioners felt an ardent longing after spiritual food, and +as I and the churchwardens could only get together about sixteen +farthings in the whole parish, which was not enough to buy bread and +wine, the thought struck me once more to inform my lord the Sheriff of +our need. With how heavy a heart I did this may be easily guessed, but +necessity knows no law. I therefore tore the last blank leaf out of +_Virgilius_, and begged that, for the sake of the Holy Trinity, his +lordship would mercifully consider mine own distress and that of the +whole parish, and bestow a little money to enable me to administer the +holy sacrament for the comfort of afflicted souls; also, if possible, +to buy a cup, were it only of tin, since the enemy had plundered us of +ours, and I should otherwise be forced to consecrate the sacred elements +in an earthen vessel. _Item_, I besought him to have pity on our bodily +wants, and at last to send me the first-fruits which had stood over for +so many years. That I did not want it for myself alone, but would +willingly share it with my parishioners, until such time as God in his +mercy should give us more. + +Here a huge blot fell upon my paper; for the windows being boarded up, the +room was dark, and but little light came through two small panes of glass +which I had broken out of the church, and stuck in between the boards; +this, perhaps, was the reason why I did not see better. However, as I +could not anywhere get another piece of paper, I let it pass, and ordered +the maid, whom I sent with the letter to Pudgla, to excuse the same to his +lordship the Sheriff, the which she promised to do, seeing that I could +not add a word more on the paper, as it was written all over. I then +sealed it as I had done before. + +But the poor creature came back trembling for fear and bitterly weeping, +and said that his lordship had kicked her out of the castle-gate, and had +threatened to set her in the stocks if she ever came before him again. +"Did the parson think that he was as free with his money as I seemed to be +with my ink? I surely had water enough to celebrate the Lord's supper +wherewithal. For if the Son of God had once changed the water into wine, +he could surely do the like again. If I had no cup, I might water my flock +out of a bucket, as he did himself"; with many more blasphemies, such as +he afterwards wrote to me, and by which, as may easily be guessed, I was +filled with horror. Touching the first-fruits, as she told me he said +nothing at all. In such great spiritual and bodily need the blessed Sunday +came round, when nearly all the congregation would have come to the Lord's +table, but could not. I therefore spoke on the words of St. Augustine, +_crede et manducasti_, and represented that the blame was not mine, and +truly told what had happened to my poor maid at Pudgla, passing over much +in silence, and only praying God to awaken the hearts of magistrates for +our good. Peradventure I may have spoken more harshly than I meant. I know +not, only that I spoke that which was in my heart. At the end I made all +the congregation stay on their knees for nearly an hour, and call upon the +Lord for his holy sacrament; _item_, for the relief of their bodily wants, +as had been done every Sunday, and at all the daily prayers I had been +used to read ever since the heavy time of the plague. Last of all I led +the glorious hymn, "When in greatest need we be," which was no sooner +finished than my new churchwarden, Claus Bulk of Uekeritze, who had +formerly been a groom with his lordship, and whom he had now put into a +farm, ran off to Pudgla, and told him all that had taken place in the +church. Whereat his lordship was greatly angered, insomuch that he +summoned the whole parish, which still numbered about 150 souls, without +counting the children, and dictated _ad protocollum_ whatsoever they could +remember of the sermon, seeing that he meant to inform his princely grace +the Duke of Pomerania of the blasphemous lies which I had vomited against +him, and which must sorely offend every Christian heart. _Item_, what an +avaricious wretch I must be to be always wanting something of him, and to +be daily, so to say, pestering him in these hard times with my filthy +letters, when he had not enough to eat himself. This he said should break +the parson his neck, since his princely grace did all that he asked of +him, and that no one in the parish need give me anything more, but only +let me go my ways. He would soon take care that they should have quite a +different sort of parson from what I was. + +(Now I would like to see the man who could make up his mind to come into +the midst of such wretchedness at all.) + +This news was brought to me in the selfsame night, and gave me a great +fright, as I now saw that I should not have a gracious master in his +lordship, but should all the time of my miserable life, even if I could +anyhow support it, find in him an ungracious lord. But I soon felt some +comfort, when Chim Krüger from Uekeritze, who brought me the news, took a +little bit of his sucking-pig out of his pocket and gave it to me. +Meanwhile old Paasch came in and said the same, and likewise brought me a +piece of his old cow; _item_, my other warden, Hinrich Seden, with a slice +of bread, and a fish which he had taken in his net, all saying they wished +for no better priest than me, and that I was only to pray to the merciful +Lord to bestow more upon them, whereupon I should want for nothing. +Meanwhile I must be quiet and not betray them. All this I promised, and my +daughter Mary took the blessed gifts of God off the table and carried them +into the inner chamber. But, alas! next morning, when she would have put +the meat into the caldron, it was all gone. I know not who prepared this +new sorrow for me, but much believe it was Hinrich Seden his wicked wife, +seeing he can never hold his tongue, and most likely told her everything. +Moreover, Paasch his little daughter saw that she had meat in her pot next +day; _item_, that she had quarrelled with her husband, and had flung the +fish-board at him, whereon some fresh fish-scales were sticking: she had, +however, presently recollected herself when she saw the child. (Shame on +thee, thou old witch, it is true enough, I dare say!) Hereupon nought was +left us but to feed our poor souls with the word of God. But even our +souls were so cast down that they could receive nought, any more than our +bellies; my poor child, especially, from day to day grew paler, greyer, +and yellower, and always threw up all her food, seeing she ate it without +salt or bread. I had long wondered that the bread from Liepe was not yet +done, but that every day at dinner I still had a morsel. I had often +asked, "Whence comes all this blessed bread? I believe, after all, you +save the whole for me, and take none for yourself or the maid." But they +both then lifted to their mouths a piece of fir-tree bark, which they had +cut to look like bread, and laid by their plates; and as the room was +dark, I did not find out their deceit, but thought that they, too, were +eating bread. But at last the maid told me of it, so that I should allow +it no longer, as my daughter would not listen to her. It is not hard to +guess how my heart was wrung when I saw my poor child lying on her bed of +moss struggling with grim hunger. But things were to go yet harder with +me, for the Lord in his anger would break me in pieces like a potter's +vessel. For behold, on the evening of the same day, old Paasch came +running to me, complaining that all his and my corn in the field had been +pulled up and miserably destroyed, and that it must have been done by +Satan himself, as there was not a trace either of oxen or horses. At these +words my poor child screamed aloud and fainted. I would have run to help +her, but could not reach her bed, and fell on the ground myself for bitter +grief. The loud cries of the maid and old Paasch soon brought us both to +our senses. But I could not rise from the ground alone, for the Lord had +bruised all my bones. I besought them, therefore, when they would have +helped me, to leave me where I was; and when they would not, I cried out +that I must again fall on the ground to pray, and begged them all save my +daughter to depart out of the room. This they did, but the prayer would +not come. I fell into heavy doubting and despair, and murmured against the +Lord that he plagued me more sorely than Lazarus or Job. Wretch that I +was, I cried, "Thou didst leave to Lazarus at least the crumbs and the +pitiful dogs, but to me thou hast left nothing, and I myself am less in +thy sight even than a dog; and Job thou didst not afflict until thou hadst +mercifully taken away his children, but to me thou hast left my poor +little daughter, that her torments may increase mine own a thousandfold. +Behold, then, I can only pray that thou wilt take her from the earth, so +that my grey head may gladly follow her to the grave! Woe is me, ruthless +father, what have I done? I have eaten bread, and suffered my child to +hunger! Oh, Lord Jesu, who hast said, 'What man is there of you, whom if +his son ask bread will he give him a stone?' Behold I am that man!--behold +I am that ruthless father! I have eaten bread and have given wood to my +child! Punish me; I will bear it and lie still. Oh, righteous Jesu, I have +eaten bread, and have given wood to my child!" As I did not speak, but +rather shrieked these words, wringing my hands the while, my child fell +upon my neck, sobbing, and chid me for murmuring against the Lord, seeing +that even she, a weak and frail woman, had never doubted his mercy, so +that with shame and repentance I presently came to myself, and humbled +myself before the Lord for such heavy sin. + +Meanwhile the maid had run into the village with loud cries to see if she +could get anything for her poor young mistress, but the people had already +eaten their noontide meal, and most of them were gone to sea to seek their +blessed supper; thus she could find nothing, seeing that old wife Seden, +who alone had any victuals, would give her none, although she prayed her +by Jesu's wounds. + +She was telling us this when we heard a noise in the chamber, and +presently Lizzie her worthy old husband, who had got in at the window by +stealth, brought us a pot of good broth, which he had taken off the fire +whilst his wife was gone for a moment into the garden. He well knew that +his wife would make him pay for it, but that he did not mind, so the young +mistress would but drink it, and she would find it salted and all. He +would make haste out of the window again, and see that he got home before +his wife, that she might not find out where he had been. But my daughter +would not touch the broth, which sorely vexed him, so that he set it down +on the ground cursing, and ran out of the room. It was not long before his +squint-eyed wife came in at the front door, and when she saw the pot still +steaming on the ground, she cried out, "Thou thief, thou cursed thieving +carcass!" and would have flown at the face of my maid. But I threatened +her, and told her all that had happened, and that if she would not believe +me she might go into the chamber and look out of the window, whence she +might still, belike, see her good man running home. This she did, and +presently we heard her calling after him, "Wait, and the devil shall tear +off thine arms; only wait till thou art home again!" After this she came +back, and, muttering something, took the pot off the ground. I begged her, +for the love of God, to spare a little to my child; but she mocked at me +and said, "You can preach to her, as you did to me," and walked towards +the door with the pot. My child indeed besought me to let her go, but I +could not help calling after her, "For the love of God, one good sup, or +my poor child must give up the ghost: wilt thou that at the day of +judgment God should have mercy on thee, so show mercy this day to me and +mine!" But she scoffed at us again, and cried out, "Let her cook herself +some bacon," and went out at the door. I then sent the maid after her with +the hour-glass which stood before me on the table, to offer it to her for +a good sup out of the pot; but the maid brought it back, saying that she +would not have it. Alas, how I wept and sobbed, as my poor dying child +with a loud sigh buried her head again in the moss! Yet the merciful God +was more gracious to me than my unbelief had deserved; for when the +hard-hearted woman bestowed a little broth on her neighbour, old Paasch, +he presently brought it to my child, having heard from the maid how it +stood with her; and I believe that this broth, under God, alone saved her +life, for she raised her head as soon as she had supped it, and was able +to go about the house again in an hour. May God reward the good fellow for +it! Thus I had some joy in the midst of my trouble. But while I sat by the +fireside in the evening musing on my fate, my grief again broke forth, and +I made up my mind to leave my house, and even my cure, and to wander +through the wide world with my daughter as a beggar. God knows I had cause +enough for it; for now that all my hopes were dashed, seeing that my field +was quite ruined, and that the Sheriff had become my bitter enemy; +moreover, that it was five years since I had had a wedding, _item_, but +two christenings during the past year, I saw my own and my daughter's +death staring me in the face, and no prospect of better times at hand. Our +want was increased by the great fears of the congregation; for although +by God's wondrous mercy they had already begun to take good draughts of +fish both in the sea and the Achterwater, and many of the people in the +other villages had already gotten bread, salt, oatmeal, etc., from the +Polters and Quatzners, of Anklam and Lassan in exchange for their fish; +nevertheless, they brought me nothing, fearing lest it might be told at +Pudgla, and make his lordship ungracious to them. I therefore beckoned my +daughter to me, and told her what was in my thoughts, saying that God in +his mercy could any day bestow on me another cure if I was found worthy in +his sight of such a favour, seeing that these terrible days of pestilence +and war had called away many of the servants of his word, and that I had +not fled like a hireling from his flock, but on the contrary, till _datum_ +shared sorrow and death with it. Whether she were able to walk five or ten +miles a day; for that then we would beg our way to Hamburg, to my departed +wife her step-brother, Martin Behring, who is a great merchant in that +city. + +This at first sounded strange to her, seeing that she had very seldom been +out of our parish, and that her departed mother and her little brother lay +in our churchyard. She asked, "Who was to make up their graves and plant +flowers on them? _Item_, as the Lord had given her a smooth face, what I +should do if in these wild and cruel times she were attacked on the +highways by marauding soldiers or other villains, seeing that I was a weak +old man and unable to defend her; _item_, wherewithal should we shield +ourselves from the frost, as the winter was setting in and the enemy had +robbed us of our clothes, so that we had scarce enough left to cover our +nakedness?" All this I had not considered, and was forced to own that she +was right; so after much discussion we determined to leave it this night +to the Lord, and to do whatever he should put into our hearts next +morning. At any rate, we saw that we could in nowise keep the old maid any +longer; I therefore called her out of the kitchen, and told her she had +better go early next morning to Liepe, as there still was food there, +whereas here she must starve, seeing that perhaps we ourselves might leave +the parish and the country to-morrow. I thanked her for the love and faith +she had shown us, and begged her at last, amid the loud sobs of my poor +daughter, to depart forthwith privately, and not to make our hearts still +heavier by leave-taking; that old Paasch was going a-fishing to-night on +the Achterwater, as he had told me, and no doubt would readily set her on +shore at Grüssow, where she had friends, and could eat her fill even +to-day. She could not say a word for weeping, but when she saw that I was +really in earnest she went out of the room. Not long after we heard the +house-door shut to, whereupon my daughter moaned, "She is gone already," +and ran straight to the window to look after her. "Yes," cried she, as she +saw her through the little panes, "she is really gone"; and she wrung her +hands and would not be comforted. At last, however, she was quieted when I +spoke of the maid Hagar, whom Abraham had likewise cast off, but on whom +the Lord had nevertheless shown mercy in the wilderness; and hereupon we +commended ourselves to the Lord, and stretched ourselves on our couches of +moss. + + + + +_The Ninth Chapter_ + + +HOW THE OLD MAID-SERVANT HUMBLED ME BY HER FAITH, AND THE LORD YET BLESSED +ME HIS UNWORTHY SERVANT + +"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy +name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who +forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who +redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving +kindness and tender mercies" (Psalm ciii.). + +Alas! wretched man that I am, how shall I understand all the benefits and +mercies which the Lord bestowed upon me the very next day? I now wept for +joy, as of late I had done for sorrow; and my child danced about the room +like a young roe, and would not go to bed, but only cry and dance, and +between-whiles repeat the 103rd Psalm, then dance and cry again until +morning broke. But as she was still very weak, I rebuked her presumption, +seeing that this was tempting the Lord; and now mark what had happened. + +After we had both woke in the morning with deep sighs, and called upon the +Lord to manifest to us in our hearts what we should do, we still could not +make up our minds. I therefore called to my child, if she felt strong +enough, to leave her bed and light a fire in the stove herself, as our +maid was gone; that we would then consider the matter further. She +accordingly got up, but came back in an instant with cries of joy, because +the maid had privately stolen back into the house, and had already made +a fire. Hereupon I sent for her to my bedside, and wondered at her +disobedience, and asked what she now wanted here but to torment me and +my daughter still more, and why she did not go yesterday with old Paasch? +But she lamented and wept so sore that she scarce could speak, and I +understood only thus much--that she had eaten with us, and would likewise +starve with us, for that she could never part from her young mistress, +whom she had known from her cradle. Such faithful love moved me so, that I +said almost with tears, "But hast thou not heard that my daughter and I +have determined to wander as beggars about the country; where, then, wilt +thou remain?" To this she answered that neither would she stay behind, +seeing it was more fitting for her to beg than for us; but that she could +not yet see why I wished to go out into the wide world; whether I had +already forgotten that I had said in my induction sermon that I would +abide with my flock in affliction and in death? That I should stay yet +a little longer where I was, and send her to Liepe, as she hoped to get +something worth having for us there from her friends and others. These +words, especially those about my induction sermon, fell heavy on my +conscience, and I was ashamed of my want of faith, since not my daughter +only, but yet more even my maid, had stronger faith than I, who +nevertheless professed to be a servant of God's word. I believed that the +Lord--to keep me, poor fearful hireling, and at the same time to humble +me--had awakened the spirit of this poor maid-servant to prove me, as the +maid in the palace of the high-priest had also proved the fearful St. +Peter. Wherefore I turned my face towards the wall, like Hezekiah, and +humbled myself before the Lord, which scarce had I done before my child +ran into the room again, with a cry of joy; for behold, some Christian +heart had stolen quietly into the house in the night, and had laid in the +chamber two loaves, a good piece of meat, a bag of oatmeal, _item_, a bag +of salt, holding near a pint. Any one may guess what shouts of joy we all +raised. Neither was I ashamed to confess my sins before my maid; and in +our common morning prayer, which we said on our knees, I made fresh vows +to the Lord of obedience and faith. Thus we had that morning a grand +breakfast, and sent something to old Paasch besides; _item_, my daughter +again sent for all the little children to come, and kindly fed them with +our store before they said their tasks; and when in my heart of little +faith I sighed thereat, although I said nought, she smiled, and said, +"Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take +thought for the things of itself." + +The Holy Ghost spoke by her, as I cannot but believe, nor thou either, +beloved reader: for mark what happened. In the afternoon she (I mean my +child) went up the Streckelberg to seek for blackberries, as old Paasch +had told her, through the maid, that a few bushes were still left. The +maid was chopping wood in the yard, to which end she had borrowed old +Paasch his axe, for the Imperialist thieves had thrown away mine, so that +it could nowhere be found; and I myself was pacing up and down in the +room, meditating my sermon; when my child, with her apron full, came +quickly in at the door, quite red and with beaming eyes, and scarce able +for joy to say more than "Father, father, what have I got?" "Well," quoth +I, "what hast thou got, my child?" Whereupon she opened her apron, and I +scarce trusted my eyes when I saw, instead of the blackberries which she +had gone to seek, two shining pieces of amber, each nearly as big as a +man's head, not to mention the small pieces, some of which were as large +as my hand, and that, God knows, is no small one. "Child of my heart," +cried I, "how camest thou by this blessing from God?" As soon as she could +fetch her breath, she told me as follows:-- + +That while she was seeking for blackberries in a dell near the shore she +saw somewhat glistening in the sun, and on coming near she found this +wondrous godsend, seeing that the wind had blown the sand away from off a +black vein of amber. That she straightway had broken off these pieces with +a stick, and that there was plenty more to be got, seeing that it rattled +about under the stick when she thrust it into the sand, neither could she +force it farther than, at most, a foot deep into the ground; _item,_ she +told me that she had covered the place all over again with sand, and swept +it smooth with her apron, so as to leave no traces. + +Moreover, that no stranger was at all likely to go thither, seeing that no +blackberries grew very near, and she had gone to the spot, moved by +curiosity and a wish to look upon the sea, rather than from any need; but +that she could easily find the place again herself, inasmuch as she had +marked it with three little stones. What was our first act after the +all-merciful God had rescued us out of such misery, nay, even, as it +seemed, endowed us with great riches, any one may guess. When we at length +got up off our knees, my child would straightway have run to tell the maid +our joyful news. But I forbade her, seeing that we could not be sure that +the maid might not tell it again to her friends, albeit in all other +things she was a faithful woman and feared God; but that if she did that, +the Sheriff would be sure to hear of it, and to seize upon our treasure +for his princely highness the Duke--that is to say, for himself; and that +nought would be left to us but the sight thereof, and our want would begin +all over again; that we therefore would say, when folks asked about the +luck that had befallen us, that my deceased brother, who was a councillor +at Rotterdam, had left us a good lump of money; and, indeed, it was true +that I had inherited near two hundred florins from him a year ago, which, +however, the soldiery (as mentioned above) cruelly robbed me of; _item,_ +that I would go to Wolgast myself next day and sell the little bits as +best I might, saying that thou hadst picked them up by the seaside; thou +mayest tell the maid the same, if thou wilt, but show the larger pieces to +no one, and I will send them to thy uncle at Hamburg to be turned into +money for us; perchance I may be able to sell one of them at Wolgast, if I +find occasion, so as to buy clothes enough for the winter for thee and for +me, wherefore thou, too, mayst go with me. We will take the few farthings +which the congregation have brought together to pay the ferry, and thou +canst order the maid to wait for us till eventide at the water-side to +carry home the victuals. She agreed to all this, but said we had better +first break off some more amber, so that we might get a good round sum for +it at Hamburg; and I thought so too, wherefore we stopped at home next +day, seeing that we did not want for food, and that my child, as well as +myself, both wished to refresh ourselves a little before we set out on our +journey; _item_, we likewise bethought us that old Master Rothoog, of +Loddin, who is a cabinetmaker, might knock together a little box for us to +put the amber in, wherefore I sent the maid to him in the afternoon. +Meanwhile we ourselves went up the Streckelberg, where I cut a young +fir-tree with my pocket-knife, which I had saved from the enemy, and +shaped it like a spade, so that I might be better able to dig deep +therewith. First, however, we looked about us well on the mountain, and, +seeing nobody, my daughter walked on to the place, which she straightway +found again. Great God! what a mass of amber was there! The vein was hard +upon twenty feet long, as near as I could feel, and the depth of it I +could not sound. Nevertheless, save four good-sized pieces, none, however, +so big as those of yesterday, we this day only broke out little splinters, +such as the apothecaries bruise for incense. After we had most carefully +covered and smoothed over the place, a great mishap was very near +befalling us; for we met Witthan her little girl, who was seeking +blackberries, and she asked what my daughter carried in her apron, who +straightway grew red, and stammered so that our secret would have been +betrayed if I had not presently said, "What is that to thee? She has got +fir-apples for firing," which the child believed. Wherefore we resolved in +future only to go up the mountain at night by moonlight, and we went home +and got there before the maid, and hid our treasure in the bedstead, so +that she should not see it. + + + + +_The Tenth Chapter_ + + +HOW WE JOURNEYED TO WOLGAST, AND MADE GOOD BARTER THERE + +Two days after, so says my daughter, but old Ilse thinks it was three +(and I myself know not which is true), we at last went to the town, +seeing that Master Rothoog had not got the box ready before. My daughter +covered it over with a piece of my departed wife her wedding-gown, which +the Imperialists had indeed torn to pieces, but as they had left it +lying outside, the wind had blown it into the orchard, where we found +it. It was very shabby before, otherwise I doubt not they would have +carried it off with them. On account of the box, we took old Ilse with +us, who had to carry it, and, as amber is very light ware, she readily +believed that the box held nothing but eatables. At daybreak, then, we +took our staves in our hands and set out with God. Near Zitze, a hare +ran across the road before us, which they say bodes no good. Well-a-day! +When we came near Bannemin I asked a fellow if it was true that here a +mother had slaughtered her own child from hunger, as I had heard. He +said it was, and that the old woman's name was Zisse; but that God had +been wroth at such a horrid deed, and she had got no good by it, seeing +that she vomited so much upon eating it that she forthwith gave up the +ghost. On the whole, he thought things were already going rather better +with the parish, as Almighty God had richly blessed them with fish, both +out of the sea and the Achterwater. Nevertheless a great number of +people had died of hunger here also. He told us that their vicar, +his reverence Johannes Lampius, had had his house burnt down by the +Imperialists, and was lying in a hovel near the church. I sent him +my greeting, desiring that he would soon come to visit me (which the +fellow promised he would take care to deliver to him), for the reverend +Johannes is a pious and learned man, and has also composed sundry Latin +_Chronosticha_ on these wretched times, in _metrum heroicum_, which, I +must say, please me greatly. When we had crossed the ferry we went in at +Sehms his house, on the Castle Green, who keeps an ale-house; he told us +that the pestilence had not yet altogether ceased in the town; whereat I +was much afraid, more especially as he described to us so many other +horrors and miseries of these fearful times, both here and in other +places, _e.g._ of the great famine in the island of Rügen, where a +number of people had grown as black as Moors from hunger; a wondrous +thing if it be true, and one might almost gather therefrom how the first +blackamoors came about. But be that as it may. _Summa_. When Master +Sehms had told us all the news he had heard, and we had thus learnt, +to our great comfort, that the Lord had not visited us only in these +times of heavy need, I called him aside into a chamber and asked him +whether I could not here find means to get money for a piece of amber +which my daughter had found by the sea. At first he said "No"; but then +recollecting, he began, "Stay, let me see, at Nicolas Graeke's, the inn +at the castle, there are two great Dutch merchants--Dieterich von +Pehnen and Jacob Kiekebusch--who are come to buy pitch and boards, +_item_ timber for ships and beams; perchance they may like to cheapen +your amber too; but you had better go up to the castle yourself, for I +do not know for certain whether they still are there." This I did, +although I had not yet eaten anything in the man's house, seeing that I +wanted to know first what sort of bargain I might make, and to save the +farthings belonging to the church until then. So I went into the +castle-yard. Gracious God! what a desert had even his Princely Highness' +house become within a short time! The Danes had ruined the stables and +hunting-lodge, Anno 1628; _item_, destroyed several rooms in the castle; +and in the _locamentum_ of his Princely Highness Duke Philippus, where, +Anno 22, he so graciously entertained me and my child, as will be told +further on, now dwelt the innkeeper Nicolas Graeke; and all the fair +tapestries, whereon was represented the pilgrimage to Jerusalem of his +Princely Highness Bogislaus X, were torn down and the walls left grey +and bare. At this sight my heart was sorely grieved; but I presently +inquired for the merchants, who sat at the table drinking their parting +cup, with their travelling equipments already lying by them, seeing that +they were just going to set out on their way to Stettin; straightway one +of them jumped up from his liquor--a little fellow with a right noble +paunch and a black plaster on his nose--and asked me what I would of +them? I took him aside into a window, and told him I had some fine +amber, if he had a mind to buy it of me, which he straightway agreed to +do. And when he had whispered somewhat into the ear of his fellow, he +began to look very pleasant, and reached me the pitcher before we went +to my inn. I drank to him right heartily, seeing that (as I have already +said) I was still fasting, so that I felt my very heart warmed by it in +an instant. (Gracious God, what can go beyond a good draught of wine +taken within measure!) After this we went to my inn, and told the maid +to carry the box on one side into a small chamber. I had scarce opened +it and taken away the gown, when the man (whose name was Dieterich von +Pehnen, as he had told me by the way) held up both hands for joy, and +said he had never seen such wealth of amber, and how had I come by it? I +answered that my child had found it on the sea-shore; whereat he +wondered greatly that we had so much amber here, and offered me three +hundred florins for the whole box. I was quite beside myself for joy at +such an offer, but took care not to let him see it, and bargained with +him till I got five hundred florins, and I was to go with him to the +castle and take the money forthwith. Hereupon I ordered mine host to +make ready at once a mug of beer and a good dinner for my child, and +went back to the castle with the man and the maid, who carried the box, +begging him, in order to avoid common talk, to say nothing of my good +fortune to mine host, nor, indeed, to any one else in the town, and to +count out the money to me privately, seeing that I could not be sure +that the thieves might not lay in wait for me on the road home if they +heard of it, and this the man did; for he whispered something into the +ear of his fellow, who straightway opened his leathern surcoat, _item_ +his doublet and hose, and unbuckled from his paunch a well-filled purse, +which he gave to him. _Summa_. Before long I had my riches in my pocket, +and, moreover, the man begged me to write to him at Amsterdam whenever I +found any more amber, the which I promised to do. But the worthy fellow +(as I have since heard) died of the plague at Stettin, together with his +companion--truly I wish it had happened otherwise. Shortly after I was +very near getting into great trouble; for, as I had an extreme longing +to fall on my knees, so that I could not wait until such time as I +should have got back to my inn, I went up three or four steps of the +castle stairs and entered into a small chamber, where I humbled myself +before the Lord. But the host, Nicolas Graeke, followed me, thinking I +was a thief, and would have stopped me, so that I knew not how to excuse +myself by saying that I had been made drunken by the wine which the +strange merchants had given to me (for he had seen what a good pull I +had made at it), seeing I had not broken my fast that morning, and that +I was looking for a chamber wherein I might sleep a while, which lie he +believed (if, in truth, it were a lie, for I was really drunken, though +not with wine, but with love and gratitude to my Maker), and accordingly +he let me go. + +But I must now tell my story of his Princely Highness, as I promised +above. Anno 22, as I chanced to walk with my daughter, who was then a +child of about twelve years old, in the castle-garden at Wolgast, and was +showing her the beautiful flowers that grew there, it chanced that as we +came round from behind some bushes we espied my gracious lord the Duke +Philippus Julius, with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff, who lay +here on a visit, standing on a mount and conversing, wherefore we were +about to return. But as my gracious lords presently walked on toward the +drawbridge, we went to look at the mount where they had stood; of a sudden +my little girl shouted loudly for joy, seeing that she found on the earth +a costly signet-ring, which one of their Princely Highnesses doubtless +had dropped. I therefore said, "Come and we will follow our gracious lords +with all speed, and thou shall say to them in Latin, '_Serenissimi +principes, quis vestrum hunc annulum deperdidit_?' (for, as I have +mentioned above, I had instructed her in the Latin tongue ever since her +seventh year); and if one of them says '_Ego_,' give to him the ring. +_Item_.--Should he ask thee in Latin to whom thou belongest, be not +abashed, and say '_Ego sum filia pastoris Coserowiensis_'; for thou wilt +thus find favour in the eyes of their Princely Highnesses, for they are +both gracious gentlemen, more especially the taller one, who is our +gracious ruler, Philippus Julius himself." This she promised to do; but as +she trembled sorely as she went, I encouraged her yet more and promised +her a new gown if she did it, seeing that even as a little child she would +have given a great deal for fine clothes. As soon, then, as we were come +into the courtyard, I stood by the statue of his Princely Highness Ernest +Ludewig, and whispered her to run boldly after them, as their Princely +Highnesses were only a few steps before us, and had already turned toward +the great entrance. This she did, but of a sudden she stood still, and +would have turned back, because she was frightened by the spurs of their +Princely Highnesses, as she afterwards told me, seeing that they rattled +and jingled very loudly. + +But my gracious lady the Duchess Agnes saw her from the open window +wherein she lay, and called to his Princely Highness, "My lord, there is a +little maiden behind you, who, it seems, would speak with you," whereupon +his Princely Highness straightway turned him round, smiling pleasantly, so +that my little maid presently took courage, and, holding up the ring, +spoke in Latin as I had told her. Hereat both the princes wondered beyond +measure, and after my gracious Duke Philippus had felt his finger, he +answered, "_Dulcissima puella, ego perdidi_"; whereupon she gave it to +him. Then he patted her cheek, and again asked, "_Sed quaenam es, et unde +venis?_" whereupon she boldly gave her answer, and at the same time +pointed with her finger to where I stood by the statue; whereupon his +Princely Highness motioned me to draw near. My gracious lady saw all that +passed from the window, but all at once she left it. She, however, +came back to it again before I had time even humbly to draw near to my +gracious lord, and beckoned to my child, and held a cake out of the window +for her. On my telling her, she ran up to the window, but her Princely +Highness could not reach so low nor she so high above her as to take it, +wherefore my gracious lady commanded her to come up into the castle, and +as she looked anxiously round after me, motioned me also, as did my +gracious lord himself, who presently took the timid little maid by the +hand and went up with his Princely Highness the Duke Bogislaff. My +gracious lady came to meet us at the door, and caressed and embraced my +little daughter, so that she soon grew quite bold and ate the cake. When +my gracious lord had asked me my name, _item_, why I had in so singular a +manner taught my daughter the Latin tongue, I answered that I had heard +much from a cousin at Cologne of Maria Schurman, and as I had observed a +very excellent _ingenium_ in my child, and also had time enough in my +lonely cure, I did not hesitate to take her in hand, and teach her from +her youth up, seeing I had no boy alive. Hereat their Princely Highnesses +marvelled greatly, and put some more questions to her in Latin, which she +answered without any prompting from me. Whereupon my gracious lord Duke +Philippus said in the vulgar tongue, "When thou art grown up and art one +day to be married, tell it to me, and thou shall then have another ring +from me, and whatsoever else pertains to a bride, for thou hast this day +done me good service, seeing that this ring is a precious jewel to me, as +I had it from my wife." Hereupon I whispered her to kiss his Princely +Highness' hand for such a promise, and so she did. + +(But alas! most gracious God, it is one thing to promise, and quite +another to hold. Where is his Princely Highness at this time? Wherefore +let me ever keep in mind that "thou only art faithful, and that which thou +hast promised thou wilt surely hold." Psalm xxxiii. 4. Amen.) + +_Item_. When his Princely Highness had also inquired concerning myself +and my cure, and heard that I was of ancient and noble family, and my +_salarium_ very small, he called from the window to his chancellor, +D. Rungius, who stood without, looking at the sun-dial, and told him that +I was to have an addition from the convent at Pudgla, _item_ from the +crown-lands at Ernsthoff, as I mentioned above; but, more's the pity, I +never have received the same, although the _instrumentum donationis_ was +sent me soon after by his Princely Highness' chancellor. + +Then cakes were brought for me also, _item_, a glass of foreign wine in a +glass painted with armorial bearings, whereupon I humbly took my leave, +together with my daughter. + +However, to come back to my bargain, anybody may guess what joy my child +felt when I showed her the fair ducats and florins I had gotten for the +amber. To the maid, however, we said that we had inherited such riches +from my brother in Holland; and after we had again given thanks to the +Lord on our knees, and eaten our dinner, we bought in a great store of +bread, salt, meat, and stock-fish: _item_, of clothes, seeing that I +provided what was needful for us three throughout the winter from the +cloth-merchant. Moreover, for my daughter I bought a hair-net and a +scarlet silk bodice, with a black apron and white petticoat, _item_, a +fine pair of earrings, as she begged hard for them; and as soon as I had +ordered the needful from the cordwainer we set out on our way homewards, +as it began to grow very dark; but we could not carry nearly all we had +bought. Wherefore we were forced to get a peasant from Bannemin to help +us, who likewise was come into the town; and as I found out from him +that the fellow who gave me the piece of bread was a poor cotter called +Pantermehl, who dwelt in the village by the roadside, I shoved a couple of +loaves in at his house-door without his knowing it, and we went on our way +by the bright moonlight, so that by the help of God we got home about ten +o'clock at night. I likewise gave a loaf to the other fellow, though truly +he deserved it not, seeing that he would go with us no further than to +Zitze. But I let him go, for I, too, had not deserved that the Lord should +so greatly bless me. + + + + +_The Eleventh Chapter_ + + +HOW I FED ALL THE CONGREGATION: +_ITEM_, HOW I JOURNEYED TO THE HORSE FAIR AT GÜTZKOW, AND WHAT BEFELL +ME THERE + +Next morning my daughter cut up the blessed bread, and sent to every one +in the village a good large piece. But as we saw that our store would +soon run low, we sent the maid with a truck, which we bought of Adam +Lempken, to Wolgast to buy more bread, which she did. _Item_, I gave +notice throughout the parish that on Sunday next I should administer the +blessed sacrament, and in the meantime I bought up all the large fish +that the people of the village had caught. And when the blessed Sunday +was come I first heard the confessions of the whole parish, and after +that I preached a sermon on Matt. xv. 32--"I have compassion on the +multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." I first applied the same to +spiritual food only, and there arose a great sighing from both the men +and the women, when, at the end, I pointed to the altar, whereon stood +the blessed food for the soul, and repeated the words, "I have compassion +on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat." (N.B.--The pewter +cup I had borrowed at Wolgast, and bought there a little earthenware +plate for a paten till such time as Master Bloom should have made ready +the silver cup and paten I had bespoke.) Thereupon as soon as I had +consecrated and administered the blessed sacrament, _item_, led the +closing hymn, and every one had silently prayed his "Our Father" before +going out of church, I came out of the confessional again, and motioned +the people to stay yet a while, as the blessed Saviour would feed not +only their souls, but their bodies also, seeing that he still had the +same compassion on his people as of old on the people at the Sea of +Galilee, as they should presently see. Then I went into the tower and +fetched out two baskets which the maid had bought at Wolgast, and which I +had hidden there in good time; set them down in front of the altar, and +took off the napkins with which they were covered, whereupon a very loud +shout arose, inasmuch as they saw one filled with broiled fish and the +other with bread, which we had put into them privately. Hereupon, like +our Saviour, I gave thanks and brake it, and gave it to the churchwarden +Hinrich Seden, that he might distribute it among the men, and to my +daughter for the women. Whereupon I made application of the text, "I have +compassion on the multitude ... for they have nothing to eat," to the +food of the body also; and walking up and down in the church, amid great +outcries from all, I exhorted them alway to trust in God's mercy, to pray +without ceasing, to work diligently, and to consent to no sin. What was +left I made them gather up for their children and the old people who were +left at home. + +After church, when I had scarce put off my surplice, Hinrich Seden his +squint-eyed wife came and impudently asked for more for her husband's +journey to Liepe; neither had she had anything for herself, seeing she had +not come to church. This angered me sore, and I said to her, "Why wast thou +not at church? Nevertheless, if thou hadst come humbly to me thou shouldst +have gotten somewhat even now, but as thou comest impudently, I will give +thee nought: think on what thou didst to me and to my child." But she stood +at the door and glowered impudently about the room till my daughter took +her by the arm and led her out, saying, "Hear'st thou, thou shalt come back +humbly before thou gett'st anything, but when thou comest thus, thou also +shalt have thy share, for we will no longer reckon with thee an eye for an +eye, and a tooth for a tooth; let the Lord do that if such be his will, but +we will gladly forgive thee!" Hereupon she at last went out at the door, +muttering to herself as she was wont; but she spat several times in the +street, as we saw from the window. + +Soon after I made up my mind to take into my service a lad, near upon +twenty years of age, called Claus Neels, seeing that his father, old +Neels of Loddin, begged hard that I would do so, besides which the lad +pleased me well in manners and otherwise. Then, as we had a good harvest +this year, I resolved to buy me a couple of horses forthwith, and to sow +my field again; for although it was now late in the year, I thought that +the most merciful God might bless the crop with increase if it seemed +good to him. + +Neither did I feel much care with respect to food for them, inasmuch as +there was a great plenty of hay in the neighbourhood, seeing that all the +cattle had been killed or driven away (as related above). I therefore made +up my mind to go in God's name with my new ploughman to Gützkow, whither a +great many Mecklenburg horses were brought to the fair, seeing that times +were not yet so bad there as with us. Meanwhile I went a few more times up +the Streckelberg with my daughter at night, and by moonlight, but found +very little; so that we began to think our luck had come to an end, when, +on the third night, we broke off some pieces of amber bigger even than +those the two Dutchmen had bought. These I resolved to send to my wife's +brother, Martin Behring, at Hamburg, seeing that the schipper Wulff of +Wolgast intends, as I am told, to sail thither this very autumn, with +pitch and wood for shipbuilding. I accordingly packed it all up in a +strong chest, which I carried with me to Wolgast when I started with my +man on my journey to Gützkow. Of this journey I will only relate thus +much, that there were plenty of horses and very few buyers in the market. +Wherefore I bought a pair of fine black horses for twenty florins apiece; +_item_, a cart for five florins; _item_, twenty-five bushels of rye, which +also came from Mecklenburg, at one florin the bushel, whereas it is hardly +to be had now at Wolgast for love or money, and costs three florins or +more the bushel. I might therefore have made a good bargain in rye at +Gützkow if it had become my office, and had I not, moreover, been afraid +lest the robbers, who swarm in these evil times, should take away my corn, +and ill-use and perchance murder me into the bargain, as has happened to +sundry people already. For, at this time especially, such robberies were +carried on after a strange and frightful fashion on Strellin heath at +Gützkow; but by God's help it all came to light just as I journeyed +thither with my man-servant to the fair, and I will here tell how it +happened. Some months before a man had been broken on the wheel at +Gützkow, because, being tempted of Satan, he murdered a travelling +workman. The man, however, straightway began to walk after so fearful a +fashion, that in the evening and night-season he sprang down from the +wheel in his gallows' dress whenever a cart passed by the gallows, which +stands hard by the road to Wolgast, and jumped up behind the people, who +in horror and dismay flogged on their horses, and thereby made a great +rattling on the log embankment which leads beside the gallows into a +little wood called the Kraulin. And it was a strange thing that on the +same night the travellers were almost always robbed or murdered on +Strellin heath. Hereupon the magistrates had the man taken down from the +wheel and buried under the gallows, in hopes of laying his ghost. But it +went on just as before, sitting at night snow-white on the wheel, so that +none durst any longer travel the road to Wolgast. Until at last it +happened that, at the time of the above-named fair, young Rüdiger von +Nienkerken of Mellenthin, in Usedom, who had been studying at Wittenberg +and elsewhere, and was now on his way home, came this road by night with +his carriage. Just before, at the inn, I myself had tried to persuade him +to stop the night at Gützkow on account of the ghost, and to go on his +journey with me next morning, but he would not. Now as soon as this young +lord drove along the road, he also espied the apparition sitting on the +wheel, and scarcely had he passed the gallows when the ghost jumped down +and ran after him. The driver was horribly afraid, and lashed on the +horses, as everybody else had done before, and they, taking fright, +galloped away over the log-road with a marvellous clatter. Meanwhile, +however, the young nobleman saw by the light of the moon how that the +apparition flattened a ball of horse-dung whereon it trod, and straightway +felt sure within himself that it was no ghost. Whereupon he called to the +driver to stop; and as the man would not hearken to him, he sprang out of +the carriage, drew his rapier, and hastened to attack the ghost. When the +ghost saw this he would have turned and fled, but the young nobleman gave +him such a blow on the head with his fist that he fell upon the ground +with a loud wailing. _Summa_: the young lord, having called back his +driver, dragged the ghost into the town again, where he turned out to be a +shoemaker called Schwelm. + +I also, on seeing such a great crowd, ran thither with many others to +look at the fellow. He trembled like an aspen leaf; and when he was +roughly told to make a clean breast, whereby he might peradventure save +his own life, if it appeared that he had murdered no one, he confessed +that he had got his wife to make him a gallows' dress, which he had +put on, and had sat on the wheel before the dead man, when, from the +darkness and the distance, no one could see that the two were sitting +there together; and this he did more especially when he knew that a +cart was going from the town to Wolgast. When the cart came by, and he +jumped down and ran after it, all the people were so affrighted that +they no longer kept their eyes upon the gallows, but only on him, +flogged the horses, and galloped with much noise and clatter over the +log embankment. This was heard by his fellows in Strellin and Dammbecke +(two villages which are about three-fourths on the way), who held +themselves ready to unyoke the horses and to plunder the travellers +when they came up with them. That after the dead man was buried he +could play the ghost more easily still, etc. That this was the whole +truth, and that he himself had never in his life robbed, still less +murdered, any one; wherefore he begged to be forgiven: that all the +robberies and murders which had happened had been done by his fellows +alone. Ah, thou cunning knave! But I heard afterwards that he and his +fellows were broken on the wheel together, as was but fair. + +And now to come back to my journey. The young nobleman abode that night +with me at the inn, and early next morning we both set forth; and as we +had grown into good-fellowship together, I got into his coach with him, +as he offered me, so as to talk by the way, and my Claus drove behind +us. I soon found that he was a well-bred, honest, and learned gentleman, +seeing that he despised the wild student life, and was glad that he had +now done with their scandalous drinking-bouts: moreover, he talked his +Latin readily. I had therefore much pleasure with him in the coach. +However, at Wolgast the rope of the ferry-boat broke, so that we were +carried down the stream to Zeuzin, and at length we only got ashore with +great trouble. Meanwhile it grew late, and we did not get into Coserow +till nine, when I asked the young lord to abide the night with me, which +he agreed to do. We found my child sitting in the chimney-corner, making +a petticoat for her little god-daughter out of her own old clothes. She +was greatly frighted, and changed colour when she saw the young lord +come in with me, and heard that he was to lie there that night, seeing +that as yet we had no more beds than we had bought for our own need from +old Zabel Nehring the forest ranger his widow, at Uekeritze. Wherefore +she took me aside: What was to be done? My bed was in an ill plight, her +little god-child having lain on it that morning; and she could nowise +put the young nobleman into hers, although she would willingly creep in +by the maid herself. And when I asked her why not? she blushed scarlet +and began to cry, and would not show herself again the whole evening, so +that the maid had to see to everything, even to the putting white sheets +on my child's bed for the young lord, as she would not do it herself. I +only tell this to show how maidens are. For next morning she came into +the room with her red silk bodice, and the net on her hair, and the +apron; _summa_, dressed in all the things I had bought her at Wolgast, +so that the young lord was amazed, and talked much with her over the +morning meal. Whereupon he took his leave, and desired me to visit him +at his castle. + +[Illustration: The Gallows Ghost] + + + + +_The Twelfth Chapter_ + + +WHAT FURTHER JOY AND SORROW BEFELL US: +_ITEM_, HOW WITTICH APPELMANN RODE TO DAMEROW TO THE WOLFHUNT, AND WHAT HE +PROPOSED TO MY DAUGHTER + +The Lord blessed my parish wonderfully this winter, inasmuch as not only a +great quantity of fish were caught and sold in all the villages, but in +Coserow they even killed four seals: _item_, the great storm of the 12th +of December threw a goodly quantity of amber on the shore, so that many +found amber, although no very large pieces, and they began to buy cows and +sheep from Liepe and other places, as I myself also bought two cows; +_item_, my grain which I had sown, half on my own field and half on old +Paasch's, sprang up bravely and gladly, as the Lord had till _datum_ +bestowed on us an open winter; but so soon as it had shot up a finger's +length, we found it one morning again torn up and ruined, and this time +also by the devil's doings, since now, as before, not the smallest trace +of oxen or of horses was to be seen in the field. May the righteous God, +however, reward it, as indeed he already has done. Amen. + +Meanwhile, however, something uncommon happened. For one morning, as I +have heard, when Lord Wittich saw out of the window that the daughter of +his fisherman, a child of sixteen, whom he had diligently pursued, went +into the coppice to gather dry sticks, he went thither too; wherefore, I +will not say, but every one may guess for himself. When he had gone some +way along the convent mound, and was come to the first bridge, where the +mountain-ash stands, he saw two wolves coming towards him; and as he had +no weapon with him, save a staff, he climbed up into a tree; whereupon the +wolves trotted round it, blinked at him with their eyes, licked their +lips, and at last jumped with their fore-paws up against the tree, +snapping at him; he then saw that one was a he-wolf, a great fat brute +with only one eye. Hereupon in his fright he began to scream, and the +long-suffering of God was again shown to him, without, however, making him +wiser; for the maiden, who had crept behind a juniper-bush in the field +when she saw the Sheriff coming, ran back again to the castle and called +together a number of people, who came and drove away the wolves, and +rescued his lordship. He then ordered a great wolf-hunt to be held next +day in the convent wood, and he who brought the one-eyed monster, dead or +alive, was to have a barrel of beer for his pains. Still they could not +catch him, albeit they that day took four wolves in their nets, and killed +them. He therefore straightway ordered a wolf-hunt to be held in my +parish. But when the fellow came to toll the bell for a wolf-hunt, he did +not stop a while, as is the wont for wolf-hunts, but loudly rang the bell +on, _sine morâ_, so that all the folk thought a fire had broken out, and +ran screaming out of their houses. My child also came running out (I +myself had driven to visit a sick person at Zempin, seeing that walking +began to be wearisome to me, and that I could now afford to be more at +mine ease); but she had not stood long, and was asking the reason of the +ringing, when the Sheriff himself, on his grey charger, with three +cart-loads of toils and nets following him, galloped up and ordered the +people straightway to go into the forest and to drive the wolves with +rattles. Hereupon he, with his hunters and a few men whom he had picked +out of the crowd, were to ride on and spread the nets behind Damerow, +seeing that the island is wondrous narrow there, and the wolf dreads the +water. When he saw my daughter he turned his horse round, chucked her +under the chin, and graciously asked her who she was, and whence she came? +When he had heard it, he said she was as fair as an angel, and that he had +not known till now that the parson here had so beauteous a girl. He then +rode off, looking round at her two or three times. At the first beating +they found the one-eyed wolf, who lay in the rushes near the water. Hereat +his lordship rejoiced greatly, and made the grooms drag him out of the net +with long iron hooks, and hold him there for near an hour, while my lord +slowly and cruelly tortured him to death, laughing heartily the while, +which is a _prognosticon_ of what he afterwards did with my poor child, +for wolf or lamb is all one to this villain. Just God! But I will not be +beforehand with my tale. + +Next day came old Seden his squint-eyed wife, limping like a lame dog, and +put it to my daughter whether she would not go into the service of the +Sheriff; praised him as a good and pious man; and vowed that all the world +said of him were foul lies, as she herself could bear witness, seeing that +she had lived in his service for above ten years. _Item_, she praised the +good cheer they had there, and the handsome beer-money that the great +lords who often lay there gave the servants which waited upon them; that +she herself had more than once received a rose-noble from his Princely +Highness Duke Ernest Ludewig; moreover, many pretty fellows came there, +which might make her fortune, inasmuch as she was a fair woman, and might +take her choice of a husband; whereas here in Coserow, where nobody ever +came, she might wait till she was old and ugly before she got a curch on +her head, etc. Hereat my daughter was beyond measure angered, and +answered, "Ah! thou old witch, and who has told thee that I wish to go +into service to get a curch on my head? Go thy ways, and never enter the +house again, for I have nought to do with thee." Whereupon she walked away +again, muttering between her teeth. + +Scarce had a few days passed, and I was standing in the chamber with the +glazier, who was putting in new windows, when I heard my daughter scream +in the kitchen. Whereupon I straightway ran in thither, and was shocked +and affrighted when I saw the Sheriff himself standing in the corner with +his arm round my child her neck; he, however, presently let her go, and +said: "Aha, reverend Abraham, what a coy little fool you have for a +daughter! I wanted to greet her with a kiss, as I always use to do, and +she struggled and cried out as if I had been some young fellow who had +stolen in upon her, whereas I might be her father twice over." As I +answered nought, he went on to say that he had done it to encourage her, +seeing that he desired to take her into his service, as indeed I knew, +with more excuses of the same kind which I have forgot. Hereupon I pressed +him to come into the room, seeing that after all he was the ruler set over +me by God, and humbly asked what his lordship desired of me. Whereupon he +answered me graciously that it was true he had just cause for anger +against me, seeing that I had preached at him before the whole +congregation, but that he was ready to forgive me, and to have the +complaint he had sent in _contra me_ to his Princely Highness at Stettin, +and which might easily cost me my place, returned to him if I would but do +his will. And when I asked what his Lordship's will might be, and excused +myself as best I might with regard to the sermon, he answered that he +stood in great need of a faithful housekeeper whom he could set over the +other women-folk; and as he had learnt that my daughter was a faithful and +trustworthy person, he would that I should send her into his service. "See +there," said he to her, and pinched her cheek the while, "I want to lead +you to honour, though you are such a young creature, and yet you cry out +as if I were going to bring you to dishonour. Fie upon you!" (My child +still remembers all this _verbotenus_; I myself should have forgot it a +hundred times over in all the wretchedness I since underwent.) But she was +offended at his words, and, jumping up from her seat, she answered +shortly, "I thank your lordship for the honour, but will only keep house +for my papa, which is a better honour for me"; whereupon he turned to me +and asked what I said to that. I must own that I was not a little +affrighted, inasmuch as I thought of the future and of the credit in which +the Sheriff stood with his Princely Highness. I therefore answered with +all humility that I could not force my child, and that I loved to have her +about me, seeing that my dear huswife had departed this life during the +heavy pestilence, and I had no child but only her. That I hoped therefore +his lordship would not be displeased with me that I could not send her +into his lordship's service. This angered him sore, and after disputing +some time longer in vain he took leave, not without threats that he would +make me pay for it. _Item_, my man, who was standing in the stable, heard +him say as he went round the corner, "I will have her yet, in spite of +him!" + +I was already quite disheartened by all this, when, on the Sunday +following, there came his huntsman Johannes Kurt, a tall, handsome fellow, +and smartly dressed. He brought a roebuck tied before him on his horse, +and said that his lordship had sent it to me for a present, in hopes that +I would think better of his offer, seeing that he had been ever since +seeking on all sides for a housekeeper in vain. Moreover, that if I +changed my mind about it his lordship would speak for me to his Princely +Highness, so that the dotation of Duke Philippus Julius should be paid to +me out of the princely _aerarium_, etc. But the young fellow got the same +answer as his master had done, and I desired him to take the roebuck away +with him again. But this he refused to do; and as I had by chance told him +at first that game was my favourite meat, he promised to supply me with it +abundantly, seeing that there was plenty of game in the forest, and that +he often went a-hunting on the Streckelberg; moreover, that I (he meant my +daughter) pleased him uncommonly, the more because I would not do his +master's will, who, as he told me in confidence, would never leave any +girl in peace, and certainly would not let my damsel alone. Although I had +rejected his game, he brought it notwithstanding, and in the course of +three weeks he was sure to come four or five times, and grew more and more +sweet upon my daughter. He talked a vast deal about his good place, and +how he was in search of a good huswife, whence we soon guessed what +quarter the wind blew from. _Ergo_, my daughter told him that if he was +seeking for a huswife she wondered that he lost his time in riding to +Coserow to no purpose, for that she knew of no huswife for him there, +which vexed him so sore that he never came again. + +And now any one would think that the grapes were sour even for the +Sheriff; nevertheless he came riding to us soon after, and without more +ado asked my daughter in marriage for his huntsman. Moreover, he promised +to build him a house of his own in the forest; _item_, to give him pots +and kettles, crockery, bedding, etc., seeing that he had stood god-father +to the young fellow, who, moreover, had ever borne himself well during +seven years he had been in his service. Hereupon my daughter answered that +his lordship had already heard that she would keep house for nobody but +her papa, and that she was still much too young to become a huswife. + +This, however, did not seem to anger him, but after he had talked a long +time to no purpose, he took leave quite kindly, like a cat which pretends +to let a mouse go, and creeps behind the corners, but she is not in +earnest, and presently springs out upon it again. For doubtless he saw +that he had set to work stupidly; wherefore he went away in order to begin +his attack again after a better fashion, and Satan went with him, as +whilom with Judas Iscariot. + + + + +_The Thirteenth Chapter_ + + +WHAT MORE HAPPENED DURING THE WINTER: +_ITEM_, HOW IN THE SPRING WITCHCRAFT BEGAN IN THE VILLAGE + +Nothing else of note happened during the winter, save that the merciful +God bestowed a great plenty of fish, both from the Achterwater and the +sea, and the parish again had good food; so that it might be said of us, +as it is written, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great +mercies will I gather thee." Wherefore we were not weary of praising the +Lord; and the whole congregation did much for the church, buying new +pulpit and altar cloths, seeing that the enemy had stolen the old ones. +_Item_, they desired to make good to me the money I had paid for the new +cups, which, however, I would not take. + +There were still, however, about ten peasants in the parish who had not +been able to buy their seed-corn for the spring, inasmuch as they had +spent all their earnings on cattle and corn for bread. I therefore made an +agreement with them that I would lend them the money for it, and that if +they could not repay me this year, they might the next, which offer they +thankfully took; and we sent seven waggons to Friedland, in Mecklenburg, +to fetch seed-corn for us all. For my beloved brother-in-law, Martin +Behring, in Hamburg, had already sent me by the schipper Wulf, who had +sailed home by Christmas, 700 florins for the amber: may the Lord prosper +it with him! + +Old Thiemcke died this winter in Loddin, who used to be the midwife in the +parish, and had also brought my child into the world. Of late, however, +she had had but little to do, seeing that in this year I only baptized two +children, namely, Jung his son in Uekeritze, and Lene Hebers her little +daughter, the same whom the Imperialists afterwards speared. _Item_, it +was now full five years since I had married the last couple. Hence any one +may guess that I might have starved to death had not the righteous God so +mercifully considered and blessed me in other ways. Wherefore to him alone +be all honour and glory. Amen. + +Meanwhile, however, it so happened that, not long after the Sheriff had +last been here, witchcraft began in the village. I sat reading with my +child the second book of _Virgilius_ of the fearful destruction of the +city of Troy, which was more terrible even than that of our own village, +when a cry arose that our old neighbour Zabel his red cow, which he had +bought only a few days before, had stretched out all-fours and seemed +about to die; and this was the more strange as she had fed heartily but +half an hour before. My child was therefore begged to go and pluck three +hairs from its tail, and bury them under the threshold of the stall; for +it was well known that if this was done by a pure maid the cow would get +better. My child then did as they would have her, seeing that she is the +only maid in the whole village (for the others are still children); and +the cow got better from that very hour, whereat all the folks were amazed. +But it was not long before the same thing befell Witthahn her pig, whilst +it was feeding heartily. She too came running to beg my child for God's +sake to take compassion on her, and to do something for her pig, as ill +men had bewitched it. Hereupon she had pity on her also, and it did as +much good as it had done before. But the woman, who was _gravida_, was +straightway taken in labour from the fright; and my child was scarce out +of the pigsty when the woman went into her cottage, wailing and holding by +the wall, and called together all the woman of the neighbourhood, seeing +that the proper midwife was dead, as mentioned above; and before long +something shot to the ground from under her; and when the women stooped +down to pick it up, the devil's imp, which had wings like a bat, flew up +off the ground, whizzed and buzzed about the room, and then shot out of +the window with a great noise, so that the glass clattered down into the +street. When they looked after it nothing was to be found. Any one may +judge for himself what a great noise this made in all the neighbourhood; +and the whole village believed that it was no one but old Seden his +squint-eyed wife that had brought forth such a devil's brat. + +But the people soon knew not what to believe. For that woman her cow got +the same thing as all the other cows; wherefore she too came lamenting, +and begged my daughter to take pity on her, as on the rest, and to cure +her poor cow for the love of God. That if she had taken it ill of her that +she had said anything about going into service with the Sheriff, she could +only say she had done it for the best, etc. _Summa_, she talked over my +unhappy child to go and cure her cow. + +Meanwhile I was on my knees every Sunday before the Lord with the whole +congregation, praying that he would not allow the Evil One to take from us +that which his mercy had once more bestowed upon us after such extreme +want. _Item_, that he would bring to light the _auctor_ of such devilish +works, so that he might receive the punishment he deserved. + +But all was of no avail. For a very few days had passed when the mischief +befell Stoffer Zuter his spotted cow, and he, too, like all the rest, came +running to fetch my daughter; she accordingly went with him, but could do +no good, and the beast died under her hands. + +_Item_, Katy Berow had bought a little pig with the money my daughter had +paid her in the winter for spinning, and the poor woman kept it like a +child, and let it run about her room. This little pig got the mischief, +like all the rest, in the twinkling of an eye; and when my daughter was +called it grew no better, but also died under her hands; whereupon the +poor woman made a great outcry and tore her hair for grief, so that my +child was moved to pity her, and promised her another pig next time my sow +should litter. Meantime another week passed over, during which I went on, +together with the whole congregation, to call upon the Lord for his +merciful help, but all in vain, when the same thing happened to old wife +Seden her little pig. Whereupon she again came running for my daughter +with loud outcries, and although my child told her that she must have seen +herself that nothing she could do for the cattle cured them any longer, +she ceased not to beg and pray her and to lament till she went forth to do +what she could for her with the help of God. But it was all to no purpose, +inasmuch as the little pig died before she left the sty. What think you +this devil's whore then did? After she had run screaming through the +village she said that any one might see that my daughter was no longer a +maid, else why could she now do no good to the cattle, whereas she had +formerly cured them? She supposed my child had lost her maiden honour on +the Streckelberg, whither she went so often this spring, and that God only +knew who had taken it! But she said no more then, and we did not hear the +whole until afterwards. And it is indeed true that my child had often +walked on the Streckelberg this spring, both with me and also alone, in +order to seek for flowers and to look upon the blessed sea, while she +recited aloud, as she was wont, such verses out of _Virgilius_ as pleased +her best (for whatever she read a few times, that she remembered). + +Neither did I forbid her to take these walks, for there were no wolves now +left on the Streckelberg, and even if there had been they always fly +before a human creature in the summer season. Howbeit, I forbade her to +dig for amber. For as it now lay deep, and we knew not what to do with the +earth we threw up, I resolved to tempt the Lord no further, but to wait +till my store of money grew very scant before we would dig any more. + +But my child did not do as I had bidden her, although she had promised she +would, and of this her disobedience came all our misery. (Oh, blessed +Lord, how grave a matter is thy holy fourth commandment!) For as his +reverence Johannes Lampius, of Crummin, who visited me this spring, had +told me that the Cantor of Wolgast wanted to sell the _Opp. St. +Augustini_, and I had said before her that I desired above all things to +buy that book, but had not money enough left, she got up in the night +without my knowledge to dig for amber, meaning to sell it as best she +might at Wolgast, in order secretly to present me with the _Opp. St. +Augustini_ on my birthday, which falls on the 28th _mensis Augusti_. She +had always covered over the earth she cast up with twigs of fir, whereof +there were plenty in the forest, so that no one should perceive anything +of it. + +Meanwhile, however, it befell that the young _nobilis_ Rüdiger of +Nienkerken came riding one day to gather news of the terrible witchcraft +that went on in the village. When I had told him all about it he shook his +head doubtingly, and said he believed that all witchcraft was nothing but +lies and deceit; whereat I was struck with great horror, inasmuch as I had +hitherto held the young lord to be a wiser man, and now could not but see +that he was an Atheist. He guessed what my thoughts were, and with a smile +he answered me by asking whether I had ever read Johannes Wierus, who +would hear nothing of witchcraft, and who argued that all witches were +melancholy persons who only imagined to themselves that they had a +_pactum_ with the devil; and that to him they seemed more worthy of pity +than of punishment? Hereupon I answered that I had not indeed read any +such book (for say, who can read all that fools write?), but that the +appearances here and in all other places proved that it was a monstrous +error to deny the reality of witchcraft, inasmuch as people might then +likewise deny that there were such things as murder, adultery, and theft. + +But he called my _argumentum_ a _dilemma_, and after he had discoursed a +great deal of the devil, all of which I have forgotten, seeing it savoured +strangely of heresy, he said he would relate to me a piece of witchcraft +which he himself had seen at Wittenberg. + +It seems that one morning, as an Imperial captain mounted his good charger +at the Elstergate in order to review his company, the horse presently +began to rage furiously, reared, tossed his head, snorted, kicked, and +roared, not as horses used to neigh, but with a sound as though the voice +came from a human throat, so that all the folks were amazed, and thought +the horse bewitched. It presently threw the captain, and crushed his head +with its hoof, so that he lay writhing on the ground, and straightway set +off at full speed. Hereupon a trooper fired his carabine at the bewitched +horse, which fell in the midst of the road, and presently died. That he, +Rüdiger, had then drawn near, together with many others, seeing that the +colonel had forthwith given orders to the surgeon of the regiment to cut +open the horse and see in what state it was inwardly. However, that +everything was quite right, and both the surgeon and army physician +testified that the horse was thoroughly sound; whereupon all the people +cried out more than ever about witchcraft. Meanwhile he himself (I mean +the young _nobilis_) saw a thin smoke coming out from the horse's +nostrils, and on stooping down to look what it might be, he drew out a +match as long as my finger, which still smouldered, and which some wicked +fellow had privately thrust into its nose with a pin. Hereupon all +thoughts of witchcraft were at an end, and search was made for the +culprit, who was presently found to be no other than the captain's own +groom. For one day that his master had dusted his jacket for him he swore +an oath that he would have his revenge, which indeed the provost-marshal +himself had heard as he chanced to be standing in the stable. _Item_, +another soldier bore witness that he had seen the fellow cut a piece off +the fuse not long before he led out his master's horse. And thus thought +the young lord, would it be with all witchcraft if it were sifted to the +bottom; like as I myself had seen at Gützkow, where the devil's apparition +turned out to be a cordwainer, and that one day I should own that it was +the same sort of thing here in our village. By reason of this speech I +liked not the young nobleman from that hour forward, believing him to be +an Atheist. Though, indeed, afterwards, I have had cause to see that he +was in the right, more's the pity; for had it not been for him what would +have become of my daughter? + +But I will say nothing beforehand.--_Summa_: I walked about the room in +great displeasure at his words, while the young lord began to argue with +my daughter upon witchcraft, now in Latin, and now in the vulgar tongue, +as the words came into his mouth, and wanted to hear her mind about it. +But she answered that she was a foolish thing, and could have no opinion +on the matter; but that, nevertheless, she believed that what happened in +the village could not be by natural means. Hereupon the maid called me out +of the room (I forget what she wanted of me); but when I came back again +my daughter was as red as scarlet, and the nobleman stood close before +her. I therefore asked her, as soon as he had ridden off, whether anything +had happened, which she at first denied, but afterwards owned that he had +said to her while I was gone that he knew but one person who could +bewitch; and when she asked him who that person was, he caught hold of her +hand and said, "It is yourself, sweet maid; for you have thrown a spell +upon my heart, as I feel right well!" But that he said nothing further, +but only gazed on her face with eager eyes, and this it was that made her +so red. + +But this is the way with maidens; they ever have their secrets if one's +back is turned but for a minute; and the proverb + + To drive a goose and watch a maid + Needs the devil himself to aid + +is but too true, as will be shown hereafter, more's the pity! + + + + +_The Fourteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW OLD SEDEN DISAPPEARED ALL ON A SUDDEN: +_ITEM_, HOW THE GREAT GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS CAME TO POMERANIA, AND TOOK THE +FORT AT PEENEMÜNDE + +We were now left for some time in peace from witchcraft; unless, indeed, I +reckon the caterpillars, which miserably destroyed my orchard, and which +truly were a strange thing; for the trees blossomed so fair and sweetly +that one day as we were walking under them, and praising the almighty +power of the most merciful God, my child said, "If the Lord goes on to +bless us so abundantly, it will be Christmas Eve with us every night of +next winter!" But things soon fell out far otherwise; for all in a moment +the trees were covered with such swarms of caterpillars (great and small, +and of every shape and colour) that one might have measured them by the +bushel, and before long my poor trees looked like brooms, and the blessed +fruit--which was so well set--all fell off, and was scarce good enough for +the pigs. I do not choose to lay this to any one, though I had my own +private thoughts upon the matter, and have them yet. However, my barley, +whereof I had sown about three bushels out on the common, shot up bravely. +On my field I had sown nothing, seeing that I dreaded the malice of Satan. +Neither was corn at all plentiful throughout the parish--in part because +they had sown no winter crops, and in part because the summer crops did +not prosper. However, in all the villages a great supply of fish was +caught by the mercy of God, especially herring; but they were very low in +price. Moreover, they killed many seals; and at Whitsuntide I myself +killed one as I walked by the sea with my daughter. The creature lay on a +rock close to the water, snoring like a Christian. Thereupon I pulled off +my shoes and drew near him softly, so that he heard me not, and then +struck him over his nose with my staff (for a seal cannot bear much on his +nose), so that he tumbled over into the water; but he was quite stunned, +and I could easily kill him outright. It was a fat beast, though not very +large; and we melted forty pots of train-oil out of his fat, which we put +by for a winter store. + +Meanwhile, however, something seized old Seden all at once, so that he +wished to receive the holy sacrament. When I went to him he could give no +reason for it; or perhaps he would give none for fear of his old Lizzie, +who was always watching him with her squinting eyes, and would not leave +the room. However, Zuter his little girl, a child near twelve years old, +said that a few days before, while she was plucking grass for the cattle +under the garden-hedge by the road, she heard the husband and wife +quarrelling violently again, and that the goodman threw in her teeth that +he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit, and that he +would straightway go and tell it to the priest. Albeit this is only a +child's tale, it may be true for all that, seeing that children and fools, +they say, speak the truth. + +But be that as it may. _Summa_, my old warden grew worse and worse; and +though I visited him every morning and evening--as I use to do to my +sick--in order to pray with him, and often observed that he had somewhat +on his mind, nevertheless he could not disburthen himself of it, seeing +that old Lizzie never left her post. + +This went on for a while, when at last one day, about noon, he sent to beg +me to scrape a little silver off the new sacramental cup, because he had +been told that he should get better if he took it mixed with the dung of +fowls. For some time I would not consent, seeing that I straightway +suspected that there was some devilish mischief behind it; but he begged +and prayed, till I did as he would have me. + +And lo and behold, he mended from that very hour; so that when I went to +pray with him at evening, I found him already sitting on the bench with a +bowl between his knees, out of which he was supping broth. However, he +would not pray (which was strange, seeing that he used to pray so gladly, +and often could not wait patiently for my coming, insomuch that he sent +after me two or three times if I was not at hand, or elsewhere employed); +but he told me he had prayed already, and that he would give me the cock +whose dung he had taken for my trouble, as it was a fine large cock, and +he had nothing better to offer for my Sunday's dinner. And as the poultry +was by this time gone to roost, he went up to the perch which was behind +the stove, and reached down the cock, and put it under the arm of the +maid, who was just come to call me away. + +Not for all the world, however, would I have eaten the cock, but I turned +it out to breed. I went to him once more, and asked whether I should give +thanks to the Lord next Sunday for his recovery; whereupon he answered +that I might do as I pleased in the matter. Hereat I shook my head, and +left the house, resolving to send for him as soon as ever I should hear +that his old Lizzie was from home (for she often went to fetch flax to +spin from the Sheriff). But mark what befell within a few days! We heard +an outcry that old Seden was missing, and that no one could tell what had +become of him. His wife thought he had gone up into the Streckelberg, +whereupon the accursed witch ran howling to our house and asked my +daughter whether she had not seen anything of her goodman, seeing that she +went up the mountain every day. My daughter said she had not; but, woe is +me, she was soon to hear enough of him; for one morning, before sunrise, +as she came down into the wood on her way back from her forbidden digging +after amber, she heard a woodpecker (which no doubt was old Lizzie +herself) crying so dolefully, close beside her, that she went in among the +bushes to see what was the matter. There was the woodpecker sitting on the +ground before a bunch of hair, which was red, and just like what old +Seden's had been, and as soon as it espied her it flew up, with its beak +full of the hair and slipped into a hollow tree. While my daughter still +stood looking at this devil's work, up came old Paasch--who also had heard +the cries of the woodpecker, as he was cutting roofing shingles on the +mountain, with his boy--and was likewise struck with horror when he saw +the hair on the ground. At first they thought a wolf must have eaten him, +and searched all about, but could not find a single bone. On looking up +they fancied they saw something red at the very top of the tree, so they +made the boy climb up, and he forthwith cried out that here, too, there +was a great bunch of red hair stuck to some leaves as if with pitch, but +that it was not pitch, but something speckled red and white, like +fishguts; _item_, that the leaves all around, even where there was no +hair, were stained and spotted, and had a very ill smell. Hereupon the +lad, at his master's bidding, threw down the clotted branch, and they two +below straightway judged that this was the hair and brains of old Seden, +and that the devil had carried him off bodily, because he would not pray +nor give thanks to the Lord for his recovery. I myself believed the same, +and told it on the Sunday as a warning to the congregation. But further on +it will be seen that the Lord had yet greater cause for giving him into +the hands of Satan, inasmuch as he had been talked over by his wicked wife +to renounce his Maker in the hopes of getting better. Now, however, this +devil's whore did as if her heart was broken, tearing out her red hair by +whole handsful when she heard about the woodpecker from my child and old +Paasch, and bewailing that she was now a poor widow, and who was to take +care of her for the future, etc. + +Meanwhile we celebrated on this barren shore, as best we could and might, +together with the whole Protestant Church, the 25th day _mensis Junii_, +whereon, one hundred years ago, the Estates of the holy Roman Empire laid +their confession before the most high and mighty Emperor Carolus V., at +Augsburg; and I preached a sermon on Matt. x. 32, of the right confession +of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whereupon the whole congregation +came to the Sacrament. Now, towards the evening of the selfsame day, as I +walked with my daughter by the sea-shore, we saw several hundred sail of +ships, both great and small, round about Ruden, and plainly heard firing, +whereupon we judged forthwith that this must be the most high and mighty +King Gustavus Adolphus, who was now coming, as he had promised, to the aid +of poor persecuted Christendom. While we were still debating, a boat +sailed towards us from Oie wherein was Kate Berow her son, who is a farmer +there, and was coming to see his old mother. The same told us that it +really was the king, who had this morning run before Ruden with his fleet +from Rügen; that a few men of Oie were fishing there at the time, and saw +how he went ashore with his officers, and straightway bared his head and +fell upon his knees. + +Thus, then, most gracious God, did I thy unworthy servant enjoy a still +greater happiness and delight that blessed evening than I had done on the +blessed morn; and any one may think that I delayed not for a moment to +fall on my knees with my child, and to follow the example of the king. And +God knows I never in my life prayed so fervently as that evening, whereon +the Lord showed such a wondrous sign upon us as to cause the deliverer of +his poor Christian people to come among them on the very day when they had +everywhere called upon him, on their knees, for his gracious help against +the murderous wiles of the Pope and the devil. That night I could not +sleep for joy, but went quite early in the morning to Damerow, where +something had befallen Vithe his boy. I supposed that he, too, was +bewitched; but this time it was not witchcraft, seeing that the boy had +eaten something unwholesome in the forest. He could not tell what kind of +berries they were; but the _malum_, which turned all his skin bright +scarlet, soon passed over. As I therefore was returning home shortly +after, I met a messenger from Peenemünde, whom his Majesty the high and +mighty King Gustavus Adolphus had sent to tell the Sheriff that on the +29th of June, at ten o'clock in the morning, he was to send three guides +to meet his Majesty at Coserow, and to guide him through the woods to +Swine, where the Imperialists were encamped. _Item_, he related how his +Majesty had taken the fort at Peenemünde yesterday (doubtless the cause of +the firing we heard last evening), and that the Imperialists had run away +as fast as they could, and played the bushranger properly; for after +setting their camp on fire they all fled into the woods and coppices, and +part escaped to Wolgast and part to Swine. + +Straightway I resolved in my joy to invent a _carmen gratulatorium_ to his +Majesty, whom, by the grace of Almighty God, I was to see, the which my +little daughter might present to him. + +I accordingly proposed it to her as soon as I got home, and she +straightway fell on my neck for joy, and then began to dance about the +room. But when she had considered a little, she thought her clothes were +not good enough to wear before his Majesty, and that I should buy her a +blue silk gown, with a yellow apron, seeing that these were the Swedish +colours, and would please his Majesty right well. For a long time I would +not, seeing that I hate this kind of pride; but she teased me with her +kisses and coaxing words, till I, like an old fool, said yes, and ordered +my ploughman to drive her over to Wolgast to-day to buy the stuff. +Wherefore I think that the just God, who hateth the proud, and showeth +mercy on the humble, did rightly chastise me for such pride. For I myself +felt a sinful pleasure when she came back with two women who were to help +her to sew, and laid the stuff before me. Next day she set to work at +sunrise to sew, and I composed my _carmen_ the while. I had not got very +far in it when the young Lord Rüdiger of Nienkerken came riding up, in +order, as he said, to inquire whether his Majesty were indeed going to +march through Coserow. And when I told him all I knew of the matter, +_item_ informed him of our plan, he praised it exceedingly, and instructed +my daughter (who looked more kindly upon him to-day than I altogether +liked) how the Swedes use to pronounce the Latin, as _ratscho_ pro _ratio, +uet_ pro _ut, schis_ pro _scis_, etc., so that she might be able to answer +his Majesty with all due readiness. He said, moreover, that he had held +much converse with Swedes at Wittenberg, as well as at Griepswald, +wherefore if she pleased they might act a short _colloquium_, wherein he +would play the king. Hereupon he sat down on the bench before her, and +they both began chattering together, which vexed me sore, especially when +I saw that she made but small haste with her needle the while. But say, +dear reader, what was I to do? Wherefore I went my ways, and let them +chatter till near noon, when the young lord at last took leave. But he +promised to come again on Tuesday, when the king was here, and believed +that the whole island would flock together at Coserow. As soon as he was +gone, seeing that my _vena poetica_ (as may be easily guessed) was still +stopped up, I had the horses put to and drove all over the parish, +exhorting the people in every village to be at the Giant's Stone by +Coserow at nine o'clock on Tuesday, and that they were all to fall on +their knees as soon as they should see the king coming and that I knelt +down; _item_, to join at once in singing the Ambrosian hymn of praise, +which I should lead off as soon as the bells began to ring. This they all +promised to do; and after I had again exhorted them to it on Sunday in +church, and prayed to the Lord for his Majesty out of the fulness of my +heart, we scarce could await the blessed Tuesday for joyful impatience. + + + + +_The Fifteenth Chapter_ + + +OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY KING GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS AND WHAT +BEFELL THEREAT + +Meanwhile I finished my _carmen_ in _metrum elegiacum_, which my daughter +transcribed (seeing that her handwriting is fairer than mine) and +diligently learned, so that she might say it to his Majesty. _Item_, her +clothes were gotten ready, and became her purely; and on Monday she went +up to the Streckelberg, although the heat was such that the crows gasped +on the hedges; for she wanted to gather flowers for a garland she designed +to wear, and which was also to be blue and yellow. Towards evening she +came home with her apron filled with all manner of flowers; but her hair +was quite wet, and hung all matted about her shoulders. (My God, my God, +was everything to come together to destroy me, wretched man that I am!) I +asked, therefore, where she had been that her hair was so wet and matted: +whereupon she answered that she had gathered flowers round the Kölpin, and +from thence she had gone down to the sea-shore, where she had bathed in +the sea, seeing that it was very hot and no one could see her. Thus, said +she, jesting, she should appear before his Majesty to-morrow doubly a +clean maid. This displeased me at the time, and I looked grave, although I +said nought. + +Next morning at six o'clock all the people were already at the Giant's +Stone, men, women, and children. _Summa_, everybody that was able to walk +was there. At eight o'clock my daughter was already dressed in all her +bravery, namely, a blue silken gown, with a yellow apron and kerchief, and +a yellow hair-net, with a garland of blue and yellow flowers round her +head. It was not long before my young lord arrived, finely dressed, as +became a nobleman. He wanted to inquire, as he said, by which road I +should go up to the Stone with my daughter, seeing that his father, Hans +von Nienkerken, _item_ Wittich Appelmann and the Lepels of Gnitze, were +also going, and that there was much people on all the high roads, as +though a fair was being held. But I straightway perceived that all he +wanted was to see my daughter, inasmuch as he presently occupied himself +about her, and began chattering with her in the Latin again. He made her +repeat to him the _carmen_ to his Majesty; whereupon he, in the person of +the king, answered her: "_Dulcissima et venustissima puella, quae mihi in +coloribus caeli, ut angelus Domini appares utinam semper mecum esses, +nunquam mihi male caderet_"; whereupon she grew red, as likewise did I, +but from vexation, as may be easily guessed. I therefore begged that his +lordship would but go forward toward the Stone, seeing that my daughter +had yet to help me on with my surplice; whereupon, however, he answered +that he would wait for us the while in the chamber, and that we might then +go together. _Summa_, I blessed myself from this young lord; but what +could I do? As he would not go, I was forced to wink at it all; and before +long we went up to the Stone, where I straight-way chose three sturdy +fellows from the crowd, and sent them up the steeple, that they might +begin to ring the bells as soon as they should see me get up upon the +Stone and wave my napkin. This they promised to do, and straightway +departed; whereupon I sat down on the Stone with my daughter, thinking +that the young lord would surely stand apart, as became his dignity; +albeit he did not, but sat down with us on the Stone. And we three sat +there all alone, and all the folk looked at us, but none drew near to see +my child's fine clothes, not even the young lasses, as is their wont to +do; but this I did not observe till afterwards, when I heard how matters +stood with us even then. Towards nine o'clock Hans von Nienkerken and +Wittich Appelmann galloped up, and old Nienkerken called to his son in an +angry voice: and seeing that the young lord heard him not, he rode up to +the Stone, and cried out so loud that all the folk might hear, "Canst thou +not hearken, boy, when thy father calls thee?" Whereupon Rüdiger followed +him in much displeasure, and we saw from a distance how the old lord +seemed to threaten his son, and spat out before him; but knew not what +this might signify: we were to learn it soon enough, though, more's the +pity! Soon after the two Lepels of Gnitze came from the Damerow; and the +noblemen saluted one other on the green sward close beside us, but without +looking on us. And I heard the Lepels say that nought could yet be seen of +his Majesty, but that the coastguard fleet around Ruden was in motion, and +that several hundred ships were sailing this way. As soon as this news was +known, all the folk ran to the sea-shore (which is but a step from the +Stone); and the noblemen rode thither too, all save Wittich, who had +dismounted, and who, when he saw that I sent old Paasch his boy up into a +tall oak-tree to look out for the king, straightway busied himself about +my daughter again, who now sat all alone upon the Stone: "Why had she not +taken his huntsman? and whether she would not change her mind on the +matter and have him now, or else come into service with him (the Sheriff) +himself? for that if she would not, he believed she might be sorry for it +one day." Whereupon she answered him (as she told me), that there was but +one thing she was sorry for, namely, that his lordship would take so much +useless pains upon her; whereupon she rose with all haste and came to +where I stood under the tree, looking after the lad who was climbing up +it. But our old Ilse said that he swore a great curse when my daughter +turned her back upon him, and went straightway into the alder-grove close +by the high road, where stood the old witch Lizzie Kolken. + +Meanwhile I went with my daughter to the sea-shore, and found it quite +true that the whole fleet was sailing over from Ruden and Oie towards +Wollin, and several ships passed so close before us that we could see the +soldiers standing upon them and the flashing of their arms. _Item_, we +heard the horses neigh and the soldiery laugh. On one ship, too, they were +drumming, and on another cattle lowed and sheep bleated. Whilst we yet +gazed we saw smoke come out from one of the ships, followed by a great +noise, and presently we were aware of the ball bounding over the water, +which foamed and splashed on either side, and coming straight towards us. +Hereupon the crowd ran away on every side with loud cries, and we plainly +heard the soldiery in the ships laugh thereat. But the ball flew up and +struck into the midst of an oak hard by Paasch his boy, so that nearly two +cartloads of boughs fell to the earth with a great crash, and covered all +the road by which his Majesty was to come. Hereupon the boy would stop no +longer in the tree, however much I exhorted him thereto, but cried out to +us as he came down that a great troop of soldiers was marching out of the +forest by Damerow, and that likely enough the king was among them. +Hereupon the Sheriff ordered the road to be cleared forthwith, and this +was some time a-doing, seeing that the thick boughs were stuck fast in the +trees all around; the nobles, as soon as all was made ready, would have +ridden to meet his Majesty, but stayed still on the little green sward, +because we already heard the noise of horses, carriages, and voices close +to us in the forest. + +It was not long before the cannons broke through the brushwood with the +three guides seated upon them. And seeing that one of them was known to me +(it was Stoffer Krauthahn of Peenemünde), I drew near and begged him that +he would tell me when the king should come. But he answered that he was +going forward with the cannon to Coserow, and that I was only to watch for +a tall dark man, with a hat and feather and a gold chain round his neck, +for that that was the king, and that he rode next after the great standard +whereon was a yellow lion. + +Wherefore I narrowly watched the procession as it wound out of the forest. +And next after the artillery came the Finnish and Lapland bowmen, who went +clothed all in furs, although it was now the height of summer, whereat I +greatly wondered. After these there came much people, but I know not what +they were. Presently I espied over the hazel-tree which stood in my way so +that I could not see everything as soon as it came forth out of the +coppice, the great flag with the lion on it, and behind that the head of a +very dark man with a golden chain round his neck, whereupon straightway I +judged this must be the king. I therefore waved my napkin toward the +steeple, whereupon the bells forthwith rang out, and while the dark man +rode nearer to us, I pulled off my skull-cap, fell upon my knees, and led +the Ambrosian hymn of praise, and all the people plucked their hats from +their heads and knelt down on the ground all around, singing after me; +men, women, and children, save only the nobles, who stood still on the +green sward, and did not take off their hats and behave with attention +until they saw that his Majesty drew in his horse. (It was a coal-black +charger, and stopped with its two fore-feet right upon my field, which I +took as a sign of good fortune.) When we had finished, the Sheriff quickly +got off his horse, and would have approached the king with his three +guides, who followed after him; _item_, I had taken my child by the hand, +and would also have drawn near to the king. Howbeit, his Majesty motioned +away the Sheriff and beckoned us to approach, whereupon I wished his +Majesty joy in the Latin tongue, and extolled his magnanimous heart, +seeing that he had deigned to visit German ground for the protection and +aid of poor persecuted Christendom; and praised it as a sign from God that +such had happened on this the high festival of our poor church, and I +prayed his Majesty graciously to receive what my daughter desired to +present to him; whereupon his Majesty looked on her and smiled pleasantly. +Such gracious bearing made her bold again, albeit she trembled visibly +just before, and she reached him a blue and yellow wreath, whereon lay the +_carmen_, saying, "_Accipe hanc vilem coronam et haec_" whereupon she +began to recite the _carmen_. Meanwhile his Majesty grew more and more +gracious, looking now on her and now on the _carmen_, and nodded with +especial kindness towards the end, which was as follows:-- + + Tempus erit, quo tu reversus ab hostibus ultor + Intrabis patriae libera regna meae; + Tunc meliora student nostrae tibi carmina musae, + Tunc tua, maxime rex, Martia facta canam. + Tu modo versiculis ne spernas vilibus ausum + Auguror et res est ista futura brevi! + Sis foelix, fortisque diu, vive optime princeps, + Omnia, et ut possis vincere, dura. Vale! + +As soon as she held her peace, his Majesty said, "_Propius accedas, patria +virgo, ut te osculer_"; whereupon she drew near to his horse, blushing +deeply. I thought he would only have kissed her forehead, as potentates +commonly use to do, but not at all! he kissed her lips with a loud smack, +and the long feathers on his hat drooped over her neck, so that I was +quite afraid for her again. But he soon raised up his head, and taking off +his gold chain, whereon dangled his own effigy, he hung it round my +child's neck with these words: "_Hocce tuce pulchritudim! et si favente +Deo redux fuero victor, promissum carmen et praeterea duo oscula +exspecto_." + +Hereupon the Sheriff with his three men again came forward and bowed down +to the ground before his Majesty. But as he knew no Latin, _item_ no +Italian nor French, I had to act as interpreter. For his Majesty inquired +how far it was to Swine, and whether there was still much foreign soldiery +there: And the Sheriff thought there were still about 200 Croats in the +camp; whereupon his Majesty spurred on his horse, and nodding graciously, +cried "_Valete_!" And now came the rest of the troops, about 3000 strong, +out of the coppice, which likewise had a valiant bearing, and attempted no +fooleries, as troops are wont to do, when they passed by us and the women, +but marched on in honest quietness, and we followed the train until the +forest beyond Coserow, where we commended it to the care of the Almighty, +and every one went on his way home. + + + + +_The Sixteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW LITTLE MARY PAASCH WAS SORELY PLAGUED OF THE DEVIL, AND THE WHOLE +PARISH FELL OFF FROM ME + +Before I proceed any further I will first mark that the illustrious King +Gustavus Adolphus, as we presently heard, had cut down the 300 Croats at +Swine, and was thence gone by sea to Stettin. May God be for ever gracious +to him! Amen. + +But my sorrows increased from day to day, seeing that the devil now played +pranks such as he never had played before. I had begun to think that the +ears of God had hearkened to our ardent prayers, but it pleased him to try +us yet more hardly than ever. For, a few days after the arrival of the +most illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus, it was bruited about that my +child her little god-daughter was possessed of the Evil One, and tumbled +about most piteously on her bed, insomuch that no one was able to hold +her. My child straightway went to see her little god-daughter, but +presently came weeping home. Old Paasch would not suffer her even to come +near her, but railed at her very angrily, and said that she should never +come within his doors again, as his child had got the mischief from the +white roll which she had given her that morning. It was true that my child +had given her a roll, seeing that the maid had been the day before to +Wolgast and had brought back a napkin full of them. + +Such news vexed me sore, and after putting on my cassock I went to old +Paasch his house to exorcise the foul fiend and to remove such disgrace +from my child. I found the old man standing on the floor by the cockloft +steps weeping; and after I had spoken "The peace of God," I asked him +first of all whether he really believed that his little Mary had been +bewitched by means of the roll which my child had given her? He said, +"Yes!" And when I answered that in that case I also must have been +bewitched, _item_ Pagel his little girl, seeing that we both had eaten of +the rolls, he was silent, and asked me with a sigh, whether I would not go +into the room and see for myself how matters stood. I then entered with +"The peace of God," and found six people standing round little Mary her +bed; her eyes were shut, and she was as stiff as a board; wherefore Kit +Wells (who was a young and sturdy fellow) seized the little child by one +leg and held her out like a hedgestake, so that I might see how the devil +plagued her. I now said a prayer, and Satan, perceiving that a servant of +Christ was come, began to tear the child so fearfully that it was pitiful +to behold; for she flung about her hands and feet so that four strong men +were scarce able to hold her: _item_ she was afflicted with extraordinary +risings and fallings of her belly, as if a living creature were therein, +so that at last the old witch Lizzie Kolken sat herself upon her belly, +whereupon the child seemed to be somewhat better, and I told her to repeat +the Apostles' Creed, so as to see whether it really were the devil who +possessed her. She straightway grew worse than before, and began to gnash +her teeth, to roll her eyes, and to strike so hard with her hands and feet +that she flung her father, who held one of her legs, right into the middle +of the room, and then struck her foot so hard against the bedstead that +the blood flowed, and Lizzie Kolken was thrown about on her belly as +though she had been in a swing. And as I ceased not, but exorcised Satan +that he should leave her, she began to howl and to bark like a dog, _item_ +to laugh, and spoke at last, with a gruff bass voice, like an old man's, +"I will not depart." But he should soon have been forced to depart out of +her, had not both father and mother besought me by God's holy Sacrament to +leave their poor child in peace, seeing that nothing did her any good, but +rather made her worse. I was therefore forced to desist, and only +admonished the parents to seek for help, like the Canaanitish woman, in +true repentance and incessant prayer, and with her to sigh in constant +faith, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, Thou Son of David, my daughter is +grievously vexed of a devil," Matthew xv.; that the heart of our Lord +would then melt, so that he would have mercy on their child, and command +Satan to depart from her. _Item_, I promised to pray for the little child +on the following Sunday with the whole congregation, and told them to +bring her, if it were any ways possible, to the church, seeing that the +ardent prayer of the whole congregation has power to rise beyond the +clouds. This they promised to do, and I then went home sorely troubled, +where I soon learned that she was somewhat better; thus it still is sure +that Satan hates nothing so much, after the Lord Jesus, as the servants of +the Gospel. But wait, and I shall even yet "bruise thy head with my heel" +(Genesis, chap, iii.); nought shall avail thee. + +Howbeit before the blessed Sunday came, I perceived that many of my people +went out of my way, both in the village and elsewhere in the parish, where +I went to visit sundry sick folks. When I went to Uekeritze to see young +Tittlewitz, there even befell me as follows:--Claus Pieper the peasant +stood in his yard chopping wood, and on seeing me he flung the axe out of +his hand so hastily that it stuck in the ground, and he ran towards the +pigsty, making the sign of the cross. I motioned him to stop, and asked +why he thus ran from me, his confessor? Whether, peradventure, he also +believed that my daughter had bewitched her little god-child? "_Ille_. +Yes, he believed it, because the whole parish did. _Ego_. Why, then, had +she been so kind to her formerly, and kept her like a sister through the +worst of the famine? _Ille_. This was not the only mischief she had done. +_Ego_. What, then, had she done besides? _Ille_. That was all one to me. +_Ego_. He should tell me, or I would complain to the magistrate. _Ille_. +That I might do, if I pleased." Whereupon he went his way insolently. Any +one may guess that I was not slow to inquire everywhere what people +thought my daughter had done; but no one would tell me anything, and I +might have grieved to death at such evil reports. Moreover not one child +came during this whole week to school to my daughter; and when I sent out +the maid to ask the reason she brought back word that the children were +ill, or that the parents wanted them for their work. I thought and +thought, but all to no purpose, until the blessed Sunday came round when I +meant to have held a great Sacrament, seeing that many people had made +known their intention to come to the Lord's table. It seemed strange to me +that I saw no one standing (as was their wont) about the church door; I +thought, however, that they might have gone into the houses. But when I +went into the church with my daughter, there were not more than six people +assembled, among whom was old Lizzie Kolken; and the accursed witch no +sooner saw my daughter follow me than she made the sign of the cross and +ran out of the door under the steeple; whereupon the five others, among +them mine own church-warden Claus Bulken (I had not appointed any one in +the room of old Seden), followed her. I was so horror-struck that my blood +curdled, and I began to tremble, so that I fell with my shoulder against +the confessional. My child, to whom I had as yet told nothing, in order to +spare her, then asked me, "Father, what is the matter with all the people; +are they, too, bewitched?" Whereupon I came to myself again and went into +the churchyard to look after them. But all were gone save my churchwarden, +Claus Bulken, who stood under the lime-tree, whistling to himself. I +stepped up to him and asked what had come to the people? Whereupon he +answered he could not tell; and when I asked him again why, then, he +himself had left the church, he said, What was he to do there alone, +seeing that no collection could be made? I then implored him to tell me +the truth, and what horrid suspicion had arisen against me in the parish? +But he answered, I should very soon find it out for myself; and he jumped +over the wall and went into old Lizzie her house, which stands close by +the churchyard. + +My child had made ready some veal broth for dinner, for which I mostly use +to leave everything else; but I could not swallow one spoonful, but sat +resting my head on my hand, and doubted whether I should tell her or no. +Meanwhile the old maid came in ready for a journey, and with a bundle in +her hand, and begged me with tears to give her leave to go. My poor child +turned pale as a corpse, and asked in amaze what had come to her? but she +merely answered, "Nothing!" and wiped her eyes with her apron. When I +recovered my speech, which had well-nigh left me at seeing that this +faithful old creature was also about to forsake me, I began to question +her why she wished to go; she who had dwelt with me so long, and who would +not forsake us even in the great famine, but had faithfully borne up +against it, and, indeed, had humbled me by her faith, and had exhorted me +to stand out gallantly to the last, for which I should be grateful to her +as long as I lived. Hereupon she merely wept and sobbed yet more, and at +length brought out that she still had an old mother of eighty living in +Liepe, and that she wished to go and nurse her till her end. Hereupon my +daughter jumped up and answered with tears, "Alas, old Ilse, why wilt thou +leave us, for thy mother is with thy brother? Do but tell me why thou wilt +forsake me, and what harm have I done thee, that I may make it good to +thee again." But she hid her face in her apron and sobbed and could not +get out a single word; whereupon my child drew away the apron from her +face, and would have stroked her cheeks to make her speak. But when Ilse +saw this she struck my poor child's hand and cried, "Ugh!" spat out before +her, and straightway went out at the door. Such a thing she had never done +even when my child was a little girl, and we were both so shocked that we +could neither of us say a word. + +Before long my poor child gave a loud cry, and cast herself upon the +bench, weeping and wailing, "What has happened, what has happened?" I +therefore thought I ought to tell her what I had heard--namely, that she +was looked upon as a witch. Whereat she began to smile instead of weeping +any more, and ran out of the door to overtake the maid, who had already +left the house, as we had seen. She returned after an hour, crying out +that all the people in the village had run away from her when she would +have asked them whither the maid was gone. _Item_, the little children, +for whom she had kept school, had screamed, and had hidden themselves from +her; also no one would answer her a single word, but all spat out before +her, as the maid had done. On her way home she had seen a boat on the +water, and had run as fast as she could to the shore, and called with +might and main after old Ilse, who was in the boat. But she had taken no +notice of her, not even once to look round after her, but had motioned her +to be gone. And now she went on to weep and to sob the whole day and the +whole night, so that I was more miserable than even in the time of the +great famine. But the worst was yet to come, as will be shown in the +following chapter. + + + + +_The Seventeenth Chapter_ + + +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS TAKEN UP FOR A WITCH, AND CARRIED TO PUDGLA + +The next day, Monday, the 12th July, at about eight in the morning, while +we sat in our grief, wondering who could have prepared such great sorrow +for us, and speedily agreed that it could be none other than the accursed +witch Lizzie Kolken, a coach with four horses drove quickly up to the +door, wherein sat six fellows, who straightway all jumped out. Two went +and stood at the front, two at the back door, and two more, one of whom +was the constable Jacob Knake, came into the room, and handed me a warrant +from the Sheriff for the arrest of my daughter, as in common repute of +being a wicked witch, and for her examination before the criminal court. +Any one may guess how my heart sank within me when I read this. I dropped +to the earth like a felled tree, and when I came to myself my child had +thrown herself upon me with loud cries, and her hot tears ran down over my +face. When she saw that I came to myself, she began to praise God therefor +with a loud voice, and essayed to comfort me, saying that she was +innocent, and should appear with a clean conscience before her judges. +_Item_, she repeated to me the beautiful text from Matthew, chap. v.: +"Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall +say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." + +And she begged me to rise and to throw my cassock over my doublet, and go +with her, for that without me she would not suffer herself to be carried +before the Sheriff. Meanwhile, however, all the village--men, women, and +children--had thronged together before my door; but they remained quiet, +and only peeped in at the windows, as though they would have looked right +through the house. When we had both made us ready, and the constable, who +at first would not take me with them, had thought better of it, by reason +of a good fee which my daughter gave him, we walked to the coach; but I +was so helpless that I could not get up into it. + +Old Paasch, when he saw this, came and helped me up into the coach, +saying, "God comfort ye! Alas, that you should ever see your child to come +to this!" and he kissed my hand to take leave. + +A few others came up to the coach, and would have done likewise; but I +besought them not to make my heart still heavier, and to take Christian +charge of my house and my affairs until I should return. Also to pray +diligently for me and my daughter, so that the Evil One, who had long gone +about our village like a roaring lion, and who now threatened to devour +me, might not prevail against us, but might be forced to depart from me +and from my child as from our guileless Saviour in the wilderness. But to +this none answered a word; and I heard right well, as we drove away, that +many spat out after us, and one said (my child thought it was Berow her +voice), "We would far sooner lay fire under thy coats than pray for thee." +We were still sighing over such words as these when we came near to the +churchyard, and there sat the accursed witch Lizzie Kolken at the door of +her house with her hymn-book in her lap, screeching out at the top of her +voice, "God the Father, dwell with us," as we drove past her; the which +vexed my poor child so sore that she swounded, and fell like one dead upon +me. I begged the driver to stop, and called to old Lizzie to bring us a +pitcher of water; but she did as though she had not heard me, and went on +to sing so that it rang again. Whereupon the constable jumped down, and at +my request ran back to my house to fetch a pitcher of water; and he +presently came back with it, and the people after him, who began to say +aloud that my child's bad conscience had stricken her, and that she had +now betrayed herself. Wherefore I thanked God when she came to life again, +and we could leave the village. But at Uekeritze it was just the same, for +all the people had flocked together, and were standing on the green before +Labahn his house when we went by. + +Nevertheless, they were quiet enough as we drove past, albeit some few +cried, "How can it be, how can it be?" I heard nothing else. But in the +forest near the watermill the miller and all his men ran out and shouted, +laughing, "Look at the witch, look at the witch!" Whereupon one of the men +struck at my poor child with the sack which he held in his hand, so that +she turned quite white, and the flour flew all about the coach like a +cloud. When I rebuked him, the wicked rogue laughed and said, that if no +other smoke than that ever came under her nose, so much the better for +her. _Item_, it was worse in Pudgla than even at the mill. The people +stood so thick on the hill, before the castle, that we could scarce force +our way through, and the Sheriff caused the death-bell in the castle-tower +to toll as an _avisum_. Whereupon more and more people came running out of +the ale-houses and cottages. Some cried out, "Is that the witch?" Others, +again, "Look at the parson's witch! the parson's witch!" and much more, +which for very shame I may not write. They scraped up the mud out of the +gutter which ran from the castle-kitchen and threw it upon us; _item_, a +great stone, the which struck one of the horses so that it shied, and +belike would have upset the coach had not a man sprung forward and held it +in. All this happened before the castle-gates, where the Sheriff stood +smiling and looking on, with a heron's feather stuck in his grey hat. But +so soon as the horse was quiet again, he came to the coach and mocked at +my child, saying, "See, young maid, thou wouldst not come to me, and here +thou art nevertheless!" Whereupon she answered, "Yea, I come; and may you +one day come before your judge as I come before you"; whereunto I said, +Amen, and asked him how his lordship could answer before God and man for +what he had done to a wretched man like myself and to my child? But he +answered, saying, Why had I come with her? And when I told him of the rude +people here, _item_, of the churlish miller's man, he said that it was not +his fault, and threatened the people all around with his fist, for they +were making a great noise. Thereupon he commanded my child to get down and +to follow him, and went before her into the castle; motioned the +constable, who would have gone with them, to stay at the foot of the +steps, and began to mount the winding staircase to the upper rooms alone +with my child. + +But she whispered me privately, "Do not leave me, father"; and I presently +followed softly after them. Hearing by their voices in which chamber they +were, I laid my ear against the door to listen. And the villain offered to +her that if she would love him nought should harm her, saying he had power +to save her from the people; but that if she would not, she should go +before the court next day, and she might guess herself how it would fare +with her, seeing that he had many witnesses to prove that she had played +the wanton with Satan, and had suffered him to kiss her. Hereupon she was +silent, and only sobbed, which the arch-rogue took as a good sign, and +went on: "If you have had Satan himself for a sweetheart, you surely may +love me." And he went to her and would have taken her in his arms, as I +perceived; for she gave a loud scream, and flew to the door; but he held +her fast, and begged and threatened as the devil prompted him. I was about +to go in when I heard her strike him in the face, saying, "Get thee behind +me, Satan," so that he let her go. Whereupon she ran out at the door so +suddenly that she threw me on the ground, and fell upon me with a loud +cry. Hereat the Sheriff, who had followed her, started, but presently +cried out, "Wait, thou prying parson, I will teach thee to listen!" and +ran out and beckoned to the constable who stood on the steps below. He +bade him first shut me up in one dungeon, seeing that I was an +eavesdropper, and then return and thrust my child into another. But he +thought better of it when we had come halfway down the winding-stair, and +said he would excuse me this time, and that the constable might let me go, +and only lock up my child very fast, and bring the key to him, seeing she +was a stubborn person, as he had seen at the very first hearing which he +had given her. + +Hereupon my poor child was torn from me, and I fell in a swound upon the +steps. I know not how I got down them; but when I came to myself, I was in +the constable his room, and his wife was throwing water in my face. There +I passed the night sitting in a chair, and sorrowed more than I prayed, +seeing that my faith was greatly shaken, and the Lord came not to +strengthen it. + + + + +_The Eighteenth Chapter_ + + +OF THE FIRST TRIAL, AND WHAT CAME THEREOF + +Next morning, as I walked up and down in the court, seeing that I had many +times asked the constable in vain to lead me to my child (he would not +even tell me where she lay), and for very disquietude I had at last begun +to wander about there; about six o'clock there came a coach from Uzdom, +wherein sat his worship, Master Samuel Pieper, _consul dirigens_, _item_, +the _camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel, and a _scriba_, whose name, indeed, I +heard, but have forgotten it again; and my daughter forgot it too, albeit +in other things she has an excellent memory, and, indeed, told me most of +what follows, for my old head well-nigh burst, so that I myself could +remember but little. I straightway went up to the coach, and begged that +the worshipful court would suffer me to be present at the trial, seeing +that my daughter was yet in her nonage, but which the Sheriff, who +meanwhile had stepped up to the coach from the terrace, whence he had seen +all, had denied me. But his worship Master Samuel Pieper, who was a little +round man, with a fat paunch, and a beard mingled with grey hanging down +to his middle, reached me his hand, and condoled with me like a Christian +in my trouble: I might come into court in God's name; and he wished with +all his heart that all whereof my daughter was filed might prove to be +foul lies. Nevertheless I had still to wait two hours before their +worships came down the winding stair again. At last towards nine o'clock +I heard the constable moving about the chairs and benches in the +judgment-chamber; and as I conceived that the time was now come, I went in +and sat myself down on a bench. No one, however, was yet there, save the +constable and his young daughter, who was wiping the table, and held a +rosebud between her lips. I was fain to beg her to give it me, so that I +might have it to smell to; and I believe that I should have been carried +dead out of the room that day if I had not had it. God is thus able to +preserve our lives even by means of a poor flower, if so he wills it! + +At length their worships came in and sat round the table, whereupon _Dom. +Consul_ motioned the constable to fetch in my child. Meanwhile he asked +the Sheriff whether he had put _Rea_ in chains, and when he said No, he +gave him such a reprimand that it went through my very marrow. But the +Sheriff excused himself, saying that he had not done so from regard to her +quality, but had locked her up in so fast a dungeon that she could not +possibly escape therefrom. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ answered that much is +possible to the devil, and that they would have to answer for it should +_Rea_ escape. This angered the Sheriff, and he replied that if the devil +could convey her through walls seven feet thick, and through three doors, +he could very easily break her chains too. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ said +that hereafter he would look at the prison himself; and I think that the +Sheriff had been so kind only because he yet hoped (as, indeed, will +hereafter be shown) to talk over my daughter to let him have his will of +her. + +And now the door opened, and my poor child came in with the constable, but +walking backwards, and without her shoes, the which she was forced to +leave without. The fellow had seized her by her long hair, and thus +dragged her up to the table, when first she was to turn round and look +upon her judges. He had a vast deal to say in the matter, and was in every +way a bold and impudent rogue, as will soon be shown. After _Dom. Consul_ +had heaved a deep sigh, and gazed at her from head to foot, he first asked +her her name, and how old she was; _item_, if she knew why she was +summoned before them? On the last point she answered that the Sheriff had +already told her father the reason; that she wished not to wrong any one, +but thought that the Sheriff himself had brought upon her the repute of a +witch, in order to gain her to his wicked will. Hereupon she told all his +ways with her, from the very first, and how he would by all means have had +her for his housekeeper; and that when she would not (although he had many +times come himself to her father his house), one day, as he went out of +the door, he had muttered in his beard, "I will have her, despite of all!" +which their servant Claus Neels had heard, as he stood in the stable; and +he had also sought to gain his ends by means of an ungodly woman, one +Lizzie Kolken, who had formerly been in his service; that this woman, +belike, had contrived the spells which they laid to her charge: she +herself knew nothing of witchcraft; _item_, she related what the Sheriff +had done to her the evening before, when she had just come, and when he +for the first time spoke out plainly, thinking that she was then +altogether in his power: nay, more, that he had come to her that very +night again, in her dungeon, and had made her the same offers, saying that +he would set her free if she would let him have his will of her; and that +when she denied him, he had struggled with her, whereupon she had screamed +aloud, and had scratched him across the nose, as might yet be seen, +whereupon he had left her; wherefore she would not acknowledge the Sheriff +as her judge, and trusted in God to save her from the hand of her enemies, +as of old he had saved the chaste Susannah.-- + +When she now held her peace amid loud sobs, _Dom. Consul_ started up after +he had looked, as we all did, at the Sheriff's nose, and had in truth +espied the scar upon it, and cried out in amaze, "Speak, for God his sake, +speak, what is this that I hear of your lordship?" Whereupon the Sheriff, +without changing colour, answered that although, indeed, he was not called +upon to say anything to their worships, seeing that he was the head of the +court, and that _Rea_, as appeared from numberless _indicia_, was a wicked +witch, and therefore could not bear witness against him or any one else; +he, nevertheless, would speak, so as to give no cause of scandal to the +court; that all the charges brought against him by this person were foul +lies; it was, indeed, true, that he would have hired her for a +housekeeper, whereof he stood greatly in need, seeing that his old Dorothy +was already growing infirm; it was also true that he had yesterday +questioned her in private, hoping to get her to confess by fair means, +whereby her sentence would be softened, inasmuch as he had pity on her +great youth; but that he had not said one naughty word to her, nor had he +been to her in the night; and that it was his little lap-dog, called +Below, which had scratched him, while he played with it that very morning; +that his old Dorothy could bear witness to this, and that the cunning +witch had only made use of this wile to divide the court against itself, +thereby and with the devil's help, to gain her own advantage, inasmuch as +she was a most cunning creature, as the court would soon find out. + +Hereupon I plucked up a heart, and declared that all my daughter had said +was true, and that the evening before I myself had heard, through the +door, how his lordship had made offers to her, and would have done +wantonness with her; _item_, that he had already sought to kiss her once +at Coserow; _item_, the troubles which his lordship had formerly brought +upon me in the matter of the first-fruits. + +Howbeit the Sheriff presently talked me down, saying, that if I had +slandered him, an innocent man, in church, from the pulpit, as the whole +congregation could bear witness, I should doubtless find it easy to do as +much here, before the court; not to mention that a father could, in no +case, be a witness for his own child. + +But _Dom. Consul_ seemed quite confounded, and was silent, and leaned his +head on the table, as in deep thought. Meanwhile the impudent constable +began to finger his beard from under his arm; and _Dom. Consul_ thinking +it was a fly, struck at him with his hand, without even looking up; but +when he felt the constable his hand, he jumped up and asked him what he +wanted? Whereupon the fellow answered, "Oh, only a louse was creeping +there, and I would have caught it." + +At such impudence his worship was so exceeding wroth that he struck the +constable on the mouth, and ordered him, on pain of heavy punishment, to +leave the room. + +Hereupon he turned to the Sheriff, and cried, angrily, "Why, in the name +of all the ten devils, is it thus your lordship keeps the constable in +order? and truly, in this whole matter, there is something which passes my +understanding." But the Sheriff answered, "Not so; should you not +understand it all when you think upon the eels?" + +Hereat _Dom. Consul_ of a sudden turned ghastly pale, and began to +tremble, as it appeared to me, and called the Sheriff aside into another +chamber. I have never been able to learn what that about the eels could +mean.-- + +Meanwhile _Dominus Camerarius_ Gebhard Wenzel sat biting his pen, and +looking furiously--now at me, and now at my child, but said not a word; +neither did he answer _Scriba_, who often whispered somewhat into his ear, +save by a growl. At length both their worships came back into the chamber +together, and _Dom. Consul_, after he and the Sheriff had seated +themselves, began to reproach my poor child violently, saying that she had +sought to make a disturbance in the worshipful court; that his lordship +had shown him the very dog which had scratched his nose, and that, +moreover, the fact had been sworn to by the old housekeeper. + +(Truly _she_ was not likely to betray him, for the old harlot had lived +with him for years, and she had a good big boy by him, as will be seen +hereafter.) + +_Item_, he said that so many _indicia_ of her guilt had come to light, +that it was impossible to believe anything she might say; she was +therefore to give glory to God, and openly to confess everything, so as to +soften her punishment; whereby she might perchance, in pity for her youth, +escape with life, etc. + +Hereupon he put his spectacles on his nose, and began to cross-question +her, during near four hours, from a paper which he held in his hand. These +were the main articles, as far as we both can remember: + +_Quaestio_. Whether she could bewitch? + +_Responsio_. No; she knew nothing of witchcraft. + +_Q_. Whether she could charm? + +_R_. Of that she knew as little. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever been on the Blocksberg? + +_R_. That was too far off for her; she knew few hills save the +Streckelberg, where she had been very often. + +_Q_. What had she done there? + +_R_. She had looked out over the sea, or gathered flowers; _item_, at +times carried home an apronful of dry brushwood. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever called upon the devil there? + +_R_. That had never come into her mind. + +_Q_. Whether, then, the devil had appeared to her there, uncalled? + +_R_. God defend her from such a thing. + +_Q_. So she could not bewitch? + +_R_. No. + +_Q_. What, then, befell Kit Zuter his spotted cow, that it suddenly died +in her presence? + +_R_. She did not know; and that was a strange question. + +_Q_. Then it would be as strange a question, why Katie Berow her little +pig had died? + +_R_. Assuredly; she wondered what they would lay to her charge. + +_Q_. Then she had not bewitched them? + +_R_. No; God forbid it. + +_Q_. Why, then, if she were innocent, had she promised old Katie another +little pig, when her sow should litter? + +_R_. She did that out of kind-heartedness. (And hereupon she began to weep +bitterly, and said she plainly saw that she had to thank old Lizzie Kolken +for all this, inasmuch as she had often threatened her when she would not +fulfil all her greedy desires, for she wanted everything that came in her +way; moreover, that Lizzie had gone all about the village when the cattle +were bewitched, persuading the people that if only a pure maid pulled a +few hairs out of the beasts' tails they would get better. That she pitied +them, and knowing herself to be a maid, went to help them; and indeed, at +first it cured them, but latterly not.) + +_Q_. What cattle had she cured? + +_R_. Zabel his red cow; _item_, Witthan her pig, and old Lizzie's own cow. + +_Q_. Why could she afterwards cure them no more? + +_R_. She did not know, but thought--albeit she had no wish to fyle any +one--that old Lizzie Kolken, who for many a long year had been in common +repute as a witch, had done it all, and bewitched the cows in her name and +then charmed them back again, as she pleased, only to bring her to +misfortune. + +_Q_. Why, then, had old Lizzie bewitched her own cow, _item_, suffered her +own pig to die, if it was she that had made all the disturbance in the +village, and could really charm? + +_R_. She did not know; but belike there was some one (and here she looked +at the Sheriff) who paid her double for it all. + +_Q_. It was in vain that she sought to shift the guilt from off herself; +had she not bewitched old Paasch his crop, nay, even her own father's, and +caused it to be trodden down by the devil, _item_, conjured all the +caterpillars into her father's orchard? + +_R_. The question was almost as monstrous as the deed would have been. +There sat her father, and his worship might ask him whether she ever had +shown herself an undutiful child to him. (Hereupon I would have risen to +speak, but _Dom. Consul_ suffered me not to open my mouth, but went on +with his examination; whereupon I remained silent and downcast.) + +_Q_. Whether she did likewise deny that it was through her malice that the +woman Witthan had given birth to a devil's imp, which straight-way started +up and flew out at the window, so that when the midwife sought for it it +had disappeared? + +_R_. Truly she did; and indeed she had all the days of her life done good +to the people instead of harm, for during the terrible famine she had +often taken the bread out of her own mouth to share it among the others, +especially the little children. To this the whole parish must needs bear +witness, if they were asked; whereas witches and warlocks always did evil +and no good to men, as our Lord Jesus taught (Matt. xii.), when the +Pharisees blasphemed him, saying that he cast out devils by Beelzebub the +prince of the devils; hence his worship might see whether she could in +truth be a witch. + +_Q_. He would soon teach her to talk of blasphemies; he saw that her +tongue was well hung; but she must answer the questions he asked her, and +say nothing more. The question was not _what_ good she had done to the +poor, but _wherewithal_ she had done it; she must now show how she and her +father had of a sudden grown so rich that she could go pranking about in +silken raiment, whereas she used to be so very poor? + +Hereupon she looked towards me, and said, "Father, shall I tell?" +Whereupon I answered, "Yes, my child, now thou must openly tell all, even +though we thereby become beggars." She accordingly told how, when our need +was sorest, she had found the amber, and how much we had gotten for it +from the Dutch merchants. + +_Q_. What were the names of these merchants? + +_R_. Dieterich von Pehnen and Jakob Kiekebusch; but, as we have heard from +a schipper, they since died of the plague at Stettin. + +_Q_. Why had we said nothing of such a godsend? + +_R_. Out of fear of our enemy the Sheriff, who, as it seemed, had +condemned us to die of hunger, inasmuch as he forbade the parishioners, +under pain of heavy displeasure, to supply us with anything, saying, that +he would send them a better parson. + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the Sheriff sharply in the face, who +answered that it was true he had said this, seeing that the parson had +preached at him in the most scandalous manner from the pulpit; but that he +knew very well, at the time, that they were far enough from dying of +hunger. + +_Q_. How came so much amber on the Streckelberg? She had best confess at +once that the devil had brought it to her. + +_R_. She knew nothing about that. But there was a great vein of amber +there, as she could show to them all that very day; and she had broken out +the amber, and covered the hole well over with fir-twigs, so that none +should find it. + +_Q_. When had she gone up the Streckelberg; by day or by night? + +_R_. Hereupon she blushed, and for a moment held her peace; but presently +made answer, "Sometimes by day, and sometimes by night." + +_Q_. Why did she hesitate? She had better make a full confession of all, +so that her punishment might be less heavy. Had she not there given over +old Seden to Satan, who had carried him off through the air, and left only +a part of his hair and brains sticking to the top of an oak? + +_R_. She did not know whether that was his hair and brains at all, nor how +it came there. She went to the tree one morning because she heard a +woodpecker cry so dolefully. _Item_, old Paasch, who also had heard the +cries, came up with his axe in his hand. + +_Q_. Whether the woodpecker was not the devil himself, who had carried off +old Seden? + +_R_. She did not know: but he must have been dead some time, seeing that +the blood and brains which the lad fetched down out of the tree were quite +dried up. + +_Q_. How and when, then, had he come by his death? + +_R_. That Almighty God only knew. But Zuter his little girl had said, that +one day, while she gathered nettles for the cows under Seden his hedge, +she heard the goodman threaten his squint-eyed wife that he would tell the +parson that he now knew of a certainty that she had a familiar spirit; +whereupon the goodman had presently disappeared. But that this was a +child's tale, and she would fyle no one on the strength of it. + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again looked the Sheriff steadily in the face, and +said, "Old Lizzie Kolken must be brought before us this very day": whereto +the Sheriff made no answer; and he went on to ask, + +_Q_. Whether, then, she still maintained that she knew nothing of the +devil? + +_R_. She maintained it now, and would maintain it until her life's end. + +_Q_. And nevertheless, as had been seen by witnesses, she had been +re-baptized by him in the sea in broad daylight.--Here again she blushed, +and for a moment was silent. + +_Q_. Why did she blush again? She should for God his sake think on her +salvation, and confess the truth. + +_R_. She had bathed herself in the sea, seeing that the day was very hot; +that was the whole truth. + +_Q_. What chaste maiden would ever bathe in the sea? Thou liest; or wilt +thou even yet deny that thou didst bewitch old Paasch his little girl with +a white roll? + +_R_. Alas! alas! she loved the child as though it were her own little +sister; not only had she taught her as well as all the other children +without reward, but during the heavy famine she had often taken the bit +from her own mouth to put it into the little child's. How, then, could she +have wished to do her such grievous harm? + +_Q_. Wilt thou even yet deny?--Reverend Abraham, how stubborn is your +child! See here, is this no witches' salve, which the constable fetched +out of thy coffer last night? Is this no witches' salve, eh? + +_R_. It was a salve for the skin, which would make it soft and white, as +the apothecary at Wolgast had told her, of whom she bought it. + +_Q_. Hereupon he shook his head, and went on: How! wilt thou then lastly +deny that on this last Saturday the both July, at twelve o'clock at night, +thou didst on the Streckelberg call upon thy paramour the devil in +dreadful words, whereupon he appeared to thee in the shape of a great +hairy giant, and clipped thee and toyed with thee? + +At these words she grew more pale than a corpse, and tottered so that she +was forced to hold by a chair: and I, wretched man, who would readily have +sworn away my life for her, when I saw and heard this, my senses forsook +me, so that I fell down from the bench, and _Dom. Consul_ had to call in +the constable to help me up. + +When I had come to myself a little, and the impudent varlet saw our common +consternation, he cried out, grinning at the court the while, 'Is it all +out? is it all out? has she confessed?' Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ again +showed him the door with a sharp rebuke, as might have been expected; and +it is said that this knave played the pimp for the Sheriff, and indeed I +think he would not otherwise have been so bold. + +_Summa_: I should well-nigh have perished in my distress, but for the +little rose, which by the help of God's mercy kept me up bravely; and now +the whole court rose and exhorted my poor fainting child, by the living +God, and as she would save her soul, to deny no longer, but in pity to +herself and her father to confess the truth. + +[Illustration: The Apparition on the Streckelberg] + +Hereupon she heaved a deep sigh, and grew as red as she had been pale +before, insomuch that even her hand upon the chair was like scarlet, and +she did not raise her eyes from the ground. + +_R_. She would now then confess the simple truth, as she saw right well +that wicked people had stolen after and watched her at nights. That she +had been to seek for amber on the mountain, and that to drive away fear +she had, as she was wont to do at her work, recited the Latin _carmen_ +which her father had made on the illustrious King Gustavus Adolphus: when +young Rüdiger of Nienkerken, who had ofttimes been at her father's house +and talked of love to her, came out of the coppice, and when she cried out +for fear, spoke to her in Latin, and clasped her in his arms. That he wore +a great wolf's-skin coat, so that folks should not know him if they met +him, and tell the lord his father that he had been on the mountain by +night. + +At this her confession I fell into sheer despair, and cried in great +wrath, "O thou ungodly and undutiful child, after all, then, thou hast a +paramour! Did not I forbid thee to go up the mountain by night? What didst +thou want on the mountain by night?" and I began to moan and weep and +wring my hands, so that _Dom. Consul_ even had pity on me, and drew near +to comfort me. Meanwhile she herself came towards me, and began to defend +herself, saying, with many tears, that she had gone up the mountain by +night, against my commands, to get so much amber that she might secretly +buy for me, against my birthday, the _Opera Sancti Augustim_, which the +Cantor at Wolgast wanted to sell. That it was not her fault that the young +lord lay in wait for her one night; and that she would swear to me, by the +living God, that nought that was unseemly had happened between them there, +and that she was still a maid. + +And herewith the first hearing was at end, for after _Dom. Consul_ had +whispered somewhat into the ear of the Sheriff, he called in the constable +again, and bade him keep good watch over _Rea_; _item_, not to leave her +at large in her dungeon any longer, but to put her in chains. These words +pierced my very heart, and I besought his worship to consider my sacred +office, and my ancient noble birth, and not to do me such dishonour as to +put my daughter in chains. That I would answer for her to the worshipful +court with my own head that she would not escape. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_, +after he had gone to look at the dungeon himself, granted me my request, +and commanded the constable to leave her as she had been hitherto. + + + + +_The Nineteenth Chapter_ + + +HOW SATAN, BY THE PERMISSION OF THE MOST RIGHTEOUS GOD, SOUGHT ALTOGETHER +TO RUIN US, AND HOW WE LOST ALL HOPE + +The same day, at about three in the afternoon, when I was gone to Conrad +Seep his alehouse to eat something, seeing that it was now nearly two days +since I had tasted aught save my tears, and he had placed before me some +bread and sausage, together with a mug of beer, the constable came into +the room and greeted me from the Sheriff, without, however, so much as +touching his cap, asking whether I would not dine with his lordship; that +his lordship had not remembered till now that I belike was still fasting, +seeing the trial had lasted so long. Hereupon I made answer to the +constable that I already had my dinner before me, as he saw himself, and +desired that his lordship would hold me excused. Hereat the fellow +wondered greatly, and answered; did I not see that his lordship wished me +well, albeit I had preached at him as though he were a Jew? I should think +on my daughter, and be somewhat more ready to do his lordship's will, +whereby peradventure all would yet end well. For his lordship was not such +a rough ass as _Dom. Consul_, and meant well by my child and me, as +beseemed a righteous magistrate. + +After I had with some trouble rid myself of this impudent fox, I tried to +eat a bit, but nothing would go down save the beer. I therefore soon sat +and thought again whether I would not lodge with Conrad Seep, so as to be +always near my child; _item_, whether I should not hand over my poor +misguided flock to M. Vigelius, the pastor of Benz, for such time as the +Lord still should prove me. In about an hour I saw through the window how +that an empty coach drove to the castle, and the Sheriff and _Dom. Consul_ +straightway stepped thereinto with my child; _item_, the constable climbed +up behind. Hereupon I left everything on the table and ran to the coach, +asking humbly whither they were about to take my poor child; and when I +heard they were going to the Streckelberg to look after the amber, I +begged them to take me also, and to suffer me to sit by my child, for who +could tell how much longer I might yet sit by her! This was granted to me, +and on the way the Sheriff ordered me to take up my abode in the castle +and to dine at his table as often as I pleased, and that he would, +moreover, send my child her meat from his own table. For that he had a +Christian heart, and well knew that we were to forgive our enemies. But I +refused his kindness with humble thanks, as my child did also, seeing we +were not yet so poor that we could not maintain ourselves. As we passed by +the watermill the ungodly varlet there again thrust his head out of a hole +and pulled wry faces at my child; but, dear reader, he got something to +remember it by; for the Sheriff beckoned to the constable to fetch the +fellow out, and after he had reproached him with the tricks he had twice +played my child, the constable had to take the coachman his new whip and +to give him fifty lashes, which, God knows, were not laid on with a +feather. He bellowed like a bull, which, however, no one heard for the +noise of the mill-wheels, and when at last he did as though he could not +stir, we left him lying on the ground and went on our way. + +As we drove through Uekeritze a number of people flocked together, but +were quiet enough, save one fellow who, _salvâ veniâ_, mocked at us with +unseemly gestures in the midst of the road when he saw us coming. The +constable had to jump down again, but could not catch him, and the others +would not give him up, but pretended that they had only looked at our +coach and had not marked him. May be this was true! And I am therefore +inclined to think that it was Satan himself who did it to mock at us; for +mark, for God's sake, what happened to us on the Streckelberg! Alas! +through the delusions of the foul fiend, we could not find the spot where +we had dug for the amber. For when we came to where we thought it must be, +a huge hill of sand had been heaped up as by a whirlwind, and the +fir-twigs which my child had covered over it were gone. She was near +falling in a swound when she saw this, and wrung her hands and cried out +with her Saviour, "My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me!" + +Howbeit, the constable and the coachman were ordered to dig, but not one +bit of amber was to be found, even so big as a grain of corn, whereupon +_Dom. Consul_ shook his head and violently upbraided my child. And when I +answered that Satan himself, as it seemed, had filled up the hollow in +order to bring us altogether into his power, the constable was ordered to +fetch a long stake out of the coppice which we might thrust still deeper +into the sand. But no hard _objectum_ was anywhere to be felt, +notwithstanding the Sheriff, _Dom. Consul_, and myself in my anguish did +try everywhere with the stake. + +Hereupon my child besought her judges to go with her to Coserow, where she +still had much amber in her coffer which she had found here, and that if +it were the gift of the devil it would all be changed, since it was well +known that all the presents the devil makes to witches straightway turn to +mud and ashes. + +But, God be merciful to us, God be merciful to us! when we returned to +Coserow, amid the wonderment of all the village, and my daughter went to +her coffer, the things therein were all tossed about, and the amber gone. +Hereupon she shrieked so loud that it would have softened a stone, and +cried out: "The wicked constable hath done this! when he fetched the salve +out of my coffer, he stole the amber from me, unhappy maid." But the +constable, who stood by, would have torn her hair, and cried out, "Thou +witch, thou damned witch, is it not enough that thou hast belied my lord, +but thou must now belie me too?" But _Dom. Consul_ forbade him, so that he +did not dare lay hands upon her. _Item_, all the money was gone which she +had hoarded up from the amber she had privately sold, and which she +thought already came to about ten florins. + +But the gown which she had worn at the arrival of the most illustrious +King Gustavus Adolphus, as well as the golden chain with his effigy which +he had given her, I had locked up, as though it were a relic, in the chest +in the vestry, among the altar and pulpit cloths, and there we found them +still; and when I excused myself therefore, saying that I had thought to +have saved them up for her there against her bridal day, she gazed with +fixed and glazed eyes into the box, and cried out, "Yes, against the day +when I shall be burnt; O Jesu, Jesu, Jesu!" Hereat _Dom. Consul_ shuddered +and said, "See how thou still dost smite thyself with thine own words! For +the sake of God and thy salvation, confess, for if thou knowest thyself to +be innocent, how, then, canst thou think that thou wilt be burnt?" But she +still looked him fixedly in the face, and cried aloud in Latin, +"_Innocentia, quid est innocentia? Ubi libido dominatur, innocentia leve +praesidium est_." + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ again shuddered, so that his beard wagged, and +said, "What, dost thou indeed know Latin? Where didst thou learn the +Latin?" And when I answered this question as well as I was able for +sobbing, he shook his head and said, "I never in my life heard of a woman +that knew Latin." Upon this he knelt down before her coffer, and turned +over everything therein, drew it away from the wall, and when he found +nothing he bade us show him her bed, and did the same with that. This, at +length, vexed the Sheriff, who asked him whether they should not drive +back again, seeing that night was coming on. But he answered, "Nay, I must +first have the written paction which Satan has given her"; and he went on +with his search until it was almost dark. But they found nothing at all, +although _Dom. Consul_, together with the constable, passed over no hole +or corner, even in the kitchen and cellar. Hereupon he got up again into +the coach, muttering to himself, and bade my daughter sit so that she +should not look upon him. + +And now we once more had the same _spectaculum_ with the accursed old +witch Lizzie Kolken, seeing that she again sat at her door as we drove by, +and began to sing at the top of her voice, "We praise thee, O Lord." But +she screeched like a stuck pig, so that _Dom. Consul_ was amazed thereat, +and when he had heard who she was, he asked the Sheriff whether he would +not that she should be seized by the constable and be tied behind the +coach to run after it, as we had no room for her elsewhere; for that he +had often been told that all old women who had red squinting eyes and +sharp voices were witches, not to mention the suspicious things which +_Rea_ had declared against her. But he answered that he could not do this, +seeing that old Lizzie was a woman in good repute and fearing God as _Dom. +Consul_ might learn for himself; but that, nevertheless, he had had her +summoned for the morrow, together with the other witnesses. + +Yea, in truth, an excellently devout and worthy woman!--for scarcely were +we out of the village, when so fearful a storm of thunder, lightning, +wind, and hail burst over our heads, that the corn all around us was +beaten down as with a flail, and the horses before the coach were quite +maddened; however, it did not last long. But my poor child had to bear all +the blame again, inasmuch as _Dom. Consul_ thought that it was not old +Lizzie, which, nevertheless, was as clear as the sun at noonday! but my +poor daughter who brewed the storm;--for, beloved reader, what could it +have profited her, even if she had known the black art? This, however, did +not strike _Dom. Consul_, and Satan, by the permission of the +all-righteous God, was presently to use us still worse; for just as we got +to the Master's Dam, he came flying over us in the shape of a stork, and +dropped a frog so exactly over us that it fell into my daughter her lap: +she gave a shrill scream, but I whispered her to sit still, and that I +would secretly throw the frog away by one leg. + +But the constable had seen it, and cried out, "Hey, sirs! hey, look at the +cursed witch! what has the devil just thrown into her lap?" Whereupon the +Sheriff and _Dom. Consul_ looked round and saw the frog, which crawled in +her lap, and the constable after he had blown upon it three times, took it +up and showed it to their lordships. Hereat _Dom. Consul_ began to spew, +and when he had done, he ordered the coachman to stop, got down from the +coach, and said we might drive home, that he felt qualmish, and would go +afoot and see if he got better. But first he privately whispered to the +constable, which, howbeit, we heard right well, that when he got home he +should lay my poor child in chains, but not so as to hurt her much; to +which neither she nor I could answer save by tears and sobs. But the +Sheriff had heard it too, and when his worship was out of sight he began +to stroke my child her cheeks from behind her back, telling her to be +easy, as he also had a word to say in the matter, and that the constable +should not lay her in chains. But that she must leave off being so hard to +him as she had been hitherto, and come and sit on the seat beside him, +that he might privately give her some good advice as to what was to be +done. To this she answered, with many tears, that she wished to sit only +by her father, as she knew not how much longer she might sit by him at +all; and she begged for nothing more save that his lordship would leave +her in peace. But this he would not do, but pinched her back and sides +with his knees; and as she bore with this, seeing that there was no help +for it, he waxed bolder, taking it for a good sign. Meanwhile _Dom. +Consul_ called out close behind us (for being frightened he ran just after +the coach), "Constable, constable, come here quick; here lies a hedgehog +in the midst of the road!" whereupon the constable jumped down from the +coach. + +This made the Sheriff still bolder; and at last my child rose up and said, +"Father, let us also go afoot; I can no longer guard myself from him here +behind!" But he pulled her down again by her clothes, and cried out +angrily, "Wait, thou wicked witch, I will help thee to go afoot if thou +art so wilful; thou shalt be chained to the block this very night." +Whereupon she answered, "Do you do that which you cannot help doing; the +righteous God, it is to be hoped, will one day do unto you what He cannot +help doing." + +Meanwhile we had reached the castle, and scarcely were we got out of the +coach, when _Dom. Consul_, who had run till he was all of a sweat, came up +together with the constable, and straightway gave over my child into his +charge, so that I had scarce time to bid her farewell. I was left standing +on the floor below, wringing my hands in the dark, and hearkened whither +they were leading her, inasmuch as I had not the heart to follow, when +_Dom. Consul_, who had stepped into a room with the Sheriff, looked out at +the door again, and called after the constable to bring _Rea_ once more +before them. And when he had done so, and I went into the room with them, +_Dom. Consul_ held a letter in his hand, and, after spitting thrice, he +began thus: "Wilt thou still deny, thou stubborn witch? Hear what the old +knight, Hans von Nienkerken, writes to the court!" Whereupon he read out +to us that his son was so disturbed by the tale the accursed witch had +told of him that he had fallen sick from that very hour, and that he, the +father, was not much better. That his son Rüdiger had indeed at times, +when he went that way, been to see Pastor Schweidler, whom he had first +known upon a journey; but that he swore that he wished he might turn black +if he had ever used any folly or jesting with the cursed devil's whore his +daughter; much less ever been with her by night on the Streckelberg, or +embraced her there. + +At this dreadful news we both (I mean my child and I) fell down in a +swound together, seeing that we had rested our last hopes on the young +lord; and I know not what further happened. For when I came to myself, my +host, Conrad Seep, was standing over me, holding a funnel between my +teeth, through which he ladled some warm beer down my throat, and I never +felt more wretched in all my life; insomuch that Master Seep had to +undress me like a little child, and to help me into bed. + + + + +_The Twentieth Chapter_ + + +OF THE MALICE OF THE GOVERNOR AND OF OLD LIZZIE: +_ITEM_, OF THE EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES + +The next morning my hairs, which till _datum_ had been mingled with grey, +were white as snow, albeit the Lord otherwise blessed me wondrously. For +near daybreak a nightingale flew into the elder-bush beneath my window, +and sang so sweetly that straightway I thought it must be a good angel. +For after I had hearkened a while to it, I was all at once able again to +pray, which since last Sunday I could not do; and the spirit of our Lord +Jesus Christ began to speak within me, "Abba, Father"; and straightway I +was of good cheer, trusting that God would once more be gracious unto me +his wretched child; and when I had given him thanks for such great mercy, +I fell into a refreshing slumber, and slept so long that the blessed sun +stood high in the heavens when I awoke. + +And seeing that my heart was still of good cheer, I sat up in my bed, and +sang with a loud voice, "Be not dismayed, thou little flock": whereupon +Master Seep came into the room, thinking I had called him. But he stood +reverently waiting till I had done; and after marvelling at my snow-white +hair, he told me it was already seven; _item_, that half my congregation, +among others my ploughman, Claus Neels, were already assembled in his +house to bear witness that day. When I heard this, I bade mine host +forthwith send Claus to the castle, to ask when the court would open, and +he brought word back that no one knew, seeing that _Dom. Consul_ was +already gone that morning to Mellenthin to see old Nienkerken, and was not +yet come back. This message gave me good courage, and I asked the fellow +whether he also had come to bear witness against my poor child? To which +he answered, "Nay, I know nought save good of her, and I would give the +fellows their due, only--" + +These words surprised me, and I vehemently urged him to open his heart to +me. But he began to weep, and at last said that he knew nothing. Alas! he +knew but too much, and could then have saved my poor child if he had +willed. But from fear of the torture he held his peace, as he since owned; +and I will here relate what had befallen him that very morning. + +He had set out betimes that morning, so as to be alone with his +sweetheart, who was to go along with him (she is Steffen of Zempin his +daughter, not farmer Steffen, but the lame gouty Steffen), and had got to +Pudgla about five, where he found no one in the ale-house save old Lizzie +Kolken, who straightway hobbled up to the castle; and when his sweetheart +was gone home again, time hung heavy on his hands, and he climbed over the +wall into the castle garden, where he threw himself on his face behind a +hedge to sleep. But before long the Sheriff came with old Lizzie, and +after they had looked all round and seen no one, they went into an arbour +close by him, and conversed as follows:-- + +_Ille_. Now that they were alone together, what did she want of him? + +_Illa_. She came to get the money for the witchcraft she had contrived in +the village. + +_Ille_. Of what use had all this witchcraft been to him? My child, so far +from being frightened, defied him more and more; and he doubted whether he +should ever have his will of her. + +_Illa_. He should only have patience; when she was laid upon the rack she +would soon learn to be fond. + +_Ille_. That might be, but till then she (Lizzie) should get no money. + +_Illa_. What! Must she then do his cattle a mischief? + +_Ille_. Yes, if she felt chilly, and wanted a burning fagot to warm her +_podex_, she had better. Moreover, he thought that she had bewitched him, +seeing that his desire for the parson's daughter was such as he had never +felt before. + +_Illa_. (Laughing.) He had said the same thing some thirty years ago, when +he first came after her. + +_Ille_. Ugh! thou old baggage, don't remind me of such things, but see to +it that you get three witnesses, as I told you before, or else methinks +they will rack your old joints for you after all. + +_Illa_. She had the three witnesses ready, and would leave the rest to +him. But that if she were racked she would reveal all she knew. + +_Ille_. She should hold her ugly tongue, and go to the devil. + +_Illa_. So she would, but first she must have her money. + +_Ille_. She should have no money till he had had his will of my daughter. + +_Illa_. He might at least pay her for her little pig which she herself had +bewitched to death, in order that she might not get into evil repute. + +_Ille_. She might choose one when his pigs were driven by, and say she had +paid for it. Hereupon, said my Claus, the pigs were driven by, and one ran +into the garden, the door being open, and as the swineherd followed it, +they parted; but the witch muttered to herself, "Now help, devil, help, +that I may--" but he heard no further. + +The cowardly fellow, however, hid all this from me, as I have said above, +and only said, with tears, that he knew nothing. I believed him, and sat +down at the window to see when _Dom. Consul_ should return; and when I saw +him I rose and went to the castle, where the constable, who was already +there with my child, met me before the judgment-chamber. Alas! she looked +more joyful than I had seen her for a long time, and smiled at me with her +sweet little mouth: but when she saw my snow-white hair, she gave a cry, +which made _Dom. Consul_ throw open the door of the judgment-chamber, and +say, "Ha, ha! thou knowest well what news I have brought thee; come in, +thou stubborn devil's brat!" Whereupon we stepped into the chamber to him, +and he lift up his voice and spake to me, after he had sat down with the +Sheriff, who was by. + +He said that yestereven, after he had caused me to be carried like one +dead to Master Seep his ale-house, and that my stubborn child had been +brought to life again, he had once more adjured her, to the utmost of his +power, no longer to lie before the face of the living God, but to confess +the truth; whereupon she had borne herself very unruly, and had wrung her +hands and wept and sobbed, and at last answered that the young _nobilis_ +never could have said such things, but that his father must have written +them, who hated her, as she had plainly seen when the Swedish king was at +Coserow. That he, _Dom. Consul_, had indeed doubted the truth of this at +the time, but as a just judge had gone that morning right early with the +_scriba_ to Mellenthin, to question the young lord himself. + +That I might now see myself what horrible malice was in my daughter. For +that the old knight had led him to his son's bedside, who still lay sick +from vexation, and that he had confirmed all his father had written, and +had cursed the scandalous she-devil (as he called my daughter) for seeking +to rob him of his knightly honour. "What sayest thou now?" he continued; +"wilt thou still deny thy great wickedness? See here the _protocollum_ +which the young lord hath signed _manu propriâ_!" But the wretched maid +had meanwhile fallen on the ground again, and the constable had no sooner +seen this than he ran into the kitchen, and came back with a burning +brimstone match, which he was about to hold under her nose. + +But I hindered him, and sprinkled her face with water, so that she opened +her eyes, and raised herself up by a table. She then stood a while, +without saying a word or regarding my sorrow. At last she smiled sadly, +and spake thus: That she clearly saw how true was that spoken by the Holy +Ghost, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man"; and that the +faithlessness of the young lord had surely broken her poor heart if the +all-merciful God had not graciously prevented him, and sent her a dream +that night, which she would tell, not hoping to persuade the judges, but +to raise up the white head of her poor father. + +"After I had sat and watched all the night," quoth she, "towards morning I +heard a nightingale sing in the castle-garden so sweetly that my eyes +closed, and I slept. Then methought I was a lamb, grazing quietly in my +meadow at Coserow. Suddenly the Sheriff jumped over the hedge and turned +into a wolf, who seized me in his jaws, and ran with me towards the +Streckelberg, where he had his lair. I, poor little lamb, trembled and +bleated in vain, and saw death before my eyes, when he laid me down before +his lair, where lay the she-wolf and her young. But behold a hand, like +the hand of a man, straightway came out of the bushes and touched the +wolves, each one with one finger, and crushed them so that nought was left +of them save a grey powder. Hereupon the hand took me up, and carried me +back to my meadow." + +Only think, beloved reader, how I felt when I heard all this, and about +the dear nightingale too, which no one can doubt to have been the servant +of God. I clasped my child with many tears, and told her what had happened +to me, and we both won such courage and confidence as we had never yet +felt, to the wonderment of _Dom. Consul_, as it seemed; but the Sheriff +turned as pale as a sheet when she stepped towards their worships and +said, "And now do with me as you will, the lamb fears not, for she is in +the hands of the Good Shepherd!" Meanwhile _Dom. Camerarius_ came in with +the _scriba_, but was terrified as he chanced to touch my daughter's apron +with the skirts of his coat; and stood and scraped at his coat as a woman +scrapes a fish. At last, after he had spat out thrice, he asked the court +whether it would not begin to examine witnesses, seeing that all the +people had been waiting some time both in the castle and at the ale-house. +Hereunto they agreed, and the constable was ordered to guard my child in +his room, until it should please the court to summon her. I therefore went +with her, but, we had to endure much from the impudent rogue, seeing he +was not ashamed to lay his arm round my child her shoulders and to ask for +a kiss _in meâ presentiâ_. But, before I could get out a word, she tore +herself from him, and said, "Ah, thou wicked knave, must I complain of +thee to the court; hast thou forgotten what thou hast already done to me?" +To which, he answered, laughing, "See, see! how coy"; and still sought to +persuade her to be more willing, and not to forget her own interest; for +that he meant as well by her as his master; she might believe it or not; +with many other scandalous words besides which I have forgot; for I took +my child upon my knees and laid my head on her neck, and we sat and wept. + + + + +_The Twenty-first Chapter_ + + +DE CONFRONTATIONE TESTIUM + +When we were summoned before the court again, the whole court was full of +people, and some shuddered when they saw us, but others wept; my child +told the same tale as before. But when our old Ilse was called, who sat on +a bench behind, so that we had not seen her, the strength wherewith the +Lord had gifted her was again at an end, and she repeated the words of our +Saviour, "He that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me": +and she held fast by my chair. Old Ilse, too, could not walk straight for +very grief, nor could she speak for tears, but she twisted and wound +herself about before the court like a woman in travail. But when Dom. +Consul threatened that the constable should presently help her to her +words, she testified that my child had very often got up in the night and +called aloud upon the foul fiend. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever heard Satan answer her? + +_R_. She never had heard him at all. + +_Q_. Whether she had perceived that _Rea_ had a familiar spirit, and in +what shape? She should think upon her oath, and speak the truth. + +_R_. She had never seen one. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever heard her fly up the chimney? + +_R_. Nay, she had always gone softly out at the door. + +_Q_. Whether she never at mornings had missed her broom or pitch-fork? + +_R_. Once the broom was gone, but she had found it again behind the stove, +and may be left it there herself by mistake. + +_Q_. Whether she had never heard _Rea_ cast a spell or wish harm to this +or that person? + +_R_. No, never; she had always wished her neighbours nothing but good, and +even in the time of bitter famine had taken the bread out of her own mouth +to give it to others. + +_Q_. Whether she did not know the salve which had been found in _Rea_ her +coffer? + +_R_. Oh, yes! her young mistress had brought it back from Wolgast for her +skin, and had once given her some when she had chapped hands, and it had +done her a vast deal of good. + +_Q_. Whether she had anything further to say? + +_R_. No, nothing but good. + +Hereupon my man Claus Neels was called up. He also came forward in tears, +but answered every question with a "Nay," and at last testified that he +had never seen nor heard anything bad of my child, and knew nought of her +doings by night, seeing that he slept in the stable with the horses; and +that he firmly believed that evil folks--and here he looked at old +Lizzie--had brought this misfortune upon her, and that she was quite +innocent. + +When it came to the turn of this old limb of Satan, who was to be the +chief witness, my child again declared that she would not accept old +Lizzie's testimony against her, and called upon the court for justice, for +that she had hated her from her youth up, and had been longer by habit and +repute a witch than she herself. + +But the old hag cried out, "God forgive thee thy sins; the whole village +knows that I am a devout woman, and one serving the Lord in all things"; +whereupon she called up old Zuter Witthahn and my church-warden Claus +Bulk, who bore witness hereto. But old Paasch stood and shook his head; +nevertheless when my child said, "Paasch, wherefore dost thou shake thy +head?" he started, and answered, "Oh, nothing!" + +Howbeit, _Dom. Consul_ likewise perceived this, and asked him, whether he +had any charge to bring against old Lizzie; if so, he should give glory to +God, and state the same; _item_, it was competent to every one so to do; +indeed the court required of him to speak out all he knew. + +But from fear of the old dragon, all were still as mice, so that you might +have heard the flies buzz about the inkstand. I then stood up, wretched as +I was, and stretched out my arms over my amazed and faint-hearted people +and spake, "Can ye thus crucify me together with my poor child? Have I +deserved this at your hands? Speak, then; alas, will none speak?" I heard, +indeed, how several wept aloud, but not one spake; and hereupon my poor +child was forced to submit. + +And the malice of the old hag was such that she not only accused my child +of the most horrible witchcraft, but also reckoned to a day when she had +given herself up to Satan to rob her of her maiden honour; and she said +that Satan had, without doubt, then defiled her when she could no longer +heal the cattle, and when they all died. Hereupon my child said nought, +save that she cast down her eyes and blushed deep, for shame at such +filthiness; and to the other blasphemous slander which the old hag uttered +with many tears, namely, that my daughter had given up her (Lizzie's) +husband, body and soul, to Satan, she answered as she had done before. But +when the old hag came to her re-baptism in the sea, and gave out that +while seeking for strawberries in the coppice she had recognised my +child's voice, and stolen towards her, and perceived these devil's doings, +my child fell in smiling, and answered, "Oh, thou evil woman! how couldst +thou hear my voice speaking down by the sea, being thyself in the forest +upon the mountain? surely thou liest, seeing that the murmur of the waves +would make that impossible." This angered the old dragon, and seeking to +get out of the blunder she fell still deeper into it, for she said, "I saw +thee move thy lips, and from that I knew that thou didst call upon thy +paramour the devil!" for my child straight-way replied, "Oh, thou ungodly +woman! thou saidst thou wert in the forest when thou didst hear my voice; +how then up in the forest couldst thou see whether I, who was below by the +water, moved my lips or not?"-- + +Such contradictions amazed even _Dom. Consul_, and he began to threaten +the old hag with the rack if she told such lies; whereupon she answered +and said, "List, then, whether I lie! When she went naked into the water +she had no mark on her body, but when she came out again I saw that she +had between her breasts a mark the size of a silver penny, whence I +perceived that the devil had given it her, although I had not seen him +about her, nor, indeed, had I seen any one, either spirit or child of man, +for she seemed to be quite alone." + +Hereupon the Sheriff jumped up from his seat, and cried, "Search must +straightway be made for this mark"; whereupon _Dom. Consul_ answered, +"Yea, but not by us, but by two women of good repute," for he would not +hearken to what my child said, that it was a mole, and that she had had it +from her youth up, wherefore the constable his wife was sent for, and +_Dom. Consul_ muttered somewhat into her ear, and as prayers and tears +were of no avail, my child was forced to go with her. Howbeit, she +obtained this favour, that old Lizzie Kolken was not to follow her, as she +would have done, but our old maid Ilse. I, too, went in my sorrow, seeing +that I knew not what the women might do to her. She wept bitterly as they +undressed her, and held her hands over her eyes for very shame. + +Well-a-day, her body was just as white as my departed wife's; although in +her childhood, as I remember, she was very yellow, and I saw with +amazement the mole between her breasts, whereof I had never heard aught +before. But she suddenly screamed violently and started back, seeing that +the constable his wife, when nobody watched her, had run a needle into the +mole, so deep that the red blood ran down over her breasts. I was sorely +angered thereat, but the woman said that she had done it by order of the +judge, which, indeed, was true; for when we came back into court, and the +Sheriff asked how it was, she testified that there was a mark of the size +of a silver penny, of a yellowish colour, but that it had feeling, seeing +that _Rea_ had screamed aloud when she had, unperceived, driven a needle +therein. Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_ suddenly rose, and, +stepping up to my child, drew her eyelids asunder, and cried out, +beginning to tremble, "Behold the sign which never fails": whereupon the +whole court started to their feet, and looked at the little spot under her +right eyelid, which in truth had been left there by a stye, but this none +would believe. _Dom. Consul_ now said, "See, Satan hath marked thee on +body and soul! and thou dost still continue to lie unto the Holy Ghost; +but it shall not avail thee, and thy punishment will only be the heavier. +Oh, thou shameless woman! thou hast refused to accept the testimony of old +Lizzie; wilt thou also refuse that of these people, who have all heard +thee on the mountain call upon the devil thy paramour, and seen him appear +in the likeness of a hairy giant, and kiss and caress thee?" + +Hereupon old Paasch, goodwife Witthahn, and Zuter came forward and bare +witness, that they had seen this happen about midnight, and that on this +declaration they would live and die; that old Lizzie had awakened them one +Saturday night about eleven o'clock, had given them a can of beer, and +persuaded them to follow the parson's daughter privately, and to see what +she did upon the mountain. At first they refused but in order to get at +the truth about the witchcraft in the village, they had at last, after a +devout prayer, consented, and had followed her in God's name. + +They had soon through the bushes seen the witch in the moonshine; she +seemed to dig, and spake in some strange tongue the while, whereupon the +grim arch-fiend suddenly appeared, and fell upon her neck. Hereupon they +ran away in consternation, but, by the help of the Almighty God, on whom +from the very first they had set their faith, they were preserved from the +power of the Evil One. For, notwithstanding he had turned round on hearing +a rustling in the bushes, he had had no power to harm them. + +Finally, it was even charged to my child as a crime, that she had fainted +on the road from Coserow to Pudgla, and none would believe that this had +been caused by vexation at old Lizzie her singing, and not from a bad +conscience, as stated by the judge. + +When all the witnesses had been examined, _Dom. Consul_ asked her whether +she had brewed the storm, what was the meaning of the frog that dropped +into her lap, _item_, the hedgehog which lay directly in his path? To all +of which she answered, that she had caused the one as little as she knew +of the other. Whereupon _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked her, last +of all, whether she would have an advocate, or trust entirely in the good +judgment of the court. To this she gave answer that she would by all means +have an advocate. Wherefore I sent my ploughman, Claus Neels, the next day +to Wolgast to fetch the _Syndicus_ Michelsen, who is a worthy man, and in +whose house I have been many times when I went to the town, seeing that he +courteously invited me. + +I must also note here that at this time my old Ilse came back to live with +me; for after the witnesses were gone she stayed behind in the chamber, +and came boldly up to me, and besought me to suffer her once more to serve +her old master and her dear young mistress; for that now she had saved her +poor soul, and confessed all she knew. Wherefore she could no longer bear +to see her old masters in such woeful plight, without so much as a +mouthful of victuals, seeing that she had heard that old wife Seep, who +had till _datum_ prepared the food for me and my child, often let the +porridge burn; _item_, oversalted the fish and the meat. Moreover, that I +was so weakened by age and misery, that I needed help and support, which +she would faithfully give me, and was ready to sleep in the stable, if +needs must be; that she wanted no wages for it, I was only not to turn her +away. Such kindness made my daughter to weep, and she said to me, "Behold, +father, the good folks come back to us again; think you, then, that the +good angels will forsake us for ever? I thank thee, old Use; thou shall +indeed prepare my food for me, and always bring it as far as the +prison-door, if thou mayest come no further; and mark, then, I pray thee, +what the constable does therewith." + +This the maid promised to do, and from this time forth took up her abode +in the stable. May God repay her at the day of judgment for what she then +did for me and for my poor child! + + + + +_The Twenty-second Chapter_ + + +HOW THE _SYNDICUS DOM._ MICHELSEN ARRIVED AND PREPARED HIS DEFENCE OF MY +POOR CHILD + +The next day, at about three o'clock P.M., _Dom. Syndicus_ came driving +up, and got out of his coach at my inn. He had a huge bag full of books +with him, but was not so friendly in his manner as was usual with him, but +very grave and silent. And after he had saluted me in my own room, and had +asked how it was possible for my child to have come to such misfortune, I +related to him the whole affair, whereat, however, he only shook his head. +On my asking him whether he would not see my child that same day, he +answered, "Nay"; he would rather first study the _acta_. And after he had +eaten of some wild duck-which my old Ilse had roasted for him, he would +tarry no longer, but straightway went up to the castle, whence he did not +return till the following afternoon. His manner was not more friendly now +than at his first coming, and I followed him with sighs when he asked me +to lead him to my daughter. As we went in with the constable, and I, for +the first time, saw my child in chains before me--she who in her whole +life had never hurt a worm--I again felt as though I should die for very +grief. But she smiled and cried out to _Dom. Syndicus_, "Are you indeed +the good angel who will cause my chains to fall from my hands, as was done +of yore to St. Peter?" To which he replied, with a sigh, "May the Almighty +God grant it"; and as, save the chair whereon my child sat against the +wall, there was none other in the dungeon (which was a filthy and stinking +hole, wherein were more wood-lice than ever I saw in my life), _Dom. +Syndicus_ and I sat down on her bed, which had been left for her at my +prayer; and he ordered the constable to go his ways until he should call +him back. Hereupon he asked my child what she had to say in her +justification; and she had not gone far in her defence when I perceived, +from the shadow at the door, that some one must be standing without. I +therefore went quickly to the door, which was half open, and found the +impudent constable, who stood there to listen. This so angered _Dom. +Syndicus_ that he snatched up his staff in order to hasten his going, but +the arch-rogue took to his heels as soon as he saw this. My child took +this opportunity to tell her worshipful defensor what she had suffered +from the impudence of this fellow, and to beg that some other constable +might be set over her, seeing that this one had come to her last night +again with evil designs, so that she at last had shrieked aloud and beaten +him on the head with her chains; whereupon he had left her. This _Dom. +Syndicus_ promised to obtain for her; but with regard to the _defensio_, +wherewith she now went on, he thought it would be better to make no +further mention of the _impetus_ which the Sheriff had made on her +chastity. "For," said he, "as the princely central court at Wolgast has to +give sentence upon thee, this statement would do thee far more harm than +good, seeing that the _praeses_ thereof is a cousin of the Sheriff, and +ofttimes goes a-hunting with him. Besides, thou being charged with a +capital crime hast no _fides_, especially as thou canst bring no witnesses +against him. Thou couldst, therefore, gain no belief even if thou didst +confirm the charge on the rack, wherefrom, moreover, I am come hither to +save thee by my _defensio_." These reasons seemed sufficient to us both, +and we resolved to leave vengeance to Almighty God, who seeth in secret, +and to complain of our wrongs to him, as we might not complain to men. But +all my daughter said about old Lizzie--_item_, of the good report wherein +she herself had, till now, stood with everybody--he said he would write +down, and add thereunto as much and as well of his own as he was able, so +as, by the help of Almighty God, to save her from the torture. That she +was to make herself easy and commend herself to God; within two days he +hoped to have his _defensio_ ready and to read it to her. And now, when he +called the constable back again, the fellow did not come, but sent his +wife to lock the prison, and I took leave of my child with many tears: +_Dom. Syndicus_ told the woman the while what her impudent rogue of a +husband had done, that she might let him hear more of it. Then he sent the +woman away again and came back to my daughter, saying that he had +forgotten to ascertain whether she really knew the Latin tongue, and that +she was to say her _defensio_ over again in Latin, if she was able. +Hereupon she began and went on therewith for a quarter of an hour or more, +in such wise that not only _Dom. Syndicus_ but I myself also was amazed, +seeing that she did not stop for a single word, save the word +"hedgehog," which we both had forgotten at the moment when she asked us +what it was.--_Summa. Dom. Syndicus_ grew far more gracious when she had +finished her oration, and took leave of her, promising that he would set +to work forthwith. + +After this I did not see him again till the morning of the third day at +ten o'clock, seeing that he sat at work in a room at the castle, which the +Sheriff had given him, and also ate there, as he sent me word by old Ilse +when she carried him his breakfast next day. + +At the above-named time he sent the new constable for me, who, meanwhile, +had been fetched from Uzdom at his desire. For the Sheriff was exceeding +wroth when he heard that the impudent fellow had attempted my child in the +prison, and cried out in a rage, "S'death, and 'ouns, I'll mend thy +coaxing!" Whereupon he gave him a sound thrashing with a dog-whip he held +in his hand, to make sure that she should be at peace from him. + +But, alas! the new constable was even worse than the old, as will be shown +hereafter. His name was Master Köppner, and he was a tall fellow with a +grim face, and a mouth so wide that at every word he said the spittle ran +out at the corners, and stuck in his long beard like soap-suds, so that my +child had an especial fear and loathing of him. Moreover, on all occasions +he seemed to laugh in mockery and scorn, as he did when he opened the +prison-door to us, and saw my poor child sitting in her grief and +distress. But he straightway left us without waiting to be told, whereupon +_Dom. Syndicus_ drew his defence out of his pocket, and read it to us; we +have remembered the main points thereof, and I will recount them here, but +most of the _auctores_ we have forgotten. + +1. He began by saying that my daughter had ever till now stood in good +repute, as not only the whole village, but even my servants bore witness; +_ergo_, she could not be a witch, inasmuch as the Saviour hath said, "A +good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring +forth good fruit" (Matt. vii.). + +2. With regard to the witchcraft in the village, that belike was the +contrivance of old Lizzie, seeing that she bore a great hatred towards +_Rea_, and had long been in evil repute, for that the parishioners dared +not to speak out, only from fear of the old witch; wherefore Zuter, her +little girl, must be examined, who had heard old Lizzie her goodman tell +her she had a familiar spirit, and that he would tell it to the parson; +for that notwithstanding the above-named was but a child, still it was +written in Psalm viii., "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou +ordained strength...."; and the Saviour himself appealed (Matt. xxi.) to +the testimony of little children. + +3. Furthermore, old Lizzie might have bewitched the crops, _item_, the +fruit-trees, inasmuch as none could believe that _Rea_, who had ever shown +herself a dutiful child, would have bewitched her own father's corn, or +made caterpillars come on his trees; for no one, according to Scripture, +can serve two masters. + +_Item_, she (old Lizzie) might very well have been the woodpecker that was +seen by _Rea_ and old Paasch on the Streckelberg, and herself have given +over her goodman to the Evil One for fear of the parson, inasmuch as +Spitzel _De Expugnatione Orci_ asserts; _item_, the _Malleus Maleficarum_ +proves beyond doubt that the wicked children of Satan ofttimes change +themselves into all manner of beasts, as the foul fiend himself likewise +seduced our first parents in the shape of a serpent (Gen. iii.). + +5. That old Lizzie had most likely made the wild weather when _Dom. +Consul_ was coming home with _Rea_ from the Streckelberg, seeing it was +impossible that _Rea_ could have done it, as she was sitting in the coach, +whereas witches when they raise storms always stand in the water, and +throw it over their heads backwards; _item_, beat the stones soundly with +a stick, as Hannold relates. Wherefore she too, may be, knew best about +the frog and the hedgehog. + +6. That _Rea_ was erroneously charged with that as a _crimen_ which ought +rather to serve as her justification, namely, her sudden riches. For the +_Malleus Maleficarum_ expressly says that a witch can never grow rich, +seeing that Satan, to do dishonour to God, always buys them for a vile +price, so that they should not betray themselves by their riches. +Wherefore that as _Rea_ had grown rich, she could not have got her wealth +from the foul fiend, but it must be true that she had found amber on the +mountain; that the spells of old Lizzie might have been the cause why they +could not find the vein of amber again, or that the sea might have washed +away the cliff below, as often happens, whereupon the top had slipped +down, so that only a _miraculum naturale_ had taken place. The proof which +he brought forward from Scripture we have quite forgotten, seeing it was +but middling. + +7. With regard to her re-baptism, the old hag had said herself that she +had not seen the devil or any other spirit or man about _Rea_, wherefore +she might in truth have been only naturally bathing, in order to greet the +King of Sweden next day, seeing that the weather was hot, and that bathing +was not of itself sufficient to impair the modesty of a maiden. For that +she had as little thought any would see her as Bathsheba the daughter of +Eliam, and wife of Uriah the Hittite, who in like manner did bathe +herself, as is written (2 Sam. xi. 2), without knowing that David could +see her. Neither could her mark be a mark given by Satan, inasmuch as +there was feeling therein; _ergo_, it must be a natural mole, and it was a +lie that she had it not before bathing. Moreover, that on this point the +old harlot was nowise to be believed, seeing that she had fallen from one +contradiction into another about it, as stated in the _acta_. + +8. Neither was it just to accuse _Rea_ of having bewitched Paasch his +little daughter; for as old Lizzie was going in and out of the room, nay, +even sat herself down on the little girl her belly when the pastor went to +see her, it most likely was that wicked woman (who was known to have a +great spite against _Rea_) that contrived the spell through the power of +the foul fiend, and by permission of the all-just God; for that Satan was +"a liar and the father of it," as our Lord Christ says (John viii.). + +9. With regard to the appearance of the foul fiend on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant, that indeed was the heaviest _gravamen_, inasmuch +as not only old Lizzie, but likewise three trustworthy witnesses, had seen +him. But who could tell whether it was not old Lizzie herself who had +contrived this devilish apparition in order to ruin her enemy altogether; +for that notwithstanding the apparition was not the young nobleman, as +_Rea_ had declared it to be, it still was very likely that she had not +lied, but had mistaken Satan for the young lord, as he appeared in his +shape; _exemplum_, for this was to be found even in Scripture: for that +all _Theologi_ of the whole Protestant Church were agreed that the vision +which the witch of Endor showed to King Saul was not Samuel himself, but +the arch-fiend; nevertheless, Saul had taken it for Samuel. In like manner +the old harlot might have conjured up the devil before _Rea_, who did not +perceive that it was not the young lord, but Satan, who had put on that +shape in order to seduce her; for as _Rea_ was a fair woman, none could +wonder that the devil gave himself more trouble for her than for an old +withered hag, seeing he has ever sought after fair women to lie with them. + +Lastly, he argued that _Rea_ was in nowise marked as a witch, for that she +neither had bleared and squinting eyes nor a hooked nose, whereas old +Lizzie had both, which Theophrastus Paracelsus declares to be an unfailing +mark of a witch, saying, "Nature marketh none thus unless by abortion, for +these are the chiefest signs whereby witches be known whom the spirit +_Asiendens_ hath subdued unto himself." + +When _Dom. Syndicus_ had read his _defensio_, my daughter was so rejoiced +thereat that she would have kissed his hand, but he snatched it from her +and breathed upon it thrice, whereby we could easily see that he himself +was nowise in earnest with his _defensio_. Soon after he took leave in an +ill-humour, after commending her to the care of the Most High, and begged +that I would make my farewell as short as might be, seeing that he +purposed to return home that very day, the which, alas! I very unwillingly +did. + + + + +_The Twenty-third Chapter_ + + +HOW MY POOR CHILD WAS SENTENCED TO BE PUT TO THE QUESTION + +After _acta_ had been sent to the honourable the central court, about +fourteen days passed over before any answer was received. My lord the +Sheriff was especially gracious toward me the while, and allowed me to see +my daughter as often as I would (seeing that the rest of the court were +gone home), wherefore I was with her nearly all day. And when the +constable grew impatient of keeping watch over me, I gave him a fee to +lock me in together with my child. And the all-merciful God was gracious +unto us, and caused us often and gladly to pray, for we had a steadfast +hope, believing that the cross we had seen in the heavens would now soon +pass away from us, and that the ravening wolf would receive his reward +when the honourable high court had read through the _acta_, and should +come to the excellent _defensio_ which _Dom. Syndicus_ had constructed for +my child. Wherefore I began to be of good cheer again, especially when I +saw my daughter her cheeks growing of a right lovely red. But on Thursday, +25th _mensis Augusti_, at noon, the worshipful court drove into the +castle-yard again as I sat in the prison with my child, as I was wont; and +old Ilse brought us our food, but could not tell us the news for weeping. +But the tall constable peeped in at the door, grinning, and cried, "Oh, +ho! they are come, they are come, they are come; now the tickling will +begin": whereat my poor child shuddered, but less at the news than at +sight of the fellow himself. Scarce was he gone than he came back again to +take off her chains and to fetch her away. So I followed her into the +judgment-chamber, where _Dom. Consul_ read out the sentence of the +honourable high court as follows:--That she should once more be questioned +in kindness touching the articles contained in the indictment; and if she +then continued stubborn she should be subjected to the _peine forte et +dure_, for that the _defensio_ she had set up did not suffice, and that +there were _indicia legitima praegnantia et sufficientia ad torturam +ipsam_; to wit-- + +1. _Mala fama_. + +2. _Maleficium, publicè commissum_. + +3. _Apparitio daemonis in monte_. + +Whereupon the most honourable central court cited about 20 _auctores_, +whereof, howbeit, we remember but little. When _Dom. Consul_ had read out +this to my child, he once more lift up his voice and admonished her with +many words to confess of her own free-will, for that the truth must now +come to light. + +Hereupon she steadfastly replied, that after the _defensio_ of _Dom. +Syndicus_ she had indeed hoped for a better sentence; but that, as it was +the will of God to try her yet more hardly, she resigned herself +altogether into His gracious hands, and could not confess aught save what +she had said before, namely, that she was innocent, and that evil men had +brought this misery upon her. Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ motioned the +constable, who straightway opened the door of the next room, and admitted +_Pastor Benzensis_ in his surplice, who had been sent for by the court to +admonish her still better out of the word of God. He heaved a deep sigh, +and said, "Mary, Mary, is it thus I must meet thee again?" Whereupon she +began to weep bitterly, and to protest her innocence afresh. But he heeded +not her distress, and as soon as he had heard her pray, "Our Father," "The +eyes of all wait upon thee," and "God the Father dwell with us," he lift +up his voice and declared to her the hatred of the living God to all +witches and warlocks, seeing that not only is the punishment of fire +awarded to them in the Old Testament, but that the Holy Ghost expressly +saith in the New Testament (Gal. v.), "That they which do such things +shall not inherit the kingdom of God"; but "shall have their part in the +lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" +(Apocal. xxi.). Wherefore she must not be stubborn nor murmur against the +court when she was tormented, seeing that it was all done out of Christian +love, and to save her poor soul. That, for the sake of God and her +salvation, she should no longer delay repentance, and thereby cause her +body to be tormented, and give over her wretched soul to Satan, who +certainly would not fulfil those promises in hell which he had made her +here upon earth; seeing that "He was a murderer from the beginning--a liar +and the father of it" (John viii.). "Oh!" cried he, "Mary, my child, who +so oft hast sat upon my knees, and for whom I now cry every morning and +every night unto my God, if thou wilt have no pity upon thee and me, have +pity at least upon thy worthy father, whom I cannot look upon without +tears, seeing that his hairs have turned snow-white within a few days, and +save thy soul, my child, and confess! Behold, thy Heavenly Father grieveth +over thee no less than thy fleshly father, and the holy angels veil their +faces for sorrow that thou, who wert once their darling sister, art now +become the sister and bride of the devil. Return therefore, and repent! +This day thy Saviour calleth thee, poor stray lamb, back into His flock, +'And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath +bound ... be loosed from this bond?' Such are His merciful words (Luke +xiii.); _item_, 'Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I +will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful' (Jer. +iii.). Return then, thou back-sliding soul, unto the Lord thy God! He who +heard the prayer of the idolatrous Manasseh when 'he besought the Lord his +God and humbled himself' (2 Chron. xxxiii.); who, through Paul, accepted +the repentance of the sorcerers at Ephesus (Acts xix.), the same merciful +God now crieth unto thee as unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, +'Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent' (Apocal. +ii.). Oh, Mary, Mary, remember, my child, from whence thou art fallen, and +repent!" + +Hereupon he held his peace, and it was some time before she could say a +word for tears and sobs; but at last she answered, "If lies are no less +hateful to God than witchcraft, I may not lie, but must rather declare, to +the glory of God, as I have ever declared, that I am innocent." + +Hereupon _Dom. Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and frowned and asked the tall +constable if all was ready, _item_, whether the women were at hand to +undress _Rea_; whereupon he answered with a grin, as he was wont, "Ho, ho, +I have never been wanting in my duty, nor will I be wanting to-day; I will +tickle her in such wise that she shall soon confess." + +When he had said this, _Dom. Consul_ turned to my daughter, and said, +"Thou art a foolish thing, and knowest not the torment which awaits thee, +and therefore is it that thou still art stubborn. Now, then, follow me to +the torture-chamber, where the executioner shall show thee the +_instrumenta_; and thou mayest yet think better of it when thou hast seen +what the question is like." + +Hereupon he went into another room, and the constable followed him with my +child. And when I would have gone after them, _Pastor Benzensis_ held me +back, with many tears, and conjured me not to do so, but to tarry where I +was. But I hearkened not unto him, and tore myself from him, and swore +that so long as a single vein should beat in my wretched body I would +never forsake my child. I therefore went into the next room, and from +thence down into a vault, where was the torture-chamber, wherein were no +windows, so that those without might not hear the cries of the tormented. +Two torches were already burning there when I went in, and although _Dom. +Consul_ would at first have sent me away, after a while he had pity upon +me, so that he suffered me to stay. + +And now that hell-hound the constable stepped forward, and first showed my +poor child the ladder, saying with savage glee, "See here! first of all +thou wilt be laid on that, and thy hands and feet will be tied. Next, the +thumb-screw here will be put upon thee, which straightway will make the +blood to spirt out at the tips of thy fingers; thou mayest see that they +are still red with the blood of old Gussy Biehlke, who was burnt last +year, and who, like thee, would not confess at first. If thou still wilt +not confess, I shall next put these Spanish boots on thee, and should they +be too large, I shall just drive in a wedge, so that the calf, which is +now at the back of thy leg, will be driven to the front, and the blood +will shoot out of thy feet, as when thou squeezest blackberries in a bag. + +"Again, if thou wilt not yet confess--holla!" shouted he, and kicked open +a door behind him, so that the whole vault shook, and my poor child fell +upon her knees for fright. Before long two women brought in a bubbling +caldron, full of boiling pitch and brimstone. This caldron the hell-hound +ordered them to set down on the ground, and drew forth, from under the red +cloak he wore, a goose's wing, wherefrom he plucked five or six quills, +which he dipped into the boiling brimstone. After he had held them a while +in the caldron he threw them upon the earth, where they twisted about and +spirted the brimstone on all sides. And then he called to my poor child +again, "See! these quills I shall throw upon thy white loins, and the +burning brimstone will presently eat into thy flesh down to the very +bones, so that thou wilt thereby have a foretaste of the joys which await +thee in hell." + +[Illustration: The Torture Chamber] + +When he had spoken thus far, amid sneers and laughter, I was so overcome +with rage that I sprang forth out of the corner where I stood leaning my +trembling joints against an old barrel, and cried, "O, thou hellish dog! +sayest thou this of thyself, or have others bidden thee?" Whereupon, +however, the fellow gave me such a blow upon the breast that I fell +backwards against the wall, and _Dom. Consul_ called out in great wrath, +"You old fool, if you needs must stay here, at any rate leave the +constable in peace, for if not I will have you thrust out of the chamber +forthwith. The constable has said no more than is his duty; and it will +thus happen to thy child if she confess not, and if it appear that the +foul fiend have given her some charm against the torture." Hereupon this +hell-hound went on to speak to my poor child, without heeding me, save +that he laughed in my face: "Look here! when thou hast thus been well +shorn, ho, ho, ho! I shall pull thee up by means of these two rings in the +floor and the roof, stretch thy arms above thy head, and bind them fast to +the ceiling; whereupon I shall take these two torches, and hold them under +thy shoulders, till thy skin will presently become like the rind of a +smoked ham. Then thy hellish paramour will help thee no longer, and thou +wilt confess the truth. And now thou hast seen and heard all that I shall +do to thee, in the name of God, and by order of the magistrates." + +And now _Dom. Consul_ once more came forward and admonished her to confess +the truth. But she abode by what she had said from the first; whereupon he +delivered her over to the two women who had brought in the caldron, to +strip her naked as she was born, and to clothe her in the black +torture-shift; after which they were once more to lead her barefooted up +the steps before the worshipful court. But one of these women was the +Sheriff his housekeeper (the other was the impudent constable his wife), +and my daughter said that she would not suffer herself to be touched save +by honest women, and assuredly not by the housekeeper, and begged _Dom. +Consul_ to send for her maid, who was sitting in her prison reading the +Bible, if he knew of no other decent woman at hand. Hereupon the +housekeeper began to pour forth a wondrous deal of railing and ill words, +but _Dom. Consul_ rebuked her, and answered my daughter that he would let +her have her wish in this matter too, and bade the impudent constable his +wife call the maid hither from out of the prison. After he had said this, +he took me by the arm, and prayed me so long to go up with him, for that +no harm would happen to my daughter as yet, that I did as he would have +me. + +Before long she herself came up, led between the two women, barefooted, +and in the black torture-shift, but so pale that I myself should scarce +have known her. The hateful constable, who followed close behind, seized +her by the hand, and led her before the worshipful court. + +Hereupon the admonitions began all over again, and _Dom. Consul_ bade her +look upon the brown spots that were upon the black shift, for that they +were the blood of old wife Bichlke, and to consider that within a few +minutes it would in like manner be stained with her own blood. Hereupon +she answered, "I have considered that right well, but I hope that my +faithful Saviour, who hath laid this torment upon me, being innocent, will +likewise help me to bear it, as he helped the holy martyrs of old; for if +these, through God's help, overcame by faith the torments inflicted on +them by blind heathens, I also can overcome the torture inflicted on me by +blind heathens, who, indeed, call themselves Christians, but who are more +cruel than those of yore; for the old heathens only caused the holy +virgins to be torn of savage beasts, but ye which have received the new +commandment, 'That ye love one another; as your Saviour hath loved you, +that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are his +disciples' (St. John xiii.); yourselves will act the part of savage +beasts, and tear with your own hands the body of an innocent maiden, your +sister, who has never done aught to harm you. Do, then, as ye list, but +have a care how ye will answer it to the highest Judge of all. Again, I +say, the lamb feareth nought, for it is in the hand of the good Shepherd." + +When my matchless child had thus spoken, _Dom. Consul_ rose, pulled off +the black skull-cap which he ever wore, because the top of his head was +already bald, bowed to the court, and said, "We hereby make known to the +worshipful court that the question ordinary and extraordinary of the +stubborn and blaspheming witch, Mary Schweidler, is about to begin, in the +name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." + +Hereupon all the court rose save the Sheriff, who had got up before, and +was walking uneasily up and down in the room. But of all that now follows, +and of what I myself did, I remember not one word, but will relate it all +as I have received it from my daughter and other _testes_, and they have +told me as follows:-- + +That when _Dom. Consul_ after these words had taken up the hour-glass +which stood upon the table, and walked on before, I would go with him, +whereupon _Pastor Benzensis_ first prayed me with many words and tears to +desist from my purpose, and when that was of no avail my child herself +stroked my cheeks, saying, "Father, have you ever read that the Blessed +Virgin stood by when her guileless Son was scourged? Depart, therefore, +from me. You shall stand by the pile whereon I am burned, that I promise +you; for in like manner did the Blessed Virgin stand at the foot of the +cross. But, now, go; go, I pray you, for you will not be able to bear it, +neither shall I." + +And when this also failed, _Dom. Consul_ bade the constable seize me, and +by main force lock me into another room; whereupon, however, I tore myself +away, and fell at his feet, conjuring him by the wounds of Christ not to +tear me from my child; that I would never forget his kindness and mercy, +but pray for him day and night; nay, that at the day of judgment I would +be his intercessor with God and the holy angels if that he would but let +me go with my child; that I would be quite quiet, and not speak one single +word, but that I must go with my child, etc. + +This so moved the worthy man that he burst into tears, and so trembled +with pity for me that the hour-glass fell from his hands and rolled right +before the feet of the Sheriff, as though God himself would signify to him +that his glass was soon to run out; and, indeed, he understood it right +well, for he grew white as any chalk when he picked it up and gave it back +to _Dom. Consul_. The latter at last gave way, saying that this day would +make him ten years older; but he bade the impudent constable (who also +went with us) lead me away if I made any _rumor_ during the torture. And +hereupon the whole court went below, save the Sheriff, who said his head +ached, and that he believed his old _malum_, the gout, was coming upon him +again, wherefore he went into another chamber; _item, Pastor Benzensis_ +likewise departed. + +Down in the vault the constable first brought in tables and chairs, +whereon the court sat, and _Dom. Consul_ also pushed a chair toward me, +but I sat not thereon, but threw myself upon my knees in a corner. When +this was done they began again with their vile admonitions, and as my +child, like her guileless Saviour before His unrighteous judges, answered +not a word, _Dom. Consul_ rose up and bade the tall constable lay her on +the torture-bench. + +She shook like an aspen leaf when he bound her hands and feet; and when he +was about to bind over her sweet eyes a nasty old filthy clout wherein my +maid had seen him carry fish but the day before, and which was still all +over shining scales, I perceived it, and pulled off my silken neckerchief, +begging him to use that instead, which he did. Hereupon the thumb-screw +was put on her, and she was once more asked whether she would confess +freely, but she only shook her poor blinded head and sighed with her dying +Saviour, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" and then in Greek, "Thee mou, Thee +mou, iuati me egkatelipes"; Whereat _Dom. Consul_ started back, and made +the sign of the cross (for inasmuch as he knew no Greek, he believed, as +he afterwards said himself, that she was calling upon the devil to help +her), and then called to the constable with a loud voice, "Screw!" + +But when I heard this I gave such a cry that the whole vault shook; and +when my poor child, who was dying of terror and despair, had heard my +voice she first struggled with her bound hands and feet like a lamb that +lies dying in the slaughter-house, and then cried out, "Loose me, and I +will confess whatsoe'er you will." Hereat _Dom. Consul_ so greatly +rejoiced, that while the constable unbound her, he fell on his knees, and +thanked God for having spared him this anguish. But no sooner was my poor +desperate child unbound, and had laid aside her crown of thorns (I mean my +silken neckerchief), than she jumped off the ladder, and flung herself +upon me, who lay for dead in a corner in a deep swound. + +This greatly angered the worshipful court, and when the constable had +borne me away, _Rea_ was admonished to make her confession according to +promise. But seeing she was too weak to stand upon her feet, _Dom. Consul_ +gave her a chair to sit upon, although _Dom. Camerarius_ grumbled thereat, +and these were the chief questions which were put to her by order of the +most honourable high central court, as _Dom. Consul_ said, and which were +registered _ad protocollum_. + +_Q_. Whether she could bewitch? + +_R_. Yes, she could bewitch. + +_Q_. Who taught her to do so? + +_R_. Satan himself. + +_Q_. How many devils had she? + +_R_. One devil was enough for her. + +_Q_. What was this devil called? + +_Illa_ (considering). His name was _Disidaemonia_. + +Hereat _Dom. Consul_ shuddered, and said that that must be a very terrible +devil indeed, for that he had never heard such a name before, and that she +must spell it, so that _Scriba_ might make no _error_; which she did, and +he then went on as follows:-- + +_Q_. In what shape had he appeared to her? + +_R_. In the shape of the Sheriff, and sometimes as a goat with terrible +horns. + +_Q_. Whether Satan had re-baptized her, and where? + +_R_. In the sea. + +_Q_. What name had he given her? + +_R_.--. + +_Q_. Whether any of the neighbors had been by when she was re-baptized, +and which of them? + +_R_. Hereupon my matchless child cast up her eyes towards heaven, as +though doubting whether she should file old Lizzie or not, but at last she +said, "No." + +_Q_. She must have had sponsors; who were they? and what gift had they +given her as christening money? + +_R_. There were none there save spirits; wherefore old Lizzie could see no +one when she came and looked on at her re-baptism. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever lived with the devil? + +_R_. She never had lived anywhere save in her father's house. + +She did not choose to understand. He meant whether she had ever played the +wanton with Satan, and known him carnally? Hereupon she blushed, and was +so ashamed that she covered her face with her hands, and presently began +to weep and to sob: and as, after many questions, she gave no answer, she +was again admonished to speak the truth, or that the executioner should +lift her up on the ladder again. At last she said, "No!" which, howbeit, +the worshipful court would not believe, and bade the executioner seize her +again, whereupon she answered, "Yes!" + +_Q_. Whether she had found the devil hot or cold? + +_R_. She did not remember which. + +_Q_. Whether she had ever conceived by Satan, and given birth to a +changeling, and of what shape? + +_R_. No, never. + +_Q_. Whether the foul fiend had given her any sign or mark about her body, +and in what part thereof? + +_R_. That the mark had already been seen by the worshipful court. + +She was next charged with all the witchcraft done in the village, and +owned to it all, save that she still said that she knew nought of old +Seden his death, _item_, of little Paasch her sickness, nor, lastly, would +she confess that she had, by the help of the foul fiend, raked up my crop +or conjured the caterpillars into my orchard. And albeit they again +threatened her with the question, and even ordered the executioner to lay +her on the bench and put on the thumb-screw to frighten her, she remained +firm and said, "Why should you torture me, seeing that I have confessed +far heavier crimes than these, which it will not save my life to deny?" + +Hereupon the worshipful court at last were satisfied, and suffered her to +be lifted off the torture-bench, especially as she confessed the +_articulus principals_; to wit, that Satan had really appeared to her on +the mountain in the shape of a hairy giant. Of the storm and the frog, +_item_, of the hedgehog, nothing was said, inasmuch as the worshipful +court had by this time seen the folly of supposing that she could have +brewed a storm while she quietly sat in the coach. Lastly, she prayed that +it might be granted to her to suffer death clothed in the garments which +she had worn when she went to greet the King of Sweden; _item_, that they +would suffer her wretched father to be driven with her to the stake, and +to stand by while she was burned, seeing that she had promised him this in +the presence of the worshipful court. + +Hereupon she was once more given into the charge of the tall constable, +who was ordered to put her into a stronger and severer prison. But he had +not led her out of the chamber before the Sheriff his bastard, whom he had +had by the housekeeper, came into the vault with a drum, and kept drumming +and crying out, "Come to the roast goose! come to the roast goose!" +whereat _Dom. Consul_ was exceeding wroth, and ran after him, but he could +not catch him, seeing that the young varlet knew all the ins and outs of +the vault. Without doubt it was the Lord who sent me the swound, so that I +should be spared this fresh grief; wherefore to Him alone be honour and +glory. Amen. + + + + +_The Twenty-fourth Chapter_ + + +HOW IN MY PRESENCE THE DEVIL FETCHED OLD LIZZIE KOLKEN + +When I recovered from my above-mentioned swound, I found my host, his +wife, and my old maid standing over me, and pouring warm beer down my +throat. The faithful old creature shrieked for joy when I opened my eyes +again, and then told me that my daughter had not suffered herself to be +racked, but had freely confessed her crimes and filed herself as a witch. +This seemed pleasant news to me in my misery, inasmuch as I deemed the +death by fire to be a less heavy punishment than the torture. Howbeit when +I would have prayed I could not, whereat I again fell into heavy grief and +despair, fearing that the Holy Ghost had altogether turned away His face +from me, wretched man that I was. And albeit the old maid, when she had +seen this, came and stood before my bed and began to pray aloud to me; it +was all in vain, and I remained a hardened sinner. But the Lord had pity +upon me, although I deserved it not, insomuch that I presently fell into a +deep sleep, and did not awake until next morning when the prayer-bell +rang; and then I was once more able to pray, whereat I greatly rejoiced, +and still thanked God in my heart, when my ploughman Claus Neels came in +and told me that he had come yesterday to tell me about my oats, seeing +that he had gotten them all in; and that the constable came with him who +had been to fetch old Lizzie Kolken, inasmuch as the honourable high court +had ordered her to be brought up for trial. Hereat the whole village +rejoiced, but _Rea_ herself laughed, and shouted, and sang, and told him +and the constable by the way (for the constable had let her get up behind +for a short time), that this should bring great luck to the Sheriff. They +need only bring her up before the court, and in good sooth she would not +hold her tongue within her teeth, but that all men should marvel at her +confession; that such a court as that was a laughing-stock to her, and +that she spat, _salvâ veniâ_, upon the whole brotherhood, _et cet_. + +Upon hearing this I once more felt a strong hope, and rose to go to old +Lizzie. But I was not quite dressed before she sent the impudent constable +to beg that I would go to her with all speed and give her the sacrament, +seeing that she had become very weak during the night. I had my own +thoughts on the matter, and followed the constable as fast as I could, +though not to give her the sacrament, as indeed anybody may suppose. But +in my haste, I, weak old man that I was, forgot to take my witnesses with +me; for all the misery I had hitherto suffered had so clouded my senses +that it never once came into my head. None followed me save the impudent +constable; and it will soon appear how that this villain had given himself +over body and soul to Satan to destroy my child, whereas he might have +saved her. For when he had opened the prison (it was the same cell wherein +my child had first been shut up), we found old Lizzie lying on the ground +on a truss of straw, with a broom for a pillow (as though she were to fly +to hell upon it, as she no longer could fly to Blockula), so that I +shuddered when I caught sight of her. Scarce was I come in when she cried +out fearfully, "I'm a witch, I'm a witch! Have pity upon me, and give me +the sacrament quick, and I will confess everything to you!" And when I +said to her, "Confess, then!" she owned that she, with the help of the +Sheriff, had contrived all the witchcraft in the village, and that my +child was as innocent thereof as the blessed sun in heaven. Howbeit that +the Sheriff had the greatest guilt, inasmuch as he was a warlock and a +witch's priest, and had a spirit far stronger than hers, called Dudaim, +which spirit had given her such a blow on the head in the night as she +should never recover. This same Dudaim it was that had raked up the crops, +heaped sand over the amber, made the storm, and dropped the frog into my +daughter her lap; _item_, carried off her old goodman through the air. + +And when I asked her how that could be, seeing that her goodman had been a +child of God until very near his end, and much given to prayer; albeit I +had indeed marvelled why he had other thoughts in his last illness; she +answered that one day he had seen her spirit, which she kept in a chest, +in the shape of a black cat, and whose name was Kit, and had threatened +that he would tell me of it; whereupon she, being frightened, had caused +her spirit to make him so ill that he despaired of ever getting over it. +Thereupon she had comforted him, saying that she would presently heal him +if he would deny God, who, as he well saw, could not help him. This he +promised to do; and when she had straight-way made him quite hearty again, +they took the silver which I had scraped off the new sacrament cup, and +went by night down to the seashore, where he had to throw it into the sea +with these words: "When this silver returns again to the chalice, then +shall my soul return to God." Whereupon the Sheriff, who was by, +re-baptized him in the name of Satan, and called him Jack. He had had no +sponsors save only herself, old Lizzie. Moreover, that on St. John's Eve, +when he went with them to Blockula for the first time (the Herrenberg was +their Blockula), they had talked of my daughter, and Satan himself had +sworn to the Sheriff that he should have her. For that he would show the +old one (wherewith the villain meant God) what he could do, and that he +would make the carpenter's son sweat for vexation (fie upon thee, thou +arch villain, that thou couldst thus speak of my blessed Saviour!). +Whereupon her old goodman had grumbled, and as they had never rightly +trusted him, the spirit Dudaim one day flew off with him through the air +by the Sheriff's order, seeing that her own spirit, called Kit, was too +weak to carry him. That the same Dudaim had also been the woodpecker who +afterwards 'ticed my daughter and old Paasch to the spot with his cries, +in order to ruin her. But that the giant who had appeared on the +Streckelberg was not a devil, but the young lord of Mellenthin himself, as +her spirit, Kit, had told her. + +And this she said was nothing but the truth, whereby she would live and +die; and she begged me, for the love of God, to take pity upon her, and, +after her repentant confession, to speak forgiveness of her sins, and to +give her the Lord's Supper; for that her spirit stood there behind the +stove, grinning like a rogue, because he saw that it was all up with her +now. But I answered, "I would sooner give the sacrament to an old sow than +to thee, thou accursed witch, who not only didst give over thine own +husband to Satan, but hast likewise tortured me and my poor child almost +unto death with pains like those of hell." Before she could make any +answer, a loathsome insect, about as long as my finger, and with a yellow +tail, crawled in under the door of the prison. When she espied it she gave +a yell, such as I never before heard, and never wish to hear again. For +once, when I was in Silesia, in my youth, I saw one of the enemy's +soldiers spear a child before its mother's face, and I thought that a +fearful shriek which the mother gave; but her cry was child's play to the +cry of old Lizzie. All my hair stood on end, and her own red hair grew so +stiff that it was like the twigs of the broom whereon she lay; and then +she howled, "That is the spirit Dudaim, whom the accursed Sheriff has sent +to me--the sacrament, for the love of God, the sacrament!--I will confess +a great deal more--I have been a witch these thirty years!--the sacrament, +the sacrament!" While she thus bellowed and flung about her arms and legs, +the loathsome insect rose into the air, and buzzed and whizzed about her +where she lay, insomuch that it was fearful to see and to hear. And this +she-devil called by turns on God, on her spirit Kit, and on me, to help +her, till the insect all of a sudden darted into her open jaws, whereupon +she straightway gave up the ghost, and turned all black and blue like a +blackberry. + +I heard nothing more save that the window rattled, not very loud, but as +though one had thrown a pea against it, whereby I straightway perceived +that Satan had just flown through it with her soul. May the all-merciful +God keep every mother's child from such an end, for the sake of Jesus +Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour! Amen. + +As soon as I was somewhat recovered, which, however, was not for a long +time, inasmuch as my blood had turned to ice, and my feet were as stiff as +a stake; I began to call out after the impudent constable, but he was no +longer in the prison. Thereat I greatly marvelled, seeing that I had seen +him there but just before the vermin crawled in, and straightway I +suspected no good, as, indeed, it turned out; for when at last he came +upon my calling him, and I told him to let this carrion be carted out +which had just died in the name of the devil, he did as though he was +amazed; and when I desired him that he would bear witness to the innocence +of my daughter, which the old hag had confessed on her death-bed, he +pretended to be yet more amazed, and said that he had heard nothing. This +went through my heart like a sword, and I leaned against a pillar without, +where I stood for a long time: but as soon as I was come to myself I went +to _Dom. Consul_, who was about to go to Usedom and already sat in his +coach. At my humble prayer he went back into the judgment-chamber with the +_Camerarius_ and the _Scriba_, whereupon I told all that had taken place, +and how the wicked constable denied that he had heard the same. But they +say that I talked a great deal of nonsense beside; among other things, +that all the little fishes had swam into the vault to release my daughter. +Nevertheless, _Dom. Consul_, who often shook his head, sent for the +impudent constable, and asked him for his testimony. But the fellow +pretended that as soon as he saw that old Lizzie wished to confess, he had +gone away, so as not to get any more hard words, wherefore he had heard +nothing. Hereupon I, as _Dom. Consul_ afterwards told the pastor of Benz, +clenched my fists and answered, "What, thou arch-rogue, didst thou not +crawl about the room in the shape of a reptile?" whereupon he would +hearken to me no longer, thinking me distraught, nor would he make the +constable take an oath, but left me standing in the midst of the room, and +got into his coach again. + +Neither do I know how I got out of the room; but next morning when the sun +rose, and I found myself lying in bed at Master Seep his ale-house, the +whole _casus_ seemed to me like a dream; neither was I able to rise, but +lay a-bed all the blessed Saturday and Sunday, talking all manner of +_allotria_. It was not till towards evening on Sunday, when I began to +vomit and threw up green bile (no wonder!), that I got somewhat better. +About this time _Pastor Benzensis_ came to my bedside, and told me how +distractedly I had borne myself, but so comforted me from the word of God, +that I was once more able to pray from my heart. May the merciful God +reward my dear gossip, therefore, at the day of judgment! For prayer is +almost as brave a comforter as the Holy Ghost himself, from whom it comes; +and I shall ever consider that so long as a man can still pray, his +misfortunes are not unbearable, even though in all else "his flesh and his +heart faileth" (Psalm lxxiii.). + + + + +_The Twenty-fifth Chapter_ + + +HOW SATAN SIFTED ME LIKE WHEAT, WHEREAS MY DAUGHTER WITHSTOOD HIM RIGHT +BRAVELY + +On Monday I left my bed betimes, and as I felt in passable good case, I +went up to the castle to see whether I might peradventure get to my +daughter, but I could not find either constable, albeit I had brought a +few groats with me to give them as beer-money; neither would the folks +that I met tell me where they were; _item_, the impudent constable his +wife, who was in the kitchen making brimstone matches. And when I asked +her when her husband would come back, she said not before to-morrow +morning early; _item_, that the other constable would not be here any +sooner. Hereupon I begged her to lead me to my daughter herself, at the +same time showing her the two groats; but she answered that she had not +the keys, and knew not how to get at them: moreover, she said she did not +know where my child was now shut up, seeing that I would have spoken to +her through the door; _item_, the cook, the huntsman, and whomsoever else +I met in my sorrow, said they knew not in what hole the witch might lie. + +Hereupon I went all round about the castle, and laid my ear against every +little window that looked as though it might be her window, and cried, +"Mary, my child, where art thou?" _Item_, at every grating I found I +kneeled down, bowed my head, and called in like manner into the vault +below. But all in vain; I got no answer anywhere. The Sheriff at length +saw what I was about, and came down out of the castle to me with a very +gracious air, and, taking me by the hand, he asked me what I sought? But +when I answered him that I had not seen my only child since last Thursday, +and prayed him to show pity upon me, and let me be led to her, he said +that could not be, but that I was to come up into his chamber, and talk +further of the matter. By the way he said, "Well, so the old witch told +you fine things about me, but you see how Almighty God has sent his +righteous judgment upon her. She has long been ripe for the fire; but my +great long-suffering, wherein a good magistrate should ever strive to be +like unto the Lord, has made me overlook it till _datum_, and in return +for my goodness she raises this outcry against me." And when I replied, +"How does your Lordship know that the witch raised such an outcry against +you?" he first began to stammer, and then said, "Why, you yourself charged +me thereon before the judge. But I bear you no anger therefor, and God +knows that I pity you, who are a poor, weak old man, and would gladly help +you if I were able." Meanwhile he led me up four or five flights of +stairs, so that I, old man that I am, could follow him no further, and +stood still gasping for breath. But he took me by the hand and said, +"Come, I must first show you how matters really stand, or I fear you will +not accept my help, but will plunge yourself into destruction." Hereupon +we stepped out upon a terrace at the top of the castle, which looked +toward the water; and the villain went on to say, "Reverend Abraham, can +you see well afar off?" and when I answered that I once could see very +well, but that the many tears I had shed had now peradventure dimmed my +eyes, he pointed to the Streckelberg, and said, "Do you, then, see nothing +there?" _Ego_. "Nought save a black speck, which I cannot make out." +_Ille_. "Know, then, that that is the pile whereon your daughter is to +burn at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, and which the constables are now +raising." When this hell-hound had thus spoken, I gave a loud cry and +swounded. Oh, blessed Lord! I know not how I lived through such distress; +thou alone didst strengthen me beyond nature, in order, "after so much +weeping and wailing, to heap joys and blessings upon me; without thee I +never could have lived through such misery: therefore to thy name ever be +all honour and glory, O thou God of Israel!" + +When I came again to myself I lay on a bed in a fine room, and perceived a +taste in my mouth like wine. But as I saw none near me save the Sheriff, +who held a pitcher in his hand, I shuddered and closed mine eyes, +considering what I should say or do. This he presently observed, and said, +"Do not shudder thus; I mean well by you, and only wish to put a question +to you, which you must answer me on your conscience as a priest. Say, +reverend Abraham, which is the greater sin, to commit whoredom, or to take +the lives of two persons?" and when I answered him, "To take the lives of +two persons," he went on, "Well, then, is not that what your stubborn +child is about to do? Rather than give herself up to me, who have ever +desired to save her, and who can even yet save her, albeit her pile is now +being raised, she will take away her own life and that of her wretched +father, for I scarcely think that you, poor man, will outlive this sorrow. +Wherefore do you, for God his sake, persuade her to think better of it +while I am yet able to save her. For know that about ten miles from hence +I have a small house in the midst of the forest, where no human being ever +goes; thither will I send her this very night, and you may dwell there +with her all the days of your life, if so it please you. You shall live as +well as you can possibly desire, and to-morrow morning I will spread a +report betimes that the witch and her father have run away together during +the night, and that nobody knows whither they are gone." Thus spake the +serpent to me, as whilom to our mother Eve; and, wretched sinner that I +am, the tree of death which he showed me seemed to me also to be a tree of +life, so pleasant was it to the eye. Nevertheless I answered, "My child +will never save her miserable life by doing aught to peril the salvation +of her soul." But now, too, the serpent was more cunning than all the +beasts of the field (especially such an old fool as I), and spake thus: +"Why, who would have her peril the salvation of her soul? Reverend +Abraham, must I teach you Scripture? Did not our Lord Christ pardon Mary +Magdalene, who lived in open whoredom? and did he not speak forgiveness to +the poor adulteress who had committed a still greater _crimen?_ nay, more, +doth not St. Paul expressly say that the harlot Rahab was saved, Hebrews +xi.? _item_, St. James ii. says the same. But where have ye read that any +one was saved who had wantonly taken her own life and that of her father? +Wherefore, for the love of God, persuade your child not to give herself +up, body and soul, to the devil, by her stubbornness, but to suffer +herself to be saved while it is yet time. You can abide with her, and pray +away all the sins she may commit, and likewise aid me with your prayers, +who freely own that I am a miserable sinner, and have done you much evil, +though not so much evil by far, reverend Abraham, as David did to Uriah, +and he was saved, notwithstanding he put the man to a shameful death, and +afterwards lay with his wife. Wherefore I, poor man, likewise hope to be +saved, seeing that my desire for your daughter is still greater than that +which this David felt for Bathsheba; and I will gladly make it all up to +you twofold as soon as we are in my cottage." + +When the tempter had thus spoken, methought his words were sweeter than +honey, and I answered, "Alas, my lord, I am ashamed to appear before her +face with such a proposal." Whereupon he straightway said, "Then do you +write it to her; come, here is pen, ink, and paper." + +And now, like Eve, I took the fruit and ate, and gave it to my child that +she might eat also; that is to say, that I recapitulated on paper all that +Satan had prompted, but in the Latin tongue, for I was ashamed to write it +in mine own; and lastly I conjured her not to take away her own life and +mine, but to submit to the wondrous will of God. Neither were mine eyes +opened when I had eaten (that is, written), nor did I perceive that the +ink was gall instead of honey, and I translated my letter to the Sheriff +(seeing that he understood no Latin), smiling like a drunken man the +while; whereupon he clapped me on the shoulder, and after I had made fast +the letter with his signet, he called his huntsman, and gave it to him to +carry to my daughter; _item_, he sent her pen, ink, and paper, together +with his signet, in order that she might answer it forthwith. + +Meanwhile he talked with me right graciously, praising my child and me, +and made me drink to him many times from his great pitcher, wherein was +most goodly wine; moreover, he went to a cupboard and brought out cakes +for me to eat, saying that I should now have such every day. But when the +huntsman came back in about half an hour with her answer, and I had read +the same, then, first, were mine eyes opened, and I knew good and evil; +had I had a fig-leaf, I should have covered them therewith for shame; but +as it was, I held my hand over them and wept so bitterly that the Sheriff +waxed very wroth, and cursing bade me tell him what she had written. +Thereupon I interpreted the letter to him, the which I likewise place +here, in order that all may see my folly, and the wisdom of my child. It +was as follows:-- + +"IESVS! + +"Pater infelix! + +"Ego cras non magis pallebo rogum aspectura, et rogus non magis erubescet, +me suscipiens, quam pallui et iterum erubescui, literas tuas legens. Quid? +et te, pium patrem, pium servum Domini, ita Satanas sollicitavit, ut +communionem facias cum inimicis meis, et non intelligas: in tali vitâ esse +mortem, et in tali morte vitam? Scilicet si clementissimus Deus Mariae +Magdalenae aliisque ignovit, ignovit, quia resipiscerent ob carnis +debilitatem, et non iterum peccarent. Et ego peccarem cum quavis +detestatione carnis, et non semel, sed iterum atque iterum sine reversione +usque ad mortem? Quomodo clementissimus Deus haec sceleratissima ignoscere +posset? infelix pater! recordare quid mihi dixisti de sanctis martyribus +et virginibus Domini, qua omnes mallent vitam quam pudicitiam perdere. His +et ego sequar, et sponsus meus, Jesus Christus, et mihi miserae, ut spero, +coronam aeternam dabit, quamvis eum non minus offendi ob debilitatem +carnis ut Maria, et me sontem declaravi, cum insons sum. Fac igitur, ut +valeas et ora pro me apud Deum et non apud Satanam, ut et ego mox coram +Deo pro te orare possim. + +"MARIA S., captiva." + +When the Sheriff heard this, he flung the pitcher which he held in his +hand to the ground, so that it flew in pieces, and cried, "The cursed +devil's whore! the constable shall make her squeak for this a good hour +longer"; with many more such things beside, which he said in his malice, +and which I have now forgotten; but he soon became quite gracious again, +and said, "She is foolish; do you go to her and see whether you cannot +persuade her to her own good as well as yours; the huntsman shall let you +in, and should the fellow listen, give him a good box on the ears in my +name; do you hear, reverend Abraham? Go now forthwith and bring me back an +answer as quickly as possible!" I therefore followed the huntsman, who led +me into a vault where was no light save what fell through a hole no bigger +than a crown-piece; and here my daughter sat upon her bed and wept. Any +one may guess that I straightway began to weep too, and was no better able +to speak than she. We thus lay mute in each other's arms for a long time, +until I at last begged her to forgive me for my letter, but of the Sheriff +his message I said nought, although I had purposed so to do. But before +long we heard the Sheriff himself call down into the vault from above, +"What (and here he gave me a heavy curse) are you doing there so long? +Come up this moment, reverend Johannes!" Thus I had scarce time to +give her one kiss before the huntsman came back with the keys and forced +us to part; albeit we had as yet scarcely spoken, save that I had told her +in a few words what had happened with old Lizzie. It would be hard to +believe into what grievous anger the Sheriff fell when I told him that my +daughter remained firm and would not hearken unto him; he struck me on the +breast, and said, "Go to the devil then, thou infamous parson!" and when I +turned myself away and would have gone, he pulled me back, and said, "If +thou breathest but one word of all that has passed, I will have thee burnt +too, thou grey-headed old father of a witch; so look to it!" Hereupon I +plucked up a heart, and answered that that would be the greatest joy to +me, especially if I could be burnt to-morrow with my child. Hereunto he +made no answer, but clapped to the door behind me. Well, clap the door as +thou wilt, I greatly fear that the just God will one day clap the doors of +heaven in thy face! + + + + +_The Twenty-sixth Chapter_ + + +HOW I RECEIVED THE HOLY SACRAMENT WITH MY DAUGHTER AND THE OLD +MAIDSERVANT, AND HOW SHE WAS THEN LED FOR THE LAST TIME BEFORE THE COURT, +WITH THE DRAWN SWORD AND THE OUTCRY, TO RECEIVE SENTENCE + +Now any one would think that during that heavy Tuesday night I should not +have been able to close mine eyes; but know, dear reader, that the Lord +can do more than we can ask or understand, and that his mercy is new every +morning. For toward daybreak I fell asleep as quietly as though I had had +no care upon my heart; and when I awoke I was able to pray more heartily +than I had done for a long time; so that, in the midst of my tribulation, +I wept for joy at such great mercy from the Lord. But I prayed for nought +save that he would endow my child with strength and courage to suffer the +martyrdom he had laid upon her with Christian patience, and to send his +angel to me, woeful man, so to pierce my heart with grief when I should +see my child burn that it might straightway cease to beat, and I might +presently follow her. And thus I still prayed when the maid came in all +dressed in black, and with the silken raiment of my sweet lamb hanging +over her arm; and she told me, with many tears, that the dead-bell had +already tolled from the castle tower, for the first time, and that my +child had sent for her to dress her, seeing that the court was already +come from Usedom, and that in about two hours she was to set out on her +last journey. Moreover, she had sent her word that she was to take her +some blue and yellow flowers for a garland; wherefore she asked me what +flowers she should take; and seeing that a jar filled with fire lilies and +forget-me-nots stood in my window, which she had placed there yesterday, I +said, "Thou canst gather no better flowers for her than these, wherefore +do thou carry them to her, and tell her that I will follow thee in about +half an hour, in order to receive the sacrament with her." Hereupon the +faithful old creature prayed me to suffer her to go to the sacrament with +us, the which I promised her. And scarce had I dressed myself and put on +my surplice when _Pastor Benzensis_ came in at the door and fell upon my +neck, weeping, and as mute as a fish. As soon as he came to his speech +again he told me of the great _miraculum_ (_daemonis_ I mean) which had +befallen at the burial of old Lizzie. For that, just as the bearers were +about to lower the coffin into the grave, a noise was heard therein, as +though of a carpenter boring through a deal board; wherefore they thought +the old hag must be come to life again, and opened the coffin. But there +she lay as before, all black and blue in the face, and as cold as ice; but +her eyes had started wide open, so that all were horror-stricken, and +expected some devilish apparition; and, indeed, a live rat presently +jumped out of the coffin and ran into a skull which lay beside the grave. +Thereupon they all ran away, seeing that old Lizzie had ever been in evil +repute as a witch. Howbeit at last he himself went near the grave again, +whereupon the rat disappeared, and all the others took courage and +followed him. This the man told me, and any one may guess that this was in +fact Satan, who had flown down the hag her throat as an insect, whereas +his proper shape was that of a rat: albeit I wonder what he could so long +have been about in the carrion; unless indeed it were that the evil +spirits are as fond of all that is loathsome as the angels of God are of +all that is fair and lovely. Be that as it may; _Summa_: I was not a +little shocked at what he told me, and asked him what he now thought of +the Sheriff? whereupon he shrugged his shoulders, and said that he had +indeed been a wicked fellow as long as he could remember him, and that it +was full ten years since he had given him any first-fruits; but that he +did not believe that he was a warlock, as old Lizzie had said. For +although he had indeed never been to the table of the Lord in his church, +he had heard that he often went at Stettin, with his Princely Highness the +Duke, and that the pastor at the castle church had shown him the entry in +his communion-book. Wherefore he likewise could not believe that he had +brought this misery upon my daughter, if she were innocent, as the hag had +said; besides, that my daughter had freely confessed herself a witch. +Hereupon I answered, that she had done that for fear of the torture; but +that she was not afraid of death; whereupon I told him, with many sighs, +how the sheriff had yesterday tempted me, miserable and unfaithful +servant, to evil, insomuch that I had been willing to sell my only child +to him and to Satan, and was not worthy to receive the sacrament to-day. +Likewise how much more steadfast a faith my daughter had than I, as he +might see from her letter, which I still carried in my pocket; herewith I +gave it into his hand, and when he had read it, he sighed as though he had +been himself a father, and said, "Were this true, I should sink into the +earth for sorrow; but come, brother, come, that I may prove her faith +myself." + +Hereupon we went up to the castle, and on our way we found the greensward +before the hunting-lodge, _item_, the whole space in front of the castle, +already crowded with people, who, nevertheless, were quite quiet as we +went by: we gave our names again to the huntsman. (I have never been able +to remember his name, seeing that he was a Polak; he was not, however, the +same fellow who wooed my child, and whom the Sheriff had therefore turned +off.) The man presently ushered us into a fine large room, whither my +child had been led when taken out of her prison. The maid had already +dressed her, and she looked lovely as an angel. She wore the chain of gold +with the effigy round her neck again, _item_, the garland in her hair, and +she smiled as we entered, saying, "I am ready!" Whereat the reverend +Martinus was sorely angered and shocked, saying, "Ah, thou ungodly woman, +let no one tell me further of thine innocence! Thou art about to go to the +holy sacrament, and from thence to death, and thou flauntest as a child of +this world about to go to the dancing-room." Whereupon she answered and +said, "Be not wroth with me, dear godfather, because that I would go into +the presence of my good King of Heaven in the same garments wherein I +appeared some time since before the good King of Sweden. For it +strengthens my weak and trembling flesh, seeing I hope that my righteous +Saviour will in like manner take me to his heart, and will also hand his +effigy upon my neck when I stretch out my hands to him in all humility, +and recite my _carmen_, saying, 'O Lamb of God, innocently slain upon the +cross, give my thy peace, O Jesu!'" These words softened my dear gossip, +and he spoke, saying, "Ah, child, child, I thought to have reproached +thee, but thou hast constrained me to weep with thee: art thou, then, +indeed innocent?" "Verily," said she, "to you, my honoured godfather, I +may now own that I am innocent, as truly as I trust that God will aid me +in my last hour through Jesus Christ. Amen." + +When the maid heard this, she made such outcries that I repented that I +had suffered her to be present, and we all had enough to do to comfort her +from the word of God till she became somewhat more tranquil; and when this +was done, my dear gossip thus spake to my child: "If, indeed, thou dost so +steadfastly maintain thine innocence, it is my duty, according to my +conscience as a priest, to inform the worshipful court thereof"; and he +was about to leave the room. But she withheld him, and fell upon the +ground and clasped his knees, saying, "I beseech you, by the wounds of +Jesus, to be silent. They would stretch me on the rack again, and uncover +my nakedness, and I, wretched weak woman, would in such torture confess +all that they would have me, especially if my father again be there, +whereby both my soul and my body are tortured at once: wherefore stay, I +pray you, stay; is it, then, a misfortune to die innocent, and is it not +better to die innocent than guilty?" + +My good gossip at last gave way, and after standing awhile and praying to +himself, he wiped away his tears, and then spake the exhortation to +confession, in the words of Isaiah xliii. 1, 2, "But now thus saith the +Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear +not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art +mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and +through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest +through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle +upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy +Saviour." + +And when he had ended this comfortable address, and asked her whether she +would willingly bear until her last hour that cross which the most +merciful God according to his unsearchable will had laid upon her, she +spake such beautiful words that my gossip afterwards said he should not +forget them so long as he should live, seeing that he had never witnessed +a bearing at once so full of faith and joy, and withal so deeply +sorrowful. She spake after this manner: "Oh, holy cross, which my Jesus +hath sanctified by his innocent suffering; oh, dear cross, which is laid +upon me by the hand of a merciful Father; oh, blessed cross, whereby I am +made like unto my Lord Jesus, and am called unto eternal glory and +blessedness: how! shall I not willingly bear thee, thou sweet cross of my +bridegroom, of my brother?" The reverend Johannes had scarce given us +absolution, and after this, with many tears, the holy sacrament, when we +heard a loud trampling upon the floor, and presently the impudent +constable looked into the room and asked whether we were ready, seeing +that the worshipful court was now waiting for us; and when he had been +told that we were ready, my child would have first taken leave of me, but +I forbade her, saying, "Not so; thou knowest that which thou hast promised +me; ... 'and whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will +lodge: ... where thou diest will I die ...' if that the Lord, as I hope, +will hear the ardent sighs of my poor soul." Hereupon she let me go, and +embraced only the old maid-servant, thanking her for all the kindness she +had shown her from her youth up, and begging her not to go with her to +make her death yet more bitter by her cries. The faithful old creature was +unable for a long time to say a word for tears. Howbeit at last she begged +forgiveness of my child for that she unwittingly accused her, and said, +that out of her wages she had bought five pounds' weight of flax to hasten +her death; that the shepherd of Pudgla had that very morning taken it with +him to Coserow, and that she should wind it closely round her body; for +that she had seen how old wife Schurne, who was burnt in Liepe, had +suffered great torments before she came to her death, by reason of the +damp wood. + +But ere my child could thank her for this, the dreadful outcry of blood +began in the judgment-chamber; for a voice cried as loudly as might be, +"Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath +fallen off from the living God!" Then all the folk without cried, "Woe +upon the accursed witch!" When I heard this I fell back against the wall, +but my sweet child stroked my cheeks with her darling hands, and said, +"Father, father, do but remember that the people likewise cried out +against the innocent Jesus, 'Crucify him, crucify him!' Shall not we then +drink of the cup which our Heavenly Father hath prepared for us?" + +Hereupon the door opened, and the constable walked in, amid a great tumult +among the people, holding a drawn sword in his hand, which he bowed thrice +before my child, and cried, "Woe upon the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, +because that she hath fallen off from the living God!" and all the folks +in the hall and without the castle cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon +the accursed witch!" + +Hereupon he said, "Mary Schweidler, come before the high and worshipful +court to hear sentence of death passed upon thee!" Whereupon she followed +him with us two miserable men (for _Pastor Benzensis_ was no less cast +down than myself). As for the old maid-servant, she lay on the ground for +dead. + +After we had with great pains pushed our way through all the people, the +constable stood still before the open judgment-chamber, and once more +bowed his sword before my child and cried for the third time, "Woe upon +the accursed witch, Mary Schweidler, because that she hath fallen off from +the living God!" And all the people, as well as the cruel judges +themselves, cried as loud as they could, "Woe upon the accursed witch!" + +When we had entered the room, _Dom. Consul_ first asked my worthy gossip +whether the witch had abode by her free avowal in confession; whereupon, +after considering a short time, he answered, that he had best ask herself, +for there she stood. According, taking up a paper which lay before him on +the table, he spake as follows:--"Mary Schweidler, now that thou hast +confessed, and received the holy and most honourable sacrament of the +Lord's Supper, answer me once again these following questions:-- + +"1. Is it true that thou hast fallen off from the living God and given +thyself up to Satan? + +"2. Is it true that thou hadst a spirit called _Disidaemonia_, who +re-baptized thee and carnally knew thee? + +"3. Is it true that thou hast done all manner of mischief to the cattle? + +"4. Is it true that Satan appeared to thee on the Streckelberg in the +likeness of a hairy giant?" + +When she had with many sighs said "Yes" to all these questions, he rose, +took a wand in one hand and a second paper in the other, put his +spectacles on his nose, and said, "Now, then, hear thy sentence." (This +sentence I since copied: he would not let me see the other _Acta_, but +pretended that they were at Wolgast. The sentence, however, was word for +word as follows.) + +"We, the Sheriff and the Justices appointed to serve the high and +worshipful criminal court. Inasmuch as Mary Schweidler, the daughter of +Abraham Schweidlerus, the pastor of Coserow, hath, after the appointed +inquisition, repeatedly made free confession that she hath a devil named +_Disidaemonia_, the which did re-baptize her in the sea, and did also know +her carnally; _item_, that she by his help did mischief to the cattle; +that he also appeared to her on the Streckelberg in the likeness of a +hairy giant. We do therefore by these presents make known and direct that +_Rea_ be first duly torn four times on each breast with red-hot iron +pincers, and after that be burned to death by fire, as a rightful +punishment to herself and a warning to others. Nevertheless we, in pity +for her youth, are pleased of our mercy to spare her the tearing with +red-hot pincers, so that she shall only suffer death by the simple +punishment of fire. Wherefore she is hereby condemned and judged +accordingly on the part of the criminal court. + +"_Publicatum_ at the castle of Pudgla, the 30th day _mensis Augusti, anno +Salutis_ 1630." + +As he spake the last word he brake his wand in two and threw the pieces +before the feet of my innocent lamb, saying to the constable, "Now, do +your duty!" But so many folks, both men and women, threw themselves on the +ground to seize the pieces of the wand (seeing they are said to be good +for the gout in the joints, _item_, for cattle when troubled with lice), +that the constable fell to the earth over a woman who was on her knees +before him, and his approaching death was thus foreshadowed to him by the +righteous God. Something of the same sort likewise befell the Sheriff now +for the second time; for when the worshipful court rose, throwing down +tables, stools, and benches, a table, under which two boys were fighting +for the pieces of the wand, fell right upon his foot, whereupon he flew +into a violent rage, and threatened the people with his fist, saying that +they should have fifty right good lashes a-piece, both men and women, if +they were not quiet forthwith, and did not depart peaceably out of the +room. This frighted them, and after the people were gone out into the +street, the constable took a rope out of his pocket, wherewith he bound my +lamb her hands so tightly behind her back that she cried aloud; but when +she saw how this wrung my heart, she straightway constrained herself and +said, "Oh, father, remember that it fared no better with the blessed +Saviour!" Howbeit, when my dear gossip, who stood behind her, saw that her +little hands, and more especially her nails, had turned black and blue, he +spoke for her to the worshipful court, whereupon the abominable Sheriff +only said, "Oh, let her be; let her feel what it is to fall off from the +living God." But _Dom. Consul_ was more merciful, inasmuch as, after +feeling the cords, he bade the constable bind her hands less cruelly and +slacken the rope a little, which accordingly he was forced to do. But my +dear gossip was not content herewith, and begged that she might sit in the +cart without being bound, so that she should be able to hold her +hymn-book, for he had summoned the school to sing a hymn by the way for +her comfort, and he was ready to answer for it with his own head that she +should not escape out of the cart. Moreover; it is the custom for fellows +with pitchforks always to go with the carts wherein condemned criminals, +and more especially witches, are carried to execution. But this the cruel +Sheriff would not suffer, and the rope was left upon her hands, and the +impudent constable seized her by the arm and led her from the +judgment-chamber. But in the hall we saw a great _scandalum_, which again +pierced my very heart. For the housekeeper and the impudent constable his +wife were fighting for my child her bed, and her linen, and wearing +apparel, which the housekeeper had taken for herself, and which the other +woman wanted to have. The latter now called to her husband to help her, +whereupon he straightway let go my daughter and struck the housekeeper on +her mouth with his fist, so that the blood ran out therefrom, and she +shrieked and wailed fearfully to the Sheriff, who followed us with the +court. He threatened them both in vain, and said that when he came back he +would inquire into the matter and give to each her due share. But they +would not hearken to this, until my daughter asked _Dom. Consul_ whether +every dying person, even a condemned criminal, had power to leave his +goods and chattels to whomsoever he would? and when he answered, "Yes, all +but the clothes, which belong of right to the executioner," she said, +"Well, then, the constable may take my clothes, but none shall have my bed +save my faithful old maid-servant Ilse!" Hereupon the housekeeper began to +curse and revile my child loudly, who heeded her not, but stepped out at +the door toward the cart, where there stood so many people that nought +could be seen save head against head. The folks crowded about us so +tumultuously that the Sheriff, who, meanwhile, had mounted his grey horse, +constantly smote them right and left across their eyes with his +riding-whip, but they nevertheless would scarce fall back. Howbeit, at +length he cleared the way, and when about ten fellows with long +pitchforks, who for the most part also had rapiers at their sides, had +placed themselves round about our cart, the constable lifted my daughter +up into it, and bound her fast to the rail. Old Paasch, who stood by, +lifted me up, and my dear gossip was likewise forced to be lifted in, so +weak had he become from all the distress. He motioned his sexton, Master +Krekow, to walk before the cart with the school, and bade him from time to +time lead a verse of the goodly hymn, "On God alone I rest my fate," which +he promised to do. And here I will also note, that I myself sat down upon +the straw by my daughter, and that our dear confessor the reverend +Martinus sat backwards. The constable was perched up behind with his drawn +sword. When all this was done, _item_, the court mounted up into another +carriage, the Sheriff gave the order to set out. + + + + +_The Twenty-seventh Chapter_ + + +OF THAT WHICH BEFELL US BY THE WAY: _ITEM_, OF THE FEARFUL DEATH OF THE +SHERIFF AT THE MILL + +We met with many wonders by the way, and with great sorrow; for hard by +the bridge, over the brook which runs into the Schmolle, stood the +housekeeper her hateful boy, who beat a drum and cried aloud, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon the crowd set up a loud +laugh, and called out after him, "Yes, indeed, to the roast goose! to the +roast goose!" Howbeit, when Master Krekow led the second verse the folks +became somewhat quieter again, and most of them joined in singing it from +their books, which they had brought with them. But when he ceased singing +awhile the noise began again as bad as before. Some cried out, "The devil +hath given her these clothes, and hath adorned her after that fashion"; +and seeing the Sheriff had ridden on before, they came close round the +cart, and felt her garments, more especially the women and young maidens. +Others, again, called loudly, as the young varlet had done, "Come to the +roast goose! come to the roast goose!" whereupon one fellow answered, "She +will not let herself be roasted yet; mind ye that: she will quench the +fire!" This, and much filthiness beside, which I may not for very shame +write down, we were forced to hear, and it especially cut me to the heart +to hear a fellow swear that he would have some of her ashes, seeing he had +not been able to get any of the wand, and that nought was better for the +fever and the gout than the ashes of a witch. I motioned the _Custos_ to +begin singing again, whereupon the folks were once more quiet for a +while--_i.e._, for so long as the verse lasted; but afterwards they rioted +worse than before. But we were now come among the meadows, and when my +child saw the beauteous flowers which grew along the sides of the ditches, +she fell into deep thought, and began again to recite aloud the sweet song +of St. Augustinus as follows:-- + + Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum, + Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum, + Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt, + Pigmentorum spirat odor liquor et aromatum, + Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum, + Non alternat luna vices, sol vel cursus syderum, + Agnus est faelicis urbis lumen inocciduum. + +By this _Casus_ we gained that all the folk ran cursing away from the +cart, and followed us at the distance of a good musket-shot, thinking +that my child was calling on Satan to help her. Only one lad, of about +five-and-twenty, whom, however, I did not know, tarried a few paces behind +the cart, until his father came, and seeing he would not go away +willingly, pushed him into the ditch, so that he sank up to his loins +in the water. Thereat even my poor child smiled, and asked me whether I +did not know any more Latin hymns wherewith to keep the stupid and +foul-mouthed people still further from us. But, dear reader, how could I +then have been able to recite Latin hymns, even had I known any? But my +_confrater_, the reverend Martinus, knew such an one; albeit it is indeed +heretical; nevertheless, seeing that it above measure pleased my child, +and that she made him repeat to her sundry verses thereof three and four +times, until she could say them after him, I said nought; otherwise I have +ever been very severe against aught that is heretical. Howbeit I comforted +myself therewith that our Lord God would forgive her in consideration of +her ignorance. And the first line ran as follows:--_Dies irae, dies ilia_. +But these two verses pleased her more than all the rest, and she recited +them many times with great edification, wherefore I will insert them here. + + Judex ergo cum sedebit + Quidquid latet apparebit, + Nil inultum remanebit: + + _Item_, + + Rex tremends majestatis! + Qui salvandos salvas gratis, + Salva me, fons pietatis! + +When the men with the pitchforks, who were round about the cart, heard +this, and at the same time saw a heavy storm coming up from the +Achterwater, they straightway thought no other but that my child had made +it; and, moreover, the folk behind cried out, "The witch hath done this; +the damned witch hath done this!" and all the ten, save one, who stayed +behind, jumped over the ditch, and ran away. But _Dom. Consul_, who, +together with the worshipful court, drove behind us, no sooner saw this +than he called to the constable, "What is the meaning of all this?" +Whereupon the constable cried aloud to the Sheriff, who was a little way +on before us, but who straightway turned him about, and when he had heard +the cause, called after the fellows that he would hang them all up on the +first tree, and feed his falcons with their flesh, if they did not return +forthwith. This threat had its effect; and when they came back he gave +each of them about half a dozen strokes with his riding-whip, whereupon +they tarried in their places, but as far off from the cart as they could +for the ditch. + +Meanwhile, however, the storm came up from the southward, with thunder, +lightning, hail, and such a wind, as though the all-righteous God would +manifest his wrath against these ruthless murderers; and the tops of the +lofty beeches around us were beaten together like besoms, so that our cart +was covered with leaves as with hail, and no one could hear his own voice +for the noise. This happened just as we were entering the forest from the +convent dam, and the Sheriff now rode close behind us, beside the coach +wherein was _Dom. Consul_. Moreover, just as we were crossing the bridge +over the mill-race, we were seized by the blast, which swept up a hollow +from the Achterwater with such force that we conceived it must drive our +cart down the abyss, which was at least forty feet deep or more; and +seeing that, at the same time, the horses did as though they were upon +ice, and could not stand, the driver halted to let the storm pass over, +the which the Sheriff no sooner perceived than he galloped up and bade him +go on forthwith. Whereupon the man flogged on the horses, but they slipped +about after so strange a fashion that our guards with the pitchforks fell +back, and my child cried aloud for fear; and when we were come to the +place where the great waterwheel turned just below us, the driver fell +with his horse, which broke one of its legs. Then the constable jumped +down from the cart, but straightway fell too on the slippery ground; +_item_, the driver, after getting on his legs again, fell a second time. +Hereupon the Sheriff, with a curse, spurred on his grey charger, which +likewise began to slip as our horses had also done. Nevertheless, he came +sliding towards us, without, however, falling down; and when he saw that +the horse with the broken leg still tried to get up, but always +straightway fell again on the slippery ground, he hallooed and beckoned +the fellows with pitchforks to come and unharness the mare; _item_, to +push the cart over the bridge, lest it should be carried down the +precipice. Presently a long flash of lightning shot into the water below +us, followed by a clap of thunder so sudden and so awful that the whole +bridge shook, and the Sheriff his horse (our horses stood quite still) +started back a few paces, lost its footing, and, together with its rider, +shot headlong down upon the great mill-wheel below, whereupon a fearful +cry arose from all those that stood behind us on the bridge. For a while +nought could be seen for the white foam, until the Sheriff his legs and +body were borne up into the air by the wheel, his head being stuck fast +between the fellies; and thus, fearful to behold, he went round and round +upon the wheel. Naught ailed the grey charger, which swam about in the +mill-pond below. When I saw this I seized the hand of my innocent lamb, +and cried, "Behold, Mary, our Lord God yet liveth! 'and he rode upon a +cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. Then did +he beat them small as the dust before the wind; he did cast them out as +the dirt in the streets.' Look down, and see what the Almighty God hath +done." While she hereupon raised her eyes towards heaven with a sigh, we +heard _Dom. Consul_ calling out behind us as loudly as he could: and +seeing that none could understand his words for the fearful storm and the +tumult of the waters, he jumped down from the coach, and would have +crossed the bridge on foot, but straightway he fell upon his nose, so that +it bled, and he crept back again on his hands and feet, and held a long +talk with _Dom. Camerarius_, who, howbeit, did not stir out of the coach. +Meanwhile the driver and the constable had unyoked the maimed horse, bound +it, and dragged it off the bridge, and now they came back to the cart and +bade us get down therefrom and cross the bridge on foot, the which we did +after the constable had unbound my child with many curses and ill words, +threatening that, in return for her malice, he would keep her roasting +till late in the evening. (I could not blame him much therefore; for truly +this was a strange thing!) But albeit my child herself got safe across, we +two--I mean reverend Martinus and myself--like all the others, fell two or +three times to the ground. At length we all, by God his grace, got safe +and sound to the miller's house, where the constable delivered my child +into the miller his hands, to guard her on forfeit of his life, while he +ran down to the mill-pond to save the Sheriff his grey charger. The driver +was bidden the while to get the cart and the other horses off the +bewitched bridge. We had, however, stood but a short time with the miller, +under the great oak before his door, when _Dom. Consul_, with the +worshipful court, and all the folks, came over the little bridge, which is +but a couple of musket-shots off from the first one, and he could scarce +prevent the crowd from falling upon my child and tearing her in pieces, +seeing that they all, as well as _Dom. Consul_ himself, imagined that none +other but she had brewed the storm and bewitched the bridge (especially as +she herself had not fallen thereon), and had likewise caused the Sheriff +his death; all of which, nevertheless, were foul lies, as ye shall +hereafter hear. He, therefore, railed at her for a cursed she-devil, who, +even after having confessed and received the holy Sacrament, had not yet +renounced Satan; but that nought should save her, and she should, +nevertheless, receive her reward. And, seeing that she kept silence, I +hereupon answered, "Did he not see that the all-righteous God had so +ordered it, that the Sheriff, who would have robbed my innocent child of +her honour and her life, had here forfeited his own life as a fearful +example to others?" But _Dom. Consul_ would not see this, and said that a +child might perceive that our Lord God had not made this storm, or did I +peradventure believe that our Lord God had likewise bewitched the bridge? +I had better cease to justify my wicked child, and rather begin to exhort +her to repent, seeing that this was the second time that she had brewed a +storm, and that no man with a grain of sense could believe what I said, +etc. + +Meanwhile the miller had already stopped the mill, _item_, turned off the +water, and some four or five fellows had gone with the constable down to +the great water-wheel to take the Sheriff out of the fellies, wherein he +had till _datum_ still been carried round and round. This they could not +do until they had first sawn out one of the fellies; and when at last they +brought him to the bank, his neck was found to be broken, and he was as +blue as a corn-flower. Moreover, his throat was frightfully torn, and the +blood ran out of his nose and mouth. If the people had not reviled my +child before, they reviled her doubly now, and would have thrown dirt and +stones at her, had not the worshipful court interfered with might and +main, saying that she would presently receive her well-deserved +punishment. + +[Illustration: The Doom of the Wheel] + +Also, my dear gossip, the Reverend Martinus, climbed up into the cart +again, and admonished the people not to forestall the law; and seeing that +the storm had somewhat abated, he could now be heard. And when they had +become somewhat more quiet, _Dom. Consul_ left the corpse of the Sheriff +in charge with the miller, until such time as, by God's help, he should +return. _Item_, he caused the grey charger to be tied up to the oak-tree +till the same time, seeing that the miller swore that he had no room in +the mill, inasmuch as his stable was filled with straw; but that he would +give the grey horse some hay, and keep good watch over him. And now were +we wretched creatures forced to get into the cart again, after that the +unsearchable will of God had once more dashed all our hopes. The constable +gnashed his teeth with rage, while he took the cords out of his pocket to +bind my poor child to the rail withal. As I saw right well what he was +about to do, I pulled a few groats out of my pocket, and whispered into +his ear, "Be merciful, for she cannot possibly run away, and do you +hereafter help her to die quickly, and you shall get ten groats more from +me!" This worked well, and albeit he pretended before the people to pull +the ropes tight, seeing they all cried out with might and main, "Haul +hard, haul hard!" in truth he bound her hands more gently than before, and +even without making her fast to the rail; but he sat up behind us again +with the naked sword, and after that _Dom. Consul_ had prayed aloud, "God +the Father, dwell with us," likewise the _Custos_ had led another hymn (I +know not what he sang, neither does my child), we went on our way, +according to the unfathomable will of God, after this fashion: the +worshipful court went before, whereas all the folks, to our great joy, +fell back, and the fellows with the pitchforks lingered a good way behind +us, now that the Sheriff was dead. + + + + +_The Twenty-eighth Chapter_ + + +HOW MY DAUGHTER WAS AT LENGTH SAVED BY THE HELP OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL, YEA, +OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL GOD + +Meanwhile, by reason of my unbelief, wherewith Satan again tempted me, I +had become so weak that I was forced to lean my back against the constable +his knees, and expected not to live till even we should come to the +mountain; for the last hope I had cherished was now gone, and I saw that +my innocent lamb was in the same plight. Moreover, the reverend Martinus +began to upbraid her, saying that he, too, now saw that all her oaths were +lies, and that she really could brew storms. Hereupon, she answered with a +smile, although, indeed, she was as white as a sheet, "Alas, reverend +godfather, do you then really believe that the weather and the storms no +longer obey our Lord God? Are storms, then, so rare at this season of the +year, that none save the foul fiend can cause them? Nay, I have never +broken the baptismal vow you once made in my name, nor will I ever break +it, as I hope that God will be merciful to me in my last hour, which is +now at hand." But the reverend Martinus shook his head doubtingly, and +said, "The Evil One must have promised thee much, seeing thou remainest so +stubborn even unto thy life's end, and blasphemest the Lord thy God; but +wait, and thou wilt soon learn with horror that the devil 'is a liar, and +the father of it'" (St. John viii.). Whilst he yet spake this, and more of +a like kind, we came to Uekeritze, where all the people, both great and +small, rushed out of their doors, also Jacob Schwarten his wife, who, as +we afterwards heard, had only been brought to bed the night before, and +her goodman came running after her to fetch her back, in vain. She told +him he was a fool, and had been one for many a weary day, and that if she +had to crawl up the mountain on her bare knees, she would go to see the +parson's witch burned; that she had reckoned upon it for so long, and if +he did not let her go, she would give him a thump on the chaps, etc. + +Thus did the coarse and foul-mouthed people riot around the cart wherein +we sat, and as they knew not what had befallen, they ran so near us that +the wheel went over the foot of a boy. Nevertheless, they all crowded up +again, more especially the lasses, and felt my daughter her clothes, and +would even see her shoes and stockings, and asked her how she felt. +_Item_, one fellow asked whether she would drink somewhat, with many more +fooleries besides, till at last, when several came and asked her for her +garland and her golden chain, she turned towards me and smiled, saying, +"Father, I must begin to speak some Latin again, otherwise the folks will +leave me no peace." But it was not wanted this time; for our guards, with +the pitchforks, had now reached the hindmost, and, doubtless, told them +what had happened, as we presently heard a great shouting behind us, for +the love of God to turn back before the witch did them a mischief; and as +Jacob Schwarten his wife heeded it not, but still plagued my child to give +her her apron to make a christening coat for her baby, for that it was +pity to let it be burnt, her goodman gave her such a thump on her back +with a knotted stick which he had pulled out of the hedge that she fell +down with loud shrieks; and when he went to help her up she pulled him +down by his hair, and, as reverend Martinus said, now executed what she +had threatened; inasmuch as she struck him on the nose with her fist with +might and main, until the other people came running up to them, and held +her back. Meanwhile, however, the storm had almost passed over, and sank +down toward the sea. + +And when we had gone through the little wood, we suddenly saw the +Streckelberg before us, covered with people, and the pile and stake upon +the top, upon the which the tall constable jumped up when he saw us +coming, and beckoned with his cap with all his might. Thereat my senses +left me, and my sweet lamb was not much better; for she bent to and fro +like a reed, and stretching her bound hands towards heaven, she once more +cried out: + + Rex tremendae majestatis! + Qui salvandos salvas gratis, + Salva me, fons pietatis! + +And, behold, scarce had she spoken these words, when the sun came out and +formed a rainbow right over the mountain most pleasant to behold; and it +is clear that this was a sign from the merciful God, such as he often +gives us, but which we blind and unbelieving men do not rightly mark. +Neither did my child heed it; for albeit she thought upon that first +rainbow which shadowed forth our troubles, yet it seemed to her impossible +that she could now be saved, wherefore she grew so faint, that she no +longer heeded the blessed sign of mercy, and her head fell forward (for +she could no longer lean it upon me, seeing that I lay my length at the +bottom of the cart), till her garland almost touched my worthy gossip his +knees. Thereupon he bade the driver stop for a moment, and pulled out a +small flask filled with wine, which he always carries in his pocket when +witches are to be burnt, in order to comfort them therewith in their +terror. (Henceforth, I myself will ever do the like, for this fashion of +my dear gossip pleases me well.) He first poured some of this wine down my +throat, and afterwards down my child's; and we had scarce come to +ourselves again, when a fearful noise and tumult arose among the people +behind us, and they not only cried out in deadly fear, "The Sheriff is +come back! the Sheriff is come again!" but as they could neither run away +forwards or backwards (being afraid of the ghost behind and of my child +before them), they ran on either side, some rushing into the coppice, and +others wading into the Achterwater up to their necks. _Item_, as soon as +_Dom. Camerarius_ saw the ghost come out of the coppice with a grey hat +and a grey feather, such as the Sheriff wore, riding on the grey charger, +he crept under a bundle of straw in the cart: and _Dom. Consul_ cursed my +child again, and bade the coachman drive on as madly as they could, even +should all the horses die of it, when the impudent constable behind us +called to him, "It is not the Sheriff, but the young lord of Nienkerken, +who will surely seek to save the witch: shall I, then, cut her throat with +my sword?" At these fearful words my child and I came to ourselves again, +and the fellow had already lift up his naked sword to smite her, seeing +_Dom. Consul_ had made him a sign with his hand, when my dear gossip, who +saw it, pulled my child with all his strength back into his lap. (May God +reward him on the day of judgment, for I never can.) The villain would +have stabbed her as she lay in his lap; but the young lord was already +there, and seeing what he was about to do, thrust the boarspear, which he +held in his hand, in between the constable's shoulders, so that he fell +headlong on the earth, and his own sword, by the guidance of the most +righteous God, went into his ribs on one side, and out again at the other. +He lay there and bellowed, but the young lord heeded him not, but said to +my child, "Sweet maid, God be praised that you are safe!" When, however, +he saw her bound hands, he gnashed his teeth, and, cursing her judges, he +jumped off his horse, and cut the rope with his sword, which he held in +his right hand, took her hand in his, and said, "Alas, sweet maid, how +have I sorrowed for you! but I could not save you, as I myself also lay in +chains, which you may see from my looks." + +But my child could answer him never a word, and fell into a swound again +for joy; howbeit, she soon came to herself again, seeing my dear gossip +still had a little wine by him. Meanwhile the dear young lord did me some +injustice, which, however, I freely forgive him; for he railed at me and +called me an old woman, who could do nought save weep and wail. Why had I +not journeyed after the Swedish king, or why had I not gone to Mellenthin +myself to fetch his testimony, as I knew right well what he thought about +witchcraft? (But, blessed God, how could I do otherwise than believe the +judge, who had been there? Others, besides old women, would have done the +same; and I never once thought of the Swedish king; and say, dear reader, +how could I have journeyed after him, and left my own child? But young +folks do not think of these things seeing they know not what a father +feels.) + +Meanwhile, however, _Dom. Camerarius_, having heard that it was the young +lord, had again crept out from beneath the straw, _item, Dom. Consul_ had +jumped down from the coach and ran towards us, railing at him loudly, and +asking him by what power and authority he acted thus, seeing that he +himself had heretofore denounced the ungodly witch? But the young lord +pointed with his sword to his people, who now came riding out of the +coppice, about eighteen strong, armed with sabres, pikes, and muskets, and +said, "There is my authority, and I would let you feel it on your back if +I did not know that you were but a stupid ass. When did you hear any +testimony from me against this virtuous maiden? You lie in your throat if +you say you did." And as _Dom. Consul_ stood and straightway forswore +himself, the young lord, to the astonishment of all, related as +follows:--That as soon as he heard of the misfortune which had befallen me +and my child, he ordered his horse to be saddled forthwith, in order to +ride to Pudgla to bear witness to our innocence: this, however, his old +father would nowise suffer, thinking that his nobility would receive a +stain if it came to be known that his son had conversed with a reputed +witch by night on the Streckelberg. He had caused him therefore, as +prayers and threats were of no avail, to be bound hand and foot, and +confined in the donjon-keep, where till _datum_ an old servant had watched +him, who refused to let him escape, notwithstanding he offered him any sum +of money; whereupon he fell into the greatest anguish and despair at the +thought that innocent blood would be shed on his account; but that the +all-righteous God had graciously spared him this sorrow; for his father +had fallen sick from vexation, and lay a-bed all this time, and it so +happened that this very morning about prayer-time the huntsman, in +shooting at a wild duck in the moat, had by chance sorely wounded his +father's favourite dog, called Packan, which had crept howling to his +father's bedside, and had died there; whereupon the old man, who was weak, +was so angered that he was presently seized with a fit and gave up the +ghost too. Hereupon his people released him, and after he had closed his +father's eyes and prayed an "Our Father" over him, he straightway set out +with all the people he could find in the castle in order to save the +innocent maiden. For he testified here himself before all, on the word and +honour of a knight, nay, more, by his hopes of salvation, that he himself +was that devil which had appeared to the maiden on the mountain in the +shape of a hairy giant; for having heard by common report that she +ofttimes went thither, he greatly desired to know what she did there, and +that from fear of his hard father he disguised himself in a wolf's skin, +so that none might know him, and he had already spent two nights there, +when on the third the maiden came, and he then saw her dig for amber on +the mountain, and that she did not call upon Satan, but recited a Latin +_carmen_ aloud to herself. This he would have testified at Pudgla, but, +from the cause aforesaid, he had not been able: moreover, his father had +laid his cousin, Claus von Nienkerken, who was there on a visit, in his +bed, and made him bear false witness; for as _Dom. Consul_ had not seen +him (I mean the young lord) for many a long year, seeing he had studied in +foreign parts, his father thought that he might easily be deceived, which +accordingly happened. + +When the worthy young lord had stated this before _Dom. Consul_ and all +the people, which flocked together on hearing that the young lord was no +ghost, I felt as though a millstone had been taken off my heart; and +seeing that the people (who had already pulled the constable from under +the cart, and crowded round him, like a swarm of bees) cried to me that he +was dying, but desired first to confess somewhat to me, I jumped from the +cart as lightly as a young bachelor, and called to _Dom. Consul_ and the +young lord to go with me, seeing that I could easily guess what he had on +his mind. He sat upon a stone, and the blood gushed from his side like a +fountain (now that they had drawn out the sword); he whimpered on seeing +me, and said that he had in truth hearkened behind the door to all that +old Lizzie had confessed to me, namely, that she herself, together with +the Sheriff, had worked all the witchcraft on man and beast, to frighten +my poor child, and force her to play the wanton. That he had hidden this, +seeing that the Sheriff had promised him a great reward for so doing; but +that he would now confess it freely, since God had brought my child her +innocence to light. Wherefore he besought my child and myself to forgive +him. And when _Dom. Consul_ shook his head, and asked whether he would +live and die on the truth of this confession, he answered, "Yes!" and +straightway fell on his side to the earth and gave up the ghost. + +Meanwhile time hung heavy with the people on the mountain, who had come +from Coserow, from Zitze, from Gnitze, etc., to see my child burnt, and +they all came running down the hill in long rows like geese, one after the +other, to see what had happened. And among them was my ploughman, Claus +Neels. When the worthy fellow saw and heard what had befallen us, he began +to weep aloud for joy; and straightway he too told what he had heard the +Sheriff say to old Lizzie in the garden, and how he had promised a pig in +the room of her own little pig, which she had herself bewitched to death +in order to bring my child into evil repute. _Summa_: all that I have +noted above, and which till _datum_ he had kept to himself for fear of the +question. Hereat all the people marvelled, and gently bewailed her +misfortunes; and many came, among them old Paasch, and would have kissed +my daughter her hands and feet, as also mine own, and praised us now as +much as they had before reviled us. But thus it ever is with the people. +Wherefore my departed father used to say: + + The people's hate is death, + Their love a passing breath! + +My dear gossip ceased not from fondling my child, holding her in his lap, +and weeping over her like a father (for I could not have wept more myself +than he wept). Howbeit she herself wept not, but begged the young lord to +send one of his horsemen to her faithful old maid-servant at Pudgla, to +tell her what had befallen us, which he straightway did to please her. But +the worshipful court (for _Dom. Gamerarius_ and the _scriba_ had now +plucked up a heart, and had come down from the coach) was not yet +satisfied, and _Dom. Consul_ began to tell the young lord about the +bewitched bridge, which none other save my daughter could have bewitched. +Hereto the young lord gave answer that this was indeed a strange thing, +inasmuch as his own horse had also broken a leg thereon, whereupon he had +taken the Sheriff his horse, which he saw tied up at the mill; but he did +not think that this could be laid to the charge of the maiden, but that it +came about by natural means, as he had half discovered already, although +he had not had time to search the matter thoroughly. Wherefore he besought +the worshipful court and all the people, together with my child herself, +to return back thither, where, with God's help, he would clear her from +this suspicion also, and prove her perfect innocence before them all. + +Thereunto the worshipful court agreed; and the young lord, having given +the Sheriff his grey charger to my ploughman to carry the corpse, which +had been laid across the horse's neck, to Coserow, the young lord got into +the cart by us, but did not seat himself beside my child, but backward by +my dear gossip: moreover, he bade one of his own people drive us instead +of the old coachman, and thus we turned back in God his name. _Custos +Benzensis_, who, with the children, had run in among the vetches by the +wayside (my defunct _Custos_ would not have done so, he had more courage), +went on before again with the young folks, and by command of his reverence +the pastor led the Ambrosian _Te Deum_, which deeply moved us all, more +especially my child, insomuch that her book was wetted with her tears, and +she at length laid it down and said, at the same time giving her hand to +the young lord, "How can I thank God and you for that which you have done +for me this day?" Whereupon the young lord answered, saying, "I have +greater cause to thank God than yourself, sweet maid, seeing that you have +suffered in your dungeon unjustly, but I justly, inasmuch as by my +thoughtlessness I brought this misery upon you. Believe me that this +morning when, in my donjon-keep, I first heard the sound of the dead-bell, +I thought to have died; and when it tolled for the third time, I should +have gone distraught in my grief, had not the Almighty God at that moment +taken the life of my strange father, so that your innocent life should be +saved by me. Wherefore I have vowed a new tower, and whatsoe'er beside may +be needful, to the blessed house of God; for nought more bitter could have +befallen me on earth than your death, sweet maid, and nought more sweet +than your life!" + +But at these words my child only wept and sighed; and when he looked on +her, she cast down her eyes and trembled, so that I straightway perceived +that my sorrows were not yet come to an end, but that another barrel of +tears was just tapped for me, and so indeed it was. Moreover, the ass of a +_Custos_, having finished the _Te Deum_ before we were come to the bridge, +straightway struck up the next following hymn, which was a funeral one, +beginning, "The body let us now inter." (God be praised that no harm has +come of it till _datum_.) My beloved gossip rated him not a little, and +threatened him that for his stupidity he should not get the money for the +shoes which he had promised him out of the Church-dues. But my child +comforted him, and promised him a pair of shoes at her own charges, seeing +that peradventure a funeral hymn was better for her than a song of +gladness. + +And when this vexed the young lord, and he said, "How now, sweet maid, you +know not how enough to thank God and me for your rescue, and yet you speak +thus?" She answered, smiling sadly, that she had only spoken thus to +comfort the poor _Custos_. But I straightway saw that she was in earnest, +for that she felt that although she had escaped one fire, she already +burned in another. + +Meanwhile we were come to the bridge again, and all the folks stood still, +and gazed open-mouthed, when the young lord jumped down from the cart, and +after stabbing his horse, which still lay kicking on the bridge, went on +his knees, and felt here and there with his hand. At length he called to +the worshipful court to draw near, for that he had found out the +witchcraft. But none save _Dom. Consul_ and a few fellows out of the +crowd, among whom was old Paasch, would follow him; _item_, my dear gossip +and myself, and the young lord, showed us a lump of tallow about the size +of a large walnut, which lay on the ground, and wherewith the whole bridge +had been smeared, so that it looked quite white, but, which all the folks +in their fright had taken for flour out of the mill; _item_, with some +other _materia_, which stunk like fitchock's dung, but what it was we +could not find out. Soon after a fellow found another bit of tallow, and +showed it to the people; whereupon I cried, "Aha! none hath done this but +that ungodly miller's man, in revenge for the stripes which the Sheriff +gave him for reviling my child." Whereupon I told what he had done, and +_Dom. Consul_, who also had heard thereof, straightway sent for the +miller. + +He, however, did as though he knew nought of the matter, and only said +that his man had left his service about an hour ago. But a young lass, the +miller's maid-servant, said that that very morning, before daybreak, when +she had got up to let out the cattle, she had seen the man scouring the +bridge. But that she had given it no further heed, and had gone to sleep +for another hour; and she pretended to know no more than the miller +whither the rascal was gone. When the young lord had heard this news, he +got up into the cart, and began to address the people, seeking to persuade +them no longer to believe in witchcraft, now that they had seen what it +really was. When I heard this, I was horror-stricken (as was but right) in +my conscience, as a priest, and I got upon the cartwheel, and whispered +into his ear, for God his sake, to leave this _materia_, seeing that if +the people no longer feared the devil, neither would they fear our Lord +God. + +The dear young lord forthwith did as I would have him, and only asked the +people whether they now held my child to be perfectly innocent? and when +they had answered, "Yes!" he begged them to go quietly home, and to thank +God that he had saved innocent blood. That he, too, would now return home, +and that he hoped that none would molest me and my child if he let us +return to Coserow alone. Hereupon he turned hastily towards her, took her +hand and said: "Farewell, sweet maid, I trust that I shall soon clear your +honour before the world, but do you thank God therefor, not me." He then +did the like to me and to my dear gossip, whereupon he jumped down from +the cart, and went and sat beside _Dom. Consul_ in his coach. The latter +also spake a few words to the people, and likewise begged my child and me +to forgive him (and I must say it to his honour, that the tears ran down +his cheeks the while), but he was so hurried by the young lord that he +brake short his discourse, and they drove off over the little bridge, +without so much as looking back. Only _Dom. Consul_ looked round once, and +called out to me, that in his hurry he had forgotten to tell the +executioner that no one was to be burned to-day: I was therefore to send +the churchwarden of Uekeritze up the mountain, to say so in his name; the +which I did. And the bloodhound was still on the mountain, albeit he had +long since heard what had befallen; and when the bailiff gave him the +orders of the worshipful court, he began to curse so fearfully that it +might have awakened the dead; moreover, he plucked off his cap, and +trampled it under foot, so that any one might have guessed what he felt. + +But to return to ourselves, my child sat as still and as white as a pillar +of salt, after the young lord had left her so suddenly and so unawares, +but she was somewhat comforted when the old maid-servant came running with +her coats tucked up to her knees, and carrying her shoes and stockings in +her hands. We heard her afar off, as the mill had stopped, blubbering for +joy, and she fell at least three times on the bridge, but at last she got +over safe, and kissed now mine and now my child her hands and feet; +begging us only not to turn her away, but to keep her until her life's +end; the which we promised to do. She had to climb up behind where the +impudent constable had sat, seeing that my dear gossip would not leave me +until I should be back in mine own manse. And as the young lord his +servant had got up behind the coach, old Paasch drove us home, and all the +folks who had waited till _datum_ ran beside the cart, praising and +pitying as much as they had before scorned and reviled us. Scarce, +however, had we passed through Uekeritze, when we again heard cries of +"Here comes the young lord, here comes the young lord!" so that my child +started up for joy, and became as red as a rose; but some of the folks ran +into the buckwheat, by the road, again, thinking it was another ghost. It +was, however, in truth, the young lord who galloped up on a black horse, +calling out as he drew near us, "Notwithstanding the haste I am in, sweet +maid, I must return and give you safe-conduct home, seeing that I have +just heard that the filthy people reviled you by the way, and I know not +whether you are yet safe." Hereupon he urged old Paasch to mend his pace, +and as his kicking and trampling did not even make the horses trot, the +young lord struck the saddle-horse from time to time with the flat of his +sword, so that we soon reached the village and the manse. Howbeit, when I +prayed him to dismount a while, he would not, but excused himself, saying +that he must still ride through Usedom to Anclam, but charged old Paasch, +who was our bailiff, to watch over my child as the apple of his eye, and +should anything unusual happen he was straightway to inform the town-clerk +at Pudgla, or _Dom. Consul_ at Usedom, thereof, and when Paasch had +promised to do this, he waved his hand to us, and galloped off as fast as +he could. + +But before he got round the corner by Pagel his house, he turned back for +the third time: and when we wondered thereat, he said we must forgive him, +seeing his thoughts wandered to-day. + +That I had formerly told him that I still had my patent of nobility, the +which he begged me to lend him for a time. Hereupon I answered that I must +first seek for it, and that he had best dismount the while. But he would +not, and again excused himself, saying he had no time. He therefore stayed +without the door, until I brought him the patent, whereupon he thanked me +and said, "Do not wonder hereat, you will soon see what my purpose is." +Whereupon he struck his spurs into his horse's sides and did not come back +again. + + + + +_The Twenty-ninth Chapter_ + + +OF OUR NEXT GREAT SORROW, AND FINAL JOY + +And now might we have been at rest, and have thanked God on our knees by +day and night. For, besides mercifully saving us out of such great +tribulation, he turned the hearts of my beloved flock, so that they knew +not how to do enough for us. Every day they brought us fish, meat, eggs, +sausages, and whatsoe'er besides they could give me, and which I have +since forgotten. Moreover they, every one of them, came to church the next +Sunday, great and small (except goodwife Kliene of Zempin, who had just +got a boy, and still kept her bed), and I preached a thanks-giving sermon +on Job v. 17, 18, and 19 verses, "Behold, happy is the man whom God +correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: for +he maketh sore, and bindeth up; and his hands make whole. He shall deliver +thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee." And +during my sermon I was ofttimes forced to stop by reason of all the +weeping, and to let them blow their noses. And I might truly have compared +myself to Job, after that the Lord had mercifully released him from his +troubles, had it not been for my child, who prepared much fresh grief for +me. + +She had wept when the young lord would not dismount, and now that he came +not again, she grew more uneasy from day to day. She sat and read first +the Bible, then the hymn-book, _item_, the history of Dido in _Virgilius_, +or she climbed up the mountain to fetch flowers (likewise sought after the +vein of amber there, but found it not, which shows the cunning and malice +of Satan). I saw this for a while with many sighs, but spake not a word +(for, dear reader, what could I say?) until it grew worse and worse; and +as she now recited her _carmina_ more than ever both at home and abroad, I +feared lest the people should again repute her a witch, and one day I +followed her up the mountain. Well-a-day, she sat on the pile, which still +stood there, but with her face turned towards the sea, reciting the +_versus_ where Dido mounts the funeral pile in order to stab herself for +love of AEneas:-- + + At trepida et coeptis immanibus effera Dido + Sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementes + Interfusa genas, et pallida morte futurâ + Interiora domus irrumpit limina et altos + Conscendit furibunda rogos.... + +When I saw this, and heard how things really stood with her, I was +affrighted beyond measure, and cried, "Mary, my child, what art thou +doing?" She started when she heard my voice, but sat still on the pile, +and answered, as she covered her face with her apron, "Father, I am +burning my heart." I drew near to her and pulled the apron from her face, +saying, "Wilt thou, then, again kill me with grief?" whereupon she covered +her face with her hands, and moaned, "Alas, father, wherefore was I not +burned here? My torment would then have endured but for a moment, but now +it will last as long as I live!" I still did as though I had seen nought, +and said, "Wherefore, dear child, dost thou suffer such torment?" +whereupon she answered, "I have long been ashamed to tell you; for the +young lord, the young lord, my father, do I suffer this torment! He no +longer thinks of me; and albeit he saved my life he scorns me, or he would +surely have dismounted and come in a while; but we are of far too low +degree for him!" Hereupon I indeed began to comfort her and to persuade +her to think no more of the young lord; but the more I comforted her, the +worse she grew. Nevertheless I saw that she did yet in secret cherish a +strong hope by reason of the patent of nobility which he had made me give +him. I would not take this hope from her, seeing that I felt the same +myself, and to comfort her I flattered her hopes, whereupon she was more +quiet for some days, and did not go up the mountain, the which I had +forbidden her. Moreover, she began again to teach little Paasch her +god-daughter, out of whom, by the help of the all-righteous God, Satan was +now altogether departed. But she still pined, and was as white as a sheet; +and when soon after a report came that none in the castle at Mellenthin +knew what was become of the young lord, and that they thought he had been +killed, her grief became so great that I had to send my ploughman on +horseback to Mellenthin to gain tidings of him. And she looked at least +twenty times out of the door and over the paling to watch for his return; +and when she saw him coming she ran out to meet him as far as the corner +by Pagels. But, blessed God! he brought us even worse news than we had +heard before, saying, that the people at the castle had told him that +their young master had ridden away the self-same day whereon he had +rescued the maiden. That he had, indeed, returned after three days to his +father's funeral, but had straightway ridden off again, and that for five +weeks they had heard nothing further of him, and knew not whither he was +gone, but supposed that some wicked ruffians had killed him. + +And now my grief was greater than ever it had been before; so patient and +resigned to the will of God as my child had shown herself heretofore, and +no martyr could have met her last hour stronger in God and Christ, so +impatient and despairing was she now. She gave up all hope, and took it +into her head that in these heavy times of war the young lord had been +killed by robbers. Nought availed with her, not even prayer, for when I +called upon God with her, on my knees, she straightway began so grievously +to bewail that the Lord had cast her off, and that she was condemned to +nought save misfortunes in this world; that it pierced through my heart +like a knife, and my thoughts forsook me at her words. She lay also at +night, and "like a crane or a swallow so did she chatter; she did mourn +like a dove; her eyes did fail with looking upward," because no sleep came +upon her eyelids. I called to her from my bed, "Dear child, wilt thou, +then, never cease? sleep, I pray thee!" and she answered and said, "Do you +sleep, dearest father; I cannot sleep until I sleep the sleep of death. +Alas, my father; that I was not burned!" But how could I sleep when she +could not? I indeed said, each morning, that I had slept a while, in order +to content her; but it was not so; but, like David, "all the night made I +my bed to swim; I watered my couch with my tears." Moreover I again fell +into heavy unbelief, so that I neither could nor would pray. Nevertheless +the Lord "did not deal with me after my sins, nor reward me according to +mine iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great was +his mercy toward" me, miserable sinner! + +For mark what happened on the very next Saturday! Behold, our old +maid-servant came running in at the door, quite out of breath, saying that +a horseman was coming over the Master's Mount, with a tall plume waving on +his hat, and that she believed it was the young lord. When my child, who +sat upon the bench combing her hair, heard this, she gave a shriek of joy, +which would have moved a stone under the earth, and straightway ran out of +the room to look over the paling. She presently came running in again, +fell upon my neck, and cried without ceasing, "The young lord! the young +lord!" whereupon she would have run out to meet him, but I forbade her, +saying she had better first bind up her hair, which she then remembered, +and laughing, weeping, and praying, all at once, she bound up her long +hair. And now the young lord came galloping round the corner, attired in a +green velvet doublet with red silk sleeves, and a grey hat with a heron's +feather therein; _summa_, gaily dressed as beseems a wooer. And when we +now ran out at the door, he called aloud to my child in the Latin, from +afar off, "_Quomodo stat dulcissima virgo?_" Whereupon she gave answer, +saying, "_Bene te aspecto._" He then sprang smiling off his horse, and +gave it into the charge of my ploughman, who meanwhile had come up +together with the maid; but he was affrighted when he saw my child so +pale, and taking her hand spake in the vulgar tongue, "My God! what is it +ails you, sweet maid? you look more pale than when about to go to the +stake." Whereupon she answered, "I have been at the stake daily since you +left us, good my lord, without coming into our house, or so much as +sending us tidings of whither you were gone." + +This pleased him well, and he said, "Let us first of all go into the +chamber, and you shall hear all." And when he had wiped the sweat from +his brow, and sat down on the bench beside my child, he spake as +follows:--That he had straightway promised her that he would clear her +honour before the whole world, and the self-same day whereon he left us he +made the worshipful court draw up an authentic record of all that had +taken place, more especially the confession of the impudent constable, +_item_, that of my ploughboy, Claus Neels; wherewith he rode throughout +the same night, as he had promised, to Anclam, and next day to Stettin, to +our gracious sovereign Duke Bogislaw: who marvelled greatly when he heard +of the wickedness of his Sheriff, and of that which he had done to my +child: moreover, he asked whether she were the pastor's daughter who once +upon a time had found the signet-ring of his Princely Highness Philippus +Julius of most Christian memory in the castle garden at Wolgast? and as he +did not know thereof, the Duke asked, whether she knew Latin? And he, the +young lord, answered yes, that she knew the Latin better than he did +himself. His Princely Highness said, "Then, indeed, it must be the same," +and straightway he put on his spectacles, and read the _acta_ himself. +Hereupon, and after his Princely Highness had read the record of the +worshipful court, shaking his head the while, the young lord humbly +besought his Princely Highness to give him an _amende honorable_ for my +child, _item, literas commendatitias_ for himself to our most gracious +Emperor at Vienna, to beg for a renewal of my patent of nobility, seeing +that he was determined to marry none other maiden than my daughter so long +as he lived. + +When my child heard this, she gave a cry of joy, and fell back in a swound +with her head against the wall. But the young lord caught her in his arms, +and gave her three kisses (which I could not then deny him, seeing, as I +did with joy, how matters went), and when she came to herself again, he +asked her, whether she would not have him, seeing that she had given a cry +at his words? Whereupon she said, "Whether I will not have you, my lord! +Alas! I love you as dearly as my God and my Saviour! You first saved my +life, and now you have snatched my heart from the stake, whereon, without +you, it would have burned all the days of my life!" Hereupon I wept for +joy, when he drew her into his lap, and she clasped his neck with her +little hands. + +They thus sat and toyed a while, till the young lord again perceived me, +and said, "What say you thereto; I trust it is also your will, reverend +Abraham?" Now, dear reader, what could I say, save my hearty good-will? +seeing that I wept for very joy, as did my child, and I answered, how +should it not be my will, seeing that it was the will of God? But whether +the worthy, good young lord had likewise considered that he would stain +his noble name if he took to wife my child, who had been habit and repute +a witch, and had been well-nigh bound to the stake? + +Hereupon he said, By no means; for that he had long since prevented this, +and he proceeded to tell us how he had done it, namely, his Princely +Highness had promised him to make ready all the _scripta_ which he +required, within four days, when he hoped to be back from his father's +burial. He therefore rode straightway back to Mellenthin, and after paying +the last honour to my lord his father, he presently set forth on his way +again, and found that his Princely Highness had kept his word meanwhile. +With these _scripta_ he rode to Vienna, and albeit he met with many pains, +troubles, and dangers by the way (which he would relate to us at some +other time), he nevertheless reached the city safely. There he by chance +met with a Jesuit with whom he had once upon a time had his _locamentum_ +for a few days at Prague, while he was yet a _studiosus_, and this man, +having heard his business, bade him be of good cheer, seeing that his +Imperial Majesty stood sorely in need of money in these hard times of war, +and that he, the Jesuit, would manage it all for him. This he really did, +and his Imperial Majesty not only renewed my patent of nobility, but +likewise confirmed the _amende honorable_ to my child granted by his +Princely Highness the Duke, so that he might now maintain the honour of +his betrothed bride against all the world, as also hereafter that of his +wife. + +Hereupon he drew forth the _acta_ from his bosom, and put them into my +hand, saying, "And now, reverend Abraham, you must also do me a pleasure, +to wit, to-morrow morning, when I hope to go with my betrothed bride to +the Lord's table, you must publish the banns between me and your daughter, +and on the day after you must marry us. Do not say nay thereto, for my +pastor, the reverend Philippus, says that this is no uncommon custom among +the nobles in Pomerania, and I have already given notice of the wedding +for Monday at mine own castle, whither we will then go, and where I +purpose to bed my bride." I should have found much to say against this +request, more especially that in honour of the Holy Trinity he should +suffer himself to be called three times in church according to custom, and +that he should delay a while the espousals; but when I perceived that my +child would gladly have the marriage held right soon, for she sighed and +grew red as scarlet, I had not the heart to refuse them, but promised all +they asked. Whereupon I exhorted them both to prayer, and when I had laid +my hands upon their heads, I thanked the Lord more deeply than I had ever +yet thanked him, so that at last I could no longer speak for tears, seeing +that they drowned my voice. + +Meanwhile the young lord his coach had driven up to the door, filled with +chests and coffers: and he said, "Now, sweet maid, you shall see what I +have brought you," and he bade them bring all the things into the room. +Dear reader, what fine things were there, such as I had never seen in all +my life! All that women can use was there, especially of clothes, to wit, +bodices, plaited gowns, long robes, some of them bordered with fur, veils, +aprons, _item_, the bridal shift with gold fringes, whereon the merry lord +had laid some six or seven bunches of myrtle to make herself a wreath +withal. _Item_, there was no end to the rings, neck-chains, eardrops, +etc., the which I have in part forgotten. Neither did the young lord leave +me without a gift, seeing he had brought me a new surplice (the enemy had +robbed me of my old one), also doublets, hosen, and shoes, _summa_, +whatsoever appertains to a man's attire; wherefore I secretly besought the +Lord not to punish us again in his sore displeasure for such pomps and +vanities. When my child beheld all these things she was grieved that she +could bestow upon him nought save her heart alone, and the chain of the +Swedish king, the which she hung round his neck, and begged him, weeping +the while, to take it as a bridal gift. This he at length promised to do, +and likewise to carry it with him into the grave: but that my child must +first wear it at her wedding, as well as the blue silken gown, for that +this and no other should be her bridal dress, and this he made her promise +to do. + +And now a merry chance befell with the old maid, the which I will here +note. For when the faithful old soul had heard what had taken place, she +was beside herself for joy, danced and clapped her hands, and at last said +to my child, "Now to be sure you will not weep when the young lord is to +lie in your bed," whereat my child blushed scarlet for shame, and ran out +of the room; and when the young lord would know what she meant therewith, +she told him that he had already once slept in my child her bed when he +came from Gutzkow with me, whereupon he bantered her all the evening after +that she was come back again. Moreover, he promised the maid that as she +had once made my child her bed for him, she should make it again, and that +on the day after to-morrow she and the ploughman too should go with us to +Mellenthin, so that masters and servants should all rejoice together after +such great distress. + +And seeing that the dear young lord would stop the night under my roof, I +made him lie in the small closet together with me (for I could not know +what might happen). He soon slept like a top, but no sleep came into my +eyes, for very joy, and I prayed the livelong blessed night, or thought +over my sermon. Only near morning I dozed a little; and when I rose the +young lord already sat in the next room with my child, who wore the black +silken gown which he had brought her, and, strange to say, she looked +fresher than even when the Swedish king came, so that I never in all my +life saw her look fresher or fairer. _Item_, the young lord wore his black +doublet, and picked out for her the best bits of myrtle for the wreath she +was twisting. But when she saw me, she straightway laid the wreath beside +her on the bench, folded her little hands, and said the morning prayer, as +she was ever wont to do, which humility pleased the young lord right well, +and he begged her that in future she would ever do the like with him, the +which she promised. + +Soon after we went to the blessed church to confession, and all the folk +stood gaping open-mouthed because the young lord led my child on his arm. +But they wondered far more when, after the sermon, I first read to them in +the vulgar tongue the _amende honorable_ to my child from his Princely +Highness, together with the confirmation of the same by his Imperial +Majesty, and after that my patent of nobility; and, lastly, began to +publish the banns between my child and the young lord. Dear reader, there +arose a murmur throughout the church like the buzzing of a swarm of bees. +(N.B. These _scripta_ were burnt in the fire which broke out in the castle +a year ago, as I shall hereafter relate, wherefore I cannot insert them +here _in origne_.) + +Hereupon my dear children went together with much people to the Lord's +table, and after church nearly all the folks crowded round them and wished +them joy. _Item_, old Paasch came to our house again that afternoon, and +once more besought my daughter's forgiveness because that he had +unwittingly offended her; that he would gladly give her a marriage-gift, +but that he now had nothing at all; howbeit that his wife should set one +of her hens in the spring, and he would take the chickens to her at +Mellenthin himself. This made us all to laugh, more especially the young +lord, who at last said: "As thou wilt bring me a marriage-gift, thou must +also be asked to the wedding, wherefore thou mayest come to-morrow with +the rest." + +[Illustration: The Bridal Gifts] + +Whereupon my child said: "And your little Mary, my god-child, shall come +too, and be my bridemaiden, if my lord allows it." Whereupon she began to +tell the young lord all that that had befallen the child by the malice of +Satan, and how they laid it to her charge until such time as the +all-righteous God brought her innocence to light; and she begged that +since her dear lord had commanded her to wear the same garments at her +wedding which she had worn to salute the Swedish king, and afterwards to +go to the stake, he would likewise suffer her to take for her bridemaiden +her little god-child, as _indicium secundum_ of her sorrows. + +And when he had promised her this, she told old Paasch to send hither his +child to her, that she might fit a new gown upon her which she had cut out +for her a week ago, and which the maid would finish sewing this very day. +This so went to the heart of the good old fellow that he began to weep +aloud, and at last said, she should not do all this for nothing, for +instead of the one hen his wife should set three for her in the spring. + +When he was gone, and the young lord did nought save talk with his +betrothed bride, both in the vulgar and in the Latin tongue, I did +better--namely, went up the mountain to pray, wherein, moreover, I +followed my child's example, and clomb up upon the pile, there in +loneliness to offer up my whole heart to the Lord as an offering of +thanksgiving, seeing that with this sacrifice he is well pleased, as +in Ps. li. 19, "The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and +contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise." + +That night the young lord again lay in my room, but next morning, when the +sun had scarce risen-- + +* * * * * + +Here end these interesting communications, which I do not intend to dilute +with any additions of my own. My readers, more especially those of the +fair sex, can picture to themselves at pleasure the future happiness of +this excellent pair. + +All further historical traces of their existence, as well as that of the +pastor, have disappeared, and nothing remains but a tablet fixed in the +wall of the church at Mellenthin, on which the incomparable lord, and his +yet more incomparable wife, are represented. On his faithful breast still +hangs "the golden chain, with the effigy of the Swedish King." They both +seem to have died within a short time of each other, and to have been +buried in the same coffin. For in the vault under the church there is +still a large double coffin, in which, according to tradition, lies a +chain of gold of incalculable value. Some twenty years ago, the owner of +Mellenthin, whose unequalled extravagance had reduced him to the verge of +beggary, attempted to open the coffin in order to take out this precious +relic, but he was not able. It appeared as if some powerful spell held it +firmly together; and it has remained unopened down to the present time. +May it remain so until the last awful day, and may the impious hand of +avarice or curiosity never desecrate these holy ashes of holy beings! + +FINIS + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Amber Witch, by Wilhelm Meinhold + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMBER WITCH *** + +This file should be named 8ambw10.txt or 8ambw10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8ambw11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8ambw10a.txt + +Produced by Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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