And a blue smoke rose up above the black brushwood.
The third preacher, furious with rage, would fain by main force havecut down Ulenspiegel, who said:
"Steel-wind or Lead-wind, thou art about to go over from this worldto the other, foul artificer of murders!"
And he attacked him, and he defended himself bravely.
And they both remained standing face to face stiffly upon the highway,delivering and parrying blows. Ulenspiegel was all bloody, for hisopponent, a tough soldier, had wounded him in the head and the leg. Buthe attacked and defended like a lion. As the blood that flowed fromhis head blinded him, he broke ground continually with great strides,wiped it off with his left hand and felt himself grow weak. He was liketo be killed had not Lamme fired on the preacher and brought him down.
And Ulenspiegel saw and heard him belch forth blasphemy, blood,and deathfoam.
And the blue smoke rose up above the black brushwood, amidst of whichLamme showed his good face once more.
"Is that all over?" said he.
"Aye, my son," answered Ulenspiegel. "But come...."
Lamme, coming out of his niche, saw Ulenspiegel all covered withblood. Then running like a stag, in spite of his belly, he came toUlenspiegel, seated on the earth beside the slain men.
"He is wounded," said he, "my friend, wounded by that murderingrascal." And with a kick from his heel he broke in the teeth of thenearest preacher.
"You do not answer, Ulenspiegel! Are you going to die, myson? Where is that balsam? Ha! in the bottom of his satchel, underthe sausages. Ulenspiegel, do you not hear me? Alas! I have no warmwater to wash your wound, nor any way to have it. But the water of theSambre will serve. Speak to me, my friend. You are not so terriblywounded, in any case. A little water, there, very cold water, is itnot? He awakes. 'Tis I, thy friend: they are all dead! Linen! linento tie up his hurts. There is none. My shirt then." He took off hisdoublet. And Lamme continuing his discourse: "In pieces, shirt! Theblood is stopping. My friend will not die."
"Ha!" he said, "how cold it is, bareback in this keen air. Let usreclothe ourselves. He will not die. 'Tis I, Ulenspiegel, I thyfriend Lamme. He smiles. I shall despoil the assassins. They havebellies of florins. Gilded entrails, carolus, florins, daelders,patards, and letters! We are rich. More than three hundred carolusto share. Let us take the arms and the money. Steel-wind will notblow as yet for Monseigneur."
Ulenspiegel, his teeth chattering from the cold, rose up.
"There you are on your feet," said Lamme.
"That is the might of the balsam," replied Ulenspiegel.
"The balsam of valiancy," answered Lamme.
Then taking the bodies of the three preachers one by one, he castthem into a hole among the rocks, leaving them their weapons andtheir clothes, all save their cloaks.
And all about them in the sky croaked the ravens, awaiting their food.
And the Sambre rolled along like a river of steel under the gray sky.
And the snow fell, washing the blood away.
And they were nevertheless troubled. And Lamme said:
"I would rather kill a chicken than a man."
And they mounted their asses again.
At the gates of Huy the blood was still flowing; they pretended tofall into quarrel together, got down from their asses, and fencedand foined with their daggers most cruelly to behold; then havingbrought the combat to an end, they mounted again and entered into Huy,showing their passes at the gates of the city.
The women seeing Ulenspiegel wounded and bleeding, and Lamme playingthe victor upon his ass, they looked on Ulenspiegel with pity andshowed their fists at Lamme saying: "That one is the rascal thatwounded his friend."
Lamme, uneasy, only sought among them whether he did not see his wife.
It was in vain, and he was plunged in melancholy.
XXIII
"Whither are we going?" said Lamme.
"To Maestricht," replied Ulenspiegel.
"But, my son, they say the duke's army is there all about and around,and that he himself is within the city. Our passes will not be enoughfor us. If the Spanish troopers accept them, none the less we shall beheld in the town and interrogated. Meanwhile, they will have discoveredthe death of the preachers, and we shall have finished with living."
Ulenspiegel replied:
"The ravens, the owls, and the vultures will soon have made an end oftheir meat; already, beyond a doubt, they have faces that could not berecognized. As for our passes they may be good; but if they learned ofthe slaughter, we should, as you say, be taken prisoners. Nevertheless,we must needs go to Maestricht and take Landen on our way."
"They will hang us," said Lamme.
"We shall pass," replied Ulenspiegel.
Thus talking, they arrived at the Magpie inn, where they found goodmeals, good beds, and hay for their asses.
The next day they set out on their way to Landen.
Having arrived at a great farm near the city, Ulenspiegel whistledlike the lark, and immediately there answered from within thewarlike clarion of a cock. A farmer with a goodly face appeared onthe threshold of the farmhouse. He said to them:
"Friends, as freemen, long live the Beggar! Come within."
"Who is this one?" asked Lamme.
Ulenspiegel replied:
"Thomas Utenhove, the brave reformer; his serving men and women onthe farm work like him for freedom of conscience."
Then Utenhove said:
"Ye are the prince's envoys. Eat and drink."
And the ham began to crackle in the pan and the black puddings also,and the wine went about and glasses were filled. And Lamme fell todrinking like the dry sand and to eating lustily.
Lads and lasses of the farm came in turns and thrust in their nosesat the half-open door to look at him labouring with his jaws. Andthe men, jealous of him, said they could do as well as he.
At the end of the meal Thomas Utenhove said:
"A hundred peasants will go from here this week under pretence of goingto work on the dykes at Bruges and round about. They will travel bybands of five or six and by different ways. There will be boats atBruges to fetch them by sea to Emden."
"Will they be furnished with weapons and money?" asked Ulenspiegel.
"They will have each ten florins and big cutlasses."
"God and the prince will reward you," said Ulenspiegel.
"I am not working for reward," replied Thomas Utenhove.
"What do you do," said Lamme, eating big black puddings, "what doyou do, master host, to have a dish so savoury, so succulent, andwith such fine grease?"
"'Tis because we put in it," the host said, "cinnamon and catnip."
Then speaking to Ulenspiegel:
"Is Edzard, Count of Frisia, is he still the prince's friend?"
Ulenspiegel replied:
"He hides it, while at the same time giving refuge at Emden tohis ships."
And he added:
"We must go to Maestricht."
"You will not be able to do so," said the host; "the duke's army isbefore the town and in the environs."
Then taking him into the loft, he showed him far away the ensignsand guidons of horse soldiers and footmen riding and marching inthe country.
Ulenspiegel said:
"I shall make my way through if you, who are of authority in thisplace, will give me a permit to marry. As for the woman, she must bepretty, gentle, and sweet, and willing to marry me, if not for always,at least for a week."
Lamme sighed and said:
"Do not do this, my son; she will leave you alone, burning in thefires of love. Your bed, where you now sleep so snugly, will becomeas a mattress of holly to you, depriving you of sweet slumber."
"I will take a wife," replied Ulenspiegel.
And Lamme, finding nothing more on the table, was deeplydistressed. However, having discovered castrelins in a bowl, he atethem in melancholy fashion.
Ulenspiegel said to Thomas Utenhove:
"Come, then, let us
drink; give me a wife rich or poor. I shall gowith her to church and have the marriage blessed by the cure. And hewill give us the certificate of marriage, which will not be validsince it comes from a Papist and inquisitor; we shall have it setdown in it that we are all good Christians, having confessed andtaken the Sacrament, living apostolically according to the preceptsof our Holy Mother the Roman Church, which burneth her children,and thus calling upon us the blessings of our Holy Father the Pope,the armies celestial and terrestrial, the saints both men and women,deans, cures, monks, soldiers, catchpolls, and other rascals. Armedwith this certificate aforesaid, we shall make our preparations forthe usual festal wedding journey."
"But the woman," said Thomas Utenhove.
"You will find her for me," replied Ulenspiegel. "I will take twowagons, then; I will bedeck them with wreaths adorned with pine boughs,holly, and paper flowers; I will fill them with certain of the ladsyou want to send to the prince."
"But the woman?" said Thomas Utenhove.
"She is here without a doubt," replied Ulenspiegel. And continuing:
"I shall harness two of your horses to one of the wagons, our two assesto the other. In the first wagon I shall put my wife and myself,my friend Lamme, the witnesses of the marriage; in the second,tambourine players, fifers, and shawm players. Then displaying thejoyful marriage flags, playing the tambourine, singing, drinking,we will go trotting down the highway that leads to the Galgen-Veld,the Gallows Field, or to liberty."
"I will help you," said Thomas Utenhove. "But the women and girlswill wish to go with their men."
"We shall go, by the grace of God," said a pretty girl, putting herhead in at the half-open door.
"There will be four wagons, if they are needed," said Thomas Utenhove;"in this way we shall get more than twenty-five men through."
"The duke will be crestfallen," said Ulenspiegel.
"And the prince's fleet served by some good soldiers the more,"replied Thomas Utenhove.
Having his serving men and women summoned then by ringing a bell,he said to them:
"All ye that are of Zealand, men and women, oyez; Ulenspiegel theFleming here present desires that you should pass through the duke'sarmy in wedding array."
Men and women of Zealand shouted together:
"Danger of death! we are willing!"
And the men said, one to another:
"It is joy to us to leave the land of slavery to go to the freesea. If God be for us, who shall be against us?"
Women and girls said:
"Let us follow our husbands and our lovers. We are of Zealand and weshall find harbour there."
Ulenspiegel espied a pretty young girl, and said to her, jesting:
"I want to marry you."
But she, blushing, replied:
"I am willing, but only in church."
The women, laughing, said to one another:
"Her heart turns to Hans Utenhove, the son of the baes. Doubtless heis going with her."
"Aye," replied Hans.
And the father said to him:
"You may."
The men donned festal raiment, doublet and breeches of velvet, andthe big opperst-kleed over all, and large kerchiefs on their heads,to keep off sun and rain; the women in black stockings and pinkedshoes; wearing the big gilt jewel on their foreheads, on the left forthe girls, on the right for the married women; the white ruff upontheir necks, the plastron of gold, scarlet, and azure embroidery,the petticoat of black woollen, with wide velvet stripes of the samecolour, black woollen stockings and velvet shoes with silver buckles.
Then Thomas Utenhove went off to the church to beg the priest tomarry immediately, for two ryck-daelders which he put in his hand,Thylbert the son of Claes, which was Ulenspiegel, and Tannekin Pieters,to the which the cure consented.
Ulenspiegel then went to church followed by the whole wedding party,and there he married before the priest Tannekin, so pretty and sweet,so gracious and so plump, that he would gladly have bitten her cheekslike a love-apple. And he told her so, not daring to do it for therespect he had to her gentle beauty. But she, pouting, said to him:
"Leave me alone: there is Hans looking murder at you."
And a jealous girl said to him:
"Look elsewhere: do you not see she is afraid of her man?"
Lamme, rubbing his hands, exclaimed:
"You are not to have them all, rogue."
And he was delighted.
Ulenspiegel, applying patience to his trouble, came back to the farmwith the wedding party. And there he drank, sang, and was jolly,drinking hob-nob with the jealous girl. Thereat Hans was merry,but not Tannekin, nor the girl's betrothed.
At noon, in bright sunshine and a cool wind, the wagons set forth,all greenery and flowers, all the banners displayed to the merrysound of tambourines, shawms, fifes, and bagpipes.
At Alba's camp there was another feast. The advanced outposts andsentinels having sounded the alarm, came in one after another, saying:
"The enemy is near at hand; we have heard the noise of tambourines andfifes and seen his ensigns. It is a strong body of cavalry come thereto draw you into some ambush. The main army is doubtless farther on."
The duke at once had his camp masters, colonels, and captains informed,ordered them to set the army in battle array, and sent to reconnoitrethe enemy.
Suddenly there appeared four wagons advancing towards themusketeers. In the wagons men and women were dancing, bottles werejigging round, and merrily squealed the fifes, moaned the shawms,beat the drums and droned the bagpipes.
The wedding party having halted, Alba came in person to the noise,and beheld the new-made bride on one of the four wagons; Ulenspiegel,her bridegroom, all rosy and fine beside her, and all the countryfolk, both men and women, alighted on the ground, dancing all aboutand offering drink to the soldiers.
Alba and his train marvelled greatly at the simplicity of thesepeasants who were singing and feasting when everything was in armsall about them.
And those who were in the wagons gave all their wine to the soldiers.
And they were well applauded and welcomed by them.
The wine giving out in the wagons, the peasants went on their wayagain to the sound of the tambourines, fifes, and bagpipes, withoutbeing interfered with.
And the soldiers, gay and jolly, fired a salvo of musket shots intheir honour.
And thus they came into Maestricht, where Ulenspiegel made arrangementswith the reformers' agents to despatch by vessels arms and munitionsto the fleet of the Silent.
And they did the same at Landen.
And they went in this way elsewhere, clad as workmen.
The duke heard of the trick; and there was a song made upon it,which was sent him, and the refrain of which was:
Bloody Duke, silly head, Have you seen the newlywed?
And every time he had made a wrong manoeuvre the soldiers would sing:
The Duke has dust in eye: He has seen the newlywed.
XXIV
In the meantime, King Philip was plunged in bitter melancholy. In hisgrievous pride he prayed to God to give him power to conquer England,to subdue France, to take Milan, Genoa, Venice, and great lord ofall the seas, thus to reign over all Europe.
Thinking of this triumph, he laughed not.
He was continually and always cold; wine never warmed him, nor thefire of scented wood that was always burning in the chamber where hewas. There always writing, sitting amid so many letters that a hundredcasks might have been filled with them, he brooded over the universaldomination of the whole world, such as was wielded by the emperors ofRome; on his jealous hatred of his son Don Carlos, since the latterhad wanted to go to the Low Countries in the Duke of Alba's place, toseek to reign there, he thought, without doubt. And seeing him ugly,deformed, a savage and cruel madman, he hated him the more. But henever spoke of it.
Those who served King Philip and his son Don Carlos knew not whichof the twain they ought to fear the most; whether the son, agile,m
urderous, tearing his servitors with his nails, or the cowardlyand crafty father, using others to strike, and like a hyaena, livingupon corpses.
The servitors were terrified to see them prowling around eachother. And they said that there would soon be a death in the Escurial.
Now they learned presently that Don Carlos had been imprisoned for thecrime of high treason. And they knew that he was devouring his soulwith black spite, that he had hurt his face trying to get throughthe bars of his prison in order to escape, and that Madame Isabelleof France, his mother, was weeping without ceasing.
But King Philip was not weeping.
The rumour came to them that Don Carlos had been given green figsand that he was dead the next day as if he had gone to sleep. Thephysicians said as soon as he had eaten the figs the blood ceased tobeat, the functions of life, as Nature meant them, were interrupted;he could neither spit, nor vomit, nor get rid of anything from outof his body. His belly swelled at his death.
King Philip heard the death mass for Don Carlos, had him buriedin the chapel of his royal residence and marble set over his body;but he did not weep.
And the lords in waiting said to one another, mocking the princelyepitaph that was on the tombstone:
HERE LIES ONE WHO, EATING GREEN FIGS, DIED WITHOUT HAVING BEEN SICK
A qui jaze qui en para desit verdad, Morio s'in infirmidad
The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Volume 2 (of 2) Page 6