The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Volume 2 (of 2)

by Charles de Coster

  At night Nele was awakened by cries coming from the street. She lookedfor Katheline in the room and found her not. She ran down and openedthe door, and Katheline came in saying:

  "Save me! Save me! the wolf! the wolf!"

  And Nele heard in the country far-off howlings. Trembling, she lightedall the lamps, wax tapers, and candles.

  "What has happened, Katheline?" said she, clasping her in her arms.

  Katheline sat down, with haggard eyes, and said, looking at thecandles:

  "'Tis the sun, he driveth away evil spirits. The wolf, the wolf ishowling in the countryside."

  "But," said Nele, "why did you leave your bed where you were warm,to go and take a fever in the damp nights of September?"

  And Katheline said:

  "Hanske cried last night like an osprey; and I opened the door. Andhe said to me: 'Take the drink of vision,' and I drank. Hanske isgoodly to look upon. Take away the fire. Then he brought me downto the canal and said to me: 'Katheline, I will give thee back theseven hundred carolus; thou shalt restore them to Ulenspiegel the sonof Claes. Here be two to buy thee a robe; thou shalt have a thousandsoon.' 'A thousand,' said I, 'my beloved, I shall then be rich.' 'Thoushalt have them,' said he. 'But is there none in Damme who, woman ordamsel, is now as rich as thou wilt be?' 'I know not,' I answered. ButI had no mind to tell their names for fear he might love them. Then hesaid to me: 'Find this out and tell me their names when I come back.'

  "The air was chill, the mist rolled over the meadows, the dry twigswere falling from the trees upon the roadway. And the moon was shining,and there were fires on the water of the canal. Hanske said to me:'It is the night of the were-wolves; all guilty souls come forth outof hell. Thou must make the sign of the cross thrice with the lefthand and cry: Salt! Salt! Salt! which is the emblem of immortality, andthey will do thee no hurt.' And I said: 'I shall do what thou desirest,Hanske, my darling.' He kissed me, saying: 'Thou art my wife.' 'Aye,'said I. And at his gentle word a heavenly happiness glided over mybody like an ointment. He crowned me with roses and said to me: 'Thouart fair.' And I said to him: 'Thou art fair, too, Hanske, my darling,and goodly in thy fine raiment of green velvet with gold trimmings,with thy long ostrich feather that floats from thy bonnet, and thyface pale as the fire upon the waves of the sea. And if the girls ofDamme saw thee, they would all run after thee, beseeching thee forthy heart; but thou must give it only to me alone, Hanske.' He said:'Endeavour to know which are the richest; their fortune will be forthee.' Then he went away, leaving me after straitly forbidding me tofollow him.

  "I stayed there, chinking the three carolus in my hand, all shiveringand frozen by reason of the mist, when I saw coming up from a steepbank and climbing the slope a wolf that had a green face and longreeds among his white hair. I cried out: Salt! Salt! Salt! makingthe sign of the cross, but he seemed to be in no dread of it. AndI ran with all my might, I crying, he howling, and I heard the dryclashing of his teeth close upon me, and once so near to my shoulderthat I thought that he was about to catch me. But I ran faster thanhe did. By great good luck, I met at the corner of the street ofthe Heron the night watch with his lantern. 'The wolf! the wolf!' Icried. 'Be not afraid,' said the watchman to me, 'I will take youhome, Katheline the madwife.' And I felt that his hand, holding me,was shaking. And he was afraid like me."

  "But he hath got back his courage," said Nele. "Do you hear him nowchanting in a drawling voice: 'De clock is tien tien aen de clock':It is ten o' the clock, o' the clock ten! And he springs his rattle."

  "Take away the fire," said Katheline, "my head burns. Come back,Hanske, my darling."

  And Nele looked on Katheline, and she prayed Our Lady the Virginto take away from her head the fire of madness; and she wept overher mother.

  XXXVIII

  At Belleau, on the banks of the Bruges canal, Ulenspiegel and Lammemet a horseman wearing three cock's feathers in his felt hat andriding at full speed towards Ghent. Ulenspiegel sang like a lark andthe horseman, pulling up, answered with the clarion of Chanticleer.

  "Dost thou bring tidings, headlong horseman?" said Ulenspiegel.

  "Great tidings," said the horseman. "On the advice of M. de Chatillonwho is in the land of France the admiral of the sea, the prince offreedom hath given commissions to equip ships of war, beyond thosethat are already armed at Emden and in East Frisia. The valiant menwho have received these commissions are Adrien de Berghes, Sieurde Dolhain; his brother Louis of Hainaut; the Baron of Montfaucon;the Sieur Louis de Brederode; Albert d'Egmont the son of the beheadedcount and no traitor like his brother; Berthel Enthens of Mentheda,the Frisian; Adrien Menningh; Hembuyse the hot and proud man of Ghent;and Jan Brock.

  "The prince hath given all his having, more than fifty thousandflorins."

  "I have five hundred for him," said Ulenspiegel.

  "Take them to the sea," said the horseman.

  And he went off at a gallop.

  "He gives all his having," said Ulenspiegel. "We others, we givenothing but our skins."

  "Is that nothing then," said Lamme, "and shall we never have aughttalked of but sack and massacre? The orange is on the ground."

  "Aye," said Ulenspiegel, "on the ground, like the oak; but with theoak they build the ships of freedom!"

  "For his profit," said Lamme. "But since there is no danger now,let us buy asses again. I like to march sitting, for my part, andwithout having a chime of blister-bells on the soles of my feet."

  "Let us buy asses," said Ulenspiegel; "these are beasts it is easyto sell again."

  They went to market and found there, by paying for them, two fineasses with their equipment.

  XXXIX

  As they rode on astraddle, they came to Oost-Camp, where there is agreat wood the fringe of which touched the canal.

  Seeking therein shade and sweet fragrance, they went into it, withoutseeing anything but the long forest alleys going in every directiontowards Bruges, Ghent, South Flanders, and North Flanders.

  Suddenly Ulenspiegel jumped down from his ass.

  "Dost thou see nothing yonder?"

  Lamme said:

  "Aye, I see." And trembling: "My wife, my good wife! 'Tis she, myson. Ha! I cannot walk to her. To find her thus!"

  "What are you complaining of?" said Ulenspiegel.

  "She is beautiful thus half-naked, in this muslin tunic cut in openwork that lets the fresh skin be seen. That one is too young; she isnot your wife."

  "My son," said Lamme, "it is she, my son; I know her. Carry me. I cango no more. Who would have thought it of her? To dance clad in thisway like an Egyptian, shamelessly! Aye, it is she; see her shapelylegs, her arms bare to the shoulder, her breasts round and goldenhalf emerging from her muslin tunic. See how with that red flag sheexcites that great dog jumping up at it."

  "'Tis a dog of Egypt," said Ulenspiegel; "the Low Countries give noneof that kind."

  "Egypt ... I do not know.... But it is she. Ha! my son, I can see nomore. She plucks up her breeches higher to show more of her roundlegs. She laughs to show her white teeth, and loudly to let thesound of her sweet voice be heard. She opens her tunic at the top andthrows herself back. Ha! that swan neck amorous, those bare shoulders,those bright bold eyes! I run to her!"

  And he leaped from his ass.

  But Ulenspiegel, stopping him:

  "This girl," said he, "is not your wife. We are near a camp ofEgyptians. Beware.... See you the smoke behind the trees? Hear youthe barking of the dogs? There, here are some looking at us, readyto bite perhaps. Let us hide deeper in the brake."

  "I will not hide," said Lamme; "this woman is mine, as Flemish asourselves."

  "Blind and madman," said Ulenspiegel.

  "Blind, nay! I see her well, dancing, half-naked, laughing and teasingthis great dog. She feigns not to see us. But she does see us, I assureyou. Thyl, Thyl! there is the dog hurling himself on her and throws herdown to have the red flag. And she falls, uttering a plaintive cry."

  And Lamme suddenly dashed towards her, saying to
her:

  "My wife, my wife! where are you hurt, darling? Why do you laugh soloud? Your eyes are haggard."

  And he kissed her and caressed her and said:

  "That beauty spot you had under the left breast, I see it not. Whereis it? Thou art not my wife. Great God of Heaven!"

  And she never stopped laughing.

  Suddenly Ulenspiegel cried out:

  "Guard thee, Lamme!"

  And Lamme, turning about, saw before him a great blackamoor of anEgyptian, of a sour countenance, brown as peper-koek, which is gingerbread in the land of France.

  Lamme picked up his pikestaff, and putting himself to his defence,he cried out:

  "To the rescue, Ulenspiegel!"

  Ulenspiegel was there with his good sword.

  The Egyptian said to him in High German:

  "Gibt mi ghelt, ein Richsthaler auf tsein." (Give me money, aricksdaelder or ten.)

  "See," said Ulenspiegel, "the girl goes away laughing loudly and eventurning round to ask to be followed."

  "Gibt mi ghelt," said the man. "Pay for your amours. We are poor folkand wish you no harm."

  Lamme gave him a carolus.

  "What trade dost thou follow?" said Ulenspiegel.

  "All trades," replied the Egyptian: "being master of arts insuppleness, we do miraculous and magic tricks. We play on thetambourine and dance Hungarian dances. More than one among us makecages and gridirons to roast fine carbonadoes therewith. But all,Flemings and Walloons, are feared of us and drive us forth. Aswe cannot live by trade, we live by marauding, that is to say,on vegetables, meat, and poultry that we must needs take from thepeasant, since he will neither give nor sell them to us."

  Lamme said to him:

  "Whence comes this girl, who is so like to my wife?"

  "She is our chief's daughter," said the blackamoor.

  Then speaking low like a man in fear:

  "She was smitten by God with the malady of love and knows naught ofwoman's modesty. As soon as she seeth a man, she entereth on gaietyand wildness, and laughs without ceasing. She saith little; she waslong thought to be dumb. By night, in sadness, she stays before thefire, weeping at whiles or laughing without reason, and pointing toher belly, where, she saith, she hath a hurt. At the hour of noon,in summer, after the meal, her sharpest madness cometh upon her. Thenshe goeth to dance near naked on the outskirts of the camp. She willwear naught but raiment of tulle or muslin, and in winter we havegreat trouble to cover her with a cloak of cloth of goat's hair."

  "But," said Lamme, "hath she not some man friend to prevent her fromabandoning herself thus to all comers?"

  "She hath none," said the man, "for travellers, coming near her andbeholding her eyes distraught, have more of fear than desire forher. This big man was a bold one," said he, pointing to Lamme.

  "Let him talk, my son," said Ulenspiegel; "it is the stockvischslandering the whale. Which of the two is the one that gives most oil?"

  "You have a sharp tongue this morning," said Lamme.

  But Ulenspiegel, without listening to him, said to the Egyptian:

  "What doth she when others are as bold as my friend Lamme?"

  The Egyptian answered sadly:

  "Then she hath pleasure and gain. Those who win her pay for theirdelight, and the money serves to clothe her and also for thenecessities of the old men and the women."

  "She obeyeth none then?" said Lamme.

  The Egyptian answered:

  "Let us allow those whom God hath smitten to do as they wish. Thushe marks his will. And such is our law."

  Ulenspiegel and Lamme went away. And the Egyptian returned thence tohis camp, grave and proud. And the girl, laughing wildly, danced inthe clearing.

  XL

  Going on their way to Bruges, Ulenspiegel said to Lamme:

  "We have disbursed a heavy sum of money in the enlisting of soldiers,in payment to the catchpolls, the gift to the Egyptian girl, and thoseinnumerable olie-koekjes that it pleased you to eat without ceasingrather than to sell a single one. Now notwithstanding your belly-will,it is time to live more circumspectly. Give me your money. I willkeep the common purse."

  "I am willing," said Lamme. And giving it to him: "All the same,do not leave me to die of hunger," said he, "for think on it, big andstrong as I am, I must have substantial and abundant nourishment. It iswell for you, a thin and wretched fellow, to live from hand to mouth,eating or not eating what you pick up, like planks that live on airand rain on the quays. But for me, whom air hollows and rain hungers,I must needs have other feasts."

  "You shall have them," said Ulenspiegel, "feasts of virtuous Lents. Thebest filled paunches cannot resist them; deflating little by little,they make the heaviest light. And presently will Lamme my darling beseen sufficiently thinned down, running like a stag."

  "Alas!" said Lamme. "What henceforth will be my starveling fate? Iam hungry, my son, and would fain have supper."

  Night was falling. They arrived in Bruges by the Ghent gate. Theyshowed their passes. Having had to pay one demi-sol for themselvesand two for their asses, they entered into the town; Lamme, thinkingof Ulenspiegel's word, seemed brokenhearted.

  "Shall we have supper, soon?" said he.

  "Aye," replied Ulenspiegel.

  They alighted in de Meermin, at the Siren, a weathercock which isfixed all in gold above the gable of the inn.

  They put their asses in the stable, and Ulenspiegel ordered, for hissupper and Lamme's, bread, beer, and cheese.

  The host grinned when serving this lean meal: Lamme ate with hungryteeth, looking in despair at Ulenspiegel labouring with his jawsupon the too-old bread and the too-young cheese, as if they had beenortolans. And Lamme drank his small beer with no pleasure. Ulenspiegellaughed to see him so miserable. And there was also someone thatlaughed in the courtyard of the inn and came at whiles to show herface at the window. Ulenspiegel saw that it was a woman that hid herface. Thinking it was some sly servant he thought no more of it, andseeing Lamme pale, sad, and livid because of his thwarted belly loves,he had pity and thought of ordering for his companion an omeletteof black puddings, a dish of beef and beans, or any other hot dish,when the baes came in and said, doffing his headgear:

  "If messires the travellers desire a better supper, they will speakand say what they want."

  Lamme opened wide eyes and his mouth wider still and looked atUlenspiegel with an anguished distress.

  The latter replied:

  "Wandering workmen are not rich men."

  "It nevertheless happens," said the baes, "that they do not alwaysknow all their possessions." And pointing to Lamme: "That good phiz isworth two. What would Your Lordships please to eat and to drink--anomelette with fat ham, choesels, we made some to-day, castrelins, acapon melting under the tooth, a fine grilled carbonado with a sauceof four spices, dobbel-knol of Antwerp, dobbel-cuyt of Bruges, wineof Louvain prepared after the manner of Burgundy? And nothing to pay."

  "Bring all," said Lamme.

  The table was soon laid, and Ulenspiegel took his delight to seepoor Lamme who, more famished than ever, precipitated himself uponthe omelette, the choesels, the capon, the ham, the carbonadoes,and poured down his throat in quarts the dobbel-knol, the dobbel-cuytand the Louvain wine prepared after the manner of Burgundy.

  When he could eat no more, he puffed with comfort like a whale, andlooked about him over the table to see if there was nothing left toput under his tooth. And he ate the crumbs of the castrelins.

  Neither he nor Ulenspiegel had seen the pretty face look smilingthrough the panes, pass and repass in the courtyard. The baeshaving brought some wine mulled with cinnamon and Madeira sugar,they continued to drink. And they sang.

  At the curfew, he asked them if they would go upstairs each to hislarge and goodly bedchamber. Ulenspiegel replied that a small onewould suffice for them both. The baes replied:

  "I have none such; ye shall each have a lord's chamber, and nothingto pay."

  And indeed and in verity he brought them into chamber
s richly adornedwith furniture and carpets. In Lamme's there was a great bed.

  Ulenspiegel, who had well drunk and was falling with sleep, left himto go to bed and promptly did likewise.

  The next day, at the hour of noon, he entered Lamme's chamber and sawhim sleeping and snoring. Beside him was a pretty little satchel fullof money. He opened it and saw it was gold carolus and silver patards.

  He shook Lamme to wake him. The other came out of his sleep, rubbedhis eyes and, looking round him uneasily, said:

  "My wife! where is my wife?"

  And showing an empty place beside him in the bed.

  "She was there but now," said he.

  Then leaping out of the bed, he looked everywhere again, searched inall the nooks and corners of the chamber, the alcove and the cupboards,and said, stamping his foot:

  "My wife! Where is my wife?"

  The baes came up at the noise.

  "Rascal," said Lamme, catching him by the throat, "where is mywife? What hast thou done with my wife?"

  "Impatient tramper," said the baes, "thy wife? What wife? Thou didstcome alone. I know naught."

  "Ha! he knows naught," said Lamme, ferreting once more in all the nooksand corners of the room. "Alas! she was there, last night, in my bed,as in the time of our good loves. Aye. Where art thou, my darling?"