Légende d'Ulenspiegel. English

by Charles de Coster

  "My body is mine no more. My mind is mine no more. O Hanske, mypet, take me with you yet once again, I beg you, to the Witches'Sabbath. Only Nele will never come. Nele is naughty, I tell you."

  But Nele went on with her story:

  "At dawn," she said, "the devil would go away, and the next day mymother would relate to me a hundred strange things. But, Tyl dear, youmust not look at me with those cruel eyes.... Yesterday, for instance,she told me that a splendid prince, clad in grey, Hilbert by name,was anxious to take me in marriage, and that he was coming herehimself that I might see him. I told her that I wanted no husband,handsome or plain. Nevertheless, by weight of her maternal authorityshe persuaded me to stay up for him, for she certainly keeps all herwits about her in whatever pertains to her amours. Well, we were halfundressed, ready to go to bed; and I had gone off to sleep sittingon that chair. It seems that I did not wake up when they came in,and the first thing I knew was that some one was embracing me andkissing me on the neck. And then, by the bright light of the moon,I beheld a face that shone like the crests of the waves of a July seawhen there is thunder in the air, and I heard a low voice speaking tome and saying: 'I am your husband, Hilbert. Be mine! I will make theerich.' And from the face of him that spake these words there came anodour like the odour of fish. Quickly I pushed that face away fromme, but the man tried to take me by force, and although I had thestrength of ten against him, he managed to tear my shift and scratchmy face, crying out the while that if only I would give myself tohim he would make me rich. 'Yes,' I answered, 'as rich as my mother,whom you have deprived of her last liard!' At that he redoubledhis violence, but he could not do anything against me. And at last,since he was more disgusting than a corpse, I scratched him in theeye with my nails so sharply that he cried out with pain, and I wasable to make my escape and run up here to Soetkin."

  And all this while Katheline kept on with her "Nele is naughty. Andwhy did you go away so soon, O Hanske, my pet?"

  But Soetkin asked her where she had been while wicked men wereattempting the honour of her child.

  "It is Nele that is naughty," Katheline replied. "As for me, I wasin company of my black master, when the devil in grey comes to us,with his face all bloody. 'Come away,' he cries, 'come away, my boy,this is an evil house; for the men, it seems, are of a mind to fightwith one to the death, and the women carry knives at the tips oftheir fingers.' And there and then they ran off to their horses,and disappeared in the mist. Ah, Nele, Nele! She is a naughty lass,I tell you!"

  XLVI

  On the following day, while they were making a meal of hot milk,Soetkin said to Katheline:

  "You see how misfortune is already driving me from this world; andyet you, it seems, would like to drive me away all the faster by youraccursed sorceries!"

  But Katheline only went on repeating:

  "Nele is naughty. Come back, Hanske, my pet!"

  It was the following Wednesday when the two devils came again. Eversince the preceding Saturday Nele had slept out at the house of a widowwoman named Van den Houte, saying, by way of excusing herself, that shecould not stay with Katheline because of that young rogue Ulenspiegel.

  Now Katheline welcomed her black master and her master's friendout in the keet, which is to say the laundry or bakehouse adjoiningthe cottage. And there did they feast and regale themselves with oldwine and with smoked ox tongue, which viands were always prepared andready in that place for them. And the black devil said to Katheline:

  "You must know, Katheline, that we are engaged in a mighty work,and to accomplish it we have need of a large sum of money. Give us,I pray you, what you can."

  When she only offered them a florin they threatened to kill her. Butwhen she had raised the amount to a couple of golden caroluses andseven deniers they let her off.

  "Come not again on Saturdays," she told them, "for Ulenspiegel hasdiscovered that your custom it is to come on that day, and he willcertainly be waiting for you and will beat you to death, and thatwould be the death of me as well."

  "We will come next Tuesday," they told her.

  Now on that day Nele and Ulenspiegel went to sleep without any anxiety,thinking that the devils only came to the cottage on Saturdays. ButKatheline got out of bed secretly and went into the yard to see ifher friends had arrived. She was very impatient, for since seeingHanske again her madness had abated, for hers was a lover's madness,as they say.

  But to-night she could nowhere see her friends, and she was greatlydistressed, so that when, presently, she heard the cry of the sea-eaglecoming as it seemed from the open country in the direction of Sluys,she went out towards that cry, making her way across the field by theside of a tall dike that was constructed of sticks and grass. Shehad not gone far when she heard the two devils conversing togetherat the other side of the dike. And one of them said:

  "Half shall be mine."

  And the other answered:

  "No. Nothing of the kind. What is Katheline's belongs to me. Allof it."

  Then they blasphemed together most terribly, disputing as to which ofthe two should be possessed of the property and the love of Kathelineand of Nele into the bargain. Paralysed with fear, daring neither tospeak nor to move, Katheline presently heard them fall to fightingwith one another. And then one of the devils cried aloud:

  "Ah! The cold steel!"

  And after that there came the sound of a death-rattle, and of a bodyfalling heavily.

  Terrified as she was, Katheline returned to the cottage.

  At two of the morning she heard once more the cry of the sea-eagle,but this time close at hand in the yard. She went to the door andopened it, and saw her devil lover standing there all alone.

  She asked him what he had done with his friend.

  "He will not come again," he told her.

  Then he kissed her and caressed her, and his kisses seemed colderthan ever before. When the time came for him to depart, he asked herto give him twenty florins. This was all that she had, but she gavehim seventeen.

  The next day she could not control her curiosity, and walked out alongby the dike. But she found nothing, except at one place a mark on thegrass about the size of a man's coffin; and the grass was wet underfootand red with blood. But that evening rain fell, washing the blood away.

  On the following Wednesday Katheline heard yet again the cry of thesea-eagle in the yard.

  XLVII

  Now whenever any money was needed to pay for the expenses ofKatheline's household, Ulenspiegel was accustomed to go by nightto the hole by the well wherein had been hidden the money left byClaes. He would lift up the stone that covered the top of the welland would take out a carolus.

  One evening the two women were busy with their spinning, whileUlenspiegel sat carving a chest which had been commissioned from himby the town bailiff. And upon the side of the chest he was carvinga hunting scene. Very beautiful it was and cleverly carved, witha pack of hounds running in pairs closely following one another,chasing their quarry.

  Katheline was there, and Nele asked Soetkin absent-mindedly if shehad found a safe hiding-place for her treasure. Thinking no harm,the widow answered that it would be hard to find a safer place thanthe side of the well wall.

  Near midnight of the following Thursday Soetkin was awakened by BibulusSchnouffius, who was barking fiercely. But soon he was quiet again,and Soetkin, thinking that it was a false alarm, turned over and wentto sleep.

  The next day when Nele and Ulenspiegel rose at dawn they were surprisedto find no Katheline in the kitchen, neither was the fire lit, nor wasthere any milk boiling on the fire as usual. They were surprised atthis and went out to see if perchance she was in the yard. And therethey found her, all dishevelled in her linen shift, notwithstandingthat it was drizzling with rain, and she was all damp and shivering,and stood there, not daring to come in.

  Ulenspiegel went up to her and asked her what she was doing halfnaked there in the rain?

  "Ah!" she said. "Yes, yes. Strange things have happened! Strange,wonderful
things!"

  And as she spoke she pointed to the ground, and they saw the doglying there with its throat cut, all dead and stiff.

  Ulenspiegel's thoughts ran at once to the treasure. He hastened tothe hole by the well, and found as he had feared that it was empty,and all around the earth scattered about far and wide.

  He ran back to Katheline and struck her with his hand.

  "Where are the caroluses?" he cried.

  "Yes! Yes! Strange things have been happening!" she answered.

  At this Nele tried to protect her mother from the wrath of Ulenspiegel.

  "Have mercy, have pity," she cried. "O Ulenspiegel!"

  Then he stopped beating the wretched woman, and at the same momentSoetkin appeared on the scene and wanted to know what was the matter.

  Ulenspiegel showed her the dog with its throat cut and the emptyhole. Soetkin turned pale, and cried out most sorrowfully:

  "O God, thou hast brought me low indeed!"

  And Nele, seeing how gentle Soetkin was, wept also and was verysorrowful. But Katheline, flourishing a piece of parchment that sheheld in her hand, began to speak in this wise:

  "Yes, yes. Strange things and wonderful have come to pass thisnight! For he came to me, my good one, my beautiful. And no longer didhis face display that ghastly glitter which makes me so afraid. And itwas with a great tenderness in his voice that he addressed me. Yes,I was overcome with love for him, and my heart was melted withinme. 'I am a rich man.' he told me, 'and soon I will bring thee athousand florins in gold.' 'So be it,' I answered him. 'I rejoice foryour sake rather than for mine, Hanske, my pet.' 'But is there no oneelse in your cottage,' he asked, 'that you love, perhaps, and wouldrejoice to see enriched by me also?' 'No,' I replied. 'They that livehere have no need of any help of thine.' 'You are proud, it seems,'he answered. 'Soetkin and Ulenspiegel, are they then so rich as toneed nothing?' 'They live without the help of any,' I told him. 'Inspite of the confiscations?' he asked. But then I laughed aloud, andsaid that he knew that they would not be such simpletons as to hidetheir treasure in the house where it could be easily found. 'Nor yetin the cellar?' he persisted. 'Of course not,' I told him. 'Nor yet inthe yard?' To that I answered not a word. 'Ah,' he said, 'that wouldindeed be a piece of imprudence.' 'Not so imprudent as all that,'I answered, 'for neither walls nor water have tongues.' And at thathe began laughing to himself. Presently he went away, earlier it wasthan usual. But first he gave me a powder, telling me that if I tookit I should be spirited away to the finest of all the Sabbaths. Iaccompanied him a little way just as I was, as far as the door of theyard, and I seemed half asleep, and soon I found myself, even as hehad told me, at the Witches' Sabbath, and I did not return from thenceuntil the morning. Then it was that I found myself here as you see me,and discovered the dog with his throat cut, and the empty hole. Andthis is a heavy blow to me, to me that loved him so tenderly, and hadgiven to him my very soul. But whatsoever I have shall be yours, andI will labour with my hands and my feet to keep you alive, never fear."

  But Soetkin said:

  "I am become even as the corn beneath the grindstone. God and thisdevil robber are heavy upon me both at once."

  "Robber do you call him?" cried Katheline. "Speak not so. He is adevil, a devil I say! And for proof I will show to you this parchmentwhich he left behind him in the yard, and on it is written, 'Forgetnot to serve me, and behold, in three times two weeks and five days Iwill render thee back again twice as much again as the treasure I havenow taken from thee. Doubt not, or else thou wilt surely die.' And oh,"cried Katheline, "of a surety he will keep his word!"

  "Poor mad thing," said Soetkin.

  And this was the only word of reproach that she uttered.

  XLVIII

  Six months passed, and the devil lover came no more. NeverthelessKatheline did not live without hope of seeing her Hanske again.

  Soetkin meanwhile had given up her work altogether, and was always tobe found sitting huddled up in front of the fire; and her cough neverleft her. Nele provided the choicest and most sweetly smelling herbs,but no remedy had any power over her. As for Ulenspiegel, he neverleft the cottage for fear that his mother might die while he was out.

  At last there came a time when the widow could neither eat nor drinkwithout being sick. The surgeon (who also carried on the trade ofa barber) came to bleed her, and when the blood had been taken awayshe was so enfeebled that she could not leave her chair. And at lastthe evening came when she cried out, all wasted with pain:

  "Claes! Husband! And Tyl, my son! Thanks be to God for He taketh me!"

  And with a sigh she died.

  Katheline did not dare to watch by that bed of death, so Nele andUlenspiegel kept watch together, and all night long they prayed forher that was gone.

  As the dawn broke a swallow came flying in by the open window.

  Nele said: "The bird of souls! It is a good omen. Soetkin is inheaven!"

  The swallow flew three times round the room, and departed with acry. Then there came a second swallow, larger it was and darker thanthe first. It fluttered around Ulenspiegel, and he said:

  "Father and mother, the ashes beat upon my breast. Whatsoever youcommand me, that will I do."

  And the second swallow went off with a cry, just as the first haddone. And Ulenspiegel saw thousands of swallows skimming over thefields. And the sun rose.

  And Soetkin was buried in the cemetery of the poor.

  XLIX

  After the death of Soetkin Ulenspiegel grew dreamy, sorrowful,and angry, and he would wander about the fields, hearing nothing,taking what food or drink was put before him, and never choosing forhimself. And oftentimes he rose from his bed in the middle of thenight and went out into the country alone.

  In vain did the gentle voice of Nele urge him not to despair, invain did Katheline assure him that Soetkin was now in Paradise withClaes. To both alike Tyl answered:

  "The ashes beat upon my breast."

  And he was as one mad, and Nele was sorrowful because of him.

  Meanwhile, Grypstuiver the fishmonger dwelt alone in his house, likea parricide, daring only to come out in the evening. For if any manor woman passed him on the road they would shout after him and callhim "murderer." And the little children ran away when they saw him,for they had been told that he was a hangman. So he wandered about byhimself, not venturing to enter any of the taverns that are in Damme,for the finger of scorn was pointed at him, and if ever he stood inthe bar for a minute, they that were drinking there left the tavern.

  The result was that no innkeeper desired him as a customer any more,and whenever he presented himself at their houses they would shutthe door on him. The fishmonger would make a humble remonstrance,but they answered that they had a licence to sell wine certainly,but that they were not obliged to sell it against their will.

  The fishmonger grew impatient at this, and in future when he wanteda drink he would go to the In 't Roode Valck--at the sign of the RedFalcon--a little cabaret outside the town on the banks of the Sluyscanal. There they served him, for they were hard up at that inn, andglad to get anything from any one. But even so, the innkeeper neverentered into conversation with him, nor did his wife either. Nowin that house there were also two children and a dog; but when thefishmonger made as though he would kiss the children they ran away,and the dog, when he called him, tried to bite him.

  One evening Ulenspiegel was standing on his doorstep in a dream, andMathyssen, the cooper, happening to pass by, saw him standing there,and said to him:

  "If you worked with your hands belike you would forget this grievousblow."

  But Ulenspiegel answered: "The ashes of Claes beat upon my breast."

  "Ah!" said Mathyssen, "there lives a man who is sadder even than youare--Grypstuiver the fishmonger. None speaks to him, and all avoid him,so much so that when he wants his pint of bruinbier he is forced togo out all alone to the poor folk of the Roode Valck. Verily he iswell punished."

  "The ashes beat...." Ulenspiegel answered him
again.

  And the same evening, when the bells of Notre Dame were soundingthe ninth hour, Ulenspiegel sallied forth towards the Roode Valck,but failing to find the fishmonger there as he had expected, he wentwandering along under the trees that grow by the canal-side. It wasa bright moonlight night.

  Presently he saw the figure of the murderer coming towards him. Hepassed close in front of Ulenspiegel, who could hear what he wassaying, for the fishmonger was talking to himself, as is the customof they who live much alone.

  "Where have they hidden it?" he muttered. "Where have they hiddenthe money?" But Ulenspiegel answered the question for him by givinghim a great blow in the face.

  "Alas!" cried the fishmonger as he felt the hand of Ulenspiegel uponhim. "Alas, I know you! You are his son! But have pity on me. Havepity! For I am weak and aged, and what I did to your father was notdone out of malice, but in the service of His Majesty. Only deign toforgive me, and I will give you back again all the goods that I havebought, and you shall not pay me a penny. You shall have everything,and half a florin over and above, for I am not a rich man. No, youmust not think that I am rich!"

  And he was about to kneel down in front of Ulenspiegel. But seeinghim so ugly, so craven, and so base, Ulenspiegel took hold of himand threw him into the canal.

  And he went away.

  L

  And from many a funeral pyre there ascended to heaven the smoke fromthe flesh of the victims, and Ulenspiegel, thinking ever upon Claesand Soetkin, wept in his loneliness.