XVI

XVIIt was now at the end of October. The Prince was in want of money, and his army of food. The soldiers too began to murmur, and he marched them towards the French frontier to offer battle to the Duke. But the Duke would not fight.Leaving Quesnoy-le-Comte to go to Cambrésis, the Prince’s army fell in with ten companies of Germans and eight Spanish ensigns and three cohorts of cavalry. They at once joined battle, and in the midst of themêléewas Ruffele Henricis, the Duke’s son, crying out at the top of his voice:“No quarter! No quarter! Long live the Pope!”Now Don Henricis found himself opposite to a company of arquebusiers which was led by Ulenspiegel, and he threw himself upon them with all his men. Ulenspiegel said to his sergeant:“I will cut out this murderer’s tongue for him!”“Very good,” said the sergeant.And Ulenspiegel took careful aim, and his bullet shattered the tongue and the entire jaw-bone of Don Ruffele Henricis, son of the Duke. At the same time Ulenspiegel brought down the son of the Marquess Delmares, and in a little while more the eight ensigns and the three cohorts of cavalry were thoroughly worsted.After this victory Ulenspiegel went seeking for Lamme everywhere through the camp, but he could not find him.“Alas,” he said, “he is gone! Lamme is gone; my friend, my great fat friend! In his warlike ardour he must have forgotten how heavy his belly was, and tried to follow the Spaniards in their flight. Out of breath he must have fallen like a sack on the wayside. And then the enemy will have picked him up for ransom—a ransom of good Christian fat! O Lamme, my friend, where are you? Where are you, my great fat friend?”Ulenspiegel sought him everywhere but found him not and had to nurse his grief in silence.And now November was come, the month of snow-storms, and Ulenspiegel, having been ordered to report himself before William, found the Prince brooding in silence, and biting the lacings of his coat of mail.“Listen to me,” the Prince said presently, “and give me your whole attention.”Ulenspiegel answered: “My ears are like the gates of a prison. One enters easily but to get out again is a different matter.”“Very good,” said William, “but now I would have you go for me to Namur, and to Flanders, Hainaut, Sud-Brabant, Antwerp, Nord-Brabant, and to Gueldre, Overyssel, and the North of Holland, telling the people everywhere that, although it seems that the fates on land are hostile to our most Holy and Christian Cause, we will yet continue the struggle by sea, no matter what the evil powers that are arrayed against us. For God holds the issue in His own good providence, whether in success or failure. And when you are come to Amsterdam you will render an account of all that you have done to Paul Bruys who is my trusty vassal. Here are three passports, signed by the Duke of Alba himself, which were found on certain bodies of the dead at Quesnoy-le-Comte. My secretary has filled them in afresh. And it may be that on your journey you will meet some good companion in whom you can trust. Let him go with you. And those are to be accounted trustworthy who know how to answer the song of the lark with a warlike cockcrow. Here are fifty florins. Be valiant and faithful.”“The ashes of Claes beat upon my heart,” answered Ulenspiegel.And he went his way.XVIINow the passports were countersigned both by the King and the Duke, and they authorized the bearer to carry any kind of arms at his convenience. So Ulenspiegel took with him his trusty arquebus as well as a good supply of cartridges and dry gunpowder. He dressed himself in a short cloak and a shabby doublet and hose made after the Spanish fashion, and thus accoutred, with a plumed cap on his head and a sword at his side, he made his departure from the Prince’s army where it lay at the French frontier, and set out for Maestricht.The roitelets, those heralds of bad weather, were flying around the houses seeking asile from the storm, and on the third day snow fell. Many times during the journey did Ulenspiegel have to show his safe-conduct. But they always let him pass, and so he came at length to the confines of Liége. He was plodding along over a level heath, and a fierce wind was driving the swirling snowflakes against his face, and in front and on every side the heath stretched out all white under the snow that fell in eddies, which themselves were whirled about hither and thither in the squalls of wind. And there were three wolves that began to follow him. But one of them he killed with a shot from his arquebus, and the other two flung themselves upon their wounded comrade, and then made off into the woods, each carrying a piece of the corpse.Delivered from this peril, Ulenspiegel peered about him, fearing lest there might be other bands of wolves in that country, but he saw nothing except, in the far distance, certain objects that looked like grey statues moving slowly along in the falling snow. Behind these again, Ulenspiegel could descry the dark figures of a couple of soldiers on horseback. To see the better what all this might portend, Ulenspiegelclimbed up into a tree, and there the wind brought to him a far-off sound of lamentation. “It may be,” Ulenspiegel said to himself, “these people are pilgrims, clad in white habits; for I can scarcely distinguish their figures against the snow.” But after a little while he saw that they were men running, quite naked, and that behind them were two German troopers in black uniforms riding on horses. And they were driving the poor wretches in front of them with whips. Ulenspiegel took aim with his arquebus. Now he could distinguish the individual figures of that mournful company—old men and young men naked, shivering, and quaking with cold, hardly able to stand some of them, but running all, for fear of the cruel whips of the two soldiers who, themselves being warmly clad and red with brandy and good food, took pleasure in lashing the bodies of naked men to make them run the faster.Ulenspiegel said: “You shall be avenged, ashes of Claes!” And he killed one of the soldiers outright with a bullet from his arquebus. The soldier fell from his horse, and his companion took fright, not knowing whence the shot had come. But concluding that his assailant must be hiding somewhere in the wood, he decided to make good his escape, together with the horse of his dead companion. The man contrived to get hold of the horse’s bridle, but while he himself was dismounting to plunder the body of the dead, he was hit by a bullet in the neck and fell to the ground.As for the naked prisoners, they imagined that some angel from heaven, who was also forsooth a fine marksman, had descended from the sky to aid them, and they all fell down upon their knees in the snow. At this Ulenspiegel descended from his tree, and was at once recognized by the company who had previously served with him as soldiers in the armies of the Prince. They said to him:“O Ulenspiegel, we are come from France, and we were being driven in this piteous plight to Maestricht, where theDuke is, to be treated there as rebel prisoners because we cannot pay our ransom, and are therefore condemned in advance to be tortured, cut into pieces, or sent to row like caitiffs and criminals in the galleys of the King.”Ulenspiegel gave hisopperst-kleedto the oldest of the soldiers, saying:“Come with me, my friends. I will accompany you as far as Mézières; but first of all let us strip these two dead soldiers and take possession of their horses.” Thereupon the doublets, hose, boots, head-gear, and body-armour of the soldiers were divided up among the sick and feeble, and Ulenspiegel said:“We shall soon be entering the wood, where the air is thicker and more gentle. You had better run, my brothers.”Suddenly one of the men fell down on the ground, crying: “I am hungry and cold, and I am going to God to bear witness that the Pope is Antichrist on earth.” And he died, and the others agreed to carry the body with them that it might be given Christian burial.While thus proceeding along the road, they met a peasant driving a cart with a canvas hood. Seeing the men all naked, the peasant had compassion on them and invited them to ride in his cart. There they found some hay to lie on, and some empty sacks to cover them withal. And they were warmed and gave thanks to God. Ulenspiegel rode beside the cart on one of the two horses that had belonged to the German troopers, leading the other by the bridle.At Mézières they all alighted. Good hot soup and beer and bread and cheese were handed round, with some meat for the older men and women. And they were nobly entertained; and they were clothed and armed again, all at the expense of the commune. And every one joined in giving thanks and praise to Ulenspiegel, who received it gladly. Ulenspiegel also sold the horses of the German troopers foreight-and-forty florins, out of which he distributed thirty florins among the Frenchmen.Thereafter he took the road again, and as he walked solitarily along he said to himself:“Verily now do I wander through a land of ruin, blood, and tears. Nevertheless, I find nothing. Those spirits lied to me without a doubt. For where is Lamme? Where is Nele! Where are the Seven?”And he heard a voice speaking to him as though in a whisper:“In death, in ruin, and in tears, seek!”And he went his way.XVIIIIt was the month of March when Ulenspiegel came to Namur. There he found Lamme, who, having conceived a violent passion for the fish of the Meuse, and for the trout especially, had hired a boat and spent all day fishing in the river by permission of the commune. But for this privilege he had been obliged to pay the sum of fifty florins to the Guild of the Fishmongers.Some of his fish he sold. But the rest he ate himself, and by this means he gained a finer belly than ever, and a small sack of money. When he saw his friend and comrade walking along the banks of the Meuse and about to enter the town, Lamme was mightily rejoiced and pushed his boat to the shore, and there springing on to the bank rushed up to Ulenspiegel, blowing and puffing and stammering for joy.“Here you are,” he cried, “here you are at last, my son. And where are you off to? What are you after? You are not dead, then? And have you seen my wife? You’ll feed off the fish of the Meuse, which are the best to be found anywhere on this base earth! And let me tell you something. The people here make such sauces as will tempt you to dip your fingers into the dish right up to your shoulder!Ah, but how proud and splendid you look! On your cheeks is the very bloom of battle. And here you are! It’s you, it’s really you, my son! My Ulenspiegel! You jolly vagabond!” Then in a lower tone of voice he added:“And how many Spaniards have you killed? You have not seen my wife by any chance, in the carts with those other hussies? Ah, but the wine of the Meuse! You must taste it. And have you been wounded, my son? You must rest here a while, so fresh and cheery as you are, and vigilant as a young eagle. But our eels! You must taste our eels. No muddy taste aboutthem! Come, kiss me, my second self! Praise be to God! How glad I am!”And Lamme danced and leapt in the air, puffing and blowing and compelling Ulenspiegel to dance too.Thereafter they walked towards Namur. At the gate of the city Ulenspiegel showed his passport signed by the Duke. And Lamme conducted him to his house. While their repast was being prepared he made Ulenspiegel tell him all his adventures and then recounted his own, telling how he had left the army to follow a girl whom he thought was his wife. It was in pursuit of her, it seemed, that he had come at last to Namur. And he kept on asking Ulenspiegel:“Are you sure you have not seen her anywhere?”“I have seen many other beautiful women,” answered Ulenspiegel, “and in this town especially, where it seems they are all most amorous....”“It is so,” said Lamme, “nevertheless I have remained faithful. For my sad heart is heavy with but a single recollection.”“Even as your belly is heavy with countless platter-fuls!” said Ulenspiegel.“When I am unhappy I have to eat,” Lamme replied.“Your unhappiness knows no end?” demanded Ulenspiegel.“Alas, no!” said Lamme.And helping himself to another trout:“Look,” he cried, “look how lovely and firm he is. This flesh is as pink as the flesh of my wife. But to-morrow we will leave Namur. I have a purseful of florins, and we will buy a donkey for each of us, and so we will go riding away to the land of Flanders!”“You will be giving up a great deal,” said Ulenspiegel.“Never mind,” said Lamme. “My heart draws me back to Damme. For it was there that my love loved me well. And it may be that she also has returned thither.”“We will set out to-morrow,” said Ulenspiegel, “since such is your desire.”And in fact they set forth as Lamme had said, each on a donkey; and so they rode along side by side.XIXNele all this time was living at Damme, sorrowful and alone, with Katheline, who still continued to call amorously for her cold devil who never came.“Ah!” she would say, “you are rich, Hanske my pet; and you could easily give me back those seven hundred caroluses. Then Soetkin would live again and come to earth once more, and Claes in heaven would laugh for joy. Easily could you do this, and you would! Put out the fire! My soul wants to get out!”And with her finger she would point without ceasing to the place on her head where the flaming tow had burned her.Katheline was very impoverished, but the neighbours helped her by sending in beans and bread and meat, according as they were able. The commune also gave her a certain amount of money, and Nele did sewing for the wealthy bourgeois, and went to their houses to mend their linen, earning in this way a florin or two every week. But Katheline kept on with her eternal “Make a hole! Let out my soul!She is knocking to be let out! And he will give me back the seven hundred caroluses!”And Nele wept to hear her.XXIn the meantime Ulenspiegel and Lamme continued their wanderings. Under the protection of their passports, they entered one day into a little tavern built against the rocks of the Sambre, the which rocks are covered with trees here and there, and on the sign of the tavern was written mine host’s name—MARLAIRE. When they had drunk many a flask of wine—wine of the Meuse, rather like Burgundy—and when they had eaten a large plate of fish, they fell talking to the innkeeper, who was a keen Papist but as talkative as he was pious because of the wine he had been drinking. And he kept on winking his eye maliciously. Ulenspiegel had a suspicion that all this winking portended something mysterious, and he made the fellow drink yet more, with the result that he fell to dancing and shouting with laughter, till at last he sat himself down at the table again, and, “Good Catholics,” says he, “I drink to you.”“And to you we drink also,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel.“And I drink to the extinction of all heresy and rebellion.”“We will join you in that toast,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel, who kept on filling up the goblets which mine host could never suffer to remain full.“You are good fellows,” said the innkeeper. “Let me drink to the health of your noble Generosities. For you must know that I derive some profit from all the wine that is drunk here. But where are your passports?”“Here they are,” replied Ulenspiegel.“With the Duke’s signature and all,” said the innkeeper. “Here’s a health to the Duke.”“To the Duke,” echoed Lamme and Ulenspiegel. And mine host went on talking:“Answer me now, do you know what it is that they catch rats and mice in? Why in rat-traps to be sure, and mouse-traps. Who is the mouse then? The great heretic of Orange—and orange he is in very truth, like the flames of hell! But God is on our side. They will come. Ho ho! A toast! Pour out the wine; I bake and burn with thirst. Come, drink, my masters. Fine little Protestant evangelists.... I saidlittle. Fine valiant little fellows they are, and brave soldiers, sturdy as oaks.... I drink to them! Are you not going with them to the camp of the great heretic? I have certain passports signed by him.... You will see.”“We are going to the camp,” answered Ulenspiegel.“Yes, they will do their work well. And one fine night, if the opportunity presents itself”—and here the innkeeper whistled, and made a gesture as of one man cutting another’s throat—“cold steel, I tell you. It’s that that shall prevent the black bird of Nassau from singing any more. Come, drink again.”“You’re a gay fellow,” said Ulenspiegel, “in spite of being married.”The innkeeper said:“I am neither married nor have I ever been. The secrets of Princes are safe with me. Drink! But if I had a wife she would steal my secrets from under my pillow to get me hanged and herself made widow before the time. Long live God! They will come.... But where are the new passports? On my heart of a Christian. Drink! They are there, there I tell you. One hundred paces along the road near by Marche-les-Dames. Do you see them? Drink again!”“Drink?” said Ulenspiegel. “Yes, I drink and drink and drink. To the King, to the Duke, to the Protestant preachers, and toVent d’acier—Wind of Lead. And I drink to thee andto me, to the wine and the bottle that holds it. But why? It is you that have stopped drinking!”And at each new toast Ulenspiegel filled up the glass of the innkeeper, who emptied it straightway.Ulenspiegel looked at him for some time, then rose and said to Lamme: “Come, Lamme, it is time for us to be off. He is asleep.” But when they were outside, “He has no wife,” Ulenspiegel continued. “We are safe. The night is at hand. Did you hear what the rascal said? And do you rightly understand who these three preachers are? Do you realize that they are to come along the bank of the Meuse from Marche-les-Dames, and that it will be our part to await them on the road? And then forVent d’acier—Wind of Lead—to start his whistling?”“Yes,” said Lamme.“It is for us to save the Prince’s life,” said Ulenspiegel.“Yes,” said Lamme.“Wait,” said Ulenspiegel. “You take my arquebus, and go and hide in the undergrowth among the rocks. Load it with two shots, and shoot when you hear me caw and crow.”“I will,” said Lamme.And so saying he disappeared into the undergrowth. And Ulenspiegel could hear quite clearly the click of the gun as Lamme loaded it.“Do you see them coming?” he asked presently.“I see them,” answered Lamme. “There are three of them, marching together like soldiers, and one of them is much taller than the others.”Ulenspiegel sat himself down by the side of the road, with his legs stretched out in front of him, muttering his prayers on a rosary, just like beggars do. And he held his hat between his knees. And when the three evangelists passed in front of him, he held out his hat as though asking for alms; but they gave him nothing. Then Ulenspiegel got up and addressed them most piteously:“Kind sirs,” he said, “do not refuse apatardto a poor quarryman who has recently had an accident and broken his back by falling down a mine. The people in this part of the world are hard of heart, and they have not been willing to give me anything to relieve my distress. Alas! Give me but apatard, and I will say many prayers for you. And God will keep you happy, all your lives long, kind friends!”“My son,” said one of the evangelists, “there can be no happiness for us in this world so long as the Pope and the Inquisition remain in power.”Ulenspiegel heaved another sigh:“Alas! What are you saying, my lords? Do not speak so loud, if it please you. But give me apatard.”“My son,” replied one of the evangelists, he that was the smallest of the three, and of a very warlike countenance, “we poor martyrs carry nopatardssave only just enough to keep us going on our journey.”At this Ulenspiegel threw himself on to his knees in front of them.“Give me your blessing then,” he said.The three evangelists laid their hands upon the head of Ulenspiegel, albeit with little signs of devotion.Now Ulenspiegel noticed that although they were lean of figure, these men all had very fat stomachs, so he rose from his knees, and then pretended to stumble, knocking against the body of the tall evangelist as he did so. At that a merry tinkle of coin was distinctly audible. Thereupon Ulenspiegel raised himself to his full height and drew his dagger.“My good man,” he said, “it is cold and I am but poorly clad; but methinks you have too much about you. Give me some of your wool, that I may get a cloak made for me. I am a Beggarman. Long live the Beggarmen!” The tall evangelist made answer:“You cock of a Beggarman, you carry your crest proudly forsooth, and we are going to cut it off for you!”“Cut it off then,” cried Ulenspiegel, giving ground, “but let me warn you that trusty Wind of Lead is going to sing for you or ever he sings for the Prince my master! Beggar I am! Long live the Beggarmen!”The three evangelists were astounded and cried out to each other: “How does he know? We are betrayed! Kill him! Long live the Mass!” And each man drew forth from beneath his hose a sharp dagger. But Ulenspiegel, without waiting for them to attack him, gave ground towards the bushes where Lamme was hidden, and when he judged that the three evangelists were within range of the arquebus, he cried out: “Crows, black crows, the Wind of Lead is going to whistle. I sing your bitter end!”Then he cawed like a crow. And a shot rang out from the bushes, and the tall evangelist fell prone on the earth. The next moment followed a second shot, which accounted in the same way for the second.And from among the bushes Ulenspiegel saw the jolly face of Lamme, and his arm raised as he hastily reloaded his arquebus. And from the midst of the dark shrubbery a puff of blue smoke mounted into the air.There now remained but one evangelist, and he was in a furious rage, and tried to cut at Ulenspiegel with all his might. But Ulenspiegel cried:“Wind of Steel or Wind of Lead, which matters it? Either way you shall quit this world for another, you shameless murderer!”And he attacked the foe and defended himself most bravely. So they stood on the roadway, inflexible, face to face, giving and parrying blows. Now Ulenspiegel was covered with blood, for his opponent was an experienced fencer, and had wounded him on the hands and on the legs. But Ulenspiegel attacked and defended himself like a lion. Still the blood which began to flow from his head blinded him, and he retreated continually, trying to wipe away theblood with his left hand but every moment feeling weaker. And he would most certainly have been killed had not Lamme brought down the third evangelist with another shot from his arquebus.And Ulenspiegel saw him fall, and heard him vomit forth blasphemies and blood, and the white froth of death. And once again the blue smoke drifted up above the dark shrubbery, in the midst of which Lamme displayed yet again his jolly face.“Have you finished him off?” he asked.“Yes, my son,” replied Ulenspiegel, “but come....”Lamme, then, coming out of his hiding-place, saw Ulenspiegel all covered with blood. He ran like a stag, in spite of his fat belly, and came to Ulenspiegel where he sat by the three dead men.“He is wounded!” Lamme cried. “My gentle friend is wounded by the rascally murderer.” And then, with a vicious kick at the jaw of the evangelist who lay nearest to him: “You cannot answer me, Ulenspiegel? Are you going to die, my son? Where is the ointment! Ha! I remember now. It is at the bottom of his satchel under the sausages. Can’t you hear me speak, Ulenspiegel? Alas! there is no warm water here to wash your wound, and no way of getting any. The water of the Sambre will have to do instead. But speak to me, my friend. You are not so badly hurt after all, surely. A little water—there, it’s cold, isn’t it? But he is waking up. It’s I, your friend; and your enemies are all dead! Oh, where is some linen? Some linen to bind up his wounds. There isn’t any. What am I to do? Ah! my shirt, that must serve.”Presently Ulenspiegel opened his eyes and raised himself from the ground with his teeth all chattering because of the cold.“And here you are standing up already!” Lamme exclaimed.“It is a balm of much virtue,” said Ulenspiegel.“Balm of valiance,” answered Lamme.And then, taking the bodies of the evangelists one by one, he cast them into a hole in the rocks, leaving their weapons and their clothes upon them. But he took their cloaks.And all around in the sky the crows were beginning to caw to each other, in anticipation of the feast. And the Sambre flowed by like a river of steel under the grey sky.And the snow fell, washing the blood away.Yet they felt ill at ease, and Lamme said:“I had rather kill a chicken than a man.”And they mounted again upon their donkeys. And when they arrived at the gates of Huy, the blood was still trickling from the head of Ulenspiegel, so they dismounted and pretended to have a quarrel, and to use their daggers on one another, with the utmost ferocity as it seemed. But when they had finished their duel, they remounted their donkeys and came into the town, showing their passports at the city gates.Lamme succours UlenspiegelLamme succours UlenspiegelThe women, seeing Ulenspiegel wounded and bleeding while Lamme rode his donkey as though he had been the victor, threw many a glance of tender commiseration upon Ulenspiegel, and pointed their fingers at Lamme, saying: “That is the rascal who wounded his friend.”Lamme all this time was anxiously scrutinizing the crowd, hoping to discover his wife among them; but all was in vain, and he was sad at heart.XXI“Where are you going now?” said Lamme.“To Maestricht,” answered Ulenspiegel.“But stay, my son. I have heard that the army of the Duke is camped all round the city and that he himself is within. Our passports will be of no use to us there. Even if they satisfy the Spanish soldiers, we shall still be arrested in the city and put through an examination. And in themeantime they will become aware of the death of the evangelists and our days on this earth will be numbered.”To this Ulenspiegel made answer:“The crows and the owls and the vultures will make short work of their repast. Already no doubt the dead bodies have become unrecognizable. As for our passports, there is no reason why they should not remain effective. But if the murder of the evangelists becomes known we should be arrested as you say. Nevertheless, whatever happens we shall have to go to Maestricht and pass through Landen on the way.”“We shall be captured,” said Lamme.“We shall get through,” answered Ulenspiegel.Conversing in this wise they came to the inn ofLa Pie, where they found a good supper awaiting them, and good quarters for the night, both for themselves and for the donkeys; and on the morrow they took the road again for Landen.Not far from that town they came to a large farm. There Ulenspiegel whistled like a lark, and from the interior came the sound of a warlike cockcrow in answer. After that a jolly-looking farmer appeared at the door of the farmhouse, and greeted them as friends and good Beggarmen, and bade them welcome.“Who is this man?” Lamme inquired.“His name is Thomas Utenhove,” said Ulenspiegel, “and he is a valiant Protestant. The man-servants and maid-servants that work on the farm are fellows with him in the cause of freedom of conscience.”Then Utenhove said:“You are the envoys of the Prince? Come in then, eat and drink with me.”And the ham was crackling in the frying-pan, the sausages likewise, and the wine flowed and the glasses were filled again. And Lamme drank like dry sand, and ate his fill. And the boys and girls of the farm came one after anotherand thrust their noses into the half-open door to gaze on him as he worked away so hard. But the men were jealous, saying that they also would be able to eat and drink as bravely if they had the chance.When all was finished, Thomas Utenhove said:“One hundred of our peasants will be leaving us this week under pretext of going to work on the dikes at Bruges and thereabouts. They will be setting out in small bands of five or six at a time, and all by different routes. At Bruges they will find certain barges waiting for them to take them by sea to Emden.”“Will these men be provided with arms and with money?” inquired Ulenspiegel.“Each man will carry ten florins and a heavy cutlass.”“God and the Prince will reward you,” said Ulenspiegel.“But tell me,” said the farmer, “is Edzard, Count of Frise, still friendly to the Prince?”“He feigns not to be,” answered Ulenspiegel. “Nevertheless, he is giving harbourage all the time to the Prince’s ships at Emden.” And then he added: “We are on the way to Maestricht.”“You cannot go there,” said the farmer. “The Duke’s army is camped in front of the town and all round it.”With that he conducted his visitors up into the loft, whence they could see the standards of enemy cavalry and infantry moving about in the distance over the plain.Ulenspiegel said:“I have a plan to get through, if only they who have authority in this place would give me leave to get married. But for wife I should need a sweet and a gentle and comely lass who would be willing to marry me—if not for always, then for a week at least.”Lamme gasped with astonishment.“Don’t do it, my son,” he cried. “She will only leave you, and then, all alone, you will burn with the fire of love; andthe bed where now you sleep so sweetly will seem to you nothing better than a bed of prickly holly leaves, and gentle sleep will shun you for evermore.”“Still I must marry,” replied Ulenspiegel. And then to Thomas Utenhove: “Come now, find me a wife; rich or poor, I don’t care which! And I will take her to church, and our marriage shall be blessed by the priest. And he shall give us our marriage lines. Though, to be sure, we shall not hold them valid as being given by the hand of a Papist and an Inquisitor. Nevertheless they will be good enough for our purpose, and we will prepare ourselves, as is the custom, for our wedding trip.”“But what about the wife?”“That’s your look-out,” answered Ulenspiegel. “But when you have found her I shall take two wagons and decorate them with wreaths of fir branches and holly and paper flowers, and in the wagons themselves I shall dispose the men whom you wish to be conveyed to the Prince of Orange.”“But your wife?” persisted Thomas Utenhove. “Where will you find her?”“Here, I doubt not,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And then I shall harness two of your own horses to one of the wagons, and our two donkeys to the other. In the first wagon will ride my wife and myself, together with my friend Lamme here, and the witnesses of our nuptials. In the second wagon will follow the musicians, the players upon the drum, the fife, and the shawm. And then, with all our joyous wedding-flags a-flying, and with music playing, and we ourselves singing and drinking each other’s healths, we shall ride along at the trot by the high road that leads to theGalgen-veld—the Field of the Gallows—which for us indeed will be the Field of Liberty.”“I will do all in my power to help you,” said Thomas Utenhove, “but the women and girls will want to follow their men-folk.”“We will go where God wills,” said a pretty-looking girl who had thrust in her head at the half-opened door.“You can have four wagons if need be,” said Thomas Utenhove, “and by that means we should be able to convey as many as five-and-twenty men.”“The Duke will be nicely fooled,” said Ulenspiegel.“And the Prince’s fleet will gain the service of some fine soldiers,” added Thomas Utenhove.Then he caused a bell to be rung to summon his footman and his servants, and when they were all assembled he said to them:“All you that are from the land of Zeeland, women as well as men, listen now to me. Ulenspiegel, who is hither come from Flanders, has a plan to convey you through the enemy’s lines, disguised as the followers in a wedding procession.”And thereat the men and women of Zeeland cried out with one accord:“We are ready, even unto the death!”And the men said one to another:“What joy it will be to exchange this land of slavery for the freedom of the sea!”And the women and girls said likewise:“Let us follow our husbands and our lovers; we belong to Zeeland and there we shall find asile!”Now Ulenspiegel had noticed a young and pretty maid, and he addressed her jokingly:“I would you were my wife!”But she blushed and answered him:“I would have thee for my husband—but at the church only, remember!”The women laughed and said among themselves:“She is in love with Hans Utenhove, the master’s son. He will go along with her, doubtless.”“You say truly,” Hans replied.And his father said:“You have my permission.”Then all the men put on their best clothes, their doublets and hose of velvet, and the greatopperst-kleedover all. As for the women, they wore black petticoats and pleated shoes. Round their necks they wore a white ruff, their bodices were embroidered in gold, scarlet, and blue; their skirts were of black wool with broad stripes of black velvet thereon, and their stockings were of black wool, and their shoes of velvet with silver buckles.Thereupon Thomas Utenhove went to the church and put into the hands of the priest a couple ofrycksdaelders, asking him at the same time to join in marriage Thylbert the son of Claes (that is Ulenspiegel) and Tannekin Pieters. And this the curé consented to do.Ulenspiegel then went to church, followed by the wedding procession. And there, in the presence of the priest, Tannekin was made his wife.And she looked so pretty and so sweet, so complaisant and so tender, that right willingly would he have eaten her up as she had been a ripe apple of love. And he told her so, not daring to do more for the respect he felt for her gentle loveliness. But she pouted her lips, and bade him leave her alone, for that Hans was watching him and would kill him without a doubt.And a certain damsel was jealous, and said to Ulenspiegel:“Seek elsewhere for a lover. Do you not see that she is afraid of her own man?”Lamme clapped his hands together and cried:“You cannot have them all, you rascal!”So Ulenspiegel, making the best of his misfortune, returned to the farm with the wedding guests. And there he drank and sang and made merry, clinking many a glass with the damsel that was jealous. And at this Hans was glad, butnot so Tannekin, nor yet the youth that was betrothed to the damsel.At noon, while the sun shone down from a clear sky and a fresh breeze was blowing, the wedding carriages started off. They were decorated with flowers and every kind of greenery, with flags flying, and drums and fifes, bagpipes and shawms playing most joyfully.Now it happened that in the camp of the Duke of Alba there was another fête in progress; and the sentries of the guard, having sounded the alarm, ran to the Duke, crying:“The enemy is at hand. We have heard the noise of drums and fifes, and we have seen their banners in the distance. There is a strong force of cavalry that is hoping to draw you into some ambush. The main body, doubtless, is not far off.”The Duke at once sent to warn the colonels and captains, and himself ordered the army to be massed in battle array, and dispatched certain scouting parties on reconnaissance.Then it was that there came on the scene the four carriages, making straight for the Duke’s gunners. And in the chariots were none but men and women dancing and drinking and playing most joyously on fifes and drums and bagpipes and shawms. And wondrous was the din that came from all those instruments.The Mock MarriageThe Mock MarriageWhen the procession had been brought to a halt, the Duke himself came up, attracted by the noise, and he saw the newly married bride where she stood in one of the four chariots; and beside her was Ulenspiegel, the bridegroom, covered with flowers; and all the other peasants, both men and women, who had by now got down from the chariots and were dancing all round them and offering drink to the soldiers.The Duke and his friends were much astonished at the simplicity of these peasants who sang and made merry when all around them was an army ready to do battle.And now they that remained in the chariots were giving all the wine to the soldiers, and they in their turn werefêted by them and made much of; till at last, when the wine began to run out, the peasants continued on their way again. The drums and fifes and bagpipes struck up once more and the cavalcade moved off without any let or hindrance. And the soldiers, in high good humour, let off a volley from their guns in honour of the festal occasion.And thus they came to Maestricht, where Ulenspiegel took counsel with the agents of the Reformers as to the best way of sending ships loaded with arms and munitions to the assistance of the Prince’s fleet.And from there they went to Landen and to other places, disguised as working men.The Duke was not long in learning the trick that had been played on him, and there came into his hands a lampoon which was in circulation at the time, with this refrain:Bloody Duke,Silly Duke,Hast thou seen the Bride?And every time that the Duke made a mistake in his general-ship the soldiers would sing:The Duke he can’t see clearly;He has seen the Bride!XXIINow in those days the Duke divided his army into two parts, one of which he ordered to march towards the Duchy of Luxemburg and the other to the Marquisate of Namur.“These tactics of the military are all one to me,” said Ulenspiegel to Lamme, “let us go on our way with confidence.”They were walking along the banks of the Meuse, near the town of Maestricht, and Lamme saw that Ulenspiegel gazed attentively at all the boats that were sailing on the river. Suddenly he came to a stand before one of theseboats upon whose prow was carved the figure of a mermaid. And the mermaid carried a shield and on it in gold upon a black ground were blazoned the letters J.H.S., being the monogram of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Ulenspiegel signed to Lamme that he should stand still, and then he began to sing like a lark most joyously.A man appeared on the boat and began to crow like a cock. At this Ulenspiegel set up a noise like a donkey’s bray, which the man immediately echoed with interest. And the two donkeys of Lamme and Ulenspiegel lay back their ears and joined in the chorus with their own natural voices. Sundry women and men were passing along that way, the latter riding on the backs of the horses which were tugging the barges along the tow-path. And Ulenspiegel said to Lamme:“This boatman is making mock of us and our good steeds. What do you say to going and attacking him on his boat?”“Let us rather entice him over to the bank,” replied Lamme.But a woman who happened to be passing at the moment said:“If you don’t want to come back with your arms cut off, your backs broken, and your noses in pieces, let me advise you to let this Stercke Pier bray at his ease.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman.“Let him sing,” continued the woman. “Only the other day he showed us how he could lift on his shoulders a truck of heavy barrels of beer, and hold back yet another truck that was being dragged forwards by a strong horse. And at the inn there”—and as she spoke she pointed to the tavern of theBlauwe Torre—“it was there one day that he threw his knife at a plank of oak-wood twelve inches thick and pierced it at a distance of twenty paces!”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman, and now he was joined by a youngster of twelve or so, whoclimbed on to the bridge of the boat, and began to bray in like manner.But Ulenspiegel answered the woman:“He’s nothing to us, your Peter the Strong! For however strong he is, we are stronger! See my friend Lamme here. He could eat up two men like that without so much as a hiccup!”“What’s this you’re saying, my son?” demanded Lamme.“The truth,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And do not let your modesty contradict me. For of a truth, good people, women and working men of Maestricht, I tell you that before long you shall see my friend here belabouring and beating to nothing this famous Stercke Pier of yours!”“Be quiet,” said Lamme.“Your strength is famous far and wide,” answered Ulenspiegel. “You cannot conceal it.”“Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Ee—aw!” went the boy.Suddenly Ulenspiegel began again to sing like a lark very melodiously, and the men and women and workmen standing by were enchanted, and began to ask him where he had learnt the art of whistling so divinely.“In Paradise,” answered Ulenspiegel, “whence I come.” Then he addressed himself to the boatman, who was still continuing his braying and mocking:“Why do you stay there on your boat, you good-for-nothing? Haven’t you the courage to come and jeer at us and our steeds from the dry land?”“Haven’t you the courage forthat?” said Lamme.“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Come, my good bray-masters, come up rather into my boat.”Then Ulenspiegel whispered to Lamme to do exactly as he did. But to the boatman he said aloud:“If you are Stercke Pier, I am Tyl Ulenspiegel. And these two here are our donkeys, Jef and Jan, and they know how tobray better than you do, for that is their natural way of talking. As for coming on to your leaky decks, it is the last thing we wish to do. Your boat is like a tub, and each time that a wave comes along it shivers, and it knows no other way of walking save sideways-on like a crab.”“Yes, like a crab!” said Lamme.To which the boatman made answer:“What are you croaking there between your teeth, great block of fat?At this Lamme fell into a rage, crying:“You are no Christian to make mock of my infirmity. My fat is my own, let me tell you, and is the result of the good food I eat, whereas you, old bag of bones that you are, you have never lived upon aught better than smoked herrings and old candle-wicks if one may judge anything from the lean flesh that shows through the tears in your measly hose.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” cried the boatman, and Lamme would have got down from his donkey to collect stones to throw at him had not Ulenspiegel said him nay.The boatman now began to whisper something into the ear of the lad who was still “ee—awing” at his side, and a moment later the lad unfastened a little boat which lay by the side of the big one, and with the end of the boat-hook shoved himself cleverly off towards the river-bank. When the boy was quite close to the bank he drew himself up proudly and threw down this challenge:“My master wants to know if you will have the courage to come on to his boat and join with him in a battle of fist and feet. And these good men and women shall be the arbiters.”“Certainly,” said Ulenspiegel in a dignified tone of voice.“We accept the challenge,” said Lamme haughtily.It was midday. The workmen who laboured on the dike and the road-menders and the builders of ships were about to take their repast of beans and boiled beef which had been brought them by their women-folk or their children. Allthese, then, who stood around began to laugh and to clap their hands at the prospect of a fight, looking forward with joy to the chance of seeing the head of one of the combatants broken, or his body thrown in pieces into the river.“My son,” said Lamme under his breath, “the boatman will assuredly throw us into the water.”“Let him throw you in if he wants to,” said Ulenspiegel.“The big one is afraid,” said the crowd of workmen.Lamme, who was still sitting his donkey, turned round and gave them a look of anger, but they jeered at him the more.“Come on,” said Lamme. “Let us to the boat, and then they shall see if I am afraid.”At these words the jeers broke out again, and Ulenspiegel said:“Come, let us to the boat!”When, therefore, they had dismounted from their donkeys they threw the bridles to the boatman’s lad, who caressed the animals in friendly wise and led them to a place where he saw some thistles growing. At the same time Ulenspiegel seized hold of the boat-hook, made Lamme get into the skiff, and then steered straight for the big boat. There he mounted on to the deck by the help of a rope, and Lamme climbed up in front of him, puffing and blowing.Arrived on the bridge of the boat, Ulenspiegel leant down as if to lace up his boots, and at the same time he spoke a word into the boatman’s ear, who straightway laughed and gave Lamme a curious look. Then he began to roar out at him every kind of insult, calling him worthless rogue, a man bloated with vicious fat, prison-bred,pap-eter, and at the same time inquiring of him how many tons of oil they gave him when he was bled.All of a sudden, without waiting to reply, Lamme threw himself like a mad bull upon the boatman, knocked him down, and began to beat him with all his might. The boatman, however, did not receive much injury, forasmuch as Lamme’sarms were but weak on account of their fatness. And the boatman suffered himself to be thus dealt with despite the fact that he was making a great pretence at resistance all the time. And the men and women who were watching the battle from the bank were astonished, and exclaimed to each other: “Who would have thought that this fat man could be so fiery!”And they clapped their hands while Lamme continued to belabour the boatman most unmercifully. But the latter took care only to protect his face. Suddenly Lamme was seen to be kneeling upon the breast of Stercke Pier, with one hand on his adversary’s throat, and the other raised to strike.“Cry for mercy,” he said furiously, “or else I shall make you pass through the planks of your tub.”At this the boatman began to cough, thereby signifying that he could not speak, and demanded mercy with a sign of his hand.Then Lamme was seen to pick up his adversary in a most generous manner, who thereupon, standing upright and turning his back towards the onlookers, put out his tongue at Ulenspiegel. Now the latter was rocking with laughter to see Lamme shaking the feather on his cap so proudly and walking about in triumph upon the deck of the boat.And the men and women, boys and girls, who were watching from the bank applauded their loudest and cried out: “Long live the conqueror of Stercke Pier! He is a man of iron! Did you see how he cuffed him with his fist, and how he threw him down on his back with a blow of his hand? But see, they are now about to drink together to make the peace! Stercke Pier is coming up from the hold with wine and sausages!” And in very truth, Stercke Pier might now have been seen coming on deck with two tankards and a quart of white Meuse wine. And Lamme and the boatman made their peace. After which Lamme asked his new friendwhat sort of fricassees they were that were being cooked in the hold of the ship; for at one end of the deck was a chimney whence rose a column of thick black smoke. And the boatman made answer:“Since you are men of valiant heart, knowing well the song of the lark, the bird of freedom, and the warlike clarion of the cock, and the bray of the ass withal, come you with me and I will show you my kitchen.”And so saying he led the way into the hold, where, removing certain planks from the floor, he disclosed some mighty piles of gun-barrels, together with a quantity of iron lances, halberds, sword-blades, and a great heap of powder and shot.“Where shall I take them?” he asked.“To Emden, through the North Sea,” said Ulenspiegel, “good Beggarman that you are!”“The sea is big,” said the boatman.“Big for battle,” said Ulenspiegel.“God is with us,” said the boatman.“Who then can be against us?” cried Ulenspiegel.And when they had thus spoken, the boatman conducted Lamme and Ulenspiegel on deck, with many words of cheer and good counsel. Then they rowed to the bank, where they mounted again upon their donkeys and set off towards Liége.“My son,” said Lamme whilst they were ambling gently along, “pray tell me why did that man, strong as he was, allow himself to be beaten by me so cruelly?”“To the end,” answered Ulenspiegel, “that wherever we go, the fear of your prowess may go before us. That indeed will prove a more powerful escort than twenty landsknechts. For who would dare to measure his strength with Lamme the mighty, Lamme the conqueror? Lamme the matchless bull among men, that overcame in the sight of all beholders the famous Stercke Pier—Peter the Strong—and threw him to the ground like a feather?”“You say well, my son,” said Lamme, drawing himself up in the saddle.“And I say what is true,” answered Ulenspiegel, “for did you not notice the faces that looked out so curiously from the houses on the outskirts of this village? They were pointing at the terrible figure of Lamme the Conqueror! And do you see these men who are gazing on you even now with such envy, and these sorry cowards who uncover as you pass? Answer to their salute, O Lamme, my sweet one, nor be disdainful of the populace. Behold, the very children know your name and whisper it with terror.”And Lamme passed along proudly, saluting right and left like a king. And the fame of his valour followed him from village to village and from town to town, as far as Liége, Chocquier, La Neuville, Vesin, and Namur, to which place, however, our travellers gave a wide berth because of the three evangelists. And so they wended along by the banks of river and canal, and everywhere the song of the lark answered the song of the cock. And wherever they went they found that in the sacred cause of Liberty weapons were being forged and armour furbished for the ships that stood by along the coast to carry away.Lamme the VictorLamme the VictorAnd Lamme, preceded everywhere by his glorious reputation, began himself to believe in his own prowess, and growing proud and warlike he let his beard grow too. And Ulenspiegel called him Lamme the Lion. But Lamme did not continue in this purpose longer than the fourth day, because the hairs of his beard began to tickle him. And he passed a razor over the surface of his victorious countenance, so that it appeared thereafter like his own face once more, round and full as the sun, ablaze with the flame of good nourishment. And thus they came at length to Harlebeke.

XVIIt was now at the end of October. The Prince was in want of money, and his army of food. The soldiers too began to murmur, and he marched them towards the French frontier to offer battle to the Duke. But the Duke would not fight.Leaving Quesnoy-le-Comte to go to Cambrésis, the Prince’s army fell in with ten companies of Germans and eight Spanish ensigns and three cohorts of cavalry. They at once joined battle, and in the midst of themêléewas Ruffele Henricis, the Duke’s son, crying out at the top of his voice:“No quarter! No quarter! Long live the Pope!”Now Don Henricis found himself opposite to a company of arquebusiers which was led by Ulenspiegel, and he threw himself upon them with all his men. Ulenspiegel said to his sergeant:“I will cut out this murderer’s tongue for him!”“Very good,” said the sergeant.And Ulenspiegel took careful aim, and his bullet shattered the tongue and the entire jaw-bone of Don Ruffele Henricis, son of the Duke. At the same time Ulenspiegel brought down the son of the Marquess Delmares, and in a little while more the eight ensigns and the three cohorts of cavalry were thoroughly worsted.After this victory Ulenspiegel went seeking for Lamme everywhere through the camp, but he could not find him.“Alas,” he said, “he is gone! Lamme is gone; my friend, my great fat friend! In his warlike ardour he must have forgotten how heavy his belly was, and tried to follow the Spaniards in their flight. Out of breath he must have fallen like a sack on the wayside. And then the enemy will have picked him up for ransom—a ransom of good Christian fat! O Lamme, my friend, where are you? Where are you, my great fat friend?”Ulenspiegel sought him everywhere but found him not and had to nurse his grief in silence.And now November was come, the month of snow-storms, and Ulenspiegel, having been ordered to report himself before William, found the Prince brooding in silence, and biting the lacings of his coat of mail.“Listen to me,” the Prince said presently, “and give me your whole attention.”Ulenspiegel answered: “My ears are like the gates of a prison. One enters easily but to get out again is a different matter.”“Very good,” said William, “but now I would have you go for me to Namur, and to Flanders, Hainaut, Sud-Brabant, Antwerp, Nord-Brabant, and to Gueldre, Overyssel, and the North of Holland, telling the people everywhere that, although it seems that the fates on land are hostile to our most Holy and Christian Cause, we will yet continue the struggle by sea, no matter what the evil powers that are arrayed against us. For God holds the issue in His own good providence, whether in success or failure. And when you are come to Amsterdam you will render an account of all that you have done to Paul Bruys who is my trusty vassal. Here are three passports, signed by the Duke of Alba himself, which were found on certain bodies of the dead at Quesnoy-le-Comte. My secretary has filled them in afresh. And it may be that on your journey you will meet some good companion in whom you can trust. Let him go with you. And those are to be accounted trustworthy who know how to answer the song of the lark with a warlike cockcrow. Here are fifty florins. Be valiant and faithful.”“The ashes of Claes beat upon my heart,” answered Ulenspiegel.And he went his way.XVIINow the passports were countersigned both by the King and the Duke, and they authorized the bearer to carry any kind of arms at his convenience. So Ulenspiegel took with him his trusty arquebus as well as a good supply of cartridges and dry gunpowder. He dressed himself in a short cloak and a shabby doublet and hose made after the Spanish fashion, and thus accoutred, with a plumed cap on his head and a sword at his side, he made his departure from the Prince’s army where it lay at the French frontier, and set out for Maestricht.The roitelets, those heralds of bad weather, were flying around the houses seeking asile from the storm, and on the third day snow fell. Many times during the journey did Ulenspiegel have to show his safe-conduct. But they always let him pass, and so he came at length to the confines of Liége. He was plodding along over a level heath, and a fierce wind was driving the swirling snowflakes against his face, and in front and on every side the heath stretched out all white under the snow that fell in eddies, which themselves were whirled about hither and thither in the squalls of wind. And there were three wolves that began to follow him. But one of them he killed with a shot from his arquebus, and the other two flung themselves upon their wounded comrade, and then made off into the woods, each carrying a piece of the corpse.Delivered from this peril, Ulenspiegel peered about him, fearing lest there might be other bands of wolves in that country, but he saw nothing except, in the far distance, certain objects that looked like grey statues moving slowly along in the falling snow. Behind these again, Ulenspiegel could descry the dark figures of a couple of soldiers on horseback. To see the better what all this might portend, Ulenspiegelclimbed up into a tree, and there the wind brought to him a far-off sound of lamentation. “It may be,” Ulenspiegel said to himself, “these people are pilgrims, clad in white habits; for I can scarcely distinguish their figures against the snow.” But after a little while he saw that they were men running, quite naked, and that behind them were two German troopers in black uniforms riding on horses. And they were driving the poor wretches in front of them with whips. Ulenspiegel took aim with his arquebus. Now he could distinguish the individual figures of that mournful company—old men and young men naked, shivering, and quaking with cold, hardly able to stand some of them, but running all, for fear of the cruel whips of the two soldiers who, themselves being warmly clad and red with brandy and good food, took pleasure in lashing the bodies of naked men to make them run the faster.Ulenspiegel said: “You shall be avenged, ashes of Claes!” And he killed one of the soldiers outright with a bullet from his arquebus. The soldier fell from his horse, and his companion took fright, not knowing whence the shot had come. But concluding that his assailant must be hiding somewhere in the wood, he decided to make good his escape, together with the horse of his dead companion. The man contrived to get hold of the horse’s bridle, but while he himself was dismounting to plunder the body of the dead, he was hit by a bullet in the neck and fell to the ground.As for the naked prisoners, they imagined that some angel from heaven, who was also forsooth a fine marksman, had descended from the sky to aid them, and they all fell down upon their knees in the snow. At this Ulenspiegel descended from his tree, and was at once recognized by the company who had previously served with him as soldiers in the armies of the Prince. They said to him:“O Ulenspiegel, we are come from France, and we were being driven in this piteous plight to Maestricht, where theDuke is, to be treated there as rebel prisoners because we cannot pay our ransom, and are therefore condemned in advance to be tortured, cut into pieces, or sent to row like caitiffs and criminals in the galleys of the King.”Ulenspiegel gave hisopperst-kleedto the oldest of the soldiers, saying:“Come with me, my friends. I will accompany you as far as Mézières; but first of all let us strip these two dead soldiers and take possession of their horses.” Thereupon the doublets, hose, boots, head-gear, and body-armour of the soldiers were divided up among the sick and feeble, and Ulenspiegel said:“We shall soon be entering the wood, where the air is thicker and more gentle. You had better run, my brothers.”Suddenly one of the men fell down on the ground, crying: “I am hungry and cold, and I am going to God to bear witness that the Pope is Antichrist on earth.” And he died, and the others agreed to carry the body with them that it might be given Christian burial.While thus proceeding along the road, they met a peasant driving a cart with a canvas hood. Seeing the men all naked, the peasant had compassion on them and invited them to ride in his cart. There they found some hay to lie on, and some empty sacks to cover them withal. And they were warmed and gave thanks to God. Ulenspiegel rode beside the cart on one of the two horses that had belonged to the German troopers, leading the other by the bridle.At Mézières they all alighted. Good hot soup and beer and bread and cheese were handed round, with some meat for the older men and women. And they were nobly entertained; and they were clothed and armed again, all at the expense of the commune. And every one joined in giving thanks and praise to Ulenspiegel, who received it gladly. Ulenspiegel also sold the horses of the German troopers foreight-and-forty florins, out of which he distributed thirty florins among the Frenchmen.Thereafter he took the road again, and as he walked solitarily along he said to himself:“Verily now do I wander through a land of ruin, blood, and tears. Nevertheless, I find nothing. Those spirits lied to me without a doubt. For where is Lamme? Where is Nele! Where are the Seven?”And he heard a voice speaking to him as though in a whisper:“In death, in ruin, and in tears, seek!”And he went his way.XVIIIIt was the month of March when Ulenspiegel came to Namur. There he found Lamme, who, having conceived a violent passion for the fish of the Meuse, and for the trout especially, had hired a boat and spent all day fishing in the river by permission of the commune. But for this privilege he had been obliged to pay the sum of fifty florins to the Guild of the Fishmongers.Some of his fish he sold. But the rest he ate himself, and by this means he gained a finer belly than ever, and a small sack of money. When he saw his friend and comrade walking along the banks of the Meuse and about to enter the town, Lamme was mightily rejoiced and pushed his boat to the shore, and there springing on to the bank rushed up to Ulenspiegel, blowing and puffing and stammering for joy.“Here you are,” he cried, “here you are at last, my son. And where are you off to? What are you after? You are not dead, then? And have you seen my wife? You’ll feed off the fish of the Meuse, which are the best to be found anywhere on this base earth! And let me tell you something. The people here make such sauces as will tempt you to dip your fingers into the dish right up to your shoulder!Ah, but how proud and splendid you look! On your cheeks is the very bloom of battle. And here you are! It’s you, it’s really you, my son! My Ulenspiegel! You jolly vagabond!” Then in a lower tone of voice he added:“And how many Spaniards have you killed? You have not seen my wife by any chance, in the carts with those other hussies? Ah, but the wine of the Meuse! You must taste it. And have you been wounded, my son? You must rest here a while, so fresh and cheery as you are, and vigilant as a young eagle. But our eels! You must taste our eels. No muddy taste aboutthem! Come, kiss me, my second self! Praise be to God! How glad I am!”And Lamme danced and leapt in the air, puffing and blowing and compelling Ulenspiegel to dance too.Thereafter they walked towards Namur. At the gate of the city Ulenspiegel showed his passport signed by the Duke. And Lamme conducted him to his house. While their repast was being prepared he made Ulenspiegel tell him all his adventures and then recounted his own, telling how he had left the army to follow a girl whom he thought was his wife. It was in pursuit of her, it seemed, that he had come at last to Namur. And he kept on asking Ulenspiegel:“Are you sure you have not seen her anywhere?”“I have seen many other beautiful women,” answered Ulenspiegel, “and in this town especially, where it seems they are all most amorous....”“It is so,” said Lamme, “nevertheless I have remained faithful. For my sad heart is heavy with but a single recollection.”“Even as your belly is heavy with countless platter-fuls!” said Ulenspiegel.“When I am unhappy I have to eat,” Lamme replied.“Your unhappiness knows no end?” demanded Ulenspiegel.“Alas, no!” said Lamme.And helping himself to another trout:“Look,” he cried, “look how lovely and firm he is. This flesh is as pink as the flesh of my wife. But to-morrow we will leave Namur. I have a purseful of florins, and we will buy a donkey for each of us, and so we will go riding away to the land of Flanders!”“You will be giving up a great deal,” said Ulenspiegel.“Never mind,” said Lamme. “My heart draws me back to Damme. For it was there that my love loved me well. And it may be that she also has returned thither.”“We will set out to-morrow,” said Ulenspiegel, “since such is your desire.”And in fact they set forth as Lamme had said, each on a donkey; and so they rode along side by side.XIXNele all this time was living at Damme, sorrowful and alone, with Katheline, who still continued to call amorously for her cold devil who never came.“Ah!” she would say, “you are rich, Hanske my pet; and you could easily give me back those seven hundred caroluses. Then Soetkin would live again and come to earth once more, and Claes in heaven would laugh for joy. Easily could you do this, and you would! Put out the fire! My soul wants to get out!”And with her finger she would point without ceasing to the place on her head where the flaming tow had burned her.Katheline was very impoverished, but the neighbours helped her by sending in beans and bread and meat, according as they were able. The commune also gave her a certain amount of money, and Nele did sewing for the wealthy bourgeois, and went to their houses to mend their linen, earning in this way a florin or two every week. But Katheline kept on with her eternal “Make a hole! Let out my soul!She is knocking to be let out! And he will give me back the seven hundred caroluses!”And Nele wept to hear her.XXIn the meantime Ulenspiegel and Lamme continued their wanderings. Under the protection of their passports, they entered one day into a little tavern built against the rocks of the Sambre, the which rocks are covered with trees here and there, and on the sign of the tavern was written mine host’s name—MARLAIRE. When they had drunk many a flask of wine—wine of the Meuse, rather like Burgundy—and when they had eaten a large plate of fish, they fell talking to the innkeeper, who was a keen Papist but as talkative as he was pious because of the wine he had been drinking. And he kept on winking his eye maliciously. Ulenspiegel had a suspicion that all this winking portended something mysterious, and he made the fellow drink yet more, with the result that he fell to dancing and shouting with laughter, till at last he sat himself down at the table again, and, “Good Catholics,” says he, “I drink to you.”“And to you we drink also,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel.“And I drink to the extinction of all heresy and rebellion.”“We will join you in that toast,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel, who kept on filling up the goblets which mine host could never suffer to remain full.“You are good fellows,” said the innkeeper. “Let me drink to the health of your noble Generosities. For you must know that I derive some profit from all the wine that is drunk here. But where are your passports?”“Here they are,” replied Ulenspiegel.“With the Duke’s signature and all,” said the innkeeper. “Here’s a health to the Duke.”“To the Duke,” echoed Lamme and Ulenspiegel. And mine host went on talking:“Answer me now, do you know what it is that they catch rats and mice in? Why in rat-traps to be sure, and mouse-traps. Who is the mouse then? The great heretic of Orange—and orange he is in very truth, like the flames of hell! But God is on our side. They will come. Ho ho! A toast! Pour out the wine; I bake and burn with thirst. Come, drink, my masters. Fine little Protestant evangelists.... I saidlittle. Fine valiant little fellows they are, and brave soldiers, sturdy as oaks.... I drink to them! Are you not going with them to the camp of the great heretic? I have certain passports signed by him.... You will see.”“We are going to the camp,” answered Ulenspiegel.“Yes, they will do their work well. And one fine night, if the opportunity presents itself”—and here the innkeeper whistled, and made a gesture as of one man cutting another’s throat—“cold steel, I tell you. It’s that that shall prevent the black bird of Nassau from singing any more. Come, drink again.”“You’re a gay fellow,” said Ulenspiegel, “in spite of being married.”The innkeeper said:“I am neither married nor have I ever been. The secrets of Princes are safe with me. Drink! But if I had a wife she would steal my secrets from under my pillow to get me hanged and herself made widow before the time. Long live God! They will come.... But where are the new passports? On my heart of a Christian. Drink! They are there, there I tell you. One hundred paces along the road near by Marche-les-Dames. Do you see them? Drink again!”“Drink?” said Ulenspiegel. “Yes, I drink and drink and drink. To the King, to the Duke, to the Protestant preachers, and toVent d’acier—Wind of Lead. And I drink to thee andto me, to the wine and the bottle that holds it. But why? It is you that have stopped drinking!”And at each new toast Ulenspiegel filled up the glass of the innkeeper, who emptied it straightway.Ulenspiegel looked at him for some time, then rose and said to Lamme: “Come, Lamme, it is time for us to be off. He is asleep.” But when they were outside, “He has no wife,” Ulenspiegel continued. “We are safe. The night is at hand. Did you hear what the rascal said? And do you rightly understand who these three preachers are? Do you realize that they are to come along the bank of the Meuse from Marche-les-Dames, and that it will be our part to await them on the road? And then forVent d’acier—Wind of Lead—to start his whistling?”“Yes,” said Lamme.“It is for us to save the Prince’s life,” said Ulenspiegel.“Yes,” said Lamme.“Wait,” said Ulenspiegel. “You take my arquebus, and go and hide in the undergrowth among the rocks. Load it with two shots, and shoot when you hear me caw and crow.”“I will,” said Lamme.And so saying he disappeared into the undergrowth. And Ulenspiegel could hear quite clearly the click of the gun as Lamme loaded it.“Do you see them coming?” he asked presently.“I see them,” answered Lamme. “There are three of them, marching together like soldiers, and one of them is much taller than the others.”Ulenspiegel sat himself down by the side of the road, with his legs stretched out in front of him, muttering his prayers on a rosary, just like beggars do. And he held his hat between his knees. And when the three evangelists passed in front of him, he held out his hat as though asking for alms; but they gave him nothing. Then Ulenspiegel got up and addressed them most piteously:“Kind sirs,” he said, “do not refuse apatardto a poor quarryman who has recently had an accident and broken his back by falling down a mine. The people in this part of the world are hard of heart, and they have not been willing to give me anything to relieve my distress. Alas! Give me but apatard, and I will say many prayers for you. And God will keep you happy, all your lives long, kind friends!”“My son,” said one of the evangelists, “there can be no happiness for us in this world so long as the Pope and the Inquisition remain in power.”Ulenspiegel heaved another sigh:“Alas! What are you saying, my lords? Do not speak so loud, if it please you. But give me apatard.”“My son,” replied one of the evangelists, he that was the smallest of the three, and of a very warlike countenance, “we poor martyrs carry nopatardssave only just enough to keep us going on our journey.”At this Ulenspiegel threw himself on to his knees in front of them.“Give me your blessing then,” he said.The three evangelists laid their hands upon the head of Ulenspiegel, albeit with little signs of devotion.Now Ulenspiegel noticed that although they were lean of figure, these men all had very fat stomachs, so he rose from his knees, and then pretended to stumble, knocking against the body of the tall evangelist as he did so. At that a merry tinkle of coin was distinctly audible. Thereupon Ulenspiegel raised himself to his full height and drew his dagger.“My good man,” he said, “it is cold and I am but poorly clad; but methinks you have too much about you. Give me some of your wool, that I may get a cloak made for me. I am a Beggarman. Long live the Beggarmen!” The tall evangelist made answer:“You cock of a Beggarman, you carry your crest proudly forsooth, and we are going to cut it off for you!”“Cut it off then,” cried Ulenspiegel, giving ground, “but let me warn you that trusty Wind of Lead is going to sing for you or ever he sings for the Prince my master! Beggar I am! Long live the Beggarmen!”The three evangelists were astounded and cried out to each other: “How does he know? We are betrayed! Kill him! Long live the Mass!” And each man drew forth from beneath his hose a sharp dagger. But Ulenspiegel, without waiting for them to attack him, gave ground towards the bushes where Lamme was hidden, and when he judged that the three evangelists were within range of the arquebus, he cried out: “Crows, black crows, the Wind of Lead is going to whistle. I sing your bitter end!”Then he cawed like a crow. And a shot rang out from the bushes, and the tall evangelist fell prone on the earth. The next moment followed a second shot, which accounted in the same way for the second.And from among the bushes Ulenspiegel saw the jolly face of Lamme, and his arm raised as he hastily reloaded his arquebus. And from the midst of the dark shrubbery a puff of blue smoke mounted into the air.There now remained but one evangelist, and he was in a furious rage, and tried to cut at Ulenspiegel with all his might. But Ulenspiegel cried:“Wind of Steel or Wind of Lead, which matters it? Either way you shall quit this world for another, you shameless murderer!”And he attacked the foe and defended himself most bravely. So they stood on the roadway, inflexible, face to face, giving and parrying blows. Now Ulenspiegel was covered with blood, for his opponent was an experienced fencer, and had wounded him on the hands and on the legs. But Ulenspiegel attacked and defended himself like a lion. Still the blood which began to flow from his head blinded him, and he retreated continually, trying to wipe away theblood with his left hand but every moment feeling weaker. And he would most certainly have been killed had not Lamme brought down the third evangelist with another shot from his arquebus.And Ulenspiegel saw him fall, and heard him vomit forth blasphemies and blood, and the white froth of death. And once again the blue smoke drifted up above the dark shrubbery, in the midst of which Lamme displayed yet again his jolly face.“Have you finished him off?” he asked.“Yes, my son,” replied Ulenspiegel, “but come....”Lamme, then, coming out of his hiding-place, saw Ulenspiegel all covered with blood. He ran like a stag, in spite of his fat belly, and came to Ulenspiegel where he sat by the three dead men.“He is wounded!” Lamme cried. “My gentle friend is wounded by the rascally murderer.” And then, with a vicious kick at the jaw of the evangelist who lay nearest to him: “You cannot answer me, Ulenspiegel? Are you going to die, my son? Where is the ointment! Ha! I remember now. It is at the bottom of his satchel under the sausages. Can’t you hear me speak, Ulenspiegel? Alas! there is no warm water here to wash your wound, and no way of getting any. The water of the Sambre will have to do instead. But speak to me, my friend. You are not so badly hurt after all, surely. A little water—there, it’s cold, isn’t it? But he is waking up. It’s I, your friend; and your enemies are all dead! Oh, where is some linen? Some linen to bind up his wounds. There isn’t any. What am I to do? Ah! my shirt, that must serve.”Presently Ulenspiegel opened his eyes and raised himself from the ground with his teeth all chattering because of the cold.“And here you are standing up already!” Lamme exclaimed.“It is a balm of much virtue,” said Ulenspiegel.“Balm of valiance,” answered Lamme.And then, taking the bodies of the evangelists one by one, he cast them into a hole in the rocks, leaving their weapons and their clothes upon them. But he took their cloaks.And all around in the sky the crows were beginning to caw to each other, in anticipation of the feast. And the Sambre flowed by like a river of steel under the grey sky.And the snow fell, washing the blood away.Yet they felt ill at ease, and Lamme said:“I had rather kill a chicken than a man.”And they mounted again upon their donkeys. And when they arrived at the gates of Huy, the blood was still trickling from the head of Ulenspiegel, so they dismounted and pretended to have a quarrel, and to use their daggers on one another, with the utmost ferocity as it seemed. But when they had finished their duel, they remounted their donkeys and came into the town, showing their passports at the city gates.Lamme succours UlenspiegelLamme succours UlenspiegelThe women, seeing Ulenspiegel wounded and bleeding while Lamme rode his donkey as though he had been the victor, threw many a glance of tender commiseration upon Ulenspiegel, and pointed their fingers at Lamme, saying: “That is the rascal who wounded his friend.”Lamme all this time was anxiously scrutinizing the crowd, hoping to discover his wife among them; but all was in vain, and he was sad at heart.XXI“Where are you going now?” said Lamme.“To Maestricht,” answered Ulenspiegel.“But stay, my son. I have heard that the army of the Duke is camped all round the city and that he himself is within. Our passports will be of no use to us there. Even if they satisfy the Spanish soldiers, we shall still be arrested in the city and put through an examination. And in themeantime they will become aware of the death of the evangelists and our days on this earth will be numbered.”To this Ulenspiegel made answer:“The crows and the owls and the vultures will make short work of their repast. Already no doubt the dead bodies have become unrecognizable. As for our passports, there is no reason why they should not remain effective. But if the murder of the evangelists becomes known we should be arrested as you say. Nevertheless, whatever happens we shall have to go to Maestricht and pass through Landen on the way.”“We shall be captured,” said Lamme.“We shall get through,” answered Ulenspiegel.Conversing in this wise they came to the inn ofLa Pie, where they found a good supper awaiting them, and good quarters for the night, both for themselves and for the donkeys; and on the morrow they took the road again for Landen.Not far from that town they came to a large farm. There Ulenspiegel whistled like a lark, and from the interior came the sound of a warlike cockcrow in answer. After that a jolly-looking farmer appeared at the door of the farmhouse, and greeted them as friends and good Beggarmen, and bade them welcome.“Who is this man?” Lamme inquired.“His name is Thomas Utenhove,” said Ulenspiegel, “and he is a valiant Protestant. The man-servants and maid-servants that work on the farm are fellows with him in the cause of freedom of conscience.”Then Utenhove said:“You are the envoys of the Prince? Come in then, eat and drink with me.”And the ham was crackling in the frying-pan, the sausages likewise, and the wine flowed and the glasses were filled again. And Lamme drank like dry sand, and ate his fill. And the boys and girls of the farm came one after anotherand thrust their noses into the half-open door to gaze on him as he worked away so hard. But the men were jealous, saying that they also would be able to eat and drink as bravely if they had the chance.When all was finished, Thomas Utenhove said:“One hundred of our peasants will be leaving us this week under pretext of going to work on the dikes at Bruges and thereabouts. They will be setting out in small bands of five or six at a time, and all by different routes. At Bruges they will find certain barges waiting for them to take them by sea to Emden.”“Will these men be provided with arms and with money?” inquired Ulenspiegel.“Each man will carry ten florins and a heavy cutlass.”“God and the Prince will reward you,” said Ulenspiegel.“But tell me,” said the farmer, “is Edzard, Count of Frise, still friendly to the Prince?”“He feigns not to be,” answered Ulenspiegel. “Nevertheless, he is giving harbourage all the time to the Prince’s ships at Emden.” And then he added: “We are on the way to Maestricht.”“You cannot go there,” said the farmer. “The Duke’s army is camped in front of the town and all round it.”With that he conducted his visitors up into the loft, whence they could see the standards of enemy cavalry and infantry moving about in the distance over the plain.Ulenspiegel said:“I have a plan to get through, if only they who have authority in this place would give me leave to get married. But for wife I should need a sweet and a gentle and comely lass who would be willing to marry me—if not for always, then for a week at least.”Lamme gasped with astonishment.“Don’t do it, my son,” he cried. “She will only leave you, and then, all alone, you will burn with the fire of love; andthe bed where now you sleep so sweetly will seem to you nothing better than a bed of prickly holly leaves, and gentle sleep will shun you for evermore.”“Still I must marry,” replied Ulenspiegel. And then to Thomas Utenhove: “Come now, find me a wife; rich or poor, I don’t care which! And I will take her to church, and our marriage shall be blessed by the priest. And he shall give us our marriage lines. Though, to be sure, we shall not hold them valid as being given by the hand of a Papist and an Inquisitor. Nevertheless they will be good enough for our purpose, and we will prepare ourselves, as is the custom, for our wedding trip.”“But what about the wife?”“That’s your look-out,” answered Ulenspiegel. “But when you have found her I shall take two wagons and decorate them with wreaths of fir branches and holly and paper flowers, and in the wagons themselves I shall dispose the men whom you wish to be conveyed to the Prince of Orange.”“But your wife?” persisted Thomas Utenhove. “Where will you find her?”“Here, I doubt not,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And then I shall harness two of your own horses to one of the wagons, and our two donkeys to the other. In the first wagon will ride my wife and myself, together with my friend Lamme here, and the witnesses of our nuptials. In the second wagon will follow the musicians, the players upon the drum, the fife, and the shawm. And then, with all our joyous wedding-flags a-flying, and with music playing, and we ourselves singing and drinking each other’s healths, we shall ride along at the trot by the high road that leads to theGalgen-veld—the Field of the Gallows—which for us indeed will be the Field of Liberty.”“I will do all in my power to help you,” said Thomas Utenhove, “but the women and girls will want to follow their men-folk.”“We will go where God wills,” said a pretty-looking girl who had thrust in her head at the half-opened door.“You can have four wagons if need be,” said Thomas Utenhove, “and by that means we should be able to convey as many as five-and-twenty men.”“The Duke will be nicely fooled,” said Ulenspiegel.“And the Prince’s fleet will gain the service of some fine soldiers,” added Thomas Utenhove.Then he caused a bell to be rung to summon his footman and his servants, and when they were all assembled he said to them:“All you that are from the land of Zeeland, women as well as men, listen now to me. Ulenspiegel, who is hither come from Flanders, has a plan to convey you through the enemy’s lines, disguised as the followers in a wedding procession.”And thereat the men and women of Zeeland cried out with one accord:“We are ready, even unto the death!”And the men said one to another:“What joy it will be to exchange this land of slavery for the freedom of the sea!”And the women and girls said likewise:“Let us follow our husbands and our lovers; we belong to Zeeland and there we shall find asile!”Now Ulenspiegel had noticed a young and pretty maid, and he addressed her jokingly:“I would you were my wife!”But she blushed and answered him:“I would have thee for my husband—but at the church only, remember!”The women laughed and said among themselves:“She is in love with Hans Utenhove, the master’s son. He will go along with her, doubtless.”“You say truly,” Hans replied.And his father said:“You have my permission.”Then all the men put on their best clothes, their doublets and hose of velvet, and the greatopperst-kleedover all. As for the women, they wore black petticoats and pleated shoes. Round their necks they wore a white ruff, their bodices were embroidered in gold, scarlet, and blue; their skirts were of black wool with broad stripes of black velvet thereon, and their stockings were of black wool, and their shoes of velvet with silver buckles.Thereupon Thomas Utenhove went to the church and put into the hands of the priest a couple ofrycksdaelders, asking him at the same time to join in marriage Thylbert the son of Claes (that is Ulenspiegel) and Tannekin Pieters. And this the curé consented to do.Ulenspiegel then went to church, followed by the wedding procession. And there, in the presence of the priest, Tannekin was made his wife.And she looked so pretty and so sweet, so complaisant and so tender, that right willingly would he have eaten her up as she had been a ripe apple of love. And he told her so, not daring to do more for the respect he felt for her gentle loveliness. But she pouted her lips, and bade him leave her alone, for that Hans was watching him and would kill him without a doubt.And a certain damsel was jealous, and said to Ulenspiegel:“Seek elsewhere for a lover. Do you not see that she is afraid of her own man?”Lamme clapped his hands together and cried:“You cannot have them all, you rascal!”So Ulenspiegel, making the best of his misfortune, returned to the farm with the wedding guests. And there he drank and sang and made merry, clinking many a glass with the damsel that was jealous. And at this Hans was glad, butnot so Tannekin, nor yet the youth that was betrothed to the damsel.At noon, while the sun shone down from a clear sky and a fresh breeze was blowing, the wedding carriages started off. They were decorated with flowers and every kind of greenery, with flags flying, and drums and fifes, bagpipes and shawms playing most joyfully.Now it happened that in the camp of the Duke of Alba there was another fête in progress; and the sentries of the guard, having sounded the alarm, ran to the Duke, crying:“The enemy is at hand. We have heard the noise of drums and fifes, and we have seen their banners in the distance. There is a strong force of cavalry that is hoping to draw you into some ambush. The main body, doubtless, is not far off.”The Duke at once sent to warn the colonels and captains, and himself ordered the army to be massed in battle array, and dispatched certain scouting parties on reconnaissance.Then it was that there came on the scene the four carriages, making straight for the Duke’s gunners. And in the chariots were none but men and women dancing and drinking and playing most joyously on fifes and drums and bagpipes and shawms. And wondrous was the din that came from all those instruments.The Mock MarriageThe Mock MarriageWhen the procession had been brought to a halt, the Duke himself came up, attracted by the noise, and he saw the newly married bride where she stood in one of the four chariots; and beside her was Ulenspiegel, the bridegroom, covered with flowers; and all the other peasants, both men and women, who had by now got down from the chariots and were dancing all round them and offering drink to the soldiers.The Duke and his friends were much astonished at the simplicity of these peasants who sang and made merry when all around them was an army ready to do battle.And now they that remained in the chariots were giving all the wine to the soldiers, and they in their turn werefêted by them and made much of; till at last, when the wine began to run out, the peasants continued on their way again. The drums and fifes and bagpipes struck up once more and the cavalcade moved off without any let or hindrance. And the soldiers, in high good humour, let off a volley from their guns in honour of the festal occasion.And thus they came to Maestricht, where Ulenspiegel took counsel with the agents of the Reformers as to the best way of sending ships loaded with arms and munitions to the assistance of the Prince’s fleet.And from there they went to Landen and to other places, disguised as working men.The Duke was not long in learning the trick that had been played on him, and there came into his hands a lampoon which was in circulation at the time, with this refrain:Bloody Duke,Silly Duke,Hast thou seen the Bride?And every time that the Duke made a mistake in his general-ship the soldiers would sing:The Duke he can’t see clearly;He has seen the Bride!XXIINow in those days the Duke divided his army into two parts, one of which he ordered to march towards the Duchy of Luxemburg and the other to the Marquisate of Namur.“These tactics of the military are all one to me,” said Ulenspiegel to Lamme, “let us go on our way with confidence.”They were walking along the banks of the Meuse, near the town of Maestricht, and Lamme saw that Ulenspiegel gazed attentively at all the boats that were sailing on the river. Suddenly he came to a stand before one of theseboats upon whose prow was carved the figure of a mermaid. And the mermaid carried a shield and on it in gold upon a black ground were blazoned the letters J.H.S., being the monogram of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Ulenspiegel signed to Lamme that he should stand still, and then he began to sing like a lark most joyously.A man appeared on the boat and began to crow like a cock. At this Ulenspiegel set up a noise like a donkey’s bray, which the man immediately echoed with interest. And the two donkeys of Lamme and Ulenspiegel lay back their ears and joined in the chorus with their own natural voices. Sundry women and men were passing along that way, the latter riding on the backs of the horses which were tugging the barges along the tow-path. And Ulenspiegel said to Lamme:“This boatman is making mock of us and our good steeds. What do you say to going and attacking him on his boat?”“Let us rather entice him over to the bank,” replied Lamme.But a woman who happened to be passing at the moment said:“If you don’t want to come back with your arms cut off, your backs broken, and your noses in pieces, let me advise you to let this Stercke Pier bray at his ease.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman.“Let him sing,” continued the woman. “Only the other day he showed us how he could lift on his shoulders a truck of heavy barrels of beer, and hold back yet another truck that was being dragged forwards by a strong horse. And at the inn there”—and as she spoke she pointed to the tavern of theBlauwe Torre—“it was there one day that he threw his knife at a plank of oak-wood twelve inches thick and pierced it at a distance of twenty paces!”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman, and now he was joined by a youngster of twelve or so, whoclimbed on to the bridge of the boat, and began to bray in like manner.But Ulenspiegel answered the woman:“He’s nothing to us, your Peter the Strong! For however strong he is, we are stronger! See my friend Lamme here. He could eat up two men like that without so much as a hiccup!”“What’s this you’re saying, my son?” demanded Lamme.“The truth,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And do not let your modesty contradict me. For of a truth, good people, women and working men of Maestricht, I tell you that before long you shall see my friend here belabouring and beating to nothing this famous Stercke Pier of yours!”“Be quiet,” said Lamme.“Your strength is famous far and wide,” answered Ulenspiegel. “You cannot conceal it.”“Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Ee—aw!” went the boy.Suddenly Ulenspiegel began again to sing like a lark very melodiously, and the men and women and workmen standing by were enchanted, and began to ask him where he had learnt the art of whistling so divinely.“In Paradise,” answered Ulenspiegel, “whence I come.” Then he addressed himself to the boatman, who was still continuing his braying and mocking:“Why do you stay there on your boat, you good-for-nothing? Haven’t you the courage to come and jeer at us and our steeds from the dry land?”“Haven’t you the courage forthat?” said Lamme.“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Come, my good bray-masters, come up rather into my boat.”Then Ulenspiegel whispered to Lamme to do exactly as he did. But to the boatman he said aloud:“If you are Stercke Pier, I am Tyl Ulenspiegel. And these two here are our donkeys, Jef and Jan, and they know how tobray better than you do, for that is their natural way of talking. As for coming on to your leaky decks, it is the last thing we wish to do. Your boat is like a tub, and each time that a wave comes along it shivers, and it knows no other way of walking save sideways-on like a crab.”“Yes, like a crab!” said Lamme.To which the boatman made answer:“What are you croaking there between your teeth, great block of fat?At this Lamme fell into a rage, crying:“You are no Christian to make mock of my infirmity. My fat is my own, let me tell you, and is the result of the good food I eat, whereas you, old bag of bones that you are, you have never lived upon aught better than smoked herrings and old candle-wicks if one may judge anything from the lean flesh that shows through the tears in your measly hose.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” cried the boatman, and Lamme would have got down from his donkey to collect stones to throw at him had not Ulenspiegel said him nay.The boatman now began to whisper something into the ear of the lad who was still “ee—awing” at his side, and a moment later the lad unfastened a little boat which lay by the side of the big one, and with the end of the boat-hook shoved himself cleverly off towards the river-bank. When the boy was quite close to the bank he drew himself up proudly and threw down this challenge:“My master wants to know if you will have the courage to come on to his boat and join with him in a battle of fist and feet. And these good men and women shall be the arbiters.”“Certainly,” said Ulenspiegel in a dignified tone of voice.“We accept the challenge,” said Lamme haughtily.It was midday. The workmen who laboured on the dike and the road-menders and the builders of ships were about to take their repast of beans and boiled beef which had been brought them by their women-folk or their children. Allthese, then, who stood around began to laugh and to clap their hands at the prospect of a fight, looking forward with joy to the chance of seeing the head of one of the combatants broken, or his body thrown in pieces into the river.“My son,” said Lamme under his breath, “the boatman will assuredly throw us into the water.”“Let him throw you in if he wants to,” said Ulenspiegel.“The big one is afraid,” said the crowd of workmen.Lamme, who was still sitting his donkey, turned round and gave them a look of anger, but they jeered at him the more.“Come on,” said Lamme. “Let us to the boat, and then they shall see if I am afraid.”At these words the jeers broke out again, and Ulenspiegel said:“Come, let us to the boat!”When, therefore, they had dismounted from their donkeys they threw the bridles to the boatman’s lad, who caressed the animals in friendly wise and led them to a place where he saw some thistles growing. At the same time Ulenspiegel seized hold of the boat-hook, made Lamme get into the skiff, and then steered straight for the big boat. There he mounted on to the deck by the help of a rope, and Lamme climbed up in front of him, puffing and blowing.Arrived on the bridge of the boat, Ulenspiegel leant down as if to lace up his boots, and at the same time he spoke a word into the boatman’s ear, who straightway laughed and gave Lamme a curious look. Then he began to roar out at him every kind of insult, calling him worthless rogue, a man bloated with vicious fat, prison-bred,pap-eter, and at the same time inquiring of him how many tons of oil they gave him when he was bled.All of a sudden, without waiting to reply, Lamme threw himself like a mad bull upon the boatman, knocked him down, and began to beat him with all his might. The boatman, however, did not receive much injury, forasmuch as Lamme’sarms were but weak on account of their fatness. And the boatman suffered himself to be thus dealt with despite the fact that he was making a great pretence at resistance all the time. And the men and women who were watching the battle from the bank were astonished, and exclaimed to each other: “Who would have thought that this fat man could be so fiery!”And they clapped their hands while Lamme continued to belabour the boatman most unmercifully. But the latter took care only to protect his face. Suddenly Lamme was seen to be kneeling upon the breast of Stercke Pier, with one hand on his adversary’s throat, and the other raised to strike.“Cry for mercy,” he said furiously, “or else I shall make you pass through the planks of your tub.”At this the boatman began to cough, thereby signifying that he could not speak, and demanded mercy with a sign of his hand.Then Lamme was seen to pick up his adversary in a most generous manner, who thereupon, standing upright and turning his back towards the onlookers, put out his tongue at Ulenspiegel. Now the latter was rocking with laughter to see Lamme shaking the feather on his cap so proudly and walking about in triumph upon the deck of the boat.And the men and women, boys and girls, who were watching from the bank applauded their loudest and cried out: “Long live the conqueror of Stercke Pier! He is a man of iron! Did you see how he cuffed him with his fist, and how he threw him down on his back with a blow of his hand? But see, they are now about to drink together to make the peace! Stercke Pier is coming up from the hold with wine and sausages!” And in very truth, Stercke Pier might now have been seen coming on deck with two tankards and a quart of white Meuse wine. And Lamme and the boatman made their peace. After which Lamme asked his new friendwhat sort of fricassees they were that were being cooked in the hold of the ship; for at one end of the deck was a chimney whence rose a column of thick black smoke. And the boatman made answer:“Since you are men of valiant heart, knowing well the song of the lark, the bird of freedom, and the warlike clarion of the cock, and the bray of the ass withal, come you with me and I will show you my kitchen.”And so saying he led the way into the hold, where, removing certain planks from the floor, he disclosed some mighty piles of gun-barrels, together with a quantity of iron lances, halberds, sword-blades, and a great heap of powder and shot.“Where shall I take them?” he asked.“To Emden, through the North Sea,” said Ulenspiegel, “good Beggarman that you are!”“The sea is big,” said the boatman.“Big for battle,” said Ulenspiegel.“God is with us,” said the boatman.“Who then can be against us?” cried Ulenspiegel.And when they had thus spoken, the boatman conducted Lamme and Ulenspiegel on deck, with many words of cheer and good counsel. Then they rowed to the bank, where they mounted again upon their donkeys and set off towards Liége.“My son,” said Lamme whilst they were ambling gently along, “pray tell me why did that man, strong as he was, allow himself to be beaten by me so cruelly?”“To the end,” answered Ulenspiegel, “that wherever we go, the fear of your prowess may go before us. That indeed will prove a more powerful escort than twenty landsknechts. For who would dare to measure his strength with Lamme the mighty, Lamme the conqueror? Lamme the matchless bull among men, that overcame in the sight of all beholders the famous Stercke Pier—Peter the Strong—and threw him to the ground like a feather?”“You say well, my son,” said Lamme, drawing himself up in the saddle.“And I say what is true,” answered Ulenspiegel, “for did you not notice the faces that looked out so curiously from the houses on the outskirts of this village? They were pointing at the terrible figure of Lamme the Conqueror! And do you see these men who are gazing on you even now with such envy, and these sorry cowards who uncover as you pass? Answer to their salute, O Lamme, my sweet one, nor be disdainful of the populace. Behold, the very children know your name and whisper it with terror.”And Lamme passed along proudly, saluting right and left like a king. And the fame of his valour followed him from village to village and from town to town, as far as Liége, Chocquier, La Neuville, Vesin, and Namur, to which place, however, our travellers gave a wide berth because of the three evangelists. And so they wended along by the banks of river and canal, and everywhere the song of the lark answered the song of the cock. And wherever they went they found that in the sacred cause of Liberty weapons were being forged and armour furbished for the ships that stood by along the coast to carry away.Lamme the VictorLamme the VictorAnd Lamme, preceded everywhere by his glorious reputation, began himself to believe in his own prowess, and growing proud and warlike he let his beard grow too. And Ulenspiegel called him Lamme the Lion. But Lamme did not continue in this purpose longer than the fourth day, because the hairs of his beard began to tickle him. And he passed a razor over the surface of his victorious countenance, so that it appeared thereafter like his own face once more, round and full as the sun, ablaze with the flame of good nourishment. And thus they came at length to Harlebeke.

XVIIt was now at the end of October. The Prince was in want of money, and his army of food. The soldiers too began to murmur, and he marched them towards the French frontier to offer battle to the Duke. But the Duke would not fight.Leaving Quesnoy-le-Comte to go to Cambrésis, the Prince’s army fell in with ten companies of Germans and eight Spanish ensigns and three cohorts of cavalry. They at once joined battle, and in the midst of themêléewas Ruffele Henricis, the Duke’s son, crying out at the top of his voice:“No quarter! No quarter! Long live the Pope!”Now Don Henricis found himself opposite to a company of arquebusiers which was led by Ulenspiegel, and he threw himself upon them with all his men. Ulenspiegel said to his sergeant:“I will cut out this murderer’s tongue for him!”“Very good,” said the sergeant.And Ulenspiegel took careful aim, and his bullet shattered the tongue and the entire jaw-bone of Don Ruffele Henricis, son of the Duke. At the same time Ulenspiegel brought down the son of the Marquess Delmares, and in a little while more the eight ensigns and the three cohorts of cavalry were thoroughly worsted.After this victory Ulenspiegel went seeking for Lamme everywhere through the camp, but he could not find him.“Alas,” he said, “he is gone! Lamme is gone; my friend, my great fat friend! In his warlike ardour he must have forgotten how heavy his belly was, and tried to follow the Spaniards in their flight. Out of breath he must have fallen like a sack on the wayside. And then the enemy will have picked him up for ransom—a ransom of good Christian fat! O Lamme, my friend, where are you? Where are you, my great fat friend?”Ulenspiegel sought him everywhere but found him not and had to nurse his grief in silence.And now November was come, the month of snow-storms, and Ulenspiegel, having been ordered to report himself before William, found the Prince brooding in silence, and biting the lacings of his coat of mail.“Listen to me,” the Prince said presently, “and give me your whole attention.”Ulenspiegel answered: “My ears are like the gates of a prison. One enters easily but to get out again is a different matter.”“Very good,” said William, “but now I would have you go for me to Namur, and to Flanders, Hainaut, Sud-Brabant, Antwerp, Nord-Brabant, and to Gueldre, Overyssel, and the North of Holland, telling the people everywhere that, although it seems that the fates on land are hostile to our most Holy and Christian Cause, we will yet continue the struggle by sea, no matter what the evil powers that are arrayed against us. For God holds the issue in His own good providence, whether in success or failure. And when you are come to Amsterdam you will render an account of all that you have done to Paul Bruys who is my trusty vassal. Here are three passports, signed by the Duke of Alba himself, which were found on certain bodies of the dead at Quesnoy-le-Comte. My secretary has filled them in afresh. And it may be that on your journey you will meet some good companion in whom you can trust. Let him go with you. And those are to be accounted trustworthy who know how to answer the song of the lark with a warlike cockcrow. Here are fifty florins. Be valiant and faithful.”“The ashes of Claes beat upon my heart,” answered Ulenspiegel.And he went his way.XVIINow the passports were countersigned both by the King and the Duke, and they authorized the bearer to carry any kind of arms at his convenience. So Ulenspiegel took with him his trusty arquebus as well as a good supply of cartridges and dry gunpowder. He dressed himself in a short cloak and a shabby doublet and hose made after the Spanish fashion, and thus accoutred, with a plumed cap on his head and a sword at his side, he made his departure from the Prince’s army where it lay at the French frontier, and set out for Maestricht.The roitelets, those heralds of bad weather, were flying around the houses seeking asile from the storm, and on the third day snow fell. Many times during the journey did Ulenspiegel have to show his safe-conduct. But they always let him pass, and so he came at length to the confines of Liége. He was plodding along over a level heath, and a fierce wind was driving the swirling snowflakes against his face, and in front and on every side the heath stretched out all white under the snow that fell in eddies, which themselves were whirled about hither and thither in the squalls of wind. And there were three wolves that began to follow him. But one of them he killed with a shot from his arquebus, and the other two flung themselves upon their wounded comrade, and then made off into the woods, each carrying a piece of the corpse.Delivered from this peril, Ulenspiegel peered about him, fearing lest there might be other bands of wolves in that country, but he saw nothing except, in the far distance, certain objects that looked like grey statues moving slowly along in the falling snow. Behind these again, Ulenspiegel could descry the dark figures of a couple of soldiers on horseback. To see the better what all this might portend, Ulenspiegelclimbed up into a tree, and there the wind brought to him a far-off sound of lamentation. “It may be,” Ulenspiegel said to himself, “these people are pilgrims, clad in white habits; for I can scarcely distinguish their figures against the snow.” But after a little while he saw that they were men running, quite naked, and that behind them were two German troopers in black uniforms riding on horses. And they were driving the poor wretches in front of them with whips. Ulenspiegel took aim with his arquebus. Now he could distinguish the individual figures of that mournful company—old men and young men naked, shivering, and quaking with cold, hardly able to stand some of them, but running all, for fear of the cruel whips of the two soldiers who, themselves being warmly clad and red with brandy and good food, took pleasure in lashing the bodies of naked men to make them run the faster.Ulenspiegel said: “You shall be avenged, ashes of Claes!” And he killed one of the soldiers outright with a bullet from his arquebus. The soldier fell from his horse, and his companion took fright, not knowing whence the shot had come. But concluding that his assailant must be hiding somewhere in the wood, he decided to make good his escape, together with the horse of his dead companion. The man contrived to get hold of the horse’s bridle, but while he himself was dismounting to plunder the body of the dead, he was hit by a bullet in the neck and fell to the ground.As for the naked prisoners, they imagined that some angel from heaven, who was also forsooth a fine marksman, had descended from the sky to aid them, and they all fell down upon their knees in the snow. At this Ulenspiegel descended from his tree, and was at once recognized by the company who had previously served with him as soldiers in the armies of the Prince. They said to him:“O Ulenspiegel, we are come from France, and we were being driven in this piteous plight to Maestricht, where theDuke is, to be treated there as rebel prisoners because we cannot pay our ransom, and are therefore condemned in advance to be tortured, cut into pieces, or sent to row like caitiffs and criminals in the galleys of the King.”Ulenspiegel gave hisopperst-kleedto the oldest of the soldiers, saying:“Come with me, my friends. I will accompany you as far as Mézières; but first of all let us strip these two dead soldiers and take possession of their horses.” Thereupon the doublets, hose, boots, head-gear, and body-armour of the soldiers were divided up among the sick and feeble, and Ulenspiegel said:“We shall soon be entering the wood, where the air is thicker and more gentle. You had better run, my brothers.”Suddenly one of the men fell down on the ground, crying: “I am hungry and cold, and I am going to God to bear witness that the Pope is Antichrist on earth.” And he died, and the others agreed to carry the body with them that it might be given Christian burial.While thus proceeding along the road, they met a peasant driving a cart with a canvas hood. Seeing the men all naked, the peasant had compassion on them and invited them to ride in his cart. There they found some hay to lie on, and some empty sacks to cover them withal. And they were warmed and gave thanks to God. Ulenspiegel rode beside the cart on one of the two horses that had belonged to the German troopers, leading the other by the bridle.At Mézières they all alighted. Good hot soup and beer and bread and cheese were handed round, with some meat for the older men and women. And they were nobly entertained; and they were clothed and armed again, all at the expense of the commune. And every one joined in giving thanks and praise to Ulenspiegel, who received it gladly. Ulenspiegel also sold the horses of the German troopers foreight-and-forty florins, out of which he distributed thirty florins among the Frenchmen.Thereafter he took the road again, and as he walked solitarily along he said to himself:“Verily now do I wander through a land of ruin, blood, and tears. Nevertheless, I find nothing. Those spirits lied to me without a doubt. For where is Lamme? Where is Nele! Where are the Seven?”And he heard a voice speaking to him as though in a whisper:“In death, in ruin, and in tears, seek!”And he went his way.XVIIIIt was the month of March when Ulenspiegel came to Namur. There he found Lamme, who, having conceived a violent passion for the fish of the Meuse, and for the trout especially, had hired a boat and spent all day fishing in the river by permission of the commune. But for this privilege he had been obliged to pay the sum of fifty florins to the Guild of the Fishmongers.Some of his fish he sold. But the rest he ate himself, and by this means he gained a finer belly than ever, and a small sack of money. When he saw his friend and comrade walking along the banks of the Meuse and about to enter the town, Lamme was mightily rejoiced and pushed his boat to the shore, and there springing on to the bank rushed up to Ulenspiegel, blowing and puffing and stammering for joy.“Here you are,” he cried, “here you are at last, my son. And where are you off to? What are you after? You are not dead, then? And have you seen my wife? You’ll feed off the fish of the Meuse, which are the best to be found anywhere on this base earth! And let me tell you something. The people here make such sauces as will tempt you to dip your fingers into the dish right up to your shoulder!Ah, but how proud and splendid you look! On your cheeks is the very bloom of battle. And here you are! It’s you, it’s really you, my son! My Ulenspiegel! You jolly vagabond!” Then in a lower tone of voice he added:“And how many Spaniards have you killed? You have not seen my wife by any chance, in the carts with those other hussies? Ah, but the wine of the Meuse! You must taste it. And have you been wounded, my son? You must rest here a while, so fresh and cheery as you are, and vigilant as a young eagle. But our eels! You must taste our eels. No muddy taste aboutthem! Come, kiss me, my second self! Praise be to God! How glad I am!”And Lamme danced and leapt in the air, puffing and blowing and compelling Ulenspiegel to dance too.Thereafter they walked towards Namur. At the gate of the city Ulenspiegel showed his passport signed by the Duke. And Lamme conducted him to his house. While their repast was being prepared he made Ulenspiegel tell him all his adventures and then recounted his own, telling how he had left the army to follow a girl whom he thought was his wife. It was in pursuit of her, it seemed, that he had come at last to Namur. And he kept on asking Ulenspiegel:“Are you sure you have not seen her anywhere?”“I have seen many other beautiful women,” answered Ulenspiegel, “and in this town especially, where it seems they are all most amorous....”“It is so,” said Lamme, “nevertheless I have remained faithful. For my sad heart is heavy with but a single recollection.”“Even as your belly is heavy with countless platter-fuls!” said Ulenspiegel.“When I am unhappy I have to eat,” Lamme replied.“Your unhappiness knows no end?” demanded Ulenspiegel.“Alas, no!” said Lamme.And helping himself to another trout:“Look,” he cried, “look how lovely and firm he is. This flesh is as pink as the flesh of my wife. But to-morrow we will leave Namur. I have a purseful of florins, and we will buy a donkey for each of us, and so we will go riding away to the land of Flanders!”“You will be giving up a great deal,” said Ulenspiegel.“Never mind,” said Lamme. “My heart draws me back to Damme. For it was there that my love loved me well. And it may be that she also has returned thither.”“We will set out to-morrow,” said Ulenspiegel, “since such is your desire.”And in fact they set forth as Lamme had said, each on a donkey; and so they rode along side by side.XIXNele all this time was living at Damme, sorrowful and alone, with Katheline, who still continued to call amorously for her cold devil who never came.“Ah!” she would say, “you are rich, Hanske my pet; and you could easily give me back those seven hundred caroluses. Then Soetkin would live again and come to earth once more, and Claes in heaven would laugh for joy. Easily could you do this, and you would! Put out the fire! My soul wants to get out!”And with her finger she would point without ceasing to the place on her head where the flaming tow had burned her.Katheline was very impoverished, but the neighbours helped her by sending in beans and bread and meat, according as they were able. The commune also gave her a certain amount of money, and Nele did sewing for the wealthy bourgeois, and went to their houses to mend their linen, earning in this way a florin or two every week. But Katheline kept on with her eternal “Make a hole! Let out my soul!She is knocking to be let out! And he will give me back the seven hundred caroluses!”And Nele wept to hear her.XXIn the meantime Ulenspiegel and Lamme continued their wanderings. Under the protection of their passports, they entered one day into a little tavern built against the rocks of the Sambre, the which rocks are covered with trees here and there, and on the sign of the tavern was written mine host’s name—MARLAIRE. When they had drunk many a flask of wine—wine of the Meuse, rather like Burgundy—and when they had eaten a large plate of fish, they fell talking to the innkeeper, who was a keen Papist but as talkative as he was pious because of the wine he had been drinking. And he kept on winking his eye maliciously. Ulenspiegel had a suspicion that all this winking portended something mysterious, and he made the fellow drink yet more, with the result that he fell to dancing and shouting with laughter, till at last he sat himself down at the table again, and, “Good Catholics,” says he, “I drink to you.”“And to you we drink also,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel.“And I drink to the extinction of all heresy and rebellion.”“We will join you in that toast,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel, who kept on filling up the goblets which mine host could never suffer to remain full.“You are good fellows,” said the innkeeper. “Let me drink to the health of your noble Generosities. For you must know that I derive some profit from all the wine that is drunk here. But where are your passports?”“Here they are,” replied Ulenspiegel.“With the Duke’s signature and all,” said the innkeeper. “Here’s a health to the Duke.”“To the Duke,” echoed Lamme and Ulenspiegel. And mine host went on talking:“Answer me now, do you know what it is that they catch rats and mice in? Why in rat-traps to be sure, and mouse-traps. Who is the mouse then? The great heretic of Orange—and orange he is in very truth, like the flames of hell! But God is on our side. They will come. Ho ho! A toast! Pour out the wine; I bake and burn with thirst. Come, drink, my masters. Fine little Protestant evangelists.... I saidlittle. Fine valiant little fellows they are, and brave soldiers, sturdy as oaks.... I drink to them! Are you not going with them to the camp of the great heretic? I have certain passports signed by him.... You will see.”“We are going to the camp,” answered Ulenspiegel.“Yes, they will do their work well. And one fine night, if the opportunity presents itself”—and here the innkeeper whistled, and made a gesture as of one man cutting another’s throat—“cold steel, I tell you. It’s that that shall prevent the black bird of Nassau from singing any more. Come, drink again.”“You’re a gay fellow,” said Ulenspiegel, “in spite of being married.”The innkeeper said:“I am neither married nor have I ever been. The secrets of Princes are safe with me. Drink! But if I had a wife she would steal my secrets from under my pillow to get me hanged and herself made widow before the time. Long live God! They will come.... But where are the new passports? On my heart of a Christian. Drink! They are there, there I tell you. One hundred paces along the road near by Marche-les-Dames. Do you see them? Drink again!”“Drink?” said Ulenspiegel. “Yes, I drink and drink and drink. To the King, to the Duke, to the Protestant preachers, and toVent d’acier—Wind of Lead. And I drink to thee andto me, to the wine and the bottle that holds it. But why? It is you that have stopped drinking!”And at each new toast Ulenspiegel filled up the glass of the innkeeper, who emptied it straightway.Ulenspiegel looked at him for some time, then rose and said to Lamme: “Come, Lamme, it is time for us to be off. He is asleep.” But when they were outside, “He has no wife,” Ulenspiegel continued. “We are safe. The night is at hand. Did you hear what the rascal said? And do you rightly understand who these three preachers are? Do you realize that they are to come along the bank of the Meuse from Marche-les-Dames, and that it will be our part to await them on the road? And then forVent d’acier—Wind of Lead—to start his whistling?”“Yes,” said Lamme.“It is for us to save the Prince’s life,” said Ulenspiegel.“Yes,” said Lamme.“Wait,” said Ulenspiegel. “You take my arquebus, and go and hide in the undergrowth among the rocks. Load it with two shots, and shoot when you hear me caw and crow.”“I will,” said Lamme.And so saying he disappeared into the undergrowth. And Ulenspiegel could hear quite clearly the click of the gun as Lamme loaded it.“Do you see them coming?” he asked presently.“I see them,” answered Lamme. “There are three of them, marching together like soldiers, and one of them is much taller than the others.”Ulenspiegel sat himself down by the side of the road, with his legs stretched out in front of him, muttering his prayers on a rosary, just like beggars do. And he held his hat between his knees. And when the three evangelists passed in front of him, he held out his hat as though asking for alms; but they gave him nothing. Then Ulenspiegel got up and addressed them most piteously:“Kind sirs,” he said, “do not refuse apatardto a poor quarryman who has recently had an accident and broken his back by falling down a mine. The people in this part of the world are hard of heart, and they have not been willing to give me anything to relieve my distress. Alas! Give me but apatard, and I will say many prayers for you. And God will keep you happy, all your lives long, kind friends!”“My son,” said one of the evangelists, “there can be no happiness for us in this world so long as the Pope and the Inquisition remain in power.”Ulenspiegel heaved another sigh:“Alas! What are you saying, my lords? Do not speak so loud, if it please you. But give me apatard.”“My son,” replied one of the evangelists, he that was the smallest of the three, and of a very warlike countenance, “we poor martyrs carry nopatardssave only just enough to keep us going on our journey.”At this Ulenspiegel threw himself on to his knees in front of them.“Give me your blessing then,” he said.The three evangelists laid their hands upon the head of Ulenspiegel, albeit with little signs of devotion.Now Ulenspiegel noticed that although they were lean of figure, these men all had very fat stomachs, so he rose from his knees, and then pretended to stumble, knocking against the body of the tall evangelist as he did so. At that a merry tinkle of coin was distinctly audible. Thereupon Ulenspiegel raised himself to his full height and drew his dagger.“My good man,” he said, “it is cold and I am but poorly clad; but methinks you have too much about you. Give me some of your wool, that I may get a cloak made for me. I am a Beggarman. Long live the Beggarmen!” The tall evangelist made answer:“You cock of a Beggarman, you carry your crest proudly forsooth, and we are going to cut it off for you!”“Cut it off then,” cried Ulenspiegel, giving ground, “but let me warn you that trusty Wind of Lead is going to sing for you or ever he sings for the Prince my master! Beggar I am! Long live the Beggarmen!”The three evangelists were astounded and cried out to each other: “How does he know? We are betrayed! Kill him! Long live the Mass!” And each man drew forth from beneath his hose a sharp dagger. But Ulenspiegel, without waiting for them to attack him, gave ground towards the bushes where Lamme was hidden, and when he judged that the three evangelists were within range of the arquebus, he cried out: “Crows, black crows, the Wind of Lead is going to whistle. I sing your bitter end!”Then he cawed like a crow. And a shot rang out from the bushes, and the tall evangelist fell prone on the earth. The next moment followed a second shot, which accounted in the same way for the second.And from among the bushes Ulenspiegel saw the jolly face of Lamme, and his arm raised as he hastily reloaded his arquebus. And from the midst of the dark shrubbery a puff of blue smoke mounted into the air.There now remained but one evangelist, and he was in a furious rage, and tried to cut at Ulenspiegel with all his might. But Ulenspiegel cried:“Wind of Steel or Wind of Lead, which matters it? Either way you shall quit this world for another, you shameless murderer!”And he attacked the foe and defended himself most bravely. So they stood on the roadway, inflexible, face to face, giving and parrying blows. Now Ulenspiegel was covered with blood, for his opponent was an experienced fencer, and had wounded him on the hands and on the legs. But Ulenspiegel attacked and defended himself like a lion. Still the blood which began to flow from his head blinded him, and he retreated continually, trying to wipe away theblood with his left hand but every moment feeling weaker. And he would most certainly have been killed had not Lamme brought down the third evangelist with another shot from his arquebus.And Ulenspiegel saw him fall, and heard him vomit forth blasphemies and blood, and the white froth of death. And once again the blue smoke drifted up above the dark shrubbery, in the midst of which Lamme displayed yet again his jolly face.“Have you finished him off?” he asked.“Yes, my son,” replied Ulenspiegel, “but come....”Lamme, then, coming out of his hiding-place, saw Ulenspiegel all covered with blood. He ran like a stag, in spite of his fat belly, and came to Ulenspiegel where he sat by the three dead men.“He is wounded!” Lamme cried. “My gentle friend is wounded by the rascally murderer.” And then, with a vicious kick at the jaw of the evangelist who lay nearest to him: “You cannot answer me, Ulenspiegel? Are you going to die, my son? Where is the ointment! Ha! I remember now. It is at the bottom of his satchel under the sausages. Can’t you hear me speak, Ulenspiegel? Alas! there is no warm water here to wash your wound, and no way of getting any. The water of the Sambre will have to do instead. But speak to me, my friend. You are not so badly hurt after all, surely. A little water—there, it’s cold, isn’t it? But he is waking up. It’s I, your friend; and your enemies are all dead! Oh, where is some linen? Some linen to bind up his wounds. There isn’t any. What am I to do? Ah! my shirt, that must serve.”Presently Ulenspiegel opened his eyes and raised himself from the ground with his teeth all chattering because of the cold.“And here you are standing up already!” Lamme exclaimed.“It is a balm of much virtue,” said Ulenspiegel.“Balm of valiance,” answered Lamme.And then, taking the bodies of the evangelists one by one, he cast them into a hole in the rocks, leaving their weapons and their clothes upon them. But he took their cloaks.And all around in the sky the crows were beginning to caw to each other, in anticipation of the feast. And the Sambre flowed by like a river of steel under the grey sky.And the snow fell, washing the blood away.Yet they felt ill at ease, and Lamme said:“I had rather kill a chicken than a man.”And they mounted again upon their donkeys. And when they arrived at the gates of Huy, the blood was still trickling from the head of Ulenspiegel, so they dismounted and pretended to have a quarrel, and to use their daggers on one another, with the utmost ferocity as it seemed. But when they had finished their duel, they remounted their donkeys and came into the town, showing their passports at the city gates.Lamme succours UlenspiegelLamme succours UlenspiegelThe women, seeing Ulenspiegel wounded and bleeding while Lamme rode his donkey as though he had been the victor, threw many a glance of tender commiseration upon Ulenspiegel, and pointed their fingers at Lamme, saying: “That is the rascal who wounded his friend.”Lamme all this time was anxiously scrutinizing the crowd, hoping to discover his wife among them; but all was in vain, and he was sad at heart.XXI“Where are you going now?” said Lamme.“To Maestricht,” answered Ulenspiegel.“But stay, my son. I have heard that the army of the Duke is camped all round the city and that he himself is within. Our passports will be of no use to us there. Even if they satisfy the Spanish soldiers, we shall still be arrested in the city and put through an examination. And in themeantime they will become aware of the death of the evangelists and our days on this earth will be numbered.”To this Ulenspiegel made answer:“The crows and the owls and the vultures will make short work of their repast. Already no doubt the dead bodies have become unrecognizable. As for our passports, there is no reason why they should not remain effective. But if the murder of the evangelists becomes known we should be arrested as you say. Nevertheless, whatever happens we shall have to go to Maestricht and pass through Landen on the way.”“We shall be captured,” said Lamme.“We shall get through,” answered Ulenspiegel.Conversing in this wise they came to the inn ofLa Pie, where they found a good supper awaiting them, and good quarters for the night, both for themselves and for the donkeys; and on the morrow they took the road again for Landen.Not far from that town they came to a large farm. There Ulenspiegel whistled like a lark, and from the interior came the sound of a warlike cockcrow in answer. After that a jolly-looking farmer appeared at the door of the farmhouse, and greeted them as friends and good Beggarmen, and bade them welcome.“Who is this man?” Lamme inquired.“His name is Thomas Utenhove,” said Ulenspiegel, “and he is a valiant Protestant. The man-servants and maid-servants that work on the farm are fellows with him in the cause of freedom of conscience.”Then Utenhove said:“You are the envoys of the Prince? Come in then, eat and drink with me.”And the ham was crackling in the frying-pan, the sausages likewise, and the wine flowed and the glasses were filled again. And Lamme drank like dry sand, and ate his fill. And the boys and girls of the farm came one after anotherand thrust their noses into the half-open door to gaze on him as he worked away so hard. But the men were jealous, saying that they also would be able to eat and drink as bravely if they had the chance.When all was finished, Thomas Utenhove said:“One hundred of our peasants will be leaving us this week under pretext of going to work on the dikes at Bruges and thereabouts. They will be setting out in small bands of five or six at a time, and all by different routes. At Bruges they will find certain barges waiting for them to take them by sea to Emden.”“Will these men be provided with arms and with money?” inquired Ulenspiegel.“Each man will carry ten florins and a heavy cutlass.”“God and the Prince will reward you,” said Ulenspiegel.“But tell me,” said the farmer, “is Edzard, Count of Frise, still friendly to the Prince?”“He feigns not to be,” answered Ulenspiegel. “Nevertheless, he is giving harbourage all the time to the Prince’s ships at Emden.” And then he added: “We are on the way to Maestricht.”“You cannot go there,” said the farmer. “The Duke’s army is camped in front of the town and all round it.”With that he conducted his visitors up into the loft, whence they could see the standards of enemy cavalry and infantry moving about in the distance over the plain.Ulenspiegel said:“I have a plan to get through, if only they who have authority in this place would give me leave to get married. But for wife I should need a sweet and a gentle and comely lass who would be willing to marry me—if not for always, then for a week at least.”Lamme gasped with astonishment.“Don’t do it, my son,” he cried. “She will only leave you, and then, all alone, you will burn with the fire of love; andthe bed where now you sleep so sweetly will seem to you nothing better than a bed of prickly holly leaves, and gentle sleep will shun you for evermore.”“Still I must marry,” replied Ulenspiegel. And then to Thomas Utenhove: “Come now, find me a wife; rich or poor, I don’t care which! And I will take her to church, and our marriage shall be blessed by the priest. And he shall give us our marriage lines. Though, to be sure, we shall not hold them valid as being given by the hand of a Papist and an Inquisitor. Nevertheless they will be good enough for our purpose, and we will prepare ourselves, as is the custom, for our wedding trip.”“But what about the wife?”“That’s your look-out,” answered Ulenspiegel. “But when you have found her I shall take two wagons and decorate them with wreaths of fir branches and holly and paper flowers, and in the wagons themselves I shall dispose the men whom you wish to be conveyed to the Prince of Orange.”“But your wife?” persisted Thomas Utenhove. “Where will you find her?”“Here, I doubt not,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And then I shall harness two of your own horses to one of the wagons, and our two donkeys to the other. In the first wagon will ride my wife and myself, together with my friend Lamme here, and the witnesses of our nuptials. In the second wagon will follow the musicians, the players upon the drum, the fife, and the shawm. And then, with all our joyous wedding-flags a-flying, and with music playing, and we ourselves singing and drinking each other’s healths, we shall ride along at the trot by the high road that leads to theGalgen-veld—the Field of the Gallows—which for us indeed will be the Field of Liberty.”“I will do all in my power to help you,” said Thomas Utenhove, “but the women and girls will want to follow their men-folk.”“We will go where God wills,” said a pretty-looking girl who had thrust in her head at the half-opened door.“You can have four wagons if need be,” said Thomas Utenhove, “and by that means we should be able to convey as many as five-and-twenty men.”“The Duke will be nicely fooled,” said Ulenspiegel.“And the Prince’s fleet will gain the service of some fine soldiers,” added Thomas Utenhove.Then he caused a bell to be rung to summon his footman and his servants, and when they were all assembled he said to them:“All you that are from the land of Zeeland, women as well as men, listen now to me. Ulenspiegel, who is hither come from Flanders, has a plan to convey you through the enemy’s lines, disguised as the followers in a wedding procession.”And thereat the men and women of Zeeland cried out with one accord:“We are ready, even unto the death!”And the men said one to another:“What joy it will be to exchange this land of slavery for the freedom of the sea!”And the women and girls said likewise:“Let us follow our husbands and our lovers; we belong to Zeeland and there we shall find asile!”Now Ulenspiegel had noticed a young and pretty maid, and he addressed her jokingly:“I would you were my wife!”But she blushed and answered him:“I would have thee for my husband—but at the church only, remember!”The women laughed and said among themselves:“She is in love with Hans Utenhove, the master’s son. He will go along with her, doubtless.”“You say truly,” Hans replied.And his father said:“You have my permission.”Then all the men put on their best clothes, their doublets and hose of velvet, and the greatopperst-kleedover all. As for the women, they wore black petticoats and pleated shoes. Round their necks they wore a white ruff, their bodices were embroidered in gold, scarlet, and blue; their skirts were of black wool with broad stripes of black velvet thereon, and their stockings were of black wool, and their shoes of velvet with silver buckles.Thereupon Thomas Utenhove went to the church and put into the hands of the priest a couple ofrycksdaelders, asking him at the same time to join in marriage Thylbert the son of Claes (that is Ulenspiegel) and Tannekin Pieters. And this the curé consented to do.Ulenspiegel then went to church, followed by the wedding procession. And there, in the presence of the priest, Tannekin was made his wife.And she looked so pretty and so sweet, so complaisant and so tender, that right willingly would he have eaten her up as she had been a ripe apple of love. And he told her so, not daring to do more for the respect he felt for her gentle loveliness. But she pouted her lips, and bade him leave her alone, for that Hans was watching him and would kill him without a doubt.And a certain damsel was jealous, and said to Ulenspiegel:“Seek elsewhere for a lover. Do you not see that she is afraid of her own man?”Lamme clapped his hands together and cried:“You cannot have them all, you rascal!”So Ulenspiegel, making the best of his misfortune, returned to the farm with the wedding guests. And there he drank and sang and made merry, clinking many a glass with the damsel that was jealous. And at this Hans was glad, butnot so Tannekin, nor yet the youth that was betrothed to the damsel.At noon, while the sun shone down from a clear sky and a fresh breeze was blowing, the wedding carriages started off. They were decorated with flowers and every kind of greenery, with flags flying, and drums and fifes, bagpipes and shawms playing most joyfully.Now it happened that in the camp of the Duke of Alba there was another fête in progress; and the sentries of the guard, having sounded the alarm, ran to the Duke, crying:“The enemy is at hand. We have heard the noise of drums and fifes, and we have seen their banners in the distance. There is a strong force of cavalry that is hoping to draw you into some ambush. The main body, doubtless, is not far off.”The Duke at once sent to warn the colonels and captains, and himself ordered the army to be massed in battle array, and dispatched certain scouting parties on reconnaissance.Then it was that there came on the scene the four carriages, making straight for the Duke’s gunners. And in the chariots were none but men and women dancing and drinking and playing most joyously on fifes and drums and bagpipes and shawms. And wondrous was the din that came from all those instruments.The Mock MarriageThe Mock MarriageWhen the procession had been brought to a halt, the Duke himself came up, attracted by the noise, and he saw the newly married bride where she stood in one of the four chariots; and beside her was Ulenspiegel, the bridegroom, covered with flowers; and all the other peasants, both men and women, who had by now got down from the chariots and were dancing all round them and offering drink to the soldiers.The Duke and his friends were much astonished at the simplicity of these peasants who sang and made merry when all around them was an army ready to do battle.And now they that remained in the chariots were giving all the wine to the soldiers, and they in their turn werefêted by them and made much of; till at last, when the wine began to run out, the peasants continued on their way again. The drums and fifes and bagpipes struck up once more and the cavalcade moved off without any let or hindrance. And the soldiers, in high good humour, let off a volley from their guns in honour of the festal occasion.And thus they came to Maestricht, where Ulenspiegel took counsel with the agents of the Reformers as to the best way of sending ships loaded with arms and munitions to the assistance of the Prince’s fleet.And from there they went to Landen and to other places, disguised as working men.The Duke was not long in learning the trick that had been played on him, and there came into his hands a lampoon which was in circulation at the time, with this refrain:Bloody Duke,Silly Duke,Hast thou seen the Bride?And every time that the Duke made a mistake in his general-ship the soldiers would sing:The Duke he can’t see clearly;He has seen the Bride!XXIINow in those days the Duke divided his army into two parts, one of which he ordered to march towards the Duchy of Luxemburg and the other to the Marquisate of Namur.“These tactics of the military are all one to me,” said Ulenspiegel to Lamme, “let us go on our way with confidence.”They were walking along the banks of the Meuse, near the town of Maestricht, and Lamme saw that Ulenspiegel gazed attentively at all the boats that were sailing on the river. Suddenly he came to a stand before one of theseboats upon whose prow was carved the figure of a mermaid. And the mermaid carried a shield and on it in gold upon a black ground were blazoned the letters J.H.S., being the monogram of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Ulenspiegel signed to Lamme that he should stand still, and then he began to sing like a lark most joyously.A man appeared on the boat and began to crow like a cock. At this Ulenspiegel set up a noise like a donkey’s bray, which the man immediately echoed with interest. And the two donkeys of Lamme and Ulenspiegel lay back their ears and joined in the chorus with their own natural voices. Sundry women and men were passing along that way, the latter riding on the backs of the horses which were tugging the barges along the tow-path. And Ulenspiegel said to Lamme:“This boatman is making mock of us and our good steeds. What do you say to going and attacking him on his boat?”“Let us rather entice him over to the bank,” replied Lamme.But a woman who happened to be passing at the moment said:“If you don’t want to come back with your arms cut off, your backs broken, and your noses in pieces, let me advise you to let this Stercke Pier bray at his ease.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman.“Let him sing,” continued the woman. “Only the other day he showed us how he could lift on his shoulders a truck of heavy barrels of beer, and hold back yet another truck that was being dragged forwards by a strong horse. And at the inn there”—and as she spoke she pointed to the tavern of theBlauwe Torre—“it was there one day that he threw his knife at a plank of oak-wood twelve inches thick and pierced it at a distance of twenty paces!”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman, and now he was joined by a youngster of twelve or so, whoclimbed on to the bridge of the boat, and began to bray in like manner.But Ulenspiegel answered the woman:“He’s nothing to us, your Peter the Strong! For however strong he is, we are stronger! See my friend Lamme here. He could eat up two men like that without so much as a hiccup!”“What’s this you’re saying, my son?” demanded Lamme.“The truth,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And do not let your modesty contradict me. For of a truth, good people, women and working men of Maestricht, I tell you that before long you shall see my friend here belabouring and beating to nothing this famous Stercke Pier of yours!”“Be quiet,” said Lamme.“Your strength is famous far and wide,” answered Ulenspiegel. “You cannot conceal it.”“Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Ee—aw!” went the boy.Suddenly Ulenspiegel began again to sing like a lark very melodiously, and the men and women and workmen standing by were enchanted, and began to ask him where he had learnt the art of whistling so divinely.“In Paradise,” answered Ulenspiegel, “whence I come.” Then he addressed himself to the boatman, who was still continuing his braying and mocking:“Why do you stay there on your boat, you good-for-nothing? Haven’t you the courage to come and jeer at us and our steeds from the dry land?”“Haven’t you the courage forthat?” said Lamme.“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Come, my good bray-masters, come up rather into my boat.”Then Ulenspiegel whispered to Lamme to do exactly as he did. But to the boatman he said aloud:“If you are Stercke Pier, I am Tyl Ulenspiegel. And these two here are our donkeys, Jef and Jan, and they know how tobray better than you do, for that is their natural way of talking. As for coming on to your leaky decks, it is the last thing we wish to do. Your boat is like a tub, and each time that a wave comes along it shivers, and it knows no other way of walking save sideways-on like a crab.”“Yes, like a crab!” said Lamme.To which the boatman made answer:“What are you croaking there between your teeth, great block of fat?At this Lamme fell into a rage, crying:“You are no Christian to make mock of my infirmity. My fat is my own, let me tell you, and is the result of the good food I eat, whereas you, old bag of bones that you are, you have never lived upon aught better than smoked herrings and old candle-wicks if one may judge anything from the lean flesh that shows through the tears in your measly hose.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” cried the boatman, and Lamme would have got down from his donkey to collect stones to throw at him had not Ulenspiegel said him nay.The boatman now began to whisper something into the ear of the lad who was still “ee—awing” at his side, and a moment later the lad unfastened a little boat which lay by the side of the big one, and with the end of the boat-hook shoved himself cleverly off towards the river-bank. When the boy was quite close to the bank he drew himself up proudly and threw down this challenge:“My master wants to know if you will have the courage to come on to his boat and join with him in a battle of fist and feet. And these good men and women shall be the arbiters.”“Certainly,” said Ulenspiegel in a dignified tone of voice.“We accept the challenge,” said Lamme haughtily.It was midday. The workmen who laboured on the dike and the road-menders and the builders of ships were about to take their repast of beans and boiled beef which had been brought them by their women-folk or their children. Allthese, then, who stood around began to laugh and to clap their hands at the prospect of a fight, looking forward with joy to the chance of seeing the head of one of the combatants broken, or his body thrown in pieces into the river.“My son,” said Lamme under his breath, “the boatman will assuredly throw us into the water.”“Let him throw you in if he wants to,” said Ulenspiegel.“The big one is afraid,” said the crowd of workmen.Lamme, who was still sitting his donkey, turned round and gave them a look of anger, but they jeered at him the more.“Come on,” said Lamme. “Let us to the boat, and then they shall see if I am afraid.”At these words the jeers broke out again, and Ulenspiegel said:“Come, let us to the boat!”When, therefore, they had dismounted from their donkeys they threw the bridles to the boatman’s lad, who caressed the animals in friendly wise and led them to a place where he saw some thistles growing. At the same time Ulenspiegel seized hold of the boat-hook, made Lamme get into the skiff, and then steered straight for the big boat. There he mounted on to the deck by the help of a rope, and Lamme climbed up in front of him, puffing and blowing.Arrived on the bridge of the boat, Ulenspiegel leant down as if to lace up his boots, and at the same time he spoke a word into the boatman’s ear, who straightway laughed and gave Lamme a curious look. Then he began to roar out at him every kind of insult, calling him worthless rogue, a man bloated with vicious fat, prison-bred,pap-eter, and at the same time inquiring of him how many tons of oil they gave him when he was bled.All of a sudden, without waiting to reply, Lamme threw himself like a mad bull upon the boatman, knocked him down, and began to beat him with all his might. The boatman, however, did not receive much injury, forasmuch as Lamme’sarms were but weak on account of their fatness. And the boatman suffered himself to be thus dealt with despite the fact that he was making a great pretence at resistance all the time. And the men and women who were watching the battle from the bank were astonished, and exclaimed to each other: “Who would have thought that this fat man could be so fiery!”And they clapped their hands while Lamme continued to belabour the boatman most unmercifully. But the latter took care only to protect his face. Suddenly Lamme was seen to be kneeling upon the breast of Stercke Pier, with one hand on his adversary’s throat, and the other raised to strike.“Cry for mercy,” he said furiously, “or else I shall make you pass through the planks of your tub.”At this the boatman began to cough, thereby signifying that he could not speak, and demanded mercy with a sign of his hand.Then Lamme was seen to pick up his adversary in a most generous manner, who thereupon, standing upright and turning his back towards the onlookers, put out his tongue at Ulenspiegel. Now the latter was rocking with laughter to see Lamme shaking the feather on his cap so proudly and walking about in triumph upon the deck of the boat.And the men and women, boys and girls, who were watching from the bank applauded their loudest and cried out: “Long live the conqueror of Stercke Pier! He is a man of iron! Did you see how he cuffed him with his fist, and how he threw him down on his back with a blow of his hand? But see, they are now about to drink together to make the peace! Stercke Pier is coming up from the hold with wine and sausages!” And in very truth, Stercke Pier might now have been seen coming on deck with two tankards and a quart of white Meuse wine. And Lamme and the boatman made their peace. After which Lamme asked his new friendwhat sort of fricassees they were that were being cooked in the hold of the ship; for at one end of the deck was a chimney whence rose a column of thick black smoke. And the boatman made answer:“Since you are men of valiant heart, knowing well the song of the lark, the bird of freedom, and the warlike clarion of the cock, and the bray of the ass withal, come you with me and I will show you my kitchen.”And so saying he led the way into the hold, where, removing certain planks from the floor, he disclosed some mighty piles of gun-barrels, together with a quantity of iron lances, halberds, sword-blades, and a great heap of powder and shot.“Where shall I take them?” he asked.“To Emden, through the North Sea,” said Ulenspiegel, “good Beggarman that you are!”“The sea is big,” said the boatman.“Big for battle,” said Ulenspiegel.“God is with us,” said the boatman.“Who then can be against us?” cried Ulenspiegel.And when they had thus spoken, the boatman conducted Lamme and Ulenspiegel on deck, with many words of cheer and good counsel. Then they rowed to the bank, where they mounted again upon their donkeys and set off towards Liége.“My son,” said Lamme whilst they were ambling gently along, “pray tell me why did that man, strong as he was, allow himself to be beaten by me so cruelly?”“To the end,” answered Ulenspiegel, “that wherever we go, the fear of your prowess may go before us. That indeed will prove a more powerful escort than twenty landsknechts. For who would dare to measure his strength with Lamme the mighty, Lamme the conqueror? Lamme the matchless bull among men, that overcame in the sight of all beholders the famous Stercke Pier—Peter the Strong—and threw him to the ground like a feather?”“You say well, my son,” said Lamme, drawing himself up in the saddle.“And I say what is true,” answered Ulenspiegel, “for did you not notice the faces that looked out so curiously from the houses on the outskirts of this village? They were pointing at the terrible figure of Lamme the Conqueror! And do you see these men who are gazing on you even now with such envy, and these sorry cowards who uncover as you pass? Answer to their salute, O Lamme, my sweet one, nor be disdainful of the populace. Behold, the very children know your name and whisper it with terror.”And Lamme passed along proudly, saluting right and left like a king. And the fame of his valour followed him from village to village and from town to town, as far as Liége, Chocquier, La Neuville, Vesin, and Namur, to which place, however, our travellers gave a wide berth because of the three evangelists. And so they wended along by the banks of river and canal, and everywhere the song of the lark answered the song of the cock. And wherever they went they found that in the sacred cause of Liberty weapons were being forged and armour furbished for the ships that stood by along the coast to carry away.Lamme the VictorLamme the VictorAnd Lamme, preceded everywhere by his glorious reputation, began himself to believe in his own prowess, and growing proud and warlike he let his beard grow too. And Ulenspiegel called him Lamme the Lion. But Lamme did not continue in this purpose longer than the fourth day, because the hairs of his beard began to tickle him. And he passed a razor over the surface of his victorious countenance, so that it appeared thereafter like his own face once more, round and full as the sun, ablaze with the flame of good nourishment. And thus they came at length to Harlebeke.

XVIIt was now at the end of October. The Prince was in want of money, and his army of food. The soldiers too began to murmur, and he marched them towards the French frontier to offer battle to the Duke. But the Duke would not fight.Leaving Quesnoy-le-Comte to go to Cambrésis, the Prince’s army fell in with ten companies of Germans and eight Spanish ensigns and three cohorts of cavalry. They at once joined battle, and in the midst of themêléewas Ruffele Henricis, the Duke’s son, crying out at the top of his voice:“No quarter! No quarter! Long live the Pope!”Now Don Henricis found himself opposite to a company of arquebusiers which was led by Ulenspiegel, and he threw himself upon them with all his men. Ulenspiegel said to his sergeant:“I will cut out this murderer’s tongue for him!”“Very good,” said the sergeant.And Ulenspiegel took careful aim, and his bullet shattered the tongue and the entire jaw-bone of Don Ruffele Henricis, son of the Duke. At the same time Ulenspiegel brought down the son of the Marquess Delmares, and in a little while more the eight ensigns and the three cohorts of cavalry were thoroughly worsted.After this victory Ulenspiegel went seeking for Lamme everywhere through the camp, but he could not find him.“Alas,” he said, “he is gone! Lamme is gone; my friend, my great fat friend! In his warlike ardour he must have forgotten how heavy his belly was, and tried to follow the Spaniards in their flight. Out of breath he must have fallen like a sack on the wayside. And then the enemy will have picked him up for ransom—a ransom of good Christian fat! O Lamme, my friend, where are you? Where are you, my great fat friend?”Ulenspiegel sought him everywhere but found him not and had to nurse his grief in silence.And now November was come, the month of snow-storms, and Ulenspiegel, having been ordered to report himself before William, found the Prince brooding in silence, and biting the lacings of his coat of mail.“Listen to me,” the Prince said presently, “and give me your whole attention.”Ulenspiegel answered: “My ears are like the gates of a prison. One enters easily but to get out again is a different matter.”“Very good,” said William, “but now I would have you go for me to Namur, and to Flanders, Hainaut, Sud-Brabant, Antwerp, Nord-Brabant, and to Gueldre, Overyssel, and the North of Holland, telling the people everywhere that, although it seems that the fates on land are hostile to our most Holy and Christian Cause, we will yet continue the struggle by sea, no matter what the evil powers that are arrayed against us. For God holds the issue in His own good providence, whether in success or failure. And when you are come to Amsterdam you will render an account of all that you have done to Paul Bruys who is my trusty vassal. Here are three passports, signed by the Duke of Alba himself, which were found on certain bodies of the dead at Quesnoy-le-Comte. My secretary has filled them in afresh. And it may be that on your journey you will meet some good companion in whom you can trust. Let him go with you. And those are to be accounted trustworthy who know how to answer the song of the lark with a warlike cockcrow. Here are fifty florins. Be valiant and faithful.”“The ashes of Claes beat upon my heart,” answered Ulenspiegel.And he went his way.

XVI

It was now at the end of October. The Prince was in want of money, and his army of food. The soldiers too began to murmur, and he marched them towards the French frontier to offer battle to the Duke. But the Duke would not fight.Leaving Quesnoy-le-Comte to go to Cambrésis, the Prince’s army fell in with ten companies of Germans and eight Spanish ensigns and three cohorts of cavalry. They at once joined battle, and in the midst of themêléewas Ruffele Henricis, the Duke’s son, crying out at the top of his voice:“No quarter! No quarter! Long live the Pope!”Now Don Henricis found himself opposite to a company of arquebusiers which was led by Ulenspiegel, and he threw himself upon them with all his men. Ulenspiegel said to his sergeant:“I will cut out this murderer’s tongue for him!”“Very good,” said the sergeant.And Ulenspiegel took careful aim, and his bullet shattered the tongue and the entire jaw-bone of Don Ruffele Henricis, son of the Duke. At the same time Ulenspiegel brought down the son of the Marquess Delmares, and in a little while more the eight ensigns and the three cohorts of cavalry were thoroughly worsted.After this victory Ulenspiegel went seeking for Lamme everywhere through the camp, but he could not find him.“Alas,” he said, “he is gone! Lamme is gone; my friend, my great fat friend! In his warlike ardour he must have forgotten how heavy his belly was, and tried to follow the Spaniards in their flight. Out of breath he must have fallen like a sack on the wayside. And then the enemy will have picked him up for ransom—a ransom of good Christian fat! O Lamme, my friend, where are you? Where are you, my great fat friend?”Ulenspiegel sought him everywhere but found him not and had to nurse his grief in silence.And now November was come, the month of snow-storms, and Ulenspiegel, having been ordered to report himself before William, found the Prince brooding in silence, and biting the lacings of his coat of mail.“Listen to me,” the Prince said presently, “and give me your whole attention.”Ulenspiegel answered: “My ears are like the gates of a prison. One enters easily but to get out again is a different matter.”“Very good,” said William, “but now I would have you go for me to Namur, and to Flanders, Hainaut, Sud-Brabant, Antwerp, Nord-Brabant, and to Gueldre, Overyssel, and the North of Holland, telling the people everywhere that, although it seems that the fates on land are hostile to our most Holy and Christian Cause, we will yet continue the struggle by sea, no matter what the evil powers that are arrayed against us. For God holds the issue in His own good providence, whether in success or failure. And when you are come to Amsterdam you will render an account of all that you have done to Paul Bruys who is my trusty vassal. Here are three passports, signed by the Duke of Alba himself, which were found on certain bodies of the dead at Quesnoy-le-Comte. My secretary has filled them in afresh. And it may be that on your journey you will meet some good companion in whom you can trust. Let him go with you. And those are to be accounted trustworthy who know how to answer the song of the lark with a warlike cockcrow. Here are fifty florins. Be valiant and faithful.”“The ashes of Claes beat upon my heart,” answered Ulenspiegel.And he went his way.

It was now at the end of October. The Prince was in want of money, and his army of food. The soldiers too began to murmur, and he marched them towards the French frontier to offer battle to the Duke. But the Duke would not fight.

Leaving Quesnoy-le-Comte to go to Cambrésis, the Prince’s army fell in with ten companies of Germans and eight Spanish ensigns and three cohorts of cavalry. They at once joined battle, and in the midst of themêléewas Ruffele Henricis, the Duke’s son, crying out at the top of his voice:

“No quarter! No quarter! Long live the Pope!”

Now Don Henricis found himself opposite to a company of arquebusiers which was led by Ulenspiegel, and he threw himself upon them with all his men. Ulenspiegel said to his sergeant:

“I will cut out this murderer’s tongue for him!”

“Very good,” said the sergeant.

And Ulenspiegel took careful aim, and his bullet shattered the tongue and the entire jaw-bone of Don Ruffele Henricis, son of the Duke. At the same time Ulenspiegel brought down the son of the Marquess Delmares, and in a little while more the eight ensigns and the three cohorts of cavalry were thoroughly worsted.

After this victory Ulenspiegel went seeking for Lamme everywhere through the camp, but he could not find him.

“Alas,” he said, “he is gone! Lamme is gone; my friend, my great fat friend! In his warlike ardour he must have forgotten how heavy his belly was, and tried to follow the Spaniards in their flight. Out of breath he must have fallen like a sack on the wayside. And then the enemy will have picked him up for ransom—a ransom of good Christian fat! O Lamme, my friend, where are you? Where are you, my great fat friend?”

Ulenspiegel sought him everywhere but found him not and had to nurse his grief in silence.

And now November was come, the month of snow-storms, and Ulenspiegel, having been ordered to report himself before William, found the Prince brooding in silence, and biting the lacings of his coat of mail.

“Listen to me,” the Prince said presently, “and give me your whole attention.”

Ulenspiegel answered: “My ears are like the gates of a prison. One enters easily but to get out again is a different matter.”

“Very good,” said William, “but now I would have you go for me to Namur, and to Flanders, Hainaut, Sud-Brabant, Antwerp, Nord-Brabant, and to Gueldre, Overyssel, and the North of Holland, telling the people everywhere that, although it seems that the fates on land are hostile to our most Holy and Christian Cause, we will yet continue the struggle by sea, no matter what the evil powers that are arrayed against us. For God holds the issue in His own good providence, whether in success or failure. And when you are come to Amsterdam you will render an account of all that you have done to Paul Bruys who is my trusty vassal. Here are three passports, signed by the Duke of Alba himself, which were found on certain bodies of the dead at Quesnoy-le-Comte. My secretary has filled them in afresh. And it may be that on your journey you will meet some good companion in whom you can trust. Let him go with you. And those are to be accounted trustworthy who know how to answer the song of the lark with a warlike cockcrow. Here are fifty florins. Be valiant and faithful.”

“The ashes of Claes beat upon my heart,” answered Ulenspiegel.

And he went his way.

XVIINow the passports were countersigned both by the King and the Duke, and they authorized the bearer to carry any kind of arms at his convenience. So Ulenspiegel took with him his trusty arquebus as well as a good supply of cartridges and dry gunpowder. He dressed himself in a short cloak and a shabby doublet and hose made after the Spanish fashion, and thus accoutred, with a plumed cap on his head and a sword at his side, he made his departure from the Prince’s army where it lay at the French frontier, and set out for Maestricht.The roitelets, those heralds of bad weather, were flying around the houses seeking asile from the storm, and on the third day snow fell. Many times during the journey did Ulenspiegel have to show his safe-conduct. But they always let him pass, and so he came at length to the confines of Liége. He was plodding along over a level heath, and a fierce wind was driving the swirling snowflakes against his face, and in front and on every side the heath stretched out all white under the snow that fell in eddies, which themselves were whirled about hither and thither in the squalls of wind. And there were three wolves that began to follow him. But one of them he killed with a shot from his arquebus, and the other two flung themselves upon their wounded comrade, and then made off into the woods, each carrying a piece of the corpse.Delivered from this peril, Ulenspiegel peered about him, fearing lest there might be other bands of wolves in that country, but he saw nothing except, in the far distance, certain objects that looked like grey statues moving slowly along in the falling snow. Behind these again, Ulenspiegel could descry the dark figures of a couple of soldiers on horseback. To see the better what all this might portend, Ulenspiegelclimbed up into a tree, and there the wind brought to him a far-off sound of lamentation. “It may be,” Ulenspiegel said to himself, “these people are pilgrims, clad in white habits; for I can scarcely distinguish their figures against the snow.” But after a little while he saw that they were men running, quite naked, and that behind them were two German troopers in black uniforms riding on horses. And they were driving the poor wretches in front of them with whips. Ulenspiegel took aim with his arquebus. Now he could distinguish the individual figures of that mournful company—old men and young men naked, shivering, and quaking with cold, hardly able to stand some of them, but running all, for fear of the cruel whips of the two soldiers who, themselves being warmly clad and red with brandy and good food, took pleasure in lashing the bodies of naked men to make them run the faster.Ulenspiegel said: “You shall be avenged, ashes of Claes!” And he killed one of the soldiers outright with a bullet from his arquebus. The soldier fell from his horse, and his companion took fright, not knowing whence the shot had come. But concluding that his assailant must be hiding somewhere in the wood, he decided to make good his escape, together with the horse of his dead companion. The man contrived to get hold of the horse’s bridle, but while he himself was dismounting to plunder the body of the dead, he was hit by a bullet in the neck and fell to the ground.As for the naked prisoners, they imagined that some angel from heaven, who was also forsooth a fine marksman, had descended from the sky to aid them, and they all fell down upon their knees in the snow. At this Ulenspiegel descended from his tree, and was at once recognized by the company who had previously served with him as soldiers in the armies of the Prince. They said to him:“O Ulenspiegel, we are come from France, and we were being driven in this piteous plight to Maestricht, where theDuke is, to be treated there as rebel prisoners because we cannot pay our ransom, and are therefore condemned in advance to be tortured, cut into pieces, or sent to row like caitiffs and criminals in the galleys of the King.”Ulenspiegel gave hisopperst-kleedto the oldest of the soldiers, saying:“Come with me, my friends. I will accompany you as far as Mézières; but first of all let us strip these two dead soldiers and take possession of their horses.” Thereupon the doublets, hose, boots, head-gear, and body-armour of the soldiers were divided up among the sick and feeble, and Ulenspiegel said:“We shall soon be entering the wood, where the air is thicker and more gentle. You had better run, my brothers.”Suddenly one of the men fell down on the ground, crying: “I am hungry and cold, and I am going to God to bear witness that the Pope is Antichrist on earth.” And he died, and the others agreed to carry the body with them that it might be given Christian burial.While thus proceeding along the road, they met a peasant driving a cart with a canvas hood. Seeing the men all naked, the peasant had compassion on them and invited them to ride in his cart. There they found some hay to lie on, and some empty sacks to cover them withal. And they were warmed and gave thanks to God. Ulenspiegel rode beside the cart on one of the two horses that had belonged to the German troopers, leading the other by the bridle.At Mézières they all alighted. Good hot soup and beer and bread and cheese were handed round, with some meat for the older men and women. And they were nobly entertained; and they were clothed and armed again, all at the expense of the commune. And every one joined in giving thanks and praise to Ulenspiegel, who received it gladly. Ulenspiegel also sold the horses of the German troopers foreight-and-forty florins, out of which he distributed thirty florins among the Frenchmen.Thereafter he took the road again, and as he walked solitarily along he said to himself:“Verily now do I wander through a land of ruin, blood, and tears. Nevertheless, I find nothing. Those spirits lied to me without a doubt. For where is Lamme? Where is Nele! Where are the Seven?”And he heard a voice speaking to him as though in a whisper:“In death, in ruin, and in tears, seek!”And he went his way.

XVII

Now the passports were countersigned both by the King and the Duke, and they authorized the bearer to carry any kind of arms at his convenience. So Ulenspiegel took with him his trusty arquebus as well as a good supply of cartridges and dry gunpowder. He dressed himself in a short cloak and a shabby doublet and hose made after the Spanish fashion, and thus accoutred, with a plumed cap on his head and a sword at his side, he made his departure from the Prince’s army where it lay at the French frontier, and set out for Maestricht.The roitelets, those heralds of bad weather, were flying around the houses seeking asile from the storm, and on the third day snow fell. Many times during the journey did Ulenspiegel have to show his safe-conduct. But they always let him pass, and so he came at length to the confines of Liége. He was plodding along over a level heath, and a fierce wind was driving the swirling snowflakes against his face, and in front and on every side the heath stretched out all white under the snow that fell in eddies, which themselves were whirled about hither and thither in the squalls of wind. And there were three wolves that began to follow him. But one of them he killed with a shot from his arquebus, and the other two flung themselves upon their wounded comrade, and then made off into the woods, each carrying a piece of the corpse.Delivered from this peril, Ulenspiegel peered about him, fearing lest there might be other bands of wolves in that country, but he saw nothing except, in the far distance, certain objects that looked like grey statues moving slowly along in the falling snow. Behind these again, Ulenspiegel could descry the dark figures of a couple of soldiers on horseback. To see the better what all this might portend, Ulenspiegelclimbed up into a tree, and there the wind brought to him a far-off sound of lamentation. “It may be,” Ulenspiegel said to himself, “these people are pilgrims, clad in white habits; for I can scarcely distinguish their figures against the snow.” But after a little while he saw that they were men running, quite naked, and that behind them were two German troopers in black uniforms riding on horses. And they were driving the poor wretches in front of them with whips. Ulenspiegel took aim with his arquebus. Now he could distinguish the individual figures of that mournful company—old men and young men naked, shivering, and quaking with cold, hardly able to stand some of them, but running all, for fear of the cruel whips of the two soldiers who, themselves being warmly clad and red with brandy and good food, took pleasure in lashing the bodies of naked men to make them run the faster.Ulenspiegel said: “You shall be avenged, ashes of Claes!” And he killed one of the soldiers outright with a bullet from his arquebus. The soldier fell from his horse, and his companion took fright, not knowing whence the shot had come. But concluding that his assailant must be hiding somewhere in the wood, he decided to make good his escape, together with the horse of his dead companion. The man contrived to get hold of the horse’s bridle, but while he himself was dismounting to plunder the body of the dead, he was hit by a bullet in the neck and fell to the ground.As for the naked prisoners, they imagined that some angel from heaven, who was also forsooth a fine marksman, had descended from the sky to aid them, and they all fell down upon their knees in the snow. At this Ulenspiegel descended from his tree, and was at once recognized by the company who had previously served with him as soldiers in the armies of the Prince. They said to him:“O Ulenspiegel, we are come from France, and we were being driven in this piteous plight to Maestricht, where theDuke is, to be treated there as rebel prisoners because we cannot pay our ransom, and are therefore condemned in advance to be tortured, cut into pieces, or sent to row like caitiffs and criminals in the galleys of the King.”Ulenspiegel gave hisopperst-kleedto the oldest of the soldiers, saying:“Come with me, my friends. I will accompany you as far as Mézières; but first of all let us strip these two dead soldiers and take possession of their horses.” Thereupon the doublets, hose, boots, head-gear, and body-armour of the soldiers were divided up among the sick and feeble, and Ulenspiegel said:“We shall soon be entering the wood, where the air is thicker and more gentle. You had better run, my brothers.”Suddenly one of the men fell down on the ground, crying: “I am hungry and cold, and I am going to God to bear witness that the Pope is Antichrist on earth.” And he died, and the others agreed to carry the body with them that it might be given Christian burial.While thus proceeding along the road, they met a peasant driving a cart with a canvas hood. Seeing the men all naked, the peasant had compassion on them and invited them to ride in his cart. There they found some hay to lie on, and some empty sacks to cover them withal. And they were warmed and gave thanks to God. Ulenspiegel rode beside the cart on one of the two horses that had belonged to the German troopers, leading the other by the bridle.At Mézières they all alighted. Good hot soup and beer and bread and cheese were handed round, with some meat for the older men and women. And they were nobly entertained; and they were clothed and armed again, all at the expense of the commune. And every one joined in giving thanks and praise to Ulenspiegel, who received it gladly. Ulenspiegel also sold the horses of the German troopers foreight-and-forty florins, out of which he distributed thirty florins among the Frenchmen.Thereafter he took the road again, and as he walked solitarily along he said to himself:“Verily now do I wander through a land of ruin, blood, and tears. Nevertheless, I find nothing. Those spirits lied to me without a doubt. For where is Lamme? Where is Nele! Where are the Seven?”And he heard a voice speaking to him as though in a whisper:“In death, in ruin, and in tears, seek!”And he went his way.

Now the passports were countersigned both by the King and the Duke, and they authorized the bearer to carry any kind of arms at his convenience. So Ulenspiegel took with him his trusty arquebus as well as a good supply of cartridges and dry gunpowder. He dressed himself in a short cloak and a shabby doublet and hose made after the Spanish fashion, and thus accoutred, with a plumed cap on his head and a sword at his side, he made his departure from the Prince’s army where it lay at the French frontier, and set out for Maestricht.

The roitelets, those heralds of bad weather, were flying around the houses seeking asile from the storm, and on the third day snow fell. Many times during the journey did Ulenspiegel have to show his safe-conduct. But they always let him pass, and so he came at length to the confines of Liége. He was plodding along over a level heath, and a fierce wind was driving the swirling snowflakes against his face, and in front and on every side the heath stretched out all white under the snow that fell in eddies, which themselves were whirled about hither and thither in the squalls of wind. And there were three wolves that began to follow him. But one of them he killed with a shot from his arquebus, and the other two flung themselves upon their wounded comrade, and then made off into the woods, each carrying a piece of the corpse.

Delivered from this peril, Ulenspiegel peered about him, fearing lest there might be other bands of wolves in that country, but he saw nothing except, in the far distance, certain objects that looked like grey statues moving slowly along in the falling snow. Behind these again, Ulenspiegel could descry the dark figures of a couple of soldiers on horseback. To see the better what all this might portend, Ulenspiegelclimbed up into a tree, and there the wind brought to him a far-off sound of lamentation. “It may be,” Ulenspiegel said to himself, “these people are pilgrims, clad in white habits; for I can scarcely distinguish their figures against the snow.” But after a little while he saw that they were men running, quite naked, and that behind them were two German troopers in black uniforms riding on horses. And they were driving the poor wretches in front of them with whips. Ulenspiegel took aim with his arquebus. Now he could distinguish the individual figures of that mournful company—old men and young men naked, shivering, and quaking with cold, hardly able to stand some of them, but running all, for fear of the cruel whips of the two soldiers who, themselves being warmly clad and red with brandy and good food, took pleasure in lashing the bodies of naked men to make them run the faster.

Ulenspiegel said: “You shall be avenged, ashes of Claes!” And he killed one of the soldiers outright with a bullet from his arquebus. The soldier fell from his horse, and his companion took fright, not knowing whence the shot had come. But concluding that his assailant must be hiding somewhere in the wood, he decided to make good his escape, together with the horse of his dead companion. The man contrived to get hold of the horse’s bridle, but while he himself was dismounting to plunder the body of the dead, he was hit by a bullet in the neck and fell to the ground.

As for the naked prisoners, they imagined that some angel from heaven, who was also forsooth a fine marksman, had descended from the sky to aid them, and they all fell down upon their knees in the snow. At this Ulenspiegel descended from his tree, and was at once recognized by the company who had previously served with him as soldiers in the armies of the Prince. They said to him:

“O Ulenspiegel, we are come from France, and we were being driven in this piteous plight to Maestricht, where theDuke is, to be treated there as rebel prisoners because we cannot pay our ransom, and are therefore condemned in advance to be tortured, cut into pieces, or sent to row like caitiffs and criminals in the galleys of the King.”

Ulenspiegel gave hisopperst-kleedto the oldest of the soldiers, saying:

“Come with me, my friends. I will accompany you as far as Mézières; but first of all let us strip these two dead soldiers and take possession of their horses.” Thereupon the doublets, hose, boots, head-gear, and body-armour of the soldiers were divided up among the sick and feeble, and Ulenspiegel said:

“We shall soon be entering the wood, where the air is thicker and more gentle. You had better run, my brothers.”

Suddenly one of the men fell down on the ground, crying: “I am hungry and cold, and I am going to God to bear witness that the Pope is Antichrist on earth.” And he died, and the others agreed to carry the body with them that it might be given Christian burial.

While thus proceeding along the road, they met a peasant driving a cart with a canvas hood. Seeing the men all naked, the peasant had compassion on them and invited them to ride in his cart. There they found some hay to lie on, and some empty sacks to cover them withal. And they were warmed and gave thanks to God. Ulenspiegel rode beside the cart on one of the two horses that had belonged to the German troopers, leading the other by the bridle.

At Mézières they all alighted. Good hot soup and beer and bread and cheese were handed round, with some meat for the older men and women. And they were nobly entertained; and they were clothed and armed again, all at the expense of the commune. And every one joined in giving thanks and praise to Ulenspiegel, who received it gladly. Ulenspiegel also sold the horses of the German troopers foreight-and-forty florins, out of which he distributed thirty florins among the Frenchmen.

Thereafter he took the road again, and as he walked solitarily along he said to himself:

“Verily now do I wander through a land of ruin, blood, and tears. Nevertheless, I find nothing. Those spirits lied to me without a doubt. For where is Lamme? Where is Nele! Where are the Seven?”

And he heard a voice speaking to him as though in a whisper:

“In death, in ruin, and in tears, seek!”

And he went his way.

XVIIIIt was the month of March when Ulenspiegel came to Namur. There he found Lamme, who, having conceived a violent passion for the fish of the Meuse, and for the trout especially, had hired a boat and spent all day fishing in the river by permission of the commune. But for this privilege he had been obliged to pay the sum of fifty florins to the Guild of the Fishmongers.Some of his fish he sold. But the rest he ate himself, and by this means he gained a finer belly than ever, and a small sack of money. When he saw his friend and comrade walking along the banks of the Meuse and about to enter the town, Lamme was mightily rejoiced and pushed his boat to the shore, and there springing on to the bank rushed up to Ulenspiegel, blowing and puffing and stammering for joy.“Here you are,” he cried, “here you are at last, my son. And where are you off to? What are you after? You are not dead, then? And have you seen my wife? You’ll feed off the fish of the Meuse, which are the best to be found anywhere on this base earth! And let me tell you something. The people here make such sauces as will tempt you to dip your fingers into the dish right up to your shoulder!Ah, but how proud and splendid you look! On your cheeks is the very bloom of battle. And here you are! It’s you, it’s really you, my son! My Ulenspiegel! You jolly vagabond!” Then in a lower tone of voice he added:“And how many Spaniards have you killed? You have not seen my wife by any chance, in the carts with those other hussies? Ah, but the wine of the Meuse! You must taste it. And have you been wounded, my son? You must rest here a while, so fresh and cheery as you are, and vigilant as a young eagle. But our eels! You must taste our eels. No muddy taste aboutthem! Come, kiss me, my second self! Praise be to God! How glad I am!”And Lamme danced and leapt in the air, puffing and blowing and compelling Ulenspiegel to dance too.Thereafter they walked towards Namur. At the gate of the city Ulenspiegel showed his passport signed by the Duke. And Lamme conducted him to his house. While their repast was being prepared he made Ulenspiegel tell him all his adventures and then recounted his own, telling how he had left the army to follow a girl whom he thought was his wife. It was in pursuit of her, it seemed, that he had come at last to Namur. And he kept on asking Ulenspiegel:“Are you sure you have not seen her anywhere?”“I have seen many other beautiful women,” answered Ulenspiegel, “and in this town especially, where it seems they are all most amorous....”“It is so,” said Lamme, “nevertheless I have remained faithful. For my sad heart is heavy with but a single recollection.”“Even as your belly is heavy with countless platter-fuls!” said Ulenspiegel.“When I am unhappy I have to eat,” Lamme replied.“Your unhappiness knows no end?” demanded Ulenspiegel.“Alas, no!” said Lamme.And helping himself to another trout:“Look,” he cried, “look how lovely and firm he is. This flesh is as pink as the flesh of my wife. But to-morrow we will leave Namur. I have a purseful of florins, and we will buy a donkey for each of us, and so we will go riding away to the land of Flanders!”“You will be giving up a great deal,” said Ulenspiegel.“Never mind,” said Lamme. “My heart draws me back to Damme. For it was there that my love loved me well. And it may be that she also has returned thither.”“We will set out to-morrow,” said Ulenspiegel, “since such is your desire.”And in fact they set forth as Lamme had said, each on a donkey; and so they rode along side by side.

XVIII

It was the month of March when Ulenspiegel came to Namur. There he found Lamme, who, having conceived a violent passion for the fish of the Meuse, and for the trout especially, had hired a boat and spent all day fishing in the river by permission of the commune. But for this privilege he had been obliged to pay the sum of fifty florins to the Guild of the Fishmongers.Some of his fish he sold. But the rest he ate himself, and by this means he gained a finer belly than ever, and a small sack of money. When he saw his friend and comrade walking along the banks of the Meuse and about to enter the town, Lamme was mightily rejoiced and pushed his boat to the shore, and there springing on to the bank rushed up to Ulenspiegel, blowing and puffing and stammering for joy.“Here you are,” he cried, “here you are at last, my son. And where are you off to? What are you after? You are not dead, then? And have you seen my wife? You’ll feed off the fish of the Meuse, which are the best to be found anywhere on this base earth! And let me tell you something. The people here make such sauces as will tempt you to dip your fingers into the dish right up to your shoulder!Ah, but how proud and splendid you look! On your cheeks is the very bloom of battle. And here you are! It’s you, it’s really you, my son! My Ulenspiegel! You jolly vagabond!” Then in a lower tone of voice he added:“And how many Spaniards have you killed? You have not seen my wife by any chance, in the carts with those other hussies? Ah, but the wine of the Meuse! You must taste it. And have you been wounded, my son? You must rest here a while, so fresh and cheery as you are, and vigilant as a young eagle. But our eels! You must taste our eels. No muddy taste aboutthem! Come, kiss me, my second self! Praise be to God! How glad I am!”And Lamme danced and leapt in the air, puffing and blowing and compelling Ulenspiegel to dance too.Thereafter they walked towards Namur. At the gate of the city Ulenspiegel showed his passport signed by the Duke. And Lamme conducted him to his house. While their repast was being prepared he made Ulenspiegel tell him all his adventures and then recounted his own, telling how he had left the army to follow a girl whom he thought was his wife. It was in pursuit of her, it seemed, that he had come at last to Namur. And he kept on asking Ulenspiegel:“Are you sure you have not seen her anywhere?”“I have seen many other beautiful women,” answered Ulenspiegel, “and in this town especially, where it seems they are all most amorous....”“It is so,” said Lamme, “nevertheless I have remained faithful. For my sad heart is heavy with but a single recollection.”“Even as your belly is heavy with countless platter-fuls!” said Ulenspiegel.“When I am unhappy I have to eat,” Lamme replied.“Your unhappiness knows no end?” demanded Ulenspiegel.“Alas, no!” said Lamme.And helping himself to another trout:“Look,” he cried, “look how lovely and firm he is. This flesh is as pink as the flesh of my wife. But to-morrow we will leave Namur. I have a purseful of florins, and we will buy a donkey for each of us, and so we will go riding away to the land of Flanders!”“You will be giving up a great deal,” said Ulenspiegel.“Never mind,” said Lamme. “My heart draws me back to Damme. For it was there that my love loved me well. And it may be that she also has returned thither.”“We will set out to-morrow,” said Ulenspiegel, “since such is your desire.”And in fact they set forth as Lamme had said, each on a donkey; and so they rode along side by side.

It was the month of March when Ulenspiegel came to Namur. There he found Lamme, who, having conceived a violent passion for the fish of the Meuse, and for the trout especially, had hired a boat and spent all day fishing in the river by permission of the commune. But for this privilege he had been obliged to pay the sum of fifty florins to the Guild of the Fishmongers.

Some of his fish he sold. But the rest he ate himself, and by this means he gained a finer belly than ever, and a small sack of money. When he saw his friend and comrade walking along the banks of the Meuse and about to enter the town, Lamme was mightily rejoiced and pushed his boat to the shore, and there springing on to the bank rushed up to Ulenspiegel, blowing and puffing and stammering for joy.

“Here you are,” he cried, “here you are at last, my son. And where are you off to? What are you after? You are not dead, then? And have you seen my wife? You’ll feed off the fish of the Meuse, which are the best to be found anywhere on this base earth! And let me tell you something. The people here make such sauces as will tempt you to dip your fingers into the dish right up to your shoulder!Ah, but how proud and splendid you look! On your cheeks is the very bloom of battle. And here you are! It’s you, it’s really you, my son! My Ulenspiegel! You jolly vagabond!” Then in a lower tone of voice he added:

“And how many Spaniards have you killed? You have not seen my wife by any chance, in the carts with those other hussies? Ah, but the wine of the Meuse! You must taste it. And have you been wounded, my son? You must rest here a while, so fresh and cheery as you are, and vigilant as a young eagle. But our eels! You must taste our eels. No muddy taste aboutthem! Come, kiss me, my second self! Praise be to God! How glad I am!”

And Lamme danced and leapt in the air, puffing and blowing and compelling Ulenspiegel to dance too.

Thereafter they walked towards Namur. At the gate of the city Ulenspiegel showed his passport signed by the Duke. And Lamme conducted him to his house. While their repast was being prepared he made Ulenspiegel tell him all his adventures and then recounted his own, telling how he had left the army to follow a girl whom he thought was his wife. It was in pursuit of her, it seemed, that he had come at last to Namur. And he kept on asking Ulenspiegel:

“Are you sure you have not seen her anywhere?”

“I have seen many other beautiful women,” answered Ulenspiegel, “and in this town especially, where it seems they are all most amorous....”

“It is so,” said Lamme, “nevertheless I have remained faithful. For my sad heart is heavy with but a single recollection.”

“Even as your belly is heavy with countless platter-fuls!” said Ulenspiegel.

“When I am unhappy I have to eat,” Lamme replied.

“Your unhappiness knows no end?” demanded Ulenspiegel.

“Alas, no!” said Lamme.

And helping himself to another trout:

“Look,” he cried, “look how lovely and firm he is. This flesh is as pink as the flesh of my wife. But to-morrow we will leave Namur. I have a purseful of florins, and we will buy a donkey for each of us, and so we will go riding away to the land of Flanders!”

“You will be giving up a great deal,” said Ulenspiegel.

“Never mind,” said Lamme. “My heart draws me back to Damme. For it was there that my love loved me well. And it may be that she also has returned thither.”

“We will set out to-morrow,” said Ulenspiegel, “since such is your desire.”

And in fact they set forth as Lamme had said, each on a donkey; and so they rode along side by side.

XIXNele all this time was living at Damme, sorrowful and alone, with Katheline, who still continued to call amorously for her cold devil who never came.“Ah!” she would say, “you are rich, Hanske my pet; and you could easily give me back those seven hundred caroluses. Then Soetkin would live again and come to earth once more, and Claes in heaven would laugh for joy. Easily could you do this, and you would! Put out the fire! My soul wants to get out!”And with her finger she would point without ceasing to the place on her head where the flaming tow had burned her.Katheline was very impoverished, but the neighbours helped her by sending in beans and bread and meat, according as they were able. The commune also gave her a certain amount of money, and Nele did sewing for the wealthy bourgeois, and went to their houses to mend their linen, earning in this way a florin or two every week. But Katheline kept on with her eternal “Make a hole! Let out my soul!She is knocking to be let out! And he will give me back the seven hundred caroluses!”And Nele wept to hear her.

XIX

Nele all this time was living at Damme, sorrowful and alone, with Katheline, who still continued to call amorously for her cold devil who never came.“Ah!” she would say, “you are rich, Hanske my pet; and you could easily give me back those seven hundred caroluses. Then Soetkin would live again and come to earth once more, and Claes in heaven would laugh for joy. Easily could you do this, and you would! Put out the fire! My soul wants to get out!”And with her finger she would point without ceasing to the place on her head where the flaming tow had burned her.Katheline was very impoverished, but the neighbours helped her by sending in beans and bread and meat, according as they were able. The commune also gave her a certain amount of money, and Nele did sewing for the wealthy bourgeois, and went to their houses to mend their linen, earning in this way a florin or two every week. But Katheline kept on with her eternal “Make a hole! Let out my soul!She is knocking to be let out! And he will give me back the seven hundred caroluses!”And Nele wept to hear her.

Nele all this time was living at Damme, sorrowful and alone, with Katheline, who still continued to call amorously for her cold devil who never came.

“Ah!” she would say, “you are rich, Hanske my pet; and you could easily give me back those seven hundred caroluses. Then Soetkin would live again and come to earth once more, and Claes in heaven would laugh for joy. Easily could you do this, and you would! Put out the fire! My soul wants to get out!”

And with her finger she would point without ceasing to the place on her head where the flaming tow had burned her.

Katheline was very impoverished, but the neighbours helped her by sending in beans and bread and meat, according as they were able. The commune also gave her a certain amount of money, and Nele did sewing for the wealthy bourgeois, and went to their houses to mend their linen, earning in this way a florin or two every week. But Katheline kept on with her eternal “Make a hole! Let out my soul!She is knocking to be let out! And he will give me back the seven hundred caroluses!”

And Nele wept to hear her.

XXIn the meantime Ulenspiegel and Lamme continued their wanderings. Under the protection of their passports, they entered one day into a little tavern built against the rocks of the Sambre, the which rocks are covered with trees here and there, and on the sign of the tavern was written mine host’s name—MARLAIRE. When they had drunk many a flask of wine—wine of the Meuse, rather like Burgundy—and when they had eaten a large plate of fish, they fell talking to the innkeeper, who was a keen Papist but as talkative as he was pious because of the wine he had been drinking. And he kept on winking his eye maliciously. Ulenspiegel had a suspicion that all this winking portended something mysterious, and he made the fellow drink yet more, with the result that he fell to dancing and shouting with laughter, till at last he sat himself down at the table again, and, “Good Catholics,” says he, “I drink to you.”“And to you we drink also,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel.“And I drink to the extinction of all heresy and rebellion.”“We will join you in that toast,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel, who kept on filling up the goblets which mine host could never suffer to remain full.“You are good fellows,” said the innkeeper. “Let me drink to the health of your noble Generosities. For you must know that I derive some profit from all the wine that is drunk here. But where are your passports?”“Here they are,” replied Ulenspiegel.“With the Duke’s signature and all,” said the innkeeper. “Here’s a health to the Duke.”“To the Duke,” echoed Lamme and Ulenspiegel. And mine host went on talking:“Answer me now, do you know what it is that they catch rats and mice in? Why in rat-traps to be sure, and mouse-traps. Who is the mouse then? The great heretic of Orange—and orange he is in very truth, like the flames of hell! But God is on our side. They will come. Ho ho! A toast! Pour out the wine; I bake and burn with thirst. Come, drink, my masters. Fine little Protestant evangelists.... I saidlittle. Fine valiant little fellows they are, and brave soldiers, sturdy as oaks.... I drink to them! Are you not going with them to the camp of the great heretic? I have certain passports signed by him.... You will see.”“We are going to the camp,” answered Ulenspiegel.“Yes, they will do their work well. And one fine night, if the opportunity presents itself”—and here the innkeeper whistled, and made a gesture as of one man cutting another’s throat—“cold steel, I tell you. It’s that that shall prevent the black bird of Nassau from singing any more. Come, drink again.”“You’re a gay fellow,” said Ulenspiegel, “in spite of being married.”The innkeeper said:“I am neither married nor have I ever been. The secrets of Princes are safe with me. Drink! But if I had a wife she would steal my secrets from under my pillow to get me hanged and herself made widow before the time. Long live God! They will come.... But where are the new passports? On my heart of a Christian. Drink! They are there, there I tell you. One hundred paces along the road near by Marche-les-Dames. Do you see them? Drink again!”“Drink?” said Ulenspiegel. “Yes, I drink and drink and drink. To the King, to the Duke, to the Protestant preachers, and toVent d’acier—Wind of Lead. And I drink to thee andto me, to the wine and the bottle that holds it. But why? It is you that have stopped drinking!”And at each new toast Ulenspiegel filled up the glass of the innkeeper, who emptied it straightway.Ulenspiegel looked at him for some time, then rose and said to Lamme: “Come, Lamme, it is time for us to be off. He is asleep.” But when they were outside, “He has no wife,” Ulenspiegel continued. “We are safe. The night is at hand. Did you hear what the rascal said? And do you rightly understand who these three preachers are? Do you realize that they are to come along the bank of the Meuse from Marche-les-Dames, and that it will be our part to await them on the road? And then forVent d’acier—Wind of Lead—to start his whistling?”“Yes,” said Lamme.“It is for us to save the Prince’s life,” said Ulenspiegel.“Yes,” said Lamme.“Wait,” said Ulenspiegel. “You take my arquebus, and go and hide in the undergrowth among the rocks. Load it with two shots, and shoot when you hear me caw and crow.”“I will,” said Lamme.And so saying he disappeared into the undergrowth. And Ulenspiegel could hear quite clearly the click of the gun as Lamme loaded it.“Do you see them coming?” he asked presently.“I see them,” answered Lamme. “There are three of them, marching together like soldiers, and one of them is much taller than the others.”Ulenspiegel sat himself down by the side of the road, with his legs stretched out in front of him, muttering his prayers on a rosary, just like beggars do. And he held his hat between his knees. And when the three evangelists passed in front of him, he held out his hat as though asking for alms; but they gave him nothing. Then Ulenspiegel got up and addressed them most piteously:“Kind sirs,” he said, “do not refuse apatardto a poor quarryman who has recently had an accident and broken his back by falling down a mine. The people in this part of the world are hard of heart, and they have not been willing to give me anything to relieve my distress. Alas! Give me but apatard, and I will say many prayers for you. And God will keep you happy, all your lives long, kind friends!”“My son,” said one of the evangelists, “there can be no happiness for us in this world so long as the Pope and the Inquisition remain in power.”Ulenspiegel heaved another sigh:“Alas! What are you saying, my lords? Do not speak so loud, if it please you. But give me apatard.”“My son,” replied one of the evangelists, he that was the smallest of the three, and of a very warlike countenance, “we poor martyrs carry nopatardssave only just enough to keep us going on our journey.”At this Ulenspiegel threw himself on to his knees in front of them.“Give me your blessing then,” he said.The three evangelists laid their hands upon the head of Ulenspiegel, albeit with little signs of devotion.Now Ulenspiegel noticed that although they were lean of figure, these men all had very fat stomachs, so he rose from his knees, and then pretended to stumble, knocking against the body of the tall evangelist as he did so. At that a merry tinkle of coin was distinctly audible. Thereupon Ulenspiegel raised himself to his full height and drew his dagger.“My good man,” he said, “it is cold and I am but poorly clad; but methinks you have too much about you. Give me some of your wool, that I may get a cloak made for me. I am a Beggarman. Long live the Beggarmen!” The tall evangelist made answer:“You cock of a Beggarman, you carry your crest proudly forsooth, and we are going to cut it off for you!”“Cut it off then,” cried Ulenspiegel, giving ground, “but let me warn you that trusty Wind of Lead is going to sing for you or ever he sings for the Prince my master! Beggar I am! Long live the Beggarmen!”The three evangelists were astounded and cried out to each other: “How does he know? We are betrayed! Kill him! Long live the Mass!” And each man drew forth from beneath his hose a sharp dagger. But Ulenspiegel, without waiting for them to attack him, gave ground towards the bushes where Lamme was hidden, and when he judged that the three evangelists were within range of the arquebus, he cried out: “Crows, black crows, the Wind of Lead is going to whistle. I sing your bitter end!”Then he cawed like a crow. And a shot rang out from the bushes, and the tall evangelist fell prone on the earth. The next moment followed a second shot, which accounted in the same way for the second.And from among the bushes Ulenspiegel saw the jolly face of Lamme, and his arm raised as he hastily reloaded his arquebus. And from the midst of the dark shrubbery a puff of blue smoke mounted into the air.There now remained but one evangelist, and he was in a furious rage, and tried to cut at Ulenspiegel with all his might. But Ulenspiegel cried:“Wind of Steel or Wind of Lead, which matters it? Either way you shall quit this world for another, you shameless murderer!”And he attacked the foe and defended himself most bravely. So they stood on the roadway, inflexible, face to face, giving and parrying blows. Now Ulenspiegel was covered with blood, for his opponent was an experienced fencer, and had wounded him on the hands and on the legs. But Ulenspiegel attacked and defended himself like a lion. Still the blood which began to flow from his head blinded him, and he retreated continually, trying to wipe away theblood with his left hand but every moment feeling weaker. And he would most certainly have been killed had not Lamme brought down the third evangelist with another shot from his arquebus.And Ulenspiegel saw him fall, and heard him vomit forth blasphemies and blood, and the white froth of death. And once again the blue smoke drifted up above the dark shrubbery, in the midst of which Lamme displayed yet again his jolly face.“Have you finished him off?” he asked.“Yes, my son,” replied Ulenspiegel, “but come....”Lamme, then, coming out of his hiding-place, saw Ulenspiegel all covered with blood. He ran like a stag, in spite of his fat belly, and came to Ulenspiegel where he sat by the three dead men.“He is wounded!” Lamme cried. “My gentle friend is wounded by the rascally murderer.” And then, with a vicious kick at the jaw of the evangelist who lay nearest to him: “You cannot answer me, Ulenspiegel? Are you going to die, my son? Where is the ointment! Ha! I remember now. It is at the bottom of his satchel under the sausages. Can’t you hear me speak, Ulenspiegel? Alas! there is no warm water here to wash your wound, and no way of getting any. The water of the Sambre will have to do instead. But speak to me, my friend. You are not so badly hurt after all, surely. A little water—there, it’s cold, isn’t it? But he is waking up. It’s I, your friend; and your enemies are all dead! Oh, where is some linen? Some linen to bind up his wounds. There isn’t any. What am I to do? Ah! my shirt, that must serve.”Presently Ulenspiegel opened his eyes and raised himself from the ground with his teeth all chattering because of the cold.“And here you are standing up already!” Lamme exclaimed.“It is a balm of much virtue,” said Ulenspiegel.“Balm of valiance,” answered Lamme.And then, taking the bodies of the evangelists one by one, he cast them into a hole in the rocks, leaving their weapons and their clothes upon them. But he took their cloaks.And all around in the sky the crows were beginning to caw to each other, in anticipation of the feast. And the Sambre flowed by like a river of steel under the grey sky.And the snow fell, washing the blood away.Yet they felt ill at ease, and Lamme said:“I had rather kill a chicken than a man.”And they mounted again upon their donkeys. And when they arrived at the gates of Huy, the blood was still trickling from the head of Ulenspiegel, so they dismounted and pretended to have a quarrel, and to use their daggers on one another, with the utmost ferocity as it seemed. But when they had finished their duel, they remounted their donkeys and came into the town, showing their passports at the city gates.Lamme succours UlenspiegelLamme succours UlenspiegelThe women, seeing Ulenspiegel wounded and bleeding while Lamme rode his donkey as though he had been the victor, threw many a glance of tender commiseration upon Ulenspiegel, and pointed their fingers at Lamme, saying: “That is the rascal who wounded his friend.”Lamme all this time was anxiously scrutinizing the crowd, hoping to discover his wife among them; but all was in vain, and he was sad at heart.

XX

In the meantime Ulenspiegel and Lamme continued their wanderings. Under the protection of their passports, they entered one day into a little tavern built against the rocks of the Sambre, the which rocks are covered with trees here and there, and on the sign of the tavern was written mine host’s name—MARLAIRE. When they had drunk many a flask of wine—wine of the Meuse, rather like Burgundy—and when they had eaten a large plate of fish, they fell talking to the innkeeper, who was a keen Papist but as talkative as he was pious because of the wine he had been drinking. And he kept on winking his eye maliciously. Ulenspiegel had a suspicion that all this winking portended something mysterious, and he made the fellow drink yet more, with the result that he fell to dancing and shouting with laughter, till at last he sat himself down at the table again, and, “Good Catholics,” says he, “I drink to you.”“And to you we drink also,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel.“And I drink to the extinction of all heresy and rebellion.”“We will join you in that toast,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel, who kept on filling up the goblets which mine host could never suffer to remain full.“You are good fellows,” said the innkeeper. “Let me drink to the health of your noble Generosities. For you must know that I derive some profit from all the wine that is drunk here. But where are your passports?”“Here they are,” replied Ulenspiegel.“With the Duke’s signature and all,” said the innkeeper. “Here’s a health to the Duke.”“To the Duke,” echoed Lamme and Ulenspiegel. And mine host went on talking:“Answer me now, do you know what it is that they catch rats and mice in? Why in rat-traps to be sure, and mouse-traps. Who is the mouse then? The great heretic of Orange—and orange he is in very truth, like the flames of hell! But God is on our side. They will come. Ho ho! A toast! Pour out the wine; I bake and burn with thirst. Come, drink, my masters. Fine little Protestant evangelists.... I saidlittle. Fine valiant little fellows they are, and brave soldiers, sturdy as oaks.... I drink to them! Are you not going with them to the camp of the great heretic? I have certain passports signed by him.... You will see.”“We are going to the camp,” answered Ulenspiegel.“Yes, they will do their work well. And one fine night, if the opportunity presents itself”—and here the innkeeper whistled, and made a gesture as of one man cutting another’s throat—“cold steel, I tell you. It’s that that shall prevent the black bird of Nassau from singing any more. Come, drink again.”“You’re a gay fellow,” said Ulenspiegel, “in spite of being married.”The innkeeper said:“I am neither married nor have I ever been. The secrets of Princes are safe with me. Drink! But if I had a wife she would steal my secrets from under my pillow to get me hanged and herself made widow before the time. Long live God! They will come.... But where are the new passports? On my heart of a Christian. Drink! They are there, there I tell you. One hundred paces along the road near by Marche-les-Dames. Do you see them? Drink again!”“Drink?” said Ulenspiegel. “Yes, I drink and drink and drink. To the King, to the Duke, to the Protestant preachers, and toVent d’acier—Wind of Lead. And I drink to thee andto me, to the wine and the bottle that holds it. But why? It is you that have stopped drinking!”And at each new toast Ulenspiegel filled up the glass of the innkeeper, who emptied it straightway.Ulenspiegel looked at him for some time, then rose and said to Lamme: “Come, Lamme, it is time for us to be off. He is asleep.” But when they were outside, “He has no wife,” Ulenspiegel continued. “We are safe. The night is at hand. Did you hear what the rascal said? And do you rightly understand who these three preachers are? Do you realize that they are to come along the bank of the Meuse from Marche-les-Dames, and that it will be our part to await them on the road? And then forVent d’acier—Wind of Lead—to start his whistling?”“Yes,” said Lamme.“It is for us to save the Prince’s life,” said Ulenspiegel.“Yes,” said Lamme.“Wait,” said Ulenspiegel. “You take my arquebus, and go and hide in the undergrowth among the rocks. Load it with two shots, and shoot when you hear me caw and crow.”“I will,” said Lamme.And so saying he disappeared into the undergrowth. And Ulenspiegel could hear quite clearly the click of the gun as Lamme loaded it.“Do you see them coming?” he asked presently.“I see them,” answered Lamme. “There are three of them, marching together like soldiers, and one of them is much taller than the others.”Ulenspiegel sat himself down by the side of the road, with his legs stretched out in front of him, muttering his prayers on a rosary, just like beggars do. And he held his hat between his knees. And when the three evangelists passed in front of him, he held out his hat as though asking for alms; but they gave him nothing. Then Ulenspiegel got up and addressed them most piteously:“Kind sirs,” he said, “do not refuse apatardto a poor quarryman who has recently had an accident and broken his back by falling down a mine. The people in this part of the world are hard of heart, and they have not been willing to give me anything to relieve my distress. Alas! Give me but apatard, and I will say many prayers for you. And God will keep you happy, all your lives long, kind friends!”“My son,” said one of the evangelists, “there can be no happiness for us in this world so long as the Pope and the Inquisition remain in power.”Ulenspiegel heaved another sigh:“Alas! What are you saying, my lords? Do not speak so loud, if it please you. But give me apatard.”“My son,” replied one of the evangelists, he that was the smallest of the three, and of a very warlike countenance, “we poor martyrs carry nopatardssave only just enough to keep us going on our journey.”At this Ulenspiegel threw himself on to his knees in front of them.“Give me your blessing then,” he said.The three evangelists laid their hands upon the head of Ulenspiegel, albeit with little signs of devotion.Now Ulenspiegel noticed that although they were lean of figure, these men all had very fat stomachs, so he rose from his knees, and then pretended to stumble, knocking against the body of the tall evangelist as he did so. At that a merry tinkle of coin was distinctly audible. Thereupon Ulenspiegel raised himself to his full height and drew his dagger.“My good man,” he said, “it is cold and I am but poorly clad; but methinks you have too much about you. Give me some of your wool, that I may get a cloak made for me. I am a Beggarman. Long live the Beggarmen!” The tall evangelist made answer:“You cock of a Beggarman, you carry your crest proudly forsooth, and we are going to cut it off for you!”“Cut it off then,” cried Ulenspiegel, giving ground, “but let me warn you that trusty Wind of Lead is going to sing for you or ever he sings for the Prince my master! Beggar I am! Long live the Beggarmen!”The three evangelists were astounded and cried out to each other: “How does he know? We are betrayed! Kill him! Long live the Mass!” And each man drew forth from beneath his hose a sharp dagger. But Ulenspiegel, without waiting for them to attack him, gave ground towards the bushes where Lamme was hidden, and when he judged that the three evangelists were within range of the arquebus, he cried out: “Crows, black crows, the Wind of Lead is going to whistle. I sing your bitter end!”Then he cawed like a crow. And a shot rang out from the bushes, and the tall evangelist fell prone on the earth. The next moment followed a second shot, which accounted in the same way for the second.And from among the bushes Ulenspiegel saw the jolly face of Lamme, and his arm raised as he hastily reloaded his arquebus. And from the midst of the dark shrubbery a puff of blue smoke mounted into the air.There now remained but one evangelist, and he was in a furious rage, and tried to cut at Ulenspiegel with all his might. But Ulenspiegel cried:“Wind of Steel or Wind of Lead, which matters it? Either way you shall quit this world for another, you shameless murderer!”And he attacked the foe and defended himself most bravely. So they stood on the roadway, inflexible, face to face, giving and parrying blows. Now Ulenspiegel was covered with blood, for his opponent was an experienced fencer, and had wounded him on the hands and on the legs. But Ulenspiegel attacked and defended himself like a lion. Still the blood which began to flow from his head blinded him, and he retreated continually, trying to wipe away theblood with his left hand but every moment feeling weaker. And he would most certainly have been killed had not Lamme brought down the third evangelist with another shot from his arquebus.And Ulenspiegel saw him fall, and heard him vomit forth blasphemies and blood, and the white froth of death. And once again the blue smoke drifted up above the dark shrubbery, in the midst of which Lamme displayed yet again his jolly face.“Have you finished him off?” he asked.“Yes, my son,” replied Ulenspiegel, “but come....”Lamme, then, coming out of his hiding-place, saw Ulenspiegel all covered with blood. He ran like a stag, in spite of his fat belly, and came to Ulenspiegel where he sat by the three dead men.“He is wounded!” Lamme cried. “My gentle friend is wounded by the rascally murderer.” And then, with a vicious kick at the jaw of the evangelist who lay nearest to him: “You cannot answer me, Ulenspiegel? Are you going to die, my son? Where is the ointment! Ha! I remember now. It is at the bottom of his satchel under the sausages. Can’t you hear me speak, Ulenspiegel? Alas! there is no warm water here to wash your wound, and no way of getting any. The water of the Sambre will have to do instead. But speak to me, my friend. You are not so badly hurt after all, surely. A little water—there, it’s cold, isn’t it? But he is waking up. It’s I, your friend; and your enemies are all dead! Oh, where is some linen? Some linen to bind up his wounds. There isn’t any. What am I to do? Ah! my shirt, that must serve.”Presently Ulenspiegel opened his eyes and raised himself from the ground with his teeth all chattering because of the cold.“And here you are standing up already!” Lamme exclaimed.“It is a balm of much virtue,” said Ulenspiegel.“Balm of valiance,” answered Lamme.And then, taking the bodies of the evangelists one by one, he cast them into a hole in the rocks, leaving their weapons and their clothes upon them. But he took their cloaks.And all around in the sky the crows were beginning to caw to each other, in anticipation of the feast. And the Sambre flowed by like a river of steel under the grey sky.And the snow fell, washing the blood away.Yet they felt ill at ease, and Lamme said:“I had rather kill a chicken than a man.”And they mounted again upon their donkeys. And when they arrived at the gates of Huy, the blood was still trickling from the head of Ulenspiegel, so they dismounted and pretended to have a quarrel, and to use their daggers on one another, with the utmost ferocity as it seemed. But when they had finished their duel, they remounted their donkeys and came into the town, showing their passports at the city gates.Lamme succours UlenspiegelLamme succours UlenspiegelThe women, seeing Ulenspiegel wounded and bleeding while Lamme rode his donkey as though he had been the victor, threw many a glance of tender commiseration upon Ulenspiegel, and pointed their fingers at Lamme, saying: “That is the rascal who wounded his friend.”Lamme all this time was anxiously scrutinizing the crowd, hoping to discover his wife among them; but all was in vain, and he was sad at heart.

In the meantime Ulenspiegel and Lamme continued their wanderings. Under the protection of their passports, they entered one day into a little tavern built against the rocks of the Sambre, the which rocks are covered with trees here and there, and on the sign of the tavern was written mine host’s name—MARLAIRE. When they had drunk many a flask of wine—wine of the Meuse, rather like Burgundy—and when they had eaten a large plate of fish, they fell talking to the innkeeper, who was a keen Papist but as talkative as he was pious because of the wine he had been drinking. And he kept on winking his eye maliciously. Ulenspiegel had a suspicion that all this winking portended something mysterious, and he made the fellow drink yet more, with the result that he fell to dancing and shouting with laughter, till at last he sat himself down at the table again, and, “Good Catholics,” says he, “I drink to you.”

“And to you we drink also,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel.

“And I drink to the extinction of all heresy and rebellion.”

“We will join you in that toast,” answered Lamme and Ulenspiegel, who kept on filling up the goblets which mine host could never suffer to remain full.

“You are good fellows,” said the innkeeper. “Let me drink to the health of your noble Generosities. For you must know that I derive some profit from all the wine that is drunk here. But where are your passports?”

“Here they are,” replied Ulenspiegel.

“With the Duke’s signature and all,” said the innkeeper. “Here’s a health to the Duke.”

“To the Duke,” echoed Lamme and Ulenspiegel. And mine host went on talking:

“Answer me now, do you know what it is that they catch rats and mice in? Why in rat-traps to be sure, and mouse-traps. Who is the mouse then? The great heretic of Orange—and orange he is in very truth, like the flames of hell! But God is on our side. They will come. Ho ho! A toast! Pour out the wine; I bake and burn with thirst. Come, drink, my masters. Fine little Protestant evangelists.... I saidlittle. Fine valiant little fellows they are, and brave soldiers, sturdy as oaks.... I drink to them! Are you not going with them to the camp of the great heretic? I have certain passports signed by him.... You will see.”

“We are going to the camp,” answered Ulenspiegel.

“Yes, they will do their work well. And one fine night, if the opportunity presents itself”—and here the innkeeper whistled, and made a gesture as of one man cutting another’s throat—“cold steel, I tell you. It’s that that shall prevent the black bird of Nassau from singing any more. Come, drink again.”

“You’re a gay fellow,” said Ulenspiegel, “in spite of being married.”

The innkeeper said:

“I am neither married nor have I ever been. The secrets of Princes are safe with me. Drink! But if I had a wife she would steal my secrets from under my pillow to get me hanged and herself made widow before the time. Long live God! They will come.... But where are the new passports? On my heart of a Christian. Drink! They are there, there I tell you. One hundred paces along the road near by Marche-les-Dames. Do you see them? Drink again!”

“Drink?” said Ulenspiegel. “Yes, I drink and drink and drink. To the King, to the Duke, to the Protestant preachers, and toVent d’acier—Wind of Lead. And I drink to thee andto me, to the wine and the bottle that holds it. But why? It is you that have stopped drinking!”

And at each new toast Ulenspiegel filled up the glass of the innkeeper, who emptied it straightway.

Ulenspiegel looked at him for some time, then rose and said to Lamme: “Come, Lamme, it is time for us to be off. He is asleep.” But when they were outside, “He has no wife,” Ulenspiegel continued. “We are safe. The night is at hand. Did you hear what the rascal said? And do you rightly understand who these three preachers are? Do you realize that they are to come along the bank of the Meuse from Marche-les-Dames, and that it will be our part to await them on the road? And then forVent d’acier—Wind of Lead—to start his whistling?”

“Yes,” said Lamme.

“It is for us to save the Prince’s life,” said Ulenspiegel.

“Yes,” said Lamme.

“Wait,” said Ulenspiegel. “You take my arquebus, and go and hide in the undergrowth among the rocks. Load it with two shots, and shoot when you hear me caw and crow.”

“I will,” said Lamme.

And so saying he disappeared into the undergrowth. And Ulenspiegel could hear quite clearly the click of the gun as Lamme loaded it.

“Do you see them coming?” he asked presently.

“I see them,” answered Lamme. “There are three of them, marching together like soldiers, and one of them is much taller than the others.”

Ulenspiegel sat himself down by the side of the road, with his legs stretched out in front of him, muttering his prayers on a rosary, just like beggars do. And he held his hat between his knees. And when the three evangelists passed in front of him, he held out his hat as though asking for alms; but they gave him nothing. Then Ulenspiegel got up and addressed them most piteously:

“Kind sirs,” he said, “do not refuse apatardto a poor quarryman who has recently had an accident and broken his back by falling down a mine. The people in this part of the world are hard of heart, and they have not been willing to give me anything to relieve my distress. Alas! Give me but apatard, and I will say many prayers for you. And God will keep you happy, all your lives long, kind friends!”

“My son,” said one of the evangelists, “there can be no happiness for us in this world so long as the Pope and the Inquisition remain in power.”

Ulenspiegel heaved another sigh:

“Alas! What are you saying, my lords? Do not speak so loud, if it please you. But give me apatard.”

“My son,” replied one of the evangelists, he that was the smallest of the three, and of a very warlike countenance, “we poor martyrs carry nopatardssave only just enough to keep us going on our journey.”

At this Ulenspiegel threw himself on to his knees in front of them.

“Give me your blessing then,” he said.

The three evangelists laid their hands upon the head of Ulenspiegel, albeit with little signs of devotion.

Now Ulenspiegel noticed that although they were lean of figure, these men all had very fat stomachs, so he rose from his knees, and then pretended to stumble, knocking against the body of the tall evangelist as he did so. At that a merry tinkle of coin was distinctly audible. Thereupon Ulenspiegel raised himself to his full height and drew his dagger.

“My good man,” he said, “it is cold and I am but poorly clad; but methinks you have too much about you. Give me some of your wool, that I may get a cloak made for me. I am a Beggarman. Long live the Beggarmen!” The tall evangelist made answer:

“You cock of a Beggarman, you carry your crest proudly forsooth, and we are going to cut it off for you!”

“Cut it off then,” cried Ulenspiegel, giving ground, “but let me warn you that trusty Wind of Lead is going to sing for you or ever he sings for the Prince my master! Beggar I am! Long live the Beggarmen!”

The three evangelists were astounded and cried out to each other: “How does he know? We are betrayed! Kill him! Long live the Mass!” And each man drew forth from beneath his hose a sharp dagger. But Ulenspiegel, without waiting for them to attack him, gave ground towards the bushes where Lamme was hidden, and when he judged that the three evangelists were within range of the arquebus, he cried out: “Crows, black crows, the Wind of Lead is going to whistle. I sing your bitter end!”

Then he cawed like a crow. And a shot rang out from the bushes, and the tall evangelist fell prone on the earth. The next moment followed a second shot, which accounted in the same way for the second.

And from among the bushes Ulenspiegel saw the jolly face of Lamme, and his arm raised as he hastily reloaded his arquebus. And from the midst of the dark shrubbery a puff of blue smoke mounted into the air.

There now remained but one evangelist, and he was in a furious rage, and tried to cut at Ulenspiegel with all his might. But Ulenspiegel cried:

“Wind of Steel or Wind of Lead, which matters it? Either way you shall quit this world for another, you shameless murderer!”

And he attacked the foe and defended himself most bravely. So they stood on the roadway, inflexible, face to face, giving and parrying blows. Now Ulenspiegel was covered with blood, for his opponent was an experienced fencer, and had wounded him on the hands and on the legs. But Ulenspiegel attacked and defended himself like a lion. Still the blood which began to flow from his head blinded him, and he retreated continually, trying to wipe away theblood with his left hand but every moment feeling weaker. And he would most certainly have been killed had not Lamme brought down the third evangelist with another shot from his arquebus.

And Ulenspiegel saw him fall, and heard him vomit forth blasphemies and blood, and the white froth of death. And once again the blue smoke drifted up above the dark shrubbery, in the midst of which Lamme displayed yet again his jolly face.

“Have you finished him off?” he asked.

“Yes, my son,” replied Ulenspiegel, “but come....”

Lamme, then, coming out of his hiding-place, saw Ulenspiegel all covered with blood. He ran like a stag, in spite of his fat belly, and came to Ulenspiegel where he sat by the three dead men.

“He is wounded!” Lamme cried. “My gentle friend is wounded by the rascally murderer.” And then, with a vicious kick at the jaw of the evangelist who lay nearest to him: “You cannot answer me, Ulenspiegel? Are you going to die, my son? Where is the ointment! Ha! I remember now. It is at the bottom of his satchel under the sausages. Can’t you hear me speak, Ulenspiegel? Alas! there is no warm water here to wash your wound, and no way of getting any. The water of the Sambre will have to do instead. But speak to me, my friend. You are not so badly hurt after all, surely. A little water—there, it’s cold, isn’t it? But he is waking up. It’s I, your friend; and your enemies are all dead! Oh, where is some linen? Some linen to bind up his wounds. There isn’t any. What am I to do? Ah! my shirt, that must serve.”

Presently Ulenspiegel opened his eyes and raised himself from the ground with his teeth all chattering because of the cold.

“And here you are standing up already!” Lamme exclaimed.

“It is a balm of much virtue,” said Ulenspiegel.

“Balm of valiance,” answered Lamme.

And then, taking the bodies of the evangelists one by one, he cast them into a hole in the rocks, leaving their weapons and their clothes upon them. But he took their cloaks.

And all around in the sky the crows were beginning to caw to each other, in anticipation of the feast. And the Sambre flowed by like a river of steel under the grey sky.

And the snow fell, washing the blood away.

Yet they felt ill at ease, and Lamme said:

“I had rather kill a chicken than a man.”

And they mounted again upon their donkeys. And when they arrived at the gates of Huy, the blood was still trickling from the head of Ulenspiegel, so they dismounted and pretended to have a quarrel, and to use their daggers on one another, with the utmost ferocity as it seemed. But when they had finished their duel, they remounted their donkeys and came into the town, showing their passports at the city gates.

Lamme succours UlenspiegelLamme succours Ulenspiegel

Lamme succours Ulenspiegel

The women, seeing Ulenspiegel wounded and bleeding while Lamme rode his donkey as though he had been the victor, threw many a glance of tender commiseration upon Ulenspiegel, and pointed their fingers at Lamme, saying: “That is the rascal who wounded his friend.”

Lamme all this time was anxiously scrutinizing the crowd, hoping to discover his wife among them; but all was in vain, and he was sad at heart.

XXI“Where are you going now?” said Lamme.“To Maestricht,” answered Ulenspiegel.“But stay, my son. I have heard that the army of the Duke is camped all round the city and that he himself is within. Our passports will be of no use to us there. Even if they satisfy the Spanish soldiers, we shall still be arrested in the city and put through an examination. And in themeantime they will become aware of the death of the evangelists and our days on this earth will be numbered.”To this Ulenspiegel made answer:“The crows and the owls and the vultures will make short work of their repast. Already no doubt the dead bodies have become unrecognizable. As for our passports, there is no reason why they should not remain effective. But if the murder of the evangelists becomes known we should be arrested as you say. Nevertheless, whatever happens we shall have to go to Maestricht and pass through Landen on the way.”“We shall be captured,” said Lamme.“We shall get through,” answered Ulenspiegel.Conversing in this wise they came to the inn ofLa Pie, where they found a good supper awaiting them, and good quarters for the night, both for themselves and for the donkeys; and on the morrow they took the road again for Landen.Not far from that town they came to a large farm. There Ulenspiegel whistled like a lark, and from the interior came the sound of a warlike cockcrow in answer. After that a jolly-looking farmer appeared at the door of the farmhouse, and greeted them as friends and good Beggarmen, and bade them welcome.“Who is this man?” Lamme inquired.“His name is Thomas Utenhove,” said Ulenspiegel, “and he is a valiant Protestant. The man-servants and maid-servants that work on the farm are fellows with him in the cause of freedom of conscience.”Then Utenhove said:“You are the envoys of the Prince? Come in then, eat and drink with me.”And the ham was crackling in the frying-pan, the sausages likewise, and the wine flowed and the glasses were filled again. And Lamme drank like dry sand, and ate his fill. And the boys and girls of the farm came one after anotherand thrust their noses into the half-open door to gaze on him as he worked away so hard. But the men were jealous, saying that they also would be able to eat and drink as bravely if they had the chance.When all was finished, Thomas Utenhove said:“One hundred of our peasants will be leaving us this week under pretext of going to work on the dikes at Bruges and thereabouts. They will be setting out in small bands of five or six at a time, and all by different routes. At Bruges they will find certain barges waiting for them to take them by sea to Emden.”“Will these men be provided with arms and with money?” inquired Ulenspiegel.“Each man will carry ten florins and a heavy cutlass.”“God and the Prince will reward you,” said Ulenspiegel.“But tell me,” said the farmer, “is Edzard, Count of Frise, still friendly to the Prince?”“He feigns not to be,” answered Ulenspiegel. “Nevertheless, he is giving harbourage all the time to the Prince’s ships at Emden.” And then he added: “We are on the way to Maestricht.”“You cannot go there,” said the farmer. “The Duke’s army is camped in front of the town and all round it.”With that he conducted his visitors up into the loft, whence they could see the standards of enemy cavalry and infantry moving about in the distance over the plain.Ulenspiegel said:“I have a plan to get through, if only they who have authority in this place would give me leave to get married. But for wife I should need a sweet and a gentle and comely lass who would be willing to marry me—if not for always, then for a week at least.”Lamme gasped with astonishment.“Don’t do it, my son,” he cried. “She will only leave you, and then, all alone, you will burn with the fire of love; andthe bed where now you sleep so sweetly will seem to you nothing better than a bed of prickly holly leaves, and gentle sleep will shun you for evermore.”“Still I must marry,” replied Ulenspiegel. And then to Thomas Utenhove: “Come now, find me a wife; rich or poor, I don’t care which! And I will take her to church, and our marriage shall be blessed by the priest. And he shall give us our marriage lines. Though, to be sure, we shall not hold them valid as being given by the hand of a Papist and an Inquisitor. Nevertheless they will be good enough for our purpose, and we will prepare ourselves, as is the custom, for our wedding trip.”“But what about the wife?”“That’s your look-out,” answered Ulenspiegel. “But when you have found her I shall take two wagons and decorate them with wreaths of fir branches and holly and paper flowers, and in the wagons themselves I shall dispose the men whom you wish to be conveyed to the Prince of Orange.”“But your wife?” persisted Thomas Utenhove. “Where will you find her?”“Here, I doubt not,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And then I shall harness two of your own horses to one of the wagons, and our two donkeys to the other. In the first wagon will ride my wife and myself, together with my friend Lamme here, and the witnesses of our nuptials. In the second wagon will follow the musicians, the players upon the drum, the fife, and the shawm. And then, with all our joyous wedding-flags a-flying, and with music playing, and we ourselves singing and drinking each other’s healths, we shall ride along at the trot by the high road that leads to theGalgen-veld—the Field of the Gallows—which for us indeed will be the Field of Liberty.”“I will do all in my power to help you,” said Thomas Utenhove, “but the women and girls will want to follow their men-folk.”“We will go where God wills,” said a pretty-looking girl who had thrust in her head at the half-opened door.“You can have four wagons if need be,” said Thomas Utenhove, “and by that means we should be able to convey as many as five-and-twenty men.”“The Duke will be nicely fooled,” said Ulenspiegel.“And the Prince’s fleet will gain the service of some fine soldiers,” added Thomas Utenhove.Then he caused a bell to be rung to summon his footman and his servants, and when they were all assembled he said to them:“All you that are from the land of Zeeland, women as well as men, listen now to me. Ulenspiegel, who is hither come from Flanders, has a plan to convey you through the enemy’s lines, disguised as the followers in a wedding procession.”And thereat the men and women of Zeeland cried out with one accord:“We are ready, even unto the death!”And the men said one to another:“What joy it will be to exchange this land of slavery for the freedom of the sea!”And the women and girls said likewise:“Let us follow our husbands and our lovers; we belong to Zeeland and there we shall find asile!”Now Ulenspiegel had noticed a young and pretty maid, and he addressed her jokingly:“I would you were my wife!”But she blushed and answered him:“I would have thee for my husband—but at the church only, remember!”The women laughed and said among themselves:“She is in love with Hans Utenhove, the master’s son. He will go along with her, doubtless.”“You say truly,” Hans replied.And his father said:“You have my permission.”Then all the men put on their best clothes, their doublets and hose of velvet, and the greatopperst-kleedover all. As for the women, they wore black petticoats and pleated shoes. Round their necks they wore a white ruff, their bodices were embroidered in gold, scarlet, and blue; their skirts were of black wool with broad stripes of black velvet thereon, and their stockings were of black wool, and their shoes of velvet with silver buckles.Thereupon Thomas Utenhove went to the church and put into the hands of the priest a couple ofrycksdaelders, asking him at the same time to join in marriage Thylbert the son of Claes (that is Ulenspiegel) and Tannekin Pieters. And this the curé consented to do.Ulenspiegel then went to church, followed by the wedding procession. And there, in the presence of the priest, Tannekin was made his wife.And she looked so pretty and so sweet, so complaisant and so tender, that right willingly would he have eaten her up as she had been a ripe apple of love. And he told her so, not daring to do more for the respect he felt for her gentle loveliness. But she pouted her lips, and bade him leave her alone, for that Hans was watching him and would kill him without a doubt.And a certain damsel was jealous, and said to Ulenspiegel:“Seek elsewhere for a lover. Do you not see that she is afraid of her own man?”Lamme clapped his hands together and cried:“You cannot have them all, you rascal!”So Ulenspiegel, making the best of his misfortune, returned to the farm with the wedding guests. And there he drank and sang and made merry, clinking many a glass with the damsel that was jealous. And at this Hans was glad, butnot so Tannekin, nor yet the youth that was betrothed to the damsel.At noon, while the sun shone down from a clear sky and a fresh breeze was blowing, the wedding carriages started off. They were decorated with flowers and every kind of greenery, with flags flying, and drums and fifes, bagpipes and shawms playing most joyfully.Now it happened that in the camp of the Duke of Alba there was another fête in progress; and the sentries of the guard, having sounded the alarm, ran to the Duke, crying:“The enemy is at hand. We have heard the noise of drums and fifes, and we have seen their banners in the distance. There is a strong force of cavalry that is hoping to draw you into some ambush. The main body, doubtless, is not far off.”The Duke at once sent to warn the colonels and captains, and himself ordered the army to be massed in battle array, and dispatched certain scouting parties on reconnaissance.Then it was that there came on the scene the four carriages, making straight for the Duke’s gunners. And in the chariots were none but men and women dancing and drinking and playing most joyously on fifes and drums and bagpipes and shawms. And wondrous was the din that came from all those instruments.The Mock MarriageThe Mock MarriageWhen the procession had been brought to a halt, the Duke himself came up, attracted by the noise, and he saw the newly married bride where she stood in one of the four chariots; and beside her was Ulenspiegel, the bridegroom, covered with flowers; and all the other peasants, both men and women, who had by now got down from the chariots and were dancing all round them and offering drink to the soldiers.The Duke and his friends were much astonished at the simplicity of these peasants who sang and made merry when all around them was an army ready to do battle.And now they that remained in the chariots were giving all the wine to the soldiers, and they in their turn werefêted by them and made much of; till at last, when the wine began to run out, the peasants continued on their way again. The drums and fifes and bagpipes struck up once more and the cavalcade moved off without any let or hindrance. And the soldiers, in high good humour, let off a volley from their guns in honour of the festal occasion.And thus they came to Maestricht, where Ulenspiegel took counsel with the agents of the Reformers as to the best way of sending ships loaded with arms and munitions to the assistance of the Prince’s fleet.And from there they went to Landen and to other places, disguised as working men.The Duke was not long in learning the trick that had been played on him, and there came into his hands a lampoon which was in circulation at the time, with this refrain:Bloody Duke,Silly Duke,Hast thou seen the Bride?And every time that the Duke made a mistake in his general-ship the soldiers would sing:The Duke he can’t see clearly;He has seen the Bride!

XXI

“Where are you going now?” said Lamme.“To Maestricht,” answered Ulenspiegel.“But stay, my son. I have heard that the army of the Duke is camped all round the city and that he himself is within. Our passports will be of no use to us there. Even if they satisfy the Spanish soldiers, we shall still be arrested in the city and put through an examination. And in themeantime they will become aware of the death of the evangelists and our days on this earth will be numbered.”To this Ulenspiegel made answer:“The crows and the owls and the vultures will make short work of their repast. Already no doubt the dead bodies have become unrecognizable. As for our passports, there is no reason why they should not remain effective. But if the murder of the evangelists becomes known we should be arrested as you say. Nevertheless, whatever happens we shall have to go to Maestricht and pass through Landen on the way.”“We shall be captured,” said Lamme.“We shall get through,” answered Ulenspiegel.Conversing in this wise they came to the inn ofLa Pie, where they found a good supper awaiting them, and good quarters for the night, both for themselves and for the donkeys; and on the morrow they took the road again for Landen.Not far from that town they came to a large farm. There Ulenspiegel whistled like a lark, and from the interior came the sound of a warlike cockcrow in answer. After that a jolly-looking farmer appeared at the door of the farmhouse, and greeted them as friends and good Beggarmen, and bade them welcome.“Who is this man?” Lamme inquired.“His name is Thomas Utenhove,” said Ulenspiegel, “and he is a valiant Protestant. The man-servants and maid-servants that work on the farm are fellows with him in the cause of freedom of conscience.”Then Utenhove said:“You are the envoys of the Prince? Come in then, eat and drink with me.”And the ham was crackling in the frying-pan, the sausages likewise, and the wine flowed and the glasses were filled again. And Lamme drank like dry sand, and ate his fill. And the boys and girls of the farm came one after anotherand thrust their noses into the half-open door to gaze on him as he worked away so hard. But the men were jealous, saying that they also would be able to eat and drink as bravely if they had the chance.When all was finished, Thomas Utenhove said:“One hundred of our peasants will be leaving us this week under pretext of going to work on the dikes at Bruges and thereabouts. They will be setting out in small bands of five or six at a time, and all by different routes. At Bruges they will find certain barges waiting for them to take them by sea to Emden.”“Will these men be provided with arms and with money?” inquired Ulenspiegel.“Each man will carry ten florins and a heavy cutlass.”“God and the Prince will reward you,” said Ulenspiegel.“But tell me,” said the farmer, “is Edzard, Count of Frise, still friendly to the Prince?”“He feigns not to be,” answered Ulenspiegel. “Nevertheless, he is giving harbourage all the time to the Prince’s ships at Emden.” And then he added: “We are on the way to Maestricht.”“You cannot go there,” said the farmer. “The Duke’s army is camped in front of the town and all round it.”With that he conducted his visitors up into the loft, whence they could see the standards of enemy cavalry and infantry moving about in the distance over the plain.Ulenspiegel said:“I have a plan to get through, if only they who have authority in this place would give me leave to get married. But for wife I should need a sweet and a gentle and comely lass who would be willing to marry me—if not for always, then for a week at least.”Lamme gasped with astonishment.“Don’t do it, my son,” he cried. “She will only leave you, and then, all alone, you will burn with the fire of love; andthe bed where now you sleep so sweetly will seem to you nothing better than a bed of prickly holly leaves, and gentle sleep will shun you for evermore.”“Still I must marry,” replied Ulenspiegel. And then to Thomas Utenhove: “Come now, find me a wife; rich or poor, I don’t care which! And I will take her to church, and our marriage shall be blessed by the priest. And he shall give us our marriage lines. Though, to be sure, we shall not hold them valid as being given by the hand of a Papist and an Inquisitor. Nevertheless they will be good enough for our purpose, and we will prepare ourselves, as is the custom, for our wedding trip.”“But what about the wife?”“That’s your look-out,” answered Ulenspiegel. “But when you have found her I shall take two wagons and decorate them with wreaths of fir branches and holly and paper flowers, and in the wagons themselves I shall dispose the men whom you wish to be conveyed to the Prince of Orange.”“But your wife?” persisted Thomas Utenhove. “Where will you find her?”“Here, I doubt not,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And then I shall harness two of your own horses to one of the wagons, and our two donkeys to the other. In the first wagon will ride my wife and myself, together with my friend Lamme here, and the witnesses of our nuptials. In the second wagon will follow the musicians, the players upon the drum, the fife, and the shawm. And then, with all our joyous wedding-flags a-flying, and with music playing, and we ourselves singing and drinking each other’s healths, we shall ride along at the trot by the high road that leads to theGalgen-veld—the Field of the Gallows—which for us indeed will be the Field of Liberty.”“I will do all in my power to help you,” said Thomas Utenhove, “but the women and girls will want to follow their men-folk.”“We will go where God wills,” said a pretty-looking girl who had thrust in her head at the half-opened door.“You can have four wagons if need be,” said Thomas Utenhove, “and by that means we should be able to convey as many as five-and-twenty men.”“The Duke will be nicely fooled,” said Ulenspiegel.“And the Prince’s fleet will gain the service of some fine soldiers,” added Thomas Utenhove.Then he caused a bell to be rung to summon his footman and his servants, and when they were all assembled he said to them:“All you that are from the land of Zeeland, women as well as men, listen now to me. Ulenspiegel, who is hither come from Flanders, has a plan to convey you through the enemy’s lines, disguised as the followers in a wedding procession.”And thereat the men and women of Zeeland cried out with one accord:“We are ready, even unto the death!”And the men said one to another:“What joy it will be to exchange this land of slavery for the freedom of the sea!”And the women and girls said likewise:“Let us follow our husbands and our lovers; we belong to Zeeland and there we shall find asile!”Now Ulenspiegel had noticed a young and pretty maid, and he addressed her jokingly:“I would you were my wife!”But she blushed and answered him:“I would have thee for my husband—but at the church only, remember!”The women laughed and said among themselves:“She is in love with Hans Utenhove, the master’s son. He will go along with her, doubtless.”“You say truly,” Hans replied.And his father said:“You have my permission.”Then all the men put on their best clothes, their doublets and hose of velvet, and the greatopperst-kleedover all. As for the women, they wore black petticoats and pleated shoes. Round their necks they wore a white ruff, their bodices were embroidered in gold, scarlet, and blue; their skirts were of black wool with broad stripes of black velvet thereon, and their stockings were of black wool, and their shoes of velvet with silver buckles.Thereupon Thomas Utenhove went to the church and put into the hands of the priest a couple ofrycksdaelders, asking him at the same time to join in marriage Thylbert the son of Claes (that is Ulenspiegel) and Tannekin Pieters. And this the curé consented to do.Ulenspiegel then went to church, followed by the wedding procession. And there, in the presence of the priest, Tannekin was made his wife.And she looked so pretty and so sweet, so complaisant and so tender, that right willingly would he have eaten her up as she had been a ripe apple of love. And he told her so, not daring to do more for the respect he felt for her gentle loveliness. But she pouted her lips, and bade him leave her alone, for that Hans was watching him and would kill him without a doubt.And a certain damsel was jealous, and said to Ulenspiegel:“Seek elsewhere for a lover. Do you not see that she is afraid of her own man?”Lamme clapped his hands together and cried:“You cannot have them all, you rascal!”So Ulenspiegel, making the best of his misfortune, returned to the farm with the wedding guests. And there he drank and sang and made merry, clinking many a glass with the damsel that was jealous. And at this Hans was glad, butnot so Tannekin, nor yet the youth that was betrothed to the damsel.At noon, while the sun shone down from a clear sky and a fresh breeze was blowing, the wedding carriages started off. They were decorated with flowers and every kind of greenery, with flags flying, and drums and fifes, bagpipes and shawms playing most joyfully.Now it happened that in the camp of the Duke of Alba there was another fête in progress; and the sentries of the guard, having sounded the alarm, ran to the Duke, crying:“The enemy is at hand. We have heard the noise of drums and fifes, and we have seen their banners in the distance. There is a strong force of cavalry that is hoping to draw you into some ambush. The main body, doubtless, is not far off.”The Duke at once sent to warn the colonels and captains, and himself ordered the army to be massed in battle array, and dispatched certain scouting parties on reconnaissance.Then it was that there came on the scene the four carriages, making straight for the Duke’s gunners. And in the chariots were none but men and women dancing and drinking and playing most joyously on fifes and drums and bagpipes and shawms. And wondrous was the din that came from all those instruments.The Mock MarriageThe Mock MarriageWhen the procession had been brought to a halt, the Duke himself came up, attracted by the noise, and he saw the newly married bride where she stood in one of the four chariots; and beside her was Ulenspiegel, the bridegroom, covered with flowers; and all the other peasants, both men and women, who had by now got down from the chariots and were dancing all round them and offering drink to the soldiers.The Duke and his friends were much astonished at the simplicity of these peasants who sang and made merry when all around them was an army ready to do battle.And now they that remained in the chariots were giving all the wine to the soldiers, and they in their turn werefêted by them and made much of; till at last, when the wine began to run out, the peasants continued on their way again. The drums and fifes and bagpipes struck up once more and the cavalcade moved off without any let or hindrance. And the soldiers, in high good humour, let off a volley from their guns in honour of the festal occasion.And thus they came to Maestricht, where Ulenspiegel took counsel with the agents of the Reformers as to the best way of sending ships loaded with arms and munitions to the assistance of the Prince’s fleet.And from there they went to Landen and to other places, disguised as working men.The Duke was not long in learning the trick that had been played on him, and there came into his hands a lampoon which was in circulation at the time, with this refrain:Bloody Duke,Silly Duke,Hast thou seen the Bride?And every time that the Duke made a mistake in his general-ship the soldiers would sing:The Duke he can’t see clearly;He has seen the Bride!

“Where are you going now?” said Lamme.

“To Maestricht,” answered Ulenspiegel.

“But stay, my son. I have heard that the army of the Duke is camped all round the city and that he himself is within. Our passports will be of no use to us there. Even if they satisfy the Spanish soldiers, we shall still be arrested in the city and put through an examination. And in themeantime they will become aware of the death of the evangelists and our days on this earth will be numbered.”

To this Ulenspiegel made answer:

“The crows and the owls and the vultures will make short work of their repast. Already no doubt the dead bodies have become unrecognizable. As for our passports, there is no reason why they should not remain effective. But if the murder of the evangelists becomes known we should be arrested as you say. Nevertheless, whatever happens we shall have to go to Maestricht and pass through Landen on the way.”

“We shall be captured,” said Lamme.

“We shall get through,” answered Ulenspiegel.

Conversing in this wise they came to the inn ofLa Pie, where they found a good supper awaiting them, and good quarters for the night, both for themselves and for the donkeys; and on the morrow they took the road again for Landen.

Not far from that town they came to a large farm. There Ulenspiegel whistled like a lark, and from the interior came the sound of a warlike cockcrow in answer. After that a jolly-looking farmer appeared at the door of the farmhouse, and greeted them as friends and good Beggarmen, and bade them welcome.

“Who is this man?” Lamme inquired.

“His name is Thomas Utenhove,” said Ulenspiegel, “and he is a valiant Protestant. The man-servants and maid-servants that work on the farm are fellows with him in the cause of freedom of conscience.”

Then Utenhove said:

“You are the envoys of the Prince? Come in then, eat and drink with me.”

And the ham was crackling in the frying-pan, the sausages likewise, and the wine flowed and the glasses were filled again. And Lamme drank like dry sand, and ate his fill. And the boys and girls of the farm came one after anotherand thrust their noses into the half-open door to gaze on him as he worked away so hard. But the men were jealous, saying that they also would be able to eat and drink as bravely if they had the chance.

When all was finished, Thomas Utenhove said:

“One hundred of our peasants will be leaving us this week under pretext of going to work on the dikes at Bruges and thereabouts. They will be setting out in small bands of five or six at a time, and all by different routes. At Bruges they will find certain barges waiting for them to take them by sea to Emden.”

“Will these men be provided with arms and with money?” inquired Ulenspiegel.

“Each man will carry ten florins and a heavy cutlass.”

“God and the Prince will reward you,” said Ulenspiegel.

“But tell me,” said the farmer, “is Edzard, Count of Frise, still friendly to the Prince?”

“He feigns not to be,” answered Ulenspiegel. “Nevertheless, he is giving harbourage all the time to the Prince’s ships at Emden.” And then he added: “We are on the way to Maestricht.”

“You cannot go there,” said the farmer. “The Duke’s army is camped in front of the town and all round it.”

With that he conducted his visitors up into the loft, whence they could see the standards of enemy cavalry and infantry moving about in the distance over the plain.

Ulenspiegel said:

“I have a plan to get through, if only they who have authority in this place would give me leave to get married. But for wife I should need a sweet and a gentle and comely lass who would be willing to marry me—if not for always, then for a week at least.”

Lamme gasped with astonishment.

“Don’t do it, my son,” he cried. “She will only leave you, and then, all alone, you will burn with the fire of love; andthe bed where now you sleep so sweetly will seem to you nothing better than a bed of prickly holly leaves, and gentle sleep will shun you for evermore.”

“Still I must marry,” replied Ulenspiegel. And then to Thomas Utenhove: “Come now, find me a wife; rich or poor, I don’t care which! And I will take her to church, and our marriage shall be blessed by the priest. And he shall give us our marriage lines. Though, to be sure, we shall not hold them valid as being given by the hand of a Papist and an Inquisitor. Nevertheless they will be good enough for our purpose, and we will prepare ourselves, as is the custom, for our wedding trip.”

“But what about the wife?”

“That’s your look-out,” answered Ulenspiegel. “But when you have found her I shall take two wagons and decorate them with wreaths of fir branches and holly and paper flowers, and in the wagons themselves I shall dispose the men whom you wish to be conveyed to the Prince of Orange.”

“But your wife?” persisted Thomas Utenhove. “Where will you find her?”

“Here, I doubt not,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And then I shall harness two of your own horses to one of the wagons, and our two donkeys to the other. In the first wagon will ride my wife and myself, together with my friend Lamme here, and the witnesses of our nuptials. In the second wagon will follow the musicians, the players upon the drum, the fife, and the shawm. And then, with all our joyous wedding-flags a-flying, and with music playing, and we ourselves singing and drinking each other’s healths, we shall ride along at the trot by the high road that leads to theGalgen-veld—the Field of the Gallows—which for us indeed will be the Field of Liberty.”

“I will do all in my power to help you,” said Thomas Utenhove, “but the women and girls will want to follow their men-folk.”

“We will go where God wills,” said a pretty-looking girl who had thrust in her head at the half-opened door.

“You can have four wagons if need be,” said Thomas Utenhove, “and by that means we should be able to convey as many as five-and-twenty men.”

“The Duke will be nicely fooled,” said Ulenspiegel.

“And the Prince’s fleet will gain the service of some fine soldiers,” added Thomas Utenhove.

Then he caused a bell to be rung to summon his footman and his servants, and when they were all assembled he said to them:

“All you that are from the land of Zeeland, women as well as men, listen now to me. Ulenspiegel, who is hither come from Flanders, has a plan to convey you through the enemy’s lines, disguised as the followers in a wedding procession.”

And thereat the men and women of Zeeland cried out with one accord:

“We are ready, even unto the death!”

And the men said one to another:

“What joy it will be to exchange this land of slavery for the freedom of the sea!”

And the women and girls said likewise:

“Let us follow our husbands and our lovers; we belong to Zeeland and there we shall find asile!”

Now Ulenspiegel had noticed a young and pretty maid, and he addressed her jokingly:

“I would you were my wife!”

But she blushed and answered him:

“I would have thee for my husband—but at the church only, remember!”

The women laughed and said among themselves:

“She is in love with Hans Utenhove, the master’s son. He will go along with her, doubtless.”

“You say truly,” Hans replied.

And his father said:

“You have my permission.”

Then all the men put on their best clothes, their doublets and hose of velvet, and the greatopperst-kleedover all. As for the women, they wore black petticoats and pleated shoes. Round their necks they wore a white ruff, their bodices were embroidered in gold, scarlet, and blue; their skirts were of black wool with broad stripes of black velvet thereon, and their stockings were of black wool, and their shoes of velvet with silver buckles.

Thereupon Thomas Utenhove went to the church and put into the hands of the priest a couple ofrycksdaelders, asking him at the same time to join in marriage Thylbert the son of Claes (that is Ulenspiegel) and Tannekin Pieters. And this the curé consented to do.

Ulenspiegel then went to church, followed by the wedding procession. And there, in the presence of the priest, Tannekin was made his wife.

And she looked so pretty and so sweet, so complaisant and so tender, that right willingly would he have eaten her up as she had been a ripe apple of love. And he told her so, not daring to do more for the respect he felt for her gentle loveliness. But she pouted her lips, and bade him leave her alone, for that Hans was watching him and would kill him without a doubt.

And a certain damsel was jealous, and said to Ulenspiegel:

“Seek elsewhere for a lover. Do you not see that she is afraid of her own man?”

Lamme clapped his hands together and cried:

“You cannot have them all, you rascal!”

So Ulenspiegel, making the best of his misfortune, returned to the farm with the wedding guests. And there he drank and sang and made merry, clinking many a glass with the damsel that was jealous. And at this Hans was glad, butnot so Tannekin, nor yet the youth that was betrothed to the damsel.

At noon, while the sun shone down from a clear sky and a fresh breeze was blowing, the wedding carriages started off. They were decorated with flowers and every kind of greenery, with flags flying, and drums and fifes, bagpipes and shawms playing most joyfully.

Now it happened that in the camp of the Duke of Alba there was another fête in progress; and the sentries of the guard, having sounded the alarm, ran to the Duke, crying:

“The enemy is at hand. We have heard the noise of drums and fifes, and we have seen their banners in the distance. There is a strong force of cavalry that is hoping to draw you into some ambush. The main body, doubtless, is not far off.”

The Duke at once sent to warn the colonels and captains, and himself ordered the army to be massed in battle array, and dispatched certain scouting parties on reconnaissance.

Then it was that there came on the scene the four carriages, making straight for the Duke’s gunners. And in the chariots were none but men and women dancing and drinking and playing most joyously on fifes and drums and bagpipes and shawms. And wondrous was the din that came from all those instruments.

The Mock MarriageThe Mock Marriage

The Mock Marriage

When the procession had been brought to a halt, the Duke himself came up, attracted by the noise, and he saw the newly married bride where she stood in one of the four chariots; and beside her was Ulenspiegel, the bridegroom, covered with flowers; and all the other peasants, both men and women, who had by now got down from the chariots and were dancing all round them and offering drink to the soldiers.

The Duke and his friends were much astonished at the simplicity of these peasants who sang and made merry when all around them was an army ready to do battle.

And now they that remained in the chariots were giving all the wine to the soldiers, and they in their turn werefêted by them and made much of; till at last, when the wine began to run out, the peasants continued on their way again. The drums and fifes and bagpipes struck up once more and the cavalcade moved off without any let or hindrance. And the soldiers, in high good humour, let off a volley from their guns in honour of the festal occasion.

And thus they came to Maestricht, where Ulenspiegel took counsel with the agents of the Reformers as to the best way of sending ships loaded with arms and munitions to the assistance of the Prince’s fleet.

And from there they went to Landen and to other places, disguised as working men.

The Duke was not long in learning the trick that had been played on him, and there came into his hands a lampoon which was in circulation at the time, with this refrain:

Bloody Duke,Silly Duke,Hast thou seen the Bride?

Bloody Duke,

Silly Duke,

Hast thou seen the Bride?

And every time that the Duke made a mistake in his general-ship the soldiers would sing:

The Duke he can’t see clearly;He has seen the Bride!

The Duke he can’t see clearly;

He has seen the Bride!

XXIINow in those days the Duke divided his army into two parts, one of which he ordered to march towards the Duchy of Luxemburg and the other to the Marquisate of Namur.“These tactics of the military are all one to me,” said Ulenspiegel to Lamme, “let us go on our way with confidence.”They were walking along the banks of the Meuse, near the town of Maestricht, and Lamme saw that Ulenspiegel gazed attentively at all the boats that were sailing on the river. Suddenly he came to a stand before one of theseboats upon whose prow was carved the figure of a mermaid. And the mermaid carried a shield and on it in gold upon a black ground were blazoned the letters J.H.S., being the monogram of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Ulenspiegel signed to Lamme that he should stand still, and then he began to sing like a lark most joyously.A man appeared on the boat and began to crow like a cock. At this Ulenspiegel set up a noise like a donkey’s bray, which the man immediately echoed with interest. And the two donkeys of Lamme and Ulenspiegel lay back their ears and joined in the chorus with their own natural voices. Sundry women and men were passing along that way, the latter riding on the backs of the horses which were tugging the barges along the tow-path. And Ulenspiegel said to Lamme:“This boatman is making mock of us and our good steeds. What do you say to going and attacking him on his boat?”“Let us rather entice him over to the bank,” replied Lamme.But a woman who happened to be passing at the moment said:“If you don’t want to come back with your arms cut off, your backs broken, and your noses in pieces, let me advise you to let this Stercke Pier bray at his ease.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman.“Let him sing,” continued the woman. “Only the other day he showed us how he could lift on his shoulders a truck of heavy barrels of beer, and hold back yet another truck that was being dragged forwards by a strong horse. And at the inn there”—and as she spoke she pointed to the tavern of theBlauwe Torre—“it was there one day that he threw his knife at a plank of oak-wood twelve inches thick and pierced it at a distance of twenty paces!”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman, and now he was joined by a youngster of twelve or so, whoclimbed on to the bridge of the boat, and began to bray in like manner.But Ulenspiegel answered the woman:“He’s nothing to us, your Peter the Strong! For however strong he is, we are stronger! See my friend Lamme here. He could eat up two men like that without so much as a hiccup!”“What’s this you’re saying, my son?” demanded Lamme.“The truth,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And do not let your modesty contradict me. For of a truth, good people, women and working men of Maestricht, I tell you that before long you shall see my friend here belabouring and beating to nothing this famous Stercke Pier of yours!”“Be quiet,” said Lamme.“Your strength is famous far and wide,” answered Ulenspiegel. “You cannot conceal it.”“Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Ee—aw!” went the boy.Suddenly Ulenspiegel began again to sing like a lark very melodiously, and the men and women and workmen standing by were enchanted, and began to ask him where he had learnt the art of whistling so divinely.“In Paradise,” answered Ulenspiegel, “whence I come.” Then he addressed himself to the boatman, who was still continuing his braying and mocking:“Why do you stay there on your boat, you good-for-nothing? Haven’t you the courage to come and jeer at us and our steeds from the dry land?”“Haven’t you the courage forthat?” said Lamme.“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Come, my good bray-masters, come up rather into my boat.”Then Ulenspiegel whispered to Lamme to do exactly as he did. But to the boatman he said aloud:“If you are Stercke Pier, I am Tyl Ulenspiegel. And these two here are our donkeys, Jef and Jan, and they know how tobray better than you do, for that is their natural way of talking. As for coming on to your leaky decks, it is the last thing we wish to do. Your boat is like a tub, and each time that a wave comes along it shivers, and it knows no other way of walking save sideways-on like a crab.”“Yes, like a crab!” said Lamme.To which the boatman made answer:“What are you croaking there between your teeth, great block of fat?At this Lamme fell into a rage, crying:“You are no Christian to make mock of my infirmity. My fat is my own, let me tell you, and is the result of the good food I eat, whereas you, old bag of bones that you are, you have never lived upon aught better than smoked herrings and old candle-wicks if one may judge anything from the lean flesh that shows through the tears in your measly hose.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” cried the boatman, and Lamme would have got down from his donkey to collect stones to throw at him had not Ulenspiegel said him nay.The boatman now began to whisper something into the ear of the lad who was still “ee—awing” at his side, and a moment later the lad unfastened a little boat which lay by the side of the big one, and with the end of the boat-hook shoved himself cleverly off towards the river-bank. When the boy was quite close to the bank he drew himself up proudly and threw down this challenge:“My master wants to know if you will have the courage to come on to his boat and join with him in a battle of fist and feet. And these good men and women shall be the arbiters.”“Certainly,” said Ulenspiegel in a dignified tone of voice.“We accept the challenge,” said Lamme haughtily.It was midday. The workmen who laboured on the dike and the road-menders and the builders of ships were about to take their repast of beans and boiled beef which had been brought them by their women-folk or their children. Allthese, then, who stood around began to laugh and to clap their hands at the prospect of a fight, looking forward with joy to the chance of seeing the head of one of the combatants broken, or his body thrown in pieces into the river.“My son,” said Lamme under his breath, “the boatman will assuredly throw us into the water.”“Let him throw you in if he wants to,” said Ulenspiegel.“The big one is afraid,” said the crowd of workmen.Lamme, who was still sitting his donkey, turned round and gave them a look of anger, but they jeered at him the more.“Come on,” said Lamme. “Let us to the boat, and then they shall see if I am afraid.”At these words the jeers broke out again, and Ulenspiegel said:“Come, let us to the boat!”When, therefore, they had dismounted from their donkeys they threw the bridles to the boatman’s lad, who caressed the animals in friendly wise and led them to a place where he saw some thistles growing. At the same time Ulenspiegel seized hold of the boat-hook, made Lamme get into the skiff, and then steered straight for the big boat. There he mounted on to the deck by the help of a rope, and Lamme climbed up in front of him, puffing and blowing.Arrived on the bridge of the boat, Ulenspiegel leant down as if to lace up his boots, and at the same time he spoke a word into the boatman’s ear, who straightway laughed and gave Lamme a curious look. Then he began to roar out at him every kind of insult, calling him worthless rogue, a man bloated with vicious fat, prison-bred,pap-eter, and at the same time inquiring of him how many tons of oil they gave him when he was bled.All of a sudden, without waiting to reply, Lamme threw himself like a mad bull upon the boatman, knocked him down, and began to beat him with all his might. The boatman, however, did not receive much injury, forasmuch as Lamme’sarms were but weak on account of their fatness. And the boatman suffered himself to be thus dealt with despite the fact that he was making a great pretence at resistance all the time. And the men and women who were watching the battle from the bank were astonished, and exclaimed to each other: “Who would have thought that this fat man could be so fiery!”And they clapped their hands while Lamme continued to belabour the boatman most unmercifully. But the latter took care only to protect his face. Suddenly Lamme was seen to be kneeling upon the breast of Stercke Pier, with one hand on his adversary’s throat, and the other raised to strike.“Cry for mercy,” he said furiously, “or else I shall make you pass through the planks of your tub.”At this the boatman began to cough, thereby signifying that he could not speak, and demanded mercy with a sign of his hand.Then Lamme was seen to pick up his adversary in a most generous manner, who thereupon, standing upright and turning his back towards the onlookers, put out his tongue at Ulenspiegel. Now the latter was rocking with laughter to see Lamme shaking the feather on his cap so proudly and walking about in triumph upon the deck of the boat.And the men and women, boys and girls, who were watching from the bank applauded their loudest and cried out: “Long live the conqueror of Stercke Pier! He is a man of iron! Did you see how he cuffed him with his fist, and how he threw him down on his back with a blow of his hand? But see, they are now about to drink together to make the peace! Stercke Pier is coming up from the hold with wine and sausages!” And in very truth, Stercke Pier might now have been seen coming on deck with two tankards and a quart of white Meuse wine. And Lamme and the boatman made their peace. After which Lamme asked his new friendwhat sort of fricassees they were that were being cooked in the hold of the ship; for at one end of the deck was a chimney whence rose a column of thick black smoke. And the boatman made answer:“Since you are men of valiant heart, knowing well the song of the lark, the bird of freedom, and the warlike clarion of the cock, and the bray of the ass withal, come you with me and I will show you my kitchen.”And so saying he led the way into the hold, where, removing certain planks from the floor, he disclosed some mighty piles of gun-barrels, together with a quantity of iron lances, halberds, sword-blades, and a great heap of powder and shot.“Where shall I take them?” he asked.“To Emden, through the North Sea,” said Ulenspiegel, “good Beggarman that you are!”“The sea is big,” said the boatman.“Big for battle,” said Ulenspiegel.“God is with us,” said the boatman.“Who then can be against us?” cried Ulenspiegel.And when they had thus spoken, the boatman conducted Lamme and Ulenspiegel on deck, with many words of cheer and good counsel. Then they rowed to the bank, where they mounted again upon their donkeys and set off towards Liége.“My son,” said Lamme whilst they were ambling gently along, “pray tell me why did that man, strong as he was, allow himself to be beaten by me so cruelly?”“To the end,” answered Ulenspiegel, “that wherever we go, the fear of your prowess may go before us. That indeed will prove a more powerful escort than twenty landsknechts. For who would dare to measure his strength with Lamme the mighty, Lamme the conqueror? Lamme the matchless bull among men, that overcame in the sight of all beholders the famous Stercke Pier—Peter the Strong—and threw him to the ground like a feather?”“You say well, my son,” said Lamme, drawing himself up in the saddle.“And I say what is true,” answered Ulenspiegel, “for did you not notice the faces that looked out so curiously from the houses on the outskirts of this village? They were pointing at the terrible figure of Lamme the Conqueror! And do you see these men who are gazing on you even now with such envy, and these sorry cowards who uncover as you pass? Answer to their salute, O Lamme, my sweet one, nor be disdainful of the populace. Behold, the very children know your name and whisper it with terror.”And Lamme passed along proudly, saluting right and left like a king. And the fame of his valour followed him from village to village and from town to town, as far as Liége, Chocquier, La Neuville, Vesin, and Namur, to which place, however, our travellers gave a wide berth because of the three evangelists. And so they wended along by the banks of river and canal, and everywhere the song of the lark answered the song of the cock. And wherever they went they found that in the sacred cause of Liberty weapons were being forged and armour furbished for the ships that stood by along the coast to carry away.Lamme the VictorLamme the VictorAnd Lamme, preceded everywhere by his glorious reputation, began himself to believe in his own prowess, and growing proud and warlike he let his beard grow too. And Ulenspiegel called him Lamme the Lion. But Lamme did not continue in this purpose longer than the fourth day, because the hairs of his beard began to tickle him. And he passed a razor over the surface of his victorious countenance, so that it appeared thereafter like his own face once more, round and full as the sun, ablaze with the flame of good nourishment. And thus they came at length to Harlebeke.

XXII

Now in those days the Duke divided his army into two parts, one of which he ordered to march towards the Duchy of Luxemburg and the other to the Marquisate of Namur.“These tactics of the military are all one to me,” said Ulenspiegel to Lamme, “let us go on our way with confidence.”They were walking along the banks of the Meuse, near the town of Maestricht, and Lamme saw that Ulenspiegel gazed attentively at all the boats that were sailing on the river. Suddenly he came to a stand before one of theseboats upon whose prow was carved the figure of a mermaid. And the mermaid carried a shield and on it in gold upon a black ground were blazoned the letters J.H.S., being the monogram of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Ulenspiegel signed to Lamme that he should stand still, and then he began to sing like a lark most joyously.A man appeared on the boat and began to crow like a cock. At this Ulenspiegel set up a noise like a donkey’s bray, which the man immediately echoed with interest. And the two donkeys of Lamme and Ulenspiegel lay back their ears and joined in the chorus with their own natural voices. Sundry women and men were passing along that way, the latter riding on the backs of the horses which were tugging the barges along the tow-path. And Ulenspiegel said to Lamme:“This boatman is making mock of us and our good steeds. What do you say to going and attacking him on his boat?”“Let us rather entice him over to the bank,” replied Lamme.But a woman who happened to be passing at the moment said:“If you don’t want to come back with your arms cut off, your backs broken, and your noses in pieces, let me advise you to let this Stercke Pier bray at his ease.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman.“Let him sing,” continued the woman. “Only the other day he showed us how he could lift on his shoulders a truck of heavy barrels of beer, and hold back yet another truck that was being dragged forwards by a strong horse. And at the inn there”—and as she spoke she pointed to the tavern of theBlauwe Torre—“it was there one day that he threw his knife at a plank of oak-wood twelve inches thick and pierced it at a distance of twenty paces!”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman, and now he was joined by a youngster of twelve or so, whoclimbed on to the bridge of the boat, and began to bray in like manner.But Ulenspiegel answered the woman:“He’s nothing to us, your Peter the Strong! For however strong he is, we are stronger! See my friend Lamme here. He could eat up two men like that without so much as a hiccup!”“What’s this you’re saying, my son?” demanded Lamme.“The truth,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And do not let your modesty contradict me. For of a truth, good people, women and working men of Maestricht, I tell you that before long you shall see my friend here belabouring and beating to nothing this famous Stercke Pier of yours!”“Be quiet,” said Lamme.“Your strength is famous far and wide,” answered Ulenspiegel. “You cannot conceal it.”“Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Ee—aw!” went the boy.Suddenly Ulenspiegel began again to sing like a lark very melodiously, and the men and women and workmen standing by were enchanted, and began to ask him where he had learnt the art of whistling so divinely.“In Paradise,” answered Ulenspiegel, “whence I come.” Then he addressed himself to the boatman, who was still continuing his braying and mocking:“Why do you stay there on your boat, you good-for-nothing? Haven’t you the courage to come and jeer at us and our steeds from the dry land?”“Haven’t you the courage forthat?” said Lamme.“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Come, my good bray-masters, come up rather into my boat.”Then Ulenspiegel whispered to Lamme to do exactly as he did. But to the boatman he said aloud:“If you are Stercke Pier, I am Tyl Ulenspiegel. And these two here are our donkeys, Jef and Jan, and they know how tobray better than you do, for that is their natural way of talking. As for coming on to your leaky decks, it is the last thing we wish to do. Your boat is like a tub, and each time that a wave comes along it shivers, and it knows no other way of walking save sideways-on like a crab.”“Yes, like a crab!” said Lamme.To which the boatman made answer:“What are you croaking there between your teeth, great block of fat?At this Lamme fell into a rage, crying:“You are no Christian to make mock of my infirmity. My fat is my own, let me tell you, and is the result of the good food I eat, whereas you, old bag of bones that you are, you have never lived upon aught better than smoked herrings and old candle-wicks if one may judge anything from the lean flesh that shows through the tears in your measly hose.”“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” cried the boatman, and Lamme would have got down from his donkey to collect stones to throw at him had not Ulenspiegel said him nay.The boatman now began to whisper something into the ear of the lad who was still “ee—awing” at his side, and a moment later the lad unfastened a little boat which lay by the side of the big one, and with the end of the boat-hook shoved himself cleverly off towards the river-bank. When the boy was quite close to the bank he drew himself up proudly and threw down this challenge:“My master wants to know if you will have the courage to come on to his boat and join with him in a battle of fist and feet. And these good men and women shall be the arbiters.”“Certainly,” said Ulenspiegel in a dignified tone of voice.“We accept the challenge,” said Lamme haughtily.It was midday. The workmen who laboured on the dike and the road-menders and the builders of ships were about to take their repast of beans and boiled beef which had been brought them by their women-folk or their children. Allthese, then, who stood around began to laugh and to clap their hands at the prospect of a fight, looking forward with joy to the chance of seeing the head of one of the combatants broken, or his body thrown in pieces into the river.“My son,” said Lamme under his breath, “the boatman will assuredly throw us into the water.”“Let him throw you in if he wants to,” said Ulenspiegel.“The big one is afraid,” said the crowd of workmen.Lamme, who was still sitting his donkey, turned round and gave them a look of anger, but they jeered at him the more.“Come on,” said Lamme. “Let us to the boat, and then they shall see if I am afraid.”At these words the jeers broke out again, and Ulenspiegel said:“Come, let us to the boat!”When, therefore, they had dismounted from their donkeys they threw the bridles to the boatman’s lad, who caressed the animals in friendly wise and led them to a place where he saw some thistles growing. At the same time Ulenspiegel seized hold of the boat-hook, made Lamme get into the skiff, and then steered straight for the big boat. There he mounted on to the deck by the help of a rope, and Lamme climbed up in front of him, puffing and blowing.Arrived on the bridge of the boat, Ulenspiegel leant down as if to lace up his boots, and at the same time he spoke a word into the boatman’s ear, who straightway laughed and gave Lamme a curious look. Then he began to roar out at him every kind of insult, calling him worthless rogue, a man bloated with vicious fat, prison-bred,pap-eter, and at the same time inquiring of him how many tons of oil they gave him when he was bled.All of a sudden, without waiting to reply, Lamme threw himself like a mad bull upon the boatman, knocked him down, and began to beat him with all his might. The boatman, however, did not receive much injury, forasmuch as Lamme’sarms were but weak on account of their fatness. And the boatman suffered himself to be thus dealt with despite the fact that he was making a great pretence at resistance all the time. And the men and women who were watching the battle from the bank were astonished, and exclaimed to each other: “Who would have thought that this fat man could be so fiery!”And they clapped their hands while Lamme continued to belabour the boatman most unmercifully. But the latter took care only to protect his face. Suddenly Lamme was seen to be kneeling upon the breast of Stercke Pier, with one hand on his adversary’s throat, and the other raised to strike.“Cry for mercy,” he said furiously, “or else I shall make you pass through the planks of your tub.”At this the boatman began to cough, thereby signifying that he could not speak, and demanded mercy with a sign of his hand.Then Lamme was seen to pick up his adversary in a most generous manner, who thereupon, standing upright and turning his back towards the onlookers, put out his tongue at Ulenspiegel. Now the latter was rocking with laughter to see Lamme shaking the feather on his cap so proudly and walking about in triumph upon the deck of the boat.And the men and women, boys and girls, who were watching from the bank applauded their loudest and cried out: “Long live the conqueror of Stercke Pier! He is a man of iron! Did you see how he cuffed him with his fist, and how he threw him down on his back with a blow of his hand? But see, they are now about to drink together to make the peace! Stercke Pier is coming up from the hold with wine and sausages!” And in very truth, Stercke Pier might now have been seen coming on deck with two tankards and a quart of white Meuse wine. And Lamme and the boatman made their peace. After which Lamme asked his new friendwhat sort of fricassees they were that were being cooked in the hold of the ship; for at one end of the deck was a chimney whence rose a column of thick black smoke. And the boatman made answer:“Since you are men of valiant heart, knowing well the song of the lark, the bird of freedom, and the warlike clarion of the cock, and the bray of the ass withal, come you with me and I will show you my kitchen.”And so saying he led the way into the hold, where, removing certain planks from the floor, he disclosed some mighty piles of gun-barrels, together with a quantity of iron lances, halberds, sword-blades, and a great heap of powder and shot.“Where shall I take them?” he asked.“To Emden, through the North Sea,” said Ulenspiegel, “good Beggarman that you are!”“The sea is big,” said the boatman.“Big for battle,” said Ulenspiegel.“God is with us,” said the boatman.“Who then can be against us?” cried Ulenspiegel.And when they had thus spoken, the boatman conducted Lamme and Ulenspiegel on deck, with many words of cheer and good counsel. Then they rowed to the bank, where they mounted again upon their donkeys and set off towards Liége.“My son,” said Lamme whilst they were ambling gently along, “pray tell me why did that man, strong as he was, allow himself to be beaten by me so cruelly?”“To the end,” answered Ulenspiegel, “that wherever we go, the fear of your prowess may go before us. That indeed will prove a more powerful escort than twenty landsknechts. For who would dare to measure his strength with Lamme the mighty, Lamme the conqueror? Lamme the matchless bull among men, that overcame in the sight of all beholders the famous Stercke Pier—Peter the Strong—and threw him to the ground like a feather?”“You say well, my son,” said Lamme, drawing himself up in the saddle.“And I say what is true,” answered Ulenspiegel, “for did you not notice the faces that looked out so curiously from the houses on the outskirts of this village? They were pointing at the terrible figure of Lamme the Conqueror! And do you see these men who are gazing on you even now with such envy, and these sorry cowards who uncover as you pass? Answer to their salute, O Lamme, my sweet one, nor be disdainful of the populace. Behold, the very children know your name and whisper it with terror.”And Lamme passed along proudly, saluting right and left like a king. And the fame of his valour followed him from village to village and from town to town, as far as Liége, Chocquier, La Neuville, Vesin, and Namur, to which place, however, our travellers gave a wide berth because of the three evangelists. And so they wended along by the banks of river and canal, and everywhere the song of the lark answered the song of the cock. And wherever they went they found that in the sacred cause of Liberty weapons were being forged and armour furbished for the ships that stood by along the coast to carry away.Lamme the VictorLamme the VictorAnd Lamme, preceded everywhere by his glorious reputation, began himself to believe in his own prowess, and growing proud and warlike he let his beard grow too. And Ulenspiegel called him Lamme the Lion. But Lamme did not continue in this purpose longer than the fourth day, because the hairs of his beard began to tickle him. And he passed a razor over the surface of his victorious countenance, so that it appeared thereafter like his own face once more, round and full as the sun, ablaze with the flame of good nourishment. And thus they came at length to Harlebeke.

Now in those days the Duke divided his army into two parts, one of which he ordered to march towards the Duchy of Luxemburg and the other to the Marquisate of Namur.

“These tactics of the military are all one to me,” said Ulenspiegel to Lamme, “let us go on our way with confidence.”

They were walking along the banks of the Meuse, near the town of Maestricht, and Lamme saw that Ulenspiegel gazed attentively at all the boats that were sailing on the river. Suddenly he came to a stand before one of theseboats upon whose prow was carved the figure of a mermaid. And the mermaid carried a shield and on it in gold upon a black ground were blazoned the letters J.H.S., being the monogram of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Ulenspiegel signed to Lamme that he should stand still, and then he began to sing like a lark most joyously.

A man appeared on the boat and began to crow like a cock. At this Ulenspiegel set up a noise like a donkey’s bray, which the man immediately echoed with interest. And the two donkeys of Lamme and Ulenspiegel lay back their ears and joined in the chorus with their own natural voices. Sundry women and men were passing along that way, the latter riding on the backs of the horses which were tugging the barges along the tow-path. And Ulenspiegel said to Lamme:

“This boatman is making mock of us and our good steeds. What do you say to going and attacking him on his boat?”

“Let us rather entice him over to the bank,” replied Lamme.

But a woman who happened to be passing at the moment said:

“If you don’t want to come back with your arms cut off, your backs broken, and your noses in pieces, let me advise you to let this Stercke Pier bray at his ease.”

“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman.

“Let him sing,” continued the woman. “Only the other day he showed us how he could lift on his shoulders a truck of heavy barrels of beer, and hold back yet another truck that was being dragged forwards by a strong horse. And at the inn there”—and as she spoke she pointed to the tavern of theBlauwe Torre—“it was there one day that he threw his knife at a plank of oak-wood twelve inches thick and pierced it at a distance of twenty paces!”

“Ee—aw! Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman, and now he was joined by a youngster of twelve or so, whoclimbed on to the bridge of the boat, and began to bray in like manner.

But Ulenspiegel answered the woman:

“He’s nothing to us, your Peter the Strong! For however strong he is, we are stronger! See my friend Lamme here. He could eat up two men like that without so much as a hiccup!”

“What’s this you’re saying, my son?” demanded Lamme.

“The truth,” answered Ulenspiegel. “And do not let your modesty contradict me. For of a truth, good people, women and working men of Maestricht, I tell you that before long you shall see my friend here belabouring and beating to nothing this famous Stercke Pier of yours!”

“Be quiet,” said Lamme.

“Your strength is famous far and wide,” answered Ulenspiegel. “You cannot conceal it.”

“Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Ee—aw!” went the boy.

Suddenly Ulenspiegel began again to sing like a lark very melodiously, and the men and women and workmen standing by were enchanted, and began to ask him where he had learnt the art of whistling so divinely.

“In Paradise,” answered Ulenspiegel, “whence I come.” Then he addressed himself to the boatman, who was still continuing his braying and mocking:

“Why do you stay there on your boat, you good-for-nothing? Haven’t you the courage to come and jeer at us and our steeds from the dry land?”

“Haven’t you the courage forthat?” said Lamme.

“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” went the boatman. “Come, my good bray-masters, come up rather into my boat.”

Then Ulenspiegel whispered to Lamme to do exactly as he did. But to the boatman he said aloud:

“If you are Stercke Pier, I am Tyl Ulenspiegel. And these two here are our donkeys, Jef and Jan, and they know how tobray better than you do, for that is their natural way of talking. As for coming on to your leaky decks, it is the last thing we wish to do. Your boat is like a tub, and each time that a wave comes along it shivers, and it knows no other way of walking save sideways-on like a crab.”

“Yes, like a crab!” said Lamme.

To which the boatman made answer:

“What are you croaking there between your teeth, great block of fat?

At this Lamme fell into a rage, crying:

“You are no Christian to make mock of my infirmity. My fat is my own, let me tell you, and is the result of the good food I eat, whereas you, old bag of bones that you are, you have never lived upon aught better than smoked herrings and old candle-wicks if one may judge anything from the lean flesh that shows through the tears in your measly hose.”

“Ee—aw! Ee—aw!” cried the boatman, and Lamme would have got down from his donkey to collect stones to throw at him had not Ulenspiegel said him nay.

The boatman now began to whisper something into the ear of the lad who was still “ee—awing” at his side, and a moment later the lad unfastened a little boat which lay by the side of the big one, and with the end of the boat-hook shoved himself cleverly off towards the river-bank. When the boy was quite close to the bank he drew himself up proudly and threw down this challenge:

“My master wants to know if you will have the courage to come on to his boat and join with him in a battle of fist and feet. And these good men and women shall be the arbiters.”

“Certainly,” said Ulenspiegel in a dignified tone of voice.

“We accept the challenge,” said Lamme haughtily.

It was midday. The workmen who laboured on the dike and the road-menders and the builders of ships were about to take their repast of beans and boiled beef which had been brought them by their women-folk or their children. Allthese, then, who stood around began to laugh and to clap their hands at the prospect of a fight, looking forward with joy to the chance of seeing the head of one of the combatants broken, or his body thrown in pieces into the river.

“My son,” said Lamme under his breath, “the boatman will assuredly throw us into the water.”

“Let him throw you in if he wants to,” said Ulenspiegel.

“The big one is afraid,” said the crowd of workmen.

Lamme, who was still sitting his donkey, turned round and gave them a look of anger, but they jeered at him the more.

“Come on,” said Lamme. “Let us to the boat, and then they shall see if I am afraid.”

At these words the jeers broke out again, and Ulenspiegel said:

“Come, let us to the boat!”

When, therefore, they had dismounted from their donkeys they threw the bridles to the boatman’s lad, who caressed the animals in friendly wise and led them to a place where he saw some thistles growing. At the same time Ulenspiegel seized hold of the boat-hook, made Lamme get into the skiff, and then steered straight for the big boat. There he mounted on to the deck by the help of a rope, and Lamme climbed up in front of him, puffing and blowing.

Arrived on the bridge of the boat, Ulenspiegel leant down as if to lace up his boots, and at the same time he spoke a word into the boatman’s ear, who straightway laughed and gave Lamme a curious look. Then he began to roar out at him every kind of insult, calling him worthless rogue, a man bloated with vicious fat, prison-bred,pap-eter, and at the same time inquiring of him how many tons of oil they gave him when he was bled.

All of a sudden, without waiting to reply, Lamme threw himself like a mad bull upon the boatman, knocked him down, and began to beat him with all his might. The boatman, however, did not receive much injury, forasmuch as Lamme’sarms were but weak on account of their fatness. And the boatman suffered himself to be thus dealt with despite the fact that he was making a great pretence at resistance all the time. And the men and women who were watching the battle from the bank were astonished, and exclaimed to each other: “Who would have thought that this fat man could be so fiery!”

And they clapped their hands while Lamme continued to belabour the boatman most unmercifully. But the latter took care only to protect his face. Suddenly Lamme was seen to be kneeling upon the breast of Stercke Pier, with one hand on his adversary’s throat, and the other raised to strike.

“Cry for mercy,” he said furiously, “or else I shall make you pass through the planks of your tub.”

At this the boatman began to cough, thereby signifying that he could not speak, and demanded mercy with a sign of his hand.

Then Lamme was seen to pick up his adversary in a most generous manner, who thereupon, standing upright and turning his back towards the onlookers, put out his tongue at Ulenspiegel. Now the latter was rocking with laughter to see Lamme shaking the feather on his cap so proudly and walking about in triumph upon the deck of the boat.

And the men and women, boys and girls, who were watching from the bank applauded their loudest and cried out: “Long live the conqueror of Stercke Pier! He is a man of iron! Did you see how he cuffed him with his fist, and how he threw him down on his back with a blow of his hand? But see, they are now about to drink together to make the peace! Stercke Pier is coming up from the hold with wine and sausages!” And in very truth, Stercke Pier might now have been seen coming on deck with two tankards and a quart of white Meuse wine. And Lamme and the boatman made their peace. After which Lamme asked his new friendwhat sort of fricassees they were that were being cooked in the hold of the ship; for at one end of the deck was a chimney whence rose a column of thick black smoke. And the boatman made answer:

“Since you are men of valiant heart, knowing well the song of the lark, the bird of freedom, and the warlike clarion of the cock, and the bray of the ass withal, come you with me and I will show you my kitchen.”

And so saying he led the way into the hold, where, removing certain planks from the floor, he disclosed some mighty piles of gun-barrels, together with a quantity of iron lances, halberds, sword-blades, and a great heap of powder and shot.

“Where shall I take them?” he asked.

“To Emden, through the North Sea,” said Ulenspiegel, “good Beggarman that you are!”

“The sea is big,” said the boatman.

“Big for battle,” said Ulenspiegel.

“God is with us,” said the boatman.

“Who then can be against us?” cried Ulenspiegel.

And when they had thus spoken, the boatman conducted Lamme and Ulenspiegel on deck, with many words of cheer and good counsel. Then they rowed to the bank, where they mounted again upon their donkeys and set off towards Liége.

“My son,” said Lamme whilst they were ambling gently along, “pray tell me why did that man, strong as he was, allow himself to be beaten by me so cruelly?”

“To the end,” answered Ulenspiegel, “that wherever we go, the fear of your prowess may go before us. That indeed will prove a more powerful escort than twenty landsknechts. For who would dare to measure his strength with Lamme the mighty, Lamme the conqueror? Lamme the matchless bull among men, that overcame in the sight of all beholders the famous Stercke Pier—Peter the Strong—and threw him to the ground like a feather?”

“You say well, my son,” said Lamme, drawing himself up in the saddle.

“And I say what is true,” answered Ulenspiegel, “for did you not notice the faces that looked out so curiously from the houses on the outskirts of this village? They were pointing at the terrible figure of Lamme the Conqueror! And do you see these men who are gazing on you even now with such envy, and these sorry cowards who uncover as you pass? Answer to their salute, O Lamme, my sweet one, nor be disdainful of the populace. Behold, the very children know your name and whisper it with terror.”

And Lamme passed along proudly, saluting right and left like a king. And the fame of his valour followed him from village to village and from town to town, as far as Liége, Chocquier, La Neuville, Vesin, and Namur, to which place, however, our travellers gave a wide berth because of the three evangelists. And so they wended along by the banks of river and canal, and everywhere the song of the lark answered the song of the cock. And wherever they went they found that in the sacred cause of Liberty weapons were being forged and armour furbished for the ships that stood by along the coast to carry away.

Lamme the VictorLamme the Victor

Lamme the Victor

And Lamme, preceded everywhere by his glorious reputation, began himself to believe in his own prowess, and growing proud and warlike he let his beard grow too. And Ulenspiegel called him Lamme the Lion. But Lamme did not continue in this purpose longer than the fourth day, because the hairs of his beard began to tickle him. And he passed a razor over the surface of his victorious countenance, so that it appeared thereafter like his own face once more, round and full as the sun, ablaze with the flame of good nourishment. And thus they came at length to Harlebeke.

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