Tyl Ulenspiegel

“ And the will-o’-the-wisps would oftentimes spring forth from the polders, and run along the dikes, and then return again to the polders, as though unwilling to leave the bodies whence they had come.
One night Nele said to Ulenspiegel:
“Behold how many spirits there are in Dreiveland, and how high they fly! Over there by the Isle of Birds they seem to crowd the thickest. Will you come with me there one night, Tyl? We would take with us the balm that can show us things invisible to mortal eyes.” ”

“ This satchel she offered to Tyl, saying:
“I thought it was unwholesome, Tyl, that a man should go on a journey without a good fat goose, and a ham, and some Ghent sausages. So take them, and when you eat of them think of me.”
While Ulenspiegel stood gazing at Nele, quite oblivious of the satchel which she was holding out to him, Lamme poked out his head from another hole in the hood, and began to address the girl in his turn.
“O girl most wise,” he said, “O girl most prudent, if he refuses such a gift it must be from pure absence of mind. ”

“ And all around them danced the will-o’-the-wisps most joyously. And thereafter did Ulenspiegel and Nele begin to hear a thousand voices as of hidden men and women, that spake with a sonorous, clicking sound, like that of castanets, and thus sang they:
When over the earth and over the sea
These Seven transformed shall reign,
Mortals lift up your heads again,
For happy the world shall be!
And Ulenspiegel said: “These spirits are making mock of us.” ”

“ Ulenspiegel and Lamme had come to Heyst-on-the-Dunes, and behold a fleet of fishing-boats that were come hither from Ostend and from Blankenberghe and Knokke. Filled they were with men-at-arms, the followers of the Beggarmen of Zeeland, who carried on their hats a silver crescent with this inscription: “Serve rather the Turk than the Pope.”
Ulenspiegel is glad; he whistles like the lark and from every side there comes to answer him the warlike cockcrow. ”

“ While Ulenspiegel himself is now not simply the type of young high spirits and animal good humour, but a being as complex, as many-sided almost as humanity—all brightness of intellect, all warmth of heart, all honour, and all dream—the immortal Spirit of Flanders that knows not what it is to be beaten, whose last song must for ever remain unsung. ”

“ But Ulenspiegel answered: “The ashes of Claes beat upon my breast.”
“Ah!” said Mathyssen, “there lives a man who is sadder even than you are—Grypstuiver the fishmonger. None speaks to him, and all avoid him, so much so that when he wants his pint of bruinbier he is forced to go out all alone to the poor folk of the Roode Valck. Verily he is well punished.” ”

“ 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!” ”

“ Ulenspiegel answered:
“All the deans, curés, clerks, beadles and the rest, both superior and inferior, who feed us with their trash. See now, if I had happened to be a strong working man they would have robbed me of the value of three years’ labour by making me thus to go on this pilgrimage. But as things are, it is the poor Claes who pays. Ah, but they shall give me back my [48] three years a hundredfold, and with their own money I myself will sing for them their Masses for the dead!”
“Alas, Tyl!” said Nele, “be prudent, or they will have you burnt alive.” ”

“ The Landgrave immediately gave instructions to one of his pages that Ulenspiegel’s donkey should be treated even as his own.
The hour for supper soon arrived, and the meal was like a wedding festival. Hot meats smoked in the dishes, wine flowed like water, while Ulenspiegel and the Landgrave grew both as red as burning coals. Ulenspiegel also became very merry, but His Highness was somewhat pensive even in his cups.
“Our painter,” said he suddenly, “will have to paint our portrait. For it is a great satisfaction to a mortal prince to bequeath to his descendants the memory of his countenance.” ”

“ See how they writhe—those arms and those legs which helped him to his murdering! See how it smokes, the body of this brute! Burning is the hair of him, all pallid like the hair [257] of a hyena, and burning is his pallid face. He pays! He pays!”
And the fishmonger died, howling like a wolf.
And the bells of Notre Dame tolled for the dead.
And once more did Lamme and Ulenspiegel ride away on their donkeys. And Nele stayed behind in sorrow with Katheline, who never stopped her ceaseless refrain:
“Put out the fire! My head is burning! Come back, come back to me, Hanske, my pet.” ”

“ Claes looked at Ulenspiegel and said:
“My son, it was wrong of you to go running off along the high roads of the world like any ruffian. You must not do that any more, my boy. You must not leave her alone at home, my widow in her sorrow. For now it is your duty to protect her and take care of her—you, a man.”
“I will, father,” said Ulenspiegel.
“O my poor husband!” cried Soetkin embracing him again. “What crime can we have committed? Nay, we lived our life peaceably together, lowly and humbly, loving each other well—how well Thou, Lord, knowest! ”

“ And I’ll draw a draught of wine,
When Nele smiles again.
“You villainous man!” she cried, “making fun of me again!”
“Nele,” said Ulenspiegel, “it is true that I am a man. But I am not a villain. For our family is of noble origin, a family of aldermen, and it carries on its shield three pint pots argent on a ground bruinbier. But, Nele, tell me now, is it a fact that in Flanders when a man sows a kiss he always reaps a box on the ear?” ”

“ And now it was that Ulenspiegel and Nele discerned on the grass and in the air and in the sky, seven tablets of bronze all strangely luminous. And they were held there by seven flaming nails. And on the tablets was written:
From the dung-heap flowers arise,
Seven are wicked, but seven are good.
Hid in coal the diamond lies,
Bad teacher oft makes pupil wise;
Seven are bad, but seven are good.
And the giant walked on, followed by all the will-o’-the-wisps, who were whispering together like grasshoppers, and saying:
Look at him well—the Master of All,
Before him Cæsar himself must fall. ”

“ Claes looked around for Soetkin or Ulenspiegel. But not seeing them anywhere in the crowd he felt happier and more at ease, thinking that they would not know how he suffered. And all the time there was a silence like death, except for the sound of Claes’ voice praying, and the crackling of the wood, the murmuring of men, the weeping of the women, the voice of Katheline as she cried: “Put out the fire! Make a hole! My soul wants to get out!” and over all, the bells of Notre Dame tolling for the dead. ”

“ But one morning in March, while still the cold winds of winter kept the ice frozen, so that the ship of the Beggarmen could not make away, Ulenspiegel came again to the tavern. And the pretty baesine said to him (and there was great emotion and sorrow in her voice) :
“Poor Lamme! Poor Ulenspiegel!”
“Why do you pity us so?” he asked her. [260]
“Alas! alas!” she cried. “Why will you not believe in the Mass? And you did, you would go straight to Paradise without a doubt, and I might be able to save you in this life also.” ”

“ It was a woman, and she sang like a seraphim, a sweet, slow song, stopping now and then to look behind her with a beckoning gesture, then retreating again. But Ulenspiegel ran quickly and overtook her, and was about to speak to her when she sealed his lips with a hand all scented with benjamin.
“Are you a working man or a nobleman?” ”

“ 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. ”

“ But Katheline said:
“Under Saturn, four and three mean misfortune. But under Venus, it is the marriage number. Cold arms! Cold knees! Heart of fire!”
Soetkin answered:
“It is wrong to talk in this way of these wicked pagan idols.”
But Katheline only crossed herself and said:
“Blessed be the grey horseman. Nele must have a husband—a handsome husband that carries a sword, a dusky husband with a shining face!”
“Yes,” cried Ulenspiegel, “a very fricassee of a husband, for whom I will make a sauce with my knife!” ”

“ And half mad with anguish as she was, Nele bent over the body of Ulenspiegel, kissing him through her tears.
Now the burgomaster, the aldermen, and even the peasant had compassion on the girl, but not so the curé, who ceased not to cry out most joyfully: “The great Beggarman is dead! God be praised!” ”

“ And Ulenspiegel drew nigh to them with modest mien, and said:
“O my sisters in God, pray you do not make mock of the poor pilgrim that wendeth up hill and down dale preaching ever the Holy Faith to the soldiers.”
But with his eyes he feasted himself upon the sight of their sweet charms. And the wanton girls, thrusting their lively faces betwixt the canvas curtains of the wagons, cried out to him yet the more:
“Surely you are too young a man to go preaching to soldiers? Climb up into our wagon and we will teach thee more gentle subjects of conversation!” ”

“ But Ulenspiegel will be a master of the merry words and frolics of youth, yet good of heart withal, having for his father Claes, the brave working man that knows how to earn his own living with courage, honesty, and gentleness. Charles the Emperor and Philip the King will go riding their way through life, doing evil by battle, extortion, and other crimes. But Claes, working hard all the week, living according to right and according to law, and laughing at his laborious lot instead of being cast down thereby, will be the model of all the good workpeople of Flanders. ”

“ Would that I too might die! Ah, Tyl, wake up! But he is as cold as marble!” [301]
Ulenspiegel did not awake, and two nights passed and a day, and Nele still watched by his side in a fever of grief and fear.
It was at the dawn of the second day of her vigil that Nele heard the sound of a little bell in the distance, and saw presently a peasant approaching with a shovel in his hand. Behind him came a burgomaster with two aldermen carrying candles, and then the curé of Stavenisse with a beadle holding a parasol over his head. ”

“ But in spite of all these sounds of joy, Claes was filled with sadness, scanning the grey mist that hung over the fields for a sight of his son, and trying to hear his footfall in the jolly rustling of leaves and gay concert of birds as they sang among the trees. Suddenly he noticed a man coming down towards him on the road from Maldeghem. [97] It was a man tall of stature, but it was not Ulenspiegel. And presently Claes saw him come to a stand beside a field of carrots, and bend down to eat of the vegetables as if he were starving for food.
“There’s a hungry man sure,” said Claes to himself. ”

“ Thereupon the cook left her saucepan, and led Lamme and Ulenspiegel into the stable yard, they still riding on their donkeys, who now began to bray inordinately.
“Hark,” cried Ulenspiegel, “hearken to the fanfare with which they greet their coming nourishment. They are blowing their trumpets for joy, the poor beasts!” ”

“ One day when Ulenspiegel was come to fish from the banks of the river Meuse, he was thinking to himself that by the above action the Emperor would stand to profit both ways, since he would inherit the said estates, while the family of the deceased would inherit nothing at all. Pondering these thoughts, he carefully baited his hook, and then sat down by the river-side. And he began to nibble at a piece of stale brown bread, regretting the while that he had no good Romagna wine wherewith to wash it down. Still, he thought, one cannot always have everything just as one would like. ”

“ And thus do all men, scenting out, some of them, the bouquet called Fame which Fortune puts under their nose, others the bouquet of Gain, and yet others the bouquet that is called Love. But at the end of the journey they discover, like you, that they have been pursuing things that are of little account, and that they have left behind all that is worth anything—health, and work, repose, happiness, and home.”
In such discourse with his donkey Ulenspiegel came at last to the palace of the Landgrave. ”

“ Lamme put in, “pray tell us why, my Lord!”
But Brederode made no answer, and only looked very hard at Ulenspiegel, who thereupon continued his discourse in this wise.
“And why, pray, do you, you other noble Lords, seek to be faithful to the King even unto beggary? Is it for the great good that he wishes you? Or for the fair friendship that he bears you? How is it that instead of being faithful to the King even unto beggary you do not so act rather that the brute himself may be despoiled of his country, and thus be made faithful for ever to beggary himself?” ”

“ And Messire de Lumey came there also, being desirous himself to give the signal for the execution.
He regarded Ulenspiegel without pity as he stood upon the scaffold, dressed to meet his death in a single garment with his arms bound to his sides, his hands clasped together, the cord round his neck, and the executioner ready to do the deed.
Très-Long said:
“My Lord, pardon him now; he is no traitor, and no one has ever heard of a man being hanged simply because he was sincere and pitiful.” ”