Ulna

“ Claes raised his hand towards heaven:
“Christ, my Lord, seeth me from on high,” said he, “I looked upon his sun when my boy Ulenspiegel was born. Where is he now, the runagate? Soetkin, my gentle goodwife, wilt thou be brave against ill fortune?”
Then looking at the linden tree, he said, cursing it:
“Storm winds and drought! make all the trees of the land of our father die as they stand rather than see freedom of conscience condemned to death under their shade. Where art thou, my son Ulenspiegel? ”

“ Claes laid his hand weightily on the lad’s shoulder:
“Catch it,” he said, “put it in a cage, make it sing for you, do, but I, too, will put you in a cage, shut in with stout iron bars, and I will make you sing as well. You like to run, you will not be able to run; you will be in the shade when you are cold, in the sun when you are hot. Then one Sunday we shall go out, forgetting to give you any food, and we shall only come back on the Thursday, and returning we shall find Thyl dead of hunger and stark and stiff.”
Soetkin wept, Ulenspiegel sprang forward. ”

“ Ulenspiegel ever young, and never to die, will run throughout the world without ever tying himself to any place. And he will be churl, noble, painter, sculptor, all together and at once. And through the world will journey in this wise, praising all things good and lovely, and flouting without stint all manner of folly. Claes is thy courage, noble Flanders folk, Soetkin thy valiant mother, Ulenspiegel is thy spirit; a darling sweet girl, Ulenspiegel’s mate and like him immortal, will be thy heart, and a fat paunch, Lamme Goedzak, will be thy stomach. ”

“ 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 for Vent d’acier—Wind of Lead—to start his whistling?” ”

“ Suddenly Ulenspiegel and Nele were caught up in the mighty hand of a giant who threw them into the air like children’s balloons, caught them again, rolled them one upon the other and kneaded them between his hands, threw them into the water pools between the hills and pulled them out again full of seaweed. Then carrying them thus through space, he sang with a voice that woke all the sea mews underneath with affright:
“That vermin, crawling, biting,
With squinting glances tries
To read the sacred writing
We hide from all men’s eyes. ”

“ Ulenspiegel and Soetkin heard the sound of his steps upon the hard ground and the voice of a raven, doubtless calling others, for from afar croakings answered him.
Ulenspiegel and Soetkin having drawn near to the dead fire, the raven alit upon Claes’s shoulder; they heard the blows of his beak upon the body, and soon other ravens arrived.
Ulenspiegel would have leaped upon the pyre and struck at the ravens: the constable said to him:
“Wizard, seekest thou hands of glory? Know that the hands of men burned do not render invisible, but only the hands of men hanged as thou shalt be one day.” ”

“ Being at Heyst, upon the dunes, Ulenspiegel and Lamme see, coming from Ostend, from Blanckenberghe, from Knokke, many fishing boats full of armed men, adherents of the Beggars of Zealand, who wear in their headgear the silver crescent with this inscription: “Better to serve the Turk than the Pope.”
Ulenspiegel is glad; he whistles like the lark; from all sides answers the warlike clarion of the cock. ”

“ Ulenspiegel found himself alone one morning at home, and for want of something better to do, he began to cut up one of his father’s shoes to make a little ship. Already he had planted the mainmast in the sole and bored the toe for the bowsprit, when at the half door he saw passing the bust of a horseman and the head of a horse.
“Is any one within?” asked the horseman.
“There are,” replied Ulenspiegel, “a man and a half and a horse’s head.”
“How so?” asked the horseman.
“Because I see here a whole man, which is me; the half of a man, which is your bust ”

“ And Nele said to Ulenspiegel, taking a tear from out the corner of his eye with her dainty finger:
“Thou art sad, my beloved?”
“He was a good fellow,” said he. [337]
“Ah!” said she, “this war will never end; shall we be forced to live forever in blood and in tears?”
“Let us seek out the Seven,” said Ulenspiegel: “it draws nigh, the hour of deliverance.”
Following Lamme’s behest, the Beggars fattened the monk in his cage. When he was set at liberty, in consideration of ransom, he weighed three hundred and seventeen pounds and five ounces, Flemish weight. ”

“ Claes looked at Ulenspiegel and said:
“Son, thou didst often sin as thou didst run upon the highways, as do wicked lads; thou must do so no more, my child, nor leave the afflicted widow alone in her house, for thou owest her protection and defence, thou the male.”
“Father, this I shall do,” said Ulenspiegel.
“O my poor husband!” said Soetkin, embracing him. “What great crime have we committed? We lived by us two peaceably, an honest simple life, loving one another well, Lord God, thou knowest it. We arose betimes to labour, and at night, giving thee thanks, we ate our daily bread. ”

“ One morning in March, since the wind, that was blowing sharp and cutting, ceased not to thicken the ice, and Très-Long’s ship could not leave, the sailors and the soldiers of the vessel were holding feasting and revel on sledges and on skates.
Ulenspiegel was at the inn, and the pretty woman said to him, all woeful and as if bereft of her wits:
“Poor Lamme! poor Ulenspiegel!”
“Why do you lament?” asked he.
“Alas! Alas!” said she, “why do ye not believe in the mass. Ye would go to paradise, without a doubt, and I could save you in this life.” ”

“ Ulenspiegel replied:
“I am Sire of Geeland, Count of Gavergeeten, Baron of Tuchtendell, and at Damme, which is my birthplace, I have five and twenty bonniers of moonshine.”
“What land is that?” asked the hostess, drinking out of Ulenspiegel’s tankard.
“It is,” said he, “a soil wherein are sown the seeds of illusion, of wild hopes and airy promises. But thou wast not born in the moonlight land, sweet hostess of the amber skin, and eyes shining like pearls. ’Tis the sun’s colour the embrowned gold of thy hair ”

“ He was not a mere heathen, but was an active sorcerer (a ‘Noide’) or wiseman. He had, therefore, his sorcerer’s or magician’s drum, which he consulted whenever anything of particular importance was to be taken in hand, or to be prevented.
When Unnas was taken ill, his father sought at once, by means of sacrifice, to come to terms with one of his chief gods, who, in the form of a weather-worn stone, was standing a long way up by the side of the Kujasuga River, in a birch-wood, and was surrounded by a fence made of reindeer horns. But it was of no avail. His son grew worse and worse. ”

“ Poor dead ones; Soetkin who didst die of grief; Claes that diedst in the fire; oak of goodness and ivy of love, I, your seedling, I suffer greatly and I shall avenge you, beloved ashes that beat upon my breast.”
Lamme said:
“We must not weep those that die for justice’s sake.”
But Ulenspiegel remained rapt in thought; all at once he said:
“This, Nele, is the hour of farewell, for a long long time, and never again, it may be, shall I look on thy sweet face.” ”

“ At length, withered up with sorrow and pain, she said one evening:
“Claes, my husband! Thyl, my son! I thank thee, God who takest me away!”
And she died on a sigh.
Katheline not daring to watch by her, Ulenspiegel and Nele did it together, and all night long they prayed for the dead woman.
At dawn there entered by the open window a swallow.
Nele said:
“The bird of souls, ’tis a good omen: Soetkin is in heaven.” ”

“ To win so great a boon, a man must needs walk and dance backward from the twentieth step from his home to the foot of the church steps, without speaking. Alas! now I must begin all over again.”
Ulenspiegel having picked up his cudgel said:
“I shall help you, rascal, you who would have Our Lady serve to kill babes in their mothers’ womb.”
And he fell to beating the wretched cuckold so cruelly that he left him for dead on the road.
All this while there rose to heaven the groans of pilgrims, the sounds of fifes, viols, rebecks, and bagpipes, and, like a pure incense, the savour of frying. ”

“ Descending by leaps and bounds like a great snowball from the top of a mountain, he went into the kitchen, saw Katheline worn out and wan in the light of the dawn, and heard her saying: “Hanske, why dost thou leave me alone? It is not my fault if Nele is bad.”
Ulenspiegel, without staying to listen to her, opened the stable door. Finding no one within, he dashed out into the garden and from thence into the highway; far off he saw two horses galloping and losing themselves [224] in the mist. ”

“ He pursued the chase on Ullin, on the moss-covered top of Drumardo.--Ossian, Temora, ii.
Ullin’s Daughter (Lord) , a young lady who eloped with the chief of Ulva’s Isle, and induced a boatman to row them over Lochgyle during a storm. The boat was capsized just as Lord Ullin and his retinue reached the shore. He saw the peril, he cried in agony, “Come back, come back! and I’ll forgive your Highland chief;” but it was too late, the “waters wild rolled o’er his child, and he was left lamenting.”--Campbell, Lord Ullin’s Daughter (a ballad) .
Ulric, son of Werner (i.e., count of Siegendorf) . ”

“ Claes threw the window wide and spake to Ulenspiegel.
“Son with the caul,” said he, “lucky son, here is our lord Sun coming to salute the soil of Flanders. Look always on him when thou canst, and whenever thou art in a maze, knowing not what to do so as to do right, ask counsel of him: he is bright and warm; be thou honest as he is bright, and kind even as he is warm.”
“Husband Claes,” said Soetkin, “you are preaching to deaf ears; come, drink, my son.”
And the mother offered the newly born nature’s goodly flagons. ”

“ Claes wagged his head and made no answer, and while he slept, Soetkin wept alone. And in the morning, thinking that her son was sick in a corner of some highway, she went out on the doorstep to see if he was not coming back; but she saw nothing, and she sate near the window, looking thence into the street. And many a time her heart danced in her bosom at the sound of the light foot of some lad; but when he passed, she saw it was not Ulenspiegel, and then she wept, poor dolorous mother.
In the meanwhile, Ulenspiegel with his vagabond companions was at Bruges, at the Saturday fair. ”

“ A thick smoke, the smoke of faggots turning to red coals in the furnace, was pouring out of the bakehouse chimney. Ulenspiegel never ceased to cry as he ran: “’T brandt, ’t brandt,” and pointed out Jacob Pietersen’s house. The crowd, gathering in front of it, saw the red windows, the thick smoke, and cried like Ulenspiegel: “’T brandt, ’t brandt, it burns! it burns!” The watchman on Notre Dame de la Chapelle blew his trumpet while the beadle rang the bell called Wacharm in full peal. And lads and lasses ran up in swarms, singing and whistling. ”

“ The bells of Notre Dame were tolling for the dead.
Katheline also was in the crowd of the common people, in the first row, and all beside herself. Looking at Claes and the pyre, she said, nodding her head:
“The fire! the fire! Make a hole; the soul would fain escape!”
Soetkin and Nele, hearing the bells tolling, both crossed themselves. But Ulenspiegel did not, saying that he would no longer worship God after the fashion of murderers. And he ran about the cottage, seeking to break down doors and to leap out through windows; but all were guarded. ”

“ Ulenspiegel, still in the pulpit, cried in vain:
“Signorkes and pagaders do not suffer pillage! Do not call down ruin upon the town!”
He was plucked away from there all torn, face, doublet, and breeches, though he avenged himself with both feet and hands. And all bleeding he never ceased to cry out:
“Do not suffer pillage!”
But it was in vain.
The unknown and the ragtag and bobtail of the city flung themselves on the iron grille of the choir, which they broke through, crying:
“Long live the Beggar!”
They all set to work to break, sack, destroy. ”

“ At this time ’twas April, the air had been soft and sweet, then it froze hard and the sky was gray as on All Souls’ Day. The third year of Ulenspiegel’s banishment had long since run out and Nele awaited her friend from day to day. “Alas!” said she, “it will snow on the pear trees, on the flowering jasmine, on all the poor plants unfolded confidingly in the genial warmth of an untimely springtide. Already the little flakes are falling from the sky upon the roadways. ”

“ 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!” ”

“ His Sacred Majesty deemed this insufficient.
And so, everywhere the terrified Ulenspiegel went he saw nothing but heads on stakes, girls thrust into sacks and cast alive into the river; men stretched naked on the wheel and beaten with great blows of iron bars, women laid in shallow graves, with earth over them, and the executioner dancing on their breast to break it in. But the confessors of all, men and women, that had first repented, were richer by twelve sols a time. ”