The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Volume 2 (of 2)

by Charles de Coster

  But without heeding him:

  "Wisp," said Nele, "reply by dancing, for I will ask thee three times:once in the name of God, once in the name of Madame the Virgin,and once in the name of the elemental spirits that are messengers'twixt God and man."

  And she did so, and the wisp danced three times.

  Then Nele said to Ulenspiegel:

  "Take off thy clothes; I shall do the same: here is the silver boxin which is the balsam of vision."

  "'Tis all one to me," said Ulenspiegel.

  Then being unclad and anointed with the balsam of vision, they laydown beside each other naked on the grass.

  The sea mews were plaining; the thunder was growling dull in thecloud where the lightning gleamed; the moon scarce displayed betweentwo clouds the golden horns of her crescent; the will-o'-the-wisps onUlenspiegel and Nele betook themselves off to dance with the othersin the meadow.

  Suddenly Ulenspiegel and Nele were caught up in the mighty handof a giant who threw them into the air like children's balloons,caught them again, rolled them one upon the other and kneaded thembetween his hands, threw them into the water pools between the hillsand pulled them out again full of seaweed. Then carrying them thusthrough space, he sang with a voice that woke all the sea mewsunderneath with affright:

  "That vermin, crawling, biting, With squinting glances tries To read the sacred writing We hide from all men's eyes.

  "Read, flea, the secret rare; Read, louse, the sacred term That heaven, earth and air With seven nails hold firm."

  And in very deed, Ulenspiegel and Nele saw upon the sward, in theair and in the sky, seven tablets of shining brass fastened theretoby seven flaming nails.

  Upon the tablets there was written:

  Amid the dung May saps arise; If Seven's ill, yet Seven's well; The diamond came from coal, they tell; From foolish teachers, pupils wise-- If Seven's ill, yet Seven's well.

  And the giant walked on followed by all the will-o'-the-wisps, whichsaid, chirping and singing like grasshoppers:

  "Look well at him, 'tis their Grand Master. The Pope of popes and Lord of lords, Can change great Caesar to a pastor: Look well at him, he's made of boards."

  Suddenly his features changed; he seemed thinner, sadder, taller. Inone hand he held a sceptre and a sword in the other. And his namewas Pride.

  And casting Nele and Ulenspiegel down upon the ground he said:

  "I am God."

  Then close by him, riding on a goat, there appeared a ruddy girl,with bared bosom, her robe open, and a lively sparkling eye: hername was Lust; came then an old Jewess picking up the shells ofsea mews' eggs: she had Avarice to name; and a greedy, gluttonousmonk, devouring chitterlings, stuffing sausages, and champing hisjaws continually like the sow upon which he was mounted: this wasGluttony; next came Idleness dragging her legs, pallid and puffy,with dulled eyes, and Anger driving her before her with strokes ofa goad. Idleness, woebegone, was bemoaning herself, and all in tearsfell down upon her knees; then came lean Envy, with a viper's head andpike's teeth, biting Idleness because she was too much at her ease,Anger because she was too vivacious, Gluttony because he was too wellstuffed, Lust because she was too red, Avarice for the eggshells,Pride because he had a purple robe and a crown. And all around dancedthe will-o'-the-wisps.

  And speaking with the voices of men, of women, of girls and plaintivechildren, they said, moaning and groaning:

  "Pride, father of ambition, Anger, spring of cruelty, ye slew us onthe battle-field, in prisons and with torments, to keep your sceptresand your crowns! Envy, thou didst destroy in the bud many high anduseful ideas; we are the souls of persecuted inventors: Avarice,thou didst coin into gold the blood of the poor common folk; weare the souls of thy victims; Lust, thou mate and sister of murder,that didst give birth to Nero, to Messalina, to Philip King of Spain,thou dost buy virtue and pay for corruption; we are the souls of thedead: Idleness and Gluttony, ye befoul the world, ye must be sweptfrom out of it; we are the souls of the dead."

  And a voice was heard saying:

  "Amid the dung May saps arise; If Seven's ill, yet Seven's well; For foolish teachers, pupils wise; To win the coal and ashes, too, What is the wandering louse to do?"

  And the will-o'-the-wisps said:

  "The fire, 'tis we, vengeance for the bygone tears, the woes of thepeople; vengeance for the lords that hunted human game upon theirlands; vengeance for the fruitless battles, the blood spilt in prisons,men burned and women and girls buried alive; vengeance for the fetteredand bleeding past. The fire, 'tis we: we are the souls of the dead."

  At these words the Seven were changed to wooden statues, while keepingevery point of their former shape.

  And a voice said:

  "Ulenspiegel, burn the wood."

  And Ulenspiegel turning towards the will-o'-the-wisps:

  "Ye that are fire," said he, "perform your office."

  And the will-o'-the-wisps in a crowd surrounded the Seven, whichburned and were reduced to ashes.

  And a river of blood ran down.

  And from out the ashes rose up seven other shapes; the first said:

  "Pride was I named; I am called Noble Spirit." The others spake in thesame fashion, and Ulenspiegel and Nele saw from Avarice come forthEconomy; from Anger, Vivacity; from Gluttony, Appetite; from Envy,Emulation; and from Idleness, the Reverie of poets and sages. And Lustupon her goat was transformed to a beautiful woman whose name was Love.

  And the will-o'-the-wisps danced about them in a happy round.

  Then Ulenspiegel and Nele heard a thousand voices of concealed menand women, sonorous and laughing voices that sang with a sound asof castanets:

  "When over land and sea shall reign In form transfigured all these seven, Men, boldly raise your heads to heaven; The Golden Age has come again."

  And Ulenspiegel said: "The spirits mock us."

  And a mighty hand seized Nele by the arm and hurled her into space.

  And the spirits chanted:

  "When the north Shall kiss the west, Ruin shall end: The girdle seek."

  "Alas!" said Ulenspiegel: "north, west, and girdle. Ye speak obscurely,ye Spirits."

  And they sang, laughing:

  "North, 'tis the Netherland: Belgium is the west; Girdle is alliance Girdle is friendship."

  "Ye are nowise fools, Messieurs the Spirits," said Ulenspiegel.

  And they sang once more, grinning:

  "The girdle, poor man Between Netherlands and Belgium Will be good friendship And fair alliance.

  "Met raedt En daedt; Met doodt En bloodt.

  "Alliance of counsel And of deeds, Of death And blood

  "If need were, Were there no Scheldt, Poor man, no Scheldt."

  "Alas!" said Ulenspiegel, "such then is our life of anguish: men'stears and the laughter of destiny."

  "Alliance of counsel And of death, Were there no Scheldt."

  replied the spirits, grinning.

  And a mighty hand seized Ulenspiegel and hurled him into space.

  X

  Nele, as she fell, rubbed her eyes and saw naught save the sun risingamid gilded mists, the tips of the blades of grass all golden alsoand the sunrays yellowing the plumage of the sea mews that slept,but soon awakened.

  Then Nele looked on herself, perceived that she was naked, and clothedherself in haste; then she beheld Ulenspiegel naked also and coveredhim over; thinking him asleep, she shook him, but he moved no more thana man dead; she was taken with terror. "Have I," she said to herself,"have I slain my beloved with this balsam of vision? I will die,too! Ah! Thyl, awaken! He is marble cold."

  Ulenspiegel did not awake. Two nights and a day passed by, and Nele,fevered with anguish, watched by Ulenspiegel her beloved.

  It was the beginning of the second da
y, and Nele heard the sound ofa bell, and saw approaching a peasant carrying a shovel: behind him,wax taper in hand, walked a burgomaster and two aldermen, the cureof Stavenisse, and a beadle holding a sunshade over him.

  They were going, they said, to administer the holy sacrament of extremeunction to the valiant Jacobsen who was a Beggar by constraint andfear, but who, now the danger was past, returned into the bosom ofthe Holy Roman Church to die.

  Presently they found themselves face to face with Nele weeping,and perceived the body of Ulenspiegel stretched out upon the turf,covered with his clothes. Nele went upon her knees.

  "Daughter," said the burgomaster, "what makest thou by this dead man?"

  Not daring to lift her eyes she replied:

  "I pray for my friend here fallen as though smitten by lightning:I am all alone now and I am fain to die, too."

  The cure then puffing with pleasure:

  "Ulenspiegel the Beggar is dead," he said, "God be praised! Peasant,make haste and dig a grave; strip off his clothes before he be buried."

  "Nay," said Nele, standing straight up, "they are not to be takenfrom him, he would be cold in the earth."

  "Dig the grave," said the cure to the peasant who carried the shovel.

  "I consent," said Nele, all in tears; "there are no worms in sand thatis full of chalk, and he will remain whole and goodly, my beloved."

  And all distraught, she bent over Ulenspiegel's body, and kissed himwith tears and sobbing.

  The burgomaster, the aldermen, and the peasant were filled with pity,but the cure ceased not to repeat, rejoicing: "The great Beggar isdead, God be praised!"

  Then the peasant digged the grave and placed Ulenspiegel therein andcovered him with sand.

  And the cure said the prayers for the dead above the grave: all kneeleddown around it; suddenly there was a great upheaving under the soiland Ulenspiegel, sneezing and shaking the sand out of his hair,seized the cure by the throat:

  "Inquisitor!" said he, "thou dost thrust me into the earth alive inmy sleep. Where is Nele? hast thou buried her, too? Who art thou?"

  The cure cried out:

  "The great Beggar returneth into this world. Lord God! receivemy soul!"

  And he took to flight like a stag before the hounds.

  Nele came to Ulenspiegel.

  "Kiss me, my darling," said he.

  Then he looked round him again; the two peasants had fled like thecure, and had flung down shovel and chair and sunshade to run thebetter; the burgomaster and the aldermen, holding their ears withfright, were whimpering on the turf.

  Ulenspiegel went up to them, and shaking them:

  "Can any bury," said he, "Ulenspiegel the spirit and Nele the heartof Mother Flanders? She, too, may sleep, but not die. No! Come, Nele."

  And he went forth with her, singing his sixth song, but no man knowethwhere he sang the last one of all.

  THE END

  THE LYRICS IN THIS VERSION OF ULENSPIEGEL HAVE BEEN SPECIALLY TRANSLATED BY MR. JOHN HERON LEPPER