Légende d'Ulenspiegel. English

by Charles de Coster

  V

  Now the previous day, the town crier had given notice from beforethe Town Hall that Madame, the wife of the Emperor Charles, beingnear the time of her delivery, it behoved the people to say prayerson her behalf.

  Katheline came to Claes in a great state of excitement.

  "Whatever is the matter, my good woman?" he asked.

  "Alas!" she cried, catching her breath, "behold! This night theghosts are mowing men down like grass. Little girls are being buriedalive. The executioner is dancing on the body of the dead. And broken,this night, is that Stone which has been sweating blood these ninemonths past and more!"

  "Mercy on us!" groaned Soetkin. "Mercy on us, O Lord! This is a blackomen indeed for the land of Flanders."

  "Do you see these things with your own eyes wide awake, or perchancein a dream?" Claes asked her.

  "With my own eyes," Katheline told him. And then all pale and tearful,she continued in these words:

  "To-night two children are born: the one in Spain--the infantPhilip--and the other in this land of Flanders--the son of Claes,he that later on shall be known by the name of Ulenspiegel. Philipwill grow up to be a common hangman, being the child of the EmperorCharles the Fifth, the destroyer of our country. But Ulenspiegelwill be a master of the merry words and frolics of youth, yet goodof heart withal, having for his father Claes, the brave working manthat knows how to earn his own living with courage, honesty, andgentleness. Charles the Emperor and Philip the King will go ridingtheir way through life, doing evil by battle, extortion, and othercrimes. But Claes, working hard all the week, living according to rightand according to law, and laughing at his laborious lot instead ofbeing cast down thereby, will be the model of all the good workpeopleof Flanders. Ulenspiegel, young and immortal, will ramble over theworld and never settle in one place. And he will be peasant, nobleman,painter, sculptor, all in one. And he will continue his wanderingshither and thither, lauding things beautiful and good, and laughingstupidity to scorn. Claes, then, O noble people of Flanders, is yourcourage; Soetkin your valiant motherhood; Ulenspiegel your soul. Asweet and gentle maiden, lover of Ulenspiegel and immortal like him,shall be your heart; and Lamme Goedzak, with his pot-belly, shall beyour stomach. And up aloft shall stand the devourers of the people; andbeneath them their victims. On high the thieving hornets; and below thebusy bees. While in heaven bleed for evermore the wounds of Christ."

  And when she had thus spoken, Katheline, the kindly sorceress, wentto sleep.

  VI

  One day Claes caught a large salmon, and on the Sunday he and Soetkinand Katheline and the little Ulenspiegel had it for their dinner. ButKatheline only ate enough to satisfy a sparrow.

  "How now, mother?" said Claes. "What has happened to the air ofFlanders? Has it suddenly grown solid, so that to breathe it is asnourishing as a plate of beef? Why, if such were the case, I supposeyou will be telling me that the rain is as good as soup, and the haillike beans, and the snow some sort of celestial fricassee, fit cheerfor a poor traveller?"

  But Katheline shook her head, and said not a word.

  "Dear me," said Claes, "our mother is in the dumps it seems! Whatcan it be that grieves her so?"

  But Katheline spake as follows, in a voice that was like a breathof wind:

  "The wicked night falls blackly. He tells of his coming from afar,screaming like the sea-eagle. I tremble, and pray to Our Lady--allin vain. For the Night knows neither walls nor hedges, neither doorsnor windows. Everywhere, like a spirit, he finds a way in. The laddercreaks. The Night has entered into the loft where I am sleeping. TheNight seizes me in arms that are cold and hard as marble. His faceis frozen, and his kisses like damp snow. The whole cottage seems tobe tossed about over the earth, riding like a ship at sea...."

  Claes said: "I would counsel you to go every morning to Mass, thatour Lord Christ may give you strength to chase away this phantomfrom hell."

  "He is so beautiful!" said Katheline.

  VII

  Ulenspiegel was weaned, and began to grow like a young poplar. Andsoon Claes gave up caressing him, but loved him in a roughish manner,fearing to make a milksop of him. And when Ulenspiegel came homecomplaining that he had got the worst of it in some boyish affray,Claes would give him a beating because, forsooth, he had not beatenthe others. And with such an education Ulenspiegel grew up as valiantas a young lion.

  When Claes was from home, Ulenspiegel would ask his mother to give hima liard with which he might go out and amuse himself. Soetkin wouldgrow angry, and ask why he wanted to go out for amusement--he woulddo better to stay at home and tie up faggots. And when he saw thatshe was not going to give him anything, the boy would start yellinglike an eagle, while Soetkin made a great clatter with the pots andpans that she was washing in the wooden tub, pretending that she didnot hear his noise. Then Ulenspiegel would fall to weeping, and thegentle mother would stop her pretence at harshness, and would comeand kiss him.

  "Will a denier be enough for you?" she would say.

  Now it should be noted that a denier is equal to six liards.

  Thus did his mother dote on Ulenspiegel even to excess; and whenClaes was not there, he was king in the house.

  VIII

  One morning Soetkin saw Claes pacing up and down the kitchen withhead bent, like a man lost in thought.

  "Whatever is the matter with you, my man?" she asked him. "You arepale, and you look angry and distracted."

  Claes answered her in a low voice, like a dog growling.

  "The Emperor is about to reissue those cursed placards. Death onceagain is hovering over the land of Flanders. The Informers are tohave one half of the property of their victims, if so be that suchproperty does not exceed the value of one hundred florins."

  "We are poor," Soetkin said.

  "Not poor enough," Claes answered. "Evil folk there are--crowsand corpse-devouring vultures--who would as readily denounce usto the Emperor for half a sackful of coal as for half a sackful offlorins. What had she, poor old Widow Tanneken that was wife to Sisthe tailor, she that was buried alive at Heyst? Nothing but a LatinBible, three gold florins, and a few household utensils of Englishpewter. But they were coveted by a neighbour. Then there was JoannaMartens whom they burnt as a witch after she had been thrown intothe water, for her body did not sink and they held it for a sign ofsorcery. She had a few miserable pieces of furniture and seven goldpieces in a bag, and the Informer wanted his half of them. Alas! Icould go on till to-morrow morning giving you instances of the samekind. But to cut a long story short, Mother, life's no longer worthliving in Flanders, and all on account of these placards. Soon everynight-time the death-cart will be passing through the town, and weshall hear the arid click of bones as the skeletons shake in the wind."

  Soetkin said: "You ought not to try and frighten me, my man. TheEmperor is the father of Flanders and Brabant, and as such he isendowed with long-suffering, gentleness, patience, and pity."

  "He would be obliged to renounce too much if he were all that,"Claes answered, "for he has inherited a great amount of confiscatedproperty."

  At that very moment the sound of a trumpet was heard, and the clashof the Heralds' cymbals. Claes and Soetkin, carrying Ulenspiegel intheir arms by turns, rushed out towards where the sound came from,and with them went a great concourse of people. They came to the TownHall, in front of which stood the Heralds on horseback, blowing theirtrumpets and sounding their cymbals, and the Provost with his staffof justice, and the Town Proctor, also on horseback and holding inhis hands the Imperial Edict which he was preparing to read out tothe assembled multitude.

  Claes heard every word, how "that it was once again forbidden to alland sundry to print, read, to possess or to defend, the writings,books or doctrines of Martin Luther, of John Wycliffe, John Hus,Marcilius de Padua, AEcolampadius, Ulricus Zwynglius, Philip Melancthon,Franciscus Lambertus, Joannes Pomeranus, Otto Brunselsius, JustusJonas, Joannes Puperis, and Gorciamus; as well as any copies of theNew Testament printed by Adrien de Berghes, Christop
he de Remonda,and Joannes Xel, which books were full of Lutheran and other kindsof heresy, and had been condemned and rejected by the Doctors ofTheology at the University of Louvain.

  "Likewise and in the same manner it was forbidden to paint, portrayor cause to be painted or portrayed any opprobrious paintings orfigures of God, or of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or of the saints;or to break, destroy or deface the images or pictures made to thehonour, remembrance or recollection of God, the Virgin Mary, or ofthe saints recognized by the Church.

  "Furthermore," said the placard, "no one, whatever his position inlife, should presume to discuss or dispute concerning Holy Writ, evenin regard to matters admittedly doubtful, unless he were a theologian,well known and approved by some established university.

  "His Sacred Majesty decreed, among other penalties, thatsuspected persons should not be allowed to carry on any honourableoccupation. And as for men who had fallen again into error, or whowere obstinate in the same, they should be condemned to be burnt byfire, slow or fast, either in a covering of straw, or else boundto a stake, according to the discretion of the judge. Others, ifthey were men of noble or of gentle birth, were to be executed atthe point of the sword, while working people were to be hung, andthe women buried alive. Afterwards their heads were to be fixed onthe top of poles for an example. The property of all the aforesaid,in so far as it was situate in places subject to confiscation, wasto be made over to the benefit of the Emperor.

  "To the Informers His Sacred Majesty gave one half of all the propertyof the dead, provided that such property did not exceed, on any oneoccasion, a hundred pounds gross in Flemish money. As for the halfthat went to the Emperor, he would reserve it for works of piety andmercy, as was done in the case of the confiscations at Rome."

  And Claes went away sadly, with Soetkin and Ulenspiegel.

  IX

  Once again did Soetkin bear under her girdle the sign of approachingmotherhood; and Katheline also was in a like condition. But she wasafraid, and never ventured out of her house.

  When Soetkin went to see her, "Alas!" said Katheline, "what shall Ido? Must I smother the ill-starred fruit of my womb? I would ratherdie myself. And yet if the Sergeant summons me for having a childwithout being married, they will make me pay twenty florins like agirl of no reputation, and I shall be flogged in the Market Square."

  Soetkin consoled and comforted her as sweetly as she could, then lefther, and returned thoughtfully home.

  One day she said to Claes:

  "If I brought two children into the world instead of one, would yoube angry? Would you beat me, my man?"

  "That I cannot say," Claes answered.

  "But if the second were not really mine, but turned out to be likethis child of Katheline's, the offspring of some one unknown--thedevil maybe?"

  "Devils beget fire, death, smoke," Claes replied, "butchildren--no. Yet will I take for my own the child of Katheline."

  "You will?" cried Soetkin. "You really will?"

  "I have said it," Claes replied.

  Soetkin hurried off to tell Katheline the news, who when she heardit could not contain her delight, but cried aloud with joy.

  "He has spoken, the good man, and his words are the salvation of mybody. He will be blessed by God--and blessed by the devil as well,if really"--and she trembled as she spoke the words--"if really it isthe devil who is father to the little one that begins to stir beneathmy breast!"

  And in due time Soetkin and Katheline brought into the world,the one a baby boy and the other a baby girl. Both were brought tobaptism as the children of Claes. Soetkin's son was christened Hans,and did not live. But Katheline's daughter, who was christened Nele,grew up finely.

  She drank of the liquor of life from a fourfold flagon. Two of theflagons belonged to Katheline, and two were Soetkin's. And there wasmany a sweet dispute as to whose turn it was to give the child todrink. But much against her will, Katheline was obliged to let hermilk dry up, lest questions should be asked as to where it came from,and she no mother....

  But when the little Nele, that was her daughter, was weaned, thenKatheline took her home to live with her, nor did she let her go backto Soetkin except when Nele called for her "mother."

  The neighbours said that it was a right and natural thing to do forKatheline to look after the child of Claes and Soetkin. For theywere needy and poverty-stricken, whereas Katheline was comparativelywell off.

  X

  One day Soetkin said to Claes:

  "Husband, I am heart-broken. This is now the third day that Tyl hasbeen away. Know you not where he is?"

  Claes answered her sadly:

  "He is with all the others, roving vagabonds like himself, on the highroad. Verily, it was cruel of God to give us such a son. When he wasborn I thought of him as the joy of our old age, and as another helpin our house, for I hoped to make a good workman of him. But now someevil chance hath turned him into a thief and a good-for-nothing."

  "You are too hard on him, my man," said Soetkin. "He is our son, and heis but nine years old, and filled with childish folly. It is needfulthat he also, like the trees of the field, should let fall his husksby the wayside ere he decks himself with the full foliage of virtueand honesty. He is mischievous; I do not deny it. But later on thisspirit of his will be turned to good account, if instead of drivinghim to tricks and frolics it is put to some useful purpose. He makesfun of the neighbours; true. But one day you will find him take hisrightful place in the midst of a circle of gay and happy friends. Heis always laughing and frivolous; yes, but a young face that is tooserious bodes ill for the future. And if he is always running about,it is because his growing body needs to be exercised; and if he isidle and does no work, it is because he is not yet old enough tofeel the duty of labour. And if, now and then, he does stay awayfrom us for half a week at a time, it is only because he fails torealize the grief he causes us; for he has a good heart, husband,and at bottom he loves us."

  Claes shook his head and said nothing, and went to sleep, leavingSoetkin to her lonely tears. And she, in the morning, afraid lest herson had fallen sick upon the road, went out and stood at the cottagedoorstep to see if he were coming back. But there was no sign of him,and she came back into the cottage, and sat by the window, gazingout all the time into the street. And many a time did her heart dancewithin her bosom at the light footfall of some urchin that she thoughtmight be her own; but when the sound passed by, and she knew that itwas not Ulenspiegel, then she wept, poor mother that she was.

  Ulenspiegel, meanwhile, with the fellow-scamps that bore him company,was away at Bruges, at the Saturday market.

  There were to be seen the shoemakers and the cobblers, each in hisseparate stall, the tailors selling suits of clothes, the miesevangersfrom Antwerp (they that snare tom-tits by night with the aid of anowl); and the poulterers too, and the rascally dog-fanciers, andsellers of catskins that are made into gloves, and of breast-pads anddoublets: buyers too of every kind, townsmen and townswomen, valets,servants, pantlers and butlers, and cooks, male and female, alltogether, buying and selling, each according to his quality shoutinghis wares, crying up or crying down, with every trick of the trade.

  Now in one corner of the market-place stood a wonderful tent madeof cloth, raised aloft on four piles. At the door of the tent wasa peasant from the level land of Alost, and by his side two monksbegged for alms. For the sum of one patard the peasant offered toshow to the curious or devout a genuine piece of the shoulder-bone ofSt. Mary of Egypt. There he was, yelling out in his broken voice themerits of the saint, and not omitting from his song that tale whichtells how she, being without money, paid the young ferryman in thebeautiful coinage of Nature herself, lest by refusing a workman hisdue she might be guilty of sin. And all the while the two monks keptnodding their heads, as much as to say that it was Gospel truth thatthe peasant was speaking. And at their side was a fat, red-faced woman,as lewd-looking as Astarte, blowing a raucous bagpipe, while at herside a young girl sang in a voice sweet as a bird's, though no one
heeded her. Now above the door of the tent, and swung between twopoles by a cord fastened to either handle, was a tub of Holy Waterwhich the fat woman affirmed had been brought from Rome; and the twomonks lolled their heads backwards and forwards in confirmation or whatshe said. Ulenspiegel, looking at the tub, grew suddenly thoughtful.

  For to one of the posts of the tent was tied a donkey--a donkey thatto all appearance was wont to feed on hay rather than on oats. Forits head was down, and it scanned the earth in futile hopes of seeingbut a thistle growing there.

  "Comrades," said Ulenspiegel, pointing to the fat old woman, the twomonks, and the melancholy donkey, "since the masters play so well,let us also make the donkey dance."

  And so saying he went to a stall close by and purchased six liards'worth of pepper. Then he lifted up the tail of the donkey, and placedthe pepper underneath it.

  When the donkey began to feel the sting of the pepper, he cast his eyebackwards under his tail, endeavouring to discover the cause of theunaccustomed heat. Thinking that it must be at the least some fierydevil from hell, the donkey conceived the not unnatural desire to runaway and escape him; so he began to bray as loud as he could, and tokick up his heels, and to shake the post with all his strength. Atthe first shock, the tub hanging between the two poles tipped over,and the holy water ran about over the tent and over those that wereinside. And soon the tent itself collapsed, covering with a drippingmantle all those who were listening to the wondrous tale of St. Maryof Egypt. And Ulenspiegel and his comrades could hear a mighty noiseissuing from beneath the tent, a noise of moaning and lamentation. Forthe devout folk that were within began to accuse one another of havingoverturned the tub, and presently grew red with rage, and fell uponeach other with many furious blows. The tent began to bulge here andthere above the frantic efforts of the combatants. And each time thatUlenspiegel descried some rounded form outlined through the cloth ofthe tent, he went and gave it a prick with a pin. This was the signalfor new and louder cries, and for fiercer and more general fisticuffs.