Légende d'Ulenspiegel. English

by Charles de Coster

  "Our country, as you know, had gained various privileges by giftsof money to princes when they were in need. But now these privilegeshave all been annulled. And as the result of many an agreement madebetween ourselves and our overlords we had hoped to enjoy the wealththat came to us as the fruit of our labours. Yet were we deceived. Thestone-mason builded for the incendiary, the labourer laboured forthe thief. And the King takes all for his own.

  "Blood and tears! Everywhere naught but blood and tears! For thescythes of Death are busy--busy at the places of execution and at thetrees that serve for gallows by the roadsides; and at many an opengrave wherein are thrown the living bodies of our maids. And they arebusy in the prison dungeons and within those circles of faggots thatflame around the victims, scorching them little by little to death;or in the huts of straw where they fall suffocated in the fire andthe smoke. And the King takes all for his own. And this, forsooth,by the will of the Pope of Rome. The very cities teem with spies thatawait their share of the plunder. The richer one is the more likelyone is to be found guilty. And the King takes all for his own.

  "But never shall the valiant men of Flanders suffer themselves tobe butchered thus like lambs. For among those who fly away for refugethere are some who carry arms, and these are hiding in the woods....

  "The monks verily have denounced them and hold themselves free tokill them and take possession of their goods. But by night and daythese refugees, banded together like wild beasts, rush down upon themonasteries and seize the money that has been stolen from the poor,and take it away under the form of candlesticks and reliquaries ofgold and silver, ciboria and patens, and other precious vessels of thekind.... Do I not speak truth, my friends? And they drink therefromthat wine which the monks had been keeping for themselves. And whenmelted down or mortgaged, these vessels will serve to provide moneyfor the Holy War. Long live the Beggarmen!

  "And even now they begin to harass the soldiers of the King, killingand plundering, then back into their lairs. And in the woods by dayand night are to be seen the fires which have been lit during thehours of darkness, flaring up or dying down and ever breaking outin some fresh place. These are the fires of our banquetings. Allfor us the game of the woods, both furred and feathered. We are themasters here. And the peasants load us with bread and bacon wheneverwe are in need. Look at them Lamme; fierce and talkative, resoluteand proud of bearing, they wander through the woods. And they arearmed with hatchets and halberds, and with long swords and bragmarts,with arquebuses, pikes, lances, and crossbows. For any kind of weaponis good enough for such brave men, and they need no officers to leadthem. Long live the Beggarmen!"

  And Ulenspiegel sang this song:

  Beat the drum! Beat the drum! Drums of war! Slit the carcass of the Duke, Flog him on his hangman's face! To the death with the murderer!

  Beat the drum! Beat the drum! Drums of war! With the victims of his wrath Foul corruption let him share! But long live the Beggarmen!

  Christ from Heaven look Thou down, Look upon thy soldiers true, That risk hanging, fire, and sword For thy Word! And for their dear Fatherland! Beat the drum! Beat the drum! Drums of war!

  And all drank the toast and cried aloud:

  "Long live the Beggarmen!"

  And Ulenspiegel drank in his turn from a golden goblet that had oncebelonged to some monk or other, and proudly he gazed on the wildfaces of the brave Beggarmen that stood before him.

  "Men," he cried, "wild beasts rather that are my comrades, be youwolves lions, or tigers in very deed, and eat up all the cursed dogsof this King of Blood!"

  "Long live the Beggarmen!" they shouted, and yet again they sang thesong of

  Beat the drum! Beat the drum! Drums of war!

  XV

  William the Silent, with his army, was at the gates of Liege. Butbefore crossing the Meuse he made sundry marches and counter-marches,leading the Duke astray, for all his vigilance.

  Ulenspiegel applied himself most diligently to his duties as asoldier, worked his arquebus most skilfully, and kept his eyes andears wide open.

  Now at that time there arrived in the camp certain gentlemen ofFlanders and Brabant, and these lived in friendly fashion with thecolonels and captains of the Prince's following.

  But soon there came into being two parties in the camp, who beganto dispute one with the other continually, some saying that Williamwas a traitor, others that such accusation was a gross libel on thePrince, and that they who had made it should be forced to eat theirwords. Suspicion grew and grew like a spot of oil, and at length theycame to blows--small companies of six, eight, or a dozen men fightingtogether in single combat, with all kinds of weapons and sometimeswith arquebuses even.

  One day the Prince, hearing the noise, came to see what was going on,and walked straight in between the combatants. It chanced that a pieceof shot hit his sword and struck it from his side. He stopped thecombat, and visited the whole camp, intending to put an end once forall to these combats and to these cries of "Death to William!" "Deathto the war!"

  Now the day after this adventure, Ulenspiegel had been to the house ofa Walloon maiden to sing to her some Flemish love-songs of his. Andit was near midnight, and very misty, and Ulenspiegel, being justabout to leave the house, thought he heard the cawing of a crow,three times repeated. And the sound came from the door of a cottageclose by. And from far off came other cawings, three times repeated,as if in answer. Presently a peasant made his appearance at the doorwayof the cottage, and at the same time Ulenspiegel heard steps on theroad. Two men came up to the peasant and began to talk to him in theSpanish tongue. The peasant spoke to them, also in Spanish:

  "Well? And how goes it?" asked the cottager.

  "Well, indeed," the two men answered. "We have been spreading rumourson behalf of the King, and it is thanks to us that the captains andtheir soldiers are everywhere suspicious and talking among themselvesin this wise:

  "'The Prince, so the gossip goes--is resisting the King for vileambition and for nothing else. For by this means he thinks to makehimself feared so that he may acquire cities and overlordships as theprice of peace. For five hundred thousand florins he would leave inthe lurch all the brave nobles who have come out to fight for theircountry. And it is a fact that the Duke has offered him a completeamnesty, and has promised to restore both him and his chief officersin their possessions, if only the Prince will return to the obedienceof the King, and will negotiate with him alone.'

  "But they that remain faithful to the Prince make answer to us inthis wise:

  "'By no means will William have aught to do with the proposals ofthe Duke. For these are but snares and treachery. For the Prince mustsurely call to mind what happened to d'Egmont and de Hoorn. And it iswell known that the Cardinal de Granville said at Rome, when the twoCounts had been taken: "The two gudgeon, verily, have been caught,but the pike has been allowed to escape." For nothing has been takenwhile William still remains at large.'"

  "Is the camp divided in twain then?" asked the peasant.

  "It is," replied the two men, "and the division grows greater everyday. But whom are those letters for?"

  Whereupon they all entered into the cottage. A lantern was lit inside,and looking through a crack in the door Ulenspiegel could see themunsealing two letters. These they read with every appearance ofenjoyment, and then they all fell to drinking honey-wine. Afterwhich the two men came out of the cottage and said to the peasant,still speaking in Spanish:

  "The camp split in two, and the Prince captured--that will be wortha dozen glasses, eh?"

  "Those men," said Ulenspiegel to himself, "cannot longer be allowedto live."

  But even now they were disappearing in the thick mist, with thelantern which the peasant had brought for them. The light of thelantern shone out intermittently, as if continually intercepted bysome dark body. From this Ulenspiegel concluded
that the two men mustbe walking one behind the other.

  He raised his arquebus to his shoulder and fired. Then he saw thelantern raised and lowered several times, as if the man who carriedit was looking at his fallen comrade, trying to discover where hehad been hit and the nature of the wound.

  Yet again did Ulenspiegel raise his arquebus, and then when the lanternbegan to steady itself and to retreat speedily towards the camp, hefired again. Now the lantern swayed, fell to the ground and went out,leaving all in darkness.

  Ulenspiegel ran on to the camp, and there he soon encountered theprovost with a number of soldiers who had been awakened by the noise ofthe firing. Ulenspiegel accosted them, saying: "I am the huntsman. Goyou now and find the game."

  "Brave Fleming," said the provost, "methinks you are a man that knowsother ways of talking besides with your tongue."

  "Words of the tongue they are but so much wind," answeredUlenspiegel. "But words of lead--they know how to find for themselves alasting habitation in the carcass of a traitor! Come then, follow me."

  And so saying he led them to the place where the two men hadfallen. And in very deed the soldiers saw by the light of theirlanterns two bodies stretched out on the ground. One was dead, andthe other at the last gasp, holding his hand to his heart, and inhis hand a letter all crumpled in the agony of death. The soldierslifted the two bodies, whose clothes clearly showed them to be thebodies of gentlemen, and straightway carried them, still by the lightof their lanterns, to the Prince.

  Now William was about to hold a council with Frederick of Hollenhausen,the Margrave of Hesse, and other nobles. But the soldiers, who hadnow been joined by a company of other troopers in green and yellowjackets, stood before the tent, demanding with shouts and cries thatthe Prince should give them audience.

  At length William of Orange came out to them, and the provost beganto clear his throat and make other preliminaries for the accusationof Ulenspiegel. But the latter cut in before him, saying:

  "My Lord, I had thought to kill two crows, but I have killed twotraitors in their stead--two noblemen--belonging to your suite."

  Then he told the story of all that he had seen and heard anddone. William did not utter a word, but the two bodies were carefullyexamined in the presence of Ulenspiegel himself and William theSilent, together with Frederick of Hollenhausen, the Margrave ofHesse, Dietrich of Schoonenbergh, Count Albert of Nassau, the Countde Hoogstraeten, and Antoine de Lailang, Governor of Malines. Andthe soldiers stood by, with Lamme Goedzak, his great belly all of atremble. Sealed letters were found on the persons of the deceasedgentlemen, which had been sent by Granvelles and Noircames, andengaged the recipients to sow division in the Prince's entourage,and by that means to diminish his power and to compel him to yield,so that he might ultimately be delivered up to the Duke and beheadedaccording to his deserts. "The right procedure is," continued theletter, "to act at first with caution and to use allusive phrases only,so that the army may be led to think that the Prince has already cometo a secret understanding with the Duke, for his own advantage. Thiswill arouse the anger of his captains and soldiers, and they willassuredly take him prisoner." Now as a reward for this service itappeared that notes to the value of some five hundred ducats werebeing sent them on the Fugger Bank at Antwerp, and they were promiseda thousand more as soon as the four hundred thousand ducats whichwere already on their way from Spain had arrived in Zeeland.

  The whole plot having been now unmasked, the Prince turned in silencetowards the gentlemen, Lords, and soldiers who stood round him. Manyof these men he knew to be suspicious of him already, nevertheless,he pointed at the two bodies without speaking a word, intending bythis gesture to reproach them for their mistrust. And at this everyone present there exclaimed and shouted aloud:

  "Long live the Prince of Orange! The Prince is faithful and true!" Andsuch was their anger that they were desirous to throw the two deadbodies to the dogs; but William forbade them, saying:

  "It is not these two poor corpses that deserve to be thrown to thedogs so much as that littleness of mind which must needs be suspiciousof the purest intentions."

  And the Lords and soldiers cried out again:

  "Long live the Prince! Long live the Prince of Orange, the friend ofour country!"

  And the sound of their voices was like the noise of thunder threateninginjustice. And the Prince pointed to the two corpses and ordered thatthey should be given Christian burial.

  "And I," demanded Ulenspiegel, "what shall be done to me, faithfuland true? If I have done evil let me be beaten, but if good--why thenlet me be suitably rewarded!"

  Then the Prince addressed him, saying:

  "This soldier is to receive fifty strokes from the green wood inmy presence for having killed two gentlemen without orders, to thecontempt of all discipline. At the same time let him receive a rewardof thirty florins for having used his eyes and ears to some purpose."

  "My Lord," answered Ulenspiegel, "give me the thirty florins first,and I shall then be able to support my beating with equanimity."

  "Yes, yes," murmured Lamme Goedzak, "give him the thirty florins first,and then he will bear the rest with equanimity."

  "One thing more," said Ulenspiegel, "since my soul is admittedly freefrom fault, is there any real reason why I must be cleansed with thewood of the oak or washed with the branch of the cherry-tree?"

  "No," murmured Lamme again, "Ulenspiegel surely has no need to bewashed or cleansed. For his soul is without stain. Do not wash it,my masters, do not wash it."

  But when Ulenspiegel had received the thirty florins the provostordered him to give himself up to the Stock-meester.

  "Behold, my Lords," said Lamme, "behold how piteous he looks. There'sno love lost between the hard wood and him--my beloved Ulenspiegel."

  But Ulenspiegel answered:

  "Of a truth I love a fine ash-tree in full leaf, growing up towardsthe sun in all its native verdure, but I agree I loathe like poisonthese heavy cudgels of wood with their sap still oozing out of them,stripped of their branches and without any leaves or twigs growingthereon, for they are rough to look upon and hard to feel."

  "Are you ready?" demanded the provost.

  "Ready?" Ulenspiegel repeated. "Ready for what? Ready to beflogged do you mean? No, I cannot, nor will I, be flogged by you,Mr. Stock-meester. You have a red beard certainly, and your appearanceis formidable. Nevertheless, I am sure that you have a kind heartand would have no desire to thrash a poor fellow like me. And nowto tell you the truth I should be loath to do such a thing myself,much less to see any one else do it. For the back of a Christian isa sacred thing, as sacred as his breast which holds the lungs, thosetrusty organs whereby we breathe the goodly air of God. And think howbitter would be your remorse if a too brutal blow from your cudgelshould chance to break me in pieces!"

  "Make haste," said the Stock-meester.

  "My Lord," said Ulenspiegel, addressing himself to the Prince,"believe me, there is no need for all this hurry. First of all thewood of the cudgel ought to be allowed to dry. For I have heard thatwood while still green is like to communicate a mortal poison to anyflesh with which it comes in contact. Would your Highness desire tosee me die such an ugly death? My Lord, my back I hold most pitifullyat your service. Have it flogged, if you must, with rods and lashedwith whips. But unless you wish to see me dead, spare me, I pray you,from the wood while it is still green."

  "Have mercy on him, Prince," cried my Lords of Hoogstraeten and ofSchoonenbergh both together; while the others all began to smilecompassionately. Lamme also put in a word of his own, "Have mercy,my Lord. Green wood is poison, neither more nor less than rank poison!"

  The Prince said:

  "Very well."

  Thereupon Ulenspiegel leapt in the air again and again, and smote Lammeon his belly and compelled him to dance too, saying: "Join me now inpraising the good Duke who has delivered me from the green wood."

  And Lamme did his best to dance, but could not very well because ofhis belly. And Ule
nspiegel gave him to eat and to drink as much ashe was able.

  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 marchedthem towards the French frontier to offer battle to the Duke. Butthe Duke would not fight.