Légende d'Ulenspiegel. English

by Charles de Coster

"Do you see them coming?" he asked presently.

  "I see them," answered Lamme. "There are three of them, marchingtogether like soldiers, and one of them is much taller than theothers."

  Ulenspiegel sat himself down by the side of the road, with his legsstretched out in front of him, muttering his prayers on a rosary,just like beggars do. And he held his hat between his knees. And whenthe three evangelists passed in front of him, he held out his hat asthough asking for alms; but they gave him nothing. Then Ulenspiegelgot up and addressed them most piteously:

  "Kind sirs," he said, "do not refuse a patard to a poor quarrymanwho has recently had an accident and broken his back by falling downa mine. The people in this part of the world are hard of heart,and they have not been willing to give me anything to relieve mydistress. Alas! Give me but a patard, and I will say many prayers foryou. And God will keep you happy, all your lives long, kind friends!"

  "My son," said one of the evangelists, "there can be no happinessfor us in this world so long as the Pope and the Inquisition remainin power."

  Ulenspiegel heaved another sigh:

  "Alas! What are you saying, my lords? Do not speak so loud, if itplease you. But give me a patard."

  "My son," replied one of the evangelists, he that was the smallest ofthe three, and of a very warlike countenance, "we poor martyrs carryno patards save only just enough to keep us going on our journey."

  At this Ulenspiegel threw himself on to his knees in front of them.

  "Give me your blessing then," he said.

  The three evangelists laid their hands upon the head of Ulenspiegel,albeit with little signs of devotion.

  Now Ulenspiegel noticed that although they were lean of figure,these men all had very fat stomachs, so he rose from his knees,and then pretended to stumble, knocking against the body of the tallevangelist as he did so. At that a merry tinkle of coin was distinctlyaudible. Thereupon Ulenspiegel raised himself to his full height anddrew his dagger.

  "My good man," he said, "it is cold and I am but poorly clad; butmethinks you have too much about you. Give me some of your wool,that I may get a cloak made for me. I am a Beggarman. Long live theBeggarmen!" The tall evangelist made answer:

  "You cock of a Beggarman, you carry your crest proudly forsooth,and we are going to cut it off for you!"

  "Cut it off then," cried Ulenspiegel, giving ground, "but let mewarn you that trusty Wind of Lead is going to sing for you or ever hesings for the Prince my master! Beggar I am! Long live the Beggarmen!"

  The three evangelists were astounded and cried out to each other: "Howdoes he know? We are betrayed! Kill him! Long live the Mass!" And eachman drew forth from beneath his hose a sharp dagger. But Ulenspiegel,without waiting for them to attack him, gave ground towards the busheswhere Lamme was hidden, and when he judged that the three evangelistswere within range of the arquebus, he cried out: "Crows, black crows,the Wind of Lead is going to whistle. I sing your bitter end!"

  Then he cawed like a crow. And a shot rang out from the bushes, andthe tall evangelist fell prone on the earth. The next moment followeda second shot, which accounted in the same way for the second.

  And from among the bushes Ulenspiegel saw the jolly face of Lamme,and his arm raised as he hastily reloaded his arquebus. And from themidst of the dark shrubbery a puff of blue smoke mounted into the air.

  There now remained but one evangelist, and he was in a furious rage,and tried to cut at Ulenspiegel with all his might. But Ulenspiegelcried:

  "Wind of Steel or Wind of Lead, which matters it? Either way youshall quit this world for another, you shameless murderer!"

  And he attacked the foe and defended himself most bravely. So theystood on the roadway, inflexible, face to face, giving and parryingblows. Now Ulenspiegel was covered with blood, for his opponentwas an experienced fencer, and had wounded him on the hands andon the legs. But Ulenspiegel attacked and defended himself like alion. Still the blood which began to flow from his head blinded him,and he retreated continually, trying to wipe away the blood with hisleft hand but every moment feeling weaker. And he would most certainlyhave been killed had not Lamme brought down the third evangelist withanother shot from his arquebus.

  And Ulenspiegel saw him fall, and heard him vomit forth blasphemiesand blood, and the white froth of death. And once again the bluesmoke drifted up above the dark shrubbery, in the midst of whichLamme displayed yet again his jolly face.

  "Have you finished him off?" he asked.

  "Yes, my son," replied Ulenspiegel, "but come...."

  Lamme, then, coming out of his hiding-place, saw Ulenspiegel allcovered with blood. He ran like a stag, in spite of his fat belly,and came to Ulenspiegel where he sat by the three dead men.

  "He is wounded!" Lamme cried. "My gentle friend is wounded bythe rascally murderer." And then, with a vicious kick at the jawof the evangelist who lay nearest to him: "You cannot answerme, Ulenspiegel? Are you going to die, my son? Where is theointment! Ha! I remember now. It is at the bottom of his satchelunder the sausages. Can't you hear me speak, Ulenspiegel? Alas! thereis no warm water here to wash your wound, and no way of gettingany. The water of the Sambre will have to do instead. But speak tome, my friend. You are not so badly hurt after all, surely. A littlewater--there, it's cold, isn't it? But he is waking up. It's I, yourfriend; and your enemies are all dead! Oh, where is some linen? Somelinen to bind up his wounds. There isn't any. What am I to do? Ah! myshirt, that must serve."

  Presently Ulenspiegel opened his eyes and raised himself from theground with his teeth all chattering because of the cold.

  "And here you are standing up already!" Lamme exclaimed.

  "It is a balm of much virtue," said Ulenspiegel.

  "Balm of valiance," answered Lamme.

  And then, taking the bodies of the evangelists one by one, he castthem into a hole in the rocks, leaving their weapons and their clothesupon them. But he took their cloaks.

  And all around in the sky the crows were beginning to caw to eachother, in anticipation of the feast. And the Sambre flowed by likea river of steel under the grey sky.

  And the snow fell, washing the blood away.

  Yet they felt ill at ease, and Lamme said:

  "I had rather kill a chicken than a man."

  And they mounted again upon their donkeys. And when they arrived atthe gates of Huy, the blood was still trickling from the head ofUlenspiegel, so they dismounted and pretended to have a quarrel,and to use their daggers on one another, with the utmost ferocityas it seemed. But when they had finished their duel, they remountedtheir donkeys and came into the town, showing their passports at thecity gates.

  The women, seeing Ulenspiegel wounded and bleeding while Lamme rodehis donkey as though he had been the victor, threw many a glance oftender commiseration upon Ulenspiegel, and pointed their fingers atLamme, saying: "That is the rascal who wounded his friend."

  Lamme all this time was anxiously scrutinizing the crowd, hoping todiscover his wife among them; but all was in vain, and he was sadat heart.

  XXI

  "Where are you going now?" said Lamme.

  "To Maestricht," answered Ulenspiegel.

  "But stay, my son. I have heard that the army of the Duke is campedall round the city and that he himself is within. Our passportswill be of no use to us there. Even if they satisfy the Spanishsoldiers, we shall still be arrested in the city and put through anexamination. And in the meantime they will become aware of the deathof the evangelists and our days on this earth will be numbered."

  To this Ulenspiegel made answer:

  "The crows and the owls and the vultures will make short work of theirrepast. Already no doubt the dead bodies have become unrecognizable. Asfor our passports, there is no reason why they should not remaineffective. But if the murder of the evangelists becomes known weshould be arrested as you say. Nevertheless, whatever happens weshall have to go to Maestricht and pass through Landen on the way."

  "We shall be captured," said Lamme.

  "We
shall get through," answered Ulenspiegel.

  Conversing in this wise they came to the inn of La Pie, where theyfound a good supper awaiting them, and good quarters for the night,both for themselves and for the donkeys; and on the morrow they tookthe road again for Landen.

  Not far from that town they came to a large farm. There Ulenspiegelwhistled like a lark, and from the interior came the sound of a warlikecockcrow in answer. After that a jolly-looking farmer appeared at thedoor of the farmhouse, and greeted them as friends and good Beggarmen,and bade them welcome.

  "Who is this man?" Lamme inquired.

  "His name is Thomas Utenhove," said Ulenspiegel, "and he is a valiantProtestant. The man-servants and maid-servants that work on the farmare fellows with him in the cause of freedom of conscience."

  Then Utenhove said:

  "You are the envoys of the Prince? Come in then, eat and drinkwith me."

  And the ham was crackling in the frying-pan, the sausages likewise,and the wine flowed and the glasses were filled again. And Lamme dranklike dry sand, and ate his fill. And the boys and girls of the farmcame one after another and thrust their noses into the half-open doorto gaze on him as he worked away so hard. But the men were jealous,saying that they also would be able to eat and drink as bravely ifthey had the chance.

  When all was finished, Thomas Utenhove said:

  "One hundred of our peasants will be leaving us this week under pretextof going to work on the dikes at Bruges and thereabouts. They willbe setting out in small bands of five or six at a time, and all bydifferent routes. At Bruges they will find certain barges waitingfor them to take them by sea to Emden."

  "Will these men be provided with arms and with money?" inquiredUlenspiegel.

  "Each man will carry ten florins and a heavy cutlass."

  "God and the Prince will reward you," said Ulenspiegel.

  "But tell me," said the farmer, "is Edzard, Count of Frise, stillfriendly to the Prince?"

  "He feigns not to be," answered Ulenspiegel. "Nevertheless, he isgiving harbourage all the time to the Prince's ships at Emden."And then he added: "We are on the way to Maestricht."

  "You cannot go there," said the farmer. "The Duke's army is campedin front of the town and all round it."

  With that he conducted his visitors up into the loft, whence theycould see the standards of enemy cavalry and infantry moving aboutin the distance over the plain.

  Ulenspiegel said:

  "I have a plan to get through, if only they who have authority in thisplace would give me leave to get married. But for wife I should needa sweet and a gentle and comely lass who would be willing to marryme--if not for always, then for a week at least."

  Lamme gasped with astonishment.

  "Don't do it, my son," he cried. "She will only leave you, and then,all alone, you will burn with the fire of love; and the bed wherenow you sleep so sweetly will seem to you nothing better than a bedof prickly holly leaves, and gentle sleep will shun you for evermore."

  "Still I must marry," replied Ulenspiegel. And then to Thomas Utenhove:"Come now, find me a wife; rich or poor, I don't care which! And Iwill take her to church, and our marriage shall be blessed by thepriest. And he shall give us our marriage lines. Though, to be sure,we shall not hold them valid as being given by the hand of a Papist andan Inquisitor. Nevertheless they will be good enough for our purpose,and we will prepare ourselves, as is the custom, for our wedding trip."

  "But what about the wife?"

  "That's your look-out," answered Ulenspiegel. "But when you have foundher I shall take two wagons and decorate them with wreaths of firbranches and holly and paper flowers, and in the wagons themselvesI shall dispose the men whom you wish to be conveyed to the Princeof Orange."

  "But your wife?" persisted Thomas Utenhove. "Where will you find her?"

  "Here, I doubt not," answered Ulenspiegel. "And then I shall harnesstwo of your own horses to one of the wagons, and our two donkeys to theother. In the first wagon will ride my wife and myself, together withmy friend Lamme here, and the witnesses of our nuptials. In the secondwagon will follow the musicians, the players upon the drum, the fife,and the shawm. And then, with all our joyous wedding-flags a-flying,and with music playing, and we ourselves singing and drinking eachother's healths, we shall ride along at the trot by the high roadthat leads to the Galgen-veld--the Field of the Gallows--which forus indeed will be the Field of Liberty."

  "I will do all in my power to help you," said Thomas Utenhove,"but the women and girls will want to follow their men-folk."

  "We will go where God wills," said a pretty-looking girl who hadthrust in her head at the half-opened door.

  "You can have four wagons if need be," said Thomas Utenhove, "and bythat means we should be able to convey as many as five-and-twenty men."

  "The Duke will be nicely fooled," said Ulenspiegel.

  "And the Prince's fleet will gain the service of some fine soldiers,"added Thomas Utenhove.

  Then he caused a bell to be rung to summon his footman and hisservants, and when they were all assembled he said to them:

  "All you that are from the land of Zeeland, women as well as men,listen now to me. Ulenspiegel, who is hither come from Flanders,has a plan to convey you through the enemy's lines, disguised as thefollowers in a wedding procession."

  And thereat the men and women of Zeeland cried out with one accord:

  "We are ready, even unto the death!"

  And the men said one to another:

  "What joy it will be to exchange this land of slavery for the freedomof the sea!"

  And the women and girls said likewise:

  "Let us follow our husbands and our lovers; we belong to Zeeland andthere we shall find asile!"

  Now Ulenspiegel had noticed a young and pretty maid, and he addressedher jokingly:

  "I would you were my wife!"

  But she blushed and answered him:

  "I would have thee for my husband--but at the church only, remember!"

  The women laughed and said among themselves:

  "She is in love with Hans Utenhove, the master's son. He will goalong with her, doubtless."

  "You say truly," Hans replied.

  And his father said:

  "You have my permission."

  Then all the men put on their best clothes, their doublets and hoseof velvet, and the great opperst-kleed over all. As for the women,they wore black petticoats and pleated shoes. Round their necks theywore a white ruff, their bodices were embroidered in gold, scarlet,and blue; their skirts were of black wool with broad stripes of blackvelvet thereon, and their stockings were of black wool, and theirshoes of velvet with silver buckles.

  Thereupon Thomas Utenhove went to the church and put into the handsof the priest a couple of rycksdaelders, asking him at the same timeto join in marriage Thylbert the son of Claes (that is Ulenspiegel)and Tannekin Pieters. And this the cure consented to do.

  Ulenspiegel then went to church, followed by the weddingprocession. And there, in the presence of the priest, Tannekin wasmade his wife.

  And she looked so pretty and so sweet, so complaisant and so tender,that right willingly would he have eaten her up as she had been aripe apple of love. And he told her so, not daring to do more for therespect he felt for her gentle loveliness. But she pouted her lips,and bade him leave her alone, for that Hans was watching him andwould kill him without a doubt.

  And a certain damsel was jealous, and said to Ulenspiegel:

  "Seek elsewhere for a lover. Do you not see that she is afraid ofher own man?"

  Lamme clapped his hands together and cried:

  "You cannot have them all, you rascal!"

  So Ulenspiegel, making the best of his misfortune, returned to thefarm with the wedding guests. And there he drank and sang and mademerry, clinking many a glass with the damsel that was jealous. Andat this Hans was glad, but not so Tannekin, nor yet the youth thatwas betrothed to the damsel.

  At noon, while the sun shone down from a clear sky and
a fresh breezewas blowing, the wedding carriages started off. They were decoratedwith flowers and every kind of greenery, with flags flying, and drumsand fifes, bagpipes and shawms playing most joyfully.

  Now it happened that in the camp of the Duke of Alba there was anotherfete in progress; and the sentries of the guard, having sounded thealarm, ran to the Duke, crying:

  "The enemy is at hand. We have heard the noise of drums and fifes,and we have seen their banners in the distance. There is a strongforce of cavalry that is hoping to draw you into some ambush. Themain body, doubtless, is not far off."

  The Duke at once sent to warn the colonels and captains, and himselfordered the army to be massed in battle array, and dispatched certainscouting parties on reconnaissance.

  Then it was that there came on the scene the four carriages, makingstraight for the Duke's gunners. And in the chariots were none butmen and women dancing and drinking and playing most joyously on fifesand drums and bagpipes and shawms. And wondrous was the din that camefrom all those instruments.

  When the procession had been brought to a halt, the Duke himself cameup, attracted by the noise, and he saw the newly married bride whereshe stood in one of the four chariots; and beside her was Ulenspiegel,the bridegroom, covered with flowers; and all the other peasants,both men and women, who had by now got down from the chariots andwere dancing all round them and offering drink to the soldiers.

  The Duke and his friends were much astonished at the simplicity ofthese peasants who sang and made merry when all around them was anarmy ready to do battle.