Légende d'Ulenspiegel. English

by Charles de Coster

  "Do you recognize me? I would wish to rest here a while."

  The master charcoal-burner answered:

  "I recognize you. You are the son of the victim. You are free in thishouse to go wheresoever you will."

  Ulenspiegel went into the kitchen, and then upstairs into the roomof Claes and Soetkin, and there he shed many tears.

  When he had come down again, the master charcoal-burner said to him:"Here is bread, cheese, and beer. If you are hungry, eat. If you arethirsty, drink."

  But Ulenspiegel made a gesture to the effect that he was neitherhungry nor thirsty, and he left the house and came with Lamme toKatheline's cottage, and there they tethered their donkeys andstraightway entered in. It was the hour of the midday meal. On thetable was a dish of broad beans in their pods together with somewhite beans. Katheline was busy eating, while Nele was standing byher ready to pour into Katheline's plate some vinegar sauce whichshe had just taken off the fire. When Ulenspiegel came into the roomNele was so startled that she put the sauce, and the pot and all,into Katheline's platter. And Katheline kept on wagging her head,and picking out the broad beans with her spoon from the trencher,striking her forehead the while and crying ever like one mad:

  "Put out the fire! My head is burning!"

  And the smell of the vinegar made Lamme feel hungry. But Ulenspiegelstood still where he was, gazing at Nele and smiling for love of herdespite his great sorrow.

  And Nele, without a word of greeting, flung her arms round hisneck. And she also seemed like one bereft of sense. For she cried andlaughed, and blushing as she was with her great and sweet happiness,she could only say: "Tyl! Tyl!"

  Ulenspiegel, happy now in his turn, gazed into her eyes. Then she letgo of him and stepped back a pace or two, gazed at him joyfully in herturn, and then threw herself on him again, clasping her arms roundhis neck, and so many times and again. And he suffered her gladly,powerless to tear himself away from her, till at last she fell intoa chair, tired out and like one bereft of her senses, and she saidwithout shame:

  "Tyl! Tyl, my beloved! Here you are come back to me again!"

  Lamme meanwhile was standing at the door; but when Nele had recoveredherself a little, she pointed to him, saying:

  "Where have I seen this fat man?"

  "He is my friend," Ulenspiegel told her. "He goes seeking his wifein my company."

  "I know you," said Nele to Lamme. "You used to live in the rueHeron. You are seeking for your wife? Well, I have seen her. She isliving at Bruges in all piety and devotion, and when I asked her whyshe had left her husband so unkindly, she answered that it was bythe Holy Will of God and at the command of Holy Penance, and thatshe could never live with her husband again."

  At these words Lamme was sad, but his eyes wandered to the beans andvinegar. And outside the larks sang as they flew upwards into the sky,and all Nature swooned away under the caress of her Lord the Sun. AndKatheline kept stirring with her spoon that pot of beans and sauce.

  XXV

  Now, in those days a damsel some fifteen years of age was going fromHeyst to Knokke, alone in the middle of the day, by the sand-dunes. Noone had any fear for her for they knew that the wolves and wickedspirits of the damned go biting their victims only in the night. Thedamsel carried a satchel wherein were forty-eight gold coins of thevalue of four florins carolus, being the sum owed by the girl's mother,Toria Pieterson, who lived at Heyst, to her uncle, Jan Rapen of Knokke,on account of a sale. The girl's name was Betkin, and she was wearingher best clothes, and she went on her way most happily.

  The same evening, seeing that she did not return, her mother becameanxious, but reassured herself with the thought that the girl musthave stayed the night with her uncle.

  On the morrow, certain fishermen on their way back from the sea witha boat-load of fish, drew their boat on to the beach and unloadedtheir catch, which they would sell at auction by the cart-load at theMinque of Heyst. They went up the road along the dunes, all strewn withshells, and presently came upon a young girl, stripped naked even toher chemise, with traces of blood all about her. Coming nearer theyfound upon her neck the horrid marks of long sharp teeth. She waslying on her back with her eyes wide open gazing up into the sky,and her mouth was open also as if with the cry of death itself!

  Covering the girl's body with an opperst-kleed they brought it toHeyst, to the Town Hall, and there quickly assembled the aldermenand the leech, who declared that the long teeth that had made thosemarks were no teeth of a wolf as known in nature, but rather of somewicked and devilish werwolf, and that it behoved them now to prayGod one and all that he would deliver the land of Flanders.

  And in all that country, and notably at Damme, at Heyst, and at Knokke,prayers and orisons were ordered to be made.

  But Ulenspiegel went to the town bailiff and said to him: "I willgo and kill the werwolf."

  "What gives you this confidence?" asked the bailiff.

  "The ashes beat upon my heart," Ulenspiegel replied. "Only give meleave to labour a while at the forge of the commune."

  "Very well," said the bailiff.

  Ulenspiegel, without telling a word concerning his project to anyman or woman in Damme, betook him to the forge, and there, in secret,he fashioned a fine and a strong trap such as those traps which aremade to catch wild beasts.

  On the following day, which was a Saturday, day beloved of werwolves,Ulenspiegel armed himself with a letter from the bailiff to the cureof Heyst, together with the trap which he carried under his cloak, aswell as a good crossbow and a well-sharpened cutlass. Thus provided,he departed on his way, saying to those in Damme:

  "I am going out to hunt the seagulls, and of their down will I makea soft pillow for madame the wife of the bailiff."

  Now before he reached Heyst, he came out on to the seashore. The seawas rough and boisterous, and he heard the great waves growling likethunder, and the wind that blew from England whistling in the riggingof the boats that were stranded on the beach. A fisherman said to him:

  "This bad wind will be our ruin. Last night the sea was calm, butat sunrise she suddenly swelled with anger. And to-day we shall notbe able to go out fishing." Ulenspiegel was pleased at this, for heknew that now he would be sure of some assistance if need arose. AtHeyst he went straight to the cure and presented the letter that thebailiff had given him. The cure said:

  "You are a brave man, but let me tell you that no one goes along thedunes on Saturday nights without being bitten by the werwolf and leftdead on the sands. Even the men who are at work on the dikes nevergo there except in a party. The evening is coming on. Do you nothear the werwolf howling in his valley? Perchance he will come againinto the cemetery, even as he came last night, howling most horriblythrough all the hours of darkness! God be with you, my son. But gonot there." And the cure crossed himself.

  "The ashes beat upon my heart," answered Ulenspiegel.

  The cure said:

  "Because you have so brave a spirit I will help you."

  "Monsieur le Cure," said Ulenspiegel, "you will be doing a greatkindness, as well to me as to this poor desolated land of ours, if youwill go to Toria, the dead girl's mother, and to her two brothers also,and tell them that the wolf is near at hand, and that I am going outto wait for it and kill it."

  The cure said:

  "If you want to know where you should lie in wait, let me advise you tokeep along by the path which leads to the cemetery. It runs between twohedges of broom. It is so narrow two men could scarcely walk abreast."

  "I understand," said Ulenspiegel. "And you, brave cure, will you tellthe girl's mother and her husband and her brothers to come themselvesand wait together in the church about the hour of the curfew. There,if they hear a cry like the cry of a seagull, it will mean that I haveseen the werwolf. Then they must sound the wacharm on the bell, andcome fast to my assistance. And if there are any other brave men...."

  "There are none, my son," replied the cure. "The fishermen are lessafraid of the plague and of death itself than of the werw
olf. Do notgo, I beseech you."

  Ulenspiegel answered:

  "The ashes beat upon my heart."

  And the cure said to him:

  "I will do as you bid. God bless you. Are you hungry or thirsty?"

  "Both," answered Ulenspiegel.

  The cure gave him some beer, some bread, and some cheese, andUlenspiegel when he had eaten and drunk went his way.

  And as he walked along he raised his eyes and beheld Claes, his father,seated in glory at the side of God in heaven where the moon shone sobrightly. And thereafter he gazed upon the sea and upon the clouds,and he heard the wind that came blowing stormily from England.

  "Alas!" he cried, "O Dusky Clouds that pass along so rapidly yonderin the sky, be you now for a vengeance on the murderer. And you,O Wind that whistles so sadly in the gorse along the dunes and inthe rigging of the ships, be you now the voice of the victims thatcry to God that he should help me on in this enterprise."

  And so saying he came down into the valley, stumbling as if he hadbeen a drunken man; and he began to sing, hiccuping all the time,staggering from side to side, yawning, spitting, and then standingstill and pretending to be sick. But all the time he was keeping hiseyes wide open, and peering this way and that, for he had heard thesharp sound as of a wolf howling. Then, as he stood there vomitinglike a dog, he descried the long outline of a wolf moving towardsthe cemetery in the bright light of the moon.

  At that he lurched on again, and came into the path between the hedgesof broom. There he pretended to fall down, and as he did so, he placedhis trap upon the side from which the wolf was coming. Then he loadedhis crossbow, and went forward about ten paces, standing up again ina drunken posture. He still went on staggering to right and to left,nor did he cease to retch and to hiccup, but all the time his mindwas taut as a bowstring, and he was all eyes and ears for what mightbe going to happen. Yet he saw nothing save the dark clouds racing inthe sky, and again that large and heavy form of blackness coming downthe path towards him. Neither did he hear aught but the dismal wailingof the wind, and the angry thunder of the sea, and the sound that theshells on the path gave forth beneath a heavy step that tapped uponthem. Feigning to be about to sit down, Ulenspiegel fell forwards onto the path, very heavily like a drunken man. After that he heard asit were a piece of iron clinking close to his ear, and then the soundof the trap shutting, and a human voice that cried out in the darkness.

  "The werwolf," said Ulenspiegel to himself. "He's got his frontpaws caught in the trap. Now he is howling and trying to run away,dragging the trap with him. But he shall not escape." And he drewhis crossbow and shot an arrow at the legs of the werwolf.

  "He's wounded now," said Ulenspiegel, "and he has fallen down."

  Thereupon he whistled like a seagull, and straightway the church bellclanged out from the village and a boy's shrill voice was heard cryingfrom afar off:

  "Awake! Awake, you sleepers! The werwolf is caught."

  "Praise be to God," said Ulenspiegel.

  Now the first to arrive on the scene of the capture were Toria themother of Betkin, and Lansaen her husband, and her two brothers Josseand Michael. And they brought lanterns with them.

  "You have caught him?" they asked.

  "Look on the path," answered Ulenspiegel.

  "Praise be to God," they exclaimed, crossing themselves.

  "Who is it that is calling out the news in the village?" askedUlenspiegel.

  "It is my eldest boy," Lansaen answered. "The youngster is runningthrough the village knocking on all the doors and crying out thatthe wolf is caught. Praise be to thee!"

  "The ashes beat upon my heart," answered Ulenspiegel.

  Suddenly the werwolf began to speak:

  "Have mercy on me! Have mercy, Ulenspiegel!"

  "This wolf can talk!" they exclaimed, crossing themselves again. "Heis a devil in very truth, and knows Ulenspiegel's name already!"

  "Have mercy! Have mercy!" the voice cried again. "I am nowolf. Order the bell to stop ringing. For thus it is that it tollsfor the dead. And my wrists are torn by the trap. I am old and I ambleeding. Have mercy! And what is this--this shrill voice of a childawakening all the village? Oh pray, have mercy!"

  "I have heard your voice before," said Ulenspiegel passionately. "Youare the fishmonger. The murderer of Claes, the vampire that preysupon poor maids! Have no fear, good mother and father. This is noneother than the Dean of the Fishmongers on whose account poor Soetkindied of grief." And with one hand he held the man fast by the neck,and with the other he drew out his cutlass.

  But Toria the mother of Betkin prevented him.

  "Take him alive," cried she. "Take him alive. Let him pay!"

  Meanwhile there were many fisherfolk, men and women of Heyst, who werecome out at the news that the werwolf was taken and that he was nodevil but a man. Some of these carried lanterns and flaming torches,and all of them cried aloud when they saw him:

  "Thief! Murderer! Where hide you the gold that you have stolen fromyour poor victims?"

  "He shall repay it all," said Toria. And she would have beaten himin her rage had she not fallen down there and then upon the sand ina mad fury like unto one dead. And they left her there until she cameto herself.

  And Ulenspiegel, sad at heart, beheld the clouds racing like madthings in the sky, and out at sea the white crests of the waves,and on the ground at his feet the white face of the fishmonger thatlooked up at him in the light of the lantern with cruel eyes. Andthe ashes beat upon his heart.

  And they walked for four hours, and came to Damme where was a greatcrowd assembled that already was aware of what had happened. Every onedesired to see the fishmonger, and they pressed round the fishermenand fisherwives, crying out and singing and dancing and saying:"The werwolf is caught! He is caught, the murderer! Blessed beUlenspiegel! Long live our brother Ulenspiegel!--Lange leve onzenbroeder Ulenspiegel." And it was like a popular rising. And when thecrowd passed in front of the bailiff's house, he came out, hearingthe noise, and said to Ulenspiegel:

  "You are the conqueror; all praise to you!"

  "It was the ashes of Claes that beat upon my heart," said Ulenspiegel.

  Then the bailiff said:

  "Half the murderer's fortune shall be yours."

  "Let it be given to his victims," answered Ulenspiegel.

  Now Lamme and Nele were there too--Nele laughing and crying with joyand kissing her lover; Lamme jumping heavily and striking his bellywhile he cried out at the same time:

  "Brave, trusty, and true! My comrade, my well-beloved! You cannotmatch him anywhere, you other men of the flat country."

  But the fisherfolk laughed and made mock of Lamme.

  XXVI

  The great bell, the Borgstorm, rang out on the morrow to summon tothe Vierschare the aldermen and the clerks of the court. There theysat on four banks of turf under the noble lime-tree which was calledthe Tree of Justice. And round about stood the common people. Whenhe was examined the fishmonger would confess nothing. All he did wasto repeat continually:

  "I am poor and old, have mercy upon me."

  But the people howled at him, saying:

  "You are an old wolf, destroyer of children; have no pity, sir judges."

  "Let him pay! Let him pay!" cried Toria.

  But the fishmonger entreated again most piteously:

  "I am poor. Leave me alone."

  Then, since he would not say anything of his own free will, he wascondemned to be tortured until he should confess how he had committedthe murders, whence he came, and where he had hidden the remains ofthe victims and their money.

  So now he was brought to the torture chamber, and on his feet wereput the iron shoes of torture, and the bailiff asked him how itwas that Satan had inspired him with designs so black and crimes soabominable. Then at last he made answer:

  "Satan is myself, my essential nature. Even as a child, ugly as I wasand unskilled in all bodily exercises, I was regarded as a simpletonby every one and was continually being beaten. Neithe
r girl nor boyhad any pity for me, and as I grew up no woman would have anythingto do with me, not even for payment. So I conceived a hatred forthe whole human race, and for this reason I betrayed the man Claeswho was beloved by all. Thereafter I was attracted more than ever bythe idea of living like a wolf, and I dreamed of tearing flesh withmy teeth. And I killed two wolves in the woods of Raveschoet andMaldeghem, and I sewed together their two skins as a covering. Andby day and by night I wandered along the sand-dunes, and especiallyon Saturdays--the day of the market at Bruges."

  Then the bailiff said:

  "Repent and pray to God."

  But the fishmonger blasphemed, saying:

  "It is God himself who willed me to be as I am. I did all in spiteof myself, led on by the will of nature. Evil tigers that you are,you will punish me unjustly."

  But he was condemned to die the death, and Toria cried aloud:"Justice is done. He shall pay the penalty."

  And all the people cried:

  "Lang leve de Heeren van de wet!--Long live the Officers of the Law!"

  The next morning at early dawn, as they were bringing him to theplace of punishment, he saw Ulenspiegel standing near the pile andhe pointed his finger at him, crying:

  "There is a man who ought to die no less than I. For ten years agoit was that he threw me into the Damme canal because I had denouncedhis father. But in that I had acted as a loyal subject to His MostCatholic Majesty."