The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the land of Flanders Part 18

"Fool in your folly," said he, "you make boast that you go through the world praising what is good and fair and making mock of foolery, and you have dared to make open game of so many and so high-born ladies, and of their yet more n.o.ble lords, bringing ridicule on the pride of their n.o.bility! Of a truth I tell you that the day will come when you will hang for your free speech."

"If the cord is of gold," said Ulenspiegel, "it will break with dread at my approach."

"Stay," said the Landgrave. "Here is the first bit of your rope,"

and he gave him fifteen florins.

"All thanks to you," said Ulenspiegel, "and I promise you that every tavern on the road shall have a thread of it, a thread of that gold which makes Croesuses of all those rascally tavern-keepers."

And off he went on his donkey, holding his head up high in air, with the plume in his cap wagging joyously in the breeze.

x.x.xIV

Now was the season of yellowing leaves, and the winds of autumn were beginning to blow. Sometimes for an hour or two it seemed that Katheline was come into her right mind again, and at such times Claes would say that the merciful spirit of G.o.d had come to visit her. Then it was that she had power to throw a charm upon Nele, by signs and incantations, so that the girl was able to see whatever was happening all over the world, in the public squares of the cities, or on the highways, or in the houses themselves.

To-day Katheline was in one of these moods of right-mindedness, and she was eating olie-koekje with Claes, Soetkin, and Nele. Claes said:

"This is the day of His Majesty the Emperor's abdication. Nele, my dear, do you think you could see as far as Brussels in Brabant?"

"If Katheline wishes me to," said Nele.

Thereupon Katheline caused her to sit down on a bench, and making sundry pa.s.ses with her hands, she muttered her incantations, which soon sent the girl off into a trance.

Then Katheline said to her:

"Make your way into the little house which is called the Park House, and is the favourite residence of the Emperor Charles the Fifth."

Whereupon Nele began to speak, in a low voice, as though she were half suffocated.

"I am standing in a small room painted green. There is a man in the room. He is about fifty-four years of age, and he has a bald head and a protruding chin with a white beard growing upon it. His grey eyes have a wicked, crafty look, filled with cruelty and false kindness. And this is the man they call 'His Most Sacred Majesty.' He suffers from a catarrh and always keeps coughing. Beside him is another, a young man with an ugly face like that of a hydrocephalous monkey. I saw him once at Antwerp. He is King Philip. At the present moment he is being rebuked by His Sacred Majesty for having slept out last night away from home. Doubtless, says His Majesty, he was at some brothel in company of a trollop of the town. His hair, it seems, smells of the tavern, no place, that, for a King to seek his pleasures in, he who may have his choice of all the sweetest bodies in the world, of skin like satin fresh from perfumed baths, and of hands of high-born ladies, very amorous. Such as these, says His Majesty, are more fit for him, surely, than some half-mad wench that is come, scarcely washed, from the arms of a drunken soldier. For there is not one among all the ladies, the most n.o.ble, the most beautiful, whether virgin, wife, or widow, that would resist King Philip! And they would be proud to give him of their love--not by a greasy glimmer of stinking tallow, but by the light of scented tapers made of finest wax.

"The King replies that he will obey His Sacred Majesty in all things. Whereupon His Sacred Majesty has a fit of coughing and drinks some draughts of hippocras. After which he addresses his son, sorrowfully, in these words:

"'You must know, my son, that very soon I am to give to the world the mighty spectacle of the abdication of my throne in the favour of you, my son. And I shall speak before a great crowd of people, coughing and hiccuping as I am--for all my life I have eaten too heartily. And very hard-hearted must you be if you shed no tears when you hear what I shall have to say.

"'I shall shed many tears,' answers King Philip.

"And now His Sacred Majesty is speaking to his valet, a man named Dubois.

"'Bring me some sugar dipped in Madeira,' he cries. 'I have the hiccups. Pray heaven they do not attack me when I am making my speech before all those people. Oh, that goose I had last night for dinner! Will it never pa.s.s? I think I had better take a gla.s.s of Orleans wine? No, it is too harsh. Or perhaps if I ate some anchovies? No, they are oily. Dubois, there, give me some Roman wine!'

"Dubois does as he is told, then dresses his master in a robe of crimson velvet, wraps a golden cloak about him, girds on his sword, places the globe and sceptre in his hands, and on his head the crown. Thus arrayed, His Sacred Majesty goes forth from the Park House, riding on a little mule and followed by King Philip and many notables. Presently they arrive at a large building called the Palace, and they come to a room wherein is a tall thin man, most richly dressed. He is the Prince of Orange, William, surnamed the Silent.

"'Do I look well, Cousin William?' His Sacred Majesty inquires.

"But the man makes no answer, till at length His Sacred Majesty speaks again, half mused, half angry.

"'Still silent, cousin? Still without a word?--even when you have the chance of telling the truth to a grey-beard! Come now, shall I abdicate or stay upon my throne, O silent one?'

"'Most Sacred Majesty,' replies the thin man, 'at the approach of winter even the strongest oaks let fall their leaves.'

"Three o'clock strikes.

"'Lend me your shoulder, silent one, that I may lean upon it.'

"And, so saying, His Most Sacred Majesty leads the way into a great room wherein is a canopy, and under the canopy a dais covered with a carpet of crimson silk. On the dais are three chairs. His Sacred Majesty seats himself on the mid-most one, which is more ornamented than the others and surmounted by the imperial crown. King Philip takes the second chair, and the third is occupied by a woman, who is no doubt the Queen. On either side are long benches covered with tapestry, and sitting upon them are men dressed in red robes and wearing round their necks the image of a golden sheep. Behind stand various personages who would seem to be princes and lords. Opposite these, and at the bottom of the dais, there is a row of bare benches which are occupied by men dressed in plain cloth. I hear it said that these men are clothed and seated so modestly because it is themselves that have to pay all the costs. At the entrance of His Sacred Majesty these people all stand up, but when he has sat down he makes a sign and they sit also.

"Now a very aged man is talking of his gout interminably. After which the woman, who seems to be a Queen, presents a roll of parchment to His Majesty. His Sacred Majesty reads what is written thereon in a low voice, coughing all the time, and then he begins to speak for himself.

"'Many and long are the journeys that I have made through Spain and Italy and the Netherlands, through England and through Africa, all for G.o.d's glory, for the renown of my arms, and the good of my peoples.'

"And so on, and so on, till at last he comes to tell of his growing weakness and fatigue, and of his determination to relinquish the crown of Spain, together with the counties, duchies, and marquisates of all those countries, and of his desire to hand them over to his son. Thereafter he begins to weep, and every one weeps with him, and King Philip gets up from his chair and falls upon his knees before his father.

"'Most Sacred Majesty,' he cries, 'am I indeed to receive this crown from your hands while yet you are so strong to wear it?'

"Then His Majesty whispers into his son's ear that he should speak some kindly words to those men who are seated upon the tapestried chairs. Whereupon King Philip turns towards them, and without rising addresses them in a sharp tone of voice.

"'I understand French fairly well,' he says, 'but not well enough to be able to talk to any one in that language. But the Bishop of Arras, Monsieur Grandvelle, he will say something to you on my behalf.'

"'That is not the way to speak to them, my son,' says His Sacred Majesty.

"And in truth the whole a.s.sembly begins to murmur, seeing the young King so proud and unbending. The woman, she who is the Queen, then makes an oration, and is followed by an aged professor, who, on sitting down, receives a wave of the hand from His Sacred Majesty by way of thanks. These ceremonies and harangues being finished, His Sacred Majesty makes a declaration to the effect that his subjects are released from their oath of fidelity, signs the deeds drawn up to ratify his abdication, and then, rising from his throne, places his son upon it in his stead. Every one in the hall weeps. Then they return again to the Park House.

"Once more His Sacred Majesty and his son Philip are alone together in the green chamber. As soon as the doors are shut His Sacred Majesty goes off into a peal of laughter, and begins talking to King Philip, who keeps quite solemn all the time.

"'Did you notice,' says the Emperor, laughing and hiccuping at the same time, 'how little was needed to move these good people to tears?

Heavens, how they wept! You would have thought it was the deluge!

That fat Maes who made the long speech, why, he cried like a calf!

Even you appeared to be affected--but not quite sufficiently, perhaps. Really there is no doubt that these are the best of all the entertainments which one can provide for the populace. For just as we n.o.bles are wont to cherish most those mistresses who cost us most, so also it is with the people. The more we make them pay the more they love us. That is why I have tolerated the reformed religion in Germany while punis.h.i.+ng it severely in the Low Countries. If, however, the German princes had been Catholics I would have made myself a Lutheran so that I might confiscate their property. Verily they all believe in the integrity of my zeal for the Roman faith, and when I leave them they are full of regrets. Yet for heresy there have perished at my hands fifty thousand of their bravest men and of their tenderest maidens, in the Netherlands alone. But still they grieve at my departure. And without making any count of what has been got from confiscations, I have raised in taxes more than the wealth of all the Indies or Peru; yet they are sorry to lose me.

And I have torn up the Peace of Cadzant, brought the city of Ghent under subjection, suppressed every one who might be dangerous to me, put down all liberties, freedoms, and privileges, and placed them under the authority of the royal officers; but yet do these good people think they are still free inasmuch as I allow them to shoot with the crossbow, and to carry in procession the banners of their guilds. Willingly do they submit themselves to the hand of their master, finding happiness in a cage, and singing his praises while he is with them, and weeping when he departs. My son, be you to them even as I have been, kindly in words but harsh in deed. Lick that which you have no need to bite, and never leave off swearing to maintain liberties, freedoms, and privileges, however little you may scruple to destroy those liberties if they show signs of becoming dangerous. For such things as these are like iron if handled timidly, but brittle as gla.s.s if grappled with a strong hand. Therefore you should root out all heresy, not because it differs from the Roman religion, but because, if allowed to flourish, it would mean the end of our rule in all the Netherlands. For they that attack the Pope with his three crowns would finish by denying the authority of the temporal princes who wear but one. So, then, you should follow my example, and regard all claims to freedom of conscience as crimes of high treason to be punished by immediate confiscation. Hereby you will inherit great riches, as I also have done all my life long; and when you come to die or to abdicate, everybody will say, 'Ah me, the good and n.o.ble prince!' and many are the tears that will be shed!'

"And now I hear no more," said Nele, "for His Sacred Majesty has laid him down to sleep. And King Philip, that proud and haughty prince, stands gazing at him with loveless eyes."

And when she had thus spoken, Nele was awakened from her trance by Katheline. And Claes gazed thoughtfully into the fire as it flamed and lit up all the chimney.

x.x.xV

It was the month of April. The weather had been mild, but now there was come a sharp frost and a sky grey and overcast as it were the sky of All Souls' Day. The third year of Ulenspiegel's banishment had long since pa.s.sed, and Nele was waiting day after day for the return of her lover.