The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the land of Flanders Part 39

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

And the Lords and soldiers cried out again:

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

And the sound of their voices was like the noise of thunder threatening injustice. And the Prince pointed to the two corpses and ordered that they should be given Christian burial.

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

Then the Prince addressed him, saying:

"This soldier is to receive fifty strokes from the green wood in my presence for having killed two gentlemen without orders, to the contempt of all discipline. At the same time let him receive a reward of 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 free from fault, is there any real reason why I must be cleansed with the wood of the oak or washed with the branch of the cherry-tree?"

"No," murmured Lamme again, "Ulenspiegel surely has no need to be washed 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 provost ordered him to give himself up to the Stock-meester.

"Behold, my Lords," said Lamme, "behold how piteous he looks. There's no 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 towards the sun in all its native verdure, but I agree I loathe like poison these heavy cudgels of wood with their sap still oozing out of them, stripped of their branches and without any leaves or twigs growing thereon, 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 be flogged do you mean? No, I cannot, nor will I, be flogged by you, Mr. Stock-meester. You have a red beard certainly, and your appearance is formidable. Nevertheless, I am sure that you have a kind heart and would have no desire to thrash a poor fellow like me. And now to 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 is a sacred thing, as sacred as his breast which holds the lungs, those trusty organs whereby we breathe the goodly air of G.o.d. And think how bitter would be your remorse if a too brutal blow from your cudgel should 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 the wood of the cudgel ought to be allowed to dry. For I have heard that wood while still green is like to communicate a mortal poison to any flesh with which it comes in contact. Would your Highness desire to see me die such an ugly death? My Lord, my back I hold most pitifully at your service. Have it flogged, if you must, with rods and lashed with 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 of Schoonenbergh both together; while the others all began to smile compa.s.sionately. 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 Lamme on his belly and compelled him to dance too, saying: "Join me now in praising the good Duke who has delivered me from the green wood."

And Lamme did his best to dance, but could not very well because of his belly. And Ulenspiegel gave him to eat and to drink as much as he 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 marched them towards the French frontier to offer battle to the Duke. But the Duke would not fight.

Leaving Quesnoy-le-Comte to go to Cambresis, the Prince's army fell in with ten companies of Germans and eight Spanish ensigns and three cohorts of cavalry. They at once joined battle, and in the midst of the melee was Ruffele Henricis, the Duke's son, crying out at the top of his voice:

"No quarter! No quarter! Long live the Pope!"

Now Don Henricis found himself opposite to a company of arquebusiers which was led by Ulenspiegel, and he threw himself upon them with all his men. Ulenspiegel said to his sergeant:

"I will cut out this murderer's tongue for him!"

"Very good," said the sergeant.

And Ulenspiegel took careful aim, and his bullet shattered the tongue and the entire jaw-bone of Don Ruffele Henricis, son of the Duke. At the same time Ulenspiegel brought down the son of the Marquess Delmares, and in a little while more the eight ensigns and the three cohorts of cavalry were thoroughly worsted.

After this victory Ulenspiegel went seeking for Lamme everywhere through the camp, but he could not find him.

"Alas," he said, "he is gone! Lamme is gone; my friend, my great fat friend! In his warlike ardour he must have forgotten how heavy his belly was, and tried to follow the Spaniards in their flight. Out of breath he must have fallen like a sack on the wayside. And then the enemy will have picked him up for ransom--a ransom of good Christian fat! O Lamme, my friend, where are you? Where are you, my great fat friend?"

Ulenspiegel sought him everywhere but found him not and had to nurse his grief in silence.

And now November was come, the month of snow-storms, and Ulenspiegel, having been ordered to report himself before William, found the Prince brooding in silence, and biting the lacings of his coat of mail.

"Listen to me," the Prince said presently, "and give me your whole attention."

Ulenspiegel answered: "My ears are like the gates of a prison. One enters easily but to get out again is a different matter."

"Very good," said William, "but now I would have you go for me to Namur, and to Flanders, Hainaut, Sud-Brabant, Antwerp, Nord-Brabant, and to Gueldre, Overyssel, and the North of Holland, telling the people everywhere that, although it seems that the fates on land are hostile to our most Holy and Christian Cause, we will yet continue the struggle by sea, no matter what the evil powers that are arrayed against us. For G.o.d holds the issue in His own good providence, whether in success or failure. And when you are come to Amsterdam you will render an account of all that you have done to Paul Bruys who is my trusty va.s.sal. Here are three pa.s.sports, signed by the Duke of Alba himself, which were found on certain bodies of the dead at Quesnoy-le-Comte. My secretary has filled them in afresh. And it may be that on your journey you will meet some good companion in whom you can trust. Let him go with you. And those are to be accounted trustworthy who know how to answer the song of the lark with a warlike c.o.c.kcrow. Here are fifty florins. Be valiant and faithful."

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

And he went his way.

XVII

Now the pa.s.sports were countersigned both by the King and the Duke, and they authorized the bearer to carry any kind of arms at his convenience. So Ulenspiegel took with him his trusty arquebus as well as a good supply of cartridges and dry gunpowder. He dressed himself in a short cloak and a shabby doublet and hose made after the Spanish fas.h.i.+on, and thus accoutred, with a plumed cap on his head and a sword at his side, he made his departure from the Prince's army where it lay at the French frontier, and set out for Maestricht.

The roitelets, those heralds of bad weather, were flying around the houses seeking asile from the storm, and on the third day snow fell. Many times during the journey did Ulenspiegel have to show his safe-conduct. But they always let him pa.s.s, and so he came at length to the confines of Liege. He was plodding along over a level heath, and a fierce wind was driving the swirling snowflakes against his face, and in front and on every side the heath stretched out all white under the snow that fell in eddies, which themselves were whirled about hither and thither in the squalls of wind. And there were three wolves that began to follow him. But one of them he killed with a shot from his arquebus, and the other two flung themselves upon their wounded comrade, and then made off into the woods, each carrying a piece of the corpse.