The Legend of the Glorious Adventures of Tyl Ulenspiegel in the land of Flanders Part 59

And this she did, and three times did the elf dance in answer.

Then Nele said to Ulenspiegel:

"Take off your clothes, and I will do the same. See, here is the silver box which holds the balm of vision."

"Be it as you wish," answered Ulenspiegel.

When they had undressed and anointed themselves with the balm of vision, they lay down naked as they were beside one another on the gra.s.s.

The sea-gulls screamed; the thunder growled and rumbled, and in the darkness the lightning flashed. Between two clouds the moon scarcely showed her crescent's golden horns; and the will-o'-the-wisps departed from Nele and Ulenspiegel to go off dancing with their comrades in the fields.

Suddenly a great giant hand took hold of Nele and her lover, and threw them high in air as though they had been a child's playthings. Then the giant caught them again, rolled them one on the other and kneaded them between his hands, and after that he threw them into a pool of water that lay between the hills, and last of all he dragged them out again full of water and water-weeds. And the giant began to sing in a voice so loud that all the sea-gulls of the islands awakened in terror:

With eyes that squint they would discern, These silly, wandering insect-mortals, The sacred symbols none may learn, Safe guarded now within our portals

Read then, flea, the mystery high, Read then, louse, the secret vast, Which to earth and air and sky By seven nails is anch.o.r.ed fast!

And now it was that Ulenspiegel and Nele discerned on the gra.s.s and in the air and in the sky, seven tablets of bronze all strangely luminous. And they were held there by seven flaming nails. And on the tablets was written:

From the dung-heap flowers arise, Seven are wicked, but seven are good.

Hid in coal the diamond lies, Bad teacher oft makes pupil wise; Seven are bad, but seven are good.

And the giant walked on, followed by all the will-o'-the-wisps, who were whispering together like gra.s.shoppers, and saying:

Look at him well--the Master of All, Before him Caesar himself must fall.

Pope of Popes, King of Kings, Fashioned of wood he is Lord of All Things.

Suddenly the lines of the giant's face suffered a change. He seemed thinner, sadder and greater than ever. And in one hand he held a sceptre, and in the other a sword. And his name was Pride.

And throwing Nele and Ulenspiegel to the ground, he said:

"I am G.o.d."

Then by his side there appeared a ruddy-faced girl, and she was seated on the back of a goat, and her bosom was bare, her gown half open, and she had a wanton eye; and her name was Luxury. After her there came an old woman, a Jewess, who was busy all the time, sc.r.a.ping up the egg-sh.e.l.ls of the sea-gulls that lay about on the ground; and her name was Avarice. Then a monk appeared, most greedy and gluttonous, eating chitterlings he was, and cramming himself with sausages and champing his jaws together without ceasing, like the sow whereon he rode; and his name was Greed. Thereafter came Idleness, dragging one leg after the other; wan she was and bloated, and she had a dull eye. And Anger came chasing after Idleness with a sharp needle with which she p.r.i.c.ked her so that she cried aloud, and Idleness grieved and lamented with many tears, and kept falling down on to her knees so tired she was. Last of all came Envy, a thin figure with a head like a viper and teeth like the teeth of a pike. And she kept biting all the others with those cruel teeth of hers--Idleness because she had too much leisure, Anger because she was too lively, Greed because he was too well fed, Luxury because she was too ruddy, Avarice because of the treasure of sh.e.l.ls she had ama.s.sed, Pride because of his robe of purple and his crown. And the wisps kept dancing all around, and they spake with many voices like the voices of men, women, and girls, and in the plaintive voices of children, and they groaned, saying:

"O Pride, father of Ambition, and you, O Anger, that are the source of cruelty, you slew us on many a battlefield, and caused our death in many a prison and many a torture-chamber, that you might keep your sceptres and your crowns! And you, O Envy, that have destroyed so many useful thoughts while yet in the germ, we are the souls of the inventors whom you have persecuted. Avarice, you it is that have turned the blood of the poor into gold, and we are the souls of your victims. O Luxury, you are the friend and the sister of Murder; Nero, Messalina, Philip King of Spain--such are your children, and you buy virtue and you bribe corruption, and we are the souls of your dead. And you, O Idleness, and you, Greed, you befoul the world, but the world must be cleansed of you; we are the souls of those who have perished at your hands."

And a voice was heard saying:

From the dung-heap flowers arise, Seven are wicked, but seven are good.

Bad teacher oft makes pupil wise.

Now longs the wandering louse comprise Both coal and cinder if he could!

Then spake the wisps:

"Fire. We are Fire--the avenger of all old tears and all old pains which the people have suffered; the avenger of all the human game that has been hunted for pleasure by the Lords of this land; the avenger of all battles fought to no purpose, of all the blood that has been spilt in prison, of all the men burned at the stake and the women and girls buried alive; the avenger of all the past of blood and chains. The Fire--that is Us--we are the souls of the dead."

At these words the Seven were suddenly transformed into images of wood, though they still lost nothing of their former outline; and a voice was heard saying:

"Burn the wood, Ulenspiegel."

And Ulenspiegel turned towards the will-o'-the-wisps:

"You that are made of fire, do your office."

And the wisps thronged around the seven images, which straightway burst into flame and were reduced to ashes.

And from the ashes there flowed a river of blood.

But out of the ashes arose now seven other figures, and the first said:

"Once I was called Pride. But now my name is n.o.bility."

And the rest spake after the same fashion, and Nele and Ulenspiegel saw how Economy came forth from Avarice; Vivacity from Anger; Healthy Appet.i.te from Gluttony; Emulation from Envy; and from Idleness the Dreams of poets and wise men. And Luxury, on her goat, was now transformed into the likeness of a beautiful woman, and her name was Love.

And all around them danced the will-o'-the-wisps most joyously. And thereafter did Ulenspiegel and Nele begin to hear a thousand voices as of hidden men and women, that spake with a sonorous, clicking sound, like that of castanets, and thus sang they:

When over the earth and over the sea These Seven transformed shall reign, Mortals lift up your heads again, For happy the world shall be!

And Ulenspiegel said: "These spirits are making mock of us."

And a powerful hand seized Nele by the arm, and threw her away into the void. And the Spirits sang:

When the North Shall kiss the West Then shall be the end of ruin.

Find the Cincture.

"Alas!" cried Ulenspiegel. "North, West, Cincture! You speak in riddles, Sir Spirits!"

But they went on with their singing and chattering:

The North is the Netherland, Belgium is the West.

Cincture is friendship, Cincture is Alliance.

"Now you are talking sense, Sir Spirits," said Ulenspiegel.