The Legend of Ulenspiegel Volume Ii Part 18

And they drank. Lamme, all in a maze, no longer knew if it was himself, native of Damme, who had beaten this strong man, and he no longer dared to look at him, save by stealth, without any triumphing, fearing that he might take a notion to lay hold of him as he had done with the donkeys and throw him alive into the Meuse, for spite at his overthrow.

But the boatman, smiling, invited him gaily to drink again, and Lamme recovered from his fright and looked on him once more with victorious a.s.surance.

And the boatman and Ulenspiegel laughed.

In the meanwhile, the donkeys, dumbfounded to find themselves on a floor that was not the cows' floor, as the peasants call dry land, had hung their heads, laid back their ears, and dared not drink for fear. The boatman went off to fetch them one of the pecks of corn he gave the horses that towed his boat, buying it himself so as not to be cheated by the drivers in the price of fodder.

When the donkeys saw the grain they murmured paternosters of the jaw while staring at the deck of the boat in melancholy fashion and not daring to move a hoof for fear of slipping.

Thereupon the boatman said to Lamme and to Ulenspiegel:

"Let us go into the kitchen."

"A war kitchen, but you may go down into it without fear, my conqueror."

"I am nowise afraid, and I follow you," said Lamme.

The lad took the tiller.

Going down they saw everywhere bags of grain, of beans, peas, carrots, and other vegetables.

The boatman then said to them, opening the door of a small forge:

"Since ye are men of valiant heart and know the cry of the lark, the bird of the free, and the warrior clarion of the c.o.c.k, and the braying of the a.s.s, the gentle worker, I am minded to show you my war kitchen. This little forge you will find such an one in most Meuse boats. No one can be suspicious of it, for it serves to mend and repair the ironwork of the vessels; but what all do not possess is the goodly vegetables contained in these cupboards."

Then removing some stones that covered the floor of the hold, he raised a few planks, and pulled up a fine sheaf of musket barrels, and lifting it as if it had been a feather, he put it back in its place; then he showed them lance heads, halberds, sword blades; bags of bullets, bags of powder.

"Long live the Beggar!" said he; "here are beans and their sauce, the musket stocks are legs of mutton, the salads are these halberd heads, and these musket barrels are ox shins for the soup of freedom. Long live the Beggar! Where am I to take this victual?" he asked Ulenspiegel.

"To Nimeguen, where you will enter with your boat still more heavily laden, with real vegetables, brought you by the peasants, which you will take on board at Etsen, at Stephansweert, and at Ruremonde. And they, too, will sing like the lark, the bird of the free; you shall answer with the warlike clarion of the c.o.c.k. You are to go to the house of Doctor Pontus, who lives beside the Nieuwe-Waal; you are to tell him you are coming to the city with vegetables, but that you fear the drought. While the peasants go to the market to sell the vegetables at a price too dear for any to buy, he will tell you what you are to do with your weapons. I think, too, that he will direct you to pa.s.s, not without danger, by the Wahal, the Meuse, or the Rhine, exchanging vegetables for nets for sale, so that you may wander with the Harlingen fishing boats, where there are many sailors that know the lark's song; skirt the coast by the Waden, and get to the Lauwer-Zee; exchange the nets for iron and lead; give costumes of Marken, Vlieland, and Ameland to your peasants; remain awhile on the coasts, fishing and salting down your fish to keep it and not to sell it, for to drink cool and make war on salt is a lawful thing."

"Wherefore, let us drink," said the boatman.

And they went up on the deck.

But Lamme, falling into melancholy:

"Master boatman," said he, suddenly, "you have here in your forge a little fire so bright that for certain one might cook with it the most delicious of hotpots. My throat is thirsty for soup."

"I will refresh you," said the man.

And speedily he served him a rich soup, in which he had boiled a thick slice of salt ham.

When Lamme had swallowed a few spoonfuls, he said to the boatman:

"My throat is peeling, my tongue is burning: this is no hotpot."

"'Cool drink and salt war', it was written," replied Ulenspiegel.

Then the boatman filled up the tankards, and said:

"I drink to the lark, the bird of freedom."

Ulenspiegel said:

"I drink to the c.o.c.k, blowing the clarion of war."

Lamme said:

"I drink to my wife; may she never be athirst, the poor darling."

"You are to go as far as Emden by the North Sea," said Ulenspiegel to the boatman. "Emden is a refuge for us."

"The sea is wide," said the boatman.

"Wide for the battle," said Ulenspiegel.

"G.o.d is with us," said the boatman.

"Who then shall be against us?" replied Ulenspiegel.

"When do you depart?" said he.

"Immediately," replied Ulenspiegel.

"Good voyage and a following wind. Here are powder and bullets." And kissing them, he brought them ash.o.r.e, after carrying the two donkeys on his neck and shoulders like lambs.

Ulenspiegel and Lamme having mounted them, they started for Liege.

"My son," said Lamme, as they went on their way, "how did that man, so strong as he is, allow himself to be so cruelly thumped by me?"

"So that everywhere we go," said Ulenspiegel, "terror may precede you. That will be a better escort to us than twenty landsknechts. Who would henceforth dare to attack Lamme the mighty, the conqueror; Lamme the bull without peer, who with his head, before the eyes and to the knowledge of everyone, overthrew the Stercke Pier, Peter the Strong, who carries a.s.ses like lambs and lifts with one shoulder a cart of beer barrels? Everyone knows you here already; you are Lamme the terrible, Lamme the invincible, and I walk in the shadow of your protection. Everyone will know you along the way we are to go, no one will dare to look on you with an unfriendly eye, and considering the great valour of mankind, you will find nothing on your path but louting, salutations, homage, and venerations offered to the might of your redoubtable fist."

"You speak well, my son," said Lamme, drawing himself up in his saddle.

"And I speak the truth," replied Ulenspiegel. "Do you see these curious faces in the first houses of this village? They are pointing the finger, showing to one another Lamme, the terrific conqueror. Do you see these men that look at you with envy and these poor cowards that doff their kerchiefs! Reply to their salutation, Lamme, my dear; disdain not the poor weak common herd. See the children know your name and repeat it with awe and fear."

And Lamme pa.s.sed by, proud and stately, saluting to the right and to the left like a king. And the word of his prowess followed him from burg to burg, from city to city, to Liege, Choquier, to Neuville, Vesin, and Namur which they avoided because of the three preachers.

They went on thus a long time, following up rivers, streams, and ca.n.a.ls. And everywhere to the lark's song answered the crowing of the c.o.c.k. And everywhere for the work of liberty men founded forges and furbished the weapons that went away on the ships that skirted along the coasts.

And they pa.s.sed the tolls in casks, in cases, in baskets.

And there were found always good folk to receive them and to conceal them in a sure place, with powder and bullets, until the hour of G.o.d.

And Lamme wending his way with Ulenspiegel, still preceded by his victorious reputation, began himself to believe in his great strength, and becoming proud and bellicose, he let his hair grow long. And Ulenspiegel christened him "Lamme the Lion."

But Lamme did not hold steadfast in the design because of the irritation of the young growth on the fourth day. And he had the razor pa.s.sed over his conquering face, which appeared to Ulenspiegel once more, round and full like a sun, lit up with the flame of good victual.