The Legend of Ulenspiegel Volume Ii Part 33

"What has happened, Katheline?" said she, clasping her in her arms.

Katheline sat down, with haggard eyes, and said, looking at the candles:

"'Tis the sun, he driveth away evil spirits. The wolf, the wolf is howling in the countryside."

"But," said Nele, "why did you leave your bed where you were warm, to go and take a fever in the damp nights of September?"

And Katheline said:

"Hanske cried last night like an osprey; and I opened the door. And he said to me: 'Take the drink of vision,' and I drank. Hanske is goodly to look upon. Take away the fire. Then he brought me down to the ca.n.a.l and said to me: 'Katheline, I will give thee back the seven hundred carolus; thou shalt restore them to Ulenspiegel the son of Claes. Here be two to buy thee a robe; thou shalt have a thousand soon.' 'A thousand,' said I, 'my beloved, I shall then be rich.' 'Thou shalt have them,' said he. 'But is there none in Damme who, woman or damsel, is now as rich as thou wilt be?' 'I know not,' I answered. But I had no mind to tell their names for fear he might love them. Then he said to me: 'Find this out and tell me their names when I come back.'

"The air was chill, the mist rolled over the meadows, the dry twigs were falling from the trees upon the roadway. And the moon was shining, and there were fires on the water of the ca.n.a.l. Hanske said to me: 'It is the night of the were-wolves; all guilty souls come forth out of h.e.l.l. Thou must make the sign of the cross thrice with the left hand and cry: Salt! Salt! Salt! which is the emblem of immortality, and they will do thee no hurt.' And I said: 'I shall do what thou desirest, Hanske, my darling.' He kissed me, saying: 'Thou art my wife.' 'Aye,'

said I. And at his gentle word a heavenly happiness glided over my body like an ointment. He crowned me with roses and said to me: 'Thou art fair.' And I said to him: 'Thou art fair, too, Hanske, my darling, and goodly in thy fine raiment of green velvet with gold tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, with thy long ostrich feather that floats from thy bonnet, and thy face pale as the fire upon the waves of the sea. And if the girls of Damme saw thee, they would all run after thee, beseeching thee for thy heart; but thou must give it only to me alone, Hanske.' He said: 'Endeavour to know which are the richest; their fortune will be for thee.' Then he went away, leaving me after straitly forbidding me to follow him.

"I stayed there, c.h.i.n.king the three carolus in my hand, all shivering and frozen by reason of the mist, when I saw coming up from a steep bank and climbing the slope a wolf that had a green face and long reeds among his white hair. I cried out: Salt! Salt! Salt! making the sign of the cross, but he seemed to be in no dread of it. And I ran with all my might, I crying, he howling, and I heard the dry clashing of his teeth close upon me, and once so near to my shoulder that I thought that he was about to catch me. But I ran faster than he did. By great good luck, I met at the corner of the street of the Heron the night watch with his lantern. 'The wolf! the wolf!' I cried. 'Be not afraid,' said the watchman to me, 'I will take you home, Katheline the madwife.' And I felt that his hand, holding me, was shaking. And he was afraid like me."

"But he hath got back his courage," said Nele. "Do you hear him now chanting in a drawling voice: 'De clock is tien tien aen de clock': It is ten o' the clock, o' the clock ten! And he springs his rattle."

"Take away the fire," said Katheline, "my head burns. Come back, Hanske, my darling."

And Nele looked on Katheline, and she prayed Our Lady the Virgin to take away from her head the fire of madness; and she wept over her mother.

x.x.xVIII

At Belleau, on the banks of the Bruges ca.n.a.l, Ulenspiegel and Lamme met a horseman wearing three c.o.c.k's feathers in his felt hat and riding at full speed towards Ghent. Ulenspiegel sang like a lark and the horseman, pulling up, answered with the clarion of Chanticleer.

"Dost thou bring tidings, headlong horseman?" said Ulenspiegel.

"Great tidings," said the horseman. "On the advice of M. de Chatillon who is in the land of France the admiral of the sea, the prince of freedom hath given commissions to equip ships of war, beyond those that are already armed at Emden and in East Frisia. The valiant men who have received these commissions are Adrien de Berghes, Sieur de Dolhain; his brother Louis of Hainaut; the Baron of Montfaucon; the Sieur Louis de Brederode; Albert d'Egmont the son of the beheaded count and no traitor like his brother; Berthel Enthens of Mentheda, the Frisian; Adrien Menningh; Hembuyse the hot and proud man of Ghent; and Jan Brock.

"The prince hath given all his having, more than fifty thousand florins."

"I have five hundred for him," said Ulenspiegel.

"Take them to the sea," said the horseman.

And he went off at a gallop.

"He gives all his having," said Ulenspiegel. "We others, we give nothing but our skins."

"Is that nothing then," said Lamme, "and shall we never have aught talked of but sack and ma.s.sacre? The orange is on the ground."

"Aye," said Ulenspiegel, "on the ground, like the oak; but with the oak they build the ships of freedom!"

"For his profit," said Lamme. "But since there is no danger now, let us buy a.s.ses again. I like to march sitting, for my part, and without having a chime of blister-bells on the soles of my feet."

"Let us buy a.s.ses," said Ulenspiegel; "these are beasts it is easy to sell again."

They went to market and found there, by paying for them, two fine a.s.ses with their equipment.

x.x.xIX

As they rode on astraddle, they came to Oost-Camp, where there is a great wood the fringe of which touched the ca.n.a.l.

Seeking therein shade and sweet fragrance, they went into it, without seeing anything but the long forest alleys going in every direction towards Bruges, Ghent, South Flanders, and North Flanders.

Suddenly Ulenspiegel jumped down from his a.s.s.

"Dost thou see nothing yonder?"

Lamme said:

"Aye, I see." And trembling: "My wife, my good wife! 'Tis she, my son. Ha! I cannot walk to her. To find her thus!"

"What are you complaining of?" said Ulenspiegel.

"She is beautiful thus half-naked, in this muslin tunic cut in open work that lets the fresh skin be seen. That one is too young; she is not your wife."

"My son," said Lamme, "it is she, my son; I know her. Carry me. I can go no more. Who would have thought it of her? To dance clad in this way like an Egyptian, shamelessly! Aye, it is she; see her shapely legs, her arms bare to the shoulder, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s round and golden half emerging from her muslin tunic. See how with that red flag she excites that great dog jumping up at it."

"'Tis a dog of Egypt," said Ulenspiegel; "the Low Countries give none of that kind."

"Egypt ... I do not know.... But it is she. Ha! my son, I can see no more. She plucks up her breeches higher to show more of her round legs. She laughs to show her white teeth, and loudly to let the sound of her sweet voice be heard. She opens her tunic at the top and throws herself back. Ha! that swan neck amorous, those bare shoulders, those bright bold eyes! I run to her!"

And he leaped from his a.s.s.

But Ulenspiegel, stopping him:

"This girl," said he, "is not your wife. We are near a camp of Egyptians. Beware.... See you the smoke behind the trees? Hear you the barking of the dogs? There, here are some looking at us, ready to bite perhaps. Let us hide deeper in the brake."

"I will not hide," said Lamme; "this woman is mine, as Flemish as ourselves."

"Blind and madman," said Ulenspiegel.

"Blind, nay! I see her well, dancing, half-naked, laughing and teasing this great dog. She feigns not to see us. But she does see us, I a.s.sure you. Thyl, Thyl! there is the dog hurling himself on her and throws her down to have the red flag. And she falls, uttering a plaintive cry."

And Lamme suddenly dashed towards her, saying to her:

"My wife, my wife! where are you hurt, darling? Why do you laugh so loud? Your eyes are haggard."