Part 16

One day the Prince, hearing the noise, came to see what was going on, and walked straight in between the combatants. It chanced that a piece of shot hit his sword and struck it from his side. He stopped the combat, and visited the whole camp, intending to put an end once for all to these combats and to these cries of "Death to William!" "Death to the war!"

Now the day after this adventure, Ulenspiegel had been to the house of a Walloon maiden to sing to her some Flemish love-songs of his. And it was near midnight, and very misty, and Ulenspiegel, being just about to leave the house, thought he heard the cawing of a crow, three times repeated. And the sound came from the door of a cottage close by. And from far off came other cawings, three times repeated, as if in answer. Presently a peasant made his appearance at the doorway of the cottage, and at the same time Ulenspiegel heard steps on the road. Two men came up to the peasant and began to talk to him in the Spanish tongue. The peasant spoke to them, also in Spanish:

"Well? And how goes it?" asked the cottager.

"Well, indeed," the two men answered. "We have been spreading rumours on behalf of the King, and it is thanks to us that the captains and their soldiers are everywhere suspicious and talking among themselves in this wise:

"'The Prince, so the gossip goes--is resisting the King for vile ambition and for nothing else. For by this means he thinks to make himself feared so that he may acquire cities and overlordships as the price of peace. For five hundred thousand florins he would leave in the lurch all the brave nobles who have come out to fight for their country. And it is a fact that the Duke has offered him a complete amnesty, and has promised to restore both him and his chief officers in their possessions, if only the Prince will return to the obedience of the King, and will negotiate with him alone.'

"But they that remain faithful to the Prince make answer to us in this wise:

"'By no means will William have aught to do with the proposals of the Duke. For these are but snares and treachery. For the Prince must surely call to mind what happened to d'Egmont and de Hoorn. And it is well known that the Cardinal de Granville said at Rome, when the two Counts had been taken: "The two gudgeon, verily, have been caught, but the pike has been allowed to escape." For nothing has been taken while William still remains at large.'"

"Is the camp divided in twain then?" asked the peasant.

"It is," replied the two men, "and the division grows greater every day. But whom are those letters for?"

Whereupon they all entered into the cottage. A lantern was lit inside, and looking through a crack in the door Ulenspiegel could see them unsealing two letters. These they read with every appearance of enjoyment, and then they all fell to drinking honey-wine. After which the two men came out of the cottage and said to the peasant, still speaking in Spanish:

"The camp split in two, and the Prince captured--that will be worth a dozen glasses, eh?"

"Those men," said Ulenspiegel to himself, "cannot longer be allowed to live."

But even now they were disappearing in the thick mist, with the lantern which the peasant had brought for them. The light of the lantern shone out intermittently, as if continually intercepted by some dark body. From this Ulenspiegel concluded that the two men must be walking one behind the other.

He raised his arquebus to his shoulder and fired. Then he saw the lantern raised and lowered several times, as if the man who carried it was looking at his fallen comrade, trying to discover where he had been hit and the nature of the wound.

Yet again did Ulenspiegel raise his arquebus, and then when the lantern began to steady itself and to retreat speedily towards the camp, he fired again. Now the lantern swayed, fell to the ground and went out, leaving all in darkness.

Ulenspiegel ran on to the camp, and there he soon encountered the provost with a number of soldiers who had been awakened by the noise of the firing. Ulenspiegel accosted them, saying: "I am the huntsman. Go you now and find the game."

"Brave Fleming," said the provost, "methinks you are a man that knows other ways of talking besides with your tongue."

"Words of the tongue they are but so much wind," answered Ulenspiegel. "But words of lead--they know how to find for themselves a lasting habitation in the carcass of a traitor! Come then, follow me."

And so saying he led them to the place where the two men had fallen. And in very deed the soldiers saw by the light of their lanterns two bodies stretched out on the ground. One was dead, and the other at the last gasp, holding his hand to his heart, and in his hand a letter all crumpled in the agony of death. The soldiers lifted the two bodies, whose clothes clearly showed them to be the bodies of gentlemen, and straightway carried them, still by the light of their lanterns, to the Prince.

Now William was about to hold a council with Frederick of Hollenhausen, the Margrave of Hesse, and other nobles. But the soldiers, who had now been joined by a company of other troopers in green and yellow jackets, stood before the tent, demanding with shouts and cries that the Prince should give them audience.

At length William of Orange came out to them, and the provost began to clear his throat and make other preliminaries for the accusation of Ulenspiegel. But the latter cut in before him, saying:

"My Lord, I had thought to kill two crows, but I have killed two traitors in their stead--two noblemen--belonging to your suite."

Then he told the story of all that he had seen and heard and done. William did not utter a word, but the two bodies were carefully examined in the presence of Ulenspiegel himself and William the Silent, together with Frederick of Hollenhausen, the Margrave of Hesse, Dietrich of Schoonenbergh, Count Albert of Nassau, the Count de Hoogstraeten, and Antoine de Lailang, Governor of Malines. And the soldiers stood by, with Lamme Goedzak, his great belly all of a tremble. Sealed letters were found on the persons of the deceased gentlemen, which had been sent by Granvelles and Noircames, and engaged the recipients to sow division in the Prince's entourage, and by that means to diminish his power and to compel him to yield, so that he might ultimately be delivered up to the Duke and beheaded according to his deserts. "The right procedure is," continued the letter, "to act at first with caution and to use allusive phrases only, so that the army may be led to think that the Prince has already come to a secret understanding with the Duke, for his own advantage. This will arouse the anger of his captains and soldiers, and they will assuredly take him prisoner." Now as a reward for this service it appeared that notes to the value of some five hundred ducats were being sent them on the Fugger Bank at Antwerp, and they were promised a thousand more as soon as the four hundred thousand ducats which were already on their way from Spain had arrived in Zeeland.

The whole plot having been now unmasked, the Prince turned in silence towards the gentlemen, Lords, and soldiers who stood round him. Many of these men he knew to be suspicious of him already, nevertheless, he pointed at the two bodies without speaking a word, intending by this gesture to reproach them for their mistrust. And at this every one present there exclaimed and shouted aloud:

"Long live the Prince of Orange! The Prince is faithful and true!" And such was their anger that they were desirous to throw the two dead bodies to the dogs; but William forbade them, saying:

"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 God. 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 compassionately. 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 Cambrésis, 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 mêlée 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 God 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 vassal. Here are three passports, 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 cockcrow. 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 passports 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 fashion, 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 pass, and so he came at length to the confines of Liége. 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.

Delivered from this peril, Ulenspiegel peered about him, fearing lest there might be other bands of wolves in that country, but he saw nothing except, in the far distance, certain objects that looked like grey statues moving slowly along in the falling snow. Behind these again, Ulenspiegel could descry the dark figures of a couple of soldiers on horseback. To see the better what all this might portend, Ulenspiegel climbed up into a tree, and there the wind brought to him a far-off sound of lamentation. "It may be," Ulenspiegel said to himself, "these people are pilgrims, clad in white habits; for I can scarcely distinguish their figures against the snow." But after a little while he saw that they were men running, quite naked, and that behind them were two German troopers in black uniforms riding on horses. And they were driving the poor wretches in front of them with whips. Ulenspiegel took aim with his arquebus. Now he could distinguish the individual figures of that mournful company--old men and young men naked, shivering, and quaking with cold, hardly able to stand some of them, but running all, for fear of the cruel whips of the two soldiers who, themselves being warmly clad and red with brandy and good food, took pleasure in lashing the bodies of naked men to make them run the faster.

Ulenspiegel said: "You shall be avenged, ashes of Claes!" And he killed one of the soldiers outright with a bullet from his arquebus. The soldier fell from his horse, and his companion took fright, not knowing whence the shot had come. But concluding that his assailant must be hiding somewhere in the wood, he decided to make good his escape, together with the horse of his dead companion. The man contrived to get hold of the horse's bridle, but while he himself was dismounting to plunder the body of the dead, he was hit by a bullet in the neck and fell to the ground.

As for the naked prisoners, they imagined that some angel from heaven, who was also forsooth a fine marksman, had descended from the sky to aid them, and they all fell down upon their knees in the snow. At this Ulenspiegel descended from his tree, and was at once recognized by the company who had previously served with him as soldiers in the armies of the Prince. They said to him:

"O Ulenspiegel, we are come from France, and we were being driven in this piteous plight to Maestricht, where the Duke is, to be treated there as rebel prisoners because we cannot pay our ransom, and are therefore condemned in advance to be tortured, cut into pieces, or sent to row like caitiffs and criminals in the galleys of the King."

Ulenspiegel gave his opperst-kleed to the oldest of the soldiers, saying:

"Come with me, my friends. I will accompany you as far as Mézières; but first of all let us strip these two dead soldiers and take possession of their horses." Thereupon the doublets, hose, boots, head-gear, and body-armour of the soldiers were divided up among the sick and feeble, and Ulenspiegel said:

"We shall soon be entering the wood, where the air is thicker and more gentle. You had better run, my brothers."

Suddenly one of the men fell down on the ground, crying: "I am hungry and cold, and I am going to God to bear witness that the Pope is Antichrist on earth." And he died, and the others agreed to carry the body with them that it might be given Christian burial.

While thus proceeding along the road, they met a peasant driving a cart with a canvas hood. Seeing the men all naked, the peasant had compassion on them and invited them to ride in his cart. There they found some hay to lie on, and some empty sacks to cover them withal. And they were warmed and gave thanks to God. Ulenspiegel rode beside the cart on one of the two horses that had belonged to the German troopers, leading the other by the bridle.

At Mézières they all alighted. Good hot soup and beer and bread and cheese were handed round, with some meat for the older men and women. And they were nobly entertained; and they were clothed and armed again, all at the expense of the commune. And every one joined in giving thanks and praise to Ulenspiegel, who received it gladly. Ulenspiegel also sold the horses of the German troopers for eight-and-forty florins, out of which he distributed thirty florins among the Frenchmen.

Thereafter he took the road again, and as he walked solitarily along he said to himself:

"Verily now do I wander through a land of ruin, blood, and tears. Nevertheless, I find nothing. Those spirits lied to me without a doubt. For where is Lamme? Where is Nele! Where are the Seven?"

And he heard a voice speaking to him as though in a whisper:

"In death, in ruin, and in tears, seek!"

And he went his way.

XVIII

It was the month of March when Ulenspiegel came to Namur. There he found Lamme, who, having conceived a violent passion for the fish of the Meuse, and for the trout especially, had hired a boat and spent all day fishing in the river by permission of the commune. But for this privilege he had been obliged to pay the sum of fifty florins to the Guild of the Fishmongers.

Some of his fish he sold. But the rest he ate himself, and by this means he gained a finer belly than ever, and a small sack of money. When he saw his friend and comrade walking along the banks of the Meuse and about to enter the town, Lamme was mightily rejoiced and pushed his boat to the shore, and there springing on to the bank rushed up to Ulenspiegel, blowing and puffing and stammering for joy.

"Here you are," he cried, "here you are at last, my son. And where are you off to? What are you after? You are not dead, then? And have you seen my wife? You'll feed off the fish of the Meuse, which are the best to be found anywhere on this base earth! And let me tell you something. The people here make such sauces as will tempt you to dip your fingers into the dish right up to your shoulder! Ah, but how proud and splendid you look! On your cheeks is the very bloom of battle. And here you are! It's you, it's really you, my son! My Ulenspiegel! You jolly vagabond!" Then in a lower tone of voice he added:

"And how many Spaniards have you killed? You have not seen my wife by any chance, in the carts with those other hussies? Ah, but the wine of the Meuse! You must taste it. And have you been wounded, my son? You must rest here a while, so fresh and cheery as you are, and vigilant as a young eagle. But our eels! You must taste our eels. No muddy taste about them! Come, kiss me, my second self! Praise be to God! How glad I am!"

And Lamme danced and leapt in the air, puffing and blowing and compelling Ulenspiegel to dance too.

Thereafter they walked towards Namur. At the gate of the city Ulenspiegel showed his passport signed by the Duke. And Lamme conducted him to his house. While their repast was being prepared he made Ulenspiegel tell him all his adventures and then recounted his own, telling how he had left the army to follow a girl whom he thought was his wife. It was in pursuit of her, it seemed, that he had come at last to Namur. And he kept on asking Ulenspiegel:

"Are you sure you have not seen her anywhere?"

"I have seen many other beautiful women," answered Ulenspiegel, "and in this town especially, where it seems they are all most amorous...."